always more to do

There is an endless list of things to do around the house.  It is hard enough to keep up with the daily chores of cooking, washing dishes, laundry, and picking up the piles of stuff everywhere.  Except for the couple that I did last night, I honestly can't remember the last time I washed a window… 6 months, more, not sure.  I think Tony did a couple not too long ago.  But, really our windows are not clean.  Our bathrooms get clean when we have guests coming over.  There are sometimes days of crumbs under the table.  There is just not enough hours in the day, and we certainly would prefer to do other things with the hours we have.  

But, today I am busy at work at home.  The boys are at their last school day for the year.  I have been moving since I dropped them off.  The more I do, the more I realize all the things that still need to be done.  Not complaining.  Just the way of life.  I will get through what I can, and soon will have those two little guys in here making more messes.  The list will always be there.  It's really not that important.  

big and small

Sometimes I look at Evan and see this big kid.  Like, wow, he can do all this stuff now.  And, wow, he looks more grown up.  Then, other times I look at him and see how small he really is.  I see his skinny  little arms.  I see how when he falls down he still usually cries big tears and has this so sad look on his face.  I realize that there is so much ahead of us yet.  And that really I don't have a big kid right now at all.  He can only read a handful of words.  He only gets the answer to 2+2 right sometimes.  He is barely able to pump on the swings.  He can't ride a two-wheeler yet.  There are so many things left for him to learn to do.  Its exciting.  I love seeing him learn.  Of course, in some ways its a little sad for a mom to see her baby growing up.  But, as with everything I've experienced parenting, its amazing.  To share in the learning and joys of life with this little sponge is a unbelievable experience!

First geocache

We found our first geocache today.  I chose the easiest one in TC to do for our first, so that Evan didn't have a negative experience.  I would love it if he got into this and we could go on geocaching adventures in the summers.  Hoping for more cool treasure hunting soon!

a world of Legos

Evan is a little obsessed with Legos.  His first real Lego set was a garbage truck we got him for his 4th birthday.  Before that we had a collection of my old Legos that we played with.  But the obsession began as he turned 4.  For the first year of his fascination with Legos, it was mostly with police Legos.  He wanted all the Lego City Police sets and our days were spent with hours of police play.

Since his 5th birthday, his interests seem to grow and change pretty quickly.  Though, his interests all come in Lego mini figures.  After police it was Coast Guard, then Batman, then onto Spiderman and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  Every other week or so lately, he has said "now I'm into…".  Fill in blank.  Ninjago, Chima, and as of last week Star Wars.  And today a Lego catalog arrived in the mail and it showed a new line of Lego products with Arctic Explorers, so of course he is now into that and wants those sets.  He is actually able to build some creative vehicles.  And has thought of ideas to change his mini-figures to look like other characters he doesn't have.  So if wants a Star Wars droid and doesn't have it, he wants to make it.  He can negotiate the Lego website better than I can.  He knows what many of the sets specifically come with.

I am sure that I will have more Lego stories to come.  It is quite the fascination at our house!

30 day challenge

A couple weeks ago, Tony and I went to Tedx Traverse City.  I actually only went a couple hours so I could get back to the boys.  I happened to miss a clip they played of a man encouraging the idea of 30 day challenges.  Pick something you have always wanted to do, and do it for 30 days.  Sounds easy enough.  I am going to attempt to get caught up on writing about the adventures of our family.  There are so many things that I don't do because  "I am too busy" or just don't make the time for.  So, let me begin 30 day challenges with this.  Two cute things.  Colin does thing like where he puts his face right up to our faces, grits his teeth, scrunches his face, grabs our neck or side of our head, and makes a monster noise.  I need to get a picture of this.  We love this!  So adorable!  Evan  is goofy in the shower.  He does this silly hair washing dance.  The other day he made up this song about mushing and washing his face while rubbing his hair and moving his whole body to the beat of his new song.   Love them!

Chicago

In April, we took a trip down to Chicago.  Tony spent several days at a conference.  That meant I was on my own in the city with two little boys.  I am actually still proud of myself for easily being able to navigate the public transportation.  Our first full day there, we hopped on the Blue Line into downtown, walked a block to the bus stop, caught a city bus, and made in to the Lincoln Park Zoo.  Evan and Colin loved the trains and buses.  

I know they don't realize how big the world really is.  But, having these boys at 1 and 5 experiencing Chicago was a fun opportunity.  Even though its not really that far from Traverse City.  It is different.  And I love exploring it with them and giving them experiences that help them see the world.  Even though we went to the Legoland Discovery Center, Lincoln Park Zoo, Shedd Aquarium, Children's Museum, Institute of Art (for Colin and Tony), my favorite was this… the opportunity to explore and to learn that the world is big and full of opportunities and different places and different people and in some places people take city buses.

Gum

The boys in our house like gum.  It has been in Colin's vocabulary for a month or so now.  One of his 20-some words.  Gaa.  As he calls it.  He has came across a wrapper and chewed on it a couple times and once I let him taste a gum ball for a minute until I grabbed it out of his mouth.  Now we try to make sure all signs of gum are out of his sight, or else he points and whines for it.

Well, today me and Colin were playing in the car in the garage (a favorite activity for him and also for Evan when he was one).  And Colin found a piece of gum in the front seat while I sat in the back daydreaming.  He managed to unwrap it and start chewing, and then announce to me "Gaa".  At first I tried to get it out of his mouth, which he immediately made into a game of chase, shrieking in the excitement because he had the gum and now was being chased around the car seats.  I let him win.  He is too cute!  And to my surprise he was able to chew gum without swallowing it.  The things he learns from watching us.  He was so pleased!  I kept checking his mouth every minutes to see if was there.  And it was.  After about 20 minutes he was standing by the garbage can and I asked him if he was all done with his gum, he nodded. I asked him to put it in the garbage then, and he did.  And then went off playing with something else.

Here is Colin with his gum.  And a dirty face, most likely from a Clif Bar ("ba-bar").