Things are going well!

We're having a great week in Knoxville. The boys are exhausted from VBS each day but they are both loving it! The theme is Boomerang Express and there are trains everywhere around church...even one to ride during outdoor learning time! Needless to say, my boys think it is the greatest theme ever! Drew has been able to catch up with all his old friends and is having a great time with them each day. Allen has some tears each morning but once I leave his teachers say he has a great time. My class of young 5-year olds is good - no real problem kids this year which is nice!
Our trip out was as uneventful as possible. The boys did fine on the airplane. Allen didn't sleep on the long flight but was overall content to sit, watch movies, play with books, etc. I took his car seat on which helped a TON! I highly recommend it for anyone with young, active children!
We are headed to Hilton Head on Saturday for our annual family trip. I will try to update from the beach if possible! Hopefully I can get photos of my camera as well...there are some cute ones from this week and I'm sure next week won't be any different!

Headed to Tennessee!

Tomorrow morning, bright and early, the boys and Mommy are headed back to Tennessee for a visit! Flying alone with 2 young, active boys should be interesting...4 hour flight, 2 hour layover, another quick flight...
We can't wait to see all our Knoxville friends next week!

Sweet & Sour

So when you're a mom, you realize that life is full of sweet and sour moments. For example, last Thursday night Patrick was out of town. When I put Drew to bed he asked if he could sleep in my bed “in Daddy’s spot” and I giggled and said "No, you need to sleep in your own bed". So he said “Mommy, do you want to sleep in my bed tonight?” That is sweet in and of itself (I often ask, half jokingly, when he is ready for a nap if I can sleep in his bed because it's VERY comfortable and that's always the time of day I'm dragging. He always says no...) but what made it even nicer was after I declined his offer he said “Well, after you put your pajamas on if you decide you want to sleep in my room it’s ok. Since Daddy’s not here to sleep in your bed.” How sweet!!

And then, today...Drew had gotten out the crayons and a Thomas coloring book and he and Allen were on the floor coloring. I should know better, but I wasn't fully paying attention...more happy that they were getting along. The next thing I knew they had moved the book to the sofa and had shifted away from coloring on the pages to instead coloring on the cushion. The conversation went something like this (after removing all crayons from everyone's reach!):
Mommy - "what are we supposed to color on?"
Drew - "paper"
Mommy - "what were you coloring on?"
Drew - "the couch"
Mommy - "is the couch paper?"
Drew - "noooo"
Mommy - "why did you color on the couch?"
Drew - "because Allen did it first!"

Seriously? Gotta love life when a 3-year old follows the lead of the 1-year old! Luckily they were washable crayons and the couch is stain guarded...

Hike

This morning we went on a little family hike through the wash in our neighborhood. It wasn't too hot and the boys had a great time!

Kid-isms

There are so many things the boys are doing or saying right now that I want to remember...and since this is my place to remember things, here we go...

While driving, Drew asks "Allen, are you asleep?" and with his eyes closed, Allen will nod his head vigorously. (This has happened multiple times and it cracks me up!)

When singing "The Ants Go Marching" Drew inserts his own words. He names trains at the appropriate time in the song to coordinate with their engine number. Here is verse #1: "The ants go marching one by one for Thomas, hurrah. The ants go marching one by one for Thomas, hurrah. The ants go marching one by one, Thomas stops to suck his thumb, and they all go marching down...to the ground...to get out...of the rain...boom boom boom" And it goes on, for all 10 verses, with a different train for each verse. The kicker is that I didn't even know he knew who had the numbers 8, 9 and 10! But he says Duncan, Donald and Douglas...I'll take his word for it!

When Allen wakes up in the morning or from a nap, he no longer cries or even sits there talking nicely. Now he starts with "Ma ma ma Mama Mama" and progresses to "MAMA MAMA MAMA!" Yelling - at the top of his little lungs!

Train Park

On Thursday, I braved the train park alone with the boys for the first time. The weather was perfect (overcast, breezy, cool...much better than the 100+ degrees it has been for 15 days!!) It went really well so we may actually get to do it again!

Brothers...

This is one of the many reasons we were so excited when we found out 2 years ago that baby #2 was a boy...




The boys have started playing together a lot. While this brings more battles, it is also so much fun!

Why I should be worried when it gets quiet...

This morning I was trying to get some things done that require me to operate on Eastern time and therefore I can't do during nap time, so I was thankful the boys were playing together nicely. I was half ignoring Drew when he kept saying "we're recycling" and "we're reusing" until I realized that buckets of toys and other things were being moved from the back of the house to the front of the house. I knew I was in trouble when Drew came in and said "Mommy, we have a surprise for you!" I went to Allen's room to find this:



A nice assortment of toys, kitchen items, shoes, blankets and stuffed animals had made their way to Allen's floor, along with many buckets used to carry the items.
Hey...if nothing else, they played together very nicely for about an hour and even helped me clean it all up after I took pictures.

Little Gym Graduation

Today, Allen had his graduation from the Little Gym. He has LOVED his class and never had a bad day there. He giggled and moved constantly through every class. They got to show off some skills and get their medals today. He really loved his teacher, Ms. Maria, and even sat in her lap for the last goodbye song today. (He sings his version of the "Bye-bye little birdies, see you soon" song all the time at home!) Patrick was able to come see him perform today and Drew got to come too since school is over already for him. We're going to miss the Little Gym this summer!














To check out Drew's first Little Gym graduation (he was a little bit older at the time, but same concept!), click here.

Last Day of School

On Thursday, May 14, Drew had his last day of preschool for the year. They had "Kid Talk" (chapel) like they had once a month and invited parents to attend. Then the whole school went to the gym for an ice cream celebration. It was crazy but the kids loved it! After, Drew's class went back to watch a DVD of photos from the year that some of the parents put together for the teachers. It was really neat - a great gift idea for teachers. The teachers then gave the kids gifts and hugs and said a tearful goodbye for the summer. There is a chance that Drew will have the same teachers next year - we really hope so!!

Headed in on the last day

Allen needed his picture taken too...this kid cracks me up!

Kid talk in the sanctuary...Drew is on the last full row...I don't know how to put an arrow over his head or I would...

Allen and Daddy headed to the ice cream party

Yummmmy...ice cream...

The class enjoying themselves...

Listening to their teachers one last time

Hugs from Mrs. Fenton

Hugs from Mrs. Parker