Playing

Elias loves the crinkly book that G'ma Kathleen found! He's my first baby to not be scared stiff of the crinkle sound. (The big brothers look oh-so-cute because I said "you get a donut hole if you smile nicely".)

They built really nicely together and played a long time with their creations. But then Lewis becomes a demolition-crazy-boy and it really makes Augustine angry. 

I had four cousins for a few hours the other week, so Grandpa came to back me up and he did not disappoint. He built "the coolest police cruiser ever" according to Augustine. 

I can't handle the cuteness...I'm melting. Portrait Innovations didn't get anything even remotely close to this good of a smile, so I'm deeming this his official three month photo. This toy from G&G is one of his current favorites. They gave it to one of the older boys when they were a baby, but Elias likes it the most by far. 

Still melting. He loves this toy at G'ma Kathleen's house. 

Laying on his giraffe playing with Sophie the Giraffe. Again...first kid not to have the snot scared out of him when Sophie squeaks. 

Car wash! We set it all up and had our new neighbors over to play. 

Fritz is a bit hard to hold still, but Elias gave it some good effort!

He's been playing with the hanging toys using his feet! It's very entertaining if you're his immediate family and there's nothing cuter than your baby. 

This kid loves a good hanging toy. 

Fr. Sparling showing the boys his fire fighter buttons in his car...lights, siren, speaker. He let the boys say something on the speaker, so Augustine said "Bye Mommy" and Lewis said "toot". Oy. 

Swimming with the birthday girl. Both Augustine and Lewis have improved their swim skills since last year. Augustine even jumped off the board! They had a ton of fun playing in the water for two hours. 

Playing trains. This kid. My A-type, organized, rule-following kid isn't bothered a bit by an INCOMPLETE TRACK. Ahhhh! It makes me crazy but I keep my mouth shut. 

Getting stronger with tummy time. He talks to the animals on the blanket a lot.

Small bits of time playing in the exersaucer because his neck gets tired still from holding up the big noggin. He tries so hard to grab the green phone. 

All that playing is hard work. 

What Elias Has Been Up To

Elias has been very busy this week. 

Hangin' out maxin' relaxin' all cool...

Crying in his sleep because teething stinks. 

He's been working through a tummy ache because I accidentally ate a cheddar braut instead of a regular one. Sorry, kiddo. This is my latest go-to lunch. Homemade guac is my new favorite. I craved it a lot during Elias' pregnancy too. 

Holding toys! He's very deliberate with his hands these days. 

Hangin' with his buddy, talking about all the things. 

Getting extra threenager love. 

A nap with Mommy after getting up at 3am and never really settling back into sleep until 8am. I drank a soda for the first time in forever. So. Tired. 

He sprouted a tooth! Three months old! Both of his brothers were five months old when they got their first tooth. 

Hanging with his Godsister while the Momma was in the hospital with his newest Godbrother. 

More buddy QT. 

Talking to the Swiss Gnome. More comparison photos in the works...get excited. 

Apparently we have to be touching at.all.times while he teethes. 

What Lewis Has Been Up To

In the last two weeks Lewis has been very talkative and still very busy. He is testing my patience one minute, and then making us laugh the next. We are talking about him starting preschool in a few weeks and how fun it will be, but he's not too sure of it. 

He did a great job at swim lessons! Once he was over the initial nervousness he had a great lesson. Miss Kirstin seems like a good fit for him. He even did his back float! The thought of back floats scares him, but he's brave and does it anyway with the teacher's help. 

He likes the goggles a lot. 

He got the dirt box for his last birthday and has had fun in it this week. A giant box of dirt is exciting when you love worms as much as he does. 

I had some patience the other day and I let him bake with me. 

He packed his felt food lunch. It made Augustine and I laugh. 

Then he played trains for a long time. I bought an extension pack at IKEA last weekend. Two packs, actually, but I'm saving the second pack for when we need something new to do again. 

He was intimidated by the big machines. 

Hanging out with his Godbrother, and Aunt Beth.

What Augustine Has Been Up To

Augustine is very irritated that school stops for the summer, and I can tell he's really tired of a relaxed schedule. The boy loves order and predictability. We have his Kindergarten physical done, uniforms bought, school supplies ready, and fees paid. He just can't wait until the first day so we are trying to do fun things to keep our mind off of it. 

Swim lessons. The boys aren't in the pool at the same time so he gets to watch Lewis swim. He was over the moon about reuniting with Miss Morgan for 30 minutes a week. And the new pool/set up is amazing. 

Reading with Daddy and holding his baby. Two favorite things to do. He is such a natural with Elias. 

We finally filled the dirt box. Win. 

Big machines at the library. 

His first time sitting in a backhoe. He was excited...and honked the horn five times. 

More fun from when he spent the weekend with his cousins. 

KC

DLogan planned a work trip to KC and I decided to join him. Thanks to my family members who kept the big boys for the weekend!

Elias did this both ways in the car! 

We stayed with our good friends the Kleins. They were amazing hosts! We not only felt taken care of, but down right pampered! We sprinkled in fun stuff amidst Logan's meetings and phone calls. KC BBQ, garden tour, hanging out with just my baby to worry about, hilarious stories from the Kleins 2.5 year old, dairy free cookies (all the food, in fact!), Elias tried out their fancy swing...it was so relaxing! 

We had lunch at IKEA and did some shopping. They were out of my towels and serving bowl, but I did get the boys more train track and $.99 squirt bottles they've been dying to play with in the boiling hot lava weather. A few other random things were found. Elias enjoyed his first IKEA experience, including blowing out on Logan. 

He is just so adaptable when we've been traveling. I can't believe it. 

Since we were in town we got to celebrate my cousin Greta's birthday with dessert together! It was fun to see her one more time before she leaves for college. I'm holding the strawberries because one of my favorite memories of Greta when she was a baby is her sitting in her high chair eating a WHOLE strawberry. She just popped the whole thing and chomped away! Logan and I are pretty sure we haven't been to their house since we were engaged...too long! We had a great visit.

Lewis stayed at the G&G B&B and it did not disappoint. He made waffles, ate bacon, and all the fun things he loves to do with G&G (and Samuel this time!). 

Yep. Bacon really does make him that happy, as does G&G. The night we all returned home he told me three times that he wanted to go back to Grandma Susan's house and sleep. 

Augustine took his 2nd annual Vrana Vacation and it too did not disappoint! He loves being with them despite his insistence that sleeping in a girl bed is not as comfortable as a boy bed. It's girl colors, you know. 

Looking forward to another visit! (#Marilynslifegoals)

This Week

The past two weeks have been a whirlwind of traveling, which is very unlike us, but it's all gone well so far and I'm glad we took the opportunities to go. There's only 5 more weeks until school starts, and with all day every day kindergarten we won't have as much freedom as we're used to as far as weekend trips and such. 

We tried to make our days at home in between trips as relaxed as possible. We just played and kept house and broke up arguments and changed diapers. You know, the normal stuff. 

I had Elias' baby book printed and now all three boys' books are on display in the living room. Lewis has looked through them more than once. I think he finally understands who is who. The past two weeks Lewis has calmed down a lot. He actually plays and has conversations with me and eats most of his food at meals...as opposed to screaming, running, jumping, and throwing fits.

My glasses were on their last leg, so I got new ones this week. I took Beth with me and made her tell me what to get. I really had to twist her arm to come along {inset sarcasm}. She should seriously consider a career in frames consulting. 

Elias has been a sleepy baby lately. He is taking those naps where he wakes up and looks different and feels heavier. Growing is hard work. 

Logan's mom gave him this photo at Grandma's funeral. I love it. It's Grandma with her dad, Louis. 

The boys napping at the park. We went pretty early to beat the heat, but by 1030am I was done. Too hot. 

We were part of The Good Life welcome committee this week. The boys LOVE going to the airport. 

We welcomed our family friends, Jim & Kate, who are retiring here. We are so very excited to have them here! They are some of my parents very best friends, and I've had the privilege of growing up with them around, as well as basically living with them on the weekends when I lived on the East coast. They were also my connection to Switzerland. #basheslivethegoodlife