The Annual Family Picture Event

With the boys being so close in age, it is easy for us to just have the one annual event to attempt - at least attempt - to get some professional pictures taken of the boys and of the family.  Last weekend was the annual attempt.  Zachary has never been a fan of having his picture taken, and usually just stares at the camera with a serious face.  Thinking this year might be different, Amy bribed Zachary with the reward of going to Monkey Joe's afterwards if he took pictures nicely.  With Zachary 'in the bag,' she felt SURE that this year would be fabulous pictures because Kaleb is so easy-going that this was going to be a snap!

As always, reality is never as wonderful as one envisions - so almost as soon as we arrived Zachary began to whine about when was this going to be over, because he wanted to go to Monkey  Joe's!!  Reminding him that there would be no Monkey Joe's if he didn't cooperate resulted in........cheese-oh smiles (thanks!) and then of course precious smiles...but with his eyes closed!!!  During the time when he would smile nicely, Kaleb began to stare off into space with his lips pursed as he chewed on the corner of his mouth.  What in the world!!???

We haven't seen the pictures yet, but we're pretty sure that it will be a small miracle if any of them turn out nicely.  Last year we had enough fantastic pictures that we were able to make a coffee-table book with them - this year might be slim pickings but we're hoping to be surprised.  If we're pleasantly surprised, then at least we'll have documented the irritation after this year's shoot to remind us NEXT year at this same time that we shouldn't lose hope! :)

This has been a quiet week, which has been nice to begin catching up on some things around the house.  One thing that we forgot to document was the fact that Kaleb is now officially down to only one nap a day - we hung on to the two naps for a long time, longer than Zachary actually, but he was starting to fight the second nap of the day so we allowed the first nap to disappear.  It seems to not be a problem at all - he's still as easy going as always and now we have a lot more flexibility!

Phrase of the week:  Kaleb's word this week is "shoes" - he loves to put on his shoes and follow his big brother around everywhere - no more being carried!  Zachary's phrase is not a new one, but he typically is so "pro-Daddy" that the love for Mommy is a little on the skimpy side at times but this week he has been very forthcoming with lots of love for Mommy and continuously is telling her "I love you Mommy!" so this is just documenting the moment in time so that we won't forget!

Apparently the toy box itself was more fun than the toys...so out with the toys and in with the boys!

A new game was born - spray water on the slide and make it a water-slide! Kaleb is waiting for his turn

Zachary flying off the end of his water-slide!

The Last Celebration!

Last Sabbath was the last celebration that we had for the boys' birthdays - we headed off to the picnic for Sabbath lunch for Kaleb's birthday with our close friends and family.  We choose Chapin Station again as it has two playsets for the kids along with the ability to ride bikes for all of the biker enthusiasts. 

The birthday "cupcake" cake of emergency vehicles

Blowing out the pancake candles that morning

Kaleb received his very own "cozy coupe" for his birthday - we decided that it was just much easier to have two cars as Kaleb was having a very hard time sharing and kept trying to physically push Zachary out of the car!  They both were very excited - and here they are stopping to chat in their roadster cars!

The weather was BEAUTIFUL.  We actually spent most of the day at the park enjoying the fabulous weather.  The kids played in the sand, on the play structures, and rode their bikes.  Zachary, Luke and Blake tried their hand at playing Frisbee although it was more tosses in the air than actual Frisbee flight.

For the first time in their little lives, Zachary and Kaleb have started to give each other kisses at bedtime.  It is just so precious!  Kaleb still has the occasional "french kiss" though - so one time Zachary gave Kaleb a kiss, which was obviously very wet, and then wiped his face off on Kaleb's shirt.  Then, he decided that he wanted to get another kiss, so he pressed Kaleb's lips closed with his fingers and then gave Kaleb a kiss! :)  Too cute!

Kaleb & Zachary were laying on the floor kissing each other - this is when the "lip press" began to keep the tongue from coming out of Kaleb's mouth!

Gram-Z and Papa-Z left this week to the North country, much to Zachary's disappointment.  He was very unimpressed that they were leaving -  Gram-Z shared a story about how Karis was very sensitive as a child, and when his grandparents would come he would say "I wish that they wouldn't come if they just have to leave!"  Zachary seems to have inherited his father's displeasure for loved ones leaving, because we had to console him that we would invite them back sometime in the Fall.

Papa Z riding the bike with Kaleb

Papa-Z and Zachary watering the garden

Gramzie & Kaleb

Phrase of the week:  Zachary and mommy had a conversation this week about where heaven was - try explaining that!  Mommy tried to explain that it was in the sky, above the clouds and the blue sky where the airplanes are.  He then told me that he wanted Jesus to be at our house, and not up in heaven - another interesting thing to try and explain to a four year old that Jesus is with us, but we just can't see him.  Kaleb's word of the week was "p-cakes" - the Zbaraschuk boys do love their pancakes!

Turning 2!

Seeing as last week's post as "Turning 4" it is only apropos that this week's had to be "Turning 2!"  It was never our intention that our two kids would only be 6 days apart in terms of their birthdays, but mother nature doesn't always go according to plan! :)  However, we'll post most of the pictures celebrating Kaleb's birthday next weekend, as there was quite a bit going on last weekend that we have to catch up on!

Last weekend was of course Zachary's actual birthday weekend, which fell on Easter.  We started off the day by congratulating him on turning 4 - he apparently was feeling a little "out of joint" about turning 4, so he insisted that he was NOT FOUR!   He became so agitated that we told him that he wouldn't turn four until we sang happy birthday to him, in order to buy a little more "adjustment time."  Sadly though, that adjustment time has extended through all week as he still seems to be a little upset about turning four!  He did have a wonderful time opening all of the presents and eating cake etc, so that part of birthdays was met with a warm reception.

In addition to celebrating Zachary's birthday, Amy and Kelli threw a baby shower for Tangie, who is expecting twins at any moment.  We're hoping that she hangs on for a bit longer, because if she comes this week, we'll have dueling birthday parties in the future - much better to at least have them come so that the birthdays will be NEXT weekend rather than Kaleb's birthday weekend - that way we can go to more parties! :)  Although with as much cake as the Z-house eats in April, we probably don't need any more parties to go to.  Back to the shower - it was such fun to see all of the precious little baby items - they're having a boy and a girl (they already have one little girl) so we had gifts from both sides of the spectrum.

After the shower, Amy raced home to get ready for the Easter party that Hilliards were throwing that evening.  This is always such a lovely party - it is complete with wonderful food, friends, games, decorations, Easter egg hunt, and the Easter bunny (aka one of the dad's who dresses up!).  There was a gunny sack race as well, which even the Dads participated in!  Zachary didn't get the whole "jump in a sack" thing, so Amy would have to stand behind him and help him jump.  A funny story about how different the boys personalities are at the moment - when the Easter bunny came out, Zachary could have cared less because he was so intent on spotting the eggs that were hidden around the yard, but Kaleb was in the middle of the crowd enamored with "what is that thing???"  But, after Zachary had picked up some of the eggs into his basket and re-spotted the Easter bunny, he started to follow up around because he was so intrigued!  At that point, when I took Kaleb up to get a picture with the Easter bunny, he was crying!  Go figure.

We'll post pictures next week of the family birthday that we had last night, along with the Sabbath picnic that we are having today for Kaleb.  Gram-Z and Papa-Z are staying until Tuesday, much to Zachary's disappointment, and then they're heading back to Canada.  We're having to assure Zachary that they're coming back (we're currently discussing perhaps Thanksgiving?) so that he can be calm about the fact that they're leaving.

Phrase of the week:  Kaleb's language is so amazing at this point, there are so many new words every week that it is hard to actually pick one new word, but this week it is "come".  One morning, Amy was sitting talking to Gram-Z when Kaleb came over to her, and began pulling on her leg saying "come, come, come!"  Not realizing what was going on, Amy finally got up and began to follow Kaleb - he led her to the bathroom where the diapers are changed and she realized that he had pooped his pants and wanted a clean diaper!  Here's hoping that this means that he'll be easy to potty-train when we decide to try that new trick!  Zachary's phrase of the week was "Mommy, I have a naughty idea!" -he never admitted what his naughty idea was, but it sure was funny!

Birthdays are so fun, we decided to light candles and sing Happy Birthday even when there was only a 'pan-CAKE!" :)

Papa-Z and Zachary reading a Berenstain Bear story

Kaleb's first Easter egg hunt - he was very determined!

Zachary and the "Easter" bunny!

My three men!

The pool water is warm enough, so the boys were playing in the pool!  Time for swimming lessons again

Zachary's newest trick is to stand on the side of the pool, throw a ball high in the air (see the ball blue at top of picture) and jump into the water

Turning 4!

Zachary's birthday is April 4th - and he's turning the big 4 years old!  We've been very excited about his birthday - we have a formal party every other year for the boys, so this was Zachary's year to celebrate it big!  As Luke D's birthday is only 3 days after Zachary's, we've always celebrated their birthdays together as we didn't want our mutual friends to have to come out for two parties - we're fortunate that the boys are good friends because they seem to think that this is a fabulous idea! :)

We celebrated by having a party with the other kids at MyGym.  It was SO FUN - they do all of the set-up and clean-up, so it is really easy and fun to just enjoy your kids party without all of the hassle.  They had a bouncy house, a ball pit, basketball hoops, trampolines, a jungle gym thing to climb up, and other gym apparatus.  There were two party hosts that learned every child's name so the party was very personalized - and they led out in games tailored to the kid's ages for 2 hours.  Zachary informed Amy that his party was awesome later!  Kaleb showed his true personality (so interesting to see the two boys' very different personalities developing) - of course as he was so much smaller than the other kids he wasn't a part of the games that they were playing until about halfway through the party he decided he'd had enough of that, and he wasn't just going to play with the gym equipment - he was getting into the games!  So, he inserted himself and had a fantastic time - so cute!  We had cute cupcakes for the two birthday boys - a lion and a tiger.  The lion was for Zachary because he loves to ROAR around the house all of the time! :)

After the party, Zachary and Amy headed off with the Holloways and Deiningers to the Berenstain Bear play at the Orlando repertory.  Zachary's very obsessed with these books right now, and it was a series of short plays that lasted about an hour.  He knew many of the stories, so he was quite delighted about the whole experience.

Gram-Z and Papa-Z came this week to celebrate the boys' birthdays and will be here until just after Kaleb's birthday next weekend.  We've been enjoying their visit, and the boys have been enjoying having all of this special attention!  We took them out to Kobe's steakhouse last night - it was their first time there, and they enjoyed it as much as Kaleb and Zachary! :)  The boys were enamored as always with the fact that they cook right in front of you, and the onion "volcano fire."  The fish in the lobby are always a lifesaver because they don't mind waiting as we wait to be seated!  Amy and the boys tried the tofu & vegetables meal, which was really yummy!

Phrase of the week:  Kaleb's new word this week:  "Orry"  His hands are faster than the speed of light, and he managed to break one of the picture frames in the bathroom - he did pretty well with Sorry!  Zachary's grown-up phrase this week was "Thanks for the great opportunity" - faulty memories mean that we don't exactly remember why he said this, but it sure was very serious and adult-like!

The two birthday boys in their matching "My Gym, My Birthday" shirts!

Playing in the ball pit, and the jungle gym apparatus. 

Kaleb was walking on the ramp to jump in the ball pit

Riding the "wave" to see who could balance the longest as it rocked back and forth

Perched high swinging as we sang Happy Birthday!

About to enjoy his cupcake!

Poised to take off on the zip line & digging into the cupcake!

Playing on the rock climbing wall

After enjoying the Berenstain Bear Play - he's still talking about it this week (even more than his party surprisingly!  He does so love these bears!)

Lacrosse 101

Last week, we were the lucky recipients of free lacrosse tickets, so we along with six of our friends, trucked off to the game. This is the first Lacrosse game that any of us have ever been to, so we felt a bit "left behind" at times, but Karis started to catch on to the rules and gist of the game so at least he could tell Amy what was going on. What was readily apparent is the fact that lacrosse is incredibly aggressive - give a man a stick, and basically you can just wack the other players and check into them as much as you want. Hockey isn't even this aggressive!!! Wow!

Karis, Bud and Barb (Kelli's parents), Kent, Kelli, Rob and Adam

Amy's mom came over to watch the boys while we were at the lacrosse game, and prior to leaving we spent some time outside going for a bike ride and then playing in the warm sun with the stomp rocket. It is starting to warm up a bit here consistently, so it looks like our long sleeves may soon be a thing of the past.

With the warm weather arriving, Karis decided that it was time to give the garden another go - the first one met its demise when the cold freezing weather stuck around so long this winter, so we'll hope that this one has a better shot! The boys thought that it was great fun to play in the dirt - we'll likely end up with 50 places all coming up in one spot, but they had fun planting those seeds at least!!

Phrase of the week:  The beginnings of a conversation between Zachary and Kaleb started this week as we were driving to Miss Jennifer's house for the day - from the back seat, Amy heard the following:  Zachary:  "I don't have a car yet, I'm going t need to buy one."  Kaleb begins to chant: "Me, me, me!!  Zachary replies: "No, you can't have one until you're 16!!"  Ha ha, apparently Zachary is enamored with having a car himself, but Kaleb must wait the pre-requisite amount of time! It was cute to hear them interacting - it'll be fun as Kaleb's vocabulary really starts to expand and we can experience more interactions.

Kaleb was determined to try out another vantage point for this toy - who needs to get in feet first - head first works just as well!!

Where's the Bouncy House?!

Last weekend, we were privileged to join in the celebration of little Braelyn's birthday.  She had a bouncy house for the party, which was a total hit with all of the kids as you can imagine!  Allen had also created a putting green in his backyard and Zachary had his first "golfing" experience!

Zachary's lip is healing well, and his teeth are not yet turning gray, so our fingers are crossed that perhaps this might be behind us.  It is odd though that his two front teeth are no longer touching, and even Zachary himself noticed because he used to be able to hang the tooth flosser between his two front teeth with "no hands mom!" but now of course that won't work!

Amy has the annual AHS bowlathon tomorrow - so this is going to be a busy weekend as well. 

Phrase of the week:  Amy has a phrase that she uses with the boys when she's trying to hurry them up - "quick as a wink."  Zachary has now incorporated the phrase and one day as breakfast he informed Amy that he was going to eat "fast as a wink!"  Kaleb's animal vocabulary is continuing to increase and has added "pig" to his repertoire!

Kaleb was enjoying his frozen blueberries to the fullest!

Zachary loved the bounce house, and managed to only smash his mouth once on another kid.

Blake and Zachary in their birthday celebration outfits!

Kaleb got into the bouncing fun as well.

Playing with the putting green

Fat Lips & Teaching Moments

In the continual pursuit of avoiding the nap, this family has had several stories to tell - ranging from funny to painful.

Starting off with ingenious, we were firmly insisting that Zachary take a nap early on in the week much to his disappointment.  We had turned off his room light by pulling on the short chain from his ceiling fan, to avoid his getting up and playing again after we left.  But, he was determined to outwit us, so he managed to pull his red foam chair and the bunk bed ladder (which we never put up because we discourage playing on the top bunk, so it is behind the closet door) over to the bed.  He put the red chair up on the mattress and then somehow leaned the ladder up against the mattress/red chair. From this get-up, he managed to climb up and reach the tiny chain on the ceiling fan.  We had by chance look at the monitor and saw that the light was on in his room, so Karis went into the room to find out what in the dash was going on!  We're still not 100% sure how he managed to pull this shenanigan off, but he did.  At that moment, our hearts were filled with pride at his creativity, thankfulness that he didn't fall in the attempt and break a leg, and chagrin that once again, he was disobeying the directive to take a nap!!!

On Thursday, Zachary again issued the edict that he wasn't going to nap.  When Karis turned off the light in his room (the ladder has now been removed entirely from his room) and started to walk towards the door, Zachary jumped out of bed and began to cling to his legs.  Karis informed him that he needed to take a nap, and Zachary turned around, tripped, and fell face first into his bunk bed.  So, he is now sporting a cut lip that is the size of Florida.  Ha ha - not really perhaps that big but it is sizable.  The cut was bleeding like a bad boy, but luckily the cut was short enough, shallow enough and didn't go through the edge of his lip, so Amy's quick consultation with an Ex-Emergency room doctor at her office determined that he probably didn't need stitches.  This is the nap-event that we're hoping turned into a teachable moment - as he clearly wouldn't have fallen if he hadn't disobeyed and gotten out of bed! :)  We're not holding our breath, but it is worth a shot!

The other concerning result of this event is that it appears to have actually moved his front teeth - they used to be snug up against each other in a row, and now there are small spaces between his front teeth.  The spaces don't really bother us, but we're hoping that he didn't kill the nerve and that he won't lose the teeth or have them turn black.  We may be in for a trip to the dentist this week!

Most of the cut is on the inside of his lip, but it is very swollen.  Women would pay for these pouty lips!

 Karis has to go to continuing education classes this weekend, so Amy will be doing the single mom thing.  Hopefully the weather will be nice and we can spend a lot of time outdoors.

Phrase of the week:  Kaleb's new word this week was "Look" (although it sounds like "ook") - he was thrilled to his tiny toes when he managed to get on a bicycle helmet all by himself, so ran over to show off his accomplishment.  Zachary's comment this week was part of an overall conversation with Amy after she got off the phone with Auntie Kelli.  Zachary said "Was that Auntie Kelli?"  Amy: "Yes."  Zachary: "Is she coming over?"  Amy: "Not right now."  Zachary: "Why not, I need a little Auntie Kelli!!?"  Ha ha - apparently a little Auntie Kelli goes a long way! :)

The "radio flyer" turtle bit the dust this week (thanks to a little help from rambunctious boys) so now the boys have to share the remaining "inside" riding toy!

Kaleb has a tradition that when Amy puts him in his car seat now, he loves to be covered up with a blanket - and ALL of him must be covered - no portion of a toe can be exposed!