Budding artists

Yesterday Chris decided it was time to break out the sidewalk chalk. This was the first time we've done it. The boys had fun and did do some scribbling. Mostly they liked to watch what daddy and mama drew and hand us chalk. Boy did they get dirty! They had chalk all over their clothes, feet, hands, face....pretty much everywhere. When we came in they had to go straight in the tub.

Today I decided to try some Easter crafts with the boys. I know Alex does some things with glue and cutting at school. I planned to make Easter bunnies and eggs and tried to have all the pieces cut out before sitting the boys at the table. (The bunny heads are paper plates turned backwards.) I don't have any pictures of the boys actually putting them together because well, I didn't want to take my eyes off the glue. I think they liked it though. I let them pick which colors they wanted to use and had them tell me where the eyes, nose, etc went. I still haven't gotten any Easter things down from the attic so this is our first dose of Easter so far.

Feeling squirrely

As Alex and I were eating lunch the other day (Zachary was already down for his nap) he pointed this squirrel out the window to me. This is in the tree right outside out dining room window. The squirrel just sat there with his arms hanging out of the hole (maybe his house?) for the longest time. I took this picture through the window. Finally he crawled out and flopped himself on his belly on a branch with his arms and legs hanging over the sides - very funny looking. We tried to creep out on the back porch for a better view and pictures but it he heard us and ran for cover back in the hole.


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Not squirrel related but yesterday when we were playing outside we heard tapping again. It was coming from the same tree that had the branch fall off already with a woodpecker hole and guess what? They're baaaack. I saw a little head peep out of the hole and then it flew off. I'd really like to get a good look/picture of it. I did research woodpeckers though and this is what I think the culprit looks like. I can always see that flash of red on it's head as it flies away.

Recycling

I know I should have done it a long time ago but I'm finally going to start to recycle. We did actually start to save cans last year after I realized that I had at least one every day (not anymore). We recently found a place here in town to take them too and it was so easy. You just drive in and a man comes to help you unload and dump everything and then you're off. So now I've decided that I can do it and I'm going to make a space in the garage to keep it all. So if you're not already recycling - I challenge you!

Ya think it's comfy?

We recently got a T.V. for our gameroom. Somehow the boys have decided that this is the best place to watch a movie - under the pool table.

I can't say I'm complaining too much. At least I don't have to watch Kung Fu Panda everyday (or sometimes twice a day)!

The butterfly game

We got this fun looking game for Christmas and then quickly packed it away in the closet and forgot about it. Chris found it last week and finally set it up to play. The boys had a blast. Basically it's an elephant with a very long trunk sticking straight up. It's got a little fan in it that blows paper butterflies out the top. Everyone gets a net and tries to catch as many as they can. For some reason whenever Zachary catches one he immediately dumps it back out!

Warm days are here

It's nice to finally be getting some warm days again so we can play outside. Chris thought he was going to do some work outside yesterday but that idea went out the window when Alex and Zachary woke up from their nap. We still haven't finished staining the deck (and we don't like the color - it's too dark) but it was too windy to do that yesterday. Alex was originally a little bit afraid of the slide but now he likes it. It is fast! Maybe he likes it better since we added the nice cushy landing spot.

Daddy......can you hear me now?

Happy Birthday Dad!

Tonight we got back from an overnight trip to my parents to celebrate my dad's birthday tomorrow (and to return my nephew that was staying with us). My mom is out of town visiting my sister in Iowa so my other sister and I decided to cook dad lunch today. We made chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, and fried squash. Not to mention a birthday pecan pie (which dad prefers over cake) and "homemade" donuts (out of biscuits) for the afternoon. Everything turned out yummy. Just as we were sitting down to our afternoon desserts more family showed up! We ended up with aunts, uncles, and cousins to join us, and we needed the help with all our food.

We love you Dad!

Half & Half

I've been thinking about this day lately and I missed it! Earlier this week marked an important halfway point in Zachary's life - he has been with our family for as long as he was without us. He was exactly 16 months old on the day we picked him up and took him away from his orphanage on November 19, 2007. It's sad to think that he was without a family to love him for so long. From here on out everyday is one more day of his life that we are lucky enough to be with him. It feels good to be on the gaining side.

Spring Break

So our Spring Break isn't until next week and my kids aren't really in school anyway but we had a mini spring break this week. One of my teenage nephews (Tyler) came on Wednesday to spend the last half of his spring break with us. Yesterday while the little boys napped the big boys (Chris and Tyler) biked over to the river park and hiked along the river. Then Chris called to see if Alex & Zachary were done napping so I could pick them up but no - the boys slept a long time. Poor Chris and Tyler had to bike uphill most of the way home I think.

Today all of us went to a big park. We packed lunch and the boys thought it was fun to eat outside and watch the birds and squirrels.

Then we headed to the main attraction for the day - the train!Zachary loves trains! The boys will line up chairs and toys and say it's a choo choo train. We rode on one before in a different park and they still talk about it. This train took us all around the park and we waved at all the people and saw lots of fun places.

After the train we walked around the park to the places we saw. Some nice girls gave us a piece of their bread to feed the ducks. When I broke off the first piece for Zachary he ate it! I guess he didn't realize what everyone else was doing.

Although some people were in the little spring fed pool we only put our feet in. That water was cold!

We had a really fun day and the boys didn't want to leave. I had to promise them that we'd go back sometime. In the summer there will also be paddle boats that I think will be fun. I think the boys might just now be napping after fighting sleep for a good 45 minutes. I thought with all our activity they would conk right out.

More ways to spend my time

As if I'm not busy enough with two boys running around the house I had to go and find more ways to spend my "free" time! I finally joined one of my sisters on a book swap website - www.paperbackswap.com. It really is a neat website where you can trade books with tons of other people and only pay the postage. No fees to join. So much cheaper than buying new books all the time, or even used ones. Then today I took the plunge and joined facebook. I think it will be neat to connect with old friends that I've lost touch with but I'm having a hard time figuring out how to use it. I don't think it's as user friendly as a blog. But then again it could just be me. I mean, how many people are on facebook?

How am I ever going to find time to wash the dishes?

Relief

We closed on the sale of our old house yesterday. The buyers ended up moving the closing to the 16th instead of the 30th like they originally planned. It sure does feel good to be done with it.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! (I completely forgot to dress anybody in green today.)

Training day

With cold, wet weather outside it's a good day to stay in and practice.

Is this kid cute or what?

My boys are so stinking cute! Zachary just got these jammies from a friend who outgrew them. He's worn them for 2-3 nights now and gets so excited when he sees them that he giggles while we put them on. He'll say "Luke's night night clothes. Luke too big." We got a few other things from Luke but these pajamas have been the biggest hit.

Zachary now likes to call out "Mommy, I neeeeeeed you!". When I get there and ask what he needs he just grins and says "Mommy". He just wanted me, not a drink, or help with something. So sweet.

Library day

Twice now while Alex has been at school Zachary and I ventured to the library. He loves it! It's a really nice library and the children's room has two train tables and other toys plus four little computers with toddler games. Today our friends Kelly and Luke came to visit and we decided to all go to the library for their story time (which we haven't been to before). First of all, when I told Zachary yesterday that we were all going to go to the library he told me "no, only Zach". I guess he thinks it's his own special place since Alex hadn't even been there. He had no complaints today though. I think story time will be great once the boys get comfortable. It involved not only stories, but music & songs, talking about the subject (today was clouds), and even a craft. The boys were glued to my lap the whole time. When we stood up to sing & dance they held on to my hand or wanted to be held. They didn't make a peep. They were finally warmed up by craft time. They did have fun playing the children's room though. I think I'll take them back next week and see what happens.

Slim down Sunday (Monday edition)

I was out of town yesterday so I'm a day late on my post. Just as I thought. My appetite came back this week and so did three pounds. I'm still down a total of two but I knew it was too good to last. I will also admit that although I did great in not having any sodas this week I also did bad in having ice cream twice. Yup - twice. The first time was an afternoon treat for the boys and I could just watch them eat ice cream, could I? The second time was for dessert last night when Chris and the boys both ordered some I had to have some too. No walking this week. Since this is not proving to be any motivation to me (I've got no problem telling everyone that I sat on my butt and didn't do anything but eat ice cream) I think I'm going to stop the posts. Maybe if I actually get in gear and do something I'll post from time to time but that's it. My last (probably) slim down Sunday. *Sniff, sniff*

How much wood could a woodpecker peck...

if a woodpecker could peck wood? I came home this afternoon from spending the night at my parents to find this in our front yard. (It's larger in real life than it looks in this picture.)

I was surprised to find this big limb down because it didn't really even look dead like several others that we have. Unfortunately it fell on some smaller Persimmon trees and damaged one of them. (I had already moved it before I took the picture.) When Chris came home from work he told me that he saw it driving in and to take a closer look at it.

The branch is hollow all the way down to the break. We have both seen woodpeckers in this tree and Chris thinks that is the culprit. I did some research on woodpeckers and it does look like a woodpecker hole to me but I didn't realize that it could weaken a tree enough to make a branch fall off. Now I'm not saying we're right but that is what it looks like.

Just like daddy

Lately Zachary is all about going to the bathroom. I really think he'll be potty trained before Alex. I've mentioned before how he'll go without us knowing and walk into the living room carrying his diaper and his pants! Chris even told me that he walked into Zachary's room one day and found him with baby wipes everywhere and he was cleaning his own bottom from a stinky diaper! His new thing is that he always wants to potty "like daddy" now. Which means standing up. To top things off, he prefers to use the big potty too. So, he'll stand on a step stool, raise the seat, and go potty standing up. He can do it too! The downside is that it's a little hard to be neat. I often have to clean the seat, the step, or his legs - sometimes all three. I guess that's to be expected with boys though. I've decided that their bathroom is just for them - not for mama to use. At least he only (mostly) uses the one that he and Alex share. Alex, on the other hand, is still not that interested. He'll go when I tell him to but doesn't care about pull ups or underwear or being like daddy. But.....just today when the boys were supposed to be cleaning their rooms I heard them talking about going potty like daddy and found this.

They were pretending to go in the boxes! Maybe Zachary was giving Alex pointers on how to do it?

Picture day!

Alex's speech class was cancelled again this week (well, postponed until Friday) so we had a photo shoot this morning. I dressed the boys alike - I don't usually do that - and we headed outside. The boys did fairly well although I did take alot. Zachary's not the greatest about looking at the camera so you have to take lots. They did have fun running around the yard to help me pick good picture spots. Here are some of the cute ones.

Slim down Sunday

I guess the one good thing about being sick for two weeks is the weight loss. I'm down another 2 1/2 pounds this week making my total weight loss so far 5 pounds! I did not walk or do exercise of any sort this week but I also did not drink any soda or have any snacks. Plus the rest of my meals were smaller since I haven't had much appetite.