escava!!

So as I'm sitting here checking email and headlines, I hear Aaron behind me playing. He singing "escava! escava. Escavaaaaa!!!" (For those who dont' know escava means dig in spanish.) After a few minutes, I turn around just to see what he's doing. He's sitting on his knees in front of the dog's food bowl (which I just filled) 'digging' the dog food with a toy tea cup! He's pouring it onto the floor, where the dog is waiting patiently to eat the food that hits the floor.

the nightly plea...

"mommy, I want you to sleep with me." This used to be Zack's line as I put him to bed. Since we moved Aaron into his big-boy-bed, he has since adopted it too. Now, I (or Dave) put Zack to bed. He asks if I can sleep with him, usually I lie there with him for about 10 minutes. If he's feeling chatty or restless, I leave sooner.
The first few nights Aaron slept in his bed, I laid with him to ensure that he STAYED in his bed. The first night I woke up at 3 am as Aaron was climbing into my bed! The second night, I was woken up by Aaron crying in the hallway at 2 am. The third night he started down the stairs at 3 am and I think got scared or couldnt see in the dark and just started crying. I brought him into bed with me both times.
Aaron now asks me to sleep with him as I'm putting him to bed (after he protests first.) I have to lay there with him until he falls asleep or else he jumps up and heads for the door! I didn't think Aaron was ready for a bed yet, but his father insisted because other people thought he was ready.

Tids bits of happenings

Lots of little things have marked the past few weeks. Dave took Zack to his first Penn State game this past Saturday. Penn State played E. Illinois so Dave got two tickets pretty easily and relatively cheap. I tried to get Dave to take the camera to take some pictures, but he refused. He did take some pictures with his phone though. I wish I could get them online somehow. (Sorry, no blackberry or iPhone in this house.) Zack loved the game and proclaimed that next week Aaron gets to go too!

Zack also enjoyed his first movie-theather movie. The movie "Up" was playing at the dollar theater this week, so I took Zack to see it. Overall I think he enjoyed it. I thought the movie was a little too "grown-up-ish" for a 4 year old. The funniest parts of the movie I'm sure were over his head and there were some scary parts too. We stopped off for some ice cream afterwards, so he anything scary was erased!

Zack had his first "show and tell" day at pre-school. Whoever brings in a toy for show and tell also gets to be circle-kid for the day. Circle-kid gets to place today's number (date) on the calendar, tell the class the weather for the day and place the appropriate weather sticker on the board. Zack loved being circle -kid. He now plays school at home and I got to be circle kid!!!

Aaron's favorite activity is to take all the pillows and blankets off my bed and to throw them on the floor at the bottom of the bed. He then climbs up on the bed, jumps a few times and then leaps off the bed into the pile of pillows. He's been doing this ever since I took him to Nittany Gymnastics, where they have a giant foam pit for kids to jump into. We haven't been back since that one visit because of illness or other schedule conflicts, but I think this is a sign that Aaron wants to go back!

Bee Sting

So as I type this Aaron is sleeping off the pain of a yellow jacket sting to his nose. I feel responsible for this sting because I did something to sort of provoke the bee. I was digging a hole to plant something, when I discovered a nest in the ground near the foundation. There were few bees coming and going so I was trying to just ignore them. Aaron came over and sat in the hole I was digging (shoe-less...errr!)
I think the bees were trying to determine if Aaron was a threat as they kept buzzing around him. Aaron got out of the whole and went back to filling his shoes with rocks. So I continued digging. Now a bee came really close to me. I couldn't see it, but could hear the buzzing right near my ear. Its really hard trying not to let your kids see you freak out over a bee buzzing near your ear!! Anyway, I went back to digging. When I had a shovel full of dirt, I threw it over the hole where bees were coming in and out. As I was doing this, Aaron went and sat back in the hole. Well, I guess the dirt pissed off one of the bees. It flew straight to Aaron and landed on his nose. Aaron immediately took his hands to his nose and began rubbing it. It probably took a good 4-5 seconds before the bee stung him and flew away. I felt SOOOOOOO bad. I still do.
I scooped up Aaron and we came inside. My first thought was "I hope he's not allergic to bee stings!!" So we sat on the stairs for about 30 seconds and I just watch him for swelling or hives. Thankfully nothing came. Since he was covered in dirt, I took him up to his room to change him.
After he had a clean diaper and clothes on we just cuddled until the crying stopped. As we were cuddling I was googling these stupid bees. Aaron eventually feel asleep on my shoulder. After about 15 minutes, I laid him down in his crib. His little nose is a little swollen around the sting site, but other than that he seems to be ok.
Then I came back down stairs to see a mole run across my kitchen floor!!!! Damn it I thought that thing was gone!!!!!

An interview with Zack

Something like this has gone around Facebook. It's raining this morning and Zack wanted to use the computer, so instead I asked him these questions. The answers to the questions are Zack's verbatum. I think after a while Zack was just giving silly answers just to make me laugh, it was still fun though!


1. What is something mom always says to you?
clean up
2. What makes Mom happy?
when i buckle myself
3. What makes Mom sad?
When Aaron and me be bad together
4. How does your mom make you laugh?
"the yogurt one in the banana."
5.What was your mom like as a child?
me
6. How old is your mom?
33
7. How tall is your mom?
33....(me laughing).....How tall are you mommy?
8. What is her favorite thing to do?
play the computer
9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
cry (I think he may have thought I asked what HE does when mommy's not around!)
10. What is your Mom very good at?
playing computer
11. If Mom became famous what would it be for?
Mickey
... I rephrased the question: If I went on TV, what do you think I'd be doing.
dancing
12. What is your mom not very good at?
Not good at taking paper off that one (he points to the printer.)
13. What does your mom do for her job?
Use the computer
14. What is your mom's favorite food?
macaroni and cheese
15. What makes you proud of your mom?
she gives me a hug....and a kiss too (then we had a hug and kiss!)
16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
a mommy
17. What do you and your mom do together?
play on the computer (notice a theme here...he wants to play on the computer.)
18. How are you and your mom the same?
whatever...
19. How are you and your mom different?
to get different, you just click on the button. Let me show you... (he reached for the mouse.)
20. How do you know your mom loves you?
says i love this much up to the sky! (we had another hug!!!)

Aaron goes to the dentist

Today was Aaron's first visit to the dentist. Zachary went to the dentist too, but he's an old pro at this by now. Zack went first to 'show' Aaron how its done. I was really impressed with Zack. He sat in the dentist chair and as soon as the hygentist reclined the chair he propped his mouth open nice and big!! The last time Zack went to the dentist (his first time) he had 4 cavities!!!! He was sent to a pediatric specialist for the fillings. I learned today that the specialist only filled 3 of the 4 cavities. The dentist was asking me why they only filled 3 of them. I had no idea. I thought they were all done. So Zack has no NEW cavities, but the last one still needs to be filled.
The fact that Zack had 4 cavities led me to schedule Aaron an appointment with the dentist. The pediatrician said kids don't need to go until age 3, but given Zack's record, I wanted to get Aaron in earlier.

When it came to Aaron's turn, he climbed right up on the chair. The hygentist played around with him a little, let him touch and play with the tool and he seemed ok. He looked like someone who's been going to the dentist for a long time...a little tense, stoic and unsure of what the dr. would say!

Aaron opened his mouth when the hygentist (named Eren) asked, but he kept closing and biting down on the instruments as soon as she put them in his mouth. She was able to clean the front teeth, then Aaron had enough and climbed out of the chair. She said for a 1 yr old he did great!!
Aaron wasnt as cooperative for the dentist, he giggled and grinned at him, but wouldn't open up.

So we left with new Diego toothbrushes, spongebob toothpaste and stickers. The boys were as happy as could be then! We'll see how it goes in 6 months!!
(I keep forgetting to take my camera!!!)

Missing Bubie!

The last couple of days Zack has been playing a little game. He says he's gonna go on an airplane and go see Bubie (in Miami Beach.) Sometimes he takes Aaron with him, sometimes Aaron doesn't want to go on the imaginary airplane, yet he makes it to pretend miami beach!
But Zack has been pretending to be either visiting or playing with his Bubie alot lately. I think he really you Bubie!!!!!!
...on a side but relatd note: this morning, Zack and Aaron were playing and decided to "take a bus" to see Bubie. The bus was the dog's crate. Well, they locked themselved inside!! One second they're playing laughing and giggling, then next its paniced cries!!

Anti-Social

Everyday that Zack goes to preschool, we receive a daily report. There's always an extra note at the bottom to personalize it to each child. Zack has received "Zachary did very well writing his name today." and "Zachary was very excited to eat his Spongebob yogurt."
Today we received a message that said, "Zachary worked very hard to put puzzles pieces together today. However, we've noticed that he interact or play much with the other kids. We're going to work on his social skills this year." hmmmmmm.
Does this sound like anyone I'm married to??? (I really am afraid of Zack picking up on (or rather, inheriting) Dave's less than stellar traits.)
In Zack's defense, he was very upset when I dropped him off at school this morning. Today was the first time he cried, he was almost histerical. When he's like this, he does tend to be more introverted. On the other hand, Zack has proclaimed that he doesn't like people looking at him. (except mommy and daddy.) Some days he picks up friends like a magnet, others he just wants to do his own thing. (I'm a little annoyed at how the teachers handled, rather didn't handle, this situation too! I won't get into it, but they definately made me late to class when I was looking at being 10 minutes early upon arrival to the school.)
I think today he probably just wanted to do his own thing. I also do not think that the teachers really encourage peer-peer play. They have circle time and activity "stations". Except for the play kitchen "station", all the other are really solo activities...like the computer games, coloring/drawing, writing center, book/library station.
We'll see how "social" Zack is on Wednesday!

Jumping

Its seems like such a minor acomplishment to others, but to me, when my children learn how to jump, its just as big as walking! Ok, maybe not quite, but its up there! I was trying to teach Zack how to jump from the time he was about 14 months old. He didn't get airborn until about 21 months though. I chalked that up to him being a chubby baby; he had a lot of weight to lift! lol.
Aaron made his first two-footed jump today on his bed...and it was a BIG jump! He jumped about 18 inches forward!!! All day now he's jumping around like a frog! He crouches down in a froggies position and leaps forward. I told he looks like a froggy and now he's ribbiting too! Oh, and Aaron is currently 22 months, so maybe Zack wasn't so far behind.

The maiden voyage

On Sunday, we finally went and got the bicycle that we told Zack he was getting for his birthday. Dave put it together and away they went! Zack road around on the basketball court near our house for a little bit. Then Dave took him over to Tudek Park, where they have alot of walking trails.

...now that's where he always wants to go to ride his bike! (thanks dave!)

Aaron without Zack

Zack has been in preschool for a week now (3 days per week) and I think Aaron enjoys having mommy all to himself, yet he definately misses his big brother. Almost always, the first thing out of Aaron's mouth in the morning is "Zack??" And most mornings, Zack is still sleeping, but lately I have to say "Zack is at school." I think it takes Aaron a few minutes to take this in, but then realizes he can now play with all of Zack's toys without having to fight over them. And he can drag mommy around wherever, whenever he wants now.
Yet when its time to go pick up Zack from school, Aaron's the one that dragging me out the door. "Come on! Zack! school!" he says to me.

First Day of Pre-school

Today was Zack's first day of preschool!! I would have photos however the airline had only delivered 2 out of our 3 bags when I left this morning...and of course, my camera was in the missing bag. Thankfully, the luggage was here when I got back home after class.

Zack's first day of pre-school started much better than his first day of daycare 3 years ago! His first day 3 years ago was filled with screams, tears and alot of kicking. (This routine continued until I took him out of daycare after Aaron was born!)

This time around Zack was just a little shy, but warmed up really quickly. When I came to pick him up after lunch, the teachers said he fit right in and had a great day!

Its funny, he just turned 4 two days ago, yet he's about an inch or two taller than most of the other kids in his class.

We stopped at the park after I picked up Zack; Aaron was asking to go to the park. There was only one other mom at the park when we got there. She had two little girls, one was 5 and the other was around 12 months old. Zack and the 5 year were instant friends. I thought for sure the girl was going to give Zack a hug when she came over to say goodbye. I hope we see them at the park again. Next time, I'm gonna get the mom's number. These two were so cute together.

Frustrated Aaron!

I havent't gotten the look of frustration on camera yet, but its already a classic look for Aaron. I really started noticing him having a fit, screaming in a high-pitched voice "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" and stiffening up his muscles about a week ago. I've taken note though that 9 times out of 10 its directed at Zack!!
Aaron will be playing contently and Zack will just walk. Aaron clenches his fists, tightens his jaw and screaches "NOOOO!" until Zack leaves.
We started teasing Zack saying that only he can make Aaron so angry he goes like this....and we mimic Aaron. Zack thinks its histerical.
Poor Aaron though. He'll get his repreave from Zack later this month when Zack starts preschool.

Shadow

Our Shadow kitty has been sick for a while now, he has several big malignant tumors on his tummy. I first noticed the lumps back in March. I think it was April by the time we were given a diagnosis (they had to do a biopsy.) The vet gave him a few weeks to months to live. We were given the option to put him on a steroid to help reduce the size of the tumor and make him more comfortable. We did and we noticed an improvement in him almost right away. We were hiding the pills in kitty treats, which he gobbled right down.
Then about 7 weeks ago we ntoiced he wasnt eating much of his kitty food and he wasn't eating the treats, with or without the pills. He stopped grooming himself and once he urinated in the spot he was sleeping. Just by chance, this same week, our dog Brandi was due for her shots. So when Dave took the dog into the vet's office, he mentioned to her about Shadow. She recommended that we give him a shot of the steroid (which lasts 30 days) and see how he does after that.
He improved a little bit. We switched him to all wet kitty food. I think the dry stuff is just too hard for him to eat anymore. But he still isn't eating much. Our once 16 lb obese cat is down to 9 lbs!!!!! He has a hard time walking. He tried to rub up against my leg the other while I was preparing his food and he fell over!!
We're supposed to go out of town in a few weeks and the dilema of what to do with Shadow came up. We felt we couldn't just leave him here alone. (Normally we'd ask someone to come in every other day and check on the cat and give him fresh water and food.) We could kennel him at the Vet's office....So Dave consulted with the vet and she said that we should put him down before we leave town. :(

We have a date and time set to euthanize our dear Shadow.

We're estimating that he is about 14 or 15 years old. We don't know for certain as he was a lovable stray found in Dave's parents yard that we adopted. He's been a wonderful cat. With the exception of destroying Dave's couch, we could have asked for a better pet.
Now our dog on the other hand.............

Swimming

Both Zack and Aaron have loved the water and swimming since they're first pool experience. They both come by it honestly from Dave and I, which makes us happy of course! It could also have something to do with living in Florida and going into the pool 9 months out of the year.

We were finally able to get them into swim lessons at the Y. Zack, who seemed to have just picked up swimming on his own, regressed somewhat. He went from swimming 10 feet underwater last fall to being afraid to dunk his head! Dave has a membership to use the facilities at the Penn Stater Hotel, so now about 3-4 times a week we all go and use the pool. I think Zack just needed to get his confidence back and almost swimming as well as he was last summer. So he regressed some on swimming on his front, but swim lessons has helped him get more comfortable on his back in the water. Aaron seems to love swim class, daddy participated with Aaron!

I think the other reason Zack wouldnt go under water was because he HATES water in his eyes. We got him some goggles. Well, since Zack now has goggles, Aaron wanted goggles.

Zack looks cool and ready to swim in his goggles!

Aaron looks like an alien in goggles! hee hee, he's still cute though!

Ohhh, the stories parents have about poo!!!

Here's a little story about the boys that happened before I started keeping this blog (it gets tied into the present though.) Since Aaron could sit up on his own, he and Zack have shared bathtime. Last September, I was staying with my in-laws for a few weeks with the boys. One night I was bathing the boys and Aaron (11 months old at the time) released his bowels into the bath water. It was Zack that noticed "Aaron's poopies are floating in the tub."
I removed the boys, drained and rinsed out the tub and started over. Pretty much as soon as the tub was ready and the water turned off, Aaron poops some more!! Zack starts screaming about poopies again. This time my mother-in takes Zack into her bathroom and gives him a shower! I drain and refresh the bathtub to finally get Aaron clean...again. Wouldnt you know it, Aaron pooped AGAIN!
It took Zack about 2 weeks to go into the tub with Aaron again. Each time he asked if there were Aaron poopies in the water.
Well, last night, Aaron did it again!! As they were quietly playing in the tub, I was sitting there thinking that Aaron was a little constipated. I hadnt changed a single poopie diaper all day. In the back of my mind I was contemplating giving him some FiberOne cereal for breakfast in the morning. Then I heard Aaron making a familar grunting noises. Sure enough, he's poopin ALOT of poop in the tub. I tell Zack its time to get out. At first he whines and says he's not ready. All I have to do is say that Aaron's pooping in the tub and jumps out soo fast!

Friends

Zack would looove to have 2 or 3 friends right in the neighborhood that are always outside and want to play all the time! We have a neighbor that's in between Zack and Aaron in age. But she's in daycare all day. And I still dont know many people here....partly my own fault. I'm just not comfortable in the whole mommy-group setting. Everyone's all chummy already and I'm the odd one out.
When Zack meets a friend at the park, lately its been boys that are about 4 1/2 and he and his playmate have a BLAST! Today, I had to drag him away. We had been at the playground until nearly 7:00 pm.
The funny part about Zack is his shyness. At first, he didnt want to play with this boy. He kept asking me why he was chasing him. I had to tell him that he probably just wants to play with you. 2 minutes later they were laughing and running everywhere together!

I'm happy he'll be starting pre-school at the end of August....haha, mostly so he'll have friends!

Our Last Music Class

It just so happen that Zack and Aaron's last music class coincided with Dave's parents visit. My mother-in-law, who has always encouraged the boys with music, came along to the last class. Zack loved having his Bubie there (grand-bubi too!)

Zack looks like he's conducting Grand-bubi and Francisca

I think Grand-bubi enjoyed herself too!!

Shake 'em high...shake 'emm low!!

This was the first class that Aaron really participated too!

Aaron loved playing peek-a-boo with the scarves!

Back-log on blogs

I have so many postings in my head (and camera) that I want to post, just haven't gotten around to doing it. First our computer dies, now that we have a new computer, I still havent installed the proper software for my camera. Thus, I havent uploaded any pictures since about mother's day!
I will say though that Aaron and Zack both are little pieces of work lately. Aaron's sputtering new words all the time and copies (or tries to) copy everything Zack does. And Zack, he's at the "kid's say the darndest things" stage.
We were in a store and a man, who's arm is 90% tatoo'd, walks past us. When the man is out of ear shot (which I find impressive that Zack waited), he turns to me and asks me, "Mommy, why'd that guy color his arm??" I just laughed at the question and said that he's just silly. Zack says, "yeah that's silly!" and he cracks himself up over this for the next 15 minutes. He asks me to read him a book in the store, so I do. Half-way through the book, Zack is laughing uncontrollably. I ask him what's so funny? He says, "the guy colored his arm!!!!"

My handsome boy!

Zack was looking into the mirror this morning, smiling at himself. Then he turns to me and says, "Mommy, I'm handsome!!"

...oh boy!! :)

Port Discovery

I started this post so long ago and I've been too busy, tired or just unmotivated to finish it. Almost a month later, here we go!
We went to Columbia, MD to see Dave's sister and her husband (and of course our niece, Ava!) While they were off looking for a place to live, we tried to take the boys to the National Aquarium in Baltimore. The line just to get in was about 4 hours long! So we found Port Discovery. It's listed as a children's museum, but its more like a giant play area for kids. They have a 3 story tunnel system in the center of the place. Just as you walk in the gates, you're greeted by a 40 x 20 soccer field. Zack went nuts playing soccer with all the other kids.


I was actually impressed with how well he handled other kids taking the ball away from him. And vice versa...I had to keep reminding him that we don't use our hands in soccer!!


They had several playhouses, and a mock-train station, which I was surprised that the boys just breezed right past without an iota of interest in....well Aaron found a plastic cantaloop in one of the houses that he thought was a ball and carried it around.


Zack did take to the giant Lincoln Logs though. He's never played with them before and he knew just what to do with them! We may have to go buy some!!

Dave found the cowboy area. In the picture below, Dave is helping Zack rope a steer!!

Silly me, I thought Aaron might like a try!! He cryed and clung to me everytime I tried to put him on a saddle!! I forced him to sit for a picture (below). He wasnt very happy about it.

We finally found the toddler room!! Aaron's happy again!!

Bubbles!!

Clingy Aaron!

(At least he'll go to Daddy too, Zack wouldnt!)

"Mr. I'm not sleepy"

"Mr. I'm-not-sleepy"

Zack feel asleep on the floor while his new favorite show, "Special Agent Oso!" I had a doctor's appointment at 2 pm. I turned on the TV while I put down for his nap. I really expected Aaron to crash like this since he didn't get a nap in before my appointment. I'm always happy though when they both nap...especially at the same time!

Aaron's First Haircut

Zack had his first haircut around 11 months and boy did he cry!! Just around his 3rd birthday he finally came to terms with haircuts. So this made me reluctant to take Aaron for a haircut. I've just been trimming it where it needs it, when it needs it. His hair has reached that point where we need to bring in the professionals.

Zack went first to show Aaron how its done. (You can see by the Mother's Day photo, He needed a haircut bad!!)

Aaron was too busy checking out all the products on sale to notice though.

Aaron's turn came too soon for him...and he wasn't happy about it.

Let the torture begin!!

I felt so bad...to make things worse, he had a poopy diaper!

Mother's Day

Aaron's kind of in between sizes and didnt have a nice shirt to wear. So he's wearing a 3T that Zack has out grown! He looked so cute in it.

Makin the beds

I washed all of our sheets and when it came time to remake the beds, Zack wanted to help. First we made Aaron's bed, then Zack's bed and next we headed into make my bed. Aaron was playing on the bed, so Zack climbed up on the bed too.

I threw the fitted sheet over top of the two of them and the giggles started. The two of them played 'tent' for the next hour!

Retraction

So I may need to retract my last posting. Ever since I posted "Best Buds", Zack and Aaron have been arguing and fighting alot. In toddler-guise or pre-schooler talk it translate into alot of schreeching, screaming, whining and ultimatly crying.
Zack doesn't want to share anything with Aaron and Aaron only wants what Zack is touching. As soon as Zack gives up playing with something and finds something else to play with, Aaron is done with it too. I know this is typical of their ages, but arrgg. They're driving me nuts! I think Zack is going to be forced to nap today....for my own sanity!

Best Buds

Some days Aaron and Zack are constantly at each other's throats, yesterday was the exact opposite. They were so good and so cute together. It made me sad that I was the only one there to appreciate what good brothers they are to each other.
We started of our day by going to the dentist. Zack had to have a cavity filled. :(
Since Zack is 3, they don't allow the parent to come back with them. Not a problem, since I had Aaron and there were toyes and a playhouse in the waiting area. But when the hygentist took Zack to the back, Aaron got really sad. He didn't start crying, but he just had his sad puppy-dog face on and was staring at the door saying, in a low quiet voice, "zaaaaack, zaaaaaaaack!"

After the dentist, Zack was hungry, since he wasn't allowed to eat breakfast. We needed a few items at the grocery store, so I figured I could pick up a snack for Zack there. He wanted everything saw!! Zack is usually a big helper when it comes to check out time. He lifts what he can onto the conveyor belt and often tries to scan the items himself. (I usually let him do this when we do the self check-out.) Today, Aaron joined in by putting the contents of my purse on the conveyor belt...until he found what he wanted, my debit card.

I completely forgot that I had said I would go to a park playdate this morning at 10 am. We didnt even leave the dentist until 10:30. It was 11:30 when I remembered. We drove over to the park, just in time to see the last of the other moms leaving. I stopped to let the boys play anyway. They usually play more when we have the park to ourselves anyway. Aaron was Zack's little shadow. Whatever Zack did, Aaron had to do too...and Zack was so nice about taking turns. There's a big slide there that Zack kept going down. The stairs are kind of steep, so it made me nervous when Aaron would climb the stairs behind Zack. At first, Aaron was too scared to go down the big slide by himself. I went down with him several times before he braved it by himself. Once he did though, up and down the both of them went. I stayed at the bottom of the slide and Zack climbed the stairs behind Aaron, helping him up. Once the two of them were at the top, Zack jumped in front of him to go down the slide first though. Zack wanted me to catch him like I did Aaron. Zack created alot of static electricity when he came down though. Everytime we touched, we shocked each other. This was Zack's first noticable/identifiable experience with static electricity...he thought it was funny everytime.
Next, it was time for the swings. Zack still always wants to go on the baby swings. He called Aaron over to the swings and told Aaron "to get in the one on the left and he's gonna take the one of the right."
Somehow at the park, Aaron managed to take of his diaper...under his pants. I noticed his diaper was hanging pretty low, so I went over to check him out and it was completely detached and sliding down his left pant leg! Of course, before I could go back to the car to get a diaper, he pee'd!

The Carinval

This weekend is the Blue/White weekend at Penn State. Right now, Zack and Dave are at the football game. This is Zack's first live football game.

Granted, the game is a scrimage among Penn State players. It's still a big weekend for alumni to return to State College, so there are alot of festivities going on.

Last night, there was a carnival, with games, rides and plenty of carinval-type food. There was a wing-fest, so this alone got Dave interested in going.

Immediately, Zack wanted to go on the ferris-wheel and Aaron was "neigh-ing" to go on the carosel.

Dave took Zack on the ferris-wheel, while I took Aaron on the carosel.

Zack liked the ferris wheel and Aaron cried the moment I tried to put him on the carosel horse. So I held him while we went around and around.

The next ride Zack wanted to go on was the little roller coaster. I thought Aaron would love the roller coaster too, so the 3 of us took a ride. Zack was giggling and saying "this is fun!!!" the entire time. Aaron was just along for the ride though.

The giant slide had to be Zack's favorite ride though; I think he went down it 5 or 6 times. I went with him the first time down.

After that, he wanted to do it by himself.

He looked terrified whenever he was sliding down, but always jumped up and said "Let's do it again!!"

We finally convinced him to try the swings, at least he smiled here!

What a better way to top of the evening with some ice creamy from the Penn State Creamery!!

My favorite quotes from today from my boys

Aaron says "I love you" for the first time!!!

OK, so it was more wa wuv wu. But it was definately I love you!!!

I had dropped my phone and Zack picked it up for me. Then he says, "This was your phone and now it's mine!!"

Trip to DC

The drive to Washington D.C. went smoother than the drive to Erie. Of course we didnt have the dog with us! I was excited to go back to the DC area. I'd move back there in a heart beat. Although the city isnt a good place to raise the boys, there are some great neighborhoods just outside the beltway in Maryland or Virginia. I'm partial to VA just because I lived there.

One thing I like about the area is the climate. It has a defined winter with a little snow, but winter is MUCH shorter there than here in State College.

As we were approaching the Capital Beltway, I was noticing how much greener everything is down there. All the shrubs and underbrush is green, tulips and pansies are blooming and cherry trees are just finishing their blossoms.

Fall colors get all the attention, but I was amazed at the spring-time tree colors. All the Oak trees were a deep maroon color, the cherry trees gave splashes of pinks and whites and there were these purple trees all over the place (But I have no idea what type of trees they are.) Then the varying greens and yellows of new growth on everything was spectacular.

When we got home and I was going through all the photos I took, I realized I took about 20 times more photos of plants and trees than I did of the family!! So below are a several of my favorites.

Me and the boys in front of the White House

Dave and the boys in front of the White House

View from Arlington Cemetary.

Even though I lived about 4 blocks from the Arlington Cemetary and Iwo Jima, I had never visited the sites while I was there.

Looking up the hill at the foot of Kennedy's grave.

A little park near the Key Bridge.

I started getting a little obsessed with taking pictures of the Cherry Blossoms.

I thought this was a cool looking flower...anyone know what it is??

Everytime we saw tulips (and they were everywhere) Zack yelled "TULIPS!!!"