We're 17 months old, on the 17th wearing our 17 shirts!

Dawson, Matt & Declan. Apparently I interrupted Dawson during his important phone call!
Today was another milestone, or so I thought! I have been super reluctant and vigilant about the babies not having peanut butter. With all of their sensitive skin issues and respiratory problems I was holding out. But today I just gave in and tried it(uncrustables are so easy & quick). Apparently, while on Matt's watch Carter fed the babies ritz peanut butter crackers. No reaction yet so we may just be in the clear! Declan on the left, Daws on the right.
Declan & Dawson eating peanut butter!

BIG BOYS ONLY!

Balboa Park Mosaic Art This wasn't the train Carter really wanted to ride, but it did the trick.
Ready to EJECT at the USS Midway Museum
Armed w/ their maps and ready to go!
Carter was way to into this for my liking!

We had the opportunity last week to tag along w/Matt on a business trip to San Diego. We left the babies behind w/ Grandma Jean and made it exclusively for the older boys. Every activity we planned we could not have done w/ the babies( at least it would have been difficult or miserable or both). Flying for instance was such a thrill w/ only 2 big boys! We visited Legoland! We quickly discovered that we are raising 2 Roller Coaster enthusiasts! Although Carter is only 4, he is the size of most 6 year olds and could and did ride all the big rides! Many of them multiple times. We also visited the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum, the boys liked it, I would have rather stayed behind and gone shopping or something. They played at the pool everyday, really they would have probably been content to do this the entire week. W ventured out to the movies, rare for us. We saw Wall-E. Don't bother seeing it! We went to Balboa park and saw a model train museum and then rode a small train. San Diego has miriads of transportation options from pedi-cabs to taxis to busses to trains to trollies to water taxis. Carter was in heaven! We rode a pedi-cab one night. Coronado island was a fun beach adventure, as well as Mission Beach where Matt and Evan were quite successful at body surfing! We had a blast, we missed the babies, but the big boys have asked if we could make this an annual tradition! Of course we didn't capture enough of our trip on camera, but these are some shots that we did get.

Slime, Off Roading & Green Sand........

Is it BECAUSE I have all boys or the REASON I have all boys that these things are all acceptable and fun to me? Carter got high centered in our yard of all places. The boys love the backyard, it has been unkempt for at least two years and is such a nightmare. But it's only temporary!
RED SLIME! It's great, easy to make, not very messy & very entertaining!
Not the most brilliant idea I have ever had, but again the boys love it(Dawson, not so much!) and we are only renting! Do you see a pattern here? Believe it or not, I am much less anal about the cleanliness of my home these days!
Can you say INCREDIBLE HULK? Fortunately most everything is washable with a little soap and water, including four boys that I know!(I'm really not stepping on Declan's toe like it appears in the picture.)

Gas(the petroleum kind) & Miralax!

The are very few things I have found to be cheaper in Colorado, but gasoline & Miralax seem to be exections. Who knew?

Carter's Transition

Carter has been having a bit of a difficult time transitioning into our new home, new state and not having Dad around. He still has many bloody noses almost daily d/t the dryness and elevation here in Colorado. We cannot tell you the population of our new city , but we can tell you the elevation is 6300 ft. In the midwest the city limit signs would tell the population, here in the west the signs tell you the elevation instead. Anyhow, Carter had all but masacred his "Grandma Jean" baby blanket so when grandma visited us this past weekend she took it home w/her to recessitate it. She did a fabulous job and returned it promptly(he freaks out during the night screaming and crying for it when he does not have it!). We have noticed Declan starting to carry around blankets or towels or aprons, whatever he can get his hands on. Declan also seems to be much more dependant on his pacifier. Dawson has learned to do w/o, if Dawson had one in his mouth Declan will always steal it, even if he already had his own. After months of this occurring, Dawson can pacify himself, while Declan hoards all the pacifiers.
We promised the boys that when we moved we would set up this fish tank. Carter chose a male and female Black Molly. He named them Wally & Molly. Evan chose a silver tip shark, who is as of yet unnamed. Once we determine that these fish are viable we will get them some decor.

Haircuts & Seperate Beds!

16 months old today! Matt has been threatening to cut the babies hair, so I took it upon myself before he got the chance. I cut 2 inches of curls off all over, still managing to salvage some curls. Why not change everything? We seperated the babies finally when we made the move. Declan is more agressive while Dawson is passive. So Declan would jump up and down on Dawson and wake him up or keep him up, not to mention help each other climb out of their crib. So they were in need of a change. We are still looking for a bed for them, so for now seperate pack-n-plays will work.They are growing up so fast!

Digging for Chocolate Chips

Evan & Carter went to The Dangerous Boys Club tonight at Barnes & Noble bookstore. They love The Dangerous Book for Boys so I thought this would be a fun & different thing to do. They started out on a scavenger hunt looking for insects around the children's book section. Then they made a T-Rex pop up card & then they excavated the chocolate chips out of chocolate chip cookies using tooth picks and brushes. All this plus they got treats. They had great fun and cannot wait until the next meeting next month.
I think by this point Carter was eating his artifacts.