Stormy Weather

We got lucky with Hurricane Irene's arrival, as we didn't have any serious damage & even managed to not be without power for too long. We lost it on & off Friday evening & then it went out for good around 1am & came back on at 11am Saturday morning. Fortunately our friends came over Friday night for a slumber party, so we were entertained during the long night. John spent most of the day working hard cleaning up the yard while I cleaned up the house. After having the kids stuck inside for a couple days, it actually looks more like a hurricane hit the inside of our house! He & Ian went out this afternoon to put the boat back in the water & are hopefully enjoying some time out on the island in this gorgeous weather!
Ian's rain dance

These kids didn't have to rough it too bad, they even had power at bedtime for a movie.

We mostly had small limbs in our yard, this bigger one landed on the roof of our garage, but luckily did no damage.

The sky was gorgeous last night. Everyone had cabin fever, so we met a bunch of friends out for an early dinner & saw a pretty rainbow over the water on our drive home. This picture was from our front yard at sunset.

Hunkering Down

The rain has begun & I think we're all set to see what Ms. Irene has in store for us. Let's hope that we escape without much damage. John (& his sidekick, Filson) worked hard packing up everything outside & pulling the boat out. We'll most likely lose power, which doesn't sound fun with 3 little ones in the house! This week marks my 8th year on the East Coast...what a way to celebrate ; ) Thanks for all the messages, we'll try to let you all know how it goes once she's blown over.

Trying to clean out the freezer and ended up with some berry smoothies!

Tooth #1 popped through this morning! We hate to see that gummy smile disappear, but at least we have an answer to the crazy sleep schedule from the past couple weeks!

Picnic at the Arboretum

We met friends for a picnic at the arboretum today. Today was the first time I had ever been, although I've always heard it's beautiful & a great place to take the kids & it's only about 10 mins from our house. I have been missing out, as it was the perfect spot for the kids to run around & we had a great time even in the hot, sticky weather. We will definitely be back soon!

Filson & buddies

Filson, Carter & Ian climbing the tree

Finn talking to Ian, who was a hot, sweaty mess with a half-eaten cupcake

Grady & Ian (discussing the weather, maybe?) inside the children's cottage

The well-fed fish, the boys loved that they jumped out of the water at them while they were being fed

Clowning Around

There really hasn't been much to photograph & we are actually extremely happy to be able to put these past 2 weeks behind us! A lovely virus made it's way into our house & passed the fever/sore throat/congestion bug around to all 5 of us. Other than battling a lingering cough, for the most part we are on the mend & hoping to be a little more active this week. Those short nights made for long days & lots of cabin fever in the little guys!

We went through boxes of fruit bars this week soothing sore throats. The boys quickly discovered they could use that excuse to gain a sweet treat! It's hard to tell in the photo, but Ian also had a run-in with the side rail on his bed Monday night & scored a big goose egg between his eyebrows, which has now turned into 2 black eyes. Between that & an early morning call to Poison Control on Thursday when he got into some medicine, he's kept us on our toes this week. Never a dull moment!
(And I know you all notice how "safe" the chair he's sitting in looks with the broken, jagged edges sticking out of both sides. I'm happy to report that we did make a quick trip to the furniture store this weekend & found replacement chairs!)

We pulled out the Jumpin Johnny this week for Grant to try out. He is happy to bounce around & stretch out his long legs.

Friday night was one of the first days in a long time where it felt nice enough to be outside. The boys enjoyed having dinner on the porch.

5 Months Old

Little Grant is 5 months old today. Unfortunately, he has been congested for a couple of days, and his eyes are red & watery & not nearly as bright as they usually are. He is growing so fast & finally moved into the crib this month, so the 3 brothers now share a room! He's been playing with a lot of toys & reaching for everything in sight. We've had to start trying to keep small objects out of his reach, which is hard to explain to his big brothers. They still love to make their little brother laugh & shower him with kisses.

Monkey Joe's

Ian & Cortland cruising on the fire truck

Dinosaur BooIf Ian would only sleep past 5am in the morning, he would not find the nasty floor of a public playground to be suitable for napping. Somehow I doubt he'll learn his lesson.

A few of my monkeys ready for bed.

Filson has spent his week with a buddy at gymnastics camp. Our playgroup met this morning at Monkey Joe's & it was fun to watch Ian interact with the other kids without his big brother around. He got along just fine, and may even get used to not having big brother around!

Feed Me!

Our little guy has been trying to tell us for weeks now that he's ready to eat with the big boys. He is not content to sit back & watch the rest of us at meal time, but I have been dragging my feet thinking of all the time it takes to feed a 3rd mouth at the table every meal! I finally made a batch of rice this afternoon & Grant was able to try out the real deal. He doesn't look so excited in these shots, but I don't think it will take him long to get the hang of it.

After dinner at our friends' house last night, Filson was so excited when it was sparkler time!

Mud Day

Yesterday was 'Mud Day' at the Children's Museum & the boys had a good time getting messy.
Filson loved these little jelly spheres that were liquid, but turned into a solid ball when he pulled them out to play with them.
It was so hot, my lens steamed up when I went to take the picture. Perfect weather to jump into a mud bath!

Ian & Filson preparing to mix mud pies

All that mess outside, and they still wanted to spend most of the morning at the exhibits inside the museum!

The boys shopping at the grocery store.

Building Marble Tracks

The boys playing this afternoon with their marble track. They are fortunate to have extremely generous aunts & uncles that pass down toys to them. Holden & Reece had outgrown this & they brought it this weekend. Filson's been experimenting with lots of new tracks. And Boo's been experimenting with different ways to knock them over ; )