Battle Tested

This weekend was full of lots of fun as the four of us got to spend a great deal of it together. Friday was dinner and a movie, and Saturday included two parties. Of course the hit was the sixth birthday bash for our pal Britton. There was a crew of eager soldiers, and the immediately got ready for battle.

They were eager to conquer the fierce obstacle course.

After their successful completion, they were sporting their hard earned battle helmets and dog tags.

This is a battle tested squad, and they had such a wonderful time. Thanks, Brit! Hope you had a wonderful sixth birthday, buddy!

p.s. Sam was a fan of the cake pops, too!

thankful thursday

This week I am thankful for the sunshine we enjoyed on Tuesday and Wednesday. Just when I thought I couldn't take another day of dreary rain, the clouds parted and we headed outside.

We enjoyed some time on the swings, climbing, sliding and monkey bar crossing. It was just what we needed.

We even broke out a toy Jack had received for his birthday from Aunt Lisa & Uncle John. We hadn't had a chance to enjoy it yet between the windy days and the soggy days, but (as you can see) Wednesday was the perfect day for a little stomping.

Weeds

When is a weed more than a weed?

When you find a a folded and taped piece of construction paper in your four-year-old's backpack and it's filled with "flowers for mommy."

C is for Cookie

On the heels of my apple post, here's another recent treat (courtesy of dad's most recent stop at the grocery store!)

Ouch!

Last Tuesday we conquered the four-year-old shot series, which for those unaware includes four shots. I had been dreading it ever since the fall when I took Jack to get a nasal flu mist shot. He freaked out about getting the mist in his nose, which doesn't even hurt (just a tickle.) I had to hold him down because he could not be reasoned with. Fearing I'd suffer a similar fate or a magnified one since these would actually hurt and there were four of them, I scheduled his visit for a Tuesday afternoon (when Josh would be free to accompany us.) Of course, Daddy came through and gave Jack a mantra to recite. He still screamed a bit with the third and fourth shots, but there were no real tears or tantrums. I promised big rewards for the incredibly brave big boy, and I think we delivered.

And I think little brother approved too.

A is for Apple

Since photos are always more fun, I'll let them do the speaking today.

Now I know my ABCs

I know we've done this all before, but I am again amazed at the sponge-like capabilities of my almost two-year-old's brain. He regularly speaks in such plain language that I have to remind myself he's not yet two. He picks up everything and incredibly has figured out the correct usage for certain terms. A few weeks ago, I had to tap the brakes and stop quickly as a car ahead of us made a last second decision to turn left. A couple of seconds later, I heard Sam pipe up from the back seat, "BOCKERS!" (aka bonkers!)

He loves to sing and regularly requests "We will rock you" when riding in the car. He doesn't sit still long enough to watch much, but on long rides he prefers "Coos Coos," "Fire Sam" or "Gabba." (Blue's Clues, Fireman Sam or Yo Gabba Gabba.) Most days his older brother will oblige. 

Here's a clip of him singing the alphabet. I think the thing that impresses me the most about his rendition is that he can be interrupted, and somehow remembers where he left off. I can still remember when Jack first learned his alphabet he would start over if anything messed him up. (My apologies that the video is out of focus.)

Letting Go

This week marks 23 months for our little guy Sam. Josh reminded me this weekend that when Jack was this age, we were making preparations for Sam and most certainly treating Jack like a big boy, not a baby. Of course, when compared to a four-year-old, Sam is definitely still a baby, right??

All around the house I'm noticing things that make me wonder if I'm resisting this little one's leap into full-blown boyhood. Take the highchair for instance. Sam has long claimed a spot at the table with the rest of the family. I convinced Sam to sit in it a couple of weeks ago to eat a container of applesauce, but mostly he'd rather play musical chairs at the kitchen table and try out each location...including sometimes "Daddy seat! Mommy seat!" I can recall sequestering the same high chair to the basement for several months back when Jack graduated to the table, and Sam was not quite ready to enjoy its utility. This time moving it down to the basement storage is a little more like letting go.

Or what about that stack of bibs occupying space in one of the kitchen cabinets? Sam pretty much refuses to wear one these days. In fact, I can't remember the last time I managed to convince him to sport one. Yet I still can't manage to relocate them or pass them along to a new owner. It's too much like letting go.

How about the not one, but two, diaper champs we own? There's one in our bathroom and another up in Sam's room. I quit using them to house dirty diapers ages ago, and then wet ones quite a long time ago too! These days the diapers typically go straight out to the trash can. The diaper champs became one more thing I forgot to empty the day before trash pick-up. Of course, I check them every now and then these days in case the babysitter or the grandparents actually drop a diaper in, which does occasionally happen. But isn't that just further evidence that I should put them away? Nope, I guess that would be letting go.

It's letting go, because this time there is no baby on the way that will soon call the highchair back into action or needing those bibs to catch pureed carrots, squash and peas or soiling close to a dozen diapers a day to fill those diaper champs. I don't want this post to look like a sob story, it's merely a collection of my observations as I see these things in my house each day. Our family of four is quite a happy crew. So, don't mistake my ramblings as the yearnings for a new addition. I have no doubt I'll see plenty of comments along the lines of, "it's just time to have another one." I already routinely field the question: "I guess it's time to try for a little girl now, right?" The thing is I don't want to have another baby just because I'm sad that my youngest is about to turn two. I mean when would it end? It just doesn't seem like the best way to determine if we're ready to grow our family again.

I don't know what the good Lord has planned, but I know He will help me let go when the time is right...hopefully, before Sam leaves for kindergarten!

Cards Anyone?

I can't really remember where I first saw this a few years back, but I know I've always wanted to do my own. A couple of years ago, I trimmed and inserted photos into an album for Jack to look at, but it fell apart. But this year I vowed to give it a more whole-hearted attempt. So, why not document it?

Start with a bunch of beautiful photo Christmas cards.

Sort the cards by similar size and shape.

Use a handy corner rounding tool, scissors, glue stick and hole punch to clean up edges and trim necessary photos, etc. Then string them onto a silver keyring.

Presto! You have a beautiful book full of photos of your family and friends. Jack has already looked at this many times. I'm pretty sure it's because he's shocked at my ability to complete an actual craft.

The Real Reason Birds Fly South

Maybe you thought it was just for the warm climate, but I have it on good authority that birds enjoy the entertaining bowl games that take place each January. Josh and I had the opportunity to fly down to Tampa for some rest and relaxation and take in the Bulldogs' last game of the season at the Outback Bowl. We had a lot of fun exploring Tampa, shopping, eating really great food and watching a really exciting football game.

The dawgs were on the losing end of a game that went into 3 overtimes, but we still really enjoyed our getaway. Huge thanks to our parents who helped make the trip so much easier. We didn't have to worry about the boys, they were well taken care of by the best tag team of grandparents around.

2012

What a way to start 2012...behind! I feel so behind in one of my favorite things...blogging! Hopefully you weren't worried. We're still alive and kicking. I just did a marathon photo editing and uploading to my Picasa albums so I'm hoping to get several blog posts up in the next couple of days...some of which will probably be post dated (for my sanity only). I just hate seeing them all clumped together under the same date on the blog! ha ha!

P.S. Can anyone recommend a good blogger app for the iPad??