Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Happy Birthday Ike!

(The song "One Little Slip" by the Barenaked Ladies was used in your slide show because you and Sam "sing" it in the car when you are watching Chicken Little. It is the sweetest rendition.)
Today is your big day Isaac. (Hold on to your hats world, Ike is 2 years-old:)) Although you are the third son in our family, you are such an individual. You have an energy and spirit all your own. You love any adventure, and I am certain there isn't anything that you think you can't or shouldn't do. You follow your brothers everywhere, and fortunately for you, they think that is fine. If they are on the bunk beds, you want to be on the bunk beds. If they are eating at the counter, you want to be at the counter, even if you aren't eating. Unfortunately, we only have two bar stools so you holler at Will until he gives in and gives you his chair. You have learned quickly that Will is much easier on you than Sam so you don't even attempt to get him to move:) Wherever they go, so do you.
Although you love following your brothers, you have no problem blazing your own trail. You love playing ball. Basketball, baseball, golf, any kind of ball is your game. And you don't care if the boys want to play which they usually don't. So you just grab Dad or me and you are ready to play. I can't even count how many hours your dad and I have sat in the living room wearing your little baseball cap and little glove fielding balls you bat off the ottoman like it is a tee. You are also our outside kid. If I am in a hurry to get out the door, I have to carry you out to the car and not open the garage door until you are strapped in your seat because if I let you walk out on your own and you see an opening, you are off on the scooter car burning a path out the driveway.
Unfortunately, you didn't decide to sleep through the night until just a month or so ago. Strangely though, you have always been my easiest child to get to bed. We just rock a few minutes, and then in your bed you go. You might talk to yourself for an hour, but you have almost always put yourself to sleep. Why you waited so long to sleep through the night then is a question for that Dr. Ferber and his Ferber Method.
Your vocabulary has come alive lately. You have been chatty for awhile but just lately you really began throwing out all kind of thoughts that most people, not just mom, can understand. Some of those things we understand clearly from you but we laugh because they might be things that weren't so clear to you from us. For instance, for awhile you had a bad diaper rash and hated being wiped. So to try and get you clean as possible, I would distract you by tickling you in that area while wiping. I would even say something like, "tickle, tickle." Then you began saying, "Tickle, tickle star." It took us awhile to figure out what you were saying because it was a little confusing but I guess to you "tickle" and "twinkle" sound alot alike. You are also a good guy to have on hand right now because if anyone lets out a toot, you so sweetly say, "I farted." I think you think that it is all one word and you had to have learned it from Sam. He is probably the only one in the house that announces his flatulence.
You love to sing. You love to dance. You love books. You love Miss Pattycake and Boz. You love to make a mess in the name of exploration and discovery. You are almost always ready to party. I am certain you will find trouble in the years ahead. Fortunately for you, you have a sweet look of innocence in your eyes so I am sure most of it will go unpunished.
You are a delight Isaac. Your smile is genuine. Your spirit is contagious. And although our house is full of boys, it would feel very empty without you. Happy 2nd Birthday Isaac. We love you.
PS - While Mommy was out of town, some of your relatives got ahold of you and played dress up. You were the prettiest little girl Mommy never had:)

Monday, November 2, 2009

Halloween Happenings

Here are some pics from all our Halloween adventures. It is a potpourri of pics from the past week so I will kind of give a rundown of what is in the slideshow.
-First, Ike had a dress up day at Kids Day Out. Mom didn't quite have the costumes ready yet so he had to go as Bob the Tomato. (That was made back in the day when I actually used a pattern:) I am too cheap for that these days!)
-Sam also had a party at his preschool. After two nights in a row of 1:00 am+ bedtimes, I had all their costumes ready so Sam went as Batman. He dressed at 7:25 am that morning and didn't take it off until after 6:00 pm that night, even the gloves and mask. When he did take it off, there was sweat running down the inside of the mask. He is a Batman nut!
-The boys went as Batman, Robin, and the Joker. These costumes were Will's idea. After I bought all the stuff to make them, Will informed me that he didn't really want to be the Joker. I asked him why he suggested it then if he didn't want to be it. He told me that he thought it would make Sam happy. I then had to explain to Will that many times in life, it is great to make others happy but that he should never do it at the expense of his own happiness. That is a life lesson I still haven't learned;) I did offer to make him a different costume since I hadn't yet begun making them but he didn't really have any other ideas so he found peace with the Joker. And, since Sam wore his costume for all of Friday and most of Saturday, I think Will accomplished his goal of making Sam happy:)
-We trick or treated at Brent's work on Friday and in our neighborhood with some great friends on Saturday. Our neighborhood is crazy busy on Halloween but I think that just makes it more fun. And doing it with friends makes the night a real treat for the kids and the parents.
-I took the boys out to the pumpkin patch earlier in the week to pick out a pumpkin to carve. That was fun and the day was beautiful. The boys were even very willing to take the pictures. Oh, I guess I did bribe them with ice cream but I am sure they would have smiled just as much without the bribe. Boys love pictures;) Oh and the two pictures with Ike's pants down, I forgot his belt:O
-Lastly, we spent Friday evening carving our pumpkin. I use the term "we" very loosely. Will was SO excited to get going on the pumpkin. He drew the face, I carved but then none of my boys would help clean the pumpkin out. They wouldn't even put their hands in it! It should bother me that my boys thought it was gross to touch the pumpkin guts but really, that cleanliness helps out in so many other areas of my life so I was ok with it. In the end, I cleaned it out and the boys still seemed to think it was a fun time watching. Brent took the pictures.
All in all, it was a very busy week. It was a rough week but when I look at these pictures I think about how one day very soon, I will miss a week like this, chaos like this, my boys like this.
Happy Halloween!