Andrew's Turn

So Andrew has been saying a lot of cute things lately too. Reed and I have discovered that we are horrible at remembering all of the cute things our boys say, so for everything I write, there are probably 10 more things I've forgotten.

This morning the boys were eating powdered donuts for breakfast. Reed and I were sprawled out on the living room floor because we were still really sleepy. Andrew came in and said, "I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but I spilled white powder all over the kitchen floor."

A few minutes later he asked us about why we were splayed out, and we said " We're just easing into our day." So a couple minutes later Andrew comes over and is in the process of stripping off all of his clothes while performing a little jig. When I asked what on earth he was doing he said "Oh I'm just easing into my day." It was hilarious!

A couple of weeks ago we were outside playing with the next door neighbors, and the mom told me she had a tote of toys for us. While we were going inside she brought them over. In the meantime, her kids had invited Andrew to come to their house until dinner time. As he was going into their house Andrew said, "Mama, will you get a surprise ready for me?"

"Like for dinner?" I asked.

"No, just a surprise for FHE," he said sweetly.

I laughed and said "Okay."

So Eric and I go home and go through this toy tote, so when Andrew got home there were new toys spread all over the toy room. He looked around wide eyed and said with awe and admiration, "Mama, thank you for my surprise. How did you get this surprise ready so fast?"

What can I say, I'm good. Best surprise EVER!!!

Out of the Mouths of Babes

So Eric is talking so much now, he is saying some really cute things. I thought I better write some of them down before I forget them. The other day Eric came into me, pulled up his shirt and said, "belly off?" I said, "No silly, you can't take your belly off," and he just laughed and laughed. So now it is a game. We do it over and over again.

If Eric wants to play chase he comes in and says, "Ga ah me." We don't really get where this one comes from, but he says it with this sly look on his face that is just so stinkin' cute. Then when we take off running after him he screams like a woman. His scream really is blood curdling. If the game lasts a long time and he is getting tired he will stop and say, "lil' rest, lil' rest." Then 5 seconds later "Ga ah me."

Every night when I'm singing him bedtime songs, he tries to sing with me. He doesn't know the words, but he always gets the last sound of each line right. Every once and a while he get a couple words in a row right and he looks so pleased with himself.

Lately when we've been saying prayers, when we are done Eric says "Pray Dada" really urgently. So then we have to say a special prayer for Reed. This repeats for each member of our family. It doesn't matter if we included every one's name in the original prayer, we have to have our own individual prayers. He won't stand for doubling up.

When you ask Eric to point to any body part that is double (i.e. ears, eyes, cheeks) he points to one and says "cheek" then pointing to the other one, "and other cheek". I think he really thinks that one is called "cheek" and one is called "other cheek." So every night he has to have a kiss on "cheek and other cheek". What a cutie pie.

Fun With Cousins or Disturbing Influences?

Missy and her girls were here this past week. We had tons of fun together...but I am wondering if the girls might have been a little too influential on my boys. Friday night all of us girls gave each other pedicures. When Andrew saw our toes on Saturday morning, he had Darcey paint his toes. Later that day he asked me if we could buy some more nail polish so that I could keep painting his nails. Awkward!

Then later they ushered Eric into the kitchen to show me his new hairdo. We were definitely all getting in touch with our feminine sides. I think Reed was a little distressed though. Especially about Andrew's toes. He'll have to help the boys work on their manly grunting and burps just to help even things out again.

It is quite possible that I will have a band practicing in my garage in 10-15 years. Andrew is so into air guitar and singing and making crazy rocker faces. It is hilarious, and sometimes a little frightening. He is a character...he just can't help himself. He dances to the beat of his own drummer. The other day, we were cleaning and listening to U2. Andrew says, "Mama, we need to take a break to walk around looking cool." HA!

Eric's Birthday

So our little Eric turned 2 a couple of weeks ago. It is hard to believe. He has turned into quite a little man. He's taking his 2's very seriously. His fit intensity has increased, his demands have become louder and more frequent, and the phrase, "no mama" is commonly heard coming out of his cute, cherubic mouth. We were outside playing with the neighbors and Eric was having a hard time sharing his truck. Well the neighbor girl asked what Eric's problem was. I tried explaining to her that he is still learning how to share, and how it's a hard lesson to learn...blah, blah, blah. Then Andrew pipes up and says, "He's 2." I thought that was probably the best, most succinct answer possible.

There are some very wonderful things about this age too. Eric is talking more and more everyday, interacting more with Andrew, and grasping more concepts. The other day Andrew was telling Knock Knock jokes, so Eric decided that he would to. Here are a couple that he came up with.

"Knock knock.

Who's there?

Boo.

Boo who? (wild laughter by Eric)"

"Knock knock.

Who's there?

Scoop.

Scoop who?

Scoop Bob. (laughter)"

This joke is referencing Eric favorite show Bob the Builder. His two favorite characters are Bob and Scoop. In fact as soon as he wakes up in the morning he says "Scoop Bob."

Andrew and Eric are getting so cute with each other. Whenever one of them gets hurt, the other one comes over and gives him a big hug. It's extra cute because while Eric is quite a bit shorter then Andrew, their heads are the same size. I don't know why but for some reason that makes it more adorable when they hug.

Eric's favorite things right now are cars and trucks. He plays with them all the time. He has named our two cars "blue car" and "black car". If we go a day without getting to ride in the car, he starts going through withdrawals. The other day Reed and I were getting ready for bed and we heard Eric call out "Blue car" in his sleep. It was totally awesome!

Anyway...we love you Eric. We are so glad you came to our family. You are wonderful!

Flooding

Last week the boys and I were playing and the phone rang. It was a recording telling me there was a tornado watch in our immediate area and to take cover. Ahhhh! We went into the bathroom, and then I thought, "Well how long do we have to stay in here"? Luckily there was never a tornado, but we did wake up to flooding. Our cul-de-sac was fine, but these pictures are just around the corner from us. It was crazy!

10 Years and Still Going Strong

I think we still look this good don't you?

Reed and I have now been married 10 years! Crazy! That has really made us feel old. Missy watched the boys for us for a day. We went to Dinosaur Valley State Park. They have dinosaur footprints in the river. It was really cool. Yes, we are geologists and we are nerdy. We know it.

We spent the night at a hotel, and we were really looking forward to a good night sleep without Eric waking up or Andrew climbing into bed with us. Well, we think that the fates are against us. At about 12:30 a.m. I woke up because it sounded like someone was trying to open our door. Then I hear this obviously very drunk man yelling in the hallway for his friend to let him in. He kept yelling nonsensically, interrupted periodically by him gagging. We laid there for a while wondering why no one had called the front desk. Once he started running up and down the hall knocking on people's doors I decided I would have to call myself. Especially when he knocked on our door. Both our phones were unplugged and I couldn't figure out how to get the stupid things plugged back in, so I was sure he was going to break down the door and kill us. (I was really tired). Luckily Reed got the phones plugged in and they sent up security. And guess what? The guy was on the wrong floor. Shocker! Don't get drunk, it just makes you look like an idiot.

We really did have a lot of fun though. It was just the right amount of time. I couldn't have left the boys for more then 1 day. In fact I almost called the whole thing off within the first 30 minutes because I wasn't sure I could leave them for so long!

Superhero

Yes I know it has been forever since I have posted. I am sorry. There are a couple of things that I am going to post that have happened in the last couple of months though because...well because I want to. The reason I got out of the habit of blogging in the first place was that we had visitors off and on for a couple of months.

We went to the livestock show a while ago. We had lots of fun. They had this little farm where the kids got to pretend to be farmers. They fed fake chickens and got eggs, milked cows, picked fruit, got sheep's wool, and then got to sell everything at the end and pick something out of a store at the end. All the kids thought it was great. Eric was super cute in his little apron. We saw pig races which were totally awesome.

Reed and Andrew are superheros.


Here is Andrew doing a Superhero Song. He wore this same outfit to the grocery store the other day. He insisted on riding on the side of the cart so that "Everyone can see that there is a superhero in the store, mama."