Two gags for the price of one task

1. Jacob pulls all of the toys off of the fireplace and puts them on the floor (along with the other toy debris) all around Nicholas. He then says, "Where'd he go, Mo-mmy?". Can you see him? It sort of reminds me of something.


















2. Since the fireplace is nicely cleaned off...why not?




































Way to stick that landing J.J.!

Challenge me, please!

I like to fancy that my job as a “family blogger” is to take simple, every day occurrences at home and turn them into delightful personal essays peppered with witty comments and cute pictures. (I fancy quite a lot, eh?) Well, sometimes these kids just don’t give me “every day occurrences”. Not at all. I mean, seriously, could this be any easier?

A puzzle piece becomes…







































...a pacifier!


















I’ve actually had to hide them from him because if he sees them they are in his mouth. He won’t take a regular pacifier, but these puzzle knobs he takes and is totally pacified! Honestly.

The luckiest boy in the world

Anyone who knows Jacob even the teeniest bit knows that he loves trucks, tractors and anything that moves.

We are fortunate enough to have a subdivision of expensive homes be the feeder road into our little not expensive neighborhood. So, we've seen a lot of really nice things on the side of the road with a "free" sign on them. We've even picked a few up. Last week that street outdid itself. Big time.

Check it out.










































































Can you believe it!?!?! We feel so grateful that this little (expensive) beauty was just sitting there waiting for us. Fo' free. Jacob is in heaven, and so are we.

Additionally, we've learned that we really don't treat Jacob much. We told him we had a surprise for him and led him out to the sheet covered tractor (for the big "reveal"). After uncovering it he kept on calling it a surprise and has started calling all tractors "surprises". Apparently he really didn't know the meaning of surprise. I guess we're raising our children on a diet of low expectations!

My blog is a democracy

Friday night we dusted off the old hair scissors and decided to shear us some Nicholas. That morning I took some good-bye pictures.
































































































































We cut his hair right after he had smeared food all over his face and hair. We also did it at night. Not so great for the pictures, but picturesque-ness had to be subjected to my feeling of urgency. It was like pulling off a band-aid.














Here he is in Momma's trusty old barber chair.


















I had to spend some time detangling his recurring dreadlocks. Lots of time.














Mullet!














Mullet again!


















Look at all that hair! I'd say about twice as much as Jacob's.


















Before the finished product. Allow me to reflect on the style. It still needs some more layering and was done when everyone was tired and cranky. But if I had to put it into words I would say it's a little bit of this:



with a little bit of that (don't worry, I'm referring to Moe's hair):



Ta da!!!!!

























































Here's the first feedback I've received:

"His head looks half the size and his cheeks look twice as big." -Matt

Nice.

You really want this?

I am willing to cut it.

I wanted your opinion.

Then I went and looked at this post.

I'm excited to see the new Nicholas. But, but, but, then my baby's gone. At least, that's how it worked with Jacob.

Before (totally insufficient display of his amazing hair, but more than sufficient display of his smiley smile):














I'm ready. I think. Expect pictures soon...

(gulp.)

So cute and so brutal

Nicholas is a real scratcher. I keep those little nails cut down to nubbins, and he's still doing it! Last week he had a pre-existing scratch on his nose. I put him down for his nap and when I got him up HIS NOSE WAS BLEEDING! He scratched that old scrape and made it bleed. Bleeding to the point of literally needing a band aid. So, I found a little band aid and bandaged him up.







































What an adorable injury.

Also, make sure to vote about Nicholas's hair. Your vote counts!

He ain't heavy, he's my brother

Oh so long ago my boys were worlds apart.














Jacob viewed Nicholas as BO-RING.














And Nicholas thought Jacob was a menace.














They've both done a lot of growing up in the last seven months and I'd like to show you some of their recent interactions.

Playing trains.
































Struggling to tear Nicholas away from a favorite toy.














Fixin' stuff at the work bench.














Pushing Nicholas away from the work bench.














Nicholas giving up while Jacob plays on.














"Parallel play". Jacob loves his trains on the table and Nicholas loves his train leavings and any other toy litter under the table. What could be more parallel?


















Playing "Where's Nico?". This is by far our most favorite activity. Nicholas is a great crawler and can get anywhere. He has found a particular delight (as seen above) in getting under things. "Where's Nico?" basically consists of Jacob thinking Nicholas is in a funny place and then yelling "Where's Nico" until they both dissolve in giggles. Awe-some.