TWO

Riley William is TWO today! He started off a tiny little dude, and has turned into a curly topped, chunky toddler. Happy Birthday, Ri!

(couple days old)

(7 months old)

(last week)

popsicles

Cool Dudes!

Crewe

Will turns ONE!

hotel bath

these boys thought a FULL bath tub was the best thing in the world.  brody also thought sleeping on the pull out couch in our hotel room was pretty awesome.  the mirrored closet doors fooled both of them though...brody and his nose & riley and his forehead met up with that tricky mirror that made the room look bigger. 

Harper's Baptism

VBS 2012

Last week was deemed FUN week around here.  Cohen stayed the whole week to attend Bible School at Trinity with Brody.  Emily and Paige came to watch the boys one day, Grammy and I took them swimming another day, plus there were special treats for after Bible School too.  
Neither of the boys were that thrilled with the idea of being left at Bible School the first evening, but no tears were shed and when Michelle and I picked them up that evening, they were full of stories.  Night two was the roughest on Cohen because his mama wasn't there to take him or pick him up and the third night was Brody's rough night with a few tears shed.  Each evening on our ride home they would tell me about their evening and what they learned and made for a craft.  They were both always super excited to go back to VBS the next evening...until it was time for me to leave.   

Thursday night was the final evening of VBS, complete with a small program for everyone to attend.  Unfortunately, Riley's toe and the tricyle went to battle and the tricyle won right before we were to walk out the door.  So, I stayed home to calm a very upset Riley and care for his buggered up toe and Kurt, Grampy and Grammy attended the program.  I believe the picture above shows you how eager Brody was to perform.   He told me he was too tired to stand!  I think the more accurate answer is he is shy like his mama. 

In the end, I'm so glad he had the opportunity to attend and that Cohen was able to attend as well.  Hopefully pre-school this fall will be an easier transition now that he has saw the school and maybe after a year of school under his belt, he will hopefully participate a little more at VBS next year! 

just a swinging.

the music show.

the boys rocked out to stringbean tonight. 

brody referred to their performance as the music show, and the remote was his guitar. 

brody even provided snacks for all his viewers...grammy, grampy, & grandma yakey.

riley was just his wild, dancing self! 

father's day 2012

beep ride

{beep=jeep in riley-lingo} 

mr. shy

it takes ri a good while to remember he isn't connected to me when we venture out in public, more spefically functions where we have to sit close to a bunch of people like basketball games or graduations.  eventually, he will warm up to his surroundings and let go of me, but no before he buries his head into my shoulder for at least ten mintutes, flirts with those behind us for a bit and then finally he forgets he even has a mom by the time the event is over!

Anna

Congrats Anna Banana on your 8th Grade Promotion!

First Swim of the Year

To beat the heat a couple weekends ago, the boys took their first swim of the year on our drive and at Grandma Merna's house.  Both made them equally happy!

Nice tan lines, Kurtie!

camping

to me it looks like he is sitting in the sun sweating. 

to him, he was camping with his six brothers. 

I believe Riley is winning!

brody & riley's first lesson in fishing

We had a fun evening at Kuhl's Kozy Kampground with Kurt's grandparents.  Near perfect weather, a nice campfire with roasted hot dogs and smores, followed by the boys' first lesson in fishing.  Even Ri, who can't sit still for more than 10 seconds outside, took a turn reeling in the line. A great summer evening!

Jump-O-Line

 

even ole' grampy had to try out the bounce house, referred to as the jump-o-line by brody b. 

Picnic

Ri's ear infection has me behind in documenting their lives...

A few weekends ago, we had picnic at the lake after church.  They didn't do too much eating, but they definitely enjoyed running around in circles, watching the boats zip by and watching a dog play fetch in the lake.  As we are gearing up for summer and working on our list of activities we want to partake in, I think we will add to our list a few more Sunday picnics at the lake.

tuesday night - today

Thanks to a nasty ear infection and sinus drainage, this guy has occupied my lap pretty much non-stop from Tuesday night - this morning. 

Unfortunately for Brody, he didn't get near the attention from me or Riley that he is used to. 

Fortunately Kurt got home early on Friday night and gave me a little relief with Riley so I could do necessary things like use the restroom and shower the rest of the weekend.  Brody was happy to get some much needed one on one time with his dad too.  Thankfully, Ri napped on his own this afternoon, has eaten and played inside and outside.  So, he is definitely on the mend.  Let's just hope he can sleep all night long... 

Mother's Day...

 Leading up to Mother's Day, Brody would work on his birdhouses every night that he was gifting today.  Brody would paint for 30-45 minutes at a time while I was making our supper and then there was Riley. 

\

 Markers were his choice of medium to work with, but five minutes was about his max. 

This morning, I walked out of the bathroom a couple seconds too soon.  Kurt was working hard to get the boys to sign Mother's Day cards.  Quite impressive, they each gifted me a card and some lovely Jadeite salad plates. 

And finally, me and my boys...the best shot out of all Kurt took because Riley had no interest in sitting still!  Happy Mother's Day to all you mama's!

Happy Mother's Day

Raising Boys (A Dad's Advice for Mom's)

a humorous read for mom's of little boys!
one of my observations thus far, a hug is really a cure-all for my little boys.

http://goodmenproject.com/good-feed-blog/raising-boys-advice-for-moms/

Harper and her boys

weekend visitors!

cohen is having his first sleepover here...not to long ago they finally quit whispering and laughing.  highlights:  they got to stay up a little past bedtime to watch a movie in my bed, even riley snuggled in with them for a bit and they got to pee in the same toliet at the same time.  yep, we are wild and crazy around here!