What's Up With Us

{I always have a hodge-podge mix of current things going on and don't really know where to write about them. They're usually too short to dedicate a whole post too, but not insignificant details that I just want to ignore them. So, in order to document...here they all are in one random post. :)}

We've been listening to Irish Rock on Pandora all month. After seeing a commercial on Hulu with a Flogging Molly song, W and I both discovered that we both love it. Makes me think of my trip to Northern Ireland and the movie P.S. I Love You. Plus, who doesn't love a hardy accent?

 The "ABCs" has now been added to Ezra's favorite songs that he belts out at random times during the day. He's got W's love of song with my tone-deaf ears...poor kid.

W and E have lots of games they've created and play frequently... "Wake Up" all started when W was trying to get more shut eye and E waking him up with a kisses. It's now become a game instead... W sleeps, E gives a wake-up kiss. They also have a ball game: E at the middle landing of the stairs, W at the bottom. W throws them up to the landing and E throwing them back down {not really a latest thing}. Most recently, E is beyond thrilled that they can both bike together. They do laps around our complex in the evenings while I make dinner.

Speaking of bikes..during their Friday afternoon bike ride, W took off Ezra's training wheels just to see what would happen. He did well, but isn't tall enough to comfortably put his foot on the ground to stable himself. But he's still excited about it and wants to try again. You can just see the pure excitement on his face!

{please don't judge...he's been dressing himself so I don't have much say when it comes to his outfits now. So, that would be his 4T "What happens in Gpa's garage, stays in Gpa's garage" t-shirt that you may have mistaken for a gray sack on top.}

I picked up a chapter book of sorts at the library: Thomas The Tank Engine Story Collection. That's where most of Ezra's kids' pop-culture comes from--books {and a few movies}. Anyway, it contains all the stories written about the trains and E is loving it. Lots of words and a few pictures. I'm impressed that he wants me to read them. 

E is now in diapers only a night and mostly wakes up to a dry diaper! Definitely not at all painful. Thank you, EC, for a easy job! At least, that's where I'm gonna give credit...it had to have played a big role. :)

Theo is almost 7 months and isn't close to crawling. I now am mind-blown that Ezra was already crawling and into solids at this point. At the time, I didn't know any different. Now, I know. I'm thankful for my slow-growing baby!

I started a fire in our  kitchen over the weekend. I was making onion rings and didn't read the instructions all that well. We all know that W is the seasoned one in the kitchen. {ha, so puny}, but I thought I had this. Anyway, I got the oil hot, poured the batter in and then a 1/3rd cup water. So absurd, right?! The batter and water should have been in a bowl for dipping before the oil. Yeesh! Well, W was right on about people only do that once: the water with oil and heat thing. Thankfully, the aftermath was only topical. W helped me clean up after the boys went down and then made the rings. He had me do the last few to get over my fear. :)

Our weekend was a delightfully lazy one. Bacon, eggs and homemade bread breakfast. Walk to the market for strawberries. Once the rain set in, we really didn't feel like going anywhere else. We had a fire. Watched a movie. Read some books. Cleaned house. I started to tackle the mocking pile of laundry, W fixed our dishwasher. We had a crock-pot chili and Yorkshire pudding dinner by candle light.

I've been loving our family dinners lately. It's so fun to have three fully participating members now {with the fourth still present, don't ya worry}. Ezra re-lives parts of his day and it leaves W and I in laughter. It's so amazing to me that he's speaking in paragraphs now. Limited still and sometimes needing interpretation of others' present at the scene but so so so endearing. The other day he was telling me about his bike crash with Papa and he pretty much had my whole heart melting. His eyes sure say a lot. I can tell just by looking at them that he's got so much to say, but there's still that lag to getting the words out. Sometimes, he stops himself mid-sentence as if there's so much up there to sift through before saying it.

We're finally building a family budget. We're meeting with my parents and drawing one up. I know what y'all are thinking...we've been married for four years and just doing this now?!  And one half is an accountant? And the other with two accounting parents?! So sad. Better late than never though, right?? We're using a program/app that Wes & Carolyn told us about long ago and we really like it so far. Super easy and free to use and always accessible. I already can't believe how much we spend on groceries of all categories! And we aren't organic peeps! Is there any consolation prize since we don't go out all that much? {doubt it.} Makes me long for a garden all that much more!

And I'll leave it with a picture of my newest old love. In its newest spot. I  may or may not have already used this a few times this week. :) I still cannot believe I've gone this long without really knowing how and when to use one. I feel like everyone else has been holding out on me, either that I'm the lamest person for just discovering it now. Can we also file this fact under "better late than ever?" too? I swear I knew more than just how to boil water when I got married...{maybe not too much over that...}. Heh. I'm trying to figure out how to girl-ify it since it really can be called mine now. ;)