I. am. speed.

Some dear friends of ours have girls who are older than our boys. They live on a farm and had a great motorized John Deere gator that their girls had outgrown, so they shared it with us right after Paxon was born. Since he loves to vehicles of any persuasion and since John Deere could be his middle name, this was maybe the best hand-me-down EVER for our family. For 2 and 1/2 years, I left the battery out of it and we used it as a climbing toy that we pretended to drive. Shortly after Asher was born, I thought it would be good diversion for Paxon. These days, Pax drives the gator all around our neighborhood as we walk the dogs (if he's not riding his bike). I have to say, he's got a pretty good sense of how to drive. This video is from last summer as Pax was learning how to drive:

This summer, we are embracing any way we can be on the move--- running, biking, driving-- here are a couple of faster paced clips:

Catch Up

I've been trying to find a space in my world for blogging the past, um... year. Since I've not posted many pictures or stories and I want to be sure that I remember some of these precious moments... here are a few of my favorite:

She's got legs...

So, Pax and I were playing together when he brushed up against my legs.

Pax: Mommy, your legs are SO pokey! (spoken with the distain of an annoyed 15 year old)

Me: (quickly rubbing my hand along my shins) My legs are not "SO pokey." They are just a little pokey. I just shaved them yesterday.

Pax: (pausing as if he needed to think of a tactful way to break bad news) Well, maybe you should have shaved them today.

Walk This Way!

After months of taking two or three steps, then dropping to a crawl, Asher decided last night and today that he'd give walking another try. He's really only doing 10-20 steps at a time, but now he KNOWS he can do it. I'm loving seeing him toddle around and hearing his big brother cheering him on. Here are a couple of quick videos that shows a few steps.

Paxon, Paxon, Strong and Able

Paxon is almost 4. Almost. I feel some level of disbelief as I type that. A lot has happened in the last 4 and 1/2 years to make life complete and completely different than life without children. In what feels like the blink of an eye, the needy, wonderful, newborn we fell in love with has become a smart, savvy, and capable kid.

This spring, we moved from tricycle to big boy bike. I thought we should wait until Pax's birthday, but Travis insisted that he'd miss out on "prime bike riding season" if we waited until October. Since I'm not the cyclist in the family, I caved, and on a random day, for no reason at all, we gave Paxon his bike. Pax is a cautious child, and he prefers to completely master tasks before doing them independently- do it right or don't do it. After a hesitant start related to using the brakes, he is now a biking master, frequently making the very hilly, 1 mile loop around the neighborhood. There are no other words to describe it- just pure cuteness in a bike helmet. I think Travis was right to give him the bike before he turned 4, but even with training wheels, he seems like a big kid as he zooms down the sidewalks. Almost.

The big boy bike is not the only way Pax is moving up in the world. He's literally moving up. Last week, bunk beds arrived at our house via G-Daddy's delivery service. My parents were changing some things around at their home and mom asked if we'd want my old bunk beds that I got when I was 3 (and later were passed down to my brother). Paxon is delighted with his new sleep situation. Suddenly, my "cautious" child is sleeping on the top bunk. He's reminded me multiple times this week how much he loves his new beds. Apparently, he and Asher both think the bottom bunk is Asher's bed. I'm not sure Asher is quite ready for the big boy bed transition, but Pax insists he's almost there. Almost.

I think I'll cling to the "almost" for now.

Well, heavens to Betsy

I never use that phrase. I don't know why I said it, but I did as a car cut in front of me in traffic. I guess better that than a choice four letter word considering that my backseat was occupied with two little parrots.

Me: Well, heavens to Betsy.

Paxon: Who's Betsy? What's heaven?

Me: Wishing that Travis were in the car for the theological questions. I don't know Betsy, it's just a funny thing to say.

Pax: So persistent. And heaven?

Me: Well, some people think that's where God lives. (I know, I'm selling him a Sunday school line here, but I was trying to move on).

Pax: Skeptically I don't think so, Mom. I think God lives in New York City.

So there you go. If you need to talk to the Big Guy, go to the Big Apple.

Big Mo

I remember a long time ago when we had a family blog and I wrote down funny stories a bit more consistently. There is no shortage of funny stories to post, just a shortage of time and energy to make it to the computer these days. For now, I'll put this one up because it's one I don't want to forget...

Pax has been making up a lot of words recently. Sometimes he tells me that he's speaking Spanish and other times, he's just putting sounds together. This can be pretty comical, particularly when he unintentionally hits some slang phrases. The other night, all of us were playing in the playroom before bedtime (as is our custom)...

Pax (driving a car over and speaking enthusiastically): Mom, I call this one Big Mofo.

Travis and I couldn't contain the laughter. I had to wonder what the driver of that car had done to him...