Bowling

Last weekend was hot. Jared had a long weekend and I was trying to think of something to do that involved air conditioning. Bowling was the answer. The boys have never been and they had free vouchers from participating the Summer reading program at the library. They LOVED it of course.

In our family bowling involved:

blurry pictures from all the excitement....

Hugs from Alex when he was impressed with your skill ;)

more hugs

Alex in action

Eli in action

A picture of Mama and her boys to prove I was there

AND the final scores. This was seriously my highest scoring game EVER!

The end.

The Library

We hit our library almost weekly. Ours has a TON of videos/DVD's that the boys love and of course the books. They also have a puzzle, coloring and puppet area. We attend storytime during the "school year" and in the summer they have a reading program where you log reading time and get little prizes. This year they are also having some specials with the Fire Department and various story-tellers.

I love the inter-library loan system. I can reserve almost any book I want and it will usually be available in a couple of days. This summer I know I'll be reading books on photography so that I can learn to take pictures well. I also picked up a book on teaching the boys to read. They have been watching "Meet the Sight Words" (all from the library) and are suddenly very interested in reading words for themselves so I plan to go with it and see how far they want to take it.

Other than these types of books I've been reading a little L.M. Montgomery and may do the "Anne" series this summer. Not sure. I love reading series if you have any suggestions e-mail me or comment. Or just a good book is fine.

This book, "Caps for Sale", was familiar to me. I am assuming I read it as a child. It was written in the 40's. We read it yesterday and the boys LOVED it. I wonder if that is why I remember the illustrations. I love how some books span the generations in appeal.

The one below has a poem for every season. It is by John Updike, written in the 60's. It is really good and I do not consider myself a fan of poetry. We've checked it out a few times.

This week we are also trying a couple of wordless books. I tend to not get these because well, they are wordless. I have since read a little about the benefits of these types of books and "read" them both to Alex yesterday. He LOVED them.

So we will continue to make our weekly trips to the library and checking out way too many books and pay a few too many late fees. Yeah, I gotta be honest, we basically pay a little bit for the "free" library. :)

Random

amazing weekend

Jared went and got the boy's swingset from our old house

they were pretty pumped

Jared makes this EXACT same face when he is working on a project

YO Adrienne!!!!

(Sorry, I grew up on Rocky Movies)

So I'm wondering would it be wrong to ask that these kids NEVER grow up?

Like, could she always be small enough to bathe in the sink?

And could he always fit on Daddy's shoulders and think that, that is the. best. place. on earth?

And could he always eat ice cream with such abandon??

Ok, maybe not that last one. The poor kid would NEVER get a date. :)

Yeah, I am pretty sure I have no choice but to let them grow up. Sob.

I told you it was random.

A Warm Fall Day

The boys and I (oh yeah and Addie) spent this particular morning with Mindy and her girls (oh yeah and her new son, Ryan) :). We went to the library and then to feed the ducks. Alex didn't enjoy the duck feeding part so much nor the people walking by with their dogs. Poor guy, I am hoping he outgrows some of these fears he has been having lately. Regardless it has been a beautiful fall in Michigan and has been in the 60's all week.

What a day!

my Wednesday (the very concise version)

*running on 4 hours sleep (not REALLY "running", are you kidding?)
*stayed home and enjoyed not running around
*re-arranged my bedroom since it seems we are NOT moving (bummer)
*made a fall dinner of chili and cornbread
*put together the boys cowboy outfits
*am sitting at home in a QUIET house while Jared is at the Fall Festival @ church (didn't want to expose Addie to all the germiness)

I needed a day like today because my yesterday involved...

*3 stores with all 3 children (boys in double stroller, Addie in Baby Bjorn).
*side note: the boys weigh about 70 lbs combined and the stroller revolted. BIG TIME! I literally could not turn it a couple of times. I was a sweaty mess.
*Alex had a fall on the ground fit @ Walmart. It was intense and I was "that mom". I had to be thankful it was Walmart therefore nobody noticed yet another screaming kid.
*I spent hours making shirts for the Breast Cancer Volleyball Benefit that Jared was playing in at the school and was there for 30 minutes. More on that to come.....

*sadly they were just iron-on shirts but I made them for four and I am not very "crafty". *further adding to my lack of craftiness is the fact that I burnt 4 fingers on the iron. I could commit a crime right now and go free. :)
*No sleep on that night either.

OK now for the details...

Apparently the boys are scared of the school mascot. LIKE REALLY REALLY SCARED! There was shaking, blood curdling screams, death grips on Mommy who was pushing a stroller and CARRYING one 3 year old while the other trailed behind crying with his hands over his ears. We stayed 30 minutes. Jared was on the court and had no idea what was going on until it was too late. We left. I came home turned on the Halloween Cartoons that were on "on demand" (thank goodness). In the words of Kate I was "DONE". I pulled the quilt off of my bed, grabbed Addie and cocooned us on the couch. AND YOU KNOW WHAT the boys were giddy about our night. So the fun part for me was the realization that ......

WE could have just stayed home in the first place.

You get that part, right?

Did I mention I wouldn't trade being a mom for the world? Ok. Just reminding myself that it is worth it on a day when it was debatable. :)

Happy to be @ home, safe and sound, and free from all Wildcats.

Adds was dressed to impress and supporting the cause.

No pics of Jared playing or anything. I thought I may seem insensitive to take pictures while my children were cowering in the corner of the gym. :)

Apple Orchard 2010

Score 1 for Mom!

I surprised the boys this morning and told them we were going to the yellow park (as they call it). I scored big when we got there and it was fire safety day. This means there was a big fire truck and fire hoses. I saw the fireman putting kids in the truck but they all had on matching t-shirts and were from a city daycare program so I wasn't sure if we would be able to swing it. I happened to have my camera (shocking, I know) so I apologized for crashing and asked if the boys could hop in. He said that this was a fire safety program open to the city and the boys were welcome to "drive". They were thrilled and this is where I scored big, unfortunately it does not end there.

I was on a roll so I took them over to where the kids were driving motorized red cars. I built it up big and assumed it was also part of the fire safety. I am sure you know where this is going. In the midst of our euphoria I hear "Mam, you need to watch your kids around these cars. This part of the park is closed except to the daycare kids." AHHHH! This led to a bit of a meltdown. This is where mommy lost any points she had gained with the fire truck. Fortunately, we hadn't even begun to play at the park yet so I still had that under my sleeve. It worked and we had a great day.

I also gained a Mom point when I let them splash in the puddles that the fire hoses were making. I am hoping I evened things out by days end. :)

I discovered today that when you spend most of the summer in bed your kids grow up quite a bit, as shown here.

They both tackled the big slide. Eli actually did it first (although Alex is pictured) which was a REALLY big step.

and they both climbed this like pros.

Such a great day with my boys. We even squeezed in a visit to Daddy. I am off to visit Addison this afternoon and she is doing well. She didn't hit 3 lbs last night but should tonight and she is taking a bottle every other feed. Her head ultrasound was clear also. We continue to work on her nursery in all of our spare time *wink, wink.