Here is some silliness:

Sorry for the really poor video quality from my crappy little cell phone. Brendan was singing ABC’s all by himself and I grabbed what I could to try to catch it.
I haven’t posted anything showcasing his dramatic increase in vocabulary, so here it is!

This post should have been from Monday, but there were just too many photos to go through!

Aunt Beth, Uncle Steve and Avery met us at the zoo in the morning so that the boys could show them all their favorite things.

Tractors

Milking cows

They are taking Uncle Steve to the petting zoo to see the goats.

Brendan made an early escape. He likes the goats from a distance.

A break for their “own zoo Coke”

Jeep!

Feeding the giraffes

Brendan loved it until the giraffe wrapped its tongue around Brendan’s little hand

Then he was done!

Avery got a turn

Aunt Beth is the only one missing!

Brendan loves the zoo

After the boys had a short nap, we had a big crowd at our house for dinner. The boys got to see all four of their AZ cousins. Aunt Beth brought the boys some super special minion mini-cakes.

You would think the minion would be cake wrapped in fondant or marzipan. It was a blob of frosting.

chomp

Brendan’s minion was out of the fridge for too long before he was ready for it. He got a little soft.

“Are you kidding?”

Here’s some random company pictures:

Seth, Jen, and Beth

Jen, Barb, and Triston

Jen, Barb, Beth, Avery, and Seth

Triston, Bill, and Bladen

Jack, Triston, and Seth

Brendan and Uncle Steve

We lit some small fireworks out front, but they were bigger/louder than we expected. Sorry neighbors!

Trevor LOVED playing and coloring with all of his cousins

Jack gave Brendan a ride on his scooter. Brendan keeps telling me that he needs one. A red one!

Seth helps Trevor write letters

It was a late night, but it was really good having all the family over! (The next morning, Trevor was all frosting-ergized and crazy!)

It was a full day. Aunt Beth and Uncle Steve are visiting this week from the frigid land of the midwest. They brought along a Chinese exchange student named Avery that is living with them for a while and checking out colleges. Trevor took to her right away and they spent all afternoon building legos and playing Geotrax in the playroom.

I told the boys that company was coming this morning. Steve was going shooting with Bill and we were expecting Beth and Avery to show up at the house. The conversation went like this:

Me: “Boys, Aunt Beth will be here any moment.”
Trevor: “What is an Aunt Beth?”
Me: “Beth is Daddy’s sister.”
Trevor: “Oh! She is my sister too!”
Me: “No, She is your aunt.”
Trevor: “No! We don’t have any ants! The bug guy was just here!”
(the bug guy WAS just here on Friday)

How do you explain this difference between “ant” and “aunt” to a 3yr old?

We were all tired tonight, but the weather was so nice. We decided to take the boys out for dinner to a real restaurant. We picked the Old Spaghetti Factory.

The boys sat in their own fancy chairs. Their behavior was stellar. I was very proud of them.
Trevor gobbled his spaghetti and meatball kids’ meal.

I brought pretzels for Brendan although he did eat some noodles.

All the boys were on their best behavior 🙂

We had to wait 30 minutes for a table but they boys got to run all around the courtyard outside. It was dark when we left.

Trevor fell asleep in the car on the way home! He was so asleep that I was able to diaper him and get him in to his footie jammies without waking him up! I poured him into his bed at 7:45.
Brendan at least got his bath and stuff before he went down too.