Crime in the Bathroom

Zachary has an uncanny ability to know when a bathroom door got left open. I'm seriously wondering if he has internal device that alerts him when it has occurred.

The RULE at our house is the bathroom doors must stay shut. Generally the boys do a good job at this. Without fail, if a door has been left open, Zach WILL find it. I wish I could hear his thoughts. He must think about getting into stuff he shouldn't all the time. On this particular day, like many, the trouble wasn't something he walked by. He had to have gone in search of it. I noticed that Zach was MIA for about 1-2 minutes. I quickly looked to all the bathrooms first. Quiet disappearances are never a good thing with this boy. It sheds light into my own life. When I was little, I walked at 8 months like Zach, my mom put bells on my shoes because I had the tendency to disappear and get into trouble.

My search:

downstairs bathroom.....check (door cloesd)

upstairs/boys bathroom.....check

my bathroom......Agggghhhhhhhhhh!

"Zachary Lucas!"

As always he jumps out of his skin and then smiles and tries as quickly as he can to finish what he started. On this particular instance here is what I saw(though not the first time I found the toilet this way). He also had the toilet brush in hand. Yuck! I was happy to see that he had not put his hands in the water yet though.

Happy Birthday Jeremy!

Tyler is an Everyday Superhero

This year on the actual day of Jeremy's birthday we had cake and ice cream. We had made and changed plans a few times for his party. The just of it all, Jeremy decided for his party he wanted to go to Pump It Up. That being the case, and since we're still students, I told him he could invite one friend and his brothers. After school we had ice cream sundaes (because his best friend has celiac disease) then we went to Pump It Up. It was great and we all had so much fun.

Zachary will try to grab as many bowls, plate, cups, spoons as get left close enough to him at the table.

The Annual Fathers & Sons

Having only boys, the Fathers & Sons camp out is something I really look forward too. They have a great time and I get a little bit of time to myself, well almost. Zach didn't go this year but will probably go next year. I didn't get to spend my time the way that I had hoped, there was some unexpected business I had to take care of but I did get to spend some time with Zach in the morning and that was nice. What's even better is that the boys had a GREAT time.

Hodgepodge

First up, the church easter egg hunt. Riley and Jeremy are both ready for their basket ball games. Tyler is Batman. Recently he has had a fetish with masks and belts. Sometimes he goes for the whole costume but most of the time he'll just bring me a belt, a mask, or both. In this case you can't see the belt but it's a yellow one. What really cracks me up is the belt is usually required to be done VERY tight. Especially when he uses one that cinches. Sometimes I worry he's going to hurt himself. It takes me back to my childhood. When my brother Chuck was little he liked wearing belts TIGHT!

One night when going to check on Zach and Tyler before going to bed, Tyler was gone. After a little bit of looking, we found him under the crib sound asleep.

Jeremy and Tyler built this dinosaur park. Tyler started building a park and Jeremy built a long neck dinosaur. I was way impressed!

Legos seriously have to be the BEST toy. At least at our house legos are used for endless amounts of time with endless ideas.

For christmas the boys ended up getting the Harry Potter lego castle and Hogwart's Express. We have to put it on a tall shelf to keep the it from getting destroyed by the two youngest. When we bring it down the boys just love it.

The Mischief Continues

Mr. Mischief, AKA Zachary, has advanced to greater levels of danger. Seriously can't take your eyes off him for a second. The first pictures aren't what I'd call dangerous, it's the ones following them. This is where I found Zach after brushing my teeth.

I wasn't home when this happened. Lane didn't even tell me about it before I had found these pictures on the camera. Lane was playing with the kids and Zach had walked away for just a moment. He decided to check on Zach and would you believe how he found him? Fortunately the oven was NOT on, and neither were the burners. I couldn't believe what I saw. This kid stops at NOTHING. He's only 14 months old.

On another day Zach had ventured upstairs. I decided to check on him. I knew the boys bathroom door was closed so I wasn't worried about that. However I found him in the bathroom in my room splashing in the toilet. When I said his name he jumped out of his skin and then tried splashed faster. He was so mad after I picked him up, changed his clothes, and washed his hands. Mom's just have a way of spoiling the fun!

A Lesson in Giving

Back at Christmas time while out doing some grocery shopping, Jeremy saw a display for small pillow pets. He insisted that we should get Zach one for Christmas. I said no and we moved on. About a month after christmas Jeremy said to me,

"Mom, I want to save my money and buy Zachary a pillow pet so he can have one too."

On a side note, Riley and Jeremy have pillow pets. I told him that is very sweet. We counted what he'd already had saved which was probably not even a dollar. Jeremy never lost sight of the goal. He asked for extra jobs, from grandpa too. After setting aside his tithing and savings for his missionary fund, Jeremy finally saved enough money after about two months.

He took extra care to make sure Zach didn't see it when we bought it. He insisted on wrapping it and making a card, then he gave it to him. Zachary fulfilled my hopes and showed a lot of enthusiasm about his present. He grinned and proceeded to shower the pillow pet with kisses and hugs.

My favorite part about all of this was watching Jeremy's face. We asked Jeremy how it felt to give. He said what his face proved. Giving can be better than receiving. Later on he suggested,

"Maybe Riley could save his money and buy Tyler a pillow pet so we can all have one."

Jeremy has such a sweet and giving heart and I love it!

April fools dinner or is it desert?

This year for April fools I decided to so a fun dinner. When the boys came to the table this is what it looked like.
It took Riley a really long time sitting there before he started eating to discover what it was. Jeremy on the other hand quickly started whining and complaining that he doesn't like peas and demanding to know WHY I put them on his plate. Once he gave something a try he didn't say a word but ate and ate. Once the boys realized that their plate of food was actually all candy and ice cream, I handed them the cupcakes from the middle of the table and said that it was their dinner. The cupcakes were actually meatloaf with mashed potatoes on top.


All in all it was a good trick. The kids were actually fooled and we all enjoyed it.

Kisses for Pa!

Zachary loves giving kisses. Zachary also loves his Pa. When he is around, he spends a lot of time giving him snuggles. He gets up and does things but he always comes back to Pa! Just look at that WET kiss. Your jealous aren't you! No in all seriousness, I love those kisses they are the best!

What I love about these two pictures is that Tyler had not been, and would not be riding his bike. He simply woke up in the morning and relentlessly asked me to put his helmet on. He's my safety kid.