First of all, I must share a blog I found recently. A mom of 11 children answers questions about parenting, but it is far more valuable than it sounds. Her words are loving and thoughtful and her advice leaves me feeling capable, refreshed and more personally fulfilled in my role as Ian and Joseph's mom. (http://askingjane.blogspot.com/)

Next up, we had a lovely St. Patrick's day. We played at the Mercer Arboretum with some friends and ate lots of delicious green goodies. 

Ian loved all the big-kid equipment. My once-chubby baby no longer has tree trunks for legs -- see? He has calf muscles!

Joseph had a blast keeping up with Ian. So many fun thing to explore.

 I don't own much of anything green myself, but I planned the boys' green outfits two weeks in advance. This was especially silly since the park was covered in an inch of pollen and we had to change clothes after they went down a few slides and then wiped the green-colored goodies and sushi we brought for lunch all over their clothes. But for a two hour period, they were dressed festively.

Here the boys are running around with plastic lizards. Joseph sure loves those little "doggies".

Unrelatedly, Ian has been consuming a ton of yogurt lately. I blame the broken fridge lock. If Ian disappears for more than 3 minutes he has probably already consumed two containers of yogurt and is struggling with the lid on his third. On this occasion he had poured the yogurt into a muffin wrapper and gotten cozy at the window sill to eat it. I love how much he is able to do himself and that he likes to be independent and self-sufficient. Lately it isn't uncommon for him to wake up and dress himself (and eat some yogurt) all before Joseph and I get up in the morning.

BYU Basketball Game

A few weeks ago some friends invited us on a last-minute trip to Dallas for a BYU-TCU basketball game. We were so glad we went! Next time I will try to remember to pack diapers. I don't enjoy emergency grocery store expeditions in towns I am not familiar with.

The boys did great on the 4 hour drive. Joseph did a little sleeping and Ian filled up a notebook with car and truck stickers. The boys even held hands for a few minutes and invented what Ian calls the "car-seat game": Ian puts his leg up on the side of Joseph's huge rear-facing seat, and Joseph swats it off. Hours of fun. Meanwhile, Scott and I ate Cheetos as discreetly as possible in the front seat.(PS: White Cheddar Cheetos are almost as messy as their bright orange cousin.)

On our walk from the parking lot to the stadium Ian sat on Scott's shoulders with his arms flung out to the sides, exclaiming, "I am flying on my daddy's shoulders to a BYU basketball game!" Over and over. Obviously, for Ian it doesn't get much better than that. It was a giddy little site to behold. The throng of BYU families headed the same direction seemed to think he was cute too.

We haven't brought our children to a big sporting event since we took 6-month-old Ian to an Astro's game and I swore we wouldn't go back until Ian was four years old. I remembered that promise as we entered the stadium seconds before tip off. The noise was deafening and a person dressed in a giant, air-inflated referee suit was blocking our way. The boys looked nervous and then both instantly decided they liked it all. Phew!

They loved watching the players on the court from our decently-close seats. During half-time we went down to a railing right by the court and Ian slipped under the railing and actually stood on the court until we noticed. But I think the highlight for Ian was playing with Jeff Pew's touch screen phone during the last 15 minutes of the game. Joseph preferred to squirm around under the stadium seats and collect morsels of food. My inner germaphobe was finally at peace when Scott held him in the aisle for the rest of the game. Joseph seemed to prefer it too. It was past his bedtime by then.

The horn toad TCU mascot handed out lollipops and while Ian  ate his I asked him who he liked better, "The big frog who gives you lollipops, or Cosmo?" Ever loyal, Ian replied Cosmo. We were all sad Cosmo wasn't there that night. We would have loved to get a family picture with him.

But Ian did get to 'meet' a few of the players as they exited the stadium. Unfortunately the camera was on a weird setting, so this is the best photo I got. When a player came up to Ian to give him a high-five, Ian felt shy and pulled his hand back. So the player gave Ian a pat on his chest. Ian was very happy about this. [The player was actually none other than Jimmer Fredette. I was way impressed that he stayed around after the post game interviews and everything just to high-five all the fans that were hanging around.]

Nursery!

Today was Joseph's first day in nursery and as expected he waltzed right in and acted like he owned the place. He claimed a ride-on toy, ate everyone's leftover snacks, and even dished out a few swats on the head. But he also shared, knew all the songs, and seemed to enjoy interacting with his little peers.

I know all this because it was also my first day in nursery. I was asked to be one of two teachers for the youngest nursery and I think I will really enjoy getting to spend time with Joseph and his little friends (who are the adorable children of my friends). I don't get to spend much time with Joseph without his big brother around, so I think it will be a unique setting for me to get to enjoy being with Joseph.

I wanted to get some pictures of Joseph on his very first day but the camera couldn't be located until after church and after his 'fell asleep in the car and somehow woke up in my crib" nap. So the pictures I took were of a crabby, smooshed-faced little nursery-goer and mostly looked like this:

I just couldn't resist making Joseph wear the same outfit Ian wore on his very first day of nursery. Can you tell they are brothers? I don't think they look much alike. But notice how completely adorable both of them are!

Ian, November 2008       &      Joseph, March 2010