St. Patrick's Day

 We love St. Patrick's Day! We prepared with a few crafts, then celebrated the big day with chocolate coins, visits from leprechauns, festive clothes, a play date and general Hanzeli silliness (probably induced by the chocolate).

 Matthew and his potato stamp.

 Daniel moves away from stamping and into hand-painting.

 Love the look on his face. :)

 Daniel's finished product.

 What we were aiming for.

 Leprechaun sighting!

 Oh wait, that's just Daniel.

Does this shamrock make my butt look big?

Leprechauns came during the night and left a box of chocolate coins!

Delirium sets in.

Chocolate-induced coma.

The O'Hanzeli boys.

Month 4

 Aaron is now four (!) months old. Here is what he's been up to this past month:

 Working on his cuteness.

 Getting some love from Daniel.

Sharing some pre-bedtime snuggles with Matthew.

Getting comfy with great-grandma Eva.

Playing on the play mat (and working on his drooling skills).

 Finding his feet.

 Working on fitting all ten fingers into his mouth at once.

 Learning about trucks with Matthew,

 and how to read with Daniel.

Rolling around like crazy. [This is not where we left him!]

Being a little ham.

Matthew's New Game

Matthew invented a new game called "Go, Jump!" It has many different variations, sometimes its a red-light, green-light type of game. This is what it looked like the other night.

Video updates

A few videos of what's been going on here lately:

Matthew's vocabulary is exploding. More fun, though, is watching Daniel try to get Matthew to say some of his funny made-up words.

Matthew has also discovered the wonder of honey. He likes it on yogurt.

And, look who's rolling!

Blanket Fort

 We've been battling some colds lately, and spending more time inside than usual. On one recent rainy day we decided to build an epic blanket fort. We use sheets (they're lighter weight than blankets) and attach them to furniture using sheet straps (which hold up to most of the rough treatment the boys dish out).

[sorry about the blurry photos....we've been trying out different settings on the camera and still figuring things out.]

Can I come in?

 Gatekeeper.

 Come on in!

 Peek-a-boo!

 Aaron woke up from his nap and joined us for his first blanket fort experience!

 Cute.

 Cuter.

 Cutest!

 Then came some horseplay. Gotta love their chosen outfits for the day.

Jumping, and making the roof "parachute."

Uh oh. Here comes some wrestling.

The big boys took off, leaving Aaron to enjoy the fort all to himself.

Lenten Schooling

At dinner tonight I thought I'd take the opportunity to teach Daniel a little about Lent and Ash Wednesday.  He was way ahead of me.

"Daniel, do you know what tomorrow is?"  I prepare my awesome explanation of Lent and Ash Wednesday for kids.

"Ya, I know.  It's Ash Wednesday."

(surprised, but not totally) "Oh, well, yes, that's correct, but did you know..."

"That it's the start of Lent?  Yes.  And Lent is a time of preparation for the high holy celebration of Easter."

Wowzers.  Schooled.

Month 3

 Aaron has passed by his 3 month birthday...this is what he's been up to this past month.

 Getting stronger, working on holding my head up!

 Chewing on my fingers.

 Trying to roll over.

 Working on my chins.

 Playing with my brothers.

 Did I mention chewing on my hands?

Just being plain cute.

2,000

Sometimes Daniel asks me to demonstrate things for him.  Like today, for example, he asked the following:

"Daddy, would you please count to 2,000 for me?"

Feeling sly...

"Ok, 1,000  --  2,000...there, done!"

Daniel's sharp, though...

"Thanks, Dad.  You're 2,000 years old.  Bye!"

The backyard

Daniel and Matthew help introduce Aaron to the backyard.

'Cause

Along with Matthew learning more words, he has discovered how to ask "why?" What's funny about Matthew, though, is that he rarely gives us a chance to answer. Whenever Matthew asks "Why?" he immediately follows it up with "'cause."

Looks like a win-win for us:  it's awfully cute, and he accepts his own answer! (for now...)