Happy Birthday Tomorrow, Pumpkin!

Flashback Friday

William & Cameron:

Cameron & Andrew:

Aww.. Feel that brotherly love.

Three little monkeys...

I feel like more of a zoo-keeper than a mother some days! here are some silly shots of all 3 boys after William asked to hold Andrew and then, of course, Cameron wanted in on the action.

"Raspberries!"

I'm sure you'll all be very happy to know that now Cameron chomps on his own Thomas toothbrush, and not mine anymore.

Seconds after this shot was taken, William's arm-around-the shoulder quickly evolved into a head-lock, and Cameron's smile turned into a shrieking scowl... Heaven, help me...

chillin'

Nothing too exciting happening around here these days (EXCEPT Andrew's new smiles-- Love them!!). We've been just relaxing and keeping things low-key as much as possible this week. Trying to enjoy the easy days before this summer up and kicks off with all the craziness that it has in store for us.

Tell me, seriously, have you ever seen anything cuter? (The baby, not the pillowcase).

1/2 smile. He's still perfecting his techniques. Much of the time it just looks like he has his mouth open reallly big.

Taking our cue from N's brother and family, I fit my 3 boys in the stroller by reclining one side all the way, and putting in the boys like so. Genius, I tell ya.

Such a cutie. We've got a growing collection of fun rain boots... I can't help myself when I stumble upon them. The boys love them.

Cameron... eating more chalk. He loves to "duh-cuh" (color) anywhere/anytime. The sidewalk chalk has been good to keep him from eating crayons and coloring on walls.

This face just made me laugh out loud!

Here is the fabulous pirate ship water table that we got thanks to Poppy & Grammy for William's birthday. It's been awesome and we're ready for more warm weather so we can use it some more.

sleepy

We've been a sleepy lot around here these days. Some of us (mom & dad) are more readily to admit it and take action to remedy it than others (nap-resistant-boys). The result has been some impromptu naps by the little ones:

I love this picture (and their matching outfits-- thanks Aunt Jessica and Cousin Emily!).

I was wondering why our shopping trip was going so quietly and smoothly...
Silly William. Listen to your mother. FOR ONCE. You still. need. naps.

Aunt Abby

We Miss You!

Come back soon to play!

A Name and A Blessing

Today was a special day for the Hancock Family. Andrew was blessed today at church by Nathaniel. I'm so grateful for the Priesthood authority in our family and that Nathaniel lives his life worthy of it. We're so grateful to our friends and family who traveled to share this great event. Andrew was blessed in the blessing gown that was worn by his brothers and mommy (and many other family members) for their blessings. My grandmother knit it long ago for my older sister. I love it. This afternoon we celebrated with our dear friends who also blessed their son today and another awesome couple. We're so grateful to have such great friends to party and eat cake with! We were too busy enjoying the fabulous weather and getting acquainted with our BBQ to take pictures though. I'm working on occasionally just being in and enjoying the moment rather than documenting every move. Tonight was successful and I think we all had a marvelous time. Love, love, love our great friends, house, and family.

Finally, a picture of all 5 of us. Not perfect, but neither are we.

I love this picture. What a good looking man and a sweet, sweet baby.

Nathaniel and his life-long best bud, Robert. What you can't see in this picture is the accomplishment of both having completed a 1/2 marathon not 24 hours before. Way to go guys!

Heat Wave

Holy Heat Wave! I'm SO happy that the weather has finally cooled off a bit again. I'm not ready for summer just yet. We've had fun outside though! Poppy and Grammy sent out a GC to Toys R Us for William's birthday that we put towards an awesome pirate water table. It's been a lifesaver when the boys insist on being outside and I want to keep them contained somewhat in one location (the covered front porch). Fabulous. We've also spent a fair amount of evening time at the local playground/sandbox, including efforts last night to fly a kite. Not entirely a failure, but I still wouldn't call it successful. Still, we had fun!

He's actually not a monster... yet. Give him a few more months.

Adventures with chalk... more on C's face than on the sidewalk. In this picture I think he looks a lot like William. Good lookin' boys!

"William, LOOK at me." "NOOOOOO!!" (his standard response to every single question).

Mmm... Who needs lunch?!

'Wha'chu lookin' at?'

House artist: Aunt Abby

"Oh no! Where my wegs?!"

Enjoying the 5 seconds that the kite was in flight.

Gorgeous 6-week-old baby. Love him!! Though-- I have a little beef with this beloved boy. The day we brought him home from his stint in the ER our neighbor Jackie came over to see him. When I handed him to her Andrew gave her several HUGE smiles, his first ever! What am I? Chop Liver? (haha... as my mom always used to say). Then he gave his next smiles to my lovely friend Carolyn. I got thirds... Thanks Andrew. ;) Just keep em' coming so I can catch one on film for the fans, k?

William still can't get enough of Andrew. They're going to be great pals.

Easter

We enjoyed a nice low-key Easter weekend. Saturday spent with friends, and Sunday spent with N's cousin and family. N's sister Abby is here with us this week which has been fun and helpful too! More fun in the sun pictures to come soon.

Andrew Cotton Tail

Working on that smile... it'll come soon, folks.

William was more interested in his cousin's toys than finding eggs... maybe next year.

Cameron did the same thing at both egg hunts.. found 1 or 2 eggs and then didn't want to do anything else until those eggs' contents had been devoured. He's his momma's boy, such a sweet tooth!

We were obedient to my mom's counsel "never touch a happy baby" and left a sleeping Andrew inside while we hunted. Here is a fun family picture sans happy sleeping baby.

ER

My, oh my. We keep our hospital in business! Wednesday night I was rocking sweet Andrew and I noticed that he was feeling warm. I took his temperature and it read 100.9. I took him outside to rock for a bit and to cool off, thinking maybe he'd just been bundled too much. It dropped down to a reasonable 100, but quickly popped back up to 100.4. I went to my ever-dependable Doctor Charity and she said to call my pediatrician. Pediatrician said "He's too young, that's a true fever. It can't wait until tomorrow. Take him to the ER." *SIGH* Off we went. At the ER his fever registered at 101.2. Poor sweet Andrew had every test done to him: blood drawn, snot sucked out, urine sample taken (horrible process...), and then a dreaded spinal tap. Bless this sweet child's heart. After his first round of antibiotics and tylenol his fever was gone (never to return) but because it HAD been there we were required to stay at the hospital for 36 hours to wait for the cultures to come back. He's feeling great, just a bit fussy as the antibiotics he's been receiving have been upsetting his stomach. We got a ton of FB love and lots of prayers sent our way. We're so grateful for that, and we're SO grateful that it didn't turn out to be anything serious... he just caught the bug that the rest family had (probably from his kissy brothers!).

Checking out the temporary digs.

I had a serious love/hate relationship with that needle on my baby's arm. Love that it could deliver him medicine to keep him healthy, hate that it ever needed to be there.

Hmm. I'd hate to meet the baby too big for this crib!! Good thing Andrew was clear by 341 lbs!

'I kid you not! That spinal tap needle was this long!"