Finnian's Professional Pictures - 1 Year Old

Finally, on the third try, we got Finnian's one-year-old pictures done at Sears. We were over a month late, but better late than never!

Handsome little guy, if I do say so myself!

Ronan's artwork

Ronan had a great weekend - he learned how to ride his bicycle without training wheels! Collin had tried to teach him last summer, but he didn't quite get the hang of it then. They tried again on Sunday, and it's amazing how fast he took to it. Within 10 minutes he was zipping up and down the driveway with a huge smile on his face! Obviously, it was a highlight of the weekend for him, as evidenced by the artwork that he came home from Kindergarten with today.

The object on the left is our house, and "bob" is actually "dad" (he just got his Bs and Ds mixed up, and his A looks like an O).

Ronan insisted on riding his bike to the bus shelter this morning, and even though it was raining when he got home from school today he went out for a bit until he crashed and hurt his elbow.

Daddy just left this morning for Japan, and when he gets back we are taking a special trip to buy Ronan a bigger bike, since his current one is a little too small for him.

The Boys' Bedroom

We've flip-flopped a few times on whether or not Ronan and Latham should share a room. They shared a bedroom at the old house and it worked out fine. When we moved to our current house we gave them the choice to have their own rooms or to share again. They chose to share. It was working fine till a few months ago when Latham starting waking Ronan up continually and Ronan was constantly tired. We separated the boys until yesterday when they convinced us once again to let them share a room, and they even persuaded Daddy to put up the bunkbed!

Daddy and his helpers moved in Ronan's bed.

Construction begins. It didn't take very long.

He got the boys to help attach the ladder.

Ronan and Latham scrambled up to the top bunk as soon as Daddy gave the okay.

There's a small window on the wall that the bunk bed is on and it spans the lower and upper bunks. This picture was taken looking up at the boys above.

Yay for a new bunk bed!

There is a bank of drawers on one side, and a desk on the other side. The only thing left to do is get a set of curtains for the large window - red, I think; unless I can get the exact shade of blue which probably won't happen.

The artwork that I made to match the boys' comforters is hanging on the wall to the right of the large window. I also have an idea for another piece of custom artwork for their room. Perhaps a trip to Micheals will be on the agenda for tomorrow so I can pick up the supplies I need!

The Boys' Bathroom

The boys' bathroom has been a few months in the making. Yesterday I finally got it all put together, and I am extremely happy with the result.

I wanted to get a really great shower curtain to set the theme for the room, and of course I found the perfect one at Target. I love that place!

I made some custom artwork for the walls, copying the letters and animals from the shower curtain. I used a dark chocolate brown as the background color because that is the color of the towels that I chose for the room.

Target also had some great accessories like this cute toothbrush holder...

...and coordinating letter hooks.

I've included this picture to show how the bathroom is laid out - sink and toilet along one wall, and the bathtub on the opposite side. You can see the reflection of the shower curtain in the mirror. It's so nice to have this room (finally) done!

Laundry Sink Bath

Who knew that in the few seconds that it took to snap a few pictures of Finnian, he could have so many facial expressions? There's...

...happy...

...mischievous...

...playful...

...angelic...

...and excited!

First Tooth!

To date, any blogs I've written regarding teeth have been when one of the boys has cut a new tooth. That all changed this morning when Ronan lost his very first tooth.

It began two days ago when he noticed that it was wiggly - he then worked at it until this morning when I was able to extract it with my tweezers.

Boy is he excited! Lots of his friends have begun losing teeth, and that, coupled with the fact that the Tooth Fairy will be making a stop at our house tonight, makes him one happy fellow!

Two Peas in a Pod

Ronan and Latham are the best of friends - it is really quite special to see. Of course, they have their moments of fighting and yelling at each other (what siblings don't?!?), but overall they get along great...like two peas in a pod.

The old saying - "absence makes the heart grow fonder" - is certainly true in our household. Ronan is now in kindergarten two and a half days a week, and as soon as we see him off on the school bus in the morning, Latham immediately says, "I miss Ronan!" That is followed (five minutes later) by, "Where's Ronan?" Apparently Latham has virtually no short term memory.

When Ronan returns from school they can play for hours together and it makes my heart happy. If Finnian is napping at the same time, it is quiet time for me which means that I can clean in peace (yay!). I'd much rather do something fun like cross stitch, but most days I'm just happy being able to get some chores accomplished during my "down" time.

I'm a sucker for buying clothes for the boys so that they match. I know they won't let me do it when they're older, but for now they think it's kinda fun themselves.

I thought I'd share this photo of Latham to show you how he dresses himself when it is left up to him to pick out clothes for the day. The shorts are from a set of Ronan's summer pjs (I don't even know where he found them), and he is obviously needing to learn a few rules regarding matching patterns. He was quite satisfied with his outfit selection so I humored him and let him keep it on (we had no plans to leave the house that day!)

After asking Ronan to get some pants on, he thought he'd trick me by wearing a pair of my jeans. I thought it was pretty funny, so I snapped a picture of him in them.

These boys sure keep me on my toes... but I wouldn't change it for anything in the world!