Roger Williams Park Zoo

The first picture, Thomas set up his little bears "nursing". I knew as soon as he did it what he was trying to show.

Early in June, we went down to the zoo in Providence, RI. It was such a pleasant day for the kids. Not a huge zoo, but some good animals to check out: elephants, zebras, giraffes, seals, flamingos, etc. Next week we hope to go to the Boston Aquarium.

We were all very sick with a stomach bug last week but this week has been far more normal. We've been strawberry picking a few times. We went to see Grandma and Grampa in Westwood on Tuesday. Nathan did not want to leave so we decided Nathan would stay over-night. He did great! Only once was there tears (the following morning) but they soon dried up. I noticed Thomas was definitely bored especially when I got busy working in the kitchen. When they were packing his things up to leave Wednesday afternoon, they put his stuff next to the front door. Before they knew it, he was hauling his suitcase back to the bedroom. He wasn't ready to go home.

We read books every night in bed. I have really noticed that they are now paying attention to the words as well as the pictures. They are also really picking up details of the stories. I read to Thomas and the next day he recalled details of the story to Mom as she looked through the book with him. She was amazed at how well he remembered the story. After reading an entire story, Nathan took me back to the title page which was Earthmovers and pointed to both "r"s in the title and told me "two Rs for Rider!" They are doing great with their letters. I do notice that they remember better who the letter is for rather than the letter name itself. Like we always say I is for Isabelle so now when they see I, they say there is Isabelle's letter.

Nathan no longer needs a diaper for the afternoon nap and we have had a few dry nights this past week!!! I'm thrilled.

Memorial Day

The first picture is down at the rotary in Hudson for their Memorial Day parade. Later we attended a picnic where the next two pictures show the boys having fun with Isabelle. The last four pictures are all taken by the boys during a quiet Sunday afternoon.

Favorite expressions by Thomas:
"Help me here"
"I like you!"
"Look what my have"

Favorite expressions by Nathan:
"I'm cracking Mommy up"

Benjamin comes to visit

The first picture is Thomas tracing letters...when he kept messing up and told me he was embarrassed. What is Thomas doing in the third picture??? Any body want to guess?

Of the several Mother's Day pictures we tried to take, this one seemed to be the cutest. The next picture is Thomas' airplane. The following two pictures is proof that the boys do eat grapefruit! The last picture is a favorite pastime of the boys: waiting for Daddy to get home. They stand just past the house where they can see their Daddy coming.

Frowns and Clowns

Here are some pictures from early May. Do notice in the second picture that Grandpa and Nathan are practicing their frowns. Then the next few show my clowns. My kids love being silly. Anything out of the ordinary, cracks them up!

Nathan told my Mom last week when he was climbing the railing of the back deck to "go inside, it's cold out."

Thomas was tracing letters in his book. I took my camera out to show off how brilliant he is and he kept messing up. I asked him what was going on and he told me he was embarrassed.

Daddy was sternly telling the boys not to play with the mosquito magnet and Thomas came up to me tearfully and told me that Daddy was making him nervous.

The boys are now drawing things and they actually resemble what they tell me it is (picture coming!).

I had some really helpful advice from Mom this week on child-rearing. I'm not sure where the conversation started or where it ended up but we were talking about catching the children doing something bad. She said when you see them doing something bad why ask them if they did it. You know the answer and you're just setting them up to lie which is bad upon bad. Just skip the question and work on the original problem.

Mom also sent me a link to a blog of a doctor in Albany. The doctor was talking about her parents creating a positive thought environment for her as a child and how she has found those positive thoughts going through her head as an adult. Things like "you can do it!" or "I knew you could!" I've been thinking about it some. I think by working with the boys through encouragement, it may give more weight to my lectures when they are bad. I have good little boys but some days all I feel like I've done is lecture.

Thomas and I leaned over the railing to say good morning to his Daddy. Thomas said don't drop me and I assured him I certainly would not. He told me it made him nervous.

Last night, Nathan had a bag of cranberries that he was eating from. Thomas came by to ask him for some and Nathan told him "no, can't ruin your supper."

Nathan told me this morning that his warm milk "hit the spot"

Yesterday morning, I was quick getting a recipe off the computer and Nathan was with me. I did notice Thomas was mighty quiet. I found him sprawled out on the rug looking through the JcPenny catalog....the lingerie section! I'm really helping it was just belly buttons he was noticing.

Family Weekend

Matt's parents and his sister Sarah with her family came to see us last weekend. It was really great for the cousins to get together. The time flew by as we visited and enjoyed one another's company. We can't wait for them to come see us again!