Wordless Wednesday - 2 Bink Binks

Celebrate Good Times

At the beginning of May we celebrated my brother's birthday. Crazy cake lady was at it again. I made him a guitar cake. I decided to retire from the cake making thing after this one because it's becoming quite challenging to accomplish with all my "helpers". Then Walter reminded me that I've never made a cake for Elliott. So, we'll see, I may do one for his first birthday. And then I'm quitting...for real!

Anyway, here's the guitar cake. It was yummy!

I tried to keep my "helpers" occupied with their own cakes to decorate. That pretty much just resulted in them each eating a cup full of icing as their breakfast.

Uncle Brett has some neat guitars. They boys really enjoyed playing with them recently.

We also celebrated Mother's Day recently. We made some cute gifts for the grandmas and all went out to brunch.

As usual the attempt to take a group photo was a disaster. But this one is pretty funny. They each have a quirky look on their face and you can see the bandaids Wes insisted on wearing on both arms for fake injuries. X has one too. 

If it's Messy or Wet....They Will Come

The other day I got out some flour for the boys to play with.
They loved it.
That led to getting out finger paints.
That led to having some friends over another day for a messy playdate of flour play, pudding body painting, and slimy noodle play.
That led to a complete hosedown of children before re-entering the house.

Our neighbor recently gave the boys some dump trucks that her kids didn't want.
They loved it.
That led to many hours digging in the landscape rocks.
That led to digging in the dirt.
That led to realizing if you turn the hose on while mom's not looking you can dig in the MUD!
That again led to a complete hosedown of children before re-entering the house. 

And who doesn't love a good old sprinkler run??

(Blogger uploaded these pictures totally out of order but I'm too tired to fix it - sorry!)

My Reality

On the plus side, it's all clean. We will just be insanely wrinkly looking for the next several days.

Looking out and Looking Back

Wesley and Elliott were looking outside trying to find birds. Well, Wes was trying to find birds and E was just licking the glass.

It reminded me of a similar picture of Xavier and Wesley taken awhile ago.

Interesting, huh! Wessa seems to have gone from baby to big brother at lightening speed!

Wordless Wednesday - Brush Brush

Devotions

Recently we have been reading a book called Five Minute Devotions For Kids with the boys. They have taken to it really well. Xavier will often ask me to read him one. There are simple questions too. It's funny and sweet to listen to what the boys come up with for answers!

Tonight we read about being patient while the boys were having cereal before bed. A few minutes later X says "Mommy can I have more cereal please. I'm waiting patiently." It was so sweet and so nice to know that something sticks with him every once in awhile.

We've also been talking lately a lot about "what does God want us to do". X figured out how to use that to his advantage. He said to me "God wants me to be first. Not Wes." Ha!!

Our Garden Buddies

Once again we met up with my friend Ruth and her kiddos at the Botanical Gardens a few weeks ago. It was a beautiful day and we had an awesome time. Ruth and I were pretty proud of ourselves that we managed 6 kids with only a few minor hiccups that are to be expected with any outing involving small children.

And as always, sitting on the sheep was a hit!  Why both my boys wanted to sit together on the smallest sheep they had is still a mystery to me.

I love this picture of Noelle. She is such a fun little girl. X and Wes were quite excited about her ice cream shirt. 

This little bub was sitting so nice and content in the stroller that I didn't dare pull him out to sit on the sheep. I was afraid of messing with his "chill" vibe. (Completely off point, but his legs are so chunky in this picture that it doesn't even look like he has knees - ha!!)

Wes was crackin me up walking around in his Buzz Lightyear sunglasses. They reminded me of those glasses they give people after they have eye surgery. 

It's amazing the delight that a couple quarters of fish food can provide to little kids.

And that would be Wesley leaning underneath the railing just inches from going face first into the water.

Ruth and her kids had to head home but the boys and I stayed around a little longer and went to the children's garden. They boys were cooking up a storm in the outdoor market.

And yes, by the time you get to your third child you have no more fears of germs and will let your baby chew on random plastic bananas that are stored outside and a million other kids have touched.

Then it was time to head home. But not before the boys (who think they are fish) got themselves soaked with water. X actually just sat down in this little stream. Good thing we always carry extra clothes in the car!

Wordless Wednesday - Focused

Ok, it's almost wordless. I do talk a little in the video. But Elliott doesn't :)