Daddy, say "park"

Wow it has been a busy week. The week started with a cold for me and Ethan last weekend that has lingered into this week. As it lingered, Benjamin caught it and ended up with croup on Monday night. Benjamin had croup once before but it was worse this time and boy was it scary. For about an hour (in the middle of the night, of course) we held him in a steaming bathroom and debated taking him to the ER. Finally, Benjamin was able to catch his breath and we got a few hours of sleep. After a trip to the doctor in the morning and a prescription for a few days of steroids, Benjamin was on his way back to good health. Then, as the cold made it's rounds, Brian caught it.

Ethan has also been cutting teeth for what seems like a hundred years now. As you can see in the picture below, he has 4 teeth, yep, that is it -- I think that he should have about 8 or 9 teeth by now. He is finally cutting some more -- his top two molars. We hope to see a few more soon so that he can enjoy ALL the foods that his big brother eats!

As we all started feeling better, we enjoyed a cloudy afternoon at the park. It was nice to have Brian join us. Lately, Benjamin has been saying "daddy, say 'park'" or "daddy, say 'tractor.'" I think his is imitating us as we are working with Ethan to get him saying a few words. The day we went to the park all I heard from Benjamin was "Ethan, say 'park'" and "daddy, say 'park.'"

Ethan loves the swing, but loves his daddy more.

Brian was out of town part of the week and just got home today. While he was gone I took the boys to the pool for the first time this summer. I was a little nervous taking both of them by myself but was more nervous about their reaction to the water and the pool. It too a little getting used to but the boys want to go back and were upset when we left. We are hoping to take the boys over the weekend (I will get pictures when I have help with them at the pool).

I am also testing out a new phone -- I heard Clark Howard talking about a new cell phone and since my contract was up, I thought I would cut my cell phone bill by $20 a month and get texting along with my minutes (look out 21st century, here I come!). It is called Smart Talk and you can find out all the details at www.smarttalk.com They use the Verizon Network for coverage. I 'll keep you posted.

Have a great weekend and I will have more pictures of the boys from over the weekend!

Over the River and Through the Woods....

to papaw's house we go. Mommy knows the way to carry the sleigh (ummm I mean van).....

Last week, we took the sleigh to Washington Farms to get fresh picked strawberries. Nope, we did not pick them ourselves -- did you think I was that crazy? We will attempt to pick them next spring -- we did the pre-picked ones this year. And, you guessed it -- they loved the fresh picked strawberries. They cried when we had to stop eating them and get in the sleigh to come home!

Later in the week, we carried a basket of fresh goodness to Papaw's house. The boys ate lunch there and we got to play in the shaded backyard. Papaw has a little pond and small water feature that the boys were fascinated with.

After piloting the sleigh home, they boys went straight to bed -- while visions of more fresh goodness danced in their heads.....