A 4 year old's imagination

Jacob is sitting at the table working on taxes, much later than usual for us, and asked me to keep him company.  So here I sit with some time to finish up a post I started a long while back.  I'm happy to be sitting near him and not cleaning my bedroom.  I'll happily put aside that personal agenda!

Isaac is killing me with his fun imaginative play these days.

He's into super heros a little bit.  Having never actually seen any superhero cartoons or movies (aside from PBS's Super Why) he doesn't totally understand it.  But he knows there should be a bad guy and a super hero.  So, he and Ben are usually the superhero's with their capes from Grandma Brunson and I am relegated to 'bad guy.'

One particular day Isaac began by asking me to play superhero and bad guy.  He explained that we would shoot and kill the bad guys.

I responded that I don't like that kind of play.  That even in pretend play hurting others in that manner isn't nice or acceptable.

He said "Okay.  I'll be Jesus."

Me: "What does Jesus do?"

Isaac: "He just tells the bad guys it's wrong and tells them how to be nice."

Yep, I'll play that way.  But I also told him instead of hurting the bad guys we could capture them and put them in jail for being bad.  He seemed on board with that and before I knew it Ben was the bad guy and captured in the bathroom prison.

I needed to use the facilities so I went in and set Ben free.  I told Isaac to find a new jail, maybe the couch.  Then, as I was taking care of business this was the conversation I heard at the bathroom door.

Isaac:  "I'm taking you to a new jail.  You can choose the couch or my bedroom.  Are are you choices."

Ben: "Go here" followed by a pounding the door.

Isaac: "It's not one of you options.  Do you want the couch or my bedroom."

Ben:  "No, go here" knock on door.

Isaac:  "It's not an option" -said with increasing frustration.

Ben: "here"

Isaac:  "But it's not an option!"

I just laughed.  First at Isaac's imitation of our parenting with choices and second at Ben's lack or cooperation.  I feel your pain Isaac.  Giving choices has never gone over well with Ben.  He wants what he wants and he won't be fooled by your options.

Later on I had been captured and taken to the couch for my jail sentence.  I was happy with the arrangement as I put my feet up and was taking some much needed rest.  (I'm so tired this time around in pregnancy...better than first trimester tired...but still happy to rest whenever I can.)  Isaac came by and released all the prisoners, I guess he got tired of Ben and I locked up and no one to play with.  I however, was enjoying the rest so I told him I had been in jail so long I had gotten old and could no longer move.  I was paralyzed.

Isaac: "I'll go get a prophet."
Me: "What will the prophet do?"
Isaac: "He'll heal you."

Yep, he outwitted me.  I was healed and on my way.  So funny.

I've asked Isaac a few times what he thought we should name the baby if it's a boy or a girl.  His suggestions for a boy include fire fighter and nut.  His option for a girl is girl girl baby.  And he was also kind enough to provide a gender neutral, cry baby.  Umm....I think we'll leave the naming of the baby up to Jacob and I.  Oh, and just a couple days ago he asked if I would consider Sir Topham Hat as an option.  I'll take it into consideration...but it's not going to win out that is for sure.

Love my smart, creative, and usually kind Isaac boy.  I can't believe he is 4 years old and so big. I always tell him to stop growing and he just smiles and me and says he doesn't know how.  I wish he did some times.  And sometimes I'm grateful for the older child he is becoming.

2 year old cuteness

Guys, Ben is so stinking cute right now.  I can't hardly stand it.  I just want to grab his little cheeks and constantly be kissing him.  He says the funniest things and has the best facial expressions.  I'm not even sure I can accurately describe his cuteness, but I'm going to try.

Sometimes at bedtime Ben wants lots of kisses.  He'll say "here" "here" "here" and point to each spot we are to kiss.  It's pretty funny and cute.  He'll laugh when he points some place silly like his ear or nose.  Then sometimes I'll blow a kiss from the doorway and he'll reach up and catch it with a big smile.  After I say love you Ben he often replies "love you Mom!"  I love that.

Ben is really getting into playing with Isaac.  It's both good and bad.  They have many little fights and squabbles but lots of adorable chasing and giggling too.  Typical sibling stuff but it makes me happy to see them becoming good playmates and friends.  When Isaac was recently sick and spent most of the day in his room Ben was so lonely for him.  He would go to Isaac's door and check on him now and then and say "get better, brother."  He also tried to comfort Isaac after Isaac had hit his head on the organ.  I was holding Isaac and Ben climbed up next to me on the chair.  I asked if he'd like to rub Isaac's back to help him feel better and he said "no, hold him."  I laughed and told Ben I thought his lap might be a little small for that.  He promptly spread his knees to make his lap a little bigger and said "bigger now."  So I let him hold Isaac and they both thought it was awesome.  So did I.

I was eating some nutella on a banana for a little snack and Ben came into the kitchen.  He quickly spotted the nutella and asked for some.  I asked what he would like to eat it on and he replied "my finger."  Yep, that's my boy.  I'll eat nutella on my finger, or spoon, or whatever.

Oh he's cute...and a little cranky and needy at times too.  I love him.

Oh Boy!

I was just looking back over pictures and realized I haven't posted any pictures in a long old while.  I guess we'll do a little catching up again.  This is going to be an especially fun  catch up because these pictures are totally out of order.  Awesome.

We decorated sugar cookies on Valentine's day.  We also took the boys to the Lowe's build and grow clinic that morning to make fun valentines picture holders.  They sure love those build and grow clinics.

We had the adult session of stake conference on Valentine's night.  I stayed home with the boys while Jacob went alone.  He said the stake president talked about dating your spouse.  He gave them a list of date ideas.  Jacob and I have been doing a modified version of the list once a week.  One of the items on the list was building a snow man.  Ours looks a little more like a snow ghost but it was fun to make.  

We recently had a successful family movie night.  Isaac still has a little bit of a hard time with any bit of suspense in a movie.  So we are slowly working through rated G movies.  This particular night we made it all the way through A Bugs Life.  It was fun.

We bought a minivan last week to help make room for this coming baby and the car seat it will need.  These aren't great pictures but it's a Honda and we are loving it.  The boys are so excited about the power doors.  They cry if I don't let them open them every. single. time.  Fun right?

We've been enjoying the Wednesday cheap kids skate at the local skating rink.  It's for kids 6 and under so it's really perfect.  This particular time we went with our friends, the Kackstaetters, that live across the street.  They have a daughter who is Ben's age and a 1 year old daughter.  We are loving having them right across the street from us.  I generally try not to post pictures of other people's kids on my blog though.  So...just know they are cute and we love them.

This may have been Isaac doing the hokey pokey.

Jacob and I have a tradition of sharing a box of See's chocolates for Valentine's day.  We usually take the boys with us to pick out our box and they get a sucker.  It's a win for all involved.  Just look at that awesome chocolate sucker face.

This is the first time Isaac wasn't a total sticky mess from the sucker.  He's getting so big!  :)

The boys wanted me to build them an igloo...um...okay.  I wasn't about to go out in the snow and do it so we got creative.

We also celebrated Dr. Seuss's birthday with some green eggs and ham treats at preschool/story time.  It was fun.

And here's are little preschool group.  Isaac, Sydney Bills, Emma Kackstaetter, Kelsey Bills, and Ben.  Seriously...those kids are too cute.  They have a (mostly) good time together.  The Bills are moving and I am so sad about it.  Isaac is too.  Sydney is one of his favorite play mates.

These are the little boy and girl outfits I bought.  The plan was to wrap them up and then have the boys open the appropriately gendered outfit when we found out if this babe was a boy or girl.  The babe was less cooperative.  So we explained to Isaac that the tech wasn't sure but had a guess.  We let him open the girl outfit but reminded him it could still be a boy.  I returned them both and was going to exchange the girl outfit for a bigger size.  They were out at my store but then my heart was kind of set on bringing this baby (hopefully girl) home in THAT outfit.  So I called my mom and she had Diana look at their target.  Success!  If this babe is indeed a girl you will see that outfit on her to be brought home from the hospital.  Can I just say how weird it was to be buying a girl outfit and summer clothes too?  Strange.

Ben took this photo of Isaac.

Isaac took these photos of Ben.  Ben was sad to not be taking pictures still.  Doesn't he make the saddest face?

And then the big tantrum ensues.  Two year olds...

We escaped most of the winter without getting sick.  Then March hit and I feel like we have been sick all month long.  First Isaac caught a stomach bug that lingered in his system forever.  Then a week later it was Ben's turn.  Luckily his was of a much shorter duration.  Jacob and I never caught that, thankfully.  But we've had our share of colds and sore throats recently.  I still consider us lucky this year.  Could have been the horrid flu that was going around  Glad we missed that!

And skating again.  This time with the Bills girls.  Isaac is getting pretty good.  He even upgraded to the regular high friction skates.

Ben is also pretty steady on those playskool ones.  He pushes with one foot and coasts with the other.  It's pretty cute.

As we were loading kids into the cars after skating was over Isaac got a little teary and concerned and said "Mom, the Bills aren't going to be here when we have the baby!"  Jamie and I both got a little teary ourselves...we know, Isaac, we know.  They have been great friends and we are going to miss them terribly.  At least I will.  I guess we can catch up with each other at those extended Lawrence reunions.  (Uncle Alma is Jamie's grandpa.)  Small world I tell ya, running into a second cousin in your ward.  Love it!

We took a quick weekend trip to Utah for Raylene Ireland's funeral.  Well, so I could attend the funeral.  Jacob hung with the boys.  They went to the build and grow with Sam and Brinton and then on to the Thanksgiving Point dinosaur museum.  (I'll have to get those pictures off Jacob's phone.)

That Sunday the boys wore the matching bow ties I had for them.  Jacob's is a legit bow tie and the boys were made from the pocket square that came with Jacob's tie.  I made the boys' bow ties too big.  They look a little clownish.  I'm trying to decide if it bothers me enough to take them apart and shrink them down a bit.  I don't know...

Ben was being a little grumpy and wouldn't get in the picture with Grandpa.  Oh well.

We loved seeing our Utah cousins and missed MaryAnn's and Shannon's family.  We really need to arrange all being there at the same time.  I guess not this summer though.  I don't travel with new babies.  Emma was adorable.  And patient with all of Isaac's attention.

He wouldn't just hold her still.  He had to try and rock her or something.

And then Hannah didn't want to be left out of the picture taking.

And Brinton wanted a turn too.  How can you not take a photo of those cute siblings?

Ben wanted to hold Emma but only with Jacob's help.

And last, but not least, here are 9 of my parent's 16 grandchildren.  Good looking group of kiddos.  But without Shannon and MaryAnn's kids there sure is an age gap from Matt to Isaac.  Ha!

We did have fun catching up with family and wish it could have been a little longer of a trip.  I'm a little sad because I probably won't see Josh again until he's getting home from his mission.  That is super strange.

Well, there ya go.  I'm trying to think if there was anything else terribly noteworthy in the past couple months.  I guess not really.  Just doing our thing...same old, same old.  I'm vowing now to do a better job at more regular posts though.  I've even got a post I started about all Ben's cute things he says and does that just hasn't gotten written.  Maybe this week?

Baby Girl?

Jacob and I went in for our 20 week ultrasound recently and things with baby number 3 are looking good and healthy.  I am very relieved about that.  I always am.  I often get myself into all kinds of a worried mess when I think of all the things that could go wrong in a pregnancy.  Thankfully we have been spared those challenges thus far.

We were also excited to find out if this baby is a girl or a boy.  I've gone both ways during the pregnancy, sometimes thinking it's a boy, sometimes a girl.  Turns out we get to keep guessing.  The baby was not terribly cooperative in showing off it's anatomy.  The ultrasound tech said if she had to guess she would guess that it's a girl but cautioned us against buying a bunch of pink without keeping receipts.

So, we might be having a girl.

I must admit I've started thinking and planning like it's a girl.  I hope we aren't all prepared to bring home a baby girl and end up with a boy.  I mean, I'm sure I'll love this baby either way, but I'd really like a girl.  I've bought some little girl outfits for bringing the baby home and all.  I don't have anything new for a baby boy.

I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Funny stuff

So, there are some things I've been wanting to document, mostly just for me, but wasn't yet ready to share things publicly.  I guess I just decided that not enough people read this blog to make it "public" so it's probably safe to use it more as a journal.

Jacob and I are excited to be having another baby!  I am due at the end of July and should find out in a couple of weeks if this baby is a girl or a boy.  I'm hoping for a girl but lately have been thinking it's a boy.

One of the things I was most looking forward to was telling Isaac and Ben we were going to have another baby in our family.  I figured Isaac would be really excited and Ben would mimic that for a few minutes but not really know what was going on.  I was pretty right.

Jacob got it all on video but I can't stand watching me in it so you don't get to see it.  You just get to know that it took Isaac a few minutes to realize what we had said and then he clapped his hands to his face and said excitedly "We have to get ready!"  He had some questions (and has continued to have questions..."How did the baby get in my belly?",  "How does the baby get out of my belly?",  and "When will the baby get here?") and just bounced around for the next few minutes so excited about it all.  We let him call Grandma Brunson and tell her - though she already knew- and he loved that.  He started talking to my belly and says things like "Hi baby.  How is your day going?" and "Are you a girl baby or a boy baby?"  And then he answers for the baby.  It's pretty cute.  He's actually been pretty good about only telling a few people that we are having a baby.  No big announcement in sharing time or anything, yet.  The day after telling the boys about the baby Isaac pulled out all the baby blankets I had stored in his closet.  He told me we needed to go through everything to get ready.  We made Isaac a calendar to help him understand that we have A LONG time before any baby will be here.

Ben was excited and said "baby" a couple of times and that was about it.  About what I expected.

I've reached that terribly awkward phase where I have outgrown my regular clothes but don't quite fit into full on maternity wear.  So, sometimes I wear the maternity pants just to be more comfortable.  Isaac saw the tops of those pants on me one day and wondered what it was all about.  I explained that the pants were stretchy to make room for the baby as it grows in my belly.  The next day I was wearing just some regular  stretchy pants.  Isaac noticed they weren't maternity pants and asked, "Mom, why aren't you wearing your baby proof pants."  I about died...baby proof.  Awesome.

It's been fun to see Isaac so excited about it all and to help Ben try and understand it all.  I am ready to know if this babe is a boy or girl though.

Hard Lessons

The other day we went to quilt group at the Van Shaar's home.  The boys love the chance to play in their basement.  I had a visiting teaching appointment scheduled right after quilt group so we had to make our exit a little more quickly than we normally do.

I went to the basement to help the boys clean up and then we grabbed some treats and headed out.  My visiting teaching appointment was nice.  I recently got reassigned and I visit one of the sisters in our ward who I really look up to.  She is the mother of 7, mostly adult children, and reminds me of my mom in some ways.  And in some ways not.  It was good to visit.

When I got home the boys got started playing and I got started on sweeping and mopping the floor.  In the midst of that I noticed Isaac pulled something out of his pocket and was playing with a quarter.  I knew he hadn't taken one of his quarters with him so I asked where it came from.  He told me he had found it in the Van Shaar's basement.  I kept about sweeping for a minute or two when it registered for me that he had just taken something that didn't belong to him from someones home.  I put down the broom and went and told Isaac that it's wrong to take things that don't belong to us and that we would have to return the quarter to the Van Shaars.

He was not happy.  I think he was really wanting to keep the quarter and then also, he was starting to feel some guilt.  I talked him through why and how we would return it and all the while he was crying.  He said he wanted to wait until tomorrow when he would have forgotten about the quarter.  I told him I wanted him to take it now while it was fresh in his memory and because it was the right thing to do.  I got Ben ready to go and then told Isaac we were heading for the car.  He really started crying and ran to his room.  I followed him there and talked some more.  He cried that he "didn't want to feel this way anymore."  I assured him that after he returned the quarter and made it right he would feel better.  He told me he needed to be alone to calm down.  I talked a little more and then he said "you aren't leaving me alone."  Oh right.  I told him he could have 5 minutes.

I went back downstairs to check on Ben and then finished up sweeping.  I headed up to Isaac's room and while I was going upstairs I could hear mumbling.  I went into his room and told him it was time to go.  He crawled out of the closet and said he was ready.  He was totally calm and pleasant, no more fit.  He said he had said a few prayers and Heavenly Father was telling him he was doing the right thing.  I told him that feeling was from Heavenly Father and we rehearsed how this would all go down again.

On the car ride to the Van Shaar's I was praying they would be home and Isaac was praying he would be brave.  We got to the Van Shaar's and unloaded out of the car.  I rang the doorbell and Isaac hid behind my leg.  I told Carol that Isaac was feeling shy but had something to return that belonged to them.  I handed her the quarter.  Carol was great at talking to Isaac and thanking him for returning it.  He had expressed earlier that he didn't want Sister Van Shaar to be mad at him.  I assured him she wouldn't.  After that Ben and Isaac ran off in the front yard and began playing.

I talked with Carol a bit and then we headed home.

I was so proud of Isaac.  What a demonstration of faith.  His prayers were so sincere and humble.  But I was mostly surprised at how hard this whole thing was for me.  I wanted to cry with Isaac.  I didn't want him to "feel that way" either.  We've all been there.  It's scary and hard to do the right thing.  But I also knew that now was the time to learn this lesson, with such a small thing and friends that what love.  Hopefully Isaac won't have to learn this lesson again with something bigger and more awkward.

Being a parent is hard stuff.  I hope I'm doing it well enough.  I have good boys and I hope I tell them that enough.

Oh January...You Went by Quickly

I think I'm having a harder time keeping up on this blog.  I guess it's partly not taking many pictures and partly not doing too much that is noteworthy.

We've just been hanging in through these longer winter months.  But, as it turns out, we've had a string of unseasonably warm weather and have been enjoying being outside and bike riding and park playing and such.  But not much picture taking.

Really, these are just about all the pictures I've taken this month.

Ben has been really good at staying in his bed for naps.  I remember Isaac at this age would sleep in all kinds of weird places and positions.  Ben, not so much.  He fell asleep one day crying by the door and then another day fell asleep here:

We had just put new batteries in this star turtle so it was a brand new toy.  I love that he cuddled up with it on the couch in his room and fell asleep.  So cute.

Jacob took these pictures of me reading to the boys.  I love that he captured this regular, everyday moment.  I'm not usually in pictures much but I'm happy to be in this ones.

I love little kitchen helpers.  I especially love little kitchen helpers helping their Daddy make cookies on a Sunday.

I also super love pictures of how these kiddos play.  They are silly.  

And that's it folks...January.  Ha...pretty pathetic.