This Week by Colin

Colin and Liam are the proud owners of their own digital cameras. Liam got his at his birthday party and Colin got his for his "Half Birthday" (it saves on screaming, fighting and general misery to give the kids one gift on the others' birthday and since Colin and Liam are exactly 18 months apart, they truly do celebrate their half birthdays at the right time!)

This week we mostly hung around, cleaned up and waited for Daddy to get home from Memphis for work and bring our camera back! So, I'll let Colin's photos tell the visual story of their week. Liam's photojournal will have to wait, as once he discovered the delete button on his camera, he deletes them as fast as he takes them. So much for posterity!

Liam was thrilled to get a basketball hoop for his birthday and even more thrilled to have his cousin Ryan over to play a little 0ne-on-one.

One of Colin's best portraits so far. Usually he cuts people's heads off and moves before the photo actually is taken. This is Sam showing off some pearly whites!

Still life with Soup.
It is so interesting to me to see what he chooses to photograph. This is an abandoned bowl of yummerific Cream of Asparagus soup that Daddy made for the party.

I think this is Erin? And the alien blowfish ball...

Colin told me that he had to construct this Wall of Toys to keep Eamon out of the playroom while he and his cousins put together a big Pirate Puzzle. Or so the story goes...

A very messy Eamon chomping on his finger (The molars are coming, the molars are coming!)

The first game out of the box was a cool fishing game. The boys played and then Colin went finger-fishing. I think I must have taken this? Or else he's gotten great at self-portraits already!

Mommy and Daddy after the party (and a few drinks, I dare say)

I think this photo is more about love of the new launchable rockets the boys got and less about brotherly love, but there it is...

Colin was THRILLED to attend his "girlfriend" Abby's birthday party this week where he was the lucky recipient of many hugs and kisses from his lady friend. Not to mention a treat bag with a pirate eye patch. It must be love!

Baby in a bag.
I got so fed up with Eamon knocking over my laundry piles this week, that I took to carrying him around in the laundry bag to entertain him. Colin thought that was hysterical.

Liam in all of his glory, outside getting dirty.

Hmm. This is me carrying out a big tray of compost that accumulated at the party. Colin really loves compost for some reason. The boys love to help us dump it outside in the compost bins but they don't always like the bugs that hover over them!

Colin loved the dinosaur picture that his cousin Harry got for him and was obviously proud of his masterful coloring-in job because he made sure to photograph it.

Name that Baby!

As promised, here are photos from all the boys on their first birthdays. See if you can figure out who is who! They are labeled A, B, C, etc. Post a comment with your guess and I'll give a prize to whomever gets them all right!

A

B

C

And for good measure I just threw in a few other random baby pictures. Have fun!

D

E

F

G

H

I

Spring has sprung!

Finally some signs of life! The crocuses sprouted in our otherwise completely desolate yard.

Eamon saw (and tasted) his first flowers. He didn't like the texture on his tongue and spit them out, but that didn't stop him from trying again. I finally had to save the poor flowers from being eaten as they ARE the only thing in the yard that is remotely spring-like.

Bleck! Flower petals aren't so good, but I'm still happy to be outside!

Colin got in on the action and turned two crocuses into horns and then told me that he "had to pick them to give to Emma and Abby" his two best friends at school. Apparently he's quite the ladies man and they play together non-stop right now.



I keep finding these love notes ALL OVER THE HOUSE from little Don Juan to his lady friends. He has seriously covered entire packs of post-it notes and and an entire book of art paper with "I love Emma and Abby". And I thought I was home free until highschool...

Colin spent three days straight wearing his blankie as a cape. Even in public. We don't really worry about stuff like that, but he did garner a lot of comments while we were out over the weekend. What blows my mind is that somehow no one seemed to care that we had the three boys with us during an extremely crowded liquor sale that involved lots of wine/beer/scotch tastings and ridiculous numbers of glass bottles (they were perfectly behaved) but they did think it was bizarre that he was wearing a makeshift superhero cape. At home he added on a crown he made and became "Super King Colin" or something like that...


Hallelujah, it was warm this week! Months of languishing indoors without enough energy-draining play meant LOTS of fights between the boys. Outside is a different world... they play together nicely and go on crazy and creative adventures. This week they built this house together (though Liam was angry that I couldn't get real water to flow from the pretend pipes) and did Grampy proud by Bear Hunting (with sticks). They found "huge" bears and only "pretend" killed them, they assured me. Liam LOVES the outdoors and mostly plays in the water coming out of the sump pump hose. This week his math skills took a big leap when he informed me that "Water + dirt = mud". Colin told me yesterday that he "pulled up all the wigs from the yard!" I was confused and thought he was playing make-believe until he said: "You know the WIGS, the ones that we pulled up from the garden last year?" Apparently weeding is going to be a hairy experience this year.

Mornings mean milk and brothers to Eamon. Colin and Liam usually climb into his crib when he wakes up and play with him. Between his sippy cup and his biggest brother, Eamon was in heaven...and I actually got a few minutes to myself (to unload the dishwasher--fun!)

Lots to Celebrate!

This was a fun and busy week of celebrations! Wednesday, April 2nd was Eamon's first birthday, and I came home from work for lunch to surprise him with some cake and gifts. Not that he will ever remember this, but I will! Just as we were cutting the cake, we got the call that his brand new cousin was born! Eamon will get to share his birthday AND share all he has learned about causing trouble with the new little guy!

Welcome to the world, Jake Andrew! What a cutie!

Be careful though, Uncle Mark and Auntie Megan. In no time at all, Jake will be all grown up like this gigantic boy! Not a baby anymore...

We discovered on Tuesday that Eamon is somehow TERRIFIED of birthday cake. We tried to take some cute smashed cake photos at Jenn's house and Eamon cried and shrieked more that day than in the rest of his 365 days on the planet put together. So for his actual birthday, I got ice cream cake instead and he LOVED IT!

Mmm... I could get used to this! And since I'm having a big party next week, I can!

[I now have pictures of all three boys with their first birthday mess, and I really challenge any of you to tell the difference between them. Maybe I'll post them all next week and you can try to figure out who is who because, at this stage, it is NOT easy!]



Earlier in the week, Eamon got his first gift from Erin, Nat and Silas. We let him open it because... well... we're all about instant gratification around here! Dinosaurs are sooo tasty! How many more can I fit in here??


Thanks, guys! He REALLY loved eating the card and wrapping paper. They are his favorite! And as you can see, he had on a dinosaur shirt that day which just goes to show what a perfect gift it was!



Eamon discovers his gifts... and patiently waited while his big brothers tore them open. He is getting better at caring about toys and not just wrapping paper, but to be honest, he really really really thinks wrapping paper is the best-tasting stuff ever.

Brotherly love amid the loot.



Poor Eamon really doesn't even get to play with his own toys, but his brothers always appreciate them! Luckily the little guy doesn't seem to mind a bit. After this he hunkered down and started eating Grampy's magazines and was happy as pie.

Yesterday it was in the 60s for the first time and we celebrated that as well by going to the local park. Colin and Liam mastered climbing the big "mountain" there in about 2 seconds flat. I'm sure Eamon will master it by next week at this rate...



I'm hoping to win the Nobel Prize by isolating the gene in boys that makes them obsessed with dinosaurs. I'm getting closer...


And the one that attracts them to digging... and dirt.... and mud... and swords... and crashing cars together... and potty humor... and "booming" things with fake guns... and throwing rocks....

Unfortunately, it was short-lived and there was snow on my car this morning, but we enjoyed spring while it lasted. For that one... tiny... microscopic... day.