Little Brother

Conversation today between Ben and Sam:

Ben: "Don't you love your little brother?"

Sam: "He's kind of a little monster!"

Lazy Lazy

Tonight marks the end of our first week of summer break. It's been delightful. Spent some time at the pool, at the zoo, visiting friends, and lots of just hanging out. What has been really nice is not having to worry about when I'm going to get the laundry done, go grocery shopping, or clean up the house since we're always short on time for those things. Now, if I don't feel like doing it right away, I don't really need to, because I'll probably be able to find some time later.

Here's a pic of Sam in the zone - the TV zone, that is. He's watching one of his favorite shows here, Super Why.

A frequent sighting: Jude after a meal with food stuck to his behind.

This weekend, Jude's been practicing hard on standing up without holding anything. Our friend Greg saw it first while we weren't looking, but we've had plenty of opportunities the last 2 days since he keeps trying it over and over again. Probably won't be long before he's walking! Crazy to think about...

Coney Island

We are loving Coney again this summer. Jude got to ride his first ride last week! It was pretty sedate, but he looked like he was having fun. Sam took good care of him and had his arm around him the entire ride "so Jude wouldn't fall out." Luckily for Jude, it wasn't in this choke hold for too long!

Rock and Roll!

We've been having lots of fun this May, even though it's been really busy! Sam has his first admirer, his friend from school, Isa. She is an adorable little girl with blonde curly hair. Their cots are next to each other. Miss Polly told us that about a week ago she looked over and Sam was rubbing her back to help her go to sleep. The next day, she saw that they fell asleep holding hands. And the next day, Sam got his first kiss courtesy of Isa! He told Miss Polly, "Isa kissed me." When she asked, "Where?" Sam pointed to his lips. First kiss at 3 years old!

Every day after school, Sam wants to play soccer or baseball or some other form of ball outside. He loves to play ball. Now we just need a break from this incessant rain.

Here's a picture of Sam after a bath doing his rock 'n roll pose:

Jude's busy getting into everything....dog bowls, behind chairs, under chairs, in the dog's crate, pushing the button that sets off the carbon monoxide detector....he is so much more curious than Sam ever was. We never had to baby-proof with Sam; Jude is perfectly content crawling around to see what he can get into. He loves Sam's toys and is always trying to play with him now. When Sam gets rough with him, Jude screams back and pushes him. Go Jude - defend yourself!

I can't resist posting more bath pictures. :)

Rain Rain Go Away!

We've had fun stuff going on over the last few weekends. We've been out of town the last three weekends, trying to dodge rain. We managed to have a few nice days! I took over 300 pictures since 3 weeks ago, so here are just a very few highlights:

Joseph's First Birthday in Louisville - this is the way to eat cake!

Jude enjoying the sun out at Joseph's party

At the zoo over spring break.

Brothers at Easter at Neenee's house

At COSI in the submarine! Can't believe Ben got Sam to go down in that thing. We went to COSI and a Columbus Crew soccer game for Ben's birthday and had so much fun.

They had some practice areas set up for kids to play. This is Sam post-kick in the air! He loved this.

Soccer is a serious game.

Fun with Instagram

Enjoying my break so far....here are some pictures from throughout my day today with those nearest and dearest to me.

So that's where all the Puffs went

Sleepy baby

"Pretend sleeping"

Time to relax

Spring is here! (for a couple days, at least)

St. Patrick's Day, we enjoyed a little porch time with the boys. Sam was having so much fun just running around and Jude loved having the breeze blow through his (crazy) hair.

That night, the boys took a bath together for the first time! They loved it, although Sam kept trying to wash Jude's hair and made him cry. A few minutes later, he was staring in awe at Sam as Sam kept squirting water at himself, cracking himself up...

Sam is pure joy in this picture...he was laughing so hard he looks like he was screaming!