What the kids say and some family pictures.

The other day Thomas did something for which he got in trouble. Part of his punishment was to replace the item he destroyed and he was sent to his room. 

As he was walking up the stairs this is our conversation:

Thomas: Mom, don't tell dad.

Me:  We don't keep secrets, so I am going to tell dad.

Thomas: (Now WAILING) NO, DON'T TELL DAD. I DON'T WANT TO GO TO JAIL.

Me: What?!?

Thomas: If you tell dad, I will have to go to jail, and I'm too little to go to jail.

Where does he get this stuff?

Then with Jack.

Ben and I have been talking about holding Jack back a year in school.  There are many reasons for this, and we have talked to Jack about some of them. 

The other day, I was reminding him of some of the changes we were looking for. 

Me: Now, Jack, you know that we need to see some improvement so that you can move on to grade 2.

Jack: Yes. But mom, I don't want to stay back another year.

Me: I know, but we need to see some changes.

Jack: I know, but mom, I don't want to wait an extra year to go to University.

Well at least he has motivation. 

I hope that motivation stays with him for the next few years, like until he graduates high school.

And now for some family pictures.  We all ended up wearing white shirts. In my opinion it might have been a little much, but we still looked nice, so we took some pictures.

This kid is ALWAYS picking his nose.

Preparing to Fly with Kids.

My current project is airplane activities for our upcoming trip to Utah.

I am hoping that I won't have to use them.  You know, the boys will sleep the entire time, or they will just chill and relax (chillax as the cool kids say). 

However, there is the SLIGHT possibility that they are going to demand to be entertained the entire time.  Or until the last fifteen minutes of the flight when they decide it's time to sleep (no, not my kids).

In order to plan for the unlikely event they need to be entertained, I have been searching Pinterest, you know the go-to website for ideas of all kinds.  I have found some gems, including a list of fifty ideas to keep your kid entertained on flights.  However, I found this list was kind of ridiculous, as some of the ideas included some noisy, albeit entertaining ideas.  The list also included toys with small parts that can easily roll off the tray-table-in-front-of-you.  So I am coming up with my own list.  It is still a work in progress, but here is a preview of what I am working on:

Personalized coloring pages. Here is the link for the tutorial.

How cute are these boys?  Seriously cute.  

I made one of the entire family, and it is definitely not as cute. Kids can make anything look cute, not so much with adults.

Also, the other thing I suggest, call the airline, or use the website if you can, and request kids meals.  They still might not like the food, but there is a higher chance there will be something they like.

What has worked for you?

Let's not do that again.

Last week was a rough week.

It all started last Saturday, although Saturday was a great day.

Our treadmill broke, and I decided to run outside.  It was a beautiful day, and I was so excited to take my workout from the treadmill to the outdoors.  If you have been to my house, you know that we are surrounded by hills.  Steep hills.  Why did I think it was a good idea to run?  I was working from a couch-to-5K app, and during the run it shut down- so I started it over.  I ended up running longer than I needed to, running up hill both ways.  I was tired, but felt good.  The rest of the day was spent sewing, and it was great. 

Example of the hills.

The next day was Sunday.  It was a great day, however, at 3:00 am Sunday night/Monday morning I woke up sick.  Really, really sick.  

 I was up until the kids woke up the next morning. 

I laid in bed all day, and did not even have enough energy to play angry birds.  Yeah, it was that bad.

I had a fever, was sick, and remember my Saturday workout?  I was sore.

Miserable.

Tuesday, we took it easy and the boys and I watched "Tangled" about five times.

Wednesday we went to the pumpkin patch.  It was 95 degrees, and a little hot for the boys, so we didn't last very long.  

On the way home we stopped for some fast food which I should have avoided, partly due to the fact that I was semi-recovering from a stomach bug.  Well, I found a hair in my food.  You know, the kind of hair you don't want to ever find ANYWHERE- especially in food.  Yuck.

Thursday I made ratatouille for dinner, and it didn't turn out as well as I expected.  

(Does any one have a good recipe?)

We ended up eating frozen pizza.

Friday I was hoping to escape my bad luck by going for a run on the beach.  I had visions of running down the beach with a gentle breeze, sunshine and beautiful water.  Wrong.  It was foggy, and I couldn't see very much.  It was also high tide, so the sand I could run on was soft, and not the packed down sand that I imagined I would be running on.  Definitely a let down.

This is looking towards the ocean.  

Last week was rough, but there were some wonderful things that happened, as well.

1.  Ben had the day off on Monday, so I didn't have to do anything.  Then when water was making me sick and I needed something else to drink, Ben took the boys to buy me a half a dozen different drinks.

2.  The boys were pretty good when I needed a down day.  They played well together and let me rest.

3.  The boys were each able to get their own pumpkins, and when I was buying some for decoration, the lady gave me a deal because I was honest about the price. 

4.  I live somewhere that I can run on the beach.  

5.  Even if the beach didn't look the way I wanted to, I could still listen to the waves, and with the fog, I could pretend that I was all alone on the beach for most of the time.

6.  I am grateful that my body works and if I want to run, I can.

7.   I made beef stroganoff for dinner tonight, and it was a hit.  We will definitely make it again.  The recipe can be found here.

The end.

A Trip to the Zoo.

After a week stuck inside, we decided to venture out to the San Diego Zoo.  It was great, the weather was perfect, the kids were happy to be out, and I wasn't in any more pain!  It was a perfect way to spend a few hours.

Kids.

32 Weeks

22 Months