4th of July 2013

We had a great 4th of July this year.  Peter had really been wanting to get out of town so we had thought about Seattle, but that fell through.  So we headed up to Portland just for the day and had a great time.  We took the boys to OMSI and they LOVED it.  It really was a fun day.  And then we went to dinner and watched the fireworks over the river.  It was a great show and even though the boys fell asleep right before they started, we woke them up.  Jonah didn't make it through the show, but Ben saw most of it!  We were exhausted since we didn't get home until 1am, but it was so nice to get away for a day.  Jonah slept till 11 the next day and took a 4 hour nap.  He loves to sleep just like his mama :-)  The next night we also did a few fireworks of our own.  Peter and my sister are both pyros so they enjoyed it.

 playing with the exhibits at OMSI

 Jonah loved the ball room.  Goodness, we all loved the ball room.  So fun.

 my little lab-rat

 we had to coordinate our goggles with our outfits!

 cute hands on section

 Benjamin LOVED this crane section where you could move the crane to pick up the blocks and use the trucks to deliver them all around.  He stayed here for the longest time!

 Auntie Amanda wanted to use the crane so pick up JoJo so we had a little fun.  :-)

 once we convinced him to put his feet in the sand, he liked this area

 Jonah loved all the shovels

 another area where Ben would have spent all day

 mixing water and balls together.  Jonah LOVED this and spent forever here throwing in ball after ball

 my little cheeseball ready for the fireworks downtown

 snuggling with my sweetie watching the fireworks

 our other sweetie didn't make it through the whole show

 they were out cold instantly in the car, even though we didn't move for a 1/2 hour due to traffic

 classic brother shot

 watching our little fireworks

 I love my sweet boy

 I am one blessed lady.  Truly, truly blessed

 Say cheese!

 my boys are lucky to be so loved by their Nana and Auntie

my boys love you Nana!

Say Please Continued

This definitely deserved a post of its own.  About 2 weeks ago, Jonah said PLEASE!  Now most people wouldn't freak out about this, but after living through the horrific weeks where he screamed at us when we asked (see this post HERE) it is truly an answer to prayer.  Peter and I feel like we hit a breakthrough with Jonah and he really seems to respond to our discipline now.  Yes, he's still stubborn and I'm sure I'll be eating those words I just wrote someday, but it really was encouraging.

And it's adorable how he signs please and says PEEEEAAAASSSSEEEE as loud as he can.  And he does it in context as well!  I'll have to look back at this post when I'm beyond frustrated with some sort of behavior or attitude in my boys and remind myself that there is hope.

I had to include this picture of Jonah.  We've started putting Benjamin in the corner for certain misbehaviors and Jonah always wants to join him.  So Peter put Jonah in the corner one night when he refused to eat dinner.  And now when he gets in trouble, he'll just walk right up to the corner and stand there.  I'm not ashamed to admit that it is seriously the most adorable thing.  So hard to not have my heart melt and make him stay there.

Sweet Jonah, you are stinky rotten, but you have my heart!

Summer picture catch-up

The weather this past week has been pretty much perfect.  I am loving all these beautiful, sunny days and warm summer evenings.  The boys are at a great age to enjoy all that a backyard can offer....swingsets, pools, balls, bikes.  I'm kinda loving spending our days with the boys stripped down to diapers and undies and just playing like crazy.  With lots of sunscreen of course :-)

I have a bunch of pictures from the past couple of weeks so I'm just going to dump them all in one blog post.  That's the best part of blogging, it's my online scrapbook.  Even the boys love to look back at old pictures.  Definitely makes it worth any effort it takes to keep it up!

 Auntie Amanda is staying with us for awhile, and the boys love the extra attention

 this boy is nuts.  Adorable and nuts

 I know I'm their Mom, but they are so.stinkin.cute

 Jonah is obsessed with "We're going on a bear hunt" right now and Benjamin sweetly read him the whole thing.  He has it nearly memorized and it was soooo adorable to hear him read it to his brother.  Love!

 Another summer day.  Another afternoon in the pool

we are making great use of our zoo membership 

both boys love being at the zoo! 

 love watching them grow up together

worn out! 

 out before we exit the parking lot!

 Amanda and I picked almost 20 pounds of blueberries and Jonah was enjoying the fruit of our labor!

storytime with Nana (or Nanee as Jonah says!) is great 

 fireman Ben to the rescue

Jonah and his crazy spinning.  I'll have to post a video of how absolutely insane the boys get in the evening when they have the attention of all of us.  It is hysterical!!!

Father's Day 2013

If there is one thing I know, it is that my husband Peter, is an amazing Daddy to our boys.

Not just a good Daddy.  Not just a great Daddy.  But an amazing Daddy.

Our boys adore him.  Peter plays with them, loves them, teaches them.  He is so patient with them, silly with them, generous with them.  He changes diapers, cuts up food, carries them, bathes them.  He shows them who Jesus is and teaches them His Word.  He takes them on walks, goes on slug hunts, throws rocks with them, wrestles them, tickles them, reads to them.  He is so, so good with them.

the matching cargos just kill me with cuteness

My boys always wait by the front door for him to come home from work each day.  And quite frankly, I can't blame them.  He's amazing and we all love him.

We celebrated Peter at church that Sunday.  Peter and Benjamin sang "Nothing but the blood of Jesus" together for offertory.  It was ridiculously precious.  It was a beautiful day honoring the man who I want my boys to grow up to be like.