Art YIKES!!

Getting VERY VERY close to time for a haircut methinks! :)  Or perhaps a humidifier so Art's hair does not stand on end

DaU excellent babysitter!

Now that we have a "real" baby, Zachary and Wyatt are often playing a game where they have their own babies.  Mostly this game involves them bringing me the babies and giving me instructions on what to do while I babysit them.  When to go to bed, when to eat dinner (these times never match with real life), what to do if they are crying etc.  Cute game, and fun for me too, bc I get a little glimpse into what they must think I say and do.

Today however, Art got the chance to be the babysitter while Zach and Wyatt went off to save people (they are always superheroes!).

Art with our real baby and Zach and Wyatt's babies - you can even see Zach's hand as he tries to hand Art more babies to babysit.  He's a great babysitter! :)

2nd Boys-Only Sleepover

The boys had been begging Art for another sleepover.  This time however, they decided to mix it up a bit, with Zach asking if they could have it in Mommy & DaU's bed.  This means that Mommy gets kicked out and spends the night on the couch.  Not a horrible deal for mommy, at least pregnant mommy, because the couch is perfect support and causes my hips to hurt less than the bed does.

Here they all are in bed, showing me how cozy they are going to be.  I went and got two books to read to them for their goodnight stories.  Zachary and Wyatt were incredibly excited to be in bed with DaU!

Sometime during storytime, Dexter, hearing about the all-boys party, joined the group.

Before I retired to "bed" (couch), I went into the bedroom to check on the boys slumber party.  I could not see anything, so I turned on the hall light.  This introduction of light into the room caused Dexter to raise his head and yell at me until I turned it off.  They were all sleeping soundly.

Good Luck Career Man

Today is Art's first post-PhD interview, for a "real" job.  No more post-doc positions.  Good luck honey!

Art ready for for his interview

Sadly, he went with the brown suit because he got new shoes for Christmas that don't need to be shined, whereas his black shoes are in dire need for shining.

Happy Belated Birthday Celebration Art!

On Art's actual birthday, we were in NC at the Counts family reunion.  Then, thanks to traveling and the boys being in ATL, we were not together as a family again, at home, until early August.  I kept putting it off, and putting it off, and today we finally had a belated birthday celebration for Art.  After breakfast in bed (cinnamon rolls & bananas) - all 4 of us in bed, and after Art looked at the cards everyone made for him, we moved to the table to open presents.  Zachary specifically picked out something he thought Art would like.  A monster truck named El Toro Loco.  Great job by Zach, as Art did love it.  Here are the boys, attempting to pose w/ their DaU, and then sharing the responsibility of opening the present.

Fun morning!  And yes, it was a bit chilly that morning, odd for end of August, but it did warm up.  We had all the windows open still, and the breeze was a bit chilly - causing the boys to ask for sweatshirts.

World Cup - Together for the Gospel

Today was the big day.  Months in the making.  I'm so proud of Art.  He had this idea that our church, EBF, should play a game of soccer with a local Congolese church that EBF occasionally does stuff with.  This idea blossomed from an informal pick-up game into a massive Together for the Gospel (the yearly get-together) event.  Complete with hundreds of hot dogs, 40lbs of watermelon, etc.  Over 100 people showed up.  There were over 30 adults that wanted to play on the EBF team, and a handful of older kids that wanted to play with the adults (instead of waiting for the kid game).  Art started it all, and organized most of the day.  It never would have been pulled off without the help of many many people.  Turned out to be a huge success.  Art had people from the Congolese church asking to do it again, and if they could do other social stuff together (movies, bowling, etc).  Fun!

The day started off at church where Art had to go on stage!  I was SO looking forward to that.

Pastor Jason interviewing Landu (from the Congolese church), then Art getting up on stage to "challenge" their church to a soccer match

Art showing off the used/refurbed trophy that was at stake

The crowd during the game

Game time!!  Very serious players out there!

After some CUTE warm ups by TC, the kids divide into teams

And start to play amoeba ball

Finally people get wise to the unfairness of the game, and first make the field MUCH smaller, then finally, split the game into two games, one for the bigger kids that know what they are doing, and one for the little kids just having fun kicking the ball.  The adults played another game, after moving the kids to a different field.  Everyone was happy!

Zach and his friend CJ - also 4 - mostly just tackling each other, but occasionally touching the ball.

It was a great day for us. Art was very happy at the turnout and the success of the day. A lot of people helped with the logistics, set-up, tear down, etc.  We ended up with 50+ hot dogs and over 100 baby carrots at our house.  I parceled them out into small servings and unloaded them on the people at the church office.

Art *might* have mentioned that had he not been "in charge" of when the players subbed, etc, that he might have gotten to play a bit more.  But now that everyone in church knows how many soccer players there are, perhaps something more formal can be formed!

I got some great pictures from Steph M.  If I get some time later, I'll add a picture dump of some of the best ones.

Gettin' Ink Done!

Art and Zach decided it was time for some tattoos.  Zach wanted Art to have some just like him, so they could be cool together.

Zach showing off 4 (of 5) tattoos, Art showing off 1 (of 2).  All Disney Cars themed

Zachary also has another one on his belly.  My two cool guys.  Wyatt does NOT want any tattoos, but will occasionally put stickers on his hand, but just for a bit.

Happy Birthday Art

Happy 34th birthday Art! This year was not a particularly big celebration, but they can't all be - and next year is a big one!

Art's first birthday well-wisher was not his wife, or sons, or anyone from his family. It was Dexter. This picture shows how Art woke up on his birthday. Yum - cat breath!

Art got 2 birthday celebrations. The first, on his actual birthday, was the "family" celebration. First, Art got breakfast in bed after I took care of the boys and the cat. Art got to sleep until about 8:30 which in itself is a huge treat. Then he opened all his cards and a few small presents. Dinner at - yes, we are ashamed to admit - McDonalds. The reason for there was that 1) easy to drive to (we have borrowed a car for 3 weeks), 2) free parking, and most importantly 3) playground for Zach so we can enjoy a relaxed dinner out. Zach of course had a fabulous time, once he was convinced that the cars from the drive-thru could not get him on the playground. He is SERIOUSLY afraid of cars. Loves them, but doesn't want one moving near him - probably our fault as we are very cautious with him around cars. Anyway, we spent a few hours at McDonalds and let Zach play w/ the kids on the playground. It was a little cold outside - yes, in July! - so it wasn't the best night for sitting around outside.

A week later, Art got his real birthday present - a night out with just his wife. We hired Joanna Trees to babysit the boys while we went to dinner at Curry (Art's favorite currywurst place), then to a cafe to sit outside and have a drink (beer for Art, hot chocolate for me). It was wonderful to be out without the boys. We made it an early evening b/c Art also wanted to watch a movie at home, so we needed to get back at a reasonable time. We have been watching so much Scrubs that we haven't seen a movie in forever. Joanna spent the night, and took care of Wyatt during the movie as well. So nice!

A memorable present came from Jake Shaw. He had bought an Xbox 360 and let Art borrow it (plus some games) for a week. They came over on Saturday after Art's birthday for tea and cakes (they are British, so this isn't a strange thing to do). So Art spent most of Saturday morning, after his birthday dinner with his wife, playing a racing game with Joanna. Later that day he also played w/ the sound on mute while Shayna, Wyatt, and Zach all took a nap.

On Sunday, after Art's birthday, he went to "climb trees" with some guys from work and visiting American professors. Then we went to a BBQ (what Germans call 'grilling out') on Sunday evening with those same guys, and Philip's wife Anne, and 3 kids. This is the family w/ Zach's good friend Luca.

All in all, I think he enjoyed his birthday.