Stories

I was about to journal a couple of cute things, and I thought, why not blog? So this post will be a little different; here we go!

• One of the boys' favorite books is B is for Bear, by Roger Priddy, and the "X" page is a xylophone. I usually talk about how the boys have a xylophone and "play" it by tapping the bars with my fingers and saying "dah-dah-dah-dah-dah" when we get to that page. Yesterday, Ben beat me to it and tapped the page and sang "dah-dah-dah-dah" when we got to the "X." I was so impressed!!  Not to be outdone, Jack walks over to us, peers over the top of the page, and "dah dah dah" taps the page also.

• It's amazing to me how the boys' receptive language is really so much more advanced than I think of it being. Last week on a whim I told Jack after putting on his pajamas to take his dirty clothes to the laundry hamper, and he walked over to the hamper, lifted the lid, and put his clothes away! Then Ben did the same thing when we asked him. That is not something we taught them, it's just evidence of how much they can understand already. 

• Along that same vein, I leave my shoes by the back door and yesterday, Jack picked them up and brought them to me (they love shoes). When I asked him to go put mommy's shoes back, he put them in the exact spot he got them from!  We went to the mall over the weekend and I said, "That's mommy's favorite shoe store," and Ben stopped walking to look down at his shoes. Haha!

• EVERY time we get in the car, Jack sings. I would say it's similar to yelling, but it's a lot of "ahhhhhh-ahh!" with lifts in his voice, and it's very loud and long. I think he tries to go as long as he can without taking a breath. When we are out during the lunch hour, I usually listen to Dennis Prager, but I've had to give in and turn it to KLTY so that Jack can "sing" along with the radio. It's not like I can listen to anything else anyway. You win, Jack. :) I love his sweet voice, though, and he makes me laugh. Especially when Jonathan and I are in the car together and trying to have a conversation and Jack drowns us out. 

• We have been watching Sesame Street occasionally and recently the letter of the day was "A" and the characters were singing "Apple starts with A" and Ben started saying "apple." He always says it very softly, and his voice fades on the "le" so it's more like "APP...le." They love applesauce, and Jack will mimic me making the sign for apple when I feed them applesauce while Ben happily chants "App, APPle" - so cute! 

• Speaking of apples, these babies loooooove to eat! Snacks, anyway. We have officially dropped down to one nap a day, and they nap anywhere from 2-3 hours in the afternoon, which is really nice to have that consolidated break. But now they have a morning snack and an afternoon snack, which is fine - except they want more and more and I'm always afraid they are going to ruin their dinner. I gave them Cheerios in their snack cups yesterday morning. When Ben was out, he walked up to me in the living room, made the sign for more, and gestured to the kitchen, making me follow him, then pointed up to the Cheerios box. I just continue to be amazed by them! I would think it'd be way easier to push the empty snack cup in my face and make the sign for more, but Ben has figured out where the extra snacks are and wants me to know that he knows!

• When the boys see a dog either out at the park or maybe in a book, they start growling. It's like they're talking in "dog." If I have Bit crated during meal-time so she doesn't beg for food (she loooooves Ben & Jack, especially during snack-time and meal-times) and she whines, they sometimes will mimic her whining. But my favorite is when we ask them what Bit & Buddy say and they "woof woof." Jack's is the best; for some reason when Ben makes animal noises, he keeps his lips closed! So his "mooo" and "woof woof" is with a closed mouth, it's very funny. But Jack actually woofwoofs in a really deep voice, and he if he hears the dogs bark in another room, he will sometimes mimic them and I think it's so funny. 

• One of my favorite thing that the boys are doing right now is putting their bellies on you. If I am sitting on the floor they will come up behind me and push their bellies out to touch my back - they don't necessarily put their arms or hands around me, just push their bellies on me and giggle. I don't know why they think that is so funny, but they really think that's clever. 

That's probably more than enough stories for now. They are growing so fast and getting so big! I love watching them play - they are so busy and such little independent dudes, but if I'm patient, they will eventually either back up into my lap to read a book or stack cups, or they'll bring me something they need help with like a shape sorter, or they will catch my eye & remember "Oh yeah, Mom's here to play with," and attack me like I'm a climbing toy.  Love them so much. :)

Sesame Street after breakfast - relaxing

Do other children like to lay down on hard surfaces?

Ben: Alright, if you're going to just lay there, I'm going to wrestle you!

We love climbing at Bookmarks

Mom doesn't like us to climb so much, but we definitely enjoy Baby Bounce!

Ben fascinated by a slinky

Jack loves vacuuming - but he gets very frustrated when he can't find the release to make it flat

Ben playing "astronaut" for Honey

Jack: I invented the game "astronaut"

Jack's adorable smile & head tilt he's been doing for us lately!

Silly boy!

Ben loves their phone - here he's hiding with the phone from Jack so Jack can't take it :)

Lemonade from lemons

Jonathan called this our "Lemonade from lemons" weekend.

Our a/c started dying Thursday night and by lunchtime Friday we were up to 78 degrees. The boys and I went to Jump Street just to go somewhere cool while we waited for J to come home from work. We had already planned a trip to Tyler for Stacy's bridal shower this weekend, so we packed extra to stay through the weekend and had a great time with family! We left Sunday after dinner to spend the night with J's family in Plano, and J left to meet the a/c repairman Monday morning while the boys and I spent the day with Honey and had lunch at the Legacy with the boys' great-grandparents. All the family time = lemonade. :)

Last week we had a fun playdate with our neighbor and the boys had a blast! Susan actually recommended Jump Street to us, and we had a lot of fun there too. Here is a picture of two Bens & a Jack with a push-toy each (that's all they wanted to do).

Ryan & Katie are moving next weekend, so we will definitely miss seeing them and their boys when we go to Tyler. Here are a few pictures from this weekend as we soaked up all the cousin time we could! We got a cute picture of the boys all together in the bathtub, although Jack wasn't into it, so he got right out. :) Ben had a blast though and he and Connor splashed and had fun after Jack & Cooper got out. These boys are so cute together!

The boys love Gigi's antique rocking chairs

The boys were looking up at the light being turned on

Bathtime!

Here are a couple of pictures of the boys at the Legacy. They had a good time at lunch and showed off their step-kicks out by the fountain just after lunch. As you can see, they had a really good time playing in great-Granddad's walker. We stayed and had dinner with Honey & Papa, then after baths it was finally home again.

Our a/c did get fixed and was still under warranty. Lemonade from lemons. 

As a post-script, I'm including a cute picture of Ben's bath art for random fun. Jack had drawn in the tub just before this, but thoughtfully cleaned his off with a washcloth. Also, the boys are getting their top molars in! Both boys have both top molars peeking through their gums. Poor babies, I think it hurts. Hopefully they push through all the way soon.

Too Cool for School

I have a little problem. Any time I put baby sunglasses on the boys, I have an uncontrollable urge to say that they are "too cool for school!" Over and over, which makes them smile, so I guess it's not really such a bad problem, unless other people are around, in which case it can be a little embarrassing. Jonathan gives me a hard time about it, and this morning at the park was the first time I felt a little self-conscious about it. I'll blame Jonathan for making me self-conscious over it.

Anyway, we went to the park and I put their sunglasses on and this was the first time that they have kept them on! They were in the swings a while, they got in the car, they went down the slide, they climbed...and that's when we called it quits for the day. Jack kept his on for the entire time we were there, as he played all around the playground and everything! Ben pulled his off every couple of minutes so they eventually came off for good, but they do look super-cute in their snazzy sunglasses. Some might even say they look..."too cool for school."

The Neills' visit

Godmother Beth & Matt came to visit all the way from England last week!!  We were so excited to see our friends and catch up. The boys were napping when they got here, then woke up to play and have snack. It was amazing how quickly they took to them - Ben, especially, was having a mini-love affair with Beth (watch out, Matt!) and was repeatedly going up to her to sit in her lap. At one point he sat back with her to finish eating his snack, like, this is is a good spot to sit and have snack. Hilarious. And he also somehow convinced Matt to chase him down the hall and bounce him around on the bed. He likes to be thrown backwards onto the feather comforter and bounce. What a fun game, right?

After a relaxed afternoon of fun and games, we took the boys with us to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse for their first fine dining experience. They were fortunately on their best behavior and ate really well. We had such a great time, and it was so nice to catch up with my best friend Beth, whom I have missed! Now they are back home, halfway around the world. I am sure when next Ben & Jack see their Godmother Beth & Matt, they will warm up to them just as quickly as they did this time, especially since Matt got a new Mac while they were here and we made a pact to skype (i-chat?) now that we are both mac-families. Whatever, anyway, Ben & Jack love "talking" on the phone, so I am sure they will have a blast with video-chatting. :)

Beth calls this: Baby Stealer 2012

Aunt La

Aunt La came to live with us for about six weeks when she first moved to Dallas and we enjoyed our time with her. Every morning Ben & Jack would bang on her door and call "La, La" (or "yaa, yaa") while she was getting ready. They liked playing with her when she got home from work and giving her kisses before they went to bed at night. They also liked playing with Ellie, her dog. I think it's neat that they got to spend time with one of their aunts - family is so important! We are glad Lauren is close to us in Dallas. And not just so we have another babysitter!! ;) Here are a couple of pics of J&B with Aunt La.

 

"Can't you see we're trying to enjoy this book? Geez, mom, enough with the pictures."

Kisses, the Park, & Peek-A-Boo Ben

Ben & Jack love giving kisses - to mama, or dada, to their loveys, or book pages...and now to each other! It is unbelievably cute to ask them to give the other a kiss and watch them lean in, eyes closed, and make a "mmmm" noise as they give a sweet kiss. It's hard to get a picture of, so I'll keep trying, but here are a few. I will also try to capture it on video, because it's just so darn cute.

 

We went to the park this morning and it's a whole new experience now that the boys are walking! I let them swing, then walk around and sort of play on the equipment. They love swinging; they just smile and laugh while they swing.  After they played a while, Jack walked back to the swings and pointed to get back up to swing again.  They tried climbing, which is really fun but sort of scary when it's one parent and two toddlers, so I tried to discourage that. They liked climbing up the slides and sliding down, of course, and just exploring - it's fun for them to walk around. :) I see many early morning park trips in our future - they had a blast! Just as a side note, I tried to take off hats when we were in the shade since hats can get hot, and Jack cried - cried - to get it back on. How funny is that? Little dudes!

Today I was holding Jack in my lap and Ben decided to play peek-a-boo with us around the corner, which made Jack giggle. I loved how Ben thought he was really disappearing, or how he would rush to pop back into view when I called for him. I love them so much! Gosh we just have so much fun every day, and they are growing so fast and learning and are so interactive - they are without a doubt, the best little blessings I've ever been given.

Fourth of July

We drove to Tyler for the fourth this year. Jonathan, Dad, Pawpaw, Ryan, & Kris played golf that morning while mom, Katie, & I entertained 4 active little boys. Cooper has grown so much! Connor spent the night so that he could see us when we got there Tuesday (love that) and the boys had a lot of fun rough-housing with Poppy & Connor before bed Tuesday.

We cooked out for lunch and spent the day at the house together with Grandma & Pawpaw, then after dinner we went out to their house at the lake to shoot a few fireworks before we had to hit the road and get back home. Although J got to take a few days off (yea!), Lauren had to work the rest of the week.

I love seeing all four boys together, and Cooper is crawling around and really hanging with our boys & his big brother these days! Watching them play is so much fun, and I hope that they are good friends as they grow up together. How fun to grow up with cousins around your same age & gender?

 

It was really nice to spend a little time with Grandma & Pawpaw, and as you can see our wild little boys enjoyed it too. Below, Jack had fun with a tupperware hat, Jack scrambled into great-Grandma's lap when he saw Ben was sitting with her, & Ben discovered great-Pawpaw has a bellybutton, too!

More pictures from the day/evening: 

Thanks Uncle Ryan for lighting all our fireworks! What a great day of celebration of our nation's independence, and we are so thankful for all the servicemen and women who stand up for our continued liberty. This is truly the greatest nation on earth, and today is a reminder of how very blessed we are to be Americans.

I came across something I'd saved but forgotten about (too late!) - this is a reminder to myself that I want this to become one of our traditions on the fourth. I love Dennis Prager, and this is a great idea of how make it a special, meaningful day of celebration.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/270964/fourth-july-seder-dennis-prager?pg=1