Christmas card picture-attempt

Last Sunday, I attempted to dress-up both boys for church in hopes of getting some cute pictures by the tree to use for our Christmas card. It was alot harder than I thought it'd be. Ben wanted to hang his mouth open for every picture. Jack wanted to pout for the first 20 shots, and it goes on and on. We finally got a few that made it into a Christmas card. Here are the other attempts.

This is my favorite of them

This one makes me laugh.

Ben was sick of it by this point; falling back and squirming around.

Putting the tree Up - sort of

I really slacked this year and didn't take one picture of Jack decorating the tree. I took plenty of pictures after the fact with Jack and Ben in front of the tree and then later playing in their jammies.


Tree-trimming evening:
Trying to get them to pose together
A kiss from big brother.

Parallel play. Well, Jack is actually just laying, not playing.

Much to be Thankful For:

This year we spent our first Thanksgiving as a family of four. Sam is on-call so we had no company and couldn't travel. I made my first turkey and it was a great evening. Jack ate turkey like a champ, but didn't care for the mashed potatoes and dressing. Go figure.

Ben has the open-mouth look in most of these shots.

This is my favorite.

Sweet, sweet Jack

Once again, it's a Jack story. I heard 4-years-old was precious. I knew from personal experience that whatever goes through their minds, comes out of their mouth. So true with Samuel Jack.

Last night, I am sitting on the couch with Ben and my mood is downcast and quiet. I had just finished feeding him and it was a struggle. He is teething - again. The night before he'd been up on and off through the night crying and moaning, fussy all day and then topped it off with an extremely short nap in the afternoon (my break time). Jack notices right away that something is wrong and he asks, "Mommy, why are you sad? What's wrong with you?". I said, "honey, I'm just tired." He said, "Why don't you go lay down?". "I can't", I say. "Someone has to take care of the kids, especially Ben." He says, "I'll watch Ben for you. You go lay down and I'll watch Ben." God love his sweet little heart. He was so sincere wanting to give me a break. I love that boy.

More Bath Pictures

Ben has graduated from the baby bathtub and now sits like Jack. He loves smacking his hands down and splashing. He loves watching Jack, who is great to share all of his bath toys.

Ben's got little man boobs.

This is his, "I'm so cool" look.

I'm so dag-on cute and chunky.

Am I too big for this?

I had to run something across the street the other night and Sam was upstairs feeding Ben. I walk back in the house and find Jack buckling himself in to the bouncy seat. He had the insight to pull it over by the couch so that he wouldn't break it and it would support his weight.

Obviously he seems quite proud of himself.

Another Funny Jack Story

I'm volunteering in Jack's classroom yesterday and one of the teacher aides asks me if anyone told me about what Jack said at the fire station on Friday (a field trip to the Base fire station). I say, "no, I haven't heard". She then describes to me that the classes were all listening to a fireman talk and lots of other firemen were standing around. He asked, "Who would like to be a fireman when they grow up?" She said lots of little hands go up, but not Jack. After it quiets down a bit, he pipes up and says, "When I grow up I want to be a stay-at-home-dad!" Apparently he said it with lots of gusto. She said the firemen were shocked and then tickled to death. That's my boy.

8-months-old

Ben is 8-months-old and it just doesn't seem possible. Time is going so fast, only four short months and he's 1! He is doing great with fine motor skills and problem solving. He doesn't have any interest in crawling and he still doesn't seem to realize he can't throw himself backwards when sitting up. The paranoid mama I am still puts pillows behind and beside him when he's sitting and playing. Below, there's a video of his great fine motor skills. He has a nice pointer and thumb grasp and gets puffs in his mouth about 90% of the time. He has been so happy lately, no teeth currently working their way in...but we know they're coming. No rest for the weary.

Happy Ben - flying through the air!

(Thanks Shesha for emailing it to me:)

More Superman Hair

Our neighbors, Matt and Rachel, took these pictures of Jack. They're great, he makes a great superman!

Trick or Treat!

Halloween night! Ben was a white Tiger and Jack was Superman. Ben was not too happy about his costume at first as you will see. Jack stopped people while trick-or-treating, they were very impressed with his "superman hair". We had a great time with all of our neighbors. We have a fantastic neighborhood!

Trying to get Ben and Jack together before trick-or-treating. Ben isn't liking it.

Jack appears to be "laying hands on Ben" and praying about it.

Posing with Andrew who started the night out as a dinosaur, but when he saw Jack as Superman, he had to go in and change into Superman as well. Love his heart.

Sweet Ben didn't have a clue what on earth was going on. All these crazy people dressed up runnin' around. Insanity!

Blurry because they're on the move!

Okay, this is my award-winning picture of the night. This was a talking rock and I caught Jack's reaction when it started talking to him. I don't know what it said, but this cracks me up.

Ben trying to understand it all.

My friend, Lynsi, from MOPS lives in our neighborhood and her son dressed as spiderman. Here they are posing together. These make me laugh as well. Jack is a trip. Every year for Halloween, he does not disappoint with playing the part of whatever he's dressed up as.

We finally just started carrying Ben because he was warmer that way. He was such a good sport. Never complained once.

Here is Andrew changed into his Superman get up. He and Jack are good buds.

I had Sam take this so we could get a good look at the Superman hair.

After the fun was over...

Showing the tail on his "costume".

Oh, and the blue glasses have been passed down...