Archie Fun

(By Henry)

Archie is so cute and fun right now!

Whee! (boing boing) :-D

Playing piano already?

Reading books with Dad.

Archer killing the soup. ;-)

A little sample.

Dishes, dishes, dishes! Archie's favorite thing to do!

Trying a milkshake!

A baby's job: getting everything out.

This little boy loves his daddy!

Archer 18 Months

Archer 18 Months

Henry: Archer is so cute right now! (we were lucky to catch him at it)

Hi, may I introduce myself? My name is Archer and I am the CUTEST little boy ever!

I love to play outside. (It's less fun when it's windy)

And my highchair is the best!

Sam's Battle Party

(By Henry)

Sam has been excited about his next birthday for months now. He has chosen his theme: a battle party! Of course, some moms might not approve of such a violent theme, but it helps to be the 3rd boy in the family, so your mom has been whittled down to just embracing what Sam enjoys. Sam was very particular about the kind of "fighting guys" that he wanted to have included in his party: knights, ninjas, warriors, archers, goblins, and skeletons.  NOT super heroes. When he requested that everyone come in a costume dressed like one of the above mentioned fighting guys, Mom made him relent to the fact that some of the kids might come dressed as super heroes.  You can't have everything, but Sam got to choose nearly everything for this party!

Text on Picture: The Ultimate Battle: Knights and Ninjas Vs. Anything

Loading the goodie bags is so fun!

CANDY, CANDY, CANDY! All to go on ice cream sundaes, naturally.

The table is all set for a dozen kindergartners to destroy it.

The banner, with all of the "fighting guys" we could find on short notice.

It's about to start!!!

BINGO!

Possibly the LOUDEST party I've ever been to. Of course Archer didn't sleep through it.

Make-a-guy w/ stickers.

Ellis is very serious about his creation.

Sam thinks his will get into a museum.


This powerful knight is made of paper.

Everyone building a fort for their guys to live in.(My favorite!)

Group shot! Look at the camera, or wherever you want.

Blowing out candles in ice cream because he chose sundaes and NOT cake.  THIS IS SO EXCITING!!!!!!!!!!!! 😁😀

Present time! (Are you taking a picture of us?!!)

Archer gives us a guilty look. Just "helping himself" to the ice cream toppings.

The final fort of war.

Cupcakes! (MORE treats??! They were the "muffins" for breakfast on his real birthday)

Sam looks so handsome - ready for church on the big day.

And after the party...Archer getting into the action by punching the inflatable wrestler we used for one of the party games.

Unusual Winter

(By Henry)

Chicago had an uncommonly mild winter from 2016-2017. We did get snow, but less than usual. Not what we're used to.¯\(인)/¯

Playing in the (lack of) snow!

Archie is still deciding about the snow.

But he sure likes sledding!

The long walk up the hill.

Whee!

Leaf Rake

Hi, this is Henry. Things have gotten so crazy at our house that I have been enlisted to record some of the blog posts. It's not my fault that we are 6 months behind.(cue cool time machine music)

Raking the leaves is so much fun, especially when it's not 30° by November.

Sam has decided that jumping into the leaf piles is the coolest thing since skipping the actual raking.

Note how content Archer seems compared to Sam, who is just realizing how spiky dead leaves can be.

This picture was apparently taken after Sam had recovered from that last jump.

Archer was surprised when we took his picture, which conveniently made him look right into the camera.

He is so happy. Just look at that smile!

Archer's pure joy at playing outside.

I wonder what he thinks about when he stares into space like that.

Teamwork! Or, in other words, I pose for the picture while you pretend to be working.

Being outside is one of Archer's favorite things.

Sam did not expect the leaves to get in his eye.

And here are all the brothers, getting their outside screen time after a hard day's work.