events that warm a mother's soul

i love it when they get along.  Its not terrible rare either.  I think they both have very kind hearts.  As I was uploading these pictures Jackson ran from the bonus room and told this story.

"Mom!!  I told Sam I was looking for the curvy lego and he tried to HELP ME!  It was really hard but he didn't quit and then he FOUND IT!  He gave it to me and I told him thank you."  I had actually heard the very loud, emphatic, and dramatic thank yous from downstairs.  They've been playing happily together this Saturday morning for 2.5 hours!!

These are pictures of Jackson letting Sam play Mario Kart.  I think that race lasted like 16 minutes but Sam was just as intent on winning in the end as he was in the beginning.

Sam was crying that he couldn't keep up with Sam and Griffin so Jackson went back and held his hand.  really???  how did i get so lucky?

i felt like my blog wanted some pictures of my kids

one of 500 forts we've made
playing in the 1000s of impossibly-hard-to-clean-up styrofoam balls from said fort.

i made him try on his clothes for family pictures.

falling asleep in grandma's arms with his fingers crossed.

i couldn't really tell you why i took this picture.

picture outfit. i can only get him to smile for pictures when i count 1-2-3 and his plan is to run away on 3 but i snap on 1. family can back me up on his refusal to smile for the camera.

sharing some dinner on the floor.

grandma jan read books on dvds for christmas. totally loved it.

i love my boys. i love their ages. more so now so close to birthdays i wish i could will them both to stay the same age. they'll be 5 and 2!!! it just seems so old to me.

Breakfast fun

Feeding the man on his shirt. notice the cheerio on the surfer's head....
copying everything his brother does. down to feeding popeye his cheerios.

I love Sundays

We have church at 11:30 so it gives us a long time to get ready at our own speed. I was struck Sunday morning at my two boys getting ready for church. It was just a nice morning.
I think I took the toothpaste away from Sam 3 times that morning. He kept just going to get another tube.


I never even got a picture of them ready next to each other but they were cute. Sometimes, when I review my blog, my favorites are the mundane or relaxing time with the family.

When this has been your normal...

this looks tiny and strange.
definitely cute. but tiny and strange

good hearty laughs

i love fall. i love having two boys. have i mentioned this before?

Photo shoot!

I love this bumbo. (that's the seat that sam is sitting in.) I sorta justified buying it for this photo shoot but i love love love it! It's so much fun to play with sam in it. I love all of these pictures of the boys too.

i love how these two interact

jackson loves sam. he loves to make him happy. even when what he does makes sam mad, he doesn't get that he's causing the problem. today he was playing music for sam.

so in these shots sam doesn't look thrilled. but i ran to get my camera because he was. i feel like i'm constantly telling jackson "don't shake him" "not so rough" "don't bounce him" "he shouldn't be sucking your thumb" I fear for Sam's life. Sam takes it pretty well though. Jackson has no problem getting Sams attention. I'm not sure if its the "keeping an eye on the enemy" sort of look out or the "you're the coolest person in my world" sort of adoration.

i just deleted 63 items from my camera,

mostly of this,

but i did keep this,

and this.

i know i've said it many times but i'll say it again. i love my boys. and i love saying "my boys."

I think I'm gonna be alright.

Admitedly, there have been moments in the past 3 weeks where I thought "What have I done!?!" We're settling down now. Jackson loves his little brother. I don't know this because he says so but because he can't help but show me. He always asks to hold him so we get lots of cute moments like this...

Then almost like he's hiding the fact though we'll find him pop in a few unrequested kisses. This morning Brent and I were getting ready and thought that Jackson was watching little einsteins but when we walked in he was leaning close in to sam watching him. He ran back to the movie when he saw us but when he thought we weren't looking came right back in to watch him. I once thought that I didn't really know what pure love felt like until I was a parent. Now though, after watching Jackson, I think he gets it better than I do. He forgives faster than I do. He expresses it more often than I do. I think it's just a natural extension of him.

Shhh....

So thankful.

I used to feel guilty for being happiest with my precious children when they were asleep. I've wised up. No more guilt about it. They both fell asleep simultaneously, I was nursing Sam and Jackson was leaning on my arm while I sang to him. Of course that came in the aftermath of a tantrum but I'll try to remember the end.

(Desi and Erin, seriously Jackson was asleep within 15 minutes after y'all left. Wouldn't of guessed he was tired huh?)