This is the baby who stayed up much of the night before the drive home & this is him sleeping in the car - urk!

Carter, Lincoln & I on the tube - going very, very slow!

Carter & I moving a little faster - he said "I like it when Grampie goes fast!"

Vacation can wear a kid out!

Linc the little jet skier (or ski-jetter as Carter kept calling it)

Wind blown hair just like Sean's!

The little boys

Attempting to pee off the boat - this was not successful!

The "Big" kids!

We are back & had a great time in the Ozarks with the Hogan family. 6 kids, 9 adults, 2 boats, 2 condos - lots of swimming, boating, eating & a bit of shopping too! Carter had so much fun playing with his cousins - he loves all of them and played with each of them separately and really enjoyed all of them. I think he got used to having some constant bigger kid companionship because before we even made it home last night he was asking to have friends over! Yikes, I'm still catching up.

Both boys had a really good time boating and weren't so sure about floating in the lake but did a little bit - Carter more in the tube at the dock, until he fell in. We also had jet skis for an afternoon and they enjoyed that - but not as much as our resident dare devil Samantha - she loved going fast and jumping the waves with me & even took Grandma on a bit of a ride!

One of the big girls (I don't remember now if it was Marah or Samantha) said, "Why do you live so far away" which was a bit of a tough questions to answer - I said because we live were uncle Sean's job was and that wasn't a good enough answer - "can't he get another one?" maybe one day we won't be so far away (although maybe that will be by the time they don't want to play together so well too!). This year Auntie Gwen brought a babysitter along which was so wonderful so the big people could have some time without the small ones - I think the small ones had as good of a time together as the big ones did!

Thanks Hogan family for a good time & thanks Mimi & Papa for sending your boat for some more summer adventures!

This is what Vaseline in the hair looks like - thanks baby doodle

Pretty sure this picture would mortify daddy - good thing he doesn't read our blog - really they only have a few years to kiss each other before it is totally unacceptable - right?

This is Carter being towed home by Lincoln because he was simply too tired to return alone - meanwhile I was towing the bike in the stroller

Our little tweedle-dee - the hat was from the Geek computer store

This week brought us a considerable amount of rain but I can honestly say I'd rather have rain than heat! Plus the boys love to play in it - I don't particularly like the worms that it brings out currently especially the ones that have found their way into our house! Eek, Lincoln also stepped on one the other day and Carter wanted to know what it was "dancing" I wasn't exactly sure how to explain that it had come close to death by Linc's shoe and it was trying to recover? They also spent some time last week "tickling the worms" with blades of grass and it took Carter a long, long time to realize that they worms they were tickling were in fact dead. We've also had some ants think that our home is theirs and Carter informed me that they ants didn't want to die they just wanted to play with their friends (although he doesn't want them in his house so I guess he doesn't care if we do indeed kill them). Hopefully our next post doesn't include an information on a backyard Mole but Sean told me he thinks there is one that has been in our yard - wouldn't that be fantastic!

Or, Stupendous, a word that Carter used today - I was doing something and narrating to Lincoln and asked if he could say a word and around the corner comes Carter and he says "Lincoln, can you say stupendous?" - I asked where he'd heard the word and he said from a commercial - I did inquire whether it was from an Oxy Clean commercial since he was relatively fond of the product earlier in the summer but he didn't think it was - it was probably from one of the many things he sees on t.v. that he says "can I have that for my birthday" - he is certainly on birthday countdown already.

Carter had a few other funny quotes this week - he asked Lincoln while I was out of the room but happened to be listening "What's the big idea, baby?" and after listening to a song about birds eating a sugar lump he's been calling Lincoln "sugar lump" some this evening, I'm pretty sure that Lincoln is going to be asking to be called by his name just as soon as he can tell us that. I did hear on a name song? Like the rhyming name song - but I think they called it the name song Lincoln, Lincoln bo binkin' - I was so excited to hear his name on it - I think it was some 50's made only for pancake houses track maybe but none the less I was excited to hear it and it also rhymes a little more cleanly than Carter does (you are singing the song now, I know it...). I had a friend but can't remember who, who thought that this was part of the name test when selecting your baby's name, I guess I failed that test for C.

We've been playing a lot of I Spy in the house lately & lots of hide and seek which has gotten more advanced than hide in Carter's bed or under Lincoln's with a blanket - it can actually be a lot of fun for the big people too. Lincoln has a new habit of doing this "ahhmmm" after he has a drink of something he likes - keep the Bud Light lime away from the kid, however, he likes it too much and there would be many "ahhmm's" to be had.

Carter lectured his Mimi this week & told her that she could not go on the motorcycle with Papa because a motorcycle is only for one person - shouldn't she know this - she already fell of once as he knows from her scar. He was very specific and told her and I multiple times that motorcycling isn't something she should be doing. I haven't told him that, that is exactly what she is doing this weekend.

We are headed to the Ozarks next week and Carter couldn't be more excited, he says we should stay for 10 days because he says so. Should be a fun time - please keep your fingers, toes and anything else you'd like to crossed that they sleep well so I can enjoy myself too! My little men are very used to our quiet little life and don't always adjust so well!

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?