Has is really been almost the entire summer without a post....er wait, yes it has and I know that because I am reminded EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. I see my father :)
This one's for you papa!
Summer was supper busy and fun. We were up north most weekends hanging out with family and having lake time. Mark went on a couple of week long business trips (wah wah) so I would scurry up to my parents' house for some extra help. We also had an amazing family vacation to Utah to visit Mark's brother and wife and their little man, Theodore. We had an absolute blast! They were amazing hosts (except for Luke and some of the smells he provided us with) and showed us a great time. We climbed mountains (with the kiddos on our backs...which is no small feat when they are all brutes of boys that actually look/weigh the same as small men...and we even got to see two MOOSE! So cool. (Sorry Luke that you didn't get to see that first one...it was really cool....wish you could've kept up with us).
Feez-a-bam-beez
Theo was not too impressed with his Momma given Benny some loves!
On our way out to Utah, as we were taking off in the plane for the first time with both of our boys, Jackson excitedly yelled out "MOMMY! This tickles my BUM BUM!!" I still can't write that without laughing. He was so excited and just so matter-o-fact :) The people around us also thought it was quite funny.
Playing at the splash pads on base
Benny fell asleep for both flights and J kept busy with the ipad and his magazines. They both did great and made it a lot of fun to share the experience with.
Luke and Theo made us some amazing buffalo wings in his deep fryer!
Going for a ride!
Our vacation was our last little 'hurrah' for the summer and we got down to business when we got home. Both Mark and Jack needed to get ready to start up school. Mark has two night classes per week and Jack has started preschool two days/week. I still can't believe we have a preschooler....if I think about it for too long I start to sniffle about it, so let's move on.
Everyone getting suited up!
THE MOOSE!!!!
Jackson has been hillarious lately (is he every not?! must get his humor from me;) He is really into giving me the biggest kisses/hugs "i have ever seen". And who wouldn't want that?! He is also really into singing and LOVES to sing/dance along to the album by fun.. He even knows most of the words to the song 'we are young' and requests it now for bedtime by calling it the 'second I, I" song :)
Another crazy little tidbit: Jackson can use so many new vocab words...ones that I don't even always use. Example: he perfectly used the word 'stabilization' the other day to describe something his crane needed to help with. Other crazy words that crack me up (mind you, from our just-turned-3, three year old) that he is using perfectly in sentences:
perhaps
necessary
(I know there are more, I just can't think of them right now!)
Benny boy is also growing up into such a big boy! We are able to have full conversations with him and understand most words he says. He loves to read books and play with his brother. Each day when we drop Jack at school, Benny gets so sad to leave him and just cries out his name when we get into the car and he see's the empty car-seat. Makes my heart just ache.
Ben loves to wear his 'tenn-eees' (tennis shoes) and will have a full meltdown if not given that right. Speaking of meltdowns, Benaiah is completely different in the area of discipline than Jackson was/is. Ben will put himself into time out if we tell him too. He will walk over to the designated area and just slump his head and shoulders down while quietly sobbing. Seriously. I can hardly keep him in there for a full minute! He feels completely terrible for his offense and just wants to be out. This one has me completely wrapped around his finger and I need to never let him figure it out!
And here we are today...playing super hero's and flying around to save the day. Please let us know if you are ever in danger and need some saving....I have two boys who would come to your rescue in a hurry!
Here are more Utah photos...
Fee was not too impressed with my camera :)
Another day hike...this time on a 'spider infested' island! Thankfully, I never spotted a single spider.
