It's Football Time in Tennessee

Hello, one and all! We've been a little out of the loop lately since Michael is now back from China. We have just been having such great time lovin' on him and laughing and playing, and the boys have been more attached to their daddy than ever. So, we just couldn't take time away from that to sit at a computer and blog. While he was away, the boys and I made the trip down to Montgomery to visit Mimi and Pop, and had a great time. We came back a little spoiled, as we always do. My parent's both have very flexible jobs, so one or both of them was always around to help me wtih our very busy boys.

They seem to be talking nonstop these days. A few favorite phrases around our house are "my turn", "I ho-bit" (I hold it), "I ha-bit" (I have it), "I do it I see-elf" (I do it myself), and plenty more. I'm constantly amazed at the things they'll say back to me while we're talking that I didn't consciously teach them. They've mostly got the colors and counting down, so we've been working on letters lately. But honestly, that bores them, so I usually do it while they are buckled down in their carseats as a captive audience.

Summer is gone (mostly) and I must say that I am never sad to see it go. Fall has always been my very favorite season, and Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Along with those always comes football season, which was kicked off at our house bright and early this past Saturday morning. We did our normal Saturday morning tradition of donuts and then before I could even blink twice Michael already had them in their gameday shirts and singing Rocky Top at the top of all three lungs. Good times!

Here are a few pictures of the boys in all their sports' teams glory to tide you over till I have more time to post. Love to you all!

First REAL Haircut

Up until now, when the boys' hair got a little too long, I'd just trim it up myself. Now, if you've actually seen my children's hair up-close, then you know that mommy is no hair dresser. I just snip off enough to make it look not as bad as it did. But lately it's gotten a little too shaggy, and we decided that it was high time for someone who knows what they're doing to step in. So, we loaded up and headed to get a haircut this Saturday morning.

Here is how we entertained them until it was our turn: with shampoo packets. Those were apparently the coolest, because they worked. Who knew?

This is Ben sitting in the chair by himself. You can tell he did not like it, or the cool cape at all.
So, mommy stepped in, put on a cool cape too, and we were able to proceed...but still a little apprehensively.
Look at me, Daddy! This is Drew's turn (or "ahh sern" as he says). Michael said "Buddy, show me your smile". This is the face he got.
A little unsure about the lady with the scissors.He ducked down into his cool cape laughing when she tickled the back of his neck with her buzzer.And just what do you get if you act like a big boy, and do a good job while getting your hair cut?

Suckers! No, we never let them have suckers. So this was a huge treat. But bribery for some good behavior in public is not beneath us.

My Big Helpers

These are the AFTER pictures:
The BEFORE pictures (that you don't see) are of a bed that is made up (all 6 pillows in place), folded laundry just about to be put up, no trucks (or 'kuks' according to Ben), and no children on it. I left that scene to get more laundry to fold for just a second - literally - and above is what I came back to. He was having such a great time driving the 'kuk' over the big mountains that I had to grab the camera. ...and then get to work RE-folding the clean clothes. His partner in crime was still taking a nap when all of this happened.

If I am doing laundry while they are awake, this is where they love to be:
They think it's so funny to throw the clothes into the washing machine. Sure, it takes a little longer, but they are entertained and that makes the day go a little more smoothly.
This is just a random shot I got of them while I was trying to wash all of the sunscreen off of them after we came home from the pool.
And this is the face Drew makes when you tell him to "show me your smile." It's one of the funniest faces I've ever seen, and he loves to show off lately. Anything from wrestling down on the floor with Daddy to dancing in circles as fast as he can, he'll do if you pay him attention.

Ben, on the other hand, has become quite the little quiet thinker. He'll be happy to do all his puzzles for 15 minutes all by himself. He's fascinated by 'bee metheth' (big messes) lately. As in when he sees leaves on the driveway or paper on the counter, he'll say 'bee meth, mommy.' So the other day we came downstairs from naptime to get our afternoon snack. I pulled out his chair only to find a few crumbs that I had missed from lunchtime, and he says 'bee meth, mommy.' I --trying to make a point with him-- said "that's right, Ben. That is a big mess. Who made that mess?" and he looks up at me without any hesitation and says 'God did.' I guess all that drilling about "who made the sun?, who made the trees?, who made your nose, etc..." has finally sunk in....sort of.

What Do You Get When You Add 1 Really Hot Day, 2 Boys, a Water Hose and a Puppy?

A REALLY GREAT TIME!!!

Horsing Around

This morning the boys and I headed out to Madison to visit my good friend Maggie and her little girl, Savannah at their farm. Savannah really wanted to go swimming, but Drew and Ben were too excited about all the room to run. There were too many things to play with and explore, so sweet baby Savannah had the water all to herself. Isn't she the cutest?! Ben was so shy around Savannah, but once he warmed up to her, he had fun sharing her bracelets. Drew LOVED the horses, which was not really a surprise at all. This horsey was so friendly and let the kids love on her as much as they wanted. When Drew began to walk away, she followed him wanting a little more attention. And here are the three of them trying to get inside the chicken coop. I'm sure if we had let them work on it long enough they could've figured it out. But for now, they just had to settle for peeping in. We had such a fun time at the farm. Maybe next time Savannah's daddy will let us sit on one!

In other news, we've had two really big developments around here: Yes, that's right! Ben has been consistently telling me "pah-dee" for almost three weeks now. I'm not pushing it at all, and only take him to go when he tells me he wants to. But he is so eager to be a big boy. He is very proud of himself and always claps and says "yaaaaay!!" after he's finished. Drew isn't interested at all, and that is fine with us. He'll let me know when he's ready.

One thing he IS ready for is his own bed. After 21 months of sharing a bed with his brother, Drew has very blatantly told us that he's ready for his own bed now. To be perfectly truthful, I think it's harder on Michael and I than it is on them. We thought they'd share a bed for at least another year or two. In fact, the first night that they went to sleep in separate cribs, Ben was lonely and waking up at not being able to feel Drew. So before we went to bed we moved him to Drew's crib. Now that Ben has adjusted to sleeping alone, he seems to be better. But it is a little sad to me since I have loved tucking both of them in every night, usually snuggled up together.

I snapped this of Drew at Michael's Championship softball game. He gets down like that any time he has a ball, and if you tell him to "get ready to catch the ball" he crouches down low and holds both hands out. We've never taught him to do that, but we think it must be because Michael played Catcher, and he has really liked watching his daddy play ball.We've been playing so hard lately with all of our friends that this is the most common sight in the backseat of our car. Hope you all are having a fun summer too!

Easy Does It

For a nice change of pace, things have been pretty laid back and slow this past week or two. Not too much has been going on...just the usual play dates with friends, errands, swimming at the pool and other summer fun. No complaints from this girl!

Drew and Ben are pretty funny, and are showing us their developing personalities more and more every day. For instance, the other day, I had told Ben several times to put his toys back in the toy box, and he wasn't minding very well. So I said "Ben, if I have to get to 'three', you are going to be in trouble. One...Two..." and then Ben looks right at me (while putting toys in the toy box, no less) and says "Free, Far, Fiiie, Fits. Yaaaaaaaayyyy". The moment was lost, and I stood there cracking up. All three of us laughed (but I'm sure they didn't know why we were laughing), and then we all picked up the toys together.

They are both beginning to put two and three words together to make sentances, and it's really nice to be able to know what they are trying to communicate since they can say just about everything. They're pretty obsessed with the movie 'Cars', or anything that has wheels and goes "passt" (fast). Maybe that's why Drew runs everywhere he goes. His favorite phrase right now is "aahhh sern, mommy" (my turn, mommy), and any time Ben has anything -regardless of how long Ben has had it- Drew immediately looks at me and tells me that it's "his turn." It's a process...

Anyways, I've been trying to post video of the two of them splashing in the baby pool we have on our deck. They really have fun with it when we're not at the Y. But so far, Google Video hates me, and won't let me post. Any computer savvy blogging friends out there, feel free to offer any advice. Until I can figure it out, here are just a few random pictures I've taken lately. Enjoy!
"Mommy, look how much I love my pacies!" "Ben, honestly, you look ridiculous!""Oh wait! I didn't know it was cool. I guess if you can do it, then I can do it too."

Better Late Than Never

We are home from a fun getaway to visit our good friends, TJ and Holly in the Dominican Republic.....uhm...I mean Paradise. Actually, I should clarify: we HAVE been home for a couple of weeks now, and I have been (once again) the Web's Worst Blogger. But I digress. This is the beach that they took us to for some fun in the sun and lunch on the sand on our first day there. It took an extra day for our luggage to get to us, but we were just so excited to see our friends and be in one of the most beautiful places on earth, that we really didn't care too much.

We met the boys that they are working with, helped them in their outreach center, ate all the fresh fruit that you could ever want, and had a GREAT time just hanging with our friends. This is the four of us before we began our hike up 27 (yes, you read that correctly: 27) waterfalls and jumped or slid down them. Seriously, it was one of the most fun things I've ever done!

And here is an action shot of Michael. I'm sure glad they didn't tell us how high up those waterfalls were before we went there. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have agreed to go. I'm also pretty sure I impressed both my husband and myself at climbing up some of those rocks and jumping off. It was definitely one of the most beautiful places I've ever been.
This is the mountain that we drove up to get to the church where TJ and Holly worship and work with. The people there have no idea how we feel about the natural beauty that surrounds them. It was such a blessing to worship with believers who are our brothers and sisters, but who speak to the same God in a different language and are in a completely different part of the world.
We ended our trip with a short stay at the most romantic and beautiful places I've ever been. All in all, it was the perfect getaway vacation. But I will say we were both really ready to come home to our buddies....even if it did mean leaving Paradise! We're already looking forward to going back.