Week in review

Our spring break week is coming to an end. We had beautiful weather this week, warmer than normal and it was great going outside to 70 degree weather. We did so much this week and I have some great pictures I will post sometime next week. We made Easter cupcakes and had a blast. We need to color our eggs today and we will this afternoon since our wonderful weather is coming to an end, it is going to rain. BLAH....

My 7 year old went to the movies twice this week once with dad and once with
grandma and grandpa. He had a blast! We filled the sand box with sand and about 10% of the sand has already been removed from the box. I have been working in the fenced in dogs yard cleaning it up. I have an area that I have planet grass every year for the past 8 years and all I ever get is patch's of grass followed by lots of mud the dogs track into the house. I had enough and have edged out a huge section but need to get out their today and mulch before the rain hits. If not that mud area is going to be even worse.

Oh and we have some exciting things starting next week. I will fill you all in later about preschool as Thomas starts on Tuesday. I am thrilled and so excited. He is excited also but I don't think he knows the full reality of the big change yet.

Hope everyone has a wonderful and Happy Easter.

LETS PLAY

Welcome to our day of discovery at the local kids museum. I have never been here but Luke has been a few times with his grandma. I must say I was so glad grandma went with us yesterday because my kids divided often leaving me chasing after one and my mom chasing after the other. It was a really fun yet exhausting day. So exhausting that I scrapped the work out yesterday because I got plenty of exercise running through this place chasing my kids.

Upon entry we took a picture in front of this giant wall that above has dinosaur bones in it. My 2 year old pointed out the dinosaur almost instantly.

Off to dig a few of those dinosaur bones ourselves. It was fun to watch them brush away the ground up rubber that was used to cover the bones.

Next we found a few tunnels to crawl through.

And stick our heads out of. Such a silly kid!

Every child's dream, one giant water table with spraying water everywhere.
Oh and a side note this is also every mom's nightmare. LOL...

The space ship was by far Thomas's favorite thing to play on. We went back to the space ship many times through out the day. He just loved it!

If you could hear them it was all "mission control, prepare for take off" and then to listen to them counting down. Hysterical!

A little slide that Thomas went up and checked out the slide and then came back down the steps.

It requires a little brotherly love to help take that first step going down the tunnel and then we did it several times all on our own.

I got a great joy watching this child pull the rope that moved a bag from the second floor down to the first. He was having a blast pulling on this thing.


Here is a short video of him pulling on the rope.

Also please forgive my video skills. Often I rotate the camera for pictures and can't get it in my head that I can't rotate the camera for video's.

Lots of tunnels to climb up high.

If you were a small child a parent had to go with you.
Let me say squeezing in these little tunnels pushing a 36 pound 2 year old up to the next level was exhausting.

I thought these guys slept during the day?
I guess not....

We had a garage to play in....

We put ourselves in jail!
It was missing the lock because I could have used a break.

Driving the garbage truck. Had a great horn to beep!
You could also recycle lots of different items in in the back of the truck.

Digging in the land fill.

A little hard for Thomas to do.

Finally the end of the day came and the museum was getting way to crowded for my liking and we called it a day. Thomas was asleep before we left the parking lot.

This brings me to today!

We are starting off the day with a giant fort in my living room.
Not my favorite thing but they are having a good time.

Hope you are all having fun this week. I am not off to do a few household projects. Trying to keep them to just a few things each day.

Our spring break week has begun. I have a million things I want to do this week. I am always trying to squeeze way more things into what reality will let me get done. One of my top priorities for this week is to find something fun for me and the boys to go do everyday. I have made a promise that I am not going to let my cleaning and organizing of the house dominate my week. So the objective is to put them first and then get the other stuff done after we have had some fun.

First up is the kids discovery museum. My mom is going with me today so that I have one adult per child. I just can't keep my hands on both of them in a place like this.

Also on my list of ideas of things to go do include: bumper bowling, a trip or maybe two to the park. Probably a different park each time just to change things up. After that I am not sure. Any suggestions? Remember I am trying to entertain a 2 and 7 year old.

Luke really wants to go see the new "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" movie. He has been reading a couple of the books and really wants to see the movie. I just can't take Thomas so not sure how to pull that one off.

Luke also wants to learn to ride his bike with out the training wheels. (Finally) So maybe we can take his bike somewhere this week and squeeze in some practice. Of course I need to get Thomas a bike because he will not be happy unless he can ride a bike also.

I am looking forward to this week and getting a lot done but something tells me it is going to fly by and I am going to be exhausted at the end of each day.

Oh and I started a new workout program two weeks ago (P90X) and have to find at least and hour everyday to work out.

What are your big goals for the week.

A SPECIAL DAY

Today is a special day for me. While it is not my wedding anniversary it is somewhat of an anniversary to my husband and I. On this date in 1992 we had our first date. It is very hard for me to believe 18 years have gone by and we have been together all this time.

While I will never profess to have a perfect relationship with my husband we do have a very good relationship. Like any couple we have had some really great times in our lives and some really hard times as well. I would say the biggest strain on our marriage is the remodeling of our house and kids. However I think kids can put a strain on any marriage and lucky for us we had a great head start in our relationship long before we ever had children.

I will also admit there have been times I wanted to quit on our relationship because we are not always the best communicators.

I think the lowest point in our relationship is when I found out I was pregnant with Luke. We never planned to have children and he was not happy about having one. I did not get that wonderful bonding time as a pregnant mother but instead a lot of worry and stress over how it was all going to turn out. In the end we had Luke and I think my husband now has some regrets on how he acted and he wouldn't trade his boys for anything.

When I had Thomas I was open about wanting a second child and he didn't want another child but we said if it happened it happened. He was a much better husband when I was pregnant with Thomas even though it wasn't what he wanted he did accept it.

While neither of us want a third child, if it were to happen I think the third time would go even better than the second. Clearly the love he has for his kids has really softened him over the years. I think he knows he is a great father.

A little side note is Luke came out of a trip to Chicago in 2002 to celebrate this said anniversary.

Just the other day I found a couple tickets to a show we went to on that trip. We got to laugh and smile about Luke being the result from that trip. So while it was a hard time, it is all good today.

As for wanting to quit on us, I never have and I think a big part of that comes from the Christian in me. I am thankful that several years ago I found God and made him a priority in my life. It helps me put things in perspective and to try harder, especially when things are not going the way I would like them to go.

Just recently we had a Sunday school class and were discussing how men and women are programmed differently. I have always known this but it gave me that much more perspective. To often I expect things I shouldn't because it is how I handle things but we are not the same and need to not think in these terms.

We have no special date scheduled for tonight even though we should. We have a hard time squeezing in a date night every now and then. I just remind myself this is now and in 10 years the boys will be older and date night will be often and easy. For now Friday's are our family date night. We either make or order a pizza and we watch a movie with the kids. Often something from our own collection but it is time for all of us and I know the kids look forward to it.

Finally I will say this, my husband is not the flower giving, affectionate man that I sometimes would like him to be. However he is the man who will hold my hair back if I am sick and hugging a toilet. He is always there when I need him the most and anytime he hasn't been their he comes around. Plus he has also never quit on our relationship even when things didn't go according to his plan. At the end of the day I think that counts for a lot. And most important is this is the man I love and I pray that 50 years from now he is still the man I love.

On a totally different note, next week is Spring break here and I am taking the week off from work and spending it with my wonderful boys. Hopefully we have nice weather but right now mother nature is not starting off very well since it snowed last night.

Funny Things

My kids can provide so much humor into my life. This always makes life so great because when you least expect it they will say or do something that just brings huge smiles and laughter into our home.

Luke & Me
Luke comes into our bathroom to potty while I am getting ready for church yesterday morning. He sits down and I instantly thank him for smelling up my bathroom as I am trying to get ready.
Luke: "Well I am not as bad as daddy. Daddy is a "P-U" and I am just a "P". "
Me: I just laugh at his logic and tell him he is such a silly kid.

Dinner Time
We all sit down to eat dinner.
Thomas (my 2 year old) holds out his hand and say's "give me five mommy".
Me: Hold out my hand and give him five.
Thomas: Holds up a fist and says "give me nickles" (knuckles).
Me: Hold out my hand and he gives me knuckles.
Thomas: Holds up his finger and says "touch my finger"
Me: Touch his finger and he says "SSSSS".

No clue who tought him this but it had us all laughing.

I have so many of these moments all the time and I am always forgetting them because I don't write them down. Since both of these happened yesterday they are fresh in my mind. What have you kids done lately that brought about a good laugh?