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Wordless Wednesday: Double the Lasering Fun is a post from Stop, Drop and Blog. Want more of Stop, Drop and Blog? Like our page on Facebook! If you have questions, contact me or hit me up via twitter.

[For more Wordless Wednesday, visit 5 Minutes for Mom.]

Wordless Wednesday: Just Lying Around is a post from Stop, Drop and Blog. Want more of Stop, Drop and Blog? Like our page on Facebook! If you have questions, contact me or hit me up via twitter.

For more Wordless Wednesday, visit 5 Minutes for Mom.

Wordless Wednesday: Couch Snuggles is a post from Stop, Drop and Blog. Want more of Stop, Drop and Blog? Like our page on Facebook! If you have questions, contact me or hit me up via twitter.

Perhaps at Thanksgiving more than any other time of the year, I am just overwhelmed with the amazingness of my immediate, under-this-roof family. And I would double that feeling this year. As of Thanksgiving last year, I was 38 weeks, 4 days pregnant. I went into labor the following evening and LittleBrother officially joined our family on that Saturday after Thanksgiving. The boys were due the day after (BB) and the week after (LB) Thanksgiving and, so, it is probably expected that I am filled with love and memories and general feelings of thankfulness for their existence around this beautiful holiday.

A year ago, my life was nothing like it is today. I was uncomfortable. And huge. And chasing a newly-turned two year old around while uncomfortable and huge. It was no easy task. Now, less huge, I am chasing a newly-turned three year old and a newly-turned one year old around and around and around. And sometimes they chase me back. And we laugh. And we cry. And we learn. And we change. FireDad and I have both been experienced great opportunity this year; he has been teaching many fire classes and I’ve been writing and writing and writing. It’s been an amazing year.

As I put my two boys to bed last night, I was amazed at the changes we have been through this year. Good. Hard. Indifferent. The growth, itself, has been amazing. BigBrother no longer possesses those baby cheeks. LittleBrother is no longer a newborn. Or a baby as he’s technically a toddler. It’s just amazing.

Today we’re off to The Farm to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. And we’ll be thankful. Even when BigBrother won’t eat the food. Or LittleBrother throws up on my sweater. Or FireDad makes an inappropriate joke in front of Great-Grandma. We’ll be thankful for it all. For we are so very blessed.

Happy Thanksgiving! (And Love Thursday!)

Love Thursday: Thankful for my Boys is a post from Stop, Drop and Blog. Want more of Stop, Drop and Blog? Like our page on Facebook! If you have questions, contact me or hit me up via twitter.

Easy reference: left side shows BigBrother and the right side shows LittleBrother. In detail: top row, wearing BigBrother in our first ever mei tai back on The Farm, LitttleBrother in his few weeks of pouch sling wearing in a Gorgeous Baby pouch sling; small square pictures, l to r, wearing BigBrother in our all camo mei tai from Mei Tai Carrier on the 4th of July 2007 while pregnant with LittleBrother (I’m awesome, no?), taking a hike in our local state park with BigBrother on my back (I’m a tree hugger, get it?), LittleBrother’s first ride on my back in yet another mei tai from Mei Tai Carrier, and cuddling up in our Peekaru Babywearing Vest; bottom row, winter babywearing BigBrother in a MaM Babywearing Cover and more early days of babywearing with LittleBrother in yet another one from Mei Tai Carrier. (Yes, we have four. No, I can’t say enough about MTC. Seriously.)

(Also? That collage could also be named: Look at FireMom’s Numerous Hair Changes in a Two Year Time Span! Right? And it’s even different now than the Peekaru picture. I am a hair chameleon.)

I was introduced to slinging just before BigBrother was born. We had a mass-produced sling that worked just fine for getting him to sleep in those early (and somewhat cranky!) days. When he was a bit older, I bought a Snugli having done no research on babywearing itself. We quickly departed from that and switched to an Ellaroo Mei Hip. From there we discovered Mei Tai Carrier and never looked back until LittleBrother was born. With him, we did fully discover the beauty of ring slings (none of which made it into my collage, humph). He did not, however, enjoy our pouch sling(s) and so Ivy of The Trivial Pursuit of Happiness got my favorite one (it’s also pictured more throughout her blog). (But more on her later this week!)

When BigBrother was younger, I said I couldn’t live without babywearing. As the mother of two boys who are two years and one week apart, I can honestly say that I couldn’t survive without it. Like the day that I had to take two huge containers of fire truck shaped cookies to BigBrother’s preschool and FireDad was at work? I put LittleBrother on my back, got BigBrother out of the truck, grabbed the containers of cookies and had BigBrother hold onto the mei tai strap while we walked to the school and up the stairs. Other things like raking the lawn or even taking a nature walk without the stroller make it very clear how lucky we are that we discovered babywearing when we did.

Anyway, Steph is hosting a giveaway over on her blog post and you could win a sling from Nonny & Boo. Not that we particularly need another sling in the Fire Family but I’m  hoping to win as a gift to a dear friend of mine who is expecting another baby. (You know who you are, my love!)

And I just reviewed a great book about babies today. I loved it! Go see!

Babywearing Through the Years is a post from Stop, Drop and Blog. Want more of Stop, Drop and Blog? Like our page on Facebook! If you have questions, contact me or hit me up via twitter.

I asked my Mom if she still had the Sebastian (Little Mermaid) costume that my paternal Grandmother made for my (much younger) little brother in 1991/1992.  She hunted around and found it, cleaned it up and delivered it to me. It fit BigBrother just fine. So, at that point, I was going to have a lion and a crab-lobster. (The costume is technically a lobster but we used it to represent Sebastian as I had a homemade Little Mermaid costume that year.) But Mom really wanted that theme to happen.

She started hunting for a Flounder costume for LittleBrother. She hunted high and low. She kept losing auctions on Ebay. Turns out the thing has been discontinued and so getting your hands on it was like, well, getting your hands on a slippery fish. Eventually she found one. In England. It arrived in time (even for the party we attended on the 24th) and, as luck would have it, we had our theme!

I’m sharing all of this today because the Steelers don’t play until tomorrow night (Monday Night Football) and the Parent Bloggers Network is having a Halloween costume blog blast. And the prize is a Blurb book. And, man, I love me some Blurb books. And so I’m entering the boys in the contest.

First up: BEST HOMEMADE COSTUME! BigBrother as Sebastian the Crab/Lobster. (Made by Grandma in 91/92. So, if there was a best vintage costume category, we could also go that route! Paired in 2008 with red tights and red clogs.)

He’s showing you his pinchers in this costume. And, yes, his hands were closed in. Which? Was a great costume “flaw” as it kept his hands warm and kept him from taking candy by the handful. The antenna are actually the original pipe cleaners from the 90′s. Who knew those kept that long?

Second: CUTEST COSTUME (2 and under)! LittleBrother as Flounder.

Also note that he’s standing on his own in this shot. Win! I’m sure some cute little girl in something frilly will win “cutest” costume, but, come on, folks! Boys! In costumes that aren’t big! and! scary! are most definitely the best! thing! ever!

Third: CUTEST PICTURE! Titled: Interspecies Love.

I wanted to put in a picture of the boys together but, honestly, they weren’t ever looking and smiling at the same time. Not exactly a cute picture. (Except for that one where LittleBrother is trying to pull off his hood and falling over. Classic.) So, I chose this picture of BigBrother kissing his girlfriend, A-One (her sister is LittleBrother’s girlfriend and is A-Two). A crab and a cat. You don’t see this kind of cuteness everyday.

And, there you have it. The cuteness of Halloween was overwhelming this year. Which does my heart good. Someday I am sure that these two boys will want to be big! scary! things! and I’ll just have to deal with it. But for right now? They are fine being cute. And I’m fine with them being fine with being cute.

I hope you all had a safe and happy weekend. I also hope you changed the batteries in your smoke detectors. Happy November (birthday month here) to all!

Our First-Ever Themed Halloween! is a post from Stop, Drop and Blog. Want more of Stop, Drop and Blog? Like our page on Facebook! If you have questions, contact me or hit me up via twitter.

I know that I’ve written before on Love Thursdays about my two boys and the fact that they are starting to play together. But, man, in the last week, they have made some strides together regarding playtime and I am just overwhelmed with this love for the two of these boys.

We’ve been spending a lot of time in the playroom, the three of us, as LittleBrother is now really old enough to play with a large majority of the toys with my supervision. There are still some minor worries like BigBrother’s cars and trains with little wheels but, for the most part, it’s a safe place with my presence.

They often play independently. LittleBrother chases one of the billion-and-one balls around the room, chanting “ball!!” over and over again while BigBrother crashes trains and cars and fire trucks off of his table and onto the floor. Or his own foot. Or his brother’s head. Or my foot. It’s great fun. But, as I said, in the past week, they’ve been doing this thing where they actually play together. And not just roll around on the floor and laugh-slash-wrestle (though there’s some of that, too). But actually play.

A few examples: BigBrother let LittleBrother sit at the table (I had to help him into the chair which made him very excited) and not just touch his Lightning McQueen but push it off the table into a firey (or, notsofirey) crash below. Laughter ensued. They then pushed the cars back and forth for awhile until LittleBrother fell off his chair onto my foot. If it’s not one thing it’s another, right? They’ve also been enjoying cooking in their kitchen. (Why, yes, my boys have a kitchen! Why wouldn’t they?) LittleBrother loves opening the doors and they both love making noise with the metal pots that my Mom bought for them. (Gee, thanks, Mom!)

The picture series above (click to view it in a larger size), though, is of one of the many games they are starting to play together. BigBrother was peeking under one side of the easel. LittleBrother was then hiding his face and then playing peekaboo by looking around the side. The laughter was contagious. You can also see LittleBrother’s scrunchy face which was featured in last week’s Love Thursday post. It’s all very awesome, really. Quite honestly, I could have been waving flags, singing the ABC’s and banging on the metal pots and pans and these two would not have cared one lick about what I was doing. They were so infatuated with each other’s presence.

This is so what we wanted for our boys.

That said, BigBrother doesn’t always share. And I think LittleBrother is teething again because he’s been bitey the past few days. In fact, he bit BigBrother’s lip last week. Yikes on that one! All the same, those run-ins don’t even make a dent in the awesomeness that is currently taking place. I’m sure I’ll need to look back at this post in a year or two (or next week) to remind myself that my kids once loved each other without hesitation but, well, I don’t want to think about those days yet. I want to live in this moment.

I want to love in this moment.

For more Love Thursday, visit Shutter Sisters.

Love Thursday: Peekaboo is a post from Stop, Drop and Blog. Want more of Stop, Drop and Blog? Like our page on Facebook! If you have questions, contact me or hit me up via twitter.

All the same the Fire Family is jazzed for tonight’s game. See?

(Note: Not sure where the last d in FireDad went or the closing parentheses. Those frames were right on the project. Very strange, no doubt.)

LittleBrother even got in on the action. (His huge smile is due to the fact that he kept throwing his sign on the ground. BigBrother thought this was hilarious and was laughing those big belly laughs that he is known for.)

Ah, raising little Nittany Lions.

All the same, yes, I’m nervous about tomorrow’s game. I thought about not posting. Because I’m sure that even if we win, certain friends of ours are going to have something (or, lots of things) to say. But, come on. Undefeated! Going into a big, big game! Of course I had to post!

If I have to eat crow tomorrow, well, so be it. But as one of our OSU fans said when discussing the game two weeks ago, what kind of fan would I be if I wasn’t supporting a win. And so, with that, the Fire Family predicts a very close, very interesting but, ultimately, Penn State prevailing game.

BigBrother says so. “BEAT A BUCKEYS, KAY?!” Right on, BigBrother.

Edited at 11:21pm EDT: Nerve-wracking, nail-biting, totally awesome game. WIN!

WE ARE! NOT GOING TO LOSE! is a post from Stop, Drop and Blog. Want more of Stop, Drop and Blog? Like our page on Facebook! If you have questions, contact me or hit me up via twitter.

For more Wordless Wednesday, visit 5 Minutes for Mom. (For many more words from me today, visit my review of Autism’s False Prophets over at Modern Mamma Marvels.)

Wordless Wednesday: Crunching Through the Leaves is a post from Stop, Drop and Blog. Want more of Stop, Drop and Blog? Like our page on Facebook! If you have questions, contact me or hit me up via twitter.

I cheated. I waited until the game was over this week to post. Why? I know two guys who would have been all over this blog if the Bengals hadn’t bungled and made me eat crow. And so, I decided to wait it out, anxiety levels high the entire game, and post once the game was over.

We didn’t go outside for pictures today. It is a bit chilly here and I wasn’t feeling to keen after a few sleepless nights (a fire and a wakey-LittleBrother). So we just played some football in the living room while refraining from cussing at the television as the boys were awake and listening as little ears always are doing. TheBrothers soon forgot about the football and started working on the Amazon box.

So far it has been Tidmouth Sheds (Thomas the Train for those not in the know), a hiding place, a car, a mountain and a bed. We made it the endzone for awhile as well. They’re in love with this box. Little do they know that it delivered quite a few of their birthday presents this past Friday. (Why, yes! I am done shopping for their birthdays, still over a month away in the case of the littler one.) I should have just ordered them large, empty Amazon boxes. My guess is that they would have just played with the one everything came in and not the ones I paid money for, don’t you agree?

Today’s picture is less about football, less about the Steelers and more about brothers and growing imaginations. I’m loving watching these two grow together. Even if I did have to hold my breath every time BigBrother tipped the box over as I worried that LittleBrother would get smooshed. Turns out he can hold his own. Maybe he’ll be a good quarterback, you know, if he were to get sacked as many times as Roethlisberger. Yikes, man. Yikes.

Hope this Sunday is treating you well. Unless you’re a Bengals fan. Then this year isn’t treating you well at all, now is it?

Steelers Snapshot Sundays: The One with the Brotherly Bonding is a post from Stop, Drop and Blog. Want more of Stop, Drop and Blog? Like our page on Facebook! If you have questions, contact me or hit me up via twitter.