Pooltime

A couple weeks ago, I blew up our kiddie pool for the first time this summer! Crazy....I can't believe I didn't drag it out and let the boys play with it earlier. This particular afternoon it didn't feel oppressively hot at 3:30pm, so I thought we better take advantage of it!

Drew wasn't so sure about it....he was happier just playing on the porch. But Grant had fun pouring water on himself and transferring water to his sand/water table (and bringing sand back to the pool).
Watering Drew......

He got such a kick out of this and did it probably a dozen times......
Just hanging out, watching his big brother.....

The boys love playing at the sand table....Drew gets especially messy because he crawls around in the wet sand on the ground. Sometimes it drives me crazy when they get so messy, but I try to remember that they're boys and it's inevitable!

Drew still loves this flower pot. He used to immediately put the flowers in his mouth. He still tries to do this sometimes, but mostly he just tries to pick them now. This is a sneaky little smile.....he knows he's been caught!

I knew it would happen.....

We have a long, straight staircase in our house.....all the way up, with no curves or turns. I've always been so scared of Grant (and now Drew) falling down the stairs, and I've even told Dean that I'm sure it will happen at some point. Well, a couple of weeks ago, my friend Jennifer and her little boy Luke were over. Grant and Luke were at the top of the stairs while Jennifer and I were standing right at the bottom. All of a sudden, Jennifer (who was facing the stairs) said, "oh my goodness!" just as I heard Grant tumbling down the stairs. She said it looked like he was doing a cartwheel. Of course he cried for a couple of minutes, but these little rug burns on his face are all he had to show for it. Not too bad for falling down the stairs!

And here are a few pictures of Drew enjoying his macaroni and cheese a few days ago. He loves this stuff....he's a pretty good eater, but he's already decided that he doesn't like green beans and other veggies very much (although he ate quite a few carrots the other night). I am SO bad at cooking vegetables, even for us.....so the boys rarely have to try them (which probably isn't very good, but giving my kids veggies at every meal is not my highest priority right now).




Just a cute picture of the boys.....Grant loves grabbing Drew and tackling him from behind.....it used to worry me but I'm learning that Drew is old enough that he's probably not going to break!

Catching up on pictures.....

We had a fun long weekend.....we went to Evan's 3rd birthday party on Saturday and watched college football. I am so glad football season is here.....yippee!!

I was looking through recent pictures last night and realized that there are so many cute ones of the boys that I haven't posted. So for the next few days I'm going to try to add a few every day. It's next to impossible to get a really great picture of them together (usually one is smiling while the other is looking away). But I keep trying, and I've gotten a few cute ones lately.

Today in the car Grant found a funny noise that made Drew laugh, and he kept doing it over and over. Each time, Drew would laugh hysterically and then Grant would too. Grant asked him, "you think I'm funny, Drew?" It was cute....they're enjoying each other a lot right now (and fighting with each other over toys too, but I guess that's what siblings do!).

Here the boys are playing giddy-up with Daddy. It's one of the songs we sing at Book Babies at our library, and I was singing it with Drew. And almost every time Grant sees Drew doing something fun with me, he'll ask Dean to do it with him too. So Dean got stuck doing giddy-up with both boys.


A cute smile.....Drew and Grant both love this new dinosaur toy (which was supposed to be Drew's early birthday present).

Monkey see, monkey do. If Grant is playing with play-doh, Drew wants to grab it too. And if Grant is coloring (which he seems to enjoy more than before), Drew wants to grab the paper and markers too. For the record, Grant always wants whatever Drew is playing with too (makes life fun for me!). Here's Drew pestering Grant while he tries to color......

My boys.....see what I mean? This would have been a perfect picture, but I couldn't get Drew to move that hand away from his mouth!

Mr. Potato Head

Grant got a Mr. Potato head last Christmas, but he wasn't quite ready for it then. A couple weeks ago, we got it back out and he had fun playing with it. This one was pretty good, aside from having an extra arm and a pair of eyes on the side of its head:

Grant wanted to put the glasses on himself......

.....so we put the other pair on Drew (Dean is holding his arms down so he can't pull them off!):
And of course anything Grant plays with, Drew wants to be playing right along with him (very annoying to Grant!):
Here are a couple more of Grant's "creations." Yikes!

First day of school

With his pacifier:
After I talked him into giving me his paci (he wasn't too happy about this, so he wouldn't smile for me):

Finally a little bit of a smile (a few minutes later):
Grant went back to school today! Dean is still home today (he's feeling better but just weak from not eating for two days), so he kept Drew while I took Grant to school.

It was weird....taking pictures of him this morning before school, it was hard to believe that it's been a whole year since his (first) first day of school a year ago. I remember it so well....getting teary-eyed as we pulled into the parking lot, worrying that he'd have a meltdown when I left, just a little sad that he was getting to be such a big boy. That was three weeks before Drew was born and I also was excited to have a few weeks to finish getting ready for the baby (especially during the hours that Grant was at school). It turned out I didn't have much of that time at all, since Hurricane Ike showed up a few days later and we spent the rest of the time (until after Drew was born) with Grant at home because the schools were closed!

Anyway, today wasn't nearly so emotional. It definitely hasn't felt like we've been on summer break for three months. I took Grant inside and to his new classroom (he wanted me to carry him inside, which I gladly did because I don't know how many more times he'll want me to do that!), and we met one of his teachers (Ms. Michelle). She showed him where his cubby was, and he put his bag down and went to sit down at a table to play with some toys. I talked to her for a second, then I said goodbye to Grant. He looked back and me, waved and said "bye." No problem!

When I picked him up, he was crying.....they had come inside from the playground at the end of the morning and Grant decided he wanted his pacifier. His teachers looked in his bag and couldn't find it (or at least said they couldn't). So he was crying when I got there, asking me for his pacifier. I think this will be really good for him......they are more strict in this older classroom with pacifiers and blankies. They said if a child really needs one of these, they'll let them go get it for just a minute, then put it back in their bag and come back with the rest of the class. It will be very interesting to see what happens if Grant gets a hold of his pacifier, then someone tries to take it away after just a minute. Hmmmmm......

And here are a couple of cute pics of Drew. He had fun playing with Daddy while I took Grant and picked him up later (and he slept a LOT.....but still no other signs that he got our stomach virus, thankfully!).