Cultivating Childhood

Remember this ? Well, our little boy has now finished preschool! He had a great 4 months and learned a ton.  Westgate Chapel was fantastic, and Buddy loved his teachers.  Although we will miss them next year, we'll be able to visit them regularly as Button will attend there for two days a week in the Fall. The graduation was quite fun.  It was a beach theme, and each class had a little performance.  Buddy's class sang a little worship song. Buddy also graduated with some of his friends from church.  It will be fun to watch them all grow up together.   Congratulations Buddy!  We are so excited for you! And I'm so glad that I get to be your teacher next year.

This week has been warm and sunny, so we got to pull out the tent.  On Tuesday, we decided to have an outdoor campout.  As we were preparing for our time, Button looked at Daddy and asked "How are we going to get our beds in the tent?"  He sort of figured it out when we all got in our sleeping bags to go to sleep, but around 9:30PM he begged us to let him go to bed.  So much for his first overnighter outside!  Next time, little guy!  Buddy, on the other hand, slept 11 hours straight. Also, this week, our church hosted a Parents Night Out.  Our kids were left with some awesome people and we parents got to go out on a date.  Woohoo!  Thanks Bethany North !  The boys are usually great with being left for short amounts of time, so I was surprised when I got a call during our dinner from the church.  Apparently, they were going to show a g-rated movie, and Buddy told them that he wasn't allowed to watch that movie because in his word...

I just love my boys right now.  As challenging as the preschool years are (seriously, where does all  that energy come from?), the boys are finally at the age where they can play together well and communicate.  And it is wonderful to see how much they love each other. Button is old enough to really be a good playmate for Buddy.  They just adore one another and almost feel lost without one another.  I'm glad we are homeschooling because I think if they were separated for school next year it would be traumatic.  Buddy has come to look forward to his times with Button.  He's sad when he's napping because he wants to play with him.  He saves spots for him on toys on the playground and sometimes gets upset if another little kid comes to join him instead of his little brother.  "Mom!  He's not part of our family!" (At which point, I have to remind him that all the toys at the playground are for everyone...) They are even in...

It's fun to watch your kids grow into their personalities.  It's been a while since I've written anything about the boys.  I can't believe that they are 4 and 2 already! Buddy Buddy is my busy four-year old.  He is constantly moving his body in all sorts of contortions.  Because of this, we put him in gymnastics this last fall, and he loved it!  He thought the balance beam and bar were really great. He is also very protective of his little brother.  He calls himself his brother's "savior" since he wants to save Button from "getting hit by pillows from other people."  He is also very concerned for Button's well-being and always wants to make sure that we have Button with us when we go places. Buddy is also becoming very interested in Theology and tries to figure things out.  Recently, he told me that Jesus wasn't God.  Surprised, I asked him why he said that.  He replied that God made the world, but Jesus came later as a bab...

Last week, Buddy begged for us to go to Country Village so he could go to the " train coffee shop ".  We hadn't been there in months, so we made a day out of it. After mommy got her coffee and the boys had fun playing at the Village Bean Coffeehouse, we headed over to the pirate-themed playground.  Buddy climbed up the Crow's Nest all by himself. We also just had  to do the fun train ride around the village as well since we hadn't been there in a while.  Buddy really wanted to ride in the Caboose.  The boys both loved it. Another new and exciting thing for us this summer is the addition of a tent!  We don't have any camping trips planned except for backyard camping.  The boys LOVE playing out there.  It's like their own personal playhut.  We took our beanbag chair out there along with a bunch of toys.  I'm pretty sure we will be using our tent in rainy days as well since we get the impression of camping out! More park days!...

Now that the sun is finally out, we have been trying to get out and do some fun things as a family. One of our favorite places to go is the Ballard Locks.  We just love the botanical gardens there and watching the boats come in and through the locks.  Usually, if we stay long enough a train will go over the bridge in the back so it has to come down.  This is always a special treat. There is also a fish ladder at the locks, and we were able to see a large group of salmon coming through on their way to fresher waters. We also put the boys to work this summer.  They were super excited about helping wash the car.  I'm sure they got that one spot on the door that they worked on for most of the time super clean.  =) No summer is complete without some time at the beach.  We headed over to Richmond Beach one morning.  The Sound is just gorgeous. More fun to come!

My oldest is already three and a half!  Buddy is such a joy to our lives, and we couldn't imagine our lives without him. Here is a little view into his life right now. He is a great big brother.  For the most part, they share pretty well and just love spending time with one another.  Of course, they have their squabbles, but it usually ends up with a hug (with some parent interaction!). He is also super cuddly.  We always have our morning hugs and you can usually find him in one of our laps to read a story or have a tickle.  He absolutely loves to laugh.  We recently had his grandparents here, and he was just as cuddly with them. Buddy's energy level has increased ten-fold since his birthday.  If he's not in someone's lap, you can usually find him doing a handstand on the couch.  Legs are usually going every which way.  He's also doing summersaults and he has learned to swing himself on the playground. We've also just started ...