Stay-cation

We all enjoyed the vacation days Scott took earlier this week. We can't remember a time where we ever took days off of work to just sit around and hang out at our own house, without any company, but it was a wonderful success. We did all kinds of relaxing, eating, going to favorite parks, and the boys even caught the drift and started sleeping until 8 a.m. It was glorious.

It has been about 40 degrees during the day here lately. I am sure you can image how it pains a mother to see her two year old running around in that weather wearing a short-sleeve shirt. But if you have known many two-year-olds, you can probably imagine how it happened that he was wearing short-sleeves.

 Joseph loved the teeter-totter. Isn't it cute how Ian's head is peeking out from behind?

We ate pizza at our favorite park, and then left the box nearby while we played. We returned to find some very grateful squirrels.

 One of my favorite things about his park is the lazy-boy swings. And one of my favorite things about Ian is that he loves to wear anything belonging to Daddy.

Joseph loves to be swung high. He laughed and laughed and was so sad when it was time to go.

We also made a return trip to 7 Acre Wood and the boys were in heaven. I was thrilled that we were the only people on the entire 7 acre property, the entire time.

 

There are balls of all kinds strewn across the property and miniature football goal posts, basketball hoops sand volleyball nets around too. Here Scott is setting Ian up to kick a field goal.

Ian showed the animals the football. I had been really excited to hang out in the petting zoo part, but a nasty ram kept hooking Scott's legs with it's horns, so we skipped it. At least the horses, donkeys, fawns, sheep and mules were nice. 

 

 Scott beat me at a game of tether ball. Joseph then played with the incredible ball-on-a-string for at least 10 minutes.

The boys and I had some adjustments to make when Scott went back to work. It is still evident who the fun parent is and we can't wait to play some more this weekend!

A Merry Christmas

My great-grandma began a tradition of making matching stockings for each of her grandchildren. My mom then made them for us, and for our first Christmas as newlyweds I made one for Scott. They are kind of a lot of work! Thankfully my mom considers it a grandma's job and made stockings for each of the boys.

This was our very first Christmas celebrated as just our little family. We sure missed our loved ones spread across the country but enjoyed starting a few new Larson Family traditions.

We started a Christmas morning tradition of eating a picnic breakfast upstairs. The boys didn't sense the urgency and enjoyed an unusually leisurely breakfast, taking turns rocking themselves over in their boosters and laughing over spilled milk. We finally just dragged them over to the staircase to see what they were missing downstairs.

Ian starting to realize that something had happened downstairs...

Joseph made a bee-line for his stocking and plucked out a dish scrubber. For him, that is about where Christmas began and ended, and he was entirely satisfied. How on earth did Grandma know? Bizarre. Here he is saying "Whoa...!"

Ian was delighted to finally open a present, after it had been forbidden for the last several weeks (especially the package of marshmallow roasting spears for Scott that Ian Would. Not. Leave Alone.)This was a bubble mower that his Daddy picked out. Ian dragged that thing all over the house in the box until we finally opened it.

Driving a "Life is a Highway" car all over the rug. Is any little boy not obsessed with Lightning McQueen?

Joseph was finally coerced into opening a present. Ian on the other hand began opening present willy-nilly until we finally reigned him in and explained that he could only open presents with I-A-N on them.

The aftermath.

We learned some lessons this year:

* It feels like Christmas as soon as you eat a Hillshire Farms sausage on crackers.

* It feels like a really good Christmas when your wonderful husband makes sure you have See's Candies all the way out in Houston.

*If you tell Ian not to divulge what people are getting for Christmas, he will say "Hey Mom! Mom! Shhh.... a pillow.... sshhh... and shoes...it's a 'stuprize' on Christmas Day, Mommy". True to his word, he gave me a pillow and shoes.

*If you are used to celebrating Christmas Eve dinner with lots of family and friends who usually contribute side dishes, but you decide to have Christmas dinner just as a family, you may sit down to dinner before you realize that you have only prepared a ham and rolls and that no sides have materialized.

*If you decide to buy ingredients for Christmas Day dinner at the very last second and you decide to bring along two toddlers with you, you may forget a few ingredients. And they might possibly be vital ones, such as the tostada shells and chicken. So then you just eat leftover ham on leftover rolls and your good friends forgive you.

*If you don't buy enough scotch tape, your presents will end up looking like this beauty, wrapped in blue painters tape:

Scott's presents for me needed no tags -- the blue painters tape was a giveaway.

And lastly, if you have such a relaxing, lazy, holiday week that you can take two naps in one day, you may end up so rested you can't sleep at night so you get up at midnight to blog about the holidays. Now that is a sign of a good vacation!

Hope you had a Merry Christmas too!

Family Pictures

Here are a couple of my favorites from our first-ever family pictures. They were taken at a local park, the day after it snowed -- it was so cold! We watched someone land a model airplane in a tree over the pond, and the whole scene created when they tried to climb the tree and remove it, then paddle a kayak across the pond to fish it out was quite a distraction to Ian and Joseph. But Koni is wonderful and I am thrilled with how the pictures turned out. When Ian first saw the pictures he was confused about Koni not being in any of the pictures.

Hopefully we won't wait four more years to get them done again...

Meeting Santa

Santa paid a visit to our ward Christmas party earlier this month, and when Ian heard Santa was giving out treats he wanted to go meet him. We hadn't mentioned Santa yet to our kids, so while in line we gave Ian a quick explanation. He seemed to think the whole thing was strange, but was still eager to go get some candy.

We told him he could give Santa some ideas about what to bring for Joseph. I was surprised Ian wasn't nervous or hesitant about this at all as he is usually shy and unpredictable with strangers. And when the 2 kids in line in front of Ian screamed and cried and never made it onto Santa's lap I figured Ian would follow suit. Instead, Ian hopped up on Santa's lap and immediately declared "Please bring a book for Joseph".

Joseph on the other hand refused to turn his back on Santa. He stared Santa in the face and refused to turn for the camera. A fair response to a stranger covered in white hair.

We've been sick lately, which means that we've spent more time than usual wearing only cowboy boots and underpants and staying indoors.

It snowed a tiny bit and Scott was sent home from work at noon.

So we ate cookies for lunch and enjoyed his company.

Joseph threw his on the floor, and Scott threatened a timeout. Joseph, having never experienced a timeout before but having witnessed many, many of Ian's timeouts, burst into tears.

Ian disappears frequently these days. He has reattached himself to binkies, and will sneak off to "eat" one. Here, he set up shop with his "friends" in our bathtub.

Joseph loves to climb in this chair and read to himself. He loves cats, and has a specific little laugh he uses when he opens to a page with a cat picture on it.

We set up our tree and the boys went nuts during their rare time in the "grown-up room". And now they are mesmerized each day when the automatic timer turns the tree lights on at 3:30 pm.They stand with their toes just hanging over the edge of the forbidden carpet and stare.

Unconnected Updates

I forgot to add to the last post that Ian always says the same thing when Scott asks him what he did that day:  He says "It's been a pretty good day so far." And it's always said in Ian's deep daddy voice.

Joseph began feeding himself with a spoon. It started back in October and he has gotten fairly good at the 'dip method' of spoon feeding.

Ian got his first professional haircut. Scott is excellent with a pair of clippers but since Ian gets hysterical every time we try to cut his hair, we decided we would try a new approach. He still looked nervous, but Scott said Ian looked like he knew he couldn't pull his usual haircut stunts at Snippits, so the haircut was accomplished without a hitch.

 Ian made this adorable turkey at preschool. He wore that 'Indian headband' non-stop for a week.

If there is a gate up, the grass must be greener on the other side. Even though all the toys are right behind them.

Even though we don't have any photo documentation to prove it, we had a fun Thanksgiving in the home of our  Fake Texas Family, The Linfords. We celebrated the last 3 Thanksgivings and many Independence days, Easters and a few Labor days with them too. Scott made 2 apple pies by request again this year. They turned out beautifully.

The Boys

While driving around town we nearly hit a van that ran a red light. Ian was thrilled by the near miss -- "Mommy! Did you totally almost squashed that van?"

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Scott teaches Ian all kinds of Russian words. And Ian loves it when Scott prays at dinner time in Russian. Recently Ian has started to pray in "Russian" himself -- only it begins "Dear Heavenly Father", then shouting a bunch of Russian-sounding gibberish, and then closes the prayer in English. To a non Russian speaker like me, he actually sounds pretty convincing!

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Ian loves garbage trucks and thinks garbage men are all powerful. If you tell him he isn't allowed to do something he'll say "You can't say no to me! I'm the garbage man!" and proceeds to do what I told him not to.

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When I pulled a frozen pizza out of the oven tonight Joseph began jumping up and down and making a very intense little face, while shouting "Mommy! Mommy!" and scrambling toward his high chair. I have never seen a kid who loves food quite like Joseph does. He regularly eats 2 adult servings or more at dinner time, especially when rice or pasta is involved. Ian on the other hand has forsaken dinner all together.
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I explained to Ian that the center of a peach is called a pit, and we don't eat it. Now whenever he has eaten a few bites of something (pretzel stick, banana, sandwich) and then decides he is full (because he is a toddler and practically lives on air alone), he declares that the remainder is "The pit! I can't eat anymore because it's the pit!"
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When Scott went to Africa recently, Ian seemed a little insecure, especially when I left him at preschool. When I picked him up he met me at the door and excitedly told me, "I cried in the window when you were gone. I was crying about you!" It's nice to be cried about sometimes, especially when someone tells you about it so enthusiastically.

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Ian: "I want a potty treat marshmallow."

Me: "Okay, let's go put some potty in the toilet."

Ian: Appears to be weighing the pros and cons..."Never mind", and walks away.
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Today Ian recited the entire Pledge of Allegiance, including the word "indivisible". Our preschool class began "saying" the pledge while waving mini flags twice a week, about a month ago, but Ian had never uttered a word of it until today when he spit the whole thing out.

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When Ian gets into something he shouldn't, he tells me to go outside, or to another house, presumably so I won't be able to watch him while he commits the crime.

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Mosquitoes are out in abundance lately and the boys and I have quite a few bites. The boys have never seemed to notice them before, but this morning I found Ian sitting in his crib with his pjs' unzipped and scratching a large bite on his chest. He said "I am just scrubbing it and scrubbing it!

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Joseph is enthusiastic about food and has recently learned to say 'Eat! Eat!" while doing the sign for 'eating'. Until now I had no idea how frequently Joseph was hungry! He also says 'new-no' for noodle, and anything else that I cook in the noodle pot. He loves eating whole apples and bananas, but only if they still have the peel on and pulled back.

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At bedtime Scott says Joseph held a calculator up to his ear and said what sounded just like "Hey buddy! I love you!" He also frequently says "hey-o" while pretending to talk on the phone.
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We talked about forgiving others a few months ago and since then Ian will say out of the blue, "Mom do you forgive the gold car? I forgive the gold car." We drive a gold colored car, but I have no idea why it needs to be forgiven.
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I say "Oh!Yucky! Blech!" when Joseph touches something germy. Recently Joseph has been mimicking it. When he touches the garbage can or picks up food off the ground he shakes his head and makes a sound like he is clearing phlegm from his throat.

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Ian and Joseph have matching spaceship PJs. The first time they wore them I dressed Joseph in his room and then brought him into where Scott was dressing Ian. Ian looked at his PJs, then at Joseph's and then ran over next to Joseph and said "Cheers pajamas!" while he bumped Joseph's hip with his own hip.

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Fun with Friends

My childhood buddy, college roommate and dear friend Diana came to visit. I hardly stopped talking and smiling for 7 days straight. And we relived the college days by staying up until 2 am nearly every night. But it turns out we aren't as young as we used to be, and talking the night away isn't as fun when your babies wake up bright and early. (But still totally worth it.)

She is so much fun. And wouldn't you know it, her one year old son is about the cutest thing I have ever seen. Here is some proof:

Indy is 5 weeks older than Joseph. They stuck together all week and copied each others every move.

Feeding three hungry toddlers at once was tricky. So we perfected the trough technique. It was a big hit.

Especially for hollow-leg Joseph.

Ian adored Indy too. One afternoon he even said "I want that Indy. I want to hold him."

We miss you Diana and Indy! Come back soon!

Preschool Update

Ian's preschool has been going for several months now and he loves it. He is learning all about letters, the sounds they make, colors, sharing and sitting still for more than 3 seconds. He also became a much cleaner eater overnight -- he now is allowed to wear clothes when he eats! He can even say small snippets of the Pledge of Allegiance. Most of all he is becoming more comfortable interacting with his peers and seems to be feeling more independent. I think Joseph is also enjoying his claim on 2 hours with mom all to himself.

I just finished my 3 weeks of teaching. On the last day we took a field trip to a local pumpkin patch and petting zoo. The pumpkins didn't interest the kids at all, and the animals only kept Ian's attention for a moment. He definately did not want to feed the animals any hay.

But this farm had zeroed in on the fantasy of every preschool boy -- balls, trucks, tractors and boats. They had footballs scattered all over the 7 acres, as well as dozens of minature and full-sized tractors for the kids to climb on and ride. Notice the football stowed on the backseat.

 There was even an old speedboat the kids could steer.

Joseph had a great time chasing the chickens...

 ... touching pumpkins....

 ... crawling under fences...

... and riding on the back of the stroller ("like a garbage man" as Ian puts it) .
 

We will definately go back. I had a great time watching the kids -- they would be playing on something and then spot another tractor or ball or slide out of the corner of their eye, run over there and play with it for a split second before they spotted some other fun thing and run over to it instead. They were in heaven.