the next 10 days...

So just a few minutes ago, I realized that I haven't yet posted anything about the next 10 days... in a few hours, I am leaving my family and heading to Jinotepe, Nicaragua with a group of 21 people from our church.  We will be staying/working at Arms of Love International and have a full schedule each day, but I'm so excited to be going!  Back here in Ames, Jake is taking a few days off of work, but then also has "help" coming in... namely Uncle Rick, Grandpa Rick, Grandpa Mark and Grandma Susan, Grandma Rosie and Kim!  So I'm selfishly hoping that my boys miss me at some point, but I think they're going to be having so much fun with everyone else at the house!  I kind of feel like there's a party happening at my house without me!  :-)  But it's ok... I'm really excited about where I'm going to be!  And I feel good about it, mainly because I know that my family is going to be so well loved here while I'm gone, that I will be able to focus on the kids and adults that we're with in Nicaragua!  My good friend, Jess (college roommate for two years) is actually one of the trip leaders, so it's fun to be setting out with her! I'm taking my camera along and hoping that I remember to pull it out to take pics... which may affect the length of my follow-up post!  

We are praying for safe travels to Nicaragua and back, and also while we're there.  We'll be doing some traveling from Jinotepe into Managua to attend church and do some outreach there.  Another specific prayer request is for some computers we're taking with us that have been donated for the library at Arms of Love... praying that they make it safely, in one piece and that we have favor with the customs people in Managua. We've also been praying for good health, for us and for our families... feeling like that's an area of attack at the moment, so we're praying against it!  

As I said, I hope to be able to share lots when I get back!  And I'll probably be amazed at the changes in my boys, just being gone 10 days... maybe Benjamin will start crawling!  Go buddy!!  :-)  Until next time... 

Happy birthday, Benjamin!

This is our happy, happy birthday post to Benjamin!  I can't even believe that I'm typing this... he turns ONE today!  

A little about him... he is such a little sweetheart - always has a smile, especially for his brothers.  Around our house, he is called "Benjamin" or "Squeaky".  (Before Benjamin was born, Roman always called him Squeaky... we really have no idea where this came from, but it's sticking, at least from Roman!)  Benjamin still LOVES sitting - no interest in crawling or walking or pulling up or anything like that.  Although, he does "get around" - when sitting, he swings his legs in a full circle and moves to where he needs to go!  So really, he's a smart little guy!  We haven't been to his one-year wellness check yet, but last we knew, he was "rockin' the 90's", as in 90th-percentile on height, weight and head size.  If I had to guess today what he would be when he grows up, I would say a ball player (not sure which game),but he LOVES throwing and (sort-of) catching a ball... OR a drummer.  I think he'd be perfect as either one. :-)

We got to celebrate Benjamin's birthday last Saturday with our family -- Raefe, Ada, Ross, Brittany, Conrad, Kalen, Grandpa Mark & Grandma Susan, Grandma Rosie, and Grandpa Rick & Kim!  It was a fun day!  Here are some pics to highlight...

Benjamin's "smash" cake... and then the yummy cake that the rest of us got to eat!  

Benjamin did not appreciate the "birthday song" as we had hoped, and then he tried pushing his cake onto the floor... maybe a little too much attention/noise that the birthday boy wasn't expecting?!

So Jake stepped in and helped him out, just to get started... 

...and then he soon figured out the yumminess that he had in front of him, and dove right in!   

After the cake came a quick dip in the tub for the birthday boy, a change of clothes, and then some gifts!

The gifts were all very nice, and so was the tissue paper!  (noisy!!!)

A fun day to celebrate our little man!!

catch-up time!

agh!!  i can't believe how much time has passed since my last post!  (i feel like this is a short-cut text that i use too often!)  we have been doing well here -- fighting some flu stuff, but we're all good at the moment, so hooray for us!!  

things that are have changed/are changing in our house... probably the biggest one is the move for roman and josiah... they are now sharing a room!  jake found some great bunk beds, so we have the beds (unstacked right now, because of the shape of the room) in what used to be roman's room, and is now "the boys' room"!  it's fun, but a challenge... learning how to fall asleep/rest quietly while there is someone in the same room, who would be VERY fun to play with/talk to/laugh with/jump on... oh dear! yes, all of these things have happened during naptime!  

what else?  ummm, yeah, the boys are shaving now, thanks to a special treat from gma susan and gpa mark! :)  makes a bit of a mess in the bathroom, but i've decided to adopt a new "mess-shmess" attitude!  as long as it can be cleaned up, it's ok!  (for the most part).  :)

bathtub fun... we can fit three boys in a tub (haven't tried four!)... and they love it!  

we have been able to enjoy our backyard a TINY bit last week -- had a few warm-er afternoons, so we tried to head outside when it was the sunniest, and lasted about 20 minutes!  roman and josiah practiced their "running skills" to keep warm. benjmain is still non-mobile, so he gets carried around when we're outside... we don't want a frozen benjamin-sicle, so 20 minutes was about all he could take!  

when we're in the basement, the boys almost always spend some time doing their "work" -- hammering (loudly) on this wooden piece in our basement.  i know, i shouldn't expect hammering to be quiet or soft, but seriously?  they love to do their "work"... know they will be good little workers some day!  

i randomly try to take pics of the boys together... maybe i'm way too optimistic in my thinking, but i'd LOVE to get a pic with all three boys looking at the camera, maybe even smiling!?!  no such luck, but i do love the random "outtakes" that we get!  :)

  

and this coming weekend, we're celebrating Benjamin's 1st birthday!  i can't believe how fast this past year has gone.  we are totally blessed by our little man and love him so much!  we'll hopefully have some fun pics to post next week of the celebration!

until next time... :)

winter fun and firsts...

I'm being surprised more often lately with how well roman and josiah can play together - of course, it sort of depends on the day, but it seems like more often than not, they're enjoying things together. and it's usually when i just send them downstairs to play (while i start supper or change benjamin's diaper or something upstairs)... they get focused on something together - almost better than when i try to organize something for them to do.  this is reassuring to me.  :-)  

i also love that we can have fun with simple things -- things that are super-interesting and fun, even for just a few days -- and then we move on to other, random things!  (like diaper boxes and clothespins!)  

hmmm... just looks like a messy play area...

... ah-haaaa!

roman worked very hard on this one night. :)

benjamin's first haircut... NOT too happy about this.  he was
much happier in the tub post-haircut. (sorry, no tub pics.)

we finally had some fun in the snow!  this is a trick that i have not mastered yet -- figuring out how to go outside for the perfect amount of time that the older two are satisfied without benjamin being a frozen babycicle.  Since benjamin isn't mobile yet, i carry him around outside - and he doesn't move around like the boys are (helping them to stay warm). if he liked the sled even a TINY bit, i could snuggle him in there and pull him around a bit... but... he didn't seem to like the sled this day...  

trying the sled... not everyone is a fan... :(

our gecko, josiah, crawling everywhere in the snow

not quite sure about this snow thing yet...

...smiling a little more now!  

our roman snow-angel...

All of the snow has almost melted away, so we're hoping for some more soon, so that we can actually get out to build a snowman  and try sledding!  (We were still sick/not 100% when this first snow came, so we didn't really get to play in it as much as we had hoped!)  So we're thinking happy snow thoughts!! 

how big is benjamin?

he's been working on this for a little while now...  and he's had lots of help from his coaches (Roman and Josiah). we are loving watching benjamin grow stronger and get more bold with reaching for things ahead of and behind him.  He's still very content sitting - no need to move yet!  I know that things will change quickly, once he starts moving and trying to keep up with the brothers, so I'm just fine with this stage!  :)

josiah shares a song

Josiah has become quite the singer.  (I think that Roman enjoys singing, too, but Josiah has been doing this more lately.)  The boys both have certain songs that they like to have us sing to them at night, just before bed.  It shouldn't surprise me that Josiah has learned these songs, by hearing us sing them almost every day.  Granted, they are songs that we've chosen to sing to them -- but we hope that they understand and love these songs on their own!

As we drove up to our church this morning, Josiah yelled from the back seat, "Mama, is this church?  Are we at church?"  I said, "Yep, we're here."  And then he shouted back "Yeah!  Hooray!  We win!"  Yes, buddy, we do win.  :)

*These are just portions of the songs... I am amazed that Josiah sat here long enough to get this much on video!! He is a busy little boy, as you know!  :)

merry christmas from the stotts fam!

Yikes!  It has been over a month since I posted... so much for getting into a weekly-post-routine!  how about that for 2013!!?!  :)  Our December has been fun - we actually got some snow (woo hoo!) and even got to experience some "snow days" off from school (for Roman!)  Fun!  So I guess we'll do a quick catch-up and we'll I'll hopefully do better going forward!  :)

benjamin seemed to enjoy the christmas tree, especially the
Little People nativity, which always seemed
to end up on his blanket. 

Here are some shots of our tree, taken by Roman... sort of artsy?  (I can always tell when he's had the camera!)

Roman found a new place to play - makes Benjamin 
laugh pretty hard!  These two really enjoy 
playing together!  :) 

A Stotts-boy-train... all aboard! 

Decorating Christmas cookies!
These two are very good at sprinkling!

Looking out our back door... a beautiful snow!  

Jake and his super-helpers, heading out to
scoop walks/drive-way!

Christmas at the Yutzy House -- kids table!

Not sure when we'll get a pic of all three smiling at the
camera...  maybe in a few years?!?  

...and here we are! Merry Christmas!!