At 4 and 1/2, Jordon is very bright and has quite a memory. The stuff he says now often makes me laugh. Here are some examples-
Jordon- Looking at a wedding picture "Mommy are you married?"
Me- "Yes"
Jordon-- "Did you just spin around in your dress and then you were married?"
Me- "Something like that"
Jordon- "Oh, ok. Are you still married?"
Me- "Yes"
Jordon- "Well, you don't have a white dress on"
One night in the bath tub I discovered a scab he had on his forehead that I had not seen before since it was under his hair; apparently he had fallen at school and got this but we didn't know about it. I guess Daddy had not seen it either, as Jordon went on to tell me that "Daddy told me I did not have an owie but if I didn't be quiet he was going to give me one".
We have also talked about my job as a nurse. We read a book the other night that had kids at the end talking about what profession they were going to be when they grew up. Jordon told me he "wanted to be a nurse like Mommy", and that "boys can be nurses too". He has clearly heard this before from somewhere :)
One night out of the blue, we were lying on the couch together and he said "Grandpa Norbert is in heaven, but I still love him". It brought tears to my eyes. Jordon was just 18 months old when Dad died, but I guess I still talk about him enough in his presence that he he still has a sense of who he was.
The most recent things are related to Christmas. He told me tonight that Santa was working on making his Beyblades. Don told me Jordon saw a commercial on TV recently for jewelry from Jared's, and then he decided he wanted to go get me a ring for Christmas. So they settled on Kohl's (more in our budget range where he can get something fake + use a 20-30% off coupon). Don said he went back and forth about deciding which ring he wanted to get me. Then he came home and promptly gave it to me-- there was no waiting until Christmas to see it! It's a little more flashy than anything I would have picked out for myself, but I will wear it proudly and show it off to whoever I think will get a kick out of my thoughtful little Jordon! Then I had to help him wrap it so I could open it on Christmas Day. Later tonight the boys and I said Dad's table prayer before dinner and he thanked God for being able to get me that ring for Christmas.
Tristan is now 2 years and a couple months old. After being weaned off the 'baba', which went easier than we expected, Tristan has been a talking machine. His vocabulary has really picked up over the last couple months. He says 'Jordon' more clearly, and Jordon is really good about helping us interpret what Tristan is trying to say as there still are many times we can't understand what he wants. With being in the "terrible twos", he definitely throws a lot of fits and does his fair share of whining. But he's also the cuddliest kid and loves to snuggle up and read LOTS of books. He gives great hugs and "smooches". He's wild about tractors, hot wheels, play-doh, coloring and painting. He and his brother both love to play outside as much as possible. He likes to ride/ push his tricycle around the neighborhood. He likes to play in the sandbox in the backyard, and has learned to swing like a big boy next to his big brother. He does a lot of following after big brother, in doing and saying what Jordon does. Although they fight over toys on a daily basis, they actually play very well together most of the time. Tristan loves Thomas the Train and has started throwing fits at times when he can't wear his Thomas jammies or shirts (they can't be clean all the time!). He is not sleeping great right now and is often up a couple times during the night and then wanting to get up at 5 am, so Don and I have not been getting much sleep. Immediately after getting up, he wants his waffles, and wants to help with fixing them. He has become very independent and vocal when he thinks he doesn't need your help. Both boys love making things in the kitchen and have become big helpers with cooking and baking meals and "goodies", as Jordon calls them. They love to run and play, shriek and squeal as you would expect for active boys. They sure can try my patience but they are both such blessings!!
Mommy is loved!
Wearing the Batman cape while playing outside
Jordon showing off the new boots I ordered myself for Christmas!
Jon could not resist getting out the Nerf guns.
Master Beyblader
Love the sugar cookies
Kids in a box- Tim's idea. Karli only ended up with a little bump on the head.
Sock monkey got Lauren
My brothers' idea of Christmas fun- shooting Karli's dolls off each others heads with the kids' Nerf guns. Tim also ended up breaking the light in the living room- good thing the get-together was at his house!
Hot wheels!
My sock monkey and me- Aunt Sarzah in her trademark holiday jammie pants
M-I-Z-Z-O-U
Always great Mizzou stuff from Aunt Sarzah
Jordon was pretty excited about the ring and necklace he got Grandma.
Big tractor
It's unusual that on Christmas morning, of all days, Jordon ended up sleeping late till around 8 am! The play tent was from Santa for both boys, and they've enjoyed playing with it, that is after Mommy finally figured out how to put it together. Jordon's favorite thing was the Beyblade set. He spent the first day doing not much else but "battle" with metal fury with anyone he could recruit-Uncle Tim and Aunt Sarzah were not exempt. He and Daddy had to make some minor repairs to the Beyblades right out of the blocks, but everything has seemed to be working fine since then. The red one wins nearly everytime, so that one seems to be his favorite. Jordon has finally moved past the obsession with Cars and Lightening McQueen and now is into Beyblades, Batman, and Hot Wheels.
Tristan has been saying Merry Christmas to others very clearly! Aunt Sharon got the boys these cute "Jesus loves me" pictures. Tristan also enjoyed his new Thomas the Train shirt, his Hot Wheels, helicopter and Mack truck. He was up early and had his presents opened before his brother even woke up! He especially enjoyed helping me make Peppermint Meringue cookies on Christmas morning.
The boys were big helpers in decorating the tree and house for Christmas. They both have enjoyed my manger and the kid's manger from Aunt Sharon. Don gets really wigged out about them touching or potentially breaking anything, so I let them play with the figurines from my manger, which appear to be made out of hard plastic. They both really like to do this and it was funny to hear Tristan exclaiming "My Jesus!" in trying to keep Jordon away from his baby. He even took Jesus to bed with him tonight. Other nights over the past couple weeks, he has taken 2 small tractors to bed and I later checked on him to find him asleep, with one tractor still in each hand. Another night, he had taken some new Hot Wheels cars he had received as a gift from one of Don's work friends to bed, and I chuckled that night to check on him and find that all 5 cars were lined up perfectly in a row in the middle of his crib, while he was sleeping with his body smashed up against one side. Good thing the Hot Wheels had plenty of room to sleep!
This year we took the kids to a pancake breakfast in Strasburg to see Santa. Jordon continues to be afraid of Santa when it comes to actually sitting on his lap and talking to him which is evident in the picture with me coaxing him to get closer to Santa, but he did tell him what he wanted. They also got to make some Christmas cards and ornaments at the breakfast. I was impressed with the event-- good food, no crowd, a great-looking Santa and kid's crafts! What more could you ask for?
At 4 and 1/2, Jordon is very bright and has quite a memory. The stuff he says now often makes me laugh. Here are some examples-
Tristan is now 2 years and a couple months old. After being weaned off the 'baba', which went easier than we expected, Tristan has been a talking machine. His vocabulary has really picked up over the last couple months. He says 'Jordon' more clearly, and Jordon is really good about helping us interpret what Tristan is trying to say as there still are many times we can't understand what he wants. With being in the "terrible twos", he definitely throws a lot of fits and does his fair share of whining. But he's also the cuddliest kid and loves to snuggle up and read LOTS of books. He gives great hugs and "smooches". He's wild about tractors, hot wheels, play-doh, coloring and painting. He and his brother both love to play outside as much as possible. He likes to ride/ push his tricycle around the neighborhood. He likes to play in the sandbox in the backyard, and has learned to swing like a big boy next to his big brother. He does a lot of following after big brother, in doing and saying what Jordon does. Although they fight over toys on a daily basis, they actually play very well together most of the time. Tristan loves Thomas the Train and has started throwing fits at times when he can't wear his Thomas jammies or shirts (they can't be clean all the time!). He is not sleeping great right now and is often up a couple times during the night and then wanting to get up at 5 am, so Don and I have not been getting much sleep. Immediately after getting up, he wants his waffles, and wants to help with fixing them. He has become very independent and vocal when he thinks he doesn't need your help. Both boys love making things in the kitchen and have become big helpers with cooking and baking meals and "goodies", as Jordon calls them. They love to run and play, shriek and squeal as you would expect for active boys. They sure can try my patience but they are both such blessings!!
Mommy is loved!
Wearing the Batman cape while playing outside
Jordon showing off the new boots I ordered myself for Christmas!
Tristan was sacked out on the ride to Kirksville for Jon's wedding. He ditched the binky shortly after this wedding but we were not going to attempt taking it away before our 2 big car rides to the weddings (Megan's was the week before this one). We had a good time but were weddinged out- no more weddings in sight for a while which is good cause we needed some time to recover after all the fun and traveling!! 
Rehearsal dinner with Uncle Tim
Since we were at Megan's wedding and missed Karli's b-day party, she got to open her present at Jon's rehearsal dinner.
The kiddos entertaining themselves with crayons and coloring books getting ready for the wedding.
Cousins!!
Great picture with Aunt Sarzah!
Mom and her handsome boys
Whitney and her flower girls
Grandma and Jon walking down the isle
Jordon has become the pro at being a ring-bearer on back-to-back weekends! A few weeks before Jon's wedding, I was talking to Jordon about the wedding being 'up north' in Kirksville. He later asked if we were going to the 'North Pole', aka Kirksville.
Corraling the kids at the front during the ceremony
The kids went crazy running around on the dance floor, running and sliding and enjoying the lights.
