A helpful hand & fun with Daddy

Came home from school yesterday and the boys decided to help one another take off their socks. I had to grab the camera, because it was seriously cute - what helpful brothers!

So the boys have totally figured out my homemade baby-proofing for the entertainment center (a hairband tied around the handles) and love getting in there now. I've resigned myself to this, and am trying to take the approach of the less attention I pay to it, the less they will be interested in it. Earlier this week they thought it was fun to "hide" in between the doors. Ben was sort of over it by the time I got the camera out, but Jack really had a ball.

Ben & Jack have really enjoyed their stuffed animals lately - getting them out, hugging them, dancing around with them, etc. So I pulled out their big stuffed elephants and let them play yesterday - so much fun! They carried them around and layed on them, mostly. I thought Ben might take a second nap for a while there. Need to get those out more often :)

Finally, here are the boys playing with Daddy last night. Love these three :)

4 cuties & a Jack story

I love our twin playgroup! Next time we meet I am going to attempt to get a pic of all of the kids together, but here is one from last week of Ben & Jack with their buds Vivi & Charlie. Isn't she such a little lady sitting in the chair amidst all the boys? They are precious and so is their sweet mom, who was a lifesaver to me in the early stages of this whole twin mom thing!

I don't know where to add it, so I am going to add it here - the boys LOVE school and run into their classroom giggling. Tuesday we were walking in from the parking lot and Jack spotted one of his classmates standing by his car, waiting for his mom to get his baby sister out. Jack stopped, held out his arm and started "talking" and nodding his head vigorously at his classmate, like "Come on! It's time to go to school, you should go with us to class!" He knew that was one of his little friends and was very socially engaging - I was laughing, but it was also so smart! I mean, there are tons of kids walking into the school every day, and Jack knew that this one was someone that belonged with him. So cute!!

Pumpkin Patch

We took the boys to the Arboretum on Sunday. I wore two pair of sunglasses to protect my eyes, but it was basically fine. This year's pumpkin patch pics were not nearly as easy to get as last year's - Ben & Jack just wanted to run around! They especially loved the hay bale maze, and we had a lot of fun with them, not counting the tears when we tried to get them to sit still for a picture. In the last two pictures, you can see Jack saying "Hi" and waving to the pumpkins in the patch behind the fence. :)

Pre-Eye Surgery Hustle

I'm having PRK this Friday and was told today that I won't be able to drive for 5 days (okay) or look at a computer for a week (eek!). I've just started our second blog-to-book, which takes hours and hours and hours of time pouring through photos and arranging them, but is so much fun & it's what I look forward to doing every night in my "free time." So I don't know what I'm going to do without being able to look at pictures or work on my computer for a whole week. Also, I know when I am able to see again (without glasses or contacts!) I will want to go straight back to the book, so I figured I better blog so I don't get too far behind.

I pulled out the rice sensory box last week, and when I put it away this time it was noticeably lighter. I let the boys have a good time with it, which meant that rice sort of went everywhere - but it was nothing the Dyson couldn't handle. They had so much fun raking through the rice and pouring it out, moving it from one area to another. I had to find another "rake" since that seemed to be the preferred tool for the day :)

 

These were from last weekend, when Honey & Papa came over for the UT game. Ben & Jack had fun playing.

Jack reading in his little box. And Ben being super cute.

The boys wrestling. Up until this week, it was Jack that was initiating wrestling and would try to sit on Ben. Now Ben is all about the wrestling and climbing on Jack, chasing him around, etc. It's so cute to hear them giggling and playing with one another!

Poor Buddy. Jack really, really loves him. So does Ben, but Jack won't leave him alone. He lays on him (barely missed that picture today) and sits on him and likes to slide off. Maybe we need to get them a slide. Anyway, they played with him this afternoon and he is so good with them. Ben likes to put his belly against Buddy, and they've just started crawling underneath him like he's a tunnel. That's kind of dangerous since he could step on them, so I've got to figure out a way to deter that particular game. Oh, and I did let Buddy out after this as a reward for his tolerance.

While I was cooking dinner, they found their "astronaut hat" in the drawer and took turns wearing it. Here, Jack was pretending to have landed on an alien planet and was conquering the strange lifeform he discovered there. At least, I think that's what he was doing. ;) Just wait until they can dress you up, Buddy, you are in for some real fun :)

Cutest thing ever - walked into the room to see Ben preoccupied with a kleenex, blowing his little nose. He would not give up that tissue, either.

Last, I got the boys' dinosaur hats in the mail today and let them try them on and they didn't want to take them off, so they fed the dogs in their new hats. haha!

State Fair

We went to the State Fair today with J's parents, courtesy of Beth's wonderful mom, who sent us several tickets! It was cold this weekend, so we bundled the boys up fairly well, but found out that they could really use some mittens. On the list!

We went straight from afternoon nap, so gave the boys an easy squeezy pack on the way in, which they appreciated. We started at the Little Hands on the Farm exhibit, which was maybe just a little over their heads (next year they'll love it!) but still fun. They just liked being out of the stroller to run around.

When you first go in, there is a cute photo board op, and we attempted to set the boys up for a picture. Jack did pretty well, but Ben thought he was supposed to put his head all the way through the hole. He looked up at the hole above him, like he was waiting for his Honey to peek through that one. Then he got stuck - so funny.

Here are my super cute boys in their aprons with their little buckets with which they distributed feed and collected items on the farm. Very good at collecting. Sort of like hoarders. Not as good at distributing. If they were real farmers, their animals would probably starve. :)

Then we made our way to the petting zoo, which was sort of a madhouse. But they saw the giraffe up close and personal, which was cool! Well, until some lady tried to pet the giraffe and it jerked away and scared Ben, which was not cool. But they were very interested in the ostriches, and Ben mimicked their head movements as their Honey fed them - funny! They also attempted to entice the donkeys with some feed, and "talked" at this one very enthusiastically (maybe they thought he was like Buddy?) so it was cute. Oh, and they loved the "llama llamas."

Afterwards we saw a dog show to get out of the light sprinkle, which was really fun and the boys enjoyed. Below, they were on Daddy & Papa's shoulders and peeked around to see them.

I shouldn't even include this, but it is sort of funny - even if Jonathan's amusement is like 10 times mine. He even hums the Charlie Brown music as he directs me to the driver's seat. Below, see last year's minivan picture and this year's minivan sad face picture at the car show. This is probably our last "annual" picture of the sad face, because by next year's state fair I'll likely be driving a minivan/suburban/large boat. Sad face. Nothing wrong with minivans (they're actually very nice!) but I really like my little crossover SUV and am not happy about having to give it up for something bigger. Gotta do what you gotta do, though!

And here are our pictures in front of Big Tex! What a fun fair day we had! And we're so glad J's parents could join us for the day. The last picture of this post is probably the cutest thing EVER - it's Ben & Jack holding hands as they were being strolled around the fair. Ben held his hand out for Jack and said "Jah" and they repeatedly dropped and grabbed for each other's hand. How sweet are they?! Best friends forever.