Morning play time

We have a morning routine now, as papa leaves for his morning class I and the boys stay outside and play while it is still cool. The past few mornings have been absolutely beautiful and I have enjoyed sipping a cup of tea and watching the boys play. Here are some shots to give you an idea.

Nathaniel continues to be a little adventurer. The series of pictures below document his (successful) attempts to climb up our little slide. It is one of his favorite things to do!

Both boys having fun.

Smile!

Jeremiah gets exasperated with mama who keeps taking pictures. And yes, Nathaniel continues to try and eat grass, leaves, pine cones, generally whatever he can get his hands on.

Jeremiah singing a song. Probably the current favorite "Zacceaus was a wee little man".

Jeremiah still can't quite reach the peddles on his tricycle but he can reach the ground and likes to push himself around pretending to go places. Lately he has been saying, "I go to class!" He wants to be like his papa.

Oops, lost a shoe.

Standing by himself!

In just the past few days Nathaniel has really gotten a kick out of standing up on his own. He loves it and thinks that he has done something pretty special every time.

"Look at me!"

"This is so exciting!"

"Hey guys, you don't want to read, you want to play."

"Maybe I can get their attention by climbing all over them."

Late Father's Day Pics

I had started a really nice post about the fathers in my life and what they mean to me. But it was getting corny, and long, and I don't have time to polish it. So, if you are a father in my life you know who you are and what you mean to me. Let's get to the pictures:

Yesterday's random moments

Nathaniel is just not a predictable sleeper... But so sweet when he finally gives in...

Jeremiah picked out new shoes! He initially wanted pink but I just was not able to give in to that. I tried to get him to choose navy blue or something that would be more versatile but he would have none of it - they had to be red! I can't really blame him. I have a thing for red shoes too. (Yes, you see right, Jeremiah is not wearing any shorts. He has a thing about not wanting to put his shorts back on after his nap. Most days I don't feel like making a battle of out it and yesterday I thought it added to the charm of the picture - big t-shirt, new shoes, bare legs - what a cutie!)

More random thoughts because I am too tired to make a cohesive whole:

*Both boys have had a weird, quick 24 hour fever thing that came and went. So we have spent the past 2 days trying to rest and get plenty of fluids. They seem fine today.

* Holland seems to be doing really well in the European Championships. Seriously. They were in "the group of death" (meaning a really hard group for those of you not familiar with soccer) but have beat Italy 3-0 and France 4-1. It seems like maybe we can hope for them to go all the way! I was all excited to watch the game on our computer yesterday, then we found out that the website doesn't take American Express. Suck! We are going to have to figure out something before the quarter finals.

*My parents head to Greece on Monday for a painting vacation, while they are gone Ben & Ramona will make their move to America. Seems strange to picture my brother and sister anywhere but in Amsterdam. But I know they are excited about these new opportunities.

* Tim Russert died yesterday. The moderator of Meet the Press. My Sunday mornings never seem complete if I don't get the chance to sit down with a cup of coffee at 9am and watch Mr. Russert skillfully, intelligently, and politely pick apart the latest in politics. He always seemed like the kind of guy I would love to sit down with for a few hours and chat.

Here he goes!

Nathaniel tries to do everything he can to keep up with Jeremiah. He is a speedy crawler and quite the little climber. So far his favorite climbing activity is the stairs at Steve & Brenda's house. He wants to walk so badly! Yesterday he found the popper sitting in the hall and proceeded to make his way down the hall, into the living room and tried to steer around the corner into the kitchen. He loves to stand up and is practicing standing alone (letting go of things) as well as controlling how he sits down (slowly instead of just plopping down). He is starting to make brave attempts to cruise from one piece of furniture to another. One of his favorite places to stand is holding onto the toilet while Jeremiah pees (he pees standing up "like papa"). I really have to keep my eye on that little one!

We also have finished a very successful week/10 days of sleep training! I will spare you all the gory details and simply state that Nathaniel now goes calmly and promptly to sleep in his own bed and on his own for bedtime and naptime after his short pre-bed routine. He now also sleeps straight from 7:30 p.m. - 5:00 a.m.! Woo-hoo! What a change from just a few weeks ago when we were still getting up about 3-4 times per night. I can't tell how much those uninterrupted hours of sleep have refreshed me.

Our smallest guy turns 10 months old tomorrow! Time really does fly when you are having fun.....

Summer Days

A lot of pictures today. We are just enjoying spending time together. It is a blessing for us to be able to cherish the simple every day moments after so many months (years really) of busy schedules and hectic times. Enjoy!

Nathaniel is really getting into eating lots of different kinds of solid food. Cantaloupe has become a new favorite as is toast, Cheerios and now graham crackers. He just swiped this out of my mouth the other day and proceeded to gobble it up!

Jeremiah likes to "help" feed Nathaniel. He does pretty well with it.

Our trips to Home Depot are a hit because of the shopping carts that look like cars. Whoever thought of these was a genius! The boys love riding around and "driving."

Jeremiah hugs Nathaniel, who is really only interested in chewing on a paint brush. Jeremiah gives Nathaniel spontaneous hugs at the strangest times. It's kinda funny.

I just love seeing the two little heads from the back. Something about seeing my two boys calmly sitting together and the shape of their little blond heads just fills my heart with joy.

We finally put new swings on the swing set that a neighbor gave us last year.

"Look mama! I can swing!"

For some reason Jeremiah liked swinging on his tummy and watching the ground.

Nathaniel's shy face. Melts my heart every time!

The face that says, "this is fun and scary at the same time."

Jeremiah holding onto Nathaniel's swing to make sure that he is having fun too.
Jeremiah is having a hard time dealing with sharing (time, attention & things) now that Nathaniel is mobile, but every now and then he will do something so sweet and thoughtful and loving that I will choke up a little. I see tender glimpses of the relationship that is yet to be between these boys.

House Husband

Last week was a crazy week for us. It has been interesting adjusting to having Aaron home all day. We love it of course, but it is taking time for us to adjust our daily schedule and everything. And it is an adjustment for me to have another adult in the house who likes to do things his way (the perfectionist way) - which is different from my way (the it's basically clean and done way)! :-)
Last week I worked my regular 3 nights at Sonic as well as a few mornings for MCC. Aaron got to be a stay-at-home-dad. It was actually harder for me than I thought it would be to be away from the boys so much. It gave me a new understanding of how hard it must be for Aaron to leave us every morning when he is working and to only get a few hours with the boys at night. You miss all these special little every day moments.

Aaron adds another class to his roster this Thursday, which means he will be gone every morning for a few hours and all day Tuesday and Thursdays. But we are enjoying having more time together as a family. We are balancing our time between fun, relaxing things as well as the necessary chores and projects that need to be done as well. On that note, we are off to Home Depot to order new windows for the house!

Fun at the pool

We are doing better about exploring our little community and finding what fun (and cheap) entertainment it has to offer. We discovered that the community pool has free toddler swim hour every day from 12 -1 in the kiddie pool. No kids over 3 allowed. Awesome! It was lots of fun. The boys loved it. We will go often. (We took more pictures, but believe me, you don't want to see me in a bathing suit!)

Nathaniel loved the water. And when I say loved the water, that is exactly what I mean. He was a splashing, laughing, swimming machine.

Jeremiah was initially not too crazy about the whole thing. But he soon got into the spirit of things and was jumping off the side. However, no amount of pleading or bribing would get him to put his head under the water or try to float. When we left he was screaming and crying in the parking lot, "I want to swim! I want to swim!"

Our little water bug. He even tans! :-)

One of Nathaniel's favorite things was to stand in the water holding onto papa's legs.

Papa and Jeremiah enjoy the pool.

Date Afternoon

Chad & Cherise came over yesterday afternoon to watch the boys so that Aaron and I could get a few hours away and actually have a date! We are so thankful for their love and care for our little ones. Jeremiah worships them in the way that every nephew should worship their aunts & uncles.

If you know me then you know that I do not give up control easily. When Aaron bought his motorcycle a few years ago I told him not to expect me to ever ride on the back. The thought terrified me (chalk that up to control issues as well as a few falls on motorcycles in Nigeria...). Aaron has never pushed the issue with me, but he loves to ride and I have been able to tell that he would like to share the experience with me. So yesterday I surprised him by telling him that we could take the bike. We had a nice easy ride into Chattanooga where we had a relaxing early dinner (I loved not having to scarf down my food in between feeding Nathaniel and cleaning up after Jeremiah) in which we were actually able to finish a complete adult conversation! I can't say that riding the motorcycle is a relaxing or exciting experience for me, but I think I did pretty well trying to relax and just enjoy the ride.

Nathaniel loves being outside. He loves popsicles. He loves pulling up on things and is starting to experiment with letting go and trying to stand on his own. He is quite the little character.

It seems that Jeremiah got a brain freeze while eating his popsicle. Uncle Chad thought that was hilarious. Jeremiah is learning how to throw a frizbee (and is actually really good at it), tell time, and learn the days of the week.