While it lasts...

Today we tried to make the most of the fall weather and went to the park. I'm not at all one of those people who look forward to the leaves changing. Its just a foreshadowing of the worst that's yet to come. I'm mourning the loss of my flip flops already. To me this is already freezing and I'd prefer to hang out indoors, but 50 degrees is a heck of a lot more tolerable than the 15 degrees that's right around the corner. Plus, 2 year olds don't notice their noses and fingers getting cold like moms do; they're just beyond thrilled to be outside, so we bundled up and went out to play.

Oh summertime, I miss you dearly.

Bennett with his pinecone, dubbed, "ice cream cone". (See?? He's dreaming of hot weather too!)

Dawson quite content sitting on the sidelines:

I had to include this one I took of my niece, Quinn, because she looked so cozy and adorable:

Trick-or-treat

We had such a fun time with Bennett on Halloween. It was just hilarious watching him experience trick-or-treating for the first time. I drove along the road in the van with Dawson while Jon took him door to door. (We tried Valley West Mall first due to the frigid weather but it was so packed, we left right away). The first house they rang the doorbell, Bennett tried to go inside. Makes sense right? I love the mind of a two year old. Why would you ring the bell and not go inside? :) Jon asked him what to say and he would say, "trick-or-treating!". And then when they gave him candy, he'd turn around and yell, "Next!" One house left their bowl of candy on the step and Bennett didn't hesitate- he grabbed the whole thing and dumped it in his bucket. (Don't worry, Jon didn't let him keep it all!) He also grabbed anyone's decorations that were small enough to fit in his bucket too.

Our little monsters:

Jon and I dressed up for a dinner party we went to the next night. My costume made a very brief appearance since it wasn't technically a costume party:) Jon was an FBI agent (our friend, Grant, hosting the party is an agent) and I was his prisoner convicted of mortgage fraud.

All the babies at the party:

Once Upon a Time...

Bennett's really into storytelling these days and its hilarious to hear his little imagination. Every story goes something like this:
"Once upon a time, there was a name named, ________. (Insert a creative sentence or two here). And every night he goes back to sleep. (Insert snoring here). The End."
Last night in the tub every story was about Jesus or God looking for monsters in a cave. I guess I haven't read that Bible story yet.

Here's another example from today:

Baking with my little tornado

It was a cold and rainy day today so I decided to make some oatmeal blueberry muffins with Bennett since I didn't want to leave the house. He loves to pull a chair up to the stove and "cook" with an empty bowl and spoons so I decided to try the real thing with him. But once we started dumping ingredients in, he couldn't keep his hands out of the bowl and from grabbing everything in sight to dump in the bowl too so I had to give him his own little bowl to cook in. Of course in keeping with his habit he's had since birth of putting anything and everything in his mouth, he just started eating the dry oats, even after he dumped some salt in pepper in there.



Bennett with his stack of "ingredients"



He loved putting the muffin cups in the pan



Checking out the progress

It was fun but I guarantee I won't be doing any more real cooking with Bennett for another 6 months :) I'll leave that up to his braver and less neurotic Nana.

Round Two

Here are Dawson and Quinn's first pictures together. Her 7 extra weeks of life make a big difference in the cheeks :)

First Smiles

Our one month old boy has found his smile. It so fun to see your little blob (I mean that in the most endearing way possible!) start to respond with a smile! He's smiling all the time now--including when I suck his nose out with the bulb syringe. He gets a huge grin on his face. Maybe it tickles :)

Other things making me smile these days:

~Nestle Tollhouse drop and bake cookies. It usually takes Jon and I less than 24 hours to finish each batch we make.

~Bennett putting his fists in the air and announcing the TV show coming up next at the top of his lungs.

~Watching Survivor, The Office and So You Think You Can Dance with Jon. Date nights have been non-existent lately so I look forward to watching our favorite shows together.

~Helping my mom pick out stuff for the house they're building. This would be my ultimate dream job- being the design assistant for a builder doing spec or custom houses.

~Knowing I only have about 3 more weeks of middle of the night feedings if BabyWise proves successful again!!

~Bennett asking me, "where's my baby brother?" all the time and hearing him talk to Dawson like he understands every word.

~Jon telling me he's ready and willing to watch both boys Tuesday night so I can spend my first evening away from them at my Bible Study and then a movie with the girls afterwards!

~Dinners from church...our last two come this week. There's nothing as delicious as other people's cooking!

My BIG BRAVE little sister

Okay, I'm pretty sure 99% of the people who read my blog also read my sister's blog but I've been wanting to dedicate a post to her recently anyway because she's been filling up about 30% of my thoughts these days. So if you don't read her blog, her husband left for Basic Training with the National Guard about a week and a half ago. They have two little girls about the same age as our two and only live about 3 minutes from our house. Seth's going to be gone somewhere around 16 weeks total with 2 weeks home at Christmas. As soon as we found out about him joining the Guard and having to leave for such a long time, I knew instantly that's why God gave us this house so close to them. I feel a HUGE burden for her all the time. Every time Jon is helping me with both kids I feel a sense of regret and sadness for Bethany. And any time I read a post on facebook or hear someone complaining about their husband being gone for a few days, I want to shout, "You think that's bad?? Think about my sister!" I've always wondered how in the world a single parent does it- never having that second set of hands to feed, change, hug, discipline, play with and cuddle their kids. And unfortunately my sister's experiencing it first hand. So far I've tried to help when I have time with mundane things like laundry and dishes but that's just a teeny tiny drop in the bucket to the help you get from your spouse. I love her and am so proud of her for what she's going through on her own. And it makes me appreciate every little thing Jon does to help with our boys, not to mention having that strong supportive role here who fills up so much of my life and heart and home. I'm so glad for the person Bethany will have become at the end of all of this and the day he returns will probably be happier than her wedding day but I'm so sorry for the long road its going to take to get there. I'm praying for her a lot and wish I could stay at her house with her (unfortunately our 2 year olds fight like siblings and usually stresses us both out after 20 minutes of it!! :).
You can do it Bethany. You will make it. God has you held so tightly in his grasp right now and is catching every tear.