A Great Day!

Wow, what a day!  Here is our blow by blow (no pun intended)

7am - Troy headed outside to blow snow.  Much to his dismay he didn't do much yesterday (aside from shoveling the deck) and instead wanted to just wait until it was all done snowing instead of going out their multiple times.  So, he paid the price this morning as he was out there for nearly 2.5 hours.  Luckily he wasn't working today either (nearly 20-22 inches in and around Flint)!  We got about 14-16 inches of new snow, but down by the end of the driveway, where the plow had been through a few times, it was really thick - then of course where snow was already drifting, that was as high as 18 inches.

8:15am - I took the kids to their new day care.  I know, I should've kept them home since I had a snow day, but I really wanted them to get adjusted to their new routine.  Plus, I figured that since a lot of people weren't working today (quite a few of the parents of the kids at this day care are teachers), it might be easier for them to get adjusted when there weren't a lot of kids there.  I normally won't be the one taking them (since I leave for work so early), so I wasn't very happy that I had to take them (I really didn't want to see them cry when I left, to be quite honest), but Troy was snow-blowing still, so I couldn't complain.

CRAZY tall mound of snow in the middle of the road near the day care.  Hopefully no one wanted to turn left here!

8:38am - I was on my way home from dropping them off.  There were lots of the workers all in one room with the kids (with maybe 8 kids so far), so I got them situated and Ellis ran off to find a bus to play with and Logan found a plane.  I gave them a kiss and told them to have a good day and that I'd see them later.  Logan started walking to the door, thinking he was leaving with me, but one of the workers distracted him and I took off.  I didn't hear any crying, nor did I see him run after me, so I figured all was good.

10am - Back at home I decided to take this extra day off to my advantage, and went for a run.  On the treadmill of course.  I'm trying to get my ass in shape so today was day 2 and what better way to do it than when the boys aren't home!

11am - Done running and showered.  I decided to call the day care to check in on the boys.  Their report:  They were doing very well.  They did an art project (which they weren't too fond off - no surprise to me) and then they did circle time (what?  we have to sit down and not play with toys?  What kind of place is this?) and of course snack time, which they loved.  LOL.  She said they seemed to be adjusting well, and they were off playing on their own, which is pretty typical of kids when they are new (instead of joining the group of kids when they were trying to do something structured, they were fine with doing their own thing).  She did say that Logan whined a little bit when I left, but he has been ultra-clingy to me lately, so that didn't surprise me either.  So far, so good.

12pm - Troy and I head out to Panera for a little date lunch.  On our way, I got another great phone call - school was cancelled tomorrow too - too cold!  WOO HOO!  So, we had lunch, stopped at Target for a few things, before heading home.

1:30pm - Back at home and after watching Bella try to find a place to pee, I decided to shovel out a little area out for her so she didn't have such a hard time going to the bathroom.

2pm - Finally I relax - watch an episode of House Hunters and then read part of a book I got for Christmas.

4pm - Go get the boys. Troy and I both went to see how the boys did for their first day.  They both got super good reports.  Ellis is really good at cleaning up (I guess we are doing something right at home!) and they both played really well.  Logan spent a good time chatting with Miss Meghan.  She was quite impressed with how they both did for their first day.  Sure, they had been at another day care before, but this is of course a new place to them and I wasn't sure how they'd feel being somewhere new right away.  But I'm really excited about the structure and activities that they will be doing here, versus the random schedule that was at our other daycare.  Even if they didn't get into it much today, within time they will benefit so much from it!  They even did a group art activity that we got to bring home.  HOW CUTE!!

One little boy, Caden, was watching as they were putting their coats on, and Miss Meghan said that the three boys were best buds today.  When we got in the car I asked the boys if they met any new friends and Logan said "Kay Kay".  I couldn't believe it!  Totally sounded like he was trying to say Caden!

Aside from this, lots of talking coming from Logan.  We've been reading a book where he likes to finish the sentences, pointing to lots of things and saying what they are, lots of repeating what we say (better put an end to the profanity around them), and his favorite is "I got you" which sounds more like "I gotchu".  Ellis is picking up quite a bit.  Of course his favorite animal is a horse, which sounds more like "horsch" with an English accent.  He likes the color "blue" and his favorite number he says is "2".  He is trying so hard lately.  In fact, we had a random FaceTime chat with Grandma and Grandpa Bush tonight and I seriously couldn't get a word in!  It was hilarious, well, until I really wanted to say something.

So, that's it for now.  Hopefully everyone stayed warm today and stays warm tomorrow.  Our outdoor thermometer has shown a drop of 7 degrees in the past hour, so I'm happy I'm not out in this frigid air!  Tomorrow I might be out a bit, but not much.  I made an eye appointment for myself (once I realized we didn't have school, I figured I should stop delaying this since it's been 3 years!) and might meet up with a friend that I haven't really gotten to chat with in a while.  Other than that, another run planned and more relaxing.  ENJOY!!

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!

Our Front Yard "Makeover"

For the almost 4 years we've lived here, we've spent very little time in the front yard.  Heck, we don't even use our front door since we live on a corner lot and our driveway is on the side of our house.  When we moved in, we first dealt with the jungle we had surrounding our deck and planted new flowers and plants around it.  The next year we had newborns so we just maintained what we did the first year.  Last year, we spent a little time fixing up the front yard, but mainly the hot mess of a corner we had.  There were two dying evergreens near the corner of our lot, and right on the curb line, there was a massive "garden" area that was very overgrown and out of control.  We cut down the trees and planted a new maple, and dug out the "garden" and sodded the area.  There was just no way that I could keep up with all of it!  As we started spending a little more time in the front yard, I realized how unappealing it looked.  We had some greenery out there, but that was it.  There were some perennial bulbs planted but they were so overcrowded, they stopped growing.  So, in the fall, I started digging out everything I didn't like - some hostas (that the deer just ended up eating, so they looked horrible), some jam-packed bulbs of who knows what (there were so many of them in there, they just couldn't bloom and grow).  It was my mission to fix up the front yard.  Even though we might not be out there much, people drive by all the time and it wouldn't hurt making it look a little nicer.

So, I've literally spent all my free time this entire month, whenever it wasn't raining, outside.  I've weeded, weeded, and weeded some more until I thought I got all the old stuff out.  This past weekend, our neighbor popped out two of our shrubs that were on the shabby side (and starting to die).  Today, I pulled out three mini supposed-to-be-ornamental trees that just weren't doing anything for us.  On Friday and Saturday, Rosie and I went out flower/plant shopping, and we busted butt yesterday planting most of it.  Since I didn't pull out the mini trees until today, I finished planting the rest of the flowers while the boys napped.  NOT an easy feat to get all of it done, but I'm pretty pleased with it.  I like how "clean" it all looks (with the exception of the couple of shrubs we kept that need to be trimmed up), and I can't wait until things start blooming and growing and fill in the space a bit better.  So, here is the before and after:

Before: This is just to the left of the garage and the sidewalk that leads to our front door.

The home of a bunch of hostas last year.  This year, it started as nothing but weeds and sunken in dirt

There used to be some tulips and lilies in between these shrubs but they haven't bloomed since the first year we lived here.  When I started digging the bulbs up, I couldn't believe how jam-packed they were in there!  No wonder they couldn't grow!

AFTER: The shrub has been taken out of the corner and replaced with daisies - my favorite!

This is right under the garage window - next to the daisies.  A mix of perennials and annuals,
mainly pinks, purples,  and whites.

A close up of the same area as above.

On the right of the sidewalk, there was a shrub that we pulled out yesterday and put some grasses in it's place.  To the left of the sidewalk, I pulled out the 3 mini trees and planted some annuals around the rock.  The space in front of the sidewalk that is just dirt has grass seed on it.  There were tons of deer-eaten hostas there, that I took out last fall.  

A closer view of the right side of the sidewalk.

Where the 3 mini-trees used to be. 

For now, I'm pleased with how it looks.  Of course as things start growing and blooming, I will love it even more since it will fill in the empty space a bit, but it's a start.  I tried to get things that are a variety of heights and textures just to change things up a bit (and not have everything so low to the ground, looking all the same), but that isn't always so easy when buying young plants.  It's just a matter of time (and money)!    

Next up, trim the shrubs up a bit and wait for things to start blooming!  Anyone else do some gardening this weekend?  

Let the fun begin!

One week later, the boys playground set is finally up and ready to play on.  Starting last Saturday when a majority of the small intricate stuff was done, I took pictures every hour to show the progress.  Just looking at a picture of it, none of us would have realized all the small details that had to be done, but a huge thanks (again) to my dad for helping Troy labor through it all!

Last Saturday - Noon - all pieces are out of the box and separated by the number code written on the edge.

1pm - getting started...

2pm - putting together the frame for the swing set

 3pm -

4pm - starting to frame in the clubhouse off to the right

5pm -

6pm -

7pm -

8pm -

9pm - too dark to keep working =( but a lot of work was accomplished!

Sunday - Troy worked on putting the bench on the clubhouse and some siding on it before it started raining.

Yesterday - oops, forgot to take a picture after Troy put the door on, on Monday, but here is the finished product.  It's a little smaller than I thought (it's not easy deciding on what set to buy when you can only look at it in a photo), but its perfect for the boys and they LOVE it.  They immediately climbed up the ladder and went down the slide, over and over and over and over...  Oh yeah, and they love opening and closing the door too!

Then they were off to the swings (didn't get pics of that though, since they liked when I pushed them).

A little break to play chase with Grandpa while Troy put the finishing touches on it (Ellis does NOT like the sound of the drill, so Grandpa distracted them)...

Then back to the slide, over and over (again)

Think they like it?

The only NOT fun part was getting them back in the house.  It was about 8pm and about 30 minutes past their bedtime.  So, we thought we'd take them in.  All they did was scream, scream, and scream.  We tried bribing them/calming them down with a snack but they didn't really care for a good 5 minutes.  I felt horrible but they were definitely getting tired and needed to get to bed.  They will have many more days of fun this summer, and I can't wait!!!

What a week!

This week has been filled with emotions, but I'm happy to report that it has ended on a good note!

Tuesday was the end of the math class I took this semester!  I don't think I've ever been so happy to finish a class.  This was by far the hardest, most time-consuming class I've ever taken.  I am also happy to say that I don't have to take another class from the slightly very arrogant professor I had.

Also, on Tuesday, the boys had a speech evaluation.  I wasn't really sure how much I was going to mention on here about it, but I'm one that likes to keep it real, not just highlighting the good times, so here goes.  The boys aren't talking as much as I felt they should be at this point, and of course I've heard that boys develop later than girls and multiples later than singletons, so our boys were likely to talk even later.  Well, I didn't want to wait it out for fear that if they did have some legitimate delay, we would delay getting them assistance, so I thought it was worth a shot to get them checked out. Knowing that I didn't talk until I was much past two and now I don't shut up, is promising that they will be the same way, but I didn't think it would hurt to have someone evaluate their levels now.  Anyways, two women came to our house, from our school district, for 2 hours and it was a much more emotional experience than I was expecting.  Maybe it's because no parent wants to admit that their child is less than perfect, maybe because all of the "what-ifs" in my head of how this delay could have been prevented, maybe because of the demeanor of one of the evaluators that came, maybe a combination of all of the above.  Regardless, they tested them in a lot of different areas to see what they were capable of, but they gave a much "worse" performance than I was expecting - meaning some things that they asked them to do, that they are fully capable of doing, they wouldn't do.  Part of it, I think, was because  strangers were asking them to do things.  Logan warmed up quite easily and did a few things that he was asked to do, but after he did that, he wanted to go play with his blocks.  Well, when the woman kept asking him to point out pictures in a book she had, he didn't really seem interested.  Ellis wasn't really interested in anything the one woman was asking him to do.  She is the lady I wasn't really impressed with.  Maybe it was her mannerisms, the way she talked, too bold, too forceful, I can't really put my finger on it but I don't think it was a very welcoming way to expect a 2 year old to just comply to her requests.  Anyways, after they left (and of course the boys complied to everything I asked after they left - go figure), we went about our day.  A few hours later, as I was just about to leave to take my final, I got a phone call saying they did both qualify for services.  They will be receiving a home visit once a week to work on specific goals they will have and then they will be going to a parent/tot class with other 2 year olds where they will have a little more structured play time where they have little lessons linked in with their playing.  So now that I'm over the shock of everything, I think this will be a good experience for all of us.  It'll be good to see how they present things to them, because obvious speech therapists know the tricks of the trade, and incorporate it with the everyday things at home that we do.  Sure, I may be a teacher, but I have zero experience in early elementary or speech.

As I try to be more reflective myself, I was watching the skills they asked them to do, and realized that now is a good time to start getting them to sit for a few minutes at a time for more structured activities.  They love sitting with us to read books, play with puzzles, play-doh, etc., but usually its directed by them.  I don't force them to go play with a puzzle or read a book.  Those are just activities they like to do on a daily basis.  I want them to get used to sitting down at a given time and doing an activity that I choose for them.  This is definitely something they will have to get used to and I think that although they are okay with doing that for a few minutes at a time, having 2 hours of prompted activities, was just too much for them.  I was planning on putting little activities together for them to do over the summer, focused on age-appropriate skills, but I might start a little earlier and start things on the weekends with them.  One skill that Ellis wouldn't do when they were here, was putting coins in a bank - showing fine motor skills.  I think it was because the lady was trying to interest him into it by shaking the coins in the bank, which made a pretty loud noise.  Well, anyone who knows Ellis knows that he does not like loud noises, so right there I knew he wasn't going to do it.  The next day, I decided to pull out his bank and give him some pennies to put in there and he wouldn't stop doing it.  We even had to empty it again and let him put all the coins back in.  So there, mean lady, he can do it!  =)

Between the evaluation and my final, I was happy when Tuesday was over!

So, on that same topic, I couldn't help but smile this weekend every time Logan said a new word.  Last week he started saying cheers, but I about died when my parents were over and he said "cheers papa" to my dad.  My mom, dad, and I looked at each other like "did you just hear that?" and we all did. It was too cute!  He also repeated the color "red" referring to his blocks, and "pop" referring to popping the bubbles I was blowing.  Today he said "choo choo" while playing with his trains.  Then Ellis found some of their older baby toys that they don't really play with (they just like to empty the container and fill it back up) and all on his own, we heard:



Maybe it is all just a matter of time, but hopefully the services they will be getting will help speed up their speech development a little bit and lessen the frustration they have when trying to tell us what they want.

On to the happier part of the week - Wednesday to today.  Earlier this week we had pasta for dinner.  Logan, for some reason, likes to try to stick his finger in the hole of the pasta, and this dinner was no different.  I think he was actually quite pleased with himself when he was able to fit the rotini on his fingers so easily.  Too funny!

On Friday we were outside and I brought out a frisbee I got for Bella.  Well, the boys were more interested in running around getting it than Bella was, so why not wear them out running back and forth in the backyard?!?  At one point, Logan got it faster than Ellis and Ellis pouted.  So, Logan threw the frisbee down on the ground, Ellis went to go pick it up and then went up to Logan and gave him a high five as if saying "thank you."  It was the cutest thing ever!!!  Totally wish I had that on video!

Yesterday, after a little bit of drama with Toys R Us, we got the boys playground that we bought them for their birthday.  My parents came over to help put it together and with the awesome weather, we were outside all day.  I didn't realize how many pieces were in this set, but lets just say its a lot more intricate than I was expecting.  The directions said it would take about 8-10 hours to put it together, but with directions that weren't always clear, it was obvious that it was going to take more than what they suggested.  After about 8-ish hours working on it (stopping for lunch and dinner), Troy and my dad got more than half of it done.  Unfortunately the lack of daylight put an end to their work around 9ish, but it was probably a good thing - everyone was exhausted!  Today, Troy got a few more steps done, but the lovely rain again prevented him from continuing to work on it.  Hopefully doing a little bit here and there this week after work, we can have it done soon so the boys can enjoy it.  I took pictures of the process, but will post those once it's completely done!  =)  A huge thanks to my parents for all their help yesterday!

Well, thats it for now.  Hopefully everyone enjoys the nice weather we're supposed to have this week!