Brothers - fastforward a few years

Part of Goomba's birthday extravaganza was the arrival of his 2 brothers.  Uncle Bill is the oldest, my dad is the middle and Uncle Mick is 11 months younger than my dad (so for 2 weeks every year, they are the same age)  Every time they get together they make some AMAZING Chicken paprikash.  A Carlson favorite and one of the best Hungarian dishes ever. 

The brother made quite the effort.  Bill flew from CA to Detroit and than drove from Michigan.  They are currently headed down to Florida.  We were the perfect little 2 night pit stop with fabulous celebratory timing.

I love how they teach each other new cooking tricks. Mick is a great cook and enjoys cooking.  So, Stosh and I shopped for the groceries (kid less is awesome and productive - however we were waylayed by the cosmetics aisle which we are never able to browse with little grabby hands).  My dad and his brother rescued us (and the cart) and headed home to cook.   We noted that they changed out our tub of 'light' sour cream for a tub of fully leaded.  Guess you cant skimp on anything with these guys.

We weren't eating until 8:30, but the chatter was worth it.  After a yummy dinner the young one (o.k., middle ones, Chris, stosh and I) escaped for a cocktail.  At the end of the night everyone found a soft spot to sleep.  4 extra adults in our home tonight!

The helpers arrive

On Monday my mom arrived.  YEAH YEAH YEAH!!  its almost like I cloned myself but better.  We can roll our eyes at each other when Shane drops his fork (again) we can make sure the coffee is rolling, we can change Drew's diaper and feed the kids at the same time, we can knock out the DMV and countless returns at Target, Bed bath and Beyond etc...   The first night Chris and i escaped to our first movie together.  Hunger games.  I think Chris has the trailer 52 million times.  its about time to catch the hole thing.  But yikes, tickets and popcorn was $29.....

I LOVE IT and cannot thank you enough for being here.  This was a fun day at the Dino Park.  Dawn, our new neighbor buddy brought us here for a picnic.  A new favorite.

here is our little monkey on the bars.  Nick is obsessed with swinging across bars or rings or anything.  This is his first successful solo mission.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_V5-s8jEjo&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Big project completed, my mom and i added grommet rings to my otherwises rod pocket curtains.  Looks awesome.  Living room and boys rooms.  Biggest improvement yet that even chris noted.  My mom was about to eyeball the spacing - her engineer daughter wouldn't here of it =)!

Even Mom's need a night out.  Thanks to the arrival of Goomba, we walked over to do some wine tasting Wednesday night.  All 5 boys stayed home.

One of the great treats of grandpa life was heading out to the driving range with a very eager golfer.  They went through 2 bags of balls!  Nick came back exhausted - so did Goomba.  We left them sleeping and headed out for some errands.

Part of Goomba's mission was hangers - everywhere.  This is the guestroom bathroom.  Must say, they are getting quite a bit of use these days.

So are these in the boys bathroom.  You just can't see the Sheetrock hole under the hanging towel.  The previous towel bar was super glued to the wall.  What a mess and don't try it at home, it doesn't work!

Love this motley crew - as well as how simply goomba starts them off in the stroller.  However, if anyone knows my dad and his attention span - couple that with these 3 boys and it really is like herding cats for my mom and I to just get them out the door.

Drew is 6 months

Look at that face.  Its 6 months now!  So much has changed.  When I grab him in the early morning for that first feeding i am just amazing at how big his 'little body' is.  He sticks his tongue out when he smiles.  He LOVES sweet potatoes, doesn't care for squash or avocado.  I am crazy enough to make his food (each kid was different, Nick got Gerber, Shane got German and Drew gets Leadbetter!)  and according to this shirt from the humors of Chelcy, he is a milk kid!

And most likely a lobster boy, but that's coming.  I remember buying this shirt pregnant while in Portsmouth NH.  Wonder if he will ever make it there.  Glad i managed to find the shirt.

He is sitting up much better and proving to be just about as flexible as nick

Fingers in the mouth quite a bit of the time.  Could be teething, or they just might taste awesome

This is what we call tummy to tummy time.

can't say as he looks like me in this photo - but folks there their might be a little Carlson in this one

Honestly, cute as a bottom in this photo.  Yet another outfit purchased during my times pregnant.  I remember Farrah bringing this to me while she was living with us for the 10 glorious days in Germany (as they were sadly packing out).  I sent her the photo yesterday and she responded, it was hideous on the hanger - I can attest to that - but super cute on him!!  so glad he looked so dapper!)

Happy 6 months drew.  For the last 6 days you have had your every need met and loved every second.  Oma Sue and goomba leave tomorrow.....  Are you ready?

projects projects, projects.... the fence

Shortly after Liz and Tam left, Chris picked up the hammer and nail and hit the fence.  With all these wonderful visitors, its difficult scheduling time for the crummy projects. 

While working on this fence, he was offered several more fencing opportunities within the neighborhood.  Well, this handsome fence builder will be happy to enjoy life inside his fence for a while.

Here's another beautiful face that lended several back breaking afternoons.  We wonder if he is tired of having us so close yet? 

I am always thankful for Chris's tireless motivation.  For those of you currently questioning the LARGE 6X6 posts as well as the VERY tall fence, please know, these material list was not or design, but that of the rather specific HOA.

The fence it so strong it will most likely keep an elephant in, while we are just trying to keep these 2 penned in.  Its almost impossible to keep the flying objects within the space, but we are trying.

While my dad was here, the gate was constructed and the finishing touches added.  Pauli's arrival date is very very soon =)

A full House with Liz, Tam, Wynslow and Sebastian

Onto the next weekend.  We were so lucky to get a visit from our cousins who live in Saranac lake.  They were driving down to drop off Brooke at Mt Holyoke in Massachusetts and opted to just keep driving south.  They stayed with Barbara and Wyland for most of the week and ended their vacation on a night with us.  We loved how the kids just picked right up in the playing department.  Can you imagine the sound coming from this room.

Liz and Tam got to meet the newest little cousin too.

One of our new favorite books.  The very hungry python.  Thanks for thinking of him guys =)

Next step, load up and hit the road.  Everyone of these bikers was on 2 wheels!  We were a true advertisement for run bikes.

After working out all the energy we grabbed dinner at California Tortilla and dessert at our new favorite kids place, Sweet Frog - you grab a cup, fill it with your selection of ice cream and top it with any possible combination of toppings.  Yuck, or yum.... 

As you can see, we had a great time with them.  The kids went to bed (Seb and Wyn actually shared Drew's room together) than we could all catch up on life and the pursuit of happiness.  Aren't we all at that stage now.  How is work, do we still love it, how to we change it, where do we live, will it ever get easier.  No matter what direction you choose there are always other options and possibilities.  All 4 of us have a different direction and its just so colorful when we all finally have time to talk to each other.

Sunday morning they loaded up their car and headed back to NY.  They managed to drive straight through (minus a few potty stops) all due in a large part to an awesome website called Sparkle stories.  Fabulous simple books that you can download and put on a CD.  No need for the actual book.  But we tried it too.  Great tip and pass it on.

Thank you again to Liz and Tam for carving out some time for us.  We loved catching up and look forward to some more family time at the end of July. 

still moving..... but taking a break with the cherry blossoms

And yes, the saga continues.  I recently spent some time in the linen closet.  Loving linens its quite the feat as during the decent lots of stuff went in, to the point that the door never shut on our rather large linen closet.

but we had to take a break and it was time to get out of the house.  We decided to explore DC for our first time.  Figure out where to park AND enjoy the cherry blossoms.  With SUCH a warm winter they were very early. 

First stop, carousel - I am a sucker for the ones that have horses going up and down.  Thankfully my boys joined in.

Now onto the spectacular photos of DC

Great photography Nick

I love this one

Shane even got involved in Camera action.  If you can stand the movement, check out his little video. 

http://youtu.be/iZYqqhjwcVc

All my boys seemed to be sporting a bit of orange thanks to the McCulloughs and their love for Tennessee =)  Great color too as i can pick them out in a second!

Just for smelling Mr. Drew

A family shot in DC.  What a truly beautiful city.

We did sit down in hopes of enjoying a nice picnic lunch in the park.  We were missing the wonderful pretzels and afternoon beers of Germany.  We settled for a sub par sand which and a Gatorade knock off.  Lesson learned, next time pack your own =)

Oddly enough, the linen closet was still waiting for me when we got home.  If you can believe it, its done....

A deal with Drew and I

Among all this craziness, Drew turned 5 months and is now knocking on the doors of 6.  Seriously?  why so fast?  I bought this shirt with Farrah in CA and we didn't think it would make it passed valentines day - but thankfully he is still wearing it.  I put it on him during his fussy days (yes, he has them) and it reminds me that he is still my lover boy.

Back when we decided to move, I knew we would be touring with Drew as a little one.  We made a bit of a promise to each other.  I would do my best to sit down and 'nurse' him.  During that time, he would do his best to drain me of my stresses.  I remember Nicole telling me that there is some hormone released during nursing that really does relax you. 

We have had many moments with me in tears in a rocking chair or at my whits end with the boys, moving etc... and it was all I could do to sit down with him.  He will also attest that i wasn't always sitting down either.  But for almost 6 months we have each held up to our ends of the bargain.

Sometimes I don't say it, but, thanks Drew.