October Update

Life around here is busy, but good. Fall is truly Ben and I's favorite season and we've been trying to savor it as much as possible. God is so good in creating the seasons!

I've been trying my hand at canning for this first time this year. I haven't done a ton, but did preserve some peaches, pears, and applesauce. I can't wait to do more next year!

I started watching my friends' son, 9 month old Wesley, for one morning a week. We're enjoying having him as a part of the family on this day! It's wonderful to have Seth and Sam be around a younger kid: teaching them to be kind, share, be good examples, etc. Wesley loves it too, and spends the morning crawling around after them!

We took a three day crack at potty training, and Seth and Sam actually did pretty good. They maybe had about equal successes and accidents each day. However, it started to be a battle with them, and they were just wanting to wear diapers. Truthfully, I just am not up for the fight yet. If they aren't potty trained by two and a half, maybe I'll entertain that battle, but until then, we'll continue to casually train.

Two weekends ago Ben and I split up: I went to a women's retreat with my church, and he took the boys to Dufur to spend the weekend with his family. It was a wonderful experience for everyone! I loved having the entire weekend with no schedule, eating every meal without getting up, and lots of quiet time.  Ben and the boys watched both Caleb and Levi's football games, which the boys loved. (consequently we've been playing lots of football around here!) Ben also got to go fly-fishing with his brother and guide Nathan, and almost caught his first steel head.

My dad visited us for a couple of days. We all had a blast! We met Katie and her girls at the zoo and dad treated us to Subway and Starbucks. Ah, it's always great to be daddy's little girl again! Seth and Sam adore their Papa and spent the evenings climbing all over him.

Our dirt, or now mud, pit

Checking out what neighbor Frank is doing

 Beyond all these "big" things, we spend our days contented at home. I kick the boys outside as much as possible where they "feed" spiders by throwing dirt on them and saying, "Here's your pancakes fider. Eat. Say please. Say tank you." They use any stick or similar apparatus as a blower, weed wacker, drill, sander, chainsaw. etc...and surprisingly enough, they all sound the same (a loud, obnoxious, high pitched squeal). I got a great video the other day of them playing football just the two of them: hiking the ball to one another and chasing and tackling. Wow. And, as you see in some of the pictures, we've been playing in the mud a lot. I'm learning to accept a lot of really dirty laundry in exchange of hours of tactile enjoyment for the boys.

As a result of splitting Seth and Sam into separate rooms, we lost our guest bed. In exchange we now have the mattress in our bonus playroom. While not the most classy of arrangements, it is a main attraction at the Morris household. It is a giant trampoline, and airport landing for the boys flying around the house, a pretend bed for pretend naps, and a place for me to crash when Ben isn't having a good night of sleep!

Seth and Sam's imaginations are exploding and a joy to watch! The picnic table is first a big jet, then a tractor, then a place to play pretend drums and trumpets, then a kitchenm then a burning house where the firetruck needs to come rescue it.

Seth has been playing in the mud a lot lately

Seth saying "cheese" for the camera

It continues to be hard for me to describe each of the boys' individual personalities. Seth is currently our easiest child (I say currently because he was our squeaky wheel as a baby!). He's very happy-go-lucky, always quick to smile at us, full of playfulness and laughter. His language never ceases to amaze me, as he's putting together full sentences with fairly good grammar. Seth loves to read and falls asleep with a book on his face most nights. He's very curious and asks, "Whatsthat," continually every day.

Sam isn't too into mom taking picture, especially in the middle of a "game"



Finally, a good "cheese" from Sam

 Sammy is definitely our sports fan and takes playing his athletics very seriously. His basketball gym is our entry way, and he only wants real games, with one basketball, played in that gym. One cannot shoot from the carpet because then you are not in the gym. Sam treasures individual, quality time with Ben and I..so it's nice when he gets up a bit earlier in the morning than Seth, so we can have good snuggle time. He's maybe in the "terrible twos" a bit more than Seth and has been throwing ragging fits a couple times of week. Ugh. We've also been struggling with him using a whiny baby voice a lot, that drives everyone crazy. However, we just love him to death and know these things are just a phase! We especially love him when he says things like, "Mama, you stink." And as I'm contemplating whether or not its bad breath or a lack of shower, he smiles and says, "You stink like applesthauce." (yes, he has a bit of a lisp as well).

Maybe I should write updates more often so they won't be as long!