I was thinking of this because this weekend had just a real tender feeling about it.  We had so much time together and felt like we spent it really playing together and working together.  It felt so good.  But it made me start thinking about how I feel like some of the little traditions we have started have made a difference for our family life.  Kind of these little things the kids, as well as Robby and I, have learned to count on.  And it occurred to me, we have traditions, hip hip hooray!  Who would have guessed? We have our Friday night "movie night" where really George just lives for staying up a bit later with popcorn and smoothies.  We have our Saturday morning "cleaning party" which has proved to be a very successful tradition where the kids even love to help.  On Sundays we of course, we have church, and a family dinner (usually with friends) and then on Sunday nights we have decided to do our "Family Home Evening."  This has worked out great for us, because usually Robby is in Tacoma on Monday nights and gets home too late for us to have FHE.  It feels so good to do it Sunday nights because we are all together and we actually do it and love it. During the week days the boys and I have just a few things that are recurring for us that have provided just enough structure for my personality to actually be able to keep it up.  We have "scripture time" every morning at breakfast and we start by singing the chorus to "scripture power" and we raise our arm up to the sky, like we did in primary, every time we sing hte word "power."  George always reminds me about scripture time and has learned to count on it.  We also have Oliver's nap after lunch.  And during his nap I do "learning time" with George.  We are learning numbers and letters mostly.  It is really fun for us to have this time together.  It has become one of my favorite times of the day.  Georgie loves it.  I think it is just so fun to be with each other with our attention undivided.  I don't worry so much about how much is really sinking in so much as just making learning fun.  But I was pleasantly surprised to see the other day that he recognizes the majority of his letters already, after only a month.  We have a great time.  Anyway, ya after his "learning time" he goes up to his play room and we set a timer for 60 minutes for his "rest time" where he can rest on the couch with his blanket or play with his toys.  He also can choose to play some games on the computer, which is usually his choice. I feel like these things have been a great little framework for our family life.  They provide some great time for us to be together.  I feel like I want to do more of this because it just seems like George loves knowing what to expect.  I get so excited thinking about our family life and all the things that are ahead.  I hope we can always be shifting things as needed to provide these little reccurring events that work for their ages and stages of life.  It feels like there are things I definitely need to still get in place and establish, but I do feel grateful for the things we are doing.  I feel like just these few things have made a difference in the happiness we experience together as a family.  It is really nice.

Oliver, our good sleeper Originally uploaded by ingebretsen Oliver has always been such a great sleeper.  It is so nice!  He has always fallen asleep so well and sleeps so soundly.  Notice his blanket, "bah, bah," as he calls it wrapped around him. He loves "bah, bah," and takes him everywhere he goes, with few exceptions. That is hilarious that I just called it a "him." I guess that shows you how Oliver feels about it.

My two boys Originally uploaded by ingebretsen I love this photo because they are actually both happy and smiling and looking at the camera. Oliver's hair is hilarious, but I think it only adds to the character of the photo.  The first one ever, really.  So I was pretty excited.  Man, I love these two! They are so fun and it has been so much fun to see them really beginning to interact with each other. We were at "old macdonalds," as George calls it, the other day where they were playing in the play area together. It is too small for me to get through, thankfully, and so I told George he would have to help Oliver because I wouldn't be able to. It was so adorable to see Oliver depend on George and to see the satisfaction in George when he would successfully lift Oliver up to where he wanted to go. I couldn't believe how much fun they were having with each other. George would say, "Do you want to go with me again, Oliver?" all giggly. And he would reply every time, "Ya, Gah, Gah" (which is pronounced like "Jah, Jah.") It lasted for an hour and a half. I never really imagined I would take my children to Macdonalds but man, that play structure hit the spot that day. They loved it. And I loved it because I just got to sit there and watch their darling interactions. Who knew? In fact, I keep thinking that I should open a place that could provide a similar experience for Moms and kids but cleaner, and better food. But that is a different blog entry all together. Anyway, ever since Oliver was young George would always say, "Mom, hold your two boys" and I am so happy that I have been blessed with these two. I am honestly so thankful for them, being their mom is way more fun than I ever could have hoped for. I love to play with them and I love to watch them play together, happily especially.

"Learning Time" with George

George and I have learning time, the days we are home, during Oliver's nap time. He loves it. It is really fun to do together and lately he is rememebring so many of his letters. He gets super into it, which is really fun to see him get so energized him about learning. After drawing this "A" today he started jumping up and down, ran in to show his Dad, and then said, "I am just so happy because I am proud of myself, Mom." It was super cute and a really fun time to have together after a morning with a quite a few rough spots. It felt good to have some alone time. George is so much fun and really tries his best at the things he does, and I appreciate that about him. After learning the letter "K" he wanted to know how to spell Grandma Ka's name, and then Papa. So he "drawed" their names, as he says.

We had a great day together with our friends, Eryn, Ian, and Benjamin hanging out for the day in Seattle by the huge fountains at Seattle Center. The kids were pretty intimidated, as you can see the fountain is HUGE. It was really fun and we were especially lucky to have one last really warm week before the fall came sprinkling us with rain and overcast days.

Oliver the Monkey Originally uploaded by ingebretsen Oliver decided he wanted to be a monkey and actually it is quite fitting since he LOVES bananas.

George is going to be a skunk this year for Halloween. He is so excited about it that I let him wear it right away. I figure we should get all the use out of it that we can. The whole thing originated because when he saw the skunk costume I was joking with him how silly it was, "I'll keep saying, Ewe, what stinks, and then you can say, 'it's me!' " He thought that was so funny and was sold on the idea. So now he is really playing it up. On the back of the skunk costume it says, "Lil Stinker." It is pretty cute.