Ships, Ahoy!

After we left the science center, we saw the ships that are in the city port for Navy Week.
William could have stayed there all day! He kept wanting to work the levers, get in the rafts, lift the buoys....   As we were leaving one ship, he asked, "Where is Captain Hook?" There were sailors and other military personnel everywhere, and they were all super nice.
I wish I had taken pictures, but I was too busy supervising!  So here's William and my attempt at a drawing of the frigate.  It's suppose to look like the modern one we saw today, but we wrote War of 1812 at the top because that's what Navy Week is commemorating.

The Intense Look of Learning

 

Today was kid free Tuesday at the science center so we went with another family from church.

I'm not sure what the kids were suppose to be learning at this ball machine, but they were all mesmerized.

Rainbow in the Midst of Rain

Lily spotted this rainbow this morning while the rain was still coming down.

Summer of Sickness

We've been sick pretty much since the Fourth of July this summer.  Not the same bug, just moving from one to the next.  Today all three kids had fevers.  William, who's usually the night owl, was laying on the recliner around 8pm and asked me, "Mom, where is the dark?"  Poor kiddo!  But it's so sweet he can say the whole sentence.

Ocean Shadowbox

Thanks, Grandpa R, for the inspiration!

Addicted to Christmas

William is addicted to Christmas.  It's his favorite thing to play after Thomas.  About a week ago, in 90 degree weather, he dressed up in his Santa suit and went outside with a trash bag full of toys.  Later I went outside and found the sled in the driveway with the trash bag on it.  The sled rope was attached to our ride-on Thomas and a pair of paper antlers was taped to Thomas' funnel. 

A few days later William got up in the morning and started moving the loveseat in the living room.  "What are you doing, bud?" I asked.  "Christmas tree," he answered.  He remembered that we move the loveseat to make room for the Christmas tree every year.  So I tried very hard to explain to him that this was August and it was summer and hot and Christmas isn't until December (flipping the pages on the calendar) when it's winter and snowy and cold.  And I got to clean behind the loveseat.

So then this morning when William said, "Christmas tree!" again, I got nervous.  But he brought down the diaper champ, set it on a chair with authority and showed me he was just pretending.  And he let his sisters help, which made it fun for everyone.  I took this picture 3/4 of the way through.  The finished product had his fisher price little people train track around the bottom and paper cut-out snowflakes around the top.

William is Seven!

 Wow, my kids are growing up!  It's just wild.  William was able to pick his own birthday theme this year, which was super fun- Cars.  Here he is vigilently guarding his cupcakes after Abby put her signature on one.

 We're working on William understanding that he is seven, and that each birthday is when you get one year older.  I don't think he gets it yet, but he certainly understood the day was for him.  We had had to postpone the party a week since I was sick, so I hadn't made a big deal about it beforehand.  But last night when I iced the cupcakes, we talked about it, and he got super excited.  This morning on the way to the playground, he kept saying, "Party....party....party!"

The best part was that he was able to interact with the other kids, thank them for their presents and talk a bit about them.  My favorite moment was when a friend gave him a colored picture of a pirate ship and William said, "Thanks, Matey!"

Sunshine

Other Abby loves: digital devices, giving kisses, doggies, waving Miss America style, paint, and pulling chairs over to counters so she can climb up and get into things.

Birthday Celebration #1

Eric took the older two kids to visit Auntie Jenn and Grammy Iva a couple weekends ago.  While they were there, they celebrated William's birthday at Auntie Jenn's and Lily got to have a sleepover with Ella at Grammy's.  Talk about a fun weekend!  Here Lily is showing off William's birthday balloons and the princess Minnie Mouse hat Ella gave her.

Fashion Diva

It's hard to believe Abby is 17 months old now.  She loves to walk the dog, imitate the big kids, do things herself, and play with cups and spoons.  Last night she kept screaming at dinnertime.  Finally we figured out she wanted a fork- no more finger foods for our little lady.  Her favorite words are daddy, uh-oh, Mama, Iee (Lily), Bing, baby, spash (splash- said in a whispery voice), and apple (which means every fruit).  Last night she said pizza for the first time, a real daddy's girl.