3.34 Matt's 18th birthday!

By Cyndi
August 12, 2014

After a very very busy week for me at work, we celebrated Matt's birthday!  The fellas asked each day if it was his birthday, though we kept reminding them it was Sunday. Up until now, they kept saying Matt was 17 years old, so I guess now he is 18!

Matt and I enjoyed a nice dinner from our local butcher on Friday night with a fabulous bottle of wine.  Saturday morning, Matt worked his normal 7a-3p and then went back in at midnight until 8a, at which time he could come home to spend the rest of the day with us!

We went out for donuts for bfast and the best laid plans always seem to have a kink.  The fellas picked out 2 donuts each for themselves and Matt & I each picked one.  Of course, the one I picked the fellas wanted, so I just enjoyed my coffee.  We tested out their new soccer shoes and Matt opened his cards.  Their writing is getting better each time they practice!!

We enjoyed dinner at the Isaacs' house and dessert of fresh apple pie.  Yummy!

As far as play goes, they are so fun and creative at times!  The top left shows a movie theatre they built with magnet blocks, with the screen and airplanes behind it showing Disney's Planes movie! They found all of their batmans and ninja turtles and had each of them sitting on a triangle chair. Bottom right is superhero chefs in the kitchen :)

3.33 A "normal" week

By Cyndi
August 4, 2014

It has actually been somewhat of a quiet week, mostly spent recovering from the craziness of the last few weekends.  We only had one playdate for the weekend that ended up bring canceled due to another kid being sick, so we stayed home all weekend, played and played some more!

And for your viewing pleasure, here is the latest fad in our house .... (yes this is a birthday card from their 3rd birthday!)  **Video fixed!!  Enjoy!!**

3.32 Visitors Galore!

By Cyndi
July 28, 2014


What a crazy past week, but it was tons of fun and so worth it!  Saba drove back from NJ for a little over a day and enjoyed some Saba time before heading back to Chicago.

This past weekend was a Purdue reunion, minus the Acks' (who we haven't seen in over a year ... hint hint!!)  We spent Friday night at the Isaacs' new house. Yup you read that right, they finally closed after a few builder snafus that all ended well.  On Saturday, we hung out at a park for the morning and lunch.  T&Z followed the lead of Amber and used the regular swings and did a great !

The afternoon was spent at Chez Alderson with organized chaos with 8 adults & 8 kids. All of the kids had a blast in the pool & the big boys decided to act like frat boys without shirts.  After dinner, we put on a movie outside for the kids, projected onto the house, which kept most of the kids quiet for over an hour!

What a fantastic weekend with friends and I can't wait for more reunions as our kids grow up!

3.31 Are we going to our cousins' house?

By Cyndi
July 22, 2014

We heard "Are we going to our cousins' house?" no less than 20 times as the fellas became excited to see their pool and swim!  They didn't realize how much fun all of the family would be along with swimming two days in a row :)

They did well on the drive up and as soon as they spotted the pool, they asked to go swimming.  We were able to delay it until after nap and then went out.  Tyler was very timid and didn't want to get in.  Zach got in but still wanted us nearby.  By the end of the afternoon, Z was swimming from end to end of the pool with his floaties and Tyler was almost doing the same!!!

Saba met us in NJ as part of his summer visit so he was able to enjoy the pool and family too!

Old school matchbox cars & lincoln logs!!

On Sunday we went out for real NY bagels, spent a little time at the park and put them down for nap. The afternoon was filled with lots of family time with the rest of the Gimpels & Marchs.  The fellas warmed up to everyone and I didn't even have to get into the pool with them when they played around with everyone for multiple hours.  My favorite part was towards the end of the afternoon when there was a bit of a lul in conversation and T&Z were driving their matchbox cars around a big table with 10+ people sitting at it.  Each person would stop them with a "toll" ... they hugged, kissed and laughed their way around the table many times.

Tyler brought flowers home from school specifically for me!

We also learned that where the cousins used to vacation every year before the kids started hitting college, is the same place we are vacationing later this summer!  Continuing the Gimpel tradition!!!
It was a great trip and hope to make it a yearly event.

3.30 We survived another week!

July 15, 2014
By Cyndi

As we slowly get closer to 4, I can only hope that nights keep improving.  There are some night that are better than others and some where they are in totally opposite moods.

Let's replay last week, Wednesday evening.  Zach got pissed off with his shirt so decided to take it off at the dinner table.  He then needed to pee and after peeing wouldn't get dressed.  So I went back to the table where Tyler was doing a great job eating dinner.  Zach remained pissed at the world and while naked, started hitting me with his underwear.  I took these two pictures to send to Matt while he was at work to "share my evening."

We are still working on keeping on a positive path for potty training and no accidents, along with staying dry during the night and good listening during the day.  The big prize they earned this week was Superhero capes & masks!!  They were so excited they kept running around so I only got a few action shots, until they sat down to play with the ipads.

3.29 Nana & Fourth fun

By Cyndi
July 8th, 2014

Another lovely week with 3.5 yr olds who are just angels.  HA.  Nana's visit was nice!  We surprised them at school with Nana in tow at pickup and they were very excited.  Their behavior was generally better and Nana helped watch them one evening so I could run errands after work.  The only bad thing was that our air conditioning went awry and on her last night we all slept on the main level.  We survived but glad the a/c started working the next day.

Matt worked his normal schedule so it was the fellas and me until 330p each day over the long weekend.  I asked T&Z if they wanted to go to a parade and they agreed it was too loud.  So to celebrate America's birthday, we headed to Dunkin Donuts!  They behaved and devoured their donuts very quickly!!

The rest of the weekend was spent playing around the house with the new Batman toy they earned by being dry overnight and doing #2 in the potty.

 And fresh from the camera, the first tomato off our tomato plant which Zach enjoyed!!!

3.28 Another week ...

By Cyndi
July 2, 2014

I will keep this one short as I didn't take too many pictures and will recap more in the next post. Over last weekend, I attended my sorority's national convention (for collegiate) which happened to be in Alexandria.  Emily, one of my close friends & bridesmaids, was on the committee so it was awesome to see her in action and see how all the work over the past few years come to life!

On Sunday, we went up to Baltimore to see Uncle Michael & Auntie Lanie at her family's house.  They were so sweet and helpful with the boys, even getting colored goldfish for them to eat! 

And now Nana is in town .... (which is next week's blog)