Camping

Nate took the boys camping near the end of October. They had a great time! A highlight for them was seeing 4 deer, 3 armadillos and a ground hog. Nate made some awesome memories with his boys!

Race Day

Sarita and I ran the KC Half-Marathon this October for the third time. This was our fifth half-marathon, with three in KC, one in Springfield, and one in Bolivar. My dad trained and ran the race again this year, beating his time from last year. My friends Ashley and Rachel raced, as well as Ashley's husband Chris. Sarita's husband, Tony, also ran. As a really special gift to me, Nate trained and ran in the race, too. He is normally the photographer for events like this, so we don't have many photos from the big day. I was able to capture these with my iPhone.

Before:

After:

I am so thankful for Sarita Vernon. I think we started running together around 2004 - that's eight years that girl has put up with me! I used to think we were really compatible running parters...until I found out she had broken race records when she was in high school. Now I know that she is just really kind to run with me. But I'll take it! She is an amazing woman! I would run 13.1 miles with her any day. :)

Cooper is 5!

If there were any remaining "baby" in this little guy, it disappeared when he turned 5. Did I type that right? Is he really 5? It is impossible for me to grasp that 5 years have passed since I brought this little guy home from the hospital for the first time. Much has changed in our lives over five years, but God has been faithful. Here are a few pictures from Coop's birthday:

Here is his "I'm-getting-ready-to-open-my-presents" face. (Those of you who know him well know he would NEVER smile for a camera if there weren't presents involved.)

Here is his favorite present - LEGOS!

We had a small (okay - not so small) gathering of friends to celebrate the big day. It was SUPER fun to have our house full of friends! Here are the boys (minus Cale):

And here are the girls (minus Mya):

Blowing out the candles on this LEGO cake!

California

In August, our family went to Laguna Beach, California with Nate's family. We stayed in Nate's Granparent's house for the last time - the house has now been sold.

It was such a neat time to be able to introduce the boys to California. California has been such a big and important part of Nate's life.

Here are a few pictures from the trip:

The Family on The Point

Here is our family at Sea World.

Cooper and Miles, enjoying the beach.

Grandma Bethell taught all of her Grandkids how to catch sand crabs.

St. Louis

Last weekend, we visited St. Louis with our friends, the Dinwiddies. What a trip! On Saturday, we "toured" the City Museum. I'm not really sure what to say about the experience except WHAT FUN! Here is our family before we went inside - Miles is already giddy with anticipation.

Look at all this stuff to climb on! All the men in my family climbed up into that airplane. I took pictures from below. :)

This is a gigantic slide we all went down. (The boys were SO brave!)

This is another picture of the gigantic metal jungle gym outside.

They LOVED this ball pit. The first time in, they played pretty hard. The second time in, near the end of the day, they just lounged on the balls.

The boys are climbing through this metal tunnel.

Here is another view of the airplane.

Here is the 10 story slide we went down. (It's actually a garbage chute from an old shoe factory...I'm pretty sure they cleaned it up a little bit...)

And here is the REAL reason we went to St. Louis...Nate and Chris got to go to a U2 concert on Sunday night. I wasn't there, but Nate said it was amazing!!

Grandpa's Birthday

My Grandpa Holtwick turned 80 this last week, and our family gathered on Sunday to surprise him with a birthday party. It was very fun to see family that we don't see very often, and it was even better to be gathering to celebrate my grandpa.

We took some family pictures, and believe it or not, I think all 4 little people are looking at the camera in this one!

Miles' Birthday

Miles turned three this past weekend. I can't believe my baby is not a baby anymore! Here are a few highlights from his day:

Cooper helped Nate pick out a cattle truck and some horses.


Miles decided he wanted to have a Thomas birthday party. I borrowed a Thomas pan from a friend and spent 3 or 4 hours creating this:

I asked Miles several times what friends he would like to have at his birthday party. Each time (over a series of several weeks) he would answer, "Nora. Just Nora." So here, sharing a stool with him while he blew out his candles, was the guest of honor:

Oklahoma!

Our family traveled to Enid, OK, in late May to spend time with our family. Here are a few highlights:

• Spending time with our new nieces/cousins - Claire and Katie. (I didn't get a good picture of Katie...)



• Seeing a snake trying to eat a fish - YIKES!


• Fourwheeling and fourwheeling and more fourwheeling.



• Learning the depths of my mother-in-law's love for me as she dug through the trash can looking for my lost keys. (She found them, too!)

• Fishing




• Celebrating the Pence family as Katie and Claire become legal members of their family. The Lord put this family together - it is evident. What a blessing to share in the celebration!

Prom

Bolivar High School had their Prom last weekend, and the memories of our senior prom filled my mind. We were so young and wild back then. Because it as our 2nd prom together, we decided to be crazy and go in leathers on a motorcycle. Thankful Kansas didn't have a helmet law at the time, so I didn't have to worry about my hair getting flattened. (And was definitely thinking more about my hair than my safety.)

Family Movie Night

Last night the boys and I watched a movie together. The boys chose "Hero of the Rails" for our movie. It was a super time to snuggle, and also, I confess, it was a good time for me to just check out for a little while. However, the irony of the break for me was what came next. Oh my goodness the questions came rolling. The movie was over around 6:30 and the rest of the night was consumed with something that looked a little like this:

Why was Hiro the first train on the island of Sodor?
How did he get to Sodor?
What time of day do you think he came? Morning? Maybe nighttime?
What island did Hiro live on before Sodor? Do you think it was Misty Island?
How old was Thomas (Henry, Percy, Gordon, Edward, Deisel, etc.) when Hiro was on Sodor?
Why wasn't Thomas (Henry, Percy, Gordon, Edward, Deisel, etc.) on the island with Hiro?
Why did they call him the Master of the Railway?
What does Master mean?
Why was Hiro blue and green?
Why did they paint Hiro black?
Why did they leave Hiro to rust in the wilderness?
Why didn't they bring Hiro his new part?
Why was Spencer so mean in Hero of the Rails?
Remember when Spencer (fill in the blank), wasn't that mean, Mama?
Why did Spencer follow Thomas around?
What was Thomas trying to do?
Why did Thomas keep Hiro a secret from the other engines?
Why did Spencer want to send Hiro to the scrapyard?

And on and on and on and on. That kid's brain NEVER stops. At our last book club, the amazing Jacki Dublin shared about how she has really been trying to listen to her son when he is talking her ear off. To validate him. Not just to nod and grunt, but to HEAR him. I think about how when Cooper is a teenager, I will want him to come to me with his questions, not his friends. I want him to remember how open I was with questions. But last night, after about an hour of explaining a movie that I hadn't fully watched (shhhh...don't tell!), I had to ask Cooper to give me 5 minutes of no questions. Maybe next time I'll endure.

Easter

Here is our "family" Easter picture. It was a little bit of a chaotic day, so this was the best we could get. :) Our attempt at all 4 of us was unsuccessful.

P.S. They both got hair cuts the following Tuesday.

Fighting

The boys woke up arguing again today. They were up long before 7:00, and I have been trying to enforce the "rule" that they can't come out of their room until 7:00. We have this rule in place to help our home run more smoothly, but sometimes I doubt that it works. Staying in their room means fighting. I continue getting ready for the day in my room, and I hear, "That's my truck!" "Give that back to me!" "No!" "I had it first!" The crying starts. Then a loud crashing noise - Miles dumped the entire box of trucks out on top of Cooper. I go into the room, so unsure of how to parent this situation. Both boys have heart issues. Selfishness, unkindness, uncontrolled anger. I can't really separate them - the rule is they need to stay in their room until 7:00 - and they share a room. Are we doing the wrong thing making them share? Miles can be so mean to Cooper. Cooper just needs space! Yet Cooper is so controlling of Miles - it suffocates Miles until he retaliates physically. Maybe Miles needs space! I doubt the decisions we've made.

But then I remember moments like the one pictured below. We walked to the gas station and they each got to pick a candy bar. After dinner, they got to enjoy their treats, and they decided TOGETHER on a way to eat their candy. They each took three bites of their own candy and then took a bite of the other's candy. They repeated this until the candy was finished. This plan was created by them with no intervention from me.

When I focus on these moments, as few and far between as they are, I feel encouraged. I can think thoughts aligned with truth. God gave me these boys, 20 months apart from one another; He built our family just the way He wanted it to be. How awesome that they get to learn about conflict, selfishness, conflict resolution, and playing together at home, in our home, under our guidance. So when the fighting starts, I can either be thankful for the opportunity to teach my boys, even DELIGHT in them, or I can face them with dread and parent in such a way that makes life easy - what is the quickest way to make them stop fighting so I can get ready for the day? Today I will choose to be thankful for the opportunities to teach them. (And beg the Lord for wisdom on how to handle each situation!) I think I will read this post frequenly so I can remind myself of my choice and be thankful again.

It's Been A While...

It's been a while since I have updated the blog. We've been in survival mode... Nate traveled three weeks ago, and when he came back, each of us had a bout of sickness. Nate is still fighting a pretty rough cough, but I think we're getting better.

It is time, though, for me to get a few little stories written down before I forget:

On Sunday, Nate was baking a cake with Miles. He got some music going and asked Miles - can you dance? Miles looked at Nate and said, "No, I can't do that until I’m a grownup. And when I'm a grownup, I'll have a big nose like you!"

The other day I told Cooper, "You've gotten really good at coloring." He said, "Mom, you should call me a colorist. You know, like a guitarist?"

Please do not read this story if you think it is inappropriate to blog about bathroom issues...but if you're okay with it, then here it goes...Miles finished using the bathroom and flushed the toilet. I said, "Shut the lid, Miles! Poop shrapnel is going to fly everywhere!" He looked at me and said, "Mommy - poopy not have wings." So true.

We had a tornado warning several weeks ago, so the four of us piled into the laundry room. (With Nate's parents in the guest bathroom!) The alarm sounded around 9:30. Cooper was already in a deep sleep, but Miles hadn't fallen asleep yet. He and I had a chance to snuggle together in the laundry room. Nate and I have been very strict with our rule about no kids in our bed, so I don't really get a lot of nighttime snuggles from the boys. Miles just lay very still and stroked my arm with his hand. It was a very sweet moment that I want to remember.

Dirt & Dishes

One day last week, Cooper was playing legos really close to the piano. Miles sat down to join him and pulled a plant that sits on the piano right down on his head. It mostly just brushed the side on the way down, but MAN it was scary. Miles cried hard because he was hurt, and Cooper cried hard because dirt got all over his legos. I was trying to comfort Miles and calm Cooper down at the same time. As I brushed the dirt off of Miles in the laundry room, he was trying to get himself together. He sniffled out, "Mommy - can you fix the plant?" Poor little guy was worried about the plant.


Nate is traveling this week, so we had leftover pizza for dinner tonight on paper plates. :) After dinner, I joked to Cooper, "Hey - you can do the dishes tonight" and then we threw away the paper dishes together. I apparently was the only one who understood that joke because after throwing the dishes away, Cooper ran over to the sink, eager to wash dishes. We had a few things to wash - a cutting board and cookie sheet. Cooper went after it! And Miles was jealous! I love it! Tell me it's this easy when they are teenagers. :) (AND - thank you, Lord, for the blessing of my sweet, helpful children!)

The Blizzard

Here are a few pictures from our blizzard:

This is Nate shoveling our drive for the third time on Tuesday.



Our front walk:
The backyard:

Snow angels:

Last night, Cooper was playing his guitar and singing from the living room while I cleaned up from dinner. He stopped suddenly and said, "Mom, I'm not just playing the guitar, I'm picking my boogies and eating 'em."

Cooper wouldn't eat his dinner the other night, and so I began asking him questions about the food that he DOES like. The conversation progressed, and it came to this:
Me: Cooper, if you were a chef, and you could cook anything in the world, what would it be?
Cooper: Chicken Cannelloni
Me: That's interesting. I thought you didn't like chicken cannelloni. When I made it the other night, you didn't eat it.
Cooper: I know. I just want to make it because I know you guys like it.
Me: That is so thoughtful of you! But what will you eat?
Cooper: I'll just go out somewhere.

Random Stories

Cooper came into the kitchen and ate a bite of my homemade granola. He said, "Mom, you are such a good cook! You are better than any restaurant!"



Here is a conversation I had with Miles the other day in the bathroom. I want to document this sample, not because it is super funny, but because it is SO common in our household.

Me: Miles - you need to wash your hands.

Miles: Okay. I will.

Me: Walk towards Miles.

Miles: No, Mommy! I will do it myself!

Me: Okay, Buddy. Can you turn the water on?

Miles: No.

Me: Okay - I'll help you.

Miles: Actually, I can do it. Tries to turn the water on.

Me: Can I help you Miles?

Miles: Yes, you can.



Miles bumped his head at BUM kids and was crying. He told his teacher that he needed Cooper to feel better. They went and got Cooper out of his class to come comfort Miles. Cooper took great care of his little brother, and the teacher said, "Wow, Cooper, you're a great big brother." Coop's response? "I know."



Cooper and Miles were telling me this morning how they want to get the plastic motorized trains, like the Vernons. I explained to the boys that we have wooden trains, so maybe we should just continue building our wooden train collection. Cooper said, "Mom, I have a great idea! Miles can have the wooden set and I can get the motorized train set. I know whow to engineer those tracks."

Snow!

We received about 1 to 2 inches of snow on early this week, and Cooper and Miles were chomping at the bit to get out in it. I held them off all day Monday, promising we would go out to play on Tuesday. So we bundled up and headed outside in the sweltering 20 degree temps.

It took about 30 minutes to get all bundled up. We each had on 2 pairs of pants, 2 pairs of socks, 3 shirts, a coat, a hat, and gloves. And once we were outside, we only lasted about 15 minutes. Miles was cold and ready to come in, but Cooper decided he wanted to stay out. And then, as Miles and I turned to head in, Cooper ran smack into the tree in our front yard. He just took off running, pulling the sled behind him and slammed into the tree.

Here are the Bethell boys, ready for the cold.

And here is what a cheek looks like after being slammed into a tree:

Our family made it inside, and Miles ran straight to his bedroom, instead of staying with us to get all his snowy clothes off. "Miles, you need to come back out with us to get your coat off." I called. Miles response: "Mommy, I will not ever, ever listen to you again!" Slam door. I left the upset and bloody-cheeked Cooper to go "take care" of that situation with Miles. (You can imply whatever you would like in that generic description of how the situation was addressed.) After it was taken care of, and Cooper's cheek was cleaned up, Miles and I were discussing what happened. I said, "Miles, you said, 'Mommy, I won't ever listen to you again!' and slammed the door. It is not okay for you to talk to Mommy like that." Miles replied, "I not say that, Mommy." I said, "Miles - I asked you to come out with Cooper and me to get your coat off, and you yelled at me, 'Mommy, I won't ever listen to you again!' and slammed the door. It is not okay for you to talk to Mommy like that." Miles said, "NO, Mommy! I not say that! I said, 'Mommy, I won't ever, EVER listen to you again!" So true. He did have that extra 'EVER' in there. Goodness gracious. I won't ever, EVER misquote my child again.

The things they say...

Cooper has had a few cute sayings lately, and Miles is in a very fun spot verbally. Here are Cooper's sayings:

Quote from FB on 1/2/2011: I'm wearing a skirt and tights today for church (a rare occasion indeed), and Cooper approached me with a very confused look. He said, "Mommy, I just need to know, are those pants or not?"

Quoted from Nate's FB on 1/8/2010: Cooper says to me: Dad, let's travel around the whole world to tell everyone how good eggnog is.

Miles still uses "me" instead of "I" and he says "yours" instead of your. Here are some examples:

• Running to where he is supposed to be, "Here comes me!!"
• "Who would like to eat lunch?" "Me do!"
• "I'm going to put this blanket on yours head."
• "Mom, is this yours water?"