White "sands" Christmas

We've had a wonderful "white" Christmas this year with Neil's family in FL! Updates coming soon!

Oh yeah, it snowed...

We were very surprised when it snowed last week. The boys enjoyed it for the half hour that it lasted.

First attempt at Christmas pics

I made my first attempt at capturing a few Christmas photos of the boys. I'm always hoping for the elusive shot in which they are both looking at the camera...and smiling. :) This attempt produced several fun shots, but not what I'm looking for. Regardless, the boys had a good time, especially when they got to run up and down the sidewalk in their jammies.

p.s. A friend and I made these jammies for our boys. Micah's pants flare just a bit much for me, but I haven't made the time to straighten them out. :) Oh well, he doesn't know the difference.

Under Construction

Pardon me, as I rearrange my blog. As if i don't have enough to do already, I decided that tonight would be a great night to mess with this as well. :)

Dear God...

...thank you for my big muscles so that I can grow up to be strong. Amen.

-Joshua

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my parents and both of Neil's brothers and sister-in-laws. We missed seeing my brother and his family, our grandmas, and Neil's parents. We are so blessed to have the relationship with extended family that we do. Over the years, we have had various combinations of family and friends at gatherings. I am so thankful for them all. We were able to spend several days with my parents. (They even kept the boys a couple of times so that Neil and I could escape and go on a date!!) The Aunts and Uncles spoiled our boys, as usual, and Joshua and Micah loved every minute of it! We have so much to be thankful for!

Bedtime prayers continued...

Here is part of Joshua's prayer tonight:

"Dear God, thank you for the bible that we read and for the bugs that we get to catch! Amen."

Bedtime Prayers

Here is part of Micah's prayer tonight. :)

"Dear God, thank you for my blanket. It's real nice."

On a light note...

I thought that the grandparents might enjoy this hilarious view of their grandsons! This was after both of them were rewarded with candy after Micah had a successful potty experience. :) They had to show off their colorful tongues.

At the Pumpkin Patch

These are from a couple of weeks ago.

We had a great time with our friends at the pumpkin patch.

At Trunk or Treat with friends

Micah updates

Earlier this week, Micah decided that he was a big boy and no longer needed his booster seat at the kitchen table. That's fine with me. However, I have used it as leverage a couple of times when he was throwing a fit at the table. All I have to mention is getting out the 'baby' seat and he straightens right up. :)

A not so lovely progression with Micah is that he has finally figured out that he can take his diaper/pull-up off on his own. This has brought about some interesting moments. It also tells me that we are right on track with potty training. It is so difficult for me to be persistent and stay on track with potty training (or any child training), mostly because it takes lots of effort and time! Hopefully it will be worth it in the long run!

A fall day

The boys and I spent a weekend with my parents while Neil was judging a field trial. We had beautiful fall weather. The boys had a blast checking out caterpillars and the changing color of the leaves.

Trunk or Treat

This past weekend, we were able to take the boys to a Trunk or Treat that was at the church of some friends. They had a great time and came back with buckets full of loot. :) In case you can't tell, Joshua is a race car driver and Micah is Spiderman!

Dinosaurs!

We visited a local museum today that has a new dinosaur exhibit! They are huge animatronic dinosaurs that move and roar. They are along one of the trails at the nature museum. We had a great time seeing them and roaring back at them. The boys also dug for artifacts inside at one of the activity sites. Later, we went on the 'Animals of the World' trail, to see animals such as cabybara, cavy, mongoose, wallaroos, and more. The weather has cooled off quite a bit here and the animals were very active! What a fun day for the boys (and me)!
P.S. Observe the shirt that Micah is wearing. :) It is a pajama shirt. I can hardly get that kid OUT of pj's. He would stay in them all day long!

Just Pics

Joshua

I have to brag on my boy, Joshua! He is extremely creative. He is always cracking us up with the random things that he comes up with, both in his play and in his school work. It's not as if we are making fun of him, not at all. It's almost as if we are in a constant state of amazement!
On the day that this picture was taken, the boys were playing with modeling clay. Joshua had some marbles and pieces of another toy that he decided to add to his clay creation. Their work looked like modern art masterpieces. You can't see Joshua's creation very well in this picture, but it was quite impressive.
Joshua thrives on learning new things. Last week, he was exhausted and slept two afternoons in a row. This weekend, he was begging to do "work book", which is what he sometimes calls school, because he hadn't been able to do it in two days. He is finally starting to "get" phonics and goes around all day long telling me what words start with. This is a big step. Not so long ago, I could ask him what letter a word started with and he wouldn't even get close with his guessing. Now, he knows! I don't know how long it will be until he is reading. But, at least I know that we are headed in the right direction.
Some mornings, while Neil is getting ready for work, Joshua changes into what he calls his "work" clothes. Then, all day he talks about going to 'kid work'. One of these days, Neil will take him to work with him for a bit. :) As of right now, he is playing in a nice button up shirt and spiffy pants that he put on this morning
I had a mom moment this morning while helping Joshua get his button up shirt on. :) All of a sudden, I was overwhelmed with the love that I have for my boys. I also experienced that gut wrenching feeling that life is fleeting and that my boys are growing up so fast! Oh, Lord, please give us the wisdom and love to raise our boys to know YOU! There is nothing more important!

Micah

For the next couple of posts, I'm going to focus on each of my boys. I'm starting with Micah because I already had this photo edited. And since there just isn't that much time in the day, it seems like a good start to me. :)
Micah has such a flair for life! We'll sometimes have "dance parties" at home where we turn the music up loud and let the boys run around like crazy and make as much noise as they want! This past weekend, Micah REALLY got into it and was making up his own moves. Hilarious! Well, after church yesterday he busted out in spontaneous dance right in the middle of the children's common area. Other than making sure he didn't run into anyone else, I just let him dance! What passion and innocence, all wrapped up into the most boy of boys!
Micah loves to leap and jump and try ANYTHING he sees his brother do. Sometimes this works out well, and sometimes it doesn't. He also loves to sing, color, paint, and basically create. He definitely seems to have an artistic side to him. For a long time, he didn't have much to say. He wouldn't even say his own name. And then one day the flood gates were opened and we can't keep him from talking or attempting to say every single word he hears. The other day, we were out for a drive and saw some goats and miniature donkeys (at least, they were small). Regardless, he spent the next half-hour trying to say 'miniature'. What a determined little boy he is!

Hide and Seek

Micah has been playing a version of hide and seek with Joshua (their own version) for a few weeks now. His newest thing is to run to a wall so that he can "hide his eyes". Then he counts "1,2,3...1,2,3.." and emphatically says "Come" and then runs out to find Joshua. Joshua usually ends up jumping out so that Micah can easily find him. It's so funny, and cute, to watch!

Hot Air Balloons!!!

This past weekend there was a Hot Air Balloon Festival going on just south of where we live. On Saturday, we went to a park close by to see if we could see one of the balloon launches. They went the opposite direction and we didn't get a great look at them. So, we decided to go back on Sunday evening to try and catch a glimpse of the last launch. We barely made it...and the experience was more than I could have hoped for. It was so fun for the boys (and myself!!) to watch the balloons floating just over our heads!

Excited about a TV??

I can't remember the last time I was this excited to have a TV. We finally replaced the one that went out. Usually, we don't watch much tv at all. In fact, we don't have cable or television in the sense that we can watch tv channels. We just use it for videos. But, since it's been raining for the better part of a week now, it sure is nice to put on a video!! Thursdays are our library day. We'll have to stock up on some videos, and books (of course), while we're there, since there's no end in sight to the rain.

Cooking with Joshua

Joshua and I started up with school last week. He and I will have the afternoons to work together while Micah naps. We've started a primer for Explode the Code, which works on letter recognition and eventually builds up to reading. We're going to read lots of books together, work on projects, and cook. This afternoon, we decided to make Rocky Cookies for Neil, which are some of his favorites, and on the healthy side for a cookie. Joshua helped measure out the ingredients, mix it all together, and roll the dough into balls on the cookie sheet. And, of course, after the cookies were done, we ATE some! Delicious. Joshua is sporting the latest of my sewing creations, a speedy car apron. The fabric was his choice. I'm sure that it will get used for much more than just cooking, as we have painting projects on the horizon! What a wonderful boy!

Chalk play!

We've had lots of rain. And the boys have been playing in the sandbox. You add those two together along with chalk, and you have a big, fun mess!

The Birthday Party!

Many thanks to everyone who was able to make it to Micah's party! We had a great time and are so glad to have all of you for friends!

More Birthday Pics