Fall Family Photos

We took the boys' 1.5 year photos with Jesse Leos Photography (www.jesseleosphoto.com) and loved all the pics! Jesse and Rachel are so good at making us feel comfortable and the boys just had a fun time running around being silly! I was going to just put up a few of my favorites, but since I am about to make this into our "Blog Book Year 2012" and will just have to add those photos to the book anyway, I figured I may as well publish them. Family, let us know which ones you want :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ben: Sock Puppet Master

Ben loves taking off his socks in his crib and making sock puppets. He also is experimenting with disrobing and will often have one arm out of his sleeve, and once was completely out of his pajamas! I love coming in their room in the mornings and finding him with one arm out or with socks on his hands. :)

Jack thinks Ben is funny too :)

Nanny Mercedes

The boys love Nanny Mercedes, and we are so lucky to have her taking care of our sweet babies a couple of times a week. She is very animated and involved with them and talks or sings the whole time she is with them. They know "agua" and "mas" in spanish, which is really cute. One day, Jack started singing "Ring around the Rosie" and slumped down in Jonathan's arms as he was holding him when he got to "we all fall down," - we were like, where did they learn that? Nanny Mercedes taught them! They get excited when she comes and usually just wave "bye-bye" to us when we leave for work/etc. We feel so lucky to have connected with the family who she has worked with for the past decade to work out an arrangement so we can have her a part of our lives, too!

Here are the boys watching out the window for her to come one morning!

When Daddy's away...

...Family comes over to play! Jonathan had to go to CA early last week so his parents & grandparents came over and took us to dinner. The boys really enjoyed spending time with their family and had fun showing off. They played in the laundry baskets and were so good at dinner. They ate well and played peek-a-boo with their napkins, which was entertaining. When it was time for bed, everyone came into their room and read books to them. Granddad Lawrence read a couple of books and Ben & Jack layed down on the floor to listen, before that gave way to floor wrestling. :) We are so thankful for our family, and I am especially thankful that they are always so willing to check on us and help out when Jonathan has to be away.

 

Election Night Fun...followed by sadness

Luke & Sami came over to watch the election results with us on Tuesday. We had dinner together then played with the boys before it was bedtime. Ben & Jack have lately started to be shy at first when friends & family come over, but they warmed up quickly. They had so much fun playing "chase" with "Uncle" Luke and showing some of their new toys to "Aunt" Sami. Jack especially enjoyed the game of chase - when Luke would try to take a break, he would run to the doorframe of the kitchen, stop and look back like, "Well?" We are glad they were here with us and glad the boys got some play time & cuddle time in with some of our favorite people.

Then the boys took turns chasing/walking each other. Let me explain these backpack leashes. First of all, the boys love them. They love wearing backpacks, so this is really fun for them. But I got them for our nanny, who likes to take the boys outside. They really like walking around & playing outside, but they aren't great at listening and minding yet, so it's scary to think of them being outdoors out of the stroller. I got these for her so that she could let them run off some energy before naps but still be safe. Eventually they will learn to be mindful of rules and listen and come when I call them...right?

Anyway, unfortunately for us, the night did end in sadness. My pessimistic husband (who said he was basing his theories on actual facts and statistics, blah blah) had been warning me not to get my hopes up, but I had gotten my hopes up. I never even considered defeat, but alas. So for us it ended in sadness, and I was admittedly pretty depressed for a couple of days. Jonathan brought out the jokes, though, and I think people who say "he's not my president" are stupid (aka, The Dixie Chicks), so I am attempting to give him the respect that the office of the presidency deserves and hope & pray for the best.

First Parent/Teacher Conference

Our first parent/teacher conference went well! I have to admit that I didn't take it very seriously, and sort of felt bad when I realized none of the other parents brought their kids with them to the parent/teacher conference. Anyway, we took the boys and they played while we chatted about how well they're doing, mostly. In fact, it's almost funny that at their very first conference, not a single concern was raised about Ben or Jack, but the only issue that came up was that I apparently am not sending enough food in their lunches!! So they're fine, it's me that's the issue. Figures. Who knew they ate so well at school? They don't eat that much for lunch at home, and I thought I was sending plenty, but evidently they are the first ones finished every day. I feel horrible! So needless to say I will be sending more food for lunch. I talked with another parent afterwards and apparently it's not just me, so I don't feel quite as bad...still...!

Otherwise, we discussed how much they love their teachers and love going to school, running in class giggling every day. When we drive past the church they "ooh" and point - they really love it! Evidently they act like brothers and wrestle some at school, and like to play chase. They are very verbal and enjoy playing and climbing. We feel so blessed with their teachers and are glad that Ben & Jack enjoy school so much. :)

Here are their school pics that we didn't buy. :( I really wanted one of them together, but they weren't cooperating that day! And below that, a couple of pictures of them with their wonderful, can't-say-enough-good-things-about-them-teachers, Mrs. Mary & Mrs. Myranda.

Dallas Zoo

This weekend was Connor & Cooper's birthday and we had planned on going to Lumberton for their birthday party. Unfortunately Ryan called us Friday to let us know that Connor was sick, which was nice that they alerted us before we made the drive so we didn't expose the boys to his virus. We were so, so sad to miss it.

Since that left us at home on Saturday with gorgeous fall weather in Dallas, we decided to take a morning trip to the zoo. We have really enjoyed our Dallas Zoo membership. We rarely make it past the children's play area, because the boys can't really handle more than an hour or two of zoo fun at a time and the zoo is huge! They do like looking at the animals, though, and have always enjoyed our visits. This time we let the boys ride ponies and discovered the bird area! Ben was a little scared at first of the pony, but after watching fearless Jack ride around, he was ready for his turn. They sweetly told the pony "bye-bye" when their turn was over.

 

The aviary was really neat - the Cockatiels fly at you when you enter, which was a little scary if you're not expecting it. I got some really neat pictures of Jack discovering the bird that landed on Jonathan, who was extremely relieved not to get bird poop on his back. The boys really wanted to feed the birds by holding out little popsicle sticks with birdseed on it, but the birds would land on your hand and they didn't like that, so we did a lot of looking.

The children's area at the zoo is just amazing. We also checked out the naked mole rat house and it was smelly. I am not really interested in watching naked rats writhe around in little rat burrows, but it had a tunnel for kids to crawl through and unfortunately I can see lots of visits to the naked mole rat house in our future. :)

What a fun day we had, and a good distraction from the fun we were missing with cousins Cooper & Connor. We are hoping to plan a make-up visit soon. :)