Feeding the fish & turtles

The cake & the stab - I'll admit my 33 does look like 39 - sorry Sean

The stabber (his brother just used his finger 1,000 times before cake was served)

My little shaver - this keeps him busy for a LONG time

We are putting lots of miles on the Bears car lately

Yes even driving in the buff

Our recent splashpad adventure

Seems we've been busy - although we've had relatively few plans! I guess not having plans works just fine for us. We celebrated Sean's birthday yesterday - the boys could not keep their little fingers out of the cake & icing - it was miserable, Carter got his fingers in multiple times and then Lincoln moved the kitchen chair, got a fork and actually stabbed the cake. It didn't look as I'd imagined it but making pretty cakes takes so much stinking time! We now have cake for about 100 at our house, but I wanted to make a big cake & did. Sean and I also went out for dinner on Saturday night for his birthday and Carter was very concerned about why we'd want to go out for dinner with our he and Lincoln - sorry C, dining is less stressful without you in tow! We went to Lake Hefner to Lakeside and had a relaxing dinner watching lots of boats and sipping some cocktails (and I had one too many that gave me a wonderful splitting headache in the middle of the night when Lincoln woke me up!).

Linc has been a little crab butt - I took him to the Dr. on Tuesday just to make sure there wasn't anything going on other than his teeth - sure enough, there isn't! But not only is he getting 3 incisors, he's also getting molars so I guess he has a reason to be cranky - now if only he'd take the Motrin I've offered him to make them feel better (he's on an anti-medicine kick). She did say his allergies look to be under control and we can stop using those meds until fall which is a good thing. His sucking thumb was also infected - it was just nasty but looks better now. He's suddenly interested in reading and drags me to the books a few times a day but often insists on reading a different book than the one that I'm reading to him as well. He is working on his words which is good because we are both frustrated with his lack of talking when he wants something - he prefers to scream until I guess and I think that system sucks! Yesterday he said firetruck, dump truck & boat when we were looking at a book - so now we can work on some more everyday important words, maybe? We made steaks last night and he couldn't get enough - I honestly couldn't cut fast enough for him, since Sean makes them a bit rare he had all sorts of juice we will call it on his face, it was a bit scary to me but he enjoyed his steak and Carter even tried it - now that is good Iowa boy behavior!

We had a nice adventure to the pond yesterday morning. Carter insisted that they'd need a snack to get around the pond and got some Sun Chips & his backpack for the ride. Linc decided to dump his chips in the pond which ended up being a fun time since 5 turtles were hungry and then some big ol' fish joined in to eat them - it was so much fun to watch that we went back and tried again last night but apparently they weren't as hungry last night.

Carter is going through a very loving phase (maybe it will last but I bet it doesn't last long enough) he asks for hugs like a million times a day - it is super cute, "can I have a hug mom?" his mood has improved substantially since I started making him nap again, which means I have to lay down every day too to get him to sleep, but I think him napping might be worth it just in the attitude department although it often means he is up until too late for our taste! He is still into the boys vs. girls stuff and always asks for the "boy" colored popcicles - like no pink or purple ones for him! When we were at the pond yesterday there were a few plastic bottles laying on the ground and Carter told me "those people weren't being nice to the earth". Go Dora, Go Super Why and all the other shows that preach "green" to my little guy - it was cute and such a good message that he's obviously getting.

That is about all from our house this week, I hear a "Mama, Mama" coming from the baby crab!

Iowa Images

Here I go trying again to show the Iowa pics....last try, I swear.

I was even sick of my blog....

so here are some new colors and music for you! Here is our first painting project - this is Linc's room and will coordinate with his big boy room when we are ready to ditch the crib which we are so not ready for just yet! When Sean got home on Monday, Lincoln took him into his room & said "Ta-da" - Carter then displayed such for the camera! Much, much painting to do to make this mama happy but our first project was a success!

A few pictures from our Omni adventure on Sunday - it was the coolest place we could think of (literally) to go - it did the trick and the boys always love it - but they weren't into Science Live just yet - the noise was a bit much for Lincoln and Carter thought well if he doesn't have to watch the things explode neither will I - I'll go check out my friends the trains that I've seen 1 million times - in an effort to not interrupt the show for anyone else, Sean did endure the rest of the show!

The blogging world and mine are not coinciding this week! I've tried and tried to upload Iowa adventure pictures and keep getting denied - so I guess I'll write the stories and THEN try to upload yet again - part of the problem is that I have so many pictures to share as we had lots of adventures!

We started our days in Iowa with Marti-Graf - every member of the Graf family except my dear husband was in attendance (I told him he needs to be super nice to Patty as a result of his absence) - it was great to see everyone, it had been almost 3 years since I'd seen the California branches of the family! The boys had a great time, but what little boy doesn't have a great time at the Peterson farm - there is so much to do, trampoline, golf carts, food & dirt! Much to keep us busy. They had a good time playing with all of their cousins and between Mimi and Papa and my younger cousins - I got a serious break from childcare! Carter took to Jada, my Aunt Lisa's 9 year-old and she was a huge help in keeping him busy and having fun. Ms. Jada may visit us in November when she is off of school and Carter kept saying "yes for 2 weeks!" We had cold and rainy weather but this Oklahoman would take 60's & rain over 100 & heat any day right now - just wish we'd prepared a bit better for it, I thought Mimi was being crazy thinking we needed jackets - guess she wasn't!

Sean drove up on Sunday to bring Grampie's truck - our driveway is a bit empty now and we have little to talk about when we are outside but Carter did inquire yesterday whether or not Grampie was keeping his truck clean and wanted to call and check in on it. Note to Richie - better keep it clean at least when we come to town! The boys were awfully excited to see daddy since we didn't tell them he was coming too. We got to go to Lindsey, Michael & Cael's for dinner & some almost too exciting (underneath the cars) fireworks. The boys would love to be country boys like their cousin Cael - & went of to play on his tractors & swing set.

Carter got to go fishing which was a big treat for him, Papa took him to the pond and even backed the Kabota up to the edge so he didn't have to get his shoes wet (Amen, we know how he feels about wet shoes!). He got 6 fish - 2 bass & 4 croppies & was elated with his expedition. Linc was not included in the fishing trip since the last time we went to our pond to learn how to cast he got in the pond instead - he's got a little bit of time until he will be able to be a big boy & fish. We also got to go on the boat which this family loves! Sean says that it is the "perfect" boat - we worked on wearing our life jackets which is always the first step for little ones to get used to - when we go to the Ozarks we will work on getting into the water. We also got to check out Corning's new pool - it is awesome, I can't wait to go back and go down the slides since I didn't want to get my hair wet this time, but I will so get wet next time! It is perfect for the little kids with it's zero entrance.

Baby Doodle is working on teeth & words these days - he's getting 4 incisors, ouch and has since been a smidge cranky lately - Motrin does the trick when it is at it's worst! His words are funny - he only bothers to talk when it benefits him - like "key" - as in - Mimi take me on the Kabota - get the "key" or I locked the bathroom door or I locked Carter in your room "key". He also says "Ta-da" a lot to show you his tricks - like standing on the table - surprisingly this morning when he found a lipstick and smeared it all over his face, he didn't say "Ta-da" but I think he already knew he was in trouble! He also asks for "sicle" as in Popsicle & his "bebe" all the time.

This week we've been recuperating with about 20 loads of laundry (although Mimi kept all of our clothes clean while we were there we still somehow produced more) and taking good naps (Yippee for the Hogan house!). We are now on to our next projects of painting - I figure it is entirely too hot to go outside we might as well be inside and be productive - Linc's room is up first and then the rest of the house - this flat, un-kid-friendly, & slightly boring paint has got to go! Wish us luck on the paint projects it might be an awfully long adventure.

Just like Daddy

The boys got into the shaving kit last week & had a really good time - they are such big boys aren't they?

Here are some pictures - no time to give details as Carter "NEEDS ME" so I'll just post pictures now and hopefully will remember to write later!

Father's Day fun!

This is our mad face - made because he had to get off Carter's bike - he pouted all the way home

He only got into the pond once or twice, during our trip

We really let him leave the house like this...

Scuba Steve's little brother

Ready for the Ozarks & Icaria

So I am playing with my new camera and took about 75 pictures today so I thought I'd share - plus my Grandma Sims (that is Yellow Grandma to you, Katie) is starving for blog writing and pictures of the boys! We took Sean out for breakfast this morning - even though we went at 9 and had to wait the boys did pretty well - I had some Sweet Potato Pancakes that were so called YUMM-O! If they had marshmallows on them I'd have to take Grandma Dandy for some on her next visit, I'll have to see if she wants to try them without since marshmallow topping wasn't an option but otherwise they have all the makings of sweet potato casserole (sweet potato, brown sugar & butter). We then took a trip downtown to Bass Pro - not on our normal shopping circuit but something fun for the boys - they climbed in a few boats and looked at the fish & Carter convinced Sean to buy him a fishing pole - let's just say that Carter is going to have to rely on Papa & Uncle Timmy to take him fishing because I heard Sean say many times today - "this is why I hate fishing, always have, always will" when Carter got the line twisted. We did venture down to the pond and Carter practiced casting with the little anchor type thing on there (he said he needed the hook but Sean thought he needed some practice before having one especially with little brother around). Linc had a great day of painting - as the pictures will show, we have one clean artist and one who eats paint! Sean says he has a future of glue sniffing ahead of him due to his love of product testing including the pink and blue paints today. It was in his hair, on his back, on the floor - guess we won't be painting again soon. That is about all for our day - hope all of you father's out there had a great day!