I don’t have many updates lately – Brian and I are both busy with various projects that will go into our completed laundry room. The difference is already amazing, but I’m waiting to post before and after pictures once the entire project is done. I do, however, have several pictures on my camera and on my phone from general “stuff”

 

Aiden goes to extremes to show how serious we are around here about our Chicago Bears!

I already posted this on facebook, but I think it’s crazy how often one of the boys puts a hole in a perfectly good pair of pants. Logan especially! Doesn’t he know that he’s supposed to be the MOST careful? Those pants are supposed to be in pass-down condition by the time he needs new ones!

It’s tax time again and what a job it is for a traveling man (Brian gets state returns from any state where he works that has a branch for his company….tends to be a lot of places…last year, he even had to do a Canadian return!) Anyway, this guy showed up to help. I’m not sure if he’s experienced with tax returns, but he looks so gosh-darn professional, he’s obviously here to be of service SOME how!

Ok, but seriously. Brady’s going through a “dress like a business man” phase. I ended up needing to go to Goodwill this week to buy some stuff for an 80’s party Brian and I have this weekend. While there, Brady spotted the ties and begged for one with “dragons” on it (exact words, “I want a Chinese dragon scarf!”). We also picked up a button-down shirt that actually fits. He wore this 3 days in a row. Quite sharp looking, actually! I also found an old belt I bought when Logan was little so he has an appropriate belt….although wore OVER the shirt. We’ll work on that later!

A week ago Friday, Brian took the day off of work. The boys were all off of school as well. We went to breakfast and then decided to take in a movie. This is how the modern family choses their flicks: fire up an ipad at the restaurant and check out all the previews for the movies currently being shown. Not sure what they are watching here, but it doesn’t look like a pleaser. We ended up seeing The Secret of Airretty and it was adorable (NONE of the boys moved even an inch the entire time, which is rare).

Unfortunately, after taking Friday off, daddy had to fly out for work on Sunday night. The boys had Monday off as well so we decided to do something fun: yet another movie, popcorn and “kiddie cocktails” (sprite with cherry syrup) under a fort in the living room. I took this picture on my phone to send to Brian…that’s why the quality isn’t so great.

This is a “take my picture” picture. Aiden wandered in while I was taking pictures of business-man Brady and wanted to show me a gun he was constructing out of laser pegs.

 

These are actually at least a month old now. One morning, Aiden set about constructing one of his lego ships. I thought the two of them laying around and playing legos was cute.

Pretty soon they had me in there too because the ship needed very specific stud colors and it was getting hard to locate the right ones. I was put on red duty. For the life of me, I couldn’t find just ONE more red stud so I finally called Anne down the street and she gave me one out of AJ’s stash.

Pretty cool!

This is the year’s only snowman. Yesterday we had a playdate with one of Brady’s friends from school. We had finally been given a little bit of “snowball snow” the night before and the boys wanted to play outside. I helped Aiden build this tiny snowman….then the three boys immediately took shovels to the poor thing and knocked it down. Again I say, “ah – boys!”

The night before Valentine’s Day was hysterical (Ok, hysterical in retrospect because while it was happening…especially the bedtime part, it was maddening!). The boys were SO excited…it was like a mini Christmas! They knew they had a card & gift from Nana & Papa, cards from GG & GGpa (which always contain a crisp $1 bill!), goodies from mom and dad (small goodies mind you) and a fun breakfast waiting. The spent the last few hours of the day creating masterpieces of heart-filled art work then I basically had to wrestle them to sleep. They were laying in their room for over an hour, all hyped up on promises of fun and candy-to-come (they didn’t even know about Memaw and Grandpa’s cute bugs, filled goodies and hand-made cards, that awaited them after school as well). The finally went to sleep around 9 and got up…oh….at 6:15! I made them lay with me in bed until 6:30, then I gave up!

 

I took this picture before I went to bed: all the goodies lined up at “mommy restaurant” (or “daddy diner” depending on who’s doing the cooking that day!)

Check out the adorable mini lacrosse stick. Nana sent the boys build-a-bear lacrosse uniforms embroidered with our last name and their birthday numbers (9, 10 and 5) on the backs.

Some art work Aiden did before bed. He loves him some rainbows. ALBMD = Aiden, Logan, Brady, Mommy and Daddy.

Celebration at the crack of dawn!

Heart-shaped french toast and bacon (not heart shaped)

Here are pictures from the 50 fortune-cookie valentine’s we made this year. The pattern is from Martha Stewart. We put Hershey kisses inside along with a note that said “you will get a kiss on Valentine’s Day”

This was a mom-intensive project due to the several things: hot glue gun usage and the fact that I’m a perfectionist. The boys traced the circles, cut the wires and ribbons and made tags with their names on them for the back of the labels.

finished cookie

Bags stuffed, stapled, labeled and ready to go! Maybe something less time-intensive next year!

The mailbox Logan made for class (thank you Cricut and glue stick)! He did everything but the letters himself…ok…I might have sprayed it with a clear sealant while he was away Monday morning, but it was for the project’s own good…those hearts wanted to come right off!

 

This has been the craziest winter! We’ve had a couple dumps of snow that melt within a week. Right now, there’s nothing on the ground. A couple weeks ago, we had just enough for a good sledding trip. Daddy took the boys one Sunday and left me alone in a nice, quiet house. Of course the camera went along. The lighting wasn’t the best.

 

The boys went to a “new” snow hill (I’m not sure how long it’s been around, but our town built it either last year or the year before). It’s a great place – not too steep and scary, but big enough for a fun ride!

 

Getting ready to go!

Here comes Brady!

Aiden’s ready for another run!

I wasn’t there, but this looks like a Logan, “that was awesome!” yelling face

Brady

Too bad the lighting is bad, you can actually see bits of snow flying up around the sled in this one

I love this picture! Pure sledding joy!!!

When they got back, the boys made “a giant snowball”. It lasted into the next week, but melted away like everything else!