Happy Birthday Nana!

Happy Birthday Nana! We miss you and can't wait to see you in May. Here are some a ton of photos of recent happenings.  They are kind of out of order, but here they are:

This was from Oliver's birthday. I love how happy he looks, enjoying his cake, surrounded by his friends.
I don't have a ton of good pictures from this party because Ryan and I were busy being Master Spy trainers. Even though fully half of the invited guests (4 out of 8) cried at one point or another during the party, Oliver (alias "Flying Falcon") had a blast!

 

Elliot got an excavator from Grandpa Ford. His favorite thing to do is "play diggers" in the backyard. Everyday he asks me to play diggers with him, I need to be better about saying yes.

Andrew still looks like a baby with his bald head, but he is turning into a real little boy. He loves to do what his brothers are doing. He gets out and plays diggers, he plays Legos, he even prefers to sit with them at their table, rather than get strapped into his high chair (who can blame him). 

 It has rained a lot here this spring which has created a LOT of mud. This is what the boys looked like after one spectacularly messy afternoon in the backyard.

This is Elliot showing me that he could go inside because he had already washed his hands!! This explains why the towels in the downstairs bathroom are usually caked with mud. 

Andrew ready for a bath in the utility sink in the garage. 

We got a membership to the UC Botanical Garden. It is AMAZING!! The boys think it is thrilling to see so many cacti. They point them out and ask, "who would like to get poked by this cactus?" We all agree, "not me!!" Sometimes I pretend that I am going to cuddle up to one and take a nap on this "nice soft pillow" and they scream, no, mom, don't do it!!! I think I have probably exaggerated the danger of cactus because they think its pretty miraculous when we make it through in one piece. We'll have to take you here when you come to visit. The boys were especially excited about this giant specimen.

 Andrew rode around in my Ergo carrier but he loved to reach out to touch the flowers.

 

 

So this pretty much illustrates the different personalities of these boys. Oliver is quietly picking flowers while Elliot, bored and tired, decides to mix things up by mooning us. "Who wants to see my stinky weapon?" he taunted before pulling down his pants. Can you see that smile on his face in the last frame?! He is thrilled with his own performance.   

Oliver got Legos for his birthday and has turned into a complete Lego maniac. We were worried that Andrew would eat them but he doesn't put them in his mouth and is just as into playing with Legos as his brothers. This helicopter has been destroyed (usually by Elliot) and put back together (by Oliver) so many times I think he could do it in his sleep. I am really proud of him for learning how to follow the directions because it's actually not that easy. He also makes his own original creations which are pretty cool, too. 

We found this tricycle buried deep within some bushes near our house. It looked like it had been there for a decade at least. We excavated it and brought it home (is that considered stealing or cleaning up the neighborhood?) It's pretty junky but the boys love pushing each other around on it.