Birthday Boy

Birthday Boy

Cooper turned six a couple weeks ago.  Instead of a party this year, we decided to let Cooper have a sleepover and just indulge his every wish for a day.  So, for his birthday dinner he picked homemade mac and cheese and instead of a cake he wanted hot fudge sundaes.  His buddy Luke came over and they had lots of fun playing on the new xbox kinect.  Since he had t-ball games all day on his actual birthday, we celebrated that morning.

For breakfast, he wanted pancakes (his favorite) and I decided to take it one step too far and make them into birthday panCAKES. Why yes, that is whipped cream and hot fudge on there.

They were a big hit to say the least with the boys:

Happy Birthday to my sweet big boy.

Batman's Day Job

Cooper spent his Saturday cleaning out the vegetable garden boxes of weeds.  Oh my were they weedy.  After a year of being ignored they were absolutly full of every kind of weed. Marshall "helped" by playing with a stick.

He did an awesome job, so much so that Robert and I have decided to get him some plants so he can have his own garden.  We were not planning on gardening this year since we are busy trying to keep four children alive (wow, is that really my only standard) but his enthusiam made us reconsider. 

However, waiting a month or a couple weeks for a vegetable plant proved to be too much for Cooper. So after school on Monday morning, he ran outside with his brother and I did not hear from them for several hours. I knew there were up to something but I was busy with the babies and laundry so I peeked at them a couple times to make sure they were still in the yard and went about my business.  Here is what they were up to:

They took a weed that looked like our orange tree and planted it in a hole they had dug (and recently filled in).  Cooper then put a homemade tomato cage around to protect it and I am not really sure why the baseball tee is up there.  The final piece of the puzzle is Batman.  Cooper and Marshall decided they needed superhero power to protect their plant from the birds.  Here is the finished product complete with a Batman scarecrow.  Crows beware, the dark knight is ever vigilant. 

Meanwhile, the babies are growing so fast.  They are now seven months old and rolling all over the place.  Bear is just about to crawl and Graham could power a small country with all the energy he uses kicking and smiling.  Here is some cuteness to tide you over (Bear is in the monkeys and Graham is in the frogs).

Six months

So wow, it is December already and the babies are about to be six months old!  I cannot express to you how fast the six months have gone by for us.  I wanted to do a little recap of our Summer and Fall before I forget it all.  Luckily, I have photos to jog my memory!

The summer was filled with bottles, pumping and then nursing, nursing, nursing.  The big boys spent time playing with friends and family after the twins were born and finally six weeks into the babies lives I had to take care of all my children flying solo.  I will admit the big boys spent their time between playing in the water hose in the backyard and watching movies.  I was in survival mode and as long as everyone was fed I did not care what the boys did to keep themselves busy. 

First day of school for Cooper and Marshall's first day of pre-school

Suddenly, September was around the corner and I had to seriously figure out what to do because we were sticking with our decision to home school.  Luckily, I spent most of my pregnancy getting ready so I would just have to pick it up and start.  I set the Monday after Labor Day as our first day and only had a small panic attack on Katy ISD's first day of school.  So Cooper and I began our big adventure together in September and we have had so much fun learning the last couple of months.  We have one more week of work before we take our Winter break.  I could not be more proud of him and how hard he has worked.  I am looking forward to adding in some more enrichment type things in January now that the babies are on a more regular schedule.  Marshall is having fun at Yellow Brick Road on Tuesdays and Thursday.   

Snack time!

The big boys both played soccer in the Fall and really enjoyed practice time and their games.  Marshall started out a little shy but overcame it and by the end of the season was scoring goals.  Cooper showed lots of hustle and loved the non-stop action.  They are both looking forward to playing t-ball in the Spring.

Marshall throwing the ball in.

The twins at two weeks old

Twins at six months

Halloween 2011

Halloween was a little more subdued this year than last year because of the twins (you will probably get tired of me saying that) but I still wanted to blog a little about it.  Rob took the big boys trick or treating and I walk around with the babies a little and chatted with the neighbors.

I only made one costume this year and that was out of sheer necessity.  Cooper knew pretty early on that he wanted to be a dragon from the movie How to Train your Dragon, but not the one you would think.  No, he wanted to be Deadly Nadder which is the blue and yellow one. Cooper says he likes his claws.  The one that is in the movie maybe for four total minutes.  I had to google it to find out the name.   Marshall decided he also wanted to be a dragon but he wanted to be Toothless.  So, I jump on EBay looking for deals on costumes and would you believe out of those two choices, the one I ended up having to make? 

I give you Deadly Nadder and Toothless

Cooper was super excited because his costume came with a rubber mask and it looked kind of scary.  This was his first year to be something mildly scary so he thought he was cool. In fact, he kept asking me if he was scarier than Marshall.

Marshall loved being toothless even in the goofy mask I made him.  The boys were very quick to tell me that Toothless did not have pointy horns so I had to make curvy ones.  I wish I would have gotten more pictures but I have twins so...

Speaking of my sweet babies, this photo pretty much sums up all I could say:

Next year I am looking forward to dressing them all up in an outrageously embarrassing ensemble while I still can.  I need some ideas so please share!

Two more make four

So I had a small problem after having the twins and that was the title of my blog no longer worked.  Brown and Blue referred to my two sons eye color and I know have four boys, three of which are blue.  So, I thought I would rename it after the most common phrase I hear when out and about with my boys.  So, I give you "You have four boys?"

A close second was "So are you going to try for a girl?" but I like the positive of having four boys not the insinuation that I am somehow missing something.

So here are Barrett and Graham right after they were born

and here are my four boys who are now 5, 3 and four months:

My tummy hurts...

I am going to try and start writing down the cute things my kids say because more and more I am finding holes in my memory.  Don't worry about me, I am hoping it is temporary condition due to the babies that are sucking up all my nutrients.  It seems like the little buggers have moved on to my brain because I could not even remember the pin number to my debit card and had to use the credit option today.  Man, was that awkward at the checkout stand. 

ANYWAY... Marshall has chronic stomach aches.  He will come up to me and tell me his tummy hurts and like any good mother I start questioning him about bowel movements.  He affirms that he does not have to potty and tells me "my babies are kicking me!" 

It was Cooper's turn to say the prayer over lunch at pre-school the other day and I happened to be in the lunch room.  Cooper starts out sweetly thanking our lord and savior for the beautiful day he has given us, the babies in momma's tummy (awe!)  and then asks God to forgive Marshall for hitting him while they were playing trains the other day.  Everyone thinks this is so cute and all I can think about it how Cooper started this fight the day before by hitting Marshall. 

Makes me think of this passage from  Luke 6:42 - "Or how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me cast out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote that is in thy brother's eye."

So I hate to blog without a picture so here is recent one of the boys:

Baseball!

I finally got some pictures tonight of Cooper's playing baseball.  Our practices have been starting at 6 p.m. and the lighting has just been too bad to get any decent pictures.  After being harassed my my father about the lack of photographs of his grandson playing ball, I remembered the camera tonight.  I have to say that if you need something to make your soul smile, T-ball will do it.  I love everything about it but mostly that the kids have no idea what is really going on.  They are not competitive yet and are playing just for the fun of it.  No body gets mad when they get out or miss the ball.  In fact, it seems the best part for them is chasing down the wild throws that allow more running around time.  Oh and the dirt, glorious dirt.  It seems Cooper likes a clean base because he will spend several minutes cleaning all the dirt off the bag while he waits for the next batter.  He was most excited tonight because he got part of his uniform - his socks.  His bright egg yolk colored socks.  His giant bright egg yolk colored socks!  He cannot wait to put them on but I told him he had to wait until his game.  His team this year is the Athletics (the A's) and our colors are the traditional deep green and golden yellow.  His first game is in a couple of weeks and we all cannot wait. 

Enjoy the photos Pawpaw.

Hmmm....Do I have time to clean off the base?