June Playing and Sleeping

June just flew by, didn't it?! It was really HOT and HUMID out here, so this is what we spent much of the time doing....

As well as getting dirty! The first two pictures are of peanut butter body painting, the next is of a mud bath.



And when you play hard, you sleep hard!


Even on the floor....

Or in a wrap....


Or on a lap!

Naked Bats

The week before last I watched a friend's little girl during the day while she was out of town. After using the potty one afternoon, Eli did not want to put his pants back on. Trying to reason with him I said, "We don't walk around naked in front of our friends... that's embarrassing." Eli responded, "Bat's fly around naked - that's embarrassing too!" I busted up laughing. I have no idea where that came from, but he agreed to put his pants back on before leaving the bathroom.

Here are a few pictures from their adventures. Eli and Ivy got along surprisingly well... alternating between boy and girl games.

Hiding from "Sharks"

Playing Butterflies

Ocean in the Tub

Pretty Princesses

Princess Cake aka. Poptarts

Sailing to the Promised Land

Watching Curious George with their Babies

More Princess Cake

Dress up... Again

Ok, so it looks like girl games won out the majority of the time, but Eli and Owen didn't seem to mind! Ivy looks like she could be related to us, so I had fun pretending to have three kids. I think these boys could use a sister... what do you think?

Sleeping Acrobatics

Isn't it amazing the crazy positions that kids can sleep in? We sure have some cuddly boys in this house! I am now addicted to sneaking in and taking pictures of them when they are asleep (Daddy sometimes included). Eli and Owen share a queen sized bed... sometimes Daddy falls asleep in there with them when putting them to sleep. Owen eventually wakes up in the middle of the night and I bring him to our bed... then sometime early in the morning Eli comes in and gets in bed with us too (usually just before it's time to get up). So, we get the best of both worlds now - some privacy for a few hours while the boys cuddle, then lots of family snuggle time... I love it! Someday I hope for sweet pictures of them snuggling their own babies.





*Edited to add 2 more pictures... I told you I'm obsessed! =)

Swimming Suit Season

Are you ready for a good laugh? I was going through my swimming stuff this weekend - trying on my new suit to be sure I wanted to keep it and getting rid of old stuff. The boys had to get involved of course. They each picked out a suit to try on and insisted they get to wear them - so yes I'm the one who helped get them on, but this was THEIR idea!


Pretty groovy huh?! I guarantee they look cuter in them than I do! =)

Scary Dream

Eli has been having nightmares here and there lately, and they seem to be recurring... He comes into our room at some point almost every night, and some of the time will tell us that he is scared because of a "scary tree" that has either fallen on him or chased him. One night last week, he uncharacteristically got up and started wandering the dark hallway, sobbing. When Brad went to get him, he got hysterical (also unusual since he usually comes to Brad when he wakes up in the night). I got up and was able to comfort him and take him back to his own bed, where he fell asleep. The next morning I talked to him about it. I pointed out that he had been crying in the night because he was scared, and I asked if he remembered why... this is the story I got:

There was a big, scary tree. And I was alone. And I was sad, because I can't find you. Then at last, I was home. And you were sleeping in the bed! (Eli, age 3 yrs 3 months).

I could not contain my giggles at his exceptional re-telling! I of course have sympathy for him, because I was plagued by nightmares and fear of the dark throughout my childhood (probably until 12 or so!) - I think it comes from an active imagination. Anyway, I really don't know what initiated the scary tree, but I'm sure we haven't seen the last of it!

***Edited to Add: I didn't make it clear in the first paragraph that Eli is NOT having nightmares every night... he IS coming into our room every night, but I think just because he gets cold or lonely or what have you.... what I mean by recurring nightmare is that when he does have them, it's always about this said tree. So yes, I feel bad for him for having any night time fear, but at the moment it is not at all excessive. What most struck me about this dream was how he narrated it, which I thought was funny.

Dumpster Diving

I couldn't find my cell phone the other day, so I used Brad's phone to call it. It took me a few minutes to locate the ringing - it was coming from the bottom of our deep kitchen garbage can. Owen has been fascinated with opening and closing the garbage can lately, but I hadn't realized he was throwing things in it! While rescuing my phone, I also came across a few of the kids' balls, stuffed animals and cars down in there, which got me thinking.... we'd been missing a few wooden balls from their pound and roll toy, so this morning I went through the full bag of garbage that had already been placed in the garage. Sifting through smelly garbage in search of mystery lost items is really not my idea of a party! The good news is, I found the balls - along with a bib, some of MY socks, eye shadow, some cars, a bird, wooden farm beads, and a necklace. The bad news is, I think I finally know what happened to our Cars and Thomas Train dvds, as well as two more pound and roll balls that have been gone for a while.... I think those are gone forever in the dump somewhere! So now my kitchen garbage is up on top of the counter until I can get something to secure the lid with. Good times!


Though I don't have pictures for this one, Owen's other fixation is the toilet... apparently he has seen me rinsing cloth diapers in it because he keeps throwing clothing, rags, clean diapers, shoes, mirrors, toys and various other items in it whenever he can. He is dangerous to have in the bathroom when I'm trying to help Eli use the toilet, because that's inevitably when he gets to it while I'm tied up helping his brother. Mischevious is his middle name!

It Lives!

My camera is back! And it seems to be working this time! Here are a few pics from this week... haven't you missed these?

One day during Owen's nap, Eli wanted to play baby. We pretended he was my newborn and I held and rocked him and said sweet things... then he wanted to be wrapped. So we took a bunch of funny pics of ourselves and laughed together. It was a nice day.

My little artists!

Finally, pictures of my heart-attacked car!Owen's various stylish looks - First, peanut butter face.

Next, super bed head.

And of course, the pink and black beads (thanks Aunt Aubrey)!

I LOVE it when Daddy comes home - as soon as the boys hear the garage door open they head for the stairs shrieking "Daddy's home!" It's our favorite part of the day! Poor guy had to go back and forth from work this entire weekend... it was tiring but at least we managed to get him to church and home for dinner!

My little helper.

PS - Eli go to say the prayer in Primary today for the first time... it was one of those moments that had me welling up. We was so brave and went right on up there in front of all those big scary kids and said a sweet little prayer. I couldn't really hear him, but I felt wonderfully proud of him anyway!