Ketty's Refuge

We all need a place where we can get away from things, a place to escape from brothers who constantly steal your toys, from moms who want to wash your hands and change your diaper, and from chihuahuas who like to eat your snack. Luckily for Maketty, our stairwell provides him the escape he needs!

Daddy lessons

Brandon was giving Tanny some pointers on drums... Tanny's learning well!

Bye-bye Junior!

The third time was the charm...after rescheduling it 3 times, we finally bade farewell to Tanzen's third thumb on May 7th.
He started the morning with a special treat-- Pedialite jello! He was pretty surprised and kept looking at me, wondering why I was feeding him something with dye and sugar instead of the usual oatmeal-flaxseed-pepita-sesame gruel we normally eat.

Thumb and Thumb Jr

Tanny loved getting wagon rides with Daddy. Heather was sweet to babysit Makett, and it felt a little strange being one-on-one with Tanzen.

I am a baby. I have no idea how parents do it whose kids have serious problems. They gave him "giggle juice" which was supposed to calm him down enough so he wouldn't care when they took him away, however, by the time they came to take him it had worn off. I asked to go with him until he was under, and they said we'd see...the nurse peeled him away from me and I could hear him screaming "mama" all the way down the hall. I was a bit of a basket case! It felt SO good to see him after!

Tanny loved his cast!

When we took it off he was really scared of the incision. He immediately brought me the sock we'd used to protect the cast and wanted me to put it on. When he woke up the next morning the first thing he did was get a sock out of the laundry basket to put on his hand. It took a few days for him to get used to not having it covered.

Brandon drew incisions on all of our hands to make Tanny feel better about his

3 weeks later and it's looking great! Just a little therapy and we'll be done!

Brandon's Version of a Sunday Afternoon Nap...

I was at a meeting Sunday afternoon. I've been wanting Brandon to paint a tree on the wall in Tanny and Ketty's room, to my delight, he randomly decided to start painting our "family tree" in the living room. I love it! Next up- the tree in Ketty and Tanny's room?

Uncle Mike

Michael comes over to play and work on his school work every week, and Tanzen and Makett look forward to his arrival.
Mike is doing well under Makett's tutelage...

Makett and Tanzen were contentedly eating their cantaloupe chunks, but once they saw Micheal eating his off the rind, they insisted on eating theirs the same way. Now we're just needing Mike to model cleaning up toys and doing dishes!

I told Mike he had to read Harry Potter instead of watching TV...he got through 8 pages and before he fell asleep.

Atlanta

Brandon had a conference in Atlanta and we figured we might as well tag along, since the boys still fly for free and we were able to share Brandon's hotel room. Having 4 of us share one room for 5 days was an interesting experience, but it was great. Doing what we do best!

Hugs! (Makett usual initiates, and often has an ulterior motive)


Unfortunately we didn't find out about touring the CNN center on the city pass till it was too late, or I would have loved it, although Tanzen and Makett probably wouldn't have loved it.

Our favorite thing to do--ran as far as we can, as fast as we can!

We toured Coke World- the boys were mesmerized by the polar bear. When he stands he's 8 feet tall, and he's surprisingly cute!

The highlight of touring Coke World is that you can taste 70 different Coke products from around the world. Brandon tried them all, I tried 3 and was done-- give me water any day! It's smart marketing on Coke's part, after seeing their 4-D movie, along with all the Coke memorabilia and history, I started feeling very patriotic about Coke-- I was suddenly proud to be an American, with our rich Coke history that has changed the world!! I had never had any interest in trying Coke, as I just prefer water over any other beverage, but I was inspired and tried it. Turns out I haven't been missing much :)
Bored, bored, bored!

Makett and Tanzen had a blast running through the park-- these little city guys haven't had much of a chance to run through such big grassy spaces, and they loved it. We spent more time touring parks than seeing the usual tourist sights.Fountains at Olympic Park...

Sunday walk

The Schuylkill river was flooded, and we were fascinated by the debris caught in the bottom of the waterfall on Boathouse Row.

Notice the huge log caught in the bottom-- it was about 30 feet long and 2 feet in diameter. I couldn't catch it on camera, but sometimes it shoot out from the bottom.

Everyday happenings...

Brandon decided the bean bag would be more useful upstairs, I must admit I quite enjoyed watching him muscle it up our incredibly narrow stairway! Makett was anxious to help out.We're all about feeding ourselves, big boys!

I love how Makett picks up individual pieces of oatmeal with his hands

We love wearing hats and driving cars on the coffee table

I changed Ketty's diaper and carried him downstairs. I set him down and couldn't figure out why he wouldn't walk...then I looked closer at his pants...

Every guy needs a place he can relax and sip his drink