Photos Coming Soon... This Will Have to Do for Now!

I can't upload photos at the moment, but I can share some rambling about the kids...

Jacob is happily reading everything in sight. He's also very into writing signs and notes. He has reminders in his bedroom for things he needs to do in the morning (all his own idea). It's very cute.

Jacob was super into the Olympics and even pretended to luge one night (photos coming). Benjamin joined in.

Benjamin loves kicking and yelling, "Ya!" No doubt a leftover result of Jacob's karate classes. He's also very into doing things for himself. If you try to close a cabinet door and he's around, "No! My do it!" One crabby night, Greg asked if he was done with dinner, and the response? "No! My all done!"

Benjamin hates the sun in his eyes. When the sun shines too brightly into the car, he just yells, "EYE!" It is awesome.

Benjamin's also very into listing everyone's names. He finally says "Momma" on a regular basis!!! He calls himself "Ben."

Benjamin likes to point out babies, although some of the "babies" older than he is! He's great at helping pick up toys (much better than his brother). He's been sleeping through the night (finally), but he still goes to bed very late. If we try to let him cry it out, he just cries until he throws up all over his bed. And then doesn't sleep, he's just mad. So that really doesn't work.

Jacob likes reading Dr. Seuss books (because they're the best!) and can even sound out works like "whisper." Right now we're reading The Tale of Despereaux together at bedtime. It is so much fun! He is learning so many new words and I love hearing him laugh at the voices I do. I am not skilled at voices, but for some reason he finds my "girl" voices to be very silly.

We celebrated Korean New Year and took some time to eat Korean food and look up photos and information online. I told Jacob that I'm Korean, so that means he and Benjamin are both half Korean. Jacob said, "And that means Daddy is half Korean, too!"

The kids are super into yogurt right now. I've been making yogurt at home in my crockpot, which is very exciting for me. The kids love having yogurt as a snack. Benjamin calls it, "Oh-gee." Benjamin had a prescription medicine for a while in January. We had to shake it before pouring it out. He loved getting it out of the refrigerator and then saying, "Shake it!"

Benjamin has also been telling us when he needs to poop. (I know you woke up this morning and hoped someone would talk about poop!) He hasn't actually gone on the potty yet, but this is great news in our house. Maybe he'll potty train easily!

About a month ago, Jacob told me he had an imaginary friend.
Jake: Hey Mom, did you know I have an imaginary friend?
Me: No. I didn't know that. What's he like?
Jake: It's a girl.
Me: Oh! What's her name?
Jake: Laney.
Me: What do you do together?
Jake: Well, we talk at bedtime.
Me: What do you talk about?
Jake: Mostly flowers. She's a fan of flowers. (It was really hard not to laugh at that.)
Me: Oh, and what does she look like?
Jake: She has hair that does this (he drew a girl with flippy hair).
Me: Oh, that's fun hair. Hey.... didn't you have a girl in your class named Laney?
Jake: (sadly) Yes, but she doesn't go to our school anymore. She goes to another school.
Me: (finally getting it) Oh.... I see. What does the real Laney look like?
Jacob drew a girl with straight hair. See? Completely different. Not related at all...

Benjamin is showing signs of being a major sports fanatic. He has been yelling, "FOOTBALL" whenever he sees it on tv, but has also pointed out "bah-geh-ball" as well (we're not sure how he knows that one). His passion, however, seems to be hockey. He gets very excited when he sees hockey on tv and he actually watches it. The other night, he fell asleep holding his hockey stick (thanks, Uncle Ben!) and saying, "Hockey.... hockey."

That's all I can think of for now.... I will post photos in another post. It will be a game.

A Few to Tame the Wild Beasts...

Here are a few to tide you over, Mom! No time for stories today...

Tape Measures, Snow, and Football!

Benjamin helping Greg measure the wall. He LOVES the tape measure. We need to find a smaller one for him. This one weighs a ton!

More measuring.

Playing in the snow.

And our good Colts fans on Game Day.

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel

Last week, Greg won tickets to see Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel on the radio (by identifying three songs from 1991, which happens to be while we were in middle school and glued to the radio). It came with two movie tickets (each ticket was good for two tickets) and the CD of songs from the movie. We decided to take Jacob's cousin, Brianna. They adore each other, but are complete opposites.

Earlier in the week Jacob called Brianna to talk about going to the movie. We overheard things like, "Well, you're going to go with us. Yeah, I think we'll just head downtown." "No! It's just you, me, my mom, and my dad." (pause) "NO! Just four of us! There are two tickets and they cost two people each! NO! You, me, my mom, and my dad. Listen to me!" And then after Brianna apparently kept saying it wasn't fair if William (her brother) couldn't go, Jacob said, "I'll tell you what's not fair!" (in exactly the tone a parent would use... or, like in "I'll give you a reason to cry..." which we would never use, by the way) And then continued... "Not fair would be if we're the same age and you got more food!" All in a very heated way. Funny boy.

So today was the day. We traded kids for a while. Benjamin went to Aunt Jeanne and Uncle Steve's to play for a while and Brianna came with us.

Entering the mall...

Posing in the mall.

Eating at Red Robin.

Caught! With peanut butter and jelly!

And in front of the theater.

On the way home, we suggested that they do something other scream in loud, high-pitched tones for fun. I suggested maybe singing. Brianna said, "Okay" and immediately started making up her own song with all sorts of nonsense words and saying things that didn't make any sense at all. It was hilarious! When she finished, she told Jacob it was his turn.

Jake: Well, first I'm going to think.

Brianna: What?

Jake: I'm going to think about my song.

(waiting)

Brianna: Just sing! What are you waiting for? Just do it!

Jake: I'm still thinking! I wrote it down once in the morning, and I'm trying to remember what it was!

Brianna: I have another one! (starts singing)

Jake: I can't hear! Can you just be quiet so I can think?

He was laughing, though, as she was singing her silly songs. They're so funny together! They drive each other crazy because they're so different, but they are like little magnets whenever we get together.

Frog Socks and Watercoloring

Benjamin loves his animal socks. We picked up frog, bear, and dog socks at Meijer when he was little (they're 6-12 months), and he has loved them since the day we bought them. He still wears them pretty often!

The kids did some watercoloring over the weekend. They had a great time!

A Bunch...

So, like the dummy I can be at times, I forgot to bring my camera to TWO Christmases -- my mother-in-law's and my own parents'. So, although we had a great time at both, I have no photos. I have no evidence to show the crazy fun of discovering Telestrations at Phil and Crystal's house, I have no record of Jacob skating with his Uncle Ben (or Greg almost wiping out during his first skating session in about 15 years), I have no photos of the boys being spoiled rotten by George Bob and Papa, and I have no images of Anne trying to kill the Food Network critics on Cook or Be Cooked for Wii.

No proof, but we did have a fabulous time. :)

We got home on Christmas in the evening for our first Christmas with just the four of us. Time to build our own little family traditions, right? Jacob's been asking for the dumplings from Kung Fu Panda since he saw the movie, so I thought that would be something special. I researched "kung fu panda dumplings" and came up with tons of Chinese dumpling recipes. They all looked like pot stickers. I finally found a comment on one recipe saying that the Kung Fu Panda dumplings actually looked like bao zi. I planned some tasty-sounding fillings and made them on Christmas Eve day to resteam once we got home.

And....

They were gross. Jacob said they weren't the Kung Fu Panda ones. Mine turned out like round disks. The Kung Fu Panda dumplings are round balls. And mine tasted gross.

So strike 1 for little Stone family Christmas traditions.

I made hot chocolate on the stove, and that was super tasty! We enjoyed that quite a bit. (One point)

We thought it would be cool to sleep in the family room each Christmas night, watching movies until everyone fell asleep. The kids enjoyed it, but the adults? We discovered that we are way too old to sleep on the floor. (Strike 2)

The kids enjoyed all of the time spent together, and we had fun watching movies like "Stuart Little 2" and "Up."

So 2 strikes, but several very nice, good things. We'll tweak it a little next year... new recipes and maybe an air mattress for mom and dad. :)
Benjamin opening a present Santa left at our house.

Jacob opening Power Rangers from Santa.

Benjamin knew what to do. He pulled lever and the toy made a loud, "Mooooo!" noise. Benjamin loudly responded, "Coooooowwwwwwww!"

A cool truck/tractor-thingy from Santa.

A Power Ranger cell phone from Santa.

Sleeping bags from Mom and Dad.

Books from Aunt Sarah.

Mmmm... hot chocolate and marshmallows!

The boys making a toast with hot chocolate. Jacob held his cup out to Benjamin and said, "Cheers!"

Benjamin doesn't quite "get" toasting yet.

Wearing a super cute outfit from Great Aunt Karen and Great Uncle John.

And a super cute outfit from George Bob and Papa.

And the wrapping paper frenzy at Grandpa S. and Mimi's house.

Showing off his new snow boots while working with his tools.

Sledding at Uncle Daniel and Aunt Heidi's house.

Benjamin wasn't sure about it and thought his cousins inside had a better deal.

Screaming, "NO!!!" at me as I tried to take a picture. He was mad at me for the rest of the night.

Benjamin thinks the Rock Band drums are his.

The weird thing is that he ends up hitting the sticks to the beat pretty often.

He can't quite do the pedal, which makes him mad.