Springtime update

"Who is this handsome devil I'm talking to? Oh, it's me, you say? I'm Mr. Wonderful!"

How do you know when it's time to remove the crib bumper and "flat head" pillow? When the animal inside the crib can play peek-a-boo with you! 

Nine months. Still cute. Still fat.

"I can crawl now, and I like to get stuck in fun places where my mom can't find me."

March 17: Happy St. Patrick's Day. Happy Jack's 7th birthday (with double pink eye). Happy Duncan's nine month birthday. Griff's just happy.

Some Christmas Humor

Duncan proves there's more than one jolly, fat man in a red suit around this year.

Christmas is always a fun time of year, but this year I've enjoyed Jack's and Griffin's interpretation of the season. Here are a few conversations that have happened so far.

• While reading "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer," Griffin asked good questions about the main character asking, "Why does that cow have a big red ball on his nose." I knew then we had a lot of work to do. Later, he was "reading" the same book to himself and this was his interpretation after looking at a sad illustration of Rudolph, who couldn't play reindeer games. "Then the reindeer was sad, so he sat down like a woman."
• The boys were excited to see their toy manger come up from the basement with the other decorations and instantly got started setting it up. Soon, the manger became the scene of a big football game. "I call the three wise men," yelled Jack. "I call the angel," said Griffin. "I call Mrs. Christ," said Jack. "Mrs. Christ," I asked? "Don't you mean Mary?" "No, Mom. Jesus' last name is Christ. You know, like Jesus Christ? So his mom is Mary Christ, but I call her Mrs. Christ to be polite," said Jack. Either way, she helped win the game.
• On Thanksgiving, Santa himself delivered our beloved Elf on the Shelf, named Fred (or Cheryl). Jack was a bit intimidated, but not Griffin. He marched right up to Santa and asked, "Did you watch Friday night Football last week?"

Our "punkin'" Duncan

"Punkin'" Duncan was dressed appropriately for Halloween this year. His costume was quite cozy, however, he HATED wearing it. Bryan said he didn't blame him, given that hat. 

Big brother Jack wanted a picture with the pumpkin. The age difference is 6 years. The size difference is 30 pounds, just to put things into perspective.

This was just one of those days. As the beefcake continued eating, I realized he wouldn't fit into this cute outfit anymore. So we had to have a quick photo shoot to document one of the cute outfits. There is no WAY his brothers would tolerate matching gingham, so I had to strike early before he could protest.

The big brothers stay busy

Jack lost his first tooth this summer in a bite of lobster at Grandpa Tom's 60th birthday. This is when he lost his second tooth (he pulled it out after dinner one night).

Jack was on the St. Augustin Cardinals flag football team. Griffin was the honorary ball boy for many of the games.

Griffin definitely has his own special personality. He has "MINE" disorder currently, which means anything he sees that doesn't belong to someone is instantly claimed as his. For about 2 weeks he adopted the dish scrubber (a new one) as HIS. Very weird. 

Nothing like a cozy scrubber on your face while you snooze. 

Catching up with Duncan

Duncan is now four months old, and tips the scales at 18 pounds. For those of you with good memories, that's 2 pounds heavier than Griffin "the beast" at the same age. It seems like Duncan will soon eclipse both his brothers in terms of size, and will likely be chasing after them sooner than I'd like. Here are some shots of the "the dude"during the past couple of months.

Duncan enjoys a bath. You can see here he has a very small umbilical hernia, which has actually gone away now.

Warming up with a cozy monster towel.

Chilling in his bumbo seat, Duncan is about 3 months at this point.

His favorite form of entertainment at 2 months was staring at his left fist. It was very exciting for all of us, and you can see by the way he thrusts it out there, it was an aggressive habit.

Duncan is 4 months old!

Beaverdale Fall Fest Parade

Patsy Boesen, matriarch of the Boesen clan, was honored during this year's Beaverdale Fall Fest parade and served as Grand Marshall. Of course, that meant the rest of us got to be part of her entourage. We walked in the parade and handed out flowers along the route.

Patsy, the "Queen" of the parade. 

Here comes the Boesen the Florist gang!

The boys were a hit, or maybe it was the free flowers?

Even Duncan got to walk in the parade. 

Aunt Katelyn's wedding

Over Labor Day weekend, Katelyn Boesen and Nick Essy got married. Jack and Griffin were ring bearers (or bears, as Jack said) and Bryan was a groomsman. It was a lovely weekend and a gorgeous ceremony and reception. Congratulations, Nick and Katelyn!

Dapper boys ready for Aunt Katelyn's wedding.

"May the force be with you!" Actually, these are the lighter stick thingys (yes, that's the technical term) to help land an airplane. The bride and groom arrived at the reception on a plane.