Father's Day, Bowling, Zoo, Splash Park and Touch A Truck...whew!

We're having a great summer so far! Finn is in the midst of potty training, which is some serious work on both his part and mine! Wow - I had no idea how hard it was going to be! We're getting there though - he had two days in a row with no accidents! But since then, has been struggling a little more. The other night, he made it to the potty, but missed it entirely, getting pee all over the floor. He took it upon himself to clean up the mess, god bless him, with a broom. It was EVERYWHERE. I'm trying so hard not to get frustrated with him, but when he's peeing/pooping all over the place and Mitchie is crawling in the middle of it to get in on the action, I know I lose my cool sometimes. I just keep reassuring him that he's doing a great job and that I know he's trying so hard. And we celebrate the victories as much as possible! Tonight, we were at Erin and Tom's for a bit. I was helping to change little Patrick (who arrived last Thursday, by the way!), and he was not happy with being changed. He was screaming and Finn came in and said, "Baby Patrick is having a problem! You should put him in there..." (gesturing to a bouncy seat). He was thrilled and so excited when he heard that the baby was born. "He out of Auntie's tummy?!?" :) He got to participate in his first play group (I started up again this week after over a year off) yesterday. He did great and seemed to love every minute. He really loves being around other kids and warms up to new people really well. Tonight, we went to a party at Molly and Scott Martin's. I told him on the way there that a gentleman should go into a party and say hello and introduce himself. As soon as we got there, he marched himself into the backyard (where there wasn't a soul he knew) and said hi to everyone and told them his name. I was so proud of him. He's learning so much and always asking questions. His favorite new thing is the library summer reading program, which he calls his "school project". We get to mark down every half hour we read and then he can take the paper in to show the librarian to win prizes. He is so excited every night at bedtime when he gets to work on it!

Mitchie is continuing to be one of the funniest kids I've ever met. He's a huge ham and very silly. This morning, he took his first two steps - from the piano to Drew (no surprise that his first steps were taken in order to get to his favorite person in the world!) He is very into dancing these days - I catch him dancing along to Sesame Street when Finn is watching it (mostly arms swinging around, sometimes some stamping feet too!) He has also taken up singing while playing the guitar. When he's strumming away on the ukulele, he wails really loud and I know he's imitating us singing. His main "word" is still "uh oh". Sometimes he will say "up up up" when he wants to be held. He's great with signing "more" and puts his hands up in the air for "all done". He's started moving his hand back and forth to imitate the sign for "airplane" when he hears one going over the house and looks over his shoulder out the window to try to catch a glimpse of it. He is fearless in the pool and at the splash park - splashing everywhere and crawling right into the fountains that even some of the older kids won't go into! He LOVES playing in his Cozy Coupe and on Finn's bike when we go outside. He's still doing his little hitting/fake crying routine, but has now started to do "gentle" too (stroking our faces with his hand gently) - thank goodness! :) His top front teeth are almost all grown in - with a big gap between them - which is giving him the most adorable face ever. He has been going through a pretty whiny phase lately (I think still working on those teeth) - and has wanted to be held most of the time. I also think he's getting frustrated that he can't express himself more and that he can't get around as easily as he'd like. I'm noticing that the boys are playing together more often now, which is leading to lots of little fights (i.e. one or the other screaming and throwing a fit). Most of the time, Finn sees that Mitch has a toy and all of a sudden he MUST have that very toy, so he grabs it and mayhem ensues. There are many times that I hear them laughing together though - so I'll try to focus on that! :) They love roughing each other up and chasing each other around the house. It is definitely an adjustment, being home full-time. I have a lot of respect for moms who stay home with their kids full-time, all year long. It's a really tough, exhausting job. At the end of the day, I am completely drained. But I am loving every moment I get to spend with these guys and I am SO lucky to be in a situation that lets me spend my summers with my kids. They're growing up so fast, and I don't want to miss a minute of it!

Drew holding the aluminum "Best Dad Ever" trophy we made for him for Father's Day

Visiting Grandpa Jim's bench in the Metroparks and watching the boats

Father's Day wouldn't be complete without a "fixing" project - fixing Finn's new bike

Mitchie practicing his driving

Yaya and the boys the next day at the zoo - we went because Drew had a work event there - what could be better than visiting dad at the zoo?

Finn at the petting zoo

I know what could be better than visiting dad at the zoo...potty training at the zoo! Yes, I bring a potty around everywhere in the back of my car. And I'm glad I had it with me that day, because man, did he need it right at this moment! :)

Crazy Mitchie at the splash park

Uncle Dooda and I took the kids bowling to give Erin a restful moment without all four kids. It was a blast! The kids did great - Annie and Finn were actually beating me for the first few frames. Sad but true, I'm the WORST bowler ever. But at least I know how to take turns, ahem...Finn? :) For some reason, he could NOT get over it when it was Annie's turn and he had to wait. It was weird, because that's not normally an issue for him. I guess he's just really passionate about bowling? Or he's just a stinker.

Finn and Annie showing off their bowling shoes (Finn not yet realizing that he was going to have to take turns with her:)

Finn watching his ball

Mallie's turn!

Dance party with the girls and Mitchie

Finn and Annie checking out their scores

The boys at Touch A Truck this morning

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Ferry Family Reunion 2011

What a fun weekend we had hanging out with the Ferry Clan! A great party on Friday night at Di and Kevin's to kick off the weekend. Then a fun time at our house on Saturday night, complete with games for everyone and children with buckets on their heads running around the backyard! :) So great to see everyone as always!

Oops! These next three pics were on the same roll as the reunion, not sure when they were taken!

The Ferry Clan

Papa Kangaroo with his joey :)

A crazy member of Team Australia chasing Finn

Team Italy's performance

Mallie and Finn cheering and dancing along

Team Jamaica warming up for their performance

Finn and Mitch catch up with Aunt Eileen

Team Australia in their kangaroo masks

Finn playing his shaker to accompany Team Australia

Erin's little bucket head (Annie)

My little bucket head :)

Di and Mitch getting one last cuddle in before bed time

Garbage Day!

Finn Dance Party

He told me that the "move" where he is jumping is called the "Moving Frog" :)

Finn's Artistic Side

Finn has been very creative with his singing and dancing lately. Every night before dinner, he does a little dance party on the deck (usually to some Bob Marley music). While he’s dancing, he says “Mom! Dad! Check out this move! Check out this one!” It’s the funniest thing I’ve ever seen, but I can’t laugh or he gets mad and stops dancing. It’s torture. He has definitely inherited Drew’s dance moves. I’ll post the video shortly. We watched So You Think You Can Dance last night and the whole time he was watching the auditions, he was asking “Mom! What’s that move called?” as if he was taking notes on the performances so he could use the “moves” later.

He’s also made up his own song called “What About the Butterflies?” which has now morphed into a new song with the following lyrics:

What about the bananas?

What about the apples?

Food is yummy!

What about the treats? Oh, what about the treats?

Very poetic, I think. I will try my hardest to get some video of one of these performances, but I always get busted when I’m recording him on my phone and he immediately stops singing. J

Memorial Day

Since Mitch's birthday fell on Memorial Day, Drew and I were both off work so we got to celebrate his big day as a family. It was a beautiful day outside and Mitch seemed to be loving all of the attention and special adventures. We got up and had pancakes for a birthday treat and then headed down to the Fairview Park parade. It was short and sweet (we were 3 minutes late and almost missed the whole thing :), but fun to see our neighbors, the band, and the fire trucks. After that, we loaded up the car and headed to Huntington Beach. It was a perfect beach day and the kids LOVED it. We could have stayed there all day. After the boys napped, we set up Mitch's new little pool/mini splash park. They had a blast and played in there the rest of the afternoon (including Drew)!

Mitchie taking a dip