I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.

Clamoring to swim at Grammy and Grampy's begins precisely one second after the boys wake up in the morning. And doesn't stop until they jump in. And it's even better when there are cousins to join them! Colin's imaginary friend Bananahead is back from the dead this week. Turns out he has a cousin named "Ryanmiss". Apparently because sometimes he misses his cousin Ryan. There they are together living it up. I was informed that although Bananahead is now 147 years old, "his banana peel is not black yet because he keeps it in a plastic bag."


Colin is wrapping up his last week of school, replete with parties and festivities and crafts. All of the art projects he's brought home in the last week have all been signed "BolinBoy" on the back. That's what we called him when he was a baby. But more importantly to Mr. 'Puter Savvy, it's his login name for Webkinz world. If you're not familiar with this phenomenon... well, better to keep it that way...

Continuing our mosaic theme, Colin made Forget-me-not flower pots for his preschool teachers as a parting gift out of tile grout and assorted beads and gems. "Gaudy" is how Christopher described them but Colin is an all-or-nothing kinda guy. We SHOULD have given them gift certificates for therapy as next year they'll have Double Trouble with Colin AND Liam.

What do you do with an overabundance of catalogs when it's too hot to play outside (over 100 degrees this week!) and you have to get through a WHOLE HOUR until your baby brother wakes up so you can go swimming? Make mosaics of course! (As if this particular scenario will ever occur in any of your lives, I'm sure). Colin had a blast cutting out parts from different people and sticking them together. Liam was struggling with the scissors and finally just ended up cutting his magazines into little pieces, but the end result was no less satisfying to him (hint: use contact paper, way easier and less messy than glue, I've found... through lots of experience with sticky kids, house, dog, etc).

We made a rather trailer-trashy toffee/chocolate/peanut butter cup/fritos/pretzels candy (don't ask, just eat) for Auntie Kelly's birthday and a pool cake to go with it. Mostly, we've gone swimming at Grammy and Grampy's a lot and eaten a lot of icecream in a useless attempt to stay cool. "Look, Mommy, I'm a clown!" said Liam while balancing an upside-down ice cream cone on his head after he ate (most of) it.

I've learned to strip them before they bake now. Saves on new clothes. They like licking the beater more than anything of course, and as I swiped some batter from Colin's belly button, he yelped: "Hey, I was going to EAT that!" Gross. But not as gross as when Liam insisted "let I try it and see if it is (dis)gusting!" after I told him to quit drinking the obviously nasty dirty/soapy bath water that is the result of a fun day outside for three boys.

Could he BE any cuter? (Or prouder?) Liam likes to watch TV while Colin is at school. Mommy doesn't agree. He helped me decorate Kelly's cake today because I nixed tube time. "But, Mommy!" he said, as he knocked his skull, "My brain is not MUSHY yet!!" (We told them too much TV makes the brain mushy... they don't seem to care).

Because it would be too mundane to put stickers on PAPER.

Could these kids BE any more different? Colin is growing up to be such a sweet, helpful (when he's not whining) young man. This week he fired off to me as I was rushing to make dinner when Eamon awoke from his nap: "YOU start dinner, Mom, I'LL get the baby." Liam.. well... not so much helpful as... uh, unique. I think this sums him up in a nutshell: Every night the last thing the boys do before getting into bed is brush their teeth and take their "special medicine" (fluoride-laden chewable vitamins). As I whispered lovingly to Liam and tucked him in, he said: "Mommy, uh... I think you need to fix mine ear before I go to sleep..." I thought he had a bug bite. No. He had his now-licked-and-sticky vitamin stuck in his ear. Really stuck. Turns out it's the perfect size and shape for his ear. Now we know. It fits.