Dada's Drum Solo

Ryan didn't know I was recording this... he was in the basement, taking a 5 minute break from working on something else, and started playing the drums.  The boys ran over to the gate and started dancing and didn't stop until he stopped.  If you haven't been to our house, they can't actually see him through that gate, just the door to the basement steps.  And when the drum solo was over...pictures of them signing for "more" below!  

Snake!

On Sunday Ryan found a snake and caught it in this red utility box.  We let the boys have a look and they were pretty interested once they saw it move, and liked making the "sssssss" sound.  Note that Oliver has his firetruck with him and is unsure whether a snake is worth diverting his attention for a few minutes.

Where's Firetruck

Oliver has been completely obsessed with firetrucks over the past few days.  At first it was just him, making firetruck sounds and only settling for playing with his favorite toy firetruck - but then Owen jumped on the bandwagon and has made firetrucks his favorite toy too.  Not exactly a recipe for peaceful playtime.  Luckily I found a couple other firetrucks we had stored away in the basement to at least keep them separately occupied (until they realize the truck they really want is the one the other has of course!).  Oliver has even insisted on taking his truck on wagon rides, to meals with him in his high chair, in the bath tub (that one didn't happen), and has even been seen giving kisses and feeding his snacks to it.

Here's a funny video of him telling me there was a firetruck at the end of the driveway (there wasn't one).  He kept pointing, running, stopping to make firetruck sounds... and continued this all the way to the end of our long driveway!  Quite the imagination :)

Warm Fall Days

We've had a couple of really warm fall days this week and the boys have been loving playing outside in the leaves!  The driveway and yard is filled with them!  Both boys just can't get enough of their "mow mows", and Oliver has taken a renewed liking to his Harley bike (which they now move around on way too fast and furious for inside the house!).  He's realized that it can move pretty quickly when heading straight down into the gully in the backyard.  I can already tell who the biggest daredevil of the boys is going to be!  It makes me nervous as he flies down over lots of tree roots and sticks on that wooden bike, but I must say, it does look like a lot of fun and is probably something I would have tried, and definitely Ryan, when we were little!

Bath for 3!!!

So I finally got around to digging out one of the bath seats we used with the twins and cleaning it up for Spencer.  This week has been the first time we've put all the boys in the tub together, and they have been practicing good tub etiquette and are surprisingly well behaved.  At first the twins were a little concerned about the reduction in space for them to slide around the tub, but also excited with the new prospects of playing with baby Spencer during bath time!  For Spencer, all the squealing, splashing, and toy throwing was just about as much as a little baby could take in that late in the evening.  The new setup has worked out great so far; we just have to fill the tub up with a few inches of water, a few toys, plop the boys in...and then we can sit back and relax for 5 minutes :)  It's all about the economies of scale in this situation -  1 tub, 1 washcloth, and 3 squeaky clean boys in practically the same amount of time it takes for 1 or 2.  I just love watching them interact to see what silly things they come up with each time!

Jump-O-Lene: Deflated

As the weather is getting a little cooler, we decided to put the balls away and take the Jump-O-Lene down for the winter (before it suddenly gets too unbearably cold to go outside and do this task).  I think the boys will like having the open deck space again for a few more weeks to push their big cars around.  They had a fun afternoon "helping" me deflate the giant blow-up toy.  I think once we get it completely folded up put away they'll forget about it, and then have a happy reunion next spring when it comes back out!

Lunch with Stevie Wonder

Oliver's signature move - for when he's happy, silly, or very excited - is a huge smile and side to side movement of his head.  When he started regularly doing this a few months ago, we called it his Stevie Wonder moves.  This week at lunch he insisted on bringing sunglasses to his highchair, and when he let loose the Stevie Wonder, it looked even more authentic than ever!  Owen wanted to get in on the fun and so I handed him my sunglasses (which he really loves).  They were a bit big for his head, and you can tell how he tries to keep them up and balanced with a slower, more deliberate Stevie Wonder!

Moon Bounce

Last Friday we had some photos taken of the boys.  It was originally planned for Spencer's 6 month birthday, but we put it off another month to wait for the cooler weather and possibly some fall color outdoors.  Afterward, we stopped by a pumpkin patch that had a free moon bounce and some slides and the boys loved it!  This was their first time in a huge moon bounce like this and they had it all to themselves, so they weren't really sure what to do.  They just ran around inside - bouncing, falling, and laughing.  I got in with Spencie so he could be part of the fun too.

The funny thing was when we first set them down in the field, Owen started examining the nearby pumpkins...but Oliver's eyes went right to the bright pink and purple moon bounce at the far end.  He immediately made a run for it, leaving Owen behind with the pumpkins!

It was a long day of taking pictures...these boys had enough!

Spinning Spencie

As with all their baby toys - the twins light up with excitement each time we take out another "old" baby item for Spencer.  I guess they're feeling so nostalgic just one year later that they have to relive their baby days through their little brother!  As soon as we got this one out (an exersaucer that spins around!) they ran over and started walking it around in circles, with Spencie inside!  He seemed to like going for a ride, but wasn't really catching on to the concept that he's supposed to be the one doing the work.  That was Monday, and since then he's figured it out...probably from watching the big boys climb over and position themselves inside the contraption.  We've been telling them it's just for babies, but they don't care!

Pumpkin Bites?

The boys really like to point out pumpkins after visiting the pumpkin patch and learning more about pumpkins this past week.  The one we have on the kitchen table is off limits (or else will be thrown on the floor), but I let the boys have a minute or so with it on each of their trays the other day.  I had to intervene on a few punkin chunkin attempts, but generally all they wanted to do was bite the stem!  In the end, Spencer was the only one with an orange face (carrots)...