The Sweetest Things.

I love my boys.  When I'm at work, I often think about how good I have it.  I work at a high school and the things I have seen and heard and dealt with lately have been quite depressing.  So when I'm at home, I am so excited about the two little lives in front of me.  How innocent they are, and silly, and just completely in the moment.  They make me laugh out loud.  Yesterday in the car, on the way home from school, Ollie was screaming at the top of his lungs (because he likes to be loud), "Ollllllieeeeee LOUD".  Literally screaming this, and then laughing at himself, and then scream it again.  Drew, however, did not find this funny at all.  He had his hands over his ears in the backseat, telling me to "make him stop." I told Ollie, "Ollie, Drew is sad when you scream loudly.  Can you please stop for Drew?"  He turned and looked at Drew and said, "Sorry, Drew."  Then, I looked in the rearview mirror and Ollie was pretend screaming, "Ollie loud" - mouthing the words, and chuckling to himself.  Too funny.  These are the moments I live for.

They are such sweet things.  I swear I could have asked Ollie to be quiet but he wouldn't have done it for me, only for his big brother does he do things like that.  They have a bond for each other like no other.

So, today is valentine's day.  They had fun parties at school, at lots of treats and were excited about the valentine's they received from all their classmates.  Tonight at dinner we exchanged cards and I got the boys (all of them) a heart shaped box of chocolates.  I told Ollie and Drew they could eat 'til their hearts content because it's Valentine's Day.  I thought for sure they would have devoured the whole box, but they didn't.  In fact, after one chocolate Drew said, "I'll save the rest for later."  He neatly closed up his box and is saving it for later.  Ollie, on the other hand, took a small bite out of each piece of chocolate in the box and put them back one by one.  I had to help him get the top back on because he couldn't figure it out.  Mike ate most of his box.  Even if I didn't watch them all eat their chocolates, there is no doubt I could tell whose is whose.

I received some absolutely gorgeous sunflowers that Drew and Mike promptly cut and put into a vase, and Ollie helped put the water in the vase.  They are very pretty.  I'll also say that I'm sick....again....and Mike brought home some delicious Panera soup for me to eat and now I'm going to take some Nyquil before bed.  So romantic.  You know you have a good man when he's bringing home soup and flowers.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Ollie's

Drew's

Dad's

Mom's

And a few pictures of us just goofing around after dinner.

Lazy weekends...

We had a great weekend hanging out around the house.  Here are a few precious moments to remember.

Drew loves playing IPad games.  Some are actually pretty neat and educational.  Ollie still lacks the patience and attention to play the IPad, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have the passion.  Some times Drew has to find a quiet place behind a chair to play without Ollie pushing random buttons.  Of course Ollie still found him on this occasion and crawled behind the chair with him before being shoo'ed out.  Little brothers...sheesh, am I right?  

This photo may not demonstrate it, but Ollie is doing really well without his pacifier throughout most of the day.  He is only allowed to have it upstairs.  So when he is upstairs, sometimes he needs a little extra paci "umph" to make up for the time he's gone without it.

Sunday afternoon after naps, we needed to get out of the house.  So, being Atlanta in February, we donned our hats and mittens, and went for a bike ride.  On this particular ride, Drew and Ollie learned the joy of the downhill run.  All the way down the big hill on our street, Drew yelled, "Weeeeee!" and Ollie had his uncontrolled giggle.  Why, though, is it that Mom and Dad had to do all the work then to get them back up the hill?  I didn't get a picture of it, but by the end of the ride the kids switched hogs, mainly I guess for the novelty of the others ride.  Ollie just couldn't quite reach the peddles on the trike, but rang the handle bar bell unceasingly all the way home.



Naturally after the bike ride, an argument ensued about just whose turn it was to ride the Thomas-the-train power wheels.  The machine was given to Drew on his second birthday, but he promptly offered it to Ollie at that time.  Drew has now since reclaimed it.  So we are still waiting on a Supreme Court hearing to decide to whom exactly Thomas belongs.

Random, Unexpected Momments

We don't need to see another amateur video of random police beatings on the evening news to know we live in the world of instant video.  I bet every one of you reading this post has a camera in their pocket right now.  Well, when was the last time you flipped through all those Kodak moments?  As a diversion at dinner one night while we waited for our service, I gave the kids my camera-phone to flip through all the old photos I have stored on it (after all who doesn't like to see pictures of themselves?).  It made me think about all the great moments in life that we captured.  The most interesting thing about the camara-phone is that it is the tool of choice for those random, unexpected moments in life that occur when you don't have a traditional camera handy.  So here is a little snippet of some of those special moments I pulled off our camera-phones (in no particular order).

Drew's friend, Jacob, came over to play one evening.

Sheep came to my office one day to do some land clearing.

Hanging around the house in our underwear is a favorite activity.

This is actually our back yard, I think I have a little yard work to do.

The bench outside Chili's.  They're always happiest with full bellies.

Our favorite activity at Publix: bakery cookies, and racing down the empty aisles, especially in pajamas.  

The park swings.

Showing the kid's the thrill of the "Underdog" push.

Hiding, naked, in the closet...every evening.

Dirty-laundry swimming.

We love to watch the carousel at the mall, riding it...not so much.

Watching the 3D TV's at Fry's.

Snack Time!

Hiding...again.

We love Murphy.

Ollie way up in the McDonald's bubble.

Two too cool dudes.

Waiting for our food at Taco Mac

What can I say about this?  Elizabeth went on a girls' weekend to Gatlinburg.

Our National Bird

With two kids doing breathing treatments multiple times a day, and with each one taking 15 to 20 minutes a pop, we thought it wise to get our friend Panda Bear a buddy.  To help personalize the routine, I told Drew he had to give the new nebulizer a name.  Hey, he couldn't do any worse at naming toys then we have: his bear is named Bear, his monkey is named Monkey, his blue bear is named Blue Bear, you get the idea.  So naturally he named it Cuckoo Penguin.

Welcome to the family Cukoo Penguin, even though you're a bald eagle.