Wordless Wednesday

Please pray for this precious little girl!

Snowy, blowy days!

I was so into my "work" the other day that I wasn't paying attention to what Ben was doing to my hair:)

What better to do when you're stuck inside on a snowy day??

Zakkai playing with their "new" train table they got for Christmas!

A peek at a sweet almost-two-year old sleeping at night:)

It is snowing...again here! We got somewhere around 7 inches a few days ago and supposedly are getting another 2-4 tonight! There is lots of snow for "stomping and clomping" as we tell the boys. I took them out the other day before dinner to try to wear them out. We stomped in the snow on the playground until we got too cold:)

We were stuck inside over the weekend and before the boys could go too stir-crazy, I remembered in the back of my mind that I had stored away a box of sand in the closet for a day such as this! I laid down plastic sheeting that I use when they paint and let them go to town! It was very quiet for awhile. I am determined to do a lot of activities like this with them so that we don't feel like we were bored inside for the whole winter, especially if we're going to get snow like we are!

I enrolled the boys in some classes through our parks district. Z is in a Tots play class and S is in a tumbling class! Both classes started this past week and they were a BIG hit! Well, how can you go wrong with having a room full of toys for a toddler to play with? And Samuel, who dragged his feet the whole way to his class claiming he didn't want to go, had a blast! He got to do a "log roll" and walk on a balance beam. He will be learning forwards and backwards summersaults, beam walking, stretching, etc. The perfect thing to keep a 3 year old active!

I can't believe how big my boys are getting. Zakkai will be turning two at the end of next month. He is such a talker and copies off of everything his "Samel" does. He wants my attention a lot these days so he comes to me wherever I am and grabs my hand and says, "Come, mommy!" He also adores his daddy and asks me several times a day in his sing-songy voice, "Where's my daddy?" He is really soaking up learning right now; colors, counting, letters, words and phrases. I think I already mentioned that he tries to name the colors of things and so far everything is "bwue-orange." Well, it was really funny because yesterday was our church's anniversary so they had a little celebration and put up balloons in the church colors which happen to be....blue and orange. We walked in to church and Zakkai said, "Bwue-orange bawoons!!!" I laughed and said, "You're actually right this time, Zakkai!!"

I have heard my Grandpa talk many times about the law of retribution, which is your kids doing exactly what you did when you were little! Samuel is fulfilling that law:) He said at the breakfast table the other morning something that I said many, many times as a child, "Mommy, I don't want to get big. I just want to stay small forever!" I turned around and said, "Samuel, mommy used to say that exact same thing to Mugga when I was little!" I NEVER wanted to grow up or go to school, I just wanted to live at home forever with my mommy. And now I have a little boy who wants to do the same thing. And he has also started doing something else that I just might have done as a child:tattle-taling. Oh, I hate that word! And honestly, most of the time I am glad that Samuel does it because he catches Zakkai doing many things that I should be aware of! But still, I know Z isn't going to like this once he catches on!

We have a busy week ahead this week and I am determined to post more on this blog even when I'm tired because I want to remember all of these sweet things the boys do!

Today I was tucking in Zakkai for his nap and he looked up at me and smiled and said, "I wuv oo, mommy!!" My heart was in a puddle around my feet! That little boy has the power to reduce me to mush in seconds:) With his spiky blond hair, sparkling blue eyes and mischievious grin...He's a heart breaker!
Z is trying to learn his colors. He knows most of the names but can't match any of them up so he calls everything, "bwue-orange." The other day he said, "Mommy, I want bwue-orange nana!" As I handed him the banana, he shrieked, "A pink nana!" Oh well, like I said, at least he knows the names, right?!
Samuel and I were chatting this morning on the way to the store about family and he was telling me he hoped he would see his Auntie K and Uncle Tim again someday. I told him we would definitely see them again because Auntie K is my sister. So we had a discussion on brothers and sisters and Samuel said, "I want a girl, mommy!" I told him to tell that to daddy when he gets home:) Maybe someday, Samuel....
When we pray before we eat dinner each night, we try to hold hands. Zakkai starting holding mine a few months ago but the circle was always broken between Samuel and Zakkai. Until tonight. The boys, both with big smiles on their faces, reached out and clasped hands. I peeked my eye open for a second to see what they were during while we prayed and they were grinning at each other in between squeezing their eyes shut. It was a sweet moment!

Here's a little picture of all of my sister's kids and ours! It's a miracle that you can line 6 kids, 5 and under, up and get them all smiling! I believe we were having them yell out things like, "Pickles and ice cream!!" From R to L:
Zakkai (age 22 mos), Sofia (age 2), Dylan (age 3), Samuel (age 3 1/2), Jackson (almost 5), Jasmine (5) Can you tell which ones are siblings??!!

Mr Cool!

The boys have really been enjoying our family time this week. We've been playing with lots of new toys like Mr Potato Head, Trains, Candy Land, etc! Zakkai is thoroughly obsessed with our Christmas lights. I usually like to leave the lights up for a little longer because they're so pretty but he keeps trying to plug and unplug them in, despite multiple warnings and time-outs! I think it's time to take them down... I will really miss his happy little voice exclaiming, "See the Christmas wights!! Orn-na-MENTS!" The overwhelmed, cranky boys from Ohio are gone to be replaced with relaxed, happy and ultra-ornery stinkers!

Ben starts school again tomorrow but it won't be as busy as it was, thankfully. He should hear in the next few weeks the official results from his comps! He's going to go ahead and start working on his proposal. It's so exciting to feel like we're getting closer to the end of this long road. We have struggled, grown and changed so much during our past 3+ years here. It'll be cool to tell the boys that they spent the first several years of their lives here:)

It's so hard to believe that Zakkai will be turning two...next month! That last part just dawned on me on New Year's Eve when I was trying to go to sleep. I'm not ready for my baby to turn two! Although he does act like he's two already... He's into EVERYTHING and I must keep my secret mommy-eye on him at all times. But he is also getting older and doing more "big boy" things like asking to sit on the potty. He has no clue what he's doing but that big satisfied smile on his face when he's sitting is worth it all!

Samuel has been asking for a lot of privacy lately when using the bathroom or when getting dressed. The one that topped them all was this morning when he asked for "pwivacy" so he could put his shoes on!! Zakkai heard that and all day from him I've heard, "Mommy, need some pwicy!" He hasn't a clue what privacy is but since "Samel" said it, it must be important!!

Happy New Year!!!!

Well, I fell off the face of the...blog for a couple of weeks but I'm back!! We are finally relaxing and taking full advantage of our family time together! We rushed home to Ohio one day after Ben finished comps for my cousin's BEAUTIFUL wedding, ran around like chickens with our heads cut off for the next week and then drove home this past Sunday for some peace and quiet. So far we've grocery shopped (Whoo-hoo!) and gone to the Brookfield Zoo where we renewed our membership (thank you Great Grandma Frazier!!!), played, played some more, relaxed....
I'll have some Christmas pictures to post soon but honestly, I'm too lazy to download them at the moment:) Hey, at least I'm honest! I was just on facebook reading people's comments about the New Year and how everyone's glad for a new year to begin because maybe this was a tough year for some people. It was a tough year for us in many ways and to be honest again, I am very thankful for a fresh new year. This past year was challenging, draining, stressful but full of growth. I have been trying to think of a New Year's resolution but can't come up with anything yet! For now I'm just going to enjoy my family, my FINALLY relaxed husband and two beautiful, growing-too-fast little boys....