Oops!

Did I really not put anything on here for three months? Sorry poor, neglected blog. So, the last post seems to be from when we had record-breaking amounts of snow. I am trying to remember what that is like. Right now it is nice and sunny and warm. Our flowers are blooming and the vegetable garden is planted (cross your fingers that we actually get some vegetables from it...).

The kids are awesome and we have been having fun. Isaac is hilarious and discovering the world of imaginary play. It is extremely entertaining.

William is about the cutest and happiest kid ever. He is walking now and working hard to get his chubby body to climb things. He has found new motivation to do this since he is infatuated with looking out the window (the only thing better is actually being outside). So, to look out it, he has to climb up on to the couch. He is working really hard at it, but the big belly and thunder thighs are not helping his cause much.

He continues to love to play with cousin Benny. He goes crazy with excitement when he sees Benny coming up our backyard in the stroller. Benny came over for the inaugural use of our swimming pool this year. Isaac burned out fast and was in the sandbox, but William outlasted everyone and still cried when I took him out. He LOVES water.

Isaac has discovered the world of bandaids. He seems to be getting a lot of wounds lately that require bandaids since we got some race car and sponge bob bandaids (he does not even know who sponge bob is, but sure loves the bandaids). This weekend he got generous and decided to put bandaids on all of us. We went through a whole box this weekend. William was not sure what to do with the bandaid on his arm, but got used to it eventually.

We have been slowly working on potty training with Isaac (emphasis on slow!). I think that he has realized there is not much in this for him. Diapers aren't that bad. We gave him a race car for his first big poop (can you say that on a blog? Well, I just did). He was pretty stoked, but not stoked enough to have a repeat performance or realize that this is not a bad way to operate. I figure that most kids realize that diapers are not so cool at some point. Hopefully he will catch on to that one...



We had a nice Easter (at least i think that we did. I really don't remember it). According to this picture Isaac and Aleks were at least smiling for part of it. These are some Easter eggs that a friend gave us that tell the story of the last week of Jesus' life. Isaac loves them and it was a great way to tell him why we celebrate Easter. Wearing his batman pajamas and Elmo slippers also helped augment the experience.

In April we had a nice trip to Ithaca. I don't remember much of that, except it left me excited for our next trip there. Isaac thought he had died and gone to heaven and did not want to come home. Here is he playing race cars with Grandpa.

Recently we took a family outing to the Blue Hills (a big reserve just south of Boston) and went for a hike. It was a lot of fun. The kids loved it and I did to.



At the top of the hill (at the giant's house, according to Isaac) someone took our picture, so we have a rare shot with all of in it.



I think that this might be from Mother's day, but I can't remember (lots of sleep debt and bad short term memory going on here). Isaac was pretty stoked about getting a tie (I picked this up at a thrift shop at his request). I think that this shot was taken right before he held Aleks' hand and said he wanted to marry him. He has been wanting to marry me, too. I guess that this is not uncommon among these kiddos.



Springtime means yard work. Benny and Sharon came to visit when we were working on a little project outside. I read an article a few years back in the NY Times saying that kids don't eat enough dirt these days and it is causing them health problems. I don't remember many details, but was sure to retain the lesson that my kids need to eat dirt to be healthy. I think that William, in particular, is on the path to a very healthy life.



This is from this week. I love watching these two guys play around.



This week our shop vac has gotten a lot of use. It started on Monday when William dumped a bag of cereal in the car (don't ask how he got it). Isaac had already dumped crackers all over that he had been mashing up. I thought that could probably slide, but the bag of cereal pushed me over the edge and I vacuumed the car. Wednesday, Isaac got a few boxes of pasta out of the cupboard and when I wasn't watching decided to decorate the toy room a bit. William thought it was pretty cool. I think I would have been more amused if I did not have to clean it up. It turns out that it can take a while to vacuum up pasta, especially when the spaghetti has been walked on and broken into little bits that are ground into the carpet. I have a feeling that this is only the beginning of the wave of destruction and messes that are heading our way.