Birthday Shirts

My fun tradition of taking a picture of the boys in the exact same shirt, every year on their birthday is still alive, and with a new addition.  Which kid is which??  Can you tell?

Yannick, Wyatt, Zachary  all 1 year old.  All with a bit of help from DaU!

Go Cubs Go!

Art and I have been putting off taking the big boys to a Cubs game because we fear they will quickly lose interest and want to go home, making it a waste of time, money, and energy.  Just when we were thinking "hmmm, maybe this summer we'll take them", Zachary gets invited to go to a Cubs game with his friend from Kindergarten, Eli.  My first thought was to say NO...not because I thought he should not be up so late, or because it might be cold, but no, I wanted to say No, because I am selfish.  I wanted their first Cubs game to be with US, his PARENTS.  Sigh.  But, as Art pointed out, it was a good opportunity for him, and we should not hold him back because we might, one day, want to take him.  Sigh.  So we let him go.

Here Z is, ready to go, complete with ball cap, ball glove, and baseball sweatshirt.

It was a cold night, so he also had to take a ski hat, mittens, and winter coat.  Of course he had a blast.  Eli's mom said Eli got bored way before Zachary did.  I am sad to have missed a first with him, but am glad that he got to do this.

**editor's note: 2 months later, Zach is still bragging about getting to go to a Cubs game**

Things That Make Them Happy

Sometimes I am surprised by the things that make our boys happy.  Today for instance, Wyatt decided that he would like to take a nap in Yannick's pack-n-play, in the basement, where Yannick normally naps.  I thought "strange, but ok".  So I put Yannick in his crib upstairs, and let Wyatt nap downstairs, not knowing if he would fit.  He did. Barely.

All curled up with "tufty bear", who in another life was "Barnaby"

Zachary with his army

Art has been letting the boys play Heroes of Might and Magic with him every other evening.  Big boys love it!  So much so that they have been creating their own armies nearly every day.  Here is Zachary with one of his.  I like the use of many different elements: bristle blocks, a whale, of course many action figures, but also a wooden robot. :) And no army would be complete without some 30+ yr old Ewoks from my own childhood.  I doubt I ever played with them in this way!

Trail mix

Yesterday, on the way home from YMCA family fun day, Zachary spilled his trail mix in the car.  nearly all of it.  popcorn, sunflower seeds, raisins, m&ms, etc, all over the place.  Needless to say, he was more than distraught.

So today, in a winning "mom" moment, I set up a make-your-own trail mix bar at home before lunch.  Ours had more choices the kids liked.  Then they thought of some ingredients to add too, like Trix.  I enjoyed it quite a bit!

Boys helping themselves to the trail mix bar

YMCA Family Fun Day

After visiting our Sr., Ms. Beanie, we made our way over to the Y to take part in their Family Fun Day.  They have stuff for families all over the Y, with the majority of things in the gym.  A family Zumba class, which we did NOT do, several inflatable mazes, which we did do, and many stations for fun things.  The boys hit the face painting station, the inflatable basketball station, and grabbed some freebies at other tables. Then downstairs for "lunch", make-your-own trail mix, then smoothie station, then the chocolate milk station, with a bit of a break in the artwork station.  Art was pleased with a sign that said "Be art healthy, do art everyday"  I am embarrassed that he stole that sign.  It was just a piece of paper taped up, but still. We ran into several Y friends there which is always fun. Boys had a good time, we had a good time, then off to home for naps for all!

Zachary trying his best at the inflatable basketball

Wyatt giving it a shot, literally, but never making a basket

Zach with an eagle on his face, Wyatt with an eagle on his hand.  They went back later and got more tatts added, then refused any hand washing for meals!

Wyatt Squared

A couple we knew when we lived in Albuquerque are now missionaries in Slovenia.  They recently came back to the US to have their first son.  They were passing through Chicago and stayed with us for a few days.  Their son, much to Wyatt's pleasure, is named Wyatt.  Our Wyatt loved that there was a "baby Wyatt" in the house.  He talked about him endlessly.

Here are the two of them chatting after breakfast. Our Wyatt would often ask what baby Wyatt was doing, or where he was, or what he wanted to do.  Our Wy likes his own name apparently!

Dexter's New Safe Place

Dexter is always on the lookout for a safe place where he can sleep.  He likes to catnap on the changing pad in the boys' room, but he often gets displaced when we need to use it for its intended purpose.  Here's a new one for him.

Dexter in the wall storage space in the office

I must have left the doors open when I was getting stuff out to ready the guest room, and Dexter took advantage.  Life with Dexter is never boring!

Northwestern Spring Game

Sadly, the big event on Yannick's birthday was not a party or other thing for him...it was the spring practice game for Northwestern.  Along with getting to watch the football team run plays against each other for free, NWern hosted a kids football clinic, complete with actual football players running the drills.  Our boys LOVED it.  Kids would line up at stations, participate in the activity as many times as possible before a bullhorn sounded indicating they needed to move to the next event.  It helped that Zachary's best bud, David C. was there too.  His little brother Archie was there, but not interested in the clinic, where Wyatt was very into it, for the most part.  We too tons (too many!) of pictures and videos.


I am also embarrassed to admit it, but we tried to get a babysitter for Nick today.  We thought the football clinic at NWern would go better without him.  Yes, a sitter on his birthday.  We are terrible parents!  However, it worked out wonderfully that we could not find one.  We took him with us and he did great.  He took a nice nap in the Ergobaby for awhile, then played a good bit during the clinic.  Here's some of what we did:

Wyatt missed the ball - this time

Zach makes the catch

Zachary during warm-ups

David, Zachary (yes, he IS wearing baseball pants with a star wars shirt), and Wyatt waiting their turn

OH MY - Art using the baby to get cheerleader attention.  Of course they all fawned over Yannick and he did his part, flirting up a storm.

Oops, Zach missed this one!

Zachary and David waiting in line.  Can you guess which one is the NWern football player?

Z doing a strange victory dance, while Wyatt watches to see what the deal is bf he gets up there

Big boys in the bleachers watching the "game".

Each clinic participant was given a little purple backpack containing a t-shirt, water bottle, and some coupons. At the game, both big boys wanted to put their shirts on.  Yannick did so great at the game, even though he had to sit with us the whole time and not walk around.  He was intrigued by the marching band (oh no!) and was standing in Art's lap, waving his arms like a drum major.  People around us noticed and thought it fun to see how into the band he was.  A constant source of amusement.  We finally left a bit early b/c it was drizzling off and on, and it was getting closer and closer to nap time.

It should be mentioned that Art and I made a parent blunder as we were leaving.  Z was desperate to get a NWern mini football.  I was willing to, since we live in Evanston, and will hopefully start supporting NWern a bit.  Art balked at the $12.  Z was very disappointed, so I came up with the not so brilliant idea that we would go by the bookstore, thinking they would be cheaper there than at the game.  I was wrong, and drama ensued.  We finally, badly, resolved it by saying that if she still wanted it (though was unwilling to share it) and willing to pay for 1/2 of it, then we would get it on Monday.  He never mentioned it again.  

Oh yes, I nearly forgot, the accompanying videos, of which there are several.

Wyatt's videos first:

Wyatt doing a blocking drill.  I believe he was by far the youngest kid out there taking it seriously

Wyatt going out for a pass and throwing it back

The pass fell short, but Wyatt picked it up and ran it back.

Here Z misses the pass and falls over dramatically.  We will not be calling any scouts just yet! 

Z with a complete pass

 

More videos of Zachary

Post party play

The boys needed to burn a bit of energy after another Yannick bday party, so they spent some time jumping off the circle chair.  How is that fun over and over?

Happy 1st Birthday Yannick!!

Yannick Arthur Counts (how is it he never gets called Yac?)  Happy 1st Birthday to our little guy!  We are going to have to stop calling him the baby...he's quickly becoming NOT a baby anymore. It has been a tough year, but we made it to this momentous day!  Happy Birthday sweet bear!

Art helping Yannick open a birthday card

Yannick's decorated chair with presents (check out Nick in the background crawling toward the kitchen; not caring about presents!)

 Showing off his sippy cup skills!

Doing a great job vacuuming after making such a mess

Yannick with chocolate cake mess

Happy messy cake boy

Two videos of Yannick getting his cake and dancing while his brothers sing to him.

Here are some pictures, albeit out of order, of Nick and his brothers helping him open a present.

 

  

Yannick looks so proud here - he knows he is the center of attention!

 Looking for more yummy crumbs!

Big boys being a great help with opening presents.

Bye Bye DaU!

Most mornings, all of us stand by the window to wave goodbye to Art going to work.  This morning however, the big boys were busy saving the world, and I caught this bit of loyality:

Our big boy waiting to bid DaU goodbye

He Is Risen!

Praise the Lord, Jesus is Risen!

Two days per year, I get to dress all the boys in their Sunday finest: Easter and Mother's Day.  Today, the whole clan was in blue.  Blue shirts, khaki pants for all the boys.  Dark jackets for DaU, Z & W.  Lucky Yannick has no jacket yet. :)  I even wore blue.  Joanna met us at church and came home with us for lunch and Easter dinner. After church was an Easter egg hunt in the park across the street from church.  A very lovely afternoon. Cheng, Wen, and their two boys came over for Easter dinner.  It was a fun time for all.  Joanna spent the night with us which was great for us.  We played a game w/ the tv - each of us picking a different 22 minute tv show to watch (from On Demand).  Two doozies and one pretty good one. :)  It is fun having Joanna be able to come and spend the night every few months.

Wyatt getting ready for the hunt

Wyatt gathering eggs

Boys opening Easter baskets

Zachary preparing for the hunt

Zachary collecting eggs

Three handsome boys!