Weekend Recap

It's been a week or so since I've updated my blog, so I logged on and found this post that I never published. Oops. I think this is from two weekends ago, but I'm not sure--which is how bad my memory is and the purpose of my blog.

The boys love making music, Carter will play a song on his drum set for me and Evan will dance and sing a song he made up for me. So, I got some pictures of Carter playing his drum.

Ta-da!

Here they are having a dance party on the ottoman and Evan is playing the cymbals, dancing, and singing and Carter is playing the drums. Our house is never quiet. Ever.

We took the boys to the park on Fort Gordon and they played and played. It's either rainy or too cold most days to go to the park. There were several kids there and they all played together so nicely. Greg and I were able to sit and talk and even planned out our menu and made a grocery list. I think we're all more than ready for spring.

We've been going to Sunday school every week and we're really enjoying it. The boys love going to their Sunday school class and always come home with tons of crafts and things that they did. I try and get a picture of the boys before church, but this particular Sunday, only one of them was willing to take a picture.

After church, we ran some errands. The boys love Sam's Club because they get samples but sometimes we'll get them a hot dog or pizza and they think it's such a treat.

Stomach Bug

We had a pretty slow week last week due to Evan coming down with the stomach bug. He was so pitiful. He just watched tv with his puke bucket until he fell asleep.

I gave him some time to sleep in case he woke up when I carried him upstairs, but he didn't, so I just put him right into his bed.

Carter did not mind one bit, going to school by himself. I even let him sit in the front seat with me, since it was just me and him. He thought he was something. My mom came over before school so she could sit with Evan while I took Carter to school.

Then, he found my sunglasses and had to try them on and get a picture.

Such a ham. I enjoyed the one on one time I had with Carter, it's rare that I get one on one time with either of them, so It's always nice when it happens.

When I got home, Evan had got tired again. He was going through little bursts of energy, but now he was worn out and watching some cartoons on my ipad in my bed.

Greg started feeling rough on Tuesday, I felt rough on Wednesday, but Friday the three of us--Evan, Carter, and me were all feeling better. Both boys went to school, and even took a picture for me and I volunteered. Greg was feeling rough, he just couldn't seem to shake it. So, finally after over a week, he goes to the doctor and they give him an antibiotic to take. Hopefully, that's the end of this January sickness and we end the month on a high note with all of us feeling great and happy.

Weekend Wrap Up (about 2 weeks late)

I am a little behind on blogging. The boys started back to school, I started back to school, and a stomach virus but me behind on everything. So, here's some pictures from a couple weekends ago.

We did an inexpensive winter craft, I wanted to do something easy and fast, so the boys actually did this before school one Friday morning.

Barnes and Noble is having a story time every Saturday at 11 for the next several weeks, so we checked that out. The boys were SO well behaved the entire time, I was so impressed. There's several time we go out that their behavior does not impress me :) so I definitely have to give them credit when they're really good.

The books were really cute and all about sharing. The boys really like the woman that was reading, she's always been the one that reads when we come here and she's really good. The boys made sure to tell her how much they liked her after story time, which I thought was really sweet.

She read 3 stories.

Afterwards, the kids get an activity or coloring sheet to color and some stickers.

After story time, we went to the Lego center and the train table and the boys played for awhile.

building with the legos

The boys played at the train table. Sometimes, they'd take a break to look at the toys or books on the shelves around them, but they were really good about being gentle, putting back things after they looked at them, so I let them check the other things out while we're in that corner.

After our amazingly pleasant experience at Barnes and Noble, poor Carter fell walking back to the van. He scraped his knees and was just so upset--a combination of it really hurting (he fell hard) and the fact that he is slightly dramatic. He always thinks bandaids are this magic cure for any scrap or cut, and will stop crying immediately after he gets a bandaid, like nothing happened. I didn't have any bandaids on me, so, we went to Target, got some hot cocoa and let the boys pick out some fun bandaids.

The rest of our weekend included standard weekend activities, like running errands, movie night, and some dress up.

We have made it a goal to attend Sunday school every week. We really enjoy it, but Greg lets me sleep in on the weekends and sometimes it's hard to get up when I know I don't have to, get everybody ready and get there. But, after going a couple weeks in a row, it's becoming a habit and I don't mind waking up early to go. I cannot stand to be late. I'm always early to everything, which can be a pretty good thing, except when I get us to Sunday School 45 minutes before it starts. Oops. The boys were so excited to be there (they have the best time in their Sunday school class) so they were really well behaved for that 45 minutes. The church has free coffee and cheese biscuits for everybody, so the boys enjoyed some yummy biscuits while we waited.

I have a few catch up posts, but I'm really excited about some pictures I took of the boys at my parents house the other day. I posted a lot on Facebook, but I didn't post my favorite ones because I have something special planned with those, so I can't wait until that's done and I can write my post about the pictures and post them on here.

Freezing!!

Thursday was absolutely freezing!!! I think the high was 34, which is ridiculous for Georgia. I checked the weather all week and knew it was coming. The boys didn't have school, my Thursday Moms bible study doesn't start until next week, so as soon as I saw how cold it was going to be, I decided that I would not be leaving the house that day. It's very rare that the boys and I stay home the entire day and not go anywhere, but it was just too cold.

We started out our day in my bed with flannel sheets, footie pajamas, and a big, mink blanket on and some cartoons. I would have been happy to stay under those warm covers all day. My parents got out to go to the grocery store and stopped by on their way to bring us something the boys needed for school. They came in and stayed for a few minutes. I love living close enough that they can do that.

"Feels like 16"!! Isn't that crazy? I didn't move to Georgia for it to "feel like 16" in January. I came here so I could complain that it was so warm that I was in shorts and flip flops in January. :( The boys played so good the whole day. They were so excited about getting to stay in their footie pajamas all morning, they thought that was such a treat. I made them French toast for lunch, which also made their day. It's funny how the small things are such big things for them.

 

Greg decided he was going to go to the gym after he got home from work, so the boys got dressed so they could go with him. We did a quick craft while waiting on him to get home. I knew I wanted to do one with them since we were going to be home all day, but they ended up playing so good the whole day that I just never got around to getting all the craft stuff ready. So, I decided on a quick and easy one that we could throw together in just a few minutes.

 

A paper plate polar bear! I had them cut out the ears all by themselves. I glued them on (because of the way the plate curves) but they stuck the eyes on, glued the black pom pom nose and then drew the mouth all by themselves. It was such an easy project that didn't take but a couple of very, very cheap things we already had laying around our house. The boys really enjoyed it though.

Evan, showing off his polar bear.

I have some fun winter and Valentine's crafts planned for the next couple of weeks. I already have tomorrow's craft prepped and ready to go on their craft table for tomorrow. I'm really excited about some of the ones I've found on Pinterest, too. I've found some that go with certain books or movies which I think will be really fun. I love how many cheap crafts I've found on Pinterest, too. I'm not the only mom who doesn't want to spend a fortune or try and make every craft time into a masterpiece.

I hope ya'll are staying warm. I'll be here thinking thoughts of summer. I'll take the humidity over this freezing cold weather any day!

Playdates and Basketball

The boys returned to school this week after being out for Christmas break, so we started getting back into our routine. It's nice because I don't start back to school until next week (after being out for over a month) and my bible study doesn't start meeting back up until next week, so we're slowly easing back into our routines instead of everything starting back at once. I'll be volunteering on Mondays again for the rest of the school year. I really enjoy the days I volunteer so I'm glad that I was able to stay with the same teacher and classroom for the whole year (the commitment is only good for the first half of the year and then they ask for volunteers again in December for the rest of the year)

Monday after school, the boys worked on cutting, writing their letters and then we played an alphabet game. Last semester with my school really kicked my butt and I felt like all I did was school work, so I'm making a point to do more with the boys, especially the things I let slide last semester--like reinforcing the things they're doing in preschool.

Tuesday, we had a moms of multiples playdate. It was sunny and in the high 50's/low 60's but we knew that colder weather was coming, so we took advantage and met up at a park and let the kids run around and eat lunch there.

The boys eating lunch with their friends.

The boys had a blast! They basically ran around for 2 hours. There was a great turnout with lots of kids ranging from 4 months old to 5 years old and lots of new moms that I haven't met and some moms that I haven't seen since the summer. It was so nice to be able to chat with the other moms while the kids played.

Evan fell and hurt his knees, and when Carter and this girl started comforting him--he ate it up. So, they "helped" him walk around the park and made sure he took it easy.

Tuesday evening, the boys had their first Iddy Bitty Basketball practice. It's through the Family Y and it's for ages 3-5. It's supposed to be an introduction to the basics of basketball and just kind of "expose" them to it in a fun, laid back way. They were very excited to start.

There ended up being 20 kids, which I thought was a bit too much. I think a smaller group would have worked out a little better. The kids enjoyed shooting the ball, but there was no direction and there were about 10 kids at each basket just throwing the ball--and since they're all so small and most weren't close to getting it in--the balls were bouncing back at the kids and they all kept getting hit in the head, face, etc. It kinda seemed like a recipe for disaster with this particular age group.

They did look adorable doing their stretches, though.

They broke off into pairs to practice passing. Evan insisted that Carter be his partner.

The did a drill where you raced down the court while dribbling the ball. The problem was that most of the kids didn't even know how to dribble the ball at all, so running while dribbling was impossible. Greg really got out there and helped the boys with all the different drills they were doing.

Wrapping up the practice by putting their hands in the middle and saying "go team".

 

I'll be honest. I was not impressed with the basketball. It's for ages 3-5 and we got several emails before it started explaining what to expect and it sounded like it was what we were looking for. By January, we're always starting to get a little cabin fever, we're sick of the cold weather and starting to run out of fun things to do indoors, so I thought the timing of this basketball practice was perfect. But, I expected it to be more of a "playgroup" with basketball type activities. Very, very basic skills being taught, like dribbling the ball, passing the ball, some running, etc. The coaches were very nice but I don't think they knew much about kids 3-5. I want the boys to be exposed to different sports, but in a social setting. I think it's more fun to go to a gym with a couple of other kids their age and learn how to dribble from somebody who actually knows how (I'd be like the blind leading the blind) but it just wasn't like that. The boys get frustrated because they're expected to do things they have no experience with and when they can't do it, they get frustrated and grumpy. It's twice a week from 5:15-6:00, which is an awful time, but worth it if it was what I was expecting. Greg and I are thinking of not doing it anymore. We've been talking about it a lot since the first practice and we just don't think it's the right fit for us. We have decided to work on the basics of soccer, softball, and basketball with them at home, though. We have soccer balls and soccer goals, a tball set, and a basketball hoop (thanks Brandi!) with basketballs, so since I have a very clear idea of exactly what I want the boys introduction into sports to be, I guess I'm going to have to just do it myself. We did think the softball we signed the boys up for last year was done really well and age appropriate and that was done through a church and not the Family Y, so the next time we sign them up for a sport, it'll be through that instead of the Y.

Weekend

Friday afternoon, we took the boys to Hoppy Feet. Fridays are the day that they have "buy one get one free" admission, so it's really the only day we go. It was rainy and cold out, so we were tired of being in the house, so we came over here to let the boys get out some energy.

It's never really busy here, always just enough kids for the boys to have kids to play with, but not so many that it gets crazy.

The boys also have NO fear going down or up or doing anything on any of these bounce houses. They kept trying different ways, like rolling, jumping, head first, etc.

Saturday morning, we went to our second Home Depot kids workshop. This time, Greg was able to come with us. I was really hoping it would go as well as the first one did. The project this time was mini sleds.

Carter, posing in his apron before the project started.

Greg helped Carter and I helped Evan. We learned quickly that you cannot hammer on those tables they had set up for us and we had to get on the ground to do it.

Putting the final touches on the sled.

They were so excited to do this. They enjoyed it just as much as last time, if not more. It was much easier having two adults--because I do not like being out numbered by 4 year old boys with hammers. We got a handout with our paperwork about the next one, so we went ahead and put it on the calendar and plan on going. It's rare to find a fun thing that we all enjoy and it's free, so I'm excited we started going to these.

The boys refused to take off their aprons for our other errands. So, Carter went into the library with Greg, proudly wearing his apron and then both boys went into Farmhaus so we could grab some lunch.

The boys enjoyed their burger, which started off as a cheeseburger but Greg and I got to scrap the cheese off the bun and burger because the boys informed us that they do not like cheeseburgers, only burgers. Who are these children? Who doesn't like cheese on their burger?

Sunday was another nasty, cold, wet day, so we split up our errands and Greg ran some and came home and then he stayed with the boys while I ran out and did some grocery shopping. It's finally stopped raining and being nasty, but now it's getting cold. Thursday's high is supposed to be 34. So, basically, we will not be leaving the house that day. If you need us, we will be piled under blankets drinking warm hot cocoa or coffee. I'd be happy if spring started right after Christmas, nobody needs 2-3 more months of cold weather.