game time

5/14-  More football today.  Cainan wanted a high five for his good play.

Boaz is often the coach, ref, and player when they have games.  They play against each other and on the same team at the same time.  I'm not really sure how that works, but it does.  Silly boys...

I got a video of Myka's new crawling skill today!!  Gone with the army crawl... she's on her hands and knees now!

playing together

5/10-  I borrowed this fence from Aunt Linda for awhile.  Myka is getting too fast and I'm tired of chasing her into the kitchen when she wants to get Ozzie's dogfood.  The boys have had fun playing with it, too.  Today is was a cave for Boaz's animals.

Cainan was a rockstar this morning.  He gets his sunglasses on upside down about 90% of the time.

Later today, they were policemen... making drawings together.  Boaz was drawing an ocean with palm trees.

5/11- We went to a garage sale this morning to look at a bike for Boaz (that sold before we got there) and for some sleepers for Myka.  (no luck there either)   But we did come home with some good books and a new dump truck for the sandbox!!  (Thanks, Nicole!)

For the first time since my parents moved to town, we happened to be in the same place without planning it.  I NEVER go to garage sales anymore.  And my mom hadn't been to any yet this year.  While I was looking at some things, I saw the boys talking to someone out of the corner of my eye and it was Grandma!!  They were so excited to see her!  As was I.... she helped with the kids while I actually looked at the garage sale things!

Cainan staying hydrated.   :)    Last night, Luke and I got a date night.  The bands Downhere, Aaron Shust, and Jason Gray were in town doing a concert.  Luke's brother was their sound guy on this tour and has been out traveling with them.  We were excited to have them in town and enjoyed our evening away.  Grandma Glace offered to watch the kids and I came home to laundry washed and folded, a bathroom clean, the kitchen counters cleared, etc, etc!  Ahhhhh.... that may have been the best part of the night!  Sure love my mom!!

During naptime today, I let the boys play in the sandbox.  They did so great!!  For an hour, they played with the new truck and I actually sat on the patio and did some of my Papa Murphy's work in the sunshine.  It was so nice!!  Cainan is phasing out of naps.  I've been fighting him, but I think I've decided it's not worth the fight everyday.  We may put him on the same schedule as Boaz- 2/3 naps a week instead of one everyday.  Not sure how I feel about that...   Boaz does fine with quiet naptimes.  Cainan is not to be trusted alone around the house.  :)   We'll see how this goes. 

Working on their ball handling skills...

When they got hot and tired, they decided it'd be a good idea to take off their shirts and lay on TC for awhile.

They looked at the clouds, talked, and laughed together out here for quite awhile.  I love watching this budding friendship

*** FIVE new posts tonight!  I'm going to try to get all caught up by the end of the weekend... so read on for more family fun!  ***

Myka 11 months

5/7- Myka is 11 months old today!!  I can't believe how fast this year is going! It's getting harder to take pictures of her... she wants to move!  She is still all smiles and is super content with life.  She loves to eat and isn't picky!

She's getting a little more verbal, but still prefers to say 'dadadada' most of the time.  Come on!!  Her favorite thing to do each day is watch her brothers play.  And she's beginning to crawl after them to wrestle a bit, too.

She's spending more and more of her day standing up.  Good thing, because I need her to start walking in the next couple months!!

Standing up makes her look so big!!

She has recently started sleeping through the night!!  HOORAY!!  She takes a bottle at 7-7:30 and then stays down until between 7 and 9am in the morning.  On the mornings she wakes early, she takes a short morning nap.  If she wakes up around 9, we plow through the morning and just take one long nap in the afternoon.

Getting brave!!  She made it from the couch to the table all by herself!!

We're so blessed by you, Myka!!  We couldn't ask for a better edition to this family.

softball and bikes

5/7-  Luke is playing softball again this summer...although just one night instead of two!  Tonight's game was at 6pm, so we packed some picnics and headed out the the ballpark.  It was a beautiful night to cheer Dad on.

I'm realizing that going to a game to cheer these days means catching a play here and there if you're able.  I'm too busy keeping track of kids to see any plays and have to ask Luke afterward how the game went!  I often don't even know if they won- except for looking at the guys' faces after the game is over!

Dad played third base tonight.

5/8-  Cainan has been wanting to learn to ride Boaz's bike for awhile now.  The only problem... he's stubborn and doesn't like to be helped with things like pedaling, steering, etc.  We tried to head down to the sidewalk yesterday so I could teach him how to pedal and ended up sitting on the same square of sidewalk for half and hour- him complaining and getting frustrated, and me losing my mind!  :)   It was a horrible experience for both of us.

But TODAY was a different story.  I left him alone in the garage for 10 minutes while I made lunch.  He came running in and said, "Mommy, I pedal!!"  I couldn't believe it.  We went back out to the garage and sure enough, he was pedaling!!!  All he needed was some space and time to himself to get it figured out.

Now he's a bike rider!!

He's great at riding around the garage, but still a little timid on the sidewalk.  Soon enough we'll need to get Boaz a new bike so Cainan can take over this one!  We'll be crusing around this neighborhood in no time. 

parties

5/5-  My little helper.  I remember Cainan at this stage, making a beeline for the dishwasher every time it was open.  Now Myka does the same thing!

Today she found a timer and was shaking it.  Her finger was making it beep as she shook.  It was making her laugh super hard.  Didn't capture the big giggles, but here's a quick video of her...

It's Cinco de Mayo!  We had a backyard grillout with several of our neighbors.  We just love all the great families close by... looking forward to our kids growing up together.  Shawn & Crystal thought it'd be fun to have a pinata at the party and the kids LOVED it!  Here's Cainan taking a crack at it...

And here goes Boaz....   After several rounds of the kids trying with no success, we decided it was the dads' turn.  The kids roared with laughter and were cheering their dads on.  So so fun!

5/6-  "I don't need a nap, Mom!  I'm not tired!!"

The neighbor guys came over for a game of 2-on-2 tonight.  They were so hilarious. We had our kids in bed, so I sat outside and ate some dinner during their antics.  All the high fives, trash talk, and laughter was so great.  Have I mentioned before that we love our neighbors?!  :)

At one point, the song "Danger Zone" came on the speakers and they all got super pumped.  Made me laugh really hard.   (and then I sent a text to all the neighbor wives about what studs our husbands were!) 

Good game,  good game.

So... I thought the boys were sound asleep in their beds, but they definitely weren't.  We embraced the moment and let them come outside to enjoy the beautiful evening.  We had an impromptu dance party instead of going to bed!!

Do these look like boys who are supposed to be asleep??  It definitely was not happening anytime soon, so away they go working on sweet dance moves...

Some more cool moves... Luke had a Pandora channel on that was playing really great 80's songs! Apparently this song made them want to shake their buns... 

Glad we embraced the moment tonight.  Luke and I enjoyed some fresh air and laughed hard at how great and funny our boys are.  Someday I'll want moments like these back!! 

landscaping

5/3- Today the landscapers came back to finish off our yard/landscaping!!  The boys wanted to be outside with them so badly.  I put them to work getting all the new rocks from the court back to the rock area.

The guys were sure patient with Boaz & Cainan.... answering questions, etc.

Myka's new favorite spot in the house.  She can see all the backyard action from here.  And she likes the AC vent!

Since the rock area is finished up, Luke started working on installing the nets tonight.  Our neighbor, Kevin, came over to help.

The guys thinking and planning...  I think some neighbors are as excited about this as we are??  :)

5/4- After almost 7 years in this home, we FINALLY put some bushes, plants, and flowers in the landscaping!!  For some reason, this always got knocked down to the bottom of the list.  We're so happy that our outside is finally looking nice! Cody (landscaper) joked that if we'd done this right away, we'd have nice mature landscaping by now!!  

The boys helped me water our plants today and were excited about their new Yo Gabba Gabba shirts.  

Watering bushes will become a part of our routine this summer... and they like it!!

Playing ball...

With the nets finally installed and the mud pit filled with rocks, we cranked the hoop down to 6 feet and let the boys shoot at it for awhile.  Neither one of them made a basket, but we'll get there!

It's still just a little bit too high.

I predict by the end of summer they'll be making all kinds of shots on this hoop!!

Another concert tonight.  We have multiple concerts each day.  Cainan is really getting into drumming.  (I secretly do hope that at least one of our kids is a drummer!!)  On his first birthday, he had a cake with Animal on it... he reminds me so much of Animal back there banging away and screaming a word here and there.   Just love my little Animal!  :)