Max and Ben's

I love it that we are getting back into a routine of seeing Max and Ben again... and Jill and Emma, but we call it "Max and Ben's." Lucas absolutely loves hanging out with his older cousins. And Ellen can be the big girl around Baby Emma : )

In this first picture she has on her confident, I'm-such-a-big-girl expression : )

And since Lucas doesn't have a video game system at home, he especially loves the fact that M and B have a Wii and a DS. He could watch them play games for hours. Yes, watch, he doesn't actually play, usually. This week he played when Max left and freed up his DS. Now all I hear is how when he finally gets his DS he wants the Leg* Star Wars game first. He's so obsessed that we've decided to use it to our advantage by creating a sticker chart to earn money to buy his own DS. He did great for the first two weeks and earned $10 each week. But it's now been several weeks since he's earned another $10. His demise is his little sister and that he can't stand not being a bossy big brother.

Yesterday he told me to guess what he was thinking. I guessed that he was thinking of the pool, camp, his friends, etc before I asked for a hint. He told me that what he was thinking about started with a "D." I was quietly thrilled that he knew that this thing started with the "duh" sound. So I guessed dogs, dirt, etc before asking for another hint. He told me that it also had and "S" in it. Again, I'm thrilled that he's learning to spell and is even playing games with letters! Then he spilled the beans that he was thinking of a DS! Little stinker.

Ellen likes these baby toys more than she did when she was a baby...

And Ms. Jill always has yummy snacks!

Did I mention the trampoline? Ben got it for his birthday. Last week Ellen wouldn't jump unless the boys were still, but this week she got up the nerve to join them. Here she is considering it...

And here she is having a blast! Ben would even make her double jump and she loved it.

And after 30 min of jumping she got sensitive. "Dutas made me falllllllll!"

Ellen's First Dentist Appointment

Lucas was scheduled for a bi-annual check-up today. Since Ellen should have her first visit around age 3, I thought I'd take her along to watch her big brother get his teeth cleaned. When the dh came back to get Lucas, I asked her if Ellen could watch. She was a tad pushy and insisted that we try to get Ellen in the chair today as long as we were already there.

So Lucas did fine, as usual, since he's been several times now. His teeth look good, but the dentist said he wants to keep an eye on two of his molars because they have deep grooves/holes in them that food may be hard to get out during a normal brush. He also said that Lucas's teeth will probably be crowded when his permanent teeth come in. We should start budgeting for braces.

After L got his teeth cleaned, he got to look in the treasure chest for a toy. Ellen was told that she could get her prize after she got HER teeth cleaned. So, as expected, little miss climbed right up into the chair. You couldn't tell it was her first time doing this.

This was all great, except I didn't have my camera! So they took these pictures with some sort of camera they had, and then printed off a very poorly print on computer paper. Oh well, at least the moment has been recorded : )

My sweet, sleepy boys...

Ellen's First Day of Camp

Finally, camp (mornings only) week has arrived! I'm trying to work 4-6 hours a day, depending on the week, and it's not easy with two kids and a nanny in the house with me. Our nanny often takes them to the pool (she's a swim coach, so she's qualified) or I'll go to a coffee shop if I need to really focus. Both kids are in a mommy phase and protest every morning when we tell them the nanny is coming. They want to play with "Moooommmmmmyyyyyyy" and not the nanny. So when I told them it was camp day, they were both excited for something more interesting than what we have to offer at home.

They were told to come to camp in their swim suits, so here is our lady, ready for the day. Another great thing about this camp is that it's at their preschool, so Ellen is getting to spend time with the teachers that she'll be with next year... Ms. Mary and Ms. Cindy.

Jeff's First Tri of the Season

Jeff got up at 4:15 this morning so he could have his half bagel and banana 3 hours before the start of his race. He left around 5am so he could get setup. I got the kids out of bed at 6am and carried each one to the car, still in their pj's, for our big adventure of the morning. They were both excited to go to Daddy's race!

When we got there we got to ride in a bus from the parking lot to the race site. Ellen thought that was awesome. We got to see Jeff for a minute before it was time for him to start.

Ready...

Set...

GO! You can see Jeff in the center of the picture. He had on an orange shirt. I have letters in yellow to point out where he is...

Here we are, with Marie, waiting for Olivier and Jeff to finish their swim. As the first guys and girls were coming out of the water - folks that started 4 minutes ahead of Jeff - Lucas asked why everyone was winning, but not his Daddy : ) Later when we asked him what his favorite part of the race was, he said, "watching Daddy lose every race!" with a big smile on his face. He thought, first of all, that each leg was a different race, and second, he thought Jeff lost each one because he didn't come in first : ) Technically, I guess he's right...

Here come Daddy!!! (orange on right)

Olivier on his bike...

Jeff coming off his bike leg...

Adam was racing too, so we got to hang out with Holly, Katie and Tyler during the race.

Poor baby! This lady, who is 99% potty trained, wet her bed last night. So she was up in the middle of the night (so was I) and then got up at 6am. She was pooped by 9:30.

Adam finishing his bike. See Katie cheering for him? : )

Jeff coming in for the big finish...

And, finally, time for some fun!

Ellen and the ABC's

I'm going to stop comparing Lucas's reading skills to that of his peers that are not the first born, because it's becoming obvious how much exposure the 2nd child gets to letters and numbers! Anytime we are practicing with Lucas, Ellen is right up in there trying to get her share of the attention : ) Combine the exposure with the fact that she's a girl, which usually learn faster, and I bet she'll know how to read before she goes to Kindergarten.

Her favorite letter is "E." She calls it "her name." She wrote it for the first time today! Check it out... not bad, little lady. Her's is on the right side of the screen. Her name will actually be pretty easy to write... E-L-L-E-N.

Tyson Love

As everyone knows, Tyson was our first baby and was doted over like crazy. He's been flown all over the Eastern United States and even has his own doggie seat in our car. He received our complete attention and love for about 3 yrs, until Lucas was born. So the past five years he has been loved and treated well, of course, but not doted over like before... until recently.

I think it started when he began sleeping with the kids. Their bond grew stronger through sharing this intimate time. Now, each morning, the kids hug and kiss him and give him lots of ear and belly rubs to start his day. Lucas loves laying face to face with Tyson, both of them on their sides, while he rubs Tyson's belly. If he stops rubbing him, Tyson paws him to keep going :)

I was folding laundry and turned around to see Tyson "posing" like this... had to get a picture!

See? They love each other :)

Pure Joy for Lucas...

This afternoon was spent hanging out at Max and Ben's house. You can tell by the look on Lucas's face that he LOVES hanging out with them. Mostly because he loves them and how much fun they have together, but also because they have cool video games : ) AND a new trampoline!

Max and Ben are big kids and Lucas is average in height... Max is 7 1/2 and Ben just turned 6.

Ellen's new buddy

Lucas E.'s dog - Tommy. Ellen wanted to leave the fireworks early so she could go back to their house to see what Tommy was doing!

Fireworks - Take 2

There was rain in the forecast again, and it did rain a little, but just enough to cool things down and give us a BEAUTIFUL evening for our fireworks. Their pool has a little par 3 golf course, which made for a pretty setting and a fun place for the kids to run around.

Lucas's friend from pre-school, Rayne, was there! Lucas really couldn't believe it. We heard him say several times, "I can't BELIEVE Rayne is here too!" And I even saw them holding hands for a second while they were running : ) Later I said that it was crazy that Rayne was there too and he responded with, "It wasn't crazy, it was COOL."

Lucas E. had his hoodie on in case there were any drops falling from the sky...

There were so many kids and they were having a blast! John broke out the sparklers, which notched the excitement up a couple of levels...

Susie and I remembered get a picture of us (the picture takers)...

And the lady. Modeling her NEW BLUE SHOES that SaSa sent her today in the mail. They are actually swim shoes, but she didn't care. She loves them!

And finally, the show started...

Fireworks - Take 1

John, Susie and Lucas E. invited us to watch fireworks at their pool tonight. The plan was to sit on the grassy area by their pool and watch the fireworks that the city was shooting off at the fair grounds. We packed our coolers, grabbed our chairs and headed over to their house for some pre-firework sparklers. The boys, a.k.a pyros, were in heaven. Ellen wasn't too sure : )

The night was cut short due to thunderstorms... postponed until tomorrow night...