Bowling for Birthdays!

We went bowling for my birthday last weekend, and it was Zack and Nathan's first time at the alley. They did NOT want to leave! Nathan couldn't stop jumping, he was so excited! We went 5 pin bowling so they could lift the balls, and they had tiny little adorable bowling shoes. Way too cute!

Favorite Songs

As they listen to more and more music, the boys' eyes are opened to even more songs that they like. Just like most kids, the current favorites are always requested to be on repeat as much as possible, especially in the car. Zack and Nathan's current favorite songs include:
-Bicycle Race and We Will Rock You by Queen
-Bulls on Parade by Rage Against the Machine
-Bleed it Out by Linkin Park

Zack loves listening to our Queen's greatest hits album, and it's adorable hearing him sing "Ooooooh, you make me liiiive" from You're my Best Friend.

The boys go to "Wee Grow" during my Wednesday morning bible study at Beulah, which is a sort of preschool combined with sunday school. They came home the other day singing "Deep and Wide" which is from waaaaay back, and it was so cute! Ask them to sing it for you - Nathan does the actions so great!

Full of surprises

Zack is so full of surprises. What a smart kid.

Last week he said to me, "Mommy, I'm going to draw you a volume."
"A what??"
"A VOL-ume!"
"Okay Zack. Draw me a volume."
Not knowing what he was going to draw, he came back from the table with a picture of a sound wave. Wow.

Zack has been really good with copying rhythms and staying on the beat with music, and yesterday we really knew how well he knew it. Pete got this mini guitar amp that the boys love, and it plays the "Smoke on the Water" guitar riff by Deep Purple. He asked Pete if he would sing along with the music and Pete told Zack that you can't sing along if there aren't any words. Without missing a beat, Zack pressed the button on the amp and sang perfectly with the beat of the music,
"Sing the song,
Sing sing the song!
Sing the song
Sing singgg!"
Pointing to Pete on every beat with an "I TOLD you it would work" look on his face, he looked at us when he was done singing and all we could do was laugh and hug him.

Fall

These fall days have been wonderful. Nice and warm sun, cool breeze, perfect for walks. The boys are loving the color change of the trees and the falling leaves. Nathan prefers the "pokey trees" as he called them during a conversation in the car. Zack likes the leafy trees. We went for a walk through the participark with grandma last week, and I couldn't resist taking pictures.
After three attempts to send him, this fall is finally Pete's time to go back to school. What a relief that we are at last able to send him! He's got his school supplies, his backpack, and his bus pass. He'll be on his way on October 14th - a week from tomorrow - for 8 weeks at NAIT. Then he'll be back at work again. Yay Pete!

When I Turn Five...

The boys are both very insistent that turning five will be the start of very exciting lives. Whenever the boys are told they're too small for something, they say that they'll do it when they turn 5.

Zack has said that he will do the following when he turns 5:
- Go to school
- Read (he won't read right now, he wants to wait til then)
- Race a motorcycle
- Drive the car/truck/any vehicle he sees

Nathan says that when he turns 5 he will:
- Be Optimus Prime
- Pour his own cereal/milk
- Go to school
- Race a motorcycle
- Play baseball, hockey, other sports

Whenever the boys see something cool, they tell me that they will do it when they turn five. Boy will Nathan be sad when he's only 4 and Zack gets to be 5! It sounds like all kinds of doors open up when you're that old!

Zack's Prayer

I had to write this down, it was both innocent and funny... We were praying for supper last night and Zack very sincerely prayed, "...and please protect our bodies and... *sigh* ...protect our penises..."

Always running

Nathan has so much energy, some people get tired just from watching him. His favorite movie is Cars, but he doesn't just sit and watch it. He re-enacts the movie, and he's Lightning McQueen (the main car). He clears a path and runs as fast as possible around the coffee table "race track" for pretty much the entire movie, quoting most of the lines with the movie while running. He's the only kid I know that is covered in sweat just watching a movie. I remember one particular instance of his abounding energy when this spring I had to take him to the hospital. He had croup so bad he could barely breathe, and he was coughing so hard there was vomit everywhere. It was so bad that eventually I packed him up in his jammies and we went to emerg in Stony Plain. The other people waiting were watching Nathan with wonder -- this obviously very sick boy running as fast as he could, touching every button he could find, playing with the vending machines, turning the lights on and off, taking all the kleenexes out of the boxes, all while coughing terribly and trying to breathe. They all said something to the effect of, "Wow, he's got a lot of energy!" No kidding. You should see him when he's healthy!

My boys

I realized that with all the excitement of being healed, eating new foods, and Pete going to school, I've neglected to talk about what Zack and Nathan are up to! Let's see... Zack's favorite things to do right now are:

- Ride bikes

- Play wii sports

- Write words and color

- Boss Nathan around

- Race - anything, anytime, anywhere. The only problem is that he HAS to win

Nathan's favorite things to do are:

- Play hockey in the driveway every day

- Ride bikes

- RUN, jump, and gallop at all times

- Play with his cars

- Make Zack mad

- Take apart everything that Zack puts together

The boys still love to play together - it's great watching them (especially when they're actually getting along) when they are pretending. I love that they love eachother.