A budding zoologist

Alex reads "Animals," with flair.

We've sunk to the level of posting cute sayings

Daryl: Ben, how old are you?
Ben: Ben not old, Ben new!

Sarah: Do you remember the muffins you made this morning? Were they yummy?
Alex: Yes! Yummy!
Sarah: You must be good bakers, then.
Ben: And good eaters!

Ben: Ben is going to be the Fire Chief. [goes to get Fire Chief hat].
Alex: [not to be outdone] Alex is going to go get cute! Alex to get the green hat.

Winter Wonderland

The boys enjoy the first snowfall of the year (and the first in their memories). Two days covered with some costume overlap; the top two pics are Ben. Alex is in the brown hat, and with Mom and the snowman, below.

Alex makes toast

Proof that 70s toys (thoughtfully stored by Grandma Yoder, in this case) are still fun for Today's Youth.

How About Mr. Ben?

Ben's line is an echo of a parent's typical "Oh, I see the farmer went down the slide, and Patty; how about Mr. Ben?" Meanwhile Alex was busy with his scheme to mine rocks from the driveway, transport them by bulldozer across the yard, and dump them into the trash truck.

More More

A sight for sore-eyed grandparents: the giggling grandchild (sort of a postscript to the previous video).



In other news, Ben has a cold. Although having a cold is yucky, he is impressed with the luxuries of illness, like getting to have non-mealtime-milk. "You drink milk on the couch while reading Road Builders!" he gushed. Who knew it was possible?

Alex, not to be outdone, has started referring to himself as the Brain Coral, as in "The Brain Coral doesn't want raisins!" (We saw such a coral at Mommy's work this morning. Often Alex will refer to himself-- and insist you refer to him-- as the character implied by the play hat he is wearing, particularly the Fire Chief.)

Looking forward to seeing most Yoderae at Thanksgiving. We'll miss Karla.

Time to Snuggle

After arranging their animals (and after Albert had some sort of industrial accident), the boys decide it's time to snuggle. (Ben in green).

Puffer Billies

Here is the referenced Mother Goose rhyme:

Down at the station, early in the morning,
See the little puffer-billies all in a row
See the engine driver pull his little lever
Puff puff, peep peep, off they go!

The camera loves Alex...

Continuation of the below....

Taken shortly after the previous video. Alex drives his cars into the box, then tells himself or his cars that "you have to wait!" before taking over the controls of the camera.

Fairly self-explanatory as usual, but a new milestone in the "getting things from under the furniture" department-- trying a different directional approach to get the object. Alex's monologue runs something like "They're going under... Alex reach a tow truck, Alex reach a [fire] engine, Alex can reach the car..." Ben features briefly at the end.

Blogger Boys

For grandparents one and all; because Karla can't view videos on the Ringo site; and because the Ringo site has too many ads: for these noble reasons, the Yoder Twins must blog. But you have to wait for actual content until their mother, through whom they vicariously blog, is at the computer with the photos and videos on it, not her work computer. Plus, she is supposed to be doing work right now. So, stay tuned.