A Star is Born

Ben and Nate began attending "school" in September. It is a once-a-week women's Bible study that has an incredible program for the children as well. Ben proudly walked in the first day without ever looking back and until recently Nate has cried every single time I drop him off. Both boys have the most amazing teachers. It brings such great joy to my heart to see how much these relative strangers love my babies. Nate's teacher especially, Miss Sandy, was so amazing as he cried each time I left him. She held him and loved on him until he quickly settled down. Last week and today he told her "no me cry" and he didn't! 

Today the older kids had a program for us. I assumed Ben would be his shy, introverted self and wouldn't really participate. He tells me his verses at home, but has never sung any songs for me and refuses to even recite his verses for our friends. But, today he was a whole different child - the star of the show! I felt like my heart grew ten times while I watched him. He makes me proud for so many reasons, but today I was "that" mom with the really cute kid. Proud doesn't even begin to describe it. Maybe I'm gushing a bit much because he is my first born, but hey, he is my first born! And when I picked him up his teachers had the biggest smiles and were equally surprised at his performance. 

His bff is Jackson, in the blue stripped shirt. He is also a missionary kid and the two of them are inseparable  Generally, Jackson is very outgoing and he sings his songs for his mommy all the time. I was sitting next to Ryan, Jackson's parents and Grandma in the video and you hear us chatting through it a bit. It is quite long, but I know all the Grandma's will agree that it is well worth the watch. And sorry for it being so shaky - there was a lot of laughter!

This performance is dedicated to Grandpa Carter! Feel better soon. We love you.

And it wouldn't be right to leave the second born out. Here is some cuteness from him too. He is too little for the program, but if we do it again next year, he will be able to participate.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Tree is up! Complete with my Grandma's red bows from her tree. I LOVE them!

Best ornament Ryan ever bought for me - when we were pregnant with Ben.

 Perfect ornament that I bought for Ryan!

 The boys have a tree in their playroom.

 

Notice where all the ornaments ended up.

The candle holders were my Grandma's too. And I made my first Pinterest inspired pallet project.

 

Lights on the house this year!

 

If you want something done, do it yourself!

 My daddy would be so proud - perfectly straight! Of course, it took me three trips up on the roof to get it right, but I wont make those same mistakes next year! 

Anyone volunteering to come to Kansas after Christmas to take them down? I'm not looking forward to that.

Halloween in Texas

We took a week off and went to Texas. We had a great time visiting at a supporting church (Ryan's home church) and seeing family! Here is our trip in pictures and video.

First to Magnolia to see Grammy, Papa, Aunt Kelly, Uncle Michael and Cousin Ella (7mon).

 The boys LOVED playing with Ella.

 Checking out Ella's play area in costume!

 We went to the neighborhood Halloween party. Do you see Ben climbing that inflatable slide (half way up)? I couldn't believe he did it!

 Cousin Ella's first Halloween.

We got to witness Ella's first time in a swing!

From there we went to my uncle's farm in Brenham for some family fun outdoors.

Ben and Cousin Abby on the 4-wheeler.

 Pumpkin Sling-shotting from the Caboose.

 It was a group effort.

 My baby sister Trisha and her dog Amos and my mama.

My middle sister Candice.

 

Ryan always does the same pose. It drives Candice crazy.

The (grumpy, old) men.

 Handsome boy.

 All we heard from Nate all weekend was "More ride! More ride!"

 Abby and Ben loved riding together. 

 Snack on the little bench. 

 The little kids and the big kids. 

A video recap.

 Working on his putting.

 Carving our pumpkin.

 Family photo.

 My Granddad. I love that man!

 Ben ran a fever one day. He needed lots of snuggles with Daddy.

 Grandma watching Nate chase after Crawford.

 Nate found a huge grasshopper.

 Ben and Daddy fishing.

 Sweet boy.

Next we went through Tyler to visit Ryan's Grandpa James. It was so great to see him! We also were able to see his Aunt Lois and Uncle Dan that were there too.

 From there we went to Dallas for the night. We had a whole 16 hours with our dear friends. They have 4 year old and 2 year old girls and we have 3 year old and 1 year old boys. They were kind enough to take us trick-or-treating in their neighborhood. It only took one house and Ben got the hang of it. Ben and Hayden ran from house to house and Lauren and Nate wore out about half way through. 

Our little fairy, motorcycle, 50s girl and Bob the Builder.

 

 

Early Halloween

We went to Wichita's botanical garden for "Bootanica" tonight with some friends. It rained and there were way more people than any of us introverted parents preferred, but the kids had a great time and danced in the rain anyway!

Here was 2009 with best buddy Jackson

 Here is 2010

Here was 2011 with all the missionary kids.

 2011

And here we were today!

 

Stats

It has been a while since I gave a physical and developmental update on the boys. I try so hard to put these things in the blog so I don't forget them forever.

It seems that one or both of them do something every single day that makes me laugh or just realize they are growing up so fast.

Ben is way too smart for his own good. He picks up on so many of my little phrases and things I say. Instead of just saying "yes" to a question, he will often say "well, sure." He often says, "I have an idea." One should always proceed with great caution when you hear these little words. I was told by two people recently that he put his arm around their back, patted and said, "How are you today?" Little man!

He also has a knack for adapting the language to make words.

He told Nate, "I'm gonna tell you a secret and it's gonna be very wispy."

I can't remember exactly what he was doing, but he was knocking something over with something else and said, "Look mom! I have knockers!"

He and Nate often whack things with "whackers!"

He saw a ram with horns at the petting zoo and told Tina, "That one is horny."

He had some things hooked to his belt loops with carabiners (an interesting fashion statement) and told me he had "hookers!"

Never dull.

Nate's language is picking up rapidly and so is his need to be just like his big brother. He imitates almost anything Ben does. Ben fell flat on his face in the aisle at Walgreens and Nate cautiously got down on the floor and laid out flat!

The words we hear most are "hurt," "help me," "mine," "me," "no, no Nen (Ben)," and "Nenamen" (Benjamin). He said his first complete sentence recently, a gem - "Ben push me!"

He tries to say every word we ask of him. His pronunciation is actually pretty good. I am not sure if I am happy or too worried to be happy that the two of them can communicate better now. It seems to be causing lots of conflict.

Ben continues to be extremely picky in eating. I almost don't even want to use the word picky, because that doesn't accurately describe it. He just refuses to eat many meals. He always finds an excuse for why he doesn't want to eat. He doesn't request his favorites very often, he just goes without. I can't figure him out. We just cheer him on when he does eat and hope this ends one day. Nate is the exact opposite. He continues to eat about as much as I do at a meal. He refuses to his utensils still. He will hold up his fist and look at me as his way of asking if the given meal is finger food. Somehow, he makes even soup a finger food. We wont be giving up the bib anytime soon!

When dosing medicine the other day I thought I would weigh them because I'm not sure Ben is heavy enough for his age bracket. Ben weighed 32 pounds and Nate weighed 27! Wow, only five pounds different. Ben is 39 inches tall and Nate is 33.5 inches tall!

In all the ways they are different, they have twice as much in common. They adore each other, follow each other around, have complete conversations of which I understand almost nothing. They run and laugh and run and color and run and read together! They are best of friends...at home.

When we are with friends, Ben is easily persuaded to maintain his "big boy" status and cut Nate out. This does not go over well with me. Nate doesn't have a friend that is close to his age so he is like a third or fourth wheel a lot. But, he hangs with Ben well at home so I know he can hang with the gang of them. We are working on that :) Nate doesn't take nothin' from nobody so he tries his best, but his little legs can't keep up with the big boys.

We can produce a masterpiece a minute.

Blowing the paint around.

But then sometimes we take a turn for a mess.

 We love watching bread bowls bake.

 Preparing a zucchini lasagna is as artful as baking desserts, Fun!

 But that day this happened while I was baking.

Never dull!