First Day of School

Adam started school on Thursday with a half day. He was excited to go to school. I didn't get much out of him after school other than he had made a new friend (when I saw them outside...I saw him with his arm around another boy) and he was the table captain...which meant he got to clean the table. I guess I should make him a cleaning captain at home to make him excited about cleaning :-). Here are few pictures. I'm including one with the fake smile so you can see it...it's probably what I'll get in his school picture :-).

As you can see, Andrew was also wearing his backpack. As soon as he saw Adam wearing his new backpack, he had to get his new Toy Story packpack and wear it. Andrew starts school next week. I'll take some pictures...you may or may not get to see them...I'm sure you're in shock that you're seeing these :-).

More Pictures from the Museum

More Children's Museum Pictures

Children's Museum

The boys and I are visiting Sandra, Mike, and Aaron. The boys are having a blast playing together, and today we went to the Children's Museum (since I've seen so many pictures of Aaron having fun there on Sandra's blog). Here are a couple of pictures for daddy at home (who's missing all the fun).

Christmas Pictures

Here are a few pictures that I took of the kids on Christmas day...

Merry Christmas!

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas! We opened gifts last night. I have lots of pictures, but I haven't loaded them onto my computer yet. But, I did get a new Flip video camera, so here's some video to enjoy. Note Andrew stealing the gift under the tree in the beginning :-).

Anatomy of a Christmas Card Picture

I am a firm believer in the benefits of a digital camera and Photoshop...and now you have proof! I was taking pictures of the boys the other day for Christmas cards (so I could send my pictures away for free shipping at Snapfish on Tues). I got some good pictures...but not THE great one that I always aim for. Enter...Photoshop. I took Andrew's head from one picture and inserted it into another picture where Adam looked really cute. No one knows the difference (well...except those of you who are reading this). I am not showing the Christmas card part of the picture, so I won't totally spoil the surprise of our Christmas cards :-). Usually, I don't have to be so extreme with my Photoshop skills (like swapping out heads). I've taken eyes from another picture if one person in a group has their eyes closed and everyone else looks good. It's a great way to get a good picture when you have more than one child.

Yes, I know, Sandra....Aaron wore that vest when he wasn't even a year and a half!!

Halloween

We took the boys out trick-or-treating in the neighborhood on Halloween night. Adam dressed up as Batman (same costume as last year), and Andrew was Superman. He actually had his choice of a cowboy costume that Adam wore when he was 2 or a Tigger costume that Adam wore when he was 3. However, he wanted to be a superhero like his big brother, and no one would have been able to talk him into either of the 2 other costumes. So, Andrew wore Adam's Superman pajama top with the cape on the back. I have a feeling that it was probably a good thing I didn't make it out to the store for clearanced costumes for next year, since Andrew is very particular about what he wears :-).

We actually walked around with our neighbor and her son, who is Adam's age. Adam and his friend ran from house to house, so I walked with him, and Andrew walked a little more slowly with Dan. Everyone thought he was so cute and gave him extra candy. One lady even gave him a little pumpkin pail for him to hold. He wouldn't let it go all night.

They've been enjoying their candy since then, but I think it will soon start to disappear a little more quickly into the trash can :-). They also usually tire of it fairly quickly (well...Adam always did...but I don't know about Andrew...he seems to be a junk food junkie if I'd let him!).

Fun in the Leaves

It's that time of year again, when we get to rake all the leaves. I don't really mind doing it, since the boys have so much fun playing in the leaves. They love to run through the piles, throw them in the air, and bury themselves in them.

I thought I would try to possibly get a Christmas card picture out in the leaves, but it was just an impulsive thought. They weren't too interested in getting their pictures taken when they had other things to do :-). I did get them to say "cheese" for me, which is why their smiles are a bit cheesy :-).

Great Video on Salvation with Kirk Cameron and John Mcarthur

Do You See the Resemblance?

About a week or so ago, Dan accidentally put Andrew in a pair of pajama shorts that were skin tight. As soon as I saw Andrew, I started laughing and said that he looked like my dad when he goes cycling. Anyway...we took some pictures...now you tell me...do you see a resemblance :-) ?

Adam's First Day of School

Better late than never :-). Adam started school about 2 weeks ago. He was really excited to start (and so was his momma!). He is doing Young 5's this year to give him an extra year to "practice" sitting during circle time and listening to his teacher. The first day (parent/child day) confirmed my decision to do Young 5's...since about halfway through circle time, Adam decided that he really needed to play with the train table. Now, there were some siblings playing, so it was very tempting, but... The teacher did mention the second day of school that "Adam really does like trains, doesn't he", so he must have made it obvious on the second day, too :-). You really have to be a special person to be a Young 5's teacher...since aren't most of the kids the rambunctious boys? Or they're really shy...

He is going to the same school that he went to last year, since we really liked it. The curriculum is really interesting to me...he's already gotten to see a real-life garter snake, go for a nature walk in the woods, and he's going to make apple cider on a field trip in a week or so. He is also going 4 afternoons a week, which makes it interesting for nap time with Andrew. We've not been so great about napping since school started. It is cute, though, because Andrew just started saying Adam's name...and he asks for Adam several times during the afternoon. They love to fight, but I guess they miss each other when they're apart.

As you can tell from the pictures...Adam didn't get his glasses until the second day of school. Speaking of glasses...the wonderful mom that I am...I forgot to make him put them on this morning and didn't remember until we were already at school :-). Whoops...the teacher did notice that he couldn't see. Some of the pictures are of the sandbox outside, inside the class doing a project, the infamous train table, and the sign outside the school.

Rude Woman!

Yesterday I was grocery shopping with Andrew while Adam was in school. Andrew was yelling a bit...like he sometimes does when he likes to hear how his voice is echoing. I didn't think it was too bad...I barely heard it, because I was concentrating on shopping...plus, it was just in fun...not like he was throwing a temper tantrum (like I've heard other kids doing before).

Anyway, this older lady came up to me and told me that I needed to make my baby stop yelling. He was being rude, and it was bothering the other shoppers. I looked at her for a second, waiting for her to smile...because I was sure she was kidding. But, she kept talking. Finally, I said, "Well, I'm the mom." It made me really mad that she could be so rude.

As a Christian, I struggled between letting my temper get control of me and doing the Christian thing. Finally, I just went back by her and said, "Excuse me" when I passed by her and gave her husband a big smile. I felt much better then! I did think about getting a $10 store gift card and hunting her down and giving it to her...because she must have been in such a bad mood because social security was tight for paying for her groceries :-).

Adam has New Glasses

Last year, Adam failed his vision screening at preschool. Thankfully, we were blessed because I had added the boys to our vision insurance just this year. I took Adam to an optometrist, who then referred him to a pediatric opthamologist. We went last week, and she prescribed some glasses for him. We went back to the optometrists office and picked out glasses. Boy, the frames are sure a lot cuter than when I got glasses as a kid! However, they did have lots of colors, and Adam really liked the blue ones. I was hesitant about getting them, because I thought the dark gray ones looked better on him, but the woman reminded me that if he liked them, then he'd be more likely to wear them....so blue it was. Actually, you can't even tell in the pictures that they are blue. I thought that he'd immediately tell me how much better he could see (one eye is REALLY bad), but his astigmatism is bad enough that the doctor said that it would take some time for him to adjust....so we'll slowly get used to them.

I can already tell it's going to be a nightmare to keep these things safe. He kept putting the case up to the lenses, and I was worried about them scratching. He keeps touching the lenses, so they have lots of fingerprints on them, and he was playing downstairs and took them off. Who knows where he put them down, but I made him go back down and get them. I was smart and purchased frames that shouldn't break :-).

New Blog

I just wanted to let you know that I'm starting a new blog called "Cents"able Momma where I share frugal tips and deals that can be found. I'm by no means perfect at this...but I can share a few things that I'm learning along the way.

I'll try to update it more often than I update my family blog :-). But, I do plan on still posting here, too.

Guess where we were today??

Dan got some free tickets to the practice round at the PGA Tour Championship, so we took the boys today and watched some golf. We paid an arm and a leg for parking, but they had an American Express tent there where you show that you have an American Express card and they give you a complimentary beverage and snack in their air-conditioned tent. They were kind and gave us 4 tickets for all of us...so we were really grateful for that. Then, and lady came up to us while were eating and asked us some survey questions for about 3 minutes. Then she gave us 4 more coupons for more drinks and snacks, which we came back and got before we left. I told Dan that it was worth it to do surverys!!

We saw Phil Mickelson on the putting practice green when we first walked in (which Dan was really excited about since he's his favorite...and it's a good thing we saw him, because I don't think he ever played a round of golf). Then we sawKenny Perry at the driving range. We also saw Padraig Harrington, Jim Furyk, Stuart Cink, Zach Johnson, Davis Love III, Brandt Snedecker, and one other one that I couldn't remember his name at the time and still can't now. It was hard for me to tell who everyone is, since they look so different than on TV and plus they're farther away. Dan took Adam to go to the bathroom at one time. When they were coming back, one of the players gave Adam one of his practice balls. We think it was Kevin Sutherland.

Anyway, we had fun, and I'll share some pictures...

Random Moments

I admit I haven't been very good about taking pictures lately. I go in phases where I take lots of pictures and then I stop for awhile. I took a lot when mom and dad were here and then I took a LOT during VBS, so I haven't been in the mood for awhile. However, I do have two cute pictures of the boys that I wanted to share. The first picture is of the boys at bed time. We bought a new bunk bed for Adam's room a couple of weeks ago, and I was reading the boys their book on the top bunk. It's funny...because Adam was all excited to sleep on the top bunk at first, but he's now sleeping on the bottom. We've got some time...since we're trying to keep Andrew in his crib as long as possible.

The second picture was taken last week. For a couple of days, Andrew was getting up at 6:45, while Adam was sleeping in until 7:45 or so. Andrew and I would come into the kitchen and have breakfast, and then he would ask, "Boz?". He wanted me to put Boz in for him. I would try to wait as long as possible, because Adam usually gets up as soon as he hears anything on the TV. One morning they were watching Boz together, and I was in the kitchen checking my e-mail. Adam yells, "Mom, get my blanket for me!". I yelled back, "Get it yourself.". He was closer to his bedroom than I was, and technically, we were both "busy". I felt bad for saying it, so I got up to more reasonably ask him to get it himself, when what did I see but Andrew coming around the corner dragging Adam's blanket to the living room for him...aww, how cute!! Then they both sat on the couch and cuddled under the blanket together while watching Boz :-).