A Weekend for Daddy!

This past weekend the boys and I "kidnapped" Gill and took him to Atlanta for the weekend.  I had secretly packed the car earlier in the week, and under the guise of going to a picnic, we got Gill in the car on Saturday morning and were on our way.  It wasn't until about an hour into the 4 hour ride that Gill got suspicious 

and realized something was up!

We arrived in Atlanta late afternoon and checked into the gorgeous W Hotel Downtown.  Our friend and travel agent, Johanna, arranged our accommodations and she did not let us down.  The room was amazing and far from childproof!  Luckily, with the boys were quick to point out all the hazards to us!! 

On Saturday night, the boys and I surprised Gill with dinner at a local Brewery.  

Gill got to sample lots of the beers and we all enjoyed a great dinner.

Sunday, Father's Day, was the main event.  We took Gill to the Georgia Aquarium, the world's largest aquarium.  

It was such a fantastic morning. 

Finn and Patrick enjoyed looking at all the fish with their Daddy.  Actually, I don't know who had more fun, the boys or Gill.  All I do know was that I loved watching my 3 guys explore together.

  

Patrick loved all the fishies:

Finnegan loved exploring the Aquarium:

The weekend was a huge success and I hope it showed Gill just how much he means to us!

Happy Father's Day

This weekend we celebrate Father's Day - this weekend the boys and I celebrate Gill.  

When I met Gill, almost 10 years ago, I knew that someday he would be an amazing father.  

I never could have imagined just how wonderful a dad he would become.  He has an unending love for his sons, and it shows.  I watch Gill's face light up every night when he comes home to us, and I watch my boys yell, "Daddy's HOME" at the top of their lungs and run into his arms.  This is no exaggeration, it happens EVERY night.  Gill is involved with everything related to our children.  He notices immediately when the boys say a new word, recognize a new animal or count even higher than the day before.  

Gill is the exact opposite of an absentee dad.  While he works long, hard hours to provide for us, when he is home, he is here.  There is never a debate over time with the boys or time with the remote.  He chooses to let Patrick and Finn play with his laptop rather than getting extra work done on it.   

When we have long periods of time together, like the weekends, Gill can't wait to have family time and go on new adventures with the boys. I don't know how many times I have heard him start off a sentence with,

  "I can't wait until the boys are old enough so I can teach  them about..."  

He has an unending desire to learn and explore with our boys.

Gill is an amazing father and I am so proud to call him "my husband".  

Happy Father's Day, Gill.  We love you.

The Artist and The Architect

My Little Picasso, Finnegan

Finn loves to color and now that we have the playroom with Chalkboard walls, he colors EVERYWHERE; the walls, the tables, the chairs, his clothes - everywhere!  Luckily I am able to contain his coloring to the playroom where everything can be wiped down.  It makes him so happy, he loves to color and I love to see what creations will end up on our walls today!

Patrick Lloyd Wright

Patrick has discovered a love of Mega Blocks!  Today he spent an hour stacking the blocks and building the most amazing towers.  As he makes his masterpieces, he tells me the color of each block, impressive!  

I think I will have him design our next home!  ;)

I love this picture of my boys, both doing what they enjoy.

Responsibilities of a Ring Bearer

This weekend, we went to Chateau Morrisette in Floyd, Virginia to celebrate the marriage of our friends, Johanna and Brian.  We were honored to share in their special day and even more excited because the boys were asked to be the ring bearers.  

Here is a refresher on the responsibilities of a ring bearer:

1.  Ignore the rehearsal completely, instead throw as many rocks as you can into the pond.

2.  Get dressed for the ceremony and make Mommy cry when she sees how handsome and grown up are

3.  When the time comes for you to walk down the aisle, pitch a fit, throw the pillow and run to the pond.

   (throwing rocks is much more important than carrying rings)

4.  Enjoy all the wonderful food at the reception - PB&J and Apple Juice

5.  Once you have finished your meal, insist on sitting in the corner and watching a movie

6.  Say "bye bye Jo Jo & Brian" and then make a grand exit!

Yes, it was an adventure and no, it did not go as planned.  I think that we all, Johanna and Brian included, will look back at the boys "role" in the wedding and laugh!  It certainly made me realize that while they looked like "big boys" they are still toddlers and have their own agendas!

Puzzle Time!

After dinner, when the boys are still sitting at the table, we have started doing some quiet activities.  They will color beautiful pictures for their daddy or do a puzzle.  I am amazed at how well the boys do with the puzzles.  They rarely need help and always finish the puzzle, only to dump the pieces out and start again.  

I enjoy our quiet time together,  and they seem to like it too!  The best part for them may be knowing that once we are done with our activity, it's usually time for daddy to get home!

Little Things Thursday

The boys are never far apart from each other.  

Yesterday afternoon, I watched the boys play together with this one toy for 1/2 hour, which in toddler-time is DAYS.  

I love witnessing their friendship grow.

Stories From StoryTime

The boys and I have been going to StoryTime at the Charlotte Public Library for over a year now.  

Every time seems to be an adventure.

The first time we went to StoryTime was March 2008.  The boys were only 8 months old and had just started crawling.  While all the other babies were sitting on their mom's laps, my boys tried to explore their new surroundings.  They didn't seem to have much interest in the stories, or the music, but they loved the bubbles at the end of class.

A month later, we were still going to StoryTime once a week, but instead of getting better, the boys seemed to like it less and less.  Usually, they would cry during the music and make quite a scene and then, they would try to scatter and escape the room.  

My favorite StoryTime story is the day this picture was taken.  Across the circle from the 3 of us were 2 little twin girls.  They sat perfectly on their blanket and did not leave the mother.  Attached to their white eyelet dresses were shiny monogrammed paci-clips and at the other end of the clip were bright, shiny, silver rattles.  As quickly as they could, the boys crawled across the room and, before I could stop them, they had grabbed the rattles from the little girls and PULLED!  The clips were attached so tightly to the girls' dresses that they fell face forward onto their blanket.  And there was quite a scene - 2 little girls lying face first screaming, and my little boys sitting next to them shaking the silver rattles (that were still attached to the dresses).  

After that it was "recommended" that we leave....hehe

Now, a year later, we've enrolled in StoryTime again.  This time, we are joined by our good friends, the Parkers, and every Monday morning we are experiencing StoryTime all over again.  

Finnegan seems to enjoy storytime - he enjoys trying to play with the librarians CD player, he enjoys stacking the garbage can, he enjoys trying to get into the utility closet and he enjoys trying to get out the door.  

Every once in a while, like in the picture below, he will stop to sing a song!

Patrick tends to stick very close to me.  Most of the time he sits on my lap, but, if someone leaves the door open, he's gone!  

Patrick does enjoy the stories, especially last weeks' which were all about TRAINS!

I don't know if we will ever get to the point where the boys and I sit quietly and listen to the librarian read, I doubt it.  

But, I enjoy going to StoryTime and I think the boys do as well.  

If nothing else, StoryTime Mondays leaves me with GREAT stories for the rest of the week!

Little Things Thursday

Mealtime is always an adventure and lots of fun.  These days there seems to be more giggling and less eating going on, but that's part of the joys of toddlerhood, right?!

On this particular day, Finnegan ate all of his peanut butter sandwich (what's not on his face, that is) and was then experimenting with his milk and veggie sticks - YUCK!

Patrick, on the other hand, ate rather neatly and was enjoying putting his feet on the table.  Apparently my scolding is not at all scary, because every time I asked him to take his feet off the table, he just laughed!

p.s.  Thank you, Uncle Brendan, for the great NYPD & FDNY shirts - we love them!

Word of the Week Wednesday

This week has me stumped, and sad in a way.  I had all these words lined up that the boys use.  Cute, funny words that maybe I only know the meaning to.  Now, when it's time to put them into writing, the boys have stopped using them.  They have replaced "Choo Choo" with "Train".  They no longer say "WaWa" but now pronounce "Water" far too well.  Instead of having funny names for their friends I suddenly hear pretty clear pronunciations of "Ella" "Aidan" "Sara" and even "Suzy".

I am proud. I am very proud.  I listen to them count to ten and it brings me to tears, each and every time.  While I see them growing physically, for some reason the verbal/mental development has me most amazed and proud. 

Yesterday morning, Patrick didn't want to get dressed so he hid under his bed and then, giggling, he said "Where are you?  Where are you?".  How did that happen?

On Sunday, while leaving Gabriella & Jason's birthday party, Finn looked up at me and said "That was fun!"  

He's right, this is fun.  All of this is fun.  Listening to the boys speak to me, to each other or to random people in the supermarket is fun.  It's also testament to just how fast time goes by.  Maybe Word of the Week Wednesday will have to be replaced, or maybe next week's word will be "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious". 

Today, I am just going to enjoy listening to my boys and all their words.  

Even if Patrick is using his new expression "Oh Sh*t".  (I wonder where he got that one from)