Happy Halloween

I hope everyone is staying somewhat dry this Halloween.  I love seeing all the pictures from everyone on Facebook, showing the cute little kids all dressed up!  We opted out of any activities tonight.  The boys don't really understand the whole trick-or-treating concept yet, and since we knew the weather was going to be less than desirable tonight, we went to a "trunk-or-treat" event last night which was less than a mile from our house.  The boys LOVED it.  Of course they got a little spoiled when they were handed a bowl to choose from (Logan again became a little greedy when he decided to take more than one piece), and they weren't very happy when people tried to put the candy in their pumpkin for them.  They wanted to put it in there themselves.  Of course I only had my phone camera so lighting wasn't exactly wonderful, but here are a few pictures:

"Let's get this party started"

Hmm - what piece looks good?!?

Ellis' turn to grab a piece! 

Between last night's fun and the other Halloween festivities a couple weeks ago (seen here), and knowing they were having a Halloween party at daycare today, I knew they would be okay with not going out tonight.  They don't even know the difference.  Plus, they don't eat any of the candy anyway, so I think Troy and I are set for a while!

They must have had a blast at the party at day care too, because I was told that they fell right asleep at nap time and around 7:30 tonight Logan was already yawning, which is unheard.  Usually he is the one that takes longest to fall asleep, but not tonight!  

On another note, tomorrow is the big day - my last day at UYA.  Although I'm very happy to be going back to UPA, I am not exactly looking forward to sharing the news with my students tomorrow.  Although some of them are a handful, I really will miss quite a few of them.  Yesterday a student gave me a nice drawing saying I was the best math teacher.  Although much appreciated, I had this horribly guilty feeling knowing that I will be telling them tomorrow that I'm not returning.  Bittersweet, that's for sure.  As for the awesome 7th grade teachers I worked with, yes, it will be sad to say goodbye, but hopefully I will be able to reconnect with them every so often since some of them are friends with teachers at UPA.  For this weekend (once I can relax after moving all my shit back to UPA), we plan on hanging out with friends to watch the U of M/Michigan State game on Saturday.  A perfect excuse to relax and have a few beers, right?

Well, I'm exhausted and I have a feeling I'm going to need all the rest I can get tonight to deal with tomorrow.  Good night, for now!

Fall is in the air

Last weekend Troy was up north prepping for hunting next month.  The boys and I hung out and also headed up to Target for a last minute diaper run.  I'm excited to report that they are more interested in arts and crafts activities and have been spending considerable amounts of time coloring and playing with playdoh, among their most recent addiction to playing with cars, trucks, trains ALL.THE.TIME!

Logan was more excited to stack the empty playdoh containers than playing with the playdoh itself.

Last Saturday afternoon, we went to Sheila's for a Halloween playdate, filled with pumpkin painting, games, and yummy food.

Again, I was shocked that Ellis and Logan both willingly painted pumpkins.

Pumpkin bowling (although Ellis really wanted to throw the pumpkin instead of roll it!)

"Throw the beanbag in the candy corn" game

Witch hat ring toss

We all had such a good time that the boys didn't want to leave.  Thanks again, Sheila for hosting such a fun party!

This week, the boys had some fall fun playing in the leaves at day care.  

Today was Trick-or-Treating at the Village.  Logan warmed right up to the fact of picking candy out of a bowl and putting it in his pumpkin.  Luckily he's so cute that when he grabbed more pieces than he was supposed to, they let him!  =)

They even had a petting zoo at the event today.  Logan was quite interested in the animals and even tried throwing hay at the alpacas to feed them.

Logan was VERY interested in the miniature horses - Ellis not so much.

Happy boys - had fun with our little Trick or Treating fun today.  Poor Ellis didn't want to leave and was upset when he realized we were walking back to the car.

As for the rest of the weekend, I scrapbooked at mom's house with Nicole Friday night and Saturday.  We've all been so busy the past few months that we haven't had our monthly crops together, but thankfully we fit one in this month!  I got caught up with Project Life for the pictures I had printed, and realized I had to alter my plans for the album I was going to use to document our summer bucket list activities.  Not a huge adjustment and I even worked on it a bit this morning, so hopefully I can get that done before winter - haha!  

Well, here's to a new week!  I hope everyone is enjoying what seems to be the last day of decent weather before chillier, rainier (did anyone else gasp at the snow flakes in the forecast for Thursday?!?) weather takes over this week.

Another week down

This week has been full of ups and downs (again).

• Monday - yet another rough day at work
• Tuesday - Ellis came home from day care with a fever
• Wednesday - talked with the CEO of the school I worked at last year to try to get my foot back in the door in that district (yay!), but come home to find out that Ellis' fever has not only gone down, but despite giving Tylenol all day, actually went as high as 104!  At 8pm before bed, I called our pediatrician who was on-call and she suggested that we take him in to After Hours Pediatrician Care (works with the ER) at Beaumont.  Luckily it wasn't anything major but a virus that is going around, but no day care for the rest of the week so he can fully recover.
• Thursday - home with Ellis during the day.  Logan was a super-duper good boy and went to day care all by himself and did really well there.  Me, on the other hand, took advantage of Ellis' 4 hour nap (which is unheard of, but not surprising since he wasn't feeling well) and got a TON of stuff done around the house and for work.  
• Friday - Ellis spent the day with Grandma Bush and Logan had another good day flying solo at day care and I actually had a pretty good day at work myself.
• Saturday - laying low at home.  I was hoping to head out to the cider mill or something, but with Ellis not being 100% yet (still a little cranky and clingy), I really didn't want to push it even though his fever was pretty much gone.  We spent the afternoon coloring, having an impromptu FaceTime session with Nicole, Morgan, and Parker, playing with cars and blocks, and reading.  

Not many pictures were taken this week, but here are a few videos.

#1 - Guitar jam session with daddy:

#2 - I pulled out the alphabet flash cards while Logan was eating his snack and off he went naming off the letters.

Happy Sunday everyone!  

Yes, we're alive over here

Long time, no talk -- sorry!  After working at my new job for nearly a month (with actual students), I'm realizing it was the worst career change I've ever made and I'm kicking myself daily for it.  Because of all the craziness, my emotions have been a roller coaster the past few weeks and I've either been so busy staying afloat with work stuff or just so mentally exhausted I haven't thought about blogging at all.  So, sorry...

Instead of focusing on the negative work side of things (although, I hold the slightest bit of hope that the stars will line up just perfectly so that I don't have to stay there all year), I will share with you some of our fun around here.

Tomorrow, not only is our one and only girl, Bella, turning 4 years old, but the boys will officially be 2.5!  Wow, how time flies!  After the first few weeks of day care being up and down (only because of the boys back and forth illness), they have gotten into a great routine there.  There were some days that Troy would drop them off and they would be a little whiny, but now they run in her house, give hugs and sit down to watch a cartoon while breakfast is being prepared.  They have been chatting a lot more - with Logan adding a lot of words to his vocabulary, and Ellis just being more vocal in general but not saying as many recognizable words.  I think Ellis has always been a month or two Logan as far as talking goes, so it isn't much of a surprise to me.  Today at lunch, Logan wanted more beans so he pointed to them and looked at me and said "beans".  Last week when he was clapping after doing something, he would clap a few times and say "clap clap" as he did it.  Too funny!  Logan also has a cute little alphabet chant that he says that I'm dying to get on video, but never have my phone around when he does it.  I'd say he says about 3/4 of the alphabet and knows even more than that when asked to recognize them.  They've also gotten better with drinking from an open cup, one skill they are really working on at day care.  Instead of just throwing the cup back and spilling all the liquid, they are really careful to tip the cup back and watch the liquid in the cup.  Here's a little video of Ellis yesterday at breakfast:

Lately, their favorite toy has turned into anything vehicle-related.  I got them a hot wheels track to play with since they had a few hot wheels and they play with that all the time.  They also love their train tracks downstairs to play trains on and even love wheeling their bigger cars off the tables down stairs.  Logan was hogging all the vehicles one day and put them all in his big car and drove them around.  Poor Ellis didn't realize where they all went!  

The chairs were on the table after vacuuming, but Ellis thought the legs of the chairs
were great obstacles for the cars to drive through!

They also love music.  Seema (the daycare provider) has a piano and lets the boys "play" on it.  A few weeks ago she sent me a video (although when videos are transferred it doesn't look very well, so I will spare you this one) of them playing on it.  Logan was more beating on it, but Ellis hit a key, listened to it, then hit more, just one at a time.  She thinks he has an ear for music!  =)  I do know they love it and Ellis is mesmerized by songs and videos we play.  Last week we had a little dance party in the basement and they just went crazy dancing - of course, right before bed!  Gotta get rid of all that energy! 

This weekend we've started some fall clean up outside.  Lawn mowed, shrubs trimmed (with the goal of removing a few more before it gets too cold), summer toys put away, etc.  I decided to take the boys to the zoo while Troy started on the cleaning.  I feel like I haven't been able to spend as much quality time with them after work as I'd like, so we had some mommy-son time together.  They were so excited to be there - it's been nearly 2 months since we've been - that I couldn't walk fast enough to keep up with them.  Since we planned only a short morning visit, I didn't take the stroller.  We went one other time in the summer without a stroller since most of the time they wanted to walk anyway, and they loved it.  Plus it's one less thing for me to worry about keeping my eyes on when they just wanted to walk anyway.  So, we made a quick stop at the fountain before checking out the animals.  Logan quickly came to me for a penny to throw into the fountain, apparently remembering the last time we were there and Lucas threw one in.  Once they both threw one in, we were off yet again.  

We made it to all the popular animals, spending more time checking out the giraffes.  It was about feeding time so they were up close and Ellis' eyes were just glued to him.  We also spent a bit of time with the polar bears.  We were so lucky to have barely walked into the exhibit and he floated right over us a few times!  Then after leaving the main exhibit, we walked over to one that was off to the side that allowed you to see both under the water and out of the water.  This was the best part.  The polar bear swam right up to the glass and Ellis and Logan got an up front look at him.  Again, they didn't take their eyes off of him and as he swam away, their heads followed him for as long as they could see him. Awesome!

And off they go!

Checking out the llama!

So cool to see Nuka swim right above us!

Last time they went they discovered the icy wall.  They loved it again this time too!

In a different exhibit where Nuka swam right up to the window for an up close and personal look!

Once they started slowing down (yes, they literally ran around most of the time), we stopped for a snack before heading to the front to leave.  When Ellis realized we were leaving, he threw a wonderful fit, prompting me to pick him up and keep walking.  Logan then threw a fit (oh lucky me) so I unintentionally became the woman carrying both of her 30 lb children and the diaper bag, out of the zoo to limit anymore melt downs.  All in all, they had a great time and I'm so glad we made the impromptu trip on such a beautiful day.

After lunch, it was more clean-up in the backyard, for Troy, while I plugged away at work stuff.  Yippie!  We spent the rest of the afternoon outside, the boys playing and Troy cleaning up, and then called it a day.  The boys were exhausted when it was time for bed - the hint of a very successful day!  =)

Shocking that Ellis would let Troy put his sunglasses on him before we went outside.  He doesn't usually like things on his head or face, like Logan, but he thought this was pretty cool!

Today is a bit more relaxing - the rain obviously isn't allowing us to finish up outside.  I got a few work things done this morning and after the boys wake up from their nap we are going to close all the windows and buckle down to cut their hair.  It is WAY too long, but we always put it off due to the murder-like screams they have when we do it.  Hopefully our neighbors don't hear them and wonder what the heck is going on!

I can't believe it is practically October already, but hey, 1 month of work down and only 9 more to go.  Gotta look on the bright side of things, right?

Hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend and I will try my best to keep in touch more!      

Family Fun, and then some

This past weekend was the annual Salmon Slam up in Glen Arbor.  Since we had plans on Saturday afternoon, Troy just went up for Friday.  Him and his friend Austin, left town at 2:30am Friday morning and got up there just in time for sunrise to start fishing.  Troy caught 2 that morning, before heading in for the afternoon.  The weather wasn't as cooperative in the afternoon, so he didn't get any more, but he was happy with his 2 that he got.  Then after a brief night's sleep, they headed home around 6:30am, to make it home by 11am.

After a quick shower for Troy, we were off to Brooklyn, Michigan to spend the afternoon celebrating Landyn's 1st birthday (our nephew/Logan and Ellis' cousin).  Unfortunately because of how far apart everyone lives, this is the first time we've met little Landyn as well as another cousin/niece Aaliyah.  The boys had lots of fun playing at the park that the party was held and we were even lucky enough to get some group photos.

The boys LOVE throwing rocks into rivers.

The kiddies with their daddies

Still impossible to get a picture where they are both looking at the camera, but I'll accept the fact that at least they are both looking forward (they were looking at a water fountain off to the side)

I'm also happy to say that Logan seems to be back to normal.  He was quite whiny all the way through Saturday, but as of yesterday, his appetite is completely back and he all of a sudden stopped his fussiness.  FINALLY!  Going on 2 weeks of this is more than enough!

Today the boys resumed their speech classes and had their first home visit of the school year today.  Logan showed off his skills by reading more than half the alphabet when Julie (the speech teacher) was here.  They both sat down with her to read some books and play cars, so it looks like they were off to a good start this school year.  It's always good to hear a good report when they can be a bit wishy-washy about all of it.

As for me, school is going well.  It's amazing how organized things are (no, its not perfect, but my anxiety levels are down quite a bit knowing that things get taken care of so quickly).  The range of abilities is about the same as at the last school, but behavior problems are quite an issue.  I had a 2nd year teacher today ask me to come watch her in her room to give her some pointers, but after today I feel like I need pointers myself.  Everyone agrees 7th grade is just one of those years that is challenging since it's one of those in-between years, but today was technically their first day with the normal schedule (last week we had a bunch of orientation activities), so I guess I should just take it one day at a time.  My homeroom class was a bit of a challenge the first day or two but I have a good handle on them already.  It just sucks being the "new" teacher at a school where none of the kids know you and you have to build that name for yourself again.  Let's just say that by Friday I'm sure I'll be ready for Beer Friday!  =)

Well enough for now.  Hope everyone has a great, crazy weather, week!

What a week (or two)

Because I want to go to bed at a reasonable hour tonight, here is just a brief synopsis of our past two weeks (since I blogged last):

• Last Tuesday, I finally got to meet baby Dylan.  Kelly came home for a week and we were able to spend some time together - us girls - but also got to meet the cute little guy.  Keeping my fingers crossed that we can see them again soon!
• Work has kept me busy.  We had a great 3-day training last week, but that meant a really late Friday with getting my classroom ready for school Tuesday.
• Troy finally had a Friday off last week but wasn't able to accomplish much of anything.  Ever since Ellis got sick a few weeks ago, we've had an issue with some sort of bug between the two of them.  Logan came down with a fever Friday morning and was sent home, so Troy spent the day with the boys.
• We got to visit with Kelly and her family, again on Saturday, for a little BBQ.  
• Tuesday was the first day of school.  Sure it was a bit hectic but crazy how awesome this staff is that I work with.  A school that is opening for its 4th year, with adding the elementary and high school this year (we are all in the same building for this year also) is bound to have its issues at first, but I was pretty impressed with how the day went.  I was actually pretty excited when I left work, until...
• I talked to Troy on the way home from work and he told me that Seema (our day care provider) saw a rash on Logan's belly and thinks it could be measles or roseola.  Troy made an appointment with the doctor on Wednesday.  Sure as heck freaked me out.  They are all caught up on their immunizations so I really didn't know if measles was really an option, but who knows.  
• Luckily it wasn't measles.  Apparently it was an intestinal virus that was no longer contagious once the fever broke, which was Friday night.  Phew!  Unfortunately his appetite might be a little lower and he might have diarrhea for the next week or so while it works its way out of his little body, but so glad to hear that it isn't anything major.
• Huge high five to Ellis who was by himself at daycare (well, without Logan) while Troy took Logan to the doctor.  I wasn't sure how he would react to being dropped off and Troy taking Logan back with him, but he was really good!  A proud mama, once again.
• Tonight, it's a huge Big Brother night (yes, I'm addicted) and Troy is headed to a friend's house to head up north to go salmon fishing tomorrow so its just me and the boys (and Bella) for the next 36 hours.
• This weekend we are headed to the Adrian area for a birthday party for a special 1 year old!
• And as far as work goes, 3 days down, 177 more to go!  Okay, so that sounds like I'm already ready for next summer. It isn't that bad, but getting back in the swing of things is never easy I think.  Plus, this week we haven't jumped into the curriculum yet and our schedule is not like it will always be, so I'm looking forward to next week when we start the normal schedule and normal days.

I will end here with a few pictures and videos from the past two weeks:

Logan LOVES this construction hat at day care.  Literally wouldn't take it off for 2 whole days!

Ellis playing ball with a new friend.

A MUCH needed girls night.  Love these girls and wish that we had more nights like this!

After Troy took Logan to day care after his doctors appointment, he jumped right in and joined Ellis on the slide.

The boys got some hot wheels for their birthday (thank you Sheila and Luke!), and just recently Ellis has not been able to put them down.  He plays with them from the moment we get home to the minute we go to bed.  Yesterday he even used Troy's leg as a road/ramp.  It was so cute.  Looks like we'll have to get him some more hot wheels toys!

Here are two videos of the boys.  The first one is of them "playing drums" at day care.  It's not the best quality, but looks like we need to get them a drum set soon.  The second one is of them (mainly Logan) playing basketball.  They are actually getting pretty good!  =)





Alright, well, this mama has to get up earlier tomorrow than normal since I'm flying solo with the boys, so it's time for bed.  Hopefully everyone has a great Friday and an even better weekend!  And also lots of luck to Troy.  Hoping he has good luck fishing tomorrow!

The Deck

Finally, a week later.  Last week we finished the restoration of the deck.  Although we originally wanted to redo the entire deck, we decided to redo the parts of the deck that showed the most wear and tear (the railings which were falling apart) and the lattice that goes around the bottom of the deck and on the pergola.  For the rest of the deck, we used Restore by Rustoleum (thanks to Troy for correcting what I had earlier).  It puts a thicker texture on it, which is somewhat bumpy.  We put that on the floor of the deck and the matching stain went everywhere else.  Overall, we are VERY pleased with the results and the fact that this stuff should lengthen the life of the deck for 7-10 years.

Here are the before pictures:

After the demo of the railings

And the after pictures:

Here is a picture of the actual boards - a little bit of bumpy texture in it. 

The lattice on the pergola

So happy that it doesn't look so old and worn now although most of the bones stayed the same.  I'm also happy to have railings that aren't loose and wobble back and forth, with splinters coming out of the top.  Lots of work, but well worth it!  A huge thanks to Troy for working as much as he did on it.  Sure, I did my fair share, but I also wasn't working during the time (and very thankful because I would NOT want to work on it after work).  Also, thanks to my parents for coming over and helping us finish it last Saturday.  Extra hands always help get it done faster!