Babysitting

One of the many MANY jobs I have done was babysitting, but since having kids I've not done much baby sitting at all...for obvious reasons. A friend texted me last night to see if I could watch her 2 boys for a few hours. I was a bit nervous to double the number of children in my house, but really, it went extremely well. The 2 older boys play remarkably well together! They are so cute! It was also neat to see the 2 younger boys play together...I dont get to see Wesley interacting much with his own age (or technically 4 or so months older...which is a bigger difference than you might think) I thought it was SO funny that Wesley was perfectly fine sharing the toys, but got a little uptight about sharing ME, and got REALLY bent out of shape when the other baby boy took a raisin off his high chair tray...MAJOR upset!
For lunch I corralled all the boys in the kitchen and we had a picnic on the floor. It was so much fun!...and thank goodness for Veggie Tales...just sayin'!

Grandcamp with Bertie!

Last weekend Jack got to have 2 nights of grandcamp with Bertie! It cracked me up the first morning when I called to check on him and when I asked how they slept she commented "Boy, he sure is all over a king sized bed!" I guess most people would have assumed that a nice big king sized bed would be PLENTY of room for Bertie and little ol' 3 year old Jack...but we learned from watching him on the baby monitor that he flips and flops and wiggles all night long (which he comes by honestly, I am the same way!)

He is also becoming plenty technology savvy! He is getting well acquainted with the ipad at Bertie's house....the was showing off his puzzle skills the other day. I was quite impressed!

fresh air and angry birgs (or is it mean birds, I cant remember)

they also did some wii bowling...look at that kid's score! Bertie BARELY beat him!

She also made sure he got some exercise! I just love this picture, and I'm so impressed that it was taken with her phone! WOW!

when did his legs get SO LONG!?

When did he get SO TALL?

We met in Lebanon to pick him up, and Bertie watched the boys in the car while I took a potty break.
I just love that she took a picture of Wesley's feet...she has always been so cute about baby feet!
(pay no attention to the cluttered up car!)

he's doing his cheesy face again...I'm beginning to wonder if we will ever get a picture with his eyes completely open!

While Jack was gone we got to have some fairly quiet and calm meals, which was wonderful, and we ran a few errands too....it was nice for us to get a chance to spend some qt with Wesley...Jack got 2 1/2 years of having us to himself, Wesley gets hardly anytime at all...it's fun to see how much fun our boys are, and how DIFFERENT they are!

fresh air

Lately we have been SO busy (and the weather hasnt been very pleasant) so we've not had much time to play outside on our beloved playset...well yesterday we fixed that! The weather was rainy that morning, but for the first time in a while we didnt have anything planned on a Wednesday (until church that evening) so we took advantage by having a relaxing day. Apparently both boys were SO relaxed, they didnt need naps, so when both were awake by 4pm (Jack usually naps from 3-6ish) we went outside for some fresh air and exercise....and mosquitos. grr...

wesley loves being big enough to stand up and play with the steering wheel...although hes still not big enough for the binoculars

Jack taking a rest...we werent used to all that sunshine!

whatcha doin bro?

I'm gonna give you a KISS!

tried to catch a sweet smile....

Just cheezing

The other night while I was setting up for this months MOPS meeting Josh watched the boys. He took them to church by himself, got them home, and even bathed them without any help or reminders from me. It was just marvelous! Sadly, the cleanliness didnt last long!


Josh asked me to not give the boys peanut butter until they turned 2, which so far hasnt been a big deal...although I'm pretty sure I've accidentally given it to Wesley a handful of times..but whenever I make Jack a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, I just make a jelly sandwich for Wesley. Well yesterday Jack asked for a PB and honey sandwich...one of my favorites. I proceeded to make Wesley a honey sandwich, and boy was that a mistake. I turn my back and he rubs honey covered breadcrumbs all over his clean face and hair...what a mess! His hair is literally standing on end thanks to all that honey! I took a picture to send to Daddy....and whenever I whip out my phone or camera Wesley immediately starts cheesing for the camera, it is so hysterical. This is a cheesy face for him....



When Jack heard my giggling at the sight of Wesley and taking pictures he asked me to take one of him to send to Daddy, and I just couldnt help myself, they were being so cute and sweet...sweet as honey....

Fall Fun Fest

An annual event in Cookeville (which in our opinion is WAY cooler and much cleaner) is Fall Fun Fest. They close off a bunch of streets in downtown cookeville and we have food, crafts, music, fun kids activities, inflatables and FUN! We went twice this year...first

with the main objective to get some GOOD BBQ (they have a competition every year which means YUMMY food for us!) but Jack also got to jump in some inflatables and we got to see some friends and hear some music.

The 2nd day we got a late start due to naptimes, but we got more fun (and did I mention EXPENSIVE and MESSY) fair food....gyros and funnel cake...and more fun activities. They have a "Stations of Imagination" area that has lots of local organizations with kid themed activities and information. We learned of some fun things to do as a family around town and played lots of fun games! I got to breeze through the craft area but most of my browsing was cut short by Wesley's leaky diaper.

Can I just say that in addition to packing extra clothes for my little boys, I should TOTALLY pack at least an extra shirt for me! I got gyro liquid on me, then baby pee, then topped all that off with a cloud of funnel cake powdered sugar. I might as well retire that shirt! I got 3x as messy as anyone else in my family!

Anyway, back to the fun...Jack was excited to get up on stage to do some juggling, and while he didnt "get" the concept, I was proud of him for trying something new, and if I can get it to upload, the video of him up on stage is ironically funny.

Now, you may be wondering what it is that has him SO entranced?

SKATEBOARDS! Be still my heart, he was amazed, enthralled and just downright thrilled to watch the skateboarders doing their tricks. Be still my "mommie heart"....someone get the helmet, elbow/knee/wrist pads and pillow for his bootie....he's already telling us that when he is FOUR he will be big enough for a skateboard. I was fine with him enjoying the spectacle (it was more fun for me to watch HIM) but I was a bit disappointed at how dirty the guy's mouths were...when I was their age I'm pretty sure I didnt know those words! I'm hoping that Jack was zeroed in on the tricks that he didnt hear the words!

Hanging out with Papa John

While Mimi was out of town we didnt want Papa John to get too lonely, so we went in for a visit.  We ate mini pizzas, watched TV, played, read books and admired litte Gucci.

Jack enjoyed showing off for Papa John by reading almost all of "Hop on Pop" I was quite proud of him!

Wesley warmed up to Papa John right away, but as you can probably guess, he was not Gucci's biggest fan...in this picture instead of looking at me, he is probably keeping an eye on the small furry crature. Honestly, he did LIGHT YEARS better than I anticipated. In the past he was scared just at the sight of her, this time he was fine watching her and even being near her as long as she didnt touch him. Boy was I relieved....not sure I would have survived holding him the whole visit!

Papa John listening and helping Jack read.

Wesley decided to get in on the "reading" action too. His version is to look at an animal and make it growl...because all animals growl....didnt you know that?

We stayed until naptime and I planned to drive around town for an hour or so before meeting Bertie. Wesley was asleep within 5 minutes, probably less.

Jack held on for maybe 10 minutes. Playing is HARD WORK!

a "look and see"

that's what they call a kid's first visit to the dentist...you know, the FREE visit. Jack went along with Daddy and he did GREAT! He sat and watched while Josh got his teeth cleaned (and was very encouraging by saying "Good Job Daddy, I'm so proud of you Daddy, I'll be right back Daddy" )and he took his job as supervisor very seriously...when I called him away to go to the bathroom, he told our hygenist Vickie to "Be sure you do a good job on my daddy's teeth"....it was really cute and I think they got a kick out of him! He sat in the chair, and the only thing that seemed to make him nervous was how squeaky the light was when his hygenist was adjusting it. He opened up wide, let her count his teeth with her "tooth tickler" and asked a lot of questions about "Mr. Hungry" aka "My Thirst" (the suction tool...he cant keep the name straight). He did such a good job that he got TWO tokens to visit the treat tower (they work like gumball machines) I was so very proud of him....and also glad when it was over....it was hard to monitor the big boy and wrestle the baby boy while also filling out forms, changing diapers and wet clothes, taking the big boy to the bathroom...all while Daddy was getting his teeth cleaned. whew! Did I also mention that during the course of this "look and see" I let Wesley play with my phone...and it shorted out the ear piece....that's another story.