Our Week in Pictures

This week the boys headed back to preschool after a 2 week break. Greg had to work last weekend so he got Thursday off this week and Friday he was already scheduled to be off, so he ended up with a 4 day weekend!

 

The boys like to surprise me sometimes and actually smile for the camera. ;)

 

I still haven't packed away the boys Christmas theme toys and every day, Evan plays with the Little People Nativity set.

 

Monday our playgroup was cancelled and the boys were both in a mood. I finally put them in the car and just drove around for a few minutes. I got them some lunch through a drive-thru and put on a movie. They were being so good, that I just parked in the driveway and let them eat and watch their movie. It was nice to have a few minutes of piece and quiet. Some days they don't fight at all and play really good but Monday was not one of those days and I felt like I was pulling them off each other or telling somebody "no" every two seconds.

 

Tuesday, the boys went back to school. the teachers warned us that the kids might have a hard time since they haven't been in two weeks and to be prepared for crying. I figured at least one of them would cry when I dropped them off, but they both took off and didn't even look back when they yelled "bye mom" I was so relieved. I went and did a little shopping while they were in school. I'd been wanting to go into Staples for a few months and check out their Martha Stewart line. It was amazing just like I expected. I also got these pens for $5.00 a pack, the papermate ones are normally close to $20.00 a pack (which is why I've never bought them before)

 

The boys love when Greg gets home. Sometimes, I'll tell them that daddy will be home in a few minutes and we go to the front room and watch for him. They get so excited when his car pulls up and they yell hi and wave. it's very cute.

 

Carter knocking on the window to get his attention

 

Tuesday, we went to Yoder's after Greg got off. Carter loves petting the goats. He just goes up to them all by himself. I remember when he was scared of the goats.

 

Evan loves anything he can hang on or climb.

 

 

 

I took several of Carter with the goats because I think it's so cute how much he likes them.

 

 

 

 

I love that the boys love animals.

 

The boys love the swings there, too.

 

Wednesday night, we took the boys to the park. They played so good, we were there for about an hour and could have stayed longer if it didn't get dark so early. Greg was peeking through a hole in the playground and the boys would come up to it and he'd say boo and theyd' scream and run and then come back and do it all over again. Some other kids saw and started screaming and running with Evan and Carter and pretty soon all the kids were playing this game with Greg and having the best time. Greg was such a trooper and played with all the kids as long as they wanted. I wish I had got a video of it.

 

Thursday, Greg had off, so we dropped the boys off at preschool together and ran some errands and grabbed lunch. We went to walmart, Target, Trader Joe's, etc. It's funny how something as simple as going to Target is such a different experience when you don't have the kids. We were able to browse and walk slow. It was nice. Then we had lunch at The Noodle Company. It was good and I'm glad we tried it, but I wouldn't go back.

 

That night, we took the boys to a place called Riverside for dinner. They have delicious burgers, fries, etc. I thought Carter and Greg looked so cute coloring together.

 

Here's Evan pointing to what he wanted to drink--wine! That's what I needed after taking both the boys to a sit down restaurant. haha. They are so much better than they used to be, but it's definitely an experience eating out with two, two year olds.

 

I can't believe today is Friday, it feels like Sunday since Greg has been off for two days. I love when we get long weekends like this. It's been so nice.

Valentine's Ideas

I haven't posted in a few days because things around here have been pretty boring. The boys had runny noses and a little cough over the weekend and Greg had to work Saturday, so we didn't do much. Monday, our playdate got cancelled for the second week in a row because all the kids were sick (ear infections, coughs, runny noses, etc). There has been something going around and we are so lucky nobody in the house got anything more than a little cough and runny nose.

I've decided that I want to make the boys valentine's that they hand out in school this year. I've been on Pinterest getting several ideas and wanted to put all those ideas in one place so I can have a couple of people look at them and give me some feedback. So, I'm doing a post on all the valentine's that I'm considering. I'm going to have the boys each give out a different Valentine, so I'm going to be picking two of these. Feel free to let me know which ones you like best. :)

I went through hundreds of ideas on Pinterest and most were either way too girly or included a treat that we can't use due to Carter's peanut allergy. :( I'd love for at least one of the valentines to be a treat that's not food.

I like this one because it's simple.

 

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 All kids like fish, so that's the reason I'm considering this one





 

I LOVE this one, but I don't know if the girls in the boys class will.

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This one is cheap and easy

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Superhero lollipops, perfect for boys to give out.

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This one would be so fast and easy and most kids like lollipops.

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This one is one of my favorites for Evan to give out because he likes dinosaurs. I think it'd be nice to do something that's specific to each boys' personality.

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Another quick and inexpensive idea

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I found frogs at Walmart, an 8 pack for 97 cents.

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I love this idea, but I found a pack of tractors at Walmart that I'd like to use instead. But, I don't know if tractors would go with that saying as well and I'm not clever enough to come up with a cute saying using tractor in a valentine. But, if anybody else is, please help. Carter loves tractors and that would be a cute valentine for him to give.

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This is my hands down favorite. Some other sayings they had were "you dropped the bomb on me" and "I can't fight this feeling anymore" how cute is that! They had an 8 pack of soldiers WITH parachutes at Walmart for 1.97, so I think this would be cute and inexpensive, but I don't think 2 year olds will appreciate the use of song titles as valentines sayings as much as I do.

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Kids love playdoh and this would be something all the kids would probably like (unlike the frogs or bug valentines)

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I just think this is cute. I'd use skittles as the candy.

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I think this is cute and a different type of food than the typical candy (lollipops, etc) that are usually given. It's a mix of teddy grahams and gummi bears.

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This would take longer, but how cute are those robots!?

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When are smore's not a good idea?! ;)

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So, there you have it. These are the ones I've narrowed it down to.

Play dates and Children's Museum

This week has been pretty relaxing and laid back. Since the boys are on winter break from preschool, we don't have to be anywhere early, so we've been able to have some relaxing mornings. We usually just play with toys and watch a little bit of a movie.

 

Wednesday, the preschool that the boys go to held a play date for all the students. The pastor of the church (that the preschool is in) his wife and kids were there along with two of the boys classmates. It was nice to get out and let the boys play. Of course, there was snacking involved. Always a very important part of any playdate.

 

There were tons of riding toys and things to do. The boys had a good time.  

 

I've been sticking with my new year's resolutions! It's only the 4th, but still. :)

 

I discovered this on Wednesday. It's the best thing ever. So good, that I'm blogging about it. If you haven't tried it, you have to get some. I've been planning my meals around what this would go good on. I've had egg whites for lunch the past two days because it's so good on eggs. Mmmm....

 

We've made a lot of forts this week. The boys love playing in forts.

 

The boys had a friend from preschool over on Thursday for a play date. His mom was in my birthing class, actually. It's such a small world. His little brother, who is 5 months old, also came. Carter was so sweet with him. He rubbed his tummy and just liked hanging out with him. It really melted my heart. Evan, on the other hand, was not a big fan of the baby.  

 

Today, I took the boys to the Children's Museum. it was packed!! I've never seen it so busy and we got there right when they open. But, the boys had fun.

 

Each time we go, they seem to discover something new that they like to play with.

 

Evan put so much mail in this mailbox. I've never seen him play with something so long at the museum.

 

Carter would pretend eat the pastries and say "yum!"

 

Of course, we had to spend some time in the art room. They have markers for the kids to use, so I let the boys have at it while we're there because there is no way I'm giving them markers at home to color with.

 

The kept rolling the bucket up and down in this little well.

 

On our way out, the boys rode the carousal. There were several other kids on it and I thought they'd get a little scared since they older kids go faster, but the boys loved it.

 

 

 

Picture Dump

Not a whole lot has been going on the past few days. It's been cold and preschool is still on winter break, so we've been doing a whole lot of playing.

Here's some pics from them from last Friday.

Thursday night, we went to the store and picked up a box of pancakes (a box of 12) and by the time they boys went to bed on Friday we were completely out. The boys were on a pancake kick, Carter more than Evan, but they ate them for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Saturday morning, I got up and made pancakes for the boys. Evan wouldn't even try them, but Carter loved them!

I feel like a lot of these pictures have to do with eating, but I think that's the only time they stay still enough for me to take their picture. Saturday after the boys nap, we went to Chick-Fil-A. We had coupons for free shakes for the boys and we figured they could play some.

The boys LOVED their shakes and they had a great time.

Sunday, we had a coupon for free kids meals at Jason's Deli, so we went there for lunch. We got there at 11:00 before it got busy, which was nice. The boys loved having their own side of the table to sit on.

I was not impressed. I had heard good things about Jason's Deli, but my sandwich wasn't good, the boys hot dog was cold. :(

Monday, Evan decided to put his couch on the big couch. He ended up using it as a slide later. Never a dull moment.

All the kids in our play group are sick, so we had Monday morning free. I got out some boxes for the boys to play with while I did some baking.

The church that I go to for my MOPs meetings was hosting Tuesday's Table this week and needed volunteers and cooks to help prepare the meals and hand them out to hungry people in the community. I baked over a 100 cookies and bagged them while the boys entertained themselves with the empty boxes.

After all the baking and playing, we decided to relax and watch a movie. This is how Evan likes to watch tv, I don't know how it's comfortable, but he loves to sit like this.

Carter insisted on wearing his sunglasses. I loved that he snuggled up with me to watch the movie.

We have a play date at the preschool tomorrow morning, all the teachers are going to be there and they invited all the kids to come and play for a couple of hours. I'm really looking forward to it. I'll try and do a New Year's post soon, too.