Johnny Swims (again)!

Johnny Swims!

Going Swimming

We lotion up (Howie takes the sunscreen seriously after two weeks in Florida) and hit the pool for one of our last days in the warm weather. And get this folks- Johnny is swimming almost by himself! When wearing his swim vest, he can make it across the pool with some vigorous kicking. We have some video, but I can't figure out how to upload it. I hope to have it up soon. Until then....

Bonita Springs at Sunset

We take a family walk along the beach of Bonita Springs to watch the sun set. The boys did more digging (of course!) while we enjoyed the miracle of nature.

Peter Pan

While walking past the Disney store the other day, Howie goes, "Look Mom! It's Peter Pants!"

Driveway Fun

We can have fun anywhere. Howie shares his thoughts with Daddy while Johnny plays peek-a-boo with Mommy's camera.

Marco Island

Happy Valentine's Day!

I love celebrating Valentine's Day with all my boys. What a special day for a Mommy.

Beach!

When you are talking about mood boosters... a little bit of beach goes a long way. We embrace the sandy shores of Bonita Springs with vigor. The boys did lots of digging as the grown ups sat back and soaked in the sun rays. Howie makes pictures in the sand with Nonnie and Johnny obsesses over where Paw Paw is at all times. We fill a little blow up baby pool with ocean water to let the boys play around our feet (thanks to my neighbor, Nicole, for the awesome idea!). Shells were collected for all our friends who requested them.
We left for the day with sandy feet and sun soaked cheeks. That would be the cheeks on our faces, of course.

Great Grandparents

Aren't great grandparents beautiful?

Grandma Sue

Our sweet Grandma Sue suffers from Alzheimer's. She has been in a care unit for over four years and is unable to verbally communicate with others or care for herself. The moments we spend with her are spent giving her kind touches and telling her that we love her. Today I saw her and I talked about all the fun things she did with me when I was little. We made paper-mache dinosaurs and spent weeks at the Michigan lake house. She read books to us on tape and I still cherish her neat handwriting inside the book covers to indicate which tape and which side the story can be found.
Although it is sad to see her fade away, it is sweet to watch my Grandfather care for her. He is there almost every day to feed her and watch over her care. He talks to her casually and genuinely enjoys her company. It cannot be easy for him, but he never complains. It's as if their relationship has simply evolved to accommodate this final stage of life. And I think that is true love.

Don't you love when little kids exchange Valentine's Day cards with their classmates? Howie made a huge effort this year in his card giving by writing each of his classmate's names on the envelope all by himself.

Learning New Words

Howie has started trying fancier words to describe his emotions recently. Today there was snow on the ground when we all woke up. On the car ride to preschool, he said, "Mommy, when I saw the snow, I was embarrassed. No wait, when I saw the snow, I was surprised!"