We Jammin

One of the most special moments of our weekends these days are our post dinner dance parties. It starts in the golf cart listening to music coming home, carries into the house and then usually continues in the outdoor shower as Jimmy gets the boys cleaned up and ready for bed. The photo series below was a jam session/dance party to a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert DVD. The video was epic, but stupid iPhone said it wasn't a supported file. Danny definitely has a flair for the dramatic.

In full costume

Cool Guys

These three boys are just growing up before our eyes and too cool for school most days. They're at each other's throats half the time and the other half just loving each other to pieces.

Blowing off his temporary tattoo. Such a tough guy.

Getting dressed for dinner. The usual suspects.

Loving his "wings" and crazy hair these days...

ISR for the Win

Starting in mid-July, I enrolled both Danny and Crew in what's called ISR swim lessons. If you look it up, you'll see that the program can train babies as young as 6 months old to self-rescue if they were to fall into water, essentially get to their back and float. For kids Danny and Crew's ages, it's about a swim-float-swim sequence, so essentially they swim with eyes open and "in",  or underwater vs. their head picked up, and then when they need a breath, they flip to their back and enter "starfish" where they can relax and catch their breath and then flip over to swim again. Instead of traditional swim lessons, it's really about survival, so their ultimate goal is to swim-float-swim to get to the wall, stairs, river bank or whatever. No goggles and just eyes open, because kids don't fall into pools with googles on! At the end, kids have to swim in the pool with clothes and shoes on because, again, accidents don't typically happen when you're nicely dressed for a day at the pool!

Danny mastered everything in 2 weeks and is now swimming the vertical lengths of pools like a little fish! He's really using the skills for more water play at this point, e.g. jumping off the wall, entering starfish for a second and then flipping over and swimming back to the wall to repeat all over again. He's also really into diving to the bottom for rings, etc.

Eyes in!

Textbook starfish

Crew being 2.5 years younger than Danny and quite a bit more spastic (sorry, but it's true!), took a bit longer to "graduate" with 5 weeks of daily lessons. What's crazy is the lessons are only 10 mins long, but it's so intensive that it wears them out. This was Crew after his first lesson. He refused to move off the towel for 20 mins. Wouldn't even pick up his head.

In the end, his technique is still not as "clean" as Danny's and he's not swimming per say, but he's safe. At my mom's pool the other day, he stepped off the steps and went under and got to starfish. From starfish, he flips over and swims to you. I'm going to continue working with him to strengthen his skills, but overall I'm happy with where he's at!

Crew with instructor, Amanda

Land starfishing

Proud of himself

At the end of each week, we incentivized with special treats. Here was the first Friday - tattoos from their instructor, Amanda, and Duck Donuts!

Lazy Mornings

Here are some cute pics of the kids having lazy mornings in their pajamas before the tight schedule of school began! I sure do miss Danny and Crew now that they're gone during the day...NOT! Absence makes the heart grow fonder and school wears them out! It's a win, win for mama!

Superhero mask or sleep mask?

Yogurt face!

Crew Returns to SJDS in the 3s Class

Wednesday was Crew's first day in the 3s classroom at St. James and in typical Crew fashion, he was amped about the whole thing. Danny had the same teachers when he was three, so it was extra fun to drop Crew off in that room for the first time. He didn't hug me goodbye, but rather gave me a high five. He's so funny these days! Like when I say to him, "you can play for a minute, but then you have to take a nap," he says, "deal!" Or when I say, "go upstairs and pick up your toys," he says, "check!" Love how his personality is developing! Anyways, here are pics from his first day!

"Thumbs Up" in front of his face

Look a spider on the wall

Focus, Crew!

When asked how his first day went, he said, "I played pets with a grill." Read: I played stuffed animals with a girl. I'd say that's a good start.

And I did the same "back-to-school" interview with Crew and here are his answers.

What's your full name? Crew
How old are you? 2
What's your favorite color? Blue
What do you like to do for fun? Crayons
What's something awesome you can do? Playing toys
What's your favorite animal? Kitty cats
What's your favorite place to go? To the tiki bar
What do you like to eat? Pizza and treats
What do you love to do? Playing with Kingston
What do you not like to do? Go to timeout
Are you scared of anything? The Grinch
What makes you mad? Putting me in timeout 
What makes you sad? The water?
Who do you love? Mom and Danny
What makes you feel the most loved? You (as in mom. Awww)
Who are your friends? George and Alexander
What do you want to be when you grow up? A witch?
What's your favorite toy? Dinosaur
What's your favorite game? The animal one (aka Sequence Kids)
What's your favorite thing to do with your family? The tiki bar
What's your favorite song? Lady Gaga
What's your favorite movie? Jurassic World and Zootopia
What's your favorite book? The bear one (aka Mother Bruce)
What's your favorite thing to watch on TV? Daniel Tiger
What grade will you be this year? 3
What are you most excited about with school? The toys
Who's your teacher? Mrs. Braxton and Mrs. Ivey

Happy 1st Birthday Kingston!

I know it's cliche to say, but I seriously can't believe that Kingston is already a year old! Went this week for his 12 month well check and he's up to 10th percentile in weight from less than 1% a month and a half ago. Thank you high calorie diet! He's still small, but also deliciously chunky. Not much has changed since his 11 month post - still 4 teeth, not walking and babbling all the time, but not really talking per say. One new development... he finds burps and farts especially hilarious. Typical boy. Too busy to let me rock him during nap and bedtime, basically just laughs at me the whole time. So the routine has gotten really short for me - just sleep sack, hug, kiss, crib and then I walk out. He fusses for about 5 seconds, jabbers, rolls around and then he's out like a light!

Anyways, for his birthday, we just did a low-key cake eating and presents with our immediate family before heading out to dinner. Here are some pics from the festivities. We love you so much, Kingston!

Because does he really need a whole cake??

Don't worry I had slices for the other boys too

Loving the attention

Let's do this!

Not so sure

This is pretty good

Woo hoo! Cake is the best thing ever!!

Danny wanted to hold the birthday boy

Loving his laptop from Grandma and Grandpa Ron!

And here are a couple cute videos:

Danny's 1st Day of Kindergarten

Tuesday, 8/28 was Danny's 1st day of kindergarten! He's going to Carolina Beach Elementary and his teacher is Mrs. Jackson with teacher's aide, Mrs. Childers. Tuesday was his "staggered start" day, so it was only him and a couple other classmates. Today, however, it will be the whole class and he's riding the bus home in the afternoon! I'll get him a 2 blocks away at the bus stop. My baby is growing up! He's done so well and is really excited about the new adventure!

Crew refused to let Danny be in the pic alone

Rocking his visitor sticker from drop-off

Crew found the toys!

Over the weekend,  I did a little back-to-school interview and here's what he said...

What's your full name? Danny O'Connor (What about middle name? I don't know. He knows!)
How old are you? Five
What's your favorite color? Green
What do you like to do for fun? Splash in puddles, ride on my scooter
What's something awesome you can do? Run fast, catch lizards and frogs
What's your favorite animal? Lizard and frog
What's your favorite place to go? Aquarium
What do you like to eat? Mac and Cheese, chicken and hot dogs, pears, watermelon
What do you love to do? Privacy on the potty (what in the world?)
What do you not like to do? Take walks. It's boring
Are you scared of anything? Zombies and the Grinch
What makes you mad? When someone hits me or makes funny faces at me.
What makes you sad? When I drop my lollipop and it gets dirty, also when I'm hungry.
Who do you love? Mommy (Good answer. Anyone else? And daddy and Kingston... and Crew.) P.S. He also listed all his grandparents!
What makes you feel the most loved? When mommy or daddy plays with me.
Who are your friends? Caroline, Bailey, Alexander, Miles, Hudson
What do you want to do when you grow up? Be a lifesaver. What is that called? A lifeguard. (What about when you get much older? Work at dad's work)
What's your favorite toy? Matchbox car
What's your favorite game? Guess Who
What's your favorite thing to do with your family? Go out to dinner
What's your favorite song? Beatles 
What's your favorite movie? Captain Underpants
What's your favorite book? Hundred Acre Woods book (a.k.a. Winnie the Pooh)
What's your favorite thing to watch on TV? Coyote Peterson
What grade will you be this year? Kindergarten
What are you most excited about with school? Playing with friends
Who's your teacher? Mrs. Jackson