How is it that I haven't blogged in like a week?! Honestly, it's because work for me has been very busy lately including mid-day conference calls (which are extremely hard to do with the boys running around) and working as many hours as I can after the kids are in bed at night.

So...I have a lot to say (warning: potentially boring post!)

Last Monday I took the boys for their H1N1 vaccinations. I was so super proud of them. They knew exactly why we were there and we even talked about how the shot was going to hurt just a little. They stood in the long, but quickly moving, line and kept saying things like "is it our turn yet?! I promise I'm going to be brave!" Logan was very intent on going first...until we got into the room. Suddenly he decided Aiden could go first. Aiden actually had no problem with that, let me take off his shirt, watched the needle go in and didn't even flinch. As soon as Logan saw Aiden's reaction, he jumped up, took off his shirt and yelled, "me next!" Brady went last and did cry...until the nurse brought out a bucket of lollipops...then it was all fine and dandy.

Other Monday things: swim class and soccer. We recently switched our swim lessons to a new place. Logan and Aiden are in a class together with two little girls. They goof around and act crazy when they're supposed to be paying attention, but it's a blast to see them share their first activity together. I think the overall content of this class is much better than their old ones where they did the exact same thing over and over and over again. They work on a variety of skills and seem to get a lot more time with the teacher. However, the pool is colder and so poor Aiden was shivering like crazy last week. I plan to take their swim shirts tomorrow...maybe that will help a little. Logan....well....I'm starting to understand that Logan isn't comfortable with change and has a bit of his mom's fear of failure. The second week of class, he sat on the edge and refused to go in until I threatened to take him to the locker room to get dressed if he wasn't going to participate. Last week, he was very upset when I told him it was swim day. I gave him a little space and went about getting the other boys ready for our day. A little while later, I found him, sat with him and asked him to please explain to me why he didn't want to go to swim. Well...it seems that he's afraid he's not going to do it right. I guess the repetition of the other class was comforting after all. I explained that no one does something right the first time they try and that's why you go to a class. The teacher is there to help you so you just pay attention to her, practice on the side of the pool and do your best. If you aren't sure that you're doing it right, ask her to help you - that's why she's there! I was so proud of him! He did exactly what I suggested and was even trying everything on the side while he watched the other kids. During our discussion at home before we left, he also mentioned that he felt a little frustrated at karate. He joined in the middle of a testing session (hard to explain), but the whole class is about to start over again so he's going to be just fine. We decided together that I would tape the class so that we could work on the moves at home together...not to make him the best in the class or anything like that, just to make him comfortable because he LOVES going to karate and I want him to have fun.

So wow - I had more stuff to write about, but that was a lot! I'll talk about some more of last week's stories another day! I do have pictures though!!

One day during lunch, Aiden wanted some of his stretchy lizards with him at the table. He also thought they should have some food. I found our left over Halloween sprinkles, picked out some mini candy bats for the lizards and put them in a bowl. I thought they sort of looked like bugs (which is what we always talk about lizards having for lunch). Aiden made sure each of his pets had at least one "bug bat" to eat.

That same day Logan brought one of his McDonald's Bakugans to lunch. This little guy obviously needed food too so he got the orange sprinkle part of the "sprinkle mix" (this is what's left over after you pick out the bats so it worked out well...)

Have I mentioned how the boys love to steal my camera!? I had a LOT of crazy pictures to delete from last week. This one made me laugh! Logan and his friends on the street have a crazy exchange program going on where they trade toys or "borrow" from each other all the time. I usually have a pile of "things to return" on my counter top. Logan was obsessed with this batman for like 2 days. It belongs to AJ. Inspired by his love, we added a batman toy to his Christmas list :)

We have a new tradition at the 554 these days...invented by Logan (wow...this is a Logan-heavy post!) Anyway, last week we made homemade soup with cheese bread for dinner on Friday night. It was a chilly fall evening and it seemed right! That night, Logan was eating his soup and said, "Hey! I have an idea! Every Friday, let's make soup and have grilled cheese sandwiches! We'll call it soup Friday!" Brian loves cooking and we all love soup (not to mention grilled cheese or cheese toast) so we decided it was an excellent idea. This past Friday, Logan requested Tomato soup. Brian made an amazing version of an old favorite which included bacon, mushrooms, cream, a little gin and diced tomatoes. He also made his own focaccia bread. I'm such a lucky girl! :) Anyone remember our grand plans to make a family cookbook complete with pictures? I think we're going to simplify that idea and start with a Soup Friday book.

Here is the yummy bread!

Logan and daddy getting ready to chow down.

And now to Brady news:

theyyyyyy'rrrre baaa-aaack - the long forgotten Thomas trains! Logan loved, loved, loved, loved (get it??) Thomas when he was Brady's age. It started at 16 months and ended about a year later. In that time, we accumulated a lot of trains, a train table and tons of wooden track. These days we have GeoTrax LAND in the basement which all three boys enjoy. I even recently moved the train table to Aiden's room for his marble run. Bear saw Thomas on TV one day and has been requesting it frequently. Aiden and Logan will sit and watch it as well so it's definitely a go-to crowd pleaser. Today, Brady found one of the wooden Thomas trains and was rolling it along the floor. I got the rest of the trains out of the hallway closet, set up a track on the floor in the foyer and he played with it ALLLLL day long (save for the 2 hours we went out to see the movie Astro Boy in the morning <-- very cute movie by the way, and during his nap)

In this picture, he is pointing to the trains and saying "my trains!" Other things frequently heard: "tains tains! go tains! hoo hoo!" <-- that is Brady's train sound! He will often get frustrated while trying to hook them all together on the track. He'll find one of us, do a "come with me" motion and say "help - tains!" Logan was a doll and helped him out a lot today when mom and dad were busy.

The tree in our backyard is shedding pine cones like crazy. Some of the (older) neighborhood boys have been throwing them around and my kids have followed suit. This afternoon, Brian went out and collected a bunch of them with the boys. He found a craft on the Internet, which I then did with them (crafts are not Brian's strong suit). These are pine cone owls. Cute...not too hard to make!

The pipe cleaners and pom poms we have on hand in the house are all in Christmas colors so our owls look a little like they belong on Seasame Street :)

Big week at the 554...it's back to a "schedule". Logan's first day of pre-K (4's preschool) was Tuesday. He's going a full 4 days a week this year and so far, it's all good! He was excited to go on the first day and only had a moment of hesitation outside of his classroom. Seriously though, so did I! There were a LOT of parents, kids and siblings in the hallway, armed with cameras to document the first day. I even had a moment of "I DID come on the right day, right?" I looked in the classroom and some of those 4-year-olds are tiny! I thought maybe I was sending him into a 3's class. Anyway...I totally felt his pain, but he sorted it out and marched in to play with some floam. He has made at least 1 new friend and has identified his top 2 favorite classroom toys: a transformer from McDonald's and a marble-run set-up. He loves his teacher too which is icing. First day quote as Logan jumped out of the van, "mom! This is going to be fun! but we're not allowed to run!" Funny.

Another first for the L-man, we did a 2-class trial of Tae Kwon Do. Background: Logan does not like "classes". He has labeled as "boring" the following: music, Mighty Mites, preschool (even though he loved the teacher last year), gymnastics...pretty much everything we've tried except for swimming. THIS is the main reason I have not started him on soccer because it's daddy's favorite and I don't want to ruin it for him before he even has a chance to check it out. Tae Kwon Do...totally different story. He "really, really, really, really, really.........and on and on for about 2 minutes....loved it". Funny because Master Jung doesn't let them get away with even waving through the glass window at mommy....in a sweet way....but it's still "Logan....what you looking at?! Eyes here!" and Logan was all fine with that!! Sadly, there are some factors involved that may preclude us from signing up right now. They require a year-long contract and he would go 2 times a week. That is quite a lot to ask from Logan the class hater. What if he decides he's done with the whole thing in 3 months?? I'm looking into other options and if we have to wait until he's 5 to do the park district's 10-week class, so be it. Oh, but the uniform is so stinkin' cute (see pics)

And then there is the normal stuff we've been doing. Aiden received a wonderfully belated birthday gift from Aunt Sara and Uncle Pete. We went to Target and had a blast spending his gift certificate Thursday morning while Logan was in school. We got some super fun stuff for him including a window-art set which has been endless amounts of entertainment for the past 2 days....even for Logan (he's enjoying art now - I'm shocked and THRILLED!) Look for a future post on the window art! Our whole dining room window is so beautifully colorful right now!

In Brady news: Bear has been UBER (super super) cranky the past few days. Clingy, crying, fussy, not eating, trouble sleeping. Turns out he has hand, foot & mouth (blisters on the hands, feet and in the mouth) We had to skip TGIF this week (sniff sniff for all involved...especially mommy!) He's been sleeping with us and just out of sorts in every way. Hopefully it will pass quickly and we'll return to our regularly scheduled Brady very soon.

Both Aiden and Logan have been making me laugh this week with their funny views on life or pronunciations. I should write them down because right now, all I can remember is Aiden saying hipno-potomus instead of hippopotamus. It made me visualize a big hippo sitting in a chair dangling a watch-chain, just waiting to hypnotize someone.

Here are my pictures from the week. Pre-K day 1 (9/8), Logan in the driveway. Fun link: here is the first day last year


On the lawn by school: Logan wanted Aiden in the pic, Aiden wanted to be in the pic....they both yelled at me until they got situated and then Logan said, "that's good mom, you can take it now"
Remember those moms in the hallway with the cameras I mentioned earlier?? Ya...I was obviously one of them. Here is a trying-not-to-be-seen pic of Logan and his new classmates getting started with class.

This was week 2 of Brady's "Come Play With Me" class which happens at the exact same time and in the same gym as Aiden's "Jumping Beans". Here's Brady goofing around. Another fun link: the same class last year with Aiden and Brady

...and running

Bad pic, but there is Aiden sitting on his carpet square during class. Even though I'm in the gym, he couldn't care less and does exactly what the teacher says. I've always been pleasantly surprised that he pays attention in classes, seems to enjoy them and, for the most part, does what he's told. Can we bring a little of that home Mr.??

Here's a video of Aiden jumping:


This is the lunch bunch. Ever since we had this counter lowered, I've always imagined the boys eating their lunch up there and now Brady is finally old enough! It's actually much easier for me to serve them food at the counter as opposed to walking around it from the kitchen to the dining room 3 or 4 times during each meal. Of course I don't sit down while I eat....but that just means a few less minutes needed on the treadmill at the gym.

One afternoon we had some good playing going on. Logan was busy with the scuba divers in the kitchen sink...

....Aiden was coloring a butterfly for me. Normal stuff...fun stuff....the stuff of life.

I took a video

Here's Logan heading to Tae Kwon Do. Look at that smile! This was day 2

Sitting in class. He's in the front row closest to the mirror.

He wanted me to take pictures of him in his uniform at home (he also wanted to sleep in the uniform which I said was fine, but we forgot after showers so that never happened). He asked me yesterday why we were taking a break from tae kwon do class. I was confused. Turns out he actually thinks he should go every day.

Aiden gets in on the action. Look at Logan's "I mean business" face.

Logan mid flight, Aiden mid...um....roll??