Just for fun

Mark doesn't let me take his picture as often as he used to, and he is also in school 5 days a week from 9am- 3:35pm... however, I do VERY MUCH like his smile, and was so happy to capture it a few days ago.

Big boy Mark before leaving for school

 Mark is doing really well. He has a bunch of testing this week for the EXCEL program in our district, and we will hear how things went in a few weeks. Right now Mark is requesting 2 breakfasts, MORE lunch in school, and a sandwich after dinner - something tells me he is gearing up for a major growth spurt!

I love building dinosaurs out of DUPLOs with Sean

Sean is growing in leaps and bounds, too. His vocabulary really has blossomed, and he makes us laugh so often with the things he says.

We are working hard right now on teaching him the importance of listening. I have noooo idea where he gets his stubbornness from...

Vader-guy goes potty

...no words necessary!

Happy 2013!

Life has been so busy since Christmas that I haven't had time to take any pictures of the boys!

Big smile!

We are doing well, and are enjoying our new year! I'll stalk the kids with the camera in the next few days.

Merry Christmas 2012!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

We had a wonderful day together. To help the boys remember that the main focus of Christmas isn't gifts, they 'just' got 4 presents each: "Something you want, something you need, something to wear (a costume), something to read." They had fun unpacking their gifts, and then spent the rest of the morning and afternoon happily puttering and playing dress-up.

Getting a picture of both boys smiling is just about impossible

Not sure if this one is any better. 

Sean NOT sitting still

Larry with the boys
(Sean was unhappy that Ben took away the Darth Vader mask he was wearing)

Big-boy Mark

"something to wear"

"something to wear"

Our boys probably spend about 60% of the time
wearing costumes when we are at home and awake.

The padded "muscles" of Sean's costume make me giggle.

Of COURSE the boys made guns out of the new Duplos.

Ben and Larry 

Grandpa Bradley reading to Sean/Ninja

For dinner we had a turkey that was stuffed with ham and covered in bacon.
It was delicious!

Ben took this nice picture of me with the boys. 

What a wonderful Christmas. I was exhausted from all the cooking, but that was ok, because Ben let me sleep in until 10am the next day!

Rainy day fun

Sean proudly hiding in the 'hide hole' he asked me to help him build

Sean really LOVES to paint, and he has really good fine motor control for his age

Sean very purposefully paints swirls and lines

A few blobs of paint, a brush, and unlimited paper supply will keep him very busy!

Mark got to make a recycled-materials bug for school.
Good thing I save odd-shaped plastic packaging...

(while concentrating, he sticks his tongue out like his Dad)

All done!

The boys' rainy-day blanket fort

Mark and Sean quotes

Me: "Sean, it's time to nap."
Sean: "No, Mama, me no want sweep."
Me: "Sean, when Mama says it's time to sleep, it is time to sleep."
Sean: "You have bad att'tude, Mama."


Mark: "Momma, what is a straight jacket?"
Me: "It's kind of like a shirt with really long sleeves that get tied around you so you don't hurt yourself."
Mark: "Have you ever had to wear one?"
Me: "Uhm, it's for crazy people, Mark."
Mark: "So, have you ever had to wear one?"

Some new pics of the boys

I've been so busy there hasn't been much time to take pictures of the boys lately... but I did take a few!

...a bit late... but more Halloween pics.

Here are a few more pictures from before and after our church's NEEWOLLAH celebration on October 31st. Some of you might recognize these 2 costumes as cousin Autumn and Brandon's! Can you believe they fit our boys? (Sean's sleeves and legs were rolled up a little).

Funny quotes

I have several sets of pictures I still need to upload... but in the meantime, I wanted to share some funny (or at least smile-worthy) little boy quotes:

After lunch, while sucking a ring-pop he got in Sunday school: "Hey Momma, this ring pop looks kind of like one of those weird things some parents put in their baby's mouth to trick them into thinking they have a boob in their mouth."
I almost choked from laughing. My very eloquent 6-year-old doesn't know the word "pacifier." Then again, we never used one. 

The other morning while I was getting everyone ready to take Mark to school, Mark pulled me aside, and quietly said: "Momma, I've noticed something the last few days. Whenever you tell Sean to do something, he does EXACTLY the opposite. Did you know?" Yes, my dear boy, I noticed. Hence, the hair standing up on end and multiple back-to-back time-outs doled out...

This morning, Sean asked Ben: "Bwink peese, Dada?" (drink please), to which Ben replied that he would bring him a drink as soon as he was done making the toast. To this Sean answered with his longest sentence so far: "No Dada, me need bwink NOW peese."

It was pouring rain (truly POURING). Sean wanted to go outside, and approached me, shoes on the wrong feet, holding a large-ish toy digger. "Me go owside, Momma. Go outside, dig big hole." I told him we would go outside if the rain stopped. Sean plopped down on the floor, and said in a very sad voice: "Eh-vader sad, Momma. Need dig big hole." ('eh-vader' is his word for excavator. He corrects me when I call it a digger) I asked him if the excavator would be happy if it could dig in the bean bucket for a bit. This was deemed acceptable, and the morning was rescued!

Sean counts now. He says "two, fwee, fow, five" and then JUMPS off of whatever he is standing on. He only counts when he is about to jump. Counting = bad when your little boy is in the top bunk!

Sean also is starting to recognize letters. We were at the store, and suddenly he yelled: "Big bee!" to which I answered, "Oh, do you see a bug, Sean?" Sean shook his head very adamantly, and replied: "No, Momma, big letter B. Big, big B." - Sure enough, there on the shelf was a very large cut-out of a letter B. 

Carving pumpkins