Picture post

Jack "Me Too," loves to jump in every photo op.

"I am soooo much cooler than you, dude."

And you thought Kai was a big baby...

Bathtime

Uh oh...

Alexander: Mom, get me another marker.
Me: They're right next to you. Get it yourself. I'm not your slave.
Alexander: Well, I wish I had a slave!

Brotherly Love

One of my dreams for my boys is that they grow up to not only love each other, but to like each other, also. I'm pretty sure I'd be bawling my eyes out if listening to Jack give a best man's speech at Alexander's wedding, and I'd certainly get misty eyed to see Kai tossing his niece or nephew in the air, maybe babysitting for one of his older brother's kids. I can just imagine three tall men hanging out around the grill at a weekend BBQ that they decided to have just because they like hanging out together. I guess I'd settle for them just *getting along,* but I'd really, really love for them to truly be friends.

So I am not-so-secretly thrilled that Alexander and Jack now insist on sleeping in the same room together. It's a good thing since they'll have to share a room in about a year when we move Kai out of the master bedroom.

I'm also absolutely loving the fact that Jack accepted Kai into the family more easily than I expected and even loves to hold him now! Kai looks like some sort of Giant Baby sitting on Jack's lap, but I am IN LOVE with the close-up of the two of them. What handsome boys I have!

Pants

Me: Jack, can you put these pants on, please?
Jack: No, these pants evil.

Come to think of it, they do look sort of sinister...

Summer Activities Week 3

We had quite a busy week this week! We had a visit from PopPop, who helped us with Jack's ENT appointment on Monday(he may need his adenoids out). To make things more interesting, Alexander woke up that day with his eye swollen halfway shut. We assume it was just a spider bite or something. Pitiful, huh?

Justin left for Charlotte, NC for work early Tuesday morning and will return Monday evening, so I practiced my Supermom routine with (so far) a fair amount of success. We reunited Alexander with his preschool friend Emma (and he asked her to marry him), had a playgroup at the park with MOMS Club friends, and took Kai to his two month well visit. We also met our new friend Zachary, my friends Betsy and Jerry's new baby. He's just a little older than Kai. Congratulations again, guys. Isn't he gorgeous?

From our summer activity list, we accomplished #16, "Make pudding," which was one of Alexander's ideas. He was excited to make something all by himself, with no help from Mom.

He also made a new friend (#24) while we were at our MOMS Club playgroup. Alexander's actually quite fond of making new friends and pretty good at it, so this was a pretty easy one to check off.

Today I cut the boys' hair and then let them play in the sprinkler (#17).

While I was putting Kai to sleep, the two older boys negotiated, organized, and executed their own game of Hide and Seek (#49). I was sort of impressed that they managed the game with no guidance!

Lastly, we finished up reading 10 new books (#15), including "Russell and the Lost Treasure," "Oh Say Can You Say Dinosaur," and "The Daddy Mountain." I think their favorite new book was probably "The Monster at the End of This Book." Classic.

We'd already checked off #29 from our list, "Have a Dance Party," but that didn't stop us from having another. I just love Jack's moves here.

And of course every dance party ends with this:

Aaaaaand, Kai is still cute and fat (and looks just like Alexander).

Flirty and Thirty (A Blog Recommendation)

Just taking a moment to update my Friends and Family Sidebar, and thought I'd add a new blog that I love: Flirty and Thirty.

Carrie Scott is a friend from high school who I recently "reconnected" with via Facebook. She's always been a terrifically enthusiastic, fun, caring person with an amazing spirit. She started this blog to share her experiences as she attempted to go on thirty first dates (in 51 days) before her thirtieth birthday. She didn't quite make it, but I loved reading about her experiences. When the set-ups started to stall, she switched her focus to "flirting with life." She says that she is committed to "thirty weeks of flirting with life," where she will "create a life-enriching experience and then blog about it." She's doing some awesome things, and she's really an inspiring lady. I can't believe she's already on week 22. I will miss reading about her adventures, acts of service, and self-improvement ventures. If you get the chance, I encourage you to read through her blog and be inspired, too.

The stats

At two months old...

Alexander: 15 pounds and 9 oz, 25 inches long (both above the 97th percentile)
Jack: 14 pounds and 15 oz, 25 inches long (both above the 97th percentile)
Kai: 17 pounds and 5oz, 25.5 inches long (both above the 99th percentile)

I can't believe Kai is almost 2 pounds bigger than Alexander was at the same age! And I thought Alexander was a moose!

More important than size, Kai is perfectly healthy and growing right along his own growth curve. He got 4 immunizations today so that he can stay perfectly healthy!

How very blessed we are to have three such healthy boys! :)

Play-Doh Recipe

A few people have asked for the play-doh recipe that I used, so I thought I'd share it here.

Play-Doh

3 cups flour
1 1/2 cups salt
3 cups water
2 TB vegetable oil
1TB cream of tartar
few drops food coloring if desired

Mix all the ingredients. Pour into a large saucepan. Cook over medium low heat until it starts to thicken and pull away from the edges, and becomes difficult to stir. Remove from heat. Cool until it can be handled. Knead for a few minutes on wax paper. Store in an air-tight container. ENJOY!

As I mentioned, this makes quite a large batch. However, that was a big part of the allure for my kids.

Have fun!

Summer Activities, Week 2

It's been another busy week over here at "Mom, Outnumbered!"

On Saturday we took a family trip to the library (#18) and checked out some books we've never read to start work on #15, "Read 10 new books." Alexander had also decided that he would like to try a new food that day. I had been thinking hard about what he could try and honestly couldn't think of too many things that he's really never even had one bite of. Not to worry, he had an idea of his own. He requested a turkey and cheese sandwich with peanut butter, so I obliged. In fact, the whole family tasted it... and it wasn't too bad! At Justin's suggestion, we also tried it dipped in ranch dressing. Apparently (strangely), this is something that Justin actually ate as a child also. Later in the week, we also tasted mango for the first time (except that Justin swears I'd already given it to Alexander when he was a toddler).

On Sunday we made our own play-doh (#1). It turned out great! At first I thought we had made an enormous amount, but the sheer volume of it was a great part of the appeal for the kids. They have spent hours playing with it since. HOURS. We've already decided that when this batch dries out, we'll make a big batch of blue.

This week we also took food to the food bank (#4) and had a playdate with Ava (#7), during which I am pretty sure that Alexander asked her to marry him. She was quiet for a moment, then changed the subject, so I am not sure what his chances are there.

We attempted #37, "Draw self portraits," but when I went off to feed Kai, Alexander covered both himself and Jack with yellow marker, so we'll have to retry that again another time!

We also managed to do many things not on our list, including several playdates, speech therapy, and doctor's appointments. Next week promises to be just as busy... how is it that every month I look at the calendar and think, "Wow, we're really busy this month, but next month looks very calm," and then the next month is just as crazy? We love keeping busy, though!

In other news, look how strong Kai is getting!

Starting Summer off Right!

I guess it's not even technically summer, but for the boys and me, this was our first week of our summer. Our last few months together before Alexander goes off to the world of Elementary School. *Sigh*

Monday we accomplished #8 from our list, "Go to the pool." Jack also accomplished #26 while we were there, "Go completely underwater at the pool."

Tuesday we did #12 , "Do a Science Experiment." It was called "Color Changing Liquids," and dealt with acids, bases, and neutrals. But, for a five and two year old, it was just fun to add powders and watch the colors change, and to guess what might happen when we added more of this or that ingredient, or mixed the cups of water together.

Wednesday we went to a new playground (#5). We chose Staley Park in Frederick. It is an awesome playground with a great combination of older and newer equipment, plenty of shade, and even sandboxes. The kids loved it (except when Jack got scared on the see-saws) and we definitely plan to return.

Thursday we did #46 , "Build a fort." Our supplies included our kitchen table, all the cushions from our couch and chair, several blankets and pillows, and some of our blue floor mats. The kitchen chairs were used as supports. It was actually a little bigger than it appears in the picture, I think.

We also had a dance party (#29 ), and played "What I like about..." (#50 ) Alexander stated that what he liked best about himself was how fast he could run.

Tonight the boys are doing something that maybe should have been on our list, but wasn't. They're having a "sleepover" together on the floor of Alexander's room.

So far the boys love choosing activities from our list, and I love that we're keeping active doing interesting things instead of doing the same old thing every day. It's really working for us! :)

In other news, Kai is still cute and fat.

EEWWW!

I trimmed Alexander's nails this morning. This afternoon:

Alexander: "Mo-om [you know they're annoyed when it's the two syllable 'Mom'], without my fingernails I can't get the boogers out of my nose!"

"Zombie Convicts"

PopPop visited last week and brought dress-up stuff! The boys were thrilled.

ETA: My dad requested that I add the below photo which he took and entitled "Zombies need love too."

Kai smiles