The Past Six Weeks

Although the blog has been silent these past several weeks, our lives have been far from quiet.  Here are some of the highlights to fill in some of the gaps from my last series of posts:

• In our biggest news, as most of you already know, Brian has become self-employed!  He formed a construction and remodeling company last summer and had been working on jobs on the side since then, but a couple of large projects came his way this spring, which made it more feasible for him to turn it into full-time employment.  So, after much prayer, he left his job with Linbeck in the middle of March.  His website for his company is www.243builders.com.  Feel free to pass his name along to anyone you know who wants to remodel their existing home or build a new one!

• I filled in for my BSF class's teaching leader for two weeks in March.  Although I've done a handful of lectures before, this was my first time to do two in a row.  It took all of my free-time for several weeks, but I was thankful to have the opportunity to see God's provision in stretching my time and giving me all that I needed to prepare efficiently.  I gave lectures on Jacob/Esau's birthright trade and Jacob's deception of Issac to receive the blessing. 

• Shannon started :Mommy & Me" swimming lessons at the beginning of March.  His lesson is at the same time as Landry's, so all three of us are in the pool at the same time.  So far, Shannon loves playing in the water and even likes jumping from the step into my arms.  He's less of a fan of floating on his back, and he still cries when he has his one-on-one time with the instructor. Similar to Landry, this has been one of my favorite "mom" moments with him.  I have such a good time watching him enjoy the water. 

Sandwiched in between, there has been a rip to the rodeo, trip to the zoo, and lots of trips to Chick-fil-a!  Because that's how we roll around here.

Our Swimming Pool

Shannon's been in a long stretch of being fascinated with the toilet.  I try to keep the bathroom door closed during the day, but, there are times when I forget.

And, I'm quickly reminded that I need to do better at remembering when I find this:

Thankful for hot cycles on the washing machine and a back-up puppy!

Sounds Like Whining

To be filed away in the category of "things that are funny now but will be even funnier years from now":

The other day, Landry was walking around with a set of colored pencils in the waistband of his pants.  While, in theory, this may seem harmless, because, as anyone who has been around Landry for more than five minutes knows, his walks soon turn into runs.  I pictured him running and falling and impaling himself on the pencils....So, I told him "no" to carrying the pencils in his pants.

Landry's response:  "Mommy, when you say 'no' it sounds like whining.  I'm going to need you to stop your whining." 

We are so in trouble when he's a teenager!

Happy Valentine's Day...

from my two favorite little Valentines!

Brothers

I'm not gonna lie, we're in the midst of some serious sharing issues around here.  It seems like every day lately, I've been breaking up squabbles, interfering to make sure that Shannon gets his fair share of the toys.  We've been attempting to teach Landry that before he can take something from Shannon, he must give him something else in exchange.  But, what can I say, that logic only goes so far in a two-year-old's mind when his little brother has the exact car that Landry wants to play with. 

But, just when I start to wonder if they will ever play well together, we have moments like this where they are the best of friends.

And moments like this that make my heart melt...

While They Were Sleeping...

I remembered having a picture of Landry sleeping in this striped outfit (bottom) and wanted to attempt to re-create it with Shannon (top).  Shannon's older in his picture, though, because we had already dropped down his crib, which makes sense because Shannon was in the 15th percentile for height at 12 months, and Landry was typically in the 50th percentile.  In general, Landry outgrew his clothes first in length, and Shannon's been outgrowing them because they become too tight! 

Christmas Morning Snapshots

Here are Landry and Shannon on Christmas morning.  Landry's standing by his train table, which was his big present from us this year.  Brian built the train table, and I assembled the track.  Yes, come to find out, I enjoyed the challenge of laying train track!  I'm not sure if I could ever make the pieces fit this well again, though, so until Landry is big enough to assemble the track himself, we have the track nailed down.

And, here's Shannon opening his stocking.  This Christmas was all-about balls for him.  So much fun to watch his innocence.  He was just as interested in the wrapping paper as he was the actual presents and just as eager to put presents back into the stocking as he was to take them out.