Sunday, January 24, 2016

Week Three: 1/18-2/24

This week started with a holiday and ended with snow days; lots of good stuff in between. 

Monday: A holiday from school. The boys were pumped to wear their Panthers gear to the Y. They had a super day playing with friends. After the Y, Eli had swim where they worked hard on their IMs. Cole was worn out from the day at the Y and fell asleep early on the couch. 

 It's January, 32 degrees outside and they're in SHORTS! 

Tuesday I was back to work but the boys were still out of school, so Y Day #2. Cole had swim lessons tonight and they boys were both silly after the Y. 

Wednesday, we started hearing rumblings of weather this weekend. Snow and Ice. No no no. 
 Weather forecast
 Wednesday night Cole had gymnastics. He's getting the hang of it. 
Cole, my drawing boy. He has such an active imagination and draws the best battle scenes. 

Thursday night, the boys had their Scout Den meeting. Which meant, I got an hour alone in the house! It's a treat when I get it. 
 Love my men in uniform. 

Friday morning, we woke up to......a forecast come true. It was a Snow / Ice day and the boys were out of school. We had plenty of adventures and fun inside. We ended up being snowed in ALL WEEKEND and made the best of it. 
 Friday morning about 6:30am. Eli wanted to go outside with me and see what it was like. 
 Jackpot pancakes, of course!
 More drawing by Cole....I love the "to be continued"
 About 9am, they ventured out to see what they could do. 
Not much on the ground...yet, but definitely ice on the roads. 
 Long lost Nerf gun.
 Since Daddy was home, they worked on their Pinewood Derby cars a bit. Cole wanted to do a Spiderman Car and Eli wanted to do a Panthers Truck. 
 Progress on the Den built-ins upstairs. Can.not.wait!!
Back out for a quick bit on Friday afternoon - they didn't make much progress shoveling! 
Plan for pillows from Kara's Grandmother's old quilt. It was nice to have some time to work on it. 
 Oh goodness, I LOVE this! I just want to keep it for myself. She is going to be so surprised. (I hope!!)
 The back of the pillow is new fabric, the front is old. 
 Saturday morning....back out there. 
 More stuff on the ground now.
 Ice

 Looks so pretty

 On Saturday, I surprised the boys with a stashed away Lego set. Can't remember why I have it but it came in handy! Score one for Mommy. 
 More built-in progress. 
 And two pillows complete! Still totally obsessed!
 Saturday afternoon, Cole & I decided to do a science experiment that just so happened to involve the mixer and chocolate chips. Yay Science! 
 How many chocolate chunks are in those cheeks Cole?!
 My truck Friday afternoon....and no, it hasn't moved....and won't move until this mess is clear. 
Friday afternoon, fresh air. 
 Another quick project, installed cafe rods in the boys' rooms to hang their medals. This is Eli's room...
 and Cole's room. Love it!
 Sunday afternoon shenanigans in Ms. Amy's driveway.
 No idea why they were covering their eyes. 

 Sunday afternoon, I went on a walk with Amy & Breda around the neighborhood. It's more work when you're a) trying to keep your balance and b) stepping through snow. Nice to be out. 
 Finishing their paints jobs on Pinewood Derby cars. 

 Of course, we watched the Panthers game.

Awesome that they're going to the Super Bowl - GO PANTHERS!

Sunday, January 17, 2016

Week Two: 1/11-1/17

Lots of stuff happening this week. I got my Certificate of Occupancy at work on Monday to start the week and found out I have mono on Sunday afternoon to end the week. What a week. Let's fill in the gaps. 

Monday, as I mentioned, I achieved the final Certificate of Occupancy on a project that I took over after some folks left the company. It has been a tough long 6 months to get all five COs but I finally did it. 

On Tuesday, I had lunch with Cole at school and on Wednesday, I had lunch with Eli. It's always interesting to have lunch with the boys and see what conversations emerge. 

 1st grade lunch with Cole
 3rd grade lunch with Eli, photobomb courtesy of Hunter
 There is a weekly job rotation; this week Eli had to sweep the floor under their table after lunch. 

Wednesday night, Cole had us laughing. He challenged Tim (or maybe it was Eli, I don't remember) to a "Fight to the Cry". Yep. So funny. I also got a haircut and Cole was so sweet telling me that I had a "pretty haircut". So he's a fighter and a lover. 
 Eli is obsessed with Rubiks cubes these days. 
 Wednesday night tv problems. Uh-oh. 

Thursday was a crazy day of a crazy health week. I woke up with a huge lump under my throat - like golf ball huge that scared me. It just came up overnight so I made a doctor appointment. They ran a bunch of tests and did bloodwork and asked me if I've ever had mono. Mono?! So prescriptions in hand (and in my system), I spent Friday afternoon and evening on the couch while Eli went to swim and Cole went to Brady's for pizza and hangout time with Brady & Peyton. With some rest, I semi felt human again on Saturday. 
 Big blue pills
 Found this in Cole's Friday folder from school. I love that he writes about God in his school work. 
 Such a silly happy - bought a new toaster when I went to Target to get my prescription filled. Long overdue! 
 Friday night videos and hangout - Brady, Peyton, Cole. 
 A big treat to play video games
 Three little stooges
 Cole and his girl. Too cute!

Saturday morning Eli had swim practice so after, I took both boys to get donuts. They loved getting the fun football ones. We tried Daylight Donuts because Cole's buddy Luke likes to go there. We spent a lazy day at home and Eli went to his buddy Zack's house for a bit. 


 Saturday night- my "lap kids"

Sunday morning, I helped in Cole's class at church. The kids were all distracted because during church it started SNOWING! So much fun for a kid - maybe not so much for adults. We hung out at the house and watched the Panthers game. The boys love to have food and snacks for the games now. They will love tailgating one day. =) I also got a call from my Doctor's office with results of my tests - I have mono, HSV1 and my Vitamin D is seriously low. The only thing I can do for mono is rest and hydrate; they gave me a prescription for HSV1 for cold sore and another prescription for Vitamin D that I'm supposed to take weekly. It's 50,000 units - guess I AM low! I'm not quite sure how this "rest" thing is going to go but it's good to have an answer for why I've been feeling awful since November 1st of last year. 

 Everyone at the windows looking at snow
 After church

 I think we're all born with the desire to catch snowflakes on our tongue. 
 Football feast
Daddy being silly

Sunday, January 10, 2016

Week One: 1/4-1/10

The first full week of 2016 was exhausting. Here's how it went:

Monday - Eli swim practice, Cole Scouts
Tuesday - Cole swim
Wednesday - Eli swim practice, Cole had gymnastics
Thursday - I had to work late, Cole went to Scouts with Eli
Friday - end of a LONG work week. Lots of laundry to do.
Saturday - Cole's buddy Brady came over to play and Eli went to his buddy Max's house
Sunday - We went to church and then had our small group after. 

 Wednesday night, Cole was super tired and crawled in our bed and went to sleep early. 
 I texted this picture to Tim on Thursday. I snagged a pink zebra print golf cart at work. 
 Friday night fun - huge pile of laundry. 
 Cole & Brady - buds! 
 See......I own (and wear) Crocs now. But just swimming. 
Our study in small group. Very excited to go through this parenting study with three other couples. 

Sunday, January 3, 2016

Riding into 2016

Happy New Year! We celebrated the new year on Friday with a family bike ride near home. We rode down to and around the lake and let the boys explore a little bit. Always great to start a new year with exercise. 


 1st family selfie of 2016!

 Cole's helmet cracks me up

We started of 2016 pretty low key. Bike ride on New Year's Day and then hanging out at home for the weekend. Saturday I was able to make new pillow covers for the pillows in our playroom. I love the fabrics and colors. Also, finally got the boys to write their Christmas thank you notes - trying to instill manners. 
 Love these colors - now if the boys don't pound each other with them. 
Thank you note writing. Yay manners!! The boys informed me that Spirograph is exercise for your hands. Ha ha. 

Sunday was also pretty low key. We went to the Y to swim (me - 3000 yards, the boys - lots of fun pool play). I wore my new.....gasp.....Crocs. I am officially a Crocs owner now. They're warm and fuzzy and my feet love them after a swim. Never thought I'd see the day! Nothing else exciting to report but I am excited than Downton Abbey is back tonight!!!
 Happy Boys
 Cole was excited to play with his Shark Ship and submarine
 A little Zen   =)