Gargles

 "Gargles" is what C calls goggles.  We got some new ones at the store this week, and they have been a constant in our household.  C has worn them mostly nonstop (to the point that they start fogging up, but he will still wear them anyway!).  He also found out that they hang nicely on Tatum's hook of a tail. 

 Goggles while making Play-Doh birthday cakes

 

 Goggles while throwing water balloons in the pool

 

 Goggles in the car

 And even goggles on Tatum

PBS

This week, H (and C, sort of) attended VBS (H calls it PBS), and had a great time!  H really was the only one who officially attended, but C ended up loving the singing and moves so much that we started staying for the opening and closing activities each day.  

The theme was Agency D3 and was all about secret agents and spies, and so H has been all about secret agents and secret codes and such all week long! 

 C practicing the theme song.  It required sunglasses to complete the secret agent look.  H wasn't big on doing the moves while at VBS, he was more into watching, but when we were home, he knew every move and taught them all to C.

C (and all of the kids) practicing.  

I'm so thankful for these programs that help plant and grow such seeds of faith into the kids hearts.  I know H had a great time, and came home telling me some great Bible stories.  I know he would love to go to VBS again and again if he could!

 H's class performing "More than just a good man."  He was singing this song almost constantly all week long!

 H's class performing.

 Secret Agent H!

 

Snapshots

 H has been drawing pictures, taping them to the window, and then spraying them down to see what happens.  He loves his art!  I have been saving H's art for the last couple of years, but didn't know exactly what to do with the growing pile of papers and projects.  I took pictures of all of the art and then made a book on Shutterfly.  H loves looking through it and remembers what most of them are of.  Now, I have all of his wonderful art saved, but without the humongous pile!  I've started a file on my computer for his next book and for an art book for C too.

 Water balloons, hoses, buckets of water...

More than enough to keep four kids busy for an afternoon.

 H, having fun with a pool noodle in our pool. 

 Someone down the street was getting rid of a simple swing set, so now we have a swing set!  The boys love it!

 Pre- Fourth of July Fire works.  So much fun!

We went swimming at a friend's pool, but had to abandon it for a bit because of the huge thunderstorm that happened all of the sudden.  Otter pops and silliness while the storm passed kept the boys happy while they waited.  

The Furry Files

 This very furry moth was on our door when we came home one day.  We thought he looked like he should be in a moth circus.

 These two... 

These two love each other, they snuggle together, play together, ignore each other, fight with each other, and annoy each other (just like two other little boys I know!).  Tatum naps in his kennel, and Horton has taken to either crawling in with him or climbing on top and messing with him. 

 Basking in the morning sun

Enjoying an evening walk.  

It's a good life.

Snapshots

 Riding the Merry Go Round at the mall

 (H still calls it the "Mini Mare," not sure why)

The bald eagle is one of his favorites to ride on.  

 Watching the tractors work to fit a pipe and fill in the ditch at PawPaw's house.  

H went inside to watch a tv show and be with Missy, but C would have stayed outside to watch the tractor work all day if he could have!

 Swimming!  

I'm so thankful for our blow up pool.  Every afternoon the boys play and play and play in it! Our neighbor left her "garglers" (what C calls goggles), and noodles, and the boys were having fun with them.

 Picking out books and now DVD's from the library. 

 Serious business!

 Another fun "expericent" (experiment) at the library.  They made Floam (slime with little foam balls in it).  They added water to borax and glue, then added food coloring and squished it all together in the bag until it became slime.  Fun experiment, and they have played with it at home so much (I have too!).

Friday night, pizza night! 

Cars 2 was coming on TV, so we got Johnny's pizza and had a picnic in the living room while watching it.  The perfect end to the week!

Pop and SweetHart, part two

 I love this picture!  I think he was actually trying to keep the boys from arguing and getting rough with each other at bedtime, but it made for a great picture!

 Doing "guy" stuff, Pop was helping C figure out some of the new tools from his birthday.  Did I mention that C likes tools?  He got a motorized drill that actually works!

 Working on a Kiwi Crate art project with SweetHart, this was H's drawing.  His drawings are no longer stick figures and the eyes have pupils and the noses have nostrils, but they end up looking a little interesting...

 We did so much while Pop and SweetHart were here, playing, swimming, cooking, walking, Black Bayou, Jimmie Davis, birthday party, snuggling, reading, loving and more!  I bet we wore y'all out!

Sending them off at the airport.  

We miss you already!

Three (3!!) years old

I can't believe that this little one is three years old now!  He came into the world fast, and looking back, it is so funny to see that his personality was present even before he could talk!

  He is a peaceful little boy who likes to do his own thing, he never sits still for too long, he loves playing with balls, he likes to look at and play with vehicles, he loves his tools (even sleeps with them), FROZEN!!!, he likes to "hold you" (be held), he takes awhile to warm up to new people even though he says hello and waves to strangers, he loooooves hats and garglers (goggles/binoculars), loves glasses too, he loves cozy clothes (jersey fabric anything) and pretty shirts (shirts with letters/pictures on them), he loves guys (especially his grandfathers), he is improving from being a frastratingly slow eater, he doesn't have a whole lot of time for art, he loves to be silly with his brother, and I just love all of the things that make him him!

I'm going to do like I did for H's birthday post this year and write some of the funny things he says throughout the day.

 (on his first birthday)

Tatum is parking (barking) at something.

Tatum wants his phone (bone.)

After H had told us at lunch about the Sunday School lesson of Jesus walking on the water, C chimed in with "I walked on the water, but I didn't walk into you" and then made a tiny ball out of his Peanute Butter and Honey sandwich and put it in his ear.

 C has a "little sword" (actually part of the anchor from an Octonauts boat) and he carries it around a lot.  After seeing the Easter Bunny at his school, he said he was going to bring it the next day to "sword him."  He means business!

 (two years old)

After parking his scooter after a ride, C told it "Good scooter bike, thank you."

"You don't bite boots"

"Three of my ears are hurting."

 

(three years old)

Me: What is your favorite day of the week?

C: pepperoni!

He calls his swim shorts his "swim lessons"

He calls his shorts "short pants"

He was going a little wild in the living room, I asked him what he was doing, and he said "I'm dancing with my booty."

Me:  C, do you see that tractor?  There's a man on it."

C: I want to hug him!

He calls small things "bitty little" (instead of little bitty)

 

 (at his birthday party at Kiroli park)

"When I'm old, I'll be Harrison."

"I want to do my (car) buckle by myself because I love Frozen."

 (For months C has been telling me that he wanted to ride a train for his birthday, it started after getting stuck at a train crossing several mornings in a row on the way to school/work and watching the train go by.  There isn't a local place to ride a big train, so Kiroli has a big train car that kids can climb on, and our sweet friend Amy (Alex's mama) made a train cupcake cake for him)  He seemed pretty happy with the arrangement.)

"I'm not sad at you, I'm happy to you!"

If he is joking with you (he loves to make people laugh) he says "I'm funny at you!"

C likes to do things "wisgeder" (together)

 (opening presents)

"ABCDEFGHIKKelephantP...."

"My body is round"

"Tatum has a wipe (white) shirt!"

If he is not really liking the meal, he asks for someone to "feesh me" (feed me).

"Tatum says "woof, woof, nerd!""

(I think he got stuck on the word nerd after eating some of the candy, for awhile everything was "____ nerd.") 

(Hot and sweaty after playing at the park).

I'm thinking three will be a good year! 

Swim Lessons

 The boys spent the first couple of weeks of summer in swim lessons at their school.  They loved it!  H kept asking me when it would be "summer bacation" and I think he was thinking summer vacation would be a specific event (just the lack of school was not quite enough for him...) so we sort of emphasized swim lessons as being the start of summer "bacation."  

They had an awesome teacher, Miss Shada, who teaches first grade in my parish and I taught her daughter piano lessons after school.  She said she's taught swim lessons for about six years, and it is obvious, she is a great teacher, with a lot of fun tricks up her sleeve!

We were not allowed to watch swim lessons until the last day.  I did manage to sneak a couple of pictures here and there, but all of these are from the last day of swim lessons.

 

 Lined up and ready for lessons!  This is four of the eight that were in the boys class. 

H is winking at me in the picture!

 H floating in the water, definitely floating was not the swimmers favorite part.  She not only taught them swimming skills, but also "self help" skills if they became uncomfortable in a pool, some tips for how to safely get themselves out of the pool.

 C making bubbles in the water and doing "superman arms" from the lifeguard Caleb to Miss Shada.  C was definitely the youngest swimmer in the class.  He made the cutoff age for swimming by two days. 

 Some videos of my little swimmers:

(If you are not a grandparent, please don't feel obligated to watch!!)

 H jumping in

 C's turn!

The little swimmers!  They learned all sorts of lessons!  Blowing bubbles, kicking feet, floating, bouncing in the pool, how to climb out of the pool by themselves, treading water (with butterfly arms and bicycle feet) and more!  They received a certificate with a picture of themselves in the pool and a Ring Pop too!  Definitely not swimming totally by themselves yet, but they learned so much! 

Black Bayou and Jimmie Davis

 SweetHart, leading the boys in some discovery/observation at Black Bayou.

Of course, a SweetHart visit would not be complete without a visit to Black Bayou.  We all love it there, and so me and the boys visit regularly and just must take SweetHart and Pop each time they come too!

 They noticed several frogs while we were there (can you find it?)

 Love these two!  What great parents and grandparents they are. 
Me and Pop had a couple of conversations about "there goes Mom again..."  she is ever the naturalist!

 Looking for things in the Bayou.  After swim lessons and a walk around Black Bayou in the summer time, both boys were getting a little tired, so Pop had to help C out.  And H was less inclined to stop and look at every exciting discovery. 

While Pop and SweetHart were here, my cousin and her family happened to be staying at Jimmie Davis state park nearby, and my Uncle and Aunt were in town too, so we just had to go see them!  I didn't get a picture of everyone together (I wish I had) but did manage to get a few pictures of the boys (and SweetHart) in the lake.  

 Happy to be in the water

 Practicing his skills from swim lessons and collecting mussel shells from the bottom of the lake.  Before we left he probably had about 50 or so shells, and wanted to bring ALL of them home.  We talked him down to just a few...

 Swimming!  C was practicing his skills too!

Worn out!  Lots of family and fun will wear a little boy (and his grandmother) out!