Lately

 Things have been very crazy around here lately.  Tahl has been busy helping with the laundry.  I did not put either of the things in the wash.

or these...

Zev is the king around here.  I really need some help with his behavior, any takers?

Tahl has discovered he likes to color! He also finally stopped eating crayons. 

Zev did a little painting at a friends house. 

What a face.

Speaking of cute faces, this guy has one.

This cheese was a little too close for the flash. 

As was Zev's friend Adelynn's. 

Almost any time that Tahl is missing he can be found in the middle of Zev's bed (or maybe on the couch.)  He loves to sit up high and feel big. 

It makes him happy.  It makes me crazy because he doesn't know how to get down!

Zev remains interested in his name.  He made the Z and the V.  I helped with the E. 

In other news Tahl went for his 15 month appointment a little late. He is 32 inches tall (50-75%), and he weighs 24 pounds and 8 ounces (50th%).  He was a great at the doctor, but his feeling were much more hurt by the shots this time.  He was also declared officially smart by his doctor. (It's not official until the doctor says so!) I counted his words before we went, and he is up to 23!  On Sunday I went in to get him, and he pointed to his diaper and said "poo". I couldn't believe it.  Speaking of poo, Zev has been POOPING IN THE POTTY for almost a week now!  We have been working on this since January, and I think he finally has it! Ari and I are so excited.

15 months!

Last week Tahl turned 15 months!  He is AMAZING.  We think he is so smart and funny.  He loves to dress up and wear necklaces, hats, and anyone else's shoes.  He is a little walking tornado, moving things from room to room and making a mess where ever he goes.  He still LOVES to eat, and he is very expressive about how hungry he is ALL  the time.  He eats a pretty good variety and still drinks two glasses of milk a day. Tahl loves to read and is always bringing people books to read to him. He will sit alone with a book and look at the pictures.  He will point out what he finds like a dog or a car or his most favorite, a duck.  Tahl has quite a few words and he likes to try to copy what we say.  His most recent words are cracker, cookie, and ha (which can mean hat or hot).  He still says quack and cup the most, which can sound quite similar if you don't know.  He also says ma ma, da da, and he tries to say Zev.  Zev sounds just like when Tahl tries to say "sizzle" from his favorite Raffi songs, which is to say it just sounds like a Z sound.  Tahl loves to try to give me a "zerbert" on my belly by blowing a raspberry on me.  He gets really mad when I won't let him lift up my shirt to spit on me whenever he feels like it. I love spending time with this guy, and we are so happy for the past fifteen months with him!

Another week at home...

Zev has been home for another week with no camp.  We did lots more fun activities, starting with pirate hats.  I made this one for Tahl, and he loved it.

He wore it all afternoon.

Zev decorated his own.

It looks even better with his glasses. 

 We made pet rocks too!

One for Zev and one for Tahl of course.  We put them in the oven, and when they were hot, we decorated them with melted crayons. 

We also did a science experiment with vinegar and baking soda.  Zev and Kade had lots of fun with the bubbles and mixing the different color vinegars. 

Cheese! Tahl is just hanging out in the background. 

We went to the Children's Museum too. Zev had fun as a fireman. 

Tahl had fun playing musical instruments.

Zev also got his face painted.  He looks good in a mustache. 

On Saturday, he discovered goggles make swimming just "a little" more bearable.  He still didn't like going under the water though. 

Today Zevi made a pasta necklace.  He was very proud of it.

Then we went to the spray park with friends.  Tahl LOVED it today. He really liked having his own bucket. 

He kept his sunglasses on almost the whole time.

Tahl also didn't run away the whole time.  We had lots of fun.

Zev loves to fill his bucket and dump it out on the sidewalk.

We had a great time. We have lots more fun plans for Zev's last whole free week for a while. 

Random + Tyler

Tahl loves wearing hats just like his brother. He also loves to wear necklaces.  I might have to hide them. (He dressed himself here, by the way.)

Zev just LOVES to fall asleep on the floor.  This was bed time as you can tell from the Buzz Lightyear pjs. 

Zev has been sharing a little better with Tahl.  Here is the evidence: Tahl is wearing Zev's BOOTS!  Zev even encouraged this !

Z actually decided that T needed to wear his fire man jacket to match the boots. Tahl was excited about it!

Zev was proud of himself for sharing. He was also busy being a dog.

Here is Zev AGAIN falling asleep in the middle of a bunch of books.  He pulled down books that are from my classroom too, so he had a lot to clean up.  Instead of cleaning up, he fell asleep on the books.

Then today, Tahl fell asleep, for the first time, on a book! He is going to be a little bit like Zev after all. My boys love to read.

Zev has been in Tyler since Saturday night.  He is having so much fun!  I've gotten a few pictures from Pops and Gram of Mr. Z. Here he is in Jacob's graduation hat and Jacob's shirt.  I forgot to pack Zev pjs... yikes.

Swimming with Pops! Zev has done lots of swimming in Tyler. 

Here is Zev eating a burger with Pops, Gram, and Madi.  I was told, he LOVED this crown.

He told Pops he wasn't going to take it off all day.  Here he is wearing it at the park.

Thanks everyone for taking such good care of my Zevi!  I know he has so much fun in Tyler.  Tahl had lots of fun too being the only guy at home. 

Happy 4th of July!

This morning we had my mom and Kade over to swim.  Tahl was in the pool for about 2 minutes.  He spent the entire time we were swimming trying to climb up my body and out of the water.  He decided he would rather play up on the porch in the sand.

He likes to throw it and touch it. 

He also likes to rub that big belly. 

 Zev and Kade had fun squirting.  Kade can completely swim as long as he has floaties on. Zev did quite a bit better this day.  I think watching Kade helped him to relax in the pool.

For a special Fourth of July treat we made frozen bananas with chocolate.  Zev helped me make them, and then he emptied an entire bottle of sprinkles right on the top of them.  He and Tahl still thought they were delicious.  Tahl was covered in chocolate. 

These guys had lots of fun with Mimi and Kade in the morning, and then even more fun at Mimi and Papa's house in the afternoon for burgers and hot dogs. We had a great holiday, and we hope you all did too!

summer fun

Zev is out of school again for three weeks. We have had lots of fun already, and it's only Tuesday!

On Saturday, we tried painting with marbles.  Zev is a messy guy, so I wrapped it in saran wrap, and it worked perfectly.  He loved it, but it sure is a quick craft.

Here is a video of Mr. Z shaking it!

They turned out really nice.  On this one he wanted red, white, and blue for the "mer-cic-can" birthday, also know as the Fourth of July.  He was surprised when it turned out so purple, but it was a good teaching moment. He gave this one to Papa, who had been in the hospital.

We kept this masterpiece at home. 

Zev really does not enjoy swim lessons anymore.  He is VERY vocal about it, and he is very scared.  It is actually really depressing for me, but I know he needs to learn. This was his reward after the lessons.

On Sunday Ari had to work, so I took the boys to the splash park.  Tahl had fun for about ten minutes, and then he spent the rest of the time trying to escape the splash park to get to the WAY to hot regular park. 

Here is Tahli running around on the splash park.  He found someone else's toy on the ground which he really liked.

Zev turned these silly sun glasses into "Daddy glasses" by taking out the dark part. 

 On Monday we had friends over to play, and then on Tuesday we went to the mall. In the afternoon the boys had fun playing in Tahl's crib.

Tahl was so excited that Zev was in his crib. 

He was just full of giggles.

We decided to make the bed into a fort. 

The guys thought the fort was FUN. 

Here is Zev snoring in bed! You can also hear Tahl try to say "schmata" at the end of the video.

This guy might need a hair cut soon. 

Later on Zev was making Fruit Loop jewelry.  

Tahl was just eating the cereal. He was in heaven. 

Yum.

Finished!

Zev worked really hard.

His bracelet was so big, we made it into a necklace. 

When we went on a walk after, he thought it was the best snack ever.

It made for a very sticky walk.

Tahl didn't get any more cereal, but he did spend his whole walk barking. At least he knows dogs don't quack.  

 

We have lots of plans with our family in town for the Fourth.  Hopefully I will remember to take pictures.