September

This is supposed to be the calm before the storm that is having a new baby.  But it has felt pretty crazy.  Stephen has been working super long hours, Danny is convinced that during any sort of thunderstorm he can keep me hostage in the basement, and Davy has wild craft ambitions that require reams of paper, tape, glue, glitter, lamination, markers, and/or paint.

Danny's new phrase is "turn eyes off" as in: turn your eyes off and stop watching my naughtiness.  I have also made a list of ridiculous reasons I have been woken up after midnight this last year:

Davy-"I think I am feeling a little bit lonely."
Danny- Cries and gestures until I put a bandaid on his perfectly healthy arm.
Davy-"My armpits are wet!"
Danny- Cries and points to the candy drawer.  Wants nothing else.
Davy- "There is a hand in my closet"
Danny- Cries because he cannot hold his elmo book and three trains comfortably.


This is how much they care about their antics. 

So this also happened.  Stephen did a warrior dash with his residency buddies which involved running a few miles, jumping over flames, and a lot of mud. He came home unscathed, but with his glasses at the bottom of a mud pit.

 Usually best buds

 Viking Zorro

I have also been working on some sewing projects.  I finished a quilt for the new baby and some dresses. I feel like every frivolous fabric purchase I have made has been vindicated.  

Summer 2014

Mostly pictures today.  We are so excited to have a baby girl!  Before we left to the ultrasound Davy said, "I know it will be a boy because we have only boy stuff at home."  We were all surprised!

This is the cute picture I posted on Facebook

This was more the reality of the moment. Danny really wanted to be the heart holder.

I racked up some babysitting points with a friend and spent the morning at the mall.  It is so strange to shop on the girl's side.  I picked out a cute outfit to take her home in.  

 The whole summer has been great, we have had amazing weather and have had tons of adventure days.

Botanical Gardens

 Daily Dress ups

 Danny turned two!  He has definitely started to take control of his life.  He teeters between unbelievable cute and unbelievably difficult.  He has a few words now and is picking up new ones all the time.  Today's word was "go" in the command form.  He found a roll of floss and was busy unrolling it. I sat down next to him and he commanded me to leave so I wouldn't put a stop to his fun.  He has also mastered "stuuuuuck!"  "stuuuuuuck!"  which he uses after he gets wedged in the couch or trying to creep under his bed.  He still loves to cozy next to me and read board books, and he loves to sing songs at night together.

 Grant's Farm

d

 Fourth of July: we went to the parade in the morning, a bbq for dinner, and fireworks at night.  We had a blast, but were all overtired and grouchy the next day.  

 Davy has been obsessed with perler beads and has been making lots of new projects.  So far we have made the master sword, a lightsaber, this fish bowl, and a batarang.  I love that he is able to spend a long time concentrating on each project and it is fun to do together.

Jam doesn't make a single sound

I have to prepare a talk for Sunday, finish two preschool lessons for next week, make dinner, and fold the laundry, so I felt like it was the perfect time to update the blog.  The boys are changing all the time.  Davy is turning into a big kid and Danny is starting to speak and be tricky. Danny is learning new tricks every day.  He doesn't seem to get too frustrated by life, but instead looks for a way to solve his problem.  Yesterday he spent five minutes pulling a huge chair to the back door so he could take a closer look at the lock hoping for a little freedom.  He carries a step stool all around the house and makes sure all the light switches are still working.  He feels totally free to go to the fridge and take out something to eat.  Usually I hear Davy warning me, "Danny is chewing on a whole block of cheese!" or "He's got the cereal come quick!"  We have had two big bags of cereal upended all over the floor.  I usually find Danny trying to swim in it with a huge grin.  I also have stopped prompting him to say Uh-Oh because he doesn't like to say it out of context.  Asking him to say it is extending an invitation to destroy.  My least favorite Uh-Oh of his recently was throwing a glass cup in our bathroom sink that cracked the porcelain.  Uh-Oh.

Davy has become obsessed with Star Wars and we have long discussions about Sith Lords and lightsabers.  We were getting ready to go to the Mall the other day and Davy jokes, "how about we go to the "Darth Maul!" and then he cracks up. Sometimes I am directed to play Princess Lea while he repeatedly saves me from Darth Vader.  I put my hair in side buns the first time we played and now am asked to do that every single time.  Danny landed the role of R2-D2.  My other favorite lines from Davy are:

Admiring a new jar of jam together-

D: Jam doesn't make a single sound.

Me: What do you mean?

D: Well do you hear anything?

D: I think Danny likes to destroy best.

Joke:

D: Why did the cloud go to the doctor's office?

Me: Why?

D:  Because he felt cloudy!  

D: I wish we could live at Costco.

Me:  Me too.

D:  I love you Danny but, STOP PULLING MY HAIR!!!

 Davy and preschool buddies make a snowman

 Forced servitude

 Danny's pacifier habits are getting WAY out of control.

Christmas

We had a quiet christmas here at home.  We had our Christmas Eve on Christmas day so Stephen could have the whole day off with the boys.  With the boy's help we made a big breakfast of biscuits, eggs, and bacon.  We had dinner with good friends and a relaxing day together.  My favorite part of Christmas Eve was Davy grabbing a dishtowel and drying dishes while I washed.  He told me "I wanted to do this as your Christmas present." He stuck it out for six or seven dishes. We talked a lot about doing service for christmas in preschool so it was fun to hear him do something weeks later spontaneously.

Danny carries this bear with him everywhere.  He loves it to bits and gives him lots of hugs. It is super cute.

The Botanical Gardens has a train show every year and the boys love to go.  They have eight or nine train sets set up with beautiful plants and trees.  We have a friend who works at the gardens who was nice enough to get us in.

 Little Danny decided Christmas Eve was the perfect time to be a restless sleeper.  He woke up six or seven times and around five I woke up stephen to take a turn.  They ended up sleeping on the floor by the Christmas tree which would have been more charming if we weren't all so sleepy.  We took turns opening stocking presents and a few gifts and stopped to have breakfast.  It was great to have a leisurely morning and the kids were really fun.  Davy was excited to give a flashlight to Stephen, penance for the dozens he has broken over the last few years.  He also loved his fireman outfit and slept in it that night.  It is ridiculously charming.

 Danny enjoying his power over the train set.

 The boys both loved this digger with a working drill.  They put it together and it instantly has some catastrophic mechanical problem and it needs to be taken apart again.  

We had a HUGE storm this last week.  It snowed all day Sunday and church was canceled.  It was so fun to stay inside together the whole day.  Stephen watched the kids and I read my book for two whole hours in the middle of the day.  It was amazing.  Monday we canceled preschool and stayed huddled together all day with a high temp of zero.  Tuesday the dishwasher froze.  Wednesday we went crazy.  Davy and I snuck out a few time to play in the snow in six degree weather.

 Danny mostly stayed by the window got cozy and watched the snow plows.