Naples Part 2

Nana and Papa bought some super fun bumper boats for the pool.  They were a perfect size for the boys to hop in and drive around the pool.  They had a blast chasing Daddy and spraying him with the water shooter.  What a hit!

Chase tries out the water shooter

Chase in the bumper boat

Daddy running away from Chase

All the boys in the pool getting set to get Daddy

Owen is on a mission!

Owen loves to spray Daddy

Owen brought his big crayon along and was happy to play with it

Not so happy to be eating dinner.

Chase is sure happy, though!

And loves to be goofy!

A little cuddle time for Daddy, Owen, Chase and Piggy

P.S., Can you tell who takes all the pictures in our family?

Florida 2013

We were very fortunate to be able to visit Jeff's parents in Florida last week.  We left on the 18th and came home on Thursday and had the best time!  Nana and Papa greeted us at the airport with balloons and candy and the boys ran to meet them.  They were so thrilled to be going to Florida they couldn't sleep the night before.  I kept telling them they were going to be crabby the next morning.  When we woke them at 4:45 Chase said, "See, I'm not crabby!" and Owen told Jeff he was so excited to go!  When we first arrived it was only 55 degrees, but warmed up to 65.  It was just warm enough to try out the 90 degree hot tub!  The boys LOVED it and were just so excited to be in the weather, as were were.  Chase, Sandy and I went on a walk and it was like Chase had never been outside before in his life.  it was really precious.  He kept finding "treasures" and stopped to look at every little thing.  Soon enough Jeff, Jim and Owen came around the corner and the boys ran to each other, arms out and embraced.  It felt so good to feel the sun on our skin!

Chase rides on the dolphins in the hot tub

 Owen smiles about being in the tub

 Having fun!

 Chase and his new transformer, Owen and Sandy enjoying the tub

 Little Chasey boy

 Sweet Owen

 Crazy Owen!

 Lely has some really pretty horses at the entrance, which we've never taken pictures by.  Unfortunately right after these pictures Owen was sprinting and tripped over Jeff's foot and took a nose dive, hurting his hands, knees and elbows. 

 The Bergers 2013

 On the Naples Pier with Nana and Papa

This picture was taken right before Chase landed on his bottom after stumbling backwards and trying so hard to keep his balance

 Run Chase Run

 Chase and his wet pants

 Owen gets in on the action in the water despite being very cold!

 Owen leaps away from the water

 Owen runs from the waves

Playtime

Playtime at our house consists of 4 things; trains, Transformers, race cars and cars with eyes (Disney Cars).  The boys rotate between these four types of toys, often with them spread out all over the dining room, kitchen and playroom floors.  There is a lot of race car sound making, honking, transforming sounds, phrases heard from Thomas the Train on TV, "Buff my bumpers!".  Chase and Owen are great at playing with themselves-most of the time.  Many times we are called in if they can't find a specific car or train.  We are also called in to transform the Transformers, which can be very very frustrating since I'm not very good at it.

Another thing that's been going on is the naming of Hot Wheel cars and stuffed animals. Jeff pretended to read the tag on the stuffed animals and gave them names.  This totally backfired when the boys couldn't remember the names and asked me to read the tag.  When I read the tag there was only instructions on how to wash the animal.  I would make up a name, only to be told I was wrong.  This is tough when there are 40+ animals! Same thing for cars-oh man, it's tough to make up original names these days.

The boys are excited for the baby.  Owen said to me the other night in bed, "I want a baby sister really bad!"  How sweet.  Chase, Owen and I were playing a couple weeks ago and Chase said, "The Dr. is going to cut the baby out of your tummy and sew you up!"  I looked at him with big eyes and wondered where in the world he had heard that.  The next day at preschool the teacher told me a little friend's mom had just had a baby and there was a big conversation about it, including what Chase told me.  Wait until they learn how they were born and how the baby will be born!

Overall behavior is still pretty good.  Of course we have our moments, mostly whining or fighting over a toy.  There have been a few moments of sassy talk or comments, which result in a time out.  Neither Chase nor Owen like time outs.  Just the threat of them makes them start to tear up.  There is typically crying and Owen yelling, "I not your mommy anymore."  Then there is repentant time when there are soft tears and cuddles.  We try to talk about how we can change and then pray to God and always ask for forgiveness.

Happy Valentine's Day From My Little Sweets

Funny Stuff

There is always something silly going on our house, whether we are playing or the boys just get silly.  Last weekend I was doing some prenatal yoga and Chase decided to join me.  Here he and I are.  I'm doing my pose and he is doing his "yoga" pose.  He kept telling me to watch him do yoga-which consisted of him tightly wrapping himself around my leg.  It brought a new edge to my balancing!

Daddy and Chase were running around chasing Owen one night.  Poor Daddy couldn't see because Chase kept covering his eyes!

Snowman

The weather was so nice on Tuesday that we were able to play outside after school.  It was so nice to be outside.  We even made a snowman, or a snow mound.  The snow was not very sticky so it was hard to make it.  Chase used pieces that Nana and Papa had given us to make a super cute face!

Owen runs around playing

A Big Project

 Due to the doldrums of winter and my very active husband, the basement has begun to get finished!  We were not planning on finishing the basement for years but Jeff wanted to try his hand at carpentry and it is going quite well! 

 Jeff's framing

 Owen and Chase helping with the work!

Plumping in the bathroom

January in Review: Birthday, Christmas, Pneumonia and More!

January was a great month!  I was feeling so much better and we had some fun.  We got some decent snow and Owen played in it!

I celebrated my birthday . . .

Chase waved goodbye to Daddy in the morning . . .

Owen stirred the banana bread . . .

Owen and Chase learned to dust.  Here Owen dusts the steps.

Reach high Owen and Chase . . .

The boys got pneumonia in mid January and we were home for about 7 days in a row.  They got to play trains on the table and loved the big track!

Chase

Chase played and got cozy in the bounce house.

Owen laughs!

The boys' school had a week of festivities and one of the days was "Wacky Day".  Chase and Owen had so much fun with it!  They wore different socks, their pants backwards, their shirts backwards, Chase wore a tie in the back and a "tutu" around his waist.  They wanted their hair spiky.  Owen wanted a "straight spike" and we didn't know what that was, so he was a little unhappy with his hair.  When we got to school one of the kids had a mohawk and that was the "straight spike" he wanted! So, we used a little water and changed his hair and he was all smiles.

My parents came on January 19th to celebrate Christmas.  We had planned to celebrate the last weekend in December but they were sick, I was sick, etc.  So . . . Christmas was in January for us!
Owen opens up a gift, a train, from Nana and Papa

Super happy to get Belle

And monster truck books

Chase was excited to get a truck book

Nana snuggles with Owen

2 new trains!

Daddy and Chase snuggle

Papa

Chase and his ear print in the play doh

Nana and Chase drawing and writing

Papa and Owen playing play doh.  I'm not sure who had more fun!

Chase talks on the phone!