4 Miles

I'm embarrassed to put the before pictures up. I will say, in my defense, I took the pictures before I'd do a normal clean up–I wanted the WORST possible to make the after look that much better!

Before, on the left, we have where the crib was, and once it broke, the sad little crib mattress (note the tote of Winter clothes he was using as a bedside toy table). On the right is the messy corner where some of the toys are supposed to go (plus the closet full of clothes I need to sort & put away or get ready to give back to family members). I liked how we had boxes for things on the shelf, but we had a number of larger toys (like the truck you might see in all the mess) that would just stay on the floor. 

After, once we had the bunk bed and could put away the crib mattress. We moved all the toys OUT of the playroom/office/guestroom and back into the boys room. I was thrilled with the white shelf you'll see below because it's a place to put the big toys so they're off the floor. In the future, it can be used as a bookshelf, or we can get more canvas totes to put more small toys that I'd like to hide if we need to.  (Hmmm…like how I switched ways I took the pictures here?)
   

And on the right you see how the book shelf normally looks when picked up. The closet door is closed because I have not organize that yet–that will happen after this trip. I may take a picture later just to prove to you I did it! (I HAVE to, most of those clothes are going back to their owners in July–consider yourselves warned, Shari and Tessa!)

The boys like the room. They know where toys are supposed to go, and so far are doing a pretty good job putting them back. Granted, we haven't been home much! 

Finally–yes, Alex can climb to the top bunk:

Last night we found him asleep in bed with Will. Guess the thunder scared him. He later woke up, climbed down and came out to me fussing about a bad dream. Two and a-half and STILL waking me up at night!

We’ve kicked off summer with a bang!

After a fun Memorial Day weekend, we’ve had some busy days–not by design, they just happened (my favorite kind of fun days!). Wednesday we took a meal to some people from church and then visited a new park on that side of town. We had so much fun I promised the boys we’d go back again on Thursday with a picnic lunch and we’d stay ALL morning. And we did. It’s an interesting park/garden. First, it’s only been developed in the last two years, so all the trees are small. So it’s a good cool weather park. It has a great kids area that has a giant sand area (it looks like a sandy riverbed with an island in the middle for parents to watch kids), houses for the kids to play in and some cool tunnels and play areas. After we played awhile we put everything in the car (including the camera so I didn’t get any pictures of the second part) and went exploring. They have an ampitheater there with fountains around it and the boys had a great time playing around there. It’s such a cool park I took lots of pictures and since I put so many pictures in the last post, I thought I’d just link to the Picasa album. Then you can see the pictures bigger and read the comment explaining some of them (like why my darling son is in jail!).

Cox-Hill Gardens

Today we got to go to the zoo with some friends (who are members with 2 free passes so we got in for free! And the Indy Zoo is so expensive, that’s about the only time we can go.) Schools are wrapping up but still doing field trips so we agreed to meet there right at 9 am when it opened. So it was an early start this morning! It worked out very well though–it was still cool and not that busy this morning. (Our zoo also has lots of sunny areas and not as much shade, so it’s better to go on cool days.) We got to see the new Koala Bears (on loan from another zoo) and the brown bear was rather active. We went to the savanna exhibit and the zebras were active, the giraffes had just been fed (and one tried to eat the grass right by us so we got a great view of the BIG tongue), a lioness was sitting right in front of us (until she left and kicked the male lion out of the way and laid down in his spot) and Will enjoyed seeing the rinos. We then moved quickly past the elephants to see the dolphin show. Both boys enjoyed that–Will remembered that from last year and declared dolphins his favorite animals.

Speaking of remembering from last year, when I told Will we’d be going to the zoo he started telling me about the sharks they had there. He told me they were dog sharks–I was surprised he remembered that. He then told me “You can try to touch them because they won’t try to eat you. They don’t eat anybody. They don’t even eat dogs, that’s why they’re called dog sharks!”

After the dolphin show we at an early lunch and then visited the sharks. This year they seemed more used to the crowds and were much more willing to swim up to you. Both Will and I were able to touch them! Then we went to the butterfly exhibit. This was the part Alex rememebered and told James about (though it came out as “bluterbly”). Our friends had to leave then, but we stayed a bit longer and explored the gardens.

Indy Zoo

I do not plan on keeping up the level of activity at this rate all summer (Will asked what we’re doing tomorrow and I’ve warned him it’ll be a work at home day), but it’s been fun to enjoy the warmer weather and that both boys are old enough to enjoy these kinds of activites.

Last week we borrowed my dad's pick up truck so we could get several loads of mulch and woodchips for the yard. I took the van up when I gave my final and drove the pick up truck home. Both boys were REALLY excited about seeing Grandpa's truck in the driveway the next morning. Alex kept saying "Druck! Grandpa's druck! Why Grandpa's druck?!?"  They also wanted to play in the bed and pretend to drive in the cab.  I kept having to say "No, we're not playing in Grandpa's truck today!"

Wednesday night, James took Alex with him to ride to Lowes to get the dishwasher we had picked out. Will went to his last Friends Club (the Wednesday Night program at our church) and Alex enjoyed the chance to do something fun. James said he kept asking about the "field". When they pulled into Lowes, he asked if that was the Field.  When they got home and he started to get Alex in his pjs, Alex started to cry about wanting to go to the field. We're not quite sure what he was talking about (maybe he heard James was going to go to the Landfill and got confused?) 

Thursday, James took the day off to get all the materials (we've had a series of cold rainy weekends and he knew I'd be gone the next weekend, so it had to happen during the week).  Will got to ride with him in the morning to take a load of things to the dump Landfill Refuge Transfer Station (things like the crib they broke last month and the carpet we'd pulled out of the dining room) and then to get the first load of materials. Alex SO wanted to ride in the truck. When he saw James take out his carseat and put Will's in, he started to bawl. We told him after his nap he'd get a turn. And he did–TWO turns. Each boy enjoyed the time riding in the truck with Daddy, and then they both enjoyed "helping" unload the truck.

I love Alex's shovel. It was even funnier when he'd try to dump it and end of flinging the chips or dirt back into the truck.

After all the dirt and woodchips were unloaded they were excited to see the BIG PILE they could play with!

It was soon time for supper–an annoncement that was met with tears. Will was VERY concerned James would spread the pile of wood chips. I told him he could play in the wood chips tomorrow. He was then worried Daddy would spread the chips either that night while they were in bed, or the next day when he was home for lunch. We both convinced him the wood chip pile would be there for a day or two. Then the boys got a bath, supper, and both fell asleep very quickly that night!

Today was a LONG day. By the evening, as we were getting ready to go out, we had this conversation. 

Will: I love you, Mommy.
Me: I love you too… (and after he walked out to the car, I said quietly) I'm just really tired of you right now.
James: Your Mom never go tired of you, did she?
Me: She probably did.
James: My mom never got tired of me. She loved me so much she kept me next to her side all day long!

This morning I over heard James and Will talking while I was getting ready for church.

Will: Daddy, Why do we have belly buttons?
James: Weeelllll (and a long pause)
James: When you are in Mommy's belly, you have a tube. And when you come out, the Dr. blows into the tube to blow you up. And your belly button is where he ties a knot in it so you don't go "Pbbbtttttt" around the room and go flat!

I yelled out "NO!" at that point, while Will was laughing at the "PBbbtttt" sound. I said "That's not true, Daddy's being silly."

Will said "Yeah Daddy, if the tube comes untied you turn into dust!"

Tuesday we got to vote in a primary that mattered! Indiana is always so late in the spring, it's been fun (mostly) to have the attention.  Ok, I am sick of the political ads, but with the DVR we skip most of the commercials anyway.  We get to vote at the fire station, so the boys were excited to go with me.  I tried to warn them we may not get to get on the fire truck (like we did last time.)  Sadly, the one fireman there didn't offer to let them "pretend to drive". Alex was QUITE upset. His pointing and crying at the ambulance got the fireman to open the back, and Alex's cries "Front! I want to go in front!" got him a chance to go in there. Will also got a chance. I didn't ask if they could go on the ladder truck (Alex's next request.)  As we left I told Will how proud I was of him for not fussing or making a big deal over it. So that is done until November. We'll have a little bit more of a talk about how we may NOT get to get on the fire truck. Or maybe I'll leave the boys at home.

Last week we were given a free bike trailer–quite exciting since Will has gotten pretty good on his bike and wanting to go on Family Bike Rides. Now that Alex has a trailer we can do that. On Saturday James got our bikes out of storage, pumped up some rather flat tires, put the trailer together and get everything ready for our family bike ride.  I realized I have not ridden my bike since before Will was born (4+ years). Thankfully, it WAS like riding a bike, you don't forget. (I remember I sprained my ankle really badly trying to get that bike down from a hook in our storage shed of our apartment and I didn't ride it the rest of the summer out of spite–I showed that bike–and because it took time for the ankle to heal. Then I got pregnant and the bike stayed in storage.)

The day was a cloudy, cooler day then we've had during the week. But, that worked out well because the trail wasn't that crowded. We discovered it's hard for Will and his tiny wheels/tiny legs to keep up with the bigger bikes. I felt I was spending most of the ride just trying to keep the bike upright. So we may do our next family bike ride with both boys in the trailer.

Here are the boys, trying to wait patiently for us to go. 

 Alex was quite sad he didn't have a bike helmet, so he pulled out his winter helmet and called that his helmet.

We rode out to a bike store and got Will a bigger helmet, and Alex (once again) got the hand me down. He's content with having one and wears it when he "rides" his tiny bike. The combination of his tiny body and the big helmet is so funny, I keep meaning to get a picture, but haven't.  I'll be sure to share it when I do get a picture!

We've know Alex's days in the crib were numbered. We've been making plans to get a bed for him (well, bunk beds for the boys), but those plans were for AFTER I was done teaching–since they involve a trip to St. Louis to get the other 1/2 of the bunk beds my sister and & I had growing up (they became 2 nice twin beds that we've both gotten good use out of).  Alex had figured out how to get out, but could only do so when Will pushed the crib closer to the dresser (then he'd pull himself out and dance on the dresser, and slide off onto Will's bed.) We figured we had some time before he'd figure out how to get out on his own.

But…today the crib broke. Cribs are NOT designed to hold a 40 lb. preschooler and a 20 lb. toddler. Which is why Will is not supposed to be in the crib. But in the post-dinner clean up, we were both thankful the kids were playing nicely in another room (that should have been the clue to check on them!).

Now, it's 9:30 and both boys are still awake. Alex is loving his new found freedom. Will is just easily entertained.  Now Will has been moved to our room and Alex is on his bed–in hopes that being higher up (instead of on his mattress, on the floor) will make it less tempting to go to bed.  

While we knew it was going to happen, today was not the day we really wanted to do it.

James went to google today and it’s black (go check it out!) in honor of Earth Hour–a movement where we all turn off the lights from 8-9 tonight. He just said “Woah!” and told me “Go to Google.com.” So I went, and Will came over to see it. He wanted to know why it was black and I told him. He went running into his bedroom and told Alex “We have to turn off the lights! Google-dot-com said so!” He later told us to turn off the lights in the dining room because “that dot com told us to”. Why doesn’t he listen to me that well?!?

Before that, he was playing with trains and we overheard him say “Here’s the super train. Coming up next on CBS!” (Maybe I”ve been watching abit too much of the NCAA Basketball Tournament.)

For the second year, Indiana joined the rest of the country in spinging forward. I thought we were doing a good job, we moved all the clocks up and then went to bed about the same time we normally would (but according to the new time, so we were really going to bed early). But, I didn’t sleep well, I just had lots of weird dreams. And then I was woken up out of a deep sleep by Alex around 4 am. He wanted a drink. I guess Will had woken him up fussing because he tried to restart his night-time music and he couldn’t hear it (the volume had gotten turned down somehow). So I stumbled around, getting both drinks of water, fixed the sound, and could hear them chatting back and forth as I went back to bed. I have no idea how long they stayed up, I just know I felt like I’d JUST fallen back asleep when the alarm went off. It was my turn to work in the Toddler room at 9 am, so we HAD to get up and get to church on time…well, actually early! The boys woke up as usual, seemingly unaffected by the night. Needless to say, I enjoyed my long nap this afternoon. Alex took a long one as well. Will just went to bed really early.

In other events, another big storm went right by us, giving us only an inch or snow. Ohio got hit pretty hard by it. We were hoping it’d swing by us–we had no plans for the weekend, it was a great time to get snowed in! Instead we’re left with the spotty snow piles that only remain in the shade and more gray days.

We’re looking forward to longer days, warmer days and celebrating James’ birthday next week (a bit early).