Date with Wyatt

Wyatt and I find ourselves having quite a bit of time alone together. We have every Tuesday and Thursday morning, as well as MWF between 8:30-8:55 together. But we don't always spend our time doing extra special things. Sure, we play school games. We make a Target run, or a trip to the grocery store. Or I run places I need to go, because bringing just Wyatt with me is never a chore. But I'm trying to be more intentional in spending some of our time as special time. I know he's perfectly happy playing school games or doing art projects or running errands with me. But sometimes, saying "Yes" to something I normally say "No" to can mean alot! 

One morning after taking Grant to school, we were walking home and Wyatt asked what we are going to do today. I said, "How about we go on a date?" His response was, "YEEEEAAAAH!" So we hopped in the car and went to Einstein Bros. for bagels. He perfectly chose our table- the one with the pink "tulips" (even though they are roses!) because those are my favorite flowers. We gobbled up our bagels and chatted away the morning! 

Of course, afterwards he wanted to go to Toys R Us and pick out a new toy. Typical of our dates, and not something I'm trying to encourage. Now that the weather is nicer I'm hoping more of our dates can be outside activities. But its hard to argue with love languages!!  Luckily, the Imaginext toy he picked out was on clearance. He then helped me do a little bit of shopping, which he's always so encouraging about! I  mean, Grant would never in a million years be beneficial in helping me shop for a purse, but Wyatt was my personal shopper!! Love that kind little heart he has!!

Next school year, we will find ourselves with even more time together, and I'm so looking forward to all those special moments as well!!

(And let it be known that Grant and I also had a date on Monday when he was off school, but we both forgot to take a single picture!! We  went to Target where he (I) bought him and Wyatt a Bionicle. Then we went to the Treasure Shop where he picked out a Beanie Baby and an adorable Polar Bear Mom and Baby figurine as his souvenir for his treasure shelf. He really can be a sentimental sweetie given the right situation! I need to be even more intentional with my special time with him, since alone time with him is almost impossible. Once Levi returns, I see alot more dates in our future!!!)

Easter Afternoon

Easter was a little slow for us, as we spent most of our day driving back from Grinnell after our fun weekend celebrating Haylie's birthday. Grandma and Grandpa Easter Bunny did bring baskets to the boys, which was a fun surprise. They weren't sure if the Easter Bunny would come there or at our house, so to see a basket that morning was pretty exciting for them!! They got to reenact the Easter Story- Grant played multiple roles, Grandpa was Jesus, Wyatt didn't want a role, and I think I was the angel. Anyway, Grant did a great job acting and retelling one of his favorite stories!! They had a little more playtime outside with Grandpas junk pile, and then it was time to hit the road! 

After arriving home, we walked inside to see the Easter Bunny came!! He left baskets AND hid eggs all over the place!! I hardly got any pictures because they were just moving SO fast!!! A lot of excitement going on!! Lots of goodies, lots of candy, lots of eggs!!

 

 After they found all the eggs, we ate a quick dinner then headed upstairs for our annual Egg Bath! They love doing this, and its sad to think that not much longer will they both want to take baths together. We usually do showers during the week, but they ask for "for fun" baths quite often. So to them, this was icing on the cake of an already fun Easter weekend!!!

While we didn't do a whole lot of celebrating, our hearts were full of joy as we proclaimed the good news!!

Happy Easter!!!

Easter School Fun!!

Wyatt and I were able to go through quite a few fun Easter centers this past Easter season. Oh that boy and his love of learning!! Makes me so happy!! I snapped a few of the games we played, and of course, he loved them all! His favorite activity at the moment is addition and subtraction. Most of the time he does it all mentally, but we've also been using counters of some sort to help the ones he can't do mentally. All good prep for all that kindergarten work he will be doing, 18 months from now :) But he's also a good reader and enjoys the challenge of counting how many words he can read. He's something else I tell ya!!

Haylie's Birthday and Farm Fun

We headed out west to celebrated Haylie's 5th Birthday with all the family! We were looking forward to a pretty spring weekend and lots of outside play. But as in tradition of all of Haylie's past birthdays- it was uncontrollably windy! The kids managed to be outside for some of the day without getting blown away, but most of their time was spent in the garage or basement, but that didn't stop them from having a ton of fun! I can't believe all our little children are getting so big!!! They have such a fun time playing together!! Haylie had a fun ladybug themed party, including a ladybug egg hunt which was definitely a big hit!! 

 These three were enjoying Haylie's new coloring book :-)

 One of the things the boys like to do at the farm is play in Grandpa's junk pile, and he has quite a few of those. The boys were dragging out all sorts of items and creating some speeders and ships of all kinds. I caught this one that Wyatt made.

 Grant made a few speeders as well, but he really enjoyed this bear catapult that Cuddles got to try out a few times!

 Gator rides and tractor rides are usually on the agenda during all of our farm visits! Grant prefers the gator because they go fast and go all around Grinnell. Wyatt prefers the tractor because he thinks they go too far away in the gator and he's worried Grandpa will get lost- silly boy doesn't realize Grandpa could NEVER got lost in his own town :)

 Some light reading from the Oakley Graphic, while their bears enjoy some carrots and grapes.

We always have so much fun out at the farm!

Tooth Fairy Visit #4

Well, I guess my 19 day guess was wrong! We only had to wait 5 days after the first top tooth fell out for the other one to follow!! Thank goodness the snaggletooth is gone!!!

Grant has had a funny pattern when losing teeth:

Tooth #1- Eating chocolate pudding at TRex cafe

Tooth #2- Eating a french fry at Red Robin

Tooth #3- Playing outside on the tree swing

Tooth #4- Playing outside on the trampoline

I guess he likes to lose pairs of teeth the same way!! Wonder when/where his next pair will fall out??

April Fools Joke

I've never really participated in April Fools Day. Actually, at one point, Wyatt was scheduled to be born on April 1st and I really was hoping against that for some reason. I don't know why, but I guess I imagined the whole "We got you a great birthday gift!! Oh really? No, April Fools!" thing happen at some point to him and I just thought it wasn't the best day to be born. The March 15th birthday really was the best!!! 

Anyway, back to the jokes. I hadn't told the kids it was April Fools Day, and I'm not really sure they even knew what it was really. But apparently, Grant's teacher is a big fan!  When I picked Grant up from school, as we were walking home, he stopped and said, "Oh, I have to show you my bad homework." So I thought, 1) It was strange for him to openly show me he did something bad before we even made it home and 2) He's never been in trouble at school, so I really couldn't imagine what he would've done wrong and 3) There is a first time for everything. So as he pulled out a paper, I saw horrible horrible horrible handwriting and I thought 1) Of course, it was handwriting! and 2) I know he's not great at handwriting, but this is terrible and 3) Calm down, don't get mad!

 And then, before I could even say anything, he flipped it over and said, "APRIL FOOLS!!!!!!!!!"

He totally got me!! And then he proceeded to get Levi too on Facetime!!! 

Thank goodness it was a joke!!

Coloring Eggs

Oh what fun it is to color Easter eggs each year!! I should have bought 2 18-counts because these boys just LOVE coloring eggs! They took their sweet time working on their masterpieces this year!! In years past, they've done a quick dip and called it good. But this year, they used their patience and really got creative dipping and double dipping! We spent a good hour or so coloring eggs, although they probably could have done it ALL day long!!  But oh, the fun they did have!!!! 

 Eating the eggs that cracked was a pretty good deal too!!

Only two rolled off the counter, but they definitely made some beautiful eggs!!!

March Photos

-Grant's huge Lego creation- Wyatt and a big pile of snow- Cousins bowling

-Catching snowflakes- Little People are out!- "I look cool with my lovey like this."

-Cuddles turned to the Dark Side- New hardwood floors!- First mow of the season!

-Blowing bubbles, climbing trees, playing water guns all while with the Flu

-Friends brought us Sonic- Family Rules- Sunset

-Preschool dropoff selfie- Attempting Super Mario 3- Box of Sunshine from Narducci's

Tooth Fairy Visit #3

It's been quite a while since Grant lost a tooth! I'm pretty sure his top teeth have been loose for MONTHS now, but he will not ever ever ever ever wiggle or it even think about pulling it out! So they've just dangled there for too long!! Finally, one of them fell out!! Grant and Wyatt were swinging on the circle swing, which they like to do together. As Grant was on, Wyatt tried hopping on his lap and wound up kneeing him in the mouth and popping his tooth out. FINALLY!! I was inside at the kitchen sink and I saw them running in, like they were on a mission. And as I turned around to tell them to go back outside, I see Grant's bloody mouth and a teeny tiny tooth he's holding out on his palm and he says, "I lost my tooth!" He's still weirded out and grossed out by the fact he has a gaping hole in his mouth and another tooth just dangling there by a thread!

Before bed, he put his teeny tiny tooth in one of his little treasure boxes so the Tooth Fairy would've have to dig under his pillow for it! He wrote her a little note and happily went to sleep!! 

It must've been his lucky night because he scored a $5 bill from the tooth fairy! I explained to him that she must not have had any dollar bills on hand ;-)  He even found a few spots of glitter on his money! Pretty awesome find!!! 

Now, I'm placing bets on how long his it takes before his "dangler" brings another visit from the Tooth Fairy. I'm giving it 19 more days. 

Easter Story, Lego Style

Last year, Grant made an impromptu Lego scene of the Easter story. I felt like last year was the first year Grant truly grasped the story of Jesus and the reason for Easter. His scene made perfect sense and I just loved that it was his own idea!! 

But this year, I thought it would be a fun challenge for them each to make their own scene of the Easter story and then tell it to me and I would "judge" the competition. They were so beyond excited and completely up for the challenge! (I did help Wyatt a tiny bit, not with the ideas, but with some of the execution.)

These are, by far, my most favorite creations have they ever made!!

Up first, is Grant's creation! He had a lot going on on one Lego plate!! He had all the events but in one place. 

 The man at the top of the tower is Pontius Pilate. He was addressing the crowd as to what should happen to Jesus. His guards are standing below him and the man in black is the devil. We watched the Passion episode of the miniseries, The Bible, and during this part they show the devil walking around feeding the "Crucify him!" thoughts to the people. The green thing on the top on the opposite side represents the lightning after Jesus died, when the sky became dark and was filled with the lightning. The tall thing its attached to represents the curtain in the temple that ripped in half when Jesus died.  Every detail Grant added was just spot-on!

 Above Jesus' cross is the King of the Jews sign. (I particularly like the gingerbread man body of the neighboring criminal.)

 The men in the blue are the guards who were casting lots for Jesus' garments. I like they are kneeling and looking towards Jesus. Talk about every last detail!

And now, for Wyatt's scene....

Out of this whole scene, I helped him make some of the 12 disciples and that table. The rest was all him.

 Wyatt chose to have an angel hovering over Jesus. He made Jesus' cross standing on a hill. He was very proud to point out Jesus' face....

 Here is the Last Supper. Wyatt carefully chose all their hair and the communion and wine.

Here is Jesus on the left and Peter on the right. These details just made me smile!!! Jesus' flowing locks and Peter's mustache! HA!! 

 And last but not least, the tomb. Here it is with Jesus inside. And here it is on Easter Sunday...

The fact that the boys truly grasp this whole story just makes me so proud and really overcome with emotion. Every last detail. They know it, they feel it, they get it. I am so thankful to be able to raise them to know and feel the love of Jesus in their hearts, the love God has for each of them, and the power behind the Resurrection. No doubt in my mind these boys have a heart for the Lord!