Who Done-it?

Mystery of the day....

We found Matthew outside with no shirt on, and mud all over his face and...

 ...on his chest....

 ...and on his back...

...ALL over his back...

And we just can't figure out how it might have happened....hmmm.....

Jog-a-thon!

About a month ago (I know, we're behind), Daniel had his first jog-a-thon at school. Due to rain, the event was moved into the gym, but it was still tons of fun. We weren't sure what to expect from Daniel, since he'd never done anything like this before. He ended up running at least 2 miles in 30 minutes --we're not sure how far exactly, since his lap counter lost track of him for a bit after he changed into his shorts. :) Despite the inaccurate counting, Daniel had a blast, and so did we!

 Entering the gym. Daniel waves to the crowd like an Olympian.

All the preschoolers lined up, waiting for instructions.

 One last wave to the crowd before heading to his starting position.

Matthew waits patiently for the action to start.

 Daniel's pre-running stretches.

 And, he's off!

 He had a lot more fun running than some of his classmates...

Staying strong. Daniel ran for at least 20 minutes before we told him it was okay to take a break to walk.

The whole family had a great time! Thank you everyone who helped Daniel raise some money for his school!

6 months

Our little baby is no longer a "little baby." This month he has been working on his crawling skills, discovering the joy of toys, grabbing anything within reach and severely disliking his car seat or anything that holds him in place. Here are some highlights of Aaron's sixth month.

 Sneaking into his big brothers' clubhouse.

 Enjoying the [finally] nice weather.

 Hearing lots of jokes from Daniel.

 Then getting some love from him.

 Celebrating Auntie Laura's return home!

 Meeting Grammy and Grampy for the first time.

 Lots of bouncing with Grampy.

 Working on crawling...

 I'm sorry, but isn't he just the cutest?

 Seriously.

 Back to figuring out this whole crawling thing,

 which leads to getting stuck here...

...and here.

Can't believe it's been 6 months already.

Early morning park trip

Things here have been c.r.a.z.y. The end of the school year is Daddy's busiest time at work--lots of big events that take a ton of planning. So, the morning after a big event that ended one of the longest, most tiring weeks, Mommy and the boys decided to give Daddy a gift...a quiet house. We took off to the park at 8:30 on a Saturday morning and stayed for a couple hours so that Daddy could keep sleeping. Daddy was so tired he didn't even realize we had gone until he got up and we told him we had been out at the park...

 After countless times trying, Matthew finally decides he likes the big red swings.

 Daniel joins in the fun.

 Aaron wishes he could ride, too.

 Last man swinging.

 Over to the water to check out the ducks.

Love those ducks!

 Aaron couldn't see much, but we're sure he would've enjoyed the ducks, too.

 No trip to the lake is compete without checking out the boats and surfboards.

 On the move again.

 Resting up for the walk home.

New skill

The soundtrack of our lives here has changed again. Daniel can now whistle. While it's great that he's finally figured out this skill, Mommy and Daddy might just start wearing earplugs...

New vs. Again

Along with Matthew's growing vocabulary, he's learning the difference between words and concepts. A couple months ago, we brought a coveted toy up from the basement (where toys go to rest for awhile) and as expected, Daniel and Matthew fought over it for awhile before Daniel got tired of arguing and Matthew triumphantly claimed it as "mine." Of course, said toy was overplayed with and ended up breaking beyond repair so back into the basement it went until we could dispose of it properly. Matthew has been distraught about this and for awhile, every time anyone went into the basement he asked for the toy to come back up. We've explained to him that it is broken and he'll just have to wait till we get a new one. After hearing that explanation over and over again, he has transferred the concept of a new toy coming after one "left" to replacing other things, places and people who we are not currently around. The funniest one came after dropping Daniel off at school the other morning:

Matthew: Daniel? Daniel?

Me: Daniel is staying at school for a little while.

Matthew: New one Daniel? New Daniel?

Me: No, we can't get a new Daniel. We'll just pick up our old one after school...

Of Course!

Currently if you ask Matthew if he wants something and he does, he'll say "Yes. Of course!" I'm not sure exactly where he picked it up, but he uses it appropriately 99% of the time.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Thursday was Daddy's birthday. Here are some pictures of his birthday dessert of choice: strawberry shortcake!

 Too bad we couldn't fit the other 30 candles on his strawberry shortcake...

 Daddy gets help blowing out the candle.

 31, but still needs help remembering his table manners...

 Aaron is really looking forward to solid foods.

Getting ready for a big bite.

Can you tell we love dessert around here?

Time is flying

People say that time goes faster and faster with each kid. We believe it--Aaron turned 5 months yesterday! He is a busy boy, rolling/tumbling all over the place (which means more floor cleaning for us), laughing a lot (especially at his brothers), and finally starting to settle into a somewhat regular routine (although now that we've acknowledged it, it will probably stop). Here are some pictures from his fifth month:

 Aaron has constant entertainment in his big brothers.

 Loving the exersaucer.

 Getting to spend some time outside.

 Finally getting some sunny weather means breaking out the baseball cap!

 Never without drool these days.

 Humoring Mom with the obligatory husky photo.

 Can't resist the feet!

 Physical fitness is important. Aaron does his push-ups daily.

Tired, but still smiling.

Still cute. :)