My Guys...

We finally got around to taking 'official' yearly pictures of our three young men. I am woefully behind on documenting them each year, but hopefully the adage "better late than never" will apply!Caleb will be turning six in just a couple of weeks. I can't believe that we've been parents for a majority of our marriage -- it seems like just yesterday we were in the trials of infertility and waiting on the Lord. Caleb is a pretty incredible kid and the best big brother EVER. He is overall very patient and kind with his younger brothers, especially with Toben. His favorite things to do are Legos, play games on the Wii, jigsaw puzzles (the more pieces the better), and play with his buddy Hunter. He's beginning to read more and more on his own, which has made bedtime story reading more enjoyable (and more drawn out -- I think he's picked up on that stalling tactic!). We've really enjoyed reading The Jesus Storybook Bible each night with him. The childlike faith is something to behold -- he doesn't realize it, but he's teaching me as much or more than I'm (hopefully) teaching him. Gotta love how the Lord works like that.
(For my own memory's sake... some stats on the Bug: He's approximately 45-50 pounds and 46-48 inches tall. We'll find out for sure at his six-year well check after his birthday. He wears size 6 pants for the length, but only if they have adjustable waistbands, and mostly size 6 shirts. Long and lean. He lost two teeth during the first week of the year - the bottom center two, one on January 2nd and one on January 6th.) (EDITED 2/24 - Caleb weighs 45lb, 8oz and is 46 1/2 inches tall. Dang, I'm good at estimating! ;)
Logan continues to be our greatest challenge and also our greatest comedian. We are learning more and more that he is very much an introvert, and new situations and crowds just set him on a tailspin. If he is with a small group of people whom he is comfortable around, he will turn into the silliest, most creative little nut. However, if he's at all uneasy he will cling to Ryan or me, or dissolve into tears, or become the most serious little man. His creative nature shines when he's having an "on" day, and he's racking up some great stories for us to tell one day. (I really should be better about writing these things down...) Logan loves to play on the iPad, go to his gymnastics class (where he's excelling in everything -- I'm in awe watching him), play with his Puppy, play games on the Wii, pretend play with his ImagiNext toys, and do most anything outside. He's our outdoors boy at the moment.
(For my memory: Logan is 39 pounds and 43 inches tall as of last Wednesday at his four-year well check. He wears size 4T clothing, but in some pants we've had to buy size 5T slims, also with adjustable waistbands.)
The Littles. Toben is our little charmer, for sure. He's strong-willed like Logan, but is also quite outgoing. He loves to be wherever his big brothers are, and tries to do everything just like them! Toben has been slow to speak coherently, but it hasn't stopped him from trying to express his mind... loudly. He has one volume, and it's LOUD. You never have to worry about him sneaking up on you! He also loves to play on the iPad, play outdoors, play with cars and trains, and watch his brothers play Wii.
(I'm really not sure on T's stats, but my best guess is that he's in the 33-35 pound range and is about 36 inches tall. He wears size 2T clothing and size 5 diapers. Toben is the most solid of all our boys at this age.)
We only got one photo of all three together and I feel like it shows a glimpse of each of their personalities. The other photos above are a small handful of the shots I got of all three individually -- we had such a fun time tromping around old Richmond as a family that evening.

Hopefully I won't wait so long again to do annual photos of the boys -- I think it's been since Toben's first birthday that I last intentionally took yearly photos of any of my guys. Oops! At least I have a million snapshots of them from everyday life. Those are the memories truly worth having -- but it sure is nice to have a good shot or two to hang on the walls now and then!

Our Four Year Old Turkey...

Did you all enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving? We did. After participating in our local YMCA's annual Turkey Dash (I ran the 5K and then joined my crew for the 1 mile family walk), we spent the day over at my parents' home with my cousin Anne for a very laid-back and relaxing meal and afternoon. The boys then spent the night and next day with Gram and Papa while Ryan and I tried to make the most of some Black Friday specials. We've done this the past several years. Sometimes we come out feeling like we've practically stolen some items, due to the combined discount of deals and coupons. That didn't happen this year, but we enjoyed our day together anyhow!

On Saturday we celebrated our Logan's fourth birthday (which was this past Monday, the 28th) with a little bowling party with family. There's an obnoxious amount of photos below from our time at the bowling alley -- it's safe to say that fun was had by all! Logan, for whatever reason, hates it when people sing "Happy Birthday." It's one of his many quirks, I guess! For all his quirks, though, he's such a great kid. He's really grown and developed into a fun boy this year, and his ingenuity and creativity blow me away sometimes. I'm excited to see how he grows this coming year... I like four-year-olds. :)

Kickin' Around...

There was a superhero sighting in the backyard recently. Spidey dropped in for a while to play in the leaves.
His buddy Batman parked the Batmobile long enough for a pickup soccer game.

I'd say we need to sign them up for spring soccer...

Calebism & Loganesque...

Some for the memory books:

One evening early this past week, we were eating some leftover Thanksgiving dinner for supper. Here's part of a conversation that transpired between Caleb and Ryan...

Caleb (while eating sweet potatoes topped with marshmallows): Daddy, marshmallows are yummy and healthy.

Ryan: You're right, Caleb. Marshmallows are yummy, but they're not that healthy. They have a lot of sugar in them.

Caleb: No they don't. You're just kidding me.

Ryan (stifling laughter): No kidding, Caleb -- they really have a lot of sugar. They're made with sugar and some air to fluff them up. (How do you explain that to a preschooler?)

Caleb (after thinking for a moment): So will eating marshmallows help you breathe?

And one about Logan, our uber-competitive child as referenced in the previous post:

We ate at Chick-fil-A this past Friday evening. The boys usually have nuggets, but this time Caleb decided to have a chicken sandwich. Logan and Toben split an 8-count of nuggets. The rule is that the boys have to eat a good meal before going to play in the play area.

We noticed that Logan didn't waste much time getting busy eating his share of the nuggets. After a little while, with ketchup lining the edges of his mouth, Logan leans over to Ryan, taps him on the shoulder, and this is what he said...

"Daddy, I ate all of my chicken. I won." -- as matter of fact as can be. Dead-pan face and all.

Of course, with the "I won" he raised his right arm straight up in the air.

The Wheels on the {Firetruck} Go Round and Round...

A firetruck (and firemen) visited the boys' preschool today.
It made quite an impression, but mainly on the boys. A couple of them were clapping and cheering as it drove into the parking lot.
Logan had Puppy close at hand, and most of his classmates had their special loveys in hand too. They were missing nap time today to see the firetruck.
Caleb's teacher, Ms. Lori, put on a real fireman suit for all the kids to see. She's a rockstar.
The siren was sounded for a little bit -- little hands were asked to cover little ears.
The bigger kids were allowed to climb through the cab of the firetruck. Way cool.
The littler kids were not allowed to go through the cab. Logan thought that was way NOT cool. (That's the preschool director, Ms. Jennifer, comforting him.)
We got a great photo of Caleb's Whale Class! You always have to have someone picking their nose, though. At least it wasn't my kiddo (this time...)!

The end.

Perfect Logic...

After so much concentration and hard work while coloring on top of the kitchen table, it only makes sense to pull out the nap mats and "rest" while watching Letter Factory under a "tent."

PBC '10...

Potty Boot Camp 2010 is now in session!

This is the sticker chart hanging on our fridge, waiting to be filled with stickers (on each footprint) for each potty success! We're still waiting on that first sticker to be placed, but it's only 8:30 in the morning and I do believe that Logan has a bladder the size of Alaska. I think he got that from me...

Anyhow, many prayers are being said and our topics of conversation are quite yucky, but hopefully by the end of the week we'll have a little celebration dinner with a grey mouse and some pizza!

The Guppies Are Floating...

Thankfully, not the "pet guppy" kind! The boys wrapped up their swim lessons this past Friday, and they did swimmingly well! They've been promoted from the guppy level to the goldfish level!

These boys definitely take after their daddy... seeing as their mommy never could master the art of floating! I SINK FAST if I don't use my arms and legs to help stay afloat. Logan was quite the natural -- that's him (above) in the middle of the pool. His instructor, Mr. Hector, was easily within reach but was so confident in Logan's floating that he went over and got Christina (the little girl in the picture) and took her out to watch Logan. My heart swelled many times its size with pride!!

Caleb got better and better every day with his skills! His favorite part was at the end of each class, when the kids got to "dive" down for rings. Caleb would come up with three or four in his hands, and a smile from ear-to-ear!
Their swim lessons had a major emphasis on survival skills in the water, but there was always an element of play involved. The last day of class, Mr. Hector pulled the four kiddos on the raft over to the jungle gym and let them all jump off onto the raft. The boys loved it. However, when they went over to the slide, neither Caleb or Logan wanted anything to do with it! Too funny.
This is after we got back home. Of course they didn't want to take their picture together... :)

We're Divin' In...Kind-of...

We started swim lessons today. {by "we" I really mean Caleb and Logan}

It went about as well as can be expected for my two (polar opposite) boys.

Caleb was the teacher-pleaser, the one who did everything that was asked of him with a smile on his face.
Logan was the hesitant (sometimes adamant) wall-and-neck-grabber, the one who wanted to run out of the pool area, screaming, to find me. However, he did try everything his teachers asked him to do, but no smiles.
We're going every day for two weeks to these swim lessons. I really hope they help my boys to gain some confidence and safety skills in the water! We've heard that the place we're going to is really the best in the area. I was impressed with how the teachers and assistants interacted with the students -- showing care and concern, but an unwavering dedication to what they were teaching. It amazed me how many "classes" were going on concurrently -- I think there were about 10 classes happening all at the same time. (There are only four kiddos per class.) It was a busy pool!

Toben and I waited in the parent observation area, behind one-way windows. That explains why these photos are fairly craptacular -- I was holding Toben on one hip while trying to adjust the settings and shoot somewhat focused shots with the other hand. Oh, and trying not to trip anyone with the mondo stroller/lose anything from our swim bag and camera bag/get jostled too much by the other 75 parents crammed into the little viewing area! :) It was a success in the end.

In Other News: Toben cut his first tooth today, the bottom left-center one. (finally!!) Two days shy of being nine months old... Also, he's not crawling just yet, but he can certainly make his way across the floor. It's a combination of rolling, sitting back up, reaching, doing a nose dive, and repeating the process again. It's cute. :) He gets quite the workout!

Here we go again...

Remember this event from last year?

I think we're about to start it up again!

Logan has been so excited to do his thing on the potty (granted, more often than not he just sits there and nothing happens... but we have had a few 'successes'!). I am hoping, praying, crossing my fingers, knocking on wood, doing happy dances, and basically holding my breath to see if he'll be diaper-free by the end of the summer!

We haven't done our version of potty boot camp. Booty camp, I guess you could call it. ;) I think I may hit that pretty hard in July if he doesn't just take off on his own. He's always been one to do things in his own time, so I'm just beyond thrilled that he's taken an interest in this right now!

His "currency" is M&M's, brown ones to be exact. One for #1, two for #2. It's yet to be determined if I'll have to bust out my amazing sketch artist skillz for another chart... but it's still pretty early.

Ahhh... to only have one child in diapers... that must be glorious! Definitely worth a super sweet happy dance, and an extra bag of M&M's.

Oh, LoLo...

I posted about this on Facebook last week, but it's just too "classic Logan" not to share here as well. After all, isn't this kind-of my memory book these days?? Someday, this will be a story to tell at Logan's graduation party or wedding rehearsal dinner -- one of MANY stories we've collected in just two years!

Last Wednesday, Caleb was at school and I was home with Logan and Toben. Toben did what he does best (other than smiling and eating) -- he pooped. Eh, he's a baby.

I digress.

While I was changing Toben back in his bedroom, I heard one of our barstools scooting across the floor in our kitchen. Not wanting to leave the baby-who-is-about-to-roll-any-minute all by himself on the changing table to investigate (not that I've ever done that, nope, not me!), I just holler out "Lo, what are you doing?"

He's two. Will he answer me? Nope.

I finished changing Toben, and we headed over to the kitchen. Here's what we see:

Logan is standing on the countertop adjacent to our refrigerator. He is reaching up, and grabbing a fistful of M&M's that I have in a bowl on top of the fridge.

He hears me enter the kitchen, and just as I am saying "Logan! What are you doing up there!?!" he turns around and says (with a chocolatey smile...he'd evidently had a few fistfuls by this point) "Gracias, Mommy!"

That darn Dora. Thank you so much. Muchas gracias, Dora. You've enabled my child to be so onery and so irresistible all in one moment.

Yes, he said gracias -- and it's the first time I'm aware of that he's used it in the proper context! No, I couldn't keep a straight face while getting him down from the countertop and swatting his little behind.

I've been asked if he was in trouble for climbing on the countertop, or for eating my M&M's ...

What do you think? :)

Happy Birthday Logan!

We celebrated Logan's birthday this weekend. He is now a TWO YEAR OLD!

His little party was supposed to take place at a fun park in our area, but the rain clouds never did skip town in time. So, fortunately we didn't have too many people to call as we moved the festivities to our home. We had fun, though - what's not to like about cake, cake balls (I think I've established that they're a new obsession...), friends, family, fun and tackling outside, and presents? Logan received several fun gifts but his favorite was a Winnie the Pooh card that sang. Isn't that how it always goes?

(PS - Lori, he LOVES that shirt!!! He asks to wear it all the time! "Fooball shirt, Mommy!")