Daddy's home!

I tried to post every day....then things got busy and boring so there wasn't much to say. The big news is that Daddy's home! He wasn't due back until tomorrow (Tuesday) but some of his post-class plans fell through so he came back early--thank goodness! The kiddos and I were starting to wear on each others' nerves. Many thanks to everyone who offered help while Chris was gone. It meant a lot to me, and really helped to make the time go faster. :)

 The boys back together again. We took quite a few pictures, this one was the best. :/

Our completed calendar! Look how busy we were!

Peek-a-boo

Aaron loves a good game of peek-a-boo. He also loves cameras.

Four-Year-Old Photography

I mentioned the other day that Daniel was having fun playing photographer. Last Saturday, he got to take the camera out again with his Aunt Bea, though he must have been having so much fun with her that he didn't take many pictures. Going through his pictures was so much fun. It is amazing to see the world through his eyes. And, I think some of his photos are pretty artistic. Here are some of my favorites:

 Daniel spins around while taking pictures.

 Our superstruct crane.

 Aaron follows Daniel around like a puppy.

 Aaron finds some books. Books are more fun than brothers sometimes.

 Close up of the crane driver.

 Moving outside, the gate.

 We call this one "shovel."

 Backyards.

 Inside the play structure.

Sunny day.

 Decorative detail.

 Sky over our roof.

 Sunlight and shadows.

 One of my personal favorites, Daniel documents a trip down the slide.

 Self portrait.

 Water in a bucket.

 Near-parallel lines.

 Great picture of Aunt Bea.

 On the way to Bea's house, Daniel takes note of the golden rule.

 Driving.

 Another favorite, Daniel brought me flowers from Bea's yard. Awww...

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.

Matthew gets a haircut

It's no secret that the Hanzeli boys are a bit challenged when it comes to filling their bald baby heads with hair. Matthew started earlier than Daniel, but his hair is so light that it appears to be much less than it is. However, the day finally came...yesterday Matthew had his first haircut. Auntie Karen volunteered, and without looking back, Matthew made the transition to looking more like a big boy.

 A few days ago, Matthew was sporting a curly pig tail.

 "Before" picture #1.

 "Before" picture #2.

 Auntie Karen goes to town while Matthew plays a shape game on the iPad.

 

 After. [Please excuse the terribly dirty state of the chair...Aaron is an incredibly messy eater]

How grown up he looks!

Sweet Moments

Yesterday started as another stormy day. Matthew has a love-hate relationship with storms. He is fascinated by the thunder and wants to hear it "boom," but in the next breath will tell you that he's "so scared!" At one point I was busy doing something and Matthew was in need of some thunder therapy. Auntie Karen was a good replacement.

Because of the stormy weather, yesterday was the perfect day to try out this idea I had seen on pinterest. I think anyone who has kids has this "pinned" to one of their boards there, and with all of our fort-making I knew one day we would try it. Here was our take on the light tunnel.

 It turned out pretty cool, though it took at least 45 minutes to put together, and as I was just over halfway done I noticed I had this huge blister on my thumb from sticking all those lights through the holes in the cardboard. The boys really liked it, though, and we ate our lunch in there. Well, Daniel ate his. Matthew was a bit distracted and when I offered to eat with him, he ended up ditching me in there and I ate by myself. I should've taken a nap in there. It was cozy.

 

I don't know why Daniel was upset in this photo. Probably because I wouldn't stop taking pictures of him.

Matthew was enthralled. Of course this didn't get to stay up for long after it was done because of his nap. I saved the board, though, so we can bring it out again without all the prep time.