Let's be real...

...this summer has been one of the most challenging summers that I've had.  Don't get me wrong, it has been great in many ways too - when I say challenging, I don't mean bad!  After talking with some of my mom friends, I've come to realize, partly why this summer has been so rough.

• The boys don't take their afternoon nap anymore
• A somewhat failed attempt at potty training in June, led to Ellis deciding on his own that he was ready to be potty trained in July.
• Their speech has picked up quite a bit - which has been a mixed blessing (I'll explain later)...

All in all, this is just one of those summers where there is a TON going on with them developmentally and with only one of me and two of them during the day, my head was spinning at times!

I always wondered what I'd do when I didn't get that 2-ish hour break in the middle of the day.  How will I get any of my own personal things done, or if anything else, just take a breather?  And aside from that, what will we do during that time so it doesn't turn in an "I'm fighting my nap and totally cranky right now" moment?  Well, the answer is - I really didn't get my own personal things done - except for things that I can do while they are (hopefully) playing nicely together.  Taking a breather?  Nope, didn't happen either.  And I decided to usually plan something fun during their normal nap time - trip to the park, library, an art activity, etc.  Something they really liked, which would give them less chances of fighting with each other.  This sometimes led to them falling asleep before we got to where we were going, but hey, thats fine too (and I just learned to pack a book with me in case they did fall asleep).  Did I mention that if I ended up coming home once they fell asleep, they would throw a fit when they woke up - wondering why we weren't at the location we were originally planning to go?  That's why I packed the book and just read in the parking lot until they woke up!

In June I was gung-ho at starting to potty train and after 5 days I gave up.  Every few days afterwards, Ellis would tell me he had to go pee pee and ran to the potty.  I think it was more or less because he wanted to use the iPad (that was their reward before for sitting on the potty).  After a few days of no luck, I decided to put the portable potties away - thinking I would just pull them out a few months later to see if either was interested.  The next morning, Ellis saw the potties in my bathroom (they were in my shower drying after I washed them the night before) and he said "pee pee mommy" so I let him go through the process again, making a note to myself to put them completely away later that morning.  Well, guess what?  He peed!  I was floored!  Once he peed, he didn't want a diaper on again and an hour later my naked boy yelled again "pee pee mommy!"  Yet again, another successful pee.  He did very good the rest of the day - a couple accidents, but dang, I was shocked.  I wanted to follow his lead because Mr. Stubborn doesn't like to be told anything, he has to call the shots.  So the next day, I asked if he wanted to wear underwear or a diaper and he said diaper.  I think that day he only peed once on the potty.  No desire the next day either.  Okay, so maybe it was a fluke.  

A couple days later, he started this all over again with saying he had to pee and actually went.  The few days that followed were hit or miss, but more hits, which made me think that maybe this was it.  This continued and he got better and better each day.  The day before our trip up north was his first day with no accidents at all.  Since then, he's had a few accidents - mainly because I've learned that I can not ask him if he has to go.  If he has to go, I have to let him tell me.  He resists me asking, and that has turned into a few "no mommy, no!" moments when I just know from his body language that he has to go, yet his legs go weak when I try to take him to the bathroom before he pees all over himself.  So, we had a few days where our schedule depended on when Ellis peed last, or how close a bathroom was to the place we were going, but we're getting there. Now we are just working on him going to the bathroom in places aside from at home, to prep him for going back to day care and preschool in a few weeks. Logan - well, thats another story.  He says "pee pee" every so often, so I take him to the potty hoping he will be like Ellis and just randomly go, but he hasn't.  Still a work in progress for him.  But hey, 1 out of 2 potty trained is better than I was thinking we'd have at the beginning of July. 

Their speech has definitely picked up a bit.  I wish I remember how much they were talking back in June, but I definitely understand a lot more of what they are saying.  They can tell me what they want to do, want to eat, what happened to make them cry - which is the good side of it.  The bad side of it is the "no mommy" that I hear pretty much daily.  I remember back, maybe 6 months to a year ago, when many of my mommy friends said to be careful what I wish for.  Of course I wanted them to talk more, but once they start forming an opinion on things, things got a little tricky.  Say for example we are taking a bike ride (them riding bikes, me running with Bella) and one wants to go one way and one wants to go a different way.  Hmm - what to do when both opinionated boys won't give in?  Deal with one screaming kid who won't ride his bike at all, and the other one who is flying down the street, excited to go his way - oh yeah, and don't forget the dog I have with me too!  Or, when we get into the car to go to the park and one is excited to go to the park and one wants to go to the library.  I assume that he will be fine once he sees the park, but no - he is screaming in the parking lot and doesn't want me to take him out of the car.  Or when one wants to go downstairs to play and one wants to go outside.  One wants to watch Thomas the Train and one wants to watch Peppa Pig.  Shall I go on?  Having two with the same mentality (versus two kids of different ages) has definitely pushed me to my limits with trying to figure out how to resolve the issue.  Now don't get me wrong, these things haven't been an issue every day, but when I finally sit down at night I definitely feel a bit more tired than I remember feeling last year.  

But as much as this summer has been a bit stressful at times (and there will always be some sort of stress at each different stage, right?!?), we've also had some awesome, awesome fun.  Lots of playdates where the boys actually play with the kids we are with - versus being in their own little world just playing around the other kids.  They are communicating with each other and us - saying the cutest damn things - I wish I could remember everything they have said.  They mimic practically everything they hear, and much of it has been with an English accent thanks dearly to Peppa Pig.  I don't know how many times my phone has rang and I hear one of the boys say "Hello, Daddy Pig here".  One morning I made pancakes for them and Logan busts out with "Mmm, delicious".  I did a double take, but then a few days later, realize that Peppa Pig says that when she is eating too.  Oy!  We took them to their first carnival and they saw fireworks for the first time, although Ellis isn't a fan of the loud noises!  We have gone to the zoo where they love watching the animals even more now that they really know more animals - and we plan to go to the Toledo Zoo next weekend as long as this stupid water issue is taken care of.  At the splash pad, they had a TON of fun too.  I didn't have to chase them around to make sure they didn't run away, or go in the water with them to get them acclimated to it.  Today, we took them to their first movie: Planes 2.  Since the movie has been out for a few weeks, the theater wasn't full at all, but I think everyone that was there could hear a repeated version of the movie from Logan.  He was so excited he literally repeated most of the first 5 minutes and giggled so much.  Troy was trying to get him to stop, but he wasn't going for it.  Troy even attempted "shhh"-ing him and Logan then looked at Troy and said "daddy, shh" over and over.  It was hilarious!  Luckily he stopped shortly after and only had a few more spurts of some random shout-outs.  The boys love painting, coloring, doing puzzles - man do they love doing puzzles.  We got them different 12 piece puzzles but they fly through those and have done a few 24 piece puzzles with a bit of assistance.  

So, what was the point of all my rambling?  I haven't blogged in a while so even though I've been home all summer, it hasn't exactly been easy to get away and update what we've been doing, and this has been why.  Plus, I gotta keep it real - I am not one to fake it and act like our summer has been perfect.  Just as they are learning and developing, so am I.  I always will be, as they move into a different stage of development.  I laughed the other day when Nicole told me that one day she told Morgan and Parker that she was going to have a time-out and since she is 36 years old, she has to sit for 36 minutes.  What an awesome idea (although Morgan didn't like it so much)!  I've had my share of moments where I've walked away from a situation to just breathe, get some water, take deep breaths!  But, as Steve Carrell quoted in one of his upcoming movies: "You gotta have the bad days so you can love the good days even more."  So true, and regardless of these occasional stressful moments, I'm still so lucky to have these boys in my life - how can I turn Ellis away when out of the blue, he says "hug mom" and gives me the biggest hug EVER!  Just love it!

And a blog post wouldn't be complete without some pics to wrap it all up:

A trip to Troy Nature Center

Rock climbing outside the Nature Center 

Splash Pad

No fear at all sticking their face right in the water!

A little bit of hopscotch fun!

Fun with magnets and paper clips

Who says a water table can't double as a pool?

Cousins all cozy, watching a movie at Grandma and Grandpa's house

Cute story: At my dad's birthday party last week Ellis said he wanted birthday cake.  Well, anyone that knows Ellis knows he doesn't eat cake, but my mom gave him a small piece.  After whining about wanting "BIRTHDAY cake" Morgan actually told us that she thinks he wants the candle that was in my dad's cake.  Gotcha!  So, I gave him a candle, and lit it and he sang Happy Birthday to himself and blew out the candle.  "Again, mom, again." -  about 5 more times!

Mr. Independent wants to try to blow bubbles himself.  Needless to say we lost a lot of bubble solution this week!  That's the only way they'll learn though, right?

Playing catch at the park.

I haven't uploaded any pictures from the past few days, but hopefully soon!  Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone!

The growing words of L and E

I cannot believe that it was only 3 short months ago when the boys started preschool for speech.  Prior to them turning 3, they were in a 1-day/week class with 1 home visit a week from a speech therapist but now they are in class for nearly 3 hours a day for 4 days.  And I am so thankful they have this opportunity.  They have grown SO much during these past months, especially with their speech.  Some recent highlights:

• No more grunting to indicate they want something.  They use words for most of what they want, in addition to "please" that comes afterwards.  One proud mama that they use their manners already!
• Ellis' vocabulary has exploded!  He was literally saying maybe only a dozen words regularly back in March but now he is frequently using 2 (or more) word phrases and saying more words than I would even be able to count.  Go Ellis!
• They frequent repeat what we say now - time to watch our own language!
• They are close to making full sentences.  One morning Ellis woke up and told me "I want cookies please!"  I about fell over, but quickly got him something to eat.  As tempted as I was to give him cookies almost as a reward for saying that to me, he was content with the Cheerios I gave him instead!
• Now that they say (or can repeat) almost everything we say, they are quickly learning that if they don't verbally ask for it (versus grunting or only pointing), they don't get it.  Damn, that is harder than I thought to not give them what they want if they don't verbally ask for it!  

And along with the explosion of talking recently, I've been documenting some of the cute things they say - or should I say the funny things they say that caught me off guard.

• Logan: "Water, please".  I hand him some water. Logan: "Thank you".  Me: "You're welcome". Logan "I'm welcome" and laughs uncontrollably as if it was the funniest thing he's heard.
• Ellis comes up the stairs, where I am in the bathroom and Logan is downstairs crying.  Ellis: "He's crying.  What happened?" As if I should know!  It's probably something Ellis did to Logan - haha!
• Last Saturday morning the boys were up bright and early.  We are barely out of the bedroom and Logan tugs on me saying "Come on mommy - I'm hungry" and repeats it over and over until we are downstairs in the kitchen.
• Last weekend we lost power for a few hours and I was on my phone checking the update through DTE.  We were outside on the deck and Logan walked up to me and said "Excuse me mommy - let's go play!" 
• Ellis was crying and Logan walked up towards me, then looked at Ellis and said "What's your problem?"

To many parents, some of these things are pretty regular occurrences at a much earlier age, but for us, these are major milestones and I am SO happy with their progress and all the speaking improvements they've hit lately.  

Can you tell what one of Logan's favorite shows is these days?  It's not totally clear, but see if you can figure it out:

And Ellis has a recent fascination with stoplights.  Ever since I taught him red means stop and green means go, he always says it now when we drive up to a light.  Well, a couple weeks ago at the Reaves' birthday party, they got little party favors and his was the Lego Police Motorcycle that comes with a stoplight.  Usually when we get home from daycare they want to play outside, but both days this week so far, Ellis wanted to come inside and immediately opens the bin of Legos and dumps them all out to find the motorcycle (or as he sometimes calls "race bike") and the stoplight.  He then proceeds to say "red - stop, yellow - slow, green - go" and then he races his motorcycle around the kitchen and hallway back into the living room.  Last night, he had to eat with the motorcycle and stoplight close by, so he gave us a little rendition of his stoplight understanding then (in between bites of macaroni and cheese, of course):

That's it for us lately.  We've been up to a lot lately, but since another 2.5 months went by since I've posted last it's almost impossible to fill you in with everything.  Hopefully once school is over I will get back into the swing of it and post more frequently.  Only 8 more days of teaching and I'll be free for a while!!

30 Days of Thanks!

What I am thankful for this month (as close to being in order, as possible!):

01: A relatively easy last day of work at UYA.  Mom - thank you for watching the boys today since it was not easy for Troy nor me to take the day off of work.

02: Val - thank you for heading to UPA with me for the morning/afternoon to help me set up my new classroom.  Jen - thank you for coming up to the school to open it up for us to get some work done!

03: having friends and family with kids around the same age as Logan and Ellis.  I love getting together and seeing all the kiddies play together

04: an easy first day back at UPA.  So happy to see my old peeps on the 4th floor (Kelli and Pam) and see some familiar student faces,

05: Starbucks! It's Election Day so we don't have students today.  We were told that breakfast would be served for us, but something happened where it wasn't delivered.  So, in between meetings, Pam and I made a run to Starbucks.  I don't think I sucked down a frappuccino so fast in my life!

06: A work-night with no work to do.  Ever since the beginning of the school year, once the boys have gone to bed, I've always had some sort of work to do.  Tonight, I sat down to watch "The Voice" recordings while enjoying some Cold Stone Creamery - no work to do tonight! 

07: Troy - thankful for him allowing me some "me" time this weekend since he will be hunting next weekend.

08: follow up from #7 - having my Christmas cards made already.  My "me" time consisted of going to mom's house and working on my cards.  Except for putting them in the envelope, they are done!

09: thinking before I spoke. There is a bit of daycare "drama" going on and it all started this weekend.  While I could have responded very matter-of-factly to what I would consider a very rude email, I figured that it would just be best to talk it over in person when I pick the boys up on Monday so that my tone wasn't taken the wrong way.

10: a decent commute. We got our first burst of snow today and all I could think about on my way to work was "dang, how long is it going to take to get home today?"  The first snowfall usually comes with people forgetting to know how to drive in snow.  Luckily the dusting didn't throw anyone off too much and I got home in a decent amount of time.

11: an awesome sunset coming home from work.  So calming to drive through the neighborhood and see such beautiful colors in the sky.  I did take a picture of it while stopped at a stop sign, but the picture sure doesn't do it justice.

12: boys that play well together.  Okay, so it's not all the time, but I loved seeing the boys work together to take their train tracks off its table and make a much bigger track loop on the ground.  No pushing or taking - just good, fun playing and working together.

13: Logan and Ellis improving with their speech.  It seems to be a slow moving process, but Logan has really picked it up a lot this past week or so.  Julie, their speech teacher, has even documented some things during their class today of his improvement.  He is even starting to say some two word phrases.  Ellis isn't saying as much, but is gabbing a heck of a lot more than he was, which is also a good sign.

14: my mother-in-law.  Rosie, thank you for coming out and staying with me and the boys for the next couple days while Troy is up north hunting.  The boys love spending time with you and of course I like the company and help!

15: a girls night out.  I can't remember how long it's been, but some good company from UPA and UYA got together tonight to hang out in Mexicantown for dinner and drinks.  We MUST do this more often!

16: one last decent weather day to clean up the leaves in the yard.  With Troy being up north hunting and me being by myself with the kids today, I took advantage of the time that the boys napped to mow the lawn/pick up the leaves.  It must be the OCD side of me that loved seeing the yard all cleaned up!!

17: keeping our power during the huge storm and wind we had.  A couple flickers, but no major loss.  I always feel bad for Nicole and Mark, who seem to lose power quite often during storms like these, and unfortunately I take it for granted that we have it.

18: watching the boys so engaged in number activities.  With Logan's improvement in speech, he loves saying the numbers 1-10.  Tonight while I was working on some school work, I pulled out a couple number activities and both Logan and Ellis were completely engaged for so much longer than they were over the summer when I tried them.  Happy to see some of the busy bag activities I've had for so long, be put to good use.

19: Professional Development.  After being at UPA only 2 weeks, I was asked to go to a professional development around data.  My favorite!  (yes, I'm a nerd - I'll admit it!) Although the ideas I got are ones that will take a ton of planning to do, I'm excited to use what I learned to hopefully push my students and fill in the gaps that they have from previous years in math.

20: impromptu visits.  Power is still out at the Reaves' house so they came over after Morgan got out of school to hang out, eat dinner, and visit.  Thankfully for them, just before they left, they got word that their power was back on.

21: beer.  I'm not a huge fan of field trips - not that I don't like them, but for some reason they wear me out so much more than normal school days.  So, although I never drink a beer after I get home from a normal day of work, it was just one of those days where I cracked one open to have with dinner.

22: Beer Friday.  I always love having an "excuse" to get together with the Chandlers.

23: family gatherings.  Since the Reaves are going up to Lansing for Thanksgiving this year, our side of the family got together for the afternoon/evening.  We do a Secret Santa exchange with the 6 of us adults, so we pulled names, had some pizza and watched the kids play around.  Yet another thing I wish we did more often!

24: a short work week.  It's always easier to look forward to the week ahead when there are fewer than 5 work days in it!

25: Kelli, thanks for taking my last class today so I could leave early and go check out a new day care with the kids.  Also, thankful that the boys really seemed to like this new day care so that we don't have to keep searching for other possible places to take them.

26: terminating our current day care.  I know it doesn't seem like I should be thankful for such a negative sounding thing, but I was glad to make it official with our provider.  I wasn't looking forward to telling her but I wanted to get it over with since we have to give a 2 week notice.  After hearing her comments once I told her, I am 100% sure it was the right move (nothing negative about the kids, but more her business-side of things).

27: an easy day at work.  Between a lot of students being absent because of Thanksgiving tomorrow, and students having little parties in other class, keeping them out of my class, it was an even easier day today than I thought it would be.  I'll take it!

28: seeing the boys with their grandparents.  I was so happy to have both sets of grandparents here for Thanksgiving.  The boys had a blast and of course they love all the attention they get from all 4 of them.

29: Black Friday sales.  I did head out for a few hours yesterday morning and not too many stores were terribly hectic.  I got a few good deals for gifts but was most excited about my Michael's purchase.  I'm not exactly the most savvy with decorating, but I got a few things to decorate our house a bit more for Christmas.  Let's just see if my vision works out in reality!

30: internet shopping.  oh how I love amazon.com - enough said!

I'm looking forward to tomorrow - time to put the tree up, decorate it, and take out my minimal Christmas decorations.  I'm interested in seeing how the boys react to the tree since they were a little hesitant at first last year with it, but then got much better after a day or two.  I'm looking forward to the holiday season this year with the boys.  I'm know they still don't totally understand the whole Santa/Christmas thing yet, but I LOVED watching their faces tonight as we watched "Elf on the Shelf" that we recorded on TV yesterday.  Ellis was so excited and I don't think Logan even blinked during the entire show.  Perhaps we'll have our first non-screaming visit with Santa this year?  We shall see!  Enjoy the rest of your weekend and stay tuned to updates with our holiday happenings in the days and weeks to come.  Happy December!

(And just a little video of the boys showing their love for each other !  Of course they did it spontaneously just a minute before, but we had to prompt them along so I could get it on video.  I'm sure they will hate every second of this video when they are older!!)

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 we've been up to

It's been a while since I've updated on anything more than my scrapbooking, so it's about time to let you all know what the boys have been up to.

First a little recap on our summer bucket list activities so far (activities we've done are highlighted):

• Have a picnic at a park - Just me and the boys having a picnic at a new-to-us park in Troy.

• Story time at the library
• Go to a parade
• Splash Pad
• Detroit Zoo (maybe Toledo Zoo, too?)
• Camping at the Pinery
• Go to a local beach
• Hit up the farmers market
• Go to a new park - Boulan Park in Troy - not too far, but one we haven't been to before

Why must I have boys that LOVE to try to climb on everything?!? Sure, that's what they are meant for, but it's not too easy for me to help both of them when they both want to climb different ones at the same time!

• Attend the Big Rig Gig - FRIDAY - Anyone interested?
• Ride the trains at Starr Jaycee Park - SATURDAY - Anyone interested?
• See fireworks (or at least play with sparklers) - Nope, this one didn't happen...
• Take a walk (sans stroller) on a local trail - Paint Creek Trail in downtown Rochester - connects right to the park we usually go to.

"Hey mom, are you coming?"  

So excited to have the freedom to walk on their own without having to hold my hand (like they have to when we walk around our neighborhood).  I seriously think that after this walk down the trail, Ellis would rather go for walks and explore, than play on the playground at the park!

• Feed the ducks at the park (without Ellis freaking out!) - At the same park that we play at, in downtown Rochester

Ellis was a bit more skeptical at first (which is why he is so far back), but luckily he could throw his bread far enough to make it to the ducks.

And here is a little video of them feeding the ducks.  In case you are curious, I keep saying "feed the ducky" because I swear Logan said it just before I started the video.  And sorry for the not-so-good footage.  It's not very easy to take video, give them some bread and make sure neither of them go too close to the water!

• Make homemade ice cream - soon, soon!

So, now that I look at our list of things to do for the summer, I feel like we still have a lot more to accomplish in these last few weeks.  Of course I'm not going to push it and force anything to happen, but it kind of reorganizes my thoughts and reminds me of what fun things I thought we could do.

There is quite a bit that we've done, also, that wasn't on the list.  

I'm so proud of Ellis for being willing to try some painting.  Arts and crafts is one thing he was NOT interested in, during the Parent/Tot class we've taken them to as part of their speech classes.  He has actually been much more interested in it than Logan lately!

A visit from Grandma last week.  It was a nice day for the pool so we spend the afternoon in the backyard playing.

These boys love the water (and showing off for Grandma, of course!)

Last week we went to the Bairds, and had a fun day playing in the water.  Cole was so kind to show the boys how to use a slip 'n slide.  Unfortunately for Cole though, once he showed them, they hogged it and wouldn't always give him a turn =( .  We are still working on sharing!  

Here's a little video of the slip 'n slide action.  I think Logan was more excited to sit in the mini "pool" at the end of it, but watching Ellis go down it cracks me up!

Last week we also visited Cari, an old friend from my CMU days, that I haven't seen in way too long.  She has 3 girls (which includes 1 set of twins) and the boys were just in heaven.  Logan just followed them around - hopefully not annoying them too much - and loved watching them play.  Towards the end of our visit the girls put on a show for us and Logan and Ellis got a kick out of joining them in the dance portion of it!  Hopefully we can meet up like that more often! 

Okay, so this picture might not be very appropriate, but I am trying to highlight the fact that Ellis' last two pacifiers are no longer in the house, hence the picture of our garbage.  He hasn't used them (or held them, as he did primarily for comfort after we cut holes in the tips) in quite a long time, so about a month ago, I took them out of his sight altogether to see if he would even notice that they were gone.  NOPE, he hasn't.  So, when I came across them when I was cleaning earlier in the week, I thought it was time to say goodbye.  Bittersweet moment for this mama!  

Aside from our normal pool fun, a lot of time has been spent outside playing on our playground.  The boys usually play on the slide the most, but this week they have been all about the swings.

And thankfully they seem to be done with the throwing sand phase of their life (hopefully).  They actually like to scoop it instead of see how much they can get in their hair!

And last but not least, this picture is a little older, but it cracks me up.  When reading about ways to help kids develop more speech, I read that sometimes kids need to build up their mouth muscles more.  One way to do that is to have them use a straw sippy cup instead of just the basic one.  I frankly never thought of that and never really got them to use a straw one because, well, let's be honest, who wants to clean out straws all the time?  Some of those cups have so many darn parts to them, it's ridiculous!  Well, anyways, I went to the store and bought some trainer straw sippy cups that help you teach a child how to drink from a straw (you push the bottom of the cup and liquid goes up the straw without them sucking - it teaches that they have to do some work to get the liquid up the straw - hence sucking from a straw).  Thankfully, they caught on really quick so I went out and bought some that aren't quite as easy to suck from, to get them used to using those muscles.  What made me laugh about the day I took this picture is that Ellis was having a hard time keeping the cup down so that he could actually suck up water.  They are so used to tipping the cup back to drink from it, but as we all know, if you do that with a straw cup, you won't get much of anything in there, so in this picture, he was trying so hard to keep the cup down so he could get some water to drink.  Too funny, Ellis.

Well, I think that's it for now.  It is way too late and I should be sleeping, but damn this Mt. Dew slurpee hasn't gotten out of my system yet.  

Tomorrow's agenda - continue working on the deck restoration (for as much as the weather will allow us) and have a BBQ with some friends at night.  Once the deck is done I will show before and after pictures, but with the progress we've made so far, I'm very excited to see the finished product.  Good night everyone!

Lions and Zebras and Bears, oh my!

What an awesome day today was!  Troy headed down to Belle Isle for the Orion Music Festival for the day, so I tried to think of something fun to do with the boys.  We haven't been to the zoo yet this year, so off to the zoo we went.  Although we've been to the zoo plenty of times last year, there was definitely something magical to today's trip.  I think part of it was the fact that being a year older, the boys understood the idea of actually looking at/for animals and they have had more exposure to seeing animals in books over the past year, so when I said "look at the lion", they actually looked at the lion.  The other part that added to the awesomeness of the trip was the fact that it was just me and the boys.  Don't get me wrong, I love going to the zoo with other people - but I'm not going to lie - I'm such a talker that a lot of the time I am with other people, I'm so engrossed with catching up with the other person/people I'm with that I'm not really taking in everything around me.  Being able to just sit and stare at the giraffes and see the reaction that the boys had to seeing the huge animals was just amazing!  Today's favorite animals = lion, zebras, giraffes, and bears.

ROAR!!! (said Ellis)

They loved being able to get in and out of the stroller (and I love having a side-by-side stroller for just this reason) and  checking out the zebras

I don't know what Logan liked more, climbing up and down the little ledge or actually looking at the bear.  

Hard to see, but those are gorillas up on the rock

After a few hours, we headed back home, but not after going back to look at the giraffes and zebras for  a second time.  When I picked Ellis up to see the giraffes a bit better, I wish I could have taken his picture the moment he actually saw it.  He was in complete awe, it was so cute!  I think the fact that the zebras got pretty close and that they could see them very well through the fence, made Logan just squeal!  Today's zoo trip was definitely the most enjoyable part of my day!

As far as the rest of the week, here are some other highlights:

• Yesterday we had a fun night at the Chandler's for this months Beer Friday party.  Derek is in a Beer of the Month Club, and he gets 4 different beers from various breweries around the US to taste test every month.  Awesome, right?  These are definitely beers we've never heard of, but some were actually really good.  Each of us got to sample 8 beers (4 from this month and 4 from last month) and we rated them 1-5 (5 being the best).  Last night's winner - Rusty Chain!

Can you believe Troy actually joined in and gave some beers a rating higher than 0?!

Cutest little taste testing glasses ever

Okay, so we shouldn't have waited until 9pm to get a picture of all 3 of them in these cute chairs.  Of course Logan and Ellis loved sitting in them earlier, but the minute we get all 3 of them together right before we left, all hell broke loose.  I'll cut Ellis some slack - it was 1 hour past his bedtime! 

• The only other "big" news this week is bittersweet.  I know it's inevitable, but my boys are growing up way too fast and it seems to hit me in spurts.  This week, we've had a lot of "big boy" moments.  Ever since I cut a hole (which apparently was bigger than it should have been for the first cut -- oops!), Ellis has rejected using his pacifier, but he still likes to hold it when he goes to bed.  I didn't expect that he was going to stop using it cold turkey, but hey, if that's what happened, then I'm good with it.  He did have issues taking a nap a few days after cutting it, but since then, we haven't had any major issues - until this week.  On Monday, my mom couldn't figure out why Ellis was screaming so much during nap time.  He wanted to get out of his crib, he didn't want his pacifier (and at one point she even gave him a non-cut pacifier to see if he would take it and he wouldn't!), so after an hour of screaming, she just got him up.  Tuesday, he tried the same thing - scream scream scream.  So she got him out of his crib and laid down with him on the twin bed that is the bedroom also.  Guess what?!?!  He fell right to sleep!  So, for the rest of the week, he slept in the big boy bed and did just fine! 
• On Wednesday, as much as we HATE it, we gave in and cut their hair.  No styled cut for them, we just buzzed it off again.  Hopefully they will grow out of the whole screaming at the clippers thing and we can give them a cutter cut, but for now, we're lucky we even have it look half-way decent.  We started with Logan because of the two of them, he is the more calm one.  We thought we'd have an easier time with him.  Boy were we wrong and boy is he strong!  I think all of us were just sweating when we were done because of the flailing and fighting he did.  30 minutes done, Troy looked at me and asked if we should wait until Thursday to cut Ellis' hair and as much as I didn't really want to deal with it, I just wanted to get it over with.  Don't get me wrong - Ellis wasn't silent, but his crying was so much more tolerable and he just let Troy hold him while I cut instead of fighting us.  How refreshing!  =)

• Thursday was the boy's last day of their Parent/Tot class and home visit through the Speech Therapy Program, for the school year.  Logan adjusted well and quickly over the 6 weeks but Ellis was still a little iffy when it came to stopping his free play to do any of the structured activities.  Well, guess what happened on the last day of class?  Ellis complied to everything they did.  During circle time, he came right over and sat right down without making a peep.  Troy couldn't believe it.  He actually looked at the teacher, she looked at him, they looked back at Ellis sitting down and just went with it.  During the home visit, there was more of the same.  He sat down and did the activities they usually attempt to do before he acts up too much, and completed them all.  Of course this is something we've always wished for, but now that it is happening, I am just so proud of my little Ellis.  I have noticed quite a bit of change in him in general, lately.  I'm not sure if it is related or not, but after the initial adjustment after not using his pacifier, he has been a lot more mellow lately.  Sure, he has his moments, but he has a lot less time-outs and breakdowns, and that makes this mama proud!  
• Logan has been engrossed in learning his numbers lately.  We've been doing some structured activities with the boys lately and they've done really well with their colors.  Now that they are older, I've been pulling out some of the busy bags that were made last year and using them.  They do really well with a popsicle color matching game.  I also found some number and alphabet magnets recently and since Logan has been excited about numbers (counting the numbers in our address on the porch), I decided to pull those out.  I use them on a cookie sheet and it is so cute to hear him count "1, 2, .....9, 10!"  Not sure how/why he knows 9 and 10 and he isn't as consistent with those as he is 1 and 2, but its pretty darn cute.  He just picks up a book and starts counting something in or on the book. We hear "1, 2" over and over on any given day and I love it!  The other day he actually kissed the magnets and I couldn't believe it.  Of course I didn't have my camera with me at the time, but come on - what kid kisses number magnets?  Apparently the kid of a math teacher!  =)  

So there you go - there's our week (or at least the good parts of the week - I don't even have the time/energy to inform you all of some crazy drama at work this week!).  I'm way excited that we are almost in the single digits of days left of school.  I know, I'm totally jealous of all the teachers already out of school, but we don't get out until June 21st!  I can not wait to spend the summer with the boys and see what else they surprise me with over the summer.  Within the next week or so, I'm going to put together a binder of things for the summer - a little summer bucket list, activities to try, calendar of things we have scheduled, etc.  CAN'T WAIT!!!!

For now, its time for me to enjoy a bowl of ice cream before bed - because I can!