True Too Two

He hugs me when I'm sad.
He runs to the babies and comforts them when they cry.
He loves to play "Narnia".
He loves to play the drums.
He loves his older brothers.
He sings opera at the dinner table.
His favorite book is "Going on a bear hunt".
He runs with flair.
He has a contagious giggle.
He wants to know "why?".
He sometimes wears his shirt backwards.
He sometimes wears his pants backwards.
He sometimes wears his...(you get the idea).
He dresses himself.
He loves treats!
He loves doggies.
He loves hair.
He loves to sing - on pitch!
He has a collection of "looks".
He forgets to button his pants. Sometimes.
He's my 2-year-old.
And I'm blessed.

We love to bluff!

This past Saturday, we decided to go to Red Wing for the day.
We climbed this bluff ("Barn Bluff").

The boys did a great job! They said it was their favorite part of the day.

The whole tribe at the top, overlooking Red Wing
Brian did carry Noah on his shoulders a good amount of the way. And Josiah in the carrier. We prefer children to ankle weights.

Christmas in August

Uh oh. Something broke. What in the world is that?
I hope none of the boys stepped on it
because it looks kind of sharp.

Make that...

30 or 40 things.
(Insert my loud gasp and horrified followed silence here)

No, that rhythmic crashing in the basement wasn't cymbals, it was Noah throwing ornament after ornament across the floor. Someday when his wife asks him why he doesn't like decorating their Christmas tree with her, he can reference these pictures.

For additional Christmassy fun, can you spot these items in the center picture?
*flower
*hot dog
*phone
*turtle
*single, in-tact ornament

A bit of additional information: Noah was in the basement alone with Max, the 2-year-old son of our good friends. Can you imagine the fun those two must have had watching the ornaments bounce and smash all over the floor? One after another...

Toad-al stud!

It be flat

The majority of music out there nowadays is MEDIOCRE. That's it. What happened to quality? What happened to excellence? They were put to the side in favor of style, that's what. Because a certain style, the in style, is apparently more important than sounding your best/playing your best. Everyone has to copy someone else's style. Guess what? The beautiful thing about individuality is that everyone comes with their OWN sound. Their OWN flavor. But that's put aside for the IN style. And for mediocrity. Give me some quality music I can listen to and enjoy actual different layers, appreciate the genius of the composer. If you can. I'm not saying that all I can appreciate is "classical" music, but the genius of Bach and Handel is missing in this age of music. I know it's bad when an animated movie soundtrack is refreshing. Have you listened to The Prince of Egypt soundtrack? Amazing - here's an idea for Broadway.

Just Eat It!

Isaac

Isaac -------- Josiah

Sam ---- Caleb --- Noah

The babies started cereal last week. Josiah is doing a bit better with it than Isaac, who still pushes most of it out with his tongue. But it won't be long before we'll all be enjoying a cone together.

Who('s) me?

Ever since I can remember, I have had what I can only describe as "an extreme awareness of my individual spirit". Like the spirit that everyone has inside of them, not like team spirit. And I could talk in circles trying to get you to understand what I mean, but I won't. When I was little, I asked, "Why am I me?" I realized when I was older that I was wondering why God had put my spirit with my body and why I was so aware of it.

Does this sound weird or is there anyone out there who thinks they may know what I'm talking about and have a more understandable explanation?

It comes upon me very strongly in moments least expected. Like at 4 am when I'm up feeding the babies.

With this deep awareness of my spirit, and assuming everyone else has it too, it boggles my mind how anyone can deny the existence of a Creator. Because only a Creator could fashion spirits. Whoever heard of a spirit evolving?

Nighty night

Sleep tight.

Had some help putting the kids to bed.

The results of listening to the Forrest Gump soundtrack while we were out and about this morning were that the boys went to bed to Sam serenading them with this:

"hmmm..hmmmm...Mrs. Robinson. Jesus loves you more than you will know. Whoa whoa whoa."

Over and over again.

I think it appealed to the missionary in him.

Family Time Part Four

Noah the wanderer

Up the "Jesus" hill

Down the "Jesus" hill

The cousins
Evan, Noah, Sam, Olivia, Isabelle, Caleb

The "Jesus" hill had big letters reading "Jesus is Lord" on the side of it, along with a cross. The kids were troupers as we climbed up it.
At one point on the trip, Noah got lost and was found a quarter of a mile away from the cabin. He's the middle child, you know. Easy to miss.
Poor Noah.

Family Time Part Three

Sam = happy when wet

Brian and Noah

Didn't go over so well

Isabelle

It was fun for the boys to hang out with some girls. Noah especially was very intrigued with his cousins' hair - both Olivia's and Isabelle's. He was heard telling Olivia, "I LOVE your hair!" in a little singsong lovey-dovey voice. He kind of has a crush on her.

Family Time Part Two

Olivia

Sam

Caleb

Sam

The waterslide was definitely one of the highlights. I was surprised Caleb enjoyed it so much! There's hope for him yet.

Family Time Part One

Aunt Michele and Josiah

Noah, Sam, Evan
Knock-knock jokes are hilarious!

At sunset

Grandma Sarah and Noah trekking the hills

This past Thursday through Sunday morning was spent in the Flinthills of Kansas with Brian's family. We had such a good time! What a beautiful place.

Health Nuts (peanut-free)

We just got some of the basic info for the boys on starting school. They'll be riding the bus to school together in the morning and then Caleb will be home by noon and Sam will come back just before four.

Reading through the information, I learned that for $50 each for the year, they will be provided with a healthy snack mid-morning. All kids are restricted from bringing soda to school for lunch or for any other time, and in order to set a good example, parents are restricted from bringing soda if they'll be eating with their child at the school. It's not healthy. And it's down with birthday treats! Not only are they restricted from bringing homemade goodies (you never know when that martini mom's drinking will spill into the brownie mix), they are now restricted from bringing goodies of any sort. Instead, each teacher will decide a way to celebrate a child's birthday in a healthy way. A "happy birthday" apple, for instance. Or perhaps a celebratory drink of milk.

I'm all for healthy. For the most part, I don't allow my children to drink soda, I don't feed them candy, and they are required to eat veggies at meals. I really appreciate this effort toward healthy. I wouldn't want one of the drink choices to be soda at lunchtime. My soon-to-be first-grader does not have the self-discipline needed to choose milk each day. But no birthday treat?? One of Sam's highlights of his year last year was bringing a birthday treat to share with his class. And really, with 24 or so students in each classroom, it's not like they'll be eating one every day!

I suppose Adam and Eve didn't have a Dark Chocolate Reese's Peanut Butter Cup tree in the garden of Eden. I suppose they ate healthy and organic all the time. Just pick and eat. That fruit must have been delicious.

So am I wrong to want birthday treats in school? I must be getting old, because I remember "the good old days" when Mom sent me to school with peanut butter coconut balls to share. And nobody had trouble opening the cellophane. Because those were packaged with Mom's tender loving handmade touch.

I guess birthday treats are just one more thing that's gone the way of riding in the station wagon with the backseat down and walking up the street to a friends house - one without a sidewalk.

Playing telephone

The two older boys are spending a few days in Kansas with Grandma Sarah and Papa George. We called them today and they chatted for the first time on 2 different phones - we had ours on speaker. I think they were a bit confused that they could hear each other talking.

"Hi Mama!" Sam says.

"Hi Noah!" Caleb responds.

"No, that's Sam!" Brian corrects him.

We were finally able to have some semblance of conversation with them, but at the end, it was obvious they hadn't quite figured out exactly who all was on the phone with them.

"I love you!" we both said.

"I love you!" Sam responded.

"I love you, too, Sam." says Caleb.

Then they hung up.

This is Caleb - you know, the genius of a son going to Kindergarten a year early?

Kindergarten training