Advent Program

Tonight we had our church's Advent dinner and kids' Christmas program. Yay for getting ready for Christmas!

Rowan was in the program this year. He was a star. An adorable, sparkly, gold star.  A sparkly gold star that fiddled with his crown the entire time and sat down when he wasn't supposed to. 

At one point Rowan and the little boy to his right were sitting down when a little girl star turned to them and said, "Stand up, you NEED to stand up!" As we were leaving, Rowan pointed to her and said, "That little girl said mom words to me. I don't halfta listen to her." Perhaps I use the phrase 'you're not the mommy' a bit too much.

O' Christmas Tree: 2011

We had a lot of family fun today getting our house ready for Christmas today. The boys were really into helping this year.... almost to the point of being too helpful.

Getting ready to move the chairs around to fit in the tree.

Sitting on the Christmas tree box.

Rowan playing with the Little People Nativity set.

Cruz wanted to help Roger straighten the branches but didn't like the way they felt at first. 

"I did it!"

Roger is enjoying all the help.

I let the boys unpack and set up the Nativity set. This cracked me up. I love all the people shoved inside, the animals laying dead in front and Baby Jesus in the stall.

Roger and I came into life together with tons of special ornaments to decorate our tree and we want that for our boys too so they get a special ornament each year. Rowan got a soccer player this year to commemorate his first year of soccer. Cruz's ornament represents the fun and laughter he brings to Rowan and Cooper.

I love how he's holding a fist full of candy canes and his cup. His shirt was a hand me down from Rowan and is a bit small. :)

DONE! You can see the tree in the background.

Train Ride

We bribed the kids with a train ride in the park today. They delivered on their end of the bargain so we enjoyed a Christmasy ride complete with candy canes. Any idea what they did to earn their train ride? Do the matching sweaters and fancy hair give you any hints? :)

**You were right. The boys cooperated so nicely while we took some Christmas card photos... I can't wait to share. :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a fabulous day today counting our blessings together. Roger and I came up with all sorts of fun "traditions" for us to start as we celebrate Thanksgiving with our little clan.

Our day started out with church. In all my Thanksgivings, I have never once attended church since we've always been out of town visiting extended family. Rog and I decided that this was a must to add into our family's celebration. Rowan and Cruz were about as thrilled as they look. There was no nursery or Sunday School for them to enjoy.

Rowan took a little quiet time and then the three of us played a couple rousing games of Candyland while Cruz napped. Rowan honestly won both times.

There was A LOT of soccer playing going on in the house today. The boys love nothing better than to get Daddy to play with them.

I cooked my first turkey and it turned out great. The little boys enjoyed using placemats that Rowan made at preschool.

We decided that watching a Christmas movie right before bed would be a fun way to usher in the Christmas season. We watched Frosty the Snowman. I think it would be fun to watch a different movie every year. :)

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We are so thankful for all of our amazing family and friends. In the words of Psalm 126:3 (our current memory verse with the kids): The Lord has done great things for us and we are filled with JOY.

Thanksgiving Program

Oh, the cuteness! This morning Rowan had his preschool Thanksgiving program. Rowan looked adorable in the two numbers he performed in.

I really wasn't sure if Rowan would be on of the kids performing and singing loudly or one of the kids standing still and staring out at the audience. With Rowan, you just never know. I was so proud that he was one of the singers who looked like he was having a blast while performing.  Rowan is in the way back being blocked by a girl in a pilgrim outfit. Roger and I thought that Rowan should have been up front.... :)

The lighting was so dark so the videos aren't great and I got one decent photo but I'm glad we captured the memories. Cruz sat like an angel on Roger's lap during the performance and delighted in pointing out his "Wowy" (pronounced like Rowy with a W). Rowan is second to the end in this one. Listen to him hit the microphone at one point as a result of his exuberant performing. :)

Brothers Videos

I love to compare Rowan and Cruz at similar ages and see the differences in their personalities. There are quite a few. They do share a few things in common like their love of trains and cars, their love of spaghetti, their love of books and their love of playing at the park. Cruz has recently mastered most of his body parts and when I came across this video of 19 month old Rowan doing his body parts, I just had to share.

Rowan is definitely a more verbal child than Cruz. Cruz uses words to get what he needs not just for the sake of using them like his brother. Rowan delights in all things orderly while Cruz delights in messing everything up. While both boys have their wound up silly times, Cruz definitely leads those times at our house. He has also taught Rowan the art of screaming and hitting, no joke.

Cruz has amazing motor skills. He can make amazing lego towers and can throw and kick as good as kids twice his age. He has amazing power and accuracy. Rowan has a memory like a steel trap and can remember crazy things. Poor Cooper has endured a lot of between the two boys. See him licking at the carpet? That's a nervous habit stemming from living with two boys three and under. :)

These little boys are such blessings. I love watching them grow and I love that they are each uniquely and wonderfully made.

Joy

Joy:

the giggles of two little buddies swinging on their bellies

the warm sunshine on my face on a coolish fall day

the cracker smeared faces of two toddlers on the bench next to me

the blessing of each afternoon with my boys, most of them spent at this park

-fun conversation with a best friend

This is how I spend my afternoons. Blessed? I'd say so.

A Dose of Cuteness

I know the video is dark but the combination of the Elmo jammies and precious little toddler voice were just too cute to share. "I did it!" is a commonly used Cruzy phrase these days. I like it much better than him constantly yelling, "dat no nice" at Rowan. :)

Quiet Time Boxes

Rowan gave up consistently napping a few months ago and we went to a quiet time instead. He was allowed to play quietly in his room with trains or blocks or whatever during that time. Quietly playing to a three year old and quietly to me are apparently worlds apart so I had to come up with another strategy to buy myself an hour of kid free time each afternoon. I browsed Pinterest and found the idea of Quiet Time Boxes. 

Here are Rowan's. A special box for each day of the week. 

The box holds special games, learning activities and books that Rowan can play with for the hour that he's resting quietly on his bed.

Since today is Wednesday, I thought I'd share with you what inside his Wednesday box. There are pattern blocks and wooden cards, several matchbox cars and wooden road signs, small number puzzles, a book he can read to himself and a few other small books to look at.

Some of the things in his other boxes are mini light brite, a flashlight, a calculator, pretend coins and a small bank to put them in, noodles and string for necklaces, a whiteboard and markers and magnetic letters. I plan on switching the stuff out every couple of months but the nice thing is that since he only uses each box once a week, he doesn't get too bored too quickly.

I also give him a bright red finger painting tray to give him a special work space. On Saturdays and Sundays he gets to bring our ipod touch in his room and play games on that as a special quiet time treat. 

So far, this method has worked amazingly well. I no longer make 80 trips to his room to remind him to be quiet and there is no more arguing about going to quiet time either. He is so excited to get his box each day. Yay for well rested children and their well rested mother. Oh, and double yay for Pinterest.

Brothers 45/52

I forgot to post this picture this weekend!!! 

Mushiness... Beware

**Warning: long, mushy post. :)

Ever since I was a little girl I knew that I wanted to be a mom. I couldn't wait to grow up and have kids. When you get married and prepare for that part of your life, you don't really think that it won't go as you planned. At least I didn't. After starting a family didn't go quite as we thought it would I felt so hopeless and discouraged. I was so scared that my dream of being a mom wasn't going to come true. Roger and I spent a lot of time in praying for what seemed impossible to us to become a reality.

Rowan and Cruz are such true, beautiful miracles to us. They were perfectly created and given to US. God chose US to be their parents. Sometimes that fact is more than my heart can handle and I get all mushy gushy about it. The love of God has never felt so real to me as when I look at my sweet, perfect, amazing little boys. Sure they drive me crazy most days (haha) but they are a constant reminder of God's grace in my life. I am beyond blessed to be called "mommy" by these two little boys.

Cruz Emerson: 19 months

Our sweet little Cruz is 19 months old today. He is completely into big boy activities. He loves the playground, playing trains and is starting to enjoy books more and more. He now reads bedtime stories in bed with Rowan and actually sits through them. Cruz is chatting quite a bit and has added some phrases to his vocabulary. Some of the most used ones are: "here ya go," "dat no nice," and "i la you, Mommy." He continues to have really good manners and says, "thank you, Mommy," sometimes better than his big brother. :) Cruz can identify his main body parts and is, in fact, showing us his head in the photo. I am really enjoying having two bigger more independent boys around. It sure makes leaving the house a breeze! Size wise, Cruz is a peanut but his personality more than makes up for his size.

I also want to say Happy Birthday to the best mom and grammy in the world. My mom is the most selfless person I know and spends each and every day serving others. I can only hope to be as amazing of a mother and woman as she is.

Yay, Rowan!

Rowan was moved up to the next level in his swimming lessons. He was pretty excited to get his certificate. He has the same swim coach as he did in level 4 and she is such a blessing to Rowan. She helps him overcome fears in the exact way he needs and she makes swimming so much fun.

It's a good thing that Rowan has such an encouraging teacher because level 5 is tough. Rowan was working on endurance in the front stroke, coming up for a breath every three strokes, and the learning the movements for the backstroke. I think he was pretty overwhelmed but he was smiling the whole time. The other two boys in Rowan's class are 5. He looked so tiny standing next to them. We'll see how it goes.....

Trick or Treat 2011

Its safe to say that we had the most fun trick or treating this year than any year before. We went with two other families that we've been going with since Rowan was a baby. The kids group started out as just Rowan and Brayden and has now expanded to include Cruz, Logan and his little brother Caleb and Brayden's baby brother Camden. Six little boys. :)

Rowan the train engineer

Cruzy the hedgehog

The sweetest brothers in the world.

It was so exciting to have Grammy and Grampy here this weekend to join in on the festivities. We packed so much into our visit this weekend and the boys had the best time. They were so genuinely happy. Its so special to have an entire weekend of fun together- we are literally together every minute. Anyway, back to trick or treating. :)

In our group of kids, Cruz is kind of the odd one out. He definitely can't keep up with Rowan and Brayden, he can't quite keep up with 2 year old Logan and he's not a little baby like Camden and Caleb. He ended up lagging behind a bit but that's okay because he was happy to trick or treat with Grammy and Grampy. 

Rowan, big surprise, was the leader of our trick or treating pack. He excitedly yelled "trick or treat" at each door. He was very polite in thanking people for the candy too. The boys hauled in quite a bit of candy. I may or may not be sneaking a few pieces as I write this post. ;)