Easter Egg Hunt........

Cancelled!! Due to rain, the much anticipated egg hunt was a bust!! The boys were a bit confused (Mommy had been teaching them about hunting for eggs, so when there were no eggs and no hunting, they thought she had lost it:), and a little disappointed - until they each were given a bag full of candy. Since they couldn't put it into the eggs for the kiddos, they just handed out a bag to each child who showed up. What a treat!! We let them hold their baskets on the way home, and gave them each one piece to eat. Needless to say, the temptation was too much, and you might just be able to see the foil covered egg in Kyle's mouth in one of the pictures below. Luckily I decided to take the picture, and turned around just in time to get my shot, and then retrieve the still foil covered egg from his mouth before he ate it:).

"So many good things to eat, so little time. I guess I'll just examine each one!!"

"Hummmmm. I wonder if they'll notice that this chocolate egg in my mouth is still covered in blue foil??"

"Oh, Happy Day!!"

"Yummm, which one should I eat first when we get home??"

B&K with their baskets - now this is happiness:).

"Can I carry this around my neck, for easier eating access??"

"Look at how heavy they are, Mom and Dad!!"

I love the expression on Brock's face.

And what a cutie - eating those little chocolates one at a time:).

Maybe we'll get to hunt for eggs next year, but for now, a full basket is fun enough:).

Two year pics

Okay - so I thought that the 18 mo pics were a challenge - keeping them in one place - but the 2 year pics turned out to be just as tough. We went mid morning -they weren't tired or hungry, and they were in great moods at home before we left. But once we arrived at the studio, they turned into zombies:). They would barely smile (until the photographers started to play ball with them), we rarely could get them to smile at the same time or look in the same direction, and they were clearly not entertained with the whole ordeal. Here's a sample, and, needless to say, we didn't buy all of these:):

"Really, Mom, why are we laying here on the floor??"

"What you got over there??"

"What?? Hold hands?? Why??"

Brock - not so amused.

"Want to play catch, anyone??"

Not too bad, except for those darn, ball-catching arms:). Thank goodness for photo shop:).

We definitely didn't buy this pic, but I think it's so cute. He looks like a chubby little guy, which he is not:).

Maybe a smile - forced.

Dazed and confused again about why these people think I should be smiling at their antics:).

"Sit on this block. Hummmmm. I just don't get this."

"Don't worry, brother. I don't either."

We did get some cute pics, just not what Mommy had imagined:). But no matter how silly their faces were, you just can't hide the cuteness of these 2 little guys!!

What's for dinner??

A pre-dinner conversation between Mommy and Kyle last week:

Mommy: "It's almost time for dinner, boys!! Would you like to eat ......... roast and potatoes and carrots?"
Kyle: "Nope!"
(It was leftover night, so I gave them a choice, which usually doesn't happen:)
Mommy: "Would you like ........ ham loaves and cheesy noodles?"
Kyle: "Nope!"
Mommy: "Would you like ........ hamburger casserole?"
Kyle: "Nope!"
Mommy: "Then, what would you like to eat?"
Kyle: (after an extended thoughtful pause) "Ummmmmmm, I want cake!!!!" (looking very please that he had come up with something all on his own).
Mommy: "Nice try, but you have to eat some real food first. Maybe you can have cake for dessert."

Gotta love a boy who loves cake, and he does!!

More memory makers:)

Since I still can't give you any pics, I have a few more stories to entertain you:

More dinner time conversations - When Daddy comes home from work, I usually, at some point ask him how his day was. Typically, this happens over dinner. The boys have picked up on this, and have taken over the task of asking Daddy how his day was, and everyone else in the family, too. Here's a snippet of our dinner conversation - remember this is happening during dinner and they would be calmly eating bites in between their conversing. Mommy and Daddy, on the other hand, almost couldn't eat because they were laughing so hard after this repeated conversation went on for about 10 minutes:

B - "How was your day, Kyle?"
K - "It was good!"
B - "Good!" "How was your day, Daddy?"
D - "It was good!"
B - "Good!" "How was your day, Mommy?"
M - "It was good!"
B - "Good!" "How was your day, Kyle?"
K - "It was good!"
B - "Good!"

Then, they would so nicely take turns (a rare occurrence:), and Kyle would take over:

K - "How was your day, Brock?"
B - "It was good!"
K - "Good!" "How was your day, Daddy?"
D - "It was good!"
K - "Good!" "How was your day, Mommy?"
M - "It was good!"
K - "Good!" "How was your day, Brock?"
B - "It was good!"
K - "Good!"

Eventually, it was just a conversation between the two of them, and this was when we really fell apart:):

B - "How was your day, Kyle?"
K - "It was good!"
B - "Good!"

K - "How was your day, Brock?"
B - "It was good!"
K - "Good!"

And so it went on. They are so cute:).

Then this morning brought another funny. Unfortunately for Mommy, it happened at 6:30am, when she would have really liked another hour (or at least a 1/2 hour) of sleep:(.

I've heard that kids start dreaming around the age of two, and I think that we have reached this milestone. We have lately heard talking over the monitor at night, and checked to find everyone sound asleep. We are not sure which of the boys is our sleep talker, or if it's both, but whom ever it is comes by it honestly, as their Mommy likes to chat away in the middle of the night, too!! This morning, I heard someone saying something, but I couldn't understand what they were saying, and they were almost crying as they were so upset. I went in to investigate and found Brock, still laying down with his eyes closed crying out "I want marshmallows. I need marshmallows!" - with tears and everything. We had gone shopping on Saturday, and bought the boys a bag of Easter marshmallows- pastel colored bunny-shaped marshmallows, or "Hip-hops" as the boys call them. Brock absolutely LOVED them, and apparently in his dream, he was being told that he couldn't have any:(. He eventually opened his eyes, but his request for marshmallows persisted. With such a dramatic presentation, of course, his Daddy had to comply with his request for a marshmallow - at 6:30 am:). What a start to the day!! I wonder how bunny marshmallows taste in coffee?? I'll let you know if this becomes a trend:).

Arguing at the dinner table - already

Since we are still having computer difficulties (one down, one to go -thanks JA for working so hard to get us back up and running:) and I cannot share any pics with you, I thought I'd share with you a snippet of our dinner conversation one night last week.

Brock: "I hear an airplane!" (these boys have super-sonic hearing-best for hearing airplanes, fire trucks, and big trucks rumbling down the busy road near our house, but not for hearing what Mommy tells them to do, like pick up their toys:)

Kyle: "No, Brock, that is the furnace!" (our furnace in this house is quite noticeable when it runs, and I think that he's heard us discuss it:)

Brock: "NO! Airplane!!"

Kyle: "NO!! Furnace!!"

Actually, they were both right. The furnace was running and an airplane was flying overhead. Too cute how they stand their ground with each other already.

Also, even though the birthdays are over and Christmas has long since past, we still hear frequent strains of "Happy Birthday to You", "O Christmas Tree", and "Little Drummer Boy (otherwise known in the Leman house as "Rum-pa-pa-pum":). They are quite the singers - even on key most of the time, and break out into spontaneous song on a regular basis.
Oh, the fun we have:).

Happy 2nd Birthday!!

It's hard for me to believe, but my boys turned 2 years old today!! The past two years have flown by, and it seem like just yesterday that they were born. We've had lots of birthday celebrations this weekend, and today was just a day to play with new toys, play in the snow, eat leftover birthday cake, open the last present, and sing a few more verses of Happy Birthday To You!!

Here's Brock, waiting patiently to open his gift from Mommy and Daddy. He looks like such the patient boy, but what you can't see is that he has already torn the package on the other end:).

Kyle really was patient about the present because he was very distracted by the balloon string that Daddy tied around his wrist!!

Brock, showing off his Thomas Choo-choo Beach Towel

Kyle, modeling his Thomas Choo-choo beach towel.

Oops!! I'm a little out of order, sorry!! Here they are digging into the presents after Kyle finally got the balloon off of his wrist and could concentrate:).

Pre-present pic. Brock, thrilled with more pictures and delayed present opening, and Kyle, still working on that darn balloon!!

Eating birthday cake - a highlight of the 2 year old birthday, along with opening presents and being sung to. Last night at their family party, they were so thrilled with the "Happy Birthday to you" song, that they kept asking for encore performances, and their aunts, uncles, and grandparents were more than happy to oblige:). I think that we heard the song at least 4 times - just during cake time:).

"I like cake, too!!"

And a little trip down memory lane, for those of you, like me, who just look at this and smile. We had no idea on that day what a wonderful ride we were in for:). We love you, Brock and Kyle!!!

Scenes from Christmas - delayed by a little virus(of the computer sort:()

I know that it's been over a month since Christmas, but I'm going to share a few pics and stories from the boys' Christmas adventures anyway:). As you can tell by the date, I started this post
some time ago, but we've had a little bug causing difficulties in the technological portion of our lives - no fun!!

The boys had a great time this Christmas. They really got into the present opening, and are well practiced for their upcoming birthday. They have been playing hard with their new toys. So much so that they didn't even notice when I packed up some of the old ones:). We read them a simple version of the Christmas story many times over the holiday, but due to a sighting of Santa at Cub Foods (they were awe-struck by this hairy man in a red suit who gave them candy), they confused Joseph (and the wise men) whose pictures were in the story books, calling them all Santa Claus. Even with much explaining, I'm not sure that we got thru to them, mostly because Joseph was wearing red in their book, and Santa wore a red suit. I guess I would be confused too if I was only 1:).


Here are Brock and Kyle, posing in front of our Christmas tree at home. We went ahead and put up a big tree this year. Last year we just did a little tree on top of a book shelf - you can guess why:), and the year before that I was entirely too pregnant to decorate with much more than a poinsettia:), so it was kind of nice to have a big Christmas tree again. The boys did pretty well with the decorations, considering their curiosity levels. I only had to put the ribbons back on the tree 4 times, put back up the lights on the windows 2 times, and throw away one broken ornament. We were unsuccessful in keeping them from plugging in the lights, despite time-outs and a few spanks, and we eventually gave in and taught them how to do it right and prayed for no shocks:). They survived, and Kyle has been appointed (by himself) as the official Christmas light turner-on-er of the family. It was pure joy for him every single day!!

Cheese balls!! We opened up presents at home on Christmas eve morning, and after naps, headed to P'ville to Grammy and Papa's. While we were upstairs getting ready to leave, the boys got extremely quiet for too long of a time period. Pressed for time, we finished packing - knowing that we were taking a risk, and not knowing what we may find. Daddy finished first, and went down to find both boys, guilty faces covered in chocolate and breath smelling like peanut butter. Rob had made a batch of his famous peanut butter balls that afternoon and they were on the kitchen table drying. We didn't even think about it, but the boys found them and they were entirely too enticing for them to resist. Luckily, we intervened before they were able to start on their second round, and they only ate one each:). Hands and faces were a mess, but their clothes were miraculously clean - these boys don't waist a drop of chocolate!! After we cleaned them up, loaded them in the car, and hit the road, I asked them how the peanut butter balls were. Kyle promptly responded from the back seat "Yummy in my tummy. Have more??" What a funny boy!!

Opening presents at Grammy and Papa's on Christmas eve.

"More pictures, really Grammy?!? Let's get on with the presents!!"

Christmas morning - new bean bags to watch Elmo on:).

After church - delighted to find Elmo laptops in their packages and not just more clothes:).

Kyle trying out his new Elmo backrest.

" Elmo Brock" snuggling with Mommy:). Who knew that you could find so many things "Elmo"!!

Christmas night, we headed to Grandma Leman's house. Here's Brock, practicing his texting skills with cousin Maddy's supervision:). 22 mos and texting?!?! Kids are growing up way too fast theses days:).

Kyle had to have a turn texting, too. Between this and their new "laptops", these boys are already way ahead of their parents!!

Worn out from all of the festivities.

Snuggling with Grandma Leman at the Leman family Christmas on Saturday. It was a fun season, but we were kind of glad to see January come:).