So, Logan turned 7 last Friday (wahhhhh). I had a blast getting read for his first, boys-only, party. I have to get a post together with those pics, but first, here are some more random things from around the house:

 

Every time I do a treadmill workout, Brady wants to get on next. He puts on his “running shoes” and does a good 2-3 minutes at a pace of 2. I find it hysterical, especially when he patiently waits for up to 30 minutes for me to be done so he can go. Whenever I see this picture, I get the LMFAO song  “Sexy and I Know It” stuck in my head (“I…i…i…,I work out!”)

When Logan was at home sick that one week, I had a haircut appointment. Daddy was thankfully working from the area and stayed with Logan while I went out and while Aiden and Brady were at school. When I got back home, Logan had made this big tall structure with a tiny bakugan perched on top. He was so excited to show it to me. He stood behind it, pressed something and “it” said, “I’m the king of the world”

…the voice was his, recorded on his DS. He does so many crazy things with that device…like make home movies, record silly voices, tape his brothers’ Christmas concert. funny.

This is an orchid I made from paper about a week ago. I thought it turned out really well. I think if you click on the picture, you can visit my other (sorely neglected) blog: atthe554projects.blogspot.com and see the instructions. I’m going to hopefully find time to do another post there soon on a tee-shirt I made for Logan last weekend.

Last week, Shutterfly (my go-to for photo albums), was having a 50% off sale. I had about 1/2 of Aiden’s baby book just sitting out there…something I started over 3 years ago. Encouraged by Brian to give it a try, I worked very hard for a few days to pull the rest together and add comments for over 100 pages of baby Aiden. I found it HYSTERICAL that, while I worked on his baby book, this is what my child was doing….my 5-year-old, video-game playing, starting-to-read, pretty self-sufficient and obviously NO LONGER A BABY child.

Ain’t he sweet…..

Logan’s school is currently collecting pieces of fleece or completed fleece blankets for an organization called Covers of Comfort which was started by an 18-year old girl undergoing chemotherapy for lymphoma. She is now 23 and cancer-free, but remembers how she was always cold during her treatments and started an organization to provide blankets to other cancer patients. I asked Logan if he wanted to donate fleece or make a blanket together. He chose make a blanket. He cut, I tied.

Hopefully someone out there loves outer space :)

As an “anonymous” blog visitor (my husband) pointed out the other day in a comment, I’m falling behind in my posts again. Thanks darling! ;) First things first, Logan had a sick week:

Monday afternoon (February 27th!), I got a call from the school. Nurse Kathy is a super sweetie. Our conversation went something like this. “Hello, this is Nurse Kathy, I have your beautiful angel here in my office and he has a temperature of 101.3. I’m going to need you to come and get your darling sweetheart right away.” Me: “I’ll be there in less than 5 minutes!” So the story of the illness was like this: 7 kids in Logan’s class were out most of the week and up to 12 were out for most of the week in another 1st grade class. Nurse Kathy told me, and I confirmed with another mom on day 3 of the fever, that it was just this non-descript virus that caused a fever for a few days and then went away – nothing else. Between Monday and Wednesday night, Logan’s temp went up and down, up and down, up and down in varying degrees from 99.5 up to 103.5. Tylenol and Advil brought it down just fine, he felt like a million bucks, the medicine would wear off, he would melt on to the couch and maybe take a nap, the new dose would kick in and he would be up and about again. His good friend, neighbor and classmate Sam was signed out of the nurse’s office literally an hour before Logan. Sam’s mom and I would compare notes sporadically throughout the week and it was almost the exact same story in their house. Both boys were finally fever free by Thursday morning and returned to class on Friday (gotta be “fever free for 24 hours without the use of medicine” before you can go back….and we both thought they were fever free Wednesday morning only to have another, final, spike in temp on Wednesday night). Annnnnyway, we actually had a lot of fun. I didn’t have to rush out of bed for 3 days and it seemed like this strange little mini vacation. I totally lost track of the days though…I think I almost skipped something on Thursday thinking it was still Wednesday! The other boys never came down with the virus, which I found odd, but lucky.

 

One day, they did this for literally 2 straight hours:

This is the boys playing Lego rockband (on super easy), still in PJs….it was another lazy, hang-around-the-house day. Turns out Logan really loves to sing, Aiden likes guitar and Brady likes drums. So, I guess that works out pretty well! Watch out Jonas Brothers!

Here are some of their, pretty decent, scores. I do have to say that I heard Tom Petty’s Free Falling about a gazillion times that day. It’s Logan’s favorite one to sing. That and a Vampire Weekend Song…over and over and over.

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!

A couple weeks ago (on January 19th), Brady and Aiden’s preschool did their Christmas concert (yes, in January – because December is madness so they do it in January – I approve!). It was super cute – 90 preschool-aged kids singing (and signing) 8 songs about baby Jesus, angels and camels…among other things. I could tell Aiden had his stuff down…he was doing all the hand movements as they sang each song. Brady, on the other hand, was purely following the music teacher – which was just as stinkin adorable as knowing it by heart because he kept looking surprised like, “oh yeah – we do the baby cradling thing now! I totally got this one!” Brian was originally going to be out of town, but some last minute schedule changes had him, and his camera, in the sanctuary, snapping away like the proud papa he is. Meanwhile, Logan, who is following in his daddy’s footsteps, tried to videotape the whole thing on his Nintendo DS. He didn’t have much luck as we ended up literally in the WORST possible place to see the boys…somehow they were positioned directly behind our view of the music teacher as she stood and conducted. I finally went to stand in the back with Memaw so we had a decent view. Brian….was wandering all over the place behind the pews as you can see from…. (drum roll)….

 

PICTURES!

Before the concert: Aiden is standing next to his sweetie, Julianna (to the left in this picture, in pink)

Brady was in the very front, bottom row…right below Aiden (convenient for pics!)

They told all the kids to wave to mom and dad before the singing began. Brady SUPER ENTHUSIASTICALLY waved….at someone on the opposite side of the sanctuary from where we were (I was standing up trying to get him to see me, but he didn’t)

Something about a manger…

Sleeping baby Brad, do the sleeping baby one! ;)

“Ok…what’s next…”

“Um..no…I’m totally confused at this point”

“Wait! I got it now! We’re counting on our fingers!”

Yes, big brother knows…there are TEN angels in the band (I heard this one a lot at home…possibly the only song either of them could remember outside the walls of school")

Memaw and Mom standing in the back for a decent view

Me and Logan after the show (GG – that’s the webkinz you guys got him for Christmas – it’s his SUPER favorite animal!)

Ah…young love!

Mommy and Bear

Brady was too focused on the cookies and hot chocolate room where everyone ELSE got to go after the concert – see him pointing at his preferred destination?! But, the paparazzi would NOT be stopped!

That’s better – stars of the show! Now go get your cookies!