3 Years, 2 Months

Steve and I decided that what our tiny backyard was crying out for was...

... a spa!

The wild children think it's great fun. Hopefully at some point during all the shenanigans they'll work on leaning to... float or something.

Toddler Basketball
The action was fast and the pictures blurry, but the look on Henry's face tells the story.

Henry attempts the challenging backward over-the-shoulder pass:

Action Jack:

Taking their shots...

Lunch Out
Henry, loving being out on the town at our favorite deli. 

Jack, scanning for opportunities for mischief:

Adventures Around the House
Jack observes Henry's blueberry art technique:

"I made a 'J' for Jack!"

We also endeavored to build the world's tallest block tower. Well, okay, our house's tallest block tower. We eventually got all the way to the ceiling of the boys' room.

Henry carefully adds a block:

Henry studies the tower while Jack dares to bring even more blocks:

Henry prepares to place his block:

Jack sings the victory song of the master builder:

Mom: What's the plan here!?
Henry: Well, I was just going to push brother in this toy shopping cart at high speed, most likely into a door or wall, why?

Mom: Okay, what's the plan now!? 

Jack: "Henry's going to change my diaper." 

Mom: "Um, no." 

Henry, proudly showing off how he laid out his cards:

Since they got dragged along for a long day of shopping, we allowed the boys to select an item of their choice from the dollar store. Instead of a toy car or party hat or some such thing, Jack selected a goblet. That he adores. And wants to drink all his milk from.

Cheers! (or en garde?)

Not pictured: Henry selected a purple loofah. Three-year-olds are interesting.

Enjoying cookie dough from the spoons Dad let them swipe:

Pantry-henge, under construction:

Henry, looking eerily like young Steve, expects Mom to be mad about the emptying of the pantry. However, Mom has given up on these things, so the construction continues.

Plane Craft
The boys managed to pick up a nasty case of hand, foot & mouth and missed four days of school and their weekly basketball class. Fortunately the worker at the monthly Home Depot kid craft table allowed us to take two plane kits home for the boys to build where they wouldn't spread to their plague to others.

Jack, diligently working with his dad to attach the propellers while Henry experiences the joy of piloting one's very own aircraft.

Henry is such a sweet little dude and gets so incredibly excited about things.

In other events...
On September 6th, Jack had surgery to remove a venous malformation from his chest. fortunately everything went well and the surgeon believes it was all removed and should not recur.

Jack with his prizes, new crayons and a teddy bear he named "Jell-o" (I guess said jiggly snack was on his mind since that's all he was allowed to eat the morning of his procedure):

Jack has recovered nicely thanks to the excellent care provided by his in-house physician, Dr. Henry:

We are lucky to be moving into another month with our health and (most of) our wits about us.