Week Four: 1/20-1/26

This week started off with a holiday - Martin Luther King Day - on Monday and I actually had a little time to myself that day! Cole was at school, Eli was at the Y and that gave me some time to go on a bike ride with my friend Jenny. We had an awesome time being out, even though we did go on a busy road. Jenny overcame her fear of riding with cars and we got in some good miles (23 to be exact!). Monday night, the Scout troop had a "Go See" and went to Char-grill to check out "behind the scenes". I think Eli loved it and he was especially happy when Daddy got him a milkshake! 

Tuesday night, when I was doing Eli's devotion, the subject was "Fear". I asked him what he's afraid of. He thought for a few seconds and then said "Bears"......and Sharks. Are you afraid of sharks Mommy? I'm really not. I'm just afraid of bears." So there you have it! I'm glad that the only thing Eli is afraid of is bears. We will definitely try to keep bears away from him! There are so many things that can consume your mind and that you can be "afraid" of and I'm glad that Eli is a confident happy kid who doesn't worry about stuff yet. He and Cole both deserve to enjoy being kids!!

We went from a super awesome gorgeous Monday to a little bit of snow and a 2 hour school delay on Wednesday. How does that happen?!! Eli went out for a few minutes in it but the boys were mostly uninterested. They were just excited to watch some extra cartoons! 

This weekend we had lots of fun family time. I also took Eli to a tae kwon do birthday party Saturday afternoon for his buddy Dawson who turned 7. It was a super cool birthday party! They a "demo team" from the school put on a show for the kids and then they did some lessons with the kids. After the main demonstration, they had three different sections for the kids (there were 3 parties). One was a board breaking room - so cool! The second was an obstacle course and the third was cake / snacks. It was so much fun and Eli really enjoyed it. We spent our Saturday night playing games (Dweebies and Scrabble) and went to church this morning. Now we have to catch our breath and get ready for another week! 

Jenny & I - had to take a photo break! 

"Go See" at Char-grill

Eli was unimpressed by the dusting of snow. Didn't even cover the ground. 

Silly brothers - they always come up with something to entertain themselves! 

Tae Kwon Do party

Hiiiiii

Yaaaaa!

"Now hit the board, not your Momma"

Hi-Ya!

Playing a little tae-kwon-do Simon Says. 

Dawson cutting his birthday cookie with a machete!

The whole birthday party crew. 

At it again these two! Eli came walking into the room with Cole on his shoulders. I have no idea how he did that but man he sure is strong! 

Dweebies - our favorite card game. It says ages 8 and up - nope, both our boys play it and Cole is like a card shark on it! He's a super awesome Dweebie player and beats us almost all the time (and we TRY to beat him!). 

Daddy + Eli versus Mommy in Scrabble

Mommy won.....Eli wants to me on my team next time. =)

Week Three: 1/13-1/19

Oh my goodness, I registered Cole for Kindergarten this week!!! Yep, seriously, that's how the week started Monday morning - 8:30am. Went to Eli's school with all the appropriate paperwork and got the Cole-man registered! Tuesday I had an orthodontist appointment. Sooooo close to being out of my daytime retainer. Woo hoo! 

We had a pretty low key normal week that led to a super fun weekend! Saturday was the craziest busiest day. Hard to believe all we accomplished in one day. Eli and Tim had a Scouts work day to work on their Pinewood Derby cars so while they were doing that, Cole & I met a friend of his from church, Andrew, at Monkey Joe's. The boys had a great time playing and running around. We ended our fun playdate with ice cream from Dairy Queen - YUM! I even treated myself to a blizzard. Can not think of the last time I had one of those! Tim and Eli worked on his pinewood derby car. They used the equipment to get the body shape cut out. Eli was quite proud to have his car cut out. I think he used the "wedge" shape. Tim cut his a little fancier. 

Later Saturday afternoon, Henry came over to stay with the boys so Tim and I could go to CarMax to test drive the vehicle I had transferred up here. And spoiler alert....MOST EXPENSIVE DATE NIGHT EVER!! Seriously. We got to Car-Max at 5:30pm and literally drove out of there at 7:30pm with a (new) 2013 Toyota Sequoia. I was pretty certain when I requested the transfer that we'd end up with it but wasn't 100% positive. I'm not one to just go test drive cars and I had been looking for quite a long while for something with a 3rd row seat and when I saw this amazing deal, I had to go for it! And, of course, when I drove it, LOVED IT! So they appraised the 4Runner while we drove the new one. We got back, into the little "make you a deal" office and looked at our options. Tim and I talked it over and made the decision to sell / trade my truck and get the new one. As soon as our sales person left, I started crying. I really did! I had no idea I was so attached to that truck! I think I kinda surprised Tim but man, so many wonderful fun memories in that truck. It was the first (and probably only) brand new vehicle I ever owned. I drove her off the lot with 44 miles on the odometer and when we said goodbye, she had over 218k! Oh my goodness, what a super awesome truck she was. I also joked with Tim that that was the last part of "Independent Evia". Now I have a Mom-mobile. =) But seriously, my 4Runner really was awesome and I know it would have lasted much longer. It was sad to say goodbye to her but the Sequoia welcomed me with big open arms and a nice comfy seat. We joked with Rafael, our sales person, that this was his easiest sale of the month. He lucked up getting assigned to my transfer and we only took 2 hours of his time to complete the deal. The boys were super excited. They absolutely love the new truck and really love the 3rd row. It was be so great for traveling and camping and now we can travel with the Grandparents or friends since it seats 8! We are still getting used to how big she is. When talking about it, we said she's as big as a whale and that's when we affectionately named her 'Beluga'. Perfect. 

Tonight, Cole called a family meeting. It was a very serious meeting. Apparently "Rock, Paper, Scissors" was used to determine between he and Eli who was taking a shower first. Well, Eli lost and then didn't keep up his end of the bargain. Cole called a family meeting and we all met on mine & Tim's bed. Cole explained the situation and Eli was still being bratty about it. Cole then negotiated with us for more tv if he took his bath first. I agreed to that so off he went running up the stairs. It was exactly what I want for working through stuff as a family. I sometimes call a family meeting to decide what we're going to do, to run through the plan for the day or whatever but it was absolutely precious for Cole to call his own family meeting! 

Cole and Andrew - buds!

I scream....you scream....

Cole was pooped out from running around Monkey Joes

Like head bobbing and falling over tired! 

Eli was all ready to work on his derby car. 

Mr. Rick cutting another Scout's shape - Tim cut Eli's on the band saw. Eli's not quite old enough to do it himself. =) 

Meet "The Wedge"

My super awesome 4Runner - she & I go W-A-Y back. 12 years!!

I had visions of keeping her until 250k or 300k but couldn't pass up the deal on the new one.

When I went out to get my water bottle and some other things out of my truck, she & I had a moment. I never knew I was so attached!! 

Bye my sweet truck.....she's all sad....Tim swears to me that trucks are machines and don't have feelings.

Rafael - happy salesman, happy customer

Meet Beluga!

Week Two: 1/6 -1/12

Oh my goodness....an up and down week! We started the week cold, all bunded up, Cole was diagnosed with strep and then by the weekend, we were outside in shorts! These NC winters are crazy sometimes. 

So my poor Cole-man. On Wednesday, he seemed ok and we took him to school. By mid-morning his teacher texted me that Cole was having a hard day - crying, eyes red and puffy (asked if he had allergies) and he was just generally miserable. When I decided to come pick him up, she said I might want to make a doctor's appointment for him - so I did on the way. Then I got a call that he had a super high fever, over 102! My poor little man. =(  So we went to the doctor and when he looked at Cole, without runny nose / coughing he didn't feel it was the flu. Not out of the question but thought it might be strep. Cole had not really complained about this throat so that was a surprise to me. He had to do a strep test (throat culture) and that was not fun. Once he finished and Cole sat up, he threw up all over the place, including on me. Got it cleaned up and a few quick minutes later Doc came back in to tell us his test was positive. Oh no! Both of my boys will probably be just as prone to strep as me. I think I got it annually when I was little and get it about every two years as an adult. Ugh!! So off we headed to Target to get his prescription filled. While we waited, I let him go to the toy "island" - yes, it's so precious that Cole calls it the "toy island" instead of toy aisle. But it really kinda is an island in the store that the kids are drawn to!! With as bad as he was feeling, I couldn't say no to his request for a Lego set - I'm weak, what can I say?! 

This weekend was just the opposite.....nice warm weather and everyone happy and healthy. The boys played outside and helped Tim wash / clean my truck. There's a chance that we might be trading it in. I've put in for a vehicle transfer at CarMax so it should be here soon for us to test drive. No guarantee but we want to be ready. Amazing how my old truck looks with some love!!

This boys LOVES oranges!

Sweet bundled up brothers

Strep throat = Legos 

Eli's awesome art work from school - this one is definitely going on the wall!

Friday night we made aliens.....special request from the boys. This was Big Sam. It all started with a little alien figure that Eli got from the treasure chest at school. Since he wouldn't let Cole play with it, I made Cole one of his own! Complete with bendy pipe cleaner arms and legs. 

Hard at work

I think the boys were wiping dirt off, not on

Water, bubbles, boys - always fun!

They then decided to wash their own trucks.

Oh the cuteness!!

Isn't she beautiful?! 

Hard to believe she's almost 12 years old!!

These two really do love each other.

Simple hugs turn into wrestling matches 

and flopping all over each other! 

Week One: 1/1-1/5

Ok, so this is really 1/2-1/5 since I already covered New Year's Day - minor details!!

The start of the new year was kinda funny. I had on our family schedule that Eli was supposed to be at the Y on Thursday and Friday for Schools Out Special days. Well, it's a good thing his Principal left a voice mail for all the parents because he actually had school Thursday! I work for a neighboring school system and those students don't go back to school until Monday so I was seriously confused! So that was one silly move on my party......but that was only the beginning. Thursday night I also had in my mind that the boys had swim lessons (they have them every Thursday at 5:30). I was super excited to take them because I usually don't get to make it. So we got everyone ready and headed over there....only to find them closed. What?! So I checked my email and swim lessons don't resume until NEXT week. Where is my brain?!! It's going to be a long year if I'm going to be this forgetful. =) 

Saturday was a super fun day. A friend of ours was given two tickets and a parking pass to the NC State / Pittsburgh basketball game and asked if I wanted them. A super quick call to Tim and of course I said YES! The only problem was that there were just two tickets. So Eli & I went while Tim & Cole had some quality time together. Eli absolutely loved being at the game. It didn't matter that we were in the TOP row of our section (BUT our parking pass was front row - I'll take it!). We were there!! It was also fun to see some of our friends on the concourse at half time (totally coincidence). The Pack started off great but ended up losing 74-62. Eli had a great time regardless and, unlike the football game, we stayed the entire time. Super fun with my big boy. I see many more State sporting events in our future!! GO PACK!

 I had to go to one of our schools Thursday and saw this bike/car thing. I've seen them before but not up close. It's and Elf by Organic Transit . Apparently solar powered and pedal powered - $5k if you're interested!

Wolfpack Boy - his 1st State basketball game

I texted this to the whatever number to see if we could get on the Jumbotron - didn't happen. =( 

View from our seats - the cool thing was that there were huge tvs up there so we could see the game up close. We had no problem knowing what was going on though.  

Go Wolfpack! 

Like Mommy, Like Son! 

Warm ups 

Let's get this game going! 

Eli thought these students holding bricks up were hilarious.  

 He absolutely loved it!

And was completely wiped out when it was over! Notice the stuffed Wolf. Yes, I got talked into buying him and Cole their own mascots. I reasoned that we got the tickets and parking pass free so it was ok.