True to Themselves

Brian, Caleb and Noah are out of town for the weekend. So I am using this opportunity to try to clean out a bit without the over-the-shoulder pleas of, "But Moooom, I loooove that." "You caaaan't get rid of that, it's my favorite!" (All about things that haven't seen the light of day for months or years.) That said, I came across this project while cleaning out the Boys' Lounge. I am pretty sure it was the Father's Day gift from daycare the summer of 2006. What I love about it is that it's just so "them." Best I can figure, this was taken in summer 2006 before Caleb left daycare for pre-kindee. It's one of those images that just caputures who they were (and still are). Noah must have been almost 3 here and Caleb would have been about 4 and a half. Their expressions are classic, timeless and priceless. Caleb -- thoughful (I mean thinking, not that he isn't thoughtful, but as those of you who know him know, he is a boy that is always thinking), a bit more reserved and not about to put on a show for a camera, doing the job he is told to do "Caleb, stand here, we are going to take a picture" -- quintessentially Caleb. Noah -- exhuberant, fun, extroverted, and when told to smile for the camera, he's going to do it to the umpteenth degree -- quintessentially Noah. Just had to share. Now back to my cleaning.

"A Great Day"

Each day I ask the kids to tell me the best parts of the day (as well as the most frustrating).  Their answers, when you look past the surface answer, provide interesting insight into what is going on.

So today, I asked Noah.  

He thought long and hard about it.  And then piped up,

"Ohh, ohhh, ohhh, I know.  Today I got to be the Bathroom Captain.  So I got to hold the door for everyone when they went into and out of the bathroom.  It is an awesome job."

The best part of his day.  That is awesome...I agree.  Really, isn't that what it's all about?  Being helpful.  

When in life do we lose that simplicity?  That glee over just being helpful?  When being a leader meant helping the littler kids?  When just being useful and opening the door for people (to the stinky elementary school bathroom, no less) was the high point of the day?

But really the best part of the story was that as I was typing this just now, I was having trouble remembering the exact title of his job for the day.  I am on the first floor and he is upstairs.  I was trying to quietly call up the stairs to get his attention to no avail.  Eventually, my calls must have sounded more urgent as he all of the sudden bounded into view...buck naked post-shower.  That image, combined with his, again, pride, over being bathroom captain were pretty hilarious.  (And someday he will hate me for having blogged about it.)

So with that.  Here's Noah.  Classic Noah...wearing, for no reason at all, the Robin mask while playing Bakugan tonight.

The First Birthday

Hard to believe it, but Elijah turned one today.  Amazing to think back on the little 4 pound, 5 ounce peanut he was and look at him today.  We don't have the official weigh in yet, as I take him tomorrow, but he's doing very well.  It's been a great year.

We got together with my family, Papa, Wawa, Josh, Abby and Elliette (Greta and Tom couldn't make it back from Chicago two weeks in a row) and our dear friends the Taylors for a little party.

Papa, Eli and Dory show off various styles of bald and beautiful.

Eli was very excited about cake and was ready to dive in while these photos were taken.

You may have noted the two inch votive candle on the cake in the top photo.  Untraditional, yes.  While we are trying not to have him suffer from complete and total "third child" syndrome, sometimes details that never would have been missed the first, or even the second time, get missed this time around.  Case in point: candles.  Oops.  The up side was this candle could be left burning for awhile :)

But once he got around to the reality of eating it, he was a little less sure about the whole thing.

Preferring, instead, to fingerpaint with it.

He preferred the presents...

And baked beans:

And he and Brian closed it all off the way all good birthdays should end...with a nap.

Easter

We celebrated Easter in fine form this weekend.  We started off with a visit from Greta and Tom who came in from Chicago for Greta's quarter of a century-th birthday and Easter weekend.  A few months ago (sans Greta and Tom who couldn't make it back that weekend), the rest of us adults (Brian, me, Mom, Dad, Josh and Abby) went out for dinner without the kids.  While we all knew this at some level, we were all delighted to remember how fun, funny and enjoyable we were as just plain old adults.  We laughed until we cried.  No one was put in time out.  No one had to have someone wipe their mouth or change their pants (thank God, we weren't that funny).  And we promised we'd make it a quarterly, or thereabouts, deal.

So for Greta's birthday, we scored sitters for the little ones and headed out, the 8 adults, to Cate Lurcat on Saturday.  We had a fabulous time and again remembered that we are all a riot.  Well at least we thought we were.

We headed home around 11:00 p.m. and groaned that parental groan of "oh crap, we haven't gotten out the Easter stuff."  So while watching the end of SNL, I frantically filled eggs and hid them.  Remembering images of my mother and aunt looking equally annoyed while sticking stickers on a Barbie Mobile Home from many Christmases ago.

The boys, to their great credit, actually slept in the next morning.  Which was great as we, these days, are normally able to send the older two downstairs to watch cartoons for an hour on Saturday and Sunday mornings while we wake up.  Not so much when your living room is full of eggs and toys.  So they got up around 7:45 and we headed down for the egg hunt.

We followed that with a trip to Papa and Wawa's for a second egg hunt.  Photos of said hunt follow...