Down, Set, Hike

Bronco fever has hit our house. Big time.

 Here's the latest game the boys came up with: "Down, Set, Hike!"

I wonder how many miles they run in a day.

This Post Brought to You by the Letter A and the Colors Blue and Orange

I took the boys to preschool and picked them up for the first time in a while. Eric's been the one doing preschool duty lately. It's a little stressful taking the boys to school in the morning because they don't exactly leap out of bed. However, most days the pick-up time is very enjoyable. (Of course there are few temper tantrums thrown into the mix to make us stay humble in front of the employees and other parents.) I try to take pictures of the boys' art work and projects for posterity, so here are today's pictures.

They are doing an "All about me" unit. A few days ago they were asked what makes them special. Aiden said, "I don't know?" He tends to ask 5 million questions when we read books and sometimes I have to resort to saying "I don't know," because my answers don't seem to completely satisfy his curiosity. I also try to remember to ask him what he thinks and he has some pretty good insight. Any way, I guess I wasn't too surprised by his answer. Since hearing about this display from Eric, I've been trying to point out reasons the boys are special.

Reid's answer: "I'm special because... when I fall down and have boo boos I get band-aids." He has gone through a few band-aids lately, so this answer fits well.

They are also studying the letter A. I love the pictures of them working on their crafts.

They made mini me art:

Reid has that scowl on his face from time to time and it looks like Aiden might have glasses drawn around his eyes:

And life-size me art:

Reid's answers:

Favorite color: Blue and orange (Go, Broncos!)

Favorite food: Crackers (One of Daddy's favorites too.)

What makes me happy? Daddy! (So true. He loves his daddy.)

Aiden's answers:

Favorite color: Blue

Favorite food: Mommy's food (I don't think it's my cooking. I think he literally means the food from my plate, which he does like to mooch.)

What makes me happy? Trucks! (Also very true.)

Apple art by the apples of my eye. A couple of lefties? The jury's still out, but it looks like they're using their left hands in most of these pictures.

The name tags on their table spots. They're assigned to two different tables.

Reid took this picture of me and Aiden after I was done taking pictures of their artwork. Probably for the best that it's blurry, because Friday-evening-Keri usually looks like she was run over by a bus.

I can't remember if I posted last month's sports themed artwork or not, so here you go.

First, a picture of their classroom:

Trying on some of the dress-up hats:

Favorite sports plus decorated soccer balls:
Reid: "Basketball" (He also really enjoys playing soccer and baseball with Eric. I just bought them new size 3 "real" soccer balls since their foam ones are falling apart. The boys were very excited to get them. Reid said, "This is for me, Mom? This is for me?!!!!)
Aiden: "Power Rangers" (Miss Shannon said she asked Aiden his favorite sport a few times and he was insistent that this was his favorite sport. He does enjoy pretending to be a Power Ranger, so I can see where he's coming from.)

I think all these crafts are so creative!

They decorated jerseys:

This was the welcome sign I previously posted, plus their pictures added:

The boys have been requesting "Twinkle, Twinkle Traffic Light" for one of their bedtime songs, but Eric and I don't know the words and the boys kept forgetting them. Finally tonight I was taught the entire song:
"Twinkle, twinkle traffic light,
on the corner shining bright.
Red means STOP!
Green means GO!
Yellow means slow,
yellow means slow.
Twinkle, twinkle traffic light,
on the corner shining bright."

Finally, a random addition from my dad's favorite calendar:

The boys decided they wanted to practice using the potty by themselves after we went to bed. When I heard the first toilet flush and went to check, they told me to go back to bed. That's fine with me. I've since heard it flush two more times and I don't have triplets, so I'm not sure who went twice. We'll see what happens during the middle of the night. I also encouraged them to sleep in tomorrow morning but I'm sure I'll end up with a surprise face to face encounter with Reid bright and early which means I better get some sleep. Good night! As the boys told me tonight, "Don't let the beds bite!" (Yes, they left out "bugs".)

Today

Today I caught some beautiful lighting as I left for school. August and September evenings tend to be filled with late day storms. Luckily the rain held off and we were able to spend a little bit of time outside this evening before bedtime. For the past few weeks, we've made it a habit of going outside after supper and it's been my favorite time of day. I love watching the boys ride their bikes. They are getting fast! They already want to know when they'll get bikes with pedals. At this rate I don't think it will be too long.

Eric mowed the lawn this evening. Reid's turn to help was first. He's very conscientious of watching where Eric is and staying out of the way. Then he'll sprint across the lawn to catch up with Eric. After they were done with this section of the lawn he brought the lawn mower over to Aiden for his turn. I think he did this on his own, because I know I didn't tell him to share and I don't think Eric had told him either.

When Aiden is helping he tends to stay as close behind Eric as possible. He does this to us in the house too. Unfortunately this means we end up running into him when we turn around too quickly.

I finished one more row of knitting and half of the next row.

One final story...

Ever since we moved the boys into their toddler beds, we've put a baby gate in front of their door to prevent roaming around. Unfortunately, now that the boys are potty trained, they sometimes have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, but are trapped in their room. They scream for our help, which isn't the most comforting sound to wake up to. Starting last night we left the gate down and explained to them that they could use the potty by themselves in the middle of the night. I think we told them it's the "Don't Wake Up Mommy and Daddy Game." (Spoiler Alert: Mommy and Daddy are not winning this game.) Poor Reid gave it a shot but had trouble getting his pants off and started crying. Eric woke up and rescued him and then everyone went back to slumber land for a few more hours. Eric told me that after I left this morning, he fell back asleep. When he woke up, it was because Reid was standing two inches from his face and he and Aiden were about to yell "Surprise!" Well, it was Eric who accidentally did the yelling because Reid scared the living daylights out of him. Reid ran off because Eric's yelp surprised him and Aiden cowered off to the side not sure what to do. Looks like we'll have to adjust to no gate as well. I wonder if the boys will dare sneak up on Eric like that again.

The Rest of March

How about a little catching up? Here's the rest of March!

David, Kelsey, and Eva were in town before and after a trip to Utah with Kelsey's dad Jim and other-mom Denise. Can you believe how much Eva has changed since then?

My brother's love of cars was definitely passed on to Aiden. My mom recently found some of David's old matchbox cars and Aiden frequently asks if we can go over to Grandma's house so he can play with them. Don't worry, he has a ton of cars at our house.

Snuggling after nap time. Who knew the thumb-sucking would soon be obsolete. I'm more sad about it than they are:

Helping with laundry at Grandma's:

Running around in front of the house:

I left the room for a few minutes and the boys had pulled all of their books out of the bins. Sigh.

Brudders:

Writing a Happy Birthday message for my cousin Amy's son Thomas.

Hoops:

From Auntie Kelsey's phone:

Park time:

On this day I was the last one leaving school as the Jeep was the only vehicle in the staff lot:

Reading with Daddy:

David, Kelsey, Eva, Jim, and Denise back in town:

Spring snow storm:

Working on a fleece vest for Eva. I never got the boys' ones made, but I'll try again this fall:

Heading to church:

Giving Jesus a "five":

I took my mom to a play up in Evergreen (nearby mountain town) directed by the drama teacher at school. We both really enjoyed it:

We then ate at D-Bar Desserts. Yummy!

We tried potty training during Spring Break. The boys were frustrated and I was exhausted so we put it on hold until summer time.

Letting them eat and drink all the snacks they wanted in an attempt to get them use the potty:

Aiden was here; he loves to line up his cars:

Spring sun taking care of the snow:

Reid enjoys helping me in the kitchen:

Facetime:

A dress I made for Eva:

Eric began taking out some bushes and plants to make room for the boys' playset:

Go Rockies! Unfortunately it hasn't been the best season for the Rocks.

Just hanging out:

Waving goodbye to Daddy:

Fussy pants:

If you can't cheer them up, join them:

Out to Chili's with Grandma:

Easter cards from Grandpa and Grandma B:

Playing with the noisy toys at church:

More plant removal with Will and Hudson from next door joining in:

Happy Easter, Grandma!

Blowing bubbles that Grandma gave them for Easter. There were a big hit!

Good night.