Moments With the Tressler Boys

I always intend to be really good at recording the adorable things my kids say, but I have come up short. At least I did pretty well for the month of July :)

Jan. 5: Ezra overheard me saying, "We just don't have the money for this." He said, "mommy, don't cry. (and pointing to his piggy bank said,) I have monies. You stay here and I'll go to da store wiff daddy and buy you fings."

Ezra used to like to pretend pray a lot. (March) 

This is how it went: Dear a Fawder, fank you fank you, bless us in da name of Jesus Christ, Belly Button! (Followed by excessive laughter)

April 5:"When you see something nice, you need to say, "Holy Cow" because that's nice to say. HOLY COW!"

June 22: My kids are determined to embarrass me every chance they get. Today Makai ran away from me and right into the men's bathroom. Awesome. Then I showed Ezra a pair of overalls and asked if he liked them. He said, "What?! That's silly, mom. That's a bra." Then we're sitting on a bench surrounded by people and Ezra says, "Oh man! I stink. Do you smell that, mom? I tooted!" Congrats boys. You win.

July 1: I love listening to the boys play and hearing little things like, "This is going to be so great! My heart feels so happy. I'm so excited." Followed by dual squeals and excessive joyful leg kicks.

July 13: "Makai, I really want you to be safe because you're my best brother."

"Mommy, did you see that? Makai just gave me his trash. That was so nice."

July 15: Today Ezra put his arm up to sneeze into it and turned his head the opposite direction; he turned to me giggling and said, "Oops, wrong arm" :)

July 19: Today Ezra told me that he's glad I watch them while they play outside because someone with muddy shoes could come get them and take them away and make them muddy too. I think we need to have a talk about the real reason to stay away from strangers.. lol.

July 25: Ezra told ME a bedtime story tonight. Here's what I recorded: "Once upon a time there was a little boy named Ezra. He was walking and then the Avenger's came down and said, "Hi-ya! You want to fight?" so I got my sword and then they were dead. Then I kept walking through the forest and they were all alive again and we were friends. The end" 

July 26: We're letting Ezra sleep on the floor in our room tonight. I told him this was a special thing and we weren't going to do it every night. He asked why and I told him he needs to sleep in his own bed. He responded, "Well, maybe we can throw my bed away so I can just sleep on your floor." Too cute.

July 30: I love how kids can go from hysterically crying to uncontrollably laughing in an instant. And I especially love how Makai wouldn't let go of Ezra during their 'goodnight hug'. He just kept saying, "bee (big) hug" then they fell over laughing. Those boys are trouble, but too cute to be mad at.

August 3rd: I asked Makai what he wanted to name his baby brother. He said, "little". There's an idea. Then Ezra filled in, "let's name him 'little booger'"

They sure do make life fun! I'm going to try to be better about recording these because I love looking back and reading how cute they are. 

Like Brother, Like Brother

These boys sure do love each other. They can't help but do everything the other does. They love to wear matching clothes and play with identical toys. Whatever one has the other wants and wherever one goes, the other follows. They are frustrating at times, but so adorable. I love watching these brothers being brothers and I am so thankful that they have each other.

Some days there is no better sound than the laughter of these two boys hiding and playing behind closed doors. Like they have a secret just between the two of them. And it is beautiful.

Gooey Bath

One of the things my mom brought the boys during her layover in Baltimore was bath goo. You sprinkle the powder in water and within 5 to 10 minutes it turns to goo. Then you sprinkle a different powder in when you're done and in another 5 to 10 minutes it turns back to water. It's awesome stuff. (She found it at Wal-mart)

The boys had so much fun. It's like bathing in jell-o ;)

Makai is a little to young for this still. He kept getting it in his mouth so he'd use his hand to wipe it off and get more in his mouth.

Ezra thought this was the coolest thing ever.

just to show you it really was goo. The toys would just stick straight up.

I couldn't resist. I had to get my feet in there. It felt so good and relaxing.

Next I want to try to fill up their pool outside with it. It's a great sensory activity. 

Thanks Nana!

Nana's Layover in Baltimore

The best part of living in Maryland is that when my parents fly somewhere, they usually stop in at the BWI Airport. We have had the chance to meet my dad and now my mom during their layovers. (Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the quick visit with my dad, but it was great to see him and we even had time to go to dinner.)

 The boys were so excited to see Nana. She brought an entire carryon FULL of surprises for the kids:

Ezra loves dress-up. Nana brought him this alligator costume and a spider costume. He went crazy.

Anytime he puts a costume on he becomes that character instantly. Everyone around us agreed it was fascinating and adorable to watch.

They sure do love their Nana and she sure does love these boys.

It's always sad to say good-bye, but they did have dinosaurs, cars, costumes, etc to remind them of this quick visit with Nana :) She kind of spoils her grandkids if you couldn't tell. She can't help herself.

It was so nice to see you Nana!

To: The Tressler Family

From: God

Do Not Open Until Christmas!

That's right; we're having ANOTHER boy!! Ahhh!

When I told Ezra he was going to have another brother he said, "Wait, but you mean a sister." I said, "No baby, it's a boy. You're going to have another baby brother." He then responded, "No, but I wanted it to be a girl!"

Well, that makes a lot of us kiddo, but I have said for awhile now that if I could have my family here with me now that I would want 5 boys and then 2 girls at the end. However, now being on our 3rd boy it does make me wonder if we will ever get our baby girl.

James and I both guessed girl, so shows how much we know. At least we have everything and (as James puts it) we won't be broke because of my impulses when it comes to cute girly clothes.

 I am 19 weeks now and feeling pretty good. I wasn't nearly as sick this pregnancy as I was with Ezra and Makai, but the nausea does seem to linger still. I started feeling movement at about 15 weeks and it has only become consistent and stronger in the last week or so. I love that. I think that is by far the best part of pregnancy.

My due date is December 28th. 

We had a girl name picked out, but we haven't even thought about a boy name. Obviously with Ezra and Makai we like slightly different names... any suggestions?

Time with Daddy

James is suppose to have 4 days of work and then 3 days off, but that has never happened since he got the job. In fact, there have been many weeks where he has 1 or no days off. However, last week he was able to actually have 3 full days off and it was HEAVENLY.

We had so much fun with daddy. We went to the ocean where Ezra and Makai rode a boogie board for the first time and Makai had his first experience going under a wave with daddy (totally an accident, but he handled it so well). I thought he'd come out screaming, but he just came out spitting water because of the salty taste.

We also looked for cars, went shopping, saw a movie and had sooo much play/wrestle time. 

Sunday night we went for a bike ride and to a local park. It was so wonderful. 

It was so sad to send him off to work again after those beautiful 3 days. Everything is so much better when daddy is with us. He sure is a good one and we are so blessed for all of his hard work to provide for our family. Love you daddy. 

Can't wait for your next day off; these boys keeps tackling me and trying to sword fight and I'm just not nearly as fun as you are :)

Babysitting

We have had the opportunity to babysit a little bit this summer. We watched a little boy named Zachary one day a week the month of July and the boys had a blast together. He's a sweet boy. 

Ezra and Zachary. He loved playing outside and especially in the water. 

We were also able to see Miss Jillie again and I couldn't get enough. It was too short, so I'm hoping her nanny mysteriously gets chicken pox or something. (I'm kidding. I don't wish illness on anyone, but I wouldn't mind if she decides to take a couple week vacation so we can play with Jillie more :)

Look at her gorgeous blue eyes. I love that they are holding hands!

She's so adorable.

It's funny to see Makai near a baby because I always think of  Makai as a little baby, but he looks so big here. Though Miss Jillie is growing so fast too. I can't believe she's standing and so close to walking in such a short time.

It's funny because I always loved babysitting when I was in high school and even though I now have children of my own, I still really love other peoples kids and watching them explore the world.

Visit with Samuel

A couple weeks ago the boys and I were able to make an overnight trip to Virginia to visit some of our first Maryland friends who just moved. Samuel and Ezra played soccer together and hit it off right away. We had such a wonderful time visiting and it was hard to leave. 

The boys were so wild together. It was fun and crazy. Samuel is such a sweet boy. He has a new little brother named Elijah who I was happy to hold and snuggle when he would let me :)

They were so wiped the next afternoon that it didn't take long for them to zonk out:

As an early birthday present we finally turned Makai's carseat forward facing.
He loves it! I love that I can see him now and he and Ezra can hold hands better :)

We had a great time and are so happy to have such good friends out here. 

We just wished they lived closer!!

Our Waterbed

I found the idea for this here.

The other day we made a waterbed. I was planning on having this for Ezra's birthday party, so I wanted to make sure it worked and was fun for the kids. I planned to color the water and fill it with toys, but I was eager to just get it filled and see if it would work. We didn't end up doing it for Ezra's party since we were moved indoors due to weather, but this was certainly not the last time we'll do this activity.

After they played on it for awhile I thought it would be fun to bring out finger paints and get messy. They loved it.

I asked Makai what he was doing. I caught the end of his response in this picture, "I painting."

I think next time we'll do shaving cream or baby oil. We had a great time.

Ezra's 4th Birthday Party!

So, I have said before that I tend to make a big deal of birthdays. I can't help myself, nor do I want to. I LOVE birthdays. My mom started it and I am happy to carry on the 'overboard birthday celebration tradition' with my kids. (especially when they love birthdays and get as excited about them as Ezra does.)

We had a party for Ezra on Saturday, July 21st. It was going to be a water party in the backyard and I had been researching fun games and ideas for about a month. Well, it rained. And it was cold. So we had the party inside instead. I scurried around the day before trying to find some cool indoor games. Thankfully some of the games I had planned could be brought inside.

His party was Avenger's theme by request.

We started out making super hero masks. Some of them turned out way too cute to be made by kids. I loved seeing all the different creative ideas. I didn't take any pictures in the beginning because I was busy and not thinking about it. Thankfully a friend of mine offered to take pictures for me after lunch and I am sooo appreciative!!

Here's the Iron Man Balloon Pop:

I made a laser thingy with a push pin on it and taped it to a glove so the kids could be like iron man. Each balloon was filled with candy. It was so funny to see how the boys were wild and rough and some of the girls were so careful and slow about popping their balloon.
I am proud to say that this was all my idea and I thought it was the most fun game we played. Maybe I'm prideful?

Here's the Hulk Smash:

This idea was something I found online, but I altered to be Avenger's style. The kids punched through the hole and got their goodie bags. Originally Ezra was going to be on the other side handing them the goody bags after they punched the hole, but for times' sake we just handed it to them when they were done.

The table looks like a mess now, but we had Captain (America) Crunch, chick-fil-a chicken nuggets, jello fruit thingy, chips, fruit and veggies. Plus tons of not so inside/white carpet friendly drinks, but thankfully NO spills! I was amazed.

We played Captain America Freeze (since he was frozen). It was a stretch and I thought my water idea was way better for Captain America, but we made it work and the kids had fun dancing and freezing. (You have to notice little Rachel in the pink tutu bathing suit. She insisted that we play water games and didn't want to leave until she got wet. At least she got wet in the rain walking out to her car. I think I will try to have a water party sometime before the summer is over so I can use my ideas and make Rachel happy!)

Pin the Mask on the Hulk:

I think next time I play this I will tie one hand behind their back so they can't feel their way around. It's way funnier to see where they put it the first time they walk over to it without feeling it yet.

I got a fantastic deal on this cake because: 1. My husband works at Wal-Mart so we get a discount and 2. Someone didn't come pick up this cake and it is waaayy cooler (and expensive) than the one I ordered, so they gave it to me for the same price of the cake I ordered! I was soo excited. It didn't even bother me that the 4 and Ezra's name were all smudged from having to change the name. It is bigger and came with cooler toy toppers that are practically glued to Ezra now.

My camera died before we could get pictures of him opening presents, but he got some really awesome presents. He insisted that we take every single one out of it's package soon after his friends left and he has been playing with them ever since.

It was really so great to have so many good friends come and celebrate with our little man. Ezra was so happy that all his friends came just for him. Thank you to everyone who came and made this a special party for him and for all the help from the mom's while my head was spinning a little!

Happy 4th Birthday Ez Bez! We love you mucho and hope it's many many years before you turn 5...