The Three Meng Boys: Recreated photo shoot

The Meng boys...

Almost exactly 5 years ago, this picture was taken. And today, this picture was taken....

Same location, different son

 Silas is eight months today. 

Benji and Micah were around 9 months in these pictures (this is Benji)

 Love Si's sweet, wrinkled nose!

Now my sweet twins are 5 1/2 years old! Look how cute they were! (ok, they still are...but really. Pure cuteness here!)

Here is a little montage of this repeat baby photo shoot: 2008 and 2013

 My three crazy kiddos today 

All photos were taken by Sabrena Carter Deal of S. Carter Studios, Lynchburg VA. 

Our Top Ten Memories of our Christmas Vacation

Our Seven Best Memories of our Christmas Trip to Florida:

1.  My best friend, Candace came with us to Disney World! I'm glad we're still friends after she braved the 11 hour car trip from Virginia to Florida with us.

2. We went to Disney World for the first time! At 5 years old, Micah and Benji were the perfect age to be perfectly enchanted with everything Disney.  

Our family at Cinderella's Castle. I wore Silas in the wrap for the first half of the day and Candace wore him for the second half.

Even Silas got in on the Disney Fun! He slept the WHOLE DAY in the wrap! YEA!

We had a blast doing all-things-boy:

Meeting Buzz Lightyear, laughing it up at the Monsters INC show, getting major whiplash and laughing our heads off while the boys drove on the race car track, riding the spooky Pirates of the Caribbean ride, and taking the boys on their very first roller coaster: Thunder Mountain Railroad. 

Surprisingly, Micah (our often timid son) LOVED the "crazy train" (as he called TMR) but our crazy-Benji thought it was a little scary.

Meeting Buzz Lightyear! The boys LOVED riding the Buzz Lightyear ride as well!

3. A definite highlight was spending time with family, especially seeing M and B spend time with their cousins, Charlotte (5), Naomi (3) and Heidi (8 months) for the first time. 

Charlotte, Micah, Silas, Benji, Naomi, and Heidi

Christmas Eve: Our Family with Aaron's sister's family (Brittany, Jared, and girls)

Charlotte, Micah, Benji, Naomi

All four of the big kids loved playing together and "Char-lick" didn't mind that the boys couldn't pronounce her name. 

4. Although we spent the majority of time with Aaron's HUGE family (one family party boasted of 60ish Mengs), we also spent a few precious hours with my grandmother, Nonnie. 

She loved snuggling with her newest great-grandson. In fact, she did this instead of eating. 

Grandmother, Grand daughter, great-grandsons

Precious memories

 And I learned that my own great-grandmother, Elise May Long, had my shared interest and talent for writing and radio drama! Who knew?!

5. Another special memory was spending time with Angela, Aaron's older sister. She lives 5 minutes from Jacksonville Beach so the boys got to see the ocean for the first time! To them it was the greatest puddle ever (!) with an endless supply of splash-makers (shells) for throwing in the water. 

6. We spent Christmas Eve relaxing with just our family at the camp we were staying at. We had fun throwing rocks in the lake, looking at deer tracks, trekking through the woods, helping the boys climb through a rope maze, and napping. 

Silas turned 2 months old on Christmas Eve too

7.  Christmas morning was magical when the boys realized that "Santa came!" by witnessing that the cold hot chocolate and (rather dried out) dinner roll they left for him (hey, we didn't have cookies or milk!) had been drunk and eaten. Score one for Santa (and Mommy)! 

Our Top Three Not-so-awesome memories:

1. Getting a flat tire on our way home from Disney World. While we were stranded for 1.5 hours, Silas decided to have his first scream-fest. Thankfully, we got FREE help from the turn-pike serviceman. Thank God!

2. On the way to take Candace to the airport, Benji told us he had to pee. Of course, we JUST passed the rest stop. We asked him if he could hold it. 

"Nooooo! I can't!" he assured us. 

"Oh, yes! you can!" We assured him. 

Guess who was right? 

20 minutes later we hear: "I just peed" followed by a contented sigh from the back seat. 

Lesson learned. 

(Poor kid had to sit in his soaked pants for the next hour while we got to the airport and I frantically searched for size 5T pants in the airport mall. Thank you, Universal Studios Store for stocking $20 SpiderMan pants for my kid). 

And the next time he said "I have to pee!" from the back seat? You better believe we pulled over and let him do his business on the side of the road. 

3. We did a TON of driving. We put 1800 miles on our new car. Whew. 

Our Three boys: Benji, Silas, Micah

Overall, we had a great trip and Christmas in Florida but we are glad to be back home in Virginia. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Meng's!

Our First Camping Trip!

We took our very first family camping trip this weekend. It was a first for me and the boys. 

We had a great time! Enjoy the pictures below!

Our (tiny) home sweet home. We barely all fit for sleeping. Thank God Aaron's mom and step dad brought up an air mattress for me! 

 My handsome twin boys (Benji, Orange, Micah, Stripes, 4.5 years old) 

Can't believe how much bigger Micah is!

 Mommy and Micah 

 Mommy and Benji

 Aaron and his boys: Fishing for the very first time!

 Micah's first fish! He was SO proud!

 The fish (he was very happy to swim away after this picture!) 

We caught a total of 5 (tiny!) fish between us that morning. 

Our afternoon fishing yielded 3 more catches!)

 Poor Grandma took an unexpected swim when she slipped on the rocks (Rhonda, if you are seeing this, please forgive me! I do not remember snapping this picture. I think Jerry took it!)

 Benji caught a fish too. He was excited until the little wiggler came out of the water. Then there was much running away and screaming. I had to drag him over for a picture. 

 Yes. This tiny thing was the cause of my son's fear. 

 After lunch we went swimming in Smith Mountain Lake. This was the highlight of the boys' day. 

 They love their Grandma!!!

 Micah: Mommy, I love swimming!!!!

 Benji: (I told him to say "smile!" and this is what ensued) SMILE!

 Camping worked out for me even being 21 weeks pregnant. I did have to go to the bathroom a million times. Thank goodness our tent was really close to the bathroom. 

We had a great time camping!!! 

The tiny, terrifying fish: Or A Picture is Worth 1000 words

We took the boys fishing for the first time this weekend! This is Benji's first fish (displayed by Grandma)

 This is Benji's reaction to his first fish. 

Poor kid was TERRIFIED! 

I was trying so hard to get him to take a picture with it. 

This was as good as it got. 

Crafts for boys: Medieval Trebuchet!

I have loved "making things" since I was a little girl, especially paper crafts. My boys, however, often do not share the same love. In fact, it is hard to find crafts that they will 1. Like to make, and/or 2. Actually play with after mommy forces helps them make it.

Well, the other day I stumbled across this AWESOME site that has free paper toys to print and make at home! I decided to make this Medieval Trebuchet  while the boys napped. 

This toy has ultimate "boy appeal." 

1. It's a weapon

2. It shoots things

3. It is cool to shoot things

Plus, I really enjoyed making it!! WIN WIN!

Here's how it works:

Get some ammo: 

We tried macaroni, beads, the ends of q-tips and balls of tissue paper. We had fun testing how far each type of ammo would go.

Load up the basket with your choice of ammo!

Pull back....

 ....and LET GO! (See the bead???)

 There it goes!!!

Make two Trebuchets and you can have a battle!

Both boys (especially Micah) really enjoyed this toy and played with it for about 45 minutes 

(Definitely a homemade-toy record!)

Go ahead! Make one yourself for or with your boys or girls. It was easy and fun!

And check out the website for other really fun craft ideas!! I can't wait to try out some more....