Summertime Fun

We have been very busy since summer started a couple weeks ago! Some big things going on and some things just hanging around. Here is what we have been up to...

First... SAMMY LOST HIS FIRST TOOTH!!

His tooth has been loose for what seems like FOREVER! Finally, yesterday morning, he was playing with Otis and trying to teach Otis how to fetch. He bit a ball (not a dog toy) trying to show Otis how to fetch. When he did, it pushed on the tooth and he nervously came down to me... the pictures below chronicle the event.

He was so excited. He made the Tooth Fairy a card to thank her for coming and put his tooth in an envelope. He said, "It''s no fair I can't keep my tooth!" but he followed the tradition of giving his tooth up anyway.

What a face!

Putting his card and his tooth under his pillow.

So excited and now he is ready to go to sleep so the Tooth Fairy can come.

Well, maybe a bit too excited to fall asleep right away!

JT also made the Tooth Fairy a card. In his card, he asked her if she could please give him a loose tooth. He was a little sad she wasn't coming to visit both of them!

Putting his card under his pillow.

And Ready for bed.

In the morning Sam came downstairs with this from the Tooth Fairy... Very excited! He got 5 dollars and a bunch of change. He grabbed his piggy bank and tucked it all safely away.

JT also got a note from the Tooth Fairy and she was nice enough to leave him a penny.

Hanging Around the House.

This is breakfast the other morning. All the boys eating together.

Of course, we need to be silly.

Eli LOVES Ritz crackers.

The other day, I was folding laundry in my room. I put Eli in the Pack-n-Play. It didn't take long for Sam and JT to join him in there. Eli was all too happy to share!

Eli in his highchair.

This is what he does when he is done eating. He pushes his head to the side and refuses another bite.

Sam watching Dad make a Saturday morning breakfast.

Dad outdid himself this Saturday and made Mickey Pancakes. They were almost too cute to eat!

Eli and Murph - Murphy is so good with the boys and Eli Loves him. Unfortunately he is shedding rather badly and Eli always ends up with handfuls of hair! Gross!

But he doesn't sit still for long!

His favorite forbidden spot...the Pantry! Anytime the door is left open he does his "run-crawl" to get there before we can close it!

He thinks he is sooo cool in there. :)
There was an incident involving Otis and a roll of Duct Tape. I am not allowed to go into the details, but let's just say it took at least 20 minutes to get it off!!
Eli plays hard and sleeps hard too.
Yes, he fell asleep while jumping! And this isn't the first time it has happened!
The boys glued to the computer screen. They were watching a show on it.
Hanging out with Friends.

We have had a lot of playdates since the summer started. Some of them with school friends and others with our best buddies. Here the boys are playing with the Lee's and I grabbed the camera to take some shots.

A rare picture of me with one of my kiddos! I am usually behind the camera.
Sam practicing diving.
JT diving too.
Arwen and Gavin. :)
Eli and Gavin

playing together.
JT and Jordan.

I came in and found them like this watching a show and sharing Jordan's blanket. So sweet.

Sam and Jackson.

Playing Chess on the computer.
The Lee's have a matching pair for everyone of our boys. They can play for hours!

The other day I watched the boys for a while. Gavin came over wearing the same onsie Eli was wearing. This actually happens a lot! Here Eli is stealing Gavin's binky while he is busy.

An Impromptu Project.

Last weekend Matt redid our downstairs powder room. It may have been a result of the tag team effort of both JT and I. The bathroom has been a mess for a while. The toilet paper roll fell off and has been replaced so many times that it doesnt work any more. The same for the hand towel rack. So... JT was going to the bathroom inthere and he was playing with a circle ring that goes to the toilet paper holder. It ended up falling in (surprise, surprise). When he told me about it, I looked into the dirty water and saw it on the bottom. I was NOT about to put my hand in there and reasoned that it being metal would surely NOT go down the drain when I flushed it... I was wrong. Ooops! Things went from bad to worse. So, Matt ended up sayinghe was going to replace the toilet... Then as long as he was doing that, he might as well replace the toilet paper holder and the towel rack, and if he was doing that he might as well paint the AWFUL gold squiggles and finally he thought if he was going to do all that he would change out all the fixtures to silver since neither of us like gold... here it is...

Looks great, huh!? That is because he had some pretty great helpers.

All changed into their large white T-shirts and ready to paint!

They were so happy with themselves. And LOVE using that bathroom now.

CATERPILLARS ----BUTTERFLIES

As one of the learning experiences we are doing this summer we decided to get live caterpillars and watch them grow into butterflies. Thank you to the commercials... livebutterflygarden.com! Anyway, it has worked out good so far.

When them came, there were so little and grew quite large right in front of our eyes. I got a picture as they were starting to go to the top of the container and attach themselves.

It was soo cool.... we actually got to see a couple of them get into their chrysallis. It takes about 45 seconds, and they are completely covered. The boys have been keeping a journal of it. Just look at their faces in this picture!

Once they all formed their chrysallis, we needed to transport them to the butterfly net. It was a very daunting task because you need to be extremely careful that they didn't come off the paper and fall! Matt helped me with this. And here they are in the net. They were like this for about 5 days.

Last night one was shaking and we thought we would definitely witness one coming out of its chrysallis, but it never happened. When we woke up this morning.. .there were 3 butterflies! Now we have to feed them. First you have to make a sugar water mixture, then you need to put the sugar water on flowers, or tissue. The boys are getting the food ready for the butterflies here.

It's not surprising that Sam takes this very seriously, is it?

Here are our 3 butterflies. A little hard to see. We are sure the other 7 will be making an appearance in the next day or so. It is all very exciting!

We will be sure to write more about them when they are all hatched. Just please cross your fingers that none lay eggs and I have to do this all over again! As I was reading the instructions, it said it was a possibility... don't you think that should be a disclaimer BEFORE you purchase them!!

Oh well, the boys have loved every minute of it, so I can't complain!

Tomorrow we have summer movies and more time with our friends. We are busy getting ready for Ya-Ya and Poppy to visit and of course the 4th birthday and birthday pirate pool party for our little JT.

Until next time...

School's Out For SUMMER!!

I know I am a couple weeks late on this post, but better late than never! I thought you were supposed to have more time on your hands when summer came!? We have been going non-stop. I will blog about that later, but first I need to share the boys at the end of school performances.

We started off the last week of school on Tuesday with JT's Summer Birthday celebration. Since he would not be in school on his birthday, he brought in cupcakes to share with the class. He chose Shrek 4 cupcakes because it was the new movie out then. He was so cute in his little birthday crown and all! I got there early and took a couple of shots of him playing outside with his classmates at recess.

On Tuesday Night, Sammy's class was asked to perform at the 8th grade promotion ceremony. His class sung and signed, Imagine by John Lennon. It was amazing. Here he is with his classmates and teacher.

Our shy little man.

Signing the song.

Our festivities continued on Wednesday when Sammy had his end of the year performance in his classroom. I tear up just thinking about it still! He is so big and we could not be prouder of him!! We have a bunch of videos under to show what he did. They do not do it justice. It was completely kid run. His teacher, Mrs. Sanguigni was absolutely amazing and this performance was just the culmination of a wonderful experience.

This is the page Sam illustrated in the book they gave to their teacher.

Video of them signing "The Days of the Week"

Video of Sam's speaking part. :) He was so nervous but he got up there and said it loud and clear. You may not really know how difficult that was for him, but I can tell you... it took a lot of courage on his part. Again, so proud.

Mrs. Sanguigni asked each of the kids what they wanted to be when they grew up. I had no idea what Sam would say... He always surprises me.

Finally, the class gift to their parents was the singing and signing of "Its a Wonderful World." Again, I was in tears. I am in awe of everything Sam learned this year. This was just another example of that. :)

The end of the performance... JT couldn't wait to give him a big hug.

Brothers. :)

Eli was there too. :)

A picture with his wonderful teacher, Mrs. Sanguigni. JT didn't want to be left out!!

So, we had to zoom in a bit to get a solo shot. :) Sorry, buddy!

This was the last piece of homework Sam did for his teacher. He could create a mind map about anything. He chose his teacher. Like I said, she was pretty great!

On to our final day of school... Thursday.

We made the teacher movie gift bags for their end of the school year present. JT was so excited to give them to his teachers. Here he is going into his classroom.

And giving them to the teachers. You can't see his face, but he is beaming.

A picture of what they looked like.... Movie passes and some candy.

JT had his final performance and party on this day. Here he is playing Candyland with one of his teachers.

And decorating a cookie to eat. :)

On the carpet with his friends.

His buddy Owen... Great pic! I had to include it! This was after one of their songs.

JT singing... "First to The Wedding was Mr. Pig." Gotta love that smile. :) He is right next to his buddy Jordan in this clip. They have so much fun together.

Here they are singing "Zip-a-dee-doo-daa" This is especially nice because it is the theme song to the infamous, Splash Mountain, in Disney. He has been waiting and waiting to be big enough, and he is pretty close. Here he is with his buddies.... Jordan, Owen and Cody. The cute little girl with the red flower in her hair is Ella, JT's share friend. I should have gotten a picture of them together, but I forgot.

This song is "Slippery Fish." He has been singing this song for weeks, only I had no idea what it was from. I was sure he kept singing ... Great White Truck... but really it was Great White Shark! Still adorable!

Finally, His teacher, "Aunt Bridgett," had a few words to say about our little guy. He was so shy, which no one would expect out of JT. But he seemed to really enjoy himself this year in preschool. We are so proud of him too.

Of course, Eli was there too. He is so good... always along for the ride!

JT with his gift from his teacher.

And JT with "Aunt Bridgett"

What a smile.

Now, Eli may not have a school to go to with an end of the year performance, but he is growing right along too. This was a few weeks ago now, but as soon as he started to crawl, he was pulling himself up on things. The Kid's Computer is one of his favorite spots!!

You can't see it, but he is looking at Sam. He LOVES his brothers!!! They are his favorite.

Of course, he is keeps advancing with every day. He is getting too big like the other two! This morning he actually let go of me and stood for a few seconds alone! I will have more pictures of that later.

But WOW... Why do they have to grow so fast!!?