It Ain't Easy Being Little

It's pretty clear that Ben is bigger than Alex. Not just in weight (6 lbs heavier) but also in clothing size (Ben wears a 2T/24 months and Alex wears 18 months clothes). Ben is also a few inches taller. It's never really been an issue, until recently. Ben has discovered he's tall enough to get things off of the counter in the kitchen. Which has caused us to keep a nice 6 inches of clear space at the edge of the counters. He's also discovered how cool it is to turn the lights off and on, and off and on, and off and on. UGH! Alex tried to copy him the other day and was very disappointed when he realized he was "too little." It reminded me of my tiny little college roomate DeAnn who used to say, "I'm too l'il." LOL! I was able to get some pics of the boys messing with the lights in the living room. It was quite funny.

Alex observes Ben in action.

Alex carefully studies Ben's technique and execution of light switch flipping.
Ben steps away to observe his student and Alex aims for his target.

Disappointed he turns to Ben and says, "Waaaaaaaaaah." Which in Twinspeak means, "I'm too l'il."

I've Been Shamed Into Posting

I received the following email from my friend Natalie:

"Okay all my fellow bloggers, YA'LL ARE SLACKIN'!!! I have been checking in on you for weeks and nothing new. I love the blogs, and I love to see pics of your families, so please, for me......update!!! : ) I did! Love ya!!!"

So here I am. POSTING! This one's for you Nat!

For Christmas (YES! We are STILL on Christmas. :) ) Creighton's Mom got the boys the cutest little rompers w/ turtlenecks. Of course the day got away from us and no one made it out of their PJs so I didn't get to snap any pics of them in the Christmas rompers. So one Sunday morning I dressed them up in them and took some pics of them. They were VERY cooperative and smiled and everything. I told them to hug for a pic which Ben was totally willing to do but Alex didn't want anything to do with it.

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Missing Mimi and Thoughts on Cousins

Unfortunately the boys' Great Grandmother (Mimi) passed away on January 27th. I hate that they didn't really get to know her. She was a wonderful woman who influenced my life more than she will ever know. We did go visit her a few times. Not enough though, that I thought they would have a lasting impression of her or even what her "name" was. I was sad that we didn't go more but life gets in the way, right? As it turns out, Alex did know who she was. At the funeral, as we having a private family viewing before the service, he looked into the casket and said, "Mimi?" It was so sweet and tender.

One of the good things that came out of this whole ordeal was seeing family. Even though it was under sad circumstances, we were happy to see each other. Our family is full of love. We're not the kind that talk to each other a lot. I hadn't spoken to my cousin in a long time before the funeral but when I did call her on the phone to talk about her flight arrangements, it was like we talked yesterday. That's just how we are. We are close, even when we're not. I love my family!

My sister came to visit for 8 days. It was great to have her here. She brought her daughter and the boys had a blast playing with Cousin E. Elizabeth is such a serious baby but I got her to laugh a little. She was so easy going that you couldn't even tell when her little schedule was disrupted. (Unlike our highly scheduled little dudes!!!) Aunt Maria and E stayed in our playroom so the boys didn't get to spend as much time in there as they normally do. But Aunt Maria was really good about getting them out of their cribs in the morning and taking them into her room and letting them play.

I was able to snap a few pics of the boys and E while they were playing one day. Then on Tuesday my Mom and Dad stopped by on their way home. Rosalind and her kids were here, too. So we had almost all of the cousins together. We were only missing TJ. So I snapped some more pics. The boys love their cousins. I think because they are so good to take care of them (Kate and Clair) and/or close to their age (Bowen and TJ). So here are some of the pics I took. Hope you enjoy!

Everyone "visiting" in our living room.

Kate, Clair and Ben.

Ok, this pic is so funny I had to post it. Clair (much too big for this toy) is riding on one of the boys' push toys. Ben is pushing her. They did it a lot. It was so funny to me!

Elizabeth loves to crinkle the wipes bag. Such an inexpensive toy! Alex, of course, is trying to take it away from her. As he did w/ almost every toy she played with while she was here.

Ben posing w/ Elizabeth. Well, not so much with as near Elizabeth.