Brother and Crew

Our drive to FL inspired my bro and his family to think of making the drive up here to see us this summer. Funny to be thinking of anyone wanting to come to NY since it is 20 degrees out right now, but nice weather will come eventually!
I promised Banana that I would post a picture of her with her eyes open. Though this one need cropping, here is my beautiful niece!
While Banana kept KiKi and Neil-Te happy during our vacation (I think mostly by just listening to them chatter!), Zilla and CoCo were busy catching critters, playing Wii, and building forts. By the way, Zilla is the one who taught CoCo how to do the chameleon earrings!

Happy Man

If you want to keep my hubby happy on vacation, hand him a fishing pole! Mimi's fiance loves to go fishing and has a shiny, new boat (You should see how grumpy he gets when the cat walks across it with dirty paws! ;-) ) So after a long day at Disney - went to bed at midnight, hubby crawled out of bed by 5:30 to enjoy a day of fishing. (I sooooo don't get it! The lure of slimy worms and slimier fish is just not enough to entice me out of bed that early!) Anyway, he had a busy day catching fish, getting wind and sun burned, and came home a very happy (and STINKY!) man. By the way, he asked me to post a fish picture on my blog; and if you see the new "Red Fish" shirt that he bought after his fishing day, make sure that you mention how impressed you were with his catch!

Vacation

Here are some quick pics from our vacation. I'm too tired from the all-night drive to write anything today.

Funny Things!

Who can resist the orange, monkey smile, or if you are CoCo, you can't resist making a funny face any time!
"Mommy, I like beeannas."
"Excuse me, Mommy, I'm feeling drinky."

(Bonus pts. for anyone who can tell which pictures are from the old camera and which ones are from the new!)

I Spoke Too Soon!

Brace yourself - more toddler-mom talk coming! So the boys and I were talking the other day about how much of a mess they each made when they were babies. The boys wanted to hear who had been a tidy eater (A) and who had always made a mess (CoCo). They wanted to hear who got their clothes the dirtiest (CoCo and Neil-Te tied!) and who used the toilet first (CoCo - 20 months!) Well, with boys, the discussion naturally led to bodily functions- poop. The boys wanted to hear in detail about the times that they had painted their cribs with poop! Those painting memories are not memories that I treasure - how in the world do toddlers figure out how to get out of their clothes, unsnap onesies, AND take off a diaper? Anyway, it was with great relief that I mentioned that KiKi had never done that and that he probably wouldn't because he was potty-trained now. I thought I was safe because KiKi was napping, but alas... Yesterday he took off his napping diaper and pooped on the floor before he made it to the bathroom. Today, he took off a loaded diaper in his hurry to get dressed for church. He trotted into my room with a new skin color in his diaper-region and was concerned because he was messy! Yes... another thing to add to an already crazy Sunday morning! Here he is, shining clean from his pre-church bath, and probably happy that he has joined the decorating club!

Playing with my new camera

KiKi playing a story.
Everyone comments on Neil-te's beautiful smile, well here's the rest of the story!
CoCo cuddling with Ducky - friends since birth!
A- in a house full of little brothers, he's always fixing something!
SS gets into her pjs as soon as she comes home from school. I think she would like to just wear them to school - Of course, who wouldn't?!

Still figuring out how to edit with GIMP, so these are straight from the camera.

Let the Sunshine In (Or grayness, today!)

One of my girlfriends made up a fun meme about "Your Morning Essential." (See the "Coqui" link.) It was fun to actually think about something that I do every day, without fail, even if I am interrupted a million times. I have to admit that sometimes I forget to put on my deodorant, eat breakfast, put on socks... until a couple of hours after I have gotten up, but I did find two things that I never fail to do! I'll share the mushy one first. I always give my hubby a hug and a kiss before I start my day. I also have to open all of the curtains or blinds in the house as soon as I am dressed, or at least in my bathrobe! Even my dog waits in eager anticipation for me to open the blinds in my room so that she can get up. I have a very hard time leaving my room on a Saturday morning when hubby is sleeping later than I because I feel all out of sorts that I can't open the blinds. I do always open our bathroom blind, though! :-)
Now it's your turn to share your morning essential - Chez Loucks, this should give you something silly to get writing about!

Relief and Sibling Rivalry!

So A had a rough time with his sickness last night, but he has been feeling fine all day - much to his relief and mine! The rest of the family seems to be doing just fine, so I am hesitantly going to say that, "we are in the clear!"
I had one of those interesting "homeschool mom" moments today. Here my son had been sick and was tired and would not have been able to go in to a traditional school setting, yet he completed a full day's worth of work just because I told him to do what he felt like he could do. He didn't want to miss a day of history or science and couldn't bear the thought that if he didn't do his seatwork, he might get behind his brother! Sometimes sibling rivalry works in our favor! :-)

Sanitizing Wipes - Keeping the Dream Alive!

The older boys take a sign language class every Monday, and today one of the other boys was absent. The grandmother explained that the boy was sick with a stomach bug. I sighed in relief that the mother had kept him home and commented, "We don't want it in our house. I'm glad she's not sharing!" Well, here I am, several hours later, cleaning up vomit and desperately sanitizing everything in hopes that only one member of our family will get it! Yeah, I know - keep dreaming!