It's hard, being little.

I asked Gabe the other day why he didn't want to go outside and play with his neighborhood friends. This was his response...

"Because they all think I'm little, and that makes them hug me".

Poor thing.

Interview with your kids...

Gabe:
What makes Mommy happy? going to the store
What makes Mommy sad? when I'm sad, it makes you sad
How does Mommy make you laugh? like this (opens his mouth) (I have no clue)
Hold old is Mommy? 2
How tall is Mommy? this tall (with hands spanning about 2 feet)
What does Mommy like to do? play with toys
What is Mommy's job? going to paint (not sure)
What is Mommy's favorite food? spagetti (that's what we had for dinner)
How do you know Mommy loves you? alot - a one hundred of days

Sam:
What makes Mommy happy? When Luke smiles and laughs.
What makes Mommy sad? When I don't listen to you
How does Mommy make you laugh? tickling
Hold old is Mommy? 31 (he's right)
How tall is Mommy? this tall
What does Mommy like to do? tickle me
What is Mommy's job? cooking
What is Mommy's favorite food? apples (ha!)
How do you know Mommy loves you? she tells me

I'm tagging everyone reading this to do the same on your blog.

Sleepy Baby...and more

Ever since Luke was a newborn, he loved to be swaddled. I kept thinking that he would grow out of it, yet when I would try to put him down with out swaddling him, he would cry and cry, I would go in and wrap him and he would literally fall fast asleep in a minute. So we kept swaddling, and kept swaddling. We used the Miracle Blanket and he would rarely break out of it. This past week, when we go in to get him in the mornings, he has been breaking free. I decided to try putting him down again without swaddling him, just to see what he would do. He did great! He loves blankets right now, he would rather have a blanket to eat and play with than a toy, so I gave him his little nigh-night blankie and plopped the paci in and he was good to go. It's even more fun to go peek at him sleeping now, here are a few pics from the past few days. He is really under there, fast asleep... This last one cracks me up...this is really how I found him...

While I've already got a post going for the little guy, I'll just continue on with some more pictures of the cutie. When Sam was little, I was big time into Black and White photography. I did up this little collage of him...

My friend Christy coined it "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes." I've done a few for some of my good friends and, of course, did one for Gabe when he came along...

I'm sure you see where this is going! After I hung Gabe's up next to Sam's on the wall, I thought about how much fun it will be one day to have a wall with three hanging next to each other. I finished Luke's HSKT photo shoot a month ago. I've got the pictures edited and the frame under my bed. I just haven't actually put it all together. I've already got that special wall picked out in the new house where they will all be displayed together. We'll have to wait a few months to see the actual finished product, but for now, here is a little slideshow of some of the pictures I will use for Luke's collage, I still haven't decided which ones will make the final cut. I threw a few others in from the photo shoot that I probably won't use, but will frame separately....

I know this post is getting ridiculous, you don't have to keep reading, unless you are family, then you are required to go to the very end of this post! Not much more, I promise...

Here is a (nother) slideshow of some random pictures. Luke thinking he's all big sitting up, or rather, propping himself up. He could probably do it by now, but I'm not allowing him to sit up yet, he's already got two teeth, he needs to wait awhile before he really starts sitting. This is what happens with your third, you don't want them to do anything because you know once they start doing stuff, they won't stop. I know I'm fighting the inevitable, but I'm just not ready for him to do big baby stuff yet! He has also mastered "the airplane" move, which cracks me up. He loves the Johnny Jump-up and his big brother Gabe, who decided Luke was interesting enough to play with for a little bit last week while Sam was at VBS. He even wanted to feed Luke his bottle...for 2 seconds, but I got a picture of it. Luke got the shaft big time when Sam got home, but he enjoyed his time with Gabe on the couch, however fleeting it was.

Now I feel bad because there is no picture of Sam in this post, even though it's a Luke post, Gabe is represented, so now I feel Sam needs to be...

There, now I feel better.

Mom, Dad, good luck reading this post with all these slideshows flashing.

Now...I'm done.

Huh?

Last night, as I was cooking dinner amidst the barrage of questions from my 5 and 3 year old (I don't want that, can I have a cookie, I want the red plate, can I have chocolate milk, I don't want water), I finally broke down. I'd had it up to my eyeballs with all the complaining, whining and questions about food. You'd think I never feed them the way they beg for food, then, when they get it, it's not good enough or, they really weren't hungry. I stopped cooking and sat us all down in the middle of the kitchen floor for a little meeting. Here is how it went...

Me: Guys, I'm sick of all the complaining and whining about meals. We are going to go over our food rules again because this has to stop...talk, talk, talk, blah, blah, blah...So, whatever I put on your plate is what's for dinner. If you don't like it, fine, you don't have to eat it, but you aren't getting anything else, especially no dessert if you haven't eaten what is on your plate. Do you understand?

Boys: Yes (nodding their heads).

Me: Gabe (who is now spinning around on the floor) What did I just tell you?

Gabe: (emphatically) Don't splash water out of the tub!

...nice

Gabe

I took all of the boys to the Doctor today for Luke to get a little check up on his cough (he's fine). Gabe has been complaining that his back hurts so I asked him if he wanted to tell the Dr. about it. When he did, the Dr. asked him where on his back it hurt,

Gabe replied...

"behind me".

May Photo Shoot

Sweet Gabe

Me: Gabey, I love you so, so, so much...all the way to the sky and back.

Gabe: I love you so, so, so much Mommy...all the way to...the...airport.

Saturday morning at the Watson's

It's 12 and the boys have been in the kitchen ALL morning. We woke up at 8 and did something really crazy...we didn't turn the TV on! This is what they have done with a box full of cars...if you can, notice that the cars are all facing the same direction, with the exception of 3. If you know my kids, you know that Gabe had something to do with those 3. He probably switched them when Sam wasn't looking!

Then they pulled out the box with the Leggo train set and have proceeded to make the kitchen floor a train station. Since I took this picture, they have added a "thing that drops down coal" (Sam), "a big train tower that I'm building some stuff on it with lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of circles" (Gabe). I love their creativity, especially when they do it together so nicely!

A REAL Snow Day!

Forget all my other posts about snow...this one takes the cake! We had at least 3 inches of snow last night...it was beautiful! Saturday was a perfect day for a snow day since Neal was home, and he is much more fun playing in the snow than I am! He and the boys had a blast throwing snowballs at each other. Well, Gabe had a blast until Daddy nailed him in the face with one. After he was done crying, he told Neal with his little angry voice "I'm going to get you"! So Neal made him an extra big snowball and let Gabe throw it right at him! Sam never stopped smiling and laughing, he was totally into anything that Neal did. They slid down the hill in a Tupperware box and built a mean snowman. Gabe and I pooped out before the snowman, but we sang Frosty while we were eating lunch. When Neal and Sam came in a while later, they were both freezing. Luke slept through the whole thing of course, but I took a picture of him just to have it documented that he was here!

It was a lovely day!

To the Country

On Saturday, we went to our friend Elijah's birthday party. My friend Renee and I were pregnant with Gabe and Elijah at the same time and they were born two days apart. We have the same doctor and delivered at the same hospital, I actually walked down to her room when she was in labor and hung out for awhile since I was still in the hospital. Renee had the party at her dad's house, he lives out in the country on about 50 acres, so it was a perfect place for a party. It was a beautiful day (rare for Nashville this time of year) to be outside. They had tractors galore, dirt to dig in with buckets and shovels, goats running around, balls, soccer goals, rocks, mud and plenty of wide open space to run around. The boys had a blast...it was really boy heaven. Their favorite part was digging in the dirt and playing on the big tractors. I had so much fun with my camera...plenty of photo ops of my boys! Neal stayed home with Luke, so I was free to follow after Sam and Gabe and snap away. I promise there were other people at the party, most of the pictures are just of my kiddos.

Gabe's Birthday Party

Since Sam's birthday party in December, Gabe has been talking about what he wanted to do for his party. He decided awhile ago that he wanted to go bowling...so bowling we went! Franklin has a really nice bowling alley with a little kid size room with 6 mini lanes. We rented that out and had tons of fun bowling with all the kids. Gabe was very serious about his bowling, you'll notice that he isn't smiling in any of the pictures, he was really concentrating! He told me later that the bowling was his favorite part. Every time he was opening a present he would say "What is this could be?" It was great. On Saturday, his actual birthday, we went to another friends birthday party (more on that in my next post) and then Sam went to spend the night at a friends. So Gabe had Neal and I to himself (Luke was here but he still sleeps most of the time), we had a great time playing Candy Land, putting together puzzles and playing with all his new toys. It was really good for him to have some one on one time with us...and Sam had a blast at Tucker's...so everyone was happy.

Happy Birthday Gabe!

My little Punkin is 3 today! This is typically when a mom usually says "I can't believe he is already 3". I can't really say that in your case. It seems like you've been 3 for awhile, you are so grown up. You've always seemed older than you really are...I guess because you are always trying to keep up with your big brother. You are such a little sweetheart. You make me melt with your sweet smile every day. I love to watch you experiencing life. You do it so enthusiastically. You are a happy soul who loves to be around your friends and family. The other day at school, as we were leaving, you said good bye to everyone we passed and almost knew all of them by name! I love picking you up from school on Tuesdays and Thursday because you are always so excited to see me and give me the biggest hug. You love to tell me all about your day and to show me the fun things you have created, you are very serious about your artwork. You surprise me each day with the things that you are capable of doing and understanding. You love to be a helper, when I ask you to do something, you will always say "sure!" and run off to do it happily. I know that probably won't last, so I'm enjoying it now! You are very determined when you set your mind to doing something. You've just mastered putting your socks on yourself, every time you do it you say "perfect!" You are full of life, love, fun, joy and laughter...my sweet boy...you fill my heart each and every day of your sweet life. I look at you and see this precious little person who could not be more perfect. You make me laugh, you amaze me with your sweet, giving spirit. I could not possibly love you one bit more than I already do. You are a precious gift from God.

Happy 3rd Birthday Gabe, we love you so much!

This is how boys decorate cookies...

Christmas Program

I know you are all dying to hear about the boys Christmas Program today at school. I love watching my boys up on stage, standing there, staring out at all the parents occasionally singing a verse or two of the song their class is doing. The are adorable up there and I think they are for sure the cutest in their classes. I have to say, that watching all the other parents runs a close second to watching my cuties. I can't remember what movie, but I remember a scene at a school program with all the parents watching through their cameras and video cameras. That's what it was today. I turned around at some point and just had to laugh at all the cameras running and clicking away. Obviously, I was right there in the midst of them. I EVEN left my seat to go to the front of the aisle to get a better shot of Gabe, so I was laughing at myself as well. I have to say Gabe looked mighty cute in his Rudolph get up and Sam did a great job in his part of the 12 Days of Christmas. He held up the sign for 11 Pipers Piping and did a wonderful job! :) The last picture is of the priceless look on Sam's face when he finally spotted Neal and I in the audience. It sure does make my heart want to burst to see him so happy to see us!

Decorating the tree

We got the tree up and decorated last weekend and I am just now getting around to posting pictures. The boys were anxious to help, after a few broken ornaments and a couple of time outs, we finally got it done. The loaded all their ornaments on the same few branches, right at their level. I had to go back and re-distribute them later that day! Here are some pictures...

 

 

 

The boys

We had our annual Fall "photo shoot" the other day. I try to do this every year at this time to get a good yearly picture of each of the boys. I bribed them with a movie and marshmellows and they actually did pretty good. It's maddening trying to keep them still and to smile on command. It often doesn't work, but I always end up getting some great pictures of them. My favorites are the ones where they aren't smiling perfectly. Here are a few...

 

 

 

 

Gabe

 

 

 

 

Thanks for all your suggestions for Gabe's "issue". I've started a heavier daily regime, so hopefully we will make a dent! :)

On a lighter, less poopy note, Neal is taking Thursday and Friday off to continue working upstairs! Hopefully, after 4 full days of him being able to work, we will make some serious headway.

When I dropped the boys off at school today, Sam cried for the first time all year. He was ultra sensitive all morning, but has been fine this afternoon. I'm not sure what that was about, but I hate it when I leave either of them unhappy. Gabe is getting better at the drop off, but when I picked him up, his teacher said that he was upset most of the day (except when they were at gym). It kills me to hear that he didn't have a good day and my first thought is always, I just need to keep him home with me. I get over that really quick, because I know it does him good to be away from me and in that environment, but it still makes me so sad...big parts of my heart walking around in the big world without me...ugh!

a few more from the farm

I'm a Princess

*Gabe asked me this morning if I was a princess...I told him yes!

*When I asked him if he was thirsty, he replied with an enthusiastic "Yes, I sure are"!

*He calls corndogs...horndogs

*Helicopter is pronounced "ha-copper"

*When we ask him what Robin (Batman and Robin) says he replies "Holy Fart, Batman" (Holy heart faliure Batman)