STRAWBERRY PICKING!

So, I have been out of homemade strawberry jam for a LONG time now! And we finally picked a day to go and pick some strawberries with the boys! I figured they would have a good time running around, eating strawberries, getting filthy, you know... theyre boys!

But I really had no idea exactly what I was getting into!

It took us like 2 hours to pick 4 buckets. Rylan only wanted to be held- he didnt like all the mud in the aisles. And Caden had to be watched constantly, because he especially liked the GREEN strawberries, and the ROTTEN ones! Nevertheless, we had a good time, got some good strawberries to make some jam, and some great pictures!

Today's Rylan-ism

So, I truly believe that Rylan is the sweetest child I have ever seen. He will share ANY toy, ANY drink, ANY food that Caden wants him to.


For instance- today, Rylan had been out with my mom to run some errands. They stopped at McDonalds for lunch. He brought home some left-over chicken nuggets and fries. We put him into his chair, next to where Caden had been eating (or shall I say, NOT eating) his lunch, carrots and sandwiches. Rylan looks at Cadens tray, and GIVES him a nugget and some fries! HOW CUTE IS THAT!


HOWEVER... Rylan can also be a vicious little thing... most of the time when caden steals toys, or whatever, rylan just sits and takes it... but other times, he turns into Mr Hyde and BAM! Takes a chunk out of Cadens leg, arm, neck, whatever is closest and just clams down with his piranha like teeth!


Bottom line is this- Rylan is 90% the sweetest thing you ever saw, and 10% Get Those Teeth Away From Me!!!!



But I love him just the same!

Today's Caden-ism!

So I know I need to start a notebook to write in all of the cute things that the boys do and say. Well I havent gotten one yet, so I thought I would write it in here!


So Caden LOVES to eat chalk (and candles, and crayons, and anything wax, and rocks, and dirt, etc)- but he knows that when I catch him with it in his mouth it goes bye-bye. I'm hoping that it will work!


So yesterday, I am lounging in my bathing suit in the sun, Ethan's in his jumper, and Caden and Rylan are coloring with chalk on the patio. Two minutes later, I open my eyes, and Caden is over in the side yard, playing with the wheels on the trash cans (of course), with the bright orange chalk in his mouth.

I call his name out... he looks at me, IMMEDIATELY takes the chalk out of his mouth, bends over, and starts randomly coloring as fast as he can!!! And then stands back up and looks at me...

As if to say,

"ITS OK, MOM!!! Im coloring, coloring, coloring, can you see?... DONT TAKE IT AWAY!"



That little stinker! Anyways, it was cute, so I thought I'd put it up!

EASTER

I have so many new posts to write, so I better get at least one done today! (and nap time is almost over already- dang!)


Easter was so much fun this year! The twins (I have to start referring to them as 'the twins' even though I hate it- but I cant say ' the boys' anymore, because I now have three of them!) were old enough to realize that eggs had yummy things in them and would hunt for them! They had 3 baskets each, and 2 different Easter egg hunts, one at the Gma and Papa Zeltner's house in the morning, and one at Grammy and Gpa Craigs house. By the end of the day, they were professional egg hunters!

Cadens strategy was to shove as many eggs as he could into his basket, not trying to open any of them, while Rylan had to open each egg as he went along, checking out the goodies inside!
We had to slow Caden down so we could give Rylan more time!





Ethan just sat and watched, hopefully knowing that his brothers would have to share in their treasure!


It is so fun to watch and see how different these three little boys are in temperament, personality and growth!

The Wild Animal Park

We have been planning to go to the wild animal park for weeks now. Then came the rain, then the wind, then flu season... but we finally made it there last weekend. Armed with food, snacks, juice galore, emergency back-up snacks (fruit gummies) and emergency-emergency- cant-get-the-kid-to-stop-crying-snacks (cookies and brownies) We finally made it there!




We went with Chris's parents and sisters (good thing- we needed the help!). Between 6 adults, we figured we could handle the three babies... that was, until we lost caden! He absolutely insisted on walking BY HIMSELF!


He did great at that, the only problem was, we all just assumed that somebody else had him! he was only lost for about 45 seconds, but i about had a heart attack during those 45 seconds! He had gone up the next set of stairs and was wandering down the swiss family robinson walkways. Needless to say, he was holding somebodys hand AT ALL TIMES after that!




The boys had a great time in the petting zoo, until a dumb deer knocked rylan over trying to get more food from him... he didnt really like that much. The liked the bird show, Rylan laughed a lot. Caden was motivated to stay because of the chips I fed him!




They also loved the tram ride thingy (journey acrosss africa)- not so much because of the animals (they were kind of far away to see), but because they were in a 'car' with no carseat! They were fairly obedient when it came time to take pictures, although most of the time they were dying to explore and didnt stay in one place very long, so i got a lot of pictures of the back of their heads!! Overall, they were incredibly well behaved, for not getting a nap, and we stayed until after 3!And ethan, of course, was my sweetest angel! He really is the best, happiest baby! We now have season passes to the WAP and the zoo, so if anybody wants to go- let me know!

a day in the life of a toddler...

So, here it is, a good day in the life of a zeltner toddler.



Chris had the day off, so that always means a happier mommy and more trips out! They woke up to a new toy outside in the backyard (a pop up train thingy- $8 off craiglist!)

So after that, we took the boys to the mance buchanon park in oceanside. We have never been there before, and they have the BEST play equipment!





Caden refused to get out of the swing, Rylan was obsessed with that little elephant rocker thingy, and if youre wondering, Ethan was not so happy when i took that bag of strawberries away!



After that, we took an hour nap (not long enough for mommies standards!) and went to visit grammy and grandpas house! We went swimming in their hot tub, ate pizza for dinner, and grammy gave the boys lots of ice cream for dessert! (unfortunately, i dont have any pictures of that part- my camera was temporarily lost- under uncle ben's butt on the sofa!:)


must be a hard life to be a toddler huh? and tomorrow... we go to the wild animal park!

youre a winner!

Heck, i thought it was cute... LOVE the picture, it made me smile. and sort of similar to chain emails, here you go!

The first 5 people to respond to this post will receive something made by me. What I make will be my choice, but it will be made just for you. Since I only really have 5 readers, that means that you’ll all probably get something

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2. What I create will be an original and it will be made just for you.
3. It’ll be done this year (might be December 31st, but you WILL get something) and I will post all of my original creations as they are completed.
4. You will get no clues what it’s going to be. Heck, I don’t even know what it will be. I might paint or draw something. I might compose a jingle or short song. I might even write a short play just for you. Who knows? Whatever it is, it will be a surprise!
5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange

The catch? The catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog.

Happy commenting (AND posting!)