And the rest of February

Lincoln finally got his first molar! Only 23 months in the making. Yeah, he's a little behind.

 We got free frozen yogurt from Yogurtland! That's an acceptable dinner, right? And yes, Charlotte is in the back of the stroller, see the brightly colored fabric peaking out of the back?

 Lincoln also figured out how to squeeze his hands past the baby locks on the bathroom cabinets and got his hands on a tiny bottle of baby wash. He did exactly what he was supposed to do with it and started washing his hair.

 Not too much clean up with this mess, thankfully.

 Just a random Sunday morning.

 I must think every day how I can't believe how quickly these kids are growing up. There is a car commercial on right now of this dad giving his little girl the rules of driving and she's maybe 4 or 5 years old and at the very end, it shows a teenager pulling out of the driveway. It feels about that fast. Where did these big boys come from? I just had babies a couple months ago.

Ethan learns to ride...

 I have always known Ethan is a very athletic kid, but when he learned to ride his bike in one afternoon, without ever falling off, without ever scraping a knee or anything, I was amazed! He probably could have learned months ago -- had we ever tried. My only hesitancy in teaching him was simply that he wouldn't have the judgment to go along with it. He physically probably could have done it last year, but I wasn't quite sure he would know to look both ways on the street and know how to stop quickly and things like that. It was amazing though. 

It just came as an idea one morning. Ethan asked to ride his bike outside (as usual -- this is a daily occurrence). On a whim, I decided to take off the training wheels, and just see what would happen.

I literally had to hold onto the bike two times, then it was just a matter of him learning to start the bike by himself. He spent the rest of the afternoon on his bike. That night, when John got home, I had John come and sit in the backyard and told him that Ethan had a surprise for him. Ethan and I had planned that he would come out riding his bike. It worked perfectly! Ethan came around the corner and John was in awe! He couldn't believe how well Ethan was riding! It was an awesome surprise!

 The following morning Ethan got out on his bike (I think it was around 7am). He informed me that he was going to start doing tricks and taking jumps. How do they learn this stuff?! I certainly didn't give him those ideas!

 Lincoln immediately took possession of the balance bike and claimed it as his own. He can't get his bum on the seat, but he certainly walks all around the yard "riding" his bike. 

 I'm so proud of my almost 4 1/2 year old riding his bike like no big deal!

uh uh uh, I workout!

In January, I started running again, and slowly but surely have been building up a little mileage. On some days, these is our setup, and I feel like superwoman. Yes, that's Ethan on the front (he got too tired, I pushed him a little too far this day), then Charlotte in the baby seat and Lincoln hanging out in the jump seat.

 How about some awesome helmet hair?

 And some days, Lincoln decides he wants to hang out in the front. I discovered that Charlotte's entire infant seat can fit in the back of my Phil and Ted's stroller when it has the jump seat on the front. So cozy!

No excuses, right?

Extras from January

My boys love playing in our backyard. They find all sorts of bugs, worms, and who knows what else.

 Here, it's a rolley polley (How DO you spell that?)

 Lincoln was so excited to touch it.

 Ethan got a fantastically cute quilt from Grammie Pammie. We are so spoiled! It has the softest minky on the back. We love some minky at our house!

 Ethan went to the dentist this month and got another clean bill of health!

  And we've been hanging out a lot and give our new baby girl lots and lots of cuddling.

 She is learning to lift up her head too!

 And doing lots of bike riding. We got a balance bike at Christmas and Ethan has completely mastered it in about 2 weeks. Time to think about the bigger bike I think!

 Charlotte loves to hang out in the Bumbo.

 Maybe "loves" is a strong word. She does look a little hesitant in this one.

More cuddling. And more pajamas. I swear I put real clothes on them occasionally.

 Be afraid, be very afraid, Charlotte.

 Lincoln is learning every day to be a little bit more gentle.

 He is also developing some serious sass.

 I will blackmail him one day, you can count on it.

 Charlotte is learning to give such big smiles now.

 And she has a little dimple on her right cheek, just like Ethan.

 The boys helped John and I put together an Adirondack chair and Ethan was upset about how many tools he got to use or something. Drama drama!

 But he always cheers up very quickly. He is one of the happiest kids around.

Park Time!

This was a first for me. I took all the kids to the park -- BY MYSELF. I was completely scared, but we had run at least 5 errands and the kids were so good, they really needed to get out and do some running around. 

Charlotte, thankfully, did this:

 So the boys could do some of this:

 This:

 This:

 This:

 This:

 And this:

It was a wildly successful trip!

Our Family at the Monterey Beach House

Warning: This post has exactly one million photos. I was playing with different settings on my camera and happened to take at least seven million photos, so although you may think this is a lot of pictures, I promise, I did only select my favorites. P.S. You're welcome to use your mouse at hyperspeed while you peruse.

We got to go to the Beach House for the weekend and Jane was able to come along with us! It was such a beautiful weekend, I think we only went back to the beach house to sleep.

 First stop: Dennis the Menace park. We are so unpredictable!

 The boys are finally starting to play a little better together. Of course Lincoln does get trampled on a daily basis, but there are occasional moments when Ethan can be protective.

 Ethan learned how to use some of the bigger kids equipment and was quite proud of himself. He really does love learning new things, especially if its a gross motor task, well and if it's just gross.

 Lincoln was very adventurous and had no problem running everywhere in the park, of course, this is not a newly-learned behavior.

 They chased each other everywhere! Then we headed out for dinner. Also, very good idea to wear the kids out before going out to dinner. How have I never thought of this?! From now on, we have 4 o'clock park date -- everyday.

  After dinner, we headed down to the beach just because it was still such a nice day. You may notice that my children are fully dressed while heading down to the beach. Please note that this was on purpose. It is after all, Monterey and January. This is how we roll.

We took advantage of Jane and snapped a few family photos.

These ones I think, we the best ones. Not that we look fantastic, but they just make me laugh. I love our little gang so much. Every day might be crazy, but I love it.

I love this one of Grandma Jane and Charlotte. Charlotte is still so tiny!

I think more than anything else, I put pictures of all my boys on the beach playing. We just love the beach. Perhaps we should consider living within walking distance of a beach on a more permanent basis. Of course, moving two automotive repair shops doesn't seem to add up though.

Here's my handsome hubs. I love that when we got married, I think orange was his least favorite color. Now, thanks to me, he has about 5 orange shirts with small differences and he chooses those most often to wear. It really is a good color on him, and such a happy color for the beach.

Oh this little Lincoln boy is getting so mischievous. Don't you dare tell him he can't do something, because you'll turn around and he will have done it already. He loves to tease and calls himself "funny" all the time. He is super talkative and is Ethan's little shadow.

It almost looks like Lincoln is keeping tabs on his older brother in this one. It's probably exactly what he was doing.

They are both watching Ethan sprinting from the waves, it is quite entertaining. Ethan is so fast and cuts it as close as possible.

I just kept playing around with different settings on my camera. It would have been more useful if I had actually kept track of what I was doing, but I like the lighting here nonetheless.

It really was the magic hour down on the beach and I couldn't help myself from taking picture after picture.

Slowly but surely, the boys got a little bit wet. You knew it was going to happen, right?

But they love it, so I guess it's worth it.

John and I have a very similar shot from when we were just engaged,

I guess we have changed in seven and a half years.

Look at this funny kid. Scrumptious.

Can you spy all three of my boys?

And now, we just plain give up on the whole "stay out of the water."

Ethan found some treasures on the beach. He is such the little ham. He will definitely smile for the camera anytime I ask. Lincoln has to actually have a legitimate reason. In this picture though, I can see John's Grandpa almost exactly.

Well, it happened, Lincoln took a little tumble in the waves.

And he was ready. To. GO. Time for a hot bath!

 The following day we took a nice long walk. Here are two otters we saw while walking along the pier.

On the way back from our walk we played at the beach again. Are you ready for another stream of pictures?

Some real action shots.

Ethan! Smile! Yep, he can do it even when running.

Lincoln was just slightly more hesitant next to the water. I consider that a blessing.

I don't know why, but I love this one.

We could literally just play forever here. Jane got in some rays too. It was just beautiful!

Lincoln spent about 1 minute resting. Doesn't he look so worn out?

Then, back to work.

Do you see me? I'm here! Rain boots at the beach = good idea.

Check out these action shots.

They couldn't get enough of it! You should have heard them laughing. Sure, I was giving the warnings and such, but they would not heed any of my advice.

Ok, it wasn't ALL that strongly worded, but really they were just giggling.

And, I guess if THEY didn't care that they were getting all sorts of nastiness in their hair, I could get over it.

Time for another bath! Until next time!