What do you think?

Up?

Or down?

Or up do?  (Ballerino Ben) 

Here is his normal hair.  Not quite so much of a jheri curl mullet as pictured above.  And since it figures into his Halloween costume, it won't get cut until November 1st (if ever...).

And yes, this is not the first time.  In the words of every old lady to ever lay eyes on my sons, "They're just too pretty to be boys."   

Crunch Munch

Check out who we found munching his way through our tomato plant. 

Whoah-hoah!

You can't make this stuff up

I came downstairs from putting Benjamin down for a nap one day and this is what I found.  From top to bottom.  Would that the house had been more tidy when they spontaneously decided to do something so darling and blog worthy.  Alas...

Jacob often wants Nicholas to play chess.  Nicholas often wants Jacob to play trains.  They make deals that one will play the other person's activity for a specified amount of time and then they'll swap activities.

It usually ends with Nicholas losing his queen in 3 moves and then running away from the table screaming.  Then Jacob, desperate for a partner, says, "OK, OK" and puts the queen back while warning him that he needs to be more careful.  The agreement usually dissolves after 3 more moves because, as Nicholas so artfully puts it, "this is taking for long".  Crying, anger, and promises from mom to play with Jacob are the only things that will put it aright.  

Happy Birthday Grandma Jan!

Hope you like your presents above!

For those of you who don't know, Grandma Jan holds these skills in high regard.  Also, Nico's video doesn't demonstrate his ability to swim 4 feet without floaties (yay!).  It does, however, demonstrate the darlingness of a little boy with big floaties jumping off the diving board.  It's like puffed sleeves!

We love you Grandma!  Hope it was a great day.

For those who are curious, Benjamin is 15 months and these are his first steps.  We are elated.  And yes, we reeeally wanted him to "stand up please" in that second video.  (Excuse the general debris and jumble of cords in the background.  The house is for another post.  Ooooh yes.)

Oh, and we're still working on the dive.  Soooo close.

Who is that guy?

The one at the table wearing the glasses.  Do you see him?  Who is he?

There he is in the entryway!  Seriously, who is that dude?

 

Oh wait, it's Nico!  Phew.

(By the way, I walked into the dining room the other day and found him with the glasses on and coloring his heart out as pictured at the top.  Who knows how long he'd been like that.)

Ah Chess

You had him at strategy

Hopefully with all of the chess Jacob insists on playing we can rise above the whole Arkansas thing. 

To Liberty!

For Family Home Evening this past week we decided to do a patriotic lesson.  We looked at a few different flags, talked about what flags mean generally, and then read the story of Captain Moroni and the title of liberty from the Book of Mormon reader.  Then we invited the boys to draw flags.  After such a nice little lesson I felt certain we'd see some nice flags. 

Here's Nico's "flag" with two men standing next to flags and angrily brandishing swords.



And here's Jacob's flag, complete with a battle scene and generic mottoes.  (I'm talkin' about you "We have freedom" and "Seek liberty".)  Oh, and do you see the pools of blood?  I see them, but Matt thinks they're just the ground beneath the dying soldiers.  The ones writhing in pain and screaming, "No!"

I know the scriptures are true, but I also know that they are violent.  Sometimes I wonder if I should read them to the kids, I mean there's some tough stuff in there.  Bible, Book of Mormon, you name it! 

And, yes, my kids love it.  I'm sooo proud of them.

Faces

We got 'em, man.

Sweet ones

Dangerous ones

Sunshiney ones

Worried ones

Really worried ones

Annoyed at brothers for taking away toys ones

Upset ones (about the toy)

Devastated ones (again, the toy)

American Gothic (and more worried) ones

Cuddly ones

Um...other ones

And crizazy ones

(By the way, I love SPF shirts that are featured in this post.  So much less work at the pool!  I love less work!)

Domo Arigato Mista Tow-Mato

You've gotten us through the most tumultuous month of this family's existence.  We are forever grateful.

Tokyo Mater


Unidentified Flying Mater


Rescue Squad Mater


Monster Truck Mater


Heavy Metal Mater


El Materdor


Mater the Greater

We haven't seen the new Cars movie, but the boys found these on disneyjunior.com and have now watched them so much they are burned into their brains.  Forever.  I know this because I find them all over the house staging lively "replays" of the action.  And because giggles and squeals like the ones these shows elicit are the real deal.

They're funny tho.  You won't be sorry to spend 15 minutes on them.  Especially Tokyo Mater.  Pleeeease watch Tokyo Mater.

As for our move (and a few other things) I'm just not ready to blog about them yet.  Not necessarily too painful or anything, just too much for me to synthesize.

I thought I'd come out of semi-retirement by posting these videos, but ten minutes after I started this post I got a heartfelt email from Matt's sister, Rachel, asking Natalie and me to please please update our blogs because she and Stephen love their nephews too much to bear any more blog silence.  So, with that in mind (and let me tell you how sweet it was to receive such an email) here are the boys on the "slippy slide" (Nico's pronunciation). 







Here's a sample of Benjamin's hair when dry.  Such enviable curls!  By the way, he spent 10 minutes with that bag of cereal.  Throwing it.  Mashing it.  Hugging it.  Dog piling on it.  All while smiling like this.  Totally worth the "investment"!  The honey nut O's held up very nicely and were still totally edible.  That's my mom advice for this post.  Bags of cereal.  You're welcome!

What can four cousins and a dog do?

Share an inflatable double bed, of course!