5 Years, 9 Months

The face paint returns! Anything to survive a sick day at home with bored children who are feeling better and more energetic by the minute.

Henry requested one of the neighborhood cats, Luca, on his cheek. In return, Henry graced my forehead with one of his patented smiling hearts with legs. 

On Steve's birthday, the boys announced the occasion to their preschool class, and the whole class made a card. 

Steve often takes home and repairs broken items from the school, hence the message. Classmate Rowan added a great picture of Dad, Jack and Henry.

Plenty of help blowing out the birthday candles:

The boys decorated the wrapping paper on Steve's gift.

"Dear Daddy, I wish you had a happy birthday today and you're going to get a really big present!"

"I love that Dada cooks so nicely and he cooks breakfast that I love!"

"Hugs and kisses!" - Henry

"I love you Dad and happy birthday!" - Jack

Lots of excitement for Steve's gift, a Lego train!

You lucky duck!

Hmmmm... what to do first...

Jack has a plan!

Showing off their "ninja squirrels" shirts from their parkour class.

Goofy Jack:

Henry of the ample attitude: 

When arguing over the purpose and features of their Duplo creation, Henry grew exasperated and exclaimed, "Jack, I would not have described it like that because I don't have the same mind as you!" 

Upon discovering the devastation Henry later wrought to their project, Jack commented solemnly, "Looks like Santa's magic factory has been destroyed. Luckily Santa evacuated." 

Jack and Dad playing with a classic '80's toy: Alphie! 

Henry cutting the grass:

Ice cream treat after a toasty afternoon at parkour class:

Ah, brothers.

Henry loves to charge off and make his own meals and snacks, as well as creating his own art projects. Inspired by a school activity, he froze a small toy dinosaur in a water balloon. The result was pretty cool-looking.

Henry then instructed us to provide baking soda, a paintbrush and hammers. The boys then proceeded to excavate the frozen dinosaur.

In other diversions, the boys retrieved bricks from the front yard and built a wall around their dirt pit. They were mixing and using mud "mortar." I'm not sure where they learned that from.

Now that summer is approaching and with the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk only half a mile from our house, we decided to get season passes for the boys. They are now tall enough to ride quite a few rides and they enjoy the arcade and carnival games.

Water shooting game is serious business:

Truck ride!

When we're not out and about, we spend most of our energy trying to keep a lid on the chaos as much as possible.

Henry is a talented troublemaker, with a knack for finding things he's not supposed to do and wreaking general havoc. Jack sometimes warns us what his brother is up to, but is just as often an enthusiastic accomplice.

A sampling:

Henry, as he closed his bedroom door, "Dad, we're not going to do anything bad in here."

Jack, "Don't come outside. We are not doing any mischief. Okay, thanks!"

Jack, trying to draw Henry out of hiding, "Henry, I have an evil plan I need to tell you!" Whispering to me, "I don't really have an evil plan." 

Jack, after being caught misbehaving by Steve, "It's Momma's fault!"

Steve, "Why is that!?"

Jack, "She grew me like this!"

Hard to argue with that.

5 Years, 8 Months

For Easter, the boys received a care package from their former nanny Kasey, containing all kinds of goodies, including a gem sticker craft. Because of the fine motor skills needed (first you have to twist the pen-thing into the provided wax, which allows the tiny gems to stick to the pen-thing while being placed on the sticker) I wasn't sure how well it would go. As usual, the boys' skill surprised me and they did wonderfully. 

Henry, hard at work:

Henry left, Jack right, crafting among the Easter treats:

Suave Jack, showing off his creation: 

Silly Henry showing off his work, with Jack over his shoulder:

The boys were fascinated that the chocolate bunnies were hollow, and were studying the lack of innards with flashlights:

The boys' preschool sent home frames with tin sheet pressings that the boys did. The boys' names in their handwriting are pressed into the metal among the other designs. To the left of each frame are the alternate photos the teachers didn't end up using. 

Henry:

Jack:

Doling out herb seeds for the boys to plant in a cool rolling planter box Steve found:

My parents came to visit, and started their time here with a belated birthday celebration for me. 

Birthday pie (I'm not really a cake person) and gifts!

The boys received gifts too, including the most adorable Hawaiian shirts ever:

Henry wasn't thrilled about posing for pictures, but Jack was happy for me to take another with his Hawaiian shirt. 

Henry's favorite thing about grandparent visits is getting grandma to play board games with him. Here they face off playing Sequence for Kids:

Jack loves having more people around to read to him. Storytime with Grandpa:

It's also very nice having other adults around to supervise. Grandma watches closely over the dirt pit activities (showing off the well-loved digger Grandpa refurbished for them):

And, of course, there are always projects. My dad and Steve work in the background on replacing the side gates:

My mom was busy too. She took the suitcase full of loose Legos we received from Steve's brother Philip and turned them from this...

... to this!

The organizational efforts are still holding up after several weeks of use, and the boys have been really pleased that they can find the pieces they want. 

We made sure to do some fun things too, including taking the "beach train," which travels from the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk up into the redwood forest. 

Steve, Henry, Jack, Cindi and Larry waiting for the train to depart from the boardwalk: 

Jack, Henry and Steve traveling through the forest: 

Jack, loving the adventure:

Jack, looking more grown up than seems possible: 

Henry, relaxing and taking in the scenery: 

Deviled egg break! 

We took a picnic lunch to eat in the 45 minute layover in the redwoods before the train returned to the beach. 

Mom, Henry, Jack and Dad, ready to head back to the beach: 

Grandpa, Grandma, Henry, Jack and Steve, ready to roll:

Grandpa, Grandma, Lisa, Henry and Jack, waiting for departure: 

We bookended this visit with another celebration. Since we wouldn't be seeing my folks again for several months, we celebrated Mother's Day, my dad's birthday and Father's Day. 

Jack and Henry with birthday boy Grandpa, while Grandma looks on:

Jack, Henry and Grandpa:

Visits are always too short, and soon it was time for Grandma and Grandpa to go home. It has been a wonderful thing to have the house next door to allow guests to easily stay for as long as they wish while having their own separate space. It's something I never would have imagined we'd have.