Memorial Day 2012

 We had a great Memorial Day.  It was probably the most fun Memorial Day that I can remember. Josh worked from home that day so that when it came time to do fun things, he could go too.  It was so nice to have him with us.  We had a big BBQ at the park with a bunch of friends.  The adults played a kickball game, the kids played on the playground, and we just ate and ate.  They had a ton of balls there so we also got to play catch with our kids for a long time.  It really is the simple things in life that make it so sweet.  I loved playing catch with Anna.  She tried so hard.  It was so relaxing, with perfect weather.  Great time for all!

 Josh threw a football with his friend Greg.  Sorry this picture is so far away, I just wanted to document the event. 

 Here's the crew. 

 This is Josh's team for kickball waiting for their turn to kick. 

 Later that day, a big group of us went to the pool and swam.  It was perfect.  The kids loved it and it was so fun to visit with friends.  The water was almost perfect, good enough for me to get in.  After we swam we had ANOTHER BBQ!  This time it was just right outside our apartment.  We all brought our own meat and something to share.  It was great!  The kids all played while we got to visit. 

 Andrew and Sam loved these chairs.  They kept throwing their heads back and laughing hysterically.  It was cute. 

 Our good friends and neighbors, Greg and Jenna.

 Here's the other side of the lawn. 

 These are just a few pics of the kids on their bikes outside.  It was a beautiful day so I thought I'd snap some. 

 Anna loves whizzing down this hill as fast as she can on her bikes.  It is the perfect slope.  It gets her going fast enough without being too dangerous.  Plus, it will keep her entertained for quite some time. 

She Got Him Good

You may not know this about Andrew but he can be quite aggressive.  I think part of it is the boy in him.  I wasn't expecting that when I had him, even though I have brothers.  Either my brothers weren't super aggressive or I was oblivious to it because they left me alone.  Either way, it's been a surprise for me.  Andrew is constantly hitting Anna and pulling out large bits of her hair.  He just attacks her!  What has been more surprising is that Anna has never retaliated.  Honestly, never once.  She'll just sit there and scream and cry.  She'll yell at him to stop but has never hit back.  All of that changed this week.  

I was upstairs putting away our laundry while they were two floors down in the basement.  I heard them yelling, which is very common in our house, and didn't think too much about it.  I thought that I'd wait for them to come to me.  I've been trying to teach Anna to come and get me when Andrew hurts her instead of just sitting and taking it.  So after a few minutes I hear a yeller coming up the stairs but this time it wasn't Anna.  It was Andrew.  He came up with big crocodile tears sobbing and wanting to be held.  I picked him up and tried comforting him.  He was pretty upset so it took a while.  I noticed something red on his cheek but thought that he just bumped into something, also extremely normal. 

About 30 minutes later, we were all in the kitchen when I was looking at his cheek.  It seemed to be getting worse.  I looked closely and then it hit me.  "Oh my gosh, she bit his cheek!"  I about died.  I turned to Anna and asked her if she bit him.  She denied it.  I asked her again and she denied it again.  I told her that she had to tell me the truth if she wanted to play with her friends later that day.  She then confessed.  I asked her why she bit him and she said it was because he was pulling her hair.  I was just baffled that after all this time of no retaliation that this was what she chose to break her perfect streak.  I was upset.  I explained how it doesn't matter what other people do to us, it's only important what we choose to do.  I told her it was wrong of Andrew to pull her hair but it was also wrong for her to bite him.  She had some quiet time in her room and came out feeling just fine.  I, however, was still in shock.   

 After thinking about it however, I began thinking, "well he deserved it."  I would never tell her that it was a good choice to bite him, but honestly, he's always beating up on her.  He had it coming.  I think that after all of this time, it's just been building up in her.  Finally, she couldn't take it anymore and just bit him!  Smack dab on the cheek.  She wanted it to hurt and wanted it to show.  Wow.  I always tell Josh that I often feel like a referee between the two.  They fight a lot.  Perhaps now Andrew will think about it a bit more though. 

 Don't worry, their friends again.  They are quite inventive too when they need a height boost. 

(The first picture shows the bite mark the best). 

Cute

I thought I'd share some funny things that kids have done and said lately.  Here's one not so funny....

I thought Andrew may have broken my nose this morning.  He head butted me because he didn't want to put his shirt on.  I heard my nose crack really loudly and I immediately starting crying.  I went to the bathroom to look at it and it was streaming blood.  I even spat some blood up.  Gross!  It hurt like the dickens but hardly bruised so I don't know if it's really broken or not.  What a stinker!

 Andrew tries to be sweet with his friends and give them hugs but ends up wrestling them to the ground to get in a good squeeze.  He is really cute when he falls asleep in the car.  I never want him to because it will always ruin his afternoon nap.  So, Anna and I will scream, "Andrew!!  WAKE UP!!"  With his eyes closed and in between heavy breathing, he shakes his head and says, "no, no!"  It's cute. 
He's fast!  Andrew can outrun an adult.  OK, not really but almost.  I am always running after him, trying to keep him out of a street full of cars or falling off something really high.  He will be our child with the most broken bones, I'm sure of it. 

 Anna's seriously the sweetest girl on the planet.  She is so thoughtful and considerate.  Her latest thing is to help me to put Andrew to sleep as she puts her baby to sleep.  She rocks her baby, sings it songs, and tucks it in. 
Babies are a big topic in house right now since I'm expecting.  She asked me today when she could have a baby inside her tummy.  I told her after she gets married.  She responded, "Yay!  I love getting married.  But I want to marry Daddy."  I told her that Daddy already married Mommy.  She then said, "But I love Daddy and I want him to marry me."  Sweetness.  She also told me the other day that it takes a long time to get pregnant, "like forty-five minutes....or maybe hours".  Haha!  We got a good kick out of that one. 

Feeding the Goats

We went to go feed the goats the other day at Grant's Farm, and it was so fun.  The kids loved it.  Here are a few pictures from our day.

This is Andrew and Daddy about ready to take off on the tram.

 Here's a tip, don't try to feed a goat a bottle when they are starving.  They will gang up on you, five at a time, knock you down, eat your clothing, and not think twice about it.  Now, especially don't do it if you're Andrew's height because then you really don't stand a chance.  We only stayed in their gate for about a minute before we decided that we would feed them from outside the fence.  It was a much better and safer idea. 

 The goats kept trying to eat Andrew's clothes and this was his reaction. 

 He quickly cheered up when we took him on the merry-go-round.  Who doesn't love that, huh?

 What a face.

Good day.

Just Playing Around

 Anna and Andrew love living at our new apartment.  Their favorite part is the increase in amount of time they spend with their friends. We play outside for a couple of hours every day with our neighbors.  We are sandwiched between two great families with kids the same age as mine.  It's wonderful.  There are a lot of perks to living at this place but for the kids, this one's the best. 
I love this picture below because I caught him mid fall, and he looks like he is sliding into home base. 

 Isn't that face just funny-looking?

 I call this Josh's "concentrated face".  You know that Josh is focused when he furrows his eyebrows, looks down, and stops responding to his name.  ;-)  I don't know why I think it's so funny, but it really cracks me up.  I try and see how many times I can call his name before it registers that I'm talking to him.  I'll say this for Josh though, when he does something, he gives it 110%.  I love him for it. 

 Anna set our table the other day.  How cute is this?  She opened all of the napkins instead of folding them and placed the plates on top.  Josh and I each have not one, but TWO cups.  And the forks are upside down.  I love her!

 Josh got these beautiful flowers for me for Mother's Day along with a new BBC movie, (which I LOVE)!  This picture was taken several days after Mother's Day so the flowers don't look quite as fresh as they did on the day of.  He's good to me. 

 Just hanging out outside. 

 How do you make your kids quiet and ridiculously loud all at the same time?  You give them dominos.  The kids get quiet because they love to manipulate them.  The house gets loud because Andrew's way of playing with dominos is to throw them all over our loud tile floor.  I love it!