Dynamic Duo of Gus and Rals: aquarium

Okay, so it finally happened. I took the boys to the Post Office, to help me mail something. Yup, may not sound like fun to you, but the boys are kind of obsessed with all trucks, as you may know, and the even know the mail truck and are excited to go in the Post Office. When I turn right out of our development’s back entrance, they usually perk right up and say “mail.” Anyway, Augustus really did not want to hold my hand in line once inside, or stay with me; the wall of greeting cards was just calling his name, you know, and when I asked him to hold my hand or sit down, he said “it” the dreaded “no” word. Now, our kids say “no” often, preferably “no thank you” but, "no” nonetheless, but never “no” so blatantly to a request. Sure, they have totally disregarded our requests to stop, or wait, etc., but never a sure fire “no.” Humph. Another sign our babies are growing up!

In other funny things that come out of the boys mouths, we were driving back from the aquarium this weekend, and Raleigh was looking at the clouds trying to describe what he saw. First it was “manimals” then it was Mickey ears, then it was boobies. Yup, that’s right, boobies. Okay, Raleigh, thanks for sharing. I had to chuckle at that one. This kid constantly makes me laugh, but that was pretty priceless. This was after we had been at a play date earlier in the week where I had been wearing turquoise beads and Raleigh told me that I had chocolate on my boobs. Hmm…what??? Then he touched my beads and said “chocolate.” No, honey, these are beads. The “chocolate” was the brown veining within the beads. Still, it was funnier to hear I had chocolate on my boobs, not something unheard of, but unlikely that day;) This leads right into Raleigh’s newest favorite discussion as we are driving. He will just say “I’m touching my penis.” Yup, you read that right as well. Thanks for sharing, Rals. We are not trying to scar the kids into not talking about these things or touching certain parts of their anatomy, but really? Moving right along to his other favorite thing…when he does number two, he gets excited if you know what I mean. Not sure why, but all of a sudden, bam, and then he starts to move his “excitement” up and down and say “I’m moving my penis.” Wow, he really is a Hamilton! I know, this is probably too much information for most of you, but those of you with little boys can probably really appreciate this. Although, my best friend has some great stories about her little girl and her stories about boobies as well…so I should not be sexist;) I hope Nanny and Poppy are prepared for all this craziness! Below is a picture of the boys tearing off another day on our countdown chart. Today we are down to 9 sleeps!!!

Enjoy our week in pictures! I know you will.

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First, start with the ups! These boys woke up super lovey to each other on Friday. they were feeding each other their sippies that morning and then gave each other a big kiss. Awe, melts your heart, doesn’t it? Love to see them play nice after a stage of pushing and fighting seemingly constantly.

Sadly, we had to say good-bye to Alexander and Uncle Tommy who headed back to Chicago. Here are a few pictures from our last night cooking out. Alexander showed the boys how to dance with Nonnie and everyone helped Nonnie peel corn on the cob. Yummo!

boys help nonnie, check out rals adoring aj

Today we went to a botanical garden at our local university for a plant sale and butterfly garden. We really took the kids there to let them run off some energy, explore the grounds, and meet up with twinkie friends. They had an arts and crafts area for the kids, so that was fun to dive into without worrying about the clean up;) Too bad I did not remember my camera!!!! Still, fun times, and lots of time trying to stay cool in the shade. Seriously, it is ridiculously hot here. It was 99 degrees yesterday. Ugh, I hate sweating!!!

We headed to Busch Gardens with new twinkie friends early this week as well. They are two adorable 15 month old fraternal girls. Their mom is awesome and very active, so I am sure we will be spending much more time at Busch together. The hippos were out of the water for the first time in all our visits. Very cool!

Here, the boys are sporting Daddy’s work shirt. Although, I think they thought it was a cape because as soon as they put it on, they were doing laps around the playroom like Super Bunny! This was on Monday night, after Daddy went back to reality, aka, work.

Below is a picture that Augustus took with the camera. Pretty awesome if I do say so myself;) Their new thing is to sit on the play table and take pictures. They sit very nicely, put the camera strap on, and point and click away. Raleigh is usually the first to ask to take pictures, but, so far, Augustus has quite the knack for taking pics!

We also ventured out to the aquarium, something we have not done much of at all. It used to be a favorite of the boys and me, but now it is just not as exciting after so much time at the zoo and Busch Gardens. The boys did have a bit of fun climbing up and down the pirate ship, squirting the cannons and looking at fish, or Nemo, as the boys fondly call ALL fish!

The boys were spoiled this week with not one but two trucks each as new toys. If you know me, you know I don’t believe in two of everything…but the first trucks were cheap Chico Target brand fire trucks. The boys loved them for two days straight. They wanted nothing but their fire trucks. Then Nonnie went and bought them two new Little People trucks, one is a dump truck and the other is a “digger” as the boys call it, or a bulldozer. Well, you would think these are the best things EVER created. The boys went to sleep dreaming of trucks and woke up feverishly bolting downstairs to retrieve their trucks! They had tears when we asked them to put the trucks into the “garage” or the bottom floor of our new storage unit – yes, it is filled with all types of trucks, and in the morning they skipped their “good mornings” and instead yelled DIGGERS as they ran downstairs. Oye! Seriously, for two days they did not touch any other toys. Which, honestly, was a nice break. This meant no whining over cleaning up, and no clean ups for me either!

We spent some time with the besties this week too. It was funny to see the boys interact with them at our house. We usually do play dates out and about, so they are always different when friends come to play. The funniest thing was Augustus’ personality. He was wild, and extremely excited to have friends over. He immediately took out all the books out on one of the shelves, then almost all the toys out of smaller storage unit. He was also excited with a little pushing and rough housing, but nothing too bad. I was impressed with their ability to stay in time out with friends over. As our time-out chair is gone, Dad has instilled the “look at the wall” approach to time-out. That takes self-control, something two-year olds are not blessed with 100% of the time, especially with an audience.

Drum circle

Here, Augustus plays patient for Ellie. Love how he has to show her his '”heart.”

Now, for the downs of the week. My Dad, aka, Pa Pa Pickles, has had another heart scare. This one comes almost fifteen years after his congestive heart failure at 48. This week he had chest pains and when he finally got to the cardiologist it appears his heart stopped at some point and restarted irregular; he has atrial fibrillation. The plan is to restart his heart on Tuesday morning. If all goes well, then he just has to restart back to a regular heartbeats, and of course, a change of lifestyle to eat more heart healthy and exercise. That is easier said than done, and we are hoping he will take this seriously and do it not for just himself, but for my Mom, my brother and I, and his four gorgeous grandsons. Unfortunately, my Dad’s Dad passed away when I was about four years old and I don’t remember him at all except for pictures and a few treasured stories. I really don’t want the boys to have the same experience. Grandpa Pickles has been a crucial part of their lives thus far, and I want them to know him as they grow up. Our biggest fear is that something happen before his procedure on Tuesday or worse, them not be able to restart his heart during the procedure. Those are scary words to type. As much as my Dad can drive me crazy, I love him and don’t want to lose him! Keeping my hopes up and thinking positive thoughts, that is all I can do for now…that and help him see why we want to see him get healthy by spending time with him and the boys.