but who's counting?

in precisely 7 days ... 2 hours ... and 57 minutes we will be arriving on maui!!

yes we are ALL going.

yes we are crazy - or will be soon.

and YES i am SO looking forward to wearing my tevas for an entire week straight!

anyone have any fun tips?

long long ago ...

drew is fascinated with things from "long long ago" ...
at the library today he even searched for "long ago" in the catalog to see if he could read some books on "long ago".
he loves learning about different things ... like inventions ... and other things that are, you know, REALLY old .... like this ...

we were on our way home tonight and he asked me about how cartoons like alvin and the chipmunks were made if they didn't use a computer. i told him that cartoons are made from drawings. i also tried to explain how movies used to be made on film.

his response ...

"what's film?"

oh man!!! am i really that old?!

following this conversation he made a 180 turn and went on to say ... out of the blue ... that he really wishes that he was 7 because then he could have met my grandpa (my grandpa died one year - exactly - to the day - before drew was born). he went on to tell me that he is so impressed that he could be an artist, and run an insurance office, AND be a christian .. all at the same time!! he said he thinks he must have been such a nice, neat man that he would've really liked to have met him.

it was so random - but meant so much to me that he was even thinking about it. you're right drew. he was a very neat man. i wish you could have met him too. i'm sure the 2 of you would've gotten along really well.

now i've heard it all.

on the way home from school today drew said "mom, i REALLY need a cell phone."

might i remind you that he is in FIRST GRADE!

um. maybe not.

getting to know ben

each year i run through some questions with the boys. it's fun to look back and see how they've changed each year. today ben and i sat down and went through his. here are some of my favorite answers that he gave.

*how old is your mom?
- 17 (HA!)
*how old is your dad?
-17
*what's your favorite animal?
-a rhinoceros (how's that for random?!)
*what's your favorite sport?
-foosball (ok we didn't know even he knew what foosball was! ha ha!)
*what's your favorite sport to watch? (thinking he'd say the twins or the packers)
-foosball
*what's your favorite thing about yourself?
-that i'm crazy
*what's your favorite store?
-i don't have one because i don't like to shop.
*what do you want to be when you grow up?
-a D.J.

and i saved the best for last--

*how tall is your mom?
-taller than my dad.
*how tall is your dad?
-taller than my mom.

HA!
we love you ben!
even if you are a little crazy ... and random:)

as spoken by alex ...

in the past 2 weeks alex has changed SO much. he seems to just really get it and it's so fun.
he is interacting in a different way ...
listening in a different way ...
and DEFINITELY talking in a different way...
of course he says a lot of "normal words" and will copy just about anything we say to him - but here are a few of my favorite "alex-isms"

"oh me!" = oh man!
"ba!!!" = ben
"do" = drew
"baby" or "nigh nigh" = blanket
"peebee" = phoebe (our babysitter)
"sacy" = stacey
"mo" = milk (i think this started with more milk because he is ALWAYS asking for more milk and just got shortened to mo)
"feeeshys" = fish (usually goldfish crackers)
"ba ba" = belly button
"guyees" = basically any rescue hero, action figure, animal figure that comes out of the boys room
"elmos wood" = elmo's world
"side" = outside
"SIDE!!!" = i want to go outside NOW! ha ha.
"ba buls" = i want to take a bath

every day he seems to say something else that makes me laugh or that surprises me. this is just a list of the ones that i can think of off the top of my head because i hear them all day long :)

this is one of my favorites stages. i love just watching their little minds work. they take in so much and do all they can to just try to keep up.

i love you little alex. you're so fun to watch! not a day goes by that i don't just sit and smile at the fun little person that you are becoming.

YUM!

QUESTION OF THE DAY: what in the world goes through a little kid's mind when they come across a 3 day old, cold and crusty french fry in the car that makes them think eating it is a good idea ???

perspective

tomorrow at drew's school they have a night where you can walk around to each of the classrooms and do different activities. in addition to this, if the kids wanted to, they could create some sort of creative piece. they could do photography, creative writing, a drawing, a video ... anything that they felt they wanted.

drew decided he wanted to do photography. so ... the rules were ... well, there were no rules - other than he had to be the one to do the picture taking :)

SO ... here's the picture that he decided to use.



interesting perspective, huh?!

if someone would have told me to go take an interesting photograph - i probably wouldn't have gone under the trampoline to take pictures of icicles. BUT ... it's different perspectives that keep life interesting, right?! :)

nice picture drew!! you are an excellent photographer in my book :)

busy with babies

this weekend stacey and i got the chance to get away for a bit. we figured that with hawaii 3 weeks away, we could use a little "recharging". and what better way to recharge than to go visit some of the people closest to us that we don't get to see all that often:)

PLUS ... what a fun way to meet their newest additions!!

first ... we stopped and saw our nephew, owen. of course he's darling. his heart is recovering nicely from the surgery. however, his lungs were damaged a bit and they're working at getting him off the ventilator, so far unsuccessful. their entire family can use your prayers :)

then we got to see my sister. normally we have the kids with us - so it was fun to spend the afternoon/evening with her and ryan, her boyfriend, in chicago - with no kids!

then, FINALLY .... we got to go meet josie!! what a peanut! she is absolutely so precious i could have stared at her for hours on end! (oh wait ... i guess we kind of did!! how fun!!) i sit and look at her and am reminded of how absolutely, truly amazing God is! it was so fun to see elizabeth and tim too! thank you guys for giving up your day for us! and for sharing your little sweetheart! once again - seeing you was a reminder that i wish we lived closer.

overall ... we spent a lot of time in the car - but driving long distances is always better without kids :) so ... it was totally worth it!

in fact ... i'd hop in the car and do it again this weekend ... but i think my mom needs a break :)!!

BY THE WAY ... thanks mom!!! the boys had a blast!!

what happens when you try to climb shelves

i've known for quite some time that i have 2 super heroes living in my house. however, it wasn't until last night that i discovered how this "superness" happened. ok ... back up a bit ... one of our kids has "a robot world underground." he goes there to build robots and i'm not sure what else because i have not been there. well, one night he was down there and he was working on a robot. he was trying to get a potion down off of one of the high shelves, but he did not have any chairs. so he had to climb the shelves. well, the shelves fell and the potions all mixed and fell on him. this caused quite the reaction and turned him into super penguino (peng - WEEN - O). AND ... since no super hero, or super penguino, is complete without a partner ... AND since he now had special powers ... he turned his brother into super penguino too. they are careful to not let their guard down and allow people to figure out who they are. so ... i won't blow their cover here ;)

but ... if you're in trouble ... and need some help ... now you know how the super penguinos came to be.

love and logic = 0 invisible coat = 1

this morning i had the perfect opportunity to use a little love and logic. ben consistently walks out the door and couldn't care less about whether he has his coat on or with him. so, as we were just about to leave i told him one time to get it, THEN, we decided to not remind him as he walked out the door. he got to the car and i was hoping and praying that he would be sitting out there cold. thinking ... that'll teach him to put his coat on the next time. so i opened the door to put alex in and he was sitting there with his arms crossed looking slightly cold. thinking it might actually be working, i said "oh wow ben ... you really look cold." (trying to use my empathy to make him think that not wearing his coat, or bringing it was ... well rather dumb :)) he looked at me and said "actually i'm just fine because i have on my invisible coat."

AHHH .. not exactly the response i was expecting.