November 19, 2008 Part 2

So I have been wondering how to handle Nick's reluctance to let me show him how to hold a pencil or crayon. I have offered to show him many times and he always says no. He gets upset with me if I try to get him to let me show him.

One day this week, he finally let me show him one time, only because I was talking about how he will have to learn to hold his pencil correctly so he can learn to write like daddy. Any time I talk about being like daddy, I get his attention pretty quickly. Even so, as adamant as he has been about not wanting me to show him, I was surprised that he let me show him even with the daddy-carrot. After I showed him, he only tried it for a couple of minutes before switching back to his fist-grip on the crayon.

 Everything I have read says to make sure they learn to hold it correctly from the beginning so I am starting to get a bit concerned about this and wondering if I need to start forcing the issue (if you want to write/color, you have to try to hold the crayon correctly?). He loves to color and draw (scribble) and cut and paste and all that and I have not wanted to curtail his interest so I have not pushed the issue up until now.

I read somewhere that one way to get a child to hold a crayon correctly is to break the crayons so they are so short that they can only hold it with their finger tips, much like holding a small piece of chalk to write on a chalk board. So, when they were not around, I broke all of their crayons:). I really didn't think they would even notice, as they had already broken some of them. Nick did notice right away and mentioned it to me several times over the following days, which was funny. I don't think I broke them into small enough pieces though because he can still hold most of them in his fist-grip.

He is a very strong willed child and I often wonder, if I have this much trouble just getting him to let me show him how to hold a crayon, what is it going to be like homeschooling this child? I think I have my work cut out for me. Also, if potty training him is any indication of how homeschooling is going to go, I'm in big trouble.

November 19, 2008

The great news of the day is that the dad is back. Yay!!! I am so relieved he is home. He left very early in the morning, before I was up, last Friday and came back this evening so he was gone the better part of six days. In retrospect, I should have hired our babysitter to come over for a few hours one day and give me a break.

I don't sleep well when he is gone, so that does not help my situation. By today, I was really really tired. So today was a special day, as I told the boys. I let them watch three videos; two before nap and one after. By the time they finished that, the fence guys had finished putting up our new fence so the boys could once again go outside and play without me having to be out there with them. It was wonderful because we had an absolutely beautiful day here today. I think it got up to somewhere in the mid-70's. The boys had not been able to play outside without an adult being out there with them for a couple of weeks so this was just wonderful for all of us. God must have known that I really needed this today.

When the dad got home, he took us all out to eat for dinner. When we got back, he took the boys upstairs to play and now he is putting them to bed. So I have had a very peaceful evening and I am going to go to bed early. I am looking forward to getting out by myself for a bit tomorrow and doing some errands. The dad is off work the next two days so we have a nice four day weekend ahead of us to get back into our groove.

I can't believe Thanksgiving is next week. Time is going by so quickly and the boys are growing and changing so fast. They have been singing the Jingle Bells song lately and I'm not sure where they heard it. They sing: "Jingle bells. Jingle bells. Hey!" It cracks me up.

November 18, 2008 Part 2

....as promised.

Nick asking Ben what he wants for Christmas. They were at the mall with the dad the other day and Nick sat on Santa's lap for the first time ever. Ben was scared so he watched, although I assured him that lots of little kids are scared of Santa.



















They dressed up as cowboys for Halloween. I ended up eating most of their candy:).

November 18, 2008

Today's gas prices here are $1.68 per gallon. I notice this and comment on it so often when we pass by the local gas station that the boys will now comment on before I do if I forget. It's funny because they make up numbers that make no sense. They do this also when they step on the scales to weight themselves. They are so funny.

We went to the aquarium today and bought a year membership for our whole family for $85. I thought that was pretty good, considering it would have cost around $35 for me and the boys to go one time. They had added a lot of stuff since I had last been there and they had some really fun things for kids. We pet some sting rays and small sharks, which was an interesting and fun experience. Very cool place where I am sure we will be visiting often, since it is pretty close to our house.

The dad comes back tomorrow and we are all looking forward to that very much. We have all missed him a lot. When we were saying prayers last night, I asked the boys what they wanted to pray for. N immediately said he wanted to pray for daddy to come home and then B said he wanted to pray for daddy to come home too. I'm glad I saved the aquarium visit until today because I think it took their minds off missing dad for a while and gave us something very fun to do to pass the time.

Actually, it is our evenings when we miss him the most, since he is normally at work during the days. Yesterday evening, after we had finished dinner and I had cleaned up, I hung out on the couch and let them both climb all over me for a while. They love doing that. I was lying down and they took turns lying down on top of me, face up. I would put their arms up high, near my head, and tell them to hold on so they wouldn't fall off the plane. When they had their arms up high and they were kind of holding on to my head, I would tickle them under their arms and on their sides. They would laugh so hard and start wiggling until they fell off onto the floor or, as they say, into the "man hole". They thought this was so funny and so we did this over and over again. Then we went upstairs to play for the last thirty minutes or so before bed. So we filled our evening pretty well and we all had lots of laughs.

Just one more evening and then most of tomorrow before the dad will be back and life will get back to normal. I think he said he would be home around dinner time tomorrow.

Here are a couple of pictures but I have a bunch more to load, which I will do sometime soon.

The first two pictures are of the boys playing ambulance.


















Here is a picture of the boys preparing to help the dad blow out his birthday candles. Happy Birthday honey! Don't they all look like they are drooling over the cake?? They were:).









And these last two pictures are of N's birthday party. He wanted B to help him blow out his candles and open his gifts. It was very cute and nice, since N help B on B's birthday too.

November 17, 2008

Little Nick is always walking around singing a song. This child loves to sing. One of the songs on the car CD player that we often hear goes "Behold! Behold! I stand at the door and knock, knock, knock".

I had a real good laugh yesterday when I overheard Nick, as he was playing nearby. He was singing "Hee Ho! Hee Ho! (humming) knock, knock, knock".

Another funny thing that happened yesterday is that I accidentally pushed the panic button on my key faub thingy, just as the boys were getting into the van, while it was still sitting in the garage. I had my hands full as I was trying to lock the door to the house and also open the side doors on the van for the boys and I was not looking at which button I was pushing. It startled us all and I quickly turned it off, as the boys stood there looking at me with these huge eyes. I was laughing because it really was a funny moment but it took them a couple of minutes, with me explaining what happened and apologizing, before they saw the humor of it and laughed with me. Later in the day we were again preparing to leave the house and Ben said to me "no honk at me mommy". It took me a second to realize what he was referring to and then we both had a good laugh.

And, last but certainly not least, was an incident that happened the other day, about which I was not a happy camper at the time. It took me a few minutes after the clean up before I was able to laugh about it. The boys had been playing with playdough and we were getting ready to eat so I sent Nick off to wash his hands because he had it all over him. The boys are not quite trustworthy in the bathroom yet, but we are working on it, so I normally wait a little while before I head in to make sure they have not done anything they shouldn't and to clean up the mess they have inevitably made. I heard Ben head that way, saying he needed to go to the bathroom, so I headed that way a couple of minutes later.

I had quite a surprise when I walked into the bathroom. Ben had indeed gone to the potty and was now bottomless, wearing only his shirt. He and Nick were both standing on the little stool at the sink and they were playing in the water. Nick had pulled up the stopper to the sink and was running water into the sink, which was full and overflowing. The water was running all over the counter top and onto the floor all around the cabinet, which is one of those cabinets that is made to look like a piece of furniture so the water was streaming down to the floor from all sides.

I have never liked the sink in that bathroom. It is one of those little, bitty tiny ones and the prior owners probably had to pay extra for this fashionable tiny round sink but it is really too small and the boys always make a mess when they wash their hands in that sink. Because it is so small, it also fills up way too fast, which was not something that had crossed my mind before:).

I am way behind on posting pictures. I loaded up pics from my camera today but am very tired this evening. Hopefully I can put some up tomorrow. The dad is in Puerto Rico, left last Friday and will return home on Wednesday, so I have been quite busy the past few days. Also, I never sleep well when he is gone so I am a bit sleep deprived too.

Now, off to bed with me. Good night.

November 9, 2008

Today I noticed that the price of gasoline here is now $1.78. Isn't this amazing?

Makes me kind of wish I had a long trip to take somewhere. My husband is going to Puerto Rico soon. We had initially planned to go with him but decided not to when gas prices sky rocketed and our grocery bill went up along with it...ever conscious of the budget we are:).

Needless to say, I am bummed because I have never been there before and would have enjoyed going. Maybe I need to take the boys on a trip while he is gone:). The bright side is that he is off work this coming week, as we had planned to take some vacation time together in Puerto Rico before his conference began.

We will be celebrating Nick's birthday this week. He will be turning three years old and he is as cute as the dickens:). Nick is quite the strong willed child and often has me scratching my head as to how to keep him in line. Nonetheless, every time we drop him off or pick him up at his Sunday School class, we always receive rave reviews on how wonderfully behaved both our sons are and what a delight they are to have in class. It warms my heart, although I sometimes wonder if we are talking about the same children:). I guess it means we must be doing something right, although all the credit must go to God because I am constantly praying that he will smooth over and correct all of the many mistakes I make every day.

I'm not sure if I mentioned that we joined a new church that is closer to our house. The pastor teaches precept upon precept and it is absolutely wonderful. I learn so much. I love the Wednesday night meeting because it is a much smaller group and we all sit around large tables in the fellowship hall while he teaches in the front of the room. He really knows his Bible and can explain the Hebrew and Greek meaning of words and he has such a friendly, warm way about him. Additionally, everyone we have met at this church is also very friendly and warm and we really like the Sunday class we have joined. We already knew three different couples who have also recently joined, which is wonderful too. We switched churches just when the boys would have had to move up to a new class at the old church, so it turned out to be good timing. They really like this church and have never cried when we left them. They just missed the cut off for the children's choir so we will wait a year for that but I think they will really enjoy it when the time comes. I have also joined a ladies Bible study class on Monday mornings. They provide child care and the boys really enjoy going too. The dad will be playing a part in the Christmas play they will be putting on soon and he is enjoying the practices. It has definitely been a blessing to our entire family and since it is so much closer to our house, we can participate more often, more easily.

We have some fun stuff coming up. Nick's birthday next week and then having fun with the dad while he is off work and then we have a play date scheduled this week and another one the week after and a sleep over play date while the dad is gone. My friend who lives near by is going to bring her twin girls over to play and they are going to sleep over one night, which will be fun. And then hopefully we will also see some family while the dad is gone and we might go to the children's museum and the aquarium. I am going to think of some fun things to do so the week will go by quickly. I am always a bit off when he is gone because our schedule revolves around his schedule. When he is gone, I never know what day it is, as they all seem the same. So, we will try to do some fun things and stay busy.

I need to post some pictures soon. We are going to have to buy a new camera, as our seems to be flaking out a bit. That's all for now. Boys are asleep so I need to enjoy my free time:).

November 7, 2008

This morning I noticed gas was $1.83 per gallon. I waited to fill up because I had heard on the news one day that they normally lower it on Friday's. This evening it was $1.81 per gallon. You just have to wonder how low it will go and for how long it will stay low. I will enjoy it and appreciate it while it lasts.

November 6, 2008

Yes, gas where we live is now $1.85 per gallon. Is that awesome or what? Every day that I drive by a gas station and notice that the price of gas has fallen again I laugh and give a big cheer. The boys think I am crazy:).

We went to the farm today to see Papa, Mimi, aunts, uncles and cousins. My niece was there with her two little girls. The youngest is only 3 months old and it was the first time I had seen her. She is such a cutie and we all had fun holding her and playing with her. My niece's other daughter turned two over the summer and she is a cutie too. She is talking so well now and she is so tall. She is taller than both of my sons, younger by almost 6 months, and my sons are both in the 80 to 90 percentile range on height....and she is taller.

Anyway, the boys had a great time playing with everyone. A bunch of us drove out in one of the fields and picked up a bunch of pecans from under the trees. They have so many, they don't know what to do with them all. We really need to go back and get more of those. They are delicious. The boys had fun picking up pecans and also eating them. They each had two rides on Papa's four-wheeler. Nick even got to cross the creek on the four-wheeler, which was exciting. They also each got to go on a long tractor ride, which they loved. I was in the house and could hear the horn on the tractor beeping the whole time they were riding around out in the field and around the pond.

We also had a wonderful meal of homemade stew, delicious bread rolls and a fantastic dessert, all cooked and prepared by Mimi. I ate too much but it sure was yummy. The boys enjoyed all of it too.

Both boys fell asleep on the way home, which was much needed. Overall, we had a wonderful day out on the farm. I really love this time of year. Today we had clear blue skies, lots of sun and wind and it was just a bit chilly....a perfect fall day.

And all the better when we are paying $1.85 per gallon of gasoline:). We had better enjoy it while it lasts because it probably won't last long.

October 28, 2008

Well, I just finished giving the boys an unplanned bath. They were outside playing when Ben dumped a bucket full of water and sand (very watery sand) on top of Nick's head. It went all over him, inside his coat (it was pretty chilly outside too!), down his back all over his neck and all over his shoes. Nick was quite a mess, very cold and not very happy. Ben thought it was funny. I did not:).

Yesterday I was in the kitchen and the boys were playing in the library/playroom, which used to be a formal dining room so it is right next to the kitchen. I was listening to them and this is what I heard:

Nick: Ben?

Nick: Ben!??

Nick: Ben!!!???

Nick: Mickey!
Ben: I not Mickey; you Mickey!
Nick: I not Mickey; you Mickey!
Me: laughing, as they went back to playing whatever they had been playing.

I have heard Nick do that a couple of times now. I don't know where he got "Mickey" from, unless it is from Mickey Mouse, of whom he has seen very very little to date. I guess he has figured out that it works to get Ben's attention when Ben is ignoring him.

October 17, 2008 Part 2

The boys love to play outside and have discovered that it is more fun to play in the dirt next to the sandbox than in the sandbox itself. They have trucks and tractors, spoons, forks and bowls and lots of other things in their dirt/mud pit these days.








Our new climbing dome is not far from the dirt/mud pit but it does not get the attention of the pit these days.





The boys are very into pretending and dressing up. They pretend they are going to work or to the store or where ever. One day we were out for a walk and I was showing them the man hole covers. They like the Stop That Ball book by Dr. Seuss and there is a guy in a man hole in that book. Since that day a couple of months ago, I have heard about man holes umpteen times a day. They are always pretending to go into a man hole or come out of a man hole or what ever toy they happen to be playing with might be falling into a man hole, etc. The other popular pretend thing is pretending there has been a crash and/or somebody is hurt and has to go to the hospital. I guess this is because we live a mile and a half from a hospital and we hear/see ambulances and fire trucks come by our house or we have to stop for them while driving home from somewhere a lot. It took quite an effort to get these bandages off of the bears. They stuck much better than I thought they would.


















Here is Nick the cowboy.





















Here is Ben wearing one of the dad's slippers. Nick had on the other one. I could not believe that Ben could actually pedal with this huge slipper on his foot but he did it.






And, we have also gone for ice cream a couple of times here and there. When I was sick recently, I became tired of being cooped up so we went through the drive thru at the nearby ice cream place and the boys and I enjoyed a treat. It was just what we needed.









We have done some additional art projects too. Here are some cut and paste things we did one rainy day. I did the cutting and the boys did the pasting. They really enjoyed it.




And here are some additional birthday pics:


This first one is for you, Aunt D! All three guys loved what you sent.






A funny story about the microwave in the picture below. It was a gift for the boys from our close friends and it came with some little pretend food. A very small whole chicken was already in the microwave when we opened it. It was held in place by that plastic wrap that you almost need a crow bar to remove it. The boys were pretending to cook and when we asked them what they were cooking they said "a mouse". They thought the whole chicken was a mouse. We had a good laugh over that one. If you look closely at the picture of the boys and the microwave, you can see the chicken-mouse inside:).

October 17, 2008

We celebrated Ben's 3rd birthday at the end of September. We now have a three year old and a two year old but not for long. Nick will turn 3 in early to mid November and he is very much looking forward to it....but first we have the dad's birthday next week:).....and we have my niece's birthday celebration this weekend, where we will also celebrate the boys' birthdays with my family. Cake, cake and more cake; gotta love it!

Anyway, back to Ben's birthday. We do low-key birthday celebrations at our house. The day of Ben's birthday, the boys helped me make Ben's cake and they had a fun time decorating it. We had to go to the store for a few things. While we were there, we celebrated by riding some of the rides they have (they rode them, not me:). I wrapped gifts while they napped and, that night after dinner, we had some close friends over to celebrate. We all sang Happy Birthday and Nick helped Ben blow out his candles. We had cake and watched Ben open his gifts. Nick got one of his gifts that night too so they both had a lot of fun playing with their new toys.

Tomorrow we go to my sister's house for the combined celebration for my niece and the boys. They are both very excited and I am very excited to see my niece again, as this will be our first time to see her since she has gone off for her first year of college.

Here are a couple of pictures from Ben's birthday party last year. Boy do they change so quickly when they are little, don't they? It's incredible.





I'll post other pics in a separate update so the post won't be quite so big.

October 7, 2008

So, I am still sick and feeling pretty badly. If there was ever a day that I needed a sick day, today would have been one of them. But, alas, I no longer have the luxury of sick days.

I have no voice. I am struggling to talk and most of what I say comes out as a whisper. So keeping two little boys in line has been quite the challenge, yesterday and today both, but especially today.

I even broke down and let them watch TV yesterday afternoon and this morning. They don't watch for very long though before they are ready to go play. Behavior has not been very good overall lately. Not sure if they are insecure because of my sickness or what but it has not been great, which makes this more difficult.

I had a great idea today though:). I sent one to play in the library/playroom and the other to play in the living room and set the timer for 20 minutes. They did great. So I had them switch rooms and reset the timer for another 20 minutes. They are still doing great and we have 9 minutes to go.

I think I will make this a daily thing going forward. I think it might make them appreciate each other a little more and it definitely gives me some peace and quiet for a short while. I plan to extend it to 30 minutes sessions so I will be able to look forward to one hour of peace. Yeah. Oh happy day. The Lord knew I needed help today and he sent me this idea.

Our second 20 minute time period ended and we all sat down to talk. I asked them how they liked playing alone and they both said they liked it and wanted to do it again. Who knew?? So we are doing a third 20 minutes of play-alone time now:). Isn't that wonderful??!!

October 5, 2008

I now have the virus/cold that Ben had and today is my worst day so far. I stayed home from church while the three guys went so I have a bit of peace and quiet and am hoping to take a nap too.

We ended up not moving the piano after all. It was raining yesterday morning and it turned out that it was not the ideal day for everyone involved. Also, I thought my sister was anxious to get it out of her house but she said it's no big deal so we will get it another weekend.

The boys received a birthday package from their Aunt D, who lives in Arizona. D, the entire package was a huge hit. You definitely know what kids like! They loved the stickers all over the boxes and in their cards. The monkeys were especially the big hit. They were getting ready to go for a walk with the dad when they found the package so they ended up taking the monkeys with them. This morning, Nick had stuck his monkey's hands together and was showing his daddy how his monkey was praying. It was very cute.

The clothes are also adorable. They are both wearing 3T's right now but I'm sure they will grow into the 4T's very soon. If they don't fit by the end of winter / spring, I'm sure they will fit in the fall. I like your taste in clothing:).

Not much else to report around here right now. I have some cute birthday pictures and other pictures but I can't load any of them until I get my laptop back. You'll know it is back when you start seeing pictures again:).

I'm going to take a nap now and try to get over this cold virus quickly.

October 1, 2008

My laptop is in the shop and I won't have it back for at least 10 days. Unfortunately, all of my friend's and family's email addresses and blog links/addresses are on my laptop so I now have no access to anything, as I have a horrible memory:).  I am really missing reading the various blogs I keep up with.

Today we stayed home all day and rested / relaxed ....... or at least as much as one can with a just-three year old and almost-three year old running around all day.

Ben is still getting over his illness. He still has a cough and stuffy nose and congestion, is not eating his normal amount and still needs more sleep than normal. Nick seems fine, as does the dad. I still have a scratchy throat but have yet to figure out if I am coming down with something or if it is just allergies. I should know in another day or two.

September 30, 2008

Boy, have we been busy!

First, my little Ben is now 3 years old. We had a fun time celebrating his birthday. Ben, Nick and I baked Ben's birthday cake together and they both helped decorate the cake. That was a big hit and I think that will be our tradition going forward. It was a lot of fun.

We had a very small birthday party and Ben enjoyed having everyone sing happy birthday to him, eating his cake (finally!....it was difficult for the boys to wait all day to eat that cake!) and opening his gifts. Our friends who live nearby and are like another set of grandparents to our sons joined us for our little celebration. They got Ben a play microwave for his birthday and it came with a couple of handfuls of different kinds of fake food that you might heat up in a microwave. Ben was playing with it and someone asked him what he was cooking. He said "a mouse". He was actually cooking a whole chicken but I guess it looked like a mouse to him:). It was funny.

We are still fighting this illness that is going around our house. I thought I had beaten it but today the scratchy throat started and I had a fever of just under 100 degrees so I guess I have not quite beaten it yet. Hopefully I will feel better tomorrow.

Must go. Exhausted and time for bed:).

September 26, 2008

As I was fixing lunch today, I told the boys to go wash their hands. I normally go to supervise, as they love playing in the water and will make big messes at times. But I am ready to quit supervising so I thought we would see how it went today. They were taking quite a long time and I could still hear water running so I went to see what they were up to. They had put both hand towels in the sink, soaked them with water and had also put some soap on top. They were having quite a good time. I was not so happy about it, although if I am going to have to clean up a mess, I prefer this kind of 'clean' mess to the yucky ones:).

In other news, B woke up from his nap yesterday with a fever and he still has it today. When given ibuprofen, he seems perfectly fine. Without it, he wants to be held all the time and, when I can't hold him, he curls up in a chair and pretty much stays there. Hopefully it will be short lived. He has not had any medicine since early this morning and he seems fine right now and his temp is good so hopefully he is on the mend.

The dad's week of vacation is quickly (too quickly) coming to an end. We have had a nice, relaxing week though and I am very thankful for the break. Yesterday we received the climbing dome I mentioned in an earlier post. (Google climbing dome if you want to see what one looks like.) We finally decided to go ahead and order one so it arrived yesterday and the dad and I set it up yesterday evening. He finished it this morning and the boys had a ball climbing on it. I was quite surprised because Nick is usually the more athletic and coordinated of the two but it was Ben who took off climbing like a little monkey and Nick who wanted help. They never ceased to surprise me. I think it is going to be a popular outdoor activity and am very thankful we were able to get it for the boys.

The dad is putting the boys down for their nap and I have not had lunch yet so I am going to go eat and take a little break before they wake up in approximately one hour or so.

September 22, 2008

We had such a fun time. This was really the first real vacation we have taken as a family. We spent a week in Arizona last year but we were visiting family and friends and introducing the boys. We had fun then too but that was a different kind of vacation than this one was. Granted, this was a mini-mini-vacation, but it was nice nonetheless.

We went to Eureka Springs, Arkansas. I had been there a couple of times over the years but it had been a very very long time since my last visit and it had really changed a lot. It had been so long and things had changed so much that I only really recognized a few things. This little town is in such a beautiful area. The views are lovely and the town itself seems like it might have stepped out of another country. Unfortunately, we didn't take any pictures of the town itself:). We really didn't take very many pictures at all but I will include a couple of the few we did take.

On our way to Eureka Springs, we made a couple of stops along the way. We stopped at this little state park that had a small water fall. It actually looked bigger in person:) and was in a very pretty area. The boys enjoyed getting out of the car and walking around too. It was nice to break up the drive a bit for them.

Just before we reached our destination, we saw these signs advertising Pivot Rock and the natural bridge that were on Ripley's Believe It Or Not so we decided to take another side trip and stop to see it. It was another nice little hike for the boys but we were not very impressed with what we saw, especially for the money we had to pay to see it. But, again, it was a very pretty walk and we had beautiful weather for our whole trip.

The hotel we stayed at was very nice and we all enjoyed it. They had an indoor heated swimming pool so we all went swimming a couple of times. Before we went, they were both very excited and could not wait to get to the pool. Once we were in the pool area, they were a bit reluctant to get in to the water at first. They both got in with a bit of coaxing. It did not take Nick very long to feel at ease in the water. He wanted to try everything and he stayed in the water for quite a while. He had a couple of times when he was playing on the steps, with us very close by, and he accidentally slipped off the steps. He caught himself quickly two times and the dad caught him once. He never went under much but it scared him. He whimpered a bit, as a complaint, letting us know it scared him, but he stayed in the pool and within a few seconds he was happily playing again.

When we first got into the pool area, Ben quickly decided he didn't want to go in after all. I worked hard on coaxing him and he got in but wanted back out quickly. We did this for quite a while, he wanted in and then out and then in and then out, over and over again. Eventually, his times in the pool were longer than his times out of the pool and he didn't want out as much. The second day we went to the pool, he pretty much stayed in the whole time, so he did very well.

We had planned to take the boys to see the old locomotive trains they have and to take them for a ride on the trains. We were all very excited to go but we were bummed to find out they were closed on Sunday and Monday. If we had known that, we would have gone first thing when we got there on Saturday. We'll have to catch a real train ride some other time. I think Ben was actually relieved, as he was worried the train would go through a tunnel, which he does not like. They have a small train at our zoo, which we have ridden a few times, and it goes through a small tunnel and is very loud. He does not like the tunnel at all but he likes the train ride.

After the disappointment of the train, we needed something fun for the boys to do so we found the local park. They had a huge, commercial Lil Tikes play system and it was the best one I have ever seen. I didn't know they even made them like this. It had lots of climbing stuff and the boys really enjoyed it a lot. It was such a beautiful day, sunny and cool, and it was so quiet and peaceful. The dad and I enjoyed it a lot too. Just a very relaxing time with no time schedules. We took a tram ride around the historic part of the town and the boys enjoyed that a lot too. We ate lots of good food and some amazing ice cream. This morning, before heading home, we went on a guided tour of two caverns. They were both amazing and we all enjoyed it. I was a little concerned that the boys might get scared but neither of them did. For the most part, they both really enjoyed it and they were very well behaved. Towards the end, Ben started getting antsy when we stopped to look at something specific and listen to the guide but they both did very well over all.

They were so excited to get to the hotel and sleep in their bed together. It was so cute. We took their bed rails with us and the dad laid between them until they fell asleep. That was the only way we were going to get them to go to sleep at a decent time, since they were so excited. They also woke up very early both mornings we were there.

So, over all, we had a wonderful time and I am now very much looking forward to our next trip. I think this was kind of a trial balloon for us...or maybe just for me. I have tended to be a bit of a homebody since the boys came home. But we all did so well together that I think we are ready to really dive in now and start taking more vacations and maybe longer ones....if/when we can afford them of course. I really like being able to drive to where we are going. It's just so nice to be able to take whatever you want with you and to be on your own schedule. There are so many places in the U.S. that I have not been. The dad and I were discussing it on our way to Arkansas and we really want to do a lot of traveling around the U.S. with the boys. Since we will be home schooling, we can choose when to travel to miss the crowds and we can all really enjoy all of the educational aspects of our trips too. I am excited about it. Hopefully we will enjoy many more fun trips over the years.

Sepember 15, 2008

One day last week, I was almost finished fixing lunch for the boys and they were patiently waiting while sitting right next to each other at the kitchen island. They had just gotten up there and sat down when Ben said to Nick, "How was your day today Honey?". Without missing a beat, Nick replied, "Much better, play with Ben much". I was cracking up laughing.

They were so funny that day. Later they were pretending to dive into water, as they fell onto the living room floor. Then it became snow and they were pretending to play in the snow and then to throw it at each other. Then I heard one of them say "do you like it in your face" and the other one said "yes, I like it any place". For those of you who are Dr. Seuss fans, you might recognize those words from the Snow book.

Today I took them out to buy some new sneakers. We ended up buying the ones that light up when they walk. This is the first time they have had the ones that do that and they are just thrilled over their new shoes. It is so funny to watch them walking, running and jumping while trying to watch the lights. They don't even want to take them off when they come into the house, which is normally the first thing they want to do.

After shoe shopping, we went grocery shopping, which took a while because we really needed a lot of groceries. Today was one of those kind of days when I just wanted to ring their little necks many times throughout the day. Whew! I don't like days like that. Tomorrow I am going to get out of the other side of the bed and see if we can't get started off on a different foot.

Don't have much time to write this evening as I have to look up hotels. We are going to spend a few days in Eureka Springs, Arkansas soon...just a short family vacation. The dad has all next week off of work so we are going to do this and maybe do a few other things locally. We also have a whole bunch of things to get done while he is off, such as rent a UHaul and borrow a truck (hopefully) so we can move a piano from my sister's house to our house. I bought this piano a long time ago when I lived in Houston and was single and I took lessons for a short time but then my job began to interfere to much because I had to do some traveling. I ended up moving the piano to my sister's house because my niece was taking piano lessons and I knew she would get a lot of use out of it. I really meant it as a gift but my niece has now gone off to college and they said we could take it back if we wanted it. We have thought it might be good for the boys to take piano lessons for a year or two so we are going to take them up on their offer and bring the piano back to our house. Must go now.

September 8, 2008

My little boys are growing up so fast. I have been going through old pictures and it's hard to believe how much they have changed. The dad and I were talking about the boys yesterday and how we can actually carry on a conversation with them now. It is so amazing how children develop so quickly. They want to do everything for themselves and I try to let them do as much on their own as they can. They are such good helpers. Nick tends to be the little shadow who is always at my elbow wanting to help. Ben usually tends to go off and play by himself at these times. Sometimes Ben wants to help too, especially if we are cooking something yummy. If we are folding laundry or putting dishes away, Ben usually escapes to go play by himself. I am starting to try to pull him in more often and give him tasks to do, sometimes much to his dismay.

From what I have seen so far, Nick tends to be the happy helper and Ben tends to be the reluctant helper. So I am working with Ben, trying to focus in on that and help him learn how to enjoy work:).
We took down the cribs again last night. The boys are sleeping on their twin mattresses on the floor again. I thought it would be good to go ahead since we are sitting with them until they fall asleep anyway these days.

Our potty training approach has once again changed too:). Ben is back to wearing big boy pants during waking hours and Nick is wearing pull ups during waking hours. I started a new sticker chart for them, because Ben had been asking for it and he normally does so well with using the potty, while Nick was totally refusing. So I thought Ben needed some type of recognition for his efforts and success. It was a very positive thing for both of them. Ben continues to do well and is very happy with the sticker reward and Nick now wants to use the potty sometimes too. He still wets his pull ups and is an ace at being able to squeeze out the smallest amount of pee so he can get a sticker too. But at least he is wanting to sit on the potty again and I think that's a move in the right direction.

The dad and I both have noticed that Nick is really initiating a lot of affection these days, though Ben is not normally very happy to be on the receiving end of Nick's affection. Ben initiated a kiss on my cheek the other day too, for the first time, which was very sweet. I love it when they initiate affection. It is so sweet.

The other thing I have noticed lately is that, not only are the boys playing together more these days, they are also behaving better overall. I am not having to correct them as much as I once did. As I listen to them talking to each other when they play, I often hear them self-correct nicely when one of them upsets the other one by not sharing or taking a toy or something. Of course, there are still plenty of times when I have to help them resolve their differences but it is nice to see them starting to do it themselves sometimes too.

And, as for the boys playing together, they now tend to play together very well while I clean and cook. However, if I want to just sit down to read to myself or work on something, they have a hard time with that sometimes.

They are very into pretending to cook these days and also playing with their trains and cars, trucks and bulldozer-type vehicles. With birthdays approaching so quickly, I really need to decide what to get them for their birthdays. I was going to get them a pretend coffee maker and toaster but then my sister said she would like to get it for them. They are both intrigued by the dad's coffee maker and they love to help make toast so I think they will enjoy these toys a lot. They can also use the coffee maker in the bath tub or the kitchen sink and water can actually run through it. They are going to have a ball with that but I will probably end up wishing we had two coffee makers. I just keep reminding myself that it is good for them to learn to share and we are building character:).

We were reading our "cookie book" the other day and N jumped up to pretend to cook something so we decided to make cupcakes together. They thoroughly enjoyed the cupcakes and so did I:).

Here are also some pictures of our "preschool" time together this morning. Our preschool is very spontaneous and normally happens when they are interested in doing something that fits in nicely with what we need to be learning anyway. We have lots of fun learning letters and letter sounds and also numbers and counting. The dad likes to read counting books with them, which I don't enjoy as much, so that works out pretty well. Most of what we learn just happens very naturally in our day to day playing and living and we all love it....and yes, they both love wearing my reading glasses, although I am sure it is very difficult for them to see while wearing them:).

And now, I am going to go have a cupcake before the boys wake up from their nap:).

September 5, 2008

We were busy busy busy last week so this week we have been taking it easy. My mom and sister came to visit last Thursday, two other families came for a play on Friday and then our friends from K.C. came on Saturday and stayed until Monday afternoon. The boys have been having a blast (so did I:) but we all ended up with colds this week so we have been laying low.

It is finally cooling off around here so we went shopping for fall/winter clothes for the boys yesterday. Fun times. Today we had another play date and I am very thankful that tomorrow is Saturday:).

I have not been blogging much lately because I am spending what little free time reading about the current political happenings and watching the speeches. I am a political junkie so this is my super bowl season:).

Don't have much time, since nap times are so short these days, so I will post a few pics and sign off til later.