Almost Birthdays...

We were sooo sad to say bye to Grammy! The boys had a blast with her- played hard! They behaved pretty well, though the dogs did not. Two stuffed animals had to go in for "surgery" and there were a few food items stolen. All I can say is "THANK YOU!" Conference time is sooo stressful with being gone two nights in a row and having you there was such a blessing!

Friday morning we dropped off Grammy at the airport- though we made a stop at Chevron first because I realized at the last minute that I hadn't changed the oil in the car in a VERY long time. Luckily two old men at Chevron helped me out - though not without arguing with each other.

The drive wasn't too bad - not without its screaming fits or messes though. At one point Lucas was so mad at me that he squished up a banana in his hands and chucked pieces all over the car. Gross. Other than that it was cartoons and more cartoons.

Saturday we grabbed up the boys and ferried over to Seattle to go to the Science Center. Lucas and Ethan both loved the monorail and we had a blast seeing all the exhibits at the Center. The dinosaurs were a little too scary.

All the space stuff was awesome. Ethan loved the "spaceships" and pretending to fly to Mars.

Lucas just loved playing with EVERYTHING. There was so much for him to climb on and play with.

My favorite was the Butterfly House. The butterflies let you get right up close. Ethan was a little bit nervous, but very careful. We did see one butterfly bite the dust - so sad....

Afterward we walked through Pike Place and then over to Hard Rock. Hard Rock was a kick - we shared a giant ice cream sundae. Lucas just dug right in. I think it was up to his elbows - gross! It was super yummy.

Today Ethan and I went to my old church - so fun to see old friends! After that we came back and tonight we had an "Almost 4 Birthday Party" for Ethan with Nana. He was soooo excited to see all the dinosaur stuff and his cool cake.

He was so excited to get his Dinosaur Encyclopedia from Nana - what a cool book! He was full of thank you's to Nana and Uma and Upa. He told Brian, "Thank you for your love." And then for me "Thank you for watching me open my presents." Very polite.

Even Upa got into the dinosaur safari spirit. The boys enjoyed growling around and we even got to Skype with the Boston folk - fun times!

Lucas was all giggles with Nana - he just kept giving her hugs and kisses.

Tonight Ethan's prayer was fabulous, "Thank you for the love between us. Thank you for my presents I got for my birthday. And hamburger dinner- Yahoo!"

I think he had a good time. Both boys were exhausted by bedtime - as are we, though we're getting ready to watch a movie. I'm not used to watching movies with other people anymore- they're driving me nuts, but I'll adjust- ha!

Tales of Grammy Love!

"We need to get flowers for Grammy."

"We need to get flowers for Grammy."

"WE NEED TO GET FLOWERS FOR GRAMMY!"

And so we did. Really, it was Ethan's idea, and Ethan who ran up to give them to Grammy, but Lucas was the only one who would pose for the picture. Handsome boy, I know! We were thrilled to pick up Grammy at the airport. We headed down to the zoo - not too far from the airport and showed off all our favorite things - including the carousel.

After the zoo we headed back to the house and poor Grammy had to play 20 games of Candyland and everything else. Lucas was fascinated by her luggage and so I got one of our empty suitcases out of the closet and he's been dragging it around ever since. Both boys are loving the extra attention with Grammy here. I've had a blast having the help in the classroom - conference week is much easier wih help!

Today she got to witness some fun in PE - my kids and I won the 10 minute jog and so got to do a bunch of messy relays - great fun! I am SO sore from those stupid scooters, and I'm still gagging on the twinkie one of my students got to shove in my mouth, but it was so so much fun - what great kids! I am really going to miss them.

We made a great picture- I love teaching with people that love to get messy and have fun too - thanks Beth!

We picked up the boys at daycare and took them over to the Jumping Jungle that we went to last time - so fun! We bounced and bounced and slid and ran.

Lucas is gaining his bounce-confidence. He was laughing like a hyena - so many belly laughs.

No wonder we were ALL so exhausted. We ran by McD's (it is Tuesday after all) and headed home for dinner.

Lucas fell at the dinner table and bit his lip - big trauma for the little man, but within 3 minutes he was choiwing down on his Happy Meal. Grammy read stories and the boys were both rubbing their eyes by 6:30. We sent them off to bed and baked some treats for the school bake fair (super women we are!). And now we crash. My body is a-aching! Wish Grammy luck - she's got the boys the next two days all by herself. I have conferences till late at night, so those will be long days! Thank you thank you thank you Grammy! It's nice to know the boys will be with someone they love so very much!

Sunny With a Side of Wind

I don't know what got into me. The quest to be supermom? The desire to make Ethan stop fussing that Grammy doesn't get here until tomorrow (which we are SUPER excited about!). Or was it just the sun baked my brain? We did SO much today. I don't know what I was thinking.

We started the day at Zumba at the gym. Lucas was an angel - just walked himself right in and didn't even blink when I left. I had a great workout, and the boys were quietly coloring when I picked them up. Lucas looked so grown up I almost cried. (Did I mention he is now without pacifier! I just tried it last night because I couldn't find one and it went great, so bye-bye it is!)

After that we went to a new indoor inflatable playground place and the boys and I had a ball. We did gladiator wrestling, bouncy houses, little tykes cars, basketball, slides, and an obstacle course. They were giggling up a storm.

And then, the crazy that I was, we walked the block to the pizza place. Delicious pizza and salad bar - but got us home just in time for naps. The meltdowns were beginning. (Mine too)

Good naps and then we were off to the park with Jess and Liam. Liam is now walking - it was so fun to see him toddle around getting dirty - my kind of guy! And that toothy smile!

It was sooo good to see him and catch up with Jess. They left for naptime and a neighborhood teenager came by and helped Ethan fly her kite. She played with the boys for a full hour and had them wrapped around her finger. I chatted with her mom and just watched the boys having so much fun.

We finally came home and I finished dinner that was cooking in the crockpot (see - SuperMom it is!). After we ate, we ran to WalMart to get strawberries, cool whip, and graham crackers for my favorite dessert (well, favorite healthy dessert, let's be honest) and movies.

I tell you what, I'm exhausted, a little bit sunburnt, and thoroughly content. The house is a disaster, the boys went to bed pretty late, and I can't remember if I fed the dogs, but hey - it was a long day!

Grammy comes tomorrow for the week! We cannot wait to see her!

Brotherly Love

"I'll tell you a story - K?"

"I'd love to hear a story."

"Once a time, there was an OLD steam engine."

"You already told me that one, do you have another one?"

"Well, I haven't written that yet. Hold on."

(He proceeds to type in the air, as on a touch-screen computer, beeping, sliding, etc., and mumbling to himself "Oooh, that's a good one. Nope, not that one, oh okay, here's one.)

"Once a time, there was a... a... ooold car."

The story went on, but I couldn't get over the typing in the air thing. Where did that come from? I wish I had it taped. This boy is definitely unique! It really seemed like he was using some super high tech computer in front of him - and the sound effects - priceless! Lucas and I were enthralled. And now we ask for a story every night - and yes, the whole scene is repeated, though the main character changes to something else "ooooold". (No, not me)

The boys have discovered how much fun it is to play together. Of course, one of them is crying within a few minutes, but then they just go back to playing. Even Duke is a good sport.

So many giggles. Tears too. But mostly giggles. We've been working with Ethan on how to spell his name. He just really doesn't have any interest, so I'm trying to give him some. Miss Karina showed me today that he wrote his name in class, when she held up each letter for him to draw. It looks great. It's written right to left and all the letters are mirror images, but still!

My friend at school had the great idea of bringing home some masking tape and making his name on the floor- so he can jump on it, trace it with his feet, whatever. We did play a sort of hopscotch, but then decided to cover the E in cars. (And yes, Ethan will now only wear his sweatshirt backwards. He puts it on - everytime- pulls the hood up over his face and laughs like a hyena. Yep.)

It was very cool - but obviously did not last long. As I said, giggles, tears, brotherly love.

A Picnic for St. Paddy....

I have to wear green tomorrow mom. If I wear red I have to give a KISS!

Tonight we started a new tradition (I guess). Ethan asked if we could have a picnic for dinner- so we packed it all up and headed over to the park. He said, "Picnics are for Patrick's day." I just loved how he was so excited to find his "bakset!" to pack it in. Graham crackers PB&J were a hit and then we played and played and played some more.

The highlight was going down the slide all three of us together- it was painful for me, but they laughed so hard we did it again and again and again and again. And again.

They are just getting so big. So very big and independent.

And then Lucas broke a mirror tonight- I'm expecting great luck now...

Too Short

I can only describe this weekend as too short. Brian's flight got in an hour late on Friday, so he made it here just before midnight. Then today he had to leave at 12, since he was driiving. Too short. But there was time for snuggling yesterday. I sat at the computer for hours and hours getting all my applications set up. I still have to collect some stuff and finish, but they're pretty much there- thankfully! I also got completely caught up on grades - yep, that's right, one week before they're due!!! Of course there'll be more this week, but still....

After naps we headed out the the Boise Art Museum. I had gotten free tickets from school, so we took advantage and went to see the Robot exhibits. We couldn't take pictures of the exhibit, but did have a lot of fun in the Art Experience Area - with the Rock 'em Sock 'em robots. There were all sorts of really cool things to do there...

We built castles out of blocks...

Ethan showed off his awesome puzzle skills...

Lucas tried really hard with the puzzles...

There was also an exhibit of really old quilts and we enjoyed looking at those. Ethan has been studying quilts at school - for the letter Q, so he was even excited.

We decided to splurge on a big dinner out and headed over to eat in a choo-choo at the Old Spaghetti Factory. We really did have a good time - though ate WAY too much... Lucas really loved everything - the applesauce, the spaghetti, and the ice cream... = 1 big mess!

Today was grocery shopping and then a haircut for me and then good-byes! We also said good-bye to the kitties as they made the big move this weekend. Naps, a little bit of shopping, and Hotel For Dogs on DVD and it was time for bed. So fast. Too fast. And now I'm exhausted. And to think I was worried about being sleepy for bed tonight! Ha! Not going to be a problem.

Ode to Coffee

"Holy Shoot! There's a fry in this box!"

"Ethan, you probably shouldn't say holy shoot."

"What do I say?"

"How about, Wow!"

"No (laughing). It's not 'wow', it's Holy Shoot!"

Pretty quiet week - just trying to get us all healthy. Trying to resist the girl scout cookies (didn't go real well). Luckily I won the weigh-in last week, so I could relax a little this week. The boys were pretty tired, as I took them with me to the gym on Wednesday night. I now feel completely justified paying a babysitter to come here. They were AWFUL the next morning - so tired. Plus, Lucas' top canines have come in - helpful in the biting wars that he and his classmates are currently engaged in. His teachers called him a Vampire yesterday! I laughed really hard. Then today he got bit. I told him that's what happens when you bite your friends, they bite back! Lesson learned, I hope.

Daddy comes home tonight! I'm trying to get my papers done (or more done anyway) before he comes... we'll see... I even got coffee to help - which Lucas enjoyed. (Oh I'm not that bad, it was empty before he got to play with the cup...)

Here's to a great weekend ahead! The dishes aren't done, the clothes aren't all clean, but Daddy will be here in a few short hours to take care of it all- ha!