The photographer just posted a sneak peak online. I can’t wait to see the rest!!

We had the boys’ pictures taken this morning for Easter (hey, I’ll take any excuse for more photos). The photographer had real live baby chicks to use during the session and Luke thought they were the best thing ever. Adam even surprised me by holding one of the chickens.

I’ll share the professional pictures when we get them back in a couple of weeks. For now, here is one more of The Duke that I snapped with my cell phone. Apparently he was in a “say cheese” mood.

Adam just came up to me and told me that I needed to buy him a new pair of Woody boots because there was something wrong with his. I looked at his feet and could tell there was something inside one of his slippers. So I had him take it off and give it to me. There was a toy car inside. When I pointed it out to him he said, “Mama, that’s my “toe” truck.”

He’s too much sometimes.

If only my children had some toys, or something to play with…This was just after we finished picking everything up before naptime the other day. I wasn’t feeling well and caught myself getting very frustrated with Adam during the process. So I walked away for a couple of minutes and came back when I had a little more patience (this is something I struggle with, I’ve never been a very patient person). Apparently it worked because we finished cleaning up and Adam said, “I like your new attitude Mommy. Thank you.”

Dave picked up our new wheels on Friday. We decided to switch Luke’s carseat around to facing forward and it’s like a whole new world for him.

Adam has already told me that he doesn’t want to put the new baby’s carseat in  between him and Luke, because then his friends can’t sit there. Good thing we have another whole row of seating.

Last night Dave came up with a new way to get Luke to keep his pants on (our previous solution was footed pajamas).

I’m not sure why we didn’t think of this sooner.

This morning a certain three-year-old had a small tantrum because I couldn’t find his green reindeer shirt and he wanted to wear it. The truth is I didn’t even know what he was talking about. I finally figured out he was talking about his green John Deere shirt (I’m a little slow sometimes). Unfortunately that shirt was in the wash so he wore his Mabel shirt, with his I love Papa shirt on top.

 “I look even more sharper like this!”

Then later, while we were out running errands, we saw a man snowblowing his driveway. Adam said, “Look mommy, that man is mowing his snow.”

Adam wrote his name for the first time today!

This morning I sent Adam in to his room to pick out the clothes he wanted to wear. A couple of minutes later I heard him yell for help. When I opened his closet door I found this.

It’s a good thing he doesn’t weigh much.

While at the car dealership Adam told anyone that would listen, “We getting a ‘wan’, because we having a new baby and need lots of room.” And if for no other reason, that alone is enough to make me excited about my new wheels. This car will be the one that brings our newest little one home from the hospital. That’s a pretty awesome thing.

I’m also looking forward to the sliding doors. No more worrying about dinging the car next to mine when I’m getting one of the boys in or out of their seats in a crowded parking lot. No more making Adam wait to get in the car while I buckle up Luke.

And I’m excited about the “trunk” space. It will definitely make traveling with the kids/luggage/stroller/pack-and-play/etc a whole lot easier. Dave won’t get to practice his tetris-like packing skills as much, but we’ll also probably be able to see out the rear window better.

Plus, this van will have bluetooth capabilities. So I’ll be able to talk on my cell, without actually holding the phone. This is not only much safer, but in this state it’s much more legal.

There’s a backup camera too. Which will help me to see if there are any stray toys in the driveway. It should also prevent anyone (ahem, Dave) from backing in to trees in campgrounds with my vehicle.

Those are the silver linings I’ve found so far. I’m sure there will be more. I mean this van is seven years newer than my current wheels. There are bound to be a lot of other positive differences. And Dave promised to get me satellite radio (the van we got doesn’t come with it – in order to get one with satellite radio I’d have had to get leather seats and leather seats just don’t seem like a good idea with little kids).

So yeah, satellite radio. I’m spoiled, I know.

Oh, one more quick van-related story before I end this. When we first got to the dealership yesterday we were greeted by one of the salesmen. After he introduced himself to me and Dave, Adam piped up and said, “And I’m Adam.” The salesman shook Adam’s hand and said, “Hi Adam. I’m Josh.” Adam responded with, “Pleased to meet you Josh. I’m three years old and I can’t read.”

That kid kills me.