Such a Slacker!

Ben has been 18 months now for about 2 weeks.  And I still haven't taken his official photos or blogged about his cuteness at 18 months.

And I'm still not entirely ready to do the whole post.  I'm a little consumed with getting ready for our trip to Oregon.  I've been cleaning and list making and...well, mostly cleaning.   And now we are leaving soon and I'll be packing and doing a bunch of Relief Society stuff this week.  So poor Ben continues to be neglected.

But, I had to post about a couple of big things for our little Brunson boys.

We weren't in our ward last week so Ben didn't go to nursery then.  So, today was his first day.  I was so anxious.  I don't remember feeling that way with Isaac at all.  But, these boys are so different.  Isaac loved other people, still does.  Ben is completely opposite.  He is a mama's boy.  So clingy!  His separation anxiety is great.  He cries if I leave him with his dad.  The tears are short lived but they always come.  He cries when we leave him with babysitters.  He usually calms after 5 or 10 minutes though.  But, if I leave him somewhere other than home he is a wreck.  I get comments like "Well, he didn't cry the whole time."  Or "I never realized how many songs and books have the word mom in them.  He would cry for mama every time he heard the word mom."  Needless to say, I was worried about how he would react to nursery.  I went in with him to nursery a couple weeks ago during the Sunday school hour, you know, trying to slowly acclimate him. And then this morning before church I kept telling him how great it was that he was a big boy and got to go to nursery and play.  He remembered a ball he played with and seemed fine with that idea.  But as we progressed in talking about how we would leave him there he was getting nervous.  And then finally, as I was putting his shoes on, he started to tear up and say "no" when I would ask him if he was excited for nursery.  Poor thing.

Jacob thought it might go better if he dropped him off.  We went with that plan.  Jacob said when he tried to set Ben down on the ground Ben was lifting his legs off the ground and wrapping them around Jacob's legs.  He did not want to be dropped off.  He was crying for mama.  All the while I was sitting in Relief Society almost so anxious I couldn't concentrate.  I wanted to check on him but knew if he saw me all would be over. So, after RS I had a friend open the door to peak in.  She said he was doing great.  I focused a little better in Sunday school after that.

When we went to pick him up the nursery leaders said he did pretty well.  I think the comment was "I didn't have to hold him the whole time."

Hopefully he adjusts quickly.  Cute little bugger.  I did take some photos of him before church that I'll upload and add to this blog later.  Maybe even this week if you're lucky!

The second big milestone in our family was having Isaac sing with the primary in Sacrament meeting for the very first time.  It was adorable.  Isaac continues to be a bit of a handful in Sacrament meeting.  I kept reminding him that if he continued to be so noisy that we had to go to the lobby he would miss singing.  I kept saying after Sister Joyal was done it would be his turn to sing.  So when Sister Joyal finished her talk Isaac said in his not so quite voice "It's time to sing!"  He marched up right behind the Van Shaar kiddos and found a spot right at the front.  They were singing a medley of songs and I think he only really knew the "I'm so glad when Daddy comes home" song.  He sang that one loud and clear.  I could hear him for sure.  He was also really funny before the songs started and he was waving at us and saying "hi."  Again, in his not so quite voice.  Bless his heart.

I love these boys!  Loud, and clingy and all.

Our Finished Swingset - Or At Least Mostly Finished

Remember how we were working on getting this swing set ready for our boys to play safely.  Well, that day arrived.  On one of the really warm days I did the second coat of stain during Ben's nap.  It went on fast and dried even faster.

So that night Jacob and I put it together.  We started after Jacob was done with scouts and it got dark on us pretty quickly.  I was anxious to get it together.  It worked out in the end.  We may have gotten a few mosquito bites...but the next day watching the boys enjoy it was totally worth it.  They were so excited!  Isaac couldn't stop smiling.

I think we've decided to add a couple more support beams on the main structure with the slide.  It's still a little shaky.  I think the area around the bolts just can't support it any more.  I've tightened the bolts but it seems that they don't stay tightened.  A few more boards should sure it up though.  We'll deal with it after our trip to Oregon.  For now I feel it's safe enough for the boys.

And they sure have been enjoying it.  I've also been enjoying it.  It's nice to send Isaac out back and have him play right where I can see him.  He's also not moving rocks from where they should be and that is also appreciated.  We hope to get lots of use out of it.

Flooding and Food

We've had a pretty warm spring and also quite a bit of rain.  These two things combined have caused the river that runs through town to max out and overflow it's banks.  Parts of the city have been on flood watch.  I don't think it's ever gotten as high this spring as it did last fall when we tried to drive home from Colorado Springs...remember that awesome weekend trip?  I do.  But it certainly has gotten high and fast.  There have been several deaths of people getting caught in the river.  Sad.  

Jacob happens to work in a building right off the bike trail that follows the river.  Good chunks of that bike trail have been covered in water.  So have good chunks of the landscaping around Jacob's office.  

This path you can see right behind me is usually where people can walk from Jacob's work (we are standing right near the building looking towards his office) to the bike path.  You can see that the make-shift bridge that usually crosses that little stream/ditch is gone.  It floated away in the flooding river water.  That spot of water right behind us is usually just a ditch.  Sometimes it has a little water, but certainly the amount in the picture is not normal.

Isaac loves going to daddy's work and really liked going the couple of times we did to see the rising river.  Ben is also a fan.

These pictures are just slightly East and West of the previous picture, further down river.  The actual river would normally be behind those far trees.  

And here's a spot where the bike path is flooded out.  That is the overpass for one of the main roads behind the boys.  

Ben would have ran right into the water if we didn't stop him.  Isaac, on the other hand, has heard the stories of the dangerous river and is super hesitant to get near the water at all.  Good for him.  He was finally convinced that touching his feet into the edge of the overflowing river on the bike path would be okay.  But only holding very closely to dad's leg.

In other news, Ben likes to do what he sees his dad and Isaac do.  Jacob was gifted a sawsall for Christmas and has been using it to chop up all kinds of things.  Ben will make the noise of the sawsall while playing with his toy saw or when moving his own hand back and forth like a saw.  It's pretty adorable.

He also likes to help "cut, cut" at dinner time.  He and Isaac both get out the little cutting boards and help chop up veggies and what not.  Mostly they just like to cut and then eat their hard work.  Fine by me.  Makes getting dinner ready a lot easier when they aren't begging for food or pulling at my legs.

And they look cute doing it too.