dear blog...

dear blog,

i hate to tell you this way, but i think we should start seeing other people.  it's not you - it's me.  and i think we can still be friends!  but from now on i'll be spending most of my time over on instagram at www.instagram.com/drbls.  our followers can expect very regular photo updates over there* - and i even mean that this time!  some people might even find the number of photos that i post to be gratuitous!  my dear blog, i plan/hope/aspire to have the boys still get together with you once a month, maybe at the end of each month, to give our fans a more robust update in words and pictures from our other cameras.  but this is just not working out and i had to be true to myself and follow a path that made more sense.  i hope you'll understand.  and please remember this is not the end of our relationship, it's just a healthy change that will be better for everyone.

take care,
momma

*dear fans: you don't have to have an instagram account to view our pictures there. you can get an account if you want to make comments, but it's not necessary at all. no worries!

fall fun...

i'm glad it's still technically fall so that i'm at least posting these pictures in the same season they originally happened!  here are the boys enjoying a fire in the fire pit.  the boys love doing this!!  ben is fascinated with the fire itself and how it all works and luke likes to poke around at things and enjoy the excitement.  (i promise we are very careful and safe during this entire process - no worries!)  we did this several times this fall and it was always a big hit!  

check out how good and cute sam was being in the stroller for a very long time!  each of my children have loved chewing on buckles and nylon straps.  as babies, they can't get enough of a carseat or stroller buckle - is this strange?  are all babies like this?  why do i buy baby toys?  i'm telling you sam was probably in this stroller chewing on that thing for 30 minutes without fussing...

but who can resist that cuteness?  not us.  so eventually we had to hold him and let him enjoy the fire too...

ben loved to (safely) mess around with the fire and see how different things caught on fire and what happened as the logs burned.  he was really fascinated...  

and both boys loved the s'mores, of course!!

back inside we've been doing lots and lots of crafts and learning activities again.  it seemed like forever when sam was first born before i was really able to play with the big boys again and do fun things with them. so now that we're back on that, we're in overdrive catching up on lost crafting time!  :)

luke now really likes to paint and glue and get messy with things (although he doesn't really like to get too messy, so i'm thankful for that!)... 

and ben still loves all this stuff and is at his best when he's really focused on making something...

we also started doing "sensory boxes" which was a super simple and genius idea i saw online.  i just fill a plastic box with beans or rice or dry pasta and add tiny animals figures and some small containers and the boys love it!!  i change it up every few weeks according to the season or holiday and the boys play with these things for a long time!  they both love pouring, mixing, sorting, dumping - anything sensory-related, and this is a huge hit. 

meanwhile, sam continues to be adorable and chubbier and is content with some toes...

gotta love it.  stay tuned again soon!  i'm determined to finish up the fall pictures soon so we can move on to a few Christmas pictures and some updates on what's really going on now.  bye!!

holly was here...

well, the title says it all - holly was here for her annual fall fandango with the matthys family.  yea!!!  she came bearing gifts, as seen above.  and we all had smiles from ear to ear the whole weekend!!  (we even got to sneak away a bit for a little shopping and silliness without the boys!!)...

the boys LOVED holly - how could they not??  she even got to feed sam - ahhhh!

and even though we didn't take very many pictures with her (booooooo!), we had such a great time and will remember all the fun and laughter and silliness she brought to our home.  thanks for coming, holly!!!  but no thanks for leaving - this is what luke thought about that!!  noooooooooo!!!

but i can't say i blame her for leaving because check out this fire ant pile in our backyard!!!

it's a good thing gabbee wasn't here for a visit because the very sight of that thing probably would have made her break out!!  

and here are a few recent pictures of the boys from the week before...  ben with morning hair, luke making funny faces, and sam at seven months old and rocking the feathers...

see you back again soon!  sorry i'm not as creative as the boys on here.  i save my creative energy for playing with them during the day and don't know how they can be so funny up here on the blog usually.  i'll try better next time.  :)  - momma