Week 14: A short spring break

Last week's highlights:
making cookies for Grandpas' birthdays
moving the couch from our bedroom into the boys' room
Charlotte climbing everything she can, including stairs, couch, and toy bins, and hitting her head
the boys having Friday and Monday (today) off school for a short spring break
coloring eggs

Week 13: Currently, March 2015

being busy, and wondering where all the free time from last week went * going to both boys' schools, for Zach's book fair and Gabe's spring party * photographing more of their artwork * exercising, Frank in the mornings and me in the evenings * running errands, to Target, Kroger, Sam's, the library, and Charlotte to her 18 month check-up * skyping with lots of people, including all the grandparents, Lisa, and Emily * switching Charlotte from her bottle to a sippy cup for on-the-go * enjoying the couple days of nice weather * visiting with neighbors and taking a walk down the street * getting balloon animal monkeys at Frank's work Easter party

Week 12: A video of the kiddos

Life seemed to calm down last week. It does that sometimes, and it really throws me off. I guess a cub scout meeting, Frank's haircut, grocery shopping, kindergarten registration, and Zumba 3x for me is less than we usually have going on, during cold and flu season at least. So I was able to catch up on laundry, get some photos printed for my scrapbook, and start re-organizing our storage room. And we booked plane tickets and hotel for our summer vacation--go us!

 

Shopping with Mommy, and eating goldfish. When did she get so big?!?

It was a little cool this week, but Zach still made it outside to draw a big ol' pair of underpants on the driveway.

Our current tunes are from Kidz Bop 27 (Shake it Off, All About That Bass, etc), and Charlotte knows where to turn them on. She's not a big dancer by herself yet, but she likes me to hold her hands and shake.

Our very festive St. Patrick's Day decoration, courtesy of Zach.

I made little pot pies for the first time. They were pretty good, and were even better re-baked the next day.

It had been a while (maybe a month?) since Charlotte had watched A Very Monkey Christmas, and it was like it was brand new. Definitely her favorite.

I went upstairs to photograph Gabriel's Naked Man poster (made at school and hanging above his desk), and he wanted me to capture other stuff. Like his R2-D2 collection.

This does not include his R2-D2 pillow, pjs, hat, shirt, or jacket, obviously! :)

This is the spinning pole thing that Zach was talking about in the video.

Her first experience with pea gravel. She did well considering.

And her first slide, which was awesome. She'll be doing it herself before too long.

Week 11: Photo dump #313

Another week closer to spring, and thank goodness. We were finally able to walk up to the bus stop this week, and Charlotte ran around in the yard for the first time. And I finally got around to photographing a big pile of artwork:

Two versions of an epic novel by Zach. He is famous for doing one or two pages then starting on a new one. But he loves it.

GabeMan 2. Not to be outdone by Zach, Gabe is creating his own comic book series.

by Zach

By Gabe. Not sure what it is supposed to say. And I think that it is Yoda, but I told him it looks more like the Joker.

Yoda by Zach. And the saying is hilarious. I am working with him on the proper use of apostrophes.

A gingerbread house for Lisa. We'll see if I can get this in the mail any time soon.

Charlotte's first watercolor painting.

 We went to Zach's school for the first and second graders' production of Squirm, the Musical.

Charlotte is a big fan of dino-nuggets and any type of yogurt, even if she has to steal them from the boys. She's sneaky, for sure.

Gabe stayed home Wednesday and Friday for mysterious come-and-go cold/allergy symptoms. It got up to 60 degrees.

When I let Charlotte outside I realized that all her shoes were getting too small. I bought some new ones at Kohl's one evening and the next morning she wanted to put them on right away. Then she wanted to keep switching back and forth. The hearts light up.

Gabe and more Captain Underpants, in dot-to-dot and origami forms.

On Saturday Frank took Zach to two classmate birthday parties, so the rest of us were at home hanging out. Charlotte was being so good that I didn't mind her stealing that pencil and cardboard from my desk.

Week 10: Dr. Seuss and snow

Last week was a half in school/half out of school time around here. By Wednesday all of our previous snow had melted and caused so much flooding that the kids got sent home early. Then we woke up Thursday to at least 6 inches and it just kept snowing all day (and ended up close to a foot). School was cancelled Friday too. I think Charlotte really likes having the boys home with her all day though.

At least school was in session on Monday when Zach wore his Cat in the Hat shirt. He made the cat out of fun foam (modeled after a drawing he did) and I stitched him on. He said everyone in his class "super liked it."

We treated ourselves to a warm and delicious dessert that Zach had been asking for: chocolate fondue. Gabe only ate marshmallows, and Charlotte only ate bananas. More cake for the rest of us!

I first had roasted brussel sprouts over a year ago while visiting Abby and Loic, and they were wonderful. I thought I'd try it myself, and they were good but not as great as I remember. Frank ate them, but I think he may have just been really hungry that night :)

Week 9: I'm getting nothing done

The boys were back to school last week, but it was delayed three of the days for cold temperatures. We finally got out of the house on Sunday to go to Barnes & Noble and Chili's. We hadn't been in a while, and I think this was our first time there since Charlotte started really walking, so she was all over the place (and loving it). The boys aren't really interested in the trains anymore, but they love to read. Zach is obsessed with the Captain Underpants books that are in full color :)

Other than that we didn't really do much. I hardly took any pictures. It felt like I didn't get a whole lot done because Charlotte is requiring more attention and making bigger messes. So I guess I spent my week cleaning. Zach's cub scout den was given a tour of a local TV station, and he loves having meetings or outings every week. And I started going to Zumba classes with a friend down the street, another mom who I met at the bus stop. Yay for exercising!

Now I've gotta get this posted and tend to the little girl who's yelling to get out of the living room!