Lunch with Dad, Chalk, Tomatoes, Bikes

LUNCH WITH DADDY
One wonderful thing about living in a small town, is that Nate works 2 blocks away from home so he comes home for lunch every day. As you can see, the boys love having Daddy home!


Resting with Daddy


Wrestling...or smothering

CHALK
Henry and Walter had lots of fun using chalk to draw on the driveway last night. You can tell how much fun they had by how dirty their clothes got...







TOMATOES
This spring, Uncle Dave gave us 4 tomato plants that he started and this is what they look like now! They are taller than Nate.


Someone told us it looks like we'll need a chainsaw to chop down our tomato plants this fall!


The boys love picking sweet treats off the tomato plants.

BIKES
Today we visited our friends and enjoyed a beautiful morning riding "bikes" together and playing.


They were very busy.


Tseganesh


Trying out pedals


The seat is a little high, so he found a new spot to sit.


Hmmm, this thing looks way more exciting than those bikes!

Important Mail

After 9 months of waiting, Henry's Certificate of Citizenship arrived in the mail yesterday with a letter from the President. He even let me take a picture of him with the certificate.


"Stick Cheese!"


Taking a look...


So this wasn't part of the mail, but the boys had fun playing in their ship (my laundry basket) this morning...


...and then taking everything out of the kitchen drawers to find some great "hats."

Mama Bakkel's Birthday Weekend

Here are a few pictures from this past weekend.


Getting ready to head home - all tired out!


With my boys...I may look a little worn out, too.


One of my little sweeties


I think the highlight of Henry's Saturday night was talking with his friend, Uncle Denny. They talked for a long time! Anytime I got close to the table, Henry would say, "Beep, beep Mommy." Which basically means he wanted me to leave. It was so sweet to hear part of their conversation:
Henry: My mom takes to me candy store....
Uncle Denny: Does your mom buy you lots of candy?
H: No. Just 1.
D: Why does she only buy you 1 candy?
H: Umm, well, tummy aches.
D: Oh, your mom doesn't want you to get tummy aches?
H: Yes.

When I took these pictures and asked Henry to say cheese, he said, "Cheese!" Then he looked at his friend and said, "What kind?"
D: Swiss.
H: Stick cheese. (string cheese)



Happy Birthday, Grandma!


Playing with cousin Lincoln.


Family Picture


Dismantling Mama L's couches and climbing "to the top of the mountain."

Wild Things

This weekend was the first time our family was away from home since we got back from Korea. I wasn't sure how it was going to go, but it turned out to be a really nice weekend celebrating my grandma's birthday and visiting family and friends. I'll have to break the pictures up because I need to go to bed...(I am listening to the big thunder storm at 12:30 a.m., hoping it's not washing away the paint Nate and I just finished putting on the porch floor!)

We had pictures taken on Friday afternoon and then headed to my parents. Our friends, Patrick, Mary and Addie stopped by to visit. It was wonderful to get to spend some time with them again. The kiddos had lots of fun with each other and the dads made it even more fun! It was pretty wild.


Oh the giggling that was going on while Nate bounced them up and down!


Patrick the Tickle Monster - I don't think Henry is having any fun at all...


There was lots of rolling around on the floor, pretending to be steamrollers.


Henry and Walter love trying to do somersaults lately.


Addie


Having fun playing the piano together.

Trains

Uncle Jeff and Aunt Betsy passed along a train set that their kids enjoyed playing with and now Henry and Walter are having fun with it (and Nate, too). It was perfect for the last few rainy days!


Walter and Daddy watching the trains.


Henry has lots of fun setting everything up.

And for myself, so I don't forget: Henry's sayings lately
"Pawn" = Come On
"My cousins" = anybody he thinks is fun
"evil" = as in "Me either" which always throws me when I hear him say, "Me evil."
"This is my baby" = when he introduces Walter

Walter is saying: Puppy, mommy, daddy, hi, bye, and MinHo

More "Awww" moments

Auntie Mimi brought a malt along with her today when she came to visit with Mama, Boppa, and Mimi #1. Henry and Walter were more than happy to help her finish it off!


This morning Henry enjoyed being a big brother - "Tickle, tickle..." When Walter woke up from his nap, Henry went into his room and comforted him with, "It's okay, honey. What's wrong, honey?"

Playing Together

We've had a few rainy days in a row here...lots of time inside. Nate and I loved watching these 2 playing tractor and train together. A bit sappy, but it warmed my heart. These are not the best pictures because they were on the move, but at least I'll remember this first and hopefully see a lot more of it in the future.


They drove around the dining room and family room together, both making car noises...

Piano, Muscles, and Dinner

Today was very, very windy (not too unusual for our area) and cool. We decided to head to the library. I was loading Walter into his carseat when Henry announced that he thought we should walk to the library! What? It's cold and windy! It ended up being a great idea and the weather was much nicer when we arrived home. Sometimes little boys have better ideas than moms. :)


This is a daily event at our house.


Henry showing me his muscles.


We had sticky rice and sweet and sour chicken for supper tonight. When Henry walked in the kitchen and saw what we were having he said, "I need my chopsticks." I was very impressed with how well he did with them this time.


Walter LOVED the rice! Can you see the handful of rice he's holding?


What a cutie pie...and there was rice all over the floor, too.

Thursday & Friday

It rained quite a bit on Thursday morning so we had to stay inside. The boys had fun playing with Play dough...for about 5 minutes and then on to other things.


Walter discovered the red scooter and enjoys riding around the porch. Henry hopped on tonight, too, and they drove around together.



Look out! This is my little wild man.


We have some pictures of Walter with his omma and appa on the fridge that he likes to look at during the day. Today we added a few more pictures. Here he is looking at the new pictures, pointing and saying, "Omma. Appa."