The Hamilton Boys: May 2009

Miles Learns a New Trick

Miles has been working on rolling over this week. Jack has been his number one coach and cheerleader!

First- a little last minute coaching from Jack: "Okay Miles you can do it!"

Next, he rolls!

Look who is so proud of himself! He's also enjoying the enthusiastic clapping from big brother!

Old McDonald Had a Farm

Old MacDonald has been Jack's favorite song for months- we listen to it on repeat in the car until I can't stand it any more and have to pretend that the CD is lost...he even calls McDonald's "Old MacDonald's". As in, "Mommy- I want to go to Old MacDonald's to get some french fries"! Recently this has turned into an interest in all things farm- he wants to check out books at the library about tractors and he searches for horses and chickens on the way to gymnastics (we happen to take a pretty rural road to get to gymnastics so he is often successful in spotting animals). So, we had fun last Friday when we met my friends Abby and Kristina (the 3 of us became good friends back when we were going to school for our teaching credentials, now we have 6 kids between us- times have changed!) at Ardenwood Farm in Fremont and spent the morning checking out the animals and tractors and then had a great picnic on the lawn. Jack was a little unsure about getting too close to some of the animals but he really liked seeing the tractors (and the picnic of course!). Here are some pictures from our day:

Jack, Elliott, and Laura checking out the hay bales (with sticks in hand of course!)

The big kids taking a peek at the sheep

After lunch the big kids ran off some energy playing on the lawn and all around this big tree (they are easily entertained!)

L to R: Jack and Miles, Laura and Clara, Elliott and Oliver

Thanks Abby and Kristina for such a fun day!

Mother's Day BBQ

The weather here has been beautiful lately so we decided to take advantage by having a Mother's Day BBQ on Saturday night (we might as well enjoy being outside now as I'm sure we have some 100 degree days heading our way soon!). Our neighbors Deana and Greg joined us with their daughter Riley. Riley is about the same age as Jack and they are best buddies. The evening was great- We (Evan) barbecued ribs and we had garlic bread, potato salad, and blueberry pie. It definitely felt like the beginning of summer!

Jack and Riley enjoying their table for 2

Miles smiling for the camera

Now it's Riley's turn to make Miles smile

Me and the boys

Jack's Garden

A few weeks ago we took the boys to visit Nana (Evan's mom) and of course she had a few special treats for the boys! Jack's present was a gardening kit and the next day he and Evan got to work planting. The kit came with the pots, soil, and seeds to grow basil, zinnias, and sunflowers. Here are the results so far:

Looks like someone has a green thumb! Jack has gotten such a kick out of watching his plants grow- he checks them everyday. A few days ago, one of his pots sprouted while he was napping- he was amazed when he woke up and saw how it had changed. Hopefully he keeps up this enthusiasm for gardening when he's old enough to mow the lawn and rake the leaves...

Sleepyhead

Last night, I set Miles down on his little play gym toy while I worked on making dinner. All of a sudden I noticed that it had gotten pretty quiet (I had Jack with me in the kitchen though so I wasn't too worried!). Look who played so hard he nodded right off:

If only he went to sleep so easily at bedtime!

The World's Biggest Truck...

Last weekend Evan and I took the "divide and conquer" approach to parenting and each took one of the kiddos to run some errands. I needed to pick up a few things at Old Navy and since it's impossible to try anything on in a dressing room with both boys and the gigantic double stroller, I opted for a date with just Miles this time around. That left Evan and Jack free to take a trip to the hobby store near Evan's office. This is what they came home with: