Time to Play Catchup

So much for finding a few minutes once or twice a week to post the latest happenings. Oh well, it's the thought that counts right?

I intended to write about Thanksgiving - it was great! So much better than last year when I was 3 weeks away from having Ben and couldn't eat anything due to the silly gestational diabetes. This year, we split the cooking duties with Steph & Michael, had an AWESOME meal and lots of fun just hanging out.

I intended to write about all the silly little things the boys have said and done for the last month. What springs to mind most clearly is the day that Ben woke up from his nap in a very bad mood. I was rocking him and Alex came in wanting to help settle Ben. Alex gave Ben a hug and a kiss and said "It's OK, Ben". This only made Ben cry harder. Suddenly Alex started screaming. When I got him calmed down enough to tell me what was wrong he said "I'm upset because Ben doesn't love me anymore" Awwwww.....

I intended to write about all the Christmas prep and hoopla. Well, we managed to get lights strung on the tree out front and a few little gel sticky thingies on the windows. Oh and yeah, we hung the stockings REALLY late Christmas eve. Tree - no, small PVC tree - no, other decorations - no. We just never got around to it.

I intended to write about the annual electric train setup - it's up, it's played with, it's about to come down soon - gotta make room for the race cars!

I intended to write about Ben's birthday. He's beautiful, he's 1, we had cake (the day after), I have a funny cake eating video to post at some point. We walked the trail of lights at Zilker this year for his birthday. It was nice to walk the trail comfortably (not in labor!!!) this year.

I intended to post all about our insane weekend of Christmas parties. Turns out that the boys managed to sleep through them all - at home which means that only one parent went to each of the parties, which actually worked out just fine!

I intended to toot my own horn just a smidgen and write about the most awesome curling win. Great end of season mini-bonspiel, Sooooo much fun! And, I can't wait to get my silly trophy, yep that's right, the team I was on won it all!!!!!!!!!

So that about brings us to Christmas. Here again, WAY more relaxing than last year. Thanks to the fact that just about all of our family lives elsewhere the boxes started arriving about a week before Christmas, and they are still coming in. We opened everything as it came in rather than holding onto it all until Christmas day. This was a great strategy and the boys really get to play with their new things without getting overwhelmed. We had another great day hanging out with Steph & Michael at their place. The boys even napped in Aunt Stephanies house! Oh yeah, and that vegetable tart was awesome!

As for today, we assembled some new storage shelves for the boys playroom. It looks cool, I'll have to post a picture at some point. I'll have to post lots of pictures about lots of things at some point.

I'll try not to let another month and a half go by without a post!! So, stay tuned...

Santa Claus

Who knew I'd post something Christmas related BEFORE Thanksgiving??!! Alex, for the first time in his short little life, knows who Santa Claus is. He was looking at the back of one of his books and in a tiny little picture of another book cover was a picture of Santa Claus. He wanted to know who that man was so I told him. That led to a discussion of the real Santa Claus, followed by a trip to the mall to meet Santa. While Alex wasn't actually brave enough to sit on Santa's lap, shake his hand, or get too close he did tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas. Santa gave Alex a bell and then Alex tried to take one of the fake presents in the display. It was all very cute and Alex loves his bell.

It's also really nice to have the whole "Santa's watching you" bit in my back pocket. Needless to say it whips Alex into shape pretty darn quickly!

In a totally different direction, I was noticing the contents of my pockets when I went to bed last night. It seems to be a growing trend lately that they contain much more than the usual set of keys and pocket change. Last night I found a matchbox car, a wooden bead, and a napkin from the birthday party we went to that afternoon (and my thanksgiving grocery list). Who knew I'd be carrying around toys all day long!!

This & That

Time for another random update. It's quite fun to have 2 kiddos running around now. I am forever amused by the things Ben is doing now that Alex used to do. Things like pull all the movies and music off the shelf, play with my cookbooks, jump 10 feet in the air when I catch him doing something he shouldn't (Alex still does that, although now he has a tendency just to launch straight into a screaming fit). They are both food hogs, they eat just about anything. Ben is starting to copy Alex as well, always amusing for us, not so for Alex.

Then there are the differences. Alex has always loved to sit on my lap (or daddy's) and read a book. Ben thinks it is great for about 2 seconds. He would much rather be on the floor playing. I do think he likes hearing us read to Alex as he usually hangs around for a story. Alex was always a snuggler, still is. Ben is so much more independent, he has been since he was born. Ben seems much more vocal in his opinions than Alex was. Until he could talk, Alex would pretty much go with the flow.

Anyway, it's just fun watching them each grow and develop independently.

On a totally different note, I got to thinking about the things that make me feel like a mom. Sounds silly, you would think that the moment Alex was born I would feel defined by that label. Not so. What makes me feel like a mom - making clothes for the kids, staying up all night when they don't feel good, putting silly holiday place mats on the table. I guess it's the special things that I think of my mom doing when I was little (thanks mom!!)

Just an ordinary day...

It's been awhile since I posted anything, so I thought I'd better get back to it. I'm even ditching my afternoon siesta with the boys for this! For lack of anything better to write about, here's what we have done today: breakfast, play, Ben's nap, park, lunch, everybody's nap. Exciting or not, this is pretty much how I spend every day. But, here are some pictures from the park:

As you can see, we had lots of fun today.

While I'm thinking of it, I thought it would be fun to share some "Alex-isms":

Tummel - Alex's version of "Tunnel"

Pajammies

waTER, was WAwer - We've been working on enunciation, so no longer is it wawer, but the emphasis is on TER. Oh well, it's close

banaNA - here again, emphasis on the wrong syllable.

When he plays peek-a-boo, he covers is face and says "Where is me?" Then he says "Boo - There me is!"

From one of his favorite songs:

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star - In Alex's version, it goes something like this.

Twinkle Twinkle little star

how I wonder what you are

Up up there so high

like a diamond's eye

Twinkle twinkle little star

how I wonder what you are

Happy Halloween!

Halloween fun actually started at the beginning of Oct. for us. We went to our first Halloween playdate the first week of the month. Alex got to color pumpkins, make a hand-print bat, and do all sorts of other halloween-y art projects.

We headed out to Sweet Berry farm the next week for pumpkin picking. Daddy came with us and we had a great time. We took a hayride (a first for both the boys), saw horses, donkeys, goats walking up trees, and lots of other fun stuff. A good time was had by all!

Our next little halloween activity was painting the pumpkins we bought at the farm. Alex had so much paint on his hands he was the only kid that had to be hosed off! I thought his pumpkin would never dry. An interesting little side note to this, the painted pumpkin has been sitting outside for a couple of weeks now. The paint is starting to peel off the pumpkin, but it looks really cool and is totally in the "eerie" spirit of halloween!

Then the parties started. We had 3 parties in 4 days. I was exhausted, Alex and Ben had a blast. Somewhere along the line I found time to make a couple of costumes. I'm glad we have had so many opportunities to wear them.

I forgot to mention that prior to today, Alex would only wear his almost too small cowboy costume from last year. And, thanks Grammy, Grandpa, Grandma Rita, Great Grandma and Grandpa B., and Great Aunt Jane for all the cool halloween toys & treats!!

This one's for the fam...

I've been meaning to send out updates on the boys forever and a day, but I never seem to find the time to do it. I thought it would be fun to actually do a little newsletter periodically, but then I realized that requires way more time and effort than I have. So, this will have to suffice.


So, what's going on with my little guys? Well, Alex is a totally typical two and a half year old. He's super sweet and fun one minute, and super cranky the next!! You just never know what will set him off. However, he has recently begun to understand his feelings and is exercising his ever increasing vocabulary by telling us "I'm upset because..." Wow, amazing how well talking works to solve problems!! Seriously though, he's awesome and perfect and I wouldn't change a thing about him. He also loves to be creative. He loves to pretend he's a million different animals, and he loves to sing songs and draw pictures. Anything with stickers is fantastic!


Alex also figured out how to make the pedals on his tricycle go all the way around. One of his all time favorite things to do is "ride all around the block". He's anxious to tell whoever he sees that he can go all the way around now.


As for Ben, well, his favorite thing to do is bother Alex! Ben wants to be wherever Alex is, play with the same things, follow Alex around, try to eat his food, you get the picture! He loves to ride in the little red wagon, especially when Alex is pulling him. He's officially 10 months old now and he just totally amazes me. He sprouted his first two teeth a short while ago and he's walking all over the place. He even figured out how to stand up without holding onto anything a couple of days ago. Crazy! Now, if I could just figure out how to get him to sleep a bit better we'd be all set.

So that's the quick and dirty on the boys. As for Mike and I, well, what do you really want to know? There's not much to tell. Curling started again back in Sept. It's still the greatest sport ever! Alex actually came out and pushed a stone with me a few weeks ago, so so cute! I run all day with the boys, we always seem to have some place to go. Much to Alex's dismay, Mike has to work, but he gets a few minutes of playtime in during the day.

Stayed tuned to this blog in the future, and I'll try my best to keep it fairly current on all the happenings with my munchkins!! As for this coming week, we've got plans for everything from trips to the bookstore, to picnics, to plain old fashioned playtime.

A Fond Farewell

Today marked the end of baby days. It shouldn't be hard to say "good-bye" to stuff, but it is. We carted off some of our no-longer needed baby items (infant car seat, 1 of 4 strollers, extra playpen, baby bottles, burp cloths, etc.) I found a worthwhile organization that helps homeless children and they readily accepted the stuff. I'm glad that everything went to a good new home. But I didn't expect to tear up over a pile of things that we no longer need. I guess it just reaffirms that there will be no more newborns in this house and that Alex is a little boy and Ben has officially become a toddler. I just need to remember that it is just stuff, the memories are in my head and in the pictures, not the baby things.

I actually started this post yesterday, got interrupted and am just now getting a chance to finish it. That empty space in the family room where the swing was actually doesn't seem quite so empty now, and, I don't have to worry about Ben and Alex bonking themselvs in the head on it anymore. As for the other stuff that's gone, yeah I kind of like that extra space too!! Of course, realistically that space is going to be filled by new kid stuff soon. Holidays and birthdays are just around the corner.

So yesterday it was hard, today I am very glad I found a good home for those things and I'm not so sad!!

Wascally Wabbits!

We've got a garden which has been somewhat neglected (OK, all but totally neglected) since the kiddos were born. Earlier in the spring I found a packet of quick-growing cantelope seeds. They sounded like fun, I thought Alex would enjoy it. Mostly it was just me wanting to do something "exciting" in my garden. So, into the ground they went. My seeds grew into sprouts which bloomed. The blooms quickly got eaten by the bunnies, every one. Out came the chicken wire, no more bunnies!! This is TX, and it gets hot. Really hot. Really, really, really hot this summer. All the gallons of water did not do anything to repel the heat and my vines wilted away. I wrote it off as a lost cause and thought well at least the vines were pretty for awhile.

Then came Sept. When we were out playing with the boys I decided to peruse the garden. To my surprise there was an honest to goodness cantelope growing. Then I poked around some more, I actually had 3 cantelopes! The heat had finally subsided and we had gotten some rain. There are "second crop" peaches, it seems I was growing some second crop cantelopes. Over the last two months I checked my cantelopes everyday, giving them water and attention. They weren't growing much in size (the largest was about the size of a softball), but they appeared to be ripening. Just yesterday I thought it was nearing harvest time. Apparently I wasn't the only one watching my mini melons. Some bunny dug under my chicken wire last night and swiped all 3. I hope the little guy had a good meal, because he sure did bum me out this morning!

Catching up with the Jones'

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. I've started a blog. Ugh, what was I thinking. Anyway, here's the first post.

Daddy said Alex is a true "Texan". In the car today Alex spotted an American flag. He commented on the big flag and then wanted to know "where is the one big star"? He was referring to the Texas state flag and was very happy to then see a Texas flag with it's one white stripe, one red stripe and one big star. He now knows the difference between the Texas flag and the American flag. What a cutie!