Wow. Last post was May 2011.
A few things have changed in our lives over the past THREE years. More than seems communicable through the written word, and so overwhelmed by life, I haven't returned to update.
But I'm going to try for two reasons.
The first reason is the boys.
Aaron LOVES reading the stories about himself and Sam as babies on the blog. He bookmarked the website on our family iPad and pulls it up frequently to look at the photos and read the funny stories about what he did when he was a baby. Seriously, all.the.time. It doesn't seem to bother him that all documentation ceased in May of 2011, but I feel like it could maybe bother his brothers at some point. Maybe it's the second child in me projecting. (No judgment, Mom. I judged you once for my lackluster baby records and I'm here to officially proclaim: I'm sorry for judging you and yes, it's totally understandable to have more time for your first child and not subsequent children. My bad.)
Anyway, looking back, I really can't believe how many things I've already forgotten about each season of life for the boys. The blog serves as an invaluable peek back, at what I now realize are, fleeting days.
Which segues perfectly into my second reason for returning to the blog.
There's a quote - "the days are long, but the years are short" - and it's a perfect description for how I'm feeling about motherhood lately. Since adding Jacob to our family (spoiler alert: new baby arrived in the last three years...it's another boy) I have a lot of what feel like profound thoughts on life...well, mostly on parenting, but that's pretty much my life right now.
I want to record them somewhere, if only to serve as encouragement for myself when the hard seasons come.
So, I'm back to keep a record of these precious years, where the kids change and grow so much. And I'm also here to make a record for myself. I'm such a long way from being the mom that I want to be, but when I look back, I can see how much I've grown too.
I'm writing more for myself and the boys, a family diary, if you will. Which kind of begs the question, who am I expecting to read this? I don't know. My mom (see above), that's one. I don't think it really matters. I have thoughts and memories that I want to make permanent. Here goes...
25 July 2014
07 July 2014
slices of life, volume 5
Slices of Life, Volume 5
**************************************************************************************************************
February 8, 2014
Aaron was trying to go to the bathroom.
Sam: Here, Aaron, try like this (makes a grunting noise)
Aaron: That's won't help! You're just smiling!
**************************************************************************************************************
February 8, 2014
Watching Plushenko during the Olympic Men's Free Skate...
Sam: Is that a boy or a girl?
Me: A boy.
Sam: Okay...is that a girl shirt or a boy shirt?
Me: ...a girl shirt, I guess. (It was see through lace, with sparkly sequins)
Sam: It looks like a girl shirt. That's umpossible! Boys can't wear girl shirts! He looks pretty though.
**************************************************************************************************************
February 8, 2014
Sam singing himself to sleep at bedtime,
Sam: A-A-R-O-N Aaron! S-A-M Sam! O-R-O-N Daddy! E-I-E-I-O!
Nope.
**************************************************************************************************************
February 18, 2014
After 60+ inches of snow...
Aaron: Mommy, how many weeks did that groundhog say we have left in winter?
Me: Four more weeks left.
Aaron: Okay...well, he better keep his word. Or else, I'm out of here!
Me: Where will you go?
Aaron: I'm moving to California! At least until winter is over.
**************************************************************************************************************
March 8, 2014
Playing I Spy,
Aaron: I spy with my little eye something that starts with a D...I'll give you a clue, it's something you use to get around.
Sam: A Jaguar!
**************************************************************************************************************
March 19, 2014
Me: Why do you think you're having so much trouble listening to Mommy and Daddy?
Sam: Let me check the super secret message inside my slipper...it says, "to defeat the evil plan and honor your father and mother, you must impale your grandmother." Well, that doesn't sound like a good plan.
**************************************************************************************************************
May 12, 2014
Aaron was running around after dinner, after we told him to sit still and finish chewing before he could be excused from the table. He started to feel sick, like he was "going to choke" and started to panic.
After we calmed him down, he said, super seriously, "Well, I guess I learned a lesson - never run around until your food is totally digested. I just feel so sad that it took a life or death experience to learn that. All it took was a chance at death to learn not to disobey."
Okay, I'll take it.
**************************************************************************************************************
June 9, 2014
Coming into the hospital to see Jacob, the day he was born, the boys stopped to talk to the nurses in the hallway.
Nurse: Oh, do you have a new baby?
Aaron: I'm the biggest brother!
Sam: And I'm the middlest brother now!
A month later and he's still as excited about being the "middlest" brother as ever.
**************************************************************************************************************
July 1, 2014
Sam just informed me that when Jesus defeats Satan, he will be able to eat his dinner without a fuss.
So, something to look forward to.
**************************************************************************************************************
**************************************************************************************************************
February 8, 2014
Aaron was trying to go to the bathroom.
Sam: Here, Aaron, try like this (makes a grunting noise)
Aaron: That's won't help! You're just smiling!
**************************************************************************************************************
February 8, 2014
Watching Plushenko during the Olympic Men's Free Skate...
Sam: Is that a boy or a girl?
Me: A boy.
Sam: Okay...is that a girl shirt or a boy shirt?
Me: ...a girl shirt, I guess. (It was see through lace, with sparkly sequins)
Sam: It looks like a girl shirt. That's umpossible! Boys can't wear girl shirts! He looks pretty though.
**************************************************************************************************************
February 8, 2014
Sam singing himself to sleep at bedtime,
Sam: A-A-R-O-N Aaron! S-A-M Sam! O-R-O-N Daddy! E-I-E-I-O!
Nope.
**************************************************************************************************************
February 18, 2014
After 60+ inches of snow...
Aaron: Mommy, how many weeks did that groundhog say we have left in winter?
Me: Four more weeks left.
Aaron: Okay...well, he better keep his word. Or else, I'm out of here!
Me: Where will you go?
Aaron: I'm moving to California! At least until winter is over.
**************************************************************************************************************
March 8, 2014
Playing I Spy,
Aaron: I spy with my little eye something that starts with a D...I'll give you a clue, it's something you use to get around.
Sam: A Jaguar!
**************************************************************************************************************
March 19, 2014
Me: Why do you think you're having so much trouble listening to Mommy and Daddy?
Sam: Let me check the super secret message inside my slipper...it says, "to defeat the evil plan and honor your father and mother, you must impale your grandmother." Well, that doesn't sound like a good plan.
**************************************************************************************************************
May 12, 2014
Aaron was running around after dinner, after we told him to sit still and finish chewing before he could be excused from the table. He started to feel sick, like he was "going to choke" and started to panic.
After we calmed him down, he said, super seriously, "Well, I guess I learned a lesson - never run around until your food is totally digested. I just feel so sad that it took a life or death experience to learn that. All it took was a chance at death to learn not to disobey."
Okay, I'll take it.
**************************************************************************************************************
June 9, 2014
Coming into the hospital to see Jacob, the day he was born, the boys stopped to talk to the nurses in the hallway.
Nurse: Oh, do you have a new baby?
Aaron: I'm the biggest brother!
Sam: And I'm the middlest brother now!
A month later and he's still as excited about being the "middlest" brother as ever.
**************************************************************************************************************
July 1, 2014
Sam just informed me that when Jesus defeats Satan, he will be able to eat his dinner without a fuss.
So, something to look forward to.
**************************************************************************************************************
20 December 2013
slices of life, volume 4
Slices of Life, Volume 4
**************************************************************************************************************
June 14, 2013
We went strawberry picking to celebrate Father's Day (an annual tradition, now that it's happened two years in a row).
Aaron plopped himself in the middle of a row and announced "I'll sit here and point to the strawberries I want you to pick, and you can pick them for me."
And Sam complied.
**************************************************************************************************************
June 18, 2013
Aaron: Are you getting strong from eating your vegetables, Daddy?
Isaac: Yeah, see my muscles?
Aaron: No, where?
Isaac: Here, see it (he flexes)
Aaron: I can't see it. It's too small. It's miniscule.
**************************************************************************************************************
June 19, 2013
(Talking about what happens after you graduate 12th grade)
Me: Then you go to college and study whatever you want to be when you grow up.
Aaron: I'm going to be a teacher.
Me: That's cool. What are you going to teach?
Aaron: I'm going to teach kids how to be nice to each other. And I'm going to tell them what to do.
Me: Kinda sounds like you want to be a boss instead of a teacher.
Aaron: A teacher is the boss! That's what they do - make kids do stuff!
**************************************************************************************************************
June 26, 2013
There was a big bug stuck on our windshield this morning, and the boys were fascinated watching it try to hold on.
My mom started telling them about how she had a bug like that stuck on her car a few days before and Phoebe (their cousin) named the bug and was really concerned that it "got hurt" when it finally fell off.
Aaron: That bug probably died. Does Phoebe know it probably just died?
Me: No, and don't tell her. Phoebe is more sensitive and it might make her sad if she knows the bug died.
Aaron: Okay, but it died. I'm sure that bug died.
Sam (chiming in, as we head down a hill and our bug is still hanging on for dear life): Yeah, our bug is saying 'AHHHHH, I'm gonna die!!! AHHHHH! I'm gonna dieeeee!!!'
Then they both laugh hysterically.
**************************************************************************************************************
July 6, 2013
Aaron asked if we could fast forward a movie, so I did. Sam protested, and I apologized, explaining:
Me: I'm sorry, Sam, I forget sometimes that you have opinions now.
Aaron: What do you mean?
Me: Well, before when Sam was a baby, you got to make all of the decisions because he didn't have any opinions.
Aaron: That felt pretty good when I made all the decisions.
**************************************************************************************************************
July 13, 2013
I was listing consequences for the boys if they didn't stop fooling around and go to sleep.
Me: No screen time tomorrow, no baseball game...
Sam: No hats!
Clearly, I've been taking the wrong parenting approach.
**************************************************************************************************************
July 15, 2013
Aaron was describing a swingset in a friend's backyard.
Aaron: And there was a boardwalk that you climb up to get to the slide!
Isaac: That's cool.
Aaron: Do you know why it's called a boardwalk? Because it's bored and you walk on it!
Isaac: Hmmmm....
**************************************************************************************************************
September 12, 2013
Aaron: Mommy, are you thinking what I'm thinking?
Me: No, I'm fairly sure no.
Aaron: Well, I'm thinking we should have a contest to find the biggest tower in Pennsylvania. What do you think?
Isaac: Bud, we can just look up what is the tallest building.
Aaron: Look it up where?
Isaac: There's a website called Google - you can ask it any question and it will give you an answer.
Aaron: ANY QUESTION?!
Isaac (under his breath): I may have just opened a can of worms.
**************************************************************************************************************
September 12, 2013
I could hear Aaron taunting Sam from bed when they were supposed to be falling asleep.
Sam: I'm going to call Mommy up here if you don't go to sleep.
Aaron: Do it.
Sam : She's going to come up here and punch you in the face.
**************************************************************************************************************
September 16, 2013
Sam was doing a puzzle with Aaron. Aaron put a whole row together by himself, so I congratulated him.
Sam took a bow and said "Thank you, thank you!"
When we all giggled, he said "oh, sorry, that was French."
**************************************************************************************************************
September 19, 2013
Aaron is in a phase where he's into watching home videos of himself as a baby.
Tonight, after we watched several videos of Aaron in a row, I asked Sam if he wanted to see a video of "baby Sam" next.
He scoffed at me and said emphatically, "NO!", as though I was offending him by the reminder that he was once a baby.
**************************************************************************************************************
October 10, 2013
I overheard Aaron playing with a set of dice that he had named (Jason, Jacqueline, Danny, Max and Macqueline) and he was talking them through a potential feud over which die would get to be rolled together on the next turn. Okey doke.
Edited Octobe 15, 2013
He added a new die to the mix - Jadis.
**************************************************************************************************************
October 15, 2013
I was sounding out some letters/words with Sam.
Me: What letter do you think the word "red" starts with? Rrrrrrrrred?
Sam: R!
Me: Great job! What about the word "green"? Guh-reen?
Sam: Apple!
Me: Nope.
**************************************************************************************************************
October 18, 2013
Isaac and Aaron were discussing the gospel and the Holy Spirit.
Isaac: God sends his spirit, the Holy Spirit, to come and live in us.
Aaron: Kind of like Chick-Fil-A?
Isaac: Not exactly...
**************************************************************************************************************
November 7, 2013
Isaac was describing the story of Shadrach, Mesach and Abenedgo and told Aaron about how they were required to bow down and worship the king. If they didn't, they would be thrown into the fire.
Aaron: Wow, that is a really great consequence.
**************************************************************************************************************
November 20, 2013
We told the boys that we are expecting a new baby.
Aaron's response: Finally!...Babies are a lot of work. Did you think about that when you ordered this one?
**************************************************************************************************************
December 12, 2013
Sam: Mommy, do you want to know what is so frustrating me?
Me: Sure.
Sam: That guy, (thumb out towards Aaron) that one right there, ran his truck into my leg! And it hurts!
**************************************************************************************************************
December 13, 2013
Aaron and Isaac were playing the Wii and Sam was trying, unsuccessfully, to get their attention.
Sam: You guys are really starting to upset me!!
**************************************************************************************************************
December 14, 2013
Aaron: Hey Daddy! Look! I'm playing boxing on the Wii!
Isaac: Cool, bud. It looks fun.
Aaron: Yeah, turns out I'm really good at it.
**************************************************************************************************************
December 15, 2013
Sam (crying): Daddy! My guitar strings won't sound how I feel!
**************************************************************************************************************
December 20, 2013
Watching a commercial on TV about Target,
Sam: Hey! Target! That's where we live!
**************************************************************************************************************
**************************************************************************************************************
June 14, 2013
We went strawberry picking to celebrate Father's Day (an annual tradition, now that it's happened two years in a row).
Aaron plopped himself in the middle of a row and announced "I'll sit here and point to the strawberries I want you to pick, and you can pick them for me."
And Sam complied.
**************************************************************************************************************
June 18, 2013
Aaron: Are you getting strong from eating your vegetables, Daddy?
Isaac: Yeah, see my muscles?
Aaron: No, where?
Isaac: Here, see it (he flexes)
Aaron: I can't see it. It's too small. It's miniscule.
**************************************************************************************************************
June 19, 2013
(Talking about what happens after you graduate 12th grade)
Me: Then you go to college and study whatever you want to be when you grow up.
Aaron: I'm going to be a teacher.
Me: That's cool. What are you going to teach?
Aaron: I'm going to teach kids how to be nice to each other. And I'm going to tell them what to do.
Me: Kinda sounds like you want to be a boss instead of a teacher.
Aaron: A teacher is the boss! That's what they do - make kids do stuff!
**************************************************************************************************************
June 26, 2013
There was a big bug stuck on our windshield this morning, and the boys were fascinated watching it try to hold on.
My mom started telling them about how she had a bug like that stuck on her car a few days before and Phoebe (their cousin) named the bug and was really concerned that it "got hurt" when it finally fell off.
Aaron: That bug probably died. Does Phoebe know it probably just died?
Me: No, and don't tell her. Phoebe is more sensitive and it might make her sad if she knows the bug died.
Aaron: Okay, but it died. I'm sure that bug died.
Sam (chiming in, as we head down a hill and our bug is still hanging on for dear life): Yeah, our bug is saying 'AHHHHH, I'm gonna die!!! AHHHHH! I'm gonna dieeeee!!!'
Then they both laugh hysterically.
**************************************************************************************************************
July 6, 2013
Aaron asked if we could fast forward a movie, so I did. Sam protested, and I apologized, explaining:
Me: I'm sorry, Sam, I forget sometimes that you have opinions now.
Aaron: What do you mean?
Me: Well, before when Sam was a baby, you got to make all of the decisions because he didn't have any opinions.
Aaron: That felt pretty good when I made all the decisions.
**************************************************************************************************************
July 13, 2013
I was listing consequences for the boys if they didn't stop fooling around and go to sleep.
Me: No screen time tomorrow, no baseball game...
Sam: No hats!
Clearly, I've been taking the wrong parenting approach.
**************************************************************************************************************
July 15, 2013
Aaron was describing a swingset in a friend's backyard.
Aaron: And there was a boardwalk that you climb up to get to the slide!
Isaac: That's cool.
Aaron: Do you know why it's called a boardwalk? Because it's bored and you walk on it!
Isaac: Hmmmm....
**************************************************************************************************************
September 12, 2013
Aaron: Mommy, are you thinking what I'm thinking?
Me: No, I'm fairly sure no.
Aaron: Well, I'm thinking we should have a contest to find the biggest tower in Pennsylvania. What do you think?
Isaac: Bud, we can just look up what is the tallest building.
Aaron: Look it up where?
Isaac: There's a website called Google - you can ask it any question and it will give you an answer.
Aaron: ANY QUESTION?!
Isaac (under his breath): I may have just opened a can of worms.
**************************************************************************************************************
September 12, 2013
I could hear Aaron taunting Sam from bed when they were supposed to be falling asleep.
Sam: I'm going to call Mommy up here if you don't go to sleep.
Aaron: Do it.
Sam : She's going to come up here and punch you in the face.
**************************************************************************************************************
September 16, 2013
Sam was doing a puzzle with Aaron. Aaron put a whole row together by himself, so I congratulated him.
Sam took a bow and said "Thank you, thank you!"
When we all giggled, he said "oh, sorry, that was French."
**************************************************************************************************************
September 19, 2013
Aaron is in a phase where he's into watching home videos of himself as a baby.
Tonight, after we watched several videos of Aaron in a row, I asked Sam if he wanted to see a video of "baby Sam" next.
He scoffed at me and said emphatically, "NO!", as though I was offending him by the reminder that he was once a baby.
**************************************************************************************************************
October 10, 2013
I overheard Aaron playing with a set of dice that he had named (Jason, Jacqueline, Danny, Max and Macqueline) and he was talking them through a potential feud over which die would get to be rolled together on the next turn. Okey doke.
Edited Octobe 15, 2013
He added a new die to the mix - Jadis.
**************************************************************************************************************
October 15, 2013
I was sounding out some letters/words with Sam.
Me: What letter do you think the word "red" starts with? Rrrrrrrrred?
Sam: R!
Me: Great job! What about the word "green"? Guh-reen?
Sam: Apple!
Me: Nope.
**************************************************************************************************************
October 18, 2013
Isaac and Aaron were discussing the gospel and the Holy Spirit.
Isaac: God sends his spirit, the Holy Spirit, to come and live in us.
Aaron: Kind of like Chick-Fil-A?
Isaac: Not exactly...
**************************************************************************************************************
November 7, 2013
Isaac was describing the story of Shadrach, Mesach and Abenedgo and told Aaron about how they were required to bow down and worship the king. If they didn't, they would be thrown into the fire.
Aaron: Wow, that is a really great consequence.
**************************************************************************************************************
November 20, 2013
We told the boys that we are expecting a new baby.
Aaron's response: Finally!...Babies are a lot of work. Did you think about that when you ordered this one?
**************************************************************************************************************
December 12, 2013
Sam: Mommy, do you want to know what is so frustrating me?
Me: Sure.
Sam: That guy, (thumb out towards Aaron) that one right there, ran his truck into my leg! And it hurts!
**************************************************************************************************************
December 13, 2013
Aaron and Isaac were playing the Wii and Sam was trying, unsuccessfully, to get their attention.
Sam: You guys are really starting to upset me!!
**************************************************************************************************************
December 14, 2013
Aaron: Hey Daddy! Look! I'm playing boxing on the Wii!
Isaac: Cool, bud. It looks fun.
Aaron: Yeah, turns out I'm really good at it.
**************************************************************************************************************
December 15, 2013
Sam (crying): Daddy! My guitar strings won't sound how I feel!
**************************************************************************************************************
December 20, 2013
Watching a commercial on TV about Target,
Sam: Hey! Target! That's where we live!
**************************************************************************************************************
25 April 2013
slices of life, volume 3
Slices of Life, Volume 3
**************************************************************************************************************
January 22, 2013
On our way to soccer today Aaron was asking about how to drive a car...
Me: Then you push the pedals on the floor down to either stop or go.
Aaron: So...you kind of have to be tall enough to reach them.
Me: Yup, that's why you have to be 16 to drive.
(Aaron was quiet for a minute thinking...)
Aaron: Well Daddy is a lot taller than you...so that must be why he drives too fast. Because you are only supposed to go 65, NO FASTER.
Me: Yup. Good point.
**************************************************************************************************************
February 14, 2013
We had just finished making Isaac's Valentine's Day present from the kids.
Aaron: "I love this present more than anything. Even more than Jesus."
It was a coffee mug we wrote on with Sharpie. So...we will work on his theology.
**************************************************************************************************************
February 19, 2013
I was trying to open the wrapper of a cheese stick.
Me: Ooh, this cheese stick wrapper is stuck.
Sam: Oh, get Daddy.
Me: No, I think I can do it.
Sam: Daddy at home. I get him.
Me: I got it!
Sam: Great job, Mommy!
So glad he has so much confidence in me.
**************************************************************************************************************
February 21, 2013
We were on FaceTime with Tutu and Phoebe, and I looked over to see Sam on the phone with his shirt off.
Me: Sam, why is your shirt off?
Sam: I showing them my nibbles.
Okay...
A few minutes later,
Me: Sam, let's put your shirt back on.
Sam: No, I been wearin it ALL day.
So instead, he sat and watched Dora while playing with his nibbles...
**************************************************************************************************************
March 4, 2013
Aaron: I don't want to be called Aaron anymore.
Me: So what should we call you instead?
Aaron: I can't tell you. It's a secret.
Me: I have to have something to call you.
Aaron: Well...okay. My favorite name is Braaron. Can you call me Braaron?
**************************************************************************************************************
March 18, 2013
Sam and I were cleaning up the pieces from his Busytown board game. I was counting the pieces as he put them in the bag...
Me: One, two, three, four...
(Sam finds the fifth and sixth piece and puts them in)
Sam: Cinco, seis...
**************************************************************************************************************
March 26, 2013
This morning Sam walked into the kitchen, climbed up at the table, and said:
"I need my coffee."
I said, "Sammy, you don't drink coffee. Coffee is for grown ups."
He stopped, thought for a minute, and said:
"Then I need a parrot."
Oh, okay then.
**************************************************************************************************************
March 26, 2013
Sam : "I need an iPad....how about that one?" And points at Tutu's iPad, which she was using at that moment. "Tutu, you want two dollars?"
Tutu : "No, do you have like 500 dollars?"
Sam : "Uh, let me check..." And proceeded to lift up his shirt, checked in his belly button... "No, not in there!" Shoves a hand in his diaper... "Not in there!" Turns to Tutu, "How about three tickles?"
March 27, 2013
Sam was sitting on the step (in time out), staring out the open front door.
Sam: "Hello, birdie. I'm sad. Mommy say 'NO throwing, you sit on the step!'. I sad....what that birdie?...what you say, birdie?....birdie, I can't hear you....I CAN'T HEAR YOU BIRDIE! WHAT DID YOU SAY?! BIRDIE, I CAN'T HEAR YOU!!!"
**************************************************************************************************************
April 3, 2013
Me: Sam, what do you want to do today?
Sam: How 'bout...some yaundry and bacuumin'?
That translates to laundry and vacuuming. I THOUGHT YOU'D NEVER ASK.
**************************************************************************************************************
April 25, 2013
Sam: Knock, knock.
Me: Who's there?
Sam: Anita.
Me: Anita who?
Sam: Mooooooooo.
**************************************************************************************************************
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