Back to it...

I know it's been a while...hopefully I can make up for it with a bunch of pics.

First of all, you know G is tired when he's too tired to play with his cars. I think it was Wednesday last week when I didn't make him even have a rest time because I was busy fighting the clutter battle in my house and the boys were playing so well. So when I was making dinner, E comes in and says "Mommy, G is asleep!!" I walked into the front room, and sure enough, crash city, right there in the middle of the floor. Why are they so blasted cute when they're sleeping?

We got away for a 24 hour + date on Friday to celebrate our 10 year anniversary. That's right.. TEN YEARS!!! I can hardly believe it. God is so good and our life is so wonderfully blessed. Anyway, we dropped the kids off at T's brother and sis-in-law's house and headed on to Omaha. The kids seemed to do fine -- it was the first night sleeping away from home without us, so, ya know, we wondered, but it was fine. They love it there with cousins and such -- they have horses, goats, cats, and cows there (all theirs except the cows, which belong to someone else), so it's pretty much a paradise for G. LOL He seriously loves animals.

Anyway, back to us...I'd reserved a room at a hotel that was supposed to be like a 'mountain retreat', which I thought would be fun because our honeymoon was in the mountains. I don't know how 'mountain' it was, but it was a nice enough place. We relaxed a lot, had a nice dinner, shopped some on Saturday. It was great...not long enough, but great. We headed back to where the kids were and stayed the night and headed back here yesterday morning. Below is a picture of us at dinner, at Brother Sebastians, which is a restaurant in an old monastery building. Good food, interesting atmosphere...and hey, the chant 'music' was only being piped outside, so we didn't have to listen to that the whole meal, which I would NOT have found nice at all...

Okay, so we got back around noon, and got everything carried in, and then I had to get busy making E's birthday cake, as his 'kid' birthday party was scheduled to be at 3. It was my first attempt at a birthday cake for a kid (always have called upon HyVee before). I realize it wasn't anything sophisticated, but still, I'm reasonably proud of my first attempt...I'm kind of thinking of finding a cake decorating class. It might be fun!

And yes, I realize the number 6 candle is backwards in the second picture...and I'm irritated with myself for it, but what do ya do?

Anyway, I hired a balloon twister for the party and he was FABULOUS. He's a college student (I think maybe even just a freshman), but he has quite a little small business around here. Nice kid, very talented. We chose his newest party 'package', the Ben 10 party. Ben 10 is a cartoon network character that is part alien and uses his watch, or omnitrix, to transform into 10 different alien forms that fight the bad guys. Below is my son, as Ghost Freak. LOL Gotta love it...And here's my other boy, XLR8!!! :)
After all seven costumes were made, they all suited back up and played a game. Quite a little crowd of aliens!!!
And finally, here's E with "Ben 10", his 'surprise' at the end of the party.

It was a great time. Can't say I'm not glad the parties are done for another year. Well, his actual bday is Thursday (do I really have a 6 year old? I'm not old enough for that am I?), and I suppose we'll go out for dinner or something...placing bets on Carlos O'Kelly's again...

So it was back to life today. We got school done this morning, had co-op this afternoon, and took our turn watching our friends' kids -- we do a childcare trade with some friends so that each of us couples get one date per month in which we don't pay a sitter. Our boys match up really close in age, and it works out great. It's been a busy day though. I didn't try to do laundry today. Just couldn't fit it in, but I'll need to try tomorrow. It's library day tomorrow, and soccer practice in the evening. Busy busy. G and I have some sort of cold thing going on. Nothing crazy bad, just there.

Okay, so that's a pretty good update I hope. :)

She's baaaack...

Two in one day? Really? YEP!!

I just was sitting here listening to the boys play 'office' upstairs. It's some pretend game they've come up with the last couple weeks, and I have really no idea what it entails. I hear something about 'bad guys coming in your office?' right now. Anyway...moments like this are further reinforcement that we've made the right choice in homeschooling, at least for this season. I know they'd have time after school and evenings, if E were going TO school, but I think it's a different dynamic. They are just really getting going on this pretend playing together, and I think they'll be closer brothers because of this time they have. I suppose one reason to write this now is so I can come back and read it tomorrow (or in 20 minutes) when they're at each other's throats. :)

We've had a good day. We got all but math and writing done this morning, then went to the library. We picked up Quiznos and ate lunch outside with T, who has a charity building project going on at work. It's SPECTACULAR weather today....did I mention I LOVE fall???

Alright...better go set G up on his bed with his stack of books from the library -- the kid LOVES books -- he's on a big horse book kick these days -- and finish up school.

Terrible Twos Schmerrible Twos

Alright, seriously, whoever came up with the term 'terrible twos' never had a 3 year old. In general, I find age two mostly hilarious. I think two year olds are a hoot. Our 3's with E were no picnic, and I was so hoping G might skip that phase, or at least be less of a challenge. Uh, yeah, notsomuch. T asked me the night before last "What happened to our little boy?", referring to his newfound defiance. Responses like "YOU pick it up!" when asked to pick up the puzzles, and "I'm gonna stomp on someone!!!" just do not go over well here. And honestly, I do not remember the maniacal laughing when he knows he's in trouble from the 3 year old days with E. *sigh* What happened to our little boy, indeed. He still has his sweet and adorable moments, and we love him madly, of course, but man....sometimes it's a good thing they're so cute and have won your heart over a million times...

Now for a few pictures....these first couple are from Labor Day weekend when we were out in the yard playing ball with the boys. E can steady whack the ball, and actually has a pretty good arm. I suppose I might have to let him try baseball again. He did t-ball last spring/summer, but not this summer, as we had him play spring soccer and they overlapped some, and frankly, I'd rather see him get the exercise that soccer involves more than the baseball, and watching baseball to me is about like watching the corn grow. But we may let him try it next spring, we'll see. I do want him to know HOW to play, so he can play with his friends and stuff as he grows up.

And G, well...is this a hoot or what? T had this coon skin hat, and he's let the boys have it to play with. I think this is the first time we showed baseball to G. T totally helped him hit, so he'd have success and think it was fun. He seemed to like it ok.

Here G is showing off his new set of farm animals. We took him to Toys R Us last Thursday to buy him his promised "I'm a big boy now and am all potty trained." present. We fully expected him to pick out a large-ish truck of some sort, as that's been the talk the whole time. Well, the animal lover in him won out, and he chose a bucket of farm animals -- the boy is nuts for cows and horses now. I bet he has 4 or 5 cows now that he likes to carry around. We're thinking we got off pretty cheap, as the animals were only 10 bucks. We were expecting to pony up more than that, but he doesn't know that. LOL

And this one...well, I think it was the first, or one of the first, days I put G in jeans this fall (and can I just say, LOVING the cooler weather!!!!), and a new shirt (which will be rare for him this fall, as I have plenty from E for handmedowns), and I just thought he looked so darn cute....and grownup!!! Where'd my baby go???

Speaking of handmedowns, we have a few that are MIA, and it's really kind of driving me crazy. There is a bag of underwear the next size up from what G is wearing, and 2 pairs of sweatpants I distinctly remember E having that are NO WHERE to be found. I've gone through all the rubbermaid tubs I think they could be in with no luck. A friend told me I'll find the underwear AFTER I buy new ones and open the package, and I'm sure she's right. :P

Well, as for a school update -- which, ya know, is sort of why I started out blogging I think...It's still going really great. We're on our 5th week already, and are moving right along. We started the year a little ahead on his reading and have kept up that pace -- we're something like 7 or 8 weeks ahead of the guide in terms of assignments for that area. We're going along at about 2 lessons of the math program per week which, at that pace, will mean we'll need the next level in about 10 weeks. We started going to co-op yesterday, which I think will be a really good thing. There are 73 children in the group, from nursery age through high school. Yesterday was kind of a 'dry run' of the schedule and such, and I was not in charge of anything, but I'll be assigned different jobs throughout the year, from nursery duty to teaching the various classes -- PE, Art, Performing Arts, and Unit Studies. We opened with some worship singing yesterday, which I don't think is a weekly thing but I'm not sure. I was thinking to myself though "How cool is this!! My kids and I are worshipping right in the middle of our school day!!!" Not that there aren't MANY forms of worship that we all can be doing throughout our day, but I meant the actual corporate worship through music. Way cool.

This morning, my 3 year old is being a sleepy head. It's a quarter til 9 and I've not heard a peep. I'm going to have to wake him I guess. I thought I'd let him sleep in, and then not push the nap thing. There are days, like co-op days, that he's just not going to get one, and honestly, when he does nap, he's awake till 11 or after, so it's probably time to cut it completely and just transition to a quiet time in the afternoon. But I was hoping to get some school in this morning before the library story time we're going to today, which is at 10:30, so we wouldn't have to do it all this afternoon, so I think it's time to rouse the beast from his slumber. LOL Actually, when he first gets up is often his sweetest time, and after somewhere around 12 hours of sleep, he ought to be good to go. We're watching a little friend of G's this afternoon for an hour or so, and then E has soccer practice tonight. Kind of a busy day head. Better get to it!!

Picture Bonanza!!! ...Also...Happy Days Are Here Again!!

Alright...so I was making the picture thing way too hard (thanks to the couple of you that helped me climb onto the clue bus...) So anyway, we'll be catching up on some pictures that I intended to post before but just couldn't figure it out.

The Happy Days... comment was regarding the return of Hawkeye football. YAHOOO!!! We had a minor panic (ok, maybe it wasn't really MINOR) when the main Big Ten network channel was not airing the game today, and I was panicked because that's one of the main reasons we got Dish Network. I used my logic and reasoning skills though, and logged on to the BTN website and found their nifty 'Gamefinder' and found my game in time to see the first touchdown...barely. Also, a friend of mine called and was wound up for the same reason, and I was able to help her. Good deed for the day completed. :) Iowa won big...of course, it's not like they were playing any powerhouse or anything -- my dad would call it a 'girls team'. But Hawkeye football is Hawkeye football, and I'll take the W any day.

So...here we go with some pictures...

First we have the boys on our first day of school...

And here we have the boys at the State Fair a few weeks ago doing the "Little Hands on the Farm" exhibit, which was very cute and lots of fun for them...

And, well, it's not my boys, but could this be any stinkin' cuter??? Two day old baby goats....AWWWW!

We kinda wore G out...

Here we have E and myself on Lady Luck at Adventureland. It was one of his favorite rides. :) And it didn't make me want to hurl. Even better!!

Now this is a picture of a picture, but it's a hoot...my friend and I went on the log ride together and A'land took our picture to try to sell us...it worked..

Here's me and my boys after the big party last weekend.

So there you go...

Not really a whole lot of other news I guess. Thursday night I was able to hang out with a friend and got some scrapbooking done. I've got the bug to get all caught up with the boys' books, which I'm really not that far off. Then I have a Hawkeye Marching Band scrapping project about half done...and then Tim told me recently he thinks we should have a FAMILY scrapbook. He won't be needing to ask me twice to have more scrapping to do....lol Today I watched the game (see above), ran some errands, including Hobby Lobby to get some scrapping stuff and craft supplies for school. Spent quite a while in the kitchen tonight making and cleaning up dinner, making potato salad and choc chip oatmeal cookies for a get-together tomorrow night (wonder whose potato salad recipe I used...hmmmmm????), and cleaning all that up. The kids are in bed...well, they were...G is up messing around again.

I was going to scrapbook tonight, but I think I'll just organize and sort pics and get ready to work on it tomorrow. Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

MOMMY!!!...COME AND SEE RIGHT NOW!! IT'S BEAUTIFUL!!!

Bet you can't guess what G was talking about!! That's right...his, um, deposit, in the 'big potty'...lol Like I told a friend, I really can't say the actual SIGHT was beautiful, but the concept of him doing it by himself??? Yep, I can go with 'beautiful'. :)

So my baby boy turned 3 yesterday (the 26th). *sigh* I really can't believe it. He had a really good day, I think. Started with presents, got to play with a friend who was here for a couple hours, and ended with dinner at Carlos O'Kelly's and a walk/bike ride around the neighborhood, in unseasonably beautiful and amazing August weather. I'll tell you for sure the weather was NOT like this in August the year he was born. He, indeed, ended up with the 'lots of trucks' that he told people he was going to get for his birthday for a couple weeks before the birthday....a garbage truck, a tow truck, a couple 'big rigs', transportation puzzles...I think we had it covered. :) I really am going to try to get a picture of him at the mexican restaurant inserted in this post...we'll see....

Anyway, the big party on Saturday went just great. All the food went over well, great weather, lots of fun among the cousins....a big success. AND, as a bonus, since I did the boys' parties together, I don't have to do it again in a month!! WOOT!

We had two themes going on....trucks/constructcion and Wall E...

School is going great again this week so far. E keeps asking to do more!!! So, you know, we're about through all the assignments in history and reading (both the reading aloud by me and his reading) for the week....we'll keep going though. This is one of the prime reason's we wanted to try this -- so he can learn at his own pace. He's pretty well mastered addition +9 in math; tomorrow we'll do the +8 facts. His handwriting is the only area in which I'm not sure he's doing just stellar... it's not going badly really, just not great. It's obviously his least favorite thing to work on, but I'm sure that's not uncommon either.

P.S. Okay...just so you all know...I started this post last night, and had to come back to it this morning -- if any of you can tell me how to get this site to insert pictures where I want them after I've written text, please let me know before I lose my mind...

YAY!!

Well, I did go get the boys' pictures retaken today...bruise on the forehead and all. Oh, what a difference the photographer can make. Wow. The guy today was great and we got some wonderful shots of G and some better ones of the boys together than I'd gotten the other day. Even better, I managed to just replace the prints that I returned and NOT spend any more money. :D Mama's happy now...and you all know how it goes..."if Mama aint happy..."

We also had G's 3 year checkup at the doctor and all is well. He measured 41 1/2 inches tall and weighs 42 lb 4 oz....an inch taller and a quarter pound lighter than E was at this age....off the charts for both. What a surprise....*eyeroll*

We had lunch with Grandpa and Grandma at Applebees. No school today, as we really did enough work the other 4 days that we really didn't need to. We had small group tonight at church.

I STILL have a few more things to do to get ready for the party, but I'm not freaking out yet...plenty of freak out time tomorrow. :)

Oh, cute kid saying time... Last night E asked me to "lettermatize" his Pokemon cards. :) It actually is a pretty cool word, don't you think? And the other day I rewarded the kids (for good behavior at the picture place) with a small toy at Creative Kidstuff -- don't remember if I posted about that or not. Actually, E wanted Pokemon cards, so we didn't get his reward there ...but ANYWAY, G chose a plastic approx. 4 inch cow...very real looking thing, udders and all. Well, today I asked him what the cow's name was....the answer? "Cowey Grassy-eater" heehee... Love that kid...

Alright, it's sneaking up on midnight, and I'm beat, and have a big day tomorrow, so I suppose I ought to get to bed. Here's a link to all those pictures we've had taken of the kids this week...I can't seem to figure out how to copy pictures into the right place on posts yet, and I'm too tired to mess with it...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bethandtheboys/sets/72157606861294669/

Forgot the bubble wrap....

Okay, so you know those pictures I'm supposed to have retaken of G tomorrow? Well...the young man decided to get up close and personal with the kitchen table tonight right at bedtime. Nice big goose egg right in the middle of his forehead. Man, I knew I should have wrapped him in bubble wrap... LOL We'll see what he looks like in the morning. I do NOT want to have to reschedule those pictures again. I want them for this weekend so I can distribute to family!! My kids tend to mark up really easy and once the initial redness/swelling goes down, it doesn't look nearly as bad, but I have to believe there'll be a bruise involved. Poor guy.

I've neglected to comment on some of the cute things he's been saying lately. He told me last night or this morning (don't remember which) that I was his 'best Mommy ever', and the other day he said that 'Mommy is my best friend ever'. He loves our snuggle time in his bed in the morning -- most mornings he and I have a little bit of snuggling before he gets up. Some of the sweetest moments of my day...what am I saying? more like of my life. I so love being a mommy...

School is going great. E asked to go ahead of the day's assignments in several areas and did much better with the solving for the unknown in math. We're sitting really good if we decide to skip tomorrow. Totally caught up for the week in the stuff that's scheduled -- math and handwriting are pretty much as much as we want to do.

I got quite a bit of cleaning done today. I have more to do, but not overwhelmingly so, I don't think. Need to get some groceries tomorrow sometimes -- things it was too early to buy for the party when we went earlier this week. G has his 3 year checkup tomorrow, then those picture retakes (if he doesn't look too bruised up when he gets up), grandpa and grandma are coming around lunchtime, cleaning, cooking, small group at church...wheeeee....better get to bed.