Yikes

It's been awhile...as usual, I suppose. We are busy busy busy here. Thankfully, it's been a good kind of busy, though today Aaron is sick. Boo. We've had some amazingly nice weather lately and have been able to spend quite a bit of time outside.

 Airplane!

 The water table returns to the backyard.

 Making cappuccino. (They are their father's sons...)

Heavy lifter.

Back outside

It's still pretty cold, but since it's been mostly dry we've been able to play outside a bit more. The boys love being outside and now with Aaron getting sturdier on his feet he can join in on the fun!

 Daniel has lots of tricks on the swings. This time he was practicing swinging upside down.

 Matthew is pretty good at superhero swinging.

I want to swing, too!

Matthew earns his keep by mowing the lawn.

Aaron is all over the place outside. If he's not going in and out of the playhouse, he's climbing the ladder to the top of the structure and going down the slide. I prefer he stay on the ground--he is only 15 months old after all.

Blurry, yes, but I love the mischievous look on Matthew's face as he watches Aaron try to get in.

We can't wait for warmer weather so we can play outside even more!

9 months

Aaron turned 9 months old on Thursday! It was a busy month, what with Daddy being gone in Minnesota for awhile and then us going on our trip to Maryland. With the weather finally getting warm (too warm for some of us...), Aaron spent a lot of time outside and his favorite activity is still watching his big brothers. He's usually quite content to sit on a blanket and watch Daniel and Matthew and their crazy outside antics. He's been learning to stand on his own and you can tell that he really just wants to let go and walk. Thankfully for us, he's not quite there yet!

 Uh-oh...look who knows how to climb stairs.

 New favorite place? The bathtub! Aaron loves taking big boy baths.

 Our little guy is finally big enough to ride safely in the front seat of the stroller.

 Watching those brothers...

 ...and yelling at them.

 On the way home from Maryland. Aaron slept for about an hour of the 8 hours spent in the air. At least Mommy got a little nap, too.

 Aaron loves his new quilt from Grandma!

 "If only I could get in that pool!"

Silly boy.

Fun in the sun

So I didn't get to post anything yesterday. Sunday we went to the wedding of a close family friend and of course I forgot to bring a camera. It was beautiful, though, and we had a wonderful time. Yesterday was spent doing some boring things around the house, and then some very kind friends came over to watch the boys so that us girls could have a night off. It was really nice to go out to eat and have some sister-only time.

Because I don't have any pictures of our activities from the last few days, here are some from a recent sunny day. With a good stretch of nice weather, Daniel spent most of his time in the pool while Matthew wandered around the yard, in and out of the pool, and Aaron spent his time sitting on a blanket watching his brothers and trying to eat grass.

 Splashing away.

 Always in the red boots. Always.

 Bald like his brothers.

 Cute. (and tired--he's had a cold.)

 More cuteness. With a ball.

 Leaf collection from an earlier walk around the neighborhood.

 Watching his big brother.

 Future Michael Phelps?

 Chillin'.

 I'm not sure what the fascination is with boots in the pool...

 What a ham.

 On your marks, get set....GOOOOOOO!

 Super jump!

 Nearly perfect form.

 Matthew's leaf collection is now some sort of meal.

 Checking in with Aaron.

Sweet, sweet Matthew.

Super play structure

Saturday night was rough for Matthew, and Sunday was rough for everyone. We did have a nice visit with Nana and Papa today after Mass, but I didn't end up getting to take any pictures of the fun that was had. So, instead of getting into the details of the cranky parts of our day, I thought I would post about the fun new toy in our yard that was made possible by Nana and Papa.

If you've been reading this lately, you've heard mention and seen bits and pieces of the new play structure in our yard. We were a bit reluctant to add such a huge piece of equipment into our tiny yard, but with two super-active kiddos and one chomping-at-the-bit baby we finally gave in and said goodbye to our mostly empty yard and hello to hours of new fun for the boys. And, as it turns out, the structure really doesn't use up too much of the yard. In fact, it sits mostly on the back part of the yard that is usually just dirt since the neighbors' trees don't allow for any sunlight or rain to get in there. We'd been eying this model from Costco for awhile, planning on having it built before Chris left for Minnesota as a fun distraction for the boys, and it turns out we got it just in time: our Costco had the last one in the state (other than the floor model, which we would've had to take apart and reassemble ourselves). So, last weekend was set aside as a work weekend and the boys got to help Daddy, Papa, Uncle Ian, and Uncle Victor put together the structure. The four men worked till midnight the first day, and Daddy and Papa finished it up from 10-5 the next day. They must really love these boys to work so hard for them!

Matthew unpacks wood pieces while Daniel reads off the codes to Uncle Victor and Papa.

 Organizing the pieces.

 Uncle Ian, Daddy and Papa get some help from Jacob, Daniel and Matthew.

Sometime after 10 pm, the part one of the roof goes up.

It fits!

Back to work! Part two of the roof isn't going to build itself!

Day two: Daniel gets to try out the rings.

If you ask which part of the play structure is his favorite, he'll say the whole thing...but it's clear the rings/bar get more attention from Daniel than anything else right now.

 Finished! The boys check it out.

 Matthew loves to climb up top. Getting down is another story.

 Looking awfully ragamuffin-ish, the big boys enjoy their dinner in their new playhouse.

Great job, guys! Thank you Nana and Papa for this wonderful addition to the back yard. Hours of fun will be had here...

Cousin fun

Yesterday we had lots of play time with family. Aunt Bea came over and played with the boys while I made a solo trip to the grocery store. Not quite how I would choose to spend my alone-time, but WAY better than going shopping with all three kiddos. The boys had a picnic lunch on the deck with Bea, then after Matthew went down for his nap, Bea took Daniel on an adventure to her house. He brought me home a very sweet bouquet of flowers he picked in her garden. While he was out with Bea, Uncle Ian and Auntie Robin and cousins Jacob and Karoly came over to play. It was so nice to have time together with them and we shared some delicious food (and dessert!). We're looking forward to spending more time with them next week!

 The cash register is a hit with everyone.

 Karoly and Aaron trying to figure out how this thing works.

 I love that they're all playing in close proximity to but independently of each other.

 The weather finally came around and we were able to get outside. Aaron tries to figure out the squirt gun while Karoly plays with Aaron's pacifier.

 Jacob takes a tour of the new play structure.

 The three big cousins enjoying dessert: ice cream with fresh peaches and homemade hot fudge sauce. (Thanks, Auntie Robin!)

 Karoly lounges in the exersaucer.

 Now that we've had a chance to refuel, it's pool time again!

 Two moms and a fussy baby. :)

 I had just announced that it was bath time. Only one kid was pleased with this.

A tub full of cousins. Even though Karoly isn't looking, this is my favorite picture of the bunch. Too bad Matthew has been hostile at bath time. It would've been cute to get a picture of all of them in there.