Campfire in the Backyard

The boys love the Veggie Tales graham cracker/marshmallow song and want us to build a fire in the pit all the time.  Cal likes to roast the marshmallows and then play with them.  He won't eat them unless they are on top of chocolate.  He says, "Where's the chocolate?" over and over.

Cal is still obsessed with everyone else's shoes.

Halloween

Sorry I've gone so long without a post.  I'm addicted to Facebook and have been uploading all my recent photos to those pages.

Now I have more than I can personally eat

My New Jersey friends are getting ready to get some presents!

How Much is that Doggie in the Window?

This is Sneaky's new "I'm on bedrest because I have a back condition" crate.

As you can see, some people have other ideas for it.

The Batwing

Pap sent this to Michael the other day--unassembled in its original box, of course.

THREE HOURS LATER.............Mommy had it all put together.

6 Year Molars

For the past few days Michael has been complaining about his mouth hurting.  I looked where he was pointing and saw what looked like a canker sore.  I put some Orajel in there and he seemed to feel better.

Tonight he asked me for more medicine for his mouth and I had him lay down on my bed while I put it in his mouth.  I put my finger in there before I put the Orajel on and the "canker sore" was hard.

Poor Michael G, he doesn't have a canker sore, he has a 6 year molar!!!!!  I'm so sad--this is his first permanent "adult" tooth :-(

Sorry I don't have pictures--didn't think you'd want to see inside his big mouth!

New Obsessions

Cal is still very into trains and Thomas, but Michael isn't really (thank goodness).  Of course, Cal likes to like whatever Michael likes, so he follows along with just about anything.  The new thing in our house is Legos and Batman.

DeeDee found some Batman pjs and sent them to us today as a surprise.  She had no idea that I had been out at Target just yesterday trying to find them, unsuccessfully!

Of course, trying to get the pictures of Michael was like PULLING TEETH.  He is 4.5 and has a BAD CASE OF THE WIGGLES all the time!  Cal was willing to stand back against the wall and pose for his pictures, then rushing over to preview them to make sure he liked them!

Chef Hats

Okay--so the boys got these chef hats from my aunt, Amy, for Christmas.  They decided yesterday that they needed to wear them with their sunglasses on while inside.  They also needed to wear them outside while swinging.  Then Michael said his hair was getting hot and he took it off so Cal followed suit.

Tomatoes

Can you believe these beauties????  I was out this evening admiring my tomato "trees" and I think I can officially say that I will probably have more tomatoes than I can personally eat!

Bathtub Boys

They look like they're in their own little worlds don't they?

They call it the GARDEN State

Now I know why they call this the Garden State--check out my tomato plants.  This is the first time I've ever planted tomatoes in my yard and some of them are bigger than my fist.  I love home-grown tomatoes so much that I can eat them like an apple, so I'm going to have a happy tummy the rest of the summer!

Cal DOES NOT Take Naps

For most of you, this is not a new revelation.  Cal started climbing out of his crib about 3 weeks before his 2nd birthday and he's been in a big boy bed ever since.  When he stopped taking naps then, I thought it was probably just the novelty of being in a new bed and having the ability to get up and roam around the bedroom.  Then I thought it was the distraction of his toys and books, so I took them out of his room.  That's when he decided to pull his clothes out of the drawers--all of them.  So, I gave him his toys back and gave up.

Now he has what we call "quiet time" in his room, but he is anything but quiet.  He sounds like he is coming through the floor and makes an absolute mess--it is ridiculous.

He also likes to lie in the floor and look out the bottom of the door crack to see who is walking by.  He can identify all of us by our feet and yells at us as we walk around upstairs.  I'm going to set up my video camera one of these days to capture all this, but for now, here are some pictures of his little blond head under the door.

"Homeschooling" at its Finest

Michael is very interested in firefighters right now.  He has some books about them, fire trucks, and loves to watch Fireman Sam.  Chris took him to the fire station on base for a lesson from a real firefighter.

I *Heart* NY

I have forgotten how much I love New York City.  I can hop on a train for free (military perk) and be there in about an hour.  The train takes me into Penn Station by Madison Square Garden and up the stairs I go into the heart of Times Square.  I've been twice this month already--once for the day with Chris and the boys and our friends, the Mathernes--and another time with my mom, aunt, and cousin.  We spent the night and were there for two full days of exploring and eating!!

I think we'll go many more times--it is so close and so easy to get there.