The Palmer Rambler: A crazy start to summer!

So, I know summer didn't officially start until June 21, but the end of school and start of crazy heat means summer has been here for weeks!

Drew is getting so big in so many ways, it's hard to believe...4 year olds were my favorite stage for a long time before I was married or had kids, and it's hard to imagine that Drew is basically there...crazy! There are little things like not needing a step stool to reach the bathroom sink any more, independent in lots of self care, and the non-stop moving! It's impossible for him to keep still! He's climbing on something it seems like at all times! He makes a huge mess at any meal time because he just can't sit still!

He continues to enjoy playing outside - lots of sports play, and of course, still loving all the water play! He loves his Saturdays with Daddy because it means video games and silliness, fewer rules and less clean up - sounds great right?! I never like being busy or working on the weekends, but it comforts me knowing that the boys are getting good time together that is different than when Mommy is around. They had more of that than usual this month with Mommy being in class for a 3 day weekend and lots of school work to do. He loves to read through his magazines with Daddy too - reading about super heroes and legos and mazes, and things that are silly!

Drew got to participate in VBS at our church for the first time this year and LOVED it! Mommy and Daddy both grew up going to VBS, so we were super excited that our boys get to start participating in it too! Drew was more hesitant than I expected at first, but made sense since there really were SO many new faces, but once his buddy Harrison showed up, all was perfectly fine! :) He had a GREAT time for the week, loved all the songs and making a few new friends. His face just lit up when he talked about it, it made our hearts smile! We learned all about STAND STRONG for and with God!

A funny moment with Drew this month, one Saturday morning he slept in a little, but Mommy and Daddy would have loved more sleep, so Daddy jokingly asked Drew if he wanted to keep sleeping and Drew responded with "I have...like 70 energy, so I just wanna wake up" - it was so cute, and sounds like he's a video game player, counting his energy level!

Noah is such a little hoot...a big personality for such a little body! He is SUPER active! He is constantly running to keep up with Drew, but also just wants to jump and climb just because it's a favorite thing to do! He will get a running start to throw himself up onto the couches now - he loves to just throw his body around! It's hilarious and fun, but also dangerous and scary...I do NOT want to make frequent visits to the ER!

He is talking more and more and his cute little voice just melts my heart sometimes! He got a piece of candy one night after dinner and then asked "Mommy, one moe" with his pointer finger up for #1 and said it over and over again in the sweetest voice...we all thought is was hilarious, and yes, he got another piece! :) He says "Che-chow" to mimic Lightning McQueen, and he does it with such a cute and serious face! His teachers at school are even commenting on how much more he is talking now in class...very soon he will be competing with Drew on who can say the most words every day! He is getting better at correctly naming his colors too - still wrong lots, but improving, everything isn't "lello" (yellow) or "owng" (orange) any more! His favorite phrase and question is "wha doin?" (what are you doing?) It's like the 2 year old version of "why?", but it is quite cute!

Noah likes his Daddy time too, and like Drew, is getting more and more of it lately, but he is still quite clingy to Mommy. With being gone for 3 days in a row, only home late in the evening, Noah gave Mommy quite the welcome home every night! Lots of cheers and screams of delight, followed by holding him through dinner! :) It's nice to know you are loved and needed! Noah tagged along with Mommy during VBS - he was quite the little trooper. Mommy got to help by taking pictures of all the preschoolers and groups and he just followed along, happy to be bouncing around from place to place - a happy little guy as long as Mommy is near! :)

Noah moved up to the 2 year old room this month and with everything else going on, he's still a bit sad at drop off, but recovers quickly. He did much better at his haircut this month...he sat still and just softly cried throughout most of it. At times he would stop whimpering and focus in on the video, then as if he remembered he wasn't suppose to like it, would just start sadly whining again - silly boy...but much progress being made!

A funny story about Noah this month...I picked him up from school one day and noticed he was in his back up clothes, he had been wearing a one piece outfit earlier. His teacher told me they were out on the playground and he walked up to her with his dry diaper in his hand with wet clothes, no snaps undone! So he apparently reached up his shorts, unfastened his diaper to pull it out and then peed! Nice! It reminds of the scene from Zoolander...crazy kid! I'll be sure to keep him in elastic shorts from now on to help keep those diapers on!

He is actually quite the little ham, and has been that way for as long as we can remember really...he has started to make a chomping noise when he eats, just to be silly. He's also become more aware of manipulating bedtime and drawing it out...he'll scream when I'm done reading books, say "dwink"to get as many cups of water as possible or demand "woka chaiw" to sit back in the rocking chair for more snuggle time. He is quite persuasive, so our bedtime routine has gotten considerably longer lately, but I am usually smiling more often than not! One evening he was being super cute about it all and getting me to linger in the rocking chair with him and then told me "I gotch-u" as if to say...Got you - you did what I wanted! Oh, it made me laugh! Another time we were snuggling in the chair and he was squirming all over the place and then pretended to gobble up his own feet - it caught me off guard as being so cute I just belted out laughing, which meant he kept doing it over and over again - hilarious little boy! Love those sweet moments!

Lots of events this month...2 birthday parties - one with lots of fun with familiar friends, playing with toys, balls and balloons, and another at the Little Gym with friends from school, tumbling, jumping and playing - can't go wrong with either! Mommy took the boys to Austin for a day trip to see friends from high school - Denise was in town from NC, so wanted to get to see her while she was near...the boys did well playing with Emme (Denise's 3 y/o daughter) and had fun going out for lunch, playing on the playground, playing in the sprinkler and with all the different toys and musical instruments! We even got to see Uncle Kevin too, so a nice treat and good, but long, day! Both boys had dentist appointments this month - no cavities for either! YEAH! Drew did great and was very brave with no complaints! Noah required some lock down from Mommy throughout it all, but still did well. When Drew was his age, we were in and out in under 7 minutes because it was so bad! So the fact that we made it through the entire appointment was counted as a positive!

We also had our preschool 'graduation ceremony' and that was adorable! Noah's class all just stared out at everyone, even though they had practiced the most...they were all dressed in black shirts and jeans with headbands of stars and were supposed to sing Twinkle Twinkle...well, they didn't sing or move at all, but it was still the cutest thing ever! Drew's class did a very appropriate animal skit with tons of actions and then some fun praise songs - it's so fun to see your kids on stage...and it's just the beginning! :)

We had a calm Father's Day morning with donuts and gifts and some calm play time at home. It was a little on the odd side as we were a bit anxious about what was to come...

We had a huge shock to our system this month when Daddy was given 1.5 weeks notice that he would be going on a business trip to the UAE for up to 3 weeks! The days leading up to the trip were incredibly chaotic and stressful, trying to piece everything together from a logistics stand point, as well as all the extra work he had to do in order to complete his task in a timely manner to return in time for our family vacation. I had also just found out that I had a huge school project due 2 days after we would be returning from our trip, instead of the end of the summer, so I had to get it done before we left, which is when Matthew was gone! It was crazy! We had lots of help from friends and family, but it was an incredibly stressful 12 days! Matthew left right after lunch on Father's Day and Drew woke up from his nap a different person, and was incredibly hateful, disrespectful, rude, aggressive, defiant and had the worst tantrums I've ever seen from him before, he even acted out horribly at school! Noah didn't completely follow suit, but certainly joined in on some of the poor choices while playing. I know they missed their Daddy and the consistency that he brings, and I was stressed and an emotional wreck, so they were certainly feeding off of that as well, but it was way more than I could have imagined! But, we had some one come over or had something to do almost every day to try and help (snow cones after school, haircut and dinner out - so hard!, bike rides with neighbors, Aunt Lynne came for dinner, we went to a friends house for dinner, trampoline park with Julia and Wilson, which we all LOVED, especially Noah! and a day at Grandma and Papa's), so we are incredibly thankful and in debt to all of those wonderful people that helped us get through it. Nana came right in the middle of the time Daddy was gone and stayed for 4 days, which was a life saver of course! The boys acted like angels of course while she was here, and we got a TON of stuff accomplished, including getting my paper finished! And started packing for the trip! I don't know what or how we would have made it without her help!