We measured 10 inches of snow at our house, but the official measurement for the city is 14.2 inches setting the record for the second most snow in Wichita's history! We did our part to make a memory in this historic event and played in the snow as much as possible! After our four inches on Wednesday, the boys woke up ready to play on Thursday and we were suited up and out the door at 10am. We came back in for lunch and naps and then joined our friends for some more sledding at 4pm.
The Wednesday group.
Thursday's antics. Some of this is a repeat from yesterday's video as I made this one for World Impact.
My little tiger baby. He isn't smiling here, but trust me...he LOVED the tube!
Ben said, "Mom, my feet wont move!" when trying to make a snow angel in all that snow.
See ya.
"Put us in!" is what they were begging right before this picture.
While the whole group was sledding and tubing, Ben and Bree (8) were exploring the campus (for over an hour). When I asked him what they were doing he said, "just finding some to eat."
Helping my firstborn in the deep snow. Our friends got a good laugh at the fact that I was wearing Ryan's snowboarding outfit from when he was 14 years old. It is huge on me now and must have been huge on Ryan at 14. But I stayed warm and dry!
After all the fun we came inside for some hot cocoa, coffee and fruit crisps. Yum!
Today we dug out! When I say "we" I mean Ryan did most of the work, I helped a little and the boys were in the way the whole time but loving every minute of it!
We came in for lunch and a special treat. Snow Cream!
4 C of snow mixed with 1/2 C milk (soy if you are Nate), 1 tsp vanilla and 1/4 C powdered sugar.
I love my kitchen helpers!
Stir!
(I didn't realize today was Go Texan day when I put on this shirt. It is obviously just in my blood to be a proud Texan!)
Toppings! Why not have a little of everything?
Lick the bowls clean!
Check out Ben's bedhead as he explains our treat.
We may never see this much snow again! Thanks for all the fun, God. We sure did have a blast!
It started snowing at 7am and didn't stop until about 3pm.
We began the day watching from the warmth of our house.
Happy dance for the snow.
Daddy pushed a few cars up the hill and directed the stuck ones to turn around in our driveway.
I measured four inches. I don't know what the official totals are. This is our first snow that was more than a dusting. The boys and I have colds, but we couldn't resist the fun to play!
My friend Adria took most of these pictures and graciously let me steal them for my own blog. She captured some amazing shots of my boys!
Pure joy!
Sledding with my bff, Nadia.
I don't know what he was looking for in the bushes, but he thought it was loads of fun.
Brothers
Our friend Judah, free as a bird.
His face. ha.
He pouted when he had to wait for the sled to come back up the hill. He LOVED racing down over and over again.
February 6 Nate crying. Me: Ben, what did you do? Ben: Nothing Me: Nate, what did he do? Nate: Silence heard from down the hall... Ben: Nate, did you tell her I hit you? Nate: No. February 5 - Visual proof that I love my boys dearly. I hate going to the park, but they were begging and it was a beautiful day. They had a blast. Some friends even joined us half way through our fun.
Sadly, Nate and Ben both fell off the swings. Ben somehow let go as he was being pushed in the swing by our friend and her daughter prayed this prayer that night: Dear God please help Mommy not to push Nate-Ben off the swing. Amen It was a complete accident and we all survived. haha January 26 While looking for Nate's napkin I discovered a ton of rice in his chair. I said "What's going on down there?" Ben immediately responded, "I think there's a party down there!" Nate had an allergic reaction again. I am guessing it is a certain type of nut, but I can't narrow it down. He has had many nuts without the reaction so it isn't nuts in general. His eye swells shut and Benadryl brings it back down quickly. Poor guy.
We have had some warm days mixed into our winter and have tried to take advantage of the sunshine on the patio with friends!
We signed Ben up for soccer in March! The pic is terribly blurry, but you get the idea. He will play with three of his friends so it should be a blast. At his age they don't really play a game and there is heavy parental involvement. I can't wait! Pics and videos to come!
In honor of becoming soccer parents we invested in some chairs. How cute are my boys in their little chairs?
Speaking of sports, some of our churches got together for the Super Bowl and we told the kids to dance when Beyonce began the halftime show. It was as if Ben found his calling in life. He sang and danced his heart out. My shy Benjamin a stage performer?
Thanks Mama-D for the new jammies. Ben calls them his "I dig up mommy jammies" and Nate loves that the footballs on his pants are the same color as Ethan's football. Ethan is a 10 year old missionary kid that Nate just adores!
This is rather old, but still so cute. They fuss and fight like brothers, but they love each other tons are are best of friends!
Ryan attended a conference all this weekend for all TUMI satellite coordinators - people dedicated to training urban leaders. We missed Daddy a great deal as he was gone from sun-up to well past sun-down. The conference had a live stream, but there were no crowd shots this year for us to find Daddy. Bummer.
While Ryan worked for and attended the conference, I cooked! We fed the staff (avg. 30 people) three meals on Thursday, breakfast on Friday and then fed 150 of the staff and conference attendees for dinner on Saturday. The boys were amazing! They drove me nuts getting into things, but when I really step back and think about it, they put up with a lot and behaved beautifully. They are a joy to have around.
Coloring in front of the fridges.
Mixing up bread dough with me - we made 300 rolls! He kept getting more and more flour on his pants and would say "No big deal. These are work pants!"
Here is the room where we fed the masses. They ate in two separate rooms and we ran back and forth from the kitchen to the serving line to keep it full. I did get friends to watch the boys Saturday afternoon and during the meal. That was just too many people to have to keep up with them too. What a blessing of good friends.
While we were making all those rolls in the morning, the boys escaped to have a little church. They were singing their hearts out. We also found them in the actual pulpit and when Maren walked up on them Nate offered her a cough drop and said "my body." They were serving each other communion with cough drops and paperclips. They make me one proud mama! And no matter how many times I told Ben that Ryan was only attending the conference and not teaching at it, Ben kept praying that Daddy would teach really well.
As I type Ben is having his first experience with Elmer's glue. He is in heaven and I am blissfully unaware of the mess that will have to soon be cleaned.
Here are a few recent conversations with Ben that made us laugh or marvel at his intelligence! Some of these have been posted to fb, so they might be familiar. December 9, 2012 Ben asked me if he could play with Nate's bday present and I said no. He asked his dad and he said yes (not knowing Ben had already asked me). Ben said to Ryan, "haha. You aren't on the same team now!" (dead give-away) 3 going on 13! And no, he did not get to play with the presents! January 7, 2013 Life lessons at the dinner table! Ben: Mom, you're a killer whale. Ryan: Son, if you want to save your life, never use the word "whale" when talking about a woman. January 13, 2013 While looking through a book of creatures, Ben wanted me to name all the ones he didn't know. Ben: What's this? Amber: An angel fish. Ben: Is he really nice? Amber: Yes Ben: Does he bring a message? (hint: he is remembering all our advent readings) January 14, 2013 Ben: You're ah-stink! Amber: What? Ben: In Nate's computer it is 'which one is ah-stink?' And then says 'dinosaur.'
Since our boys' church life is not like the average American kid, we work very hard to teach them about Christ and his church in our home and through our various church activities at World Impact. As missionaries, our church is World Impact, when the missionary staff gather. Sometimes we are in a church plant and we meet weekly and it looks similar to the average American church. Right now, however, we aren't doing that so sometimes church is just a couple of people sitting around our living room singing along to youtube videos, sharing a word, communion and prayer time. We also meet monthly as a staff for worship, communion, teaching and prayer. Our boys have learned that church is the gathering of believers and we love that they will be open to what the church looks like. But, it also puts an even greater responsibility on us as their parents to make sure they are being taught. One small thing we do as a family is say the Lord's Prayer together before Ryan leaves for work. When we first started, the would dance around, pull their hands out of ours, make noises at each other, etc. We have been doing it for a few months now and they look forward to it! They stand (mostly) still, hold our hands and Ben says it along with us while Nate interjects a word here and there that he knows. Memories like these are the ones I pray that hold onto their whole lives! I know I will.
All the kid involved in our church planting got Christ the Victor Kids hoodies for Christmas, staff kids included!
A Happy Birthday card for his friend, Judah. This was the first time he had drawn a "person." (look to the right, just below his hand.)
No doubt Ben is a lefty. I found this on the frig. (See the numbers, in order, but backwards?)
The first time he wrote "his B" on his own!
Writing his name. The "n" is troublesome for him. He doesn't like that the "E" only has three horizontal lines. It feels restrictive.
More art. His stick people are already better than mine. Maybe he will inherit his father's artistic skills.
Taking our Big Wheels out for their first spin with our friend, Judah.
Almost reaches the pedals. Santa should have moved them up when he built it in his workshop!
They made a few laps and then decided this was a better thing to do with their big wheels! Ugh.
Ryan was kind enough to hose them off in the cold.
A few days later we invited more friends to ride with us!
Introducing the World Impact Big Wheel Gang!
We watched our friend's son, Judah, one night so they could celebrate their anniversary. The boys had too much fun at the dinner table. Judah is just three months older than Ben and lives across the street so we see him often.
I finally did it! I cleaned out all the baby equipment and toys that are too young for Ben and Nate (and pared down my purse collection). I love purging. I love minimizing. I did not love this! It was tremendously more emotionally difficult than I anticipated. A few friends came and took what they could use for their kids and I loved that! I have always shared the boys' things because we have been blessed with so much! But, then I took the rest to sell at a locally owned resale store I love and my heart was pounding. Toy by toy they put a tiny little price on my boys' first few years. It was awful. I cried the whole way home and then some. But, now it is done. Time to embrace the fact that my firstborn is writing his name, not rolling around on a playmat anymore!
Heading outside to take advantage of some spring weather in January!
The zoo with Daddy on his day off! Look, Grammy bought Daddy a hat just like Ben's!
My artists. They love coloring, cutting, and painting. I have yet to introduce them to pasting, but surely it is coming.
Nate has shown a little bit of interest in the potty. He sits for two seconds, says he peed, and is then done. He has only actually peed twice. But, it's a start. I won't really push it until summer unless he gets really interested.
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