s'mores

We spent Bugman's actual birthday hanging out at the Germantown Reserve for the Baker family reunion. The boys had a great time, and the weather wasn't so gosh awful hot for once.

That evening we decided to break out the fire pit (that we had yet to use). The mosquitoes in our backyard are HORRIBLE, so we hung out in the drive way and invited Steve and Katie from across the street over. Bugman loves the idea of making "Mores," and loves watching daddy roast the marshmallows (or mommy light the darn things on fire). The eating part he could take or leave.

Bitty Bug, on the other hand, L.O.V.E.S. him some "Mores."

...and as for Mommy, we'll just say I had my fair share...

block party

One of the fun things about our neighborhood is our annual block party. Each year that we've been here it has seemed to get a little larger, with people inviting their friends and families to come as well. The boys have a blast, but can't seem to understand why one day a year they are allowed to play in the middle of the street.



Bugman drove his tractor down to the party but it was quickly taken home when some "big kid" strangers decided they wanted to drive.

Katie and Steve (Bugman's new favorite people) brought the "girls," their poodles Carson and Rudy... yes they are HUGE Bengals fans. Bitty is a puppy fan.

Someone must have notified the ice cream truck, because it showed up and had to have made quite a profit off of our crew. The Bugs enjoyed the first, of what I'm sure will be many, ice cream truck treats.

ten on tuesday (on wednesday)

1. Good news - The nice guy at Best Buy was able to retrieve all of the pictures and grad work that was on my laptop. Because it was still under warranty they then sent it back to Gateway. Hopefully its a problem with the computer and not a virus and we won't have to pay for the repair. I still don't have it back, but am hopeful that they will call any day now.

2. School started last week. We're all still trying to get back into a routine after a pretty laid-back summer break. We've finally had the boys in bed by 8:00 the past two nights, which leaves a couple hours of down time in the evening. I watched a riveting new episode of "The Hills" on MTV. This show happens to be a guilty pleasure of mine.

3. Speaking of guilty pleasures. Who likes the Jonas Brothers? Turn up your volume and you can hear them. I really didn't mean to like them, just like I didn't mean to put a Hannah Montana/Mylie Cyrus song on my ipod. I blame it on working with five year olds. Their taste in music seems to be rubbing off on me.

4. I'm "cautiously optimistic" about my classes this year. So far they seem very controllable and pretty smart... ask me again in a week :)

5. Bitty has nastiness pouring from his nose. I kid you not, I started school last Monday, and Wednesday his nose started. I hadn't even been around kids yet, so I don't know where it came from. We're blaming allergies at this point. I'm determined to have a better winter than last year, when both Bugs seemed to be sick ALL.THE.TIME.

6. Bugman can write his name!!! Well, he can write the first four letters, which I don't think is too bad for just turning three :)

7. Bitty's new talent is blowing bubbles from his nose...

8. I haven't taken a single picture in at least a week. School will do that to a gal. We're going to get back on the wagon this week.

9. I'll be playing a little catch-up on photos for the next few days.

10. I'm planning to do a big photo order this weekend, SO, if there are any photos that anyone wants, let me know which photo, and what size (wallet, 4x6, 5x7, 40x40 to adorn you new library wall... you name it and its yours.) Just leave me a message on the post that has the pic you like or send me an email (Leanne7580@hotmail.com).

sick

As I was getting some photos ready from our block party last night, my computer screen went black. I turned it off and on...nothing. This morning... nothing. We're getting ready to head out the door to have it repaired. Now I'm sitting and staring at the blank DVD I had out to back up all of our pics from this summer, and ALL of my grad work from the past year... I'm feeling a little sick at the thought of losing it ALL.

Luckily, we have Daniel's computer, and the most recent photos (all of August) are still on my camera, so I will try to get those up soon :)

Until then... keep your fingers crossed that we haven't lost everything!!!

carillon park

First, I had great intentions of posting Sunday night. I even sat down at the computer, until I heard the Olympics on in the other room. Gymnastics to be specific. I forgot how much I L.O.V.E. the Olympics... especially gymnastics. Then, as we were watching, they started discussing the Frenchies talking smack about the US 4x100 swim relay... so of course we had to watch and find out what went down. Can I just say WOW... Daniel and I were both out of our seats shouting at the TV (I felt like my mom watching football on Sundays :) If you happened to miss this race, you must watch it!

Watch here

Absolutely amazing!

Back to the Bugs. We had a fun, but super busy weekend. Saturday we headed to Carillon Park in Dayton.

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Daniel had been wanting to take the boys all summer to ride the miniature train that they have, and we finally managed to remember on the correct day and at the correct time. You weren't allowed to take photos on the train, SO being the rule follower that I am, I listened. I probably would have fallen off anyway, the seat was a six inch beam that you straddled. Bugman's favorite part of the train was the tunnel that we went through. In true Bugman style he wasn't excited until about 10 minutes after it was over.

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We explored for awhile, and saw a "big train" which may have excited Bugman so much that he shouted "Holy Crap Balls!" Oops, not sure where he got that from ...

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We also saw what Daniel claimed was a super old computer.

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Then of course we had to stick the bugs heads in these. (They are going to love us for this one day.)

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Bitty Bug showed off some of his award winning expressions.

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... and then fell and skinned his head on the sidewalk.

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Stayed tuned for the second half of our Saturday... Block Party!

the big 0-3!

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Saturday we celebrated The Bugman's big 0-3 birthday, complete with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Last week I took Bugman to the party store to pick out party supplies and then to Ele to pick out a cake. He chose a "Cars" the movie theme, as this is currently his favorite book (too bad he left it at a play date last week, and we haven't retrieved it yet) :( The cake looked a little something like this:

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When it came time to sing "Happy Birthday," he was having nothing to do with it and hid in my dress... screaming. My family says this little act reminds them of someone else when they were little... I wonder who that could be?????

We did catch Bugman doing a little of this

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By Saturday the weather had cooled off slightly, but it was still steamy, so the little ones had fun playing in the water.

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Bugman recieved lots of fun gifts, and even got a big John Deer tractor from Nana & Papa. He wasn't so sure about riding it in front of an audience, but Drew was more than happy to show him the ropes.

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a new favorite

Ok, so I just finished papers #76-79 for my Master's degree. Let me say that one more time, papers 76-79. Seriously, can we say ridiculous????

Anyway, now that those are out of the way, I will post about The Bugman's 3rd b-day party later today. As I was sorting through all of the pics from Saturday, I found this. It was taken at the end of the day, as the last of the family were leaving and Bitty was exhausted. He had almost fallen asleep in the swing out back and was toting his Lovey Bear around. Two of my favorite boys... I think its my new favorite :)

because sometimes you need to lay on the floor

If you're really busy around here, you might not even notice Bugman waking up from his nap. Sometimes he hunts me down for a squeeze and a snack, and other days he just kind of lounges around. Today was the latter. He came out into the living room and made himself a bed on the floor, complete with pillow, blanket, and an elephant. He hung out for a good 10 minutes before proceding to grab a truck, race into the bedroom, and wake up his brother to play.

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Perhaps he was getting a little extra rest in preparation for his big PARTY DAY tomorrow!