Date Nights

As the parents of 4 young boys, there are lots of things that come easily. Organizing a hockey game. Feeding them pizza. Dishing out hugs.

On the flip side, there are lots of things that don’t come quite so easily – most notably giving them the individual attention that they so love and deserve.

So we came up with a plan. Each boy gets one night per month of pure 1-on-1 time. They get to pick what we do and who goes with them, and for the past 2 months I’ve been the lucky recipient of Cole’s night out.

Up first was a trip to Chick-Fil-A and the park. Just committing to hanging with him at the park (when I would usually be “watching” from afar while I checked email from a bench) made him light up. We chased each other, played hide & seek, and he even got me to slide down the fireman’s pole. All together it was a great time and at the end he declared, “This has been the best night of my life.”

This past weekend we went to the Phillies game together. Despite the fact that we were in the second to last row (hey, at least it wasn’t the last row) and the Phils lost miserably, Cole was just happy to have me all to himself (and to eat the gigantic helmet of ice cream I bought him).

Speaking of which, we had this convo on the way home which I wanted to document for posterity:

Cole: Is white a color in the rainbow?
Me: No.
Cole: Then why were there white sprinkles mixed into the rainbow sprinkles?
Me: *palm slap to forehead*

Smiling with a mouth full of Cracker Jacks

My vision for the pic of Cole with the field in the background didn't work out as planned.  He kept saying, "Mommy it feels like my neck is getting all twisted up."  He's yet to learn we sometimes need to suffer for our art.

I’m hoping we keep up with this…more importantly I’m hoping Ry picks Dad for the roller skating adventure he’s been talking about…

Out-Of-The-Box Easter

Since we came home from Florida on Saturday, there wasn't much time to make detailed plans for Easter Sunday.  So we woke up in the morning and had jelly beans for breakfast, went for a hike in the afternoon, then topped it off with burgers, fries & frosties for dinner.

Here's a sequence of Cole taking pictures of Phil and me in burst mode.  Ahh, young love.

A holiday as untraditional as the family.  L'chaim.

Take A Hike

One thing is for sure - you won't ever hear me complain about this amazing weather.  Getting the boys outside makes me realize how cooped up we've been, so we're soaking up the sun every chance we can get.

Yesterday afternoon we hit up Stroud Preserve to throw rocks in the river and hike around the park.  We made lots of new dog friends and discovered that the maximum attention span for a hike is about 5 minutes.  Noted.

This is where I accidentally dropped Dean's sippy cup into the river below.  As you can see, the boys were totally fascinated with the fact that I did something I wasn't supposed to.  They're still talking about it today. 

Straight From The Art History Books

Phil took the boys to Ridley Creek State Park on a recent Daddy Day. I'm not sure what they did there, but based on the pictures he downloaded I can assume that it involved a lot standing on picnic tables and screaming.



Apparently riding on this thing-a-ma-jig takes a lot of concentration - the boys had their tongues hanging out as they rode the day away.



Posing as an old retired man in his windbreaker and white sneaks, Dean strolled around the park looking for trouble.



This picture cracked me up. I couldn't put my finger on why I thought it was so funny, then I realized it reminded me of the American Gothic painting.


May they grow old together like these other crazy cats!

Photo Shoot

When Dean turned 1, my birthday present to myself was to get pictures taken of team Kerper. We met our friend Keyai at the park and turned the kids loose.

Highlights included the stroller falling over with Charlie inside (twice), beating a rainstorm, and having Ry educate us on WC artist Horace Pippin.

Here are some of the shots - THANKS KEYAI!!!!

Come On Irene

Hurricane Irene...seems like a lifetime ago but she definitely gave us a run for our money.

Phil stopped at the grocery store the night before the storm hit. We just wanted a few necessities...unfortunately so did the rest of the Tri-State area.


We lost power overnight...luckily red wine doesn't need to be refrigerated and we drank our troubles away.

When the dust (and my headache) settled, we went down to our favorite place to throw rocks into the Brandywine River. Unfortunately we discovered it was completely flooded out and we couldn't even walk down the steps to get into the park.



Poor Charlie got nailed in the forehead with a muddy river rock. Turns out defending yourself against 3 brothers can be almost as dangerous as battling a Category 1 hurricane.

Swingers

When we go to a park, we take over. Literally.

The other day we filled up the swing set with Kerpers. Phil introduced them to the concept of the Underdog - I'm still trying to convince myself that it's not possible for them to flip over the top bar.


Our toothless wonder is the happiest he can be when he's in a swing. On a separate note - that top tooth is finally popping through, so hopefully he'll soon stop looking like he was in a hockey fight.

Here's our Turkey Bird soaking in the love. Just a little pick-me-up for this gloomy Tuesday.

Warming Up

It's not easy to survive the Northeast winters. Forget the snow and ice - the worst of it is being trapped inside with 4 energetic boys.

Now that the sun is shining and the weather is warming up, we get out and about whenever we can.

Thankfully there's a park just a few blocks from our house. Around this time the trees are all in bloom and it's absolutely beautiful. Just like Phil and me.

Here's a pic from Ry when he was one and also from a few weeks ago. As you can see, not much has changed.

Another advantage of getting outside - so many interesting options for Time Out. Here Charlie takes it like a man (even with his thumb in his mouth). Ah, sweet springtime.