An Apple a Day

As I've mentioned Jared started school this week and WAS SO THRILLED to have his very own 1st day of school picture taken as he was rushing out the door. He had a good week. They are working into the school year slowly, which, is nice. This week they had 3 days with students, next week is a 4 day week and so is the following due to the holiday. I LOVE long weekends so that will be nice.

The boys enjoyed counting the apples also. Alex is SO into counting. It is fun to watch. I said something the other day about my 3 children though and he said "Mom, you don't have 3 kids, you have 2." I naturally figured he was leaving out Addie but I am pretty sure he was counting Addie and Eli and forgot himself. It was cute.

This morning I "suggested" (begged with pleading eyes) that Jared take the boys on an errand that he had to run so that I could chill while Addie napped. And chill I am. :)

Other than that we are heading to the park and then church tonight. I love these kinds of Saturdays.

I couldn't resist adding these picures of Eli on an 80 degree day. There is no middle ground with Eli; he is either in underwear or winter gear apparently. Thank goodness we are at home often so he can express his "creativity" through clothing, right?

I'm not sure when I am going to break it to him that this snowsuit is a bit small for him this year.

What's Up?

A few pics.

Recently I told Eli he had to go get dressed before he went outside and this is how he came out of the bedroom.

Age 4 is really quirky and fun, most of the time.

He had to share the hat with brother.

While waiting for a Tootsie Pop Eli declared "Yay! It's going to be licky!" Then as he was enjoying it he said "Is my lollipop SO lollipoppy?"

He just cracks me up.

The boys started soccer practice and are doing better than when they'd just turn 3 the spring before last. They are more ready for it now.

Addie continues to be a little sassy. I am still blaming teeth that haven't emerged but we will see. She is VERY Mommy-focused right now which is a bit tiring but we are working on that.

Biter biscuit after-math.

We had a nice weekend. Daddy's softball Saturdays are OVER. We are very dissappointed. ;) He starts school tomorrow. We had a nice weekend with family. Jared's family spoiled me by taking care of the kids the entire time we were there which was like a mini-vacation. Loved it.

And so a new week begins. I am looking forward to it.

Preschool, Play-doh and ....

I don't have a 3rd "P" but here is a bit of what's going on around here. We are not starting the boys in preschool this Fall but I plan to continue working with the boys at home. This week we started reviewing alphabet sounds and tracing the letters with other various letter activities. We are also doing circle time which involves songs, rhymes and books. I asked Eli yesterday if he liked it and he said "No, it's too hard!" After talking with him further he indicated that he doesn't love having to sit still and follow directions but I am realizing that both boys really need practice with this. Once we get going they do seem to enjoy it, although today I said "O.k. either circle time or bed but it is time to shut off the T.V." They chose bed. Yeah, we have a long way to go.

We discovered, thanks to my sister Molly, that Looney Tunes is on every day at noon so we have a new tradition called "lunch time and looney tunes" (creative, I know). This way, (ideally), they are not begging me to watch TV all day.

Addie also played with play-doh for the first time today. She had the homemade stuff in case she tried to eat it, which, of course she did. ;)

She is also not only crawling a little bit like before but she is crawling all over the house which has COMPLETELY changed my day to day living, let me tell you. I forgot what this was like. The difference with her is that there are 2 little boys leaving various little things all over the house and to her they are simple something to insert into her mouth. It has been interesting.

She already knows how to mess up her room too.

Other than that we are counting down the days until Jared starts school: 4 to be exact.

He works all Summer so it will not be a huge adjustment for us but he will be back to dealing with teenagers on a regular basis, lucky guy.

Written Last Friday, I think????

I hestitate to even put a title on this one because I have no idea what it will be about. This week has been nice. We have been home for the past 3 days with no plans. I thoroughly enjoy that. I'll get tired of it in the Winter but Summer's are so busy that this was a welcomed retreat. It is in the high 70's here which feels amazing.

Wednesday, we were out enjoying the day. I was literally laying outside on a blanket and reading a book while the boys played, it was awesome. The kind of day you just feel so thankful and the birds are chirping, sun is shining....and then screams were resonating. Alex was being swarmed by several bees. The little suckers were relentless and I couldn't get them off of him. It was horrible. I finally just ran him into the house and thankfully they didn't follow. He was stung 6 times. I am SO thankful to God that he didn't end up being allergic. I had the epi-pen poised and ready. Jared works so close that he was able to come home and make sure that he was fine AND take care of the bee hive before returning to work. It was intense and he still has some swelling but again no breathing problems, etc.

One of the things I am most thankful for is that he was back outside the next morning. Alex is our boy who is more likely to have BIG fear. I am so glad he pushed past it. We prayed that he would and he did.

Today they are outside playing and they both have on Superman Capes and Eli is wearing shin guards, in his pajamas; while Alex is wearing a winter coat and pajamas. Eli takes it up a notch wearing his shorts backwards and inside out. I can't even type that without thinking of Alanis Morisette's line "my sweaters on backwards and inside out". Sorry, I am a teenager of the 90's and I can't help myself.

Other than this Addie is cutting two top teeth. I was complaining to my sister about how crabby she has been and the fact that an exorcism may be in order :) and she said "she's probably getting teeth". AND she is of course. Why don't I think of these things??? It is my 3rd time around. Oh well. Orajel, take me away.

Picture proof of the hilarity.

They loved making their capes fly.

Addie attempting her escape. She is intent on joining them.

Off to fight crime or save the world, whichever.

Now that it is Tuesday, Here's Friday.

How's that for a confusing post. I was tempted not to finish this little project. I realized I am NOT a daily blogger. Anyways, here is Friday.

I love how $3 at a grocery store can be this pretty.

I also love that previous owners, my pastor and his wife Cindy, left some things behind for us. One of my favorite outside of some amazing appliances is this little old black & decker dust buster. The boys love using it and I LOVE when they do.

Truth be told, when I remember, this is their after breakfast, lunch, dinner job. I remember about the 1/2 the time. It is funny how I start doing chores they could easily do just because I am so used to me or Jared doing them.

The boys love to smell my coffee in the morning. They also love to help me grind the beans. Loud machines are fun I guess.

I usually have my coffee around 10 when Addie takes her morning nap. Love this time of day.

I found Alex here .

We got a toy car in the box of Cheerios and they played with it for an hour. I joined them.

Eli was our bridge. I really do make him wear clothes periodically. :)

Such determination.

Oops, car under the stove. He was bummed. Um, and the car is still there because I forgot about it until I saw this picture. :)

Eli's feet. He is awfully cute, however SEE why I don't blog daily? Some days we just sit on the floor and play with cars in our undies. Well, Eli anyways.

Again, I LOVE when they make each other laugh. This was a wrestling match that I had to put a stop to but not until they'd had some fun first. Addie is part of this sibling laughing thing also. They can make her laugh harder than I EVER can.

While taking out the recycling Eli fell and got a huge bump on his head. The picture does not do it justice. I had to add this picture because he was making a crazy face and I said "Eli, can you just smile?" and this is what I got. So funny.

Coffee with my Bible outside. Love doing this and wish I could say it is daily but I miss days and I am working on that.

Alex's tricks on the swing. He is strong, this one.

One of Eli's favorite things to do is fill his little pool.

My partner in crime, laying next to me while I read. If I remember right the Bible reading was never completed this day. I am sure they needed help with something or Addie woke, who knows.

AND that is the last picture I took on Friday.

We went swimming at Miss Vicki's ("like on Angelina, Ballerina", according to Eli). The boys were tentative at first and then they became little fish. They also fell asleep by 8:15. LOVE that.

Thursday {WITL} In reverse!

So I uploaded these backwards, therefore we will review the day in reverse.

It's getting close to bedtime and although Addie's new favorite activity is emptying the magazine bowl she was over it.

After my doctor appointment I dropped into a drugstore because they had dye 2 for $5. I was excited and tempted to buy a lot more but held off. And of course you can't leave the drug store without a cheapy nail polish. Mission Accomplished.

My appointment went really well and my doc is excited about my weight loss and the fact that my blood pressure was PERFECT as was my cholesterol ratio. My family typically has cholesterol issue but mine is FINALLY in check. Yay!

Addie's new favorite spot. This was her first time noticing our squirrel friends.

We made finger paint. The texture was a bit weird to the boys ended up asking for paint brushes. Go figure.

The pretty jars of paint, ready to go.

They had fun making it also.

End of story. I don't remember much else about this particular day because I am blogging about it two days too late. Oops.

Wow

Daily blogging is not easy especially when the posts are this photo heavy. I will admit I have a hard time trying to find time to blog lately. It must be a summer thing. We are outside a lot and our weekends have been pretty full. We went to the village today but Jared suggested it be photo free since we go there a ton and I have a ton of pictures. It was actually nice to enjoy it this way. So there are few pics today so far. Maybe tonight I'll finish some blogging since Jared is having some guys over. My night will hopefully go as follows: Addie to bed, boys to bed, blog or read in bed. Yay!

{WITL} Wednesday

After breakfast the first quesiton after Eli begs for a video or tv is "Can we go outside?" My answer is typically "Yes, but you need to put some clothes on." It is at this point they head to their room and who knows what they will come out wearing. If we are going somewhere I go and guide them or have the clothes out but on days we stay home I don't bother.

As Alex stands here and comes in and out on a typical morning I'd be saying "Shut the screen so the bugs don't get in." I repeat this SEVERAL times a day.

This is what Eli came out wearing. It's in the high 80's today.

Cranky baby.

A little rain meant the boys got to play with umbrellas. They were lovin' it.

I thought I'd intentionally show some messes today. Sometimes on blogs we just like to show the pretty. Here is a bit of the ugly. This is the post breakfast mess before I get the dishes unloaded and Addie's toys put away.

Lacing Alex up so that we can work out. He didn't last real long but he loves trying.

Blurry shot with the timer but you get the idea. It was cute.

Headed to the Library to meet Mindy and her kids. All 3 kids in my car. We thought with our 3rd we would need a mini-van but this works fine and I am glad we didn't have to spring for a new car.

Post library: Alex was mad at me because I wasn't letting him push the stroller in the parking lot. We stopped by and visited Daddy at work and he was fine after some tickling.

My job during nap time was this closet. It doesn't look a whole lot different but there was a lot of junk in there that didn't belong.

I propped Addie up here to see what she is missing by not pulling up. She loved it and didn't want to get down.

After this was dinner and the boys headed to church with Jared. Addie goes to sleep by 7 so we usually stay home on Wednesdays. I did get in a 2nd walk with Addie before I put her to bed. All in all a good day with the usual amount of stress related to 3 little ones.

I have a question for those who are good with computers. This post was finished last night and I lost it even though I'd hit save. When I try to save a little thing comes up on the bottom of my screen that says "java script: void" and WILL NOT SAVE. It has been doing this for the past few days so I just have to "publish post" and then go back to edit it and "save as draft" so that it is saved. I didn't last night obviously but this is REALLY annoying. Any help??? Of course this is happening when I am doing a week with a ton of pictures. It is time consuming to say the least. Thanks!