Randomness

A few shots from the last couple of days.

First, we went to the Arboretum yesterday and I lined up this nice shot of Finn running down a dirt path. It was going to be a great image … until he tripped over a huge tree root right as I took the picture. I guess it’s still a great shot.

Finn takes a fall

He laid there for a few seconds, and I thought he might actually be hurt. But that kid is tough as nails — no tears at all, he just brushed himself off and got back to his friends.

This afternoon we had Jerri, Lucy and Charlie up for slip n sliding and pizza, and Finn put this ensemble together after he changed out of his swim trunks. I particularly love the chainsaw. Jerri said he could be one of the Village People.

Finn's fabulous outfit (note the chainsaw)

And lastly, Ezra donned his dragon costume and proceeded to play chess with Lucy. It was pretty cute.

Ezra and Lucy play chess

Slip n Slide

The boys got their first exposure to the Slip n Slide this weekend — first at the Bannings’ and then at the Heffernans’. They were a little unsure at first, what with the water shooting up and all, but it didn’t take long before they were slipping, sliding and totally soaked. They preferred to be dragged across the strip:

Finn

Ezra's turn #1

I also really like this picture of Finn running. He had so much fun this weekend.

Running

How Many Moisions Can You Fit in a Tub?

The boys were in desperate need of a bath last night (which is almost always the case) and after washing their hair and faces, I left them to play and soak off the rest of the dirt. When I peeked in a few minutes later, they were both in the same tub, which I thought was physically impossible. But, they were having a grand time, so I ran for my camera.

How many Moisions can you fit in a tub?

Squishing noses

It’s All Fun and Games …

… until the plants get smashed.

Sometimes this whole testing limits thing the boys do drives me insane. This trampling was the result of a four-minute lapse in supervision on my part, before which I had green-lighted digging in “nature” (our front yard) with the caveat that they be mindful of the plants. Perhaps my direction was unclear.

Otherwise it was a lovely day — play date at Alex and Kyan’s, nap time, watermelon on the porch. Is it bedtime yet?

Ezra and Finn’s Big Weekend

This weekend Bruce and I got away together for two nights (for the first time ever) and Erin stayed with the boys. Emily came for some of the time too, so you can imagine how happy the boys were with all the attention lavished on them. They had a wildly active weekend — bike riding, scooter riding, Toy Story 3 at the theater, swimming at the Altadena Country Club, etc. They also helped Emily and her friends sell 25 bucks worth of lemonade at their lemonade stand — genius marketing plan to have Finn hold the sign. Here are some photos I stole from Erin’s Facebook album.

More Scootering

We are quickly becoming a scooter- and bike-obsessed family — in fact, as I write this at 8:00 a.m., the boys are already out riding. They are now venturing several houses up the street, and Finn’s making huge strides with the balance bike. Yesterday Finn took some turns on Ezra’s scooter and I got some cute pictures. We also had another crash (Ezra) and I think it won’t be long before we get them some knee and elbow pads. We probably should have done that already.

Transportation

The boys got some new wheels today — Ezra a Razor scooter and Finn a Skuut balance bike — and they spent most of the afternoon riding both at home and at the park. Ezra had a couple of minor crashes, and Finn is having some frustration at not being able to go very fast. But I imagine that very soon they’ll both be getting around faster than I would like.

They also like their new helmets. I love that Ezra’s is called Nutcase.

Eagle Rock Park

We went to the park at Eagle Rock Rec Center this afternoon. Ezra was happy because he “LOVES” sand parks and “HATES” mulch parks. They had a pretty good time and I took a few pictures.

Warner Springs with the Heffernans

We went to Warner Springs this weekend with the Heffernans and had a blast. There was swimming, hiking, pony rides, and — after the kiddies went to sleep — card-playing and wine-drinking. We saw a rattlesnake on our hike at Indian Flats — it slithered across the trail right between Jerri and me. Scared us to death. Jerri did the polka and I lost my mind and ran away (stupidly right into the dried grassy area it had come from). We’d never survive in the wild.

The slideshow below shows our Pajama Hike on day 1, the hike to Indian Flats on day 2, sprayer wars and rest time, then pony rides, ice cream sandwiches, spider web making, and finally our failed attempt to find Pena Spring.

This is my favorite shot from the trip (from our Indian Flats hike).

Here’s the slideshow:

Ezra’s Preschool Graduation

Today Ezra graduated from Cottage Co-Op, our wonderful — if exhausting — little preschool. He’ll be back for four weeks of summer school, but today’s graduation ceremony and celebration were sweet and emotional. As is the tradition, Ezra and his fellow graduates each received a key to Cottage — a symbol that they are always welcome to come back and visit, that Cottage will always be their place.

Memorial Day Giant Bubble-Fest

We had Jerri, Lucy and Charlie up for a Memorial Day barbecue, and Bruce broke out the giant bubbles. This sequence of Ezra popping the bubble from the zip line may be my favorite set of pictures ever. I particularly love #3 where he is enveloped in the bubble!

The kids also had fun “missing” the bubbles. Here Lucy has a very nifty move:

Ezra missed the bubble, too … and thankfully didn’t run into Finn:

And lastly, they hopped in the waterless pool to hide from the giant bubble attack:

Close Call

We had an amazingly successful three-day potty training session with Finn over this long weekend. I’m sure we’ll still have accidents, but he hasn’t had one since the afternoon of the first day. However, last night after his bath I gave him the choice of either gray or blue underwear, but he was distressed. Finn likes orange. Only orange. And I have no orange underwear for him. Then he said the dreaded words, “I want a diaper.” NOOOOOO! I told him we don’t have anymore diapers because no one in the house uses them anymore. I was able to talk him into the gray boxer briefs, but he was still upset. So, I ran to my computer and Googled boys orange underwear.

My initial search resulted in an image of two pairs of boxer briefs, one navy blue and one orange. “Score!” I thought. But when I clicked on the image this is what I got:

Holy moly, $59 for two pair of underwear? Really? Um, no.

So I kept searching. Turns out I could not find any solid orange underwear for Finn, but I did find an alternative at Gap.com:

I showed them to Finn and they passed his test, so I ordered two packs. Hopefully six pair of orange-ish underwear will keep the diaper requests at bay.