Good Morning!

Noah likes to go get Sam from his crib when he wakes up in the morning. He can't get him out of course (although Noah can, apparantly, get Sam out from his high chair - that was a surprise the other day), but he goes into his room and talks to him for awhile. Noah will chat away and his little brother will respond with the occasional "yeah!" The other day I was listening to my boys talk to each other and after a few minutes I went in to join them. I found Noah and Sam sitting in the crib next to each other, swinging their legs through the railings. Noah gestured to Sam and said, "Mama, this is my friend, Nut. He's my friend." Melt my heart why don't you.

This little routine has been going on for quite some time at our house. Here is a picture from September with Noah climbing up to join his little bro in the morning.

Often, Noah will try to occupy Sam by giving him toys and books to play with. When I come into the room, I'll find that every single toy and book in the bedroom is piled into the crib. Sam is always as happy as can be to be completely surrounded by fun things to do.

Snip Snip

Babies and haircuts are not a good combination. At least not in my experience. Noah was a bit easier than Sam however. Noah's first haircut wasn't fun, but once we discovered his love for suckers, haircuts were downright pleasant. Suckers, however, make a haircut even more disasterous in Sam's case. Unlike Noah, who would keep a sucker in his mouth until it was completely gone, Mr. Messy makes eating a sucker a very sticky, messy, hair-filled (if given at the time of a haircut) experience. After Sam's first haircut didn't work out so well, we decided to try Snipitz, a child-specific hair salon. It was a little bit better, but still not great. Pictures from my phone (which explains the poor quality - my apologies):

Not a happy camper

Momentarily distracted

All done - that's better!

And here is a picture with Daddy after the haircut drama:

Ben and his boys

In contrast to Sam, Noah actually loves to get his haircut (rather, he tolerates it happily knowing he will get a sucker afterward). Especially now that Ben cuts it at home. This picture is from October, after his first buzz cut. I love buzzes on little boys.

Oblivious

Sam doesn't much care, nor does he take notice, that the lens is missing on one side of his sunglasses.

Mr. Messy

Don't let the above pictures (taken in October) fool you. Sam is, hands down, the messiest eater I have ever seen. I'm sure that 30 seconds after this picture was taken he had managed to turn his goldfish into paste which ended up in his hair, in his belly button, and in all the crevices of his seat. Because that would just be... so Sam. I love the child to pieces, but good gracious! I probably spend several hours a week wiping down his high chair (not to mention his body and his clothes!).

Below you will see a more accurate, albeit mild (seriously), representation of His Messiness.

March Book Review

It is my understanding that, as a female, I should like Jane Austen books. So I feel like a bit of a traitor to my gender. I'm sorry, but this book was boring. Slow and boring. I kept a mild interest in the outcome so I trudged through it to the end, but it took me forever and I really did feel like I was reading against my will. And I realize that people spoke more formally in Ms. Austen's time, but still. That formally? With their own sisters and mothers? I kept wanting to scream, "Stop talking like that!" And while I did catch a lot of the author's humor, wit and irony (which I enjoyed), I found myself constantly having to re-read paragraphs to understand what had just been said. Maybe it's just not the kind of book you can read with constant distractions around you (in the form of two little boys). I don't know. But I wasn't really a fan. Sorry gals. Maybe I'll like the movie better.

I do feel I ought to give Jane Austen another try with Pride and Prejudice. I hear that's her best book. But after that I'm done. You've got one more shot, Lady.

As a bit of an aside, I recently saw the Jane Austen Book Club and really liked it. Worth a rental if anyone's interested.

Houston Zoo

On Tuesday we went to the Houston Zoo with some friends. Noah, who pretends to be an elephant every day (all day) and even insists on being referred to as "elephant," was very excited to see this elephant statue. He also enjoyed the real elephants, of course.

Sam wasn't very clear on the purpose of the monkey backpack I bought for him. He kept wanting to hold the tail himself. So much for keeping him from running off!

That's more like it...
Obviously, if there is a carousel we must ride it. Surprisingly, Noah chose the tiger over the elephant. Sam refused to ride on anything. Party pooper.

Pretending to be an elephant... One of these days I'll have to catch this on video. It's actually very funny because while he's walking around on all fours he shouts out orders like the captain of the elephant brigade on Jungle Book. "Forward... MARCH!"
My friend Laurie and her little guy Benson:

Easter Pictures

The Easter Bunny was very kind to my boys this year (as were their Grammie and Grampie!):

Noah wasted no time at all digging into his easter eggs and finding the jelly beans.

This Pound-A-Ball toy is the biggest hit - seriously, everyone should go buy it. It continues to provide hours of entertainment for both my boys. Best $15 the Easter Bunny ever spent!

Noah figuring out his new "computer."

A proud Noah after finding all the easter eggs (which he found way too quickly - apparently I seriously underestimated the boy's hide-n-seek abilities).

My handsome little guys in their Easter outfits.

Family pictures before church.

Happy Easter!

I Could Get Used to This

With the markets closed yesterday, Ben had the day off work. It's been so great having an extra weekend day. Often times, I feel like we don't really get weekends because Saturday gets so busy with yard work and getting stuff done and then Sunday is always really busy with meetings and church and choir. But yesterday we were able to get yard work done and actually relax as a family. Today I hosted choir practice and brunch and then after the boys' naps we're going out for a bit. And we'll still have one whole day left! I'm especially excited for tomorrow because since it's Easter we will only have church - no extra meetings or anything - so we'll have lots of family time.

Now I'm off to hard-boil eggs for decorating...

Garbage Day!

The excitement over garbage day (necessitating the exclamation point) is not my own. My little boys, however, get very excited when the garbage man comes. They love to help pull the trash can around to the curb the night before and they race to the door to watch all the action the next morning. Go figure.

February Book Review

I just realized I didn't do my book review for February.

I read Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. I really enjoyed this book. It's fiction, but very thoroughly researched so I found it extremely interesting. Although, the chaper about foot-binding made me want to throw up and then promptly strangle whatever moron came up with that cruel and oppressive idea. My book club talked a lot about modern examples of foot-binding (metaphorically speaking) and it was very eye-opening. I thought the author did a great job at character development. I felt like I understood the main characters, and yet there was a lot to discuss with regard to their motivations, etc.

Anyway, thumbs up from me!

Fisherman's Wharf

Noah was very excited about going to see the sea otters at Pier 39 in San Francisco when we were there (eventually I'll get through posting the pictures I took and then I'll stop blogging about our CA trip... just in time for our next trip! Really, I do have a life here in Texas!). Sam ended up being very enthralled by them as well. I, of course, kept imagining the horror of one of my boys falling into the water and kept myself on high alert, ready to jump in after them at any moment. After we enjoyed the sea otters for awhile we walked around Pier 39, took a ride on the carousel, and ate some yummy clam chowder.

(In case you haven't noticed, I don't like to weed out pictures. That's why I don't scrapbook).

Easter Cantata

I know Easter is not until next Sunday, but we did a little Easter celebrating this evening. I sung in a church choir which put on an Easter Cantata. We sang six songs, interspersed through narration from the New Testament, telling the Easter story. It was a great program and the songs were beautiful. Ben said that every time the choir would sing, Noah would open up a hymn book, clear his throat, and quietly sing along with us.

Noah Doolittle

Noah has been really into animals lately. He has been obsessed with the Baby Einsteins DVD, Baby Noah ever since Sam received it in his stocking for Christmas. Sadly, I accidentally left it behind in CA so while we've been waiting for my parents to mail it back to us, Noah has refocused his obsession with The Jungle Book. It is so hilarious to hear him talk about the characters because I have no idea what he's saying as he attempts to repeat the jungle-esque names. Also, ever since The Jungle Book started infiltrating our lives, Noah has enjoyed walking around on all fours (but with staight legs), pretending to be an elephant. Noah is also very particular with the sounds various animals make and he will correct me if I am not doing a sufficiently realistic imitation. For example, don't try to tell him that a horse says "neigh." Noah will correct you by doing a very authentic horse noise.

The difficult part of Noah's animal obsession is that he has learned about some of the more random animals and then expects me to know how to draw them and how to imitate them. Sometimes I can just make something up that sounds quite believable, but other times I have to simply say, "I'm sorry, Beeju, but Mama doesn't have a clue how to draw a wombat."

One of the boys' favorite things to do in California was to walk on the bike trail that runs behind my parents' street. Noah asked every day that we were there to go see the "bulls-eyes." There are a bunch of horses along the path and we must visit them all.Which was fine with me because my mom and I could just walk and talk in the beautiful weather while my little guys busied themselves finding rocks to throw in the ditch. After they had all the fun they could handle throwing rocks (and, in Sam's case, getting very muddy in the ditch), we would go on our way and visit all the horses. Every day, Noah would say, "Oh no! We forgot the carrots to feed the bulls-eyes! Oh well, maybe tomorrow." But I would always forget because I think it's kind of gross.

(Oh, and in case you're interested, I added a couple of pictures to this post.)

Super Duper Bouncy Balls and Grampie

My boys love their Grampie. And with good reason. He calls them on the phone, takes them to the park almost daily when we visit, plays with them, takes them to get donuts, gives them hugs and kisses, makes up crazy bedtime stories for them, tells them how much he loves them, AND buys them balls (or "super duper bouncy balls," as Noah calls them or "baaaaws" as Sam calls them). It's no wonder Grampie is such a hit. (By the way, they really love their Grammie too but I don't have pictures of them with her from this trip!). Thanks, Mom and Dad, for being such awesome grandparents!