R.I.P. Thunder-beloved pet cricket

our pet cricket of a week has passed. bless his soul. "thunder" hailed from jefferson county and lived a happy life in the back yards of oxmoor glen jumping to and fro across the blades of grass. he is survived by a myriad of brothers and sisters and two loving pet-owners. cause of death-tough love.

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grayson loves anything small and helpless. he's always rooting for the baby animal. i pray that his heart will stay soft for those "in need" as he grows into a man. i've never seen such a fearless child when it comes to bugs, amphibians, crustaceans, etc. the boy will pick up anything. unfortunately, he doesn't quiet grasp how to be gentle w/ the creatures... therefore, making their life span a bit short in his care. our little bug habitat has gone with us all over homewood this week and the boys were excited about taking thunder on his first beach trip this weekend.
after getting home from the pool today, i unloaded sum from the van first and when i came back to get grayson, he was holding the habitat. he looked at me and said, "the cwicket was bootiful...."
i looked inside and thunder wasn't there. i asked grayson where she was and he said that he had let her go....fortunately, i found her in his car seat, still intact.

a few minutes passed in the house and i noticed grayson was being very quiet. i found him in the entryway squatted down w/ thunder in his hands. he had taken her back out and loved on her a bit too much...
i gently tried to explain that she had died and he erupted into tears. how will we ever cope with having a puppy, i ask??

i'm hoping this evening we can find a new friend for the habitat to help ease the sadness. as long as it's not an arachnid or a reptile, i think i'll be okay.

got this idea from another blog....pass it on!

things that i'm enjoying:

• a new community
• feeling my sweet son moving around inside me
• so you think you can dance
  
• friendly librarians-don't even get me started...
• khaled hosseini
• listening to my boys giggling and talking themselves to sleep
• my diverse neighborhood
• kindred spirits
• tartine provencal at chez fon fon
• shade
• this guy
  
• evening walks on the trail with the family
  
• being green, one step at a time...

(i may write more about this later. it just makes me happy knowing i can make small changes to make a big difference for my children's health & future-especially since i have an asthmatic child.)



things i'm not enjoying:

• not being able to "make it all better" when a friend is in the midst of sadness
• still not being completely settled in the house
• my fat @%!
• clothing

how 'bout you??

eyelashes for days

i could spend hours kissing these sweet eyelids.
when g saw these pictures on the screen he exclaimed, "my eyewaashes are pwetty big!"

the backyard warrior

bubble massacre.
a boy at five. the bubbles are now the victims as my little sword wielder spins and swipes at each group as they fly his way. i love to watch his concentration. he's very focused in his attack. all boy he is indeed.

the player to be named later :)

here are a few sonogram photos of our precious little guy on the way. he was really showing off his moves that day and was quite acommodating in determining his sex. of course, since this is the 3rd penis that i've seen on an ultrasound since 2001, i didn't even need the sonographer to tell me what we were having :) i can spot those things on the screen pretty quickly now!!

we're still working on a name for him. jamie refers to him as the player to be named later. of course, the boys have given us dozens of daily and interesting suggestions, most of which the poor child would disown us for...i will give sumner credit for what seems to be his favorite name right now-luke-that one's not as "unique" as templeton, percy, thomas, poppyseed, or my personal favorite, nuevlia!!! he made that one up on the spot when we initially told him we were expecting. that was his first suggestion for a baby sister. he has quite the imagination!

just about every time we ask grayson, his response is "braywen". one of our best friends had a little boy a few months ago named brayden, so he thinks that since he has that name, all babies male or female should have that name, too!

sumner is just the sweetest w/ babies and i can't wait to see him as a big brother of 5 1/2! it will be so different this time around. he's so loving to our little "niece" and the other babies we are around, i only hope that that will keep up.

i can't wait to see if his personality is like sumner's or grayson's...if he has grayson's curls...or if he surprises us and looks completely different.
life will definitely be interesting in our house. i imagine my two primary daily goals of making sure they are fed and don't kill themselves (or each other) will not change! pray for me girls!

just last night grayson removed the straw from his disney goblet and was putting it up his nose to snort couscous off of his plate! between that, the ever tempting top bunk that grayson thinks doubles as a launching pad, plus the myriad of rubber snakes i find hidden throughout my house should keep my ticker in check and provide me with lots of laughter!

while they tire me out quickly, it certainly is made up for in the sweetest of kisses and loving gestures that melt a mommy's heart. and i have to raise these boys to leave? not sure my heart can take that. but, i pray i will teach them well.

4th photos

we had a great fourth celebrating with friends and neighbors. the kids as usual had a blast with face painting and putting on a "show" for all the parents. after the cookout, we all walked over to linden to watch the beautiful fireworks over vulcan. this is one of our favorite annual traditions!