My Child of God

Tab loves us to sing to him and he is really starting to sing with us. Sometimes I'll come into the room to find him singing to Benton. So I convinced him to sing for the camera so that I could share it with all of you.

Ain't nothing sexier than...

A man in a suit playing soccer with his kid. Tab has recently started playing soccer with a bunch of the other med student's 2 & 3 year olds. He had so much fun. It was absolutely hilarious to watch. Jason's hands are on top of his head because he is trying to teach Tab how to play without using his hands.

Go Tab!

He got a little sidetracked by something interesting on the sideline.

Hot Chock-a-Nock

Over the winter Tab fell in love with Hot Chocolate. It's not a hard thing to do you know, unless your my weird husband that doesn't eat chocolate. Please don't throw tomatoes at him. I still love him despite his faults. Anway, I digress. I recently found some sugar free chocolate milk single serve mix-ins called Moo Magic that were on sale. (Click the Moo Magic). So I thought we would give them a try. Tab really enjoyed them as you can tell by the chocolate milk mustache. Tab calls this treat his Hot Chock-a-Nock. 1. We don't serve it warm, he just is confused by having had hot chocolate all winter. 2. He can say Chocolate Milk 3. He used to not be able to say Chocolate Milk and therefore called in Chock-a-Nock. Jason was telling me (in front of Tab) how he missed how Tab used to call it Chock-a-Nock. 4. He has combined the prior points to call it Hot Chock-a-Nock.

Independence, It's so... Liberating

Benton is in a new stage; a stage I don't remember Tab ever going through. He has really mastered sitting up and playing and reaching for his toys. This has made him so independent. The other day I sat him on the livingroom floor with a pillow behind him, just in case, and went off to do my thing (read: clean). About 2 hours later I realized that I hadn't heard so much as a squalk out of him. I'd walked past him a million times and he didn't even care. He was too busy playing. I guess it also helps that Tab has started to enjoy playing with him, which also helps to keep him busy and occupied. So Benton's new found independence has been liberating for me.

Here are some taken right after he fell over. He was trying to get the camera. (And, no, I don't think his hair needs to be cut. I LOVE IT! I love the way it is out of control and sticks up in every direction.)Oh wait, you want to take pictures of Benton? Not gonna let you do it. Ain't never gonna happen. Cheese!Tab is just like what I hear that his father was like when he was a kid. He likes to be the one getting the attention. So it is very hard to get pictures of Benton without Tab jumping in front of him or trying to be a goofball.

Boys & Their Toys

Tab has an obsession. The name of this obsession... All things Trains. He loves Thomas the tank'n engine, but really any trains will do. He is completely obsessed with his new train set, courtesy of grandma and grandpa for his upcoming birthday. He literally spends hours EVERY.SINGLE.DAY playing with it. I have never seen such great imaginitive play out of this boy. He is a riot. He frequently enlists Jason or myself to help him build a track with him. If you ever come over to our house, you too will likely be asked, "Come on, wanna play my trains with me?" A few Saturdays ago Jason and I spent a few hours with him in his room building and playing with this creation.

He really like using the blocks to build a "special tunnel"A few of the other highlights: The intersectionTab enjoying his trackAnd although it was annoying and frustrating at first, he has gotten very good at pulling all of the trains together.Here is another day of him playing with them. This time in the kitchen. There are frequently pieces of this train set lugged all over the house. We bought him a bin to keep them all in and luckily most nights before he goes to bed, he runs around picking them all up so that he can put is trains to "sleep" because they had "too much fun day" according to Tab.

Pinewood Derby

Jason recently participated in a pinewood derby. He had a lot of fun making his car with the limited tools he had. He really enjoyed getting creative with the windshield and the tailpipes. Now that the racing is over, the car is Tab's new favorite toy. Here it is getting ready to race. Everyone called it the Twinkie. Poor guy.And they're off.And everyone.Notice that I didn't talk about what place he got. Let's just say he won two heats... so he wasn't last or even next to last...

Easter!

We had such a fun Easter with the boys. We took Tab to an Easter Egg hunt that was held at Truman University on Saturday. I wasn't really planning on it being absolutely freezing so we headed out the door without hats, etc. Luckily Jason always wears this had and so Tab got lucky and didn't have to freeze his little ears off. Here he is with his loot. Can you tell he was freezing? A close up of the loot. I just love plastic eggs. I'm totally weird I know. I don't know what it is about them. Perhaps it's the bright, fun colors. Perhaps it's the sound they make clanking together. Perhaps it is that they can entertain small hands for quite some time. Oh wait, no, it is none of those things... I remember what it is. It is the same thing Tab loves about them... they are filled with candy. (Did I ever mention I have a candy addiction. It runs in the family)
While we were at Truman, they had their mascot out, so we stopped for a picture with the boys.
Tab was admiring his "golden eggs" as he likes to call them.
When we went home we dyed some of our own eggs. I think that Tab enjoyed this part the most. He had a hard time not checking the eggs every 10 seconds to see if they were "done".
Look how very carefully he was placing the eggs in the box. That didn't last long.
Just checking his eggs...again.

Ta-da! All done!Here is Sunday morning. He was following a trail of Easter eggs to find his basket. Don't you worry, I wasn't dumb enough to put candy in the ones leading up to his basket. It would have taken all day to get him there. (I learned that lesson last year)He found it! Can you tell he wasn't pleased about posing for a picture before digging into the basket?Here are the boys in their Easter outfits. I would have loved to have taken pictures outside in the beautiful sun, but it was SNOWING. Gag. I'm so ready to be done with the winter...I hope you really enjoy this one because it is nearly impossible to get a picture of Benton smiling because whenever he get excited and smiles, his hands go straight into his mouth.Hmmm.... I wonder if they are brothers?And a few more pics of them just because I can.

This one is just so that you can see what this poor child is going to have to put up with as he gets older. Those poor cowlicks.

I try really hard to hide it...

but really I'm just a big goof/dork. Over spring break we were just lounging in our hotel room taking some pictures of our cute little boy when Jason told me to "shake it". Well, I obliged. And the little devil caught it on the video function of our camera. Even though I was looking right at him it didn't look like he was video taping. Afterall... he was just holding a camera. Sigh, so now I'm forced to put it "out there" for you all to see how big of a dork I am when only Jason is looking.

St. Patty's

Ok ok... I know I'm a few days late but Happy St. Patty's Day. I had a really fun time making Corned Beef & Cabbage for the very first time. It helps that I also made the most delish mashed potatoes in the world, courtesy of the Pioneer Woman. I know that my mom made corned beef & cabbage growing up, but it has been so long that I didn't really remember what it tasted like and was a tad bit worried that my adult taste buds might not like it and further more that my husband wouldn't like it... afterall that is all that really matters. Can I just say holy yum.

Spring Break!

We went to Kansas City over break and had an absolute blast! We were able to do so many different things with the boys and they just ate it up. I think they would have been just as happy if it was just Jason that was there. They were seriously craving some Daddy time. So this is going to be an extremely picture heavy post because ... well ... I took a lot of pictures while we were on vacation.

On the way to Kansas City we decided to stop and see Liberty Jail. Tab was really cute. They had several narrations durring the tour and every time one of the narrations turned on, Tab said something to the effect of, "shhh, listen ... Jesus is talking".

Tab enjoyed the drive down for the most part. He just chilled while we begged him to take a nap.When we arrived at our Hotel we dropped everything off and the first thing Tab wanted to do was go swimming. Jason had been telling him for weeks that we were going to Kansas City and that we were going to go swimming. So, as far as Tab was concerned, that was all that we were going to do while we were there. Although we did go swimming, it was no t the first thing we did. Are you kidding... we needed some grub. So we went to the Crayola Cafe. It was the cutest little kid restaurant.
They had cool placemats that Tab and Jason enjoyed coloring. (Let's be real here... Jason enjoyed it more than Tab).
And they gave Tab a cool crayon cup to take home with him which he adores. Have a mentioned his adoration for anything with a straw sticking out of it. I mean, the kid would probably eat poo if it had a straw in it. Sigh...I digress. (And yes, that is rootbeer in his cup. I know, I'm horrible I let my kid drink soda. For a while I tried to curb it, but I'll be honest, I don't really care. He is his father's son and his grandfather's grandson, I think it is in his genes to be hooked on coke, or at least that is the excuse I'm using today.)Oh, and I was there too, see. This is one of the few pictures I'm actually in that isn't blurry...Jason has a shaking problem.
Oh yeah, Benton wants you to know that we was there too, but that I do draw lines and won't let him have soda... yet.
After our yummy dinner, we went next door to the Crayola store. All I can say is that it is a good thing that the store closed 10 minutes after we got there (and dude what is with everything closing at 6 PM? Crazy I tell you ... crazy) or Tab may have left with some seriously cool stuff. Anyway, they had a cool Tic-Tac-Toe wall that Tab and Jason had some fun with.
Tab also liked the art easle. I think he needs one of those in his room.

Tuesday was a beautiful day. This made our choice to go to the Zoo PERFECT. Almost as soon as we got there, Tab found a peacock. I think he wanted to ride it. We had to help him keep a distance.
Tab really enjoyed feeding the deer. It took him a while to get used to the deer licking his hand.

At the zoo they had a bunch of "tree house" type things. Tab and Jason thoroughly enjoyed playing in the caves and going down the slides.

There were all kinds of cool things to play on.

And for those of you who are aware of Tab's love for all things monkey can appreciate this picture. I think this is the one animal he spent the most time observing. I'm just sad that I didn't snap this picture moments earlier. Tab had put his hand up against the glass and the monkey immediately put his hand up to the glass right on Tab's. It was awesome.

Just look how cute those boys are. And Tab would not part with the sunglasses to save his life.
After a while, Benton got sick of Tab getting all of the attention so Jason strapped him on and he just giggled and squealed until he completely wore himself out and fell asleep.
The boys had fun riding this elephant. Unfortunately it was the only elephant that we were able to see that day. And the stick in Tab's hand. Ug... the stick in Tab's hand. Let's just say it still resides in the bed of the truck since Tab would not have anything to do with throwing it away. We were able to convince him that it had to stay outside and therefore it ended up in the bed of the truck where it will likely remain until I decide to not be lazy and get it and get it (aka the wind is more likely to remove it).
As I had mentioned we spent a little bit of time at the hotel pool. I think that we may have Tab swimming this summer if we can afford a pass to the community pool. He was confidently kicking around the pool with the noodles under his arms. We got him to let us help him float on his back while we just held our hands under his head. He wasn't very happy about being on his back though.On our last day in Kansas City we visited Union Station. I think we saved the best for last. They had a little train set going and Tab followed it back and forth until we forcefully made him move on to something else. Note that he is once again wearing sunglasses INSIDE. The kid is crazy.
Inside of Union Station was a place called Scinece City. Now this was the cool part. We literally spent about 4 hours here. It was essentially a hands on little kid's science center. They had SO much to do. And to be honest Jason and I had just as much fun and Tab did. It was each of us kind of running around looking at things and shouting to the others, "cool, come check this out over here".

Tab and Jason mini-golfing. Man I wish I knew how to post videos. (ok, I know how to post videos, I just don't know how to get the videos on my computer. Don't laugh). This was cool. The ball would go down one of the holes and puff of air would shoot it out and on the the green.

They had a section all about dinosaurs. They had a cool excavation site for the kids. (The dirt is little rubber pellets. Man can I get some of that in my yard instead? It is much easier to brush off of clothing... although it was pouring out of Tab's crocks for the rest of the day.) It just occured to me that perhaps this is why Tab has been asking me for the last week to watch a dinosaur movie and we don't have one.

In this same area, they had "bones" that you could use to build a Saber-Tooth Tiger. Tab thought it was cool. I know they both have dumb looks on their faces but they were growling for the picture.This part was pretty cool too. You can see that Tab has 3 different colored shadows. As you can tell, he enjoyed trying to figure it out.
Again Tab with a Train. I tell you this boy is obsessed with anything and everything having to do with Trains.
Here Jason, Tab and Benton were "driving" a train.

We played for a bit in this cool little park they had. Tab really enjoyed the fire hydrants with the bubbles.

Tab and I enjoyed flying this helocopter.

There was a water works area where they had all sorts of pipes with valves that you could turn on and off. They also had this cool croc...ok I know... it is an alligator...whatever.

On the way home we swung by the Far West temple site. Although there really wasn't much to see, we were glad that we stopped.

Phew.... That was a long stinking post. I hope you enjoyed reliving our vacation with me. We really had SOOOOOO much fun.