Life with Boys

This is what a conversation sounds like when you have two boys: 
me: Andrew, what happened to your face? Are you OK?
Andrew: (looking sheepish) Jonathan kicked me in the eye.
me: WHAT?!
Andrew: Well, I told him to kick me when I stuck my face out from under the blanket, but he kicked me before I was ready.
Jonathan (yelling from the other room): It was an accident!
Just another day raising boys. *sigh*

When Keith got home, he had Jonathan demonstrate how much force he put into the kick. Thankful Andrew only has a small bruise based on the kicking power of his "little" brother.


A few days later....
"Everyone needs to be quiet or my ears are going to throw up," said the 5 year old (Jonathan) while trapped in the car with his siblings.

I know how you feel, buddy!

Glashagel visit!

Jonathan (4), Zach (8), Andrew (7), and Jobe (6)

The Glashagel family was in town for Thanksgiving and came over to visit us. The boys hit it off immediately, and we were able to get them to hold still for about 2 seconds to take these pictures right before they had to leave. Please move back to Kansas so our boys can play together all the time!

Family Pictures

On Hannah's birthday, we took family pictures. Thank you to Vance Frick for capturing us, even when certain little people didn't want to cooperate!

Jill visits and a Hoedown Reunion

Hannah and Auntie Jill reading books

Auntie Jill is the best bedtime story reader!

 

Our view down a desserted dirt road as we tried to find our way to the Lenkner Hoedown.

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Jumbo projection of the K-State game

party swag

the band

besties

Stacey, Jill, Travis and me - together again. It's been way too long since our days at the Bertrand house!

2012 - We have aged gracefully!

Back in mid-October, Jill came for a fast weekend trip. The visit was much, much too short, but we squeezed in a lot of fun! Our little Travis is getting married and had a wedding reception in Coats, KS, so we roadtripped out there, without kids and had such a fun reunion! Jarrod and Stacey were there and we go to meet their two sweet girls. It was so fun to see old friends and meet Travis' fiancee.



2000 - we were so young and carefree!

Branson Vacation - Part 1

The Titanic museum

Trying to get a photo of the munchkins in front of the Titanic.

Andrew wanted to take a picture too. Jonathan and Hannah were done and refused to look at him.

After lunch, we went swimming to try and cool down. The kiddie pool was perfect for our non-swimmers. Jonathan  heard me talking about the kiddie pool and kept asking when we were going to go to the "cat pool."

Hannah liked sitting on the ledge that surrounded the pool.

After warming up in the "cat pool" the boys wanted to check out the real pool. Unfortunately, it was not cooler water like we had hoped. The water was warmer than bath water, but the boys didn't care.

I noticed the giant Titanic museum when we drove the strip and was hoping for a chance to walk through it. Everyone thought it sounded like a good plan and so we all met there Tuesday morning. It was the 100th year anniversary of the Titanic and a very interesting museum. I was worried it wouldn't hold the kids attention, but there were some hands-on and touch displays to keep them engaged. Cameras weren't allowed in the museum, so I can't show the boys testing the steep incline of the deck at the various stages of the Titanic sinking. It left quite an impression. Everyone also tested their endurance at keeping their hand in the freezing water. After about 15 seconds your fingers started to go numb. The only bad part about the museum was the questions we had to answer for the next few days.

"Why did the Titanic hit an iceberg?"
"Why did the captain go down with the ship?"
"Why weren't there enough life boats?"
"Why were there animals on the Titanic?" (There was a whole room about all the dogs and other animals passengers brought on the ship.)
"Why did the ship sink?"
"Why did so many people perish?" (And then we had to explain what perish meant.)

And many other questions that I have blocked out for days and days. I don't think we will try to take them on a boat of any kind anytime soon! On a funny side note, the boys have pretended our back porch is the Titanic several times since we are home and that they are workers on the Titanic. When I call them in for lunch or snack, they'll tell me the captain was nice and gave them 10 minutes for a lunch break.

The condo we stayed at had a nice pool area with a great kiddie pool. Jonathan kept asking me for days before we left about a cat poo,l and I would make him repeat himself and finally in frustration, we would both give up on trying to understand each other. It took me awhile to realize he was hearing "kitty pool" and translating to it cat pool. The "cat pool" was always empty and a great place for us to cool down a little in the extreme heat.

Jonathanism

Tonight on the way home from a less-than relaxing dining experience at Chili's, I asked the boys if they enjoyed eating at a restaurant. Clueless, they answered, "Yes!" So I responded with, "That's good, because it's going to be a long time until we do that again." Then I hear this little voice, "Well, it's a good thing we brought our boxes home." (Referring to our take-home boxes) Thanks Jonathan for putting me in my place. Sorta of made my feelings of irritation fly out the window as I tried not to laugh at the little stinker. But that doesn't change our feelings about dining out with children...