A Nauvoo sealing

It has been a little bit of a busy week for our family, and I have finally been able to get some post done. It has been over a week now but hopefully I will be able to get back into the blogging mode.

Last Thursday Gramma Kris and Papa Mark flew into Evansville from Utah. Friday morning after an experimental breakfast..(that turned out pretty good from my stand point..brioche rolls, homemade granola and hot chocolate, yogurt, and strawberries). Gramma and Papa took the boys and headed off to Nauvoo.

 The boys were very excitied to go on an adventure with Gramma and Papa they were in the car before they ate or even got dressed.

After the boys left Eric and I had the house to ourselves..something that hasn't happened in I couldn't even tell you when. Since Eric works late we decided just to have me pick him up from work and leave late that night. We didn't get to Nauvoo until around 9 am but we made it there safe. Since the sealing wasn't until noon and Aunt Sara (thank goodness for Aunt Sara!!) took the kids to explore Nauvoo Eric was able to get a little bit of sleep.

 It was a beautiful sealing for Uncle Jason and Aunt Sandra and we were happy to be able to share this special occasion with them.

Picture time was a little challenging I think for all the little ones and my boys were probably the most challenging. With the lack of sleep I wasn't thinking clearing and left my camera in the hotel room. Thankfully there were a few photo takers that let me use there photos ( Thanks Jason and Sandra!) As you can see my wonderful boys are hiding their faces...Thomas because the I wouldn't let him wear his sunglasses for the pic and the sun was in his eyes. And I think Sup didn't realize that his picture was even being taking.

Little monsters

As we were getting out all our Halloween stuff Thomas declared that these two little monsters were his and Sup's. Okay, Thomas that is fine, the green one is Thomas' and the purple one is Sup's. A few minutes later he decides is is no longer the owner but his is the green monster and Sup is the purple one.

Well Thomas I can't really dispute that.... sometimes he and Sup really are my little monsters ;) Some days my "little monsters" are in their scary and difficult life form, not fun days for mommy. Other days they are sweet and loving little monsters, it seems I could have more of these days and less of the others :) Either way it goes these are my "little monsters" that we love :)

Decorating for Halloween

Our family enjoys decorating for the holidays, we really haven't done much this summer. So Thomas was very excited to get out our Halloween stuff and put it around the house.

 We have about four tubs of Halloween stuff. Not everything was put up, much to Thomas' disappointment and we still have stuff spread throughout the house.

We will see how much actually gets put out and how long it stays in its spot. If it is not on the wall then I have a feeling its going to be a daily job of keeping things in place. 

Popcorn and a truck

Last Saturday was a beautiful day so we wanted to spend the day outdoors. We spent the day cleaning up around the yard and some much needed yard work. Later in the evening the boys decided it was time for a break and a snack.

 They wanted to sit in the back of Daddy's truck and relax while they ate and watch us work. Hopefully this doesn't start a trend ;)

 The snack of choice... popcorn! They apparently were famished because they were stuffing their faces. I was happy I made plenty :)

Snakes, frogs and lizards

As Eric and I are going through our stuff I am finding that the boys much prefer Eric's things over mine. This is not surprising because I have more girly things and Eric has things like snakes, frogs, and lizards. They found this big container of them and this kept them both entertained for over a hour!

 Of course now they are spread out all over the house but at the time they found them it was nice to see then playing together and having fun.

 It was nice that he had so many because they didn't have to share or take turns.

Makin' ice cream

Last night we decided to make some of our homemade ice cream. I have an ice cream base recipe so we can flavor it how ever we want, sometimes we are more creative then others.

 We decided to go with a raspberry ice cream with mini chocolate chips. The boys had fun just sitting and watching the the ice cream churn.

 They both really like to help cook or bake so after the ice churns for about 15 min they added the chocolate chips...some made it in the ice cream and some went for taste testing ;)

Everyone thought it was really yummy! A nice little treat for all the boys :)

Shopping at home

Yesterday we got some ads in the mail, Thomas thought it would be fun to go shopping. It was great I didn't have to strap anyone in and it didn't cost a penny!

 Thomas laid out all the ads so he could see what was at each store. I was pretty impressed with Sup because I expected him to give Thomas hard time, and stomping all over the papers. But he didn't he sat in the side and just watched.

After he laid out all the papers he went from "store to store" and "picked up" the things we needed.  

Bead guys

On Sunday Daddy wanted to do a little fun craft with the boys. As we are going through some of our stuff we bought home from Michigan Eric found a lot of these bead guys he use to make as a kid. We bought a little tub of these beads a while back but they have been just setting on a shelf.

 The boys loved playing with Daddy's childhood guys so he broke out the tub to make some of their own choosing the colors they wanted. I could see this as being a big mess with all these hundreds of little beads. But Daddy did very well and was able to keep all the beads accounted for, I for one was very impressed.

 When they were all done I ironed them so the beads would melt together. After the beads cooled the boys took them and started to play with them right away. They were so excited to have their own guys along with a sword and shield.

 To no ones surprise Thomas' was pretty much all green, which he was quite proud of. Thomas has taken very good care of his. Sup on the other hand well he thinks it is more fun to tear all the heads off the guys. He has gotten some of Daddy's guys and I think the one he had made. Thomas has kept his safe so his still has his head.

It is kinds hard to see but they all are happily displaying their new guys for all to see :)

Dino-oploy

The boys had a lot of fun with this game. It was really good for Thomas to help him with his counting. The properties are all the different dinosaurs so Thomas was focused on landing on the T-Rex.

 Thomas always likes all his stuff oganized so he had his money all sorted and from little to big bills. Sup on the other hand thought it would be more fun to lay each bill out all over on "his" side of the board. This would upset Thomas sometimes because one of Sup bills would end up on "his" side, which was all clean and tidy. Oh the difference with these two....

 Of course Sup was the one that landed on T-Rex and wanted to buy it. This of course is a big problem with Thomas. Luckliy Thomas had a Tricertops that Sup was willing to trade so everyone was happy.

 Sup was acutally playing really well..as well as a two year can.... until Thomas got a card that said something like get up and roar like a T-Rex. This led to a full out T-Rex impression from Sup. We had loud roaring, stomping, and distruction. This didn't over well with Thomas or Daddy. So after we settled or little T-Rex down, we had him clean up his money and spent time with me.

Thomas and Daddy played until all the properties were bought and that was the end of the game. With a four year old we weren't going into all the ins and outs of monolopy. 

Daddy's birthday

For our birthday celebrations we let the birthday boy pick anything they want to eat that day for dinner. There is nothing better then a homemade meal of your favorites. This can change from year to year and it always fun to make something a little different from the norm.

 This year Eric chose stuffed shells. I have made these before but it has been over a year and a half so they tasted really good.

 His menu was actually some and not complicated so it was a pretty easy dinner. He also had tri-color pasta...this is something he always has and already having pasta didn't seem to be a problem. And grape Kool-aid and that was it. I did add a salad for myself although this didn't go over well with the birthday boy :)

 After dinner we gave Daddy his gifts. I think the boys did more of the opening and seemed to be very excited about the dino-oploy game.  

The skookie is something I picked up for him while I was in Utah. Eric loves warm cookies and cake and we had something like this one time when we went out to eat and he loved it. So I was excited that I was able to find the pan so we can indulge at home without the expense of a restaurant. We are both anxious to try it out :)

What leftover icing??

Like always the bowl of leftover icing for the cinnamon rolls was up for grabs and Sup always jumps at the first chance. It was a bonus that Thomas wasn't around so he could have it all to himself.

 I am not sure but he was trying to be sneaky so I didn't see him licking up the bowl and spoon. Obviously he didn't get on the counter by himself.

 Once he realized that it was okay to get into the bowl and that he tasted what was in the bowl he was all smiles. He is a pretty easy boy to please :)

 Why use one hand if you can dive into it with both hands!

Again a happy and sticky Sup :)

Birthday breakfast

Since Eric's birthday was last Friday while we were driving we were not able to give him a proper birthday celebration until yesterday. So it was Daddy's special day. Although he didn't request it I thought he would really like some Cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate for a special little breakfast.

 I was a little nervous making them because I hadn't made them from scratch before but I thought I would give a try. Also it was his mom's recipe and I wasn't sure if I could duplicate them, "just like mom's". Luckily with the recipe and like 3 phone calls later I think I was able to get pretty close to mom's :)

 It seems that it was well received by everyone, although you really can't go wrong with sugar, cinnamon, butter, and chocolate chips ;)

The boys had to massacre the poor rolls before they ate them and them started shoving icing filled pieces in their mouths. It was actually pretty comical to watch. 

Thomas starts preschool!

This week was Thomas first week of preschool. He goes three days a week and his first day was on Wednesday. He was wanting to go back ever since we went to the open house on Friday. He was up and ready about two hours before we had to leave....he was a bit excited.

 For the first day they had given all the kids a shirt with a name sticker on it so the teachers could learn their names for the first day. It was nice that it was a greenish blue so Thomas was more then willing to wear it. We had gotten some new shoes, socks, a pair of pants, and a new shirt for his first day so he was able to wear all but the shirt. Although I could have gotten him to do anything that morning as long as he could go to preschool :)

 We got there a few minutes early and Thomas wanted a picture of him in the car holding his new backpack. He never lets this backpack go to or from school. He wears it on his back from the house to the car. Then gets in his car seat, buckles up and holds it on his lap all the way to school. Then he puts it back on walks up to his room and puts it on the hook. The same thing happens when I go to pick him up only backwards...I think it might like it just a little bit ;)

 I could hardly get this kid to stop and get a picture. He just wanted to go in and go to preschool. I did manage a few shots with him standing in front of the building.

 Thomas is so funny with these stairs, we must go up the left side and down the right...not sure why but I just go with it. The doors are just up the steps, but once we got inside we did have to wait a few minutes which just seemed like torture to the boy. I wasn't anticipating any big break downs or clinging and crying because he was very excited and we had been to the building a few times. He already understood that I was going to drop him off and pick him back up in a little bit. So when it came time to go his teachers came to get the kids and he was waving goodbye. I did have him turn around to give me a hug and kiss goodbye (although according to Daddy this was the only day I can do it so I wouldn't embarrass him, but I'm a mom what can I say?). So after my hug and kiss he waved goodbye and never looked back, he was so happy to start preschool. I must admit it was a little bitter sweet, and did shed a few tears on the way home. But we all know they grow up and this is just one of many stages of growing up.

Here is one of his writing projects they did on his first day. I wouldn't have pegged Thomas as too much of a talker, but he told me when you sit and do your work at the table he needs to be quiet so the other kids can do the their work too. Eric and I both got a kick out of that. As soon as we were home he was asking when he goes back. So for all of Thursday he wanted to know if it was Friday, and then when Friday came he was up and ready to go again about two hours early. Hopefully he will always be this enthusiastic to go to school :)

Pit Stop in Grand Rapids

On our way back home on Monday we drove over to the west side of Michigan to visit some more family. We had a really nice visit even if was a little shorter then we intended.

 After we ate dinner we went into the family room to visit and play with the kids.

The boys loved playing outside. It was a little on the chilly side so it was a good thing Thomas insisted on taking a long sleeve t-shirt. Both of the boys loved this little swing they had in their front yard.

I pretty much had pull Sup out of the chair kicking and screaming. He probably would have fallen asleep in this chair. 

Back to our second home

After we packed our stuff at Gramma's we headed over to the big city of Clio ;) This is where we were before we left Indiana and we still have family there. The boys were so excited to see their cousins and vise versa. After dinner we took all the kids outside to play, only after being sprayed with lots of bug spray. We were informed that the mosquitoes here were really bad, and this year inparticular had some kind of big mega mosquito. This mosquito would leave big welts and the bite itself was pretty painful, this was an experience we wanted to avoid.  

 All the kids played really well with each other. I think we only had one crying incident while we were on the play gym. Poor Sup was a victim of getting knocked down by walking in front of the swing. Thankfully the swing wasn't going too fast so he recovered quickly.

After the play gym the kids just had fun running around and chasing each other around the front yard. We had a few races and let each of them win so everyone could be a winner. We were able to get them inside with promises of popcorn and milkshakes, an offer that couldn't be turned down by child or man ;)