My Boys at 4 years and 21 months

Just a post to write down a few memories about my kiddos at these ages :)  I've been telling them lately that they need to stay JUST like this, because they are just so much fun, and just so cute!  Love my boys :)
Nathan ~
*You have SO many words, talk ALL the time, and use complete sentences.  You get complimented all of the time on  your speech :)
*You still love your passy.  You only get it while in your crib, but you are an addict.  We plan to take it away around age two, but I'm terrified! 
*Helping is one of your favorite things to do!  You throw away your own diapers, bring me things, put away your dirty clothes, etc. 
*You find bodily noises absolutely HILARIOUS, when you pass gas you giggle and then blame it on someone else!  It is quite funny! 
*We started practicing memory verses at the start of the new year and I cannot believe how well you do with them!  I included you because I knew you'd have fun with it, but you are really getting it too!  You LOVE to earn a sticker on your chart for practicing, and a couple of days ago I overheard you reciting it to yourself in the bath!  You missed a couple of words, but clearly said "Let us love one another... GOD!!!  GOD!!"  (you left out the little part "love comes from" God)  I'm so proud :)  You yell God's name every time you say it :)
*You wait to eat your food until we've prayed... you will say "let's pray!" and hold hands around the table :)
*You LOVE to go bye bye and always ask for a snack in the car (a bad habit mommy probably started...)  Your favorite thing to take is Fruit Snacks (another very bad habit that we're working on changing!)
*You are SUCH a snuggler!  You say "hold you mommy" all the time and raise your arms up... it is quite irresistable ;)  You also love to sit in mommy's and daddy's laps :)
*You're a little guy at just over 21 lbs.  You're in the 1st percentile for weight and 5th for height.  You've never been a huge eater, and I'm sure it's partly genetic too... the doctors aren't too worried at this point.
*You absolutely love Mickey Mouse, Spiderman, Thomas, and Toy Story (Woody and Buzz)
*You've known all the names of your body parts for quite sometime, can often be caught counting (but only correctly up to three most of the time), can name just about any animal and their sound, and are STILL singing "Jingle Bells" as your favorite song  ("ingle bells ingle bells... ina oooone hooows open sleighhh, HEY!")  I've been working hard to encourage other songs, but this continues to be your favorite ;)
*You can be an instigator with your brother... and often get time-out for purposefully bothering him ;)


Alex~
*Still can't get over that you are 4 years old!  You remind us often of this fact:  "four year olds sometimes do this..."  "four year olds can build this stuff"  " four year olds sometimes don't eat all of their chicken..."  the list could go on and on ;)  You'll also say "when I'm 5..." 
*You are also a snuggler... you'll often tell me you want to cuddle :)  I love this! 
*You easily write your name... but still aren't all that into things requiring writing...
*You like to do things just right, and get frustrated easily when you can't or when you need help
*I think you're going to be really good with numbers!  You already count things often and have really good one to one correspondence.  You can order numbers 1-10 easily, count to 14 without skipping numbers (then you often get mixed up, but sometimes you count higher), can look at any number from 1-99 and almost always say the right number just by looking at it (excluding some of the teens)!!  You also (unknowingly) make up story problems all the time with your food or hotwheels or whatever... things like "I have 9 grapes right now!  Once I eat these two, I'll have 7 left!"  etc. etc. 
* You LOVE your hotwheels and airplanes!  Mommy has gotten you into sorting them, and you have a lot of fun with it.  You've easily got 50 hotwheel cars and 20 airplanes, but you know them all and know just which one you're looking for.  You love if they have spoilers on the back or fire on the sides, because that means they are racecars and they go fast!  When we're out driving you'll point out cars that you think are fast based on how they look :)
*You are sensitive, sweet, and stubborn. 
*You do things in your own time, at your own pace... I've said it before, but I think God made you like that to help me with my patience :)  There is no way to rush you! 
*You are 31 lbs and in the 7th percentile for weight... can't remember your height off the top of my head, maybe 35th? 
*You love all things superhero! 
*You can recite all of your Bible verses by heart, by yourself!  (minus the references...)  So proud of you! 
*You are a good, kind friend.  It takes you a little while to open up with new kids, but once you do, you LOVE to be silly and funny! 
*You know almost all of your letters and sounds... and you like to play the game where I say a word and you try to tell me what letter it starts with!  You're very good at it ;)  You also chunk words when you're pretending to read... "Mom, this says legos right here... le - gos" 

I know I could go on and on about you two, but it's time for some afternoon snuggles ;)

Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!!  We have had fun celebrating this year!  We made and decorated yummy sugar cookies, made Valentines to send to grandparents and cousins, and had a fun making projects!  Here are the boys with valentines they made for their grandparents and daddy! 

 We spent the morning going to a "cookie decorating party" with some friends from my mops group!  It's always kind of amusing though because the kids would really rather just play, and the moms are always trying to get the kids to do activities ;) 

We spent the afternoon making valentines for each other and daddy!  Nathan was really into it... Alex had fun making 2 or 3 and then was more interested in receiving Valentines than making any more ;)

Nathan is always so proud of his work and announces often "I did it!!" with the proudest smile!  He LOVES running his projects to daddy in the afternoons and telling him about how hard he worked :) 

Such a little ham!  He loves to say "CHEESE" and we've gotten to calling him a "little cheeser" when it comes to taking pictures! 

Here the boys are, working hard!

Valentine hearts, a pinterest idea! 

Gary got off work early, which was a nice surprise!  We made Valentine Sundaes after the kids ate dinner!  They enjoyed adding sprinkles, m&ms and chocolate syrup!  YUM! 

We gave the kids a couple of little Valentine's presents we picked up over the past week.  Nathan got this Toy Story Thermos!  He's been eyeing Alex's for the past month and we finally took pity on him and got him his own.  To say he was THRILLED would be an understatement!  He's been carrying it around ever since ;)  Maybe this will help him in drinking more milk! 

They love sitting on the bottom step... you'll often find them here giggling and playing :)

Gary and I were able to go on our Valentine's date this past Friday!  Our church had a parent's night out and we took full advantage!  We went out for dinner, got coffee, and walked around the mall kid-free!   And the kids got to enjoy a night of cookie decorating, crafts, movies, and playing at church :)  On Valentine's day he surprised me with soome beautiful flowers and we had a dinner and dessert "fondue night" after putting the kids to bed a little early!  I'm not huge into valentine's day really... it's mostly for kids in my mind, but it is a nice excuse to do something a little extra special ;)  I am so blessed to share my life with such a wonderful man and we had fun celebrating!  What a perfect day :) 

Legos!

Gary's parents saved all of his legos fromwhen he was a kid and we have a HUGE bin full of them!  Alex is still a bit young to create his own actual creations, but he still loves to play legos!  Here is his latest lego creation that he made with his daddy!  These two can spend hours in the "lego room" ;)  (aka third bedroom where all legos have to stay so that we don't have them all over the house!  ha!) It is so fun to watch them work on spaceships, airplanes, castles, etc! 

Alex's Superhero Party!!

We had Alex's "Superhero Party" on Saturday night!  It was his first real birthday party with kids and games and such and was SO much fun!  We've been to a few birthday parties over the past couple of months and he's been talking about and looking forward to his for a while :)  We had a superhero theme!  Here's one of the kid tables enjoying pizza! 



 Birthday cupcakes!

 Some of the kiddos getting ready to sing Happy  Birthday! 

 Blowing out the candles! 

 Opening gifts! 

Game time!  The kids had to "vaporize the villians" with silly string!  They absolutely LOVED this!  So cute! :) 

 Nathan wanted to be one of the big boys the whole time!  Here he is with Aunt Michelle taking a turn with the silly string! 

We did a transformers pinata!  This was Alex's big request for the party!  Which pinata to choose was a huge decision ;)

 So excited!!

 Gathering goodies :)

Cute little superheros!  I made little felt capes and foam masks for them to wear!  They were so cute!! 

Alex was a cute little host!  Loved seeing that side of him as friends and families would show up and he'd hand out masks and capes, show them around, tell them the "rules", etc.  He even told one of the adults that he wasn't allowed to go upstairs, and took the presents as people arrived and explained "presents go over here!" with excitement!  So cute, what a fun party! :)

Happy 4th Birthday Alex!!

FOUR!!! That sounds so old!  Cannot believe I have a 4 year old!  He is such a blessing to our family.  So smart, silly, sensitive, and sweet.  He is extremely creative and always coming up with new ideas.  He knows his letters, most of their sounds, and can name something that starts with just about every letter!  He also knows his numbers up to 10 and can put them in order by himself!  He's very shy until he gets comfortable in a situation, and then he can be a little wild man!  He takes his time with everything and there is no rushing him... I think God made him like this to teach me patience ;)  

We celebrated his birthday a day early since it was MLK day and Gary was off all day!  We started off the day going out for donuts :)

Then we took the kids to the Dulles Air and Space Museum!  We acutally did this last year for his birthday too, but he just LOVES museums!  I think we've probably been at least 5 or 6 times to an air museum this year!  This one is cool because they have more space than the Smithsonian downtown and there are a lot more actual planes and artifacts to look at.  Alex was so full of questions the whole time!  He wanted me to read the information to him and tell him what kind of plane each one was, how fast it goes, why it's special, what it's called, etc.

Nathan walked the whole time... didn't want tobe in his stroller for a single second!  He was VERY into it this time, running from plane to plane with big brother and asking over and over again "what's that?"  and "why?"  So cute! 

Such sweet boys and great brothers! 

One of their favorites, the huge space shuttle!!  Other favorites included the fighter jets and missiles!  ;)

This museum is cool because it's by the Dulles airport and they have a huge tower you can go up into and watch the planes!  Alex particularily liked this!
After a busy morning, we came home and had his family "party"!  He was pretty excited :)  We used leftover stuff from his party last year - hats, Buzz Lightyear candles, party horns, etc.  He has his "friend party" tomorrow and was a little confused at first about that and why we weren't using all of the cool superhero stuff we've been getting! 

Love his face here!  So excited to be four :)
It was pretty cute, he had NO IDEA somehow that he was going to get presents until we mentioned it before the cake!  Then, of course, he was so pumped and excited :)  We gave him our gifts and the ones from his grandparents and great omas. 

Nathan had a bit of a hard time, with Alex's bday so close to Christmas, I don't think he understood why all the presents were for Alex!  Grandma and Grandpa sent a gift for Nathan too though, which was a nice lifesaver ;)

This aircraft carrier was a HUGE hit after a day at the air and space museum!  I absolutely love the Imaginext toys, they are all interchangeable and so durable!  The kids play with this stuff A TON :)  He also got the batmobile, a Thomas UNO game (that he LOVES and is great at!), and a Spiderman thermos! 

He got a Leapster Explorer!  He absolutely LOVES this!  I was back and forth on whether I wanted him to have one or not, but we've decided he can play for about 30 minutes during his rest time each day.  It's all educational too, which is great. 

And a couple of pictures with our big four year old!  What a fun day we had celebrating with him! 

New Years day, the first snow, and my little reader!

We drove home New Years Eve so we could have a couple of days at home as a family before Gary had to head back to work!  We enjoyed hanging around the house, playing with all of our new Christmas stuff, and just spending time together!  Alex was so cute during the New Years Day parade!!  He got out the instruments and marched around the living room with the bands :)

 Of course, Nathan wanted a turn as soon as Alex got the idea, so here he is as the drummer! 

 We had the first snow of the year about a week ago!  It was very unexpected (after a 68 degree day just 2 days earlier!)  The kids were THRILLED!  We watched the flurries in the morning and I explained over and over to Alex that it wasn't going to stick and wouldn't be enough to play in.  Then later during quiet time I hear Alex yelling and yelling upstairs.  I ran up to see what was going on and he was staring out his bedroom window and was EXTREMELY excited!  He was telling me I was wrong and it was sticking and there was a lot!  Ha!!  It wasn't THAT much, but was enough for us to go out and play in for a bit!! 

 The kids were SO excited to put on their snow pants and boots!  Nathan's are about 2 sizes too big, but I just can't justify spending $20 on a pair of toddler boots that may or may not get much use.  Oh well, they seemed to work fine! 

 Alex had SO much fun!  He definitely could have stayed out much longer than we did! 

 Nathan wanted to "hold you" (he says) most of the time we were out there!  He was very unsure and refused to wear any gloves!  (making it too cold to touch of course! haha) 

 The flakes were HUGE, so we got pretty covered quickly and didn't stay out more than 20 minutes or so.  But it was a blast!  Alex particularily loved throwing snow balls at me ;)

 Nathan is loving the tools lately :)

 And I thought this was just too cute!  He loves books, just like his brother and has a couple of favorites lately.  He loves the tiny Chick-fil-a happy meal books we have!  He calls them "rabbit books" because they are Max & Ruby ones.  He also loves this kitty book with different animals in it!  And he loves his new rocker from grandma and grandpa... he sits in it and rocks and rocks!