Backyard

Summertime is all about enjoying the sunshine. We spend lots of our weekend in our backyard. Water guns. Bubbles. Swinging. Sliding. Eating.Hanging around (being Spiderman). Playing in the pool. Sidewalk Chalk. And just recently the children discovered painting. The sidewalk but mostly themselves. And being the Bolander boys who could forget what else the warm weather means? Taking off your clothes of course. And in Jimmy's case maybe not being completely camera ready even if he is ready to lose the diaper. Hope you're enjoying the summer sun.

A Time for Us

As parents you put so much of yourself into giving your children all the love they need & sometimes all the attention they crave. And often times you forget that before there was a child & in our case 3 there was actually just an us. These past 3 days we decided to take some time to just be us again. Thanks to my sister Kim we were able to do just that. For 3 days & 2 nights Rick & I left the care of our children to their capable auntie & we traveled 10 whole miles from our home to Terranea resort for some golf, hot cups of coffee, dinners overlooking the ocean, reading books by the pool & just catching up without worrying about the kiddos. We had a great room with a nice view & even though the sun never came out the weather was perfect for golf. After 22 months of not playing Rick had to give me some pointers on how to play again & I must have paid attention (at least for this one hole) because I hit the shot of my lifetime. I will probably never do it again but it was fun. Our first night there we had a nice, long dinner on the patio of Catalina Kitchen made extra special with some drinks & desserts gifted to us from a friend. And for 2 whole days my camera only took pictures of us which is extremely rare. And last night (our last night alone) we shared appetizers & drinks on a cliff overlooking the ocean talking about adult things & of course letting thoughts & conversations of our boys slip in throughout the night. It was such a nice time to catch up, re-energize & just remember that our boys are the most important part of our lives but it helped remind us that we are the most important part of their lives so we should remember to put us first sometimes. Thanks again Kim. And thanks again boys for being nice to your auntie.

playdates

1. Over the past month we have had 3 different play dates for the boys. The first one was with one of my oldest friends & her daughter (& son who is only 4 months old). It was mostly a chance to catch up with friends but the kids did get to play. With the water table.2. Inside with Bella's toys. And she is slightly taller than him but not this much. He was squatting & she was standing on her tippy toes, but don't they look cute? I think they look a little alike with their tiny teeth, dark hair & eyes & sweet smiles. 3. And don't fret. We didn't leave Joey home. He was a part of every playdate. He just happens to enjoy running around on his own. And Larisa & I were laughing so hard because his trunks were too big & they started falling down & he didn't even notice. HA!4. On the morning of 4th of July we had a family over to play. Rick & I work with Aine or Aidan's mama as Johnnie called her. Aidan is a 5 year old boy that is in his new preschool/daycare class. 5. Aidan's little brother Hugo was really shy & took almost the entire morning to settle in but once he did he was happily running around with all the boys playing superheroes & trying to keep away from the Wayne monster (their daddy).6. And I promise you Joey was there. This time he was hiding under the picnic table sneaking M&Ms. And Jimmy spent lots of the playdate playing on the swingset in the backyard.7. And finally this past weekend we had a milestone playdate. Johnnie has had a tough time adjusting to his new school & part of the reason it has been so tough is because he left his best friend that he has spent every Monday-Friday with in daycare since he was 4 months old. Max. And so on this day Johnnie was very excited. It was the first time that we had a playdate with his friend & his mom (a new friend because of our boys). They chatted, giggled, played with cars, ran around the yard & tried to avoid the day ending with every excuse they could think of.

8. And I finally got all the boys near each other, not necesarrily looking at the camera but within the view of the camera. 9. Afterwards I asked Johnnie if he was happy to spend the day with his friend & this is the look I got. After the last few weeks of sadness it was nice to see this face again.10. And then we took advantage of an unexpected visit from Auntie Kayci & captured our first family photo of the summer.

When Did This Happen

Just last month Jimmy was using his expressions to show us how & what he was feeling. He would yell & laugh when he was happy. He would lay flat on his back & cry when he didn't get his own way & now all of a sudden at 16 months he is using words when he can & finding other ways to let us know what he wants. Recently he was playing with a bubble machine & then suddenly he realized that the bubbles in his face hurt. Before he would have just yelled but on this oocasion he walked toward me saying "OW." A step forward. He says "Mine. Mine. Mine." over & over until he gets you to realize what he wants. He can say grandpa which makes my dad very happy. He used to just play alone but now loves to play with his brothers. With legos, cars, toys in the backyard & just about anything they are willing to let him participate in. And as you can see in the new blog header the boys just love to laugh together, that is of course when they aren't wrestling & fighting over the same toys. I can't wait to see what the 3 of them get in to as they get older together (very slowly!)