Oh Brothers.

This morning I was awoken by a sleepy little Seamus. He rested his head on my arm and said "Morning Mom. I love you so much." What a way to start the day. James and I were feeling particularly blessed to have such a loving little boy. Now later in the day he "wrestled" Finn to their bedroom floor - so we can't always be angels. They are currently playing chase around the dining room - Finn keeps getting lapped but he doesn't seem to mind.

Longing to be a BIG Kid...

At the cabin this week, it was as if we just sat around and watch Seamus grow up. All the cousins have so much fun together and he's now starting to feel a part of it all. This picture was one of the rare moments of seperation. He watched for almost 45 minutes - standing still as a tree - all the cousins jump and play on the new "deep end" trampoline. You could almost hear the longing in his heart to be just a LITTLE bit bigger...

The Lake

Getting There...

Before...

The (Older) Boys of Summer

Carl! Matt! & Dan! Spent one hot Sunday afternoon clearing out our upstairs in advance of demolition! It (they) was a HUGE lifesaver. This remodel project has taken many turns already - and instead of begining at the end of the summer - we're hoping to be all finished by September. Fortunately, with two little boys we don't have much else going on...

First Day of the Rest of Your Life

Here's James on his first day at the new job! We're onto week three already and he's pretty much lost the suit and tie. But he's still looking good.

You Know What Sounds Fun?

Our good, good friend Charlie made the trip to LOVELY Minnesota for a long weekend (it's a miserably cold and raining weekend). He and James left this morning for a 60 mile bike benefiting the MS society. Not exactly a nice day for a long bike ride...

Charlie came armed with fabulous treats for all of us (as if his company wasn't enough). Finn has been chatting on the phone with Elmo all morning - they're going to do lunch sometime next week apparently...

Seamus had the time of his life last night with his new "Super Boy" ensemble - he was wearing it this morning when he came out of his bedroom.

Babies all Around!

Seamus and Finn got to mix it up a little with their newest friends - baby Bode and Baby Maria! Seamus got the most action - I don't think Finn quite knew what to do with himself - someone smaller? Very cool indeed!

Have we been at Gerten's too long?

Thank goodness that the boys were on their best behavior during this recent visit to Gerten's - it would have been really hard to avoid telling them that THIS little boy was being naughty...

Seamus has been continuing to take some pictures...here's another sampling of the view from his world...






I call this one - "Still Life at Breakfast"...

First Kiss!

We had the great pleasure of hanging with the female Imholte's over the last few weeks - long walks along the river - except instead of two friends strolling and chatting we had three kids and a two strollers. Sarah and I spent many, many hours of our childhood on long walks - it's such a pleasure to still be enjoying each other (and our ever expanding families).

Me Too!

Notice the black contraband in his mouth - sadly not discovered until the photo was taken...

Ain't I Cute?

We're BAAAACK!

Sorry for the hiatus - been a wild couple of weeks - BUT James is now on a two week break before he starts his new job! We are all so excited! We went on a clothes shopping spree for him last night and got him outfitted (thanks Am Ex points!) with a bunch of sharp new duds.

The boys are doing great - been a very funny couple of weeks. Seamus informed me as we were getting ready to head to Winsor's for a party that he needed "Five minutes peace, mom!" I asked where we wanted to have these five minutes of peace, and he replied: "Outside!" He stomped his foot and proceeded to stand on the porch and talk to himself for a few minutes. I completely understood how he felt.

We had a fabulous Easter with James parents and his sister Katie here for a few days - the boys will completely filled up with love - its just so much fun to see. The bounty of treats never really seemed to slow down and our household was refilled with great new books and bathtub toys. But now everything that Seamus picks up he shows to me and says: "Grandma gave me." 98% of the time he's right - unless we have to correct with no, your godmother, Katie gave you those. At which point he says: "Oh, yeah, that's right. Aunt Katie." He thinks that James and I are real chumps.

Finn had his first haircut right before Easter - he's such a little man with all his teeth and his head full of hair. He's really turning into his own little person - very mild, very happy. We've moved into a bigger carseat now - as I was rearranging the set up in the car - Seamus was very clear that he wanted Finn to still sit "next me." So they're piled into the left side of the car right on top of each other - we'll see how long before the poking and teasing begins...