Booktime

Thing 1 and Thing 2 are just as crazy about books as their big brother was. We have dozens of books in every room in our house and the van, because a good book always seems to hit the spot. I love reading to all of my boys, but there's nothing better than doing a little independent reading.

Or even working together to read a good book.

Who knew the footstools in the bathroom made such a great reading nook?

There must be some big words in this book judging by the concentration on Thing 1's face.

Zoo Trip

As previously mentioned, we headed to the zoo yesterday to enjoy the gorgeous weather and our day with S home on vacation. As usual these days, we didn't manage to get a photo of all five of us, but managed to snap a couple of me with the boys.

Some day we'll be able to consistently get a picture of our entire family again.

Now let me say, I am in no way an advocate of my kid walking around with a pacifier hanging out of his mouth. Our pacifiers are for sleeping time only; however, it was nap time at this point, so they got lovies and pacifiers to ensure there were no melt downs before we exited the premises. But look at Thing 2's pacifier. He rarely sucks on it when he does have it; he just chews on it like it's a stogie hanging out the side of his mouth. I seriously think I birthed two 80 year old men sometimes.

Now, I know what you're thinking..."that's a pretty good picture for three kids, two of them being toddlers." Um, yep, here's what most of our pictures look like.

Notice the look of Bub's face. "Here we go again."

St. Patrick's Day Fun

St. Patrick's Day isn't a huge holiday in our house, but we usually have a little leprachaun fun around the house to help us celebrate. Most years, this has included turning most of our food and beverage choices of the day green. But this year, the weather was forecasted to be absolutely gorgeous, so our plan was to head to the zoo with Daddy for the day. I didn't feel like trying to prep a picnic for five with green food so we needed some other options.

Bub is on Spring Break this week, so we had a little fun on Wednesday with a rainbow chart using Skittles. He's truly my child, as he'll do anything for a bag of Skittles! I got the idea from Little Wonders' Days and knew Bub would love it.

Hard at work sorting his Skittles colors

As promised, we had absolutely beautiful weather yesterday, and spent several hours at the zoo enjoying the weather, the animals, and being together outside!! To round out our rainbow filled day, we had fruit pizza for dessert.

The boys loved eating it, but their favorite part of any meal is watching it bake. Lucky for them, Mommy's always baking so there's always a show in the kitchen.

Thrifty Find

I've been wanting a mirror for our entryway for some time now, but just wasn't willing to pay $20 and up for a simple black mirror. So, I decided I'd just wait until I could find one at Goodwill to fix up just like I wanted. The boys and I have started stopping in at our Goodwill store every Tuesday morning to see if there's anything good we need.

I found a mirror a couple of weeks ago that was the perfect size and shape, it just needed a good coat of paint to cover up the ugly!

(see what I mean about the ugly??)

After a couple of coats of shiny black spray paint, I have a fabulous mirror that is perfect in our entryway. And it only cost me $7.99 (would have been cheaper at Goodwill, but we were shopping at Savers that day and their prices are just a bit higher).

(it really does hang vertically in our house, but I can't figure out why it's rotated)

So ready!

So ready for the weather required to do this. So, so ready!

Breakfast with the boys

We've decided we don't need high chairs for Cheerios.

Sewing Weekend

I spent most of yesterday at the sewing machine, and it was so good for the soul. But I spent enough time there, that S started calling me Cinderella. I had bought some material on Friday, and I was itching to get at making something.

Thing 1 and Thing 2 love to empty out my apron cabinet - yes, I have an entire apron cabinet because I'm slightly obsessed, don't judge - and wear them around the house. So, I thought it was time to make them their own pint size models. I found some adorable robot material that I thought would be just perfect for two mini tool/craft aprons. They even have individual crayon/tool holders in the pockets. I can't wait until they're old enough to put them to use beyond just wearing them around the house.

And a little loin cloth apron modeling for your viewing pleasure.

My next project was some new pants for the Things. I love reading this blog and all the craftiness she comes up with , and each year she celebrates the Boy for a month. Perfect for my house!! When I saw the pants, I knew my boys needed some, so I got to work. I loved her seersucker pants, and went for a similar look with simple striped shirting material. I think they'll make their debut at church next week.

No excuses

There are no excuses for the lack of posts. And at this point, no one is reading, so it's really just for my own desire to have parts of our life documented. I wish I could say I'll be better at posting, but then I remember I have two 18 month olds who demand much of my time. So, we'll see.

Much of the reason I haven't been blogging is the lack of feeling creative. Maybe it's the weather - think lots of snow and cold, maybe it's the envy when I look at other mama's blogs and see all of the fabulous things they're doing with their kiddos, or maybe it's just lack of motivation. But either way, blogging has seemed a little dreary lately.

It might even make me a little cranky like two little things I know. It was a pacifier/lovey kind of day after an early morning of crying and moaning.

Thing 1 has a rhino for his lovey and assumes he can only hold it if he also has his pacifier. Which is pretty funny since he went through a phase for about 4 months where he wouldn't even take a pacifier.

Thing 2 has a sleepsack for his lovey. Their Aunt Christi made them sleepsacks when they were born. But when they grew out of them, Thing 2 became very attached to his and now sleeps with them. He'll find the arms and pull them up to his nose to snuggle; and the weird thing is this is exactly what big brother did/does (don't tell him I told you) with his blankie.

His newest trick is to slip his hands into the pockets on the arms that were to fold over and cover their hands when they were babies. It's quite the picture when he has both hands tucked in with the sleepsack over his nose staring into space.

Photo post

I've apparently been in a blogging slump for, oh, three months now. But looking around at the other blogs I follow, it seems to be the season. My excuse is that I've just been too busy having fun with my boys! But since it's 9:00 on a Saturday and I'm supervising our first sleepover with 5 crazy boys, I figured I'd get caught up on some pictures. So here's a few from Halloween to now.

Just your typical Star Wars family out for a night on the town.

If only he could actually rake for Daddy.

But we do love being outside!

This is our favorite reading spot, so we keep it well stocked with Heralds (our church's publication) to peruse.

Meet our walking disaster. He can get into, out of, or on top of anything.

Just having a little snack before breakfast.

Our first haircut went exactly as expected. Thing 1 just sat and patiently waited for it to be over.

Thing 2, well, this is a good shot. He screamed the entire time and tried frantically to swat her hand away.

Our handsome monkeys after their cuts.

These two are chunks!

Okay, so we've done a million other things this fall, but that's all I have energy for at this point.