Busy Weekend!

While Mom ducked out of town for a writers workshop series, the boys kept VERY busy. They made it to a Globetrotters game - where the highlight for both of them was when a player got his shorts pulled down and EVERYONE saw the tutu he was wearing underneath - and to see the play Pinnoccio. They were SO tired by Sunday.

Sunshine!

It may not be warm, since it is February and all, but the sun was shining so the kiddos went outside to play! There isn't a park within walking distance anymore, but luckily the kids have their own playset in the back. Grace loves not having to wait when she wants to swing.

Feeding the ducks!

Our library has a great park behind it where the kids can run and feed the ducks and geese. Grace went with her babygirlfriends today and had a great time. This is Sara Jane telling Gracious Mae that sitting in the dirt will ruin your new pants...and Grace is not about to listen.

She's learning!

Grace has learned that she shouldn't let people in the house unless mommy says it's OK...





And she's trying her best to learn how to jump. She loves to have someone jump with her, but can't quite figure out how to get her own feet off the ground.

Great Backyard Bird Count

Take 15 min to count the birds over Presidents Day Weekend in the Great Backyard Bird Count! http://bit.ly/d9qVcW

Raise the Flag!

The boys had to take part in a flag raising as part of rank advancement for cub scouts. The baby was not at all excited to be taken from her nice warm crib and plopped into the cold minivan on a rainy morning, but the boys seemed to enjoy getting to see their friends from the old school. This was mainly Bayley's den, Hayden tagged along. I wasn't going to try to do two days worth to make it for both their dens!

Zoo Daze

I really need a new camera. This one is driving me nutso. Grace had her first brotherless trip to the zoo...and all the photos are thbbbbt. Ah, well. She had a great time getting to wander about at her own pace...which is about as fast as she can move while still pilfering snacks from her friends.

Kaitlyn's 2!

The first of Grace's baby-girlfriends has crossed into two-year-old territory. It made me glad Grace is the youngest of the bunch (they grow up too fast!), but she already has plenty of 2-year-old tendencies!

Captain Tory - Bayley's latest story

“Dang it! Dang it! Dang it!” Captain Tory yelled in the empty cabin. Captain Tory’s ship was on a collision course with an unknown island. It wasn’t on any of his charts and the ship’s controls were no use.

Bam! Captain Tory was flung off his boat and flew over the rocky beach, hitting the trunk of a palm tree.

“Ow! He said. “Well, I’m lost and my ship is destroyed. How could today ever get any worse?”

Captain Tory got up and decided to explore the island. “Woah! Ow! “ he exclaimed when he tripped on a half-buried golden lantern. “Strange, but at least I have a lantern.”

Captain Tory made his way through the bush and found a wide clearing. He thought it would be a great place for a house. “If only you could get me a house,” he said to the lantern. He waved the lantern three times, looking around the area. Suddenly, a house popped up in front of him!

“Sweet!” he said. The house was two stories tall, painted red, had plenty of windows, an emergency escape rocket, and a beautiful garden.

There was a panel on the front door. He entered the code one, two, three.

A mechanical voice said, “The code is one, two, three.”

The door slid open and Captain Tory saw a robot in front of him. “Wow,” he thought.

The robot had a mechanical voice. It said, “Hello. My name is 3YN172, but you can call me Three-Y. “

“Thank you,” said Captain Tory. He decided to explore his new house. On his way through the hallways he learned the house was run by robots called Droids. He also met some Droids; one garbage Droid and two house-cleaning Droids. He also met a squad of ten guard-Droids.

Then, Captain Tory found an elevator and went upstairs. What he was paradise. It was an ultimate game room. There were games from Wii to Gameboy. He also saw some steps leading up to a large bedroom with a built-in TV, a closet, and another door leading to a computer room. There, a work Droid was tweaking some wires on a machine as large as semi-truck cab. One the side “Teleporting Machine” was engraved.

“Good thing I finished,” said the Droid. The robot left the room through a small doorway.

“Teleporting is just what I need,” said Captain Tory. Still holding the golden lantern, he hopped into the machine and teleported back home. In his driveway was his silver car and drove to the orphanage. He adopted an orphan named Josh because he wanted someone to keep him company.

Captain Tory took Josh home and showed him the teleporting machine, but it seemed to be shorting out. Without trying to, they teleported back to the island.

“What the heck!” cried Captain Tory.

“Is this your house?” asked Josh with amazement.

“Yes, it is,” said Captain Tory.

They heard the teleporting machine go fffttzzzzzzzzzzt! Then it blew up. Captain Tory hadn’t realized that as he climbed out of the machine, he accidentally hit the self-destruct button. Some work Droids took care of the damage.

Captain Tory and Josh went inside the house and ordered dinner. After they ate pizza, they played video games for three hours and went to bed at 10:37.

The next day, they went hiking with the golden lantern to look for a place to build a harbor. One poofed up at the perfect spot. They hiked back to the house and packed a lunch. Then, captain Tory made some snow with green pine trees on the side of the hill. After that, they skied down the slope to the new harbor.

“That was awesome,” said Josh.

“Agreed,” said Captain Tory. He waved his lantern three times and a boat appeared….

And then Captain Tory woke up.

Pump It Up

It turns out, Grace is more like Bayley than we imagined! We went to a birthday party at Pump It Up for Steven & Ava...and Grace screamed through about 80% of it. Bayley was extremely sensitive to noise (which he grew out of between 5 and 6) and we're thinking Grace is the same way. She was only happy while going down the slide. Not going up, not once she was done, just the 2.4 seconds it takes to go down the slide. Fun times!


The boys had a fantastic time, like always! They get so sweaty, it looks like we just pulled them out of the shower!! They were both excited because it meant pizza and cake - two things that haven't been in the house lately!!

Dinner Dance

We weren't sure what to expect from our first Dinner Dance at the elementary school...since we were told there wasn't much dancing and dinner was pizza and soda. I did the first half of the night solo - and I don't thnk I have EVER been so happy to see Jeff as I was when he got there!





It turned out to be a great party, if a little loud. There were raffle baskets, a silent auction, and a hilarious hula hooping thing done by grade. Did you know 3rd grade is when most kids learn to hula hoop? It was that obvious :D





There was a little bit of dancing - mostly kids milling about and then some group things like the chicken dance. The boys do want to go again next year, but I think Jeff and I will draw straws and one of us will stay home with Grace.

And some of them are missing!

Hayden needed to count up his Thomas trains for a Tiger Cub elective...we got to 92. And he noticed a handful are missing. We think they may have jumped to the Geo Trax tub!