Nothin

Much better than this in life.....
(Yes, they are in our bed :)

Beach Vacay

We just returned from the beach! We LOVE the beach. Well, except Ree who proudly proclaims "I am more of a pool girl!" She loves the shells and particularly enjoys finding the "baby shells". Jee Jee, on the other hand, is obsessed with the beach. He would get just pelted, knocked down, and crashed by the waves and would come up drenched and smiling! That kid has an innate sense of not breathing while in water. It is like a freaky thing. He NEVER inhales water. You may think it is because he probably doesn't go under water that often. Oh no, think again. That kid jumps into the pool with no fear whatsoever. He is offended when we try to help him swim, which becomes dangerous for many obvious reasons like, he is a two year old who has no idea how to swim. Biggie loves water as well and his favorite part of the beach is boogie boarding with dad. He also loves to dig holes in the sand and make forts.

As a side note, I really want to remark on a few things that have been up with my kiddos lately so as not to forget them in the future.

Ree has recently been conditioning her hair because of all the salt water and chlorine. She calls hair conditioner "air conditioner". MJ taught her how to tread water this week and she is a fantastic swimmer now, even though she won't be able to touch in most shallow ends of pools until she is 18 (she is uber short). She calls treading water "trading water". Whenever I am frustrated, she immediately tries to compensate and make it all better by saying "thank you mommy for (fill in the blank)". She really is such a kind hearted, sweet spirited little human. She likes to cuddle for a few minutes at night and then she needs her own space. She is a sugary little introvert. MJ was cuddlying with her the other night and after a few minutes she said "Daddy, can you move please?" So, he scooted over a bit so he wouldn't be quite so close and she said "Umm, no....I mean could you please leave?" Hehe :) I will go ahead and say it because I have thought it for a very long time, she is a genius. I really think she could be a member of mensa if we just had her IQ tested. She is very wise beyond her years with her critical thinking and analytical skills in particular. Love her little heart. She is very precocious. We got to stay with some friends who play in Micah's band while we were on part of our vacation. The dad told us of a conversation he overheard with Ree and his little son who is Ree's age. His little boy is such a cutie but not able to say some consonants very well right now. He said to Ree "we are going to go to the finny pool." And she responded "Well, you need to say it 'swimming' pool, like this 'sssssswwwwwiiiiimmmmmiiiiinnnnnngggggg' pool, with an 'm'" !!!! Hahaha, sounds just like her. She wasn't being rude, she was just trying to help him out. He responded, not in anger or offended in any way and just said "well, I can't say it that way, I say 'finny' pool".

Speaking of talking, JeeJee is NUTSO verbal now. I was so worried for so long with that kid, he did not talk much at all. We would say "Juju, say hello" and he would just respond and say "blahblahblah" baby babble. Well, that has all changed in the course of about 3 weeks. That kid is a talker!!! He is saying almost everything we say and now he has become HILARIOUS. He laid down on a comfy bed at our hotel the other night and raised up his two thumbs for a thumbs up (new favorite thing) and said "BOOOYAAAAA". He also does this clicking of the tongue when he gives thumbs up. He likes to choose who puts him to bed now. He has started sleeping with us now when he wakes up at night. When we are putting him to bed he says "Mia (How he refers to himself, translation: "Me") seep mommy daddy bed." Really, how can we say no??? When he gets in our bed he puts his right arm around my neck and his left arm around daddy's neck and proclaims "cuddle ball!!!!" and squeezes us tight to his cheeks. Love him.

Biggie is really that, a big boy. He is so incredibly helpful to me most of the time ;). He is still his energetic little self and talking my ear off. At some point I am going to count how many times I hear the words "mommy, look" in a 24 hour period. I swear (not exaggerating) it is 50 plus times a day. He is great to sit in the service and really, really enjoys rehearsing music with daddy. He is a LOT like his daddy, which I heart.

Animals, Second Cousins, and Sleepovers :)

We recently had a ball hanging out with the kiddos second cousins. They have never really had the chance to play and hang out but became fast friends....

Tabby dog was so sweet
Jee attached on to his big cousin and fell in LOVE LOVE.
Learning to balance on a skooter
This is hilarious!! You know those games with a crane, where you pour money into it and NO ONE EVER WINS the stuffed cheap toys inside? Well, apparently our cousin is like the pro at these games. We came away with FOURTEEN (yes, FOURTEEN!) stuffed animals. And, he didn't even spend that much! He nearly got one thing everytime the crane went down. Until he got kicked out of the arcade for winning too much (kidding). This kid is a phenom.
With the loot....
First Cousins. Love em.
Aunt and Uncle.
Jee would've slept there all night.

Yep, It's Summertime

The proof is in the pics.....

Woh Boy.

He's like his brother.....He's like his BROTHER!!!!! What are we gonna do with ourselves??!?!?!?!?

This kid has a personality!

New things:

"Dum" :He comes up and looks ever so mischeveous, naughty, and down right cute and says "Dum?" Which translated means "Could I please have some gum, look how cute I am....." (His mim introduced him to gum, thanks for that.....yes, he swallows it every single time. Last time about 30 seconds after he got a piece he asked for "moe peez" and daddy said "What happened to your gum?", He grabbed his mouth and held onto his mouth in a panic "down, down" he said as his heart rate was increasing and he was panicking even more)

"NO poop." : Whenever he poops in his diaper he comes up to me and holds up his hand palm forward and says "No poop."

Being funny: He thinks he is hilarious. The other day he went off in the corner right after I got him out of the bath. He had a pack of stickers in hand. When he returned he had that goofy grin on his face and turned around and showed me the stickers he had put on his naked rear. He was so proud of himself.

Swim Like a Fish

Swimming lessons were this week...uber fun.

Here is what Bean learned how to do....swim in a bucket :) (He's not old enough for lessons yet, although he did, in fact jump in the pool and show that he knows how to hold his breath once when mommy turned my back...don't worry, he's fine....a six year old saved his life.....geez...I digress....back to swimming lessons)

New buddies....
Learning to dive.....She knows better than I do!
What Bean did during swimming lessons.... :)
Bean made friends with Mrs.Robin too!
This is biggie's third year with Mrs.Robin. She's amazing.

Ree learned how to take a breath in the "window" while swimming.

Getting a little instruction and listening attentively.

He got the token!!! On the last day they get to dive for a token and retrieve it. It's like the highlight of the week. They all look forward to it each year!
What Bean did during swimming lesssons.... (yes, it's a caterpillar)
Ree held it for .5 seconds.

Boo

Juju Bean is sick :(

Fever.Icky.Coughing like a seal.

Grabbed the computer camera and took a pic in photo booth.

Here he is when he woke up from nap #2 today. He was drenched, his hair felt like he had just gotten out of the swimming pool. His pillowcase was soaked. Poor buddy. At least the Tylenol worked, I guess.

Noonah feeling pretty sorry for him too. (yes, she has whiskers....we saw Aristocats on stage this week so she will probably have whiskers all week while they are singing "everybody wants to be a cat")
All it took was a few sugars and wa-lah.