Pics and a cute video

Nathaniel's room (Aaron was sleeping so I couldn't get a picture of his room)

Our bathroom

walkway through the living room to the backyard.

The living room

Our kitchen

A cute video of the boys dancing to VBS music.

There are more pictures, but I will upload them another time.

So much going on!

Luckily, most of the people who read this also are friends with me on facebook or at least talk to me on a semi regular basis. I've been a slacking blogger.

There are a few reasons that I'm a slacker. One is because we are pleasantly busy and the last thing I really have the creative energy for is to sit down at the computer and craft a blog that tells of the cuteness of my children and the adventures we've been up to without sounding like a complete bore. Another reason I haven't really updated is because there has been a lot of personal stuff going on and I really haven't figured out how to come onto this blog without over sharing or offending someone with a thought that might be a rant in disguise.

Here is a quick run down of our past month and a half-ish since I've updated.

-Sam went to his Annual Training up in San Louis Obispo. It was rough for him. He had evenings free where he was free to roam around in wine country, taking in the views and going to street festivals. (Do we sense my sarcasm?) But, while he was up there he was given the opportunity to take on a two year job with the Army, which means full time pay and benefits.

While it seems pretty obvious he should take it, we still had to do a lot of praying and seeking out of God's will. On the one hand, Sam taking the job meant stability for us, the opportunity to get out of apartment living and the ability to be a blessing to others more so (more missionary support, opening up our home to Bible Study, etc.). On the other hand, taking the job meant that Sam had to put his professional goals on hold for yet another year (most of you know what that means, can't mention it on the public blog, if you have questions message me).

After a lot of prayer and seeking the wisdom of others, we decided that this was a great opportunity for our family and so Sam decided to take it. He started last week and so far, so good. He's currently in Kansas learning what it is he's supposed to be doing here in California. It's such a great job because he's working at the base which is about 10 minutes from where we live. It's a stable job and all of our health benefits are paid for and we get a housing allowance.

Which moves me to exciting news part two:
-We are moving out of our apartment into a three bedroom house.
This is super exciting because we have lived in some sort of an apartment the entire 8 years we've been married. While I know deep down that we are super blessed to even have a roof over our heads (and the Lord knows that sometimes we weren't even sure how we were going to pay for a small apartment, but He always provided the means), it was time to move. There have been super sketchy things happening in our apartment complex as of late, and it makes it hard to allow the boys to play outside and not hear/see things that they shouldn't (older kids cussing, vandalizing, engaging in sexual activities, etc.).

Again, I understand that we are very blessed and that in some places in the world the boys would be exposed to much worse, but if I can protect their innocence as long as I can, I would like to do that.

-I got to take my wonderful Junior High group to Hume Lake Christian Camp.
This was my first summer at my new job and with it came the opportunity to take them to summer camp. I love camp, even though it takes me away from my family for almost a week, the excitement and spiritual awakenings that happen there is totally worth it. Hume Lake is up in King's Canyon and it's absolutely breath taking. After we move I will post some pictures of camp and our recent trips. Right now I cannot find my camera cord. I think it's packed.

Camp was great. The kids bonded together really well. I was also really happy to have the opportunity to just let myself relax a little bit and show them my fun side. It was good. I can't go into too much detail in order to protect the identity and personal issues of the students, but we had a ton of fun, and I know that God is still using the teachings in their hearts.

-We took a family trip to San Diego.
This is only a trip we have done as a family when Sam has been on deployment or about to be shipped away, so this was a new experience for us. We got to go and do things without the dark cloud of a looming separation hanging over our heads. We enjoyed the San Diego Zoo (a place Sam and I went pre-kids and enjoyed showing the boys. My favorite part was when we decided to go get ice cream and Nathaniel, who had been a little grumpy at this point, immediately cheered up and proclaimed, "Wow, Mom, I really love the zoo!") and we also visited the San Juan Capistrano Mission. It was very relaxing and just a fun time. Again, I will upload pictures in a week or so after we are done moving.

Oh, and Sam also got a job teaching as an adjunct philosophy professor online with Ashford University. It's great for him to be able to keep his philosophical mind in gear while doing Army stuff full time.

That's about it here. I have tons of cute kid stories. Aaron is growing like a weed and is really becoming more verbal. It helps that he's in daycare now so he's around kids who don't speak for him. Nathaniel tends to speak for him, which makes him perfectly happy, so it's nice that he has to work for his words now. Aaron also realizes that he's funny, so he does super silly stuff all day long with a silly grin on his face. Tonight he was pretending to eat his green beans (because, bless his heart, even though he tries and tries, he just doesn't like them) and so he was putting them near his mouth and then moving them outside of his chin and down his neck and tucking them into his shirt, pretending to eat them. He's really coming along in the potty training. He is super stubborn, but it's working in my favor because he throws a fit when I try to put diapers on him. Tonight I had to put a Pull Up on him because he wouldn't wear the diaper. Once I am more consistent with him, and once he's a little more verbal and coordinated, I don't think it will be a problem. Especially since he uses the toilet about 25% of the time.

Nathaniel is doing really well. Something clicked for him and now he is drawing pictures that actually look like what he says they are (this was after months of just scribbles). He's reading pretty well too and has really taken to math. We had a battle with Preschool earlier this month. I think it was just that Sam and I were gone so much this summer at different times that it threw Nathaniel off. He is super sensitive to one of us being gone. I know it's because Sam was gone so much of Nathaniel's early life. But, this past week he's had a good attitude and has been excited to go.

So, that's my book of an update. Lots going on and almost all of it is fantastic. I promise to update more often and put pictures as well. Especially before Aaron gets his first haircut (which is coming soon as he is starting to get a mullet). Thanks for reading!

Is it birth order, or simply personality?

Children never cease to amaze me.  Especially watching them grow from teeny, tiny infants who can’t do anything but lay there and cry to giant children who have definite wants and desires.

Nathaniel and Aaron are pretty similar in their temperaments.  They are both pretty easy going kids who are fairly happy most of the time.  Of course, that there is where their similarities end, and I LOVE it.

Take Nathaniel, for example:

(Riding a camel at the zoo)

Nathaniel is timid.  He has always been timid (and that is perfectly okay).  In a new situation, he is more likely to stand off to the side and watch.  He has come quite a ways from last year however.  Last year at this time, a new situation brought Nathaniel to tears.  It wasn’t that he was fearful, he was just cautious.  He was (and still is) unafraid of attempting physical challenges, it’s just social situations that cause him to stop.  Now, he will join a group and begin playing near them if he doesn’t know them (this is HUGE!).  He will also speak to someone when he is spoken to (most of the time).

However, Aaron is a completely different child:

(At Crystal Cove Beach)

This child is completely fearless in nearly all situations.

He is the kid who waves at everyone while walking down the street and says “Hi!!” and “Bye!!!”  He climbs to the top of the playground equipment without even thinking that he could possibly fall.  He has a sense of things being “fair”, which is really hard because he is not quite 18 months old and not 4 like his brother. 

Aaron is a climber.  Today alone I had to pull him down from the top of the monkey bars at church, pull him off of the top of the kitchen table, and pull him down off of the bathroom counter.  Ugh!  Also, he knows what he wants and refuses to compromise. 

Aaron desperately wants to be big.  He sees his brother doing things, and really wants to do it too.  Every day he throws a fit when I try to diaper him.  Which is great, because if I leave his diaper off he will go in his potty.  But, he doesn’t have the words to tell me he has to go, so he can’t go diaper-less in public.  Today, however, he saw Nathaniel pee standing up and was completely enthralled.  About 20 minutes later I saw Aaron standing in front of his little potty trying to pee.  He threw a fit when I made him sit down. 

Oy.

One more cute story of Aaron’s bravado (and a comparison to how Nathaniel reacted).

This past week we took part in Cypress Church’s VBS.  It was “High Seas Adventure” which meant there were pirates involved.  One of the main actors in the skit was ‘Captain Curly Beard’.  Kellan (the guy playing the part) was completely decked out in his costume.  One morning we walked into the church and Captain Curly Beard was there with an Air Cannon.  Aaron got a blast in the face, took one look at the pirate and burst into tears.  He clung to me tighter than he ever has before and just cried and cried.  I felt bad for him, but secretly relished the fact that he still needs his mommy.  The next day I was watching Aaron during worship time.  I saw him standing on his tip toes trying to see the dancers on stage.  Then, he looked over his shoulder and came walking over to me.  It was this weird combination of hugging me and looking at the door and waving uncertainly. 

I looked over my shoulder and saw Captain Curly Beard standing by the door.  So, I asked Aaron if he wanted to go say hi to the pirate.  He gripped my arm but nodded.  So, we went over to where Kellan was standing and Aaron faced him and waved.  He still freaked when the hat was removed, but he was brave enough to wave.

By Friday he had hugs and kisses for the scary Pirate.

Nathaniel, on the other hand, would cry every morning that the pirate was scary and he wanted to stay with me.

I love my kids.  I love how different they are.  I pray that we can always encourage them to be the young men that God has created them to be.

 

Nathaniel sunbathing with his friend Kaatje.

Four Years Ago

Four years ago we were blessed with our own little "Gift of God".

After 30 hours of labor (yes, I will milk this until the day I die, for both of my giant sons) Nathaniel Lawrence Grummons entered into this world on July 14, 2006 and forever changed our lives.

Four years later, we can't imagine our lives without him.

Our prayer for him every night is that he will continue to grow in his knowledge of Jesus and that he will always make good decisions and choose to serve the Lord his whole life. We know that there is only so much that we as parents can do, and pray that we do those things and that Nathaniel will listen and find his own way as well.

Thank you God, for our son.


Today I asked him what he liked to be called, Nathaniel or Nathan. He said, "both!" and smiled. Which is good, because I call him Nathaniel and Sam calls him Nathan (and all of his little preschool friends call him Mathaniel, except for the Indian family in our complex, they call him Ethan). Whatever, we just know that we love him.

Help, someone replaced the baby with a little boy!

It has happened.  Our cute, roly poly Baby has been replaced with a rambunctious toddler.  It’s so sad, but exciting at the same time.

Showing off his belly to be “gotten”

Pretty proud to be standing on the stump while camping.

Aaron has gone from not saying much, to speaking the strangest of words.  When asked to say “Daddy” he says “Mama” with a grin on his face.  He says, “teeth” “cheese” “ball” and “Steve!” (from Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, the monkey’s name is Steve and he says it a lot).  He nods yes and no in answer to our questions and does a lot of pointing as well.

But, the most exciting thing in “Aaron’s world” is his use of the potty.  About a month ago we started putting him on the potty when we noticed he was about to poop.  That went on pretty regularly for about a week but then we quit because he didn’t seem too interested.  This week he walked over to his toilet and pulled at his pants.  I took his diaper and pants off and he sat down and actually went.  This has happened about four times since then, even with dry diapers  as well (instead of a full diaper and then pee in the toilet).  I’m super excited about this because he actually seems ready to train.  I’m ready.  We’ve been buying diapers for four years!

So, our little baby is now on his way to becoming a big boy.  I’m sad.  I miss my baby!!

What do you do when you see a bear?

You take a picture, of course!!

This bear was digging through the garbage of our camping neighbors on Friday morning. We were relaxing after a morning hike when we heard someone yell, "Bear!" I looked up from my knitting and, sure enough, there was a bear! Vanessa called for the kids while I yelled to Sam to get the camera. We then all ran after the bear. Both to chase it away, and also to get a better look.

Nathaniel was super excited to see a bear in the wild and we all learned a good lesson. Put away our food because the bears will come after it during the day.

Vocabulary

Nathaniel has started playing more online games lately. While Sam was in school he had a lot of afternoons where he was either grading papers or working on school work while Aaron was napping. That left Nathaniel to play by himself so often times Sam would let him play for a bit on the pbs kids website. While online Nathaniel would watch Martha Speaks (a show about a talking dog that has a ton of new vocabulary words) and Sesame Street's "Word on the Street". He learned words such as amazing, dangerous, excited, and exhausted. This has made for some interesting (which is also a word he's learned) conversations with the three year old.

"Mommy! That is amazing!"

While watching UP yesterday, "Mommy, this movie is too dangerous."

When talking about my brother coming to visit, "Mommy! I'm so ee-sited about Uncle Ian coming out!"

And whenever he doesn't want to do something that we've told him to do (like clean up his toys), *giant, dramatic sigh* "I can't, I'm ee-sausted!"

On the other hand, Aaron stilll communicates mainly with tribal yells and pointing. He says, "Mama" "Daddy" "Hi" "bye" and everything else is either "oh!" or "AHHH!".

He'll get it eventually. :)

(Yes, we have a lot of other stuff to update on including our trip to Catalina, Sam's graduation and other fun stuff that has been going on, but I haven't uploaded pictures yet and the kids are currently taking turns punching each other and screaming so...that's for another time.)