Pack it up

I am packing up the old toys to make room for some new ones on Christmas morning. Apparently Ben thought it was time for him to go, too.

When it’s good

When Zander is in a good mood he is the sweetest big brother I know.


Seriously, I could blow this up and hang it on my wall (well, except for all the clutter in the background). They both look so stinking happy.

Unfortunately, moments like these are few and far between. Zander is usually quite mean to poor little Ben, which results in me getting mad and him being even meaner. I can see how this spirals out of control for a poor middle brother!

A program to remember

Zander had his second Christmas program today. I remembered, but I didn’t, so he was wearing a very festive Carnival cruise line pirate t-shirt his Mema brought back from her vacation. It' was classy.

But, if you look past the questionable choice of attire it was a very cute, if nearly impossible to hear, program.

Until the end. Then it got embarrassing interesting. See his underwear peeking out of the top of his pants? I wish that was as bad as it got.

He got bored. And when he gets bored his hands wander. Down his pants. So both his hands were in his pants. As if this wasn’t bad enough he started to pull them down and away from his body. And then I realized his hands were in his underwear, too. And everyone almost got a real show. One that you usually have to pay for. One that definitely wouldn’t be allowed in a Catholic school gymnasium. I didn’t know if I should yell at him from my seat and bring attention to him or just wait for him to completely expose himself to everyone. Thankfully his teacher intervened before it was too late. I didn’t know if I should laugh or cry. I did both, mostly because I was laughing so hard.

Together again

We split the boys up for Kindermusik this year and after just one “family time” class I know we made the right decision. It was a ton of fun --- for the one 45 minute class. I don’t think I would have made it through the entire semester if we would have all been together every. single. week. That, and I don’t think the other parents would have liked us much once my beasts taught their precious little ones all their bad habits. I mean, it looks all good when they are sitting here nicely playing with the cut up pool noodles.

Then BAM the boys break loose. Do you see the look on his face. That’s not a real smile. That’s a ‘Thank God that I have girls smile.’

 

Um … about those girls of yours. You might want to watch out. It appears my boy has his eyes on one of them.

I’m thinking that face isn’t going to impress her though.

But this one might.

Yep, I’d totally take him home.

Probably a good thing I feel that way since I don’t really have much choice!

He’s been trying to shove that shaker egg in his mouth since the first week of class. It’s about the ONLY thing that has stayed the same. He definitely won the award for most changed this semester. He went from a lump on my lap to a moving machine.

And because it isn’t snowing outside Miss Marissa helped the kiddos bring the snow inside. This is the kind of snow I can handle.

Legos on parade

Now that the Lego room (yes, the spare room is no longer an office or a computer room but a Lego room) is mostly organized the boys (all of them) have been spending some quality time hanging out at the table. Today, they raided the mini man drawer to create a Lego parade.

Zander’s final parade.

And Nick’s final product.

That’s a lot of little Lego dudes.

Oh Christmas Tree

Having a mobile 7-month-old and a Christmas tree has been a challenge this year. We can’t leave Ben alone in the living room for more than 3 seconds without having to worry about whether or not the tree will still be standing when we return. We’ve even trained the boys to yell “turtle tree” when Ben is heading for the tree. Don’t ask – it was a Mike thing, but it works so I don’t question it. On a side note both boys now yell “turtle (fill in the blank)” whenever Ben is heading for something he shouldn’t.

I suppose I don’t help the problem when I encourage him to touch the tree and the bulbs so that I can take a few pictures. It’s just so cute I can’t help myself. He was absolutely fascinated by the lights and the bulbs (Mike moved one down low just so he could bat at it) and eventually ended up completely under the tree. I figured as long as there were two adults watching he was completely safe.

Ouch

Do you see that mark on my baby’s eye?

That would be his very first battle wound. And I don’t even know how he got it. I was in the kitchen packing the boys’ lunches for school and Ben let out a blood curdling scream in the living room. I ran into him and he was nowhere by anything that could have caused this mark (including Zander who has been absolutely rotten toward him lately). I’m baffled, but he appears to be completely OK so I’m not worrying too much. I’m sure this is pretty tame compared to what is in his future.