Time Stood Still

The boys have been talking about heaven over the past couple of days.  And when they do, it feels like time is standing still as I listen to them.

The first conversation occurred between Zach and Gabe on the drive home from swim lessons the other night.  It was a truly magical moment.  Here's how the conversation went:


Zach:  Gabe, why are there fields up in heaven?

Gabe:  What fields?

Zach:  The roads.  Why are there roads up in heaven?

Gabe:  There are roads in heaven just like there are roads here.  Everything here is also in heaven.

Zach:  Do we leave our house when we go to heaven?

Gabe:  Yes.

Zach:  I don't want to leave my house.  I don't want to leave my toys.

Gabe:  You'll be older when you go to heaven.  You'll be a man.  Men don't play with toys.  You won't want to play with your toys anymore.

Zach:  I want to take my snowman to heaven.

Gabe:  The little snowman?

Zach:  Yea, the little snowman.  I want to take that to heaven, and I want to take [I can't remember what it was!!!!  Dang!!!].

Gabe:  Okay, you can take them to heaven.

Zach:  Oh, great!


I really can't explain what it felt like to listen to that conversation.  It was magical, holy, and precious.  I felt so lucky to witness it.

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Tonight, Zach was sitting beside me at the end of a Christmas Veggie Tales movie.  He turned to me and said, "I want to go to heaven."  When I asked him why, he said, "because I want to see Jesus and I want to see Grandma Sandy."

I got teary and thought how happy Gam would be to hear that story. 

My Life's Work

Yesterday, Gabe started playing with our many dinosaurs (I love it when they get excited about toys that they haven't played with in a while).  Gabe set the dinosaurs up all over the living room floor, to the point where you really couldn't walk to a couch or around the room much.  I suggested that he move them a bit, but Gabe insisted that he was making "dinosaur world" and that they all needed to stay where they were.

Wouldn't you know, Zach comes along and takes one of the dinosaurs to play with it.  Gabe freaks out and yells at the top of his lungs, "This is my life's work!  You're ruining my life's work!"  Gah!

And from there we had to talk about how hard it is to not be able to touch or play with at least one of the dinosaurs etc., and how his life's work still looks great without one of the (many) dinosaurs on the floor.

This morning, "dinosaur world" took over the living room; and again there was conflict and drama.  But, honestly, "my life's work"?  Is that not the funniest thing you've ever heard?

Two Cute Gabeisms

Over the weekend, Gabe said two things that I thought were super cute.

We'd gone to see Santa at Whip Hill Park in Melrose.  It was a chilly afternoon, and they were handing out hot cocoa after seeing Santa.  Gabe really liked the hot chocolate, and after taking a sip he exclaimed, "I think you should have a blast of hot cocoa every day."

Yesterday during quiet time, Gabe drew lots of pictures (over 6 pictures - which is A LOT for him).  He came down with the paper and crayons and reported dramatically, "I didn't get a single piece of shut eye; I was so busy drawing."  And the proceeded to throw himself over the cushions on the floor and to lie down. 

Gabe Turns 6!

Gabe turned 6 on September 18.  It's so hard to believe that our baby is six.  Six!  His birthday fell on a Wednesday, and it happened to be a half-day at school, so I asked Gabe how he wanted to celebrate.  We ended up going to Chuck E Cheese right after school; for the first 45 minutes, we were the only ones in the place!  The boys had a great time.  Later that night when Dad got home from work, Gabe opened up his presents.

Then on Friday evening, Gabe had his first ever all-boys/kid party at a bouncing/jumping place called, Pump It Up.  The party went really well and Gabe had a great time. 

Looking back, it really was Birthday-palooza, actually.  On the Sunday after his birthday, we went back to Coco Key Water Park and had a blast!  Later in the afternoon, Nini & Papa came over and we had more cake and presents.

Happy Birthday to our little, big guy!

The pictures didn't upload exactly in order.  Ah well.

at Chuck E Cheese's

opening up the family gifts

the group!

the throne is a very popular spot to sit and eat after the party, and Gabe did a great job of sharing it with his friends

cake time!

Zach and his buddies

Gabe got to design this birthday crown and wear it all day at school

playing with a new Batman cave that Gabe picked out from some money that Gampa sent him!

birthday certificate from school

the jumping slides!

Gabe boxing

this is the big draw for Gabe - the boys climb up the bouncy rock in the middle and jump off

jousting with his friend, Joseph

modeling the astronaut costume that Nini & Papa gave him for his birthday!

 

 

at the water park!

two little boys going down the slide

swimming all by himself!

Gabe, too!

 

 

 

Our Little Artist

We went to the Dawson/Rosnov family's house for Thanksgiving dessert.  They have a nice big toy room in their basement where the boys love to play.  I went down to check on them at point point, and I saw Gabe, Zach, and Drew building a train track.  Gabe had a wooden train building in his hand, and he said to the younger two, "Let's add some background details."  Neither Drew nor Zach said anything in response, but I'm so glad that I caught that comment.  Background details?  Must be a term he learned in art class?  Gah!

More September School Work

Gabe came home with a "Superstar" ticket!

Gabe's class made this "School" book to take home and share with their families

this is Gabe's page

this is how he's writing his name at the beginning of the year

here's a picture of his raccoon

more Zachie artwork!

Zach came home with this slip of paper one day!

he shared at school!

Big boy, doing his homework

working hard

and Zach is always close by

The Beach In September Followed By Apple Picking!

One of the warmer Saturdays in September, we took the boys to Crane's Beach to run around.  At first, it almost seemed too cold to play; but the boys started running around and soon they were in their suits and playing in the water!  After some time at the beach, we stopped by Russell Orchards, down the street from Crane's and picked some apples - it was the perfect early fall day.

Zach wearing Jay's sweatshirt to combat the cold

at the orchard!

at the beach!

I love this shot of Gabe!

watching their toy boat move downstream