Snow Day

On Wednesday we had a snow day at work where Doug told us girls not to come in since we had gotten about a foot of snow. I had gotten a phone call at 6:30 am telling me to hold off coming in for a few hours, and then about 7:00 Doug's wife Sara called and said that the office was going to be closed for the day. Well, both of those phone calls woke the boys up and so when I told them they were staying home with me for the day, Nathan got a huge grin on his face. Right away he started asking to go outside. I told him that it was still dark out, so we weren't going outside. They kept asking every half hour until finally about 9:30 I couldn't take it anymore. I told Nathan to go to the bathroom and then I got him and Darren dressed for the outdoors. The snow in spots was up to Darren's waist! After of about a half hour, I had to drag the boys in the house. They wanted to keep playing and I made them come in since I was cold. Nathan made snow angels all the way up the driveway to the garage, and he got about nine of them made before I told him that was enough. Apparently hot or cold, my boys would rather be outside!

Sibling rivalary

Nathan was on the floor playing with some tractors when Darren came over and decided that he wanted to play. Nathan was a good big brother and gives a tractor to Darren. They are playing well for a while when Nathan decides to load up the skid loaders to haul them to the "shop" since they were both broken. (Darren got his own skid loader from uncle Bill this past Christmas while Nathan's does not have any hydraulics left on it. The bucket will not stay up and it will not lift either.) Of course when Darren sees that Nathan is hauling two skid loaders, he wants one. Nathan is nice in that he does give him one, but he is not-so-nice in the sense that he gives Darren the one that is legitimately broke. Of course Darren starts screaming as he wants his skid loader. We try to explain that Nathan should give Darren his skid loader back because Nathan broke his, so why should Darren have to play with Nathan's broken toy. This just proves that having two of something/everything does not solve all the problems!

Stubborn boys.....

If you catch me on a good day, I will admit that I am as stubborn and as bull-headed as they come. I can get so mad at my boys because they are being stubborn about something or another, and I try to remember that is a trait they picked up from me, but it still gets me really upset. For example, I know that both my boys are smart because if they watch me doing something, good or bad, they can turn around and do it themselves or tell me how I am doing it wrong. I ask Nathan to recite our address or ask Darren what sound a dog makes, they both look at me like I am speaking to them in German. I know they know some/most of this stuff, but to get them to tell me some of the stuff they know? Mission Impossible.

Title change?

Am I going to have to change the name of my blog? We recently told the boys and our families that there is going to be an addition in our family. Darren seemed oblivious to the whole announcement, but Nathan had mixed feelings. He still has mixed feelings. Some days he wants another boy so that there will be four boys in the house. Other times he hopes for a girl so that he won't have to share his toys and this way Mom has another girl in the house. Yet another day he resents the fact that we are adding to the crew. He knows that his one-on-one time will decrease even more. I guess between Bruce and I, we will have to make sure to do something special with just Nathan.

Growing up

Darren has recently started talking a lot more. It is amazing that at times I can almost have a conversation with him. At other times, like when he is hungry, conversation and words are something he has no recollection of. He will just sit in the kitchen at the fridge or at the pantry pointing and saying eat. Then you have to play twenty questions trying to figure out what he wants. If there are Doritos in the house, that wins every time so that is always my first guess. If no Doritos, I have to pull things out of the pantry and ask, "Is this what you want?" The other day he pointed at a tub of icing and said he wanted that. When I said no, we were treated to a nice temper tantrum of screaming and yelling for several minutes. He is getting so big so fast.

Nathan is starting to behave a bit more and act like a mature little man. Last night Bruce asked him who the best Dad was and Nathan said, "Not my Dad!" While that is not mature, what he said next melted my heart. Bruce asked who the best Mom in the world was, and Nathan said "My Mom!" Then he said he wanted to give me a kiss and a hug and told me that he loved me the most in the whole world. He doesn't volunteer kisses anymore, so for him to want to give me a kiss? Priceless!