Wordless Wednesday {The Peanut Gang}

7 Quick Takes: The Brother Edition

Another brother of mine came to visit us for a few days!

Man, how many brothers does she have??

1.

Sean! Sean has many titles here:
          2nd brother of the summer
          4th youngest brother of mine
          5th in birth order
          10th grader in a few weeks
          One of the coolest dudes I know.

Sean and I go way back. Duh, obviously... I have one very special memory of Sean and I when he was very young. He was about 5 and I was in college. Time escapes me these days... Anyway, it was Christmas Morning - at well before dawn (ugh...) - and the wild animals that lived in the house with us at the time my brothers were very much awake and ready to tear stuff open. Well, no way. I yanked them all, except William (who was still a baby...around 1 or so), into my room with their pillows and blankets. Sean climbed into my bed and snuggled up and was drifting in and out of sleep every few minutes.

After a bit I notice he was messing with my engagement ring. See, Jason and I had just gotten engaged the day before, which was Christmas Eve morning. I asked him if he liked it and what he thought. He told me that it looked like a star and it was shiny. But, then he said very quickly (and with a face that looks like ones of Alex's, my 3 year old) that he did not like it. When I asked him why, he told me that he didn't want me to move away today. Aw, such a little guy... I explained that I wasn't leaving today or tomorrow or anything. I still had college to finish and, besides, it was Christmas! He smiled and gave me a hug then fell asleep for a little bit more before we all went downstairs to continue the festivities.

Fast forward to this past week -

2.

Legos!

It's always awesome having uncles come to the house! They always want to play with Legos!

3.  

On Tuesday, we explored the Southern Museum of Flight with Sean. Super fun! They all loved it!

The little guys especially loved being "pilots" for about a half hour!

4. 

Zoo day! Now, you know we had to throw that into the mix of things to see and do.

From the top, going clockwise:  Sean going into the "cave" to find the otters / Lunch time overlooking the elephants /  Sweet sleeping baby /  Mr. Giraffe / The sweetest brothers ever

Ok, I'm going to play the "lame big sister who is a mom now" card and say that this is my favorite picture from our day at the zoo. Sean is the sweetest. He showed them how to put their quarters in and get the fish food out. Sure, it might not look like anything. And, yes...they now how to do that already. But, it's just the whole picture of it all. They think that their uncles are, like, the coolest people ever. They talk about them for weeks and weeks until we see them again - whether it is one or all of my brother, or if it is Jason's brother. Uncles rock in their book! And moments like these that I get to capture are my favorites. It's the smallest things that turn out to be some of the best memories later on.

5. 

Getting an early start at NJROTC!

 
Now, I hope Sean won't kill me after posting this. But...I just had to do it. After this quick lesson in doing pushups and crunches, these little guys actually have been trying to do it randomly during the day - since he went back home. No joke. I've caught them saying things like, "No, Sean said like this. Because that's what he does with the soldiers." Haha! I don't even remember if we told them what NJROTC was, but yep. They've got it! Such cuties!

6. 

Game nights!!

We broke out Sequence and, of course, Settlers of Catan. We did play Mexican Train Dominoes, too. But that was a bust. Playing with 2 people just doesn't work. Don't do it. You are better off playing Go Fish! Haha!

7.

Coffee mug obsession

We met up with Mom at our favorite Cracker Barrel (our halfway point) to take Sean back home. Mom told me about some coffee mugs that she thought were pretty cool. Well, when she showed me and I saw this one...I just had to have it. That golf tee game (what is that thing called anyway?) has always been super cool. I know...I'm a nerd. Whatever. It is cool. Cracker Barrel is cool. It is so cool that I insisted on having a Cracker Barrel rocking chair to rock my babies in. I have always wanted one of those. Always. And, now, I have another fond memory from childhood on a mug that holds one of my favorite beverages. Awesome. Thanks, Mom, for the great mug!!

Weekly Rewind: Sep 8-14

What a great week it was! I finally got the house put back together after our party fun from Andrew's birthday (click here for that post - coming soon!) and pictures are being uploaded right now. But, before you check out the super awesome Lego Spider-man birthday party, check out what we did last week!

{SUNDAY}

 Getting my early morning reading done - and eek! 31 weeks (now I'm at 32!! 7 more to go!!) Awesome.

 Packer Bump

 Pre-Game Fun

 Jason making some salsa - perfecting it for the party next week :)

{MONDAY}

 The boys and I rewarded ourselves for our hard work cleaning the house. 

Gotta love Happy Hour at Sonic!

{TUESDAY}

 Ready for fall with Hershey's Pumpkin Spice Kisses! YUM!

 Can't forget an awesome smelling fall candle!

 Awwww!!!! School work from the boys!! Alex (top) learned about the letter B and the number 2. Andrew (bottom) drew a picture of his family! So cute!! Daddy is the one on the left, then Alex, and me. I have a ponytail. I asked him about Austin and he said, "We were supposed to draw faces and he's in your tummy. I don't know what he looks like!"

 

 Got the party favors done!! 

{WEDNESDAY}

 Sleepy boy played hard today

Party Oreos! Andrew requested these for his snack to share at school for his birthday. They are super easy to make. I actually used melted white chocolate chips instead of the candy melts. He loved them!They are pretty festive, too, huh? I think I am going to make some Halloween ones later. 

{THURSDAY}

 Went to my doc appointment this morning. And look who was on the bulletin board in my exam room!! It's Alex! My Alex!! :) And my little tiny Andrew!!! Oh my...time flies... They are SO much bigger now. 

 Birthday boy at school today!

 The best of friends playing castles and super heroes. 

 

 Helping make some party decorations with duplos. Had to add in the lego part, somehow... :)

{FRIDAY}

 Lego Spider Man cake - made by me in setting in the fridge!

 Nana and Papa arrived with gifts later this afternoon! Andrew was VERY excited to have REAL legos!! He is loving all of the things he can build with all the different kinds of pieces. 

 Got the cake frosted! The details will go on in the morning! Looks pretty cool, huh?

{SATURDAY}

 This is just the sweetest. Early morning lego building :)
 

We headed to the park for a picnic with Nana and Papa since the weather was AWESOME!  

Back home to get some party decorations up since I have more than a few set of hands to help! :)

 And, while the boys were busy playing, I got the details take care of on my Lego Spider Man head! SO COOL!!!

 For dinner, Andrew wanted to have chicken a rice, so off we went to Stix for some hibachi! They thought it was pretty cool, though they jumped back a bit (me, too!) when the fire was going on! And, of course when you go to places like this for birthday fun, you HAVE to tell the server that there is a birthday boy at the table. So...out came the drummers and singers! But, Andrew was not a huge fan of all that mess, but the ice cream sundae was yummy! :) We did have to say bye to Nana and Papa after dinner, but we had a great time with them!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well that is all for now! Hope y'all had a great week, too!

Up next: Andrew's 4th Birthday Party!!

Middle of the Summer {End of June}

Can you believe that June is gone?! Just like that! We had quite a lot of fun as June came to an end. Here is a look back at what we have been up to!

{THURSDAY}

 Getting our morning coloring on :)

 Chillin' - we do a lot of that these days

 Rollin' - we do a lot of that, too. Well, ok. The boys do... I only seem to be able to roll out of bed and such LOL 

 Runnin' - I sure do wish that these guys would pass along some of their energy to me. Then, I would be an amazing runner... I swear, they NEVER seem to be out of breath. Wow.

 Walkin' - We are LOVING our early morning walks after breakfast. We can't wait for this rain to GO AWAY so we can get back at it. 

{FRIDAY}

 Railroader hard at work. 

 Just watching him build a track is one of the coolest things. I love seeing his little mind work!

{SUNDAY}

Only the BEST pizza in the world - Mellow Mushroom!!!

There you have it! A great ending for June. But, just you wait! July is going to be CRRRAZZZY! There are changes coming to the House! Though, I bet you probably guess that since a baby is on the way, huh? Hang on - next post is coming right up!