The masked marauder

Is it Batman?  

Look at this dryer!

As I am getting dressed this morning, behind me I hear, in a sweet little lisp of a voice,

"Oh! Look at this dryer."

"This dryer is huge. Look at this dryer."

For the record, we don't have a dryer in our master bedroom closet.

Drunken sailor?

It feels so wrong, yet so right, to laugh at this.  Go ahead, enjoy.

There's another, even funnier one, in Tom's phone right now.

Sneaky monkey

Novak has started sneaking into the older boys' bathroom.

To use their toothbrushes.

Where's Novak?

Novak was really enjoying this game yesterday. I love the expressions on his face!

peek-a-boo part 2

I love watching these two play together.

Unfolding laundry

You know the old adage where if things are too quiet, Mom knows something is up?
It's true.

Novak spent the whole morning whining until finding my clean laundry basket.  When I turned to see what he was doing, he had emptied and unfolded half of my clean clothes.

He's lucky he's so cute! :)

Caught in the act.

"I'm not doing anything, Mom!"

Kriss Kross

Nile put his shirt and pants on backwards today. He likes them that way and doesn't want to change...

Another goofy picture of Nile.

I guess I did ask him to smile...

peek-a-boo

Novak has a new game.

Novak talks

Well, kind of.  Judge for yourself.

Doom-biscuit

Today I was teasing Nate and I called him a ragamuffin.

Ten minutes later, Nile asks me, "Am I a doom-biscuit?"

It took me a few seconds to figure out what he was talking about, then I asked, "Do you mean a ragamuffin?"

"Oh, yeah, a ragamuffin!"

Personal Trainer

I have my own personal trainer! And he works for free! (Let me know if you need his number...)

Ever since having the boys, if I need to exercise at home, I have always tried to do it while the boys nap. Finally, after the last few attempts to run at the gym failed due to a fussy Novak, and having had a difficult time getting both Nile and Novak to nap at the same time, I decided to try to do a video while Nile was up. Little did I know that I would create a monster ;)

For the last three days, Nile has asked me at breakfast when we will do my exercise video. He reminds me throughout the morning that I still need to exercise. Even on days like today, when I actually did make it to the gym for a run, he persists.

Today while I was cleaning up from lunch he set up my mat,

Started the video,

And told me that I needed to do the Level 2 workout because Level 1 was "too boring."

He even did some of the exercises right along with me (using the remotes as weights).

I have a feeling that I will be exercising at home again tomorrow...

Novak's Puzzled Face

Nile says this is Novak's "puzzled" face. He thinks it's hilarious.

Self Portrait

Yet another of Nile's pictures. In this one he has figured out how to take a self-portrait (where he can see himself on the screen).

The Sport Blaster (?)

It's an absolutely perfect day to be at the park (cloudy and cool). Nile wanted to show everyone his "sport blaster," whatever that is :)

Camera shy

This one doesn't like to have his picture taken. But he looked so cute in his hat (which I brought back for him from Germany)!

Fashionista

I love it when Nate gets himself dressed in the morning.

This is a new hat that Tom bought while we were shopping in Iowa City on Saturday. I think it definitely makes the outfit. :)

Is he still my little baby boy...?

My baby boy Nile turned 3 on Friday. We spent most of the day at home. Cousin Emily came over for the day, so we didn't plan on doing much of anything. Nile didn't want to get dressed in the morning. I figured, "what the heck? It's his birthday!" - so I told him he could stay in his PJ's as long as he wanted. So here he is at 3:30 pm, eating a snack with Emily, still in his frog jammies.

We had been asking Nile what he wanted to do for his birthday for the last several weeks. It was always one of two things: Stay home and have his friends come over, or go to Monkey Joe's. The one consistent statement? "With Andrew, Alex, and Emma!" Since Tom didn't feel like hosting a party, Monkey Joe's became the plan.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Monkey Joe's, it's basically a large room full of inflatable bouncy things and slides. It's loud, crazy, and at least 50% of the times we've been there, absolutely packed with sweaty kids. But, the kids love it. They claim to cater to the parents - if you read on their website this is the statement they have: "While your kids monkey around, you take advantage of our adult area, which features comfortable seating, free high-speed wireless Internet, flat screen televisions, and computer stations."

This "adult area?" It consists of about four chairs in the middle of this room of craziness. Not really what we pictured. But, we're talking about preschoolers and toddlers. We know when we go there, that we aren't going to be sitting down and relaxing any time soon.

So, last night, as soon as Tom got home, we headed out to dinner at Old Chicago, then off to Monkey Joe's for an hour or so of running, jumping, climbing, and bouncing. (With Andrew, Alex, and Emma of course!). We only stayed an hour because that's all the time we had, they close at 8 pm, and dinner took until 6:45!

Nile got to open one present at dinner - from Andrew, and Alex. It was, in his words, a "rock guitar!" - when he opened it, this is exactly what came out of his mouth. I quote: "No way, Jose!" Here he is this morning (he had to get it out right after breakfast). Emma got him some new books - a Mater (from Cars) book, and "Where the Wild Things Are" - we've already read them at least once.

Tom and I had also bought Nile a guitar. But we got him (again in his words) a "John Denver guitar." These two guitars haven't left his sight all day. Guess we did okay, huh?


Back to what I said at the beginning. My baby boy Nile turned 3 yesterday. I told him I probably couldn't call him my "baby boy" any more. So I asked him what I should call him. He told me, "You can call me baby boy." So I guess I'm off the hook. He's still my baby! :)

a grand finale

I was sitting in the kitchen drinking coffee when the boys started making a huge amount of noise. It turns out they were playing "rock and roll." They had pulled out all the musical instruments in the house and were switching around, each time playing a different instrument (and occasionally "singing" with the microphone, which is what was making the most noise!).

I took a few videos of them (the first before they knew I was doing so), but this grand finale has to be the best one. I hope you enjoy it.



You'd think that all we listen to in this house is heavy metal. (not true!)