October and November and WHERE has the time gone?

I guess right now while I'm neck deep in Christmas preparations and I have a messy house with a million loads of laundry piled up outside my laundry room waiting their turn seems like a good time to write a catch up blog post about all of our October and November activities, right? I think after I'm done with this I might make a batch of homemade brownies. Priorities, people. Priorities.

At the beginning of October we flew to Salina, KS for my good friend's wedding. Ben was the ring bearer and he did a great job, if I say so myself. He walked slowly and took his role very seriously. But I have to admit, one more minute up there and I think everything would have started to fall apart. There was a lot of pillow slinging going on during the vows!

Before the ceremony. Don't they look like such big boys?

 This is Ben and all of the guys. He felt so cool, trust me.

Abe and the beautiful bride. He had a blast even though it was WAY past his bedtime. The bride and groom had the DJ play one of the best wedding playlists ever, and Abe danced the night away! Well, he danced the hour away, until he looked like he was going to turn into a pumpkin and Aunt Catherine took him home.

Abe as an Ewok for Halloween. We borrowed a lion costume from a friend and using a scrap of fabric to make a little hood. Joel made the spear using an old stick of wood, some grass, some twine and foil. I had plans to really finish off the costume with different clothes underneath and a little face painting, but we were lucky he even let us get this far. 

Ben has never seen Star Wars, but that didn't stop him from emphatically declaring that he would be Darth Vader this Halloween. How do kids know about this stuff?

The boys with Owen, who was Luke Skywalker.

Armed with their "light-savers", Luke Skywalker and "Dark" Vader join the Ewok in searching for some loot! They were pretty forceful about pointing their "weapons" at every car that drove by. Frightening, I'm sure.

Abe turned 2 in November and we celebrated with a little party. Originally we were just going to have Mimi and Poppy over, but that morphed into a grander plan that involved 12 adults and 9 kids. Joel made BBQ and I made chocolate cupcakes with a delicious whipped cream cheese frosting recipe I got from Pinterest. All the kids chased each other around the yard wearing glow necklaces and bracelets I got in the dollar bin at Target. Abe had a blast.

 

I made some banners out of scrapbook paper. The "polka dots" on the cake were red Wilton's candy melts. Abe loves doggies so I bought cupcake toppers shaped like little dogs. 

 

 

At first he was a little nervous when everyone started singing "Happy Birthday" and I put the cake in front of him,  but then he realized how much attention he was getting and got used to it pretty quickly!

 

After everyone had finished their cake and had gone back outside to play, Abe was still calmly and methodically eating his piece of cake, alone and completely un-bothered by the fact that everyone had left.  This is very Abe. He truly loves food, especially sugar, (big surprise) and never gets distracted during desert!

And now just a few photos from the past couple of months:

 

Abe at 23 months

Yesterday morning I got up early and went for a short run while Joel was still in bed, and Ben and Abe were watching TV. When I got home Joel was still in bed, Ben was still watching TV, and Abe was doing this:

 

 In case you're confused, while I was gone Abe decided to pull up a stool to the kitchen counter, hoist himself up and immediately start unscrewing any lid in sight. The good news is that it could have been much much worse. The bad news is that my kitchen now smells overpoweringly of garlic powder.

If Ben had done this at the same age, I would have also taken a picture and thought it was funny, but I would have also been very surprised.  With Abe this type of event has just become part our daily lives. I'm not exaggerating when I say that Abe does at least one of the following activities every single day: opens the freezer, refrigerator, bread drawer, cereal jar, etc...and grabs whatever is in his reach (sour cream, ice cream, walnuts, etc...) to get himself a "nack", pulls a stool up to the kitchen sink, turns on the faucet, and then throws the entire contents of a cutlery drawer into the sink so he can do some washing, pulls a stool up to the bathroom sink, turns on the faucet, and then throws the contents of the toothbrush drawer into the sink so he can do some washing, finds any loose cord that someone may have left out and plugs it into an available outlet, but first taking off the child safety guards and even once UNSCREWING AND TAKING OFF THE FACEPLATE, climbs the drawer handles in the kitchen like a ladder, empties the contents of any drawer or cabinet onto the floor, takes the batteries out of the remote control, pours the contents of his water bottle into another receptacle or onto the floor, turns on the outside faucet in order to make a mud puddle to stomp in....I could keep going, but I think you get the idea. The funny thing is that his teachers at mother's day out have mentioned repeatedly how easy and laid back he is in class. And he IS, when he is in a controlled, completely child proofed environment with two teachers to keep him entertained. But here at our house, he's just a rascal. A loveable rascal who loves to give kisses and hugs to everyone his meets, but a rascal nonetheless.

The costume that afternoon was three capes, dinosaur sunglasses from the Chicago airport, and a Super Why! wand. He was trying to...attack me? Cast a spell? I don't really know. This is pretty much what Abe is like every day.

Having fun on the boat. Abe is a fan of sunglasses.

I heard a little voice yelling "Mama! Mama!" and found him like this. He thought he was being SO FUNNY.

Fed up with the wait to get our bags at the airport. I'm sure he would want you to notice that he's wearing his "back 'ack."

Abe loves his "brudder" and wants to do everything he does.

My littlest rascal at the beach. I love that monkey!

The ukelele

Yesterday Ben and I went to the North Carolina Ukelele Academy to enroll him in lessons and buy a beginner ukelele. He picked one out all by himself, the choice of which I think was made based on how much it looks like an electric guitar :) He played it when he got home before he had to leave for choir practice. After rehearsal he told me he couldn't wait to get home and play his ukelele, that he had been thinking about it all during choir, and that he could "hear how good my music was gonna be in my head!" This morning he woke me up at 6 AM by demanding that he wanted to play his ukelele, and after school he came home and strummed a little before his nap.

I think it's been a good purchase so far.

School days, school days

The boys both started school last week, so I thought I'd share our first day pictures.  Ben is a big 4 year old now, which means he is going to pre-k/preschool five mornings a week. Abe is attending the toddler class (more like mother's day out) two mornings a week. Like most moms, I have conflicting emotions about this. Part of me is pumping my fist in the air and cheering for the ability to run errands without hassle, have rooms that stay clean for more than five minutes, and some time to finish all those projects I started before the summer! But I also miss them when they're gone, and feel so acutely how fast my little boys are growing up and how quickly my time at home with them is coming to an end. I feel especially melancholy about Ben, probably because he is attending every day.

My big boy on his first day of school. He's also starting to "style" his hair by himself. Can you tell?

This is the second day of school, which was also his day for show and tell. He brought a deer antler we found on Grandma and Granddad's land in Oklahoma.

Mr. A was in quite a mood and wouldn't stand still for a picture, so this is the best we've got.

The boys and some strange lady who's trying to hold Abe captive. Yes, I cut off my hair and stopped highlighting it for the first time in almost 15 years. I love it!

I'm proud to say that both boys have had an easy transition to the school year and are having a great time. Ben has always loved school, but I was worried because none of his friends from last year are in this class. When I asked if he felt a little sad about not having his friends with him, he just shrugged his shoulders and said "No. I'll just play with my new friends." Alright!

Abe just sauntered into his classroom on the first day and never looked back. Reports from his teachers are that he stays busy, has a fantastic time, and overall is a joy to have in class. I have to say, they have a lot of criers in Abe's class for some reason. Today when I went to get him from school the toddler class and two year old classes were waiting for parents together, and nearly EVERY SINGLE child was crying. Except Abe, who was smiling broadly and giving the teacher high fives.

It seems like our fall is shaping up to be a busy one. Joel is playing soccer on Tuesdays. Ben and I are both singing in church choir, which means practices on Wednesday nights (Ben) and Thursday nights (me). Ben is also starting a 6 week ukelele class at the end of this month, which I'm hoping will be worth the hassle:) He's been wanting to take guitar lessons for a while and I've heard that the ukelele is a good beginner "guitar" for kids. The teacher sounds like a lot of fun and the class description says they will incorporate a lot of movement plus learn a few songs. Ben is really excited and we've been watching lots of YouTube videos of kids playing the ukelele. I don't need him to master the instrument, but I would like for him to have fun. Fingers crossed!

We've got some house projects and trips planned as well. Ben is going to be the ring bearer for a good friend's wedding in Kansas at the beginning of October. The good news is that we get to make a trip to the midwest and see some good friends and family. The bad news is that we have to take Abe on a plane. I don't want to jinx it, but this is not good. At all. Trust me. If you hear reports about a flight from ATL to ICT where an extremely ill-behaved toddler ruined the trip for everyone while the parents seemed helpless and unable to control said child, please defend those parents for me, ok? If you have ever seen Abe in action then you know how challenging he can be. Sitting on my lap and reading stories, or singing songs, or playing games, or watching any video for longer than 10 minutes just isn't gonna work for us. I'm open for any suggestions on how to entertain high energy toddlers on a plane!

Oooh. wait....stream of consciousness thought...I just remembered Benadryl. Hmmm....

Hello friends!

Let's just pretend I didn't drop off the face of the earth for about 4 months, and try and pick up like nothing ever happened, ok? Since it's getting late here and I'm tired, I'm just going to post a few cute pictures of the boys without captions. These are just some small snapshots into our lives this past summer. Enjoy!

 

                                                  

Beach day and Abe dancin'

I still need to write about Ben's 4th birthday, plus a little post about Abe and all of his exploits, but posting these pictures from our recent trip to the beach is a lot easier.

 

 I heard Ben say, "Mommy, I have something for you!" I looked up expecting to see a sea shell, but instead had a dead crab in my face. I guess that's better than a live crab? My reaction scared him so much that he immediately dropped his surprise.

 

 

And just for fun, here's a little video of Abe showing us his dance moves.