Hunting and gathering

No lily left unsearched...

...no plastic pool left unturned...

...no grass untouched...

...by our cuties in the hunt for Easter eggs.

The sweet fruits (well, fruit-flavored candy beans, at least) of their labor.

Even sweeter is the fact that this little badger shares with Daddy without complaint. Once, at least.  I don't think that we asked for more than that.

Blizzard of 2011

For once the newcasters' dramatic pronouncements weren't misplaced: The snow and winds began at about 2:30 pm and didn't stop until late the next morning. To amp up the excitement, I told the boys numerous times in a dramatic voice, "Boys! This could be the biggest storm of your LIVES!" Which Gabe would usually follow up with, "I sure hope not!" Yes, husband, I too want the boys to live long and fruitful lives, but since this was in fact the third biggest storm in Chicago's recorded history, it could in fact be the biggest they'll ever see. We ended up with just over 20 inches of "global warming" (as my favorite conservative political site calls it) dumped on us. I negotiated a slight break on our rent with our landlord, so I headed out as soon as the snow stopped to get to work. (The landlord was nice enough to pay me a little extra for taking care of the snow from this storm -- woohoo!)

The view from our back door. I've removed the top layer of snow, but you can see from the sunken footprints how much more I have to go.

With the winds, the snow drifted quite a bit. It was probably 3 feet high or so by our side fence.

Our lightweight little boys sank down only thru the top layer of snow. Otherwise, they'd be struggling thru chest-high powder, "Little House on the Prairie"-style.

The boys helping -- or should I say, "helping," since we all know what a help preschoolers can be -- our neighbor clear her front walk.

Jonah and his "removement branch." I think that it removed the snow? Or something? It ended up being an eye hazard and right now resides in our front yard.

Manny pulled his weight ("lifted his snow"?) with his little bucket.

Iohan stayed inside with Gabriel and watched the fun from his new perch, cackling all the time.

Precious cargo

Correlation

There is a correlation between the number of photos that I take of the kids and how crazy they get. I know that correlation doesn't always equal causation, but I think that sometimes it just might. (I originally got the camera out to take pictures of Manny and Iohan in their twin shirts; Jonah had to get in on the action, though he lacks a matching shirt.)

Body paint

A couple months ago, in the middle of a "great moms do fun things with their kids!" tizzy, I got out the ol' finger paints to do hand- and footprint paintings with the elder two boys. It was actually quite a bit of fun, and I'm sure that many of us know that unless a moment of fun is documented on digital camera, it never actually happened, right? I'd forgotten my camera upstairs, so I left the boys (briefly!) to get it. By the time I returned, the painting of small body parts had degenerated (or evolved?) into nearly full body painting. Like lightning, these kids!

Magical day.

Jonah has said to me a few times lately, "Mama, I just love Chicago." Days like July 22 make me feel the same way. Can you see why?


Metra-watching.
Pedestrian bridge from the Art Institute to Millenium Park.

Lurie Garden.

Pritzker Pavilion. Too loud.

Really too loud.

Chow hounds.

Brothers' construction biz.

Crown Fountain. Too busy, for one little man.

Daddy attack, baby snack.

Happy Birthday, Little Birdie!

On July 4, Sweet Baby J celebrated his golden birthday.

Manny celebrated with him.

These are Lego cakes. Legos cakes matched my two criteria for this year's birthday cake: First, it had to be something that Jonah was interested in; and second, it had to be easy to make. Ta-da!

Enjoying birthday cake and birthday ice cream after a birthday dinner of pizza, during a birthday visit from Gangee and Pop-Pop.

Iohan is as excited about Jonah's new car carrier as Jonah is, I think. Jonah's not excited that Iohan's excited, though.

For his birthday, we bought Jonah tickets to a White Sox game. He was generous enough to include Manny in the outing. Here are the boys in their Sox gear, ready for their big adventure.

Grandma Ruth and Grandpa Denny gave Jonah a baseball "glub" (his preferred pronunciation) for his birthday. Pop-Pop and Gangee gave Manny one, too, so that the two could play together, and so that any "it's-not-my-birthday-and-I've-got-no-presents" meltdowns on Manny's part might be prevented. Success! These days, Gabriel takes the boys out nearly once a day to practice. We're counting on someone making the majors!

This may be one of my favorite pictures ever. Baseball brothers, in boots and undies cheesy grins in place.