Lego Fire Truck!

Cole has been dreaming about his own Lego fire truck since Eli got one. This afternoon I surprised him when I picked him up. One happy boy!

Keegan and Kaleb

Today I snuck away from work (literally snuck away! Amazing what you can do with a cell phone!!) to meet my sweet nephews - Keegan Bryce and Kaleb Wade. I knew once they were born that I absolutely had to go see them while they were "brand new" and still in the hospital. They definitely did not disappoint!! Oh how sweet and Oh how tiny. Keegan was 5 pounds 10 ounces when he was born (the older brother - by 1 minute) and Kaleb was 5 pounds 3 ounces. Since Eli and Cole were hovering near 9 pounds when they were born, Keegan and Kaleb seemed so super tiny. They were absolutely perfect. Gorgeous and perfect. When I first walked into the hospital room, I saw my brother Jeff feeding Kaleb (I think that's right) a bottle. I never ever in my life thought I'd see my younger brother with one baby, much less two!! Erin is amazing and is going to be such an amazing Mom. She carried these boys to 39 weeks!! I loved seeing all of them and spending time with them. Thankfully, since it was the middle of the day, I was lucky enough to have uninterrupted quality time with all of them. Erin and Jeff, you have just started the most amazing, scary adventure of your lives! I am so excited that our boys will have fun together and I'm sure get in trouble! Love you all!

 Jeff and Kaleb (I think)

 Aunt Evia with Kaleb

 Aunt Evia with Keegan

 Proud Aunt Evia - aren't they so precious?!

 Beautiful family

 Marvelous Mommy!

Stolen from Erin after they got home. I love it!

The funnest game ever

Eli and Cole have invented the "funnest game ever" with the ottoman. They open it up and ride it closed. It is hilarious to watch them do and they are so proud of the game they invented. Sweet silly boys!!

Turn the ottoman around, open it up

and ride it down!

Guess who's an Aunt!!

Meet my sweet twin nephews - Keegan and Kaleb. Born today at 12:59pm and 1:00pm. Absolutely precious!! Congrats to Jeff and Erin. I can't wait to meet the boys. 

Sunday fun

A rainy Sunday.....what to do? 

Well, first up - church and lunch. Then Eli & I went to meet his friends Andrew, Colin & Ryan at Monkey Joe's while Tim & Cole ran to Home Depot. I was pleasantly surprised that half the city was not at Monkey Joe's and now that the boys are bigger, the Moms were able to sit and talk while the boys had a blast. Eli was definitely tired when we left!

Then we just hung around the house and watched a movie - Finding Nemo. In an effort to delay bath time, Eli decided he wanted to go ahead and do his homework for next week. I took FULL advantage of it and he got all his work done. Yay! It's amazing how much he's learning and how much he enjoys Kindergarten. 

Next weekend.....off to Grandma & Grandpa N's house! 

The only picture I got at Monkey Joe's - top of the big slide.

Homework time

Look Mom, no training wheels!

For the past few weeks, Eli has had training wheels on his bike while he got used to the wider handlebar and steering. This afternoon he asked Tim to take them off and he went RIDING!! We were so excited and so proud of him. We hope he will love riding as much as we do and we will have many family rides in the future. One day, perhaps we'll be able to draft off of him. :-)

Heading out - Daddy nearby for emergencies

Check out that super proud little boy's face!! Yay Eli!

A Lego explosion

This is what happens when three little boys get together and have a lot of "fun" with Legos - the cover every square inch of floor. We won't even go into what they did to the wall (hint: It involves throwing Lego creations against the wall to what them explode. Yep! What creative little brains.). Tonight Eli & Cole's friend Ben and his family came over to play and cook out with us. Destruction aside, we all had a great time. And yes, three little boys ALL got in trouble. 

Back to School Picnic

Tonight Eli's school had a "Back to School" picnic. We heard it was a lot of fun so Eli was very excited to go. There were three large inflatable structures that the boys LOVED playing on. There was also a DJ, games and lots of food. When we first got there, Eli wanted to go play on the playground. He took off and stopped under a shelter to hug his teacher - so sweet! After just a week of being in her class, he made sure to give her a hug. Love it! Eli & Cole both had a lot of fun running around and playing. It was also neat to see Eli interact with the other kids and he even saw a few of his classmates and called them by name. The boys played their heart out and we ended the night with a Sunset Slush treat. Yum! Such a fun night. 

Ready to go have fun

The boys did great standing in line. Cole quickly got the hang of it. 

This face cracks me up. 

The boys loved the big slide.

Cole wouldn't do anything else. This was his preferred way to come down. He'd bounce and then just fall however. 

Mommy & Cole - he wants to be as big as Eli. 

Inflatable obstacle course

Flopping over

Eli played until he was so exhausted. It was great for bedtime!

Look at Cole's face as he tries to catch Eli. 

Peek a boo!

Sunset Slush treat - Yay Leesville!!

Kindergarten - for real

Today was Eli's first "real" day of Kindergarten. That's what he called it since last week was just one assessment day. He loves it! Such a big boy. This Mommy is very proud!

LONG hike at Umstead

Today we went on a long family hike at Umstead. For some reason I thought it was a great idea to try a longer trail so instead of our usual "easy" 1.25 mile trail, we opted for the "moderate" 2.75 Sal's Branch Trail. The boys were all excited and decked out in their Camelbaks and each carrying one trekking pole. The first third or so of the hike was great but then......Cole started to fall apart. It became a competition of who was in the front and leading our family on the trail. We tried to take turns but then whoever's turn it was not got upset. There were many times, Tim & I were ready to turn around and when we would say that, the boys would get upset at that so we kept going. For all the fun, I also got frustrated that the quietness of hiking in the woods was being upstaged by Cole crying - loudly and wanting to be carried. We made it to the lake and took a break / had a snack. We also got an impromptu fishing lesson from a really nice guy who had been fishing with his Dad. The boys loved that and they rallied to have an enjoyable end to our hike. Whew! All in all, it was a good hike even with the frustrating parts. The boys have great trail feet and are learning about longer hikes. We will probably always have to moderate the competition part but we're just glad they like being outside!

And for the record, Cole took a GREAT nap and they were both in the bed tonight much earlier than usual. We're also working on earlier bed times around here since school is officially starting and Eli won't be getting much of a rest time during the day. Growing boys need lots of food and sleep! 

My cute hiker boys

 Headed to the trailhead

 Happy trail feet

 How sweet! Of course, this was in the first happy third of the hike. =)

 Eli did so great on the longer hike. He said at one point that his legs were getting tired but he kept going.

 A trail friend. 

 One of Cole's happy moments. 

 Quick family shot

 Hiking with Daddy - Eli in the lead

 And then we had upset Cole

 which led to this. A ride on Daddy's shoulders.

 Tim is so excited for Cub Scouts with Eli next year. Apparently there's a hiking merit badge!

 Cole rallied and took off in the lead. He must have had four or five "second winds" on the hike. 

 Checking out the worms for fishing

 and getting a little lesson. Much different than the worm and bobber I used to use!

 Happy Cole / Happy Mommy - snacks make everything better!

Daddy's hiking boys

 Almost back - we let Cole lead the rest of the way from the lake. He wouldn't even let Tim in front of him, going so far as to body block him!