Hopefully not a look in to his future :)

Yesterday Jeremy was working outside and the boys were "helping" him. The day before we had been to the library and gotten fish tattoo's that said "read" that they were sporting on their arms (because all tough guys have tattoos about literacy on their arms!) For some reason John-Mark didn't have a shirt on (I wasn't here:)) and he decided he wanted to wear these work boots that no one ever wears so when Jeremy got outside this is what he found and bust out laughing! He said his first thought was "I hope this isn't a look in to the future!" Then he grabbed the camera so I could crack up laughing as well, and now I'm sharing them with you so you too can get a good laugh

"Don't mess with me or I'll hold you down and read Goodnight Moon!"In true tough guy fashion he did not want his picture taken as he is yelling here "NO!"

John-Mark is so cool

Sunday was a busy day of playing with friends and swimming with minimal nap time so yesterday the boys were pretty pooped. I had a dr's appointment and left them with a babysitter around 11 - when I got home at noon this is what I found:

They usually don't nap until 1ish but hey crashed right after I left - and then slept for like 4 hours!!! (I moved them to their beds of course:)

The princess of the house - what a joy she is - Jeremy and I were talking about how different she is from the boys and how differently we feel towards her - not more or less, just a totally different heart string is pulled for baby girl! We had no idea what we were missing before her!

Baby Girl is 8 months!!

Oh my happy, happy girl who always has that look in her eye like, what's gonna' happen next mom!?! She truly is a smiley girl who loves to interact with everyone around her and also LOVES her mommy :) My boys love me but it really is something different with Gracie. Like, sometimes when other people are holding her and she sees me she will cry for me. Is it bad that it kind of melts my heart a little bit - I mean, I know she won't be like that forever so I kind of enjoy it right now :)
In the last month she has REALLY grown up a lot it seems. She is fully sitting up by herself all the time now. She now prefers to "free play" on a blanket vs sitting in her exersaucer. She's started army crawling to get something she really wants and can't reach. I'm really in no hurry for her to be mobile because I know she's going to be ALL OVER THIS HOUSE chasing these boys - she just watches them run around her all the time and I can see that little brain just a working, and waiting, until she's right in the middle of them.
She's also cutting 3 bottom teeth. How crazy is it that ALL 3 of my babies cut their first teeth around 7 months? She's done pretty good with teething. She woke up in the middle of the night twice in the last month and the only thing that would sooth her was mommy. Some days she'll just kind of chew on her bottle and not really drink it - those are the days I know they are really bothering her. She also started holding her bottle all by herself over the last month. It's nice that I can get her up and I can give her a bottle and jump in the car and she can feed herself on the way to our destination :)
Jeremy and I can tell that she is not a very serious baby - she loves to be silly and laugh and laugh. One of my favorite things to do is tickle her on her sides and hear her just belly laugh - so precious. We are so blessed to have her as a part of our family!

I could EAT, THEM, UP!!!

Aside from some super hot days, two teething babies, and James having a little fever virus (and all the chaos that is just part of my "normal" with 3 under 3) we've been having lots of fun this summer and as my title reads, I honestly could just eat, them, up! Here are some pics from our week - and be warned - you're going to want to eat, them, up too :)

The boys "pretending" to feed their sister - she just loves all the attention!

And look who's big enough to take a bath with the big boys! James was super excited that sisser was hopping in the tub and was a big "help" making sure she got all clean :)

How happy is she? Such a big girl - snif, snif...Having a girl in the house has brought all sorts of new things - james found her tutu yesterday and wanted to "dance" in it (I'm sure he'll love this pic about 10+ years from now:))

To make sure I show his "masculine" side as well - the boys have been all about basketball lately - every day when I pick them up from the gym playroom they run out to the basketball court to watch the boys play - one of the workers is super nice to them and lets them dribble the ball and attempt to shoot - our hoop at home is more their size right now:)

TWO POINTS!!!

Here's Mr. Big Boy with all of his "potty presents"- flips flops and a "fire stick". He picked this toy out and calls it his fire stick, which we finally realized he thinks it is the same thing Jeremy uses to stoke the fire with - and he wants to be just like his daddy so a fire stick it is :)
Jeremy's mom was in town this past weekend and the boys had a blast swimming at the hotel pool. James was able to wear a swim vest this time and was jumping in all by himself and swimming to the ladder and doing it all again. He kept telling me "look mommy, I'm swimming like a big boy". I've come to the realization that there is absolutely nothing baby about him anymore - he really is a "big" boy now.
The boys also got to spend some time with their cousin Sam - I think Sam was a bit overwhelmed but my shy boys (ha) at first but he warmed up to them and they all had a great time.

Another potty post!

Well, I think it's official - James is 100% potty trained!!! YAY YAY YAY!! We've had a whole week with no accidents and going both #1 and #2 in the potty - even at the gym!!! People told me one day it would just click and I guess it did. We had been "bribing" him with everything which had not been working and then a couple of weeks ago I revisited the "we'll make brownies if you poop in the potty" and that time it worked - he said ok and went straight in and did his business. So, at 9am we were making brownies and he got one every time he went for about a week - but that's ok - it got us here:) He's so proud of himself and tells everyone that he pooped on the potty and got new flip flops -another bribe - I mean "positive reinforcement" :)

Here's my big boy now showing off his new sun glasses his Papa Steve got him.

Room Time - Several months ago I finally decided to implement "room time" with the boys. I've read about it in several parenting books and was dreading trying it out thinking it was going to be a battle - and of course, just like most things, the things you expect to be hard never are as bad as you think. The boys play in their room off and on all day long but this is a time that I decided, where I set a timer and send them to their room and they must stay in there and play the entire time. I usually do it while I'm trying to get dinner made and don't want them under foot the whole time :) Usually when I first declare "room time" james has a bit of a come-apart but he knows the rules - I set them timer and leave them to play - within a couple of minutes I hear them in there laughing away. This is supposed to be an extension of blanket time or pack-n-play time which I never did with the boys but I think I'm going to try it with Gracie.

I caught them catching up on some reading yesterday during room time - LOVE IT!

John-Mark is almost 2 and we haven't cut his hair yet - it's so stinkin' cute - his hair is totally different from James' - it appears to be fine like mine but right now it has a little curl to it which will probably go away when we cut it so i'm in no rush - he doesn't have a mullet yet so what's the hurry :) Here is his little "curl mohawk" :)

Speaking of hair - Jeremy trimmed up James' hair yesterday - I wish I could see what it looks like longer but it's so coarse and crazy Jeremy likes to keep it short.

And lastly, here is the princess, Gracie Belle - getting too big! She's even starting to army crawl when she really wants to get her hands on something - which let me just say - she seems to have "GO GO Gadget arms" (Inspector Gadget reference) - I turn around for one minute and she's got something that I swear was half way across the room from her! She's very determined when she wants something :)
notice what her toys are - cars, trucks and books! We need to get this girl a baby doll but I don't think she would like them near as much as chewing on the tires of all her brother's cars :)