23/365

Today was Jonah's last day of music therapy. The state cut the funding for it, so we had our last session with Ms. Erin afterschool today. This is Jonah's favorite activity with Ms. Erin. We sing the rainbow song with scarves on our heads. Apparently, in Jonah world this is a fairly awesome activity. I prefer kazoo time. Rex is a mad "karnomica" player. We all agree that losing music therapy stinks!

22/365

Sam has entered the world of baby food. It is a world he really, really likes. Give him a banana in a strainer and this is what you get. Happy, messy, adorable, determined baby.

21/365

Grandma Peterson made the boys these towels last year for Christmas, and I've been meaning to take a picture of them since then. Every night we wrap them up and send them off to get dressed. Layne says they look like hobbits. Tonight, they were anti-photo hobbits on the loose. This was the best shot I could get.

20/365

Sammy usuallt gets a quick dip in the tub just before the bigger boys take over tub time. Tonight, I took the time to let him have his own full on bath. Looks like he enjoyed it, right?

19/365

Jonah and Rexie were chubby babies, but this kid; he is a CHUNK. Look at those adorable chubby thighs and ankles, and don't miss the chubby arm dimple. Chubby babies are the best, hands (with super chubby fingers) down.

18/365

Jonah is a pretty incredible kid. He can't talk, so you'd assume he is lacking in humor skills, right? Well, you're wrong; he has been developing the most adorable sense of humor lately. This is his new little game. When we're practicing reading with cards he'll be playing along doing well and then he'll suddenly get this sneaky little smile on his face and he'll purposefully choose the wrong card, wait for a reaction and giggle. I love to see his face light up, proud of his little trick.

17/365

I have to admit, this baby is in love with me. It sounds prideful, I know, but its true. Being the object of his affection can be hard sometimes because I can't walk by him without him wanting a little love and attention. Sometimes, because he is not the only little angel who needs me, I have to ignore his advances, but the behind the pacifier smile, it steals my heart. Every. time.

16/365

Remember the animal parade? Here is another favorite pasttime of Jonah--collecting seemingly random objects to line up. I say seemingly random because they have definite significance to him. He is careful about what he gathers for these collections. As for me, I'm just glad I happened upon this particular gallery of items and rescued my camera from the forecasted rain. (Can you guess the theme of Jonah's display? From left to right you see a Diego card of a whale, two of Rex's cars, three magnetic letters, my Flip Video camera, a shark, Sam's sock, an alligator, and a playing card with a turtle on it.)

15/365

We had such a fun day today!! We went to Roadrunner Park where we had a picnic, played a little and fed the ducks. They were hard to please and weren't interested in our popcorn, but the boys had more than enough fun chasing pigeons, throwing rocks in the water and people and animal watching. The weather was absolutely perfect. We also had a fun time with our cousins, Gracie and Bella. Grandma treated all the kids to McDonald's, and everyone played in the play area and finished off the night with some ice cream. Forgive my indulgence, but I couldn't pick only one picture. The one of Sammy and me is not the cutest of the day, but I believe in the importance of taking pictures of Mama with the babies. The one of Rexie and the girls is just such a rarity I had to add it (don't you love the sassy pose from Gracie?) and the last, Jonah with the ice cream, is really the picture of the day. Jonah is so picky about what he eats, but lately he has started eating ice cream. He is careful though, slow and meticulous. He sticks his tongue out a tiny bit, touches his tongue to the ice cream and pulls it back in. It takes him 1/2 hour to eat a tiny cone, but it is oh, so sweet.

14/365

Two things Jonah loves are puzzles and animals. I found this cool puzzle book at Savers today. It has six 48 piece puzzles. The boys both loved it. Rexie is clueless at puzzles; he tries to put pieces anywhere he can cram them in. Jonah is meticulous. The puzzle must be completed in a very specific manner; he always saves the top row of puzzles for last. I was surprised and happy at how well they played together. Not bad for $2.99!

13/365

Rexie had a fun day with Grandma today. He needed a little alone time, and he was crying about how much he missed Grandma (mostly he was just mad at me; he sees Grandma almost everyday) As a treat for his potty success, Grandma took him to the Dollar Store and Krispy Kreme. He had fun delivering donuts to everyone after dinner in his Krispy Kreme hat. Cute kid! (Goofy face though--we call this his Popeye face :)

12/365

With boys, you will have injuries, and boys love injury photos too! Rexie gashed his chin open today. We thought that he might need stitches which he was kind of excited about, but after a triage consult with Dr. Grandma, we decided to just get him a butterfly bandage, some Tylenol and a bit of Neosporin. When I told Rex we were going to the pharmacy to get a special band-aid, he said, "The pharmacy, oh...Do they have pigs there?" The kid cracks me up. Needless to say, he is healing fine; although he likes to remind us, "Don't touch my chin or you could give me germs."

11/365

I Love this picture (and this kid :) He did the cutest thing, climbing up into Daddy's chair and trying to recline in it and pop the foot rest out. He didn't weigh enough to sit in it the way Daddy does. but he sure was proud of himself for how grown up he felt.

10/365

In case you haven't noticed, my posts run about a week behind reality. That explains why today's post is from Layne's birthday which was, of course, last Monday. Rex and I made Daddy a delicious dish: fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, steamed veggies and biscuits. Here he is in his Daddy chair enjoying his dinner. He didn't move far from it most of the night, and he got to spend a little time on his new XBOX after the boys were in bed.

9/365

Animal parades are common in our house. Actually, the animals don't move, none of us are allowed to touch them-except of course Jonah. When he was diagnosed, the psychologist asked us if he ever lined things up, and we answered that we had never seen him do that. Nowadays we never know what we'll find meticulously lined up; it's actually quite funny sometimes. The animal parades though, those are my fave.

8/365

At least a dozen times a day Rexie says, "I wanna hold your hand." The kid is obsessed with holding hands, and he has been since he was a baby. He doesn't just hold your hand though, he rubs, picks, pinches your hand; it's his odd way of relaxing. Most of the time it drives me crazy because, as it turns out, I typically need my hands for things other than Rex's personal security blanket time. However, I am sure a time will come (at least I hope so!) when I will be asking to hold his hand. One of his favorite phrases this week is, "I want to do it myself" He is growing up so fast, but several times a day, he still needs me--or at least my hand :)

7/365

To celebrate Layne's birthday, Sammy, Layne and I headed to Pappadeux. Not only did we have a fabulous dinner (seriously. so. good.), we also saw a Cardinals player and snapped this adorable photo in the restaurant. Can you imagine a cuter baby?

6/365

This is something that happens almost everyday, but something I've never thought to take a picture of. Jonah LOVES cards. Especially cards that have letters on them. He collects them, organizes them, sorts them, whatever. Lately, he's been practicing his alphabetizing skills which is what he's doing here. Another favorite of his? Cheez-Its, as pictured here. He's a happy kid in this picture.

5/365

Cosmo, our sweet dog, is the most wonderful animal. I'm mad at him right now because he ate my brownies, but abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyza--sorry, Jonah took over for a minute while I helped Rex get a wipe for his owie--the life of a mom! Back to Cosmo. He is super sweet and wonderful with the boys, but he is getting old. If only he could live forever, but at least all dogs go to Heaven, right?

4/365

Rexie has dozens of delightful qualities; this picture does not document those. Instead we're focusing on one of Rex's less favorable but often seen talents. His ability to become upset ridiculously quickly and remain crying far too long. Luckily, he's still cute when he's crying.

3/365

I forgot the picture until everyone was asleep, but that's not all bad. I love how they sleep curled together. I don't think I truly appreciated siblings until my sons had each other. So sweet.

2/365

Since Santa brought us a wagon and a super new swingset, we spend lots of time outside. Here is Daddy with the boys enjoying a delightful Phoenix day :) Notice how adorable baby Sam is on the right side.

1/365

Go figure, I missed day one...I guess I'll just have to run it Jan. 2, 2010 to Jan. 2, 2011. To make sure I didn't miss day two I started early. This is how we start most non-work days. Layne's a night owl and I'm more of an early riser, and the boys, regardless of when they go to bed, are up by seven. Most days they end up attacking daddy in bed. He ignores them as long as possible, but eventually, they win. Here they are in bed with Daddy on Jan. 2. The miscellaneous items on the bed are various items they collected from under the Christmas tree and brought to me.

Project 365

My cousin, Stacey, mentioned her completion of Project 365, and it piqued my interest. Project 365 is a project which requires participants to take one picture every day of a year and comment or journal about the pictures on a regular basis. It requires the creator document the more everyday events of life, the moments that sometimes go unnoticed and are forgotten. As the mother of three little boys, my life is made up, mostly, of everyday, simple events, things that are often mundane, but things that are so important in the development of my kids. I plan to post and journal about once a week, and I hope to be dilligent in taking and posting one picture each day. Hopefully, it will be an enjoyable journey for all.