Saturday Adventures

 Now that #1 has a detective position our lives have changed.  Some things are harder, like him being on call one week a month and us needing to stay within 30 minutes of the department.  Some things are easier, like his more regular hours (most of the time).  I think the best BEST part is that he gets (most) weekends off.  We've been able to have some adventures!

 One of our favorite places to go is our nearby children's museum.  #1's parents gave us a year pass and we go about every 3 weeks.

 Little Monkey Man likes that he can touch and climb on nearly everything.  He is constant motion.  He also learns by doing things hands-on and loves to find out how things work.

 #1 likes that it is rarely crowded when we go.  He isn't big on being where many other people are.  Because we have the pass we can look over where lots of people are and NOT be in that part of the museum.

 Rosebud likes that we usually have lunch there and that we often take the double stroller meaning she doesn't have to walk.

 Snug likes to read the exhibits and is starting to remember things he's learned before and make connections.

 Sweet Pea loves that she can touch all the knobs and buttons and tries to keep up with everybody.

 There is very little "no, don't touch" which is so nice when you live in a "no, don't touch" world.

 As she has recently mastered simple shapes and most all of the colors, Rosebud was excited to show off her skills.

We also enjoy the space theatre where we see the stars, 3D movies, and documentaries.  This obviously isn't the theatre, but it IS the end of the part about the museum...

 Today's adventure was Snug's school fair.  We got to play lots of games and won prizes.

 Sweet Pea spent the day in the Ergo.  It was warm enough that we left our coats in the car-always a blessing.

 This is Queen of St. Patrick's Day.  In her own mind.

 Do you know What you can catch at a school fair?

 You can catch a moustache!  How goofy is that???  He cracks me up.

Do you know what this big bloody fish is for?

 Throwing into a toilet.  Yep, that's what that game was.  "Fish Flush".

 Here we are at the cake walk, still sporting a 'stash.  No one won, daddy was sad about that.

 Later in the day #1 took the littles home and Snug and I stayed to run a game.  We ended up with THE hardest game in the building.  The ring in his hand is attached to a string on the end of that pole.  On the red and yellow pole is a hook if you look close.  You had to swing the ring in an arc and get it to catch on the hook.  After demonstrating probably a hundred times so kids knew how to throw it I got it 6 times.

 A friend gave Snug his tickets that he had left and Snug also ended up with some facial hair.

When we got home they posed for a minute so I could capture a brotherly moment.  I have a feeling this one will be one of my favorites for years to come.  Speaking of which...

I captured this one the other night too.  I LOVE it.  Yes, there is a mess on the floor and it isn't centered...in fact it has an odd angle to it all together.  But I love the moment that was captured.  Love these people!  Looking forward to more Saturday adventures.

Floaties

As  kid I hated "floaties" in my bathwater.  I remember distinctly balking at entering the water in the bath (or if there was a bug in the pool) if I could even see a speck.  I'm sure my mom remembers this too!  I'm about 99% sure LMM gets his sensory issues from his mother.

I have floaties on my brain.  We love Shauni Feldhahn's books "For Women Only" and "For Men  Only".  In "For Men Only" (which I read, and will explain in a minute) it described women's minds like a computer screen with many windows open at once.  That explains my mind most of the time.  We have a hard time thinking about one thing and sometimes feel like we are juggling too many things at once.  I'm sure not every woman feels that way, but I certainly do.  So right now I have floaties.  SOOO many things at once I can hardly function or settle on one item.  Hold on, I just remembered I'm supposed to take a jello to a baby shower tomorrow and haven't made it yet....

...heavens.  I am so scattered.  Ok, so a few years back my husband and I got the Shauni Feldhahn's books.  We liked them so much we give them out as engagement/wedding gifts.  But we read them with a twist.  I read the men's one and he read the women's one making notes for each other as we read like "this is totally me" or "I've never really felt that way about...".

My big project this fall is making a family closet.  I'd heard about them and mentioned it to #1 (who instantly thought it was a great idea, just took me awhile to get on board) a little over a year ago.  I guess I am a traditionalist who likes everyone to have their own drawers and closet space.  However, now that (according to many, but not me) we are a large family things are getting a little...disorganized.  Often when the boys are getting their clothes out of drawers they toss everything in their way on the floor.  Later I don't remember what is clean and what is dirty and washing clean clothes is not  a good use of our resources.  I am tired of lugging laundry baskets up and down the stairs multiple times a day.  There are perfectly good clothes not getting warn because I never see them in the back of drawers, or because we simply have too many clothes.  In my opinion we have too much of everything material, but I am not great at getting rid of things.  I am learning to think of giving things we are not using as blessing others, not "losing" something.

I'll post pictures as we go.  Right now it looks like a tornado has hit our basement.  But that is not the only reason we have chaos down there.  Our basement floods every time it rains.  We used our tax return money plus some money we saved up to put an egress window in.  Our plan is to use tax return monies each year to finish off our basement.  We had planned on at least moving ourselves downstairs this year (even if it wasn't a "room" per se) and turning the girls' current room into a den off of our dining room.  They'd get our room.

The men installing our egress window in July

However, the egress now floods each time it rains which has ruined much of the carpeting in the playroom and everything in that area has been moved to higher ground.  The company had guaranteed that it wouldn't leak.  I have spent hours on the phone with them and was told for $1,500 they could put in a solution to our problem.  I politely informed them that before they came with their product I didn't have a problem.  After finally speaking with the owner I think they are going to put in some sort of a pump to pump water out of the well and it will be at their expense.  Time will tell.

 The kids enjoying a rainy Saturday

The view from inside the basement when it rains...water POURS in the window

The view from outside after it has rained.  

Other things floating in my brain are small like things I need to make for baby showers, planning meals, and juggling our schedule.  One of the reasons I think I cannot homeschool Snug is that I barely get everything done as it is.  I can only imagine what life would be like if I added that.  

I have a ton of apples sitting on my counter top waiting to be made into applesauce.  That is a project I'd like to have the entire family participate in, so it will wait for the weekend.  Homemade applesauce is a dessert/side dish we all enjoy throughout the winter.  

I'm also planning on doing some fall family pictures.  Not of us (although I'd like to fit that in too) but of some other families.  I am excited to try my hand at it.  I'm not a professional and I let them know that up front!  Waiting for some nice weather days and the colors to come in just a bit more. 

Speaking of pictures, I still haven't done ANYTHING with the ones of my cousin's wedding in August.  On my "to do" list today is to at least get them up on Facebook.  I am soooo bad!!!!

So while my basement is floating in rainwater and my brain is floating full of projects and things I need to get done, I better get off my blog and get working!

First Days and Nine Months

 Back to school has come and gone, and now school is routine, but I still wanted to share our pictures.  LMM is THRILLED to go this year, unlike last year where he cried and clung to my leg for, oh, the first 6 months.  No longer!  I barely get a "goodbye".

 There are tears though, I assure you.  Instead of LMM clinging to me sobbing that he wants to go home...I have Rosebud clinging to the art table or whatever furniture she can get her sticky-from-breakfast hands on screaming that she wants to stay.  She'd give up something pink and sparkly to be at school.  She has the back-to-school-bug bad.

 MMMM.  I could eat this one up.  She is a mama's girl for sure, and I am loving it.  I'll admit most days it is hard to have her wanting me ALL THE TIME, but as she gets older...I'm learning to cherish it.  Her baby days are numbered.  Everything is new and exciting and she loves to explore anything she can get her hands on.

 And then she eats it.  Cause that's what you do at nine months.

 I have zero new growth to report this month.  She is not even registered on the charts for weight (14 lbs 9 oz...still not as big as Rosebud was at 6 months) and is in the 10th % for length (26.5").  http://www.babycenter.com/baby-child-growth-percentile-calculator

However...she is developing GREAT!  She is taking steps along the furniture, exploring standing unassisted, learning to open/get into/crawl around everything in her way.  She feeds herself gluten free cereal, nurses often and well (finally sleeps 4 hours at a time most nights and is transitioning to her crib more than cosleeping) and eats baby food.  While she'll eat my homemade rice cereal and advacado, she has a bad gag reflex with homemade pureed veggies and fruits.  She is doing better on jar first foods, so I have been buying 2-3 of those a week as well.  Three jars doesn't kill anything but my pride.

 Snug Snug Snug.  I can't believe my preemie is in first grade.  He is not as excited about school this year as last.  I second guess my decision to put him in school daily.  I am trusting I did the right thing, but it has been hard.

He's already had his taste of bullying, but his teacher handled it well.  Not ready to tell that story yet, but I may in the future.  It for sure upped my opinion of the teacher though.  He is a little bored as the work comes easily to him, but new things should be introduced soon.  He also started swim lessons yesterday.  We found really reasonably priced ones at the YMCA a short distance from us.  He loves the water and we hope this opportunity will not only teach him swimming skills, but also boost his self-confidence (something he has very little of at school despite knowing all the required work) and social skills.

I have so much I want to/need to post and am working it into my daily schedule.  Er...weekly schedule.  After my last post I really missed blogging and need to make more time for it.

As it is September 11th I have a story to share.

A few weeks ago our family added a new activity (cause really we have nothing to do, totally bored).  We started Letterboxing.  I read about it in Parent's Magazine (or was it Family Fun?).  We've only done it a few times, but MAN is it fun, and has proved to be educational for the boys and a great way to get some exercise and spend time together as a family.

We went to our local 9-11 memorial for our very first try (we either failed, or the box was missing).  While there we took the time to examine the monument which is constructed from some of the Twin Towers building material  .  We talked a little bit with the boys about why it was there.  We kept it very basic.

Fast forward two weeks to this past weekend.  We're at #1's softball tournament (where his team did FABULOUS, knocking out the #1 ranked East Coast team in Police Softball shocking everyone including themselves).  LMM and I are watching the other team warm up and he asked if "thems is cops".  I told him yes, everyone here is a cop...it is Police League Softball!  Then he said they were bad cops.

More than concerned, I asked why on EARTH he would say a thing like that.  He proceeded to tell me that they were bad because they flew airplanes into buildings.  Heavens.  I don't think he got one thing right about 9-11.  I patiently tried to re-tell him and correct what he was way off base on.

I also informed him that his daddy is a cop (which he doesn't believe anymore now that #1 is a detective and doesn't wear traditional uniform...my boys think that is quite the disappointment these days!) and he knows daddy helps people at work.  He had to think on that for awhile, but I HOPE he understands at least the part that the police officers (and firefighters and all first responders) were the GOOD GUYS in history.

Have you told your kids about 9-11?  Any tips?

Playing Catchup

So.  Between the Flats Challenge and my computer being dead (hard drive is failing...be ready for me to be out of blogging for quite awhile at no notice) I have been a bit behind on our summer events!

 First up was strawberry picking.  We found this great place not too far away thanks to Jenilee.  Although these aren't organic, the farm uses minimal chemicals in their crops, much less than what is in strawberries you buy in the produce section at the grocery.

 I swear my kids each ate a quart of berries.

 I snapped this cute picture and then got that berry out of Sweet Pea's mouth.  It was her "first solid", although she didn't ingest any of it.  Strawberries are a high allergen...so probably not a good thing.

 The boys literally walked out of that place with handfuls of "free" berries.

 Little Monkey Man finished preschool.  This is his FIRST day of school...

 ...and this is a picture of his last.  He had a great year and we continue to see improvements in his speech, adaptation to new situations, ability to transition, and with his sensory issues in general.

 Ah.  Potty training.  Sassy McLassy has been doing great, terrible, and everything in between.

 She has days and days where she is fine.  And then she decides she isn't going to use the potty.  So we convince her otherwise.  Cause we're not going back to diapers.  Much.  There are times where her bowel is so messed up she can't help but have accidents.  We do have a date to take her to a GI specialist this month.

 We got to see some friends who we haven't seen since she and he were only a few weeks old.  He wanted to be friends.

 She wanted to tattle.  Tattle. Tattle.

 We all "ran" a 5K.  It was for the FOP that #1 belongs to.  #1 and Snug ran it.

 Mommy had Sweet Pea in the sling.

 And two in the double stroller.  I didn't run.  But I got MUCH exercise.  I also don't recommend babywearing and speedwalking with a double stroller.

 Here he is after the race, very proud of himself.  After all, he beat five people.  Mommy, Sweet Pea, LMM, Rosebud, and some lady he didn't know.  What a race buddy.

 Rosebud loved the race.  She got to eat.

 And eat.

 And eat some more. And what goes in must come out.  So that is loads of fun when she can't control it.  We kinda let her pig out because at nearly 26 months old she is barely hitting 22 lbs (on a good day-often closer to barely 21).

Here was Snug on his first day.

And here he is on his last day on Tuesday.  He loved his teacher.  I think he thought she walked on water.  She was cute as a button, so can you blame him?  He had a great report card.  The only things he didn't get perfect were that he makes the number "3" backwards and a couple of letters incorrectly.  However, he writes sentences on his own, reads on a beginning 2nd grade level (with fluency), and has great comprehension.

Watch out summer, here we come!!!!!!!!!!