Handsome Boys

Here are my boys on Father's Day -- they even happen to be color coordinated! Brian has a lot of great qualities, but the one that remains most impressive to me is his patience -- something I've been lacking greatly this past year. It's such an important quality to have when raising kids. So thanks for keeping cool, Brian. The boys are so lucky!

Spreading the word

I was just looking at my brother's family website. They are hoping to adopt a baby. I was just thinking that one way to get the word out is to direct you to their website. Check it out. They're a great family! If you know of anyone who is considering adoption, please pass the web address along. (: We love you guys!

Where is heaven?

Andrew used to pray really great for us. Lately, though, he has been less interested in staying still and saying the prayer. Here's how it went the other night:

Andrew: Why do we have to pray every time at night?
Me: Because we need to tell Heavenly Father that we're thankful for all the things we have.
Yah, like our arms, our legs, and our heads.
Exactly.
But my head is really hard to take off. (He says, as he puts his hands under his chin and pushes upward.)
Thank goodness for that. Okay...let's pray now.
But Heavenly Father can't hear me. He's too far away.
Actually, he can hear you even when he's far away. It's kind of like he's magic...he can hear you even from heaven.
But where is heaven?
Good question...some people say it's clear up in the sky.
Does Heavenly Father live in the chimney?
Uh...no. Even higher than the chimney.

Fruit Snack update

I just wanted to say that my stroller tire, which I patched with a fruit snack weeks (months?) ago, is still working! Makes me wonder if all those fruit snacks are still sticking to Andrew's insides too. (:

St***d

Well, Andrew has picked up another bad habit from me. The word is "stupid" (I hope that st***d doesn't stand for some other foul word.)

The other day Andrew was out digging in the garden. I went to see how he was doing...

"Hey Andrew, how's it going?"
"Oh, hi Mom. I was just calling this truck stupid."
"Andrew, I wish you wouldn't say that word. It's not nice."
"Oh. But you weren't here to hear me."

I was surprised a 3-year-old would come up with that kind of logic. "If mom's not here, it's okay to say whatever I want!"

Here's another fun conversation we had the other day:

"How was nursery today Andrew?"
"Good. I hit that other boy."
"That's too bad. Why did you hit him?"
"I wanted the truck."
"Well Andrew, you are not supposed to hit other people."
"But Mom, I LOVE to hit people."

Oh great.

Eric walks...and laughs....and waves

Last Thursday Eric took a few steps on his own. Friday morning he really started walking. Now he rarely crawls. Here's a video of him in action. I love the way he holds his arms up to keep his balance -- looks like he's running through the finish line at the end of a race.

And here's a video of Andrew and Eric playing the piano -- well, actually Andrew is acting like he's mad at the piano music that won't stay where he wants it. Anyway, you'll see that Andrew still makes Eric laugh harder than anyone else.

First Horse Ride

Yesterday Andrew rode a horse for the first time. When I asked him if he wanted to ride, he said "Yah!" But disappointedly added, "But I don't have a farmer's hat."

He was such a brave little guy -- clearly nervous when we first put him on the horse, but on the trot back toward me he gave me a big, proud smile.

Then last night while we were getting ready for bed, Andrew said "I don't like to ride that horse very much. I just like to look at horses." Eric can't verbalize much right now, but I think he would agree. He wasn't too thrilled about sitting on the horse.

Learning to walk

Eric has been "cruising" for a couple of months now. He loves to push everything across the floor. My kitchen garbage is one of his favorite things to push and is always on the other side of the room. I've taken videos of him pushing various things: his hippo walker, a plastic shelf I was putting together, and the recycle can.

Eating apples

Andrew eats his apple slices like a watermelon in order to avoid the peel. So today I peeled the apple before slicing it. I went to get the plate and found that he still ate the apple as if it wasn't peeled. When I tried to convince him to eat more of the apple, he simply nibbled a little deeper into the slice. It cracked me up so I took a picture.
No more apple peeling for me!

We celebrated Eric's 1st birthday today. I know so many parents say this, but I can't believe it's been a year! Uncle Dave and Aunt Allyson came for dinner -- we didn't expect they would be able to come since they were due to have a baby last Monday. Well, he hasn't come yet. I don't want to say I was glad he's overdue (as I know Allyson's ready for him to come!) But I was very glad they could be here to help liven up our little celebration. (:

We started a tradition with Andrew where we gave him a whole cupcake to eat for his birthday. I think Andrew consumed the entire cupcake in 1 minute flat....never even taking the cupcake from his mouth once he started. Eric was a little less hurried about it, but he definitely enjoyed it, as you can see:

Eric was also thrilled with his present -- a Little People's Bus. And after 10 minutes of pulling off tape and removing twist ties, he was finally able to play with the toy. Next time, I think I'll remove the toys from the packaging before I wrap them.

So it was a good day. He's a very cute boy and we love him! He brings a lot of love and laughter to our lives. Happy Birthday Eric!