(I wish I would have taken a "before" picture, but I only have the "after" shot.)..........
Just imagine toys EVERYWHERE in the middle of the rug, and a little boy begging his mother to play Membory (Memory). The mother kept telling her little boy that as soon as he picked up his mess, she would play with him. The little boy would pick up one thing and say that he had to take a break (he gets this from his father), thinking that his mother would give in and help him pick up the toys. She held strong on this day and refused to help him clean up. Instead she went to her room to fold laundry and told the little boy to call for her when he was ready to play the game. After 30 minutes had passed, she finally heard her son yell, "Mom, come take a look!" When the mother came into the living room, she was so impressed and praised her child over and over for the good job he had done. After the game had been played and put up, the mother sat on the couch to watch a little "Good Morning America" and felt something poking at her side from underneath the throw pillow. Upon closer inspection, she found a toy behind the pillow, but really didn't think much of it. This is a pretty common occurrance at her household, but something told her to go look behind all of the throw pillows on the couches. This is what she found....
Maybe her little boy didn't deserve all of the praise he had received, but the mother remembered doing similar things when she was a child. So, maybe he takes after his mother after all.
Will and I went to Portfest last night and met up with some friends. Annie was Will's riding partner on the kiddie rides and I had to ride with him on the "big kid" rides. Annie is the cutest little girl, and I don't think her parents could have picked a more suitable name for her...look at her adorable curls! Annie kept trying to hold Will's hand and hug him when they would get really excited about getting on the next ride, but he would have no part of it. I'll remind of him of that in about 10 years!
race cars
motorcycles
inside the spinning bear's tummy
Will in the glass maze
I went through the maze with Will the first time, and the second time he wanted to go by himself. He got on the wrong path one time and almost started to panic, but he finally figured it out as I was on my way inside to help him. We also rode the Tilt-a-Whirl three times, the octupus once, and another ride the went frontwards, backwards, and sideways that I really did not enjoy. I made the mistake of saying that I didn't like it while on the ride, and Will said, "If you're scared, I'm scared!" So, I quickly told him that I was not scared. He said, "Me either, but I don't want to ride this anymore." I couldn't have agreed more!
Playing in the rock box and swinging (Will is pushing Miller)
The Three Stooges...Will, Wesley, and Miller
Jake thinks he is big enough to hang with the big guys...
Bellylicious!!
Time to eat...look at Jake's face in the background!
Jack, our neighbor
One month old Taryn was at the party. She is Wesley's new sister!
Jake is the most easy going child I know. He is truly a joy to be around, and we are so blessed to have him. I'm not trying to imply that Will is not, but as some of you will remember, Will had a terrible case of colic that lasted about the first four months of his life. He was a wonderful toddler though, and everyone commented on how well behaved he was. We never really hit the terrible twos or threes with Will. So I sort of had a theory that if you have a "cranky" newborn, you have it easy in the toddler years, and if you have a "pleasant" newborn, you will have it difficult in the toddler years. Jake is just now entering the toddler years, and he is still pleasant, so I am hoping that my theory will soon be proven wrong. Here are a few pictures I took of Jake this afternoon while he was entertaining himself in his bedroom. (Just a side note, Jake has a double ear infection and a red throat right now, and he is still happy as you can see!....Also, for those of you wondering about Billy, he is doing great. If you don't know what I am talking about, let's just say that Jake will always be the "baby". A family of four suits us just fine!)
When Will asked if we could go to the grocery store when I picked him up from school today, I knew he was almost back to 100%. He hasn't had much of an appetite, but today he asked if we could get some marshmallows and stuff to make brownies. At this point, I am letting him have whatever sounds good to him just so he will get some calories back into his diet. He has lost about 4 pounds. The surgery wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be, but it wasn't a "walk in the park" either. (There were plenty of nights spent crying because of the pain.) Here are some pics of Will "helping" bake brownies...which is a lot of bowl licking on his part.
