My Little Fish

Just a quick Ian update:

He is 5 days into his second round of swim lessons and he absolutely loves them. Loves, loves, loves. He's under the water, jumping in, picking up rings from the bottom of the pool (ok, he can put his face in and reach to the bottom of the small pool with his arm), and he kicks and uses his arms. He doesn't exactly swim yet, but it's starting to resemble a swimming-type of motion.

And a bonus:

Instead of putting Chase in the daycare today during lessons and schmoozing with Angelle while we watched the older kids, I went in my suit and swam laps in the big pool beside Ian's pool! I feel so invigorated (exhausted!). I must do this again. It is so much more fun (tolerable) than running (walking briskly with bursts of jogging every 3 minutes) on the treadmill.

Chaser Chaser Funny Facer

Eh.

Nothing terribly new here. But here are some photos of my big boys:

Camera Q

Our camera has been officially "junked" by Best Buy. I'm excited to get a new one with fun new features (such as that "burst" mode, which sounds like it would enable me to catch more cute expressions from the kids, instead of the open mouth, wide eyed expression that follows every "cheese"). I need to do some research on what to buy. But I don't really enjoy researching electronics.

So, I figured I would just ask you all. Do you have a camera that you like? Which one is it? Should I buy one, too?

Thanks!

New Toy

How does the saying go? Boys never grow up, their toys just get more expensive?


Actually, this is Bryan's solution to the rising price of gasoline and his hour-long commute to work every day (anyone want to buy a 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe?). He's just learning how to ride, but he's good enough that I wasn't *too* scared to ride with him around the block his first night out :)

It is kind of fun...! My only problem is where to put the carseats...?

Gently

Now that Chase is actually crawling, like, hands and knees room-to-room crawling, he is into EVERYTHING. The diaper basket. The pantry. The bunny cage. The cat food. The magazine basket. Every single one of Ian's toys.

So I'm trying to teach Ian the art of gently taking the offending item away from Chase and replacing it with a more appropriate toy. I'm also trying to teach him not to scream and yank things away from him (which is apparently the way you do it in toddler-speak).

This morning Chase got his hands on a pair of Ian's sunglasses. I told Ian to go get take them away from Chase before he broke them. My exact words were, "Go tell Chase gently, 'No, no!'"

Ian walks over, takes the glasses, leans in and says, "Gently. No NO!"

Birthday Bash (and Second Not-PC Challenge)

Happy birthday to our neighbors, Kenna and Andy! We had a blast at their party today:)

They set up a huge inflatable waterslide in their front yard, and the kids all wore themselves out on it. The weather was perfect (if not a smidge too sunny for my fair skinned baby...) and there were corndogs and pudding pops. Who could ask for anything more?

I have a bunch of pics, but you can go to the Little Larsens and see all the fun there. What I really want to do is leave you with my Second Not-PC Challenge:

Find the Extra Chromosome

Is it here?

Or here?

Poo Story. Beware.

Ian was in the bathroom. #2.

During the act he yells to me: "Mommy! Do you remember last year when I had a spikey poop and it hurt?"

After the act, before the flush: "See? It is a spikey one like last time! Just like a cactus!"

It may just be the writing teacher in me, but I'm so happy he used a simile!

Lindsay and Chase

We visited with Chase's BFF Lindsay and her family this past weekend. Here are those pictures I promised :)

All the kids- Alex, Lindsay, Chase, Ian (who is really REALLY brown!!)
I just LOVE what you've done with your hair since I saw you last!
I think this is the only one with both Chase and Lindsay almost smiling.
How big are Chase and Lindsay?!?
Lindsay gives Chase a reproachful stare. When we first got there, I set him in front of her and he yelled at her and she got scared. She hasn't trusted him completley since...

Nature

Lots of sunflowers now!


Too bad they were all blown over in the storm from hell last night. Yeah, the one that blew over our tree.
Not that it was some big, hulking behemoth of an oak, but still...

Stronger and Stronger

This is what Chase does when he doesn't feel like sleeping now:



YAY!

July 4th Festivities (Photos)

Late. As always.

We went to the Symphony in the Park at Southpark Thursday night, where they did an American tribute and had fireworks afterwards. Awesome show. Except we couldn't get close enough to even see the orchestra. We were across the street and behind some trees. But the kids had fun, and we got to hang out with the Gallers. The main attraction was watching Ian and Leah roll down the hill repeatedly, either delighting or annoying the hell out of everyone else around us.






On Friday, Angelle made everyone some mean shepherd's pie and patriotic berry trifle, and then we went to the Larsen's church's farm out in the middle of nowhere, SC, to set off our own fireworks. It was the 3 culdesac families- Larsens, Gallers, and us, and it was really nice to just relax by the fire (with s'mores!), listen to Mike play the guitar, and watch Brandon and Bryan play pyrotechnics.








Happy 4th!

Quick Ianism

Had dinner at the McComas' tonight (thanks guys- we had fun!).

Ian and Alex were playing hide and seek. Alex is a much better hider than Ian is a seeker. So Bryan gave Ian a tip on where to find Alex, who was hiding in the dining room:

Ian: I found you!
Alex: How did you know where I was?
Ian: My daddy told me.
Alex: How did your daddy know where I was?
Ian: My daddy knows everything!

New Look

I took both boys with me to the hairdressers today... It really wasn't so bad.

Ian got his curls trimmed, then pushed Chase's stroller all over, and finally played with his "mirror friend" for the remainder of the time.

Chase watched, laughed at Ian, and ate pretzels.

I gave up on long-ish hair and went short. Like it? I feel so trendy :)

Captive

Chase is officially crawling now!! All fours :)

I have to close the baby gate now...all the time. How exciting is that?!?!

Bloom

Famous

The July/August newsletter for the DSAC is out today, and I counted 4 Chase pictures and 1 Ian. See if you can find them all!

More Park

Went to the park on Carmel Rd with the Gallers after the Jubilee. Chase is totally into swinging right now. And Ian is totally into being a clown.

Sweet Tea Jubilee!

I love living in the South. Because you get to go to festivals called the "Sweet Tea Jubilee".

Ian was a little tired- he fell asleep in the car on the way there, then rode into the festival like this:

It's times like this when it hits me how big he really is...

And it's times like this when I realize I can still carry Chase in the sling that I realize how little he really is:


Ian can go down this slide without getting the tuna salad scared out of him! Big step, because just a month ago he wouldn't even think about going on this slide at Monkey Joe's! (Tuna salad reference is for this book...sooooo cute!! Check it out!)

I love this shot of Chase...he's starting to get a little 'tude, and it shows!
Generally the "throw-the-kid-in-the-air-and-hope-you-catch-him" game scares me a wee bit, but this photo is cool, no?
OT at the Jubilee!!
Bryan made it to the top of the rock climbing wall!
And what is a Jubilee without Dora and Diego? Dora even noticed the remains of Ian's tattoo!

You may be wondering why there are no pictures of sweet tea. I'm not much of an iced tea drinker. Don't tell anyone...I think it's actually a crime in this area.

Park Photos

Went to the park last weekish with Angelle, Leah, and Erin. The kids were cute :)