Outside!

It's 59 degrees here (at least in the sun where our thermometer is). That means we have been playing outside today, and they boys are loving it. Jack convinced me to get the trailer down that attaches to the tractor so he could pull Henry around. This was a pretty bad idea for all kinds of reasons such as.. The trailer hitch thingy is broken, so I had to use zip ties to attach it, Jack would be the driver, Henry would be the passenger, etc. But we decided to try it out. It was fun while it lasted! But, notice Henry's helmet. I was prepared for a crash, which of course did happen, twice. Just little crashes, but after two it was time to call it quits. I love Jack's expression in the last picture. I was probably yelling at him to slow down and not go down the big hill. So, of course, he's turned around looking at me asking, "What Mommy?"









Despite being banned from tractor rides, they had a great time doing other stuff and Henry was just as happy to drive the tractor around. Probably more happy than having to be the passenger.

2 and 4

“How old are they?” asked the lady behind me in line at Costco. “2 and 4,” I replied. We proceeded to chat as we stood in line. She told me about her grandchildren, also ages 2 and 4 and what fun ages they are at right now. On the way home, I considered the boys being 2 and 4. They will be 2 and 4 for only 2 short months, until Jack turns 5 in March. Time is slipping away so quickly, and more often than not I forget they will not be this little forever. I forget that our days won’t always be spent the way they are now. So, as I have other times on the blog, I thought I would record what our days are like. Because I know I will forget and I don’t want to. So, here was yesterday:

7:30 – Jack wakes up, runs to our room barely awake and jumps into our bed to wake up the rest of the way.

8:00 – Henry wakes up. He usually wakes up between 7:15 and 7:30, but he had not taken a nap for two days and was exhausted. He slept 13 hours and woke up “happy as a hippo,” as he would say.

8:15 – We decide to make oatmeal muffins for breakfast. Both boys want to help cook and get their new aprons on. Then they pull their chairs over to the counter and fight about who gets to do what.

9:00 – The muffins are done and they boys are hungry. Jack proceeds to eat 5 muffins and Henry polished off 2. Then we read our devotion for the morning (that I mean to read every morning and definitely do not) from the book, “Devotions for Preschoolers.” We talked about Jesus preparing a special room for them in heaven. Jack is amazed by this.

10:00 – We leave for Costco and listed to our Seeds worship CDs in the car. Each song is the words to a Bible verse. Jack knows most of them from listening to them so many times, but I decided Henry needs to start listening to them. Henry sings along by yelling, “spiderman” over and over again.

10:30 – We arrive at Costco. As we get out of the car, Jack takes his coat off and tells me he’s a man and so he doesn’t wear coats. We get our shopping done and decide to eat lunch at Costco. The boys are thrilled. $3.50 later and we have a hot dog and a piece of pizza.

12:00 – We’re home and we watch a new Nursery Rhymes DVD Henry got for Christmas. I also take some pictures and then Jack takes some.

1:00 – It’s Henry’s naptime. He crawled out of his crib for the first time on Thursday so I am expecting another non-nap time filled with visits from the little guy.

1:15 – Mommy and Jack time. We work on the Starfall app (a reading program) on the iPad. He is learning to read sentences. and it is so exciting to watch him figure it out. He had been wanting to read for a long time now and is very proud of himself.

2:00 – Jack’s rest time. I’m cleaning bathrooms. Henry climbs out of his crib and come into the hallway. I stick him back in his bed and tell him that’s a big no-no. I keep cleaning. Henry climbs out of his bed a second time and tells me, “It’s okay Mommy. It’s not a big no-no.” Back in bed he goes, this time he starts crying. I’m still cleaning when Jack comes out of his room and tells me his stomach hurts. He thinks it might be his 5 muffins and half a hotdog for lunch. So he just sits outside the bathroom and watches me clean. After I get done, I tell Jack he can go in and talk to Henry and naptime can be over for everyone. I hear them cracking up because Henry is demonstrating how he gets out of, and back into, his bed.

4:00 – I need to restore some order, so we read books for 40 minutes. We sit in the rocking chair in Henry’s room and neither boy moves a muscle or says a word the whole time. Maybe they should take naps and they wouldn’t be so tired. Then I cut their toenails and explain to Jack that he needs to wash his feet better so he won’t have dirt between his toes. “Oh, I never knew I was supposed to wash my toes.”

5:00 – They’ve had a snack and now they’re playing and watching another new ABC exercise DVD. Jack loves it and very serious about his exercise. Henry pays attention for about 2 minutes and says, “I’m done” and goes to play with toys. “Mommy, you want race cars with me?” he asks. How can I say no? Even though I need to work on supper.

5:30 – Nathan is home.

6:00 – Dinner.

7:00 – Bathtime

7:30 – Henry bedtime

7:45 – Jack bedtime

Our day was also filled with timeouts, hitting, talks about how little boys should and should not speak to Mommy, and lots of hugs and kisses.

During baby dedications at church, our pastor talks about our children being the Lord’s, not ours. That God has placed them in our care for just a season. They are so precious. And I am so thankful they are 2 and 4.

²⁷ I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. ²⁸ So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.” I Samuel 1:27-28

"I come out"

That's what Henry told me during naptime today as he emerged from his room, after climbing out of his crib for the first time. He was quite proud of himself. I had a very serious talk with him about how he can't do that because he'll fall and get hurt. He dismissed me immediately, assuring me, "I won't fall." Oh dear.

Christmas 2012

What a great Christmas! We kicked off our week-long Christmas last Saturday with the Sharp family party at Mom and Dad’s. Then we came home for a day to go to church, pack and go back to Mom and Dad’s on Monday (Christmas Eve). Christmas was extra special this year because Uncle Will was home! It was the first time we had all been together for Christmas in several years due to Will’s work schedule.

Christmas Eve started off with Henry’s second birthday party.

And then the sugar cookie decorating began… Henry was taking his nap so he missed out this year, but Jack really enjoyed decorating and he even won a coveted cookie ribbon. Hmmm… I wonder why he won since Grandma Pam was the judge?

After decorating we had a Mexican fiesta and then we were off to church. I tried to get a good picture of the boys all dressed up, but it didn’t happen. But I did get this one of Henry hugging Big Bear, my bear from when I was little. Christmas Eve service went fairly well overall. Highlights included Henry almost escaping under the pew and saying loudly, “no” and “under” when I was getting him up. He also discovered he loves Burts Beeswax chapstick. And poor Jack dropped his lit candle on the floor as soon as the hot wax dripped on his fingers.

After church the boys opened their Christmas Eve jammies and books.

Christmas morning was very, very exciting. They both loved opening presents this year and showing off for pictures.

On the 26th we headed to Lebanon for Christmas with Grandma Sue, Grandpa Bill, Aunt Lindsay, Uncle Anthony and cousin Luke. The boys love Luke a lot. He got lots of tickles, hugs and kisses every day. That evening Henry had his third birthday party and got to blow out candles again! I also stopped taking quite as many pictures, so unfortunately I don’t have as many to post.

The next morning we had our second Christmas and Henry helped Nathan with a scavenger hunt (clues written by the especially talented Grandma Sue!) to find his big present – a weed eater.

And Jack was so excited to open a pair of cowboy boots from Grandma and Grandpa.

Henry found a new love – a stuffed hippo from Aunt Lindsay and Uncle Anthony. He even said after his nap, “Don’t want Polar Bear ever. Want hippo.” Strong words that were quickly taken back.

That evening we went to Grandma Donna and Grandpa Dee’s house for the Lewis family Christmas, including a delicious meal and our annual White Elephant gift exchange. We got to see all our aunts, uncles and cousins and Jack especially liked playing Star Wars Angry Birds with Ryan. The next day we headed home after a wonderful Christmas week!

Henry’s 2nd Birthday

Henry turned two years old today. He started off the day opening his presents because his big present (a play kitchen) wasn’t really wrapped – it only had a sheet over it and we knew it wouldn’t last until after breakfast. After presents he sat down to a birthday breakfast of his pancakes. He definitely understood it was his birthday and was ready to blow out his candles.

Next we headed to the aquarium at Crown Center. He liked it and really wanted to climb on the exhibits and then run to the next one, yelling “Another fish.” Then we were off to Manny’s for a birthday lunch, where he got his own sombrero and blew out his second round of candles for the day.

For his birthday supper he had spaghetti. He’s been sick this week, so he hasn’t been eating much... But he ate every bite of his spaghetti. I guess he was just waiting for me to finally serve him his favorite food. Then it was time for cake! His favorite animal, by far, is polar bears. He sleeps with his polar bear and talks everyday about going to the zoo to see Nikita the polar bear. So he had to have a polar bear cake.

He seemed a little surprised when he saw the cake. And we forgot to wipe the spaghetti off his face so his chin looks a little red.

After supper, we interviewed him about his favorite things. You can watch the video here.

His answers in the video should not be trusted… here’s a list of his real favorite things:

Food – fruit, hummus, macaroni and cheese, anything sweet and warm milk (never cold, but warmed for 18 seconds in the microwave)

Toys – stuffed polar bear, books, Lightning McQueen car, outside four-wheeler, monkey backpack, zoo animals

Songs – Take Me Out to the Ballgame, He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands, Joy to the World, Happy Birthday

Books – Right now he prefers library books to his own books. He gets new ones every week at storytime and he always wants animal ones.

Things to do – run around and play with Jack, go down the stairs on his tummy, play outside, read books

People – Jack and Daddy. Often, his first words in the morning are, “Need Jack.”

He is such a sweet little guy. He is very laid back and rarely gets too upset about anything. However, he does hold his own with Jack. We could tell he was pretty sick this week because he was cranky, which is rare. He talks all the time and he thinks he’s pretty funny. He is such a blessing to us and we are so thankful for him. We love you Henry!

Snow Day!

We got our first snow of the year last night, so Jack's preschool was cancelled today. He was sad for about 5 seconds (because today should have been his Christmas program) and then he asked when he could go out and play in the snow. We were able to keep him inside until about 9 and then he couldn't stand it anymore. Despite the 27 degree temperature and very strong winds, he was ready. He stayed out about 30 minutes and claims he never got cold, which I kind of believe. He kept his scarf over his face the whole time so only his eyes were showing.



Henry was very sad the whole time Jack was outside. He was forced to sit at the window with Gingerbread Man and watch Jack, which in his opinion, was not fair.


Things started looking up for Henry when we decided to go out again around 10:30. He was very excited to get bundled up.


He lasted about 15 minutes and then he and I came in, while Jack stayed outside with Taylor and Cameryn. They had a blast eating snow, rolling around in the snow and playing freeze tag.

Daddy is Awesome

Nathan is the best dad in the world. And we don’t take pictures of he and the boys enough.

It’s Beginning to Look A lot Like Christmas

We’ve been busy this month getting ready for Christmas. I think the boys’ favorite Christmas activity so far is opening their chocolate Advent calendar each day. I got them each their own, so their would each have their own piece of candy every day. A couple of weeks ago we went with Grandma Pam to Union Station to see the model trains and also ride the Holiday Express Train. Then we ate lunch at Fritz’s and played outside at Crown Center on all the wooden cars and toys by the big Christmas tree. Henry fell face first onto the concrete getting out of one of the cars… I’m so thankful he didn’t knock his front teeth out. Luckily he was able to get his hands up to break his fall.

Last weekend, Grandma Sue and Grandpa Bill came up to hear Jack sing at church. He is quite the performer now and does a great job remembering the words to all of his songs. He was thrilled because his choir teachers gave each child a stuffed donkey as a Christmas gift. He named his Domino. On Saturday we decorated our first gingerbread house, and also decorated gingerbread cookies.

This morning Henry helped me make puppy chow to take to the neighbors while Nathan and Jack went Christmas shopping. He was a great helper, and discovered he loves chex, maybe even more than the puppy chow itself. Jack helped me deliver the goodies after lunch and he told one of the neighbors, “Merry Christmas. Here’s some dog chow for you.”

Santa

Tonight was our MOPS Santa night... we've never been before because Jack has never wanted to sit in his lap before. But tonight he did! And so did Henry, after he gave him a high five and checked him out for awhile.