Hmmmm.  What to say about this picture?  Now that I see it, I vaguely remember the day.  Joel bought stick on mustaches for the boys to play with.  What I’m not sure is if we were having a grumpy day and I was trying to lighten the mood with playing dress up.  I do know, I was not feeling grumpy in this picture but was trying out my serious face.

This is what happens when we run out of time for blogging.  You get to see the picture, but not necessarily the stories behind the pictures.  So, make up your own.  :)

What do you think this picture is saying?  Nicky’s grumpy because he doesn’t look at cool as Dexter and me?  I don’t think we’ve gotten the mustaches back out again.  I wonder where they are………..

It seems like all great ideas are born out of need of something.  Indoor soccer season has come and gone and this year, under the influence of my peers, I signed Nic and Dex to play.  I justified it as being a good gross motor skill enhancer and a way to get the boys to interact with others.  Nicholas and Dexter play fantastically well with each other (most of the time) but I would say they still don’t socialize much with kids their own age.  Kids will come talk to them on a play ground and they usually take a step back, look at the social child with a look of “who are you?” and move on to something else.

Anyway, it took a lot of selling, but finally Joel said OK, sign them up.  To give you an indication of how the season went, he’s not letting me sign them up for anything other than swimming for at least a year.  Yep, our expectation changed from “I can’t wait to see them run after the soccer ball and follow the horde around” to, “I hope I can get them to walk out onto the field”.

I’ll start with Nicholas.  I am very proud of him.  He overcame his fear of being bumped into by others, his lack of conditioning, and his frustration of not being able to kick the ball to actually running after the ball, attempting to kick it once or twice, playing goalie and stopping goals a few times.  He found great pride in playing when he felt good and when he was overwhelmed by the noise (indoor soccer is SO LOUD) and other things, he shut down and didn’t want to try.  Good Job Nicky for trying.  His coach awarded him by grabbing the soccer ball in the last game, setting it right in front of the goal and having Nicholas kick it in.  The goalie didn’t stop it and Nicholas scored!

Poor Dexter.  Soccer is not his cup of tea.  He was completely overwhelmed by the noise, by the actions asked to perform, and by the other kids.  He just physically and mentally shut down.  I had never seen this side of Dexter.  The first game, his head hung down, his body slumped and he wouldn’t move.  The game moved around him.  It was a chore to get him to practice but as long as I held his hand, he would try in practice.  By the second game, we told Dexter he did not have to play.  We brought with us his head phones and he sat on my lap and watched Nicky.  At least this time he perked up.  By cutting out the sound, his smile was back and so was his wiggle.  By the last game, I got out there with Dexter and he kicked the ball (by accident – right place at the right time but he kicked it!)  The promise of a donut afterwards was a powerful weapon.  Dexter – you amaze me.  I am so proud of you too.

Here are some pictures of our season.  Sorry it took us so long to write this post but as always – life moves at a brisk pace here in Everett.

And now for the video:

I have to admit, I’m a bit burned out now on writing posts (going non-stop now for ~2 hours).  I’ll leave this one short and sweet.  The boys are very proud of their cup cake faces.  Frosting rules the world.

Joel is always on the lookout for a good camera, a good computer, plenty of playmobil toys, and a good desk.  And why shouldn’t he be?  He’s complained of wrist / arm pain for many years now and he works from home every Friday.  (By the way, the doctor just stopped by and said Joel did great in surgery – is recovering nicely, and had every reason to complain because his physiology is all screwed up.  Thanks for that, Loren.)

Anytime Joel gets his tools out for a project, the boys jump right on into the fray.  After all, they are Yates men!  I think this is desk number 3 or 4. I’ve lost count.

The desk did finally come together.  The boys did a  great job helping and then not helping as they spun around in the desk chair and accidentally whacked Joel on the back of the head with their feet as they spun around.  All I can say is that is always really neat to see them help their father, …….. especially when he doesn’t want help.

The weekends we had in April were glorious - beautiful, clear and slightly warm.  This Saturday started out well, the boys woke up on the right side of the bed but then took a left turn at Bora Bora and headed south fast.  Sometimes, I liken our house to the Bermuda Triangle.  You never know if it will be clear sailing ahead, or if you’ll end up at the bottom of the sea. One thing I do know, is that typically, if the day is headed south, get out and start driving.  That is what we did.  As frustration levels were hitting their peak (does anyone know how to make transitions easier???), once in Kanga (our van), the clouds cleared away and we headed to Mukilteo beach with shovels in hand.

Maybe a little too sunny for eyes opened pictures…. but aren’t they getting big?

Every time we go to this beach, I hunt for baby crabs to no avail.  But this morning, I finally got lucky.  Looks like the poor little crab had already had a run in with something a bit bigger as it was missing one of its  big pincers.  It’s also a good thing that I don’t mind picking up little crabs.  (For you adults out there, shush.)  Joel is completely weird-ed out by that kind of stuff.

Look Dex – someone built a cave out of drift wood.  Should we go in????

Dad – I don’t think that is such a good idea.  What if there is a cave in?

Mom – you are cut off from taking any more pictures.  It’s too bright out and there are no trains.  This is all I can do for you…..  Cheese!

Finally, one I remember!  The other day, Nicholas and Dexter were playing and Nicky looks up at the pictures on the frig.  He points and says “I want to play with those girls.”  Those girls being Katie and Ashlyn, the daughters of Nicholas’ godmother and our good, friend Dawnn.  Apparently the boys like older women just as much as their father.  ”OK Nicky, we haven’t played with the girls or chatted with Dawnn in a long time.  I’ll call them up and see if they can play.”  I do respond to requests nicely asked.  Two days later, this was the result.

After an hour of running around the house, playing chase and soccer and getting generally all wound up, it was time to cool things down because bed time was right around the corner.  Reading is a nice, generally calm activity that inevitably involves way too many questions.  Hmmm – “Oh Katie, would you like to read a story to the boys….” I asked “little” Katie (we’ve had to remind everyone involved that it’s “little” Katie and “tall” Katie, not “big” Katie).  She said yes.  Dexter brought her a book and they all sprawled out on the carpet to read together.  Katie was very serious about the story to the boys and didn’t mind too much when they got a little giggly with Ashlyn.

Ok, like every big sis out there, she did try to reign them in.  It was so cute to see and Joel and I swear we took a video clip of story time with Katie and Ashlyn but we couldn’t find it on any of our cameras.

Finally, Katie got into the swing of things and started laughing along with the boys.  Thank you Katie for the great story time session and thank you Katie and Ashlyn for coming over and playing that day.  The boys had such a fun time that evening.  Come again soon.

First off, I know this is an oldie because the toilets are still out by the front door.  We’ve since moved one into the bathroom and the other in their bedroom.  Two, I wasn’t here for this one but this is what Joel told me went down.

Dexter had to go potty. Inherent in the male species genes is the need to read while taking care of business.  I really didn’t know this fact until I had boys.  Reading on the potty is just something that has to be done.  In this case, Dexter picked out a book and made himself comfortable.  Nicholas wanted to read that book too.  So, what did he do you ask?  Well, Nicky did what needed to be done.  He got the other toilet and parked it next to Dexter.  And even though he had just gone potty not long before, he pulled down his pants, put on his listening ears, and listened to his brother read a story to him.

It makes you smile, doesn’t it?

As duly noted before, April weekends were awesome.  We found ourselves with a soccer bye and a beautiful day.  Joel and I looked at each other; Whidbey Island?  YES!  and the race was on to get out of the house.  We were out by 9am.  By 9:20 am were were at Fred Meyers to get gas for the van.  The only way we had actually gotten out of the house that morning was to promise a donut snack.  The boys and I went into the grocery store to purchase donuts and bananas and because we didn’t want a mess in the van, we sat down to eat them in the store.  By 10:15 am we were in the ferry line and by 10:30 am, we were on the ferry.  So much for our early start……

The cool thing about Whidbey Island is that across from South Whidbey State Park, there is a 0.8 mile flat hike through forrest and a few old growth trees.  The boys were old enough – it was time for our first nature hike.  If you look closely at were the fallen logs cross, you will see a wood pecker.

Sometimes, it is impossible to get a “good” picture of them together so instead, we focus on showing you personality shots.

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Ahhh, my little hikers.  We had forgotten that there could be and was, muddy spots on this hike.

Look – a really big tree!

I’m not sure if Nicholas is channeling his inner Popeye the Sailor Man or a pirate – Argh matey.

OK, not that is a REALLY – BIG – TREE

When do you think the nursery log that this tree began it’s life on, crumbled away as the other tree kept growing?  I have never seen anything like this and both Joel and I were a bit fascinated.

The boys finished the hike just fine.  However, they boarded their pack animals (Joel and I) for the journey back to the van.  Thankfully, this stretch was more of a straight shot.

So, let’s see.  First was donuts.  Then ferry ride, followed by hike.  Back in Kanga for a trip up the island to McDonald’s where the play land was overrun by loud kids.  Thankfully, Dexter and Nicholas were as much of a fan of this situation as Joel and I and back into Kanga we hopped.  Next up, Deception Pass and collecting good rocks by the water.

It was an incredibly fun day.  After all this, the boys passed out in the car around 3:30pm.  NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.  We had to stop at the outlet malls in Burlington in order to wake up the boys, eat a banana snack, and shop for clothes for them.  What an adventure.

Is it bad when you look in the background for clues as to the time frame of when pictures were taken?  I have to think that these pics occurred sometime around Easter because I recognize the flowers I bought to take to my mom as a thank you for feeding us gift.

Anyway, one weekend in March, Joel and I started our spring cleaning in earnest.  This involved tackling the garage.   No job is complete without little helpers or I should say, no job is complete without one parent doing all the work and the other parent making sure the little helpers are busy.

Unlike our incredibly warm weekends in April, March weekends proved to be a bit cold and damp.  Thus, I got the bright idea of making hot chocolate for everyone.  Joel thought I was absolutely crazy to put the drink in regular mugs as opposed to sippy cups.  Granted, we did have a spill but I made enough so that the crying over spilled milk was kept to a minimum.

April 14th was the SNOMOMS (Snohomish County Mother of Multiples) club sale were ~40 moms clean out their closets and sell all things associated with having children.  This was the second sale I was to participate in as a seller.  The first time, I brought one small box.  This time, I convinced Joel it was time to release some of our hording.  We filled up both the Escape and the Minivan.  Joel and I worked feverishly over a period of 2 to 3 weeks, identifying, tagging and bagging items for the sale.  After it was all said and done, our house and garage looked relatively unchanged which was a bit depressing.  What was even more depressing is that as soon as we got some of the old toys out of our house, Joel was ready to shop for more……

I know it doesn’t look like too much, but there were hundreds of outfits, lots of shoes and old toys, and baby gear that even if we did end up with another child some day we just couldn’t possibly need the duplicates.  Fortunately , we only came back with 1 bin.  Now we can start getting ready for the next sale in October…