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Lightning strike 3 and silly boys

Posted on July 22, 2008 10:44 pm by TheAngelForever

Before starting my main post, I would like to wish my little brother a very happy birthday. I hope you had a wonderful day . . . even if you worked all day. With any luck the day went by quickly.

This is Uncle I back in 1985 when he was about the same age as NHL. Hard to believe that now he is married and the father of my beautiful little niece S.
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This afternoon we had yet another thunderstorm head through the area. At one point the lights flashed on and off and I quickly grabbed the boys. I turned off my computer, made sure we had a flashlight and sat with NHL and JSL on the couch to watch Blues Clues. All of the sudden there was a loud clap of thunder and a big crash outside. I honestly thought nothing of it.

Fast forward to when JL came home from work. He announced that the tree next door had huge chunks of it on the ground. I quickly grabbed my shoes and went outside to take a look. Sure enough the tree was struck by lightning. For those of you keeping track this would be the third lightning strike on our block (in a 5 house stretch no less) in just about 13 months. Strike 1 was back on June 27, 2007 and the second on July 10, 2007.

I e-mailed my neighbor assuming that she knew about the damage. I was wrong, it was the first she heard of it. Now we have to try to get the city to take down the tree because it is in really bad shape and not safe with all of the kids around.

Let me tell you I cringe now when I hear storms are coming in since our neighborhood seems to be a lightning magnet . . . . literally!

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This morning before JL went to work both of the boys were entertaining Daddy with their antics. Perhaps they were extra silly thanks to being up at 4:00 this morning. Either way they had a blast making us laugh.

First up is NHL showing that he can make the letter "P" with his body. Of course I really think he was trying to get away with using potty talk and was just clever to come up with this cover.

Next up JSL firmly believes that he has a wonderful new hat. Please look closely and see what he is chanting "hat" to in the photo. If you look closely you can also see his new molar that FINALLY is out. Now two other molar points on the top at working their way through his poor gums.

Finally NHL wanted to put on two pairs of his glasses. He thought it was hilarious and called himself "Four Eyes" while asking for a photo.

These are the moments that remind me why I love being home with my boys. I try to remember these rather than the ones of them screaming and trying to avoid the new afternoon rest time.

Categories:
interesting jsl milestone nhl photos teething weather

Fun Filled Friday

Posted on July 21, 2008 10:16 pm by TheAngelForever

Prior to going to visit my in-laws JL and I did some research. We wanted to find something fun to do with the boys on Friday. We toyed with going to a Childrens Museum, but opted for something closer instead. We found a place called Fun 4 All Playground. It is an indoor playground facility that is half an acre filled with everything you can imagine, including inflatable slides.

When we arrived at Fun4All it was almost empty. We purposely went at 11:00, soon after they opened on Friday to avoid the weekend rush. JSL was asleep and NHL was ready to go. When he saw what was inside he did not know what direction to run in first.

Soon after checking things out, NHL and JL went to the large tower and decided to head to the top. NHL wanted to go down the twisty slide. JL went with him the first time since he had never been on anything like this before. The tower layers were actually made of trampolines and NHL quickly liked bouncing on it. Eventually they were at the top and NHL came out of the tube like a bullet. Check out the shot of him pretty much landing on his head!

The two boys were able to explore, run and play for quite some time. These are some of the adventures they had while playing in the air conditioned playground. Can you tell NHL was having a blast giving Daddy a work out?

The boys had a lot of fun

During all of this excitement this is what JSL was doing:

Not too shabby if you ask me. A place to stretch out, put your feet up and sleep.

After a while we were able to convince NHL to go on the Noah’s Ark inflated clibing slide. He was not too sure about it, but liked it so much he went several times.

Soon after this JSL woke up and we took him to the area for toddlers. Before arriving at their destination the boys stopped to look at the funny mirrors, so I snapped a photo. Check out their long legs and JSL’s monster froggy shoes!

As you will see JSL quickly warmed up to things and wanted to play on additional items.

After about two hours Bubbe and Grandpa were ready to pack up and head out. NHL must have been tired since he did not protest too much. Before leaving my mother-in-law and I noticed a jail area. We quickly managed to get all of the boys in for one quick photo.

Then it was time to head out in the hot and humid 90 degree weather. We went back to regroup before going out to lunch, shopping at the outlets and back home before a quick meal out.

Categories:
family fun jl jsl my boys nhl photos play time road trip

We are not tired Mom

Posted on July 19, 2008 6:30 am by TheAngelForever

As previously mentioned, I just started to do a mandatory rest time in the afternoon. JSL is exhausted, but he will not settle in his own crib. This is partially our fault, but more or less thanks to sharing a room with his big brother. NHL goes to sleep slightly before JSL. We never wanted to put an awake JSL into his crib while NHL was already sleeping. Now 14 months old, trying to teach a little one new tricks is very tough. He screams and hoots and has full blown temper tantrums at the sight of his crib.

Thanks to this I had an idea. I wanted to try a rest time for both boys in their room. I figured if NHL was in the room reading/resting (not holding my breath about napping) perhaps JSL would settle and nap. It certainly could not hurt to try. I knew it would not work right away, but was hoping for the best.

Wednesday was my second try at this. JSL stopped screaming a lot faster. He stood up the entire time looking and watching NHL. Tuesday when I tried this he actually cried himself to sleep standing up. Unfortunately I did not get a photo since NHL heard me coming to the room and said something and woke up the little guy.

Back to this past Wednesday. After quite a long time I admitted defeat, for the day, and went into the room. This is what I was greeted with.

Not sleepy, not one bit

Clearly they were not giving in – stubborn little boys! Hmmm. . . I wonder where they get that from?!?!

I asked NHL if he would go into the crib to show JSL how to rest. He thought that was a fun idea and allowed me to put him into the crib. He was quite impressed with the job and quickly got to work.

Here is NHL being a positive role model to his little brother.

Now we just need to work on trying this out when they are both in their own bed/crib. Hopefully they will work with me on this. Tired cranky boys in the afternoon are no fun. When they have energy to play they are much more fun and do not fight. Yes, even at their age they get into arguements and have tantrums to each other. I will enjoy these while they last and do not involved wrestling and physcial additions to the mix.

The one nice part about no naps, both boys go to sleep quite easily at night. Check out how sweet and peaceful they are. Awwwwww!

Categories:
brothers jsl losing my mind nhl photos sahm vent

A walk down memory lane

Posted on July 17, 2008 6:30 am by TheAngelForever

It is still hard to believe that my oldest son will be starting kindergarten in the fall. Time keeps on going and I am in denial. In just over a month I will be the mother of a five year old. Where has the time gone?

Watching the little guy has made me reminisce about things from when NHL was 14 months old. This takes us back to October 2004 (pre-blogging days). I was busy as a new full time teacher and NHL was adjusting to daycare. Our time together was extra special. I thought it would be nice to take a look at some of the memories from that time.

NHL loved to smile for the camera. He was used to Mommy and Daddy taking lots of pictures. Here he is before and during a photo shoot for Great-Grandma’s 90th birthday.

As you can see he was a Clifford fan.

Big smile

Here is a photo of just the three of us. . . . Mommy, Daddy and NHL.

Way back in October 2004 NHL would eat anything that was put in front of him. Yes, he would even eat tomato sauce. I think I need to show him this photo to prove this fact!

Even at 14 months old NHL loved bubbles. At daycare they would use them indoors and we tried this a few times (mainly while he was in the tub) and he had a blast.

For his second Halloween NHL was Mickey Mouse. He really enjoyed this costume and was all smiles.

*sigh*

My big boy is growing up way too quickly. . . . I need to stop and be sure to enjoy my kiddos more while they are little.

Categories:
jl looking back nhl photos

Boating and beach fun with family

Posted on July 15, 2008 9:14 pm by TheAngelForever

My aunt and uncle own a house that is on a beautiful lake not far from where we live. Last year with the birth of JSL we were not able to go up there and on the boat. Aunt S decided that she wanted to make some special memories for our boys and invited us for an afternoon/evening of fun Saturday. The four of us and my parents went to meet my aunt, uncle and grandmother at the house.

We slathered ourselves with sun lotion before heading up and JL and NHL had their swim suits on just in case they wanted to go in the water while on the boat. Everyone made their way to the boat, a gorgeous pontoon boat that can have up to eleven passengers. The sun was out and the weather was perfect. It was hot, but not too humid. The boys immediately put on their life jackets before we went out and everyone took a seat in order to get out of the dock.

JSL was not too sure about things. He seemed to like the boat, but was very quiet after we put the life jacket on him. The poor little guy was lost in it and likely very warm from the extra heavy layer, but it was not an option.

After going around for a little while and trying to find a spot for JL and NHL to go into the water we were traveling around again. NHL was even able to go on Uncle M’s lap and drive the boat. He literally was steering the boat and controling the speed. . . more than we had originally thought. NHL loved this and was so thrilled that Uncle M allowed him to try again later on.

Did you know that being captain of the boat makes you hungry? It seemed to do that for NHL as you will see.

We all noticed that JSL was curious about what NHL had done. Uncle M was really nice and allowed JSL to sit on his lap and skipper the boat. Much to our surprise he quickly grabbed the wheel and knew just how to move it on his own. He was so happy he finally started to smile. Uncle M definitely made his day!

To cool off we stopped the boat so NHL could dip his feet and splash in the water at the front of the boat. He had an absolute blast. It was hard to pull him away and move the boat, but we told him we were going to the beach soon.

Here are some random photos from the relaxing and fun outing on the boat.

Of course the trip down memory lane would not be complete without mentioning what we found on the lake. When we were going fast we spotted something and went back to see it. JL thought it really looked like a turtle shell with a fin up. Well, he was dead wrong . . . . pun intended. This was the lovely view that had a smell to go along with it.

Once we docked the boat and closed it back up we went to the nice little beach that is part of the community. It is hard to believe, but this was NHL’s first time in the sand and building sand castles. He had a blast and did not want to stop. We were all quite shocked that he loved the water and went in without complaints.

JSL enjoyed relaxing in the shade for a while with Mimi, looking around the beach with papa and hanging out with me (those are my legs). He was not interested in the sand this time around. Next time we may allow him to explore a little more.

Finally both boys went into the water and had a blast playing with their daddy. None of them wanted to leave, but eventually we had to call it a day and head back to have dinner.

A huge thank you to Aunt S and Uncle M for such a wonderful time on Saturday. NHL continues to tell everyone about his fun in the sun and I know JSL enjoys splashing and swimming even more. Both of you are the best and we love you lots.