Beach Fun

A few more beach pictures to share from September...

 

 

The boys discovered the pure joy of boogie boarding and riding the waves. 

Beach Love

We went to Kiawah, SC over Labor Day weekend, which was quite a while ago, but it's never too late to post some pictures of beach love...

 

Once in a while...

...once in a while, I find Isaac wearing only his underwear, riding his brother's bike, waving an American flag...

Rock Star

I had to laugh when I stumbled across these pictures of Isaac today. 

 

Isaac has such a unique sense of humor and a different way of looking at life.  It just comes naturally to him, and all we can do is sit back and laugh.

 

I found Isaac wearing his goggles and playing the drums.  He had put on his goggles by himself, which is pretty hard to do.

I also found Isaac wearing his owl costume and mittens while playing the drums.  He's singing at the top of his lungs.

 

Both times, he was also wearing his "earmuffs" (ear protection). 

 

You can't teach someone how to be a rock star.  It just comes naturally :-)

 

 

 

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is such a busy, fun day!  

Meet Astronaut Noah Diamond

Meet Isaac the Owl

After Isaac's birthday dinner, we headed to the neighborhood Halloween party

Right before this picture, all the kids sang "Happy Birthday" to Isaac.  It was so sweet!

This was our first year that the boys independently went up to houses by themselves.  They did a great job and had so much fun.  Noah was a great big brother, and he made sure Isaac got to the door ok and took turns ringing the doorbell.  

At one neighbor's house, Isaac said "Trick or Treat!  It's my birthday right now!"  The neighbor gave him hand fulls of extra candy!

The boys loved that Grammy was a witch and Yaya was a clown.  Noah has already raised his expectations and he thinks Matt and I should wear costumes next year!

Ah... sitting on the couch, eating a lollipop, cuddling with Yaya and watching Fox News.  What could be better?

Happy Birthday Isaac!

 Our baby turned three yesterday!  

In reality, Isaac has been three for quite some time, so now his body and his mind and his age all match!  Although, he doesn't see it that way.  As his birthday has been approaching, Isaac has been holding on to being two and being a baby.  He sometimes asks me to call him "Baby" instead of "Isaac," and he likes to be held like a baby and rocked.  It's all ok with me!  I'll take as much "Baby Isaac" as I can get!

Isaac has been practicing different ways of showing three fingers for his age

Grammy and Yaya joined us for Isaac's birthday celebration!

Isaac's big birthday gift was his very own bike!  He loves it and has already spent hours zipping around our driveway at a very high rate of speed.  It's even more entertaining when he screams with delight as he's pedaling past.

We love you so much, Baby Isaac!  You'll always be our baby, but you're going to love being a three-year-old too!

Silly Boys

A beautiful day and matching t-shirts made a great photo-op. 

 

Now, if only I could get both boys to smile for the camera at the same time... 

 

Well, the pictures I did get were much more entertaining!

 

Cutting Strawberries

Isaac loves cutting any type of fruit or vegetable with his kid-friendly knife.  As he was cutting the tops off these strawberries, a few actually made it into the bowl before being eaten!

 

Light Rail Love

One of our all-time favorite activities is riding the light rail train.  In August, we celebrated the end of summer by riding the entire length of the rail line.  The boys loved watching the city whizz past their window and spending time together.

 

Little Lion

 

Isaac found this super-cute lion costume and had so much fun wearing it around the house. It was first worn by our friend Jack, then Noah wore it to go trick-or-treating on the day Isaac was born almost 3 years ago. 

Telephone

Noah had a blast with something seemingly simple at Grammy and Yaya's house: a telephone.  

They have a real live telephone on a table in their den.  You can pick up the handset (which is conveniently connected to a cord), hear a dial tone and dial a phone number.  Then the most amazing thing happens:  someone answers and you can talk to them!

This was so unusual for Noah because we don't have a house phone, or a phone on a cord.  We guard our cell phones because they get dropped or music is mysteriously purchased on the internet when we're not looking, or emails are sent to work contacts.  Usually when the boys want to use our cell phones to play games or look at family pictures, we put the phone in "airplane mode" so they can't make calls or buy products.   

But, at Grammy and Yaya's house, it was so fun to use the phone.  Noah used the programmed button to call Yaya's office and leave many, many messages for him on his answering machine.  Grammy wrote out her cell phone number, and then her cell phone rang many times too.  Sometimes she would answer and sometimes Noah wanted it to go to voicemail so he could leave a message.

I was out running errands, and I got a call from Noah, which was so cool.  He called just to say "Hi" and "I love you."  When I got home I realized that no one else knew he had made the call, so it was something he did completely on his own.

A telephone.  Who knew it could be so fun and such a new experience?

Riding in the Wagon

Noah had fun going on his own private wagon rides one day while Isaac was napping.  Yaya took Noah to the end of the lane to get the mail, and then around the house a few times.

When Isaac woke up, it was time for his own wagon ride.  I hopped in the wagon (and Noah did too) to get a few pictures of his reaction.

I loved seeing the pure joy on his face as he watched the pine trees zip by

and catching his smiles as the wind rushed through his hair

His wonder while watching the tires go around and around and around

While all this wonder was going on, Noah didn't even look up.  He had brought a book about Apollo 11 in the wagon, and he was busy the whole time.

When I asked him if he wanted to look around and enjoy the tractor ride, he said, "Mommy, I've already done that.  That's why I brought a book along this time" and went back to reading.  

Isaac's wonderment continued for the rest of the ride, and Noah got in some good reading.  Everyone had a good ride!

Tractor Rides

No visit to see Grammy and Yaya is complete until we've had countless rides in the John Deere wagon.  I remember riding in the wagon when I was Noah's age.  It's one of my favorite childhood memories!

Grammy went on a wagon ride too!

Noah got his turn to pretend to drive

And Isaac pretended to take the tractor on a spin too

Work Work Work

Noah and Isaac had so much fun helping around the house while we were in Michigan.

 

Noah pulled the wagon full of lunch supplies to the gazebo

then back to the house for another load

Isaac had a turn pulling, too, of course!

A heavy load going back to the house after dinner

Then, Isaac worked so hard to clean the pine straw off the tennis court

He's "pulling a load to the dump"

Ahh...work is over, time to relax!

Ahh...a snack never tasted so good!