Morgan's Wonderland 2nd visit

After a week of rain, Jude was nice enough to invite us on another visit to Morgan's Wonderland. This was the daddy's first visit, and they were impressed! I wanted to post some pictures of the activities we missed the first time.
Our first stop was fishing. My boys were talking about this all week and weren't disappointed.
Jonas caught the first fish.

And Reef followed with this big guy! The guy told us that he couldn't get the hook out of this one but his digestive acids would dissolve it in 1-2 days!


Then we checked out the sensory village, which had lots of cool themed rooms. My boys loved the car room, of course!

The jeep ride was working this time, so it was a must-do. Reef lucked out and got the blue one!

Jude driving.

Jonas loved this red one.

Reef taught himself how to swing in the last couple weeks of preschool. We are so impressed, and he loves to show off!

They both enjoyed the diggers in this huge sandbox.

Lachlan enjoyed the swing, but you can tell from those black legs that he enjoyed exploring a lot more! He wasn't crawling on our last visit so I didn't have to worry about this!

Overall it was a great morning with great friends!

Puddle Jumping

A couple of weeks ago we had LOTS of rain. I love thunderstorms but not the mess they leave in the backyard. As a solution, we decided to go puddle jumping to get some outside playtime in. I wasn't sure how the boys would like it since they aren't into getting messy most of the time.
No need to worry, though, because they were in love!
Stopping to look at a snail on the way to puddle 1.

Daddy showing them how it's done.

Lachlan wondered when it was his turn.

After the first trip, they wanted to know when we could go again. Luckily more rain that night meant more puddle jumping the next day. We went on a longer walk to bigger puddles this time.

I don't think I was quite aware of how messy this was going to be!

Jonas pooped on the potty on Monday.
No pictures or other news, just wanted to record that. New pictures this weekend, hopefully...

Reef is 4!

Yes, I am aware that I am two weeks late doing this post. I've been feeling unmotivated about updating the blog lately. Plus a week of illness for all 3 boys plus me left me feeling run down. But we're up and running again now!
So, May 3 was Reef's real birthday. It's REALLY hard for me to believe that he's 4! I still vividly remember going to the hospital to have him and pushing for 2 hours!
We kicked the birthday morning off with a special breakfast: homemade pop tarts with chocolate on top. He was excited about these since he asks for chocolate pop tarts EVERY time we go grocery shopping. He said they were good but that we should still buy some all chocolate ones from the store.

The thing Reef was most excited about on his birthday-giving out birthday treats to ALL of his friends at preschool. So sweet that he wanted to share! Inspired by Bakerella.com and my friend Jenny, I decided to attempt cake pops. They were a lot of work but turned out cute and are the perfect size for little guys.

After a fun day at preschool, Reef got to pick his perfect birthday dinner. He went with hamburgers, and we invited the Dyes to join us since Mommy needed some friend time too.

Reef's been really into the teeny tiny legos and fire trucks forever now, so what better gift than a teeny tiny lego fire truck! I don't think he was even expecting a gift, so he was very excited! Now we just have to keep all the pieces picked up so Lachlan doesn't eat them!

Things to remember about Reef right now:
-Favorite food: peanut butter and honey sandwich. He wants this every day for lunch and gets a little stressed if we have something else.
-While he definitely has his favorite foods, he'll pretty much anything we ask him too. I'm very thankful for this.
-He also has a few dislikes too, though: bananas, tomatoes, pasta.
-We are truly blessed by how well-behaved he is. For the most part, he does what we ask him on the first (okay, maybe second) time. He can also be trusted to wait to eat his dessert after his food even if they're on the same plate.
-In the last few weeks, the tantrums have decreased, thank goodness.
-Reef is very much a perfectionist, and it makes him anxious when things aren't just right. This can cause some problems with 2 little brothers around.
-Reef LOVES Lachlan.
-Most of the time, he loves playing with Jonas too, especially when he can be in charge.
-He is very loving, always telling me that he loves me or likes my clothes!
-When he grows up, Reef wants to be a fireman, mailman, truck driver, AND a daddy (with Leyna). He never takes things off the list, just adds more that he'll be at the same time!
Can't wait to see what the next year brings!

Ears

We finally got a call on Tuesday that an appointment with the ENT opened up for Thursday afternoon. It was at 2:30, which totally interfered with nap time and our plans to leave for Dallas, but I took the appointment anyway since that was my only option. After a long wait, Lachlan was called back for his hearing test, which he passed. Then, after another long wait, we finally met with Dr. Moe. After hearing the history of 5 ear infection and 7 rounds of antibiotics since December, he agreed that tubes were the way to go. I jokingly told the nurse that "tomorrow was good for me".
Well, when I met with the scheduling lady, the next day, Friday, was a possibility! I hesitated to take it since we had plans to travel to Dallas this weekend, and it was a late morning appointment so it would be a long time for Lach to go without eating. Of course when I heard next available was June 2, we decided to take the Friday appointment.
I fed Lachlan at 2am and it held him over until the surgery. He didn't even act like he was missing out on any meals, which was good. Thankfully, Ms. Theresa was available on short notice to watch Reef and Jonas, so we dropped them off and headed to the surgery center at 9. At about 10:15, they took him back to surgery, and the doctor was back to see us about 7 minutes later. They do this surgery SOO fast! By 10:30, I had my baby back in my arms!
He was pretty fussy for most of yesterday but not nearly as bad as Jonas after he had his tubes done! He napped well and slept well last night, and today is getting back to his normal self.
The cool thing about the way this all happened is that our prayer request at Life Group last Sunday was: for Lachlan to get into the ENT soon and get the tubes taken care of very soon also! We had no idea that within the week, we'd get an appt, and then, less than 24 hrs later, have the tubes done and behind us as well! God is good!