playing is a full time job

I'm not the best about just posting regular pictures of the boys doing regular things around the house. So here are a few. Isaac absolutely must do what Noah does, and his little temper is already flaring at just 17 months.

Playing is serious business when you are a small person! They spend a significant amount of time each day doing this. Sometimes I join in the playtime and sometimes I work alongside them with laundry to fold,dishes or some other fun chore.

the first trampoline experience (and more)

Just had to throw this in also....A rare moment that Isaac was found sitting and reading!

Recently on a holiday weekend we enjoyed spending the day with family. The boys got to experience their first trampoline session, and they truly LOVED it. It was so fun to watch them jumping at Andrew's parents' house.

I love the picture of Isaac airborne. He did have a little trouble walking....

There were plenty of friends and plenty of food. And of course if trampoline jumping wasn't your favorite thing, there were also games of cornhole and bocce, as well as petting baby kittens and shooting guns. I got to shoot a gun for the first time, courtesy of Andrew's dad!

hiking at Fort Ben

Our favorite family activities almost always happen outdoors in God's beautiful creation. One of the goals of our family is to engage in healthy and active lifestyles, and we like to do this in a variety of ways, usually outside!

We took the boys hiking at Fort Benjamin state park, which isn't far at all for us to drive. We were excited to have found a state park close by with beautiful trails. Though we weren't there to do trail runs, there were many runners on the trails (and I wished I could have joined them!).

We hiked for about an hour or so with our friends Dave and Michelle and their daughter (about the same age as Isaac). They purchase a pass every year to the state parks of Indiana just to come hiking here, and now we can see why!

I loved the lily pad pond! Sooo beautiful!

pretending

Noah is very in to pretend play right now. He loves to pretend he is an animal, dress up, and pretend play in general. I hear this is a common phase of preschool age kids.

This week someone must have taught him how to play "house."

We had this conversation this week, the first time we'd ever pretended to be other people.

Noah: Ok, Mommy, you will be the baby. I will be the Daddy. (thinking....) And Isaac will be the Mommy.

Me (concerned): Wait. Isaac is going to be the Mommy??

Noah: Yes.

Me (pretend panicky voice): Umm, who will take care of us!?

Noah pauses, thinking deeply about this problem.

Noah: God will take care of us! And, we will just have to take care of ourselves.

------

I guess we all realize Isaac isn't a good candidate to take care of anyone, not even himself! :)

Bubbles & Trucks

Jason took the boys to a library activity for kids while I was at work. There were fire trucks, bulldozers, bubble trucks, ambulances, police cars, and more for the kids to check out. Clearly I missed out on all the fun!

The boys loved the bubbles. And apparently they just had to try out all of the trucks and push all the buttons. Perfect for my very hands-on little boys!

I can't get over the size of this bulldozer! Wow! They don't look that big in books.

Isaac's words

At 16 months, Isaac is now learning and saying many new words.

The past several days, Isaac's language has really started taking off. Here are some of his new words and the way he says them in parenthesis:

-Dog "doh"

-Blankey "ba-kah"

-Cookie "cok-ah"

-Thank you "ta-koh"

-Hat "haa"

-Ball "bah"

That adds to some of his previous collection of words:

-Mama

-Dada

-Shoe

-Do

-Go

He also does signs for "milk," "more," and "bye-bye."

But he gets excited each time he signs "more" because he knows he is communicating what he wants. I am working on other signs with him now that he is picking up words so quickly.