Category — Shane

For the record, Griffie’s hair is not red (at all).  That’s just the harsh light from my flash in the indoor pictures.  The kids are getting so big, so fast.  Take a look:

These pictures are from a random “free zoo” behind a BP gas station on the way to Madison.  It was one of the highlights of that day, especially when Griff and the pig made snorting noises back and forth at each other.

Some hysterical things are said around here on a daily basis, too funny to not write down.  I’ll do a few cute  comments by our little meathead, Finley, first. 

Travis and the kids watched Bambi for the first time on one of my call nights recently.  Shane grasped the sadness of Bambi’s mom’s death but still asked “where’s Bambi’s mom?” Finley responded: “oh, she’s probly at work.” 

Fin: “look mom, there’s coffee beans in the middle of my apple!”

Fin, caught red-handed, drooling with a mouthful of Easter candy she wasn’t supposed to be eating: “it was an accident!!”

Finley to Griffin: “you silly baby! You can’t eat popcorn…you only eat boobs!”

Lately, she’s been talking about her imaginary family that lives far far away.  She’s usually reminded of them when Travis tells her “no” to something like “can I have more juice?”  She’ll launch into her other daddy who lives far far away and I’ll watch her push all of Travis’ buttons.  It’s hysterical.  After she did that the other day, he stood up and said “ok, I’m going to get all my kids a dessert.  Hey Fin, who’s your daddy?”  She held out her fist for a fist pound and said “YOU ARE!”  Then they both giggled.  Here she is rambling about her imaginary grandparents who live “fa fa away” and have a little doggie…sort of based on reality I guess!

Here’s some of Fin’s funky dancing she says she learned from her Gramma!  If I were her Gramma, I don’t know if I’d take credit for these moves.

Then there’s Shanie, who is OBSESSED with the idea of getting a snake for his birthday this summer.  Travis, of course, has been lobbying hard for a ball python, so now we’re on the hook to get Shane a snake.  I cannot tell you how excited Shane is about this.  Here’s the funny part – he has already named the ball python he plans to get for his 4th bday.  It’s name?  It’s a ball python named “BALLS!”  So the kid runs around all day talking about “my balls” this, “my balls that.  It goes right along with his other obsession – his Toy Story doll.  He refers to that frequently too, with “my Woody” this, “my Woody” that.  Niiiiiiiice.

Shane heard a naughty phrase in a kids’ movie and repeated it in an appropriate contexts.  I almost peed my pants when I heard him yell “ahhh! INDIANS!” (what he really meant was, “ahh! IDIOTS!”).

Shane has become an AMAZING biker.  His new thing is biking hilly dirt trails.

And a funny one by Jack…he has this busted up stuffed baby duck that he named “Pizza Pie.”  He brings it everywhere.  The other day, he set Pizza Pie on the floor facing the bathroom and announced “I’m going to do a big caca, and Pizza Pie’s gonna watch!”  Mostly though, Jack just says freakishly intelligent things.  Today he was coming up with original riddles for me to solve.  He had some awesome ones, including “what has 4 legs that don’t move? A table.”  I thought I had a good one for him with “what weighs tons, is old, and has a trunk that doesn’t move?”  He thought it was lame, rolled his eyes, and just pointed next to himself at a large oak tree.  Not much I can do since his IQ is nearly twice mine.  His latest craze is geography – he’s obsessed.  He knows North American geography very well, including the Caribbean and Central America.  He learned most of it from “Stack the States” and “Stack the Countries” on his iPad, but he also studies maps.  I don’t know if I’ve written this anywhere or not yet either, but Jack reads now (not just 3 letter words now).  He’s truly amazing.  I’ll never forget the text I got one day while I was at work, prob 4 months ago.  It was from Travis and said “holy $hit, did you know our kid can read?!”  So yeah, we didn’t teach him; he taught himself and surprised the crap out of us as usual.

Here’s his recent artwork, the 1st picture he drew on a Doodle Pro (essentially an etch-a-sketch with a pen), the 2nd picture he painted on a canvas all by himself:

Here’s a letter he wrote me that kinda broke my heart.  It also inspired an “I’d never leave you” talk:

And as for Griffie – best baby ever.  He’s getting really big, still breastfeeds (yay for pumping!), is starting to eat solids (so far just bananas), rolls all over the house, and loves to do tummy time.  He’s such an easy going little guy.  Here’s a video of him being himself – cute and smiley.  You get a quick glimpse of his “holy shit” face too:

Just a quick kid update.  Griff is rolling around and becoming slightly demanding between the hours of 8pm – 7am (but still the perfect baby during wakeful hours).  He is still the happiest, most easy going little thing the rest of the time!  It pretty much just means I don’t sleep, since even when I’m home and not on overnight call in the hospital, I’m still up all night rocking and nursing this little tank.  But it’s worth it.  I love this goofy baby.

These pictures will make Yiayia barf a little in her mouth!

The boy makes the funniest faces!

Finley is obsessed with princesses, dresses, the color purple, and all things hideously girly…but still not the least bit hesitant to wrestle, roll in dirt, or collect her roly poly pill bugs.  Shane is fearless, he befriends spiders and names them all Rosey, loves to twirl his “pincess Finnie,” still sucks his binky at nap and bedtime, and is a super sweetheart. Jack is a walking talking brain who memorizes every single fact thrown his way and asks “what does that word mean” whenever he hears one that’s not yet part of his excessively large working vocabulary.  He’s also an athlete and an amazingly loving child.

Watching this makes me blow diet coke out of my nose.  Shane is hysterical when he starts feelin’ the music.  This was too cute not to share; I had to spread the laugh.

Update on Fin-Fineus: she responded to oral antibiotics!  Thank God, no hospital admission, just a fun day off with my kids on Finley’s 3rd birthday.  Thank you for all your prayers. 

So, Travis taught Fin and Shane how to ride a 2 wheel bike a week or two ago!  How cool is that?!  Because they’d learned to ride balance bikes when they were so little, it was easy peasy to transition to the real deal – literally a few hours one afternoon and they can both ride “pedal bikes,” as my kids call them.  Finley dreamed up the most ridiculous bike ever – she wanted it to be purple, have a white basket with flowers, and a purple bell.  Voila, her wish is her daddy’s command.  Finley got a purple pedal bike with a white flower basket and purple bell for her birthday!

Here’s Shane’s debut while Finley learns in the background:

Here’s Finley a few minutes later, getting the hang of it:

Here’s Finley getting her adorable, thoughtful birthday present from Aunt Heather:

This is a phrase we hear all the time.  And it’s FREAKIN HILARIOUS. Shane is always looking for some reason to command our attention and take the stage, and he does it in the funniest ways.  He’ll interrupt to say “oh, oh, oh, EH-COOME! EH-COOME!” So we’ll pause our conversation to allow his interjection.  After he hears the “what is it Shane,”  he’ll say whatever he can think of on the spot, like “are you a girl?” or “do you have ears?” It cracks us up.

All 3 of my little boys are growing up fast.  Yesterday was my day off, so I got to take Jack to school and pick him up afterwards.  His teacher was telling me how his mind is just different than other kids’.  In his limited English (he’s from Spain), he told me how other kids draw boxes and call them houses while Jack is busy drawing the doorknobs on the doors and the shingles on the roof.  He’s incredibly artistic and his mind is so unique. 

And then there’s the little guy.  I can’t stand how freakin sweet this baby is.  He’s gotten SO verbal, smiley, and imitative.  Can you believe he’s 3 months old?!

His big brothers are adorable with him lately.  Shane asks me to lay Griff in his bed with him while Travis reads their chapter book at bedtime each night.  It’s their snuggle time.  Jack will just randomly come over and plant kisses on him throughout the day.  Finley has been going through her own thing lately, which is her reaction to me going back to work.  She’ll tell me she feels angry at Griffin because she’s not the baby anymore and I hold him too much.  She’s having a tough time and has taken it out on him in sneaky little ways (true Fin style;).  I just wish I were home more, and that there were more of mommy and daddy to go around.

Here’s my littlest man:

This is Griffie’s “holy shit” face:

This next picture looks EXACTLY like a baby picture of my brother, Jeremy.  But my dad saw it and said it looks just like my brother Alex.  My mom, however, tells us he looks like a Good – just like his Grandjoe.  Usually though, I can see a little of Travis’ dad and a lot of my brother Alex.

Love the drool in this last one!  He’s such a little angel, slobber and all.

Shanie often says that when he means “yes,” which cracks me up.  Shane is very very into “Toy Tory Tree” right now.  As in, TOTALLY freakin obsessed.  He lives and breathes Buzz Lightyear and is always jumping off crazy high stuff yelling “to infinity…AND BEYOND!”  The funniest thing Shane does is say “boo to you Fin,” whenever she’s being a little fart to him.  It drives her NUTS, and he knows it!  He also points his finger at people and says “boom, boom,” as if to shoot them.  I’ve said this before, but the reason this is so hilarious is because we are NOT gun people and I don’t think Shane has ever seen even a toy gun (well, maybe a long time ago at my parent’s house thanks to my little brother, Georgie).  Maybe it’s just his Buzz laser.  Shane loves to do stuff that requires a lot of concentration, like puzzles.  He is a TOTAL lazy boy, but is also impressively coordinated and super awesome at climbing. 

He’s a crazy eater and says often “I’m getting bigger like daddy!”  We know we’re always gonna get our money’s worth out of Shane when we take him to an all-you-can-eat buffet;)  He still has an insane sweet tooth, but has started to eat broccoli now that he pretends to be a T-Rex all the time.

Shane and Finley have such a sweet relationship.  He’s SO protective of and loving towards her.  We were at a playground the other day and someone pushed Fin.  He came over to us, holding Fin’s shirt to escort her, and reported to us that someone pushed her.  Whenever she wears a dress, he always says “Finnie a PINCESS!”  Also, Fin is afraid of the dark and won’t even go to the bathroom by herself if it’s dark, so she’ll just ask Shane to come with her.  He ALWAYS says yes, drops his toy, and runs to accompany her.  So cute.

I’ve never met a little kid who is so happy to share his toys with anyone who asks.  Never a tantrum about it, as long as he is asked politely – ALWAYS says yes and hands whatever he’s playing with right over, even if it’s his favorite toy.  He talks about “Milla-wah-kay,” as he pronounces it, all the time, asking if whatever toy he’s using is coming with us.  We also hear the phrase “where my big Woody,” and crack up about a hundred times a day.  He has Jesse, Woody, and Buzz dolls from Toy Story that he takes everywhere, so you understand why he’s really saying that!  Shane can still be a grumper every now and then.  Whenever he gets in trouble for whining he’ll immediately yell in the grouchiest, angriest voice ever “I’M SO HAPP-EH!”  It’s fairly amusing:)

He continues to be fascinated by trucks, his favorite being a cement mixer.  He told me today he’s going to be a bulldozer when he grows up…he meant driver, I think?!  He is also really into trains.  He calls everything the Polar Express.  Shane has an amazing gift – he is SO musically inclined.  He hears a song once and can hum it keeping perfectly in tune (or on pitch, or whatever the music term is:).  He sings along to everything and really has a love for music.  He and his tone-deaf little sister started a music class together today and LOVED it.

A funny Shane story: we had Chinese for dinner a few nights ago.  The kids were begging for a movie night after dinner, but Travis and I vetoed the request.  Shane opened his fortune cookie after dinner and I read it aloud for him.  It said: “Good new is coming your way.”  Shane threw his arms up in the air and exclaimed: “we gonna watch a movie!!”  That’s my Bug.

I LOVE fall, and I absolutely love fall in Colorado.  I love every season in Colorado, but fall is my favorite.  I know there’ll be pumpkin patches in Wisconsin too, but they won’t have mountain views or the same crisp, dry air with the bluest skies like we have here.  Still, I can’t wait to live there.  I’m just REALLY looking forward to the end of this year. 

I’m a big fan of fall festivals, and since today was my day off, I took the kids to this one, which was fantastic because there weren’t too many people there and there was tons of open space.  We picked pumpkins, went through the corn maze (twice), jumped in the bounce house, played in the “corn box,” and the kids got their arms painted (face painting is lost on little kids because they can’t see the artwork).  It was pretty fun.  Travis had to round on his patients at the hospital, but he was able to meet up with us for a late lunch.  Travis and I just finished watching a movie together and now I’m doing the countdown (6 hours until I have to get up for work tomorrow).  8 days until my next day off…

Finley talked this poor artist’s ear off!!

I swear this boy just gets more and more beautiful every time I look at him.

Shane is too cool for school with his spider tattoo:

This picture pretty much sums up Finley - petite in stature but LOUD in personality:

I love this picture of Shane – does he not have the most gorgeous skin?!  As a derm-to-be, I can appreciate the fact that it is FLAWLESS.

This picture of Fin is so cute and I had fun playing with it in Lightroom:

Here’s a little laugh for you…Travis shaved the boys’ hair today, and in the midst of Shane’s haircut, we got a glimpse into what he’ll look like in 60 years:

Jack came outside, took one look at Shane, and said “Shane looks like Granjoe!” and then proceeded to laugh his little butt off.  I’m pretty sure my father-in-law would find Jack’s sense of humor just as funny as we did! 

Once the shave was complete, it was adorable.  Shane loves to get his haircut and especially loves all the praise he gets as soon as it’s done – everyone loves to feel his prickly head! 

Jack HATES having his haircut; the sound of the razor drives him crazy.  Strange thing is, he loves the dentist.  Weird kid;)  I love both boys with short hair – you can see their features so much better.  We’re heading out for what should be an incredible hike tomorrow, so I’ll hopefully take some pictures of the new ‘do’s there.

Jack starts school in 2 weeks.  I wonder if that’s going to ruin the munchkin games he, Shane, and Fin have made up and enjoying playing together, like “Princess Parade.”  I wish they could stay little and carefree forever.  Please make note of how dainty a princess Shane is in this video, pinching the sides of his gown to keep it from snagging on the ground – hilarious.

A few other funny updates.  Here’s a picture of outer space that Jack drew and hung on his own bedroom wall. 

I was tucking him in tonight and he was describing his artwork for me:  “that dark thing is a meat-eater (meteor), and that swirly thing is the Milky Wave (Milky Way)…”  Just can’t believe my baby is actually starting school!!  My mom sent him this backpack and lunchbox that he’s quite eager to wear:

Today was my day off and Fin and Shane let me sleep in until almost 8am!!  It was amazing.  Jack, however, still runs on 8hrs sleep – not much for a 4 year old, but that’s always been how he rolls.  So Travis got up and laid down with him at 6.  Jack was tossing and turning and trying everything to get Travis up and downstairs with him.  He finally resorted to paraphrasing a line from Wall-E, when the people are traveling back to Earth and the video is informing the people of 1 effect of having been lazy/not exercising.  Jack pulled that one out and told Travis “dad, I’m experiencing slight bone loss!” 

Fin also has been cracking us up lately with some line she picked up from God knows where.  Anytime the boys do something wild she doesn’t want them to do, she’ll tell “don’t do that!  It brings down the value!!”  And perhaps my favorite conversation between Fin and Jack that highlights their differences:

Travis: “oh, I think that grasshopper is hurt.  let’s leave him alone.”

Jack: “Yeah, maybe his mommy and daddy will come find him and take care of him.”

Fin: “or maybe a snake will come along and eat him!”

We went on a hike today and Shane, our expert bug catcher, caught tons of critters for our little critter / amphibian / reptile tank at home.  He and Jackie caught a couple frogs, but one little jumper was tough to capture.  Fin got frustrated watching the boys gently scoop and miss, so she pushed them aside and tried to stomp on it.  I yelped, which stopped her in her tracks before the frog had been completely flattened.  Fin noticed my concern and said “oh,” then she looked back and pointed at the lame frog and comforted me with “it’s ok mom, he’s still jumpin.”  Heart a gold, that kid.  She really cracks me up though.

Then there’s Shanie and his incredible etiquette.  He’s always excusing himself and apologizing for things Fin or Jack did.  It’s funny because Fin will own up to her naughties and say “no Shane, that was MY fault.”  On several occasions, he has interrupted restaurant conversation to say “cuse me! CUSE ME?!” and then when he has our attention, “my farted.” 

Apologies for the deteriorating quality of my photos!  I haven’t edited a picture in MONTHS, and most I take these days are with my iphone.  Here are 2 from our hike & picnic today: