4 Miles

Today was someone's birthday in the family (Happy Birthday Aunt Nancy!) and that happy occasion always is an excuse for Craft Time.  (Never mind that it was a rainy day and we were looking for something else to do.) 

I decided to get out the finger paints! I have not bought those in a few years because of the carpet in the dining room. With the new floor, sure, finger paints are fine! (And when the lid was dropped face down on the floor–wiped right off!)

The boys really got into it.

Exploring the mixing of colors.

Enjoying the feel of the paint on their fingers.

And other parts of the body.

Happy Birthday Aunt Nancy! Your card will be in the mail as soon as it dries.

The arrival of new snow boots (on clearance, of course!) meant a chance to try them on with the new hats Grandma Lo made. We decided to take the photo shoot outside. 

I didn't get a good picture of what's on top of the hats. I'll do that the next time they wear them.

I just loved the boots and shorts and winter hat look–I'm thinking you'll be seeing it on the runways next season!

I must say I like the hair cut on me better in person than in this picture. And I'm still trying to figure out how to style it like the styliest did. But there it is, for those who asked.

So, Will is feeling better, for now. He wasn't doing well this morning, but a dose of medicine and before I knew it he was bouncing around the room–I'm told that's rather similar to his dad at the same age.

We all had fun watching the last 10 laps of the Brickyard 400 and seeing Jimmy Johnson win (he's James' and Will's favorite driver).  After he left the last pit stop in first place I said "Jimmy Johnson's in first!" and Alex said "Who-hoo!"  Then I said to Alex "Carl Edward's is in second!" and Alex said "Who-hoo!"  Then James said "The M&M car is in last place!" (Alex's favorite car) and he said "Who-hoo!"  So do I sense a future career as a cheerleader?

After the race I asked Alex if he wanted a cheese tortilla or PB&J for supper. He said "Cheese Tortilla! And I want dal-da."  "Dal-da?" I asked. He said "NO! DAL-da!"  "Do you mean 'salsa'?" "YES!" he said. 
Once it was ready I told him it was crunchy and he said "Yum, yum! I LOVE crunchy."  It's probably funnier if you were here, but he does crack us all up.

During the Bible Story of Adam and Eve, Alex was pointing out the "nake". James tried to teach him to say "Ssss-nake". Alex tried really hard and I had to laugh when it came out "nake-sss" at one time.  After that he kept saying "sssss–" and after a pause, he whisper "nake". At the end of the story Alex asked "Why are they dad?" It took Will to tell James "he's asking, why are they SAD" before James figured out he didn't mean bad or mad.  So he worked on the "s" sound some more.

Today Alex kept his underwear dry all afternoon (after his nap).  He's not at the point that I'll take him out in underwear instead of diapers, but I'm pleased with how he's doing at home. 

Last night Will woke up with a croupy cough and a fever, according to James. I managed to sleep through it all.  He got the meds and the steam treatment, but wasn't quite up to snuff this morning, and has seemed to get worse throughout the day.  The cough has stuck around and when his medicine wore off, boy did that fever come back fast! Plus his throat started to hurt and he got pretty fussy, so I gave him more. (I try to not over medicate fevers since I know it's the body's way of fighting infection, but I don't want my kids to be miserable either.)  Anyway, it's been a resting on the couch, watch TV day. He enjoyed watching a Bass Fishing Tournment, Qualifiying for the NASCAR Race tomorrow and then the Cars movie.

Sadly this was the day for the Annual Office Summer Blast (it used to be Family Fun Day, but those without families didn't come so they changed the name).  It's being held at one of the owner's house and the boys LOVE going there because they have all kinds of cool toys.  When Will found out he couldn't go–but James and Alex were still going to go, oh my. He'd remember every so often and start to cry again. We came up with a special treat for him. First, I went to the library and got a bunch of new DVDs to watch. (Ok, that was more for me then him, I was sick of seeing Cars for the hundredth time!)  Then after James and Alex left, we went to McD's and got him a milk shake and a Happy Meal. I'm not sure how much of the meal he'll eat, but the milk shake has been enjoyed. And, I knew that'd be the best thing for his sore throat.  But as an indication of how sick he is, Will didn't say much at all on the way to McDonald's.  That's VERY unusual. 

Now he seems to be feeling a bit better, he's getting restless on the couch, not just laying there and looking so pathetic and sad. So we'll see how it goes. Either way, with the fever I know we'll be home tomorrow morning. Of course this happened the one time I work in the nursery the same time James plays with the praise team. I had to call the nursery director who told me she had 18 people out tomorrow! So hopefully with all the people gone, all their kids will be gone as well. I guess it's the weekend for one last hurrah before August and the start of school?  Or maybe they're all going to the Brickyard 400! (Yeah, I'm sure all the parents with toddlers are out vacationing or at the race! Hopefully it will be a nice slow day for the other people working!)

This morning, Alex came running into the living room saying "Oh no! The monster's coming! Everybody close your eyes!"

James asked him who the monster was and he said "Weel" (Think someone saying "wheel", but really drawing out the "ee" sound–that's how he says Will).

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This evening James and I were talking about a dream of some day moving to a new house. Alex told us "I get a new house". I said "Really? How are you going to do that?" He said "I get a new house for my birfday."  I just had to laugh and couldn't think up a good response.  (Can you tell Will realizes he has a birthday coming up and has started to "think outloud" what he might like to have/get?)  

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I got my hair cut yesterday. Chopped of ALL of it, and I like it a great deal. Will thinks it looks "Boring" and not like his mommy. Alex thinks it looks "Silly". Good thing I don't look to them for affirmation!

This deserved it's own post–on Sunday we went out for a family walk/bike ride and Will learned how to (mostly) ride his bike with out the training wheels! (He needs a bit of help getting started, but once he gets going, look out!)

This week hasn't been as fun as last week (you can see the pictures below).  This week we're working on Potty Training Alex.  Monday was a full time day. Tuesday we took a break. James and I got to go on a Date Night Monday night and some friends watched the boys (we saw Mama Mia! and really enjoyed it).  But the boys stayed up too late, and then we had some strong storms that night that woke the boys up again. So we were all pretty tired and not in the best frame of mind for that. Wednesday we had Bible Study and we were too early in the process to ask them to help him, so we extended our break. Today, we're back into Potty Time. 

We've spent the majority of the time outside, and Alex running around in just a long T-shirt (though he's started to ask for pants today).  He's only had 1-2 accidents each day (so far).  He's excited about getting it, and getting the pee in the potty. We've moved to now wearing underwear (but still no pants).  When he's successful, he gets one of these:

Will gets one too. So he's been VERY supportive of his brother!

I didn't JUST work all last week–I just didn't have time to document other fun things we did.  Here's a quick week in review.

Monday–we washed the car.

Then GrandmaLo and Grandpa Miles stopped by for one more night at the Miles B&B on their way back to the farm.

Wednesday we got to finally went to our first meeting of the July Ladies Bible Study (Yes, it was the 3rd Meeting of the month and sadly, first one I made it to).

Thursday we went up to visit my mom and dad. The boys had a great time playing in Taylor Lake. They can't wait to go back. Mom tried to take them when they stayed with them while we were gone, but Alex didn't like the feeling of the sand on his feet (?!?) and they had to leave after a short time. This time they loved it and would have stayed longer, but it was time for us to go.

After supper, Grandma had ice cream that was very much enjoyed:

So, yesterday I was putting a train/alphebet puzzle together with Alex. It is a long puzzle with the letters of the alphabet and pictures that go along with the letters.

Alex was doing a great job with telling me what the pictures where: apple, banana, cat, dog, etc. Finally we get to the letter Y. The picture listed with Y are balls of yarn. I said “what is that picture Alex”

He looked at it and said “Grammalo”

“Yup, thats what it is, isn’t it!”