Raspberry Smiles

Here’s how I organize:

Above we have Noah’s long sleeved shirts.  All in the same drawer.  My kind of organization.  Just ask my husband, my tupperware drawer looks the same way.

Here’s how Noah organizes.

I think he has a bit of Grandpa Russ with the boat in him.  I do not encourage this type of organization.  I would be fine with all pants tossed into the same drawer, but Noah likes them folded and placed in piles.  He did this himself without any help. 

This organized behavior will serve him well, and I secrectly love it, I’m just not capable of it.  Sorry dad, I guess I take after mom in more than just looks!

My sister was blessed with this copper-top smiley guy!  He is so fun.  He makes Fridays fun!

We love you baby Joey!

Noah and Harrison have been taking swim lessons since September.  The first lesson they both screamed for 30 minutes.  That day was most certainly one of the top 10 embarassing moments as a mom.  The next week it was all different.  No screaming, no fear.  Now we’ve got 2 new swimmers in the family. 

I couldn’t figure out how to take a decent photo through glass, and I didn’t think about video until Noah’s class.  I’ll have to take some video of Harry next week.  Oh how I enjoy my little fishes!

Noah can swim a couple of feet on his own.  He just beams in his new goggles, and is starting to learn to dive for objects at the bottom of the pool.  Noah has a good kick and stroke, and can float on his back all by himself.  He has more muscle than fat, so he has to bend his legs slightly when back floating to keep balanced!

Harrison enjoys the water, will jump in at any time.  He has great kick and is able to keep his legs together and not bend his knees.  He’s working on the back float.  He is not a fan of the slide.

We are all underwear all the time at this house.  Day and night.  Pee and poo.

It’s an accomplishment deserving of a huge reward.  The best reward for a 4 year old boy just happens to be a massive dump truck.

Take a look!  It’s so big they can ride in the back.  The first suggestion was baby Joey, but I put the kabosh on that.

We got creative with s’mores.  Exhibit A: chocolate chip cookies courtesy of youth group leftovers, caramel filled chocolate courtesy of Bob, and our own marshmallows.  Might have been a bit too sweet…  I had kids bouncing off the walls until 7pm (we ate s’mores at 4).

You sassy!

It’s been a mild summer, and we’ve been loving every minute of it.  Most of the time, we just hang out at home.  The boys split their time between the front yard and the back yard.  Each yard contains different elements to load up and move around!

2 and 4 are such good ages!  Old enough to exprience lots of fun all around town, but young enough still to take naps regularly!!!  Our one regret is that it has been a No Frog Summer.

It has been the summer of the dilly bar.  Yum!  

 On this particular dilly bar day we celebrated for Baby Joey.  He’s been sick and in the hospital, and the tradition at our house is that whenever anyone gets a shot, we all have ice cream.  I’m sure Joey had way too many shots, so we all had Dairy Queen for Joey!  We love you Baby Joey!!!!

All that sugar makes my men act mighty crazy.

Our best days are when we explore the city around us.  Today we went to River Bend.  We got lost.  It was not planned, but we took our time and discovered some treats.  Noah’s new interest is birds.  This week we’ve been reading about birds and identifying them in our backyard and on family walks.  It was fun to show him actual trees with woodpecker holes.  He thinks it’s too funny that they have long sticky tongues to grab bugs out of the holes they make in the trees.

My summer philosophy is going to be simple fun.  The boys get great socialization and learning at daycare 2 days  a week.  Last week, Harrison’s class did colors.  We’ve been working on them, but he has them down pat now, even weird one’s like orange and purple. 

I used to try to fill our days with activities and group outings, but I’ve come to realize that sometimes it’s just too much stress to rush to get out the door, and then make the kids attend to the task at hand and behave.  Also, my kids, like me, don’t do groups well, and prefer just a few people to interact with. 

It’s more fun to take what the boys are interested in (or what I think is cool) and run with it.  If you want to hang with us one-on-one-ish let us know.  We’re gonna enjoy a simple summer, at the beach, the park, the zoo – exploring all Racine has to offer!