We went to the Beach

We took a vacation to San Diego, and look, I have photographic proof!

See? Children frolicking on the beach means we went and had fun. The girls are my nieces.

This was during a game of Bocce Ball, wherein Oliver hit Skyler in the head with a ball.

resulting in this sweet picture

I actually got into the water, something I haven't done in probably 15 years! Skyler wanted to try boogie boarding, he lasted approximately how long it will take you to read this post. So, after remembering that I too enjoy a good boogie boarding session, I gave Jonah and my nieces rides on the board.

One of my favorite things that we did was visit "seal beach". I loved watching the waves crash up against the rocks and it was neat to be so close to the seals (that may or may not have actually been sea lions).

Oliver checked out the seals with me, Skyler and Jonah wouldn't stick around because they said it was too stinky.

We came back another day and climbed on the rocks.

One day, Jordan rented some kayaks and took the kids for rides and then went on a long ride himself in search of a geocache.

Waiting for a turn

Skyler didn't want to go in the kayak, and almost didn't even come over to the bay with us, which you can clearly tell from the smile on his face.

We also hung out at the pier and visited the Mormon Battalion Monument site. That was a lot of fun and I'd highly recommend it (even if you aren't Mormon, it's still free fun).

And then there is the obligatory last day at the beach picture. This is kind of an odd time to take a picture, no one really looks happy because everyone is sad to leave and no one really looks all that good because no one really dresses up super nicely to drive home, but it is tradition dating back almost 20 years, so we couldn't not do it.

He turned Two

Oliver is two years old now! He ate cupcakes and opened presents.









See in this picture how he's holding onto that basketball for dear life? The hoop was the first gift he opened. He didn't want anything to do with opening other ones, but eventually we convinced him to sit down and at least let his brothers open his other presents.  But he wasn't giving up that ball for fear that someone else would start shooting hoops, I guess.

At two years old:
Oliver loves to play ring-around-the-rosie
His newest skill is jumping and he always wants to show off
He loves Elmo, Bob the Builder, and Handy Manny
He is potty-trained
He wants to do so much on his own - everything is "me!"
His favorite books are the "grandma book" and the "baby book", two books by Karen Katz
He would play outside all day long if I let him
His favorite food is "hot dog with kepup"
He likes to look outside my bedroom window to spy on the neighbor's dog
He loves his brothers, except when they try and pick him up too much
and, well, he's cute!

They Love the Chicks

Only they really are getting so big that I don't think we can get away with calling them baby chicks anymore!

The boys adore chasing and picking up the chicks. Basically there is much chicken torture going on. These little gals take it all so well, but we aren't sure if they will grow up to be very tolerant of us or just really cranky with us!





Skyler is crazy good at catching them. He takes his chicken wrangler job very seriously, as you can tell by the look on his face in this picture.



Jonah likes them too, even though I have no pictures of him! He likes to let them eat out of his hand.

Poser

I took the boys on a hike yesterday and early on I had them stop and pose for this lovely picture.

They were up ahead of me a bit, since I was walking at Ollie-pace and decided to surprise me by posing for me at various spots along the trail. So every now and then I'd round a corner and hear "cheese!"

Luckily, I was always ready with the camera because, well I wasn't that far behind them and could hear all of their scheming.

They even let Oliver catch up and join in once.

 

After the hike, we went and had a picnic at the park, which Skyler thought was the coolest thing ever because he missed out on a picnic I took the little boys on earlier this week. At home, we watched Toy Story 1 and 2. I was surprised that Skyler actually watched them because he's usually not into movies at all. In fact, Skyler was disappointed that we couldn't watch the third one after that! Where was Jordan, you ask? The city sponsored an Amazing Race-esque bus race and Jordan was participating with a friend. He had a great time, but I still wish he would have won me an iPad for a Mother's Day gift!

What Jonah Says

Last week, while watching some clips from the Royal Wedding, I explained to Jonah that Kate was marrying a prince, so she was going to be a princess. He told me, referring to my wedding pictures, "we have pictures upstairs from when you were a princess!". Sweet, huh?

A few nights later, he came downstairs after he should have already been in bed complaining that a woodpecker pecked him and it hurt. He had seen a woodpecker at the park, he told me, but he didn't elaborate on whether or not that was when he got pecked or if the woodpecker was loose in his bedroom. Either way, it was so much better than Skyler's excuse a few minutes earlier (Skyler, too, had a scab, but he didn't bother to explain how he got it).

It's a good thing he says such cute and sweet things so that I do not throw him out the window when he graffitis my couch and wall.

Spaceships and Kisses

This is Oliver and Jonah's spaceship that Skyler and I made for them.

Jonah was very particular about its construction. Skyler was putting some "buttons" by the steering wheel, but Jonah kept yelling that that's not where they go! "Spaceships don't have buttons on that side," he would say. I'm not sure why he knows such things, but clearly he does.

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My new cleaning tactic is to tell the kids that I will give them five kisses if they clean up five things. Jonah is very sweet and thinks this is fun and he goes off to clean his five things. Skyler is very much too old for that and once told me "can I clean up ten things for no kisses?" If ten things actually get picked up, I have no problem with that whatsoever.

Easter Was Here

On Saturday, we had an egg hunt with some friends. Fun was had by all, except maybe Jonah. You see, apparently he doesn't like eggs hidden in grass or bushes. This was a problem at a park full of grass and bushes.

Oliver didn't mind, though.

Sunday there was more egg hunting at our house followed by pictures before church.

Jonah before being bribed with candy

Jonah after being bribed with candy

Skyler wanted to pose by himself while Jonah was off eating his candy

Then Oliver joined in

For dinner we went over to a friend's house. They had invited approximately a bajillion people over, including a family with kids that were close in age to our boys. They hid 140 eggs for the six kids to find. That's a lot of eggs per kid! They were so sweet to do this (they have no kids, and most of their guests had no kids either), but I think they had just as much fun hiding as the kids did finding.

Thus, Monday afternoon's candy sort was a much needed activity. Jelly beans, anyone?

And, is this not the cutest little plastic egg you've ever seen? Jonah's primary teacher gave this to him.

Rock Collection

You know you have boys when suddenly all your tuppeware bowls are filled with rocks.

Cheep Cheep

Our chicks came.

I picked them up at the post office (yup, they just come in a box through the mail) on Wednesday, and since then, hanging out in the garage has been a popular activity. Oliver loves to watch the 'kicks'.

There are 15 of them and we only intend on keeping 3. Why did we get so many? 15 was the minimum order and Jordan wanted to pick his breeds and not just get whatever we could find locally.

Well That Didn't Go As Planned

Last weekend we had grand plans to drive to Jordan's parents' house for a visit because his grandpa was visiting from out of state.

Oliver woke up sick on Friday morning. I got him a doctor's appointment for later in the morning and the doctor said he had strep. She went ahead and checked Jonah too and, despite the fact that he was exhibiting zero symptoms, decided that his throat was strep-looking enough and wrote him a prescription as well. Two kids with strep meant we weren't headed out of town that night! So, we held off the trip until the kids had been on their antibiotic for 24 hours.

Friday night, Jordan decided to take the older two cave exploring. He ended up taking a sick day to help get me to the doctor's office (because did I mention that the van wouldn't start?) and really, he just hoped that Oliver would be instantly healed, thus we could get out of town sooner.

We finally made it to our destination at around lunchtime on Saturday. Oliver still wasn't feeling well, but we are glad that we were able to visit with Jordan's grandpa (and happy that we didn't appear to pass along any germs!).

Skyler wasn't cooperating - because you totally can't tell from looking at this picture

He was totally paying attention

So were they