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Yesterday, the boys and I dyed pasta after naps. Today, when Grayson was over playing with us, we had fun experimenting with it.

In his thirty-seventh week, Roman is: saying his first word “bye bye” (he even put his little hand up in the air to wave) and his second word “ball”; doing the sign for “change”; making a bee line to pull up on the potty whenever the door is even remotely close to open (I think he does it because he knows we’re going to wash his hands afterwards and he really likes that…haha); and enjoying bouncing up and down whenever he’s standing.

A little while after I became a stay-at-home mom to Jonas, I remember looking at a dear friend’s blog from college and seeing a picture of her surrounded by a group of fellow mommy friends and children and desperately longing for and praying for that kind of community in our lives.

Fast forward three and a half years, and I am SO grateful to say that God has richly blessed us with just that.

Here are Jonas, Xander, and Roman with some of their best buddies from our neighborhood, moms’ group, etc.

When Jonas got home from preschool this afternoon, I took him to the library to get his very own library card. (I think I might have been a little bit more excited than he was, but he was still pretty excited). On the way home, he started reading one of his books out loud to me!!! It sounded pretty darn close to what I thought would be about right, so when we got home, I sat down with him on the couch and had him read it to me again. With the exception of a few pretty big words (like hooray, machine, and fixed), he read it…sight words and all. Tom and I were floored but, knowing Jonas, it totally made sense that he could do it. So cool…it was a Pre-Level 1, Rebus book…Bob the Builder: Wendy Helps Out. Yay for library cards! Yay for Rebus books! Yay for Jonas!

Here’s Jonas on the Thomas the Train bicycle that Scott and Sara, our sweet neighbors who have three older boys, passed on to him. He’s getting pretty good at riding it these days.

The boys and I had so much fun watching daddy drive the firetruck in the Veteran’s Day parade this morning…here’s a sweet picture of Jonas and Xander (I can’t believe how big they’re getting!!!).

In his thrity-sixth week, Roman is: trying and loving blueberries; starting to pitch some fits; winning the messiest eater and wildest diaper change awards; and amazingly champing out drinking water from a big boy sippy cup.

So, I recently discovered my new favorite toddler/preschooler activity website…Play, Create, Explore. She has a list of 120+ Activities for Ages 1 – 4 that I love!!! I thought Monoprinting sounded interesting, so we tried it out yesterday when we had Cousin Jordan over to play (she and Jonas both had the day off from school). It’s basically just fingerpainting a cookie sheet and then pressing paper down on top of it, and it turned out super cool! I didn’t end up getting a before and after shot of the boys’ creations but I did of Jordan’s…so fun…check it out.

It’s hard to believe that Jonas is four years old. (I’m starting to feel the beginnings of that “speeding up” thing that parents of older children keep telling me about.)

Here are a few of his most recent one liners:
“Roll out of that sleep sack and let’s play, RoCo.”
“Mommy, you know ice cream melts into liquid…that’s why I always want my ice cream to melt so I can drink it.”

Tom and Xander went for a Home Depot run the other day and spontaneously ended up working on a project together in the kids workshop there. Tom brought home an extra project for Jonas, and the boys had so much fun painting them together.

In his thirty-fifth week, Roman is: muddling through a double ear infection; crawling on his hands and knees now more often than army crawling; and sleeping through the night (!!!…the all the way through the night kind…even if it’s for only one night…we’ll take it…it has been a LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time coming).

As the boys and I were all feeling a bit under the weather on Halloween, we decided to skip storytime and trick-or-treating at the library to stay home and rest up for a quick neighborhood trick-or-treat after dinner.
We’ve had a family theme every Halloween since Jonas was a baby, but this year I just wanted to be a mommy in jeans and a sweater. We loved walking around the block with the Herrings (Chad and Jayce…Superman) and the Roths (Nahshon, Stephanie, and Grayson…the train engineer) and enjoying the festive fall night and an entire neighborhood out in costume.

Jonas’ preschool had a Halloween parade this morning…it was so cute seeing all of the little ones in their costumes. It was hard to get a good picture of the group (I think it was the lighting)…but Mrs. Klaire, who graciously carpools with us, sent me these great ones of Jonas with his two best preschool buddies…Tucker (Mrs. Klaire’s son…the pirate) and Henry (Spider-Man).

We were supposed to go to a Halloween Party in our neighborhood this morning with a big group of moms and kids from our moms’ group, but Roman was in bad need of a visit to the pediatrician’s office (he ended up having a double ear infection…poor little buddy) so we had to forego it.
I thought it would still be fun for Jonas and Xander to wear their costumes, and they did too…they were super excited to show their beloved pediatrician, Dr. Huss, that they dressed up as a firefighter and a spider for Halloween.

It was a red letter day at the grocery store this morning…Roman rode in the cart like a big boy for the first time (I ended up taking him out of the Bjorn about halfway through because he was getting way too heavy and starting to hurt my back)…he LOVED it, as you can tell…and Jonas was SUPER excited to be able to reach the water fountain on his own for the first time.

In his thirty-fourth week, Roman is: starting a pattern for waking up only once in the night (yay!!!); falling a lot from attempted pulling-up feats (poor little friend); and becoming the recipient of his older brothers’ frustration, as he’s pretty adept at getting into “their” toys.

The boys and I drove out to visit with MeMe and PaPa this morning…we got to see Jordan too since it was Fall Break and she was spending a few days with them. We loved walking down to the creek, saying hello to the chickens, watching Jordan shoot her bow and arrow, checking out the gardens, making cookies, eating lunch on the porch, visiting with Aunt Jean, and seeing Jonas drive the tractor with PaPa. It was such a sweet and fun time AND all three boys were asleep pretty much before we left the driveway and slept the whole way home, which made for a much-appreciated quiet drive home for momma.

My mom was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame tonight. It’s hard to really find the words to express the moment and my gratefulness for being able to be a part of it…my heart was filled to overflowing, seeing her honored for her priceless gift and watching history in the making.