B is for...

9/15-  This week was "B week" at our house.  Boaz is still enjoying some of his 'preschool' worksheets now and then and is slowly learning to write his letters.  B has been a tough one!  In July, we were supposed to celebrate Boaz's bear's birthday... however- he went awol and missed out on his big day.  So, I told Boaz we'd have his birthday when we got to B week.  Today we celebrated Bear's Birthday at a Bakery!!  (Cainan's bear got to have a birthday, too)

Boaz singing "Happy Birthday" to his bear.

Cainan tried a Smores cupcake.... Boaz & I had Chocoholic... mmmm!!

These cupcakes are seriously addicting... maybe we'll revisit-  C is for cupcake, D is for delicious, E is for eating, F is for frosting.... I think this trip could be incorporated every week if we wanted to!!   :)

The Birthday Boys...  (bears)

It was a pretty chilly day today.  Myka got all bundled up for our big trip.

After our cupcakes, we did a bit of walking around Main Street to look for B's on signs & store windows.  We stopped in one store, where our friend Jane was working!  The boys were excited to see her and tell them about Bear's Birthday.

Then Jane went and made them both a special gift... a B!!  (she works at a scrapbooking/framing store)

As we were leaving the store, I got a text from my mom.  She wondered if Bear liked hotdogs... and if so, if we'd like to swing over to her place for a birthday lunch?  When we got there, we found lunch all ready, complete with a birthday sign for Bear and B's on every napkin!  (My mom is so good!)

It's been so fun to have Mom & Dad close enough to us to be able to do last-minute things like this!!

B week was a success... we read books about brains, bones, balloons, etc.  It was a fun week for all!

relaxing and roaring

9/11-  Myka wore this cute jumper to church today.  She just looked so cute and long and skinny!  Maybe she inherited Luke's tall genes??? 

The boys enjoyed their afternoon snack with dad while they watched football and read the paper. 

9/14-  Dad made this incredible tower of legos today.  We all marveled at it for quite some time.  He then asked me, "Is it weird that I just look at this and think about the weight distribution for a long time?"   I replied, "Yes!"    (Myka's laughing at him in this picture, too!)  Dad tried to give Boaz a lesson on weight distribution, too... he didn't really get it.

9/15- Cainan loves to 'roar' at Boaz.  I need to get his roar on video sometime.  Most of the time the roaring happens, Boaz will run and Cainan will chase him as they giggle and laugh.  Other times, Boaz is annoyed and they fight.   Today Cainan roared, Boaz ran, and then Boaz tried to get away from him...   :)    Cainan knows just how to push his buttons... sometimes it's funny to watch.

saturday

9/10- Ahhh, Saturday.  I love Saturdays!  Since Myka was born, Luke has rearranged his schedule so that he's mostly home on Saturdays!  He typically has to do a bit of office work, but otherwise gets to enjoy the day with us.  That makes life so much more bearable.  We just love having daddy around!  This morning the boys enjoyed watching a bit of football.  And Dad tried to load a game on his phone.  Boaz really wants Dad to put "those Mad Birds" on his phone. 

He tried to load the game a few weeks ago and failed... and this attempt wasn't successful, either.  Oh well.... I'm fine without the addition of an addictive game to this household!

This week was 'A' week at our house.  We read a lot of books about 'A' things- airplanes, apples, anteaters, abuelas, apples, ants, and more apples.  Or course our big project for the week had to be making something with apples!  (nice picture of the ball popper on the counter-  it's here because it needs to be fixed.  Somehow there is a stuffed bear trapped inside of it!)   :)

I sliced apples while the boys arranged them in their pans. 

Cainan was methodical.

Boaz was creative.

I screwed up the topping and mixed it with the mixer.  It was supposed to be crumbly- according to Luke. This was his mom's recipe and I failed.  I also put it in too big of a pan so it wasn't as thick as it should have been.  I also didn't chop the apples as tiny as she does. I will never cook like his mom...  or my mom, for that matter.   But... the boys love watching the mixer, so in my mind that mistake was an epic success!   :)

Then they 'crumbled' the dough onto the top of their apples. 

We made a pan for a grill-out we're having with our neighbors tomorrow night.  And we made a pan for us!  It was really delicious.  A great project for 'A' week!

After naps, I needed to get the boys out of the house- it was a beautiful day! Luke was still watching the Hawks game, so I decided to call our friend who has a horse down the road from us.  I've always wanted to take the boys out to see the horses.  Here's Emily with her horse, Sparky.   We also got to meet her husband's horse- Billy.  The boys thought the horses were cool, but were a bit intimidated by their size.  I held them both and they pet Sparky for just a minute.  They were most excited about the kitty walking around the barn!

Emily was nice and took her horse into the arena to run for us.  It was so impressive- her horse was so obedient and good! 

We also walked outside to the pens to look at all the other horses. (this is Billy)  It was a fun activity for the afternoon. Thanks, Emily!

After the big football game, Grandpa Bartlett came over to help finish up our window well fences! 

The boys figuring out the next step...

Ozzie hanging out watching all the action.

Boaz was a big helper today... he raked all the rocks back around the stake they buried.

Cainan liked dumping the dirt back in the big holes.

And he got to help Grandpa wind up the chalk line.

Ozzie and his buddy, Chloe.   (Grandma & Grandpa Bartlett's dog)

They got the fence posts in and panels up, and now all Luke has to do is put in the gate.  The fences look AWESOME... Luke & Grandpa did such a great job.  I'm so thankful to have them finished- they look great and now I'm not scared my children are going to fall in giant pits all the time!!   Thank you, Luke & Ron!!

show time

9/9- These two are getting to be really fun to watch together.  This afternoon they were 'SUPER HUNGRY!' and Boaz wondered if they could share some cold pizza.  A weird request- but why not?

They played Imagination Movers today.  (is that show on anymore??)  Anytime Boaz puts on a shirt that's too big for him, he becomes a Mover.

We jokingly call Cainan 'Ed McMahon.'   He does everything Boaz does (about 10 seconds late) and thinks Boaz is hilarious.   Today he was a Mover, too. 

Here's Boaz doing the hula during his 'Movers in Concert' show.  Such focus!

A couple of clips of the big Movers show...   the title song goes "Imagination Movers- come on and think about it."  Boaz sing it, "Imagination Movers- a come about it think about it."   Cracks me up every time.

Cainan is getting to be quite the songster.  He loves to sing... and his songs usually morph into other songs while he's singing.  The ABC's sometimes becomes Twinkle Twinkle in the middle of the tune.  Here are a couple of his favorites-

Our favorite time of the day- Daddy is home!  Tonight we had a big noodle fight!

Time for bed...