That kind of morning

My lil Ben was really into everything this morning and being quite the ham.

First, he somehow reached the box of Life cereal from where I had put it up high (kinda scary!), brought it into the living room, and dumped the rest of the box onto the floor. Then, Sam sat down next to him and they started playing in it instead of eating it. Not that I wanted them to eat an entire box of cereal.

The boys really like to go with me into the bathroom. I know that is kinda gross but what am I supposed to do when they follow me everywhere I go....including the bathroom! I know you are thinking....just shut the door. But, if I do that they will absolutely go do something destructive while I am in there just to punish me for shutting them out.

While in there, Sam usually tries to climb in the bathtub and Ben goes straight for the toilet paper. He usually is very helpful and like to tear me off a piece or two while unrolling the rest.

This morning he was very generous with his portion size that he offered me:
Note: Don't worry, this is unused, of course!

After giving me the oh-so-generous 1/50th of 1 square of TP, this is what he did with the rest:

Gotta love these guys!!

He was tired!!

Ben was so tired the other night that he didn't even have time to lay down before falling asleep!

Here is a picture from our video monitor of Ben, laying his head down on the side of his crib and falling right asleep. He was crying for awhile and then the crying suddenly stopped. I checked on him to make sure he was ok and found him, blankie in hand, standing up....fast asleep.

Happy (belated) fathers day!!

Happy (belated) Fathers Day to my wonderful husband, dad, and father-in-law!! You guys are the best dad and grandpa's to my boys I could ever ask for!!

Here is the proud dad with his boys on the big day:
This is the shirt Ben and Sam wore to honor their dad. A friend of mine from my moms of multiples club gave them to us (Thanks Kerry!):

Last year I took a pic of Matt and the boys on the deck because that's all we had done in our backyard at the time. Since then, we got a patio and landscaping put in too. I had to take a pic of all three of them on that too to capture the evolution of our backyard. Notice how happy Matt looks, and all we see are the backs of Ben and Sam's heads. There was a dog barking in the yard of the house behind us.....Dogs are way cooler than smiling for a picture!
Matt is truly the BEST dad to our boys. They absolutely love him and I hear "Hi da-yee" many, many times a day...even when Matt's not around. Ben and Sam love me, don't get me wrong, but when their daddy's is around...well, I'm kinda chopped liver. It probably has something to do with the fact when he's in charge of feeding them breakfast, it's almost always pancakes. It also doesn't hurt that Matt is constantly actin' a fool to make them laugh, wrestling with them, throwing them in the air, and always willing to kick, throw or catch one of their many favorite balls with them. It's so funny to see two mini-matt's running around our house. I see so much of him in them (especially Ben) - it's so special.

Happy Father's Day Da-yee, we love you!

Myrtle Beach 2011

Last week Matt, the boys and I went to Myrtle Beach with Matt's family. It was soooooo much fun! We stayed with his parents in a condo Saturday-Friday. Matt's sister, Tracy and husband, Brain and their family and another couple and their kids stayed in Tracy and Brian's timeshare that they go to every year. Both condos were right on the beach!

The traveling took about 10 hours to get there. The boys were not horrible but they definitely weren't angels either. We went from KC to Atlanta, had a short layover, then went from Atlanta to Charleston, SC. From there we drove 2 1/2 hours to Myrtle Beach. Luckily, Matt had the forethought to borrow a portable DVD player, so that saved us from total meltdowns on the plane and long car ride (thanks Aunt Nancy for letting us borrow it!).

We arrived late on Saturday night. Sunday morning we went to the beach. It was Ben and Sam's first time to see the ocean.

Sam loved the water. He was not scared at all of the waves and Matt had him out there "jumping waves". Look at the glee on that kids face:

Ben did not take too kindly to the water at first. Actually, he wandered around looking for something that caught his eye. Finally, he found a hole in the sand, plopped down, and stayed there, digging in the sand.

Ben in his hole with Grandma:
Notice the hats the boys are wearing. Us Bleythings and sun don't really mix well.

Sam eventually joined him:
Family photo:
More playing on the beach:

Pant shorts:
Ben:

I took this picture because I thought the back of Ben's head looked so cute:

Grandpa, me and Ben in his favorite spot:
Daddy and Sam:

Grandma and Grandpa and two boys who would rather play than pose for a pic:
Ben playing with his cousin, Katie:
The boys cousins, Jack, Cooper and Katie were a huge help with the boys! We all ate dinner together 4 of the nights and the kids tried their very best to entertain Ben and Sam. Usually, it was close to the boys bedtime so they were pretty fussy. I was so happy Ben and Sam got to spend so much time with their cousins, aunt, uncle and grandparents! I wish Matt's other sister and her family could have been there so we could have all been together :)

One night Matt's parents watched all the kids so we could go out. Matt, me, Tracy, Brian, and their friends Jenny and Scott all went to an ocean-side bar. It was a great time!

Tuesday, us girls went shopping at an outlet mall. On Wednesday, everyone but Matt's mom and me (and of course Ben and Sam) went fishing in the ocean on a 40 foot boat. The first spot they took them too didn't have many fish who were biting. So, the guide took them to a spot where they caught sharks! I would have been totally freaking out because 1. The boat was really rocking back and forth a mile from shore and 2. I'm deathly afraid of sharks...of any size! When I was little I prayed for 2 years straight, every night, not to be eaten by a shark. I guess that's the trade off for my parents letting me watch R rated movies.
Here are the sharks. One of them looks pretty big (hopefully that's just the angle of the camera)!

Tracy and Brain grilled some and fried some and we ate them for dinner that night. They were sooooo good! They also grilled flank steak and made a wonderful side dish called, Ragu. If you come to dinner at my house anytime soon I will probably be making it! My favorite meal of the trip!

We also took the boys to the "lazy river" at the condo. They loved it but, man, taking them around and around gave us a good thigh workout.

Here they are in their floaties for the pool

Matt's mom made "Bleything 2011" in the sand. Here we are trying to take a family pic by it. Keyword: Trying.
Sam getting bored with the posing and Ben's just plain mad:
Ben getting sad:
Grandma and Grandpa:
It was such a wonderful trip. Thank you SO much to Matt's parents for doing so much for us and helping out with the boys so much! You guys are the best and we love you lots!

Great memories!

18 months

I know I said I would stop doing the monthly reports on the babies but 18 months is kind of a big one! They recently turned 1 1/2 years old (!) and we celebrated by staying home because they were both sick. Actually, we had about a 1 1/2 week run of straight sickness in our house. I got the 24-hr flu, they got some virus thing, and then exactly 1 week after I got the flu, I got the virus thing back from them. It's been fun but we are all healthy again.

Usually here I would write about all the new things they are doing but that would take forever- what are they NOT doing?! These little guys are into absolutely everything and are basically not babies at all anymore.

Talking:
- I haven't been counting how many words they can say but I'm guessing it's about 20 each. Every time I think Sam in a better talker, Ben comes up with about 5 new words, and vice versa. They can call a basketball by name but all other balls are just "balls". However, they know a soccer ball has "spots" on it. They love "snacks" and going "outside", and of course "Maggie". They ask for "milk", "crackers", and "water" but that's about the only food they can say. They can also say "bath". There are several other words like, mama, ma (grandma), da-eee (daddy) and pa-pa (grandpa) that they also say. And, the repeating stage is definitely here - so we better watch what we say!

Interests:
We are embarking on the infamous Thomas the Tank stage. They will be playing and all of a sudden just say "choo choo". That is code for they want to watch the one Thomas show we have taped on DVR. Yesterday at Target, Ben had to have every piece of Thomas clothing he saw. He examined it and kept saying "choo choo" the entire time. It took an extra 10 minutes in the store to walk around and put it all back

We have been playing a lot outside while it's nice enough that they don't sweat to death. They have a few push toys they love, shovels, trucks, balls, and their wagon they always play with. There are only two rules: 1. you always have to wear your hats outside and 2. If you go in the street it's an automatic trip inside and to time out.

Their favorite toys are still cars and balls. Ben loves books and will bring about 5 books to me every morning to read.

Unfortunately, they like TV and I need to really work to break them...and myself, of that habit!

They are really pretty good eaters for about 2 meals a day, the 3rd (whatever it is) is pretty light. I still probably give them too many snacks a day but they seem hungry so I can't starve them, right?!

We are still on 2 naps a day, most days. I've been trying to transition to one nap a day but they get tired around 9am and then up at 11am....and that's just too long for them to go. I usually end up putting them down around 3 or 4pm too. That 2nd nap is very iffy though.

Dislikes:
Anything that ties them down.....shopping carts, strollers, being held when they want to walk.

Sam recently had a mega-temper tantrum that lasted a full hour. He was throwing himself on the floor, following me around the house and throwing himself in front of me. This is all because he asked for a snack and I didn't give him one immediately.

Sam looking so old :(
I saw so many cute pics of moms and their kids on Mothers day...smiling away, all dressed up in their Sunday best.

This is the only known picture of me and only one of my kids on the day. I'm holding a sad Ben: