Aaron and Bob

Aaron and Bob stopped by the other day to wash the house. I love it when they stop by! They have stories about their travels, and they always want to do projects around the house. Aaron decided that our house was dirty, and he said that they would work to clean it. They did a great job of getting the house wet, then they did a great job getting themselves wet too.

I'm quite the lucky lady to have such great guys come by our house so often!

New Boots

Mother's Day

I had a wonderful Mother's Day, and I have two reasons to be so thankful for the privilege of being a mom.

Reason #1

Reason #2

Thank you God for making me a mom!

Lowe's Activity Area

Our move unearthed some things that have not seen the light of day for many years.  One of the most exciting things to Noah was when I opened the boxes that had all my teaching supplies in them.  Noah brought out the bins of crayons, colored pencils, and stickers, put on his Lowe's apron and set up a Lowe's Activity Area in our kitchen.  He set up everything while Isaac was napping, and he waited for Isaac to come and play in the activity area while I "shopped."

 Isaac had a great time in the activity area, and I "bought" much more than I had planned at Lowe's.  It was a very good marketing strategy.

Looking for Japan

Noah has developed a deep interest in maps.  He spends a lot of time studying the states on his USA placemat, atlas and puzzle, and the countries on his globe.  He also knows most of the state flags and license plates.  He uses Google Maps everyday to see how the traffic looks in New York City (and he gleefully exclaims, "It's bad traffic!  Very bad!"

One day, I saw him outside looking into the forest with his binoculars.  I asked him what he was looking for.

He said he was looking for Japan.

After much looking back and forth, up and down, he said he could see a chimney in Japan!

He was so excited!

He also said he could see some people looking at him and waving from Japan.

How cool is that?

Waiting for Daddy

Noah and Isaac woke up very early and got bundled up for a chilly morning in order to cheer Daddy on in the  Mount Holly Springfest 5K.

They waited and waited and were so happy to see Daddy running toward them at the finish line.

Go, Daddy!  Go!

Shoe Bins

Parts of our house have become more organized after our move, so the boys now have shoe bins in the mudroom closet.  

It's one little bit of organization in an unorganized world.

The boys can be responsible for putting their own shoes away.  They like having their own bins, and I like being able to find their shoes in the morning.  Everyone's happy!

Corn on the Cob

Mmm mmm mmm!  Corn on the cob!  Noah requests it every time we're at the grocery store.  Isaac eats it completely by himself.

 It tastes like summer. 

Making a Bird Feeder

Noah wanted to make a bird feeder just like the one he saw on an episode of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.  We gathered the necessary materials: a milk carton with a hole cut out of it, a stick, crackers and peanut butter.  But that wasn't the fun part.

The fun part was listening to Noah talk about the birds that were going to come to the feeder, as he broke up the crackers and smeared the peanut butter.

Listening to him wonder what the birds were going to think when they found the feeder, and...

...watching his facial expressions as he talked.

When he is intensely thinking about something, he does that with his eyebrow.  He furrows his brow and the left one raises up.

 Every time.

Noah decided he didn't want to hang the feeder from a tree.

He decided that it should sit on the ground so that other animals could come and eat too.

The next day, the milk carton was in the tall grass on the other side of the driveway.  Noah was so excited that some animal was hungry enough that it tried to carry the feeder away.

The second day, the feeder was gone.

Noah was ecstatic.

He wants to make more feeders for the animals.

Me, I'm not so sure.  I wonder what it's attracting into our yard.

But then he starts talking about the animals again and his brows furrow and that eyebrow goes up.

We'll be making another one soon.

Drumming Garden

Noah loved the garden at his preschool.  He helped grow lemon balm, lettuce and spinach, among other things, and the kids would eat the produce they grew as part of their morning snack.  But the best part of the garden was the drums!  The garden was part of the playground, so kids could go over and play the drums anytime they were playing outside.  I'm guessing his school might just be the only preschool with drums in the garden!

Airplane

I love this look.

Every time an airplane flies overhead, Isaac looks up and says "air-pa." 

He intently watches the airplane until it is out of sight, then he goes back to playing.

Now, anytime anyone sees an airplane, we all look up and say "air-pa."  

The little, unnoticed things in life become new again with a one-year-old.

Quads

One of the boys' favorite things to do is ride their quads.  It is one of the few activities that falls under the category of "when Daddy gets home," so it has become a fun thing to do after dinner.  Noah does a great job on his quad.  He's learning how to steer in reverse, and he's doing a great job of anticipating turns and watching the road.

Isaac loves his teeny tiny baby quad, but he would probably prefer that it would go a little faster.  He likes being independent and driving himself.  His steering consists of going straight into whatever object is in front of him (in slow motion), until we steer him in the right direction.

Daddy likes to ride on the quad too :-)