Say Hello to a new Sunbeam

A primary Sunbeam to be exact.

Masters of Disguise

Dear Nicholas,

You love to find things. Things that have been lost for a long time. You love to tinker with them. You love to take them apart. You love to break them. All in the name of curiosity.

Then you bring it into our world and invite us to use it. And oddly enough, sometimes it's fun!

Behold the fake-nose-glasses-without-the-nose-anymore!

Smiley Smilers of Smilerson Lane

Consequences

Nicholas has become my little artist. He loves to color, paint, sculpt, cut, you name it! I forget how much he enjoys it during the rush of the day, but when I remember I sigh in contentment to see this happening:

























And then this happens:













Ha ha. That marker swipe went a good two inches into his hair. Very weird and a little bit Frankenstein-ish. It took quite a long shower and a lot of scrubbing to get that to come out. He makes me laugh. Such a sweet, silly boy.

A Question

"Mom, if I stop shaving will I grow a mustache?"

I didn't know he'd even started shaving!

Any answers?

In the quiet moments

I find Nicholas doing this kind of thing.


























































































































What a show off! I am in love with this face.


















Nicholas is so darling. He is a sunshine boy. I am grateful to have such a determined, bright, funny boy. I just love seeing his little face working things out.

Here's a conversation Matt & Nicholas had a few weeks ago when Nico was in the tub.

Matt: You're naked!

Nicholas: I not naked, I Nico.

Touche Nicholas, touche.

I'm sorry Nicholas,

but you're pretty.










































Pretty, pretty, pretty.














And pretty awesome, too.

And if you think Maddie and Jacob dig each other

Check out Grandpa and Nicholas.














Their connection runs deep. Grandpa was his favorite person in Utah. Fay-vo-right. Whenever Grandpa came home Nico was hot on his trail. They just get each other.














We, especially Nicholas, love you Grandpa!

I stand corrected

Matt wanted to show his little boys off to a school friend and alerted me that the blog was very Nico heavy lately.

I find that the pendulum swings between kidlets as I blog. I'd like to give the pendulum a push towards Jacob this evening and discuss his sweetness.

Because he has a lot of sweetness.














Today when I went to get him after quiet time he was busily drawing on his magnadoodle. He was muttering to himself while he was scribbling and then propped the 'doodle up against the wall. I decided I wanted to watch him for a while when the tile creaked. I was detected. He told me that he'd drawn the picture just for me and had propped it up so I could see it. He then erased it and started telling me to "look and see, Mama" and "I'm drawing this just for you".

When he was a newborn sometimes I would be washing dishes and imagine what life would be like in a few years. In my mind's "ear" I could hear him pitter-pattering around the corner into the kitchen bursting to tell me something. And now he's all that imagined child and so much more. More good (and more challenge) than I ever thought.

I love hearing him call, "Moooooomma, come see" through the house. When I get to him he is usually wearing his sly smile. The one that he wears when he is delighted by something but is also wanting to seem cool-ly aloof. If you know my dad, it's that smile.

He is sweet, fun, crazy-making and smart and I want everyone to know it. (Nico is too, but it's not about him.)

Lunchtime Magic

Sometimes lunch is a quiet affair with nothing much to report. Other times it's one crizazy time.

This particular lunch Nicholas learned just what you should do in front of a camera. Say cheese! Jacob helped in the learning process.

Again and again and again.

Oh my

Look at little Jacob a year or so ago at Grandma Jan's house.

The pants. The belly. The face. The hands on the head.

I couldn't keep this one to myself.

Someone really knows how to smile

Last week Nicholas cried and sweat his way back from Tuscaloosa. Home never looked so good. When we got back I stripped him down and let him roll around a bit. He was in raptures. (And yes, that is a big self-inflicted scratch on his nose.)




























He also finally showed off his pearly whites.














I was going through pictures and realized that he's pretty much an all-star "smiler". He always gets the joke. What a satisfyingly sweet smile.

I try and I try and I try!

I have so far been fairly unsuccessful at snapping a picture of my TWO children. My attempts usually end up following this pattern:

1. Ta da! However, Nicholas isn't smiling and Jacob is being strangled by Nicholas's hair!




















2. Jacob starts thinking..."Hmmm, who is this cute thing tenuously placed in my arms? Do I really want to be holding him?"




















3. Then Jacob grins and thinks, "Nah. I don't! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"




















4. The end.































5. Repeat.