pictures & panthers

9/10- Boaz's art for the day.  This is 'Boaz playing the trumpet with the sun.'   He's getting really good at seeing pictures in his scribbles.

Speaking of pictures... why do children's stories have scary pages?  This book is a great one (Just in Case You Ever Wonder, by Max Lucado)- about loving your kid forever, no matter what.  But it includes two pages that I should have skipped tonight...  "When you see monsters in the shadows, call me."  "What's that in the trees, Mommy?  Why is there a scary man there?  I don't like that man, mom!!" 

 "Remember I'm here for you.  On dark nights when you hear noises in your closet, call me."   "What's in that closet, mom?  Is that another scary man?"  (no, it's just a hat and coat hanging up)  "They're making noises?  Why is that girl scared?  I don't like that hat, mom!!  That's a bad bad hat."

 So- since we read this book tonight (mind you, this is about the 100th reading of the book, but for some reason these scary pictures made sense this time)... we now have a brighter nightlight in Boaz's room, and he insists on sleeping with the lamp on dim- so he doesn't see too many shadows. 

9/11 - Panther Nation!  It's Panther gameday again... here are the boys dressed up for game watching.

 And this is how all of our photoshoots end up lately....   :)     I love having boys. 

festibal

9/9/10-  This weekend was the John Deere Fall Festival.  (or festibal, according to Boaz)  I'd seen in the paper that there was going to be a tractor parade at 8am on Thursday morning.  A weird time for a parade, but it worked for us!  I packed up some breakfasts, and we headed over to Waterloo to get a prime seat for viewing.  We were there by 7:45 or so. 

 The boys enjoying their breakfast picnic. 

 Boaz looked so cool in his brown clothes today.  He had the perfect pair of brown shoes to match, but he insisted on wearing these.  It wasn't worth the fight... but I must admit, I was bummed.  :)

 8:00- still no tractors

 8:15 - still no tractors

 8:20 - still no tractors

 8:30- still no tractors, but a promise from a random guy that it's about ready to start.  What are these farmer's doing? Haven't they been up and ready since 4am? 

 8:40 - HERE COME THE TRACTORS!!

 Souped up tractor...

After the parade, we walked around the displays for a bit.  We got to look at a bunch of the new models.

 He looks so tiny next to these gigantic machines!

 There were a ton of old tractors on display, also.  This one was from 1926!!

 Later that day, we just had fun around the house.  Cainan is getting more and more active and is enjoying wrestling lately... 

Cainan likes to follow Boaz around and pretend to do whatever he is doing. 

And he really really likes to push and move around everything in our house... chairs, stools, vacuumes... nothing is safe.

 Luke made some chocolate milk for himself tonight... didn't take long before he had a friend snuggled up beside him on the couch! 

cousin lester

9/4- Today was football watching day.  Go Panthers & Hawkeyes!!  The boys joined Luke for some of the game.

 

 9/5- It's a sick day at our house today.   How can you tell??  See below....

 Still happy... even with all that snot!  :)

 Boaz was a little under the weather, too.   A perfect day for 'movie time' during Cainan's morning nap. 

 9/6 - I found out today that Luke is quite the chalk artist!  I came home to find this family portrait on the driveway.   Below is Justin & cousin Lester. 

 Here is Ron & Carol. 

 And here is me??

 And a better view of cousin Lester...

Lester was in town for a few days this week.  He is Luke's cousin from Oklahoma.   He brings the bus up to Iowa every couple of years for a vacation.   He is mentally challenged, but a super nice guy.  He also has a disease that makes him grow and grow.  He's currently 7 feet tall, I think.   He stays in a hotel while he's in town and just enjoys walking around looking at stores.   We did several things with him during the week- meals at Ron & Carol's, met him for breakfast, took him out to his favorite restaurant (KFC) for lunch, and helped him get to the bus stop.    Boaz got such a kick out of Lester.   My favorite memory of the week... I picked up Lester and took him with me to get Boaz from preschool.   We picked up Boaz and he had lots to share about his day.  He was in the backseat saying, "Hey, Lester!  Hey, Lester!  Hey, Hey, Lester!!"  He wouldn't stop until Lester would respond... and Lester has a slooooow response time.   I finally told Lester he was going to have to say 'what' or something so Boaz would go on with his story.  It was hilarious.   Boaz could tell stories to Lester all day.   Picture Boaz sitting next to a guy whose shoes are as big as his lower half...  wish I would have gotten some pictures of the two of them!!!

Farmer Tan

9/3-  Just another day at the breakfast table...

 Cainan is holding on to things and getting all over the place these days.  He'd much rather be standing than sitting.  And he loves to copy everything Boaz does.  If Boaz has a cup, Cainan grunts and squeals to tell me to get a cup for him. 

 Our neighbor, Chandler, came over today and we played marching band!!

 Both boys got really tan this summer, since we spent a lot of time at the pool.   I decided that we needed to document these farmer tans!  I'm sad that I didn't think to take these pictures a couple weeks sooner while the tans were at their peak!   I think that Cainan may be colored like his daddy (lucky boy!) and Boaz may be colored more like me. (sorry, bud!)  Enjoy these tan line photos-  first Cainan....

 My big guy...

 Then Boaz...

I told Boaz to stand here with his arm on his tummy. 

He thought that was a really silly idea!