Our Littlest Members of the Youth Group

Alex and Sam love going to the youth activities. They get doted on by all the teens and get to stay up late playing--what could be better, right? On Saturday night we had one of our last youth activities where we will be able to play games outside, it's getting dark too early already! Anyway, my boys had a great time playing and watching!
I turned my back for half a second and there was Alex at the top of this "big-kid" slide. Way to give a mother a heart attack.

Sammy will not stay on any blanket you put him on. He wants to be in the grass and get his hands full of it. He's going to be my "play in the mud" kid.

Sam has already figured out that his voice echos in the gym. And he got all excited when he realized that he could pull up to standing on the bleachers. So he stood there for a long time banging his hand like a drum on the bleacher and yelling!

Alex seriously thinks he is part of the youth group. He "plays" the games with them, talks to them, even shares food off their plates if he can get it. What a goof!

Play time

Ryan commented that now that Sam can crawl and is pulling up on everything, our house (especially the toy corner) is like a whole new world of adventures for him!

Alex has been enjoying listening to his kid cd's while he colors or does stickers on his own at the table during Sammy's morning nap time. I guess this time he expanded his work surface to his face!

"Fall"in' into Fun

I LOVE fall. It's my favorite season of the year. I love the crispness in the air, the smell of pumpkin pie, raking leaves, taking my boys to the pumpkin patch, the colors of the season. And I want my boys to catch the fall fever! On the first day of fall we had a nice crisp morning--perfect for playing in leaves! So we put on our hoodies and I raked up some leaves for the boys to play in so they could get the full experience of a great fall day!

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Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo BooksThis is a good video of Sammy crawling for the Grandparents. I have a hard time catching him crawling on video because as soon as he sees the camera he freezes and just sits there smiling at me! Cute, but not the point of the video at the moment!


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo BooksAlex is obsessed with letters and numbers right now. He can say a few of his numbers and can identify 2, 7, and 10. He can say and identify almost all of his letters without help--I am trying to get a good video of that. Anyway, he loves to push his trucks down the slide and of course I must count them when he does!


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo BooksSam was so excited about the leaves. He "splashed" in them like he does in the bath water!

Sweet Dreams

Here's Alex's new big boy bed.  I had a twin sized comforter that a friend gave me (thanks, Nicole!) but I wanted to update the look of Alex's room, so I just made a new cover for it.  I'm working on the rest of the room and will post pictures of it later.
 
Daddy tucked Alex in though we were pretty sure he wouldn't stay under the covers. In fact we were certain that he would be up knocking on the door and crying in about 5 min. time!



















I took this picture as I walked out of the room. I had really hoped that he would snuggle up in his new bed and be all peaceful and happy. Nope. He cried. I'm not sure if he cried because it was bedtime or because of his new sleep situation or both. But, thankfully, the crying only lasted about 5 min. And as far as we could hear he never even tried to get out of bed! He slept the whole night through! Success!! We'll see if we have the same success at naptime today...I'm doubtful.

Here's the sleepyhead first thing this morning. On top of the covers as we guessed he would be.



















And here is Sammy sleepy peacefully in the big crib. The main reason we moved Alex up to the twin bed was because Sammy was just outgrowing the bassinet sized crib he was using. So we gave him the crib and used the long side of his little crib as the headboard of the twin bed. (the parallel side of the crib is a footboard to match, but we haven't gotten it on yet.) My boys are tummy sleepers and move around a lot at night. Now both boys have lots of room to roll around and get comfy.

Good Eats

Sam is learning to hold his own bottle. He can't really hold the big bottles yet, so he uses the little bottles when he holds them himself. He seems to really like it, and I love the extra time!! I still feed him most of the time, but he is getting some practice time in!

Alex is still in love with tomato soup. But us parents finally got smart and have just completely removed his shirt on soup days and replaced it with a towel! The other day at lunch he spent a lot of time mimicking every move Ryan made. If Ryan took a sip of soup or a drink from his cup, so did Alex. It was really cute to watch him try to be like daddy!

Pics from our Labor Day Zoo Trip

It Aint Pretty, But It Gets Him Around

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Though we aren't sure if we can actually label this as "crawling" Sam is definitely a mobile creature now. He can get around to whatever he wants. Of course this means that though the house is baby-proofed already, I am spending a lot of time rescuing him from the various "pickles" he is getting himself into. And Alex has noticed the moving, too. Sometimes he just watches Sam go and looks up at me with this huge smile and look on his face that says, "wow, it moves!"

The Boy's Got Moves

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Staying Warm in Iowa

Dad told me it was going to get chilly this week, but I completely underestimated exactly how chilly! The last two days have been "brrrr-chilly-cold," as we say at my house. Nevertheless, my boys LOVE to be outside. So we borrowed some hats and layered up and went outside--for a little bit as we are battling runny noses, of course! I think the fresh air has done them good though, because the boogies are slowing up and the boys are sleeping better. Here are some pics in Grandpa's hats.

We had to fold Grandpa' Hat in half to keep it from covering Sam's entire face!

Alex wants to go outside with Grandpa every time he does...and then some.

Hanging Out at Grandpa and Grams

Sammy LOVES to play outside in the pack-n-play. He rolls and squirms around in there and watches big brother and Grandpa.

It's wrestle-mania around here.

Alex gets to eat at his own little man table. You can tell how independent and grown-up he feels.

Both Alex and Sam like Uncle Nate's dogs (staying with mom and dad while Nate and Heather are in Colorado) as long as they are a bit of a distance away and can't touch them.

We LOVE Bath Fun

Every kid has to have at least one picture taken with a shampoo mohawk. We obviously love bath time around here!