Our weekend fun

We had a fun filled day last Saturday.  It was one of those where you're running here and there and everywhere, but each place made the day even that more special.  Lots of great convos and laughs.  It was perfect!

First stop was the library for an 'Around the World in 60 Minutes' event.  Have I told you how much I love our library?  I totally do!   So we dropped Vann and Chayce off at the library, then Ash and I headed to power grocery shop.  Man 45 minutes goes fast when you're in the grocery store lol.  We were almost successful at getting everything on my list, but not quite.  No biggie, I'll just run to the store later if needed.  Then back to the library to scoop up the older boys.  

 As we turned the corner onto our street we see this guy walking down the sidewalk past our house.  A coyote!  I quick stopped the car, unlocked my phone and snapped a pic.  While it was neat to see a coyote up close, I kinda hope to never see him in our neighborhood again.  

A quick stop at home to switch the laundry and grab the birthday present for our first party.  Their cousin, Liza, was turning 8!  The kids had fun playing and dancing and just being goofs.  

 

 After Liza's party we headed back home to switch the laundry again...I'm always trying to squeeze housework in whenever I can!  And we grabbed the present for our second party of the day.  Their friend, Logan, was turning 10!  They had fun playing Minecraft and singing karaoke.  So much fun that nobody wanted to go home.  But eventually we did head back home to finish up the laundry and get ready for bed.  One of my favorite things is snuggling with them at night and talking about our day.  

This week we've been busy with school.  Gosh the boys are all doing so well.  I still get amazed by all they know and how eager they are to learn new things.  My babies are growing up!  And I'm not really ready.  Sometimes it hits me...like last night when I was rock-a-bying my Sweets before bed.  As I hugged him tight I wished that he will want me to rock-a-bye him for forever.  Which I know he won't, but a momma can wish!  A few tears fell...happy, grateful, blessed, loving tears.  And then I snuggled him into bed and kissed his sweet face goodnight.  I'm a lucky momma that's for sure!

Practicing his patterns.  We started a new monthly preschool kit and we're really enjoying it.  I'll share more about that later.  

Chaycers put together a 3D puzzle.  It's the Eiffel Tower. 

Vann is always, I'm talking always, folding.  He made ET and Pinocchio...his nose moves!  

Okie doke, I'm off to teach the boys something new!  Hope you have the best day :)

New Recipes

You may have noticed I added a few recipes today.  I'm in the process of closing down my fitness blog as I don't ever post over there.  And I didn't want to lose all my fav recipes that we love and use often so, I'm moving them over here!  Plus I thought you may enjoy them :)  I have plans to update this blog a bit soon...add some tabs and organize things a little so certain posts are easier to find.  So be on the look out for fun new changes!  And more recipes...I've got a few more yummy ones to add :)

Ash is all about puzzles lately.  And he wants to do the same ones over and over again.  I love it!  He knows the drill...first he separates them and puts all the side pieces together, then he puts the insides pieces in place.  He does all this with very little help from me.  In fact, I do my best 'not' to help him even when he asks for it.  I just encourage and cheer him on and before he knows it he's got 'er done! 

Hmm, where does this one go?

Let's try over here.

Working on the trees.

Let me get a closer look lol. 

Oh I found his teeth!

He's always so proud of himself :)

I feel like he's grown so much in the past few months.  He's eager to learn and catches onto things quickly and his sentences...geez sometimes he floors me and I can't believe he's only 3.  I know he'll always be my baby, but he could really slow things down just a bit lol.  I'm soaking up every minute that's for sure...I do not want to miss a thing!

Christmas 2015

Merry Christmas!  I know, I know, it's January lol.  But I wanted to share our Christmas fun with you.  We spent the morning opening presents from Santa, playing with the boys' new goodies and then getting ready to go to Casey's house for more family fun.  It was lovely!

Vann got a mini Cubebot in his stocking.
This kid loves anything puzzle related.

Orange Tic Tacs...yes!!

This was the only
thing he asked for...

Super Mario Maker...
and he loves it!

Ozobots...fun little coding robots.

A magic puzzle game...right up his alley.  

Lil sweetie :)

This is a maze bank...
super cool!

Legos are always a big hit with the boys!

You can't beat new crayons.

And this is what he was waiting for...Halo 4!
His Christmas is made.

Bugs + boys = fun!

This lil' dude
loves Blaze.  

Now he's got Blaze
plus a few friends :)

He asked for a Batman Lego set and
had fun putting it together with Chaycers. 

We love I Spy books.

Miss Molly got a new toy too!  She loves it :)

And now for the big joint present!  You may think I'm a little cray cray and that's ok...I am lol.  All three boys love, like super love, the drums.  They are constantly creating their own homemade drum sets with pots and pans and pillows and chopsticks and pencils, etc.  And Chaycers has asked for a drum set for about 3 years now.  

I have always immediately dismissed getting one because who wants to listen to that all.day.long.  Not me!  But then I started thinking, what if this is what they're supposed to do?  What if their destiny is to be in a band?  It's far fetched, but what if??  I could not live with myself if I crushed that dream.  And besides knowing how to play musical instruments is super cool.  So I began researching quiet drum sets.  Funny right...a 'quiet' drum set?  Well wouldn't ya know they make electronic drums! 

After reading a bazillion reviews I decided on this Alesis drum set.  I also researched online drum lessons and they've learned a lot since starting those this month.  I will have to tape them playing and show you.  It's pretty sweet.  I'm telling you, playing the drums well is a lot harder than it looks.  It's so much more than just the banging you think it is.  I'm so happy we got this for them...it's the best 'out there' idea ever!  And it made three little boys very happy on Christmas morning :)

In heaven!

He loves them.  

Rockin' out.

This was the only pic I took at Casey's house.  It was a fun time!

More drumming action the next day.  And pretty much everyday since Christmas lol.  

I love this...shirt unbuttoned, in his own little drumming world.  

I hope your Christmas was full of family fun and lots of love!  Okay back to January of 2016...

Popsicle stick fun!

Who knew popsicle sticks could be so much fun?!  Vann loves building and creating and puzzles so I wasn't surprised to find him making these super cool creations with these sticks.  His patience and determination is amazing!  

This was one of the longest creations he's ever made.  He used the whole box of popsicle sticks!  You have to watch the video below to see what happens when he sets it off...it's super cool!!

Here are a few smaller creations he built that day.  

Chayce enjoyed building with them too.  At one point he yells, 'Mom look!'  We just learned this math fact the other day during our math lesson.  Makes me sooo happy to see him practicing on his own outside of our school time.  

Toothpick puzzles

Vann has been into magic and puzzles and tricks lately.  We have numerous books from the library that he's picked up and really enjoys reading.  One of the newest puzzles are these toothpick puzzles.  We were actually supposed to use matchsticks, but we don't have any so we used toothpicks instead.  I gotta tell ya even I was super into these puzzles...they're fun to try and figure out!

So this one was a dog...we had to get him looking to opposite way moving only two toothpicks.  It's looks easy when you see the answer (Vann's is the answer), but some of them really stump you. 

Thinking really hard about this one...

They had to turn those 5 squares into just 3 squares by removing only 3 toothpicks.

This lil' cutie was all about helping us clean up!  He loved putting the toothpicks back into their holder. 

It's so cute, every time we go to one of Chayce's t-ball games, Vann packs up his backpack with all of his newest tricks so he can show his buddies (brothers of Chayce's teammates that are his age).  They are always in awe of what he shows them.  It's fun to watch, they all sit in a circle (Ash is always right there too because he doesn't want to miss anything) and they do puzzles and tricks.  I love it!

Baseball, farmer's market & Rubik's cubes

It was gorgeous last Saturday for our baseball games.  I even got a light flip flop tan going on!  Chaycers had a game in the morning and Vann had one in the afternoon.  Here are a few pics...

Little Ash and I watching Chayce's game

Chaycers up to bat.

He was watching Vann and Ash play dodge ball with some kids.  He kept smiling...it was cute!

And here's Vann pitching.

Up to bat. 

After our games, we spent the rest of the day outside.  I went to the store and got the kids some popsicles.  I also picked up a quart of chocolate brownie ice cream for myself.  Bad idea...I ate the entire container within 24 hours!  I love chocolate so much and have zero self control when it's in my house.  It was delicious, but boy did I have a belly ache lol.  

Look Mom!

Our farmer's market opened up the Friday before so we had to stop by and check it out.  This will be our new go to place for fruits and veggies over the summer.  They always have great deals...I love it!  This week they have all their apples for 59 cents a pound...I'll be super stocking up.  We go through so much produce every week it's crazy.  I love it though!

Ash is munching on a green bean...yes he eats them raw!

The boys have been begging me to buy another Rubik's cube.  I finally caved and let them spend their money to buy some.  Vann got a Curvy Copter and Chayce got a Snake Twist.  Both very fun!  

Guess what?!  I can solve this one!!  And Chaycers almost has it down as well...it won't be long before he has it mastered :) 

Have a great day!!