Reason 897...

As I mentioned in my previous post, I love Fall. There's lots to love about it... cooler weather, beautiful trees, leaves crunching under foot... and apples. Fall means apples are good again. Our neighbors have an apple tree which they let us pilfer to our heart's desire, which I have done twice now in order to make applesauce. I can't say I'm a big fan of just any old applesauce... well, actually, I can say quite frankly I don't really like applesauce - except for homemade, straight from the tree, chunky, full of cloves and nutmeg applesauce.

As much as I enjoy homemade applesauce, I don't enjoy the process of making it. But, my boys love it and it's a happy reminder of warmer days in the middle of the frigid winter. So, Tuesday night was applesauce night. I got out the trusty apple-corer-peeler-slicer and got to work.
Reason number 897 that I love Vince... he joined me and helped core, peel and slice all the apples. He even put on an apron. I love Fall and homemade applesauce... but I love my husband infinitely more than those two things combined!

Fabulous Fall Day

Fall is probably my favorite season - although here in Nearly Canada, it is a rather short season. The leaves indeed change to their beautiful colors - but then we get a windy day (which come often here) and the leaves are shaken from the trees, leaving the trees standing naked for the next 6 months. It was quite possibly a perfect Fall day here today. There was hardly a cloud to be seen, bright, sunny, blue skies, a light breeze, 65 degrees - and most of the trees still have their leaves. Just gorgeous! We played outside a lot today. Went for a long walk and just soaked in the last few days of glorious Fall before the snow starts to fall.

Obed loves to drive in the back yard. This is his Fonz impersonation. "Heyyyyyy."
Ezra shot a lot of hoops. He told me today he was number, "five-zero. That's number 50 mommy." He then proceeded to count to 50, but got bored after 39, so he quit.
Obed doesn't mind sitting in the grass so much anymore - especially when there are leaves to play with and brothers to watch.

And what better way to end the day than to jump into a freshly raked pile of leaves?

Pumpkins and Parades

It was a busy day in the Black house. The morning started out with a parade. Now you need to understand, the Black kids love parades. Well, maybe it's not the parade they love so much - but rather, the loot they get at the parade. In a 20 minute parade today, the boys collected over a pound of candy, 2 footballs, 2 pairs of sunglasses, a mini Rubik's Cube - just to name a few items. Parades in Nearly Canada mean candy and cheap plastic toys... so what kid wouldn't love a parade?

Ezra and Asher are waiting for the parade to begin. And what passes time better for a boy than throwing things? In this case - throwing leaves.
The one thing in a parade that Ezra and Asher do not like, however, are clowns - or anything that might resemble a clown, or even a woman wearing too much make-up. Here you will notice Ezra hiding behind the stroller, and Asher looking rather forlorn. Why? Well, a clown walked past... across the street... nowhere near them. But you can never be too careful with a clown.
I think one reason the boys get so much loot at parades is because Asher waves at every thing that goes past with such jubilant determination. I don't think anyone passed him up as they were giving out candy and toys.

The winning loot of the day at the parade were these sweet shades. Good-bye 2008... hello 1986.
This afternoon we headed out to the pumpkin patch and corn maze with our friends, the Carrolls. There were several tractors (manufactured in 1946 and 1948 - that's for you Grandpa Black) to drive. I think if Asher had the option, he would have spent all his time driving the tractor.

Then there was the corn maze.

The picking of the pun'kins (Asher dialect).
Although Obed was itching to get down the whole time, he spent his time at the Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch in the backpack. It was a fun day had by all, spent with good friends.

Thinking Outside the Basket

Maybe it's all kids - but my kids don't really "think outside the box." They are fans of routine and schedules (which I think is true of all kids to varying degrees). I'm sure some of this is because they have a mom who plans her spontaneity. Flexibility is not a word that comes easily to my vocabulary. I try to be flexible, and have certain degrees of success - but it's almost always a stretch for me.

I see this trait played out in my kids' lives in different ways every day. Today we were playing hide-and-seek in the basement. I typically hide in one of three places... in the bedroom closet, behind the laundry room door, or in the shower. So, after the boys count to ten (or to thirty-seventeen if Asher's counting), the first three places they look are the bedroom closet, behind the laundry room door, and in the shower. If I'm not in one of those three places, they are stumped and go look again at all three places - maybe to make sure I'm not being tricky and hiding in the soap dish in the shower. I mixed it up today and hid behind the bathroom door. After about 5 minutes of looking (at the same 3 spots), the boys were stumped... so I started making bird noises and finally, they found me. When it was my turn to hide again, I thought I'd make it ridiculously easy - but not hide in one of the normal spots... so I "hid" standing in the laundry room, with the lights on, with a laundry basket over my head. Mind you, it's a rather short laundry basket, which really only covered my head and shoulders. It is full of cutouts. Not a great hiding place. Ezra and Asher walked into the laundry room, looked behind the door, and headed out. They looked in the other usual spots, came back to the laundry room, looked behind the door again, headed out once again. Finally, on their third trip into the laundry room, Ezra finally spotted me. I suppose I need to work on the boys' super-sleuth skills... and teach them to look for the woman standing the middle of the room with a laundry basket on her head laughing - those tend to be good clues when trying to find a hiding mom.

Coot

In the last month or so, Asher has really started to come into his own (see the previous post if you have any doubts about this). He used to live, breathe and walk Ezra. What Ezra did, Asher did, with no qualms. As of late, however, Asher has started to become his own person, with his own likes and dislikes, preferences, desires and opinions. One thing I've noticed in particular about Asher is that he has started to encourage people.

Today I had one of those mornings where none of my clothes seemed to fit, and I didn't really like how any of them looked. I finally decided on an outfit, ironed it, clothed myself and walked into the family room to start the boys on cleaning up. As soon as I walked in, Asher said, "you look coot today mommy." Just the little lift I needed from my two year old son.

This afternoon, I got my nose pierced (gasp! shock! what??? I've always liked how it looks, Vince was a big fan of the idea, and next to this, the craziest thing I've ever done was maybe when I picked out striped underwear rather than solid - I'm living dangerously these days! But that's a discussion for another day). I walked into Asher's room to get him up from rest and he started to tell me about the two different "fork-ups" (that's forklift for those needing translation) he saw out his window. He looked at me, stopped mid-sentence, and said, "oh my mommy, that's a coot new earring." Man I love this kid! He melts my heart and as he grows into his own little man, I love the person he's becoming.

Fashionista?

Asher is not unlike most two year old children in his desire to assert his independence. This independence is a battle ground on which many wars are waged every day. Some battles I choose not to fight - Asher's "style" is one of them. Asher loves to pick out his own clothing. Any day his basketball jersey is clean, he'll wear it - rain or shine, hot or cold - in Asher's mind, every day is the right day for his McQueen basketball shirt. He's quite certain that plaid and camouflage go smashingly together (which Vince would probably agree with). Crocs and socks are another favorite fashion statement of his. He loves his boxers, but he also loves his undies with baseballs on them. What's a boy to do when he loves two different pairs of undies? Well, it only makes sense to wear them both... at the same time.

This morning, Asher chose two shirts, two pairs of underwear, and one pair of sunglasses to wear for the day. We have since trimmed down the outfit to only one shirt and one pair of undies (still no shorts)... but for a few minutes, Asher was ready to face the world in his layers of clothing. I guess the good thing about his clothing choice is that should he have any accident or spill, he's already fit with his new clothing. All he needs to do is peal off the top layer and bam! - he's ready to go.

The Neck Bone's Connected to the Throat Bone?

I'm often amazed at how much children have to learn in their first several years of life. I'm continually amazed at how much children learn simply by observing and conversing - not even by being taught - but simply by absorbing. And not only do kids have to learn all the untaught things of life, but also language and the simple day in and day out things to survive. They have to learn colors, numbers, letters, body parts, personal communication skills, etc. It's quite amazing to think about all the information their brains receive, process and remember.

In general, I would say I am naturally inclined to be an alarmist. I almost always jump to worst case scenario, and then work my way backwards to a more realistic perspective. Knowing this about myself, I try to intentionally under-react to situations to balance out the emotional turmoil going on in my brain. I also try to under-react because I don't want to be one of those parents who rushes my child to the ER every time he seems to have a fart caught. Last night Ezra woke up crying quite hysterically, saying his neck hurt. He obviously had a fever. In my mind, I was on the way to the hospital, calling ahead on my imaginary cell phone (since I don't have one), letting them know I was bringing in my son who clearly had meningitis, possibly avian flu, measles, mumps, rubella, and maybe a bad case of gas. I forced myself to react a bit more calmly, however, and began asking Ezra a series of questions. Did it hurt when he turned his head side to side? Yes. Can he touch his chin to his chest? Yes. Does that hurt? No. As we continued this chain of questioning, it became clear that it was not his neck that hurt, but rather, his throat was on fire.

All this to say... clearly I need to work a bit more with Ezra on anatomy... although the neck is indeed somehow connected to the throat, they are actually two different entities all together. As the song goes... the neck bone's connected to the throat bone - right?
This is how I know when Ezra is really actually sick, versus just milking the sympathy he gets. When he's sick, he brings his blanket from his bed and lies on the floor wherever I am. If I move from the kitchen to the living room, he picks up his blanket, follows me in there, and lies back on the floor. Poor kid.

The Sleeping Gymnists

I love to go into the boy's rooms at night to check on them. I love to watch them sleep (is that creepy?). There is just something about the peacefulness of sleeping children. No matter what kind of day we've had - good or tough - watching my children sleep always fills my heart with a thankful praise to God that He has blessed me with yet another day with my kids. I will often pray over them and just watch as they slumber away. There are times, however, that I also muffle my laughter and then run to get the camera...

Obed does not yet sleep in too many "funny" ways. His favorite position is with his cute little butt up in the air and his ankles crossed just so.
Asher went through a phase of sleeping under his pillow. It lasted for weeks. There was also a night that he started crying and screaming, " I just so sleepy!" Vince went upstairs to check on him and Asher had loaded his pillowcase full of every item he could reach from his bed... books, cars, animals, blankets, pacis... his pillowcase was completely stuffed full, and he was trying to lie down on a hard, lumpy pillow, and really, sitting straight up and reclining on his huge pillow.
Asher also likes to really use every available space in and around his bed to sleep.

Just two nights ago I found Ezra sleeping like this. I'm certain his leg had to be fully asleep, just as he was.

The Trouble With Being One

Obed's had a rough couple of days. Yesterday he had his one year doctor's appointment. He is healthy... but he did have to get his one year shots - never a fun experience. He got a bit of a fever last night and this morning from his shots. He's also trying to cut his molars, which seem to be taking quite some time... but those are causing him quite a bit of misery, not to mention some horrendous diapers! Then, today he was trying to pull a toy down off a shelf in Ezra and Asher's room, and it fell on him. If you look closely at his right eye, you'll see a small bruise forming right next to the eye where the toy landed quite solidly on his face. Then, to top the day off, we were at the zoo today and we looked up when our friend exclaimed, "Obed has a hornet on him!" I was too late in getting to him. The hornet stung him right on his lip, then flew inside his mouth. This picture was 90 minutes post-Benedryl... so most of the swelling had gone down. The poor baby had two big fat lips - the upper lip on the left side (you can still see the red spot on his lip) and his bottom lip, where I think the hornet got him a second time. Poor kid... I hope the first few days of his second year of life are not an indication of things yet to come!

Tired

Vince is a busy guy... as many men are who try to balance work and family time and do it well. The other day he got the boys started on lunch and then laid his head down for a minute. This is how I found him... the boys happily munching away on lunch and Vince... drooling just a little. I'm thankful for my husband. He serves his family, sometimes to the point of his own exhaustion. I think I'll keep him.

The Big Boys Go Camping

One thing I love about Vince is that he loves to spend time with our boys. He loves the outdoors as well and especially loves to spend time with our boys in the outdoors. Last night, Vince packed up Ezra and Asher and they went camping at a local campground which is about 2 miles away from our house. Really, this is the ideal place to start to instill a love of camping in the boys. It's close, so if the weather turns bad or the boys meltdown, they can all be home in a matter of minutes. Plus, to a 2 and 4 year old, 2 miles away is the same as 200 miles away and it takes forever to get there, so a shorter forever is better than a longer forever. Our friends Phil and Henry also joined in on the boys camping trip as well.
Rule number one in camping... there must always be a fire going - no matter the weather. All three boys quickly learned the fun of a campfire.
Asher thought he'd sit for a while and contemplate life and the happenings of life (either that, or he wasn't sure about the next activities and wanted to sit a spell and watch).

It looks as though Henry's chosen activities for the day included a dance around the fire, as well as father-son toss the boy game.
Along with his love of campfire, Ezra has also learned fire safety. One must always have an 8 foot stick minimum to roast any sort of item over a campfire.
It was a chilly morning with yet another campfire and hot chocolate in plastic Applebee's cups (that's when hot chocolate tastes the best you know... served luke-warm in plastic cups).
And for breakfast, a perfect end to a great trip... cinnamon rolls. Sure, a few of them may have gotten a bit dark and were (in Vince's words), "sacrificed to the fire gods." But all in all, a great time had by all.

Birthday Bash

So, here are the expected "baby with cake all over his face" pictures. It was a fun day. Obed had absolutely no idea it was his birthday... but is it really that important to know why you get cake and presents?

Happy Birthday Bobo

A year ago today, Obed was born. At the time, Asher could not say Obed, so he called him Bobo... the nick name stuck, and today, he is still Bobo. Praise God for a year with our delightful little son! Happy Birthday Bobo.

Life with Boys

The other night, in order to try to cheer me after a rather difficult day, Vince put a tattoo on Obed's back to make me laugh... it worked. Vince got Obed out of the bath and was trying to get a picture of his new tat. Obed thought it great fun to crawl away as quickly as possible.
The crawling naked baby can be a rather dangerous game, however, when he is crawling and laughing hysterically - he may pee all over the floor. I'm thankful for paper towels which can soak up said pee.

I Spy

Ezra and Asher love to be outside. On nights that the weather permits it, they love to go out into the front yard after supper and play ball, Frisbee, or just sit on the front porch and watch the cars and people and squirrels. Often, as we sit on the front porch after supper, we play I Spy. "I spy with my little eye something that is..." Ezra sort of gets the game... Asher, not at all.

Ezra always looks around, and you can just see when his eyes lock on the thing he is going to spy. He'll say, "I spy something that is blue and green and white and it's on a shirt." Hmmmm. I look around and try to act perplexed, giving a few guesses, and then all of a sudden I spy the blue, green and white checked shirt that I am wearing. He then will typically follow it up with, "this is going to be a really tricky one." Okay, shoot. He'll look around and again, zone in on the thing he is going to spy. "I spy something big and white and it is the foundation of the new building being built across the street." Hmmm, what could that be?

Asher typically spies the same thing every time. "I spy a fire hydrant." So I look around, point at the tree and ask, "is it that tree in our front yard?" He'll look at the tree and smile and say, "no, it's the fire hydrant. That was a good one, huh mommy?" One of these days both boys will figure out that I'm not really as stupid as I seem to be... but until then, I'll delight in guessing the absurd in order to keep the game going and see the joy in the boy's eyes when they know they've duped me once again.

A Rainy Walk

Yesterday was what Ezra likes to call a "grumpy day outside." It rained most of the day and the temperature barely got over 50 degrees. What better thing is there to do on a grumpy day than to take full advantage of the puddles and rivers? So after supper last night, we all donned our rain gear and headed out for a family walk around the block.
Obed was in his giant stroller-sized Ziploc baggie while the rest of us walked. Ezra and Asher both managed to get their boots on the wrong feet. Vince pointed it out to Ezra, and he said, "oh, I like it this way daddy. It keeps the water out better." I'll have to try that approach next time.

Asher spent most of the time walking ever so carefully with his umbrella held perfectly upright. It looked as though he were trying to balance as he walked... and if you know Asher, this may have very well been the case.

The highlight for Ezra was dropping "boats" in the street rivers and watching the "boats" ride all the way down the street to the ocean.
Near the end of the walk, the rain stopped for a few short minutes. Asher insisted on holding hands with both Ezra and Daddy.

The highlight of the evening for Obed, however, was not the walk at all, but rather, the discovery that one can lick rain drops off mommy's rain coat. He spent at least 5 minutes licking my raincoat and then cackling with laughter... apparently it was raining some sort of funny water that inspired baby laughter.

Grace

We had another one of "those" mornings this morning. A morning where there was much discipline, much grumbling, and lots of talks. In fact, we had one of "those" days yesterday. The boys have had a rough few days with regards to discipline and behavior.

This morning during our devotion time, Vince asked me how he could pray for me today. After a bit of thought, I answered that he could pray that I would not just correct the boy's behavior, but that I would be sensitive to the leading of the Spirit to really shepherd their hearts. That I would seek to understand the inward sin in their hearts and not just seek to change their outward behavior.

After round three of discipline this morning, I decided it was time to get out of Dodge and do something fun, so I packed up the boys and headed to Arby's (yes, this is fun) and then to the zoo. As we were sitting and eating, I started to talk with the boys about the morning. "Ezra and Asher, how was this morning for you all?" Ezra replied, "it was rough mommy." "Why was it rough?" Asher replied, "ummm, I didn't have joy. I grumbled," between sucks on his milk shake and finger licks of ketchup. "Yah, I was dis-inspectful to you mom," Ezra said. We continued to talk a bit about the morning and what made it a rough morning. Then I asked, "do you feel like in light of your behavior this morning, you deserved this special treat of Arby's and the zoo?" They both thought about it a bit, and hesitantly replied, "no" (I'm pretty sure they thought I was going to grab their french fries and milk shakes and throw them away and say, "ha! You're right, you didn't deserve it!" Just in case you're wondering... I didn't do that). I told them they were correct, they did not deserve this special treat and this is something called grace - when we get something we don't deserve. Then we talked about how this special treat is sort of like God giving us Jesus ("sort of" is the operative phrase in this comparison since Jesus is infinitely better than Arby's). We are bad, sinful people and we didn't deserve Jesus, and yet God loved us so much he gave us Jesus to die for our sins. They were naughty and disrespectful this morning, but because I love them, I gave them Arby's and the zoo. Both Ezra and Asher thought about it for a moment, then wanted to know if there were any more fries, why is ketchup called ketchup, and why is it red if some tomatoes are yellow.

I'm thankful for tough mornings. I'm even more thankful for the Holy Spirit in my life to lead me and guide my conversations with the boys. I know they had no great revelation this morning, but I hope and pray that these little times will help them begin to understand the grace of God in giving us Jesus. What a blessing to be able to shepherd their hearts towards Christ!