We’ve had a lot of fun so far this summer playing outside and enjoying some great weather.  One of our highlights was the night we camped out in our new tent in the backyard.   We had a lot of fun reading stories (all camping or sleeping related ), checking out the stars and just hanging out.  We even managed to get some sleep – although I’ve realized my body just can’t handle the hard ground like I did when I was a Girl Scout oh so many years ago!

Zach and Alex were really excited to play sports this summer, joining a Preschool Sports program where they get to play a little bit of soccer and a little bit of tee-ball.  They had soccer the first couple weeks and just loved it.  They both looked really good and had a blast doing it.  They were just non-stop all over the place (not a huge surprise, knowing them).  The tee-ball portion started this week, and again, they had a ton of fun.   I think they’re especially proud to be out playing baseball just like their big brother.

Speaking of big brother and baseball, Cole’s baseball team had a great regular season, finishing first in their league!  The playoffs are this week, and they won their first playoff game tonight!  Yeah, Cole!

In totally separate news, both Zach and Alex are finally potty trained.  Yeah! No more diapers!!  Zach was finally motivated to do it once he realized that he had to use the potty if he wanted to go to preschool in the fall.  It’s funny what motivates kids sometimes, but hey, whatever works!

New photos on the site include pictures from our camping trip, all three boys playing their sports, a fun afternoon playing with squirt guns at Grandma Pat and Papa Bob’s, and more.  Check them out in the May – June 2009 photo album.

Tags: Alex, baseball, camping, Cole, family outing, soccer, summer, Zach

Wow, it’s crazy how fast a couple months can fly by!  I’ve finally gotten around to posting all the photos from the past couple months.  Some have been up on the site for a while, as you may have seen from the changes in Recent Photos, but I never got around to publishing the links to them.  The highlights:

• Cole’s 14th Birthday: Grandma Pat and Papa Bob came by to celebrate with us, and after having cake and opening presents, we all went bowling, a fun birthday present courtesy of Grandpa Dan and Grandma Marilyn. Even Debbie and Ben joined in the fun.
• Mar – Apr 2009:
  - My birthday, which I celebrated by making a donation to Locks of Love with 11 inches of my hair.  We also spent a day at Mom and Dad’s house.
  - Trip to the Children’s Museum to see the Clifford the Big Red Dog exhibit along with the usual fun stuff. It was Cole’s spring break, so he joined us, as did Grandma Pat.
  - Easter: the egg hunt in town, a visit from the Easter Bunny, and special Easter baskets from Grandpa Dan and Grandma Marilyn
  - Baseball: Zach & Alex get their first gloves, and Cole’s first game of the season
  - Alex wears big boy underwear for the first time after staying dry for 2 days!  He was really excited to wear his new Star Wars underwear.

Tags: Alex, baseball, birthday, Cole, Easter, family outing, Grandma Pat, milestones, Papa Bob, potty training, Zach

Alex, Cole & Zach at the concert

Zach and Alex turned 3 on January 29th, so we all helped them celebrate the big day.  The Sunday before their birthday, Grandma Pat, Papa Bob, Debbie and her boyfriend, Ben, came over for a little party.  The boys had a ton of fun opening their presents, although they were a little confused as to why no one else had presents like at Christmas.  They got a bunch of great games, cars and other toys and even got a set of their very own tractors! After opening the presents, the boys went downstairs to try out the tractors and some of the games. To cap off the day, we had a chocolate chip cake with chocolate frosting that was decorated with Star Wars figures, which they thought was pretty darn cool.

Their checkup was on the 28th, and they are doing great, although they are of course still skinny.  Zach measured in at 25 lb 15 oz (under 5th percentile) and 36.75 inches tall (30th percentile).  Alex was 26 lb 8 oz (under 5th percentile) and 37 inches tall (30th percentile).  Both of those marks are pretty consistent for them so far.  They are doing great in development too – they exceeded most of the development marks expected at their age, esp with speech and reading, and the only thing on the list they couldn’t do yet was pedal a trike, which they are close to doing.

On the day of their birthday, Debbie surprised them with a breakfast treat of donuts and then Joe took them to the Children’s Museum.  They wore little “Birthday Boy” buttons that they had picked out at the store – they were SOOOO excited to wear them (their “ties” as they called them).  They’ve been working really hard at holding up just three fingers and telling people how old they are.

We of course have a ton of pictures that we took, and they’ve all been posted in the Zach and Alex’s 3rd Birthday album.  There are also a number of pictures in the new Jan – Feb 2009 album, including photos from Cole’s recent band concert.  Cole’s band did a fantastic job – we were all so proud of him!

Also, I never posted the link to it, so if you’re interested, you can check out the Christmas 2008 album to get a peek at our celebration.

Tags: Alex, birthday, checkup, Cole, concert, milestones, Zach