What a Great Group of Little Guys

I was thinking last night about how great it is to be a mom and how wonderful my three little boys are. I started thinking about all the cute and funny things that they do and thought I might share some.
I look at Spencer right now and cannot believe how big he is. He is now 6 years old. When I look back on his baby pictures I can't believe it is the same person. It makes me a little bit sad thinking of how fast he has grown up. Spencer is learning to read. It is amazing to see him progress in his learning, I love it! He is really good at math, which will be a great quality. When I ask him about how his day went at school he always answers "It was AWESOME!" I hope this enthusiasm will last through the rest of his school years, but have you ever heard a teenager say that school was AWESOME! It might just be wishful thinking. We went to a parent teacher conference last week and his teacher, Miss Gurney, said "Have you noticed that Spencer is always the last one out of class when you come pick him up? Well the reason is that he always stays and helps me push in the chairs." It brings a smile to my face. He is so sweet and will do those small acts of service. For Valentines Day Spencer wanted to spend the money he got from his Grandma on Valentine gifts for his brothers. He went with Jimmy to the dollar store and bought little dinosaur toys for Trenton and TJ. He was so happy and proud to be giving instead of receiving. Spencer has always been good at video games. We've discovered that he is amazing at the game Guitar Hero, which is a video game where you have to play a guitar. He is on level medium, because he has already passed the easy level. He is better at it then me. I had to have him pass a couple songs for me. He keeps saying, "Mom I'm better than you, huh." Little show off! :) At school he would tell us about the funny games the kids would play at recess at. He said that all the girls would chase the boys, and when the girls caught you they would put you in "jail." Then the other boys had to come rescue you from jail. He would play that every day until he discovered football. Football has now become the sport of choice. He is quite talented at playing as well. Jimmy will go out and play with him in the yard. Spencer has got quite the arm. It is interesting because his favorite team is the "VT's" (Virgina Tech). I have no idea why, it is probably because he played as the VT's on his video game. He once asked me where Virgina Tech was (we were talking about when you get older you go off to college). I told him it was far away and you would have to ride in a plane to get there. He then said "where can I go to school where I don't have to fly a plane to get there?" I guess that was his way of saying he wants to stay close to us when he gets older. For Christmas I bought him a football jersey, which he wears all the time. Grandma Cindy once said to him, "Do you ever wear anything else?"
Trenton is four years old. His birthday is in January and he told me right after Christmas, "You need to take down the Christmas decorations and put up decorations for my Batman birthday". Boy was he excited. Trenton does not eat, and when he does eat it is because we are forcing him to. Every meal he says he is not hungry, unless you offer him cookies and treats. It is so frustrating! I keep hoping he'll snap out of it soon. But I guess a kid won't starve himself, right!?! He has just started getting into playing video games with Spencer. It is really quite cute to watch him and he is actually getting pretty good. Trenton is Spencer's shadow. He loves going where Spencer goes. The great thing about it is that Spencer doesn't mind, what a blessing! Trenton loves to turn on the soundtrack to Cars and run around our kitchen island, all the while saying "Vrroooommm". The other boys usually join in but it is Trenton who always starts it. Every night Trenton has to have a story before he goes to bed. He really likes the story I made up about the 3 boys being super heroes with super forces. Spencer, strong force, Trenton, fast force, and TJ, stinky force (because he still wears diapers). He laughs and laughs when the story comes to the stinky force part. Trenton is probably our worst sleeper. He is always the last to bed and the first one up. I have his bedtime routine down, we'll put him to bed, then within 5 minutes he'll come out crying because "Spencer hurt me". I'll ask "where you in your bed or Spencer's?" He'll always say "mine", which is a lie. After we put him back he'll come out at least 2 more times for a drink, story, to go potty or to tell us something very important. He'll say "I have to tell you something" and it will usually be something ridiculous like "I have a nose" or "Yellow is a nice color" which makes us think "You have got to be kidding me, Please just go to bed!" He has been on a kick lately of coming out of his room and asking us to play hide and seek in his bed. We usually say, "sure go hide in your bed, we will count, and then come find you". Then, about 5 minutes later we'll hear, "I'm ready, are you coming". What a goof. Trenton has quite the imagination. He loves to dress up as Batman and pretend he is saving the world. My very favorite story about Trenton was this one day when I was trying to get some Christmas decorations up Spencer and Trenton started being a little bit wild and bumping into the decorations. I sent them to their room. A couple minutes later I heard Trenton and Spencer sneaking down the stairs. They were both dressed in camouflage. Spencer proceeded to tell me that Trenton told him to "dress in camo so mom would think we were bushes and then we could come out of our room". I could not help but laugh. Trenton is also our monkey boy, doing flips off the couch, or on our bed and "swinging" into bed (he does not like to climb up the ladder to get on the top bunk). He is also very photogenic. In pretty much all of the pictures we took for our family photos this year he looks amazing. He is quite a model. Trenton also loves to play in the dirt. When we went to Yellowstone he did "dirt angels". When he walked or you touched him dirt would puff off his body. Man was he a dirty boy. I was frustrated at the time, but looking back on it now it was one of the funniest things I have ever seen.
Taylor (TJ) is 2 years old. He is at such a fun age, I can't get enough of him. He is completely adorable. He loves to wrestle and play tackle football. When you play football with him all he wants you to do is chase him and tackle him to the ground. You will never get the chance to be the "tackled"! He'll grab the ball and say "Hike" at that point you have to tackle him or you'll hear about it. If you stop playing he will cry or say "No mommy, come back" or "Stand up!" He loves trains and Thomas the Tank Engine. He tries to sing the song on the Thomas movie, the only part he knows is "Thomas, he's the cheeky one". He will repeat this over and over. He also likes to sing a dinosaur song, but the only part we know is "Dinosaur, his tail is swift as lightning", so he will just sing "Dinosaur" over and over. He is our first child to get attached to a blanket. He has to have it to go to bed. When I try to put him down for a nap he will always say "No, play". Sometimes I can't help but give in and let him go play. I love this age when they are learning to talk. It's so cute! TJ is our best eater, and is usually in the kitchen. Everyday at lunch time he will stand at the kitchen table and yell to Spencer and Trenton "Sencer,Tenton - unch, it's Weady" (translation: Spencer, Trenton - lunch, it's ready). He has a little friend named Landen, who lives a couple houses away from us. I would say to him, "Do you want to go play with Landen?", and instantly he would wave and say "See Ya" and head for the door, meaning see you later mom, I'm out of here. TJ loves to watch movies, and he tends to want to change the movie every 10 minutes. He loves to watch Thomas the Train, Monster Inc. (he calls it "Scary-ya"), Cars, Toy Story 2, and Kung Fu Panda. He'll ask for "Fu Pana". He sounds so cute saying it. These are a few of his favorites, although he tends to watch just about anything you will put on. Sometimes he will sing "Na, Na, Na, Na Atman" (batman). So cute! He likes to pretend he's a dinosaur or monster and will walk around growling. Then when he sees you he will ROAR, and keep roaring until you react. Then he will laugh and start over again. He only wants to wear Thomas shirts or Dinosaur shirts, and he will fight you if you try to put something else on him. When he wants a drink he'll say "Fishy (thirsty) Mommy, drinky-ya (drink)". I don't know what it is about the "ya" at the end of words, but I sure do love it! I hope I will always remember how it sounds. He loves fruit snacks and will say "snacky" then when you give him one he'll bounce up and down and say "Yeah!" He gets excited about the littlest things. Then after he has the snack he will shove the whole thing in his mouth at once.
I have so many memories of these precious angels. They are the joys of my life. I just want to soak in everything and always remember them like this. Sometimes life gets hard when you are right in the middle of raising little kids, but I know that one day I am going to miss this time so much. I can already see it happening since I have no more little babies. I am moving on to another phase of life. I was talking to a friend who has 3 teenage boys, and she was saying how much she misses buying toys for Christmas. It hit me at that moment that my kids are growing up, FAST, and someday my life will be the same way, 3 teenage boys who won't want toys for Christmas. I need to enjoy these little things! I am striving to cherish every single day, no matter how stressful things get, and cherish my little children. I love you boys!!!