Cha-Cha-Chillin'

Now that the weather is getting nicer, the boys are more than happy to stretch their legs outside in the sunshine. Luckily Charlie is a great travel companion - this comes in handy when we're forced to multi-task (i.e. Feed him in a bottle with one hand and push Cole on the swing with the other).

For now he's totally content to just plop in the grass and watch his brothers stir up trouble...until he starts crawling...then the true multi-tasking begins!

Sunshine, Waterfalls, and Bugs

The boys went for a hike at Valley Green in Fairmount Park last week. Ry's favorite part: "Eating lunch with Daddy by the water." Cole's favorite part: "Carrying my sandwich inside my backpack."

Despite the two ticks that we pulled off of Phil, it seems that the trip was a success (although if he ends up getting Lyme Disease I'll likely take the opposite stance).

Cheese

A tranquil lake and ivy-covered rock proved to be the perfect setting for the boy's school pictures. Luckily these were all completely fake, otherwise the outcome would have been much different (i.e. Charlie sitting nicely in the foreground with Ry and Cole doing cannonballs into the water).

Thank goodness for props.

The 4 Questions...Revisited

The aftermath of the seder is so much more intense than I originally anticipated.

Ry woke up this morning FILLED with questions. All before 7:30 am. This is literally how it all went down:

Ry: Can I see God in real life?
Mom: No, God isn't a person. He lives in our hearts.
Ry: So then how did he come to Moses at the burning bush?
Mom: Sigh.

About a minute later he hit me again.

Ry: Do boils happen in real life?
Mom: Like water boiling?
Ry: No, like boils from the Passover plagues. If God is mad at me will I get boils on my body?
Mom: Double sigh.

I finally got them in the car for school and he kept on going, this time switching up religions.

Ry: Is Jesus a real person?
Mom: Yes, he was a real person.
Ry: When was he born?
Mom: About two thousand and ten years ago.
Ry: How did he die? Can I see a picture of how he died?
Mom: Triple sigh. Can we talk about this when we get home?

I finally pulled into school and thought I was safe. For some reason he moved from Creation to Science and laid another doozy on me.

Ry: Why isn't Pluto a planet anymore?
Mom: [Finally pumped that I have an answer] Because they said it was too small to count as a planet
Ry: So what is it now?
Mom: [Sigh of defeat]: I just don't know.
Ry: I think it's a black hole.

He is SO messing with me.

Some Recent Ry-isms

What's the difference between cosmic energy and regular energy?

[Upon seeing his Play-Doh ruined because it was sitting out in the rain]: My body is feeling a lot of dissapointment when it looks at that Play-Doh.

Is there hail in other countries around the world, or just the United States?

Have your knees ever started knocking together, like when you were really scared? I think my legs are starting to shake.

Did you know that there are deserts in Algeria? Can we visit a desert sometime soon?

The best parts about my new classroom at school: Everyone gets 2 hamburgers at lunch, and the sheets on our cots are orange, not white. Orange!

Just a few Ry-isms to kickstart your brain. If anyone out there can help with the cosmic energy thing, I'm all ears.

Seder

Tonight we hosted our annual Passover seder. Talk about the joys of friendship - the kids were just hanging like this on their own so I grabbed the camera to capture the moment.

This was Cole's reaction when he found out they were going on an afikomen hunt (searching for the matzah hidden in the house.) He basically couldn't contain himself - here's to the little things in life.

I had the brilliant idea to print out pictures for all the kids so they could follow along with the seder. We made it into a game and they actually stayed engaged through most of the service.

The easy pictures to find on the web: Moses in a basket, matzah, candles, burning bush. The not-so-easy ones included most of the plagues. I don't suggest that you Google image search boils, lice, or locusts anytime soon.

On a happier note, I finally found a Passover kugel recipe that was not only edible, but delish. For those of you with leftover matzah, please to enjoy.

Sunshine and Birthday Cake

Saturday morning kicked off with a walk into town. It was so bright out that we stopped at the store to buy me sunglasses - Mr. Drama declared that he "couldn't go on with the sun in his eyes" so I was forced to give up said glasses.


The Growers Market is finally open so we stopped by to check out the bounty. We saw some friends at the flower cart - they showed Ry this week's harvest and he begged us to buy him some. We walked home the proud owners of a pussywillow flower bouquet [insert shameless Phil joke here]. Hopefully the daffodils will be in bloom by next week.

We made our way to the courthouse to eat soft pretzels and soak up the rays.

Later that day we had Ry's birthday party at United Sports. They started off in the bounce houses and then to the courts for some intense soccer action.

Before the big game (and I use that term loosely), they lined the kids up to divide them into teams. 15 kids sitting quietly in a straight line...the people running this place are welcome to babysit anytime.

Happy Birthday Ryan! Love you kiddo.

Go With B

I'll give you two guesses as to what Phil was saying on the other end of the camera as this picture was being snapped:

a. I'm impressed with your quiet grace and keen listening skills.
b. Cole, don't throw the sand.

Springing Into Action

Imagine coming home on a dark, freezing cold night in the dead of winter. You run into the house with 3 rowdy boys who are totally energized from being at school all day.

Next, picture being trapped inside that house with all 3 boys and bedtime is nowhere in sight. They proceed to entertain themselves by pulling every single toy in the house onto the floor, perfecting their wrestling moves, and using the couches as trampolines.

Now multiply that magical evening by approximately 120 and you've got my winter.

The moral of this story - Spring is here and I couldn't be happier. These kids aren't allowed back in the house until October (at the earliest).

Children Speak The Truth

Our random breakfast convo this morning:

Ry: Boys can only play with boy things and girls can only play with girl things.
Mom: What's an example of a "boy" thing?
Ry: Toilet paper and monster trucks.
Mom: What's an example of a "girl" thing?
Ry: Flowers and hairspray.

Touche.

RIP Football

Ry got a beta fish for his 3rd birthday, which he named Football. We were just about to celebrate his second anniversary of surviving life in the Kerper house when tragedy struck. Football died.

The unfortunate part about this was (a) Ry was the one who discovered his untimely demise and (b) He happened to be eating fishsticks at the time. Thankfully he didn't pick up on the cruel irony of the fishstick part.

Ryan has a heart of gold and a brain that understands way too much. This is a dangerous combo, and to say he was upset is a huge understatement. We told him that Football went to heaven to be with GG (his great-grandmom) and Lady (our neighbor's dog). As he sobbed in our arms he had a gazillion questions:

"Tell me all about heaven. Are there grown-ups there?"
"Does GG know Lady?"
"Who will give Football his food in heaven?"
"Will I ever have another fish that I love as much as Football???"

The only thing that calmed him down was telling him that you can eat candy in heaven whenever you want. He went to bed believing that Football is now swimming in a river of chocolate, and I'm even starting to buy into it myself.

This parenting stuff is hard. RIP little fishy.

Gentle Giant

As the kids grow, it's interesting to watch their relationships develop. Ry and Cole are in their rough and competitive phase - always wanting to wrestle, race down the hallway, or have a "Hulk Smash" (stay clear when you hear that one).

Ry can be in the middle of tackling Cole, but if he hears Charlie whimper in the next room he'll run right in to console him. He has a very gentle approach with Cha, and is always guaranteed to get him to stop crying when he's in a fussy moment.

They were hanging in my room today having a little snuggle - Ry saw these pics and said, "We are just too cute."

Dino Museum

Yesterday we went to the Academy Of Natural Sciences, or as Cole calls it, the Dinosaur Museum.

We searched for fossils in the Big Dig...

...hugged the giant turtle in the Outside In exhibit...

...crawled through tunnels in the children's museum...

...pet a snake and a guinea pig (the kids didn't realize that it really wasn't that big of a thrill to pet a guinea pig - I was just thankful that the museum had hand sanitizer ready for post-pet...)

...and checked out the Butterfly Garden. It's a room filled around 100 butterflies all flying around (and not afraid to land on you). A little freaky at first but cool once you get used to it.

There's also a display of cocoons - this impressed Ry since he knew all about the process from his book The Very Hungry Catepillar. Thanks Eric Carle!

We knew it was time to go when Cole started working his way into Charlie's carrier.

We made it out with very few tears and rewarded the team with hot dogs and Philly pretzels from a street vendor. The kids considered this a huge treat (gotta love childhood innocence) so we came out of the deal looking like heroes. Cheers to that!

Looks Can Be Deceiving

We were in the city of Philadelphia, so I guess it was only appropriate for the boys to show off their brotherly love.

These pictures say it all - no need for me to narrate (oh except to add that they were really trying to pummel each other - they just happened to be enjoying the process and therefore, laughing).

Reminder

The other night I was rallying the troops for bed and Ry was MIA. I finally found him sitting alone in a bedroom carefully wrapping a string around his finger.

I asked him what he was doing and he said, "I'm tying this string around my finger so I'll remember not to fight with my brother."

If only it were that easy.

Guy Smiley

I realize that my blog posts are usually about the older boys, so I wanted to share some of the Charlie love. Here's a pic from my phone - Ry and Cole were both napping so we had a rare and quiet snuggle alone.

Lil' Cha Cha is doing great - he's totally easy-going and is always up for joining in the fun. His best skills to date include rolling over and holding his own against his brothers - two important milestones for any youngest sibling.

As I write this Cole is actually shoving Charlie's hand into his mouth and saying, "Cha is brushing my teeth." Being the mom of all boys, I find myself dishing out the oddest reprimands on a daily basis. Sounds like today's gem will be, "Do not use your brother as a a toothbrush!"

So I guess this post did end up being about the older boys after all. Stay strong, littlest bro.

Rollin Down The Hillside

During the last snowstorm (I think it was last week - so hard to tell these days) Phil took the boys sledding at the park. Ry was back on the porch after about 10 minutes with bright pink cheeks and crocodile tears claiming with a shiver that he "n-n-n-needed hot ch-ch-chocolate right away."

Cole was able to hang for at least a few trips down the hill. We told him he had to wear a hat and he picked this one - not exactly what I meant but at least he followed instructions.



Here's an action shot - it made me smile to see how accomodating young A was with her offer to push them down the hill. It also cracked me up to see Cole stuck in the inner tube unable to move - so rare are those moments of stillness.

Trip

I was going through the camera and found some pictures from a recent Daddy Day. I asked Ry what happened and he said, "Oh, I just tripped over the pole."

Snow Day

In anticipation of the snow, we had a sleepover with friends last night. There was breakfast for dinner and 4 boys piled into a tent in the bedroom.

We woke up to a foot or so, and by the time all was said and done I'd say we got about 2 feet. Phil was busy shoveling all of the sidewalks...he's been away for almost every snowfall this season, so he had to pay back all of the kind-hearted people who have helped me out.

The boys tried to go sledding at the park, but it was still snowing and the sled kept getting stuck mid-hill. It was a nice try despite the logistical failures.

They made it home for hot chocolate and a dip in the neighbor's basement pool. Now all that's left to do is sit back and wait for the next storm that's supposed to hit next week. Bring it!