(he obviously isn't home to exercise editorial control!) and then later I was able to join them for one of my favorite afternoons ever.

Jack has been practicing so he can eventually join us. That boy is really growing up. He's in undies exclusively now and mainly accident free. He loves telling us what a big boy he is. He loves telling us a lot actually, he is a chatty, snuggly, sweet little boy. Most of the time anyway. And as you can see, Adi is also growing up. She even looks kind of big! For being in the 5th percentile that is. She drinks out of a sippy cup

and can pull herself up. (I cut out the part of that video where she was happily standing, and I plopped her down and made her cry, in order to capture the pulling up on camera!)

She's learning to sign "more" and "milk", and it looks like she's taking after both of her brothers in preferring clapping to the technically correct version of "more". In any case, it's pretty darn cute.

This is such a busy time for us. Thanks for still checking in, even though I'm not posting much.

Oh I almost forgot! We spent a great afternoon with Matt/Tony, Emily, and Liliana. Old friends are the best!

Speaking of crazy attire, Max was heart broken that he wasn't allowed to wear this to the gym. (Those are still-attached mittens hanging from the hat.) It's 80+ degrees here!

Adi is still the sweetest baby in the world, but she's growing up

and is therefore no longer the easiest baby in the world. She likes to be in on the action

and is no longer super thrilled to play by herself in the playpen (sigh). But when she's not confined, she's into everything - she goes straight for the trashcan and pulls it over, and then to the shoes and tries to eat them. She finds any stray anything on the floor and eats it; I fished a dead bug out of her mouth the other day. Feeding her is no longer optional - she wants people food whenever we're eating it. (I heard Sean yelling this morning and this was the scene I arrived to.)

She and Pup are therefore best friends.

Jack is doing great with the potty though he still isn't to the point of voluntarily using it. But he's in underwear anytime he's awake, even when we leave the house. The hardest thing at the moment is that he is not ready for undies at bedtime (or even close) but I have to hold him down to put a diaper on because he says he is "not a small boy!" He is at that super super cute age where he's learning new stuff every second and talking a ton. He is a sweet brother, always sharing with Max and almost always doing whatever Max wants to do. Which Max takes full advantage of. Max continues to have some serious attitude (I hear that I'm the worst Mama of his life almost everyday and last night at bedtime he told me that I had taken all the fun out of his life) but of course he's still mainly sweet. Love these kids!

Happy anniversary honey bunny come home SOOOON!

Today we were able to see Uncle Steven and Auntie Carmen, and they had a pretty awesome celebration #2 for him.

I fear that celebration #3 will happen at Chuck E Cheese but I'm still hopeful that Max will forget about that idea and/or learn to love my zoo suggestion. I am sorry that my posts lately are so blah but sleep deprivation is the defining feature of my life at the moment.

Yesterday, Max's last day as a 4 year old, we watched one of our babysitters in Seussical the Musical. Max was adament that he does not like plays and did not want to go, but he ended up loving it. The concessions helped. I forgot to pack a snack for Adi, so she enjoyed her first chips.

Today the main event was a visit to Pirate's Island, the smallish indoor waterpark located in the same building as the gym I teach classes at. This worked out great, because I was able to leave Adi at the gym daycare and just take the boys in. We met Max's friend Malachi and his fam, and also one of the big kids from the gym came with us, which helped a lot since Sean is out of town for the week. Anyway, here are some pics because I need to sleep immediately.