Workin' Mommy

OK, being a mommy who works full time is tough. What happened to my time for taking pictures and blogging? I am so thankful for my parents who are doing most of the hard work--getting the kids ready for school and picking them up in the afternoon, etc.

Here I am in one of my new tops I bought for work.

Gabriel is learning to sound out words and spell. All on his own he decided to start making a book about wizards. I helped a little with spelling, but he came up with the story and sounded out the words himself. He filled the whole page with the story. So proud of him!

Sometimes Gabriel likes to fall asleep in my bed. To keep it from being a battle all night, I sometimes allow it. When I went to go to sleep myself, this is what I found (he is completely on MY side of the bed with MY pillow over him):

On Saturday we went to a super-hero-themed party. The boys had fun!

Then on Sunday we played with clay. It is drying and we are looking forward to painting them soon.

 

I Want to Be a Grown-up!

Gabriel just got quite upset at life. While snuggling and trying to calm him down and talk to him I found out he was tired of everyone telling him what to do. He said he wanted to be an adult right now! (I remember feeling like that.) So I told him he could have 30 minutes as the adult. What did he want to do? "Drive a van. I know how, I've been watching you, mom. Lock mom in her room (which is sometimes his punishment if he gets violent). Drive to Heather's house whenever I want." I asked him for something else he wanted to do. He thought about it and then he said, "Make lemonade without anyone else's help!" Wow! Wish granted! He picked the lemons. I supervised while he used a knife to cut the lemons in half (his favorite part). He squeezed the lemons with our citrus juicer. He poured juice and washed the juicer containers (his least favorite part of being an adult). He sampled and poured the sugar and stirred it and served us. He is a happy camper. With 10 minutes left, he is choosing to watch TV (the forbidden Batman cartoon) and drink lemonade! So grateful for an easy solution this time!

Sleep Time

Sometimes it's nice to do something different... like use your blanket for a pillow and your pillow for a blanket!!

I hadn't posted pictures of my finished bedroom yet, so here it is.

 Might be a little hard to see at night, so here's a close up.

First Day of...

My aunt Sharon sent us a cool package of gifts as belated birthday presents. One of the things was a book about a boy who likes to draw monsters, and the book is filled with fun kid-drawings. So naturally we got out the extra large paper and drew our own monsters. What a great way to stimulate our creativity since there's no wrong answer!

 FIRST DAY OF PRESCHOOL!! (Monday, August 19)

 My little peacock (a friend of ours gave us a handful of feathers)

FIRST DAY OF 1st GRADE! Gabriel's first day was Tuesday, August 20. On Wednesday, he said they had a fieldtrip to a junkyard to pick out parts and build go-carts! He was so excited to tell me. He said then they had a race and he came in second place!!! So proud of him!

Since this was also my first week of full-time work (ugh! I'm exhausted but happy), I didn't get to see the kids much. But Gabriel has been in the best moods when I do get to spend time with him. Yesterday (Friday), Gabriel asked for a ziplock bag and made a Lego set for Ephraim!! He created a little instruction book with drawings of the pieces, assembled Lego pieces, and put it all into the bag. He was sooooo sweet, even helping Ephraim put things back together.

We've got potatoes! After such a stressful week, I wanted to check on our garden. Just for fun I dug my hands into the dirt (very therapeutic!!) and dug up all our big potatoes (leaving plenty to regrow). I have a sink full of potatoes, which might be handed out to friends. I know what we're having for dinner.... :)

The week before school started, the kids both got a cold. We played with play-doh and had a good time at home. Here is Ephraim with his sand-monster (and Gabriel coughing in the background).

In a Galaxy Far, Far Away...

I wanted to paint Gabriel's bedroom, and Gabriel earned it by staying in bed enough nights in the month of July. We decided on dark blue to make it look like space since he is so interested in Star Wars. My mom came over and offered her experience and help, both were greatly appreciated!

Step One: Grab your tools.

Step Two: Paint the border and cracks first with a brush, and then the rest with a roller. Let dry.

Step Three: Introduce excited boy to the room and let him loose with the glow-in-the-dark stickers!

With the leftover paint, I went wild and sponge-painted my bedroom on two walls. I LOVE it!! I have never done anything so bold in my living space before. It is different and fun and I feel like a sophisticated grown up. (photos of my room to come) The funniest part was that I thoroughly cleaned Gabriel's room beforehand and we put on gloves to paint ... but my room was a last-minute adventurous decision after we started cleaning up. My furniture miraculously stayed paint-free, but my gloveless hands were caked in paint from the sponge. :) Both projects left me with dark blue freckles on my arms and face. And yet it was another super wonderful weekend!

The Incredible Mr. E

Introducing the Amazing Ephraim (my mom captured one of his ultra flexible moments!):

Gabriel still loves to make faces in the mirror. His current favorite is his "handsome" face, with puckered lips and a tiny smile and always folded arms.

My parents, the boys, and I all visited by cousin Jenny's house on Sunday. She has three goats (the boys feed them lemon tree leaves), several chickens, a dog, and a gigantic blow up slip-and-slide. We had a blast!

Ephraim scattered playing cards all over the floor and called it snow. He then made snow-angels! Too funny and too cute not to take a picture of!

Up to Date with Videos

The soothing sounds of the water while camping with my adorable Ephraim (and Gabriel was sitting right next to me).

Ephraim was counting for me tonight, so I had to capture his progress.

Gabriel and Ephraim playing in a corner of grandma & grandpa's backyard while mommy is at work.