Matthew

I know everyone is probably wondering what Matthew is up to these days.  Especially Matthew himself; probably the #1 reader of this blog.  What does he like to do?  What does he spend his time doing?  What are his favorite things?  Well.  I will attempt to answer those questions.  Matt, you can correct me if you like.  You will deduce by looking at this first picture that Matt likes to read.  Or at least, he likes Foxtrot.  Steven has a collection of Foxtrot books from his college days, and Matt discovered them last year some time.  I daresay it's his favorite thing to read because I see him with one of those books at least once a day.  No doubt he has them memorized by now.  You're probably wondering why he is reading a book while lounged in the grass on such a nice day.  I can't answer that.  All I know is that he loves to read.

Another thing you should know about Matthew is that he loves to build.  When he was a toddler he would stack food.  Then he stacked blocks.  Then he learned how to construct his own train track.  And then he accessorized it making it a full blown city with Legos, signs, cars, blocks, you name it.  He can't stop himself.  He also enjoys building really neat towers with Johnny's huge Lego blocks.  He goes into great care and detail trying to make them symmetrical and cool looking from every angle.  This presents a challenge when Johnny is in the room.  He's super good at destruction.  Not so much construction.  I had to snap this photo quick before babyzilla started swinging his arms.

Matt also enjoys games.  Let me add that that is a Steven look right there!  Video games, phone games, computer games, board games...he loves them all.  We usually have a small pocket of time while the two little one's naps overlap where we can spend some one-on-one time together.  I love that he can play games with me.  Some of our favorites are Sorry, Monopoly, Uno, Skip-Bo, Scrabble, Busytown, Battleship, Risk, and Bananagrams.  The kid is a whiz at Bananagrams.  I am always amazed at his vocabulary and spelling skills.  He is a worthy opponent.  :)

He loves to create music with his brother.  He and Will trade off playing drums and guitar and coming up with lyrics that they can scream into the mic.  He is a creative and imaginative boy.  Currently, he is working on a script to Cars 3.  He and Will have been reenacting scenes from both Cars and Cars 2 in their entirety over the past week.  It's hilarious.  I am impressed at how well they know these movies and how much of it they can quote.  Even though I know they've seen them both dozens of times.  Matt draws a map everyday.  I have a huge stack of them that he's created over the summer.  He works hard on them.  He is also working on writing his comic series Crystals of the Legends.  He has written several installations this summer and plans to sell them to his friends.  Actually, what he really wants to do is set up a lemonade stand where he can sell lemonade, his comics and his Pokemon cards.  And what would he do with the cash?  Buy Legos.

He still loves to collect "treasures" wherever he goes.  Namely change and bottlecaps that he finds.  His eyes are constantly scanning the ground.  Our collection of bottlecaps is out of hand.  Time to find some crafty way to make fun use of them.

And did I mention that Matt likes to read?  Any place is a good place.  He completed his summer reading sheet for school with lightning speed.  Now he'll have $5 to spend at the book fair in the fall!

Now, another thing you should know about Matthew is that he is NEVER tired.  He can't and will not admit it.  Even if he's snuggled in a chair with his blankets and yawning.  Nope, nope, nope...not tired.  And here is evidence that he fell asleep in the car.  We were on the outskirts of Austin and he remarked how the trip seemed faster on the way home, and I told him it was probably because he fell asleep for part of it.  He adamantly denied it!  "No I didn't fall asleep!!!"  Uh, yeah you did.  Look at this picture.  Still denied it.  "My eyes were just halfway closed!"

He rediscovered his earphones and old discman recently and channeled his future teenager self.  Again with the Foxtrot.

He is not always in favor of being photographed.

But, Matthew is a marvelous big brother.  He bemoans his birth order sometimes, and I always tell him God made him #1 for a reason.  Most of the time he is so easy-going, patient, fun, a really good teacher, and just really sweet with his two brothers.  He lets them crawl, jump and pounce all over him.  When we go to the gym he spends time with Will and his buddies and then will go into the baby room to play with Johnny.  The ladies there just LOVE him, and I know why.  :)

I love seeing Matt & Will snuggle up in the same chair.  Too precious for words.

The most exciting event for Matthew this summer was at VBS when he accepted Jesus into his heart.  He knows that Jesus died to give him life, and he wants to follow him.  He was baptized in July.  As parents, we couldn't be prouder.  This boy is something special.