The Many Faces of Zane

I may have mentioned previously that Zane is ornery.  It's no joke.  My brother predicts that Z will be the one who's always in trouble--not serious trouble, but mischief-making type trouble.  I have no doubt he will be the practical jokester of the family.

He just has this look about him--a gleam in the eye, usually accompanied by an impish little grin--that says ORNERY.  You wouldn't believe the number of people (some who know him well and some who don't) who have commented on this.  See for yourself:

 

Doesn't he just look like he's planning something?

 

Fortunately for Zane (though not so fortunate for the rest of us) he has also perfected the Who, ME?

Don't let it fool you for a minute.

Because It Was Funny

1.  Yes, we did take pictures of our child in front of a tattoo parlor.

2. Isn't he intimidating when he makes a scary face and flexes his muscles? 

3. No, he didn't actually get a tattoo.

A Very Merry, Random, Belated Christmas Recap

I suppose the word "recap" assumes that this post will thoroughly cover the various Christmas preparations and celebrations in which our family participated. 

Confession: It doesn't thoroughly cover anything.  I simply picked a few pictures from the Christmas season that I liked. 

So while this is technically not a recap, it is a little merry, a lot random, and somewhat belated.  Here 'tis.

Trimming the tree 

Gingerbread house decorating with his friends Kelsie and Travis

Z is not yet a professional gingerbread house decorator.  He is, however, quite skilled at eating candy. 

Hanging out with their buddy Truett during our travels

A sad amount of snow in the promised land

Dessert time with some of the 2nd cousins

Christmas morning presents!

Birthday cake for Jesus

Told you it was random.

18 Months

What a fun little guy our 18-month-old is!  He is talking all the time and cracking us up with the things he says.  Full-fledged toddlerhood is upon us, and we're hanging on and enjoying every minute (okay, maybe not every minute, but as many minutes as we can). 

18 month stats:
-28 lbs, 35.5 in
-18 month and 2T clothes
-sleeps 8 PM-7AM and naps 1-2 hours
-check out that picture--he's finally getting hair! (though we have yet to give him his first haircut)
-people are forever commenting on the scrapes on his face.  Though he's actually a pretty coordinated kid, keeping up with his older brother means that minor injuries are a common thing for him right now.  And for some reason, they always seem to be on his face.  As soon as one starts to heal, he gets another one.
-he's learned to pose and say "cheese" for pictures.  He's also learned lots of other words and phrases and speaks in sentences a good portion of the time.  This kid is a talker.
-he's also a singer.  He seems to have an ear for music and will repeat songs after only hearing them a couple of times.  His current favorite is "Away in a Manger." He sings all 3 verses at the top of his lungs.
-the little boy "train stage" has begun.  I don't know if all little boys go through this, but ours sure have!  He will spend hours building train tracks, driving the trains around, and repeating "choo choo" fifteen million times.
-ORNERY.  Seriously.  This kid may just turn out to be the practical jokester of the family.
-counts and says ABCs
-at 15 months I mentioned that he was starting to become a Daddy's boy.  "Starting" was an understatement.  This kid absolutely LOVES his Daddy.  He also loves his grandpas.
-has learned to stand and holler if Brock does something he doesn't like.  He knows someone will come running to see what's wrong (kids learn fast!).

We love this ornery, charming, injury-prone little man!

Cotton Bowl 2012

Conflicted.

Merry Christmas!

All in a Day's Work

A few weeks ago we went to visit Uncle Steve and Aunt Amy in the big city.  While we were there, the boys...

mastered their ABC's,

did their own grocery shopping,

changed a tire,

made pizza,

participated in an archeological dig,

studied the properties of magnetism and electricity,

created masterpieces,

built skyscrapers,

utilized hydroelectric power,

and scaled a 3-story beanstalk.

Uncle Steve and Aunt Amy are awesome.

Party Party Party

Our big 3-year-old's birthday was pretty special.  He got to celebrate 3 years with 3 celebrations!

He started his big day off with a "3" pancake.

Then had a party that night with Daddy, Mommy, and Zane.

Complete with a few gifts, of course.

Grandpa and Grandma E came to visit and he got to have a party with them, too.

And when we visited Grandpa and Grandma T for Thanksgiving, he celebrated with Mommy's side of the family.

Whew!  That's a lot of birthday, but I think we've all recovered.  Now on to Christmas!

Thankful Tree

As a way of teaching Brock about thankfulness this year, we made a thankful tree.  There are about a hundred and one variations of this out there; we decided to keep ours simple and just use construction paper.  The idea is to start with a bare tree at the beginning of November, then add a leaf each day leading up to Thanksgiving.  On each leaf you write one thing you're thankful for. 

Brock loved adding leaves each day.  In fact, he usually didn't want to stop with just one, so I let him put on as many as he wanted.  We talked often about how God has given us lots and lots of good things.

I let Brock take the lead on this and only wrote down what he told me.  His tree had everything from pizza to giraffes to the UPS man.  I plan to do this with the boys each year and keep a list of the things they come up with.  What a fun Thanksgiving tradition!

3 Years

It's a little hard to believe that Brock's been a part of our family for 3 years.  What a joy he is to us!  He is full of energy and curiosity, and there is certainly never a dull moment when he's around.  We've been dealing with some "terrible three" behavior lately (my mom friends were right when they said it doesn't end at 2), but in general, he's a good kid with a big heart who is constantly on the go and loves life.  Here are some other tidbits about Brock at age 3:

-3'4" tall and weighs about 35.5 lbs

-4T clothes

-sleeps from 9 PM-7 AM and takes a 2-hour nap

-completely potty-trained during the day, including naps.  Nighttime is a different story.

-knows the letter sounds and can spell several 3-letter words

-writes about 1/2 of the letters legibly

-loves music.  Recent favorite songs include "Crown Him with Many Crowns" and "Shout to the North."  He sings all the time at home but rarely in front of others.

-alternates between being super kind to his little brother and taking everything away from him

-this kid has some major arm strength.  He does military-style push-ups, the monkey bars, and this:

-his "helpfulness" is actually becoming helpful.  I'm a firm believer in child labor and try to include the boys in household chores.  Usually this means that jobs take 10 times as long as they would if I did them myself.  However, I see it starting to pay off--Brock can now clear the table, load/unload the dishwasher, switch laundry, and vacuum on his own.  Well, vacuuming is semi-on-his-own.  He also loves to help cook.

-some of his speech is still a little hard to understand, as he has trouble with 2 consonants in a row (such as the Br sound in Brock).  However, the things he says are incredible and sometimes hilarious.  Such as when our garden sweet peppers weren't turning orange.  Brock's response: "No worries.  Hakuna matata."  Or when he told us his lesson at church was "Joshua and the battle of Cherry Coke."

We love you, big guy!