Politics we can ALL agree on:

At least we're not electing Jake to any positions of authority today.

We've been studying the ancient Babylonians and have been discussing the Code of Hammurabi (first set of written laws). I asked Jake and Zane to make up and illustrate some laws of their own. It started off innocently enough:










but then swiftly progressed to something much more extreme:






Sheesh, kid! I guess we should get him some Birkenstocks?!?

Drew's First Haircut

Ok, so I've been busy. For a month and a half. :-) I'm going to just wade back into this blogging business slowly...

Cute little Drew had his first haircut last week. His moptop has been transformed into an orderly big boy hair-do!! He looks so much older.

















However, it seems that controlling hair in one area just means that it's going to crop up someplace else! Eeek!











Oh no.



And now it's an epidemic!

Forsooth, a tooth!

Jake lost his first tooth today at camp. As you can see, the permanent tooth is already on its way!














To celebrate - and also to mark the end of a great week at camp - we all went out for ice cream after we picked Jake up. Everybody loves ice cream, even Drew - who got his very own cone.



Jake has been so excited about the tooth fairy. All day at camp people told him how lucky he was - that the tooth fairy would bring him money. Tonight before bed we read some stories about teeth, and then Jake put his tooth into his pillow and set it next to his bed. Good luck, kid! Hope she's generous!

Edited to add this video: Sorry - just had to add this one. I just noticed that Drew licks the air above his cone SIX TIMES without ever getting any ice cream. Still he's happy as a clam. Too funny!

Hurry up and wait

Well, it seems that teeth take longer to come out than I anticipated. It's still tenaciously holding on in there, despite our best efforts to dislodge it! He's at camp this week during the day, so I'm actually just hoping that if he does lose it he doesn't lose it. You know?

The little ones and I have had a pretty boring two days of errand-running. The highlight of the morning was pushing the red-faced screaming infant in a cart through Walmart trying to do school supply shopping while preventing Zane from touching everything in the store (seemed to be his goal). I guess it was better than having TWO people trying to touch everything. Ugh, but at least we're done with THAT.

Yesterday Zane showed me some of his rodeo stunts. I asked him a silly question and he actually rolled his eyes at me!!! Already! He's three! Sheesh. Anyway - hopefully I can get him to nap some this week (to lose both the 'tude and the undereye circles). We'll hit some storytimes and free movies later in the week to make sure we have some fun.

Monsoon and an Imminent Visit

It's pouring rain here! Yay! Hopefully this will do a little to assuage the drought. We need it! It's been storming here in the afternoons and evenings all week. Crazy severe scary lightning! Other than that, it's been nice to listen to it coming down. We've spent several storms out on the porch - I love the mist coming off the pounding rain and the thunder that vibrates through your whole body. Reminds me again of the power and wonder of nature.


The boys LOVE the rain. Here they are enjoying a non-booming drenching. On Tuesday Zane left the lid off the sandbox - it's filled up and now has a couple of inches of standing water! Jake thinks it's like being back at the beach! So this is what they mean by Redneck Riviera!





In other exciting news, an imminent visit from the Tooth Fairy! The wiggly tooth has finally become a flopper and I fear it's only days - maybe hours - from jumping ship entirely. I'm racing against the clock to finish the pillow in time. I am trying to be crafty and embroidered a drawing Jake made of the Tooth Fairy and now need to stitch it into a pillow. We'll keep you updated on any exciting developments in this story. :)

Help!

Hey someone's got hold of me finger!

For those of you not in the know, the minivan is actually a stage on wheels for the world's hottest air-rock band. We rarely drive anywhere without a virtual concert from the back seat. Unfortunately the band broke up today on our way home.

Fisticuffs erupted when Jake decided that he would be Paul and Zane would be John. Zane was already Ringo and took great offense at this. Did Jake/Paul NOT SEE the crayola ring on Zane/Ringo's finger!?! Jake/Paul took great offense at Zane/Ringo's great offense. It ended with Macca slugging Ringo, stealing the ring and then Ringo chasing Macca down on the front porch. Crying by all. It was like our favorite bad sixties musical farce all over again.

She took the words right out of my mouth...

Too tired and lazy to post. Tricia has already done all of the work (yay!). See here for our activities this weekend: http://gatorsfamily.blogspot.com/

Thanks for coming down Trish, Jon, Ella, Jack and Gator. We had a great time and we love you very much!

Brotherly Love

I pass by the room where Jake and Zane are playing on their laptop. Zane is lying despondently on the ground as Jake plays. I ask Jake to please make sure that Z gets a chance to play too. They need to take turns.

From the next room I overhear this:

"Zane, you'll get a turn......

someday.

When you turn six."





**Edit: I added one of Ken's triathalon pics to the post below.

Cue Handel's Chorus...

He finally said mama!

...about dang time...


Today it was beautiful and cool here. We played outside for most of the day and drew a labyrinth on the driveway. The boys had a great time running around in it, then Jake decided that we should make it look like our solar system, because the star in the middle was like the sun (and, coincidentally, it had 8 rings around it!). He drew - and knew - all of the planets himself! Don't worry - poor, sad, disenfranchised Pluto was added along with its moon. Jake even knew about the offset orbit and drew it in. I was impressed! Later we added a launch pad with a countdown and rocketship to help the boys blast off. It felt like a successful summer day: we exercised our bodies and minds all while having fun!

Chattanooga Aquarium

On Sunday we all went up to the Tennessee Aquarium one last time before our membership expired.


The boys really love looking at all of the animals. This time they particularly loved the tuna, the touch-tank of sturgeon,
and the butterflies.


Drew's delicious little self lured some big sharks over. And once again the giant, nightmare-inducing crabs (they can grow up to 14 feet across, people!!!) tried to taste my boys.

Baby Steps

Drew is really starting to feel more confident walking. He's choosing to do so much more frequently these past few days. With two older brothers there is a lot of action required to ensure that he doesn't miss out on anything!

Speaking of first steps: Ken competed in his first triathalon this morning! He really enjoyed it and is already trying to figure out when he can do it again. We're all very proud of him!

Cub Scout Camp

Last week was Jake's first venture into the world of Cub Scouting. He spent all week at their day camp - and both Ken and Zane joined him. Each day they rotated through several activities and saw a performer. One of Jake's first stations was the "Rain Gutter Regatta" for which the boys build a tiny sailboat out of styrofoam plates, paper, and drinking straws. The idea is that they blow them down the gutter in head-to-head races. Jake shows early promise of being a nautical genius. He cut his boat so that the prow rises up out of the water (by using the lip of the plate). All of the other little boats took on water because the fronts tipped down as they were being blown. Jake's just cruised on past. Yay Jake!

The boys also made stepping stones, put on a skit, made puppets, dissected owl pellets to find all kinds of cool bones, and made leather bracelets. At the rock wall Zane made it all the way to the top and pushed the buzzer (with Daddy close behind)!

There was also archery and bb guns (eeeeek!) but both boys did a great job listening and were very careful. Jake impressed everybody by reading the instructions sign all by himself. Zane managed to hit the bb target three times out of five on his own!

They had a great week and really enjoyed being able to spend the time with their Daddy. We're really looking forward to many fun years spent scouting. See you later!

Go Fins!

This summer Jake is on the Falcon Woods Fins swim team. He has daily practices and has competed in two meets already.

Jake won first place in backstroke in his first meet! He's done a terrific job in all of his other races too. He's got two more meets to go and is having a great time swimming.

Hello Out There!

Go Green Bean Hackers!


Drew is getting toothier and toothier!
Jake just finished his season with the D-Backs.