At the end of the day...

I need to begin journaling at the end of each day. I often find myself asking, "what do I want to remember about today?" Usually it is a story about the boys, something we did as a family, or a mental note what I could do better as a mom/wife. I also find myself feeling guilty I didn't start when the boys were born, but better now than never. Here are my take aways for today...

Brody copies LITERALLY EVERYTHING that Luke does. Yesterday, Luke coughed, so Brody coughed. I looked at Howie and said, "you have got to be kidding me." Today Luke raised his hands in the air at dinner and so did Brody. Luke said, "oh man!" Brody echoed. We went to McDonalds so they could run off some energy in the play place and B followed Luke all over. At one point Luke was standing there thinking, with his pointer finger on his temple. Brody right behind him trying to do the same. Brody was coloring on the floor and Luke was doing his sticker book on his bed, Brody wanted to move up to the bed. Today I thought, all I really have to do is parent Luke, and Brody will fall in line. :) The kid LOVES his brother.

On our way to the store we spotted three deer in a field eating grass. I went by too fast for the boys to notice so I turned around and went by really slow. The were very close to the road so they were right out Luke's window. I turned back around to head down the hill, but pulled into the turn lane so we could stop to watch the deer for a moment. They were looking right at us. Luke kept commenting how cool and pretty they were. I asked him who made the deer.
Luke: "God!"
Mom: "Yeah you're right."
Luke: "Go God!"
Luke: "Who made the trees?"
Mom: "Who?"
Luke: "God!"
Brody: "God!"
Luke: "Who made the houses?"
Mom: "Who?"
Luke: "God!"
Brody: "God!" (see what I mean?!)
Luke: "Who made the fence?"
Mom: "Who?"
Luke: "God!"
Brody: "God!"

Fall Family Photos

Last week we went out with friends who have a really nice camera. They got some great shots of our family this fall. Here are a few highlights.

October 2011

Pumpkin Patch
We spontaniously decided to head to my mom's the weekend before Halloween and we hadn't been to the pumpkin patch yet so we made that the event of the weekend. We went to Bi-Zi Farm. Such a great place. I would love to go there again!

Its not a sand box. Its a corn box!
The kids rode mini tractors for awhile. Then we went into an open barn housing a hay maze. We moved on to crushing corn for the chickens, sampling cider, and grabbing some kettle corn before riding the hay ride to the pumpkin fields.






Great Grandma & Grandpa's
We stopped by Grandpa & Grandma Iben's house in our costumes. It was something I always did as a kid on Halloween so I thought it would be fun for both the boys and my grandparent's to "trick or treat" there. They were surprised to have two little monkeys show up at their door. Grandma quickly made up a bag of goodies for the boys, exactly like we used to get.
While we were there, the kids took a trip out to the shed with my mom. They were so excited to find two plastic lawn flamingos! They crashed threw the door just thrilled to show me what they found. This was at a time they were really into the movie "Gnomeo and Juliet" about garden gnomes. In it there is a charactor named "Featherstone" who is a lawn flamingo. I think they thought they found a celebrity. They sure acted like it!



Halloween
We didn't do any trick or treating but the boys put on their costumes for the evening and we took a walk to a friend's house. Some friends from church came over and we set up a Glow Station outside our house. Families could grab hot chocolate, a glow bracelet and even warm up by the fire for a bit before heading back out for more candy. Here's the boys enjoying a nice hot cup of cocoa in the cold.

Dominant Interests

My boys' intersts have been rolling around in my head lately. Their interests are similar because they love to do everything the other is doing, yet their favorites are different. They each have their own thing, yet they share in each other's. And these interests seem to have been there from the very beginning.


Luke loves music and dance. I know I have posted on his musical/dancing abilities many times before. But he still loves it. He continues to bust a move whenever he hears music. And he comes up with his own moves! Its the most hilarious thing ever! The other day he's "break dancing" (spinning on the ground, crab walking, etc.) then he puts both feet on the couch, with one hand on the floor and one in the air. What?! We crack up every time Luke lets loose.

Brody joins him, mostly just fist pumping or copying Luke's moves. Brody's latest is to put his hands on the floor and one leg in the air because that's what Luke does while he's "break dancing." Its cute but definitely not his forte.

Music and movement has been Luke's thing for as long as I can remember. When Luke was unconsolable as an infant, there was a certain cd we would play that would calm him down. From the time he could stand, we've got lots of videos of him dancing. What I find interesting is that I lead worship (song & movement) every Sunday throughout my pregnancy with him. Its been with him even before he was born. :)

Luke loves television. I wish that wasn't the case, and I wish I had curbed this habit long ago because I think he watches way too much. He's always asking to watch a show or a movie. He has kind of "seasonal" favorites; he has a favorite for awhile but doesn't stick with a favorite show. He watches Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Chuggington, Super Why, Dora, Deigo, Calliou (a current favorite), Backyardigans, Bubble Guppies (also a current favorite), Angelina Ballerina (current favorite). He used to be really into Thomas, Barney, and Dora, but not so much anymore. We don't have too many movies but he loves Rio, Finding Nemo, and Gnomeo and Juliet. We borrowed a bunch of movies when the boys were sick but he wouldn't actually sit and watch anything except Gnomeo. I buy him Veggie Tales and Hermie videos whether he really likes them or not because those are the shows I prefer he watch but they are not his favorite.


Again, this is an interst that goes way back. He was an infant and paid close attention to what was on tv. I remember he was very young, laying in his bouncer, back to the television and he cranked his head as far as he could so that he could see, and contently watched Dr. Phil for 30 minutes!

And again, Brody takes part in watching Luke's shows but has no favorites (although he says Elmo and Nemo alot) and does not have Luke's attention span or intrest in it.

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Brody loves balls. He loves to play catch, throw, and hit balls. He actually has a pretty good arm. He will turn ANYTHING into a bat.

He is his daddy's son when it comes to football. Today he sat in front of the tv for 10 minutes by himself watching the game. "Boball dame," he calls it. He roots and cheers and pumps his fists in the air, "Do (go) Nina!"

Luke's a boy and of course loves to play ball as well. But there is something about Brody's love for it that goes beyond Luke's. Luke picked up on a catcher's stance in a game and taught Brody how to do it. Now they take turns being the catcher squatting down to catch a pitch.

Brody loves the water. He has since I can remember. He's loved to take baths since he was a baby. For his first birthday I could not think of a theme that would fit Brody except water - so we did a bath party and took him to the Aquatic Center.

I thought Luke was the swimmer. For awhile he would 'swim' in the tub, rolling onto his tummy and pushing himself back and forth with his legs. Brody picked up on this and started doing it and has added to it. When he's ready to swim he throws all the toys out of the tub. He goes all around the tub (he has a little more room since he is smaller). He loves to lay flat in the water. He lays on his back, puts his head all the way down - ears in, and lets the water come in around his face. He just lays there - still. He's begun to yell while doing it, he must like the way it sounds from under there.

Its interesting to see their interests continue. The things they liked as infants, they still like. I wonder if they will continue down these paths: will Luke always love to dance and want to develop that talent? Will Brody be an athlete, be it football or swimming? Or will they soon grow out of these interests? Now that they are getting older, they have opportunities to get involved. I've been debating putting Luke in a dance class. Soccer is available for 3 year olds too but that's not necessarily his interest. Brody would probably love swimming lessons. Its just a matter of finding time for him and I to go.

Brody - 18 Months

My little boy is 18 months. Brody turning a year and a half feels quite different than when Luke did. He still seems like my little baby, and Luke seemed like such a big boy. I know it is only my perception because Brody is a very smart big boy himself.

His measurements from his 18 month well check:
29.03 lbs = 85th percentile
36 inches tall = off the chart

I have to say I was a little surprised because he seems so much smaller than Luke. But Luke is a big kid and older so of course he looks bigger! I am interested to see how Brody compares to Luke at the same age. I will have to look up Luke's stats and repost. But I do remember that Luke was never above 75th percentile for weight. Brody is definitely more stout.

Brody is a very good communicator. He speaks many words and is beginning to put words together.
OOoo - Luke
down nair - down there
Baball ame - He's always talking about "Football game"
He now says as he decides what to eat, "How bout...dat."
Every time you ask him where something is, especially his pacifier, he says, "Dada has it."
When he gets in trouble he acts like he didn't know the rules. The conversation goes something like this:
"Brody, why were you in timeout?"
"Umm..." Yes he actually says "umm!" Sometimes he will say, "Ooo" because he knows he hit Luke.
"Brody we don't hit."
"Oh."

Brody loves to play ball. Balls are definitely his favorite things. He actually throws really well. He turns everything into a bat; a fork, his toothbrush, anything stick like! He just learned to hike the ball through his legs so now he does that all the time.

He gets really attached to things. He now has two blankies, a baby (he LOVES babies), and a giraffe. He CANNOT do without his yellow fleece blankie, so if he at least has that, he's good. But there are days he comes toddling down the hall with all four.
Brody shows a lot of excitement. We took him to a football game and he was raising his arms in the air, cheering, stomping his feet and dancing around. He pumps his fists in the air a lot when he gets excited.

I did so much reading and learning with Luke, I feel bad I haven't done as much with Brody. But we sat here tonight going through his favorite book, 'First 100 Words,' and he could point out almost every picture. I asked him where the butterfly was, the broccoli, the motorcycle... I was surprised he knew them!

He loves to do whatever Luke is doing. You can always find Brody running with the big kids (Luke, Kameron, and Olivia). He copies Luke in everything, even eating. He'll watch what Luke is doing...Luke picks up his sandwich and takes a bite, so will B. Luke moves on to his carrots, so will B. Luke takes a drink, so will B.
I didn't think we'd ever have two of everything because we need to learn to share. But, oh boy, we need two of everything! They always want what the other has. They each got a pair of jammies from Grandma. Luke's had all kinds of balls on them and Brody's were striped. Brody had a fit. He liked Luke's ball jammies better so they fought over them. It made me realize we probably need two of everything the same!

Brotherly Love

My two boys have been playing so well together the past couple of days. Brody loves Luke and he wants to do everything he does. Luke has done such a good job at helping him, sharing with him, and including him in his play.

Yesterday Brody had been playing with the baby, Luke riding his bike. Brody gave the baby to Luke and Luke was trying to ride the bike while holding the baby. Whatever he tried, he kept dropping the baby. So I got out a scarf and showed him what mommies do to hold their babys - they carry them in a sling. Getting the winter box out was loads of fun. They were putting hats and gloves on, then they went and got their galoshes. Here's what we ended up with.

Today they were getting ready to play in the pool. Luke told Brody to get the toys and put them in. So they were running back and forth throwing toys in the pool. Brody finally got in and started yelling, "Ooo, Ooo." (Luke, Luke!) Once Luke came back to the pool, he said a sentence full of jiberish to him. I just loved that they were working together and Brody's beginning to communicate with his brother.

Jon & Pam's Wedding

Saturday morning arrived with quite a surprise! No power in the building! I don't know about Pam but I probably would have been freaking out had it been my wedding in jeopardy. The weird thing was no power supply meant no water either. I went to take a shower in a pitch black bathroom only to find no water coming from the spout.

As far as I know, Pam and Jon went about their day as planned. But I think Jon was getting a lot of phone calls about the power issue.

We sat around in our pajamas most of the morning, waiting for the power to arrive. Once it did, we took the boys up for a swim to entertain them for the afternoon. Then we gave them naps and they were ready to go for the night.

It was really convenient to stay in the hotel where the wedding was held. We got all fancied up and went right downstairs for the festivities. The whole first floor had been transformed. One room set for dinner, another for the ceremony and another for hors'devores. It was beautiful.
While we were waiting Brody was drawn to the instrumentalists who were warming up for the ceremony. He stood there in awe for the longest time! They started playing children's songs just for him. He would sway his body every so slightly but mostly he just stood there watching. Brody dances but doesn't seem to have a sense of rhythm. I realized by the end of the night that we've just been playing the wrong kind of music. His his kind of music is jazz! He has rhythm but its flexible like jazz not predictable like hip hop. :)
We had to sit in the front row during the ceremony since I was doing a reading. Luke did awesome and sat still for the whole ceremony. Brody was fussy to begin with so Howie stood with him in the back.

After the ceremony we mingled in the "red room" with hors'devores.

Everyone moved back to the lobby for the first dance. Then into the room set for dinner. Dinner was amazing; multiple courses, fish, steak. Even the kids' chicken strips and macaroni was gourmet! Again, the boys loved the musicians. We were seated right next to the them. They were facinated. The singer even got down on Brody's level and was sining and dancing with him. It touches my heart when people make my kids feel special.


After dinner people hit the dance floor. Luke was the first one out there and he was in his element. I have never seen such a thing! He went to town and tore up the dance floor! He was entirely serious and acted like he knew exactly what he was doing. He started with twirls I'm sure he learned from the girls we've had at our house all year, that or the Backyardigans. He'd get down on his and stick his leg up in the air. He got down like he was doing the crab walk and then flipped his legs over and stood up. He was really trying to break dance! But I had never seen him try any of that before! We were all laughing hysterically! He was in the center of the dance floor with a circle around him while people cheered for him. I just couldn't believe it! Brody danced a little but mostly copied Luke's twirling. After awhile we headed upstairs to change their clothes but when we came back down they were too beat to dance another step. So we retired them for the night. Howie and I took turns partying and watching the kids. Here's Luke's hilarious video.

Rehearsal Dinner

Finally we are getting to the most important part of the trip..."Uncle Jon's Wedding."

Well, you have to rehearse the ceremony first.

Jon and Pam had asked me to do a reading as part of their ceremony so I got ready and headed downstairs. It was quite convenient to be staying in the same place that the wedding takes place.

I met some of the most important people in Jon and Pam's lives, practiced standing in my spot a couple of times, and then grabbed my family to catch a ride to dinner. Howie had been dressing the boys while we rehearsed. Boy did they look cute in their khaki shorts and button up shirts. Luke even picked his out all by himself!
This was one of those nights I was so glad we had the boys on our time zone. We left the hotel after 7:00. One of us would not have been able to attend dinner since this is Brody's bedtime. Although, Howie felt like he might as well have stayed home with them. He didn't feel like it went very well. He ate fast and then spent the night chasing them around. Props to him for doing all the chasing for the night!

We walked in and Luke ran straight for the piano. I thought, (and maybe even said out loud), "oh no." It was going to be difficult keeping Luke away from that and no one is going to want to hear a two year old's rendition of who knows what. Luckily, this piano had an off button! Praise God! He could play all night long and no one would care!
The boys usually eat until they are done. They don't sit an mingle like us adults.
Plus, when there is a lot of excitement there is not much eating to be done anyway. They didn't eat much and just wanted to run from table to table entertaining people, especially Luke. Take a look at the mischief he was into that night!
Despite all my talk about being who I am, a busy sweatshirt wearing semi-stay at home mom with two rambunctious toddlers, I wanted to appear like I wore heels everyday and had two refined, well behaved boys. Its true when they say having children humbles you. When I saw what Luke was doing, I was a little embarrassed. I just had to remind myself, we are who we are and though I expect my children to be polite, they are busy, creative little boys who don't differentiate between backyard and fine dining.

Like I've said before, Brody does not take to strangers. But he found a friend in Jason, Jon's groomsman. Brody sought him out to "pound it." It warms my heart to see Brody attach himself to someone like he did and have them pay him special attention.

Luke has no qualms about asking for what he wants. He yells from the back of the car his order at a drive through. When a waitress comes to our table, he'll make sure to get his needs met. It was no different here. Dessert was buffet style and Howie had made him a plate. Yes, a plate. When he was finished he wanted more. I don't remember how the whole thing went down but after asking me for more, he got down from his chair, saying something along the lines of, "I go ask the lady," and asked one of the waitresses for more cookies. She thought he was so cute and funny she went to the buffet table and got him one. He did this more than once. Then Howie even got him more! The kid housed more dessert than he did his meal! Oh well, how often do you get to celebrate a wedding anyway.

Friday in Philadelphia

When the boys woke up late Friday morning, I was pleasantly surprised that keeping them on West Coast time actually worked. I had hoped it would, but was doubtful. The Scobie clan got up early that morning to walk the city. Some of them went up to the Art Museum also dubbed "The Rocky Steps" and others went shopping. We would have liked to do both as well as spend time with them, but keeping the boys on a different time schedule was necessary for the more important fun things planned.

We all got ready, ate continental breakfast of fruit, yogurt and muffins, and hit the streets with our double wide stroller. The noon Scobie rendezvous was Reading Market, kind of an indoor Farmers Market. Also on the to-do list for the day was find a large reasonably priced frame for our wedding gift.

As we made our way to the Market we passed by a custom framing shop. That's a place I would normally stay away from. I thought custom framing was quite pricey. But we went in, I told him what I was looking for, and he said he'd make it for me within an hour for a decent price. YES! I was so happy to find something right downtown without having to search high and low. We grabbed a drink at Dunkin Donuts* next door and headed on our way.

*I was shocked how many Dunkin Donuts there were! We had one near us when I grew up but it went out of business. We don't see them often around here so I thought they were pretty much extinct. Nope. They are alive and well on the East Coast with one on every corner...almost like Starbucks here!

After coming to the end of the directions my dad gave me, we came to a corner and weren't sure which way to go. We knew we were close but do we go right or left from here? Howie is not afraid to ask the locals. Which I guess is good if men usually don't ask for directions. He stopped this big black guy (or tried anyway) and asked him if we was from around there. He said no as fast as Howie asked and kept walking, almost afraid to talk to Howie! So I got out my handy cell phone* to look up directions! Then this nice lady walking by saw us standing there staring at a cell phone and asked if she could help us find something. So I guess not everyone is afraid of tourists. She showed us the way and we were there in no time.

*I love my cell phone. It does so many things, like giving directions! Its quite a treat because I never get myself the good stuff. I felt pretty cool finding the way with my phone! Comes in handy when you are lost on a street corner in the middle of downtown Philadelphia!

We came in the side door and there everyone was at the candy counter! Dad and Jaci were excited to see the boys. They hadn't seen them since last summer. Luke got out of the stroller and gave them big hugs. We made our way through the maze up people to the back corner to change diapers* and then found a couple of tables to seat the whole clan for lunch.

*You have no idea how relieved it makes me when places like this have changing tables in the bathrooms! It is surprising how many places do not. And a public market like this is one that usually does not. Its not something you'd ever notice or care about until you are become a mom. I'm not one to voice a lot of opinions but this is a subject I feel like writing companies about! Either THANK YOU for having one because it made my day so much easier, or WHY DO YOU NOT HAVE ONE?! (Even some fast food restraunts don't!)

We all tried a famous Philly Cheese Steak. Even Brody! They'd just had breakfast so we let them have a few bites of our lunch but Brody obvious liked this sandwich! He stole it right out of my hands and went to town on it!


After lunch we attempted to explore the market but there were so many people and our double wide stroller practically took up the whole aisle. This would have been a good time for the baby pack but packing Brody from our hotel to the market would have been physically straining. So we just grabbed a quick fresh fruit smoothie* and called it quits.

*It was hard to give the boys good meals. There was no fridge in our room for food. We had the continental breakfast available and my mom and my brother went grocery shopping for things that didn't need to be refrigerated. But they still weren't eating right or well. I notice that Luke's eating habits affect his behavior: eat cruddy = act cruddy. By Fridy, he'd eaten pretty cruddy for 3 days; Bad snacks on the plane, a lot of fast food. And Friday he was acting pretty cruddy as well. So we tried to get good food in when we could. Fruit & veggie smoothie was one of them.

As we walked back to our hotel Howie spotted a sports paraphenelia store he wanted to check out. We enjoyed some nice cool air conditioning while he perused the store. He wanted a Philly's hat but was pretty excited to find a Niners hat for cheap. There was another tourist in there buying his team stuff on clearance. Guess the East Coast is the place to go for good deals on West Coast teams!

We got home to have feed teh kids some lunch, watch a little tv, and take naps before preparing for the rehearsal dinner.

Philadelphia Fun continued

Like I said, it is difficult to get Luke down for a nap after a short snooze. But it is pretty much impossible to get him down when we have people over. He loves to hang out and steal the show.

When we ran into our family I knew Luke wasn't going to be getting a nap. We stood in the hallway for awhile and visited and then everyone moved to the living room in our hotel room. This is my Dad's family from Wisconsin: his parent's and sisters.
We sat around and talked and played games. Luke makes friends so easily. He's only met my cousin Melissa and Aunt Deb once over a year ago. He went from person to person, playing and reading books.

Not to mention, he stands in the middle of the room and puts on a show. He dances and acts silly and loves the attention. Brody is much different. He's not fond of new people. He doesn't like anyone to hold him, sometimes even Grandma. He takes a lot longer to warm up.

Uncle Mike got down on the floor to play with the boys. He taught them how to fish.:)
Luke liked Uncle Mike so much. Later that night when Mike left to go to bed, Luke walked around the room asking, "Where's Mike?" I didn't even know he knew his name! I told him to go ask Aunt Pat. He walked over, said, "Excuse me," since she was playing a game, and asked, "Where's Mike?" She told him he went to bed and then let Luke call him on her cell phone. I don't know what they said, but that was so cute!
Thanks Uncle Mike!