The art of...um....Pumpkin....Massage

Party Like a Four Year Old

A party custom designed by Donovan: Pizza joint. Lotsa games. Hey dad, gimme the money.

I just can't believe we have a FOUR year old.

4.

Four.

Yep, that would be all your fingers minus your thumb, four. Wow. We are proud, amazed, sad, and wondering where the time went! He is no longer a baby- just our big, independent doing, thinking, talking, little man.

So, at his request, we descended on Peter Piper's Pizza with our throng of family for some good old fashioned token-enhanced fun:)

Little man's dream world. Lights & buttons....and LOTS of them!!!!

Avery is great at bopping things. Just ask Donovan. And our cat.

Cool mom....there's dinosaurs on my cake!

Ok...this is the funny part. My little man is such a good sport! In my frantic last minute gathering of decorations, cake, plates, gifts, etc.....the one thing that didn't make it to the car was the candles. Donovan is the KING of candle-blowing, with this huge family celebrating bdays every other week, he sneaks in a takes care of everyone's candles for them. So when we got ready to sing and I realized we were candle-less....I did all I could to come up with them on the spot....scanned the room at the other little parties....dang it, they used number candles (I don't think a 2 would have looked as cool on his cake:)

Anyway, he looked at the cake funny and asked for the candles.....I was just honest with him, telling him I forgot them at home. I guess by now he is used to his mom's blondeness and shrugged it off like it was nothing! I still felt guilty so I asked..."can you just pretend to blow out candles??" Well, he did, with the same pro finesse he always has;) Ahhhh. So big boys really don't cry:) Crisis averted. Imaginary candles blown out. Wishes granted.

New crisis: Brother at 3 o'clock. He's in, he's out. He got a good chunck of frosting. If candle-blowing is Donovan's thing, taking big obtrusive licks of cake icing is Avery's. Everywhere we go, weddings, showers, birthdays, doesn't matter what or where, but he makes sure he gets the first taste of every gooey topping:) I love Donovan's expression tho....its just like, "c'mon man, gimme a break - I only turn four once!"

I don't see any remorse on this face.....do you???

Its present time.....and it looks like Uncle Sam picked the right gift from the right aisle in Toys R Us!!

Grandpa showing the boys how its done.

And then they take matters into thier own hands. I never realized this was a team sport!

Four years old.....but every bit a boy. There is more than one way....to ride a carousel!

Foam-antics

Daddy brought home some foam from work for mommy- she needed it to line her camera gear trunk. Turns out she didn't need the pieces with the stars cut out, so we got to play play play with them to our hearts content! Daddy tells us these are what the Blackhawk modules are packed in.....but we don't care, we think they have TONS of uses.....as we exhibit below:

A: Juggling

B: Confinement

Woops....

Ok....new plan...

Starrey Eyed...

C: Modern Art...

No joke. They built this one and called it: "Potty a la Mod." My hopes that they will be successful engineers are fading with the realization that they may just be eccentric artists;)

Alive and well...summer update short and sweet...just like the boys herein:

You know what they say about an apple a day!!!...Does that apply to just regular doctors or all medical visits??? Well...no ER visit this summer yet....thank you, Granny Smith??? No...........Guardian Angels. I stand corrected.

Read the shirt. He wears it well.

It may look like a funny orange toy gun. Be careful...it can actually shoot batteries if loaded correctly (by a 3 year old).

"Moses"

This is what happens when laundry waiting to be folded waits too long....its gets worn "as-is"

By the way...those are daddy's boxers on his head and my pj shorts across his chest.

I knew letting them watch Spider Man was a bad idea.

More soon.....I promise.

Powder Puff Boys

Powder white skin is fine....but not if your kids are half Mexican!

So it was instantly upon seeing Avery's hair as he peeked around the corner at me that I knew something was amis. ....Or better yet....amess.

Yes indeed, 22oz of powder might be the cheapest bulk size to buy.....but it sure is no fun to clean up. These poor Texas kids missed snow, so they thought they would create their own from the top bunk...shaking every last microscopic flec into the atmosphere of their bedroom. If you notice that hazy look to Avery's photo above....that is not a blurry shot, nor is it a neat Photoshop affect....no it is simply powder laced AIR. I had to open all the windows, turn on the fan and the air purifier for 24 hours before it was even livable in there again!

It was just one of those moments where scolding was impossible....so take pictures was the only thing to do....because the prospect of just how to clean the room was enough to zap all energy as I entered the room. Oh, and be assured, while Avery is covered in the most powder, it was big brother Donovan who climbed up into the (formerly sacred and childproof) top shelf of the closet and handed down the bottle of powder.

Now I lay me down.....to......sleep. PLOP.

After a long day of tearing his mother's house apart room by room, Donovan finally decided to give it a rest. LITERALLY.

RIGHT NOW. It looks like it was a split second decision. There is a couch through either doorway to the front and behind him....but nope, it looks like his batteries just plumb wore out right in the middle of the kitchen floor.

Too bad he waited until I was out running errands...why is it that daddy has all the luck?


I have to take pictures to remind myself that they really ARE angels. When they are more lively looking it is quite easy to forget this.

Another one bites the dust...

It was dad's plan since we were in diapers....send the girls off to a great Catholic Universtiy so that they can meet a great husband. Well, dad may have been doling out future MRS. degrees when we were tots, but now he is eating his words, as yet another Bugos girl has gotten hitched.

Just days after graduating Magna Cum Laude from Christendom College, Cassidy walked down the same aisle she had worn her cap and gown, this time in an all white gown and veil, ready to become Mrs. John Jalsevac.

As her sister, I couldn't be happier! John is a welcome addition to the family, and Cass is truly blessed to have such a wonderful man in her life.

Taking place in the lush Shenandoah hills of Virginia, the setting was utterly romantic. The entire family and tons of friends of both the bride and groom congregated in Front Royal for 4 days of wedding festivity (and manic preparations:) The blessed event took place on May 15th at 3pm.....and lasted into the wee hours of the morning.

To view the full wedding story, you can view their album under the featured weddings at www.BellezzaPhotography.com

Congratulations to Cass & John!

Our whole clan!

Seven Habits of Highly Independant Little Boys

IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER....


1. Knives are swords.
"If hobbits and dwarves and the children of Narnia can bear them....so can I." -Avery
(found today in the top bunk coveting my turkey carving knife under a pillow. I just uttered a prayer of "THANK GOD nothing happened to him" and gently removed the knife to a place so safely out of the way that next Thanksgiving I will probably have to carve my turkey with chopsticks). I still don't know where he got it from . YIKES!!!)

2. Don't pee your pants. No.....pee in any open container available in the moment. But just don't pee your pants.

3. Pick mommy's single most expensive hair product and use it to wash the carpet.

4. Open door policy. .....In the fridge. Get whatever food you want, whenever you want, partially eat it and then grind it into the nearest available furniture or crevice. Leave fridge door open on your way out for proper ventilation of food.

5. Turn fridge control to OFF. This will greatly excite mommy at around midnight when she is looking for a snack and realizes everything is room temperature.

6. While we are on the topic of food, make it HOT. Doesn't matter if it is not normally nuked, but place any food item or toy in microwave and turn on by pressing whatever buttons necessary. NOTE: If you see fireworks...run and hide under your bed.

7. IMPROVISE. Can't find the foam bullets for your air gun? Break open your LED light you got from the parade, pop out the little stack of cell batteries, and you have instant METAL bullets perfect for loading into your high powered air gun (the one that DADDY bought you, remember?)