Hygienist, Hiking, Hair, & Heat

Or, how we spent our four-day holiday weekend.

Hygienist (or Thursday):

Thursday started Josh's little vacation from work, and what better way to start a long weekend then taking the boys to the dentist. They did really well. Zeke was hesitant to do anything at first, so the dentist came in and looked at Deacon's teeth first. Deacon did well with this, so Zeke decided it would be okay to do it as well. The dentist said they both have great looking teeth, with lots of room in there (which is what you want), and that we're doing a good job. Zeke was then willing to let the hygienist clean his teeth. Deacon, however, was not willing to let her clean his teeth, but that's okay. He doesn't need it yet, it's really more an exercise of getting them used to it all for when they do need it. But it was a good visit and the boys did well.

Hiking (or Friday):

We took advantage of the gorgeous weather we've been having here lately and went for a little hike Friday afternoon. We walked a trail that leads along the river across the street from our house. We had a good time playing in the water with some sticks and, of course, throwing rocks into the water.

Hair (or Saturday):
I'm still not sure how it happened. I've been nagging Josh for awhile now about letting me cut the boys' hair. Not a lot, but they were getting shaggy (as you can tell from the pictures) and I wanted to trim them up a bit. You know, get it out of their eyes and ears, and off their necks a bit. After telling me "no" numerous times, I suggested we just shave their heads for the summer. To my surprise Josh agreed and so, after dinner on Saturday, we cut the boys' hairs. Maybe it'll be a new 4th of July tradition here? While we think they look great, it was a little sad seeing Deacon's sweet curls go. Hopefully they'll grow back.

& Heat (or Sunday):
Our last day of the holiday weekend we just enjoyed the warm weather. We put the boys in their bathing suits and tried out the sprinkler. They didn't really like it much. Well, Deacon didn't like it at all, but Zeke liked it when I chased him around with it. After some fun with the water (Josh and I had a mini-water war) we went into the backyard and got nice and dirty. Josh grilled some delicious halibut that he caught and everything himself. What a man.

And that, my friends and family, is how we spent our holiday weekend.

This Is the Way We...

burn energy,

burn energy,

burn energy.

This is the way we burn energy

all on a sunny day.

My Baby No More

Our sweet, sweet Deacon turned 2 on Friday. I know, I know, how does this keep happening? It seems like only last week he was 1. Hehe. Anyhoo, we had a lot of fun celebrating his special day. Well, once Daddy got home from work. Before that it was just a day like any other day.

But fun abounded as we opened presents (and I do mean "we" as Zeke insisted on helping, and I joined in when things were moving at an incredibly slow pace)...

I like that last one. Zeke's all smiley as he "helps", while Deacon is all, "Dude. Get your mitts offa my present or I will eat you."

Zeke's smiles quickly faded as he realized that all of the toys were for Deacon and he wasn't allowed to play with them right away...

Reminds me of Zeke's last birthday when the same realization hit Deacon...


Okay, enough sad faces. After opening presents we had pizza for dinner, followed with cupcakes. Mmm. Sadly, we didn't have any candles, so it was just singing as we placed cupcakes on each of the boys plates. I don't think Deacon minded any....


After we cleaned up the boys, well boy, Zeke managed to devour his two cupcakes in 30 seconds without making any sort of mess at all, we put on Deacon's favorite movie, "WALL-E"...

After the movie it was off to bed, where they burned off the sugar from the cupcakes for a bit (and of course, by a bit I mean 2 1/2 hours). Saturday more presents came in the mail, and there were left over cupcakes. All in all, I think Deacon had a pretty good day.

Well, Then.

So, apparently, being quiet isn't the only indication that the boys are up to something they shouldn't be. Before I get into the story at hand, let me back up a little bit.

One night last week, Josh went into the boys' room to check on them and tell them to settle down. As he went to tuck Deacon in he saw little pieces of foam, like from a stuffed animal, all over Deacon's bed. He turned on the light, I entered and together we cleaned up the mess, but could not, for the life of us, figure out where it had all come from. None of their stuffed animals were missing, or super skinny, or anything. Very perplexing.

Now, Sunday night, I was in the kitchen making a little snack, and I was listening to the boys playing and thought, "It's almost 9:00. I should really go in there and tell them to go to sleep, but they almost sound like they're winding down themselves, so maybe I shouldn't." For whatever reason, I decided to go in anway. Sigh. We now know where the foam came from.

Apparently, Zeke thought it would be a good idea to flip over his mattress (there's a crack or two on the bottom, which is really the top, but became the bottom when we thought the cracks were bothering him while he was trying to sleep) and pull out the foam padding inside of it. Then, because why should he have all the fun, he would give the pieces of foam to Deacon, who would then rip them into little pieces. Oh yeah. There was foam and little pieces of plastic all over their room.

After bare-bottom spankings, and much stern-talkings, we clean up and put them back in bed. I do not have pictures of the mess because I did not want to encourage a repeat performance. They hadn't done that much damage, so we just put his bed back together as was, and that was all for the night.

So Monday night, we put them in bed, not thinking anything of it, and went about our evening. After awhile they were getting a bit rowdy so I went in to tell them to quiet down, only to find the room exactly as it was the night before. The mattress propped up against the wall, foam and plastic everywhere. It's a good thing Zeke likes to sleep on the floor, because that's exactly where he slept as I took the mattress out of the room after this since now it looks like this:

Now, this picture doesn't really show the extent of the damage since Zeke apparently had to reach behind/under/whatever that purple layer to get to the foam, and he managed to leave the purple layer intact. Yeah. So the boys and I went to Wal-mart yesterday and got Zeke a new mattress. I knew he'd been needing one anyway because of the cracks, but I had no idea he'd ever do something like this.

As if two nights in a row of discipline wasn't enough, Zeke decided last night, to flip up his new mattress, I guess, to see if he could have a go at it like he had at the last mattress. I have to admit, it was somewhat funny being in the living room and hearing Josh yell, "Have you done lost your mind?!" Oh, those Walter boys.