52....and holding!

Today is my pop's birthday!


We celebrated last night with a delicious chocolate cake!  


Unfortunately, when I went to the store to buy the candles I apparently was thinking that he was only going to be 49.


He is, in fact, 59.


Gigi only had enough candles on hand to get us up to 52.


No one would have noticed the missing 7 except Henry started questioning if he was really only 52!


Happy Birthday, Pop!  


Thanks for being such a great dad!


Love ya!

On Your Marks...Get Set....Go!

Last Saturday, we rode in a bike race.

Ten miles on a crazy, hot day.......piece of cake!

Ben and Ollie didn't make it very far, though.  

Once he saw that the road wasn't actually shut down, Ben decided that they should just be the cheering section.  It was probably the smartest move considering Josh had only been riding on his own for less than a week.  He was kind of iffy even without the threat of cars running him over!

Luke, Henry, and I made it the whole way.  

The race was airport themed.  We kind of did a tour of some of the aircraft companies and hangers.  We also went past the post office and airport pick up/drop off zone--that made it fun because we only ever get to drive down those roads!

About half way through, Henry and I lost Luke.  I told him to keep going while I stopped with Henry.  I kept thinking we would catch up with him or find him stopped at a water station, but we didn't see him again until we got to the end.  He's speedy!

We had two accidents along the way.  Luke fell just before the race and skinned up his elbow pretty bad.  Henry got a little wild, jumped a curb and scraped his back.  Thankfully, no one broke anything and the bikes held up--we saw several people with flat tires!

It was a really fun event!  So exciting!

We'll be doing it again next year for sure!!

The same day, the Art Museum had an ice cream social to celebrate it's birthday.  

We walked there from Gigi's, ate some ice cream, contributed to some artwork, and headed home for a nap!

It was a great way to spend a Saturday--even a really hot one!

Learning the Basics

Recently, I have come to the realization that my boys are no good at coloring. 

They have no patience for it. 

Generally they do a quick scribble and call it good.  

Shockingly, they often get marked down for neatness in school! 

In contrast, though, they all love to draw.  Give any of them a blank piece of paper and some crayons and they go crazy!

I just can't relate to it.  I will take coloring over drawing any day!  (Just coming up with an idea of something to draw is a lot of pressure to me.  I'm just not creative.)

I've decided that I need to fix this little situation, so I've been making the boys sit down and color with me.  

It's a bit like torture.  

Henry's has the hardest time.  I make him not only slow down and color the entire area, but I also make him hold his crayon the way he is suppose to hold his pencil.  Torture!

They are getting better, but I don't think I've convinced them that coloring really is fun and relaxing if you don't just rush through it!

Can you guess which one is mine?

One Handsome Ring Bearer

Josh Oliver got to be the ring bearer in Josh and Elizabeth's wedding a little over a week ago.


He looked so unbelievably handsome in his tux!


I was kind of afraid he might get the grumps on the day of the wedding--it would be a shock, I know--but he did great!  


He happily did what he was asked to do.  He smiled great for pictures, did an excellent job walking down the aisle and standing on the altar, and patiently coaxed the flower girl to come down the aisle with him.  


I couldn't have been more proud of how well he did!


I think the most exciting thing of the day, though, was the fact that he had the same name as the groom.  


He really loved that!  


He kept trying to take his place in pictures--just a minor confusion!  He made sure he signed the guestbook right by Josh's picture and paid a dollar to dance with him during the dollar dance--obviously you must dance together if you share a name!


The other two boys were also asked to do big jobs.


Henry helped bring up the offertory gifts.  


He did great, but he was carrying the wine with his casted hand.  I held my breath until he made it to the front of the church because I was terrified he was going to drop it.  He made it, though!

Luke served Mass.  


There were five priests in attendance, which is way more than Luke's ever served for.  I think he was little nervous just before the ceremony, but he did excellent!


After the wedding the boys break danced the night away.  They've got quite the moves!  I love that they get out there a live it up!  


Josh kept trying to get one of the older girls to dance with him.  He never managed to convince her, but he kept at it.  


The other two happily danced alone!


I love all weddings, but I must say, getting to watch my boys be a part of one, especially Elizabeth's who we all adore, just put it all over the top!


We were really lucky to be part of such a special day!

Henry's Wonky Arm

 Henry got his cast off yesterday. 


Finally!


He is now the proud owner of one wonky arm!

His radius has quite the bend to it!

Although, it's not until I ran my hand along his forearm, that I really noticed how arched it is.

I'm not exactly sure how we didn't notice in the two weeks that we were debating whether it was broke or not.  

After the Orthopedist looked at his follow up x-ray, he said that his break was more extensive than he originally thought--every doctor's appointment things just seem to be getting worse!--but he should heal up fine.  It'll take a few years before the bone works itself straight again, but otherwise it's fine!

To celebrate the cast coming off, we went swimming.

We've waited a long time! 

Who's Side Are You On, Anyway?

Josh showed his English pride at the 4th of July bike parade.


Probably not the most appropriate day to wear his beloved shirt! 


Sadly, none of us even made the connection until Linda commented on it--even then it took us a minute!  We'll try to do better next year!

*     *     *     *     *

Our 4th was great!


We started off with a pancake feed and bike parade.


It's my favorite way to kick off the holiday! 


The boys were bummed that they didn't win a prize in the drawing at the end, but their bikes looked great and Josh even got his picture on the newspaper website!


It felt like an overall win to me!


We also spent some time hanging out with Grandpa J and Great Grandpa, and then I took the two boys without casts swimming for a bit.


Our evening was spent at the Country Club, where there was an ice cream social and a fabulous fireworks display.


We rounded out the night with a quick trip to my Grandpa's where we parked and watched all the surrounding fireworks go off.  


That 20 minutes may have been my absolute favorite of the whole day--just sitting quietly with my three little chicklets.


I love the 4th!  


It's such a mellow, laid back holiday--the epitome of summer!

  

Try It.....Maybe You'll Like It!

The other day I was randomly thinking about the things that Luke will and will not eat.


I came to the realization that there is not a single fruit or vegetable that he will eat.


Not one.


I don't know why it just hit me because he's always been picky, but I just kept thinking that there had to be something that I get him to eat from time to time.


There's not.


Then I started thinking about what other food groups he doesn't eat, and really, he's not too big on dairy, either.  He loves cheese and ice cream, but he won't eat yogurt, cottage cheese, milk--not even on cereal.


He's okay on meats--usually.  Grains are probably his favorites as long as we don't buy bread with any kind of stuff sprinkled on top of the crust or ruin his pasta with sauce--just a bit of butter for him!


Even sugary stuff he's not over the top about.  He doesn't eat anything with whip cream or a creamy center--that eliminates a lot.  (He does love oreos, though, but only name brand!)


Basically, I don't know how he's survived as long as he has.


It's not even that we cater to his pickiness, really.  


If he doesn't like something, he either works around it, or, 9 times out of 10, just says "no thank you" and that he's not really hungry.


It's a method that has obviously helped him to fly under my the radar!


I have since told him that he has to find at least one fruit and one vegetable that he likes.  


Just one each!


Until then, I am going to do my best to let him try a variety of types made a variety of ways, but he has to try at least one bite, of anything I offer him, with an open mind.


He wasn't excited about it, but he's been going along with it.


He's done a good job of trying things and rarely tells me things are gross.  I have, however, realized that when he gives me a "so-so" hand signal while it's still in his mouth, that means "there is no way I'm going to eat anymore of this."  


It's such a polite rejection!


We have yet to find anything that he is willing to eat, but we are going to keep trying. 


Wish me luck!