Sunday bike ride

Mitchie turns 3!

Having cupcakes down at the boat dock

Emotional breakdown when the wind blew out his candles

Hard to believe how fast this big guy is growing.  There's not much baby left to him (other than the thumb sucking and near constant emotional breakdowns, he's just like a little adult :). He woke up the day after his birthday and asked if today was his birthday.  Drew told him no and he said, "oh.  I got another one coming up?"  He's talking up a storm these last few weeks, drew and I are both noticing how many new words he has and the smart questions he's been asking lately.  On every page of every book we read he points to each character and asks, "what he thinking?" Or "what she thinking about?"  He loves the show Busytown Mysteries and pretends to be looking for clues everywhere we go using his magnifying glass.  He's an interesting mix of shy guy and performer, getting into some hilarious dance moves and funny faces and noises, but gets super embarrassed if you make too big a deal out of it (he's exactly how I was as a kid).  So I have to be content with secretly watching him  when he's rocking out to the Busytown theme song or engaging in any other kind of cuteness :). His dance moves have become legend at his school, his teacher's favorite moves are to an instrumental version of "girl from ipanema" they listen to at naptime.  He might be the least patient child I've ever met and gets extremely frustrated when things don't go his way or he doesn't get what he wants immediately (again, he's just like me:).  He's a speed demon on his skuut bike and LOVES to ride it.  He loves riding by me in the back yard making funny faces and then gets embarrassed if I laugh at him.  A constant refrain lately is "I'm not a baby!"  He's usually crying and having a tantrum when he says this, which makes him seem...well...like a baby.  He does not see the irony in this as I do.  Favorite songs before bed are still Salina (avett brothers), twinkle twinkle, daisy daisy, and night blindness (David Gray).  He also likes to do what he calls "the funny things" when I'm putting him to bed.  This is where he puts his hands on my cheeks and squishes my face together and asks me to say words he thinks sound/look funny with a squished face.  Most requested word during "the funny things":  underpants.  He's still a little cuddle bunny and wants to be cuddled up on my lap when he's tired, no matter if its 100 degrees outside and we are both sweating to death.  Finally,  I've been meaning to write this on the blog because someday I will look back and remember singing this made up song every morning to the boys on the way to school (this has been part of our routine for 2 years now) with Mitch chiming in at the end of each line and Finn rolling his eyes and insisting that this song is not for him

To the tune of "twinkle twinkle":

Me: everybody be a good 

Mitch: listener

Me: tell your teacher when you have to go

Mitch: potty (Mitch isn't potty trained so this line is obviously for Finn even if he won't admit that we are singing to him)

Me: be gentle with the friends no hitting or pushing

Mitch: or tackling

Me: be gentle with the toys no throwing or

Mitch: dumping

Me: everybody keep your hands to your

Mitch: self

Me: and everybody have

Mitch: fun!

Mitch usually adds some of his own rules at the end too, like "no hitting trees or buildings" and "no spitting".  So weird.

That's my Mitchie in a nutshell.  Happy birthday little boy!  We love you!

A hike in Cuyahoga Valley National Park

Finn's new wheels

Finn learned to ride his two wheeler last weekend and is now rivaling Lance Armstrong status (minus the doping:) he did it on his very first try after lots of hours logged on the skuut bike!!

Mitch, not to be outdone by his older brother, decided to ride his bike off the deck, scraping up his nose.  Never a dull moment!

Cancelled camping trip = super fun backyard camp out :)

We had big plans for our first camping trip of the summer on Memorial Day weekend, but the chilly weather kept us at home.  We set up the tent and had s'mores anyway, and we lasted sleeping in the tent until 12:30...not too bad for Mitch's camping debut (his last camping trip as a baby didn't go so well:)

"This thing is heavier than a boat full of crackers!"

Erin doing some kind of strange clapping song/dance about s'mores.

Pretty night in the front yard

First t ball practice!