Football

We had the unexpected pleasure of going to an NCSU game this past weekend.

While there, my oldest child vacillated between having a blast or being incredibly bored. Her favorite part was the "parade" at half-time....

My youngest child (happy 8 mos. today!) enjoyed the high life....

And seriously contemplated a decision by the ref.

And my middle child just sat and watched some football. That's right - he sat. still. He loved it and talked the whole way home about tackles and touch-downs.

Go Pack!

Brothers

This is an older picture of the boys - but one of my favorites! It has been interesting to watch Isaac in the role of older brother. He has mastered the role of younger brother. He knows exactly how to play with, listen to, tease, torment, and delight Emma Grace. That kid can get her laughing like nobody else and he can also tick her off like nobody else can. (And she can do the same for him...)

Along comes Owen....

What type of older brother will Isaac be?

I assumed (based on the fact that he once kicked a much older boy for throwing sand on Emma Grace) that he would be a protective older brother. The jury is still out on that one.

Today, Owen was crawling (yes, crawling - no longer inching) around in the mall play area. I had given him a rattle to play with when an older child came and tried to take the rattle from him. They were in a tug-of-war. Owen verses an "18monthish" old boy. I was about to step in when I spot Isaac hauling ass running across the area towards us. He stands next to Owen and surveys the situation. The other boy is pulling even harder and becoming more aggressive. I'm curiously watching, but am prepared to step in should Isaac (in an obviously heroic gesture) attempt to kick this boy.

He stops.
He surveys.
He turns to me and says:
"Mommy, Owen's not sharing."

Sigh.

Happy Enkutatash

How did you celebrate the Ethiopian New Year?

We went to Abyssinia with a lot of friends and family for some awesome Ethiopian food, entertainment, and evidently, jumping.

Schooling around

Today was the first day of preschool. After some apprehension, they had a blast.

Here's Emma Grace's first day of preschool 2 years ago. Wow - she has changed SO much!

Their first day last year. Isaac was so excited to wear her "old pack-pack" and go to school with her.

And this morning. .. They're getting so big.

What did they say about their first day? I asked many questions and finally got some vital information. Emma Grace had animal crackers AND pretzels for a snack; Isaac only got animal crackers. Isaac's friend John, spits.

I know you will all sleep better tonight knowing that.
Sweet dreams.

Inching Along

My oldest babies started major movement with the army crawl. You know the one. They lay on the floor and use their arms to drag their bodies wherever they want to go.

Not Owen. He is determined to bypass the unsophisticated army crawl and go straight to regular crawling. (He's probably trying to avoid being covered with dog hair...) Only one problem: he can't figure the whole crawling thing out.

He's great about rocking back and forth on his hands and knees to get his momentum going...and then he propels/lurches forward until he's on his belly again. He repeats the process as often as necessary until reaching his desired destination.

We think it's pretty funny. Evidently Kaia could care less.

PS - I know this is only exciting, blog worthy news to me, but it's my blog. If I want to brag about "Owen the Inchworm" - I will.

Marbles

We have a wonderful children's museum here in Raleigh. It's called "Marbles". Don't know why they call it that, but my theory is that after an hour in there with hundreds of crazy kids running around, all the mother's have lost whatever "marbles" they had left. I mean just yesterday, in the "fake" ambulance (yes, they have a fake ambulance), a mother was laying on the stretcher resting. I'm not sure where her children were, and a few years ago I may have judged her for trying to nap in a kid's museum, on a fake, germ-infested, child sized stretcher. However; yesterday, there was no judgement - just jealousy that I didn't think of it first. Unfortunately, there was only one stretcher and I didn't know how she'd feel about sharing it with a stranger.

We went with some good friends for the morning and had a great time. Here are a few pictures... If you're wondering why I don't have any great pictures of Isaac and Colin inside the museum, it was not from a lack of trying, but it's hard to shoot a constantly moving target. I love Owen's expression in the last photo. It pretty much sums up the craziness of the day....

A Room with a View

Todd and his dad worked on a major project at our house last week: replacing rotten siding. Sounds fun doesn't it? If it does, there's still more to do. So come on over...

This is what our living room looked like when the kids and I got home one day. The window was only gone for a few hours (not a big deal), but we do have some new pets as a result. We have a fly killing contest going on in our home right now. So far Todd is winning (but has been asked to stop displaying his victims on the kitchen sink) . Isaac and I are tied for second place. EG is too busy playing Polly's to kill anything. Owen is coming in 3rd because I swear he aimed his vomit at a few of them....

FYI: If you know people are going to be removing your windows, don't leave a chicken cooking in the crock-pot. Evidently, flies like chicken.

Here is one of the activities we did while the guys were working on the house. Owen has decided he loves the pool. He floated for over an hour - just chillin' and smiling.