10/17 - Papa and Brad were here

So things have been very busy since I got back from Vegas visiting Brad. My dad stayed the whole next day which was great. The boys had a great time seeing him Aiden says to me in the van a few day after Papa left, "Papa likes to tease people." Aiden learned a lot about Papa while I was gone. :)








My sweet dad tried to help me change Aiden's bike tire. I bought a new tire for Aiden in Vegas because I couldn't find the size in Jax. It ends up it was still too big so I went to a proper bike shop (Open Road) and got the right size. I couldn't get the new tire on myself (I can do it on my road bike) so I ended up taking the wheel to the shop with me and they put the tire on the wheel. I get the tire back on the bike and the training wheels but I can't get the chain on. In fact, I can't even get to the chain because of the chain guard. A day or two later I take the bike to the store with me and they (after a lot of work from a very experienced guy) he gets the chain on. FOR FREE. They put the tire on the rim and then also put the chain on for free for me. That was awesomely nice.

A few days after I got home I promised Aiden I would go have lunch with him at school. He brought his poetry journal for me to see. I was so surprised. He is doing such a good job drawing things or at least trying. Before he was so scared to make a mistake or not know how to draw something that he wouldn't try so I love that he is being forced to at school. He even drew his stuffed animal Iggy and colored it. 

We went to Home Depot on the first Saturday of the month and made a plane. They had a helicopter fly in and Aiden wanted to sit in but Eli wanted nothing to do with it which was a little odd. The boys had fun and I finally got a new air filter for our main air conditioning unit in the house (it's a really weird size so I got stuff to make my own). They had police cars there but the boys didn't want to go see them because they kept making so much noise with the sirens. We were able to watch the helicopter take off and the boys thought that was pretty cool and very very windy. 

Awana just started at our church the 2nd weekend in October and the boys really wanted to do it so I signed them up. I love the Awana program but am not a fan that it is starting to late and the kids won't be able to finish what they need to this year to stay on track but I need to put aside my desire to finish things and embrace the big picture of the boys continuing to learn about God and how amazing He is. Here they are at church wanting me to take their pictures with the dinosaurs.  

The boys and I had been talking about doing karate or taekwondo. We finally went for it and tried this place that gave us free uniforms and 2 classes. The boys are enjoying it (Aiden more so than Eli) and I just signed them up for a month. I think Aiden enjoys the structure and Eli enjoys the activity but Eli doesn't care for all the rules and he wishes there were more than 2-3 water breaks in a 30 min class!! 

Karate Kid Aiden

Punching Eli

Aiden is already saying he wants to earn the yellow belt. We shall see. I just wanted them to be involved in something. It cracks me up that Eli keeps saying he wants to do soccer when the kid can't stand to walk and wants a water break every 5 min in taekwondo. When we go to the putt putt golf course the kid will run around the course for about 15-20 min straight though so maybe I should let him try it. 

Grandma Jo and Grandpa Dave sent Eli a birthday package a few days ago. Eli was really excited and loved all the stuff. (Look how he is holding that pen Rusty - he flips out if I try and correct him). Thanks grandma Jo and Grandpa Dave. Aiden loved his Brain Quest questions too and he even carries them around with him. 

Brad and I started talking at the beginning of last week and I said I would love for him to come home. Well, he came home. It was Change of Command at the training squadron and things would be shut down for a few days and the following monday was Columbus Day (a holiday in the Navy) so he came home late on Wednesday night. I had to include this picture because the poor hubby was trying to find something to eat on and eat with and he had a hard time with that. I forgot that he was only there in the house for about 2.5 weeks before he had to leave (compared to the 2.5 months he's been away). The boys woke up on Thursday and we super excited to see daddy here. Brad was a trooper and got up at 6:30am Florida time to see the boys. 

Brad even walked Aiden down to the bus stop and Aiden was pretty excited about that. The boys were glued to Brad the entire time he was here and the awesome thing was that Brad didn't mind a bit. What a great daddy. 

The boys were super excited to show daddy their new skills they have learned in Taekwondo. Here they were goofing around either before or after class. They are so cute. Brad enjoyed watching them do their thing.

We all went and had lunch with Aiden on Friday at school. Aiden was really excited to show Brad his science journal. It also happened to be the same day the firetruck came to his school so he was all decked out as a fireman.

Aiden's 1-384 dot-to-dot picture

On Friday night we decided to go out for pizza and use Aiden's first Pizza Hut coupon for reading for September. He was so excited to go which cracked us up because he doesn't even like pizza. Well, he likes crust but not the cheese. As we were waiting for our food he was doing a dot-to-dot (1 to 384). I think he's in the mid 200's. The writing is so small but he can see it all and is finally almost done with it. Eli wanted to play on the iPad some. 

Eli playing Subway Surfer

Aiden really enjoyed reading to Brad. When Brad left Aiden couldn't read at all. Now Aiden is reading any BOB book and lots of other stuff too. It's amazing how fast they learn. Aiden will only check out "real" books at the library. I finally figured out what he meant by that when I went to his school and we were in the library. He means non-fiction. I told him it was okay to read pretend stuff and he said, "no, I like learning and I want to learn about real things. I will not read those other books." It's too funny because that is something that I would say (but I've never said that to him).

Great Grandma Hagan sent the boys something last week. She sent these two car rugs/mats with a set of construction vehicles for both boys. They love them. Aiden's is all folded nicely with his cars inside and Eli's is the one that is a ball of mess in the box we keep them in. Aiden has a rock collection and decided to get out his rocks and use them for real while playing on the mats. 

Aiden swimming over to Brad. This is new for Aiden!

It has been crazy chilly since the day Brad came here. On Sunday, it started to warm up a tad so we headed down to the pool. The boys have been so anxious to show Brad what they have learned. It was FREEZING. The boys didn't skip a beat and jumped right in. I jumped in because it was too cold and painful to try and do it slow. Brad eased his way in. The boys had a blast and finally Eli was shivering too much and his lip was blue so we decided to get out. It was great though. There were only like 1-2 other people at the pool since it was so cold so we had it all to ourselves pretty much. 

Eli posing with me. Love his smile.

The boys wanted to ride bikes and play when we got home. Aiden stayed outside with Brad for while and they baseball. Aiden is getting pretty good hitting from the tee and Brad throws it to him.  Eli went inside to get warm but then eventually comes out in the garage so Aiden can show him something. The child comes out in his undies. I asked if he's so cold why is he wearing just undies. He says "it's the sun that was making me cold. I'm okay inside." He's such a confused kid. Aiden thought it was pretty neat that his remote control truck can skid all over the garage floor and was anxious to show Eli. 

We ended Sunday night with family time and some wrestling. The boys really enjoyed seeing Brad and Brad managed to get all the things done on the list I had for him. He read them their story on Sunday night and then we all said prayers together. I can't wait until Brad can come home to stay for a bit. He's balances me out so much which is great for me and even better for the boys. That's one of reasons God gives us partners and I forget about that when he's gone for months at a time. Things are hard when he is gone and I'm stressed because there is always a ton of stuff to do and not enough time to do it and I feel like the boys deserve so much more than I can give them but I have to assume God paired me with Brad for a reason and He'll get me through all the times that Brad is gone. It was great watching all of my boys together on the couch. 

On Monday morning Brad got up with me and we left work. He went to my class and then we walked around campus measuring things to help one of my students out for a test he has to do. We ate lunch at Chick-fil-a on campus and then hurried off to a dr appt I was able to make the same morning. (I'll update on that next). After the dr appt is was off to the airport with Brad. It was so hard to say bye to him. I really miss him and we function SO SO SO much better as a family when he is around. I'm a better mommy and person when he is around. 

 

The day after Brad left it rained and this beautiful rainbow came out. It seemed so close like we could drive right under it. I've never felt a rainbow so close before. 

And to close out this post about Brad, he got to fly 2 times this week. That's the same amount he has been able to fly over the past 2 months he's been gone!! He is praying he is home by Thanksgiving, I'm praying he is home the first or second week in November. His orders say he is supposed to be back yesterday.  :(   It's out of our hands but we can still pray every night for him to come home soon. 

3/14 - Big Green Bus and going to stores

The boys love going to exercise with us which is so great. I wish I was exercising more right now but until my medical stuff gets straightened out, I'll take what my body will allow. We went to base to exercise and then afterwards, we always let the boys play. Here is Aiden doing a pretty good job of kicking the ball. Eli is still entertained by us just chasing him so I don't have a video of that. Also, if the video will not play (I don't think it does if you are viewing it from Facebook) then you can go straight to the blog to watch it (http://hoytfamilyhappenings.blogspot.com).

The boys really wanted me to come see them on the Big Green Bus a few weeks ago so I did. They were having a great time and there are so many kids doing it now that Aiden and Eli are in separate groups. They had the rings set up this week and they have been practicing hand stands. They both did really good and were definitely having fun. It cracks me up that Aiden is swinging with the rings around his armpits (and barely, if at all, swinging) and Eli was just running and swinging as high as he could. This has been a great experience for them.

Brad has had mid-terms the past week so he has needed some extra time to read, study, and write papers. One night I took the boys to Chick-fil-a for dinner and we were super excited to see that Spot It! is the new prize in the kid meals. The boys LOVE this game and now we have a mini travel version.

After dinner, I took the boys to Bass Pro Shop and let them play and run around. They really could stay here all day if I let them. We planned on doing something special at BPS too - getting a new penny. We have started collecting/making the souvenier flat pennies to the places we visit and Aiden really wanted one more from BPS. Aunt Pat sent him and Eli $1 each for Valentine's day so they both decided to use part of their money to make a penny (it costs 51 cents).

Aiden was pretty excited about his new penny. He's been trying to find a safe place to put them but keeps changing his mind as to where he wants to keep his special pennies.

I've been shopping for a mini wardrobe/pantry to help me organize. My house looks so cluttered and even though I know where most everything is, it still looks so sloppy. I've been trying to find ways to organize and one thing that I am going to do is put all the boys coloring, educational books, etc. all together and I want to put it all in a pantry type thing. I took the boys to the store with me (so Brad could study/write papers) and they were great helpers. I am a sucker and always carry their jackets for them but I am getting tired of that so Brad and I just showed them how to tie their jackets around their waste. They thought it was pretty cool.

Here they are testing out the shelf limit weight!!  Shortly after this the store had an announcement on the loud speaker about keeping your kids right by your side at all times. I had to laugh at that.

I tell you what - Eli is going to be a great helper in the yard. He loves to mow with me and he even mows the neighbors yards too. This bubble mower that Aiden got for his 2nd birthday is officially Eli's now. Eli was so upset when he broke the $1 plastic rake the other day because he couldn't help me rake. I'm on the lookout for a new one that is more sturdy since he really does like to use it.

Bath time with this kid is so much fun. He makes me smile and realize that bath time does not have to be a completely horrible stress-filled time.

So here is the "before" picture of our iPad. We need to fix the screen but I need Brad's help and he's been really busy so our screen is actually still broken but now it has tape on it. Hopefully I can post 'after' pictures soon. Getting the old screen off is a lot harder than the YouTube videos make it look!

I love that Aiden says he wants to "play in the rain." After we got home from daycare one day last week, the boys put on their rain boots and I let them play outside for a good 30 min or so. Here is Aiden gently, slowly walking through the puddle.

This picture of Eli makes me smile because I can only imagine what is going through his head. I can see on his check his dimple which means he is smiling because he is about to do something crazy. I love this kid!!!  He immediately jumped (with both feet) in the puddle and got his pants all wet. I told him it was fine and to keep playing and we could change his pants inside after he was all done.

They were taking turns going through the puddle (Aiden would walk, Eli would run) and Aiden wanted no part in having too much fun and getting wet or dirty. Look at the expression on his face as he watches Eli run through the puddle.  He is grimacing like it is the grossest thing in the world that Eli ran through the puddle and may get water on himself.

Eli is Mr. Helper in the kitchen. He loves to help us cook. Aiden is also becoming quite helpful and get everything he needs for his lunch.

We went to Home Depot to build a race car the first Saturday in March. The boys had a blast. Aiden did a pretty good job of trying to build it himself and putting all the nails in. Eli will give a good effort (a few hits with the hammer) and then he really just wants someone to build it for him while he bangs the hammer on the table and makes all the screws bounce off onto the floor. That is not frustrating at all! :) They built their cars and then we roamed around Home Depot for a bit so I could search for organization ideas and price some things out. The boys eventually found the floor cleaning machine and they stalked this poor guy for a long, long time. The followed his path all around that store!! We even stopped and talked to the guy for a while. They were fascinated. After about an hour, I told Aiden we needed to stop following him because it was probably a little freaky to the guy so we went and said bye to the man and then played on the tractors for a bit before leaving.

I have one more update to do. We took a quick trip to Atlanta last weekend and it was great. Pictures will follow soon. Brad is doing great in school although he is so ready for it to be all over. I have had some problems with low potassium and was even had to go to the ER at 4:30am a few weeks ago. Apparently the medication I take for adrenal insufficiency can lower my potassium level and a low potassium level can be a very dangerous thing. I saw my primary care dr on Monday and she is referring me to a neurologist so that I can get a sleep study done. The thinking is that I am so blasted tired all the time because maybe my body truly isn't getting any rest at night. We shall see.