omaha!

we had a wonderful time last week in omaha with brooke. the boys are still trying to adjust to life without aunt brooke at their beck and call :)

below are some highlights from the week.

1. playing in sprinklers and fountains: it was hot, very, very hot with the humidity. simon wasn't as excited by the sprinkler, but he enjoyed watching marcus run around like a nut-job while reclining on the hammock.

2. stalking the cats: since the boys are deprived of pets other than fish, they love it when they have a chance to "play" with cats. brooke's cats were not fans of the boys, they're a bit too loud and unpredictable for the kitties. however, after a couple days marcus managed to not send walter into hiding every time he appeared and both he and simon found a small place in raleigh's heart due to all the treats they gave him.

3. lots of good food: brooke made some delicious meals and a cake. we ate some tasty nebraska beef. we visited a number of local food stops-ecreamery, jones bros cupcakes (and they gave me 3 free cupcakes!), lisa's radial cafe, and sonic, because their cold drinks are absolutely perfect for a hot and humid day. (that's blood orange sorbet on simon's face.)

4. cuddling with brooke: all the kids got plenty of snuggle time with brooke. too bad we don't live closer so they can get it more frequently! even simon was climbing into brooke's arms for hugs, which is saying a lot!

5. the zoo: omaha's zoo is really great, and huge. we only got to a few exhibits during the 4 hours we were there. the boys loved it. marcus sang "i like to move it" to a group of lemurs who looked like king julian from "madagascar", but they didn't appear to want to move it.

if you want to see more pictures, here's a link to picasa.

thanks brooke for having us and giving the boys so many great memories! we'll be back soon!

july happenings

marcus went to vacation bible camp at our church, overlake, during july. he had so much fun! the theme was "superheroes" and he spent a lot of time that week wearing his cape around the house and singing songs he learned at vbc. he also memorized two memory verses. quite impressive! in the photo, he's the one in the light blue shirt, with a mask on, to the left of the headbanded green shirt kid. he was a bit overstimulated by all the people and excitement, as were the other preschoolers, but he said he had fun singing "in the big church".(thank you to ramona, deanna, meagan, kara, and chris for coming to his performance during church. he loved knowing you were in the audience. brace yourself, there will be a ton of other performances in the future!)

one day while marcus was at vbc, simon went to a gymboree art class. he was super shy during the class and wanted me to be right next to him the entire time. fortunately elise slept in the stroller the whole hour. we also went to "the french bakery" in kirkland on day to have hot chocolate and chocolate croissants. you can see that he thought that was a great idea :)

it's amazing to watch elise grow. i'm more aware of all the developmental changes this time around. it's a joy to watch her learn new things and see her brother dote on her. she's going to be one spoiled little sister! she's now giggling all the time and is able to roll over and scoot a bit toward something she wants. she also has a tooth coming in. hopefully it comes in quickly since she's pretty miserable. i can't believe she's already old enough to have a tooth coming in! (photo by marcus)

for more july photos, here's a link to our picasa pictures.

skyhawks!!

marcus spent the mornings this week at a skyhawks sports camp. despite being put in a class with older and more skilled kids initially, he loved the camp. he had a great time running around with other kids around his age and chatting it up with the coach. he said his favorite part of each day was when he got to play "cleanies and messies", a game where one team knocks over orange cones and the other team picks them up. he excelled in the knocking down end of the game :) he had such a good time that we may sign him up for another week later in the summer.

here is a series of videos from his time at camp and simon's time while marcus was at camp.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDDAwZ-Pyjo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdtzgyCIgN4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1Wrm54UgQg (marcus is the one running into place at the beginning)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgGPfIypRAY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjm2LCE980c

simon missed marcus so much while he was at camp. today we went to the lego store during camp and all simon could think about was which legos marcus would like. so sweet.

and here's a video of elise with a couple of her favorite things...a singing star on a playmat and a lamb blanket.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpPbOFZWAyY

i also updated our june and july photos on picasa.

videos

the boys and i were checking out some older videos on youtube...you may have seen these before, but they seem even funnier now that they boys are older. enjoy, or re-enjoy!
where is puppy?
simon abuses roger

it's been a while...

so there's a lot i've missed posting about over the past year...

1. a new house

2. my sister's engagement

3. simon talking non-stop

4. marcus going to preschool, once a week

5. a baby girl! who thought that'd happen???

6. my sister's wedding

7. a niece on the way

8. and lots of time with family and friends

rather than try to give details about everything, which i will never get around to doing, you can link to our picasa site to see photos.

no promises that i will update this on a regular basis, but aaron and susan's new blog has inspired me to try again.