It's More Than a Desire...

...it's a need.


When Jay and Josh came home from snowmobiling on Saturday my boys confiscated the helmets. They ran around looking like bobble heads for a good half hour.




After the first few minutes Adam ran back to his room and came out with his tool goggles. He asked for help with the helmet and the next time I looked he was doing this-



Yes, that's a toy snomobile he's sitting on. This boy needs his daddy to take him for a ride.

Lightening McQueen

Both of the boys are in love with Pixar's CARS. Rowster especially seems to be quite enthralled. As a Christmas gift we gave him a few diecast characters from the movie. He has been playing with them non-stop.Mater came from a loofa I bought Taiter a couple years ago.

Snow Globe

Today is one of those days that I love. A cozy fire in my living room stove, stuff baking in the kitchen, presents to wrap, and snow tumbling endlessly out of the sky. I can remember when I was a little girl and I would see one of those snow globes I would wish that I could somehow climb inside that tiny world. Today I feel like I'm the one in the snow globe. Instead of looking into the glass I'm looking out at the beautiful winter world around me.

Keeping in mind of course, that in about a month I'm gonna want to smash the pretty little snow globe to smithereens on the concrete of my sidewalk.

Anyhow, we had a party for Rowan on Saturday. It was fun but the poor guy had a hard time putting down one gift to open another. As I was busy helping open gifts Chad took over our camera. Thanks Chad!
The gifts.







The observers.







The cake.

It's a porcupine in case you're wondering.

Baby of Mine

Dear Rowan,

Today is your second birthday and I must admit that it is bittersweet for me. I have loved watching you grow and learn but I am sad that the days of your babyhood are nothing but a memory. If not for your chubby cheeks and adorable little voice as you learn to communicate with the "big folks" I fear I would dissolve into tears at the mere thought of you being two.
Today I remember your birth as if it were yesterday. Appearing after only three pushes, you seemed an easy child from the start. You came on your due date and weighed in at 7 lbs. 11 oz. From the very beginning you were a content, easy-going baby.
As you began to grow, you became very happy and smiley. You have to-die-for dimples and you seemed to love showing them off.
You are a cuddler. Trains are one of your favorite things. Your favorite food seems to be peanut butter these days. You are also a huge fan of bananas. Immitating Daddy and Adam is one of your favorite games. Although you seem to be quite cheerful most of the time you also have a quiet, very serious side to you. You like to go around the grocery store saying, "Do you need a spankin?" in a very loud and gruff voice. At night you cuddle up to me while we sit and pray and are generally very happy to get into your bed. Cars is your all-time favorite movie.
In two short years you have gone from helpless baby to energetic, fun-loving boy. It has been a pleasure and a priveledge to be your mommy and I wouldn't trade one second of it. I once feared I would not, could not love you as I love your brother but I was mistaken. For I do love you, my precious boy. I love you as I love your brother and as I love no one else. I love you the same as him but different all at once. I thank the Lord every day for sharing you with us.

So, Happy Birthday, baby of mine.


All my love,
Mommy

Cookies

Last Wednesday we all ventured over to Terah's house to make Christmas cookies. This was an annual tradition when we were growing up and my mom really wanted to continue it with her grandchildren. This is the first year that the kids have been big enough. It was quite fun. The only downfall was my boys dumping whole containers of sprinkles on the table. Unfortunately I was too busy trying to salvage them that I didn't get any pictures. Then my camera batteries died so I din't get many anyway. Here are the ones I did end up with.







As most children, Adam was more interested in eating his creations than making them.




Gwyneth was our die-hard. She is quite the artist.







Some of the final product. Rowan's are the half eaten ones. Speaking of Rowan....


...After a short while(when I told him to stop eating cookies) he'd had enough and disappeared upstairs to play with his cousins' beloved train set.

I'm very excited to say my boys are getting one for Christmas!

Live & Learn...Hopefully

As I am planning birthdays and Christmas I realize that there are many mistakes I make every.single.year. I always get frustrated and that bothers me as this is my favorite time of year. So in the hope of learning from my mistakes and doing it different next year I am going to document what I am learning.


What NOT to do:

* Do not wait until five days before to start planning my kid's birthday party.

* Do not wait until a week and a half before Christmas to realize that it is now too late to order any gifts online.

* Do not buy my son's Christmas presents and then notice way later that I forgot about his birthday present. This is especially important as his birthday is before Christmas.

* Do not get grouchy and start nit-picking my husband about, well, everything.

* Do not wait until two weekends before the holiday (right about the time of the first storm of the year) to go shopping. Too many people. Too many bad roads.

* Do not print my own pictures. They never come out as clear and it sucks up a lot of money in ink.

* Do not have a baby right at Christmas. Yay! Props to me, I nailed that one this year.




What to do:

* Do send Christmas cards out at the beginning of December. It is NOT too early.

* Do invest in some new Christmas music. I love my Bing but I need variety people.

* Do have my lovely and talented sister take a family photo. In November when It's at least above freezing outside.

* Do start giving more homemade gifts. They are the most fun and thoughtful.

* Do help Jay to get his major projects done looooong before the holidays. This could also be translated: Do STOP whining and let him get to work in the summer time!

* Do cheer up. We are blessed and God has been working miraculously in our lives. He is to be praised for all things!



I almost forgot! Today I am in my second tri-mester. Yipee! One-third of the way through. I have also beeen feeling my baby from time to time which is always exciting.

Better not Pout; Better not Cry

I was looking at pictures stored on my computer the other day and I found last year's Christmas pictures. I hope you enjoy these as much as I did.







Terah took these. Rowan was only 11 months old! Adam wasn't quite three. Amazing how much they grow in one year.

The Bible Retold

Last night at dinner I decided to read Scripture to the boys while they were eating. Jay wasn't home yet and this was something I had been doing at breakfast a while back. I figure, even if they don't fully understand what they're hearing at least it's being heard and someday they will begin to comprehend. So I usually just read where ever I have been reading from in my personal time. However, last night Adam requested that I read about baby Jesus. So I started at the beginning of Luke where it tells about Zechariah and Elizabeth. Of course there are always lots of questions: "Why did the angel talk to him?" "Why can he not talk now?" "Where is the angel?" "Can I see one?" And so on and so forth.

A while later Adam went and got his Bible story book and asked if he could read to me. Obviously he can't really read, he doesn't even recognize the letters of the alphabet. (Hey now, I know he's almost four but seriously, you try to get him to hold still long enough to learn even one letter. It's very, very difficult. I know they would tell me he has A.D.D. if he went to public school.) Anyhow, of course I said yes because I thought it should be very interesting. I was not disappointed.

So here is the Bible retold by Adam.

Adam and Eve

"They used to be able to pet the animals but then they were naughty and couldn't anymore."

Esther

"The guy said, 'What is this?' And then the lady said,'Have a drink of water and some fruit.' Then they got married and had their first kiss."

Daniel in the Lions Den

"The bad guys put Daniel in there and the lions ate him because they were hungry."

John the Baptist's birth Foretold

"Then the angel told the old guy to speak clearly."


Apparently it's been sinking in a little less than I thought. I think I am going to have to read these stories a little more often. Oh! I forgot to mention that there are little drawings with some of the stories and he gleaned a lot of his information from that. Such as Adam and Eve petting animals.