Cake

Our boys have their first inside joke.  Cake.  We are not sure why or how (we have our theories) - but the word "cake" is hilarious to our boys.  We will just be sitting there - doing nothing (driving, eating, watching a show, playing) and one of the boys will just say, "cake" and they both bust up laughing.

They will also sing songs and put the word cake in it - "twinkle, twinkle little... cake".  They think that are so funny - they laugh and laugh.  This has started to make them seem like real people.  To be silly they will call people cake.  "Good morning... cake" (instead of mom).

I like to get in on the action.  When they are not listening or focusing or things just need to be livened up - I will say something silly about cake.  They think  I am pretty funny.  I am sure if they were older they would think I am lame for trying to be on the inside of an inside joke - but they are young and they think I am pretty cool when I say, "row, row, row your... cake".

Theories to how it started:
Jason's:
Jason was teaching the kids how to say knock knock jokes.  Noah did one and when Brock said, "who is there?" Noah said, "cake".  They both laughed and laughed and ever since then the word "cake" is funny.

Mine:
Jason story is true - but I think  Noah's answer for "cake" came from somewhere.  They both like the show "Word World" and one of their favorite episodes is when pig eats Dog's birthday cake (twice I think).  The motto of the episode is "share the cake, don't eat the cake".  They thought the show was so hilarious and for the rest of the day they were saying, "share the cake, don't eat the cake."  Then I think they just shortened it to "cake".

For what ever reason I think it is so cute.  Like I said earlier, it makes them seem like real people and real brothers - to have long standing inside joke.  (It has been about 4 months - it just took me a while to blog about it.)  And they think it is as funny today as when it started.

Day out with Thomas

You may remember back in April when Jason's sister, Kasey, came to visit.  She was here for both Megan and Brock's birthdays - so she got them both awesome presents - she felt bad for Noah - so she got him the best present of all!!  Day out with Thomas!!

Noah loves trains - especially Thomas.  I decided to take this opportunity to go alone with Noah - a special date.  Because of napping/sleeping schedules I get uninterrupted alone time with Brock and Megan everyday - but not Noah.  I have to just seek it out, but it is often interrupted with needs of another child.  I try to have special days/activities just with Noah to try and compensate.

This day was pure bliss - for both me and him.  One of the things I love most about Noah is that he knows pure joy - and shows it all over his face.  It is so easy to make him happy, and its not just happy, you can tell that it is joy.  He gets this huge smile that lights up his whole body.  The best way to see it is to give the kid an ice cream cone.  On this day it was almost the whole time.  From the moment we were in the car and I told him where we were going - his face lit up and he smiled the whole way up to Heber.  It was wonderful.

We met Sir Topamhat - he was SO EXCITED!  

 And rode Annie and Claribel

And sat on a patch of grass and watched Thomas pull in and out of the station for about an hour and a half.  One of the best things about the day is that we just got to go at Noah's pace.  Noah likes to doddle and wander.  He just likes to go slow, look at everything, and kind of talk and sing to himself and be silly along the way.  Basically he is me as a child - so I have compassion on him.  I try to let him wander and doddle as much as possible - but realistically it just can't happen that much.  So when it is just me and him I make it a POINT to never say, "hurry up", or "come on" or "this way" - we just do what he wants to do at the pace he wants to do it - which is SO SLOW!

 It was great weather, Noah was so happy to see Thomas and ride on a train, and I was in HEAVEN spending the whole day with my two year old!  I love two year olds.

Then... to make things even better - the very next day Jason's mom and dad took the whole family!  This worked out perfect because the second we left Noah wanted to go again and as soon as Brock found out where we had gone he of course wanted to go.  So I could say, "well.. guess what? We are going tomorrow!"  Put an end to all that whining right then and there.

Noah actually woke up in the morning and yelled from his room, "I am ready to ride Annie and Claribel".  It was so cute.

The day was great - although is was about 3 times as crowded (a Saturday will do that).  But the boys enjoyed it just as much - plus they got their grandparents, aunt and uncle, and cousin with them!

 They were NOT into taking pictures - I dont' think I got a good one all day.  Here they are with Grandpa Herbert.

 Brock with his cheesy smile

The fam on the train

Noah rode with Grandpa 

And Brock with Jason 

 Our nephew Aaron - he looked out the window like this almost the whole time - it was so precious!

And of course - Sir Topamhat

Noah then spent the rest of the day playing with the Thomas train set.  Me and the other mom's kept commenting about how we had no idea why our children wanted to play (fight) with a million other kids when they all have a train set at home. 

I know I have mentioned this before but I love the way Noah plays with toys - so much focus, concentration, and passion.  The whole world around him just shuts out and he is in his own little bubble.  I sat and watched him the whole hour.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to Kasey for the day with My Noah, Jason's parents for a fun family  trip, and my mom for watching Brock and Megan all day so I could go with Noah.  It was all wonderful!

Usual days

I am pretty behind on my blogging.  I never posted this post because I wanted to get more pictures of our day to day things - but I never  did.  So these pictures are from back in April. 

Brock literally thinks he is spider man.  He spends almost his whole day being spider man.  He jumps around on furniture, over our railings, climbs on everything, shoots webs from his wrists, and makes sound effects for everything the does.  When it is time for bed or when we are in church I have to say things like "no web sounds".  It actually doesn't annoy me at all.  It makes me smile every time.  His favorite thing to do is build webs around our house.  He takes yarn and spins it around anything and everything.  This is often done while wearing his spider man pajamas.

Strangely this rarely annoys me also.  I just step or duck over them.  I love that he loves something.  It does annoy Jason though - so we have to take them down after a few days. 

Noah loves his sand box.  This picture was back when it was still really cold and windy outside.  Noah didn't care.  He wanted his jacket with his hat on and he just digs with his little tractors.  He would stay out there for hours.  His new thing now it to shovel sand into a little bowl, once the bowl is full he pours the bowl into a bucket until the bucket is full and then dumps the bucket into a pile.  He is so meticulous about things like this.  He loves to quietly play by himself working on things with great patience, focus, concentration, and detail.  I could watch him play all day. 

This post was originally going to be about Jason going back to work - how I was handling things by my self, what our days were like, and my feelings about it all.  Sadly I never did that post and my emotions are not fresh anymore.  But I want to try and document it.  So try to imagine we are back in April and Jason just started working again.

I was really nervous about Jason going back to work.  I had really gotten used to him being around and taking the whole "mom" bit pretty easy and light.  During previous bouts of unemployment I never wanted to get used to having him home - so I never let him help.  I got up with the kids, I did all the meals and cleaning, I took them to activities while Jason stayed home.  He always wanted to help but I was insistent that we kept our traditional roles.  So needless to say his unemployment was always very hard on me and I desperately wanted him to go back to work.  This time around I decided to give in and enjoy having him home.  We spent our days together as a family, I included him in our day to day routine and he helped out and parented just as much (and some days more) than I did.  It was great because I was in my first trimester of my pregnancy - so the help was much needed.  I loved having him home and if it wasn't for financial reasons I wanted him home forever.  (Who would have thought a change of attitude would have made all the difference :)

Needless to say I was very nervous to have all three kids (and pregnant) by myself again.  When Jason got laid off Megan was still a baby - no crawling, will, or personality, and when he went back to work she was basically a toddler - a much bigger handful.  I didn't think I was going to be able to handle it.  I decided baptism by fire was the best method.  So I planned an activity out of the house everyday and did errands several times through the week.  On Tuesday I was coming home from one of our activities (I think Discovery Gateway) and I realized that I LOVED doing what I was doing.  I LOVED being by myself, with the children, doing the mom thing.  I loved the schedule, I loved the routine, I loved the silliness, and the precious moments, most of all I loved having to do it by myself.  I felt as though I had found my niche again.  I do love being a stay at home mom.  It fits me well and I am so grateful to Jason for always letting me stay home and NEVER making me feel guilty.  There are times when I feel as though I am being selfish by staying home - especially with the last few years that we have had.  It would help us a lot if I had a job and would definitely bring more stability - at least financially.  There are days when I considered getting a job.  But as soon as we seriously try to discuss it it is always obvious that the best thing for our family is for me to stay home full time.