Our 33 Month Old Antagonist

Joey continues to be a unique little boy. So loving one minute & then arguing with us or knocking down toys his brothers have just because. He is always willing to help clean when asked & he is usually ready to give my camera smiles. He slept in a bed for the first time this month while on our vacation to Arrowhead & showed us that he is in fact ready to transition out of the crib. He is using the potty many times during the day but is not fully ready to transition out of diapers yet. He still loves to rough house with anyone willing & loves to ask questions about everything. He loves bedtime stories. And we usually end up listening to him sing the songs at bedtime instead of us. His favorite movie is The Curse of the Were Rabbit & his favorite cartoon right now is Penguins of Madagascar. He is a tough kid to handle sometimes but can always make us smile just by looking at us. Love you big guy.

4

It's hard to believe that my baby boy turned the big F-O-U-R today. His birthday party was yesterday but that post is for another day. This post is all about Johnnie. Sensitive. Playful. Picky. Mostly about food. Knows what he wants. Gets upset when he doesn't get it. Loves all things superheroes. Especially Spiderman. Usually hates the camera even though it usually loves him. From the moment I held him in my arms he became my little love & today he's often the cause of my loss of patience, frustration & heartache but he is & FOREVER will be my baby boy. These are some of the photos I took of him during our photo shoot.

Him walking around the tree. And then once I asked him to look at the camera he played coy, but I move faster than him. I have to chase him around while he acts like Spidey & I have to figure out ways to get him to stand still long enough for a photo. And at the time of his birth 0947 I asked him to show me how old he is & instead of his smiling face I got this. I love you baby!

19 Months

What a little character you are growing in to. Our little mimic. You repeat everything we say including, "Awwwwsum (Awesome), @*ck (Truck- that one needs some work), Jojo, Jonhe (Johnnie), Gwanpa (Grandpa), Wemote (Remote), bwefast (breakfast) & of course Word World & honestly just too many other words to list.

You're a great runner a cuddler a climber a BIG flirt always with your Mine (your little bunny) & my littlest blonde lovebug!

The Lake

This past weekend the Bolander clan took their 1st family vacation to Lake Arrowhead. We drove up to the mountains to meet two other families to stay in this beautiful cabin, okay it was a house, a big one. We were the first family to arrive so after settling in we took the boys down to the lake to look around. They loved the water, the boats & the ducks. This trip was full of laughter, good times, swimming, jumpingplaying in the sand & water photo ops spending time with old friends, making new friends & lots of children even in the bath. And after a weekend of going to bed really late, sleeping in a little & getting in some quality time with my honey we took one last photo of everyone & headed home. Thanks for the great memories friends & of course for putting up with my constant picture taking!

10 on Tuesday

1. Last month when I went up to visit my best friend I enjoyed a great girls night out & wanted to share photo.2. I have been trying new recipes twice a week every week but just the other night Rick mentioned that I haven't repeated any of the meals. So a new project for me has begun. A new binder of KEEP recipes. Tonight was whole wheat pasta, tomatoes, garlic, Italian sausage, zucchini & artichoke hearts. YUM!

3. Johnnie has been sleeping in a bed for more than year & we are ready to move Joey to a bed once we actually take his crib apart but now we continue to find Johnnie & Joey cuddled together every morning. On this particular morning a flash was not such a nice way to wake up.4. My little family of 5 will soon be taking our first family vacation to Lake Arrowhead with some friends. We have never gone away except to visit family so this will be a new experience.

5. The latest photo of me with my baby sisters. 6. Just received my first book in the mail about photography. Looking forward to reading about how to actually take a photo.

7. Jimmy loves his lovey. His little bunny. His "Mine" as he calls it. It goes everywhere with him.8. I love Fall TV. Most looking forward to the return of Grey's Anatomy & Fringe. And of course one Tree Hill.

9. Hello Smiley! The look that is usually on our boys' face. 10. And the last photo I took this weekend. My boys being them the way they are these days. Johnnie showing us what he looks like when we ask him to "smile". I think we'll keep working on that. Joey sort of cooperating by being in the shot but not looking at the camera or smiling. And Jimmy happily surrounded by his big brothers being squeezed with hugs.

Labor Day Holiday Wrap Up

Labor Day weekend was thankfully very sunny so we spent most of it outside in the water. Swimming at a birthday party with neighbors & then visiting friends in Orange county. We decided to buy the boys life vests to make the water time a little more manageable & therefore more fun for all. Johnnie is in swim lessons but he still can't swim for a long time on his own & well with mostly two adults in the pool & 3 children we just felt it was safer. And they loved being able to move around the pool on their own. Well at least two of them did. Jimmy rather enjoyed laying on his back & floating. And of course being held. Auntie Kim was with us both days which allowed me to take photos. She used to be a lifeguard & swim instructor so she was able to take our timid Jojo from a scared boy holding on to his daddy to a boy excited to jump in & swim around. And Johnnie our little swimmer just swam around the pool & of course did some jumping of his own. And of course there was time for lunch eaten while hanging all over daddy by the pool. And after a long weekend of swimming the boys were wiped out. Within minutes of leaving the OC they were fast asleep. Until our next weekend.