And so it begins...

The potty humor, that is. I guess boys never really grow up since John was the one who started it all...

John: "Wanna hear a secret?"

Ben: "Yeah."

John (whispering in Ben's ear): "Fart."

Ben: laughs

John: "Go tell mommy your secret."

Ben: "Mom, come fart in my ear!"

Mom: Gives dad the evil eye, but can't help laughing out loud.

Ben's Valentines

I got to go help at Ben's Valentine party at school yesterday. It's so fun to see him in his own element, away from home, even if he has to "show off" a little for his mom and doesn't listen to his teacher as well as he normally does. We had fun cutting hearts out of our sandwiches, eating heart-shaped cookies, and of course, delivering valentine's to each other. I had fun making Ben's valentines and he was really excited to give them away, he even stuck one into his own box...

I just have to say this was not an original idea of mine at all... my sister did this last year for her kids and I thought it was so cute! I wasn't sure if Ben would cooperate with posing for the picture, but promising one of the heart suckers he picked out really did the trick as you can see!

As for our own celebrations, we're having the sister missionaries over for dinner tonight... very romantic, I know. But they're super fun so we'll all have a good time. Happy Valentine's Day!

No Nap?

The last few weeks, Ben has been resisting nap time a little more. Occasionally, I just let him stay up as long as he plays quietly upstairs. The other day, it was a little too quiet. You know what I'm talking about - the kind of quiet that immediately makes you wonder what naughty thing they're up to this time. So I run up the stairs all ready to catch him red-handed, only to find this...

So sweet. I should have laid him down to make him a little more comfortable instead of running for my camera, but I'm a blogger through and through and just had to capture the moment. I didn't think he'd last very long up on the couch, but a while later he was still there snoozing away...

Guess we're not quite ready to give up on nap time completely... {big sigh of relief}!

P.S. I'm in love with these new digital thrift store frames. You can find them here.

Icy Cold Cabin Fever

It's like those few really warm days last week were a cruel joke... getting us all excited for spring, spending our days at the park and going on bike rides, only to be trapped in our homes the next 5 days due to bitter cold and icy conditions. We're starting to defrost over here, but since our house faces north, you're greeted by this as you walk up to our front door...

If you don't slip and break your neck walking on that, there's still the jagged icicles hanging overhead to watch out for...

Despite the looks of it, it's actually a pretty nice day out where the sun is shining. Warm enough even for me to venture out to the backyard to get a few photos before the winter wonderland completely melts away...

I also thought I'd share a few photos of what we've been doing to keep the kiddos busy while we've been cooped up inside...

The boys (cousin Luke included) love to turn on the demo songs on the piano and dance. They have different dances for the different kinds of songs - fast and slow, crazy and quiet... it's pretty funny to watch them get into the music.

One night I got so desperate for something to do, I pulled out an old box of glow bracelets left over from Halloween. The kids were mesmerized...

Another thing we've been doing while we've been home-bound, although not so fun, is really focusing on potty training. I'm VERY happy to report that just yesterday Ben pooped on the big potty for the first time... WOOHOO! No, I don't have a photo of it to share (I'm sure you're all very disappointed), but here's one that sort of ties in with the potty training theme...

We found him dead asleep in nothing but his birthday suit the other night! I figure he decided to get undressed in case he had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night? Or maybe he just has a new fascination with getting undressed now that he can do it all by himself to go potty. Poor kid was freezing, but at least the bed was dry!

Looking forward to a warm weekend out of the house!

Blue Skies & Bike Rides

We've had some amazing weather the last couple days...

And we've spent almost every minute of daylight outside soaking it up before it disappears again...

And the cherry on top is that Ben finally decided to give riding his big bike another try. You see, he's the stubborn type, and when he couldn't get the pedaling thing down right away this past summer, he gave up and didn't want a thing to do with that darn bike. I randomly pulled it out of the garage a couple days ago and he hopped right on and took off like a pro... and hasn't wanted to do anything but ride it since! The only thing he needed help with was slowing down and stopping...

So, we had a quick lesson on how to...

No problem. Mo had fun watching and doing what he does best...

And he has his most prized possessions (diapey, bear blanket, and binky) with him at all times these days. When he wasn't wandering the, thankfully very dead, streets as he tried to keep up with brother, he took a few minutes to check his messages (he's very popular)...

Apparently, they were a little too personal to share with me...

After taking care of his personal matters, he waited patiently to hear back from whoever it was...

Or maybe he was just waiting for an invitation from his cool big brother...

Hope you all have a beautiful day!