Chuck and Cheese

Where better to go after church on a snowy/rainy Sunday morning than "Chuck and Cheese's". And so we did. We'd spent the majority of the weekend cleaning and chore-ing, so we decided we needed to be out of the house for the remainder of the day. The pizza was terrible, but the games were fun. And the boys are still little enough that 35 tokens goes a very long way past their attention spans.
Lucas loved all the little rides. He wasn't too sure about Barney singing to him, but he really liked the rocket that took him up and down.

We played a little Dance Dance Revolution, but it really didn't go well. So we just hopped around for our turn. I really couldn't figure it out; Brian just shook his head and stood idly by.

Lucas was kind of posessive of the game after we were finished - felt he had dominated!

Afterwards we ran a few errands, spent some time at the Boise Library so I could get ready for my reading groups, and then ended our fun weekend at Goodies in Hyde Park. We went there a lot in college- was kind of fun to take the boys though we left such a mess I don't know if they'll invite us back....

It was hard (of course) to say good-bye to daddy, but the tears were gone by the time we hit the highway. And now we are ready for the next 12 days. I have lots of goodies baked, the dishes are done and put away, every bit of laundry is done (even the boys' sheets and coats), and I have a brand new chore chart for Ethan. He told me he'd like a car (hotwheels type thing) and so now he's going to earn it. My favorite way to earn a sticker is the "no tantrums all day" column. That should help us all.

Off to bed - still feeling somewhat healthier and coming along. Praying for continued getting-better-ness. I just tried to eat some garden salsa chips and I'd say my throat is not yet at 100%. Here's looking to a great week!

This is how boys bond....

So glad to have Daddy home... We're all feeling much healthier (I think, though my antibiotics are now gone and I live in fear of regrowing whatever that infection was)... We've made more nutrigrain-ish bars, granola bars, and muffins. Brian and the boys cleaned the house while I ran errands, and we all watched Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Brian also took the car in for an estimate and turns out I cracked the radiator. Great. Can't put off repairing that. And then he took the flat on the Subaru in and all 4 tires need to be replaced. Ugh. So, good thing he got this job!
Chores done and now we're just relaxing - out to dinner tonight - and who knows tomorrow. We're just thankful to be with Daddy!

Ugh

So what a week.... We started off great - Ethan started Karate and really liked it. He played "karate teacher" that night and gave us all a lesson. I think it'll be a good fit for him, but am hoping they really emphasize that it's not okay to hit people outside of class, because the next day he got in trouble for punching a boy in his class in the face. We think it was just because he wasn't feeling well. He came down with a nasty cough and who knows what. I've been really sick the last two days with some sort of throat thing. It has not been a happy week in the Sprague Family. I think I'm improving - the swelling is way down and I can open my mouth again, so that's good. I still can't eat more than a few bites of anything - ugh. But, hey, Brian comes home late tomorrow night and we are sooooo excited! I can't wait!

And this is how Lucas ended dinner. I feel the same way!

He'd make a good sheriff...

Cutting it short, because I am EXHAUSTED. 26 fifth graders is nothing compared to two toddlers all weekend! The pic is from our playdate yesterday- hilarious!

Today we spent cleaning! I think we (and by "we" I am sure you realize I mean me and the two anti-cleaners proudly taking everything out behind me) probably cleaned a total of 4 hours. Maybe more. And we bathed, crockpotted a meal, graded a bunch of papers, 4 loads of laundry, and got to go wish Miss Ella Grace a Happy First Birthday! Ethan loved playing with her, though Lucas was really only interested in her toys and was not happy if she touched the ones he wanted. It was fun to catch up with the Simmonds family and to see Ella crawlin' around everywhere!

I have a few more sets of papers, but I seriously don't think I can take it - so off to bed I go. At 6:41, yes. Sad, but I'm sure I'll watch TV for a bit and drink the LAST (hint hint Brian) of my Market Spice tea.

So yes, weekend by ourselves #2 was not nearly as rough, though I'm throwing in the towel pretty early!

5 more sleeps!!!

Adventures in Baking

The last half of this week flew by. Insane to be sure. I'm not sure what we even did on Thursday... I had soe great days at school - such a fun class - and then Friday, the boys and I worked on making homemade granola bars. Not sure they're a ton healthier than the store bought ones, but a lot less ingredients - more natural, I suppose.

The ones with peanut butter didn't really stick together- more like granola clumps.... but they're sticky. The ones with brown sugar stuck fine, almost too sticky....
The nutrigrain bars turned out great - though I didn't follow the recipe exactly and should have - a little too bready... But Lucas loves them and they actually turned out less calories and sugar than the real thing. I used sugar-free preserves in the filling. So now I can feed these to Lucas and not worry about him having too much sugar and us going broke over them!

Today we had a play date with one of Ethan's friends from daycare. She has the nicest mommy ever - invited us all over and we played and played! Then we went to Wendy's for lunch. Ethan and his friend were just giggly and had a great time. Lucas tried to destroy the restaurant, but what's new. My favorite trick of his was when he chucked his sprite over his head.

When we were leaving, the two big kids were holding hands. Ethan was wiggling all around, so she shouted, "Ethan - FOCUS!" I loved it. She's very assertive. He needs that :)

All I want to do is go lay down under my heated blanket and catch up on TV. And so, I'm putting off the chores until morning and doing just that!

Fury...

First of all - this picture is AWESOME! Thanks Mom!
And now.... so, I thought I would do a nice thing and take Brian's car to workout tonight... He wanted it driven every now and then and I hadn't yet, so I bucked up and went for it... The alignment was awful - kept running me off the road - so I called him and he said, "Oh yeah, the right front tire is low. You'll have to put some air in it." ARE YOU KIDDING ME? So I had to go, in freezing, windy, temperatures, to the gas station and try and figure out how to do it. Of course Brian was helping me over the phone, but I couldn't really hear him over the CRAZY WINDSTORM and he kept talking about some number thingy, which I could absolutely not find, as it was PITCH BLACK out. I got it back on (I THINK) and headed off, only to be bombarded by some sagebrush flying across my windshield.
Oh the things I took for granted... Next step - figure out how to change the airfilters.... But that actually requires tools...

A Fabulous Weekend

It started with a crazy airplane ride with two very silly (and not so nice to their mother) boys. We survived and made it easily to the light rail. That was really cool - Ethan was fascinated by the workings of it. Lucas did NOT want to sit still, but finally gave me some peace while he ate Apple Jacks. Meeting Daddy at the end of the light rail was SO great! The boys lit up and were so so so excited to see him. We trekked in the cold wet air down to the ferry where we had a delicious (and whoops, high calorie) dinner at World Wraps. It was Aloha Friday - and there were people there giving out leis. I loved it!

The ferry boat was fun. Lucas went through two diapers and Ethan had to go potty. And I just sat and smiled. It was a nice "welcome back to reality" for Brian! Mostly the boys were just thrilled to be snuggling with their Daddy.

Trying to pose nice never goes well anymore... never both at the same time.

More excitement as Upa met us at the ferry and Uma at the house a short car ride later. We were all exhausted and went to sleep - sleeping better than any of us had in quite a while!

The next day we got to have Happy Hour with Nana - that was great fun! We love our Nana so much! Lucas was excited to tell her all of his new "words". Ethan showed off his puzzle skills.

They both ate a TON of cheese and crackers - just like their Daddy. That worked out well because it left lots of smoked salmon for me!
We played games and laughed a lot as Brian tried ever-so-hard to actually play this game with sticks- it was a race before the boys destroyed it!

Then it was date night! We went to Whiskey Creek and had a blast. Live music, delicious food, and lots and lots of laughs. Brian refused to dance (and no, no one else was dancing, but we could have started it!)

Sunday we went for a "hike" around my parents' backyard. The boys loved getting lost in the wods, and searching for animals. We didn't really find any, but they liked looking. We spent the day just hanging out as a family - fabulous! Monday morning was a sad good-bye to Daddy - but we softened the blow a bit by heading to the Boeing Museum of Flight.

The boys got to climb in real airplanes (yes, I realize they have climbed in many real airplanes, but not like this!) and do flight simulations and all sorts of stuff. It was fascinating to look around, though there was way too much for their (or my) little brains to handle. We had a lot of fun - neat place!

Pretty soon it was time to say good-bye to Uma and Upa too. Ethan kept begging to stay "forever"! He didn't understand why we couldn't just stay with Daddy. Broke my heart.

The airport was an adventure. They were rowdy little boys - and not so happy to sit in the stroller! We shared a mini cheese pizza and they rolled around on the floor much to the delight of the other passengers. The airplane went fine except they were LOUD. And at night flights are usually nice and quiet. Not this one. Sorry folks! They did enjoy when Ethan announced that "Only BOYS can go to Boise! Not GIRLS!" And then he told them "My mom SAID!" No, I did not....

And now we're home - and 22 hours later we're missing Daddy, but counting down until he comes here (11 sleeps till the boys see him!). What fun!