Hot Dog

I'm sure every mom thinks their baby is the cutest. Max has been ESPECIALLY cute to me lately... I really love this age when they start talking and they still love you so much (not that my other kids don't... baby love is just different). I also think I'm spending extra time to baby Max because he is the first of my kids that will have to share his mommy before turning 3. I'm sure he'll be fine, but I'm a little sad we won't have that extra year to do mommy and me gymnastics while the big kids are at school (Sam and I had a fabulous 2 going on 3 year with Pearly gone every day). Anyways, he came to me the other day insisting that I put the hot dog costume on him... he kept it on for about half an hour, pleased as punch. So, here he is, in all his hot dog glory!

Aww, come on, you know you think it's cute too!!!

Brilliant.

It's official. Max is brilliant. He's just 22 months, and he says all his shapes and colors (well, most of them). The sad part is that he learned his shapes with an iPhone game (which is actually pretty impressive to watch), but the colors are definitely from me. Being an early intervention speech therapist makes me extra aware of his skills... we've been working on labeling colors for a while. Over the last few months he's been putting words together, and saying multisyllabic words like "cheeseburger" (embarassing, I know!), and he learns new words every day... right on target! We've also been working on our prepositions (for a while everything was up) but now he has up, down, in, and out pretty well mastered. Here is a little video of his colors and shapes... I pretty much think it's the cutest thing in the world when he says "triangle" and "yellow":) Enjoy!

Sunsplash.

No pictures. I will not risk my camera anywhere near a waterpark!

With some slight misgivings, I signed myself and the kids up for season passes to the waterpark. I was thinking, oh, I am so pregnant, that doesn't even sound fun... well, it is! I stand there in my long sleeved swim shirt (the kids are similarly covered, and everyone has water shoes, there shall be no skin cancer this summer!) with my belly floating and my kids happy! Max LOVES the waterslides, Sam does pretty good at listening, because, let's face it, it's so loud there, I can't really give him any directions. Pearl has gotten brave and is gradually increasing her repitoire of slides she will go down. I am amazed every time we go at how good they are and how they have so much fun! It's been 8 days since our first trip, and we've gone 4 times. Sick, I know, but much better than watching TV all summer! Not only did our cousins get passes, but the kiddos two best friends, the Larsens, got passess too, so there is always someone to play with!

So... if you don't hear much from me this summer... it's because we're at the waterpark!!!

Poor Sam.

Sammy Sam. The only thing he EVER gets in trouble for is not listening... and it's been worse lately. Wonder why? Oh, probably because he's had fluid in his ears for about a year and failed his hearing test today. Yup. So, it looks like baby boy will be getting tubes (and hopefully losing his adenoids and tonsils) before kindergarten. Maybe this will change his reputation. Maybe that's too much to hope for. :)

Jack turns 4

Jack turned 4, and as usual, Annie had an amazing themed birthday party. This year, it was a camping party, complete with a campfire and hot dogs on sticks and smores... so much fun for the kids. The crazy thing was she moved the next day... I'm still not sure how she did it.

I'm so happy for her family, but we will miss Jack and Scott a lot. Sammy and Jack were just starting to really get along this year, they finally figured out that nobody wants to play sticks and dinosaurs with them but each other.

Silly boys!
Seriously, I didn't get one normal smiling picture of Jack. Oh well... we at least will remember what he looked like!
The birthday boy. He had such a great time!
Everyone wanted to pose in front of the fish. Not sure what the allure was, but ok!
Baby Mara.. awesome picture, but just as I was taking it Katie decided to grab the camera... oops. I like it anyway.
Katie Kate. She is SO hard to take a picture of! She is such a pretty girl though!

We are so blessed that all the Weir cousins have been together for so long. Thankfully, nobody is too far (like New York), so we'll still have opportunities to see everyone, which the kids love. Nothing like cousins... makes it so you don't have to work so hard for friends!!!