The Act of Giving

We received a flier in the mail a week or so ago from AMVETS stating they would be coming to our neighborhood to pick up any unwanted items we had (that other people could use).  They included a list of items needed so Jacob and I thought it would be a good way to clean out the closets and get rid of clothes we no longer wear and clothes the boys have outgrown. We went through all the closets and filled two large trash bags with clothes. Last night we taped the AMVETS flier to one of the bags so they would see it and know they could pick it up from our curb and distribute the items as needed.  Jacob carried the bags out this morning and we went about our usual routine of breakfast, brushing teeth, and getting ready to take Alex to school. When we got home from taking Alex to school Logan pointed to the bags sitting on our curb.  "What are those big black things, mommy?" he asked.  I said, "Those are bags of clothes that we are giving away."  "Oh," came the reply from the back seat.  We came inside and Logan eventually walked up to me and said, "Momma, why are we giving our clothes away?"  I explained that we have more clothes than we need and we don't wear all of our clothes.  I told him that he and Alex grow so fast that they often have clothes that no longer fit and that other children could wear them.  Logan stood there for a minute thinking about all I had said.  I continued by saying, "Not all little boys and girls have as many clothes and toys as you and Alex."  Logan's eyes widened and he said, "There are boys who don't have cool toys like Alex and me?"  I said, "Yes, you and Alex should be thankful for what you have."  He continued to ask questions and I told him that it was easy to take things for granted when you always have things.  I said, "You have snacks and nice clothes and a lot of cool toys, books to read and art supplies."  Logan smiled and said, "Yes, we have a lot of things."  I said, "We often just assume every one has the things we have, but that isn't the case."  We have had the "money" conversation in the past where I explained to the boys that their daddy goes to work every day so they can have a roof over their heads, food on the table, clothes, and all the extra fun things they receive.  Logan seemed really impressed by this.  I guess if you think about it from a 3-year-old's perspective it is cool that your daddy would go to work EVERY day to make money so you can have all of these things. It does sound pretty neat! So, of course, Logan very seriously says, "Why do these boys and girls not have daddies who go to work so they can have things?"  I knew there was no explaining this to Logan.  We could sit and talk about it for hours and he would still have questions and not understand why everyone's home and family wasn't like his.  I could picture him shrugging his shoulders and continuously asking "why?"  So, I looked into his big blue eyes and said, "There could be any number of reasons why some people don't have all the things we have.  This is why we need to be happy with what we have because not everyone is as fortunate as us."  Logan smiled and looked around his play room.  He said, "We have enough toys for everybody.  Maybe we could share?"  I couldn't help but smile.  I said, "You want to share your toys?"  Logan said, "Yes, with boys and girls who don't have toys."  I said, "That is very nice of you to want to share."  Logan smiled, obviously feeling very proud and said, "Thank you, momma."  So, tomorrow we are going to bag up some toys to take to Goodwill.  I am going to let Alex and Logan help me if they want to, but I think Logan had a great idea! I am very proud of my boys and hope this desire to give stays with them for years to come!

Here are a few pictures of the boys playing:

Until next time . . .

A Week of Easter and Spring Fun!

We are trying to do some fun things this week to celebrate Easter.  We missed doing a lot of fun things the week of St. Patrick's Day because people were sick.  Now we have a week to celebrate and do fun Easter crafts and activities and even have a little fun on April Fool's Day!  The plan for this week is to do some fun Easter/spring themed activities every day.  Today we started it off with making grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch.  "What does that have to do with Easter?" you might ask.  Well . . . nothing, actually . . . so I gave the boys bunny-shaped cookie cutters and they cut their sandwiches into bunnies.  They had a lot of fun doing it and they all finished off their entire sandwich.  After lunch the boys helped me clean up the mess and we moved to the living room where we read one of the many Easter/spring themed books the boys have.  Logan was the lucky winner who got to pick today's book. He looked through the stack of Easter/spring books and pulled out a new book they received from their grandparents just this last weekend entitled Rabbit Pie by Penny Ives.  It is a very cute story about a mother bunny and her six little bunnies--it reads like a recipe and the ingredients all come together as the story progresses to form a wonderful little bunny family.  It was a fun book to kick off our Easter/Spring themed week!  We then went outside and the boys attempted tossing Frisbees at each other. That was funny just to watch.  They had a blast, though.

There are more fun things to come--until then, here are some pictures of the boys today!
(Below) The boys are making their sandwiches into bunny shapes.  Alex was telling a story in this picture.  He told his sandwich that he was going to make it into a bunny and then eat it.  He said, "You will look like a bunny, not a sandwich, but I will still eat you."  He and Logan have started telling stories a lot and they are all so funny!  This one was no different--and he did eat the bunny sandwich (ears first)!

Logan (Below) holding the book Rabbit Pie that we read today.  The boys really enjoyed it!

     Alex and Logan ready to read the book!  They were being silly, as usual!

Alex took the book after I read it and started talking about the pictures with Caison and Logan.  It was actually really cute.  They talked about all the pictures and what the little bunnies were doing--they even counted the bunnies on each page. They really seemed to enjoy the book (thanks Bleu and Boompa)!  I will post more this week as the boys do fun Easter things!  I know you all can't wait! Ha.  

Child-Free Weekend

Jacob and I were given the luxury of sleeping late and spending time together this weekend.  We packed the boys' suitcases and sent them off with their grandparents.  The boys were very excited about staying with their Boompa and Bleu and Jacob and I were excited about having some time to spend together as well as some time to just relax.  Jacob's parents arrived around 10:00 Saturday morning to get the boys and they all seemed eager to get back to Jacob's parents' home.  The house was really quiet after the boys left so Jacob and I decided to watch a movie.  Logan has been asking to see Where The Wild Things Are ever since it came out.  Jacob and I had heard mixed things about the movie and wanted to watch it first before allowing the boys to watch it. The boys love the book--we read it often and have even acted it out on occasion.  I know that they think the movie is going to be as cool as the book and after watching it with Jacob I fear that my 3-year-old might be disappointed.

We rented the movie and watched it in hopes of enjoying it.  Sadly, we did not enjoy it.  The wild things in the book seemed fairly happy--at least I thought.  I know that when I read the book with my boys they assume the wild things are happy too as they march around and roar and hang from trees.  The wild things in the movie did not seem to be the same wild things in the book my children love so much.  They seemed depressed and angry.  They fought a lot and were mean to each other. Even the land in which they lived seemed gloomy and depressing.  Jacob and I sat there and watched it and all I could think was, "Logan is going to be so disappointed." A big part of me didn't even want him to see any of the movie--better to just leave it alone and keep reading the book!  When the movie ended we sat in silence for a few seconds before I blurted out, "That was horrible! Just horrible!"  Jacob, of course, started laughing at me, but then agreed that he found it to be depressing as well.  We decided that since we get to keep the rental for two days we would just let Alex and Logan watch certain little parts of of the film--the wild things playing--scenes that wouldn't leave them feeling sad or wondering why the characters they love so much in the book are so different in the movie.  I think what bothered me the most is that this movie is based on a book that so many children, including my own, love so much.  They could have made it a fun movie, but instead it was just drab and depressing.  After the movie we decided it was time to just to do fun things!  Ha.

This morning we decided to go to IHOP for breakfast.  We, of course, slept in first since we didn't have little boys waking us up early.  That was really nice for a change!  We got up, got around, and headed to IHOP.  We figured we would have to wait a while because it was later in the morning, but we walked in and were seated right away.  The hostess sat us in a booth behind a family who had three children.  The father and one of the sons were sitting directly behind me and the boy, who was maybe 8 years old, kept turning around and trying to make eye contact with Jacob. I could feel him right behind my head and I would be lying if I said it wasn't a little annoying.  I can recall times when Logan would stand in a booth and try to smile and make conversation with the people seated behind us in a restaurant.  He hasn't done that in quite a while and he is 3-years-old.  This boy made Jacob and me proud of our sons.  Alex will actually sit still for the most part in a restaurant--they know how to act in public and we are so thankful for that!  The children behind us were loud and moving around and the father just seemed tired and perhaps overwhelmed.  Part of me felt bad for him.  It made for an interesting eating experience though.  The funniest thing that happened this weekend also happened at IHOP.  Jacob was enjoying his coffee and I was finishing my breakfast when I suddenly saw something out of the corner of my eye--followed by a "plop" sound.  Jacob and I both looked down at my plate of pancakes to find a little ball of paper sitting in the syrup.  We both looked at each other and Jacob started looking around.  There was a group of men sitting behind Jacob--they were probably in their 50s, at least--and they started giggling. It was the funniest thing. I couldn't help but laugh and then Jacob started laughing. I had eaten most of the pancakes and was actually finished with them so it wasn't as if they had ruined my breakfast, but it was funny to see a group of grown (middle-aged) men acting like a bunch of teenage boys.

Needless to say it has not been a boring weekend.  We have enjoyed spending time together and got a good laugh from our breakfast experience.  The boys will be back this afternoon so I better wrap this up so we can enjoy the remaining time we have left together.

Until next time . . .

Apple Cinnamon Flautas

We woke up this morning to the sound of wind howling outside.  I cannot tell you how unexcited I was when I looked outside to see everything covered in a white blanket of snow.  It is March--we should be dealing with tornadoes and hail storms, not more snow! We knew it was coming. I was just hoping that everyone's predictions were wrong, but they weren't. The boys have spent the morning running around with light sabers and begging to go play in the snow.  They pretended to be wizards and Jacob told them to go make the snow disappear--they tried, but it didn't work!  I decided it would be fun to make home made apple cinnamon flautas for breakfast this morning. I made eggs and bacon to go with it just in case a certain picky eater of mine didn't appreciate the flautas' sugary goodness (which was a good plan because he immediately took the apples out of the flauta and just ate a few bites of the tortilla).  Logan, our fruit eater, was all about the apples and really seemed to enjoy his flauta. The day ahead will more than likely be spent playing board games, Wii, watching movies and possibly coloring or pulling out the Play-Doh. It will be a fun day as we hang out inside where it is warm! I thought the boys looked so cute sitting at the table with their flautas this morning--I wanted to share this picture.

Have a great weekend!

Grab Your Speedo & We'll Go Jogging!

It's cold and cloudy today, hmmm, what should one wear to go jogging?  I know--a Speedo!  It sounds crazy, doesn't it?  We got up this morning and it was almost your typical Monday. We were a little more tired than usual due to the time change and I woke up not feeling 100%, which is always fun with little boys running around the house! I think I drank half the pot of coffee before Jacob even had his first cup--the coffee maker could not make my coffee fast enough! The boys slept until almost 8:30 this morning (which never happens) and Alex had speech therapy this morning.  Nothing too exciting--just your regular Monday for the most part. 

A little before noon I went into the kitchen to make lunch for Alex, Logan, and Caison.  As I was making their lunch I suddenly heard the front door open.  I stopped what I was doing and hurried to the front door--it was wide open and Alex and Logan were standing side by side on the porch.  The movement from across the street caught my attention and my eyes moved from Alex and Logan to the man jogging across the street. I looked, I froze, and I stared.  He was wearing a black Speedo and a red tank top.  He would have looked ridiculous even if it wasn't cold outside!  I was standing there watching him jog and thinking about how frightening it was--it was like some horrible accident and I couldn't take my eyes off of it.  My sincere disgust was interrupted when I heard Logan shout, "Hey! Why are you wearing girl underwear?"  The man simply kept jogging.  Logan took a couple of steps forward and shouted, "Hey, I'm talking to you!"  (This boy knows no strangers and will carry on conversations with people he has never met--his Poppy is the same way!) We stood there until the man was out of sight--then we stood there in silence for a few seconds longer.  Alex looked up at me and said, "Mom, why was that man wearing that?"  I said, "I don't know.  That is a good question."  Alex said, "He is a silly man."  He and Logan looked at each other and started laughing.  Logan shook his hips and said, "Look at me! I'm a girl and I wear girl underwear!"  Alex said, "No! It wasn't a girl it was a boy!" Logan shrugged his shoulders and said, "Why he was wearing girl underwear then?" (love the 3-year-old grammar).  They both started laughing. 

By this point Caison had joined us on the porch.  He asked why Alex and Logan were laughing and Alex said, "a man was running and wearing girl underwear," and continued to laugh.  Caison started laughing and said, "girl underwear?"  It was funny just watching them stand there and laugh at this man who, for whatever reason, thought it would be a good idea to wear a tank top and Speedo to go jogging.  I wonder if he will jog home and cry because a 3-year-old yelled at him and made fun of him?  Logan wears underwear on his head from time to time.  He will also wear only underwear and boots--you have to look pretty ridiculous to be made fun of by a 3-year-old who wears underwear on his head!  When we sat down to eat lunch the boys were still talking and laughing about it. They got such a big kick out of it!

After lunch they went back to fighting bad guys, but every so often I will hear some one say something about girl underwear--followed by giggling. 

Living Room

Since redoing our dining area Jacob and I also decided to change our living room.  It was your usual adult living room with the colors brown, beige and blue.  It wasn't hideous or anything but after a couple of years or so of it Jacob and I were both bored with it.  We would look at our cool retro dining area which now pops with colors and excitement and then look at our bland living room-it was sad.  We put Jacob's bass guitar and electric guitar into the living room and used them as our focus.  They are both black so we decided to get rid of everything in our living room that was brown, beige, or blue and replace it with black and/or red.  We took down the blah things we had hanging on the wall and replaced them with more exciting pieces.  The wall above the guitars was filled with music-related tins and artwork, the wall above the love seat was replaced with photos Jacob and I took while on our trip to Boston, and the boring brown clock that once hung above our fire place was replaced with a cool red and black painting Logan made. Jacob also put some ledges on the wall--we use them to display vinyls from our record collection.  We switch them out every so often. We are happy with the outcome and glad it no longer seems boring! Here are some pictures for those of you who have been curious about all we have been doing. Enjoy!

A Bouncin' Good Time

After I picked up Alex from school today we headed to Bouncin' Craze to run around and play for about an hour and a half.  It was fun just watching the boys--although I will admit I went down the big slide a couple of times with Logan and Caison.  It really is fun for all ages!  Alex has been asking to play with his friend, Zach, so he met us there to play.  Alex and Zach were very excited to see each other.  Caison sat with me for a while and watched the other boys climb and slide.  He finally decided to try it and once he came down that slide it was as if a monster had been created--Caison didn't want to do anything else. He would climb up the same slide and then slide down and jump off--a huge smile on his little face the entire time.  He would say, "I wanna go again!"  I'd say, "Go for it," and he would take off running to do it again.  By the time we left all three boys were sweaty and tired.  I thought they were all going to fall asleep in the car. They had a blast and it was fun to do something we haven't done in a while!

"You Shine" Star

Alex's school has a special bulletin board that is set aside for the "You Shine" students.  The teachers each pick one student from each Pre-K through 5th grade class to be their student of the week and they send their nominations to the office.  The office then goes through the 15 children who were "nominated" and they decide which child gets to be the "You Shine" student.  Alex came home from school yesterday and pulled a huge yellow star out of his back pack--across the top of the star was his name.  He was so excited and talking so fast that I couldn't really understand what he was saying.  I finally said, "Wait, slow down."  Alex rolled his eyes and handed a piece of paper to me.  "Here," he said, "Read this!"  So, I did.  It was a letter from his teacher stating that Alex had been picked to be the "You Shine" student.  She instructed me to cover the star with pictures of Alex and to put a caption under each picture.  His teacher went on to say in the letter that Alex was chosen because of his friendly nature, his willingness to help, his improvement in listening and following rules while at school, and also because she feels Alex is such a hard worker. 
Alex and I sat down yesterday evening and went through a lot of pictures.  He picked out a few that he wanted on his star and then I picked some.  He was very excited about it and very proud of himself.  This morning when I took him to school his teacher asked me if I found Alex's star in his back pack. I told her that Alex was so excited about it he pulled it out and showed it to me the second we got home.  She said, "I'm really glad to hear he is so excited about it.  He has earned it!"  She said that Alex has to work harder than the other students in some areas and he doesn't let that slow him down and he just "keeps on truckin'." I was very happy to hear his teacher say such wonderful things about him. 

So, today we put the pictures on his star and I wrote a small caption under each picture explaining what the picture represented.  Alex is very proud of it and excited to take it to school on Monday so it can hang on the special bulletin board for the entire school to see.  We are very proud of him and all of his hard work.

 

We found a lot of pictures that we wanted to use, but there was no way to fit them all on the star.  Alex said he wanted the picture of him and Jacob having breakfast together, the picture of him dressed as Ben Tennyson (Ben 10), and the picture of him from his 5th birthday party on his star.  I made sure to include those since it is his star.  I also included a picture of Alex eating cake at his first birthday party, a picture of him with Logan when Logan was about a week old, a picture of him on his skateboard, a picture of him hugging Logan, a picture of him and Logan laying on the grass looking at the clouds, a picture of Alex "reading" to Logan and Caison, and a picture of Alex with me--so people know he does have a mother. Ha. 

We took a picture of Alex and Logan together with Alex's "You Shine" star--Logan was excited about it, too!  He didn't believe me when I told him the baby pictures were of him and Alex.  He said, "No, it's baby Kyler!"  They aren't babies anymore, but they have become really good "big boys."  We are very proud of both of them!

Change Can Be Good!!!

The past couple of weeks have been pretty eventful for us.  Jacob's Aunt gave us a twin bed she had.  We ended up giving the "new" bed to Alex because Logan tends to fall out of bed--this bed was higher than Alex's old bed so Logan took Alex's old bed.  He didn't seem to mind at all--everyone was happy!  Alex loves his new bed and the boys discovered a door at the foot of the bed.  They go in there with their little flashlights and refer to it as their "club house."   They drag stuffed animals in there with them and have club meetings.  The boys are having a blast with it.

We have also completely changed our dining area and we are very happy with it!  We had a table with four chairs--four chairs that were very nice when we first bought them, but two boys and a few years later they were quite disgusting.  They had cushioned seats so anytime the boys spilled/dropped something on them it stained or soaked into the cushion.  We grew to hate these chairs.  Jacob and I stumbled across a picture of a retro dining table/bench that looked really cool.  We talked about how the vinyl seats would be perfect for two (well, three when Caison comes over) little boys.  They can spill and drop anything they want to and we can just wipe it up.  We decided that we would get the table--so we did. I think Jacob was actually smiling as he busted the old chairs into pieces to throw away! After we got it we knew everything else in the dining room had to go and it all had to come together in a retro fashion-an almost 50s diner style.  Two weeks later we were finished with the dining area and more than happy with the outcome!

Along with all the changes in our home both boys  have been sick at different times over the past couple of weeks. I can honestly say that we have not been bored.  The boys are feeling better and we are making final changes to our living room--those pictures and the story behind the theme will come later!

In other news, Alex had his 5-year-check up yesterday.  I was told by several people that he would get shots--he even asked me if he was getting shots.  I told him that after his appointment we would stop and get ice cream.  I took his Game Boy so he could play while we waited.  The doctor came in and started asking me questions about Alex--is he a picky eater, does he have large motor skill issues such as jumping or running, can he tie his shoes--you get the idea.  He asked if Alex knew and recognized all of his colors.  I said, "Yes."  He said, "Well, do you mind if I test him?"  Alex made an "are you kidding me?" expression.  The doctor asked what color Alex's socks were--Alex rolled his eyes and said, "Oh brother!" The doctor laughed and Alex told him the color of his socks.  The doctor asked what color Alex's jeans were, and his shirt--Alex pointed out all the colors on his shirt and the doctor laughed and said, "Okay, you know them.  I get it."  I had to try really hard not to laugh.  In the end Alex didn't need shots, but as we were walking to the car he said, "I was a good boy?"  I said, "Yes."  He said, "Don't forget the ice cream."  So, we stopped for ice cream even though he didn't get shots.  I enjoyed the one-on-one time I was given with him yesterday afternoon and very happy that all in all he is a healthy boy!  

Until next time . . .