brothers

I just had to post these two photos. Penn is on top, Emory on the bottom. I think our boys share the same eyes and some of the same expressions, but they don't ever look much alike to me. It's hard to tell in sleep, but I love that they're wearing the same jammies. The biggest difference here is that Penn is somewhere between 4-5 months, and Emory was around 8 months- huge size difference!

in the year of the porsche

^^^kids playing games, including a little Porsche racing game. many thanks to Kendal and her camp counsellor skills

Over the past year since the Ferrari cake from Emory's 3rd birthday, the boy has become completely in love/ unhealthily obsessed with/ incredibly acknowledgeable about Porsches. Naturally, when we asked him what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday this year, he expressed his main concerns about Porsches being the garnish. And somehow out of that, we made up a few simple games that turned the entire thing into a Porsche-themed party. Needless to say, Emory went around talking about it for weeks prior, and had a huge smile on his face for the entire party. We let him have his first "friend" party this year, (he got to invite 4 friends, since he turned 4) and held a no-presents-allowed policy, knowing we would get together with family on his actual birthday. However, we couldn't resist and let him open his first gift from us the morning of the Porsche party so he could represent his favorite car with his new shirt. 

^^^pin the parts on the Porsche- thank goodness I have an artistic husband

^^^some attendees brought parents and siblings. fun!

^^^ice cream making: messy and cold, but I think the kids liked it mostly for the novelty and the bowls of toppings

^^^I couldn't resist this adorable sequence of Emory faces, leading up to the chocolate goatee

^^^Porsche wheel pinata: a total hit, thanks to my homemade paper mache knowledge and Jon's painting ingenuity, the whole project cost less than $5 

^^^lastly, Emory and his adorable friend, Eve, who brought him a present, and then they hugged. Eve is much more outgoing than Emory- priceless moment.

Hayley came down from Canada for the weekend too- what a treat! We love Hayley and her spontaneous trip-taking ability, and she was such a good sport about playing with kids. 

PS don't get me started on blogger and it's atrocious formatting these days. This post would look way better, but I've spent far too long fighting a losing battle and I quit.

happy birthday, big boy.

Emory Shawn turns 4 tomorrow [today]. Can't wait to celebrate with him all day. Love this guy.

boys + their father

  We got the best photos of Penn's life so far on Father's Day, enough to split into two posts. I love to see Penn and Emory interact so much. Emory is by far Penn's favorite person. When big brother is not in sight, Penn cranes his neck toward the sound of Emory's constant jabber. And Emory says all the time, "I just vove Penn." We're so lucky with such happy, good kids. And I'm so lucky Jon is their dad. He's the best possible for them, and he just keeps getting better. He loves his boys, and I love them all.

 done.

and then all cooperation for photos ceased. Emory was "bored of it."

emory is still our number 1

For several months, I've been trying to soak up the last of Emory's young childhood innocence. I had a realization sometime last fall that he's growing up--every joyful and or painful stage of his life gets him closer to milestones like kindergarten and a little further away from my being my little boy. He's already moved to preferring his dad more than me (I know this is a natural process, especially for Emory who is Jon's miniature clone) and I'm learning to accept it and not take this preference personally. I mean, I'd choose spending time with Jon over anyone else any day as well. Anyway, we've had our struggles with a 3 to 3 1/2 year old gaining more independence over the past several months, but something switched in Emory when Penn was born. He went from allowing insecurities to overcome him to becoming a proud, responsible older brother, relaxed about having a new baby in the house. I'm sure that speaks volumes about my misery in pregnancy the last couple months, but thankfully I know we can all recover from that and move on! We've had only a couple moments since Penn's birth that really remind me that Emory is still as young as he is, and  I'm so happy to see my first little boy blossoming so positively. I adore him. It's crazy how overnight, he seemed so grown up as soon as we met Penn--he's suddenly way heavier, with way bigger features and so much maturity.

And now some photos of the past several months, that epitomize Emory throughout these stages...

with a Ferrari 308 (his favorite) at the LeMay car museum in Tacoma last November (also, those are his favorite pants and he always chooses to wear them when they're clean)

working with his tools to help put the lights on the tree

loving nana and nunu's kitties; playing mariocart on the wii with Amber

pure joy on that face!

dutifully carrying his backpack through the airport for our flight to Salt Lake City

 

enchanted by the snow (and snow plows) in Utah--he sat on the heater of our hotel and watched snow plows and trax whenever we were in our room

loving hot chocolate--for months hot chocolate and play doh went hand in hand

 

using chopsticks for the first time on a "family date;" on a mama date with me to starbucks (I believe we went to subway and the park that day as well, all dictated by where E wanted to spend time)

throwing a birthday party for Jack, his baby, and animals. my third trimester self could only muster cookies, though E requested a cake. also, Jack has been E's best friend, baby, and alter ego for the past several months... Jack loves cheetos for just about every meal and most definitely for protein, he has frisbee and tennis and track, goes to dances, and if E gets in trouble, Jack told him to do it. also of note is the baby in Emory's tummy, who I think is gone now that Penn is here, but he always got the hiccups and kicked often, and E even shared his own pregnancy woes with the midwife during my appointments.

 

loving the spit sucker thing at the dentist; falling asleep on my lap (this happened a couple times in January, and I only realized several days later it was due to a nasty virus we all caught)

loving his overalls and the beach, and scooping rocks with a found shell, of course

 

bringing toy after toy to our room to play in my presence during lazy pregnant mornings; pushing the stroller he's now too big for on several family walks to try to encourage labor and enjoy early spring weather

shaving like his daddy taught him to (don't worry, there's no blade)

How could you not love Emory Shawn? Now here's to hoping having Penn around has cured E of his aversion to primary and sunbeam class--we'll find out this Sunday!