Lately

We've been keeping busy around here!  Here are the events of the past couple of weeks (not including Easter weekend - that will have to wait for the next post!)

The boys and I went to "Snow and Story" at the ice rink a couple of weeks back, Alex LOVED it!  It was really cute - they put all of the "snow" in one corner and then there were tons of toys for the kids to play with.  Alex was busy, busy, busy piling, dumping, digging, moving, etc.  Nathan wouldn't wear his mittens and his hands were like ice!  He was happy until he realized how frozen his fingers were!  After playing, the kids got to warm up with cocoa, cookies, and a story!  Such a cute idea :)

I can't describe how much these boys like superheros!  Here they are shooting "spidey-webs!"  Bad guys, BEWARE! 

Alex and Nathan both got sick AGAIN... as soon as Alex finished his strep meds he came down with his third fever in the past 5 weeks... ridiculous!  He spent a few days at the end of March sick again :(  Poor kids can't catch a break!

We went to an egg hunt wtih some friends from my mops group!  It was their first hunt of the season and they loved it! 

 Here is a picture of Nathan once he caught the virus :(  poor little buddy! 

 Oma and Opa came for a long weekend visit the weekend before Easter! 

 They brought the kids legos!!! Who do you think enjoyed them more, the kids or Gary and his dad?  ;)

The kids enjoyed playing outside with new bubbles from oma, we've gotten a lot of use out of these "bubble swords" already! 

We took a trip downtown to visit the Spy Museum!  We'd been wanting to go for a while, but weren't sure how it'd be with kids.  Definitely wasn't geared toward little ones, but there was still a lot for them to look at and explroe, and all of the adults enjoyed it! 

They spoiled us with kinects for our XBox!  Alex particularily LOVES it and Gary and I have enjoyed it too!  It is definitely a work out if you do it for a while, especially the dancing and zumba! 

We went to our church's big Easter hunt!  It was the second hunt for the boys - Nathan picked up about 3 eggs and was ready to bust them open and eat the treats... Alex's strategy was a bit different, he got AS MANY as he possibly could to fill his basket first :) 

The kids enjoyed the bounce house, popcorn, and visiting the fire truck at the festival!  So fun!

We've enjoyed a lot of time outside with the nice weather lately, too!  It's mostly been in the upper 60s and low 70s the past couple of weeks! 

 The cherry blossoms are just beautiful! 

Gary and Nathan catching up on sleep after Oma and Opa's visit ;)  This was too cute to pass up a picture of ;)

St Patty's DayWeekend at Treasure Lake

We went to visit my mom and sisters in PA while she was up there for a few weeks!  We had a great weekend :)  The kids loved playing down by the water and throwing in rocks!  Alex especially loved looking for HUGE rocks to throw in... he was so cute because he'd get a bunch of them in a pile then throw as fast as he could.  He just couldn't get enough of it! 

Gary and I got to enjoy a nice afternoon to ourselves while grandma watched the boys!  We went to lunch, shopped, and got coffee... always LOVE getting in a date with my man ;) 

Saturday was St. Patrick's Day!  Alex had been noticing all of the "green decorations" and displays over the last couple of weeks.  He loved the fact that the holiday is centered around the color green because it's his absolute favorite color!  He wants EVERYTHING to be green if it's ever an option... it's his choice in cups, plates, clothes, coloring, paper, etc.  Their shirts from last year both still fit pretty well (my tiny boys!) and they were both really excited to wear them :)  We had a "Treasure Hunt" with clues that led them to the "treasure"  Alex LOVED it (in fact, we spent the rest of the weekend making up more of them!)

 Here he is running to the next clue!

 The "treasure"!  (green necklaces, gold coins that alex calls "dabloons", green candy, and green balloons! 

 We all went to see The Lorax in the theatre together one afternoon!  The boys did great!  It was Nathan's second movie in the theatre, and with special treats like popcorn and suckers, he sat pretty well for the whole movie.  It was really cute and a nice treat since we very rarely go to the theatre anymore!  We also had a campfire and roasted marshmellows! 

We had a great time!  The kids just love their grandma and aunts! 

Pictures

The end of February/beginning of March was busy!  Mostly it was spent on the couch taking care of sick kids... First, Alex came down with a virus that lasted an entire week (fevers, cold, etc.), Nathan had a version of it too but without the fever, just a bad cold.  We literally didn't leave the house for a week!  

 The kids painted some canvases to use as art in our basement/play room!  They turned out really cute!

Superheros and couch cushions became a new favorite activity!  Both boys love playing superhero... they run around getting the monsters and dinosaurs :)

Just as Alex was getting over the virus, great grandpa and grandma came for a quick visit!  We had fun showing Great Grandpa the house and playing together :)

Love that my boys love books so much, had to include one of them reading together ;)

Another favorite toy continues to be hotwheels/airplanes... we made a parking lot and an airport to play with cars on!  Alex loves it!!

The boys are playing much more nicely together lately (not to say there isn't any fighting...)  Here they are playing "rocket" on the steps!  Alex definitely takes the role of the "leader" and tells Nathan what to do.  I guess that's how big brothers are ;)

Here's a fort daddy built one afternoon!  Speaking of daddy... he started his masters this month and that has made things much busier around here too!!  It's a lot of time/work!  He's getting it online, which is nice.  His plan is a double masters in Cybersecurity and his MBA in 3 years.  He's really enjoying it so far :)

My mom and Cassie came back a few days after she brought grandpa to spend some time with us while my sister was on spring break :)  We had fun shopping, going out to eat, visiting and playing at home, and spending a day downtown being "tourists" 

The day after they left, Alex got sick again, but with strep :(  His fever was up to 103.5 and he was miserable.  After a couple of doeses of the antibiotic he was much better, thankfully! 



More to come on St Patrick's day and our visit to the lake soon ;)  And sorry for the complete disorganization of this post... I realize it is completely all over the place! 

Kid Quotes

I've been telling myself I need to write this stuff down and always forget!  Here are a few recent stories before I put it off and forget again ;)

Normally I put Nathan in the boys' room with the gate up when I take a shower and Alex can play downstairs or in the spare bedroom.  The other day they were playing so nicely together (and I hated to interrupt it haha!)  but I needed to shower and get ready... so Alex BEGGED me to let him play with Nathan and they both went in their room with the gate up.  A couple of minutes after I got out of the shower Alex starts yelling "MOOOOM!  I've gotta pee!!!"  So I go let him out to use the bathroom, then go to finish getting ready.  About 2 minutes later, Nathan starts yelling "MOOOOOM!  I gotta pee!!"  Too cute!!  He was peeking over the gate and I was like "you have to pee, huh?" and as serious as can be he just kept saying "ya, gotta pee mommy!"  Love it! 

At lunch today I was eating a "taco salad" with rice, corn, taco meat, sour cream, etc. Alex asked what I was having for lunch and I told him it was a "taco salad" and he looks at me with this confused face and says "No it isn't... there's no taco, and no salad" 

For the past week or so Nathan has been wanting to bring all of his stuff down with him after nap/bedtime... (minus the paci that he knows stays in his crib).  He comes down with his "spidey banket", "ball banket", "bear", "little bear", "piwow", "tiny banket", and sometimes even whatever books are in there!  It's pretty cute watching him try to carry everything around. 

I said something (can't remember what exactly) about police keeping us safe, and Alex laughed at me and said "there's no bad guys in real life... bad stuff just happens in PRETEND life, mom!"  He was totally and completely serious and was just giggling at me.  A couple of days later we heard sirens and saw an ambulance and I said what I usually say when they get excited over sirens, that I'm glad they are rushing quickly to whoever needs them and that I hope no one is hurt.  He acted, again, like I was crazy and told me that doesn't happen in real life!  Love the innocence of kids, but I also didn't realize how out of touch with reality my four year old is. 

Alex asked me where Transformers live in real life!  He was totally seriuos and after a little conversation about it he told me he thinks they're in the woods.  I think after a few minutes longer I convinced him, but wow.   The funny thing is he frequently makes comments when he sees things on tv or whatever about how it is just pretend, I guess maybe he was hoping that transformers are real?

Nathan totally overuses the word "weird"... it can be over the littlest thing but he'll tell us often "thas weird" (leaving out the "r" sound)  It can be used for anything at all out of the ordinary, and he uses it A LOT!

Nathan calls anything that looks "gross" a booger. 

Anytime Nathan sees my kindle in view he asks me to play "angy bewds" (angry birds)  the funny thing is, he has only even played it a couple of times ever, I guess it had a huge impression on him!  

My Boys at 4 years and 21 months

Just a post to write down a few memories about my kiddos at these ages :)  I've been telling them lately that they need to stay JUST like this, because they are just so much fun, and just so cute!  Love my boys :)
Nathan ~
*You have SO many words, talk ALL the time, and use complete sentences.  You get complimented all of the time on  your speech :)
*You still love your passy.  You only get it while in your crib, but you are an addict.  We plan to take it away around age two, but I'm terrified! 
*Helping is one of your favorite things to do!  You throw away your own diapers, bring me things, put away your dirty clothes, etc. 
*You find bodily noises absolutely HILARIOUS, when you pass gas you giggle and then blame it on someone else!  It is quite funny! 
*We started practicing memory verses at the start of the new year and I cannot believe how well you do with them!  I included you because I knew you'd have fun with it, but you are really getting it too!  You LOVE to earn a sticker on your chart for practicing, and a couple of days ago I overheard you reciting it to yourself in the bath!  You missed a couple of words, but clearly said "Let us love one another... GOD!!!  GOD!!"  (you left out the little part "love comes from" God)  I'm so proud :)  You yell God's name every time you say it :)
*You wait to eat your food until we've prayed... you will say "let's pray!" and hold hands around the table :)
*You LOVE to go bye bye and always ask for a snack in the car (a bad habit mommy probably started...)  Your favorite thing to take is Fruit Snacks (another very bad habit that we're working on changing!)
*You are SUCH a snuggler!  You say "hold you mommy" all the time and raise your arms up... it is quite irresistable ;)  You also love to sit in mommy's and daddy's laps :)
*You're a little guy at just over 21 lbs.  You're in the 1st percentile for weight and 5th for height.  You've never been a huge eater, and I'm sure it's partly genetic too... the doctors aren't too worried at this point.
*You absolutely love Mickey Mouse, Spiderman, Thomas, and Toy Story (Woody and Buzz)
*You've known all the names of your body parts for quite sometime, can often be caught counting (but only correctly up to three most of the time), can name just about any animal and their sound, and are STILL singing "Jingle Bells" as your favorite song  ("ingle bells ingle bells... ina oooone hooows open sleighhh, HEY!")  I've been working hard to encourage other songs, but this continues to be your favorite ;)
*You can be an instigator with your brother... and often get time-out for purposefully bothering him ;)


Alex~
*Still can't get over that you are 4 years old!  You remind us often of this fact:  "four year olds sometimes do this..."  "four year olds can build this stuff"  " four year olds sometimes don't eat all of their chicken..."  the list could go on and on ;)  You'll also say "when I'm 5..." 
*You are also a snuggler... you'll often tell me you want to cuddle :)  I love this! 
*You easily write your name... but still aren't all that into things requiring writing...
*You like to do things just right, and get frustrated easily when you can't or when you need help
*I think you're going to be really good with numbers!  You already count things often and have really good one to one correspondence.  You can order numbers 1-10 easily, count to 14 without skipping numbers (then you often get mixed up, but sometimes you count higher), can look at any number from 1-99 and almost always say the right number just by looking at it (excluding some of the teens)!!  You also (unknowingly) make up story problems all the time with your food or hotwheels or whatever... things like "I have 9 grapes right now!  Once I eat these two, I'll have 7 left!"  etc. etc. 
* You LOVE your hotwheels and airplanes!  Mommy has gotten you into sorting them, and you have a lot of fun with it.  You've easily got 50 hotwheel cars and 20 airplanes, but you know them all and know just which one you're looking for.  You love if they have spoilers on the back or fire on the sides, because that means they are racecars and they go fast!  When we're out driving you'll point out cars that you think are fast based on how they look :)
*You are sensitive, sweet, and stubborn. 
*You do things in your own time, at your own pace... I've said it before, but I think God made you like that to help me with my patience :)  There is no way to rush you! 
*You are 31 lbs and in the 7th percentile for weight... can't remember your height off the top of my head, maybe 35th? 
*You love all things superhero! 
*You can recite all of your Bible verses by heart, by yourself!  (minus the references...)  So proud of you! 
*You are a good, kind friend.  It takes you a little while to open up with new kids, but once you do, you LOVE to be silly and funny! 
*You know almost all of your letters and sounds... and you like to play the game where I say a word and you try to tell me what letter it starts with!  You're very good at it ;)  You also chunk words when you're pretending to read... "Mom, this says legos right here... le - gos" 

I know I could go on and on about you two, but it's time for some afternoon snuggles ;)

Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!!  We have had fun celebrating this year!  We made and decorated yummy sugar cookies, made Valentines to send to grandparents and cousins, and had a fun making projects!  Here are the boys with valentines they made for their grandparents and daddy! 

 We spent the morning going to a "cookie decorating party" with some friends from my mops group!  It's always kind of amusing though because the kids would really rather just play, and the moms are always trying to get the kids to do activities ;) 

We spent the afternoon making valentines for each other and daddy!  Nathan was really into it... Alex had fun making 2 or 3 and then was more interested in receiving Valentines than making any more ;)

Nathan is always so proud of his work and announces often "I did it!!" with the proudest smile!  He LOVES running his projects to daddy in the afternoons and telling him about how hard he worked :) 

Such a little ham!  He loves to say "CHEESE" and we've gotten to calling him a "little cheeser" when it comes to taking pictures! 

Here the boys are, working hard!

Valentine hearts, a pinterest idea! 

Gary got off work early, which was a nice surprise!  We made Valentine Sundaes after the kids ate dinner!  They enjoyed adding sprinkles, m&ms and chocolate syrup!  YUM! 

We gave the kids a couple of little Valentine's presents we picked up over the past week.  Nathan got this Toy Story Thermos!  He's been eyeing Alex's for the past month and we finally took pity on him and got him his own.  To say he was THRILLED would be an understatement!  He's been carrying it around ever since ;)  Maybe this will help him in drinking more milk! 

They love sitting on the bottom step... you'll often find them here giggling and playing :)

Gary and I were able to go on our Valentine's date this past Friday!  Our church had a parent's night out and we took full advantage!  We went out for dinner, got coffee, and walked around the mall kid-free!   And the kids got to enjoy a night of cookie decorating, crafts, movies, and playing at church :)  On Valentine's day he surprised me with soome beautiful flowers and we had a dinner and dessert "fondue night" after putting the kids to bed a little early!  I'm not huge into valentine's day really... it's mostly for kids in my mind, but it is a nice excuse to do something a little extra special ;)  I am so blessed to share my life with such a wonderful man and we had fun celebrating!  What a perfect day :)