Blogging from the bathroom

Wow finally an app for blogger! How long has this been out? So many times I have wanted to blog, but not near my computer.

So, I'm kind of bummed tonight. Daniel asked to take his bath separate from Matthew. I knew this day would come at some point. It is so convenient to give them a bath at the same time...it also saves on water. But it really just signals the end of one childhood stage and the beginning if another.
Daniel has been maturing by leaps and bounds lately. It's crazy to watch happen. To think of how horrible bath time was before Matthew came along. Daniel would scream, cry, and claw his way through it. No matter what we did, bath time was a nightmare. Then Matthew came, we would have Daniel help do the baby baths. Then eventually they just had baths together. Then Daniel loved baths. The two of them would play and laugh. We would joke that at 16 and 14 maybe they would want separate baths. Knowing it would be much sooner than that

Tonight, Matthew came in while Daniel was in the tub. He tried to be all casual about "checking it out", almost like he was waiting for Daniel to change his mind. But I could tell his feelings were hurt. We talked for a bit, and Matthew had a lot to say ( hmm where could he get THAT from;-), but as usual he went with the change like a champ. He was able to play his own way, without a bossy, bully brother.

However I'm still a bit sad...maybe we'll have a few more combined baths before it's all over. On the bright side, in a few years I won't have to deal with bath toys anymore....oh wait that still makes me sad:-(

Memorial Day

So this weekend we had no real plans.  My only goal was to get laundry done, and I feel like I did accomplish that.  However it was not boring (well at least to me lol).  Today was actually a highlight of the weekend.  Daniel is in t-ball and the Little League kids can march in the village parade.  We have never been in town this weekend, so we have never actually been to the parade here.  So we weren't to sure what to expect.  Well, it was small....really small.  At one point Daniel assumed he was leading everyone else

 

You can see from the picture, he was not actually in the lead....but in his mind he was.  It was funny to see him off by himself waving to everyone, without a care in the world.  He was smiling and I was cracking up at him....Chad was carrying Matthew behind us with the rest of the players. Later one of his buddies did catch up with him.  Which increased the cuteness factor.

 

 

It was a short parade route which ended in the cemetery.  They had a nice service there and had all the Little League players put flowers on a  memorial.  There was a flag raising with a three-volley salute,  and taps being played.  It was actually quite touching and a real way to pay honor on the holiday. 

On the way home we decided that we should build a sandbox....OK I decided...but to be fair, in my mind it was going to be a simple box.....that's it.  After much frustration between myself and Daniel (who wanted a much much much more complicated sandbox)....Chad had to intervene.  Instead building a sandbox that somehow looked and worked like a loaded (or digger....he was flexible there)....they came up with the idea to build a truck sandbox.  So much much later (well after bath and jammie time), this is the finished project:

 

It is really cool, and the boys are just so lucky to have such a handy daddy!  The front of the box is the "hood" of the truck, and it is where they can store their sand toys.  The back is the "bed" of the truck and that is where the sand is.  There is a dashboard, where a steering wheel can be added later.  There is even a "windshield"...which doesn't double for anything (yet) but is just for decoration.   Daniel was very happy with the end result, and Matthew gave it a big thumbs up:-)

 

 

 

We are finalizing plans for a deck and putting up a fence.  I feel like at this rate, actually resting on a holiday won't happen for a long while;-)

Perfect Day

So today is about as perfect of a day as we can get in our house.  We slept in until 8:30.  I realize that for some that is really sleeping in, but for others not so much.  Every household is different, but I enjoyed every minute of it.  We actually ate breakfast together  (which never happens) and then did a quick household cleanup.  Happily...the cleanup didn't take very long.  Then we had to go off to run some errands, one of which including picking up some annuals.....garden stores always make me very happy:-)  Finally it was back home to do some yard work.  Just like the house clean up in the morning, the yardwork did not take as long as I thought it would.  I was able to plant some bulbs, and we prepared the flower and vegetable garden for spring planting:-)

Then it was onto pizza night!

We love to make our own pizza.  We probably only get to do it once a month.  Most times we try to make our own dough.....but we have also used pre-bought shells in a pinch.  Chad and I try to make pizzeria style looking pizzas. But the boys come up with these creations, that well....they are creations lol.

Chad's pizza  (the camera phone does not do this justice, it looked and tasted awesome)
      














My Pizza (ehh....it looked a bit over done...but it tasted great)

Daniel (like many other kids his age) pretty much just invents his own pizza.  Today he did a "donut pizza".  He put a hole in the center.  Then put on cream cheese, pinneapple, mozzerllea cheese, parmesean cheese....then ham....then pepperoni.  As usual, I looked at it and thought
"no way will that be good!"

But it actually wasn't all that bad.  The boy has a way with pizza.  His pizza always taste good.  Sometimes it's even better than ours. Although because of this pinneapple and no sauce phase he is in, his pizza hasn't tasted the "best" in a while.  But still I was impressed, and he liked it too:-)

Matthew generally follows whatever Daniel does. His pizza was similar, just without the ham.  It was not as good. But he ate a good bit of it.

(Happily, the kitchen was quickly cleaned up after our pizza making, so it didn't undo morning clean up;)

To end the perfect day, the boys are taking baths.  I am finally writing a blog entry....and hopefully some cuddle time will wrap things up.

Tomorrow if you are in the Northern Macomb County area and want to hear why "God Hates Religion too"...come on over to VOX church at 10 am.  It should be fun!

Party update

I feel like I should be updating because I have been doing pretty good lately with the whole blogging thing. The birthday parties went really well. McDonald's was super reasonable. We had a respectable turn out despite the horrible weather that morning.

After we made use of some Build-A-Bear gift cards.  Oh boy am I glad we had those gift cards.  We are also glad we used them on a birthday.  That place is fun, but expensive.  It made it worth it to celebrate something, and not go there just because.  I had a picture of  the boys at the mall with their bears...but I somehow deleted it off the camera.

I have been trying to take and catalog more of our pictures.  Easier said than done for me.  But I did finally get a bunch of photos off of my phone.  That alone is a huge accomplishment:-)
 We have had  a nice steady pace to the last few weeks.  It's still kind of hectic.  But we have taken time to enjoy small things.

Thankful on Thursday

Ten things I am thankful for:

1. The sun is back out and spring is around the corner
2. Morning walks with my neighbor and our dogs
3. Seeing deer in my neighborhood (but not yet seeing the coyotes)
4. Healthy growing kids
5. A husband who does dishes
6. A cat who entertains and the dog who puts up with her
7. A good church
8. long standing friendships and new ones
9. A job I can do from my home....I do complain about it, but really....it's a blessing
10. COFFEE....and  roof over my head to enjoy it:-)

I really should try to write out stuff every day....but I would be amazed with myself if I could do this once a week;-)

Nothing much

So I feel like I have been hiding my "new relationship"....well it's our family's new relationship guess it's not mine alone;-)  We finally found a church.  I still hesitate to say it's "our church" because we had so many other churches that were close, but not at all right for us. But at this point it's weird not to call it our church.
The church is very young (I think this week will be the 23rd service), and it's very close to home.  They don't focus on hot button issues, but instead of ways we can serve others as Jesus does.  We really feel connected to everyone there. We are excited to be involved in the different ministries and  see what church can do.
So, I have no real big revelation to add.  We had been looking and praying for a while to feel more rooted in this community.   Now it seems like we have found what we are looking for.

Happy 5 Daniel!

Yesterday I had the pleasure of talking with a woman who has a baby due on March 4.  I had to laugh and tell her that Daniel was also due on March 4....but came on Feb 21st.  She said she was OK if her baby decided to do the same.  I told her I would think of her today.
While it was hard for me to believe...and deal with the fact that Matthew turned 3 last month.  It's not as hard with Daniel.  It's weird to look over his birth story and his first photos, because it seems like a world away.  He has always seemed to be my little buddy and I just love watching him get older. 

 

 I can't say enough what a fantastic big bother he is.  Matthew looks up to him and just adores him.  Daniel loves to take care of Matthew in return.  In preschool Daniel has been working on writing his name.  He can do it, but he just doesn't want to take the time for it.  On the other hand he is starting to do math on his won with little difficulty.  He is still my kitchen assistant (well when he feels like it), and he really is a help.  I'm amazed at how well he can scoop and mix.  He has also taken to making cheese sandwiches for him and his brother on days I am distracted and can't get to lunch/dinner fast enough.
I love this little guy with all my heart.  I can't wait to see what year 5 is going to be like.