Jack's Overnight at Addi's

In February, Jack had his first overnight at somewhere other than the grandparents' houses.  We had a trivia night to attend and both sets of grandparents were out of town, so we asked the Ashers if the boys could come to their house for the evening.  Then poor Mr. Charlie threw a wrench in the plans by getting sick Friday afternoon - he vomited a couple times Friday and then again Saturday morning.  He seemed fine after that, so we decided to still go to trivia.  Melissa so graciously volunteered to come to our house with Addi so Charlie wouldn't contaminate their house or Ethan, and then Jack and Addi could still have their play date.

All was going well until after dinner when Charlie threw up again!  Yes, you can say it...Jason and I are not winning any parent of the year awards for leaving our sick baby with our unsuspecting friend.  We really thought he seemed better!!  Anyway, after that episode, the Ashers did some rearranging and Melissa got Charlie into bed at our house, then Greg came down and sat with him while Melissa took Jack, Addi and Ethan to their house (up the street).

At bedtime I talked to Melissa and she said Jack and Addi were reading books in Addi's bed, but Jack wasn't sure about spending the night.  I asked her to tell him we would pick him up on our way home and he seemed satisfied with that.  The next time I talked to Melissa they were sound asleep so we decided to just leave him there and she would explain to him when he woke up that since he was sleeping we just decided to let him stay there.

Turns out our big shot didn't make a peep all night and when they woke up in the morning, he didn't act at all surprised to still be there.  He happily ate breakfast with them and played until I picked him up (when he begrudgingly went home with me).  I'd say his first sleepover was a success!!

Happy Valentine's Day

Every year I try to think of something a little different for the boys to give their friends on Valentine's Day.  Luckily with the help of the internet and specifically, Pinterest, there is no shortage of ideas!  This year Charlie's class was kind of mixed - about half brought nothing, a few brought store-bought character-type cards and we brought these:

For Jack's I was hoping for something he could help me with so we went with this idea.  The night before Valentine's Day, he helped me put food coloring into the play dough and stir it all up.  I couldn't find a mini heart cookie cutter, so they ended up being a little bigger than I'd have liked.  Oh, and I've lost all ability to plan ahead for stuff like this, so I used paper bags that we had on hand for the packaging; not as cute as I was imagining, but it did the trick.  My favorite part was having Jack sign his name on all the recipe cards.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Snow Days

We had a few snowy days in February which made for some fun (though short-lived because it was so cold!) times outside.  The first day of snow was on a Sunday so we got all bundled up and went over to Aunt Cyndi and Uncle Todd's house to go sledding with Mia and Lily.

Charlie looked like Randy, the little brother from A Christmas Story:

 I think he was afraid to turn his head

We got outside and Charlie immediately wanted his gloves off, so needless to say he wasn't outside very long.  Luckily Grandma Clayton was there to hang out with him inside.  Jack, Mia and Lily had fun going down the small hill on the side of their house, and then later playing on the snow-filled neighborhood playground.

We tried to send Charlie down the hill once but he didn't get the concept and immediately rolled off the sled.

Then last week we had another day of snow so we got all bundled up for a few minutes to watch Daddy shovel snow.  Of course, Charlie and I had to go right back in again so his little hands wouldn't freeze off.  Jack, Daddy and neighbor Tony shoveled our driveway and theirs.

This video isn't all that exciting, but I love how Charlie walks with his millions of layers.  Good stuff.

Soccer

Jack started soccer again at Vetta Sports a few weeks ago.  It's still not games (apparently you have to be 4 for that) but it's the next class up from last year.  Jack is mostly enjoying it.  A few mornings he has said he doesn't want to go, but then when we get there he has a lot of fun.

This session, the parents were on the field for the first 4 weeks, but staying off to the side as much as possible.  Starting in week 5 (last week), parents were supposed to be in the stands and not on the field at all.  Strangely, only about half of the parents listened, which made it a little difficult for those whose parents weren't on the field.  Jack called me down there no less than 4 times, but they were for legitimate reasons at least: 1. tie his shoe, 2. he got some tire crumbles from the turf in his eye (ouch!), 3. he collided with another kid (he was fine, but needed a Mommy hug) and 4. he needed a kleenex.  I think I got more exercise going back and forth than he did!!

The really fun part is that they took pictures a few weeks ago: an individual and a team photo.  We haven't gotten the proofs back yet, but I was able to sneak a team photo with my camera.  So cute!

Why Every Kid Needs a Sibling

January

Our January went by quickly with nothing too exciting going on.  I am still very busy at work, as evidenced by my lack of blog posts, so here are some snippets from January.

Charlie has been going through a rough restaurant phase - twice in the past month he and I have quickly exited a restaurant mid-meal to avoid a meltdown.  We hang out in the car and wait for Daddy and Jack to finish, and sadly, he thinks it's the greatest thing.  Luckily we don't go out much so I don't think we are starting a precedent where he sees this as a reward...

Killing time in the car

Huge whipped cream mess!

Charlie's first bubble bath - he wasn't a huge fan

Jack, Addison and Reghan

The littles: Charlie & Ethan

 We had our families and a couple friends over for Jason's birthday.  Before everyone got there, Jason accidentally left some crazy glue within reach and Charlie got some little dabs on his hand.  Yikes - that could have been bad!!  He wasn't stuck together but certainly didn't like the feel of the crusty parts on his hands.

Chrissy working some magic with nail polish remover.  Good as new!

 The boys needed hair cuts and I asked Jack what he thought about getting a buzz cut, something I've toyed with off and on. He replied that he would rather have a Woody cut.  Guess I needed to explain my question better.  Nevertheless, we decided to wait and try the buzzed look until it's hot outside and stuck with a normal, shorter 'do for now.

New haircuts all around!

Play-doh time!

 We haven't put all of our "little" Legos into our storage shelf yet because it's in Jack's room right now, where it is too easily accessible by Charlie.  Once we have a toy room downstairs, we will get the Legos put away in their respective bins.  In the meantime, Jack has begun sorting various toys.  I went in his room and found all his loveys in the appropriate bins.

White, blue, gray Pound Puppy and red Mickey Mouse (I imagine him putting a little thought  into that one: is it yellow, black or red?)

 Charlie has decided to start hitting.  Usually Jack or I are the recipient and it's a result of him being frustrated or upset by something we've done (or not done).  I have put him in timeout in his room a few times and it is seriously one of the cutest things I've ever seen.  He sits there and stares straight ahead at his curtain until I come back in.

Charlie thinks his big brother is pretty cool and Jack gets a kick out of Charlie these days too.  Here are a couple videos.  Watch how Charlie Man is always imitating his big bro.  Monkey see, monkey do!

That's our January in a nutshell.

After Christmas and New Year's Eve

After Christmas we spent a lot of time enjoying all of our new presents!  Aunt Kelly, Uncle Greg and Parker came by on their way out of town and the boys showed her their new trampoline.

Jack and Charlie have both been enjoying their new chairs.  Charlie loves to climb over the back onto the couch and then face plant back onto it.  Endless fun.  Our friends enjoy the chairs too.

Ethan Asher sitting on Reghan Lade's lap - so sweet.  Oh, and Spiderman Jack too

We celebrated New Year's Eve at the Neus' house.  Since they live on the other side of town, we went early and had sort of a pre-party there.  Then we headed back to the Ashers' house to get off the road (crazies out there on NYE) and put Charlie and Ethan down.  It was low-key but was a fun night.  Jack, Addison and Reghan made s'mores so that was fun.

Jack and Addi were still awake at midnight!!  We were packed up and ready to go at 12:01 but there were fireworks outside so Jack preferred to stay inside to watch them (he's still not sure how he feels about them).  So we headed home at about 12:05 instead.  And that's how we closed out 2012.

Merry Christmas!

We had a really great Christmas.  We had so much fun celebrating with our families.  We started opening gifts on December 23 when Kelly & Greg and Jason & I gave each other's kids their gifts. Among lots of gifts, Jack got an awesome set of Lincoln Logs that I know will get a ton of use in the years to come.

They all got nice hooded towels and we tried to take a group photo to display them - I couldn't resist including a play-by-play here.  Funny.

Then on Christmas Eve we exchanged gifts with Grandma and Grandpa Lang.  The highlight for Jack was a giant recycling trash truck, just like his friend Nathan has.  Charlie's big gift was an elephant rocking horse, which he is slowly getting braver and braver on.  He will be riding that thing in no time!  Parker got a new tricycle.

Then the kids had naps while we got ready for my mom's family to come over in the early evening.  It was fun to see everyone, as always.

 The kids thoroughly enjoyed their pudding dessert!

Then we had some friendly jammie-time wrestling.

Look closely at Charlie in this one..

Then Santa came that night and OVERFLOWED our house with presents.  Boy, was Santa good to us this year!!

 I made this cool Lego organization shelf that I saw on this blog.  Jack has been really into playing with Daddy's old Legos, so we've been having lots of fun with them (only when Charlie's asleep since there are lots of small parts).  We haven't put all the pieces into the new shelf yet but we will as soon as our toy room in the basement is finished!

 The other present from Mommy & Daddy was these "Anywhere Chairs" from Pottery Barn Kids.  I have always loved these chairs and they were so worth the money - the boys LOVE them!  That was the first thing Charlie did Christmas morning was climb up into his chair.  And then down, and then up....

 Santa's big gift was a trampoline!!  It too will find its permanent home in the toy room downstairs but since that's not ready yet, here it is in our upstairs toy room.  It will eventually have the cage around it to keep the kids contained safe, but that was too much work for Santa knowing that we'd have to disassemble it to move it downstairs.

 Jack got LOTS of Spiderman stuff, including a costume, the figurine he saw at Target (the one thing he asked Santa for), some underpants and jammies.

After we finished at our house, we went over to Cyndi & Todd's house to celebrate with Jason's family.  The kids got MORE gifts and played with their cousins and we had a nice (yummy!) breakfast.

Then we went to Grandma & Grandpa Clayton's house for - you guessed it - more present opening!!  They were very generous in their gifts to Mommy & Daddy this year, which was very nice.

After visiting for awhile, we headed home for naps and lunch (Charlie fell asleep in the three minute drive home, so he was clearly ready). then we went to my Aunt Patty & Uncle Joe's house for Christmas with my dad's side of the family.  Along with my sister, ALL of my other cousins were in town except Rob and his wife Alexa, who couldn't make it this year from Minnesota.  They are pretty spread out these days: Rochester, San Diego, Louisville, Atlanta, Kansas City, so it's rare that we get everyone together.  We also got to meet three new babies - Hannah, Emma and Brooklyn.

The highlight for Jack was that SANTA came to the party!!  What an exciting surprise!!  He had one more gift for each of the kids, and it was so fun!

A little nervous - not sure what to think!

Sam was first and she was so excited!

Then it was Maya's turn

Natalie was a little unsure, but got close enough for a hug

Jack needed me close and didn't want to sit on Santa's lap, but he did talk to him a little bit

And he got a remote control train!

Charlie was beside himself and not at all interested in playing nice, even when Santa presented him with a cool dump truck!

Parker was unsure too!

The babies all did great - this is Brooklyn

Emma

Hannah

Maya, Natalie & Sam

Our attempt at a family picture

 Then, Aunt Patty had a craft table set up for the kids - so much fun!  She made Christmas trees out of paper bags and had all kinds of stickers and ribbon to decorate them with.

Then our night cap was back at Grandma and Grandpa Clayton's house.  We just got into our jammies, relaxed and watched a movie.  First we did a re-do of our failed attempt of a grandkid picture from Thanksgiving and it went much better this time after some Charlie coercing.

We truly had an amazing Christmas this year.  We enjoyed so much time with our families and loved every minute.  I am lucky to have the week between Christmas and New Year's off, so I have been off work since December 20.  I was growing rather accustomed to my lifestyle these last almost two weeks, but alas, it's back to the grind tomorrow.