That's So Sohl-son

Toast sailboat, al la Sohl-son.

Fotos Del Sohl

Bumbo-head brother. This is the only picture he'd cooperate long enough to take.

Plumeria del Sohl.

One of the little Sohl-gal's tricks - early taco tounge.

Daddy's plumeria princess. (Thank Sunny for the flowers!)

Apparently Carter was invited on an 80's-themed night-time safari. Sounds sweet, right?

Creepy-crawly

My little Sohl-gal's current impersonation of an insect is pretty good. I call her current moves "the worm." While it appears to be in s-l-o-w motion, she pretty accurately completes the dance move, allowing her to attack any small object of her desire. I outwardly cheer her on, and inwardly cry for my tiny, helpless little Sohl. Thus is parenting.

Fort-uitous...

These two views are looking into the tent through the door. It was as large as the area rug our dining room table sits on, and all four of us were able to fit inside without touching. Oh yeah. Uncle Dan, Uncle Adam, and Aunt Michelle have GOT to get in this tent.

This last view is looking towards the "door" to the tent.

This afternoon my sweet little Sohl's helped me construct what I decided was a Morrocan-inspired fort, or according to my Sohl-mate, a tent. He insisted that since it lacked the required gun turret, it was not a true fort. Whatever we call it, my Sohl son was terribly excited that I suggested we build one this afternoon. I told him to thank SunJane the next time he saw her, as her recent blog about her daughter's fort convinced me to let loose a little more, and let the kids have some good old fashioned fun. Oh, and I wanted to prove to my Sohl-mate that our table would indeed make a rockin' fort... ahem, tent. And it did.

Whole-towels...

This is my son's pronunciation of hotel, and this word is constantly escaping his lips. He tells me daily that his Grandpa Jim, Grandpa Molly (not a typo), Grandpa Dennis, Grandma Eileen, and Grandpa Dean are all going to ride in his car. And they'll go to the whole-towel, all of them. Just with my Sohl-son. Not with Mommy or Daddy or my little Sohl-gal. Hmmm. I inwardly wonder how long the six of them would last.

His idea of the whole-towel is that you get a room, and then you swim in the pool as long as you want. Then someone takes you to get food, at Pizza Plant-it or Jason's Deli if he plans it, after which you resume your aquatic activities. I love, and yet at the same time, am completely frustrated by, the simple possibility of this plan. He so wants to complete it, and being a loving parent, I want nothing more than to provide it for him. Special time, just for him, to bond with his grandparents doing one of the healthiest activities possible. Yet, with the distance between his grandparents individually and us, this simple plan becomes impossible.

Instead, we placate him with swim lessons, trips to the local pool with friends, and phone calls to the grandparents he so greatly desires to see.

Dad's Day...

Father's Day. Celebration of all things dad. Ties, sports, bar-b-que, tools, food, TV, dirt, sweat, and above all dedication to family.

My Sohl-mate's dedication to family is incredibly strong. I appreciate the pull he feels from the inner warrior, and cannot imagine the stress under which this puts him. His strength and courage and drive make him an amazing dad and husband, and I'm so proud to see how much my Sohl son emulates him.

I love you Sohl-mate. Happy Dad's Day.

Motz marries, giggle singing, beaching, and friends

This is my much overdue update on my sister's wedding. One way I completely annoyed her when we were young is to call her Motz, short for Mozzarella. It came from a song I penned in her honor. Think of the song "Cinderellie" from "Cinderella." It goes

"Mice-erellie, Mice-erllie

You really are quite smelly.

Da da da da da dee da..."

This is a picture from my sister's wedding. Can you guess which one she is? This is the Hollenrocker's Partiers. That's what I decided our band name would be if we were a band. Not much chance of that happening, but just in case.

These next few are from Michelle's low-key bachelorette party, where we told our favorite memories of her, broke cascarones over her head and shared our prayers and wishes for her, and then gave ourselves pedicures and painted our toes neon pink.

Apparently four dozen cascarones leaves quite a mark on one's shirt, yard, kitchen, and heart. Click the group picture to see Motz's sweet face after all our prayers and wishes.

Congratulations on a sweet, loving, perfect match Michelle! Love and miss you and my bro. Come to see us soon!

Today we were listening to our fav station and we heard the song "Awesome God" by Rich Mullins. My Sohl-son listened to the entire song, making not one sound. Then I took a call, and turned the sound down. When the call ended I heard, "Also Doggie Rains... also doggie reigns, also doggie reigns..." over and over and over. Interesting take, I guess. As many of my friends would say, this demonstrates that our God is on with a sense of humor.

We visited Bob Hall pier today and enjoyed some waterfront times with some friends. While my Sohl-son was interested in the grub provided by a fellow Hometeamer, my Sohlgal had it made in the shade. I was interested to see how this particular tent performed, and I am now convinced this is the tent to have with a milky-skinned child like mine. While she didn't spend too long inside, it made it easier not to worry about the sand in her eyes/mouth/nose/ears.

Here are a few pictures of our friends.

Isaac and Ethan practicing kicking. Carter, too!

Carter and Ethan after swim lessons. They unknowingly had similar shirts from grandparents, and were more than willing to show them off. Midweek, we had a last minute playdate with the Reeds, and apparently captured their currently inner selves.

Also this week, Elaina hosted her first playdate, inviting Jessalyn over to play for a bit while her mom ran an errand.