Hey Guys!

Hey everyone. My growing boys are all doing wonderfully with stories of their own to share. I will try to keep this one to a storytelling post because I think those are the most interesting! B has his first little crush at school. The girls name is Hanna and apparently he is smitten! The Monday he talked about her all day. Wed he took a major fall on the playground when trying to get a basketball for her and now Friday I showed up to get him, I am standing at the door and tell him hello. He briefly looked up from the reading corner where he had a book in his lap and said "hi, mom....your gonna have to wait. I am reading Hanna a story". His teachers not only laughed at the 'shrug off' I got but mentioned that it has been like this all week and that he is inviting her to join him in every activity he does. So everyone. Note to self: when B is grown and introducing us to his serious girlfriends we can alway bring "Hanna" up as an icebreaker with the new girls. Beyond having a crush B is getting more and more handsome and independent. Since the family photo shoot we have been spraying his hair to the side (at his request) and I must say he is very good lookin! Independence and looks are both on the rise....hey, come to think of it maybe he is wanting his hair done to impress Hanna...Hugh....I will have to ask him. Anyway. Independence....Jess was in town and introduced some well welcomed ideas about letting the kids get to more things in the house. For example we now keep pull-ups in their room. Cereal, bowls and milk in places they can reach so that breakfast can be started when they want. It is going really well and the boys love it! I have to say it really free's up my mornings as well. They are pouring and eating while I drink coffee and help Austin! I love this...Thanks Jess. Caleb is a COWBOY...oh, but at this point I guess we all knew that. Boots are still being worn everyday. Belt very often but depends on the outfit, and horses are still the toy of choice. He has taken to keeping all of his horses in a backpack (horse backpack) and wearing it all over the house. When he finds a good play spot he stops...puts the bag down and unpacks his prized possessions. It is really cute. The other..not so cute thing he has started doing is repeating things just for the sake of repeating. Example: "I love horses, porses, gorses, gorses, gorses, gorses, gorses, gorses, gorses, gorses, gorses, gorses, gorses etc." Now repeat what you have just read at top volume and you have some perspective on Caleb's new hobby. Austin is a MESS! Literally! The other day all the boys were in the backyard playing and I look out the window to smile at Austin for his cute singing and I see him elbow deep in the (cold) fire-pit. He had taken the top off and right when I looked up dug his arms into the soot. As I shake my head and start drying my hands to head out he pats his cheeks and rubs his tired eyes, then hair. He was Covered! So I put my hands back into the dish water and figure that if he is already this dirty why make him stop. I watch with amazement for the next 7minutes while without any purpose Austin proceeds to get himself completely black (minus calves and feet). His lips look florescent next against all the soot and his eyes an amazing blue. I am glad he had fun because it was not all that easy to get off and the tub needed a scrub once it was all said and done. Along the lines of Messy Austin has stared protesting when he gets his diaper changed. He arches his back, screams and squirms. This has been met but some significant effort to enforce the "correct behavior" and just when I thought I had won the battle he has found my weakness. He no longer squirms when the diaper is getting changes he now waits till the diaper is undone and then reaches down and grabs his dirty bum/package. Oh, but it gets worse....the process of stopping this has been moving along nicely but just this morning he reaches to the side (didn't see this coming) and grabs the diaper (in one AMAZING ninja move) by the velcro and slings is...poop and all across the kitchen.........Seriously?? One more glimpse of a day in the life of singing, repeating, poop flinging, flirting boys. Love you all.

Oh, where to start....??

We are still chugging along here at the Doane house! Boys are growing like little weeds and we seem to cross one event off the calendar just to have the luxury of another event to come :). Most recently we had a wonderful Bday for Caleb! All Cowboy themed of course! He looked the part all day long, new boots, new cowboy belt, new pear snap shirt and he was ready! The kids came in droves! I think we counted 25 kids! Yikes!! They all played "snake in my boot" (a take off from clothes pin in the bottle). Did the pinata ( a horse) ate cake, ran around outside, inside and jumped on the trampoline. It was a blast for everyone there. Of course no party could go perfect so when we start to cook the hot dogs we realize the propane was out and Grammie and Grampie spent the next 35min broiling hotdogs for the masses (thanks guys)! 50 hotdogs were consumed and with those gone and drinks running low I felt very unprepared!

As I said, one ends and another begins. We had an Egg Hunt Easter party this past weekend that was VERY simple donuts, coffee and bagels. The Egg hunt lasted no time at all! With the kids being older they all know exactly what to do and they raced out the door on a mission a short 3minutes and 200eggs later they were done! The boys found their Easter Egg baskets the next morning, brunch with friends and we were off to church at 11! All in all a GREAT holiday weekend!

As far as the day by day goes it is never less than amusing....so where to start. B tried to jump on the roof of a playhouse last week by climbing onto a picnic table and then taking a giant leap (leap of faith if you ask me, he wasnt even close to the playhouse!) Missed and hit is chin, I wouldn't say "split it open" but he was def bleeding for 5min and has had a scab for the past 9days. Immediatly after talking about what a bad decision that was he climbs out the window of the playhouse, stands on the window seal (falls) and tries to get to the roof again......When do they learn?

Caleb is proving to follow in his brothers foot steps. Last night they boys had found a metal framed hamper with wheels and were taking turns climbing in and pushing each other around the house. After that got boring they started running and pushing, this time letting go of the hamper to see how far they could go (yes they other brother was in the hamper). They were laughing hysterically and playing so well together it really looked like fun! But fun ended when Braydon pushed Caleb from the guest bathroom towards the kitchen at full blast. Caleb seeing that he was nearing the brick wall put his hands out to stop himself, hit the wall, the hamper fell and with his hands still up there was nothing to stop his face from hitting the metal frame on the hamper.....so yep....another busted lip, bruised gum (doesn't look that great) and a lot of blood.

Austin is a little butterball!! I fall in love with him more and more everyday as his personality continues to come out! He is a climber for sure!!! Just like his older brothers he seems to set himself up for injury ALL THE TIME! He climbes up the bunk (this is a HUGE no) races across the couch, climbs down the back of the arm chairs and gets into the trampoline all by himself! He is a monkey!!! A monkey that loves his older brothers and keeps his mama running. He is also in love with his blanket! It is so sweet. When he gets tired he goes and gets the blanket but rather than rubbing it on his cheeks or somewhere there is a lot of surface area he hold it to his mouth and rubs it right on the spots that his pacifier lets peak through (pacifiers have little tiny holes in them around the mouth). he sends himself into a bit of a trance when he does this. The blanket goes up, the belly goes out and if he is standing up he starts swaying side to side! I dont know why I think it is soooo cute but it really is. The rest of the days he is running everywhere trying to act older than he is but the blanket makes him seem vulnerable and little again!

Hope you all get to see these stories in action soon! I feel so lucky to get to see all this stuff first hand!! One lucky lady right here!!!! Miss you and love you all.