All grown up

After Owen's 4th birthday and Momma's weekend trip to the beach (read:  the outlet mall in Foley), Owen got a few things that made him seem a little grown up for his little 4 year old self:

• a button down collared shirt
• new jeans
• a belt
• Sperry boat shoes

 

Seriously, he looks like he just turned 17, and I am pretty sure that is something similar to what I wore to work last casual Friday.

 

Ah, the comments

We get many comments about having 4 kids, especially so close together.  LOTS of comments.  Unsolicited comments.  Rude comments.  Nice comments.  Why on earth would you do that comments. 

The most common is everyone trying to be funny asking "Don't you know how these things happen?"  Why yes, actually, we do...  The best comment I have heard to date, has to be a co worker of mine.  When he found out that we had a 4th boy after our twins, his reaction was:

"Dude, y'all need to get cable.  No, I'm serious, they have some good stuff on TV nowadays, you should check it out."    

Compared to all the other things people say, it caught me so off gaurd and I couldn't stop laughing. 

Ben in a Big Boy car seat

Our baby Ben has graduated to a big boy car seat and he finally gets to see the world now. No longer riding backwards so we have reconfigured the Swagger Wagon once again. We removed one bucket seat with no middle and placed 3 car seats across the back. It gives us a makeshift changing table, easy access to the rear seats and Jen loves it. Nuff said. When Momma is happy…we are all happy.

Mommy Vacation/Daddy Weekend

Jen went on a well deserved trip to be beach sans kiddos. The family condo in Perdido Key was available and she took the opportunity (with Dad and grandparent’s assistance) to head out of town to get some R & R. MawMaw and PawPaw were in town for night number one, with Sissy and Gaga coming to the rescue for day number 2 (and the rest of the weekend). We split the guys up and I took P and J for the weekend while O and Ben went to NOLA.

It was really nice to spend some quality time with Parker and Jack as they rarely get time alone (well, no one gets too much one on one time, we have to work on that). Having two 2 year olds might not sound like the most exciting weekend, but I was great. I felt like I could go anywhere with just 2!! We went to the LSU Lakes in the midst of 95* temps (not terribly smart) but I was prepared with plenty of juice, water and snacks to make them happy. It has been quite some time since I went running with them in the double stroller...and pushing around 70 lbs plus the stroller is quite the task!! I made it about 2 miles which, considering the weather was pretty good. We ran some other errands: went to Target, had lunch at McAllister’s Deli, and went to visit Lod Cook while I looked for our anniversary brick (after 20 minutes, I still failed to find it). The house was much quieter without big (and little) bro around, but both P and J were much more verbal when Owen wasn’t around to speak for them. They did look around the house and say “Owie?” with a puzzled look on their face…so I know they missed him.

Jen came back relaxed and rejuvenated and I know she had a good time, but we definitely missed our Momma.   

First day of swimming lessons.

Or pool school, as O coined.

We went, we cried, we swam, we got ice cream. Just look at that face....

Makin' groceries.

If one more friend with their one or maaaaybe two babies tells me its hard to shop with kids, I'm going to rip every last hair off their head, k?

Never too early.

From the womb to the laptop in this family...

Balloon Championship

On Friday after work, we went for an adventure to watch all of the hot air balloons take off from Pennington.  We ate a quick dinner and packed up the guys, grabbed snowballs, and went to park the car.  We were right on time at 6:30 for all the balloons to inflate and take off...so we waited, and waited, and finished our snowballs, and kept waiting.  The air deflated and the balloons went away with an anti-climactic fizzle.  Finally we headed home towards the black storm clouds and figured out the they had to cancel the festivities due to the weather. 

Big bummer.  It was especially a bummer to have to explain to Owen that the balloons "popped." We would have planned to come back later in the weekend, but it was going to be 1000 degrees so friday night wad the only way we were venturing out. Oh well, maybe next year.

Cousins.

About once a week, we have a little get together for 7. Would this stress some people out? Not us. The more disastrous the house is at the end of the play date, the better.

I guess they're twins..

And sometimes they just don't wanna hear it.

Our feathered friend.

We've been taking a walk in the mornings this summer before the devil's breath burns up the day-- and there's a house in the neighborhood that strangely houses ducks. Their garage is slightly opened at the bottom for the little fellas to go in and out. And Parker has befriended one of these pals as his very own. He cracks up laughing upon sight of him. So I let him out of the stroller and they play chase for a few minutes before he needs a water break and then we tell the Duckie goodbye. It's way cute.

Bye Mrs. Marilyn!

This was owen's last day of class with our beloved Mrs. Marilyn! I could have not asked for a better teacher for Owen for his first time away from his mama! He (we) cried for about the first six weeks of Mother's Day Out-- but Mrs. Marilyn and her co-teacher Mrs. Anita were so positive and encouraging. We are so thankful to have found Jefferson Baptist and to have had a wonderful first year of preprepre-school :)

Just like Daddy

For Father's Day, Jen spent an afternoon having a photo shoot with the dudes playing dress up.  She put them in my work shirts, dress shoes and sunglasses and put them to work on the laptop!   She framed all the pics so I could have all my guys at the office with me all the time!

Little does she know that we are starting our in consulting firm soon. We will specialize in shape art and color designs with sidewalk chalk!

Eyes Wide Shut

Apparently I have been known to sleep with one or both eyes slightly open.  This is very creepy to those who have ever seen me sleep.  Sorry, there's nothing I can really do about it...I assume that this is just a flaw in my genetic makeup as I seem to have passed this little "quirk" down to all 4 of my boys.  Back in our college days when I lived with Uncle Joe, he would catch me napping on the couch, see an eye open and not know if I was sleeping or not.  He would then proceed to get REALLY close to my face and scare the ever living daylights out of me as I woke up with his mug in my face saying "You were doing it again, that's really weird." 

 

A while back, I was rocking Ben to sleep when Jen was at work.  Since Jen always puts him down at night, I guess it has taken me this long to notice that he also falls asleep with one eye slightly open too.  I have witnessed Owen, Parker and Jack all do this and now it has been confirmed that Ben inherited this trait as well. 

 

Sorry buddies for passing this one down!!

A big boy transition

Look at our big boy Ben who is starting to use a sippy cup.  What did Jen put in there, he is really putting it back!

Geaux Ben!