"Little Pool"

What do you do when the pool is shut down on the hottest day Rochester has seen this whole summer?? Go to the "little pool" of course. The little pool is an empty storage bin located on on patio. Ralph and Blake couldn't quite process the fact the pool was shut down so.... I had to get creative. We got all dressed for a day of swimming only to find out the lifeguard had to leave due to a family emergency and the pool had been locked. After some tears on the way home they ended up having just as much fun in the storage bin. Now I get lots of requests for the "little pool" as they call it.

It's Potty Time!!

So for months now we have been going over using the potty. They sit on, sing on it, swing their legs on it........then get off. That was up until yesterday. Last night little Blake peed on the potty!! Not who you expected? Me either. Ralph has hit every milestone before Blake up until this point. Blake is more than happy to hang back and let his brother take the lead.

I was gone at Sam's club and Josh was giving the boys a bath. He said Blake kept saying "potty, potty". So he put him on it and he peed. Josh gave him a hug and said what a big boy he was. He then said "I have a treat for you". He ran to the cabinet where luckily, grandma had just sent us some Pez dispensers. I guess Blake got the biggest smile when daddy handed him his new Big Rig Pez dispenser. He got in the bath washed his hair and wanted to get right out to admire his new candy filled toy. Ralph on the other hand wasn't so happy for his little brother. He started slamming his fists in the bathtub water yelling "Own truck, I need own truck". Several meltdowns followed after that. Blake being the sweet little boy that he is, was more than happy to share so eventually Ralph's jealously subsided. I don't expect that they will be potty trained for awhile but it's great to know they get it. Or at least one of them does!!

PS: Got my camera charger so I will post new pics soon :)

Pictureless Post

You will notice my last two postings are lacking pictures of the boys. That would be because I lost my camera charger. Well, maybe I didn't lose it. It could be cleverly stowed away in one of my many boxes of stuff :) Josh ordered a new one so we should have pictures up next week.

Last week Josh and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary! Yeah!! It's been a pretty crazy last couple of years. Two kids, two candy stores and a cross country move. We are planning a little anniversary celebration when our babysitter returns from vacation. We are looking forward to the next big milestone, 10years!

Bug update....The ant farm is still going strong. We've had a couple of casualties but the colony is still building tunnels. Josh continues to check on them about 5 times a day. They get food and water on a regular basis. We had 4 butterflies hatch on Friday. I say "had" because I had Josh and the boys set them free today. They only live for about 2-4 weeks so I figured they needed to experience some real flowers and sunshine.

Water park! Took the boys to a water park this past weekend. They both loved it!! We've determined that it has to be over about 85 degrees in order for Blake to really enjoy himself. He tends to get cold and and shiver like he has hypothermia if not. We had a couple of shivering episodes and "I need my towel" requests but overall it went well. Ralph was an animal. He was jumping in all the sprinklers and going down the kiddie slides with no fear. We took them on our laps down a couple of large slides too. Blake was having fun until his daddy capsized the raft they were riding on (accidentally). Oops! No more slides after that. The worst part is everyone at the bottom of the slide was saying "Oh how cute" referring to Blake riding on Josh's lap. Then everyone gasp in horror as the raft suddenly flips and they both go under. Blake held his breath like a big boy but erupted in tears once he exited the pool at the bottom of the slide. I just ducked and pretended I didn't know them!

Funny quotes:

Ralph: "Are you kidding me".

Blake: "I need my OWN milk". (refuses to share with Ralph these days)

Ralph: "I need eat McDonald's". I jog past it everyday. He asks me everyday if we can eat there.

Creepy, Crawling BUGS!!

First off let me say that I have spent the last 30 years of my life keeping bugs OUT of my house. I try not to kill them and usually catch them in a cup and put them outside. They can flourish outside while I enjoy my clean bug free house! Well today, we have a small ant colony on my breakfast bar and 5 caterpillars on top my kitchen cabinets. The really sad part is I paid money for them. Yes, my boys love bugs!! In order to support their interests we recently got a butterfly house and an ant farm. The bugs we ordered for them finally arrived. The caterpillars arrived in the beginning of the week and they have already made themselves into cocoons. They are Painted Lady butterfly larvae. Josh and I are pretty convinced they are actually clothes moths by the pictures that accompanied them. They came in self contained habitat. We put them in a safe spot and they hung themselves from the top of the cup. We will transfer them to their "house" tomorrow. The "house" is basically a small enclosure made out of netting and currently hanging in the boys room. In case your wondering the boys can't get to them. They were swinging swords as we were hanging it, so it's nice and high!!

The ants, ugh, I hate ants. They arrived today. Not the small black ones I usually find roaming outside. These are big red ants with jaws of steel. Josh had a couple escape while transferring them to their farm and I almost had a seizure. Well, they happily made it in their new home and are excavating as we speak. Josh loves them!! He was ever so careful when transferring them making sure none got injured. He has even given them their first "dinner" of cookie crumbs.


So....here's to our new house guests. May they have a long and fulfilling life living in MY house!!

Favorites

Ralph's anwsers in Red

Blake's in Blue

Favorite Book The "Hot" Book 100 Trucks

Favorite TV Show Wonder Pets Wonder Pets

Favorite Food Strawberries Avocado

Favorite Toy Plastic Tool Set Train Set

Favorite Person Mom Dad

Favorite Sport Basketball Soccer

Favorite Animal Rhino Elephant

Favorite Treat "Pop" aka lollipop "Pop"

Favorite saying Mommy pick up Lili* Not nice bubby

Favorite Game Wrestling Chase (us chasing him)

So here's a look at RJ and Blake's favorite things. They share a couple similarities but are pretty different for the most part. In spite of their differences, they are the best of friends. They play well and share a passion of exploring and discovering. They can count to 10 and know their colors. ABC's are still a work in progress. I'm loving this age. They communicate so much better and I love to see them learn. I wouldn't consider us at the terrible two's yet. We do have meltdowns but nothing out of the ordinary. Josh and I love being parents and feel so blessed we have 2 little guys!!



*Lili is Ralph's nickname. It stemmed from Lion (he used to have a crazy hair that looked like a lions mane)

Ralph (Left) and Blake (Right) 11 months. Check out that crazy hair!!!

The 4th

We had a blast this past forth of July. We went to a local festival called the Chil-E (pronounced chili) that was within walking distance from the house. This allowed us to come home for meals, naps, and avoid the horrific traffic usually present on holidays. The boys and I went early in the morning for farmers market and to play at the park. We came home had lunch, a nap and headed back down with Josh. We walked through the vendor area and then to the kids play area. They had lots of bounce houses and activities for the kids. Ralph and Blake each took a turn at "putting out a fire" and driving the fire truck. The much anticipated parade was suppose to start at 5pm but really started at 5:30pm. It was a cute little community parade. Much to our delight there were some kids throwing....can you guess...?.?.? Yes, more shiny necklaces!!!! Not as fancy as our Chumash ones, but they got 2 each which was really cool to them. The boys enjoyed the firetrucks, tractors, and animals the best. After the parade we headed home for dinner and a bath. Fireworks didn't start until 10pm (it gets dark late here). Ralph passed out cold in the middle of the fireworks display. We joked we should get his ears checked since we were really close to where the fireworks were being launched. Blake watched them half awake with his blanket over one eye. This was the first fireworks display they were old enough to really watch. They were not scared at all so let's hope next year is a success too!!

Just some memories from our first 4th of July.... Can't believe it's been 2 years!!

Rain, Rain, and more Rain

Did I mention flash floods?? Are we in Washington State? So I'm not sure if all the rain we have been receiving is typical for this time of year but I can say that we have had more flash flood warnings here in 2 months than my 30 years in California. Last week it rained for about 4 days straight. This week we are on day 2 of rain with more to come. The rain typically comes with lighting and thunder. If the storm is close, the thunder will wake you up at night. The lightning is so bright you can usually see it during the day. I saw on the news last week that ping pong size hail were spotted near by. All the while it's a nice 74 degrees out! Here are some pictures on what happens when the little boys open the slider on a rainy day....

As you can see from the picture, no pants or shorts. Just a diaper and a shirt. On this day I appreciated being in a town where no one knows us!! So here's to more rain...........and all the puddles it will leave behind. Puddles, for boys, equal an uncontrollable urge to jump in them no matter how many times your mom says "Your going to soak your shoes and pants".