8/20 - Church outreach

Last Saturday we had our first outreach with our new church. We met at the local park (Brad walked there while I dropped the boys off at the church) and did an afternoon cookout and games. I also had pink eye but wore sunglasses most of the time so no one knew so if I look a little funny in the picture, that may be why.

We finally got to meet the pastor of our church and also got to know some of the other members. We had a few families come down and visit at the park. At about the halfway point, Brad went to go pick up the boys since it was kind of slow and I could handle our station by myself (we were in charge of games). The boys had a great time. Here they are drawing with sidewalk chalk.

They tried to participate in the games and relays we were having but the egg on the spoon was a little too tough for them. There was one family that came and they had 10 children (and 2 parents). The kids were all so sweet and cooperative. It was fun to play games with them.

I eventually went to the house and got the boys' bikes so they could ride around. Here is Aiden taking a break from riding his bike to eat some popcorn.

Eli had a snow cone but as you can see, was having some issues. Neither boy napped that day and I wasn't sure how long Eli would hang in there. He had a few minor meltdowns but did pretty well. He is upset here because he spilled some of the melted snow cone out of his cup by accident. Overall, I think the church outreach was a success and am hoping to see one of the families that we saw at picnic come to church soon.

I let the boys decide what to do last week when they stayed home with me for a day. Here is what they planned for us:

They decided on eat breakfast, play on the iPad, play trains/cars, go to Pump It Up, nap, mommy exercise time and then bikes. What a day we had planned. They actually switched things up a little and played trains first. We got out the track and I let them set it up in the kitchen (which is a huge treat) and they had a blast. 

They then got to take turns playing on the iPad. They love that thing. I'm always curious to see what they are in the mood to play. Most recently, monster truck racing has been a big hit. Eli likes to make letters and Aiden likes to do matching games and a drawing game. They both enjoy this game where you have to find the right shape and drag it to the picture and match it up. Here is Aiden playing while Eli watches on. They are so cute together.

We finally headed to Pump It Up. Eli is on the far left in the picture below and Aiden is on the right. They were doing the obstacle course and having quite a fun time. We  played pretty hard and I was even sweating at one point.

Here are the boys getting ready to do some crafts and cut some paper. They love just cutting paper up into small pieces and then gluing them together. Amazing what can keep them occupied for a while.

Aiden and I were sick this past weekend and stayed home from church on Sunday. By the late afternoon, Aiden was feeling significantly better so we went out to eat to get out of the house. He had a major meltdown at the restaurant because his ears hurt so bad but we eventually got past that. Aiden still has a bit of a cough and Eli has a runny nose but other than that, they are doing well. I'm still feeling like garbage but thankfully Brad hasn't gotten it so far.

Last week was a shock to both Brad and I as he finally returned to school full-time. Being married to someone in school is no fun. The poor man is gone all day and then comes home and has to start reading right away for all his classes tomorrow. I try and find stuff to do quietly in the evening but eventually he goes to the bedroom so I can watch tv for a little bit.

8/11 - A trip to Home Depot

Last weekend we went to Home Depot on Saturday morning to do their kids workshop. The boys built cork boards and had fun. They even gave out gummy snacks and capri suns at this Home Depot. I worked with Aiden. Here he is hammering in a nail.

Eli did a good job too. Once Brad got the nail started, Eli had enough strength to bang it in. 

Here they are showing us their final product. We then roamed around Home Depot for a good hour just letting the boys play.

The boys always enjoy playing on the tractors and riding lawn mowers. 

Aiden decided to play with the K'Nex stuff the other day and he actually took apart an entire car (which took me about 30 minutes to build). 

While Aiden took a car apart, Eli was just randomly playing with the pieces like they were jets or helicopters.  

I just laminated some maze activity sheets this week. Mazes are great for their fine motor skills and learning to stay in the lines. Aiden still holds the marker wrong but he's really good at mazes. He has the ability to look ahead and see where he's going and figure things out. He had lots of fun with the new mazes I printed. 

In the meantime, Eli brought me a pocket full of rocks home from daycare one day last week. He's carried them around for the past couple days which just cracks me up. He even had me write names or letters on some of the blocks. Speaking of letters, Eli knows how to spell his name now. Ms. Erica, his daycare teacher, has been working with him. He gets so excited about it. 

We got out the tunnels the other day and filled our living room and sitting room with them. The boys had a blast and it was great that we had enough room to use them all. We kept them up all day and the boys camped in them and even played hide-and-go-seek in them.  

Eli was cracking me up because he kept putting on this hat and it was crooked. He looked like a little gangster.  

Brad has started school full-time now and I'm in the process of trying to figure out why I'm so exhausted all the time. I'm had more blood drawn over the past 1.5 weeks than I have over the past year! I'm just praying the lab results can actually tell the dr what is wrong now. I'm also preparing for my fall on-line teaching classes. Last weekend we went to Home Depot on Saturday morning to do their kids workshop. The boys built cork boards and had fun. They even gave out gummy snacks and capri suns at this Home Depot. I worked with Aiden. Here he is hammering in a nail.

Eli did a good job too. Once Brad got the nail started, Eli had enough strength to bang it in. 

Here they are showing us their final product. We then roamed around Home Depot for a good hour just letting the boys play.

The boys always enjoy playing on the tractors and riding lawn mowers. 

Aiden decided to play with the K'Nex stuff the other day and he actually took apart an entire car (which took me about 30 minutes to build). 

While Aiden took a car apart, Eli was just randomly playing with the pieces like they were jets or helicopters.  

I just laminated some maze activity sheets this week. Mazes are great for their fine motor skills and learning to stay in the lines. Aiden still holds the marker wrong but he's really good at mazes. He has the ability to look ahead and see where he's going and figure things out. He had lots of fun with the new mazes I printed. 

In the meantime, Eli brought me a pocket full of rocks home from daycare one day last week. He's carried them around for the past couple days which just cracks me up. He even had me write names or letters on some of the blocks. Speaking of letters, Eli knows how to spell his name now. Ms. Erica, his daycare teacher, has been working with him. He gets so excited about it. 

We got out the tunnels the other day and filled our living room and sitting room with them. The boys had a blast and it was great that we had enough room to use them all. We kept them up all day and the boys camped in them and even played hide-and-go-seek in them.  

Eli was cracking me up because he kept putting on this hat and it was crooked. He looked like a little gangster.  

Brad has started school full-time now and I'm in the process of trying to figure out why I'm so exhausted all the time. I'm had more blood drawn over the past 1.5 weeks than I have over the past year! I'm just praying the lab results can actually tell the dr what is wrong now. I'm also preparing for my fall on-line teaching classes. 

8/2 - Exercising & Eli's first ice cream cone

Now that the boys are in daycare more often, I am not with them as much and when we are together, I haven't been taking as many pictures. Last Thursday was support the Children's Miracle Network at Dairy Queen. For those of you really know Brad, of course he had to support that cause. We took the boys there after we picked them up from daycare. Brad and I had just gone to the gym so we fed the boys and then Brad and I had a Blizzard for dinner. I know, healthy right? :)  This was Eli's first time eating an ice cream cone! He did pretty good. Brad had to coach him along the way and we turned our heads for a minute and he took a big bite out of the bottom of the cone.

Speaking of nutrition, Brad and I started focusing on our nutrition a bit more. We have apps on our phone that let us log everything we eat and how much we exercise. It's pretty cool and has been great for Brad. For our anniversary a few weeks ago, we both ordered a new toy. Brad ordered the NikeFuelBand and I got a new iPod Nano. We played with them for a day and I liked the Nike FuelBand and Brad wanted a GPS high-tech watch from Nike instead. My FuelBand keep track of how many steps I take as well as how active I am. It's pretty cool. It uploads info to my computer and my iPhone to tell me if I am being active enough to reach the goal that I have set. Brad just got his watch  last night so he hasn't even had time to play with it yet.

The boys decided to play with flashcards the other day.  Aiden made his space on the floor in the living room and he matched lower case and upper case letters.

Eli just laid his out all over the couch and thought that was fun enough!

I just bought this little book of tracing and basic drawing stuff for the boys. They use very basic shapes to create pictures so the boys can learn to draw. I laminated them and the boys are loving them (and they are lasting longer than one time).

I was shocked that even Eli wanted to do some and that he was actually pretty good at it.

On Saturday, we hit the gym as a family. We normally do this and base has a pretty good family fitness room. After we get done exercising we let the boys go and play on the equipment. Here they are playing on the rings. They both enjoy swinging on them.

We also make sure the boys get their exercise so we let them pick a park to go to. They chose Vaughn Park which is about a 20 min drive. It's a really cool playground. We stayed there a little over an hour and the kids were tired and hot from the sun. Here is Eli pouring dirt. Unlike Eli, Aiden isn't a huge fan of playing with the dirt. :)

The both love this little raft thing. The problem is when they are both on raft/boat, mommy or daddy has to make it go! :)

I took the picture below on Sunday before we left for church. We've gone to the same church now for 3 weeks and are enjoying it. I think I'll even be helping out with Awana this year. We don't have to leave for church until 8:45ish which is much later than we are used to so we had time for a picnic on Sunday morning.

The last two pictures were taken yesterday afternoon. The boys decided to work on their drawing/tracing with the new laminated sheets. They love having their little table to work on whenever they want.

When we picked up Eli the other day from daycare, he was in time out. Not okay in our world. When we picked him up yesterday, the teacher rewarded him with a ring sucker because he was the only one who listened!! Nice turn around. She then gave Aiden one too which was sweet. Unfortunately, Eli dropped his and it broke so I gave him just a regular sucker. They have to stay on the tile with food/suckers so here they are in the kitchen sitting on the bosu ball.

Brad started school this week but has only had to go for half days. In his down time in the past couple weeks, he's had two private pilots lessons and tomorrow he's taking the aircraft out for the first time by himself. After he practices some, the boys want to go up with him. Brad starts full-time school next week and we'll know when more about what his schedule will be. We've enjoyed having some much needed family time with the boys while waiting for school to start. These boys are growing so fast!! I'm so thankful God has let us borrow these two precious boys to raise. They are getting to be so much fun and it's great to watch them grow.