My dear sweet Charlotte is approaching the age of 3 in a matter of weeks people. WEEKS! Her personality is really beginning to take form. She's very shy and reserved in public but a giggly and goofy little girl at home with mom. She loves puzzles just as much as JP does. She has two puzzle-piece puzzles that she enjoys putting together over and over and over again.
As of the past month, she's been big on matching things. We have red plates and brown plates in our kitchen. Hunter and JP have always fought over the red plates, so it figures that Charlotte throws a fit if she doesn't get a brown plate. Anytime someone else gets a brown plate, her face lights up as she exclaims, "We match!! We both have brown plates!" Having matching plates or bowls seriously makes her day.
Somethings are a lot less matchy, but as long as she believes they match, everything is good. We showered the other day and she watched me get dressed. Shortly there after she ran off to her room to put on her black undies so we could have matching undies. She doesn't have a black pair, so the pair she chose to match mine were actually white with Minnie Mouse on them. You know because Minnie has black ears. We match!!
Other days we match because we both have ponytails or we both have a coat on. Whatever she can pick out to be the same. She just loves it! The other day I had the twins at the house and they were sitting nicely playing in the living room, when out of no where Charlotte exclaims, "MOM! We match!"
M- We do?
C- I have shoes and the babies have shoes! We match!
M - Oh yes! You do match!
C- *takes shoes off and pulls up pant legs* *Gasp* WE MATCH!! We both have legs!
M - You do match! Wow!
The next day I was changing diapers and again I hear "We match!!" followed by a "We have the same peepees! We match mom!" I couldn't really contain my laughter. All I could do was agree with a "Yes, we're all girls!"
I wonder how we'll match tomorrow....?
Sunday, April 24, 2016
The Spring Soccer Season Has Started!!
I really really really wanted Hunter to play baseball again this spring, but his heart just wasn't in it. He's on a kick about wanting to try out every sport to see which one he likes the most. He wants to try football, but Perry and I don't think he's ready for that sport. Not that they tackle yet, but he probably would... I knew I was going to sign JP up for soccer, so I signed Hunter up as well. The last few weeks have been a bit chaotic getting the kids to practice, but they're enjoying it so far.
Both boys had games last Sunday. Today's games were cancelled due to poor playing conditions since it rained all day yesterday and has been off and on today. (I'm relieved!) Perry and I were both super impressed with Hunter at his game last week! He was "on task" nearly every time he was in. Goalie was a hard position for him - that net was too tempting not to play with!
Hunter made me laugh each time there was a throw in. He always held his hands up, as if he were playing basketball.
Such a little stud with his new hair cut!
I think his favorite position is being a forward. There's not many kids on the team, but I was a little surprised that he only played in two of the four quarters. Ahh well though!
JP's first game started while Hunter's game was in the 3rd quarter, and it took place on the opposite end of the Fort. I stayed to watch Hunter finish up while Perry took JP over to his game. I'll be real you. I bought JP green socks, not just because he loves green, but so I could tell which one was JP at a quick glance. There are about 8 teams in Hunter's division, and about 20 in JP's since his is co-ed. Somehow they both managed to be on the black teams. So the socks' main purpose is for me to be able to distinguish between the two. Black legs vs green legs.
I wish I could have watched more of his game, but of what I did see, JP looked to be having fun. For the most part, he hung to the back and let everyone else kick at the ball. He was happy to find out one of his classmates is also on his team. It makes it more enjoyable for me too when I know the kids who are playing.
At the end of both games, the parents make a tunnel for all the kids to run through. This was a huge hit with all the kids. I didn't tunnel-up for Hunter's game since Perry wasn't there, but we matched up for JP's and since Hunter wanted in on the action, Perry put him up on his shoulders. Of course Charlotte had to come up on mine then.
It was a such a beautiful day for their first games and I'm anxious to watch them play again. I'm anxious for picture day too, mostly because I can't wait to see how they smile. I ordered magnets this year :)
I Survived Spring Break!
Technically spring break began about three weeks ago, but it's taken me an extra two weeks to recover. I'm so drained. The boys had a half day of school on Thursday, which actually means they went to school for 2.5 hours and then spring break started.
10 days of chaos is what ensued after they hopped off the bus at 11:25 and stayed home alone for 20 minutes. 20 minutes is all it took for them to have their sack lunches strung across the living room. It took the rest of the day to clean it up because Hunter and JP decided they were going to play a game they made up called, "Travel". They've only played it once but I loved it.
Here they are ready to start the game. JP told me they were traveling to Alaska and that they wouldn't be back until dinner time. There was only one rule in the game - you have to stay outside all day. (Hence why he'd be back for dinner!)
They each hauled out, what felt like both of their bedrooms, to the back yard and laid there for quite some time, and then fought with Charli when she decided she want to play.
Come nightfall, I agreed to let the boys sleep on the deck. I believe the temperature dropped down to about 36* by morning, but JP stayed out all night. Hunter came in at some point.
Friday was April Fool's Day. I normally don't prank the kids because they've ever really understood the day. This year however they stumbled upon the meaning while at school. Thursday was filled with "April Fools!!!" after everything they said, so I figured this year I'd prank them. They're long over due. I saw the oreos filled with toothpaste somewhere online, and knew I could get them with it. I filled three and let the kids have a cookie for dessert. Of course I filmed it and though they're reaction wasn't quite what I expected, I realized three weeks later, that JP actually ate it!
On Monday of spring break, I took all three kids to Costco to get a membership, I had been putting it off so I figured now was as good of a time as any. Plus, I had to kill some time as we waited for the waterslides to shut off at the hotel so we could go swimming. If the slides are on, I have to get in to pull Charlotte out of the way of the slides, but if they're off, I can put her in a life jacket and observe from the lounge chair. Charlotte absolutely loves swimming!
Hunter doesn't actually need a life jacket in the pool but he insists. LOOK AT THOSE CURLS!
JP likes to just jump on his life jacket from the side of the pool. Over and over I told him to knock it off before he got hurt, and then he almost knocked his head on the edge. Ugh. They also fought most of the time over the green goggles, that were more yellow than anything...
By Thursday afternoon, we were all getting restless in the house so we took a trip to McClay's Flats and hung out by the river for a while.
This is what happens when Hunter's hair is straighten. I may or may not have bribed him to let me...
The boys spent their time digging holes and playing with the poop bag JP insisted he needed.
Hunter's soccer coach called first thing on Friday morning to let us know his first practice would be that night. We made it work, but we already had plans on going to circus with Grandma. To say Charlotte was excited would be an understatement.
All the kids were shocked to see "Roxy" in the circus! Hahaha! They were pretty confused! Some of the stunts the people do make me nervous and sick and I have a hard time watching. The aerial acrobats were pretty fun to watch though.
We also enjoyed watching the camel prance around with the horses and ponies. He seemed a little stuck-up and better than the others!
My favorite was the dancing elephants! I just love elephants! I almost went down and bought a ticket to ride one, but it was getting late and the kids were getting antsy. The show didn't get over until about 9:45p so we had a few tired kids on our hands. Hunter spent the weekend with Grandma and had fun at the cabin. JP was super excited to hear that his *best* friend from school lived only a few blocks away and that he wanted him to come play Saturday afternoon. JP was bouncing off the walls!
As for me, I managed to get a bunch of quilting done on Britta's quilt. I'm happy to announce I finished it the other week, and have already moved on to another quilt! Between quilting and babysitting, I'm exhausted!
Saturday, April 23, 2016
Basement Remodel: Update #3
Has it really been a month since I last posted about our basement? Gah. The days have been long and the nights way way way too short!
Let's see here...After the Easter weekend was over, Perry pulled up the carpet and re-laid it. He's also kept busy working on the trim. To say it looks amazing isn't giving him enough credit.
Just look at how nice that door looks! As Perry says, "It looks so sexy" Seriously though, he's a keeper.
In his free time, when he's home and not exhausted, Perry has been working on getting the hallway taped, filled with mud, and textured. I believe this weekend he's going to work on the columns. He hasn't told me what exactly he's going to do with them, but he informed our neighbors that they will be jealous. So there's that.
In other news, Perry and I agreed to get rid of our extra queen mattress. Grandma said she'd give us her hide-a-bed couch in replacement so we'd still have an extra place for company to sleep if needed. Hunter spent the weekend with her the other weekend, and Perry brought the couch back with him.
We tried to get it downstairs into the spare room and just couldn't. We hauled stuff around for a good hour. We first switched out mattresses with the one JP had in his room. (I haven't been sleeping well at night, so I was hoping a change in mattress would do the trick. It didn't.) After the mattress shuffle, we began the process of hauling the couch inside. The hide-a-bed portion was detached from the frame thank goodness! Because we have a split entry home, we had to bring the couch in and up the stairs, shut the front door, then take the couch around the corner to go to the basement. Such a production. As soon as we brought it down the stairs, we discovered the bathroom door was going to need to come off. Off it went and into the basement a bit further the couch came. That was about as far as we got.
Over and over I explained to Perry that even if we could get the couch through the basement doorway, there was no way we'd be able to get it into the room. The angle just wasn't going to work. He was adamant it'd work. He was even going to go as far taking the couch apart to get it in there... I won the debate. However, now that the couch can't go downstairs and Grandma doesn't want the couch back, we're moving our room downstairs.
Yup. Perry convinced me. I'm not thrilled about it. I don't like the idea of Charli being upstairs alone because she's so young still and wakes up needing me every so often. I just don't want her navigating the stairs the dark. That brings me to my next project, after I repaint the new room. I wasn't in love with the purple-grey but was going to deal with it for an extra room. Now that it'll be my room, it's got to go. Once that's painted, as well as the hallway, we'll be playing the switcher-roo game with the kids. Hunter will go upstairs to our room, Charlotte will go to Hunter's room, and my new sewing room will be Charlotte's room. SO much re-painting to do... I'm already over it.