Handsome x3

We got the boys some new dress clothes for church :).

When Cuddlebug and Bearhug were little, we had a hard time getting them to wear anything other than their usual day-to-day clothes, largely due to their sensory issues. Church was enough of a battle without adding to it by forcing them to wear uncomfortable clothes - and so we have always let them wear polo shirts and khaki pants to church (with the exception of their baptism day).

But, as they are quickly approaching an age where they will be more young men than little boys, we thought it was time (again) to try having them wear dress shirts and ties. Actually tucked in and everything. With a belt (so that's what those loops are for!). And dress shoes. And we figured as long as we're getting our big boys some dress clothes, we'd do the same for Bitty.

You may or may not be surprised to learn that nearly all of the rampant complaining that day was NOT from Mr. Bitty. But by the time we left church both Cuddlebug and Bearhug had decided it wasn't SO bad after all.

"Behind the scenes" of how I managed to get a picture of actual smiles ;). Doesn't matter what they're wearing, these two never pass up a chance for a play-fight. This one is actually relatively mild :).

Peter Sam (the engine, in his best "most interesting man" voice) says, "I don't always go to church, but when I do, I go with Bitty." :)

Taken outside before church... I tried to get one of all three boys together, but as you can see that didn't work out.

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Leavin' on a jet plane...

This summer I took Bearhug and Cuddlebug on a trip to visit family. Bitty and dh stayed home, mostly because we're not quite ready to try air travel with Bitty just yet.

This was Cuddlebug and Bearhug's second trip on a plane, and they did great with the airport procedures, etc. It helped that we took the earliest flight possible in the morning so it wasn't too crowded when we went through security.

The lady checking ID's asked Cuddlebug how old he was and who he was traveling with, then asked him where he was going. He answered the first two questions just fine with one-word answers, but on the third one his expression went blank as he stood there thinking for a minute, then finally he turned to me and asked, "Hey Mom, where are we going again?" Awkward.

Next it was Bearhug's turn. She asked him how old he was and that was about as far as she got since he gave her the long version, "Eleven, same age as 'Cuddlebug' except I'm just two minutes younger and I'm going to the same destination as him and my mom..." he would have kept going, but we managed to move, thankfully there wasn't a long line behind us :).

(Most of the pictures below are new, a few I have posted before but I wanted to have them all in one post)

Waiting in the airport

Playing Angry Birds on the plane :)

Train surfing (trying to balance without holding on)

Visiting the Air Force base, where they signed the gigantic post card :)

Swimming with cousins (note: I typically try to be careful not to post pics of other people's kids on my blog, at least not where you can see their faces, without permission... in case you're wondering why there are not many pics of their cousins, it's not because I didn't take many!) :)

How many boys can you fit inside a stack of floaties? (anyone else remember "how many guys in bunny suits can fit into an H&R block"? hehe)

Race!

Love those smiles! :)

Helping their little cousin onto the floatie...

...and all three of them riding together :)

Love this one too... my little niece kept asking me to take her picture while she jumped :).

Looking rather Jason Bourne-esque, no?

uh-oh... ;)

At the airport with Grandma and Grandpa - the boys were sad to be leaving :(

Sunrise viewed from ~30k feet (pilots feel free to correct me if my estimate is way off base)

Waiting for the train to take us to our gate for the last leg of our trip

I am so proud of how well they both did travelling, and had a great time with my big boys! I missed my little guy though (and dh of course) so it was nice to get home too and have the family all together again :).

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Happy 10th birthday Cuddlebug and Bearhug!!

Last weekend we celebrated the big 1-0. Can you believe it?!

I am so grateful that Heavenly Father sent these two precious boys to us. They have brought to our family such light, energy, and joy. We are truly blessed!

I still can't believe they are TEN. One decade old ("a decade is a big deal" Cuddlebug told me, lol) :). I love the way they embrace life, the kindness they show others, their charming humor, the happiness they find in simple things. I love that there is still such innocence in how they see the world.

I love the relationship they have with each other, how they call each other "bro" (that's new, lol) and have plans to live together when they are adults (right next door to us, which I think would be awesome) :).

I thought it would be fun to post some pictures from each of their birthdays so far (at least it was fun for me to go back and look at all the pictures!):


2002 - 1st birthday

(Cuddlebug in red, Bearhug in blue)


2003 - 2nd birthday

(Bearhug in yellow, Cuddlebug in blue)


2004 - 3rd birthday

(Bearhug in grey, Cuddlebug in burnt orange)





2005 - 4th birthday

(Bearhug at left, Cuddlebug right)


2006 - 5th birthday

(Bearhug in red, Cuddlebug in blue)
This is the first year we had a party with other kids, it was at Chuck E. Cheese


2007 - 6th birthday

(Cuddlebug in blue, Bearhug in grey)

(Bearhug)
We took the boys to play Putt-putt that year :)


2008 - 7th birthday

(Cuddlebug with hat, Bearhug with no hat)
They were rolling Thomas trains down the track they got for their birthday :)

(Cuddlebug)
This was the smile he gave me when I asked if he was having a good birthday :)


2009 - 8th birthday

(Bearhug in the blue tie, Cuddlebug the maroon tie)
This was the year they were baptized (on their birthday)


2010 - 9th birthday

(Cuddlebug in blue, Bearhug in green)


...which brings us to 2011. Here are pictures from this year's birthday celebration :). We told the boys they could choose a party or a special dinner out as a family, wherever they wanted to go, and they chose dinner so after we opened presents we took them out to eat. Later that evening, we had cake (ice cream cake, yummy!).

Opening presents - they were really excited to get new Pokemon stuff :).

(Bearhug in green, Cuddlebug in blue)

I didn't even realize until I was uploading these that they started out this year wearing the same shirts they were wearing last year on their birthday. What are the odds??

(Bearhug in black, Cuddlebug in white)

They quickly changed into the new shirts they got as presents though - sporting two of the latest Pokemon, Reshiram and Zekrom.

What do you do when you have new Pokemon toys and shirts? A Pokemon battle, of course!

Time for cake!


Setting up Pokemon toys around the cake

Happy birthday Bearhug and Cuddlebug!!

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Individuality

(Bearhug in blue, Cuddlebug in red, 23 months old)

When Cuddlebug and Bearhug were born, we rarely dressed them alike. We had a lot of coordinating outfits but the only actual matching outfits we had were gifts. Well, until around age 5 when I started getting all three boys matching outfits for pictures :).

I have to confess - now that they're too old for us to dress them I sometimes wish we had dressed them alike when we had the chance because, well, it's really cute! :)

But the reason we didn't was because we wanted people to see them as unique individuals (and make it easier for others to tell them apart), and as they grew from babies to toddlers to preschoolers, we wanted them to see themselves as unique individuals and not feel like they always had to be just like each other. We figured if they chose to dress alike when they were old enough to choose for themselves, that would be great. And sometimes they do, but it seems to be more that they just happened to each pick the same color shirt that day more than actually trying to dress alike.

So recently I had an interesting conversation with Cuddlebug that made me glad we've tried to foster their individuality. I can't remember how we ended up on that topic, but Cuddlebug told me that sometimes people (at school) expect him and Bearhug to be EXACTLY the same and he doesn't like it.

CB: "I like what I like, and 'Bearhug' likes what he likes. And we're NOT the same."

me: "Of course you're not the same, you're each your own person. If you happen to like the same things, that's great, and if not, that's totally fine too."

(after all, I don't want them to feel like they have to always be different, either).

CB: "Yeah, because if we did things exactly the same, we wouldn't be able to live the happy lives we want to live."

(I love the way he phrases things, he repeated that one several times during the conversation).

Obviously I want each of them to be able to live the happy lives they want to live :). I thought it was great that he was thinking about such things, and that he has a strong sense of himself.




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