A Boy and His Rocket

The boys received flight suits for Christmas, and Luke has fallen in love with his. He loves putting it on and pretending to be his daddy. He particularly likes to put it on in the morning. He puts it on, grabs his backpack, and tells me that he's going to work and to give him a kiss and a hug. When I ask him where he works, he tells me "the helicopter place with Daddy." The other day when he said he was going to work, Brody responded with "Bye Daddy!" Later that day, they decided to take pretty much all of their toys and put them on the futon. When I asked them what they were doing they informed me that the futon was a helicopter moving lots of stuff. He's been bugging me for weeks for a helmet because "pilots wear helmets mommy." I found their winter hats, and this has satisfied him for the time being. Today's dress up session involved him building a rocket with his blocks. As you can see, rocket building is serous business!

Oh Christmas Tree!

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​One of the traditions I wanted to start this year with the boys is one I have stolen from friends of ours, The Martinez Family. I first met them through their children at school, and then we were lucky enough to serve with them in North Carolina. They truly are one of my top 10 favorite families. We went to their house one year for Christmas Eve, and one of the things they did was make handmade ornaments for the tree. It was such a fun way to spend the evening, that I knew I wanted to use this tradition with my own family, even though we did not have the boys at the time. Instead of waiting until Christmas Eve, the boys and I made their ornaments as a craft one day. The had so much fun squirting the paint into the clear plastic balls and watching it drip out. We made about a dozen ornaments, and I chose the best two to keep from this year. I think it will be fun to make and collect them over the years. Then, when the boys one day have a home of their own, they can have their ornaments for their trees. While I know that as boys they may not appreciate the sentimentality of this, I hope that they one day will have wives who will. Their ornaments made the perfect finish to an already beautiful tree.


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Are You Ready for Some Football?

I was all excited about being able to sign the boys up for sports via the start smart program they have for 3-5 year olds on base. The first opportunity presented itself with football. Things started off great. The boys were excited about playing football. We showed up the first day on time, only to have the "coach" be late by about 20 minutes. He quickly introduced himself and then handed out the bags with the football materials (ball, flag, cones, book). The boys loved getting their very own football. Unfortunately, this is where the fun ended for us. They didn't want to do any of the "drills" we were supposed to do at our station. Instead, they wanted to try to throw their ball into the basketball hoop overhead. The whined the entire time and refused to participate. I think we made it to two sessions before we realized that this was something that they weren't quite ready for. Oh well, at least we tried, and I got one good picture of the two of them out of it!

I love this picture. It looks like they are so serious and getting ready to do some serious football playing. They are so cute with their little flags on!
This is Luke looking at the other kids and basically refusing to do what they were supposed to be doing. He eventually went and sat down against the bleachers.

Need I say more?