8/31 - Randomness (art, food, bikes)

I want to update about food stuff first. Aiden must be going through a growing spurt because the kid is eating food is mass quantities and of things that are not even close to his favorites. He is still enjoying making his menus every week and making the lunches too. I need to get a little better with the timing of making his lunches because sometimes we don't have quite enough time at night and he has a breakdown over it. 

When we moved in to this house we decided we were going to make things more accessible for the kids so that they would have the opportunity to be more independent. We did just that and it's working out quite awesome. First of all, we gave the kids their own space in a cabinet. I bought a bin from walmart and it's full of cereal bowls, snack cups, and regular drinking cups (see upper right picture). In the pantry, we also gave the boys their own shelf. It has all their snack foods on it (see far left upper picture). I've taken everything out of the bags/boxes they come in and have put them in containers which the boys can easily open and close. I didn't do this at first but found the food getting stale rather fast from little hands not fully closing bags. What you cannot see is that also in pantry to the right of the boys shelve, there is also a 1/4 cup measuring cup. This helps them know how much to take and also makes sure they are not just sticking their hands in the container and touching all the food. I must say it is so awesome for me and for them that when it's snack time or they are hungry, they can get it themselves. They've also had to put their dishes away but we have also changed a policy since moving. We get one cup a day. They know to put their cups on the counter and the rest of their dishes go in the sink and the one cup a day rule is helping a ton on not having 6 glasses to wash by the end of the day. In the middle picture on the left, we also have a snack bin. This is a special bin and is typically used for on-the-go snacks. If we are running out the door and will need a snack (and I haven't already gotten something together), they can reach in and choose something. Some of it is pre-packaged store bought stuff but some of it is snack items I've just placed in small baggies (dried fruit and nuts, homemade fruit leathers, etc). Aiden picking the items in his lunch is going great and he's coming home almost everyday with everything eaten - even the veggies that he normally won't touch at home. And yes he actually eats them and doesn't throw them away :) Allowing them to be more food independent has been a great decision for our family.

Here is little Eli walking to the van one day after I picked him up from daycare. He just got off the playground which is why he is all sweaty. His daycare is going well and he really likes his teacher, Mrs. Chari. He has even found a friend in class that he pals around with now.

I don't know why I like this picture of Eli sleeping so much. There is just something so cute about sleeping his and it looks like he just feel asleep while pondering something with his hand under his chin like that. He has been napping great at daycare (2 hrs everyday) and the little stinker hasn't taken a nap for me in weeks ... until today. God knew I so needed to rest myself I think.










I love how much fun the boys can have with a random wardrobe box. Aiden has become so creative with things like this from all his therapy and crazy stuff he did with Mrs. Rusty.





Lowe's has been making characters from the movie Planes this month and we have made both of them. They have been the hardest things we've built from any of the workshops.











Eli really likes electronics. Too much for my liking. That said, I have been beyond exhausted lately (more on that in the next post) and some times I just have to let things go. At least he is forced to play educational games for the most part. Here he is with a Leapfrog handheld game a former neighbor gave us.




The boys have really enjoyed having Bronco around. Aiden enjoys playing with him and helping walk him. Aiden just threw the toy down to the master bedroom area and he's watching Bronco bring it back. Eli loves to love on Bronco like Bronco is a stuffed animal and Bronco hasn't exactly taken to that just yet. Sometimes the boys gang up on Bronco because they are trying to do something crazy to/with him. They are slowly learning that Bronco doesn't play chase or tag or like to wear blankets.

Eli went to the ENT last week to get his left ear checked out. His 2nd set of tubes fell out of his right ear months ago but is left ear has really been bothering him lately. The dr looked at it and then he had a hearing test last week. He did much better on the hearing test than before (yeah) and they gave him these ear plugs to see if that helps with the pain he experiences with water. He wore it in the bathtub so now I just need to find the time to take him to the pool. [Man I love that little dimple]

About 1.5 weeks ago I bought a trampoline off Craigs List. It's slightly larger than the mini-tramp I was thinking it was but it's great. The boys love it. Especially Eli!!! They both enjoy jumping on it but Eli goes on that thing multiple times a day without me suggesting it. 

This collage below is from a few weeks ago. We decided to do some painting. You can see Eli and Nana in the upper left. Eli was using water colors but he's not so great at cleaning off the brush before he goes to the next color and that drives me a little crazy. Aiden decided to use the bingo markers (so he won't get dirty) and he actually did really good trying to draw things. He normally just makes shapes and then is done but he made a truck (middle left) and in the upper right he was working on an ice cream cone. I just love how he sticks his little tongue out when he is really focusing. Eli then switched to a different kind of paint and decided to paint with brushes that had texture/design (bottom right picture). Eli just loves painting and would probably do it everyday if I let him. 

This week was a big week for me. I started teaching in the classroom again. I'm teaching at Jacksonville University 3 days a week. It takes me about an hr to get there but that is because of the way I go. JU is NE compared to where I live so the shortest way it to take I-10 across the water but as you can see in the map below, there are 3 red dots already on that path. That route would take me about 1.5 hrs to get through all the traffic (without traffic it takes 45 min) so I just bypass it all by adding some mileage and going up and around on I-295 (the big yellow circle). It adds mileage but there is no traffic and accidents so at least it's moving and also consistent which is important for me to make my 9am class to teach. I am teaching Sport Specific Conditioning and am loving it. The ride home is much quicker than to work as well. My mom is helping out a ton with the boys this semester so that I can teach which is great. On the three days I go in, I get all the boys stuff ready and breakfast on the table and then head out and she get them to the bus stop and daycare. I'm so thankful she is willing to help out this much so that I can get back in the classroom.

I've had lots of medical stuff going on lately but try and make it home in time for Aiden to get off the bus. After I got Eli home the other day I made a bike obstacle course. I made one a few days earlier and  the boys really enjoyed it. It rained that same day and erased all the chalk marks so we made a new track the other day. It had rained a little earlier but most of the sidewalk and driveway was dry enough to use chalk. They love following the arrow around and it makes it more purposeful for them than just riding around in the circles. I've just ordered some more cones because they really like weaving in and out of them.

I had to include this last collage for Rusty. I went grocery shopping this morning and this is what I found when I got back. Aiden had created a target on the wipe board easel and gave everything a point value (the small purple circles around the outside are worth zero pts) and then he was using his arm thing that shoots out discs that he got for his birthday to try and hit the target. He would watch where they would hit at and then put a check-mark by the corresponding number. After he used up all the discs (4 or 5 I think), he would then go to the other side of the easel which is a chalkboard and then write down all his point values (see middle right picture). After he wrote down all those, he got the calculator and added up all his points (I taught him how to use the calculator a few weeks ago). Welcome to Aiden's world of math. This is what he enjoys doing. :)

We ended off the evening tonight playing Tell Tale and Aiden was actually having fun doing it. Eli loves to make up stories but Aiden is usually too scared/nervous and won't speak up. Tonight he was speaking loudly and not even concerned about if his stories made sense which I LOVED!! He is making such huge strides in some areas right now.

6/16 - Brad's ACSC Graduation Ball & Ceremony

I finally got to wear a dress that I bought over a year ago to Brad's Air Command and Staff College (ACSC) graduation ball. I was glad that I didn't have to worry about finding a dress and jewelry but I must admit I was dreading going. I bought this dress a year ago when I was feeling much better and was not having medical conditions which prohibited me from exercising on a regular basis. That said, I felt like a stuffed sausage but at least it fit. :)

Brad has never had to wear this dress white uniform before. I got all the pieces he needed for it when I was in Jacksonville house hunting a few weeks ago. The only thing I didn't get is new medals; his medals are woefully not current but we can fix that when he can get all the stuff he needs when we move to Jacksonville again.

We actually had fun at the ball. We had good company at our table and the food was pretty good. We don't have many pictures because I couldn't take my camera. I didn't have anything to put my phone in except for a giant purse, diaper bag, or backpack. None of those things went with my outfit so I just left my phone in the van. Brad took his phone but his Droid Motorola takes not so great pictures.

Our ball was on Saturday night and Brad's parents drove in to town on Sunday evening. Graduation was Monday morning. There were about 480 graduates in Brad's school and we were in a 1,000 seat auditorium. The students were told they could have one guest. Haha. Needless to say, many people didn't have anyone come so we were okay with 4 people. There are lots of international students and many of them just traveled to the states by themselves since they were here for 11 months. There were also many other students who geo-bachelored it (came here without family). 

 I was super tired from a busy week before and caught a cold that was kicking in by Sunday night. I tried my best to stay awake during graduation.

The picture to the right is just a very small part of Brad's graduating class. You can't see him in this picture although he was actually quite easy to find among the almost 500 students since just about 30 of them were in the Navy white uniform (most of them are Air Force).

Here is Brad looking cute in Aiden's graduation cap. Thankfully they didn't cal out all the students by name (that would have taken forever). One representative from each service branch went up to the stage to accept the degrees for that branch. After the ceremony, they all went to their classrooms and picked up their diplomas. Brad did a great job this year. It was a challenge for all of us to find a balance between his work (school) and enjoying family time. The first semester was very rough and Brad spent most of his evenings reading. The second half of the year was much better and we actually got to interact with Brad in the evening and on the weekend :)  Brad sacrificed for us quite a bit. He decided it was more benefit to the family for him to be okay with getting a few B's and being able to spend time with his family rather than get all A's. That's sacrifice. It might not sound like it but Brad was very capable of getting all A's and settled for a few B's for us, his family.

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.