A 2 week catch-up...

A little bit of us over the past few weeks:

Some strange bug went through Logan and Ellis last week.  I really have no clue what it was, but last Sunday night, Ellis was up off and on through the night (I thought it was due to teething), but then on the way to work that morning, he threw up in the car.  Luckily (if there is such a thing), it was only a watery substance, but still it was so unexpected that I wasn't sure what was wrong and we ended up coming home and I spent the day with them.  Ellis ate a little less than normal during the day but after a day full of naps, he gobbled up dinner and seemed to be back to his normal self by the end of the night.

On Thursday night, Logan woke up suddenly around 12:30am.  He had a shrieking cry so I ran into his room to find him throwing up.  His was not water (I will spare the details), but after I cleaned him up, Troy cleaned up his crib, and I rocked with him a little bit, he then said "bye" to me and Troy took him back to his room and he fell right back asleep.  Weird!  No more throwing up for him after that one case, but less eating for a few days and then he was back on track too.  I'm grateful that neither of them had multiple vomiting episodes, but I still have no clue what brought it on....and for Logan to catch it nearly 5 days later.  Oh well, its over!

Last Wednesday, I surprised Troy to a little dinner date out without the kids.  I never get a chance to surprise him (he is very hard to surprise!), so I was happy to pull this one off.  I asked my mom if she would watch the boys over night Wednesday night so Troy and I could go out for an early Valentine's Day dinner - I didn't feel like dealing with the battles of overcrowded restaurants on Valentine's Day - and she said she would, so when I got home, Troy was upstairs and came down.  Well, it was obviously quieter in the house than if I were bringing the boys home, so when he came around the corner and only saw me, he said "are the boys sleeping in the car or something?" - okay, come on now, the boys NEVER fall asleep in the car on the way home.  I said "no, I left them at Grandmas!" and then explained my idea.  He was very excited and after giving him a few suggestions of where we could go, we opted for Cantina Diablo's in Royal Oak, mainly because there is an awesome dessert place, Astoria, right down the street.  We had a nice dinner and although we weren't able to eat our dessert then, brought home a few delectable treats!

Just the start of a yummy dinner!

Outside Astoria.  We had such a hard time figuring out what dessert we wanted, we each left with a couple!

Saturday was another scrapbooking day for Nicole, my mom, and I.  We were hoping to do a full scrapbook weekend, but because of another test I had in my math class this week, I couldn't afford to not study all weekend.  So, pretty much my entire rest of the weekend and Monday was spent studying during any "free" time I had.  Not the way I wanted to start out my week off of work, but it had to be done!

Monday morning I took the boys to the library.  We had to return some books and pick up our Raise-A-Reader books for February.  Raise-A-Reader is a program put on by the Rochester Public Library that gives every child in the program, a free book every month, until they are two years old.  While we were there, we got to see both Ellis and Logan's name on the "Caught Being Good" board.  Last time we were there, when we were checking out books, I told Logan and Ellis to come near me (some people were leaving and I didn't want them to try to sneak out).  They both came right to me and stood next to me.  The librarian that was near us was so impressed that they were such good listeners and gave them a sticker and said she'd put their name on this "Caught Being Good" board.  Well, like I said, we were getting ready to leave so I wasn't going to hang around to see where she was hanging their name, so it was cool to be able to see it this time.  What a proud mama I was that day!

A closer view of the actual snowmen with Ellis and Logan's name on them!

On Tuesday we went to Boogie Babies.  Caryn, Cole, and Carsten were going up there to meet up with a co-worker so we kind of invited ourselves along.  The boys had a blast, as they usually do - and they wore me out more than usual too.  There is a big twisty slide there that the boys were never big enough to be able to get up.  Well, this time Logan got himself up the big "steps" (they really aren't steps but its hard to explain, so I will just leave it at that), so of course I had to fit my way up too because there is no way he was going to go down that slide himself.  Ellis wasn't able to get up on his own, so I took him and myself up there - it almost looks like a little enclosed fort at the top - and got them on my lap to go down the slide with.  They LOVED going down (which is slightly unfortunate for me because that meant I had to do it with them again) but after going down another time, I think they were okay with not doing it again.  Logan did like climbing up and playing in the fort, but the last time he went up, I had to actually bring him back down the steps instead of the slide.  One tired mama when we came home that day!  But not much rest for me that afternoon - some last minute studying and then off to my 4 hour class to take my test.  If only our professor had a little mercy on us to let us go after the test - but no such luck....still had to learn a lesson after the 2 hour test!

At the top "steps" to the big slide - hanging out in the "fort"

Logan, on one of the "steps" to go up to the slide.  If you notice to the right, there are the
feet of other kids who are going up to the top!

Thankfully, Ellis enjoys going down the small slide.  Much easier to go up
and just as fun to go down (and less heart attacks for me!)

Logan, trying to act like a big kid and use the computer.  He really just wanted to hit the
keys of the keyboard, since he doesn't know how to use a mouse, so it didn't last long!

Ellis at the top of the slide before going down.

Yesterday, Nicole, Morgan and Parker came over for a little play date.  All the kids had lots of fun while Nicole and I chatted.  It was kind of cute (but a little sad) when Logan actually started whining/crying and stomping around (his version of a temper tantrum) when they left.

Logan loves being covered up with his blanket lately, and Morgan was just as
excited to take care of her baby and cover him up whenever he asked!  Too cute!

For some reason, Logan just loves with Morgan makes it "snow" with the puff balls.  

Yes, this is a big smile from Logan - not a cry!

Today, Caryn, Cole, and Carsten came over to hang out again.  The boys played, chased each other  around, ate lunch, and were all worn out and took some good naps!  And we were so busy chatting that I didn't get any pictures =(

For the rest of the weekend we have a few things planned.  Tomorrow I have an oil change appointment and we are going to check out a day care possibility for the fall and on Saturday we have an appointment to get our taxes done.  Aside from that, we are just relaxing and soaking in the extra time we have before my Mid-Winter Break is over and it's time to go back to work.  Can you believe that it is almost March already?!?!

For now, I'll leave you with a few random pictures:

First, Logan and Ellis bowling.  Despite how many times I show them how to roll the ball into the pins, they like to hit the top of each pin with the ball to knock each pin over.  Oh, and in case you are wondering, they think it is so funny to run around without pants on (the other boy likes to hit the boy without pants on, on the diaper, and they both run around laughing) and since we were close to bed time, I just didn't force the issue of putting the pants back on after a diaper change.

Second, today, with the sun shining in, I thought it was cute to see Ellis discover shadows.  He kept walking over and over this area and just stared at his shadow - it was so cute!

Okay, thats it for now.  Hopefully that was a decent catch-up for those of you who often wonder if I'm even blogging anymore!  =)

Our fun weekend

The fun all began at about 6am on Friday morning - when I realized that we had a snow day!!  Woo hoo!  Long weekend!  We obviously didn't have anything planned, but had a nice relaxing day at home.  I did attempt a little Valentine's Day art, but it wasn't too successful - I think the boys were upset that I took them away from the blocks they were playing with at the time, but here is a little snapshot of what Logan did (with a lot of my help):

On Saturday, we went to Delevan's first birthday party.  Oh what fun.  Delevan was all decked out in a cute shirt and bowtie (not many one year olds can sport the tie like he can!) and just LOVED the balloons that decorated the house.

Logan and Ellis made themselves right at home playing with all Del's toys (especially all the balls and the small wagon).

We even got a few cute shots of Logan wearing a hat of Del's and some fake glasses.  Tell me that isn't the cutest!!!!

Of course one of the highlights was watching Delevan dig into his first birthday cake.  I'm not sure how much he actually ate, but after a slow start, he dug right in and made an absolute (but expected) mess.  He definitely had a blast with that cake!

We had a lot of fun and all I could think about was how things are going to be different a year or so from now as we celebrate birthdays next year with two more boys in the mix of friends.  Thanks for a good time, Chandlers!

Today we didn't do too much except for the typical Sunday stuff, and now the countdown begins until next weeks Mid-Winter Break.  Just 5 school days left until we get a week off.  And why do I have a feeling that this is going to be the longest week ever (as it always is right before a break!)???!?!

Like father, like sons

Today, we gave the boys a hair cut buzz, which makes them look quite a bit like daddy now.

They were NOT happy about it, which didn't surprise us, but they were happy with watching Fresh Beat Band afterwards, as their reward (which is why they really aren't looking at the camera when I took the picture!)  We didn't plan to go that short, (it seriously is as short as it looks!) but the clipper higher than that wasn't doing the trick.  If anything else, it prolongs the length of time until another hair cut!

In other fun this week, here is a video of Logan doing a shape puzzle on my iPad.  I downloaded this app a while ago, but just noticed him playing with it and really understanding it this week.  Way to go, little guy!



Happy almost Friday!!

February's Challenge

I didn't realize how hard would be to think of a challenge to do this month - something that wasn't going to be simple to do, but not something impossible to do either.  So, I thought about what hasn't been going quite right lately and I came up with this - Stay off all electronic devices (iPhone and iPad mainly) after 8:30 pm every night.

My reasoning?  Where does the time go after the boys go to bed at 7:30 and when I go to bed, usually around 10:30ish?  I feel like I never have any time to do things, but in reality, that is 3 solid hours to do stuff.  What do I usually catch myself doing?  Catching up on Facebook, Instragram, message boards and blogs I read, playing "Words with Friends", "Scramble with Friends", "Bejeweled" - you name it - any app on my phone and iPad suck up my time after they go to bed.  So, how to I make time to do the things that I really want to do?  Take away what is sucking up my time.  I will allow myself to check emails if necessary or respond to a text message as that is a quick thing to do, but no mindless game playing/social media to take up my time.  There are plenty of other hours in the day to do that.

So, last night, when the boys went to bed, I honestly wondered what I was going to do.  I already did my math homework for the week, I didn't bring home any school work, I didn't have a book I was currently reading because I "haven't had time" to keep up with one, and I already watched all of my shows that were DVR'd during the week, earlier in the week.  So, I thought about things I always said I wanted to do "when I had time" - start running again, catch up with my Project Life album, find a new book to read, etc.  What did I end up doing?  I rearranged some of the toys in the basement to set up the treadmill and went for a 15 minute run (long enough for the first time running in literally 5-6 months), finished a week of my Project Life album, and then Troy found me a book in his collection that I might be interested in, and started that.  After all that, it was only 10pm!! I know it doesn't sound very exciting for a Friday night, but there was nothing exciting on TV, no movie that I wanted to watch and Troy was reading a new book he had.  No excuses to do these things more often - have time for me and the things I always try to get to, but usually fail to do.  We'll see how long the motivation lasts.  And hey, even if I'm not productive every night after they go to bed, I can't blame it on checking everyone's status for the n-th time that day and playing just one more game on my phone.