celebrating at grandmom & grandpops

We wrapped up Sawyer's birthday week celebration at Jonathan's parents house on Sunday. Sawyer recently tipped the scales in the 95% for weight at his 4 year well visit, so you can imagine that he never turns down cake!

Cute boy! He's equally tall. And did not cry during his shots. He's thrilled to finally be old enough for baseball in the Spring. Whenever he sees the number four (on dice, cards, the remote control, etc. he now excitedly calls out "HEY! Four! Mom, I'm four!"
handsome party guests

Presents!

NOT IN THE HOUSE!!!!

Here's to a great year ahead of you, Sawyer! XOXO!

a testimonial

Another two feet of snow. Another two snow days. Another looong weekend with two brothers who love each other, but also try to kill one another at random when stuck inside the house together.

Luckily, we have some new distractions thanks to Sawyer's birthday. When I'm able to pry the boys away from Wii Nerf battles (thanks, Nanny - they love it!), I'm begging them to play this with me. We have lots of Preschool games, but this one is different in that my 7 year old doesn't balk at playing it, and I'm not using laundry as an excuse to get out of another round. It's FUN! Snowbound or not - check it out!

Curious George Discovery Beach Game

my birthday boy

is a Mamma's boy. And I love it.

Sawyer at four

Likes pancakes without syrup and cereal without milk for breakfast

Can beat your pants off at the Wii

Is determined to do everything his big brother does

Sings to his baby brother (and sometimes licks his face)

Blows kisses, and tells you to catch them!

Runs to the door when Daddy gets home

Will sit through many, many books when reading together (loves the "How do Dinosaurs" series)

Is a total ham sandwich

Wants to be on the team

Watches too much t.v.

Likes to pick out his own clothes, including his pajamas every night

Changes said clothes at random throughout the day

Loves to paint

Wants you to play with him all day (ball, games, puzzles, Lego's, cars, Playmobil, make-believe)

If you're not playing with him...."can you sit with me?" He asks

Likes to stir

Helps put the laundry away

Wants to be outside

Is not a good eater

Likes an audience

Jumps at the chance to help (get a diaper, bring the recycling bin up, check the mailbox - you name it, Sawyer is on the job!)

Wants a bath or shower every night and sometimes in the morning too

Makes us laugh every day

Has a mischievous streak

He's a bruiser

He's also a total love and snuggle bug

Crawls into our bed every night

Is loved, so very, very loved.

Happy Fourth Birthday Sawyer!!! I am so grateful to be your mom!

hoops of hope

Harrison is just finishing up his first season of Upwards Basketball . Recently, the kids were given the opportunity to participate in Hoops of Hope. Hoops of Hope is the world’s largest free-throw marathon. Similar to a walk-a-thon,, participants raise awareness and funds for children who have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS by shooting free throws. 100% of all funds raised through the free throw marathons go directly to care for orphan children in highly affected areas.

The event was held at our church this past Sunday.

No real shocker that Sawyer wanted in on the action too. He rooted through his closet for the closest thing he could find to an Upwards uniform. I'm pretty sure he was the youngest one there....and maybe the most intent, too!

We've heard from friends that he made an appearance on NBC's Evening News last night - but we missed it! (I'm ordering a copy of the broadcast). Both boys had such a great day, for such a great cause!

party day

For months leading up to his birthday party Sawyer wrestled with what theme to choose. Harrison had already used army and Star Wars. I said absolutely no, to Spongebob. He said absolutely no, to cute monkey's, robots and rockets. I bought this t-shirt when it looked like Toy Story was the top contender. Of course, the next day he had already moved on to race cars. At some point I had to go ahead and buy the paper goods - so Hot Wheels won out!

A good friend of mine runs birthday parties at the Kids Corner of a local gym. I knew an obstacle course, parachute, scooter races and ball throws would be a hit with Sawyer - unfortunately, all the action was hard to capture on camera. Thankfully, we have some great video of him catapulting, somersaulting, bouncing and generally having the time of his life.

My friend also made the cake. I'll be sneaking Oreos off the left-overs all night.

Sawyer's friends from nursery, preschool and the neighborhood were all there to help him celebrate. With twenty, four year olds on the guest list, I was grateful to farm the party out this year.

The only reason Sawyer wasn't sad to leave was knowing he got to open all his presents when we got home. He had quite the haul!

And even though his "real birthday" isn't until Wednesday, we decided to let him open his much coveted DS this afternoon.

The fun continues next week - stay tuned!

boy crazy

My Valentines

Sawyer's preschool was smart, and held their Valentine's Day party on Tuesday before the snow hit. He brought Teddy Grahams for his friends.

Bear Hugs & Kisses!

Harrison's class party is rescheduled for Tuesday...except we're due for more snow on Monday night. Hopefully, it turns into nothing more then a 2 hour delay. His "I CHEWS you" Valentines are ready to go (shout out to Hilary for the inspiration!)

May Mother Nature show us some love, and just send rain, instead!

four months

-Graham is still sleeping in the bassinet attachment of the pack-n-play in our bedroom. I mentioned needing to put him in his crib soon, and Jonathan suggested we just let him sleep in the big portion on the bottom. He is that adorable of a roommate, no one wants to send him packing.

-I've finally taken the hint that he doesn't like binkies. He'd rather suck on his hands. Except sometimes he can't find his mouth, and while he's rooting around for it, he gets pitiful little scratches on his nose.

-He's having some issues with his hair, mainly a large bald spot in the back and a cowlick front and center. We still can't figure out what color his hair is, either. In the sun it looks fair. Sometimes we see hints of red. If we don't wash it for a day, it's dark. Mystery...

-Graham is a total drool bags. He loves to blow raspberries and the top of his shirt is always drenched in slobber.

-He's doing so well at physical therapy that we are switching our appointments to once a month, starting in March.

-He still sleeps like a champ.

-Sometimes when I'm holding him on my shoulder, he'll pop his head up and try to eat my face.

I tell him the feeling is mutual.

the groundhog wasn't kidding

Here in PA we are buried under more then a foot of snow.

The forecast is calling for another 16-22 inches. Which means we'll have all we need for "a snowman's friend"

100 day

was a lot more fun last year.

In first grade you (meaning your mom or dad) have to attach 100 items to a piece of clothing and wear it to school.

I LOVED my friend Jess' suggestion to glue 100 googly eyes to a t-shirt. However, Harrison rolled his 2 eyes at me and nixed the idea when I told him about it (3 kids in his class, plus his teacher must have thought it was cool - because apparently, they were sporting this look today!)

We attached 100 pieces of ripped duct tape to a pair of khaki pants to look camouflage...and surprisingly, it looked great! But then the tape started to peel, and I knew the moment Harrison sat down, he'd leave half his project on his chair.

My friends with girls smugly told me about their flower stickers, sequins, buttons and bows. That was helpful.

Finally, we settled on 100 clothes pins. No gluing, taping, stapling or sewing required! YES!!!

he doesn't get it from me

Thankfully, there are some things Harrison gets from his dad. We signed him up for art lessons last month, and since I am not able to draw a decent stick figure myself, I'm pretty impressed with his first two pieces.

Next month - sculpting!

Mt. Russell

When we built our house two years ago, we weren't especially pleased about the hill in our backyard. However, it's proven to be just the right amount of incline for slip n' sliding in the Summer and sledding in the Winter. This past Christmas the boys received plastic snowboards. I wasn't sure if they'd actually work, or just cause frustration (my boys aren't especially patient when learning new things!) but from the moment they snapped their boots into these things, it's been pure fun! No chair lift required.