Week Seventeen: 4/21-4/27

Lots of fun stuff again this week. Tim planned to take a few days off and his Dad came up to work on our camper. We kept noticing last year that water stains would show up on the canvas and eventually we discovered a leak. Has to be fixed before our vacation this year so Tim and his Dad planned to do just that. As usual, the week had its' twists and turns and became a very busy week. 

Our week in photos....

Monday morning the boys enjoyed some leisurely reading time in our bed. 

Tuesday Grandpa N came and brought Easter presents from Grandma. Tuesday night I took them to swim lessons while Daddy & Grandpa worked late on the camper. 

The boys loved their pillow cases - Star Wars for Eli and Airplanes for Cole. Perfect! Thanks Grandma!!

Tim started on Tuesday before his Dad got here taking out the old ceiling and making a mess doing "demo" work. They spent two days working really hard to take the old out, seal up the roof really well (especially around the AC) and then cutting / prepping a ceiling to go back. Tim still has some work to do but they made great progress. I think it was a little tougher than Tim thought but they got it done! 

Thursday morning before the boys went to school (and Grandpa went home - they worked on the camper for two full days!). They loved having him visit and we're thankful for all his help! 

Friday night - make your own pizza.

Well....it was actually Eli made his own and Mommy made the rest. =) 

Cole had fun Saturday morning carrying around our new bluetooth speaker as my phone was playing Pandora. 

Saturday was also Cole's last soccer game of the season. It has been a taxing season with Cole's ups and downs on the field. Sometimes he would practice, other times not. Sometimes he'd play, other times not. If he did play, he'd usually get upset at something and then stop playing. But Saturday......there was a trophy at stake. We told him that it was his last game and that if he played, he'd get a trophy when it was over. Boy did he play like a champ!! We're not sure where that Cole was all season. The coaches were thrilled with his play. He practiced great and played awesome. He played the whole time he was supposed to and only got upset once but Coach kept him from running off the field and he was quickly back in the game. I was one proud Mommy!! An awesome day! 

Practicing with Coach Matt

Goofing off as a cone head during his break. 

"All good Mommy. I got this!"

"See....told you!"

Awesome action shot!

That face says it all. =) 

Cole and Ian (Coach Matt's son)

Trophy time

Totally earned it today! 

Cole and his friend from school, Chloe

Mommy and her Soccer boy

After the game, Daddy went by the nursery and got some 50/50 garden mix (compost and dirt) to finish prepping our garden. The funniest thing when the boys got up on the truck was that they talked about how smelly it was. 

Peeee-Yooooo!

We (read: Tim) made our garden much larger this year, combining the existing individual beds. 

The boys played in their own dirt pile while Daddy worked. 

My farmer

Found Sam Green, the Lego man, on our back glass door. 

Saturday night, the boys and I had movie night. I can't remember the last time I actually sat and really watched a movie with them. We snuggled on the couch and watched 'Despicable Me 2' - they love that movie and it really is cute. It was nice to slow down and enjoy it with them. 

Today after church, I made a day trip back home to go to my Aunt Betty's funeral. My Mom called me last weekend and let me know that she had had a stroke and wasn't doing well. She went home to Heaven on Thursday and the visitation / service was today. Aunt Betty is my Grandpa's only sibling and she lived across the street from my parents. I guess technically she's my Great Aunt but she's always just been "Aunt Betty" to me. It was a sad occasion to go see everyone but it really was great to see some of my extended family that I don't get to see much these days. The service was beautiful and I really enjoyed listening to memories of Aunt Betty. My Dad participated in the service and did an awesome job. So many wonderful memories were recalled and the most powerful thing said that spoke to me was that "Betty was just Betty" and she lived her values "God and family". So many lessons for me to remember and such a tribute to a sweet lady. She leaves behind wonderful children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren that will always treasure their time with her. I know my Grandfather is sad. He's the last of that generation and the oldest living member of his family. And I hope he's around for a long time to come! Today was also my Grandmother's birthday so it was nice to see her on her birthday. 

My Grandma & Grandpa S.

My Mom (left) with her parents and her sister and brother

Me with my Parents and Grandparents - I am so blessed!

I really like this picture. Grandparents are something special.

My Aunt Brenda, her husband Tom with my Grandparents (her parents)

My Uncle Mike, his wife Val with my Grandparents (his parents)

Week Sixteen: 4/14 - 4/20

So much going on lately, I've been taking LOTS of pictures! We had another great week. Pretty low key during the week but fun and busy for the Easter holiday weekend. Let's see what we did...

Monday, Eli discovered a calculator. He was trying all sorts of calculations and surprised when it matched what he knew to be true. Then he started adding/multiplying big numbers and getting a kick out of that. Just in case you're wondering 7,859 x 256 = 2,011,904. 

Thursday was a busy day. The boys each had Spring celebrations at school. Cole's involved an egg hunt and Spring party. Eli's was a little more low key (with no parents). They both had fun and were super happy to have the school week end a day early and have Friday off! Thursday night we had swim lessons. Since I had gotten off work early for Cole's party, I was able to take them and give Tim a little break. It's been a while since I've been able to go and this one was super fun. We were told that Eli is moving up to Level 7 swim lessons!! He started off at Level 4 (where Cole is now) and has done great. He can freestyle, had a beautiful backstroke and has started getting his feet right for the breaststroke. That was what was holding him back from moving up. So excited for him! Next time we go, they'll have his certificate of achievement ready for him so I'll definitely post a picture of that. Cole did awesome in his swim class and I got to see him using his arms and swimming a bit. Love my water boys!! It probably won't be long and they'll swim better than me. =) Saw that Michael Phelps will be swimming in a meet in Charlotte this May and looked at going but logistically it just won't work. Kinda bummed. Would be amazing to see him swim! 

My little Cole-bunny ready for school 

Beautiful flowers for Cole and Eli's teachers. They made our house smell so amazing! I hated to give them away. 

Cole worked really hard on Easter cards for his teachers. 

He wrote on the inside and the outside. 

Running for eggs on the playground at school. 

He had so much fun.

Cole and his buddy Wyatt. 

Each child was to find 11 eggs. Cole got two that had egg shaped sidewalk chalk in them. What a great idea!!

hi Mommy! 

His party plate - the class made their own cupcakes earlier as a science experiment. Cole chose to make blue. Notice the major food groups on here - chocolate, cheese puffs, cupcake and sugar. 

I think this might have been Cole's first Peep ever.

Icing his cupcake. 

Love my sweet Cole-man! And so happy I was able to go to his party. 

I had to take a picture of the finger marks in the dirt/pollen on my truck. Someone at work mentioned to me that it reminded them of their daughter and they thought it was so cute of my boys. That definitely made me stop for a moment and look at their handiwork differently. It does make me smile to see "evidence" of our crazy boys. 

Friday morning we packed it up and headed out early to the zoo. I did a separate post on that but had to include two pictures here. Eli loves to read and we picked up an "I Survived" book for him last week at Barnes & Noble. Since we're going to Pennsylvania this summer for vacation, he chose the Battle of Gettysburg. That morning he was reading while Tim & I got stuff ready for the zoo. And, of course, it was Pop-Tart Friday! 

Our reader. So proud of how far his reading has come this week. 

 Probably my favorite picture of the boys with their cousins from our zoo trip. Silly boys! 

Saturday was a pretty rainy uneventful day. We stayed close to home and Cole happily got his fill of tv. =) 

Today is Easter. We've had a good day. It definitely feels different than being close to our extended families but we're learning to celebrate holidays as our little family. The Easter bunny decided to stop by last night. The boys were pretty psyched about that. We didn't play it up or make a big deal out of it - it was just fun that EB came. The boys got some candy, a Lego kit (of course!!), a movie each and a note from the Easter Bunny that told them six colored eggs and one golden egg were hidden in their rooms. As soon as Eli read the note to Cole, they took off upstairs to search their rooms! That was pretty fun. We're not all into dying eggs and major egg hunts but this was a fun way to give the boys a little bit. I loved the golden egg because I remember my Dad hiding eggs at my Grandma's house and the golden egg always had money in it! And this one was no different. The boys found their golden egg under their pillow and were rewarded with a dollar bill! 

This morning we went to 9:15am service at church as a family. I normally teach Cole's class 1st and 3rd Sundays but switched it up so a) Tim & I could go to Easter service together and b) they needed more helpers at 11am service. So after the 1st service, Tim brought the boys home and I was a teacher in the 2 (not yet 3) year old room. Oh my, what a difference! You forget what the younger ages are like when you are out of them. It was a great experience and so awesome to see all the visitors at church this morning. 

 Treats from the Easter Bunny

 Checking out their goodies

 Eli read the note to Cole and his face was so funny. Time for some serious egg hunting! 

 Funny bunny.....put an egg in Cole's dump truck. 

 Searching his room

 Golden egg - and a dollar!

 Cole found his golden egg too! 

 Time to put together their Lego race cars. 

 An Eli bunny

 Of course, I had to dress them up alike for Easter.

 Oh my lands.....the cuteness. 

 Daddy & his boys

 Easter family photo

I am so blessed. 

This afternoon, we took the boys to Umstead for a hike (mainly to burn off that chocolate energy!!). We gave them the choice of a bike ride or hike and they chose hike. Cole wanted to do the trail where he could be the hike leader. And he was! We were back in order....Cole, Eli, Mommy, Daddy. It's so fun to watch them grow into little hikers (or trail runners) and watch their endurance grow. We told them today that one day we'll be doing super long hikes together. Can't wait to take them up to the top of Mount Mitchell! Maybe next year....

 Eli found a great hiking stick at the start of the hike - and we kept it! 

 Dude and Lil Dude

 Love my Dudes!

 Serious business

 Pondering....how much longer will I go before my legs give out and I sit down on the trail. Let Mommy answer that, not far! He would say his legs hurt, sit down and then take off running and stick his tongue out at me. Little faker!! 

 My best adventure partner!

 Made it!