Make Way for Ducklings

Loved playing the tourist today and trying out a few fun shots.


Meeting Mr Mallard. Davy knows the book Make Way for Ducklings by heart and was too cute quoting some of the lines in our conversations while walking through the Public Garden. He saw the swan boats and told us that they were too proud. Then he wanted to throw peanuts into the water for the ducks.


We're going to be very busy when we have enough kids for each duckling.

Chocolate Bar 2011

Does doing something three years in a row make that activity a tradition? If so than a really bad habit has become a Lambourne family tradition! We went to the Langham Hotel in Boston for the chocolate bar again today and came away satisfied and entirely full of enough calories for the next few days. Our favorites this year were the cold-stone ice cream, chocolate croissant bread pudding, chocolate passion fruit mousse, and chocolate praline pudding, and chocolate covered strawberries. Davy stopped when he was full and we continued way beyond that point. Eddy didn't know what he was missing and was happy with a cracker. Then we worked off some energy at the plaza across the street before deciding spontaneously to go on a walking tour of Boston (next post).

Monkey Business

We've been playing with monkeys, pretending to be monkeys, and generally just monkeying around. News: Eddy's crawling and pulling up to standing, Davy has almost got the pedaling skills necessary to enjoy his trike, I finally got around to making the firemen a proper thank you for putting out our house fire last year, I got a Harvard University ID card, and Collin has a birthday on Monday but opened presents today. And without further delay, here is our picture and video dump.

That can't be very comfortable, yet I think every baby has at least one picture like this.



8 month old fingers are surprisingly dexterous at texting. Apologies in advance if any of you get phantom phone calls from our baby.


Not quite Ace of Cakes standard, but it was fun to experiment with fondant. The best part was dropping it off at the fire station and seeing the real fire trucks.



Believe it or not, but I had just wiped his nose seconds before. He's like a very adorable leaky faucet.

Not the best for using the toilet by himself, but uber cute and he loves the pocket in front. I figure there are only so many years a kid can wear overalls so we will deal with the minor inconveniences for cuteness sake.

Outside

We went outside today just to get outside. We found a fun park right by the Charles river, but the park itself was not very shady. Davy still had fun, but the baby and adults mostly stayed in the shady area on the basketball court. Davy loved being allowed to throw rocks into the water and Eddy was faithfully practicing his crawling position.


And of course the bubble blower came out for a few minutes. Davy does not look like he was having fun in any of these pictures, but he really was. Play is very serious work around here!

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to the impressive fathers in our lives. My husband is a great dad and it is so much fun to watch him fill those shoes more and better every day. I love to see him be so comfortable being a father to Edward and David. He's the best wrestler, the nicest ice cream giver, the stern go-back-to-bed sayer, and the cutest secret smiler at Davy's antics when the kid is walking back to bed. I look forward to being co-parents with him forever and seeing him become the dad he wants to be.




My dad is a wonderful dad. I remember him being a good one when I was growing up, but I admit that I admire him more as I see him as an adult and a parent myself. He's an academic expert on family processes, but even more he lives the best practices he teaches, researches, and studies. He does not like to camp, but he does because his boys need to for scouts. He grew up in California and does not especially love snow, but he raised his family in Utah because it was the best thing for him and us. He took us kids to different church services, in addition to our own, because he respected the people and faiths of our neighbors and wanted us to be exposed to our friends of other faiths even within the Utah Valley bubble. My dad is friendly and gregarious, intelligent and discerning, funny and punny, serious and silly, an over-communicator, and a man who is confident enough in himself to not mind his children teasing and laughing at/with him. Love you dad!



I suppose Collin ought to write this part, but I have a few things to say about Pops first. I joined the Lambourne clan a few years ago. My first impression of Dad was that he has the best head of hair and treated the women in his life incredibly well. This (the second half) has especially been proven true as I have become one of his daughters-in-law. I have been spoiled and respected and in turn I respect the man who has treated me so well. Pops makes up weird games that actually are fun and entertain his children of all ages. He likes to go for "long ones" and talk out difficult subjects with his kids that go way over my head. He is moral, honest, generous, frugal, hard-working, and raised one of the nicest guys in the world which basically says it all!

Collin's turn: I would just say that I look up to both my father and father-in-law for guidance and an example of maturity and love for their family. They are the type of father that I um aspire to be. You don't have to type um. Am I still dictating? Rachel! Happy Father's Day, anyway.

Tut tut it looks like rain

We've had a reprieve of the hot humid weather and enjoyed some rain this weekend. Davy's finally used his rain boots for their intended purpose. (Those are pajamas. He actually never did get "day clothes" on today, in case you're wondering.)


Last Sunday while Collin was still in Haiti, Davy was sick with a yucky cold and we decided not to expose our friends in nursery to the germs. We stayed home, but by 6:00 I was going crazy from being inside and keeping the Sabbath holy and quiet. So I packed up boys in their PJs (this seems to be a theme this week--not changing out of pajamas) and drove to the temple to walk around the gardens and practice with my new friend, Nikon D3000. I didn't get very many great shots, but I learned some things! And we all relished being outside for 20 minutes before bedtime.

Unashamed Bragging

This boy is so stinkin' smart and sweet! He knows his left from his right, can sing the whole alphabet song, count to eleven (and lots of other random numbers after that), identify most letters and numbers consistently, go days and nights without an accident, use a nice voice, apologize quickly and often sincerely, help a crying Edward feel better instead of hitting him about half the time, stay in bed after the tenth time we tell him to go back to bed, recite verbatim The Very Hungry Caterpillar, take turns on the slide, swing in a big kid swing, do a 12 piece puzzle by himself no problem and a 24/25 piece puzzle with only a very little help, and draw very beautiful circles and straight lines. That is only a short list of Davy's accomplishments, but boy, do we think he is something special!

Books, Backyard, Bubbles, Bedtime, and Bowling

Yes, I enjoyed that alliteration.

Aunt Janeil sent a super surprise this week. We received a package with a present for the boys. Janeil had made an ABCDisneyland book with special pictures and alphabet stories for Davy and Eddy. It really was so cool--even after the 20th reading I had to do that afternoon! Thank you!!

Collin came home on Tuesday night and we have loved having him home again! I think absence really does help with the fondness thing. Here are some activities of the past few weeks--some with Collin and some while we were missing him. First is our assorted wheeled toy race:


Now the most incredible bubble blower ever. I admit I actually bought this toy for myself last year, but Davy insists he is old enough to operate it now, so I turned it over to great success.


My, he looks so grown up. I can't believe how quickly the time has passed since he was born. He is so fun, so aggravating, and so Davy.


It does appear to be a choke hold, but I imagine it was intended as a hug. And wahoo! I got both to look at the same time and snapped the shutter at that exact instant. That's a miracle!


Eddy is at the stage where everything is so interesting that he interrupts nursing, napping, crankiness, etc. to peer over or around and see what is going on. I was recently watching some videos of Davy at this age (8 months) and I don't know how I survived having a baby without an older entertaining sibling! Even with the equal parts "don't knock over the baby!" Davy is an invaluable distraction.



We took our first family trip to the local bowling alley today as a last ditch effort to make Saturday feel like a fun day. We did have fun and here's the proof: