From all the years the fears the sleep

Harry was up early the other day, so we were looking through the pix of their first month. Sleep was pretty elusive and catch-as-catch-can .... I woke Jack up this morning for what may be the first time ever. The naps are sort of phasing out, tho they still get about 12 hours of sleep and sometimes seem to need more. Most of their friends are not napping anymore, and I'm finding it gives us a lot more time for fun stuff when we skip them and make up for it with an earlier bedtime. We'll see how it goes...

I finally found a picture of them both with those little sports rattles - Harry on the left with the football and Jack on the right with the basketball. Those preferences persist to this day!

Defiance, Ohio

Loose balloon, how high can you fly?

Today and tomorrow mark our angels' days and we had our usual balloons aloft time tonite.

The boys have a pretty amazing rock collection, and I'm trying to figure out the best way to handle it...

And this is the beginning of sunset on this beautiful day. There were three beautiful hawks flying overhead but this was the best picture of the sunbeams.

POTUSOA

My Little Flower Princess

I have a friend who is so very thoughtful - she is a wonderful gardener and took pity on our bare entry. What a treat it was to return home to find these sweet treats - thank you Colleen! Who can resist the house now?!?

She's training me Thursday, watch out flowers!
John Lenon

... growing up too fast for me

Miss Vicky is my doctor's mother and I always loved this picture of her with Harry during those first days....



Here she is greeting her boys almost 5 years to the day! Every time we are anywhere near her office, the boys ask to see Miss Vicky, and we all have a better day. Thank you, Miss V!

JB's Delaney Talks To Statues

03/29/09 Harry: Let's stay home today. Jack: I'm all actioned up - I need to DO something!

I wanna be a Cowboy baby

They say you have to help yourself to be able to help others, and Jack learned a few lessons on Friday. He was really upset when we got to the Trike-A-Thon to help with the setup; a few of his friends were there, but he and Harry were the only ones with trikes instead of bikes. He pouted, he stomped, he even got a little teary....we talked about how if he the trike was what he had, if he didn't ride, I'd give the money he raised to Harry or someone else (he wouldn't get the prizes, etc.)..... ...he walked out into this field to think about it.

A few friends came out to check on him, and moments later....

He was OK. He didn't love it, but he finished it. And he talked about how he learned to "cowboy up" and he did what he had to do. We were both proud. Then he realized how much fun it was to go downhill with no feet on the pedals ;-)

Note to anyone who's wondering: we live a long way from anything paved, they haven't even ridden the trikes for more than a minute and have said they weren't interested in bikes to this point...and, yes, I felt like a neglectful mom for more than a minute. We're hoping our new house has pavement ;-)

Kid Rock - um, how is it that one line can be so memorable in a song filled with a whole lotta nasty, sorry for the other lyrics

I Want To Ride My TRIcycle, I want to ride my TRike!

Today was their preschool Trike-A-Thon for St. Jude's (thanx to all of you who contributed; I, er they, have until 4/2 to collect. I think the school's goal is going to be blown out of the water, thanx to all you generous souls!) It was so much fun, despite the fact that my two were among the only non-bikers....they are so deprived :P

Jack suiting up!

They were SO excited to wear their new helmets -

thank you NYGrandma and Papa!

A little warmup while the course was setup
I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends!

I seriously think we need an intervention for the hair-twirling!

Harry's game face

Jack his laps

Jack and his buddy Dylan - Jack said this was the best picture of the day ;-)

Harry signing the banner for the church who loaned their parking lot to the cause

Harry approaching the Railroad Crossing sign -

he rode almost non-stop all day and didn't want to stop when it was time to go. He was all about 'riding to help the sick children' :wub:

Jack excitedly checking out the goods his buddy Sam got at the awards ceremony

Jack with his stash

Harry proudly showing off his license and goodies

Day Is Done

Thanx to everyone who made this such a fun event

and to all of you who helped them far exceed their goal to help the kids of St. Jude's!

Queen's Bicycle Race

Well, excuse me, but I think youve got my chair

We're all missing Daddy these days, so when I heard "move over, there's not enough room" as I was walking thru the kitchen, I knew what I'd probably see....I just didn't realize all the memories that would come flooding back as I thought of all the moments in Daddy's Chair....

03/09 - 5 years old (Harry L, Jack R)

10/04 - 6 months old (Jack L, Harry R)

05/06 - just over 2 years old (Harry L, Jack R)

I was too lazy to find a better match, but you can see that the seam hit them in the middle of their head at first and can't be seen behind their backs now :sniff:

This is Jack's culinary creation for tonite:

It's a Pizza-Raisin-Pepperoni-Cheezit Stack...Rachel Ray better watch her back ;-)

What is it with boys and weird food combinations?!

Good Time Party

Their buddy Asher turned the big FIVE yesterday and had a super fun party, that his dad started off with a blast!

It was this cool rocket launcher that made a real splash

The boy version of the kitchen gather that happens at all parties

Harry really was taunting Jack most of the day

There was a Diego animal safari/scavenger hunt that included a visit from the BoBo Brothers, hosted by Asher's grandfather, who was a great sport!

There was a cool "5" pinata

There were awesome decorations and a tired Harry

Grayson and Jack enjoyed all the cupcakes and icecream and other treats

My great idea of stuffing the bags with balloons turned into a popping fest that had the boys covering their ears
And Asher's room ...

...actually survived the influx of about 13 kiddies!

Jack, Asher, Grayson and Harry turned the sandbox into an experiment pit

It was a great party, Chad and Kristi! Thanx for including us :-)

Welcome to the 5's Asher! It looks good on you!

Roy Orbison

'round the old jukebox in the HAMBURGER store

After the boys' doctor's appointment and a few errands, they opted to go to Johnny Rockets, which is a diner-style hamburger joint that originated in California and claims to be the original hamburger maker. They have jukeboxes on each table, and it's the best $1 you could ever spend to hear these boys get excited about singers and songs they've heard - Jack played every Elvis tune they had and Harry went right for the Troggs' Wild Thing!

Tho a few didn't come out, you can see the progression - Harry is pushing his way into this picture
then squeezed Jack into the wall while taking his turn

We were on our way to Asher's birthday party and still relishing their bandaids ;-)

Jack loves Knock-Knock jokes, so this is a favorite card. He drew the three of them on the bottom left :wub:

And Harry drew the direction (ala Garmin) from the restaurant to Asher's house - he got it just right, too....we've dubbed him The Human Garmin ;-)

Perry Como's Jukebox Baby