our journey with 3 boys...
Monday afternoon I took the boys to the Mommy & Me activity at My Gym. Noah is just getting old enough to really enjoy it. They all three had a great time running around and playing.
The three of them had a good time in the ball pit together. Noah thought Elijah hiding in the balls was pretty funny.
I love Noah's expression in the wall mirror as he watches Josiah.
What started out as a love for this a couple weeks ago.
Is quickly turning into more of this in the past couple days.
We received a copy of The Beginning Reader's Bible to review with our boys. We were excited to try a new Bible for reading each night. We have been using the same one for awhile (we are on our third copy of that one).
The Bible has wonderful illustrations and our boys love looking at them. This Bible is a step up from what we have been using. It has many different features that are nice like each story includes a prayer of scripture to pray with your child, there are activities to get more involved with the story, and there are memory verses to go with the stories.
The Bible seems a little advanced for a 'beginning reader' but our children aren't at that stage yet so I am not really sure. We were a little disappointed that it seems a lot of different stories from the Bible were left out. This edition includes 13 stories from the Old and 13 stories from the New Testaments. With some additional things in the back such as a psalm, scripture memory check off list, the 10 commandments, the Lord's Prayer and a few other features. We did like that the stories are more like reading actual scripture than just paraphrasing a story for a children's Bible. I think this is definitely more geared for about 4 and up. Our 2 year old likes it but some of the stories are much longer than he wants to listen. And the features such as memory verse and activity would be harder for him but our 4 year old would like it more. Overall we liked this Bible and the change from our regular routine.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
A couple weeks ago the sun came out. Which really is a big deal around here for the months of Dec.-Mar. And when the sun comes out it just feels warmer. So I decided that I would take the boys out to play in the snow while Noah took his nap. It is too deep to really play in it so I had to dig them a good patch to go out into but they had a good time for awhile.
Lake effect snow isn't really that great to play in because it isn't wet and won't pack together to make a snow ball of anything it just crumbles. It literally looks like that bag of fake snow you buy at the store but they had a good time until they got too cold and then enjoyed some nice hot chocolate inside while watching Elllen. :)Today I decided that the boys and I would do somethings together and hopefully have a nice more peaceful day than some more recent days. I started off the day sitting down with Elijah and praying for us to be nice and respectful to each other during the day. He laughed through the whole prayer because he thought it was a funny thing to be praying for but it seemed to do the trick. Attitude has been a little 'friend' of ours lately and I am hoping that maybe we can be a little more intentional about not letting it get to good of a friend.
Daddy had to go to work so after breakfast I started dishes and Elijah helped by vacuuming.
Then we started some dough in the bread machine to make some cinnamon swirl raisin bread. This was a first time thing. I make pizza dough and rolls in the machine pretty often but this was a new recipe.
While Elijah and Josiah were busy helping me. Noah was behind us doing what he does best. Getting into everything.
I later figured out that he had knocked a can of peanuts off of the upper shelf in the cabinet and he was looking behind the cereal boxes for the can.
Back to the dough. The boys had a good time putting the ingredients in the machine and then watching the paddle move the ball around.
Then we had some lunch and Noah napped. Which meant that about the time Noah woke up it was time for Josiah to lie down and nap. Most days lately I have gotten both down at the same time but didn't work that way today.
Elijah and I finished up the bread to allow it to rise some more to bake.
So Elijah and I played Mario Cart Wii one of his all time favorite things to do. I am really bad and only played a few races with him. In a race there are 12 racers and so 10 of them are computer when we play. After 3 races in a row of coming in 12th place. I commented that I never even get to finish a race (because after the 11th place crosses they already know the 12th place and it ends). Elijah tells me "You could if you tried harder." Thanks Elijah. :) I didn't get any photos of this because I didn't think about it.
Then we called Nana to wish her a Happy Birthday and put the bread in the oven. The apartment smelled really good when the bread was baking. We finished off the afternoon watching The Sandlot on Netflix while I worked on dinner before daddy came home.
The bread turned out really good but I couldn't get Elijah to try any. Maybe tomorrow. All in all it was a pretty fun day for February in central NY where it snowed most to the day to add to our 150 inches. But it's actually suppose to be above freezing tomorrow. Woohoo pull out the shorts!
Josiah has found a new enjoyment. At home...
He has been doing puzzles for a few months but all of a sudden he really likes to sit and work on one, take it apart and do it again. He likes to do the 24 piece puzzles we have and his favorite is a Handy Manny puzzle. But the other day he worked with Elijah on a Buzz and Woody puzzle I got free at a rummage sale last summer with 60 pieces and then he sat down and did the whole thing himself. Nothing brings more joy than to watch your kids learn to do something on their own.
What's funny is Elijah is really our builder and Josiah is the destroyer but in the case of puzzles he really likes to build them. Maybe someday I will be able to sit around the table with my boys on a rainy weekend and put together a 1000 piece puzzle and laugh about all the things they did when they were growing up.
Every birthday we take a photo in daddy's Kansas City Chiefs jersey so we can track growth each year. It is fun to look back and see how the boys have changed over the past year. Noah had a good time in the jersey.
He made it a little difficult to get a really good shot but he had fun anyway. I took Noah for his 1 year check up today and the doctor said "Perfect as usual." He weighed in at 22 lbs. 12 oz. and was 30.25 inches long. I don't have Josiah's stats on hand right now but that puts him at 7 ounces heavier and a .5 inch longer than Elijah at his 1 year check up. Pretty good for starting out almost a pound lighter than Elijah!Noah has 4 teeth. He loves to eat food and will eat anything you give him as long as it isn't jarred. He eats what ever we have on our plates with a few exceptions. And if you aren't careful he will get a hold of you plate and take things right off of it. He cruises around furniture and a few times when we have stood him up he has stood for several seconds but he doesn't want to do it. He usually squats and sits right down. He loves to dump things out and leave them there for you to clean up. He likes to pull things out of cabinets. He love to mess with toilet paper rolls (we keep the bathroom door shut). He makes diaper changes and clothing changes a full body workout. He doesn't like to lie still and he wants to get his hands involved in the diaper changes. Sometimes Elijah holds his hands and plays pat a cake with him when it is really bad. :) He is always on the go and sometimes wants to make me pull my hair out but he so much fun to have around. And absolutely precious to watch sleeping. :)
It has been an amazing year and we are so excited to see what the next year holds.
Noah turned one today on this very cold Sunday. Shane put up a nice post here. I will share a few more photos in the next couple days but here is the final shot with the bear. They have gotten progressively harder to get a good shot. :) He doesn't want to sit and have a photo taken and I am pretty sure that he knows that he will drive mommy crazy if he doesn't sit still.
3 Months Old
These are the shots I got of Noah at 11 months. This month he didn't really want to include the bear in the shots so I had to work fast to get one.
He was much more interested in grabbing the bear
and getting rid of him in the floor.
He appeared much happier at having the whole chair to himself.
So in the end this is the best shot I got of the two of them. I can't believe that he will be 1 in just a couple weeks!
I appear to have over 200 photos that Elijah has taken randomly with the camera when I was unaware. Or at least unaware until I made him put it up.
We have way more photos of peoples hair
and behinds than I know what to do with...
This is Noah's thumb taking a hold of the camera while sitting in his high chair.
Here is an interesting shot of the camera lens cap and strap hanging down off of the camera while he takes a shot of the messy toy room floor.
I believe this is his own eye.
This one is a little blurry but still cute.
This one is Noah lying on Josiah's pillow in the floor.
I know I didn't know he was taking these because I am in the back ground in the kitchen with a towel on my head.
This is my attempt at keeping in touch with family and friends and my source for keeping track of our day to day events so I can scrapbook them someday. :)
