Irresistible

Could this boy be any cuter?

Stacking Cups

Fun times!

Peace

After a particularly challenging day with a certain three year old I couldn't have been happier to see this.

Nothing is sweeter than a sleeping child! I can't get over how quiet my house is at this moment, except for the hum of the dryer in the basement. Speaking of, how is it that a couple of days off laundry duty and there is now a mountain, make that a range of mountains, awaiting me?? Now, off to get some zzz's myself. Unfortunately, the laundry will wait for me.

Dogs

You are right Micah, that's a dog.

While traveling recently we were at a house with dogs. It was hilarious to see another example of just how different our boys are. Noah was super nervous to be around the dogs and going into another room every time one came near. Micah on the other hand was chasing after them and grabbing their tails. He especially enjoyed a few licks to the face...I'm with Noah when it comes to that.

Another one Micah's latest tricks. Pulling clothes out of Noah's dresser.

So proud of himself.

Mess

I truly try to enjoy each stage my kids are in and not wish for the next to be here sooner. That being said, I am looking forward to a time when Noah does not revel in making a complete disaster of the house in two seconds flat. This mom gets a bit stressed and grumpy when the house could pass for a tornado wreckage zone. He does help clean up and I am growing to accept that the mess is just part of life with kids. I just hope he doesn't end up on an episode of Hoarders some day.

On the bright side, Micah sure has learned to be nimble while dodging the chaos.

More

As parents we realize how useful teaching our kids sign language is. Especially when they are largely nonverbal; however, this time around we haven't made it a priority. Every once in a while it pops into our head so we do the sign for "eat" and "more". So imagine our surprise when the other night at dinner Micah started doing the "more" sign. Woohoo! He is now doing it regularly. More blueberries, more pushes on the swing. More, more, more.

"more"

Micah really can't stand wearing a bib.

And off it goes.

Phew!

Dinosaurs

Noah is in a dinosaur stage right now. So far we have visited the dinosaur exhibits at the Minnesota Children's Museum and the Museums of Natural History in both Minneapolis and Albuquerque. We were impressed and had fun at all three. It is fun and educational for Shawn and me too as well as a nice respite from the cars and trucks mania that usually fills our play time. Noah is much better about retaining the dinosaur factiods than we are. We can always count on him to let us know which dinosaurs are herbivores, what the crest is for, etc. This fascination even resulted in a new family game - Dino seek, Noah's own spin on hide and seek. He tells us where to hide then comes looking for us saying "Where is mamasaurus?", "I smell dinner. " Cracks me up! I have also found myself profusely apologizing to strangers when our little TRex roars in their face while at the grocery store or standing in line to pick up a pizza. Cue the sheepish grin and me saying "He is dinosaur these days."

Making dinosaur tracks in play dough.

Checking out the triceratops. Every once in a while I'm reminded of just how much these two look alike...even from behind.

TRex skull. Noah was particularly impressed with the ferocious teeth.

Blogging

Okay, I'm jumping on the blogging bandwagon. I feel it is a great way to document our day to day life for our boys. Here we go!