August Photos

~My protectors~Wyatt kisses~Protecting Memories~

~Grant caught his first fish~Tough biker Wyatt~A normal day in the playroom~

~A gun and a lovey~Lego Museum~ 

~Can we play a game Mom?~Grant's Imaginext Fortress~

~Grant left a Lovebug on my bed~I Spy a Grant and Wyatt in the animals~

Little School Boy

Wyatt doesn't start preschool til next week, but he's done his fair share of school work already this year!! He can't wait to walk home from taking Grant to school and get to work on his "homework." He's always loved these types of activities, but now that he's so capable of doing so many more things, he's all about it! I let him look at my Pinterest boards to find activities he wants to do- usually consists of reading, math, writing, and dot pages. He could do those all morning while Grant is at school. His favorite are CVC games and can read them without skipping a beat!!

He is sooooo excited to go to preschool!! I was worried he may be tearful, but after seeing his enthusiasm for all things school, I think he's going to do amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lego Maniac

Grant has been on a roll with his Lego Creations! I actually had to reorganize his Lego space in the playroom to make for more display room!! He can whip out a new creation in 2 seconds it seems, and since he plays Legos for hours a day- that's a lot of creations to store in one room!! So after some rearranging, he now has his own Lego Creation Museum!!

First they looked like this....

And now his creations are displayed like this....all 80+ of them!!!! 

We've been having fun building together too! We work on separate sides of the bin and can't see what the other has made until we are finished! So, I'm proud to say I have 5 or 6 creations displayed in Grant's famous Lego Creation Museum!! Love my little Lego Maniac!!!

Teddy Bear Day

Every school morning, Grant tells me to take good care of Cuddles, or he will ask me to babysit him. Wyatt makes sure we take Cuddles with us if we run errands, or Cuddles is with us as we do our activities....like school work....

 But on the second week of school, Grant had Teddy Bear Day and he was beyond ecstatic to take Cuddles to school! The night before, he dressed Cuddles at bedtime. Grant came down to show me how ready Cuddles was- he had on a Tshirt, underwear, shorts, and shoes! He was ready for his day!! He was so excited to show off his favorite bear!

He said their bears got to do all the schoolwork and go wherever they did. He said Cuddles just sat on his lap like a good boy while he did his table work. He seemed so proud to have such a good bear! They even did a page on how to draw a teddy bear. Grant did this one on the back of his sheet and I think it looks JUST like Cuddles!! Such a sweet boy he is!!! He wishes every day could be Teddy Bear Day!

Mommy Moments

I've been so bad about blogging lately- really I want to blog every day but when it comes down to it, I have so many things and pictures to post, I get so overwhelmed I just decide to watch Netflix instead. Ooopsie. So I've been collecting quotes from the boys for a while now on my phone, so here are some goodies from the last few months:

Wyatt:  Did you know dogs are animals? Grant: Why would you even say that?

Grant: (referring to crab claws) Wouldn't you get a bloody tongue if you ate that?

Me: Wyatt, will you put that pizza in the oven (kidding of course). Wyatt: No my hands are just too small for those gloves you wear.

Wyatt: Santa and Rudolph must be nocturnal because they stay up all night delivering presents.

Wyatt: Do I have pointy ears? Me: No. Wyatt: Well, I did want to be an elf to be Santa's helper. Well, maybe not, because I would miss my family.

Grant: (while praying) When I hold the Bible, its like I'm giving you a hug.

Wyatt: Sometimes I think my armpit could be a bowl. But I tried it once and my cereal just spilled everywhere.

Wyatt: I heard this 'beep beep beep' in my room and I said "Stop making that noise" and it stopped. I just performed a miracle!

Swimming Wyatt

I never thought those two words would go together. Wyatt and the pool are like oil and water- they don't mix. Well, they mix just enough to tolerate each other. If Wyatt has his life jacket, he's happy. If Wyatt doesn't get his face wet, he's happy. If Wyatt is doing swimming lessons, he's NOT happy!!!

I thought by doing private lessons at home, as opposed to throwing him in a class with multiple kids and in an uncomfortable environment, he'd be the kid crying the ENTIRE time. Well, he did that even with private lessons at home, but at least no one else had to live through the misery of his screaming, well other than the neighbors who gave a curious glance over the fence. I thought, well maybe next summer will be better, because we are getting no where fast this summer!

Until last week. We had about a two week break in swimming lessons. He screamed like you wouldn't believe on the last lesson, so I assumed this lesson would be the same. But when Megan asked him to do some things, he happily did them. No tears at all! Wyatt was like a different kid!! I was so so surprised and so so proud!!

And then today, he decided to just walk around the front of the pool on his tip toes, and then walk out from the steps and swim back. By himself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He was so so so proud of himself and I am too! He's go this last lesson on Saturday and I can safely say that they were worth it!! Now hopefully he will remember how much he likes swimming when next summer rolls around!!

Tooth Fairy Visit #2

Grant has had a wiggly tooth for weeks now!! And the last week or two, this tooth was just hanging. How it didn't fall out earlier, I'm not sure. But it finally fell out on Tuesday this week! We were at Red Robin having dinner and as he bites into his french fry, he said, "I got it!" I was like, "You got what??" And he said, "My tooth. I got my tooth out!!!" So he spit his wad of french fry into my hand (gross, I know!) and I dug through it to find that teeny tiny tooth!! He ran to the bathroom to look at himself in the mirror!! He was so happy!! (Obviously by looking at the picture, you can tell that permanent tooth wasn't waiting his turn!) So we got a to-go sauce cup and lid and put the baby tooth in there since it was sooooo tiny. To top off our dinner, it was Kids Eat Free night AND balloon animal night! Triple score!! He declared this "The Best Evening Ever."

And the tooth fairy left a $1 bill and 4 quarters! He put it all into his spending folder in his allowance book!! 

After the 1st Day of School

I wanted to celebrate Grant's big accomplishment of making it through his first day of school, so I had plans to treat him to a few surprises!! Of course, after walking home from school, I unveiled my grand plans of a fun surprise, and he says, "Eh, I just want to stay home and not go anywhere." Really kid?? He followed it up by saying, "I mean, I was at school ALL DAY LONG. It seemed like forever." So I said, well it was only 3 hours and we need to eat lunch, so lets head to Dairy Queen and get an ice cream treat for dessert. He finally took the bait. And I think he was rather happy he did!!! 

He chose a chicken strip basket and mini-ice cream cake treat! And while we were gobbling down our dessert, I told him about our next surprise- Chuck E Cheese! He and Wyatt were both extremely happy he agreed to go along with my plan!!! So we headed over to CEC and filled their cups with tokens and got busy! There were maybe 5 other people there total, so we had the run of the place!! We played all the games (that gave tickets, they didn't want to waste any tokens on not winning tickets!) and tried to hit as many jackpots as we could! We spent over an hour just playing and having fun! Our tickets earned us a Fun Dip, two plastic snakes, a plastic airplane, CEC stickers, and a top. Oh yes, big treasures!!!! It was a great afternoon celebrating my big boy!!! 

 And let me show you what "First Day of School" picture was his favorite....

Yep, that's my big kindergarten boy!!!!

First Day of Kindergarten!

Today, Grant had his very first day of Kindergarten!! He was sooo ready, which made me soooo ready! I wasn't hesitant or scared for him at tall! It's funny, because since last Spring, the thought of sending him to Kindergarten really worried me. Would he be ready? Would he be sad? Would he be scared? But once I saw him in his classroom this morning, my worries went away. He was confident, happy, and very proud!!!

We started at Meet the Teacher night on Tuesday. He got to see his classroom for the first time, meet his teacher, Mrs. Rottinghaus, and drop off his school supplies! Once he saw his table and name tag, found his cubby, and took a look around, he said, "I wish today was the first day!"

And then today, we walked to school, which I love by the way!! I mean, 5 minutes and we are there!! It's fabulous!! We walked in, he hung up his backpack and found his seat! We got to take a selfie with the iPads they have at the tables (seriously, two ipads at each kids table!) and then he had a little book he could work on- he had to write his name and draw a picture of himself. Then all the kids got so sit down at the carpet and listen to Mrs. Rottinghaus read Pete the Cat Goes to School. Then the parents got shooed out the door, which Grant happily kissed me goodbye and went back to his seat! Not a second of worry or hesitation!! Such a big boy!!

They got to take a tour of the school, have recess, go to art class, and have a quick snack and a story. They had a busy day Grant said! Mrs. Rottinghaus called me just a little bit ago and said that Grant had an amazing first day! He wasn't shy, he was a good participator and listener, and seemed to be very comfortable at school! She thinks he's going to have a fantastic year!! And so do I!!!

Lego Creations

Grant is still as much of a Lego Maniac as ever!! His newest obsession is Lego Star Wars, so he's been making some crazy jets, and fighters, and whatever the heck Star Wars vehicles are called. I'm so still amazed by his symmetry! We were actually putting a new set together today (a Star Wars ship) and one of the wings had an additional "control panel" piece and Grant said he couldn't stand to have it on there because there wasn't one for the other side! HA! He's so my kid!!!

 Many of his creations are getting extremely large!! This one was about the width of a poster board!!

 Don't mind the placement of this creation! Even Lego Maniacs have to brush their teeth!

Deanna Rose Fun!

We've had an unseasonably cool summer for the most part. We are used to multiple days in the triple digits, but more often than not, we've had temps in the 80's! And when its that nice, we make sure we head to Deanna Rose!! You can beat nice weather and free fun!!

 The first time we went was just me and the boys! We started by watching the cow get milked, which we hadn't seen before! They couldn't believe how much milk the cow made in just a few minutes! We walked around and saw all the animals, did the playgrounds, and of course visited the gift shop! 

 I didn't have any cash on me that trip, so I told the boys next time we went, we'd do all the extra things, like mining, pony rides, and feeding the baby goats! We asked Christine and Ace to come along to join our fun! Apparently I was enjoying the fun too, because I didn't get too many pictures! But we have the bag of gems to prove our mining!!

 Ace was not a fan of the baby goats, but the boys loved it! Grant didn't like the goats nipping at his shorts. He was very selective as to which goat deserved his bottle! He only chose the patient ones! Wyatt gave his bottle to every little guy that looking hungry! I think every goat got a taste from Wyatt's bottle! Then we did the pony rides!! The boys smiled the whole time I think!!

I'm happy that Grant will only be half day kindergarten so we can still take advantage of fun activities like this!! I can't wait to go in the fall!!!

Acts of Kindness

Grant and I had a few tough weeks in late July/early August. Lots of discipline, lots of tears, lots of frustration. I know he has gone through a lot these past few months, and had major anticipation of the new things to come- Kindergarten, sports activities, etc. I understand it was a crazy time in his life, but it doesn't excuse misbehavior and disobedience. So after one especially rough day, I laid in bed til well after midnight trying to figure out what I could for him. How can I reach his heart? How can I soften his heart? I needed something more than discipline. 

I've been trying to teach them to have a JOYful heart- Jesus first, Others second, Yourself last. So I wanted a way to really help them learn it, and it was almost as if God spoke to me so clearly- Acts of Kindness!! I quickly thought of a few activities we could all do together to take the focus off us for a day and put our love and attention towards other people. When they woke up in the morning, I told them of my idea and I got the exact reaction I was expecting. Wyatt was overjoyed and couldn't wait to get dressed and go. Grant was not excited, wanted to stay home, and had an overall grumbly attitude about it. But we got dressed and hopped in the car nonetheless. 

Here are the things we did:

- Paid for someone's food in the McDonald's drive thru

Apparently, the girl behind us only likes cokes from McDonald's like me, since her bill was only $1 but I had the boys unbuckle from their seats so they could see her smile! 

- Bought 6 flowers at Price Chopper and gave them to ladies we saw entering the store. 

Wyatt couldn't wait to give away his first flower- he immediately saw a lady getting out of her car as we walked out of the store. He ran over there, handed her the flower and said, "Here you go. Have a joyful day!" I hadn't even told them what to say yet. She welled with tears, it was so cute!! We drove to Target to give the rest of our flowers out. Wyatt gave away all three of his before Grant gave away one, but he eventually found some very appreciative ladies to give them too and he was so much more open then he thought would be. He was nervous and a little uncomfortable, but I'm gad he opened up to the idea!

-We bought 2 $5 gift cards to Target and gave them to people who were walking into the store. 

Wyatt found a mom with two kids to give his to, and Grant found a guy in a suit. I kept asking them, "Wouldn't you be so excited if someone gave you a Target gift card when you walked into the store?" They both said OH YEAH!!!!!

- We bought a game at Target and then took it to a park and left a note on it telling whoever found it to take it home and enjoy it with their family.

They picked out a Paw Patrol game and we left it at the park by my parents house that lots and lots of kids go to. They said if they saw that game there, they'd be so happy!!

- We left 6 $1 bills around the toy aisle at the Dollar Tree. 

The boys LOVE going to the Dollar Tree with my mom and this one really hit them how happy they were making other people!

- We left a $5 bill on the game aisle at Toys R Us.

They kept walking back there to check and see if anyone found it. No one had by the time we left the store, but they were giddy with excitement imagining which game the kid who found it would buy. 

By the time we got home, we were happy, we were thankful, and we had a great day!! Wyatt asked if we could do that again sometime and Grant even said, "Yeah it was fun!" It felt so great to show our JOYful hearts!!!

1st Annual Cousin Camp

Grandma Barb sent out the most adorable invitation for the boys to have the 1st Annual Cousin Camp at the Broeckelman Farm! It was the cutest little thing and they were soooooo excited!!! On the invitation, it gave a list of events and as soon as I read them to the boys, they were ready to hop in the car and get there! The only bad part was they had to wait all the way until Sunday to enjoy it. )The Cooper clan was recovering from a long trip to Canada so they needed a few days rest!)

But as soon as all the cousins showed up on Sunday morning, they were ready to go! Our list of events were:

- Taking Cousin Pictures

- Drive In Movie

- Hatching Dinosaur Eggs

-Ziploc Bag Painting

- Croquet

- Trike/Bike Riding

- Anima Rescue

- Scavenger Hunt

- Ice Cream in a Bag

They moved from activity to activity so quickly, I didn't get to snap all the activities but I got a few! It was starting to get hot at this point, so some activities didn't last as long as the could have if it were cooler, but they had so much fun!!!

 They had so much fun with all their activities! But I have to say their most favorite, and now his has become a tradition, is the Drive In Movie!!! They did this activity last year, and most of the kids had outgrown their cars they made last year, so Grandma scoured the town to find some nice big boxes for our big kids. We decided we had two Suburbans and four sports cars! We had to assemble the car accessories and then they got to decorate them with stickers and colors and all sorts of fun goodies! And the movie of choice was Max and Ruby of course! Even Layton got to enjoy the movie for a bit!

Grant said he is going to be assistant camp director at next years Cousin Camp. He's already brainstorming lots of fun ideas!!!

Broeckelman Cousins

Way back in the beginning of August (which seems like an eternity ago), the boys and I headed out to Western Kansas for a visit with all the Broeckelman's. One Broeckelman in particular we were super excited to see, or I should I say meet- our new little cousin, Layton! 

  I fell in love with that little sweeties the second he was in my arms!! What a precious little guy!! Someone else was quite smitten with him too....

It turned out to be a hot, but nice weekend!! We took this time to take some cousin pictures!! It seems like the more kids we add, the harder it is to take pictures! Holy moly, this was a task, and although I took about 40 pictures, we didn't even get "the one" but we did get a few cute shots!

We had lots of fun adventures that weekend (posts to come!).

More Cousin Fun

On Saturday out in Western KS, Bre and I and our kiddos headed out to the Colby Pool. We went last summer and the boys remembered all the fun things to do there! Grant was ready to hit up the water slides and Wyatt just happy splashing in the kiddie area and chillaxin on the lazy river! Wyatt and Haylie probably went down this one little fish slide about 100 times!

 We also did some bike riding and the boys had their own car wash and animal parade after!