Cutest, Best Little Brother Ever

Our littlest guy is getting SO big!  I know from experience that as much as I THINK I'll never forget what he was like as a toddler....as time creeps on...I WILL forget.  Before I know it, he'll be entering his school years and I'll have to rely on this blog to look back and remember!

Macallan is OBSESSED with being outdoors!  You not be able to make it out in this picture, but it was taken when the ground was covered in snow.  Our yard was snow covered from October to April last winter.  My stepdad bought the boys little snow shovels -- best investment EVER -- and each time we pulled into the garage, Macallan would get out of the van and immediately pick up his little shovel and start shoveling!  It was the cutest thing.  I have a feeling he'll be happier than I am to see the snow return this winter!

Below might be one of my favorite pictures ever!  Macallan has a TERRIBLE habit of crawling all over the kitchen table.  It's getting a bit better these days, but it seriously drove me crazy for months!  I honestly remember including a request in my nightly prayers "PLEASE help me be consistent in keeping Macallan off of the kitchen table."  Yes, it may seem ridiculous now, but it certainly didn't at the time!

How else would you eat your morning cereal?

Getting three boys bathed and ready for bed is no small chore. I thought I was smart by starting with the youngest and working my way up.  I got Macallan out of the bath, diapered him, clothed him and started on Maverick.....only to walk back into the bathroom and find that he had re-entered the tub with Mitchell!  Sometimes you can never win! :)

Maverick and Macallan shut the doors to our sunroom to play, but quickly turn into caged animals! :)

Any parent knows that after bath time snuggles are the BEST!

Daddy on diaper duty?  That's uncommon :)

Macallan LOVES balls!  ALL balls!  Not a day goes by where he doesn't shoot some hoops.  He can actually make it most of the time!  He shows the most coordination of any of our boys at his young age.  Maybe that's just because he has some good "teachers". :)

The boys (AND I) were SO HAPPY to finally have spring weather in Minnesota!  The snow finally thawed and what do you know....our swing set was underneath!  We spend MANY summer hours playing on our backyard swing set!

Mitchell and Macallan sure have a special bond.  This baby can do no wrong in the eyes of his biggest brother.  Mitchell loves to read books to Macallan.  One of Macallan's first phrases was "one more book", which he typically repeats OVER and OVER and OVER!

Mitchell has come up with several humorous nicknames for Macallan, like...

"Chewy the Chihuahua"
"Runaway Train"

"Trouble in a Bubble"

How else do you rummage through the cabinets when you're 3 feet tall?

What's for dinner?

SPRING is HERE!  Ever since the thermometer hit 60, this boy would prefer to run around naked all day long.  He has no shame :)  He LOVES helping me water the plants.  The plants don't prefer his help as not much water actually makes it to them, but he sure has fun!

Macallan has lots of lots of words...many of which probably only I can understand!  A few of his favorites are "momma", "mitchell", "dada", "dog dog", "ball", "that way", "i want that", "shoes" and "yeah".  Typical toddler phrases, huh? :)

This boy is shoe OBSESSED!  He LOVES putting on his shoes...and anyone else's!  In fact, as I type, he's soundly sleeping upstairs in his pajamas and his SHOES!  He wouldn't let me remove them!

He absolutely LOVES going to Grandma and Grandpa's!  As soon as my mom shows up to my house to pick them up, he climbs into his car seat and waves "bye bye" at me!  There's no separation anxiety there!

Although I've never prompted him to do so, he has begun telling me when he has to go to the bathroom.  I JUST got done finally fully potty training Maverick, I am taking a little break before starting with Mac, but he loves sitting on the potty and even had a little tinkle today!  I'm very doubtful that this will continue!

All in all, this little man is the PERFECT baby brother!  His brother's ADORE him, and so do his parents!  Macallan has been sleeping in a big boy bed since about 17 months and some nights are better than others :)  When Maverick crawled into bed tonight, without being prompted, he clinched his eyes and hands and said...

"God, thank you for letting me play with my friends.  

Thank you for letting me jump on my trampoline, 

and thank you for my baby brother, 'Callan who is sleeping in my bed with me.  

Amen"

Then he asked me if Macallan HAD to get bigger.  He said he wanted him to stay little forever because he was the cutest, best little brother ever.  I assured him that no matter how big he gets, he'll always be his little brother.

Comments like THAT makes every challenge of raising them completely worth it :)

Fire Station Fun

Woodbury was nice enough to open their Fire Station for some kid friendly fun!  The boys thoroughly enjoyed climbing in all of the emergency vehicles and interacting with the firemen!

Knocking down cones with the fire hose was certainly a fan favorite!

Some were a little skeptical at how this hose worked!

I could seriously barely get Maverick out of the vehicles.  I kept trying to round everyone up to go and before I'd turn around, he was back in a fire truck or an ambulance.  He LOVED them!

My favorite part was an demonstration of what a cup of water would do to a grease fire - wow!  We sure are thankful for all of the emergency personnel in our community...luckily we've not had to use them more!

Camping Weekend

We celebrated Memorial Weekend by attending a Family YMCA camp called Camp Icoghowan.  The "island" camp is in Amery, Wisconsin which is about an hour from our home in Woodbury, MN.  

We had a GREAT weekend!  There were so many fun activities planned that you could choose whether or not to participate in....I think we tried most all of them :)

Here the boys are geared up for the climbing wall.  

Macallan didn't make it too far off the ground! :)

Jacob made it to the top to ring the bell.

Mitchell and Maverick gave it a try too :)

They had a lot of fun structures in and around the woods that the boys enjoyed exploring.

 The treehouse was a big hit with the boys!  Families could actually sleep up here if they wanted!  We didn't do it this year, but I can see it in our future!

Mitchell actually took this picture of Jacob.  Hmmm...maybe he's a little photographer in the making.

We even had some "adult" time where the camp counselors took the kids to play games, while the adults could choose how to spend their time.  Jacob decided to do a high ropes activity called "The Leap of Faith".  He was secured by three different sets of ropes as he climbed the pole on the left, stood up on top of it and jumped off to try and touch a blue buoy.  Maybe it doesn't sound that tough, but of the 15ish adults that tried, only 3 or 4 succeeded, including Jacob!

Climbing up...

Balancing on the top is the hardest part!

This is definitely a look of relief when he was done :)

Our family was in charge of the flag raising on Memorial Day.  The boys were very helpful :)

Some of the families gathered to watch the flag raising in front of the lake.

After the flag raising, the morning activities began!  There were some anxious campers!

Each morning, there is an optional activity called the Polar Bear Plunge.  Yep, exactly as it sounds. You can CHOOSE to JUMP into freezing cold water!  From the beginning, Mitchell kept saying he wanted to do it.  We made him watch the first morning with the understanding that if he was still interested, we'd let him do it the second morning.  Well, not only was he still interested, but he also talked a new little friend (Lincoln) into joining him in the plunge!

Look at these SILLY boys before their jump!

Guess who didn't want to be left out?  Yep, Maverick decided he needed to jump too!  We let him strip down to his underwear and suit up in his life jacket.  Honestly, I didn't really think he'd do it!  Maverick is a popsicle in cold weather!

Oh - by the way, the water temperature was a balmy 55 degrees!

So, they agreed to count to three and then jump in.  One, two, three....and the only jumper was little Lincoln! 

Followed by Mitchell...

 ....and Maverick continues to consider whether he can really make himself do this!

Maverick is STILL considering!

...And he finally did it!

Mitchell and Maverick absolutely LOVED playing games with all of the other kids.  One of Mitchell's favorite was a game kind of similar to dodge ball called "Gaga".

It was a BUSY weekend, but we did have a little rest and relaxation time too :)

As you can see, the chairs were REALLY comfy :) 

We had a REALLY great family weekend at the camp.  Zero electronics for the entire weekend, LOTS of time together, trying new, fun things outdoors!  We're planning to go back next year!