The Pledge of Allegiance

This year in preschool, Evan learned the Pledge of Allegiance.

I am so proud of him.

We honestly didn't think he paid too close attention to these structured times of the day, much less memorize the Pledge word for word.  He is also doing the alphabet in sign and close to writing his name all by himself.

We are so proud of our big preschooler, almost 4 year old.

The Funny Things Evan Says

Evan cracks us up!

He comes up with some of the most off the wall comments, or just says things at the right time.

Here are a few from the last few days:

A bird flew in our house and after he panicked and then calmed down, he says "mom it's a pattern, the bird flies, sits on the fan, flies, sits on the fan"

Today he asked the coffee lady for a pink lollipop.  He asked what flavor it was and I told him bubblegum.  He licked it and then blew out of his mouth and said "I just can't blow a bubble mom!"

Later I suggested he play with sidewalk chalk, he said "siwahacha?" I said no it is SIDE - WALK - CHALK so he replied "Siwa cock, siwa cock" And I could not get him to change for quite a while!

Everyday it is something new with him.  I need to write them down more, because he is just full of funny!

I love this little boy!

9 Months

My babies are 9 months old now and they are HUGE!

This month Morgan is crawling so fast!  He is all over the place and he gets into everything, boy are we in trouble with that kid.

Riley is going to be trouble in his own way.  He has already figured out how to cry wolf and how to use his "cuteness" to get himself out of situations.  He just flashes that smile and all is well.  How on earth did all three of my boys grab a hold of my heart the way they did?!? They have me wrapped around their finger!

We put both boys in their big boy car seats this month and even turned them around (3 months earlier than we are really supposed to) but they meet the weight requirement and it is really a convenience for us because strapping them in backwards in the back of a minivan is NOT an easy feat for me at 5'4" and able bodied, but for Tony to do it at 6'2" and disabled...almost impossible! They are happy and safe, that is all that matters!

Both boys are wearing clothes that Evan wore when he was 18 months old!  This blows my mind, I had no idea they were so much bigger than Evan at this age. Both are in the 90th - 97th percentile in height and weight, so they are proportionate, just big boys!

Riley says 'mama' and  'dada' a lot. He loves to blow raspberries and he started doing the sign for 'all done' when he is done eating.  Riley is smart, happy when he wants to be and throws the worst fits! He is a mini-Evan in that respect.  He sits on the sidelines and watches still, but if Morgan takes something from him the whole house knows about it. He is trying really hard to craw and get very frustrated because he can't go where Morgan and Evan can.  He will get it and then we are in trouble!

Morgan is a quiet explorer.  He goes everywhere that he is not supposed to be.  This month he pulled a full paint can onto his arm and I thought for sure that he broke it by the way he was screaming, but he was just fine.  Morgan had croup this month which was a very scary experience because he sounded like he couldn't breathe.  Morgan takes in everything and he his a thinker.  He also likes to start trouble.  He pulls Riley's hair, puts his feet on him, rolls on him, takes his toys away, crawls on top of him, etc. You can just see the look on his face that he takes pride in the torture he brings his brother.

Both boys are happy and healthy.  Evan LOVES them and plays with them.  He talks to them and sings to them.  He loves to wrestle with them and tries to get Morgan to follow him around the house or he will block him from going places with laundry baskets. They all have great brotherly love....for now!

Monster Truck Show

This year was the 2nd year that Evan got to see the Monster Truck Show and the Spring Fair.  Last year Tony and I took him and this year it was a daddy-son date. They had a blast!

Some of the things Evan came back with were:
"There was a green one, that was my FAVORITE!"
"There was a HUGE fire!"
"They were so LOUD!"
"The Bounty Hunter was the best, he was the winner!"
"It was so COOL!"

I was so proud of my boy!  I went with them to the fair before hand. We tried to get there early enough for a Monster truck ride, which ended at 6pm, we got there at 5:20 and they had already stopped selling tickets for it :-(  Evan was so sad, but he took it in stride and rode other fair rides instead.  Such a big boy!

A fun and memorable night that is sure to become a tradition.

Monster Truck rides we missed

Fair rides were just as fun for this little guy!

Getting ready to watch the show

I guess this is the ONLY time he would wear the ear protectors

This was one of his favorites

The winner

So happy!

Riley, Cute Riley

Riley is my quiet but loud kid.  He has the biggest smile that just lights up a room.  He is cuddly and needy. He is mischievous! Riley does thing on his own time.  He is not crawling yet and and he is just now showing a little bit of a desire to crawl.  He tries to get on his hands and knees, but gets stuck and ends up on his belly. He is USUALLY content just watching his brothers play and laughing at them. He loves to hop on his butt to get around and blowing raspberries is a favorite past time. He is smart and has things figured out. Just the other day he wanted a toy that was sitting on a shirt on the floor.  He tried and tried to reach the toy but could not get it.  I just watched to see what he was going to do to solve the problem.  He looked at the toy, then at the shirt then he pulled the shirt slowly to him and got his toy!  He was so happy and so proud of himself, and I was so proud of him too! Riley is sweet and sensitive and does not yet stand up for himself.  He will have to learn to be with Evan and Morgan the rest of his life!  He is so different from Morgan and Evan as a baby, it is going to be awesome to see how differently all my boys turn out.

I love this cute little smarty pants!

Evan's "Beautiful Mind"

Evan has been shocking us with some of the things that he remembers, says, and thinks about in the last few weeks.

We knew his memory was getting better a he got older, we realized we could no longer say "we will ____ tomorrow" and expect him to just forget.  He ALWAYS calls us on it now.  Just the other night I told him we could go to the park on the way to swimming.  well we ran out of time and couldn't go to the park so I told him we would TRY to go the next day if the weather was ok.  He woke up the next morning telling me about how he had DREAMED about going to the park!

Last weekend he amazed me when I was folding laundry and I heard him reciting the Pledge of Allegiance under the high chairs.  I asked him to come out and say it to me, so he did...perfectly! He said he does it at school every day ( 2 days a week).

I mean we really don't think this kid listens half of the time! He is a sweet, sweet boy and can tell you anything about dinosaurs, but the kid does not stop running!

So I guess what is making us think the most is this.....
When we ask Evan to count something he counts very well, he often will count an object twice or even skip over one simply because his hands work faster than his brain sometimes, BUT we just learned he can count in his head without even counting out loud!
Example: He got up from his nap one day, he was tired and groggy and upset.  He wanted his "stuff" from bed.  With out using his fingers or counting out loud or even taking a minute to think he said, "I need my blanket, mommy's blanket, my bear, my sheep, my green T-Rex that opens the mouth and my brown T-Rex those 6 things OK?" I was blown away!  I had to stop and count myself and he was right that was 6 things that he wanted!  How he knew that there were 6 things in that group, who knows.
So I thought that was a coincidence and let it go as maybe he already knew that or something. Then tonight Tony and Evan were outside playing and they were doing a obstacle type course.  Tony said "we are going to go to touch the fence, then touch Bampas truck tire, next we need to go touch the orange cone, then mommy's car and last we will get to the porch"  Right away Evan repeated the exact steps word for word and then added "all those 5 places!"  WHAT!?!  Tony had to count himself to see how many steps they had in their plan...he was right there was 5!

Who knows what goes on inside my little boys brain.  Maybe he will be a math wizard :-)

I love this kid!

Morgan is Crawling!

Morgan has taken off in the last couple of days.  He is crawling EVERYWHERE! I remember saying I can't wait for them to start moving, but now I am not ready! I spent today cleaning, vacuuming and picking up all little toys.  I covered all outlets, closed all doors, moved garbage cans and cords. Yikes, I guess I should have been more prepared!

Love this kid :-)