Flashbackin'

We have been SOOOO busy around here. Seems like I'm always saying that. Hm. Maybe I should just get used to it? Easier said than done.

Anyway. We had J's birthday, and one set of grandparents visiting, two book clubs, a baby shower, babysitting, two--no, THREE dentist appointments if you count the one tomorrow, another set of grandparents visiting, my mom coming down I think twice (outside of parties), taking care of neighbors' animals and such due to vacation AND medical emergency, dog to the vet, new windows put on our house yesterday....I can't think of anything else right this minute that's happened in the last 2 weeks but yeah. Busy-ness.

And it seems during all of this that I've either not taken pictures, or at the very least, not uploaded them to the computer. Hence the lack of posting.

I still don't have any relevant pictures. But Nathan has been growing and changing so quickly lately, and I've been trying to remember what it was like when James was this age...you know, ALMOST FOUR YEARS AGO. I feel really sad that I haven't been keeping as much of a blog or even journaling for N nearly as much as I did back then, because it's really neat to go back and read some of that stuff. But for today, and for this blog, I thought I'd go look back at some of our pictures...which remind me how much N actually does and doesn't look like J. Wow.

For example, here's Ben and James at Chad and Jessie's wedding in 2007...he was actually about a month younger than Nathan is right now.

The mind boggles at what our life was like then versus now--not in a good or bad way, just WOW. Very Different.

So then I started looking at what it was like when Nathan was a teensy baby. Again, it's incredible but also incredibly common to marvel how the time has flown. Still:

Where did it all go? My first baby is now five and speaking in stereo and very LOUD! and very into Legos and Robin Hood and Chicken and Cat and The Hobbit and Kenny and the Dragon and all these other things like Doing It Myself and Needing Mom To Do It For Me But Throwing A Fit About It. It's hard to remember exactly what it was like when he was so small as Nathan--and then it's hard to realize how grown-up and independent of a one-year-old he has become. And it's equally hard to realize that everything I just described can be true for a one-year-old just as much as it can be for a fiver! =)

Nathan...I'm sorry I haven't been able to create as much of a record of your babyhood as I could do for your brother. Hopefully, he can fill you in on whatever I've missed/forgotten about with his own memories of you as a baby!

For now, I'm just trying to keep up with everything. SO lucky to have it all! Peace and love till next time~

Cuteness attack

I have barely enough time for a post--things, as usual, being somewhere between "busy" and "frantic" around here. I wanted to show you a picture from May, though, that I never got around to showing you but which is super-DOOPER cute. I call it "From whence cometh the swashbuckle:"

The original pirate picture, when Grandpa gave us our pirate hat and sword.

Then there's Nathan being a-DOOR-able. First he dragged a kid-sized rocking chair over by me, then he put a baby in a stroller and rolled it over, then he took the baby out, sat in the chair, and rocked it and kissed its head. With no prompting whatsoever. And he let me get proof! Because he is THE CUTEST BABY EVER:

And then of course there's Brother Love. Those two kind of like each other. At least most of the time. It's enough to make my toes tingle with happiness when they play happily together, and especially when they cuddle. Here's a quick sample of both, aka a snuggle/play/tumble game that they love:

I love those boys. Every day, even through the amazing levels of fuss we've had lately, they remind me how lucky I am to be their mama.

And that's all for today, folks. You're lucky you got this much from me, as I'm feeling somewhat nauseous from lack of sleep. Peace be with you all, and see you soon~

Quick self-portrait

It's hard sometimes to get pictures of myself with the boys. Or of me and Ben. Or of any grownups, really. It's so easy to point the camera at my two beautiful babies, but it's hard to do anything else besides snap shots of them and then run frantically after them to contain the next disaster! (Okay, that was a little more negative than usual. I'm pretty exhausted today. It's not all disasters. But it's a very high-energy job, this parenting gig.)

Anyway. Here's a recent (pre-haircut) self-portrait of me and the boys, that I love:

And because I only have a few seconds because Nathan FINALLY fell asleep just now and James has been begging for his They Might Be Giants movie (just now, he said, "I'm just DYING to watch it")...I will quit the commentary and leave you with Nay's self-portrait, in all its oogley smooshy delicious baby glory:

Gosh, even on the toughest days....these are the most amazing and wonderful creatures I could ever have imagined.

Now give me a nap with a high-powered dose of caffeine at the end of it to keep me on my feet! =)

Swashbuckling

We've been pretty busy around here lately.

Why do I even say "lately?" I should just make that ALWAYS.

Anyway. I would try to spend a long time updating you on all our escapades, but then it wouldn't actually get finished until October, and then all the news would be different anyway! So I present an update in my usual picture format, which anyone still reading this blog probably prefers anyway. =)

The boys love to pretend to cook. Sometimes this is in the form of playing with their kiddie kitchen and wooden "foods." Sometimes....it's a little more messy:

Another popular activity around here these days? Swashbuckling.

Usually I have to be "Captain James Frint," and James is "Captain John SilvAH." He told me recently that Nathan's pirate name could be NayNay Poopypants. Brotherly love at its finest! Oh, and in case you're wondering, James's superhero name is Thorin Oakenshield.

I had a birthday recently, and among other festivities, James made me a birthday cake:

Which is awesome and the best cake I think I've EVER gotten. Although, with the dairy-free life we live now, I'm fondly remembering that one year I got an ice cream cake. But the Play-doh cake? Pretty darn special. What a sweet kid. Oh, and he's blowing out the candles on it in the picture, if you can't tell. Here's a picture he took of me, and although it's not on my birthday, it's as close as I got:

See? Swashbuckling.

Nathan got a haircut recently, although I don't seem to have a great picture of that. It was his first haircut ever, and it made me sad because he just looks so darn grown up. My BABY! and moan and sigh and sob about the time flying by, et cetera et cetera. Oh, wait, here's one:



Now pause for a poo change.

Anyway. My time is running out for this post, the boys are about to come in from working out in the goat barn to build a new feeding station, which job is necessitated by the unfortunate death of one of our chickens when a goat jumped through the old one and somehow broke the chicky's neck. So. On that cheerful note....WE GOT A NEW DOG!

His name is Denali and he's about 2 and he's very tolerant. We all love him already and we are very very happy with the whole deal. Nathan thinks he's a big snuggly pillow. It's awesome.

Sorry for an incredibly unfocused post. We just got internet at our house a few days ago (on my birthday, actually), so I wanted to seize the chance to post more than one picture at once!

And now it's time for more chores. Happy Fourth of July, everyone!