Naked Elves

I went to pick the boys up from preschool one day last week and Austin's teacher stopped me for a chat.  It was a couple days after the big "winter blast" of 2014.  Which was basically just a couple days where the temps got down into the single digits and schools were delayed because it was.....cold.  Not icy or snowy...just cold.

But anyway, apparently Austin's teacher and the preschool director were in his class and having a quick chat about the chilly temperatures when Austin piped up and told them that his daddy had told him all about the "naked elves."  Feeling confused, they continued to ask him what he was talking about and he insisted he knew all about the "naked elves."  This apparently went on for a few more minutes until one of them finally realized he was saying negatives...as in temperatures below 0.  I got a small chuckle when I heard the story but in reality I was just confused at how two preschool teachers could confuse the word negatives with naked elves.  

On the ride home I asked Austin what it was called when the temperature went below zero and sure enough, all I could hear was "naked elves!"  At that point the story went from slightly amusing to hilarious as I couldn't stop thinking about what in the world his teachers must have thought of us teaching our kids about naked elves!!

And while we're certainly not naked, take a look at this fine family of dancing elves!!

Blue Eyed Boy

Mom called him "Mista Blue Eyes."

She also called those baby blues "ladykillers."

If only she could see him now!!

Hearts, rainbows and tiger paws!

Austin and Owen are not the sleeping-in type.  I usually open my eyes around 7 am to see one of their cute wide-eyed faces staring right back at me hollering "good morning mommy, get up."  They don't even have to walk very far to wake me up seeing as how at least half the time one of them sneaks into my bed in the wee hours of the morning, flails their arms and legs about and then settles in so close to me that it pushes me to the very outer edge of my king sized bed.  (I complain about it a lot, but secretly I kind of love it.)

However, I AM the sleeping in type, considering my bedtime is usually around 1-2 am, I find it almost impossible to get my legs working before 7:45.  Austin, being the mature 5 year old that he is, understands this and will entertain himself for a half hour or so in the mornings by either turning on the tv, coloring or stealing my phone to play games.  Owen will often stay in bed and cuddle with me until it's time to get up, or on some mornings he'll go find his brother to play.  Some of their best brotherly bonding moments seem to happen before 8 am.  

This morning Austin woke me up before 7 am and I groggily told him to hop in my bed and that we'd get up when the sun came up.  He declined (he's never been one for cuddling) and said he was going to go color.  I never heard Owen get up but they both came into my room around 7:30 am with a mountain of pictures they'd drawn for their favorite football player, Clemson's quarterback, #10, Tajh Boyd.  

Tonight is the Orange Bowl and Tajh's last game of his college career so they thoughtfully drew him pictures to say "thanks" and "we'll miss you..."

...on the cardboard cake plates I bought for making baby shower diaper cakes.

Hearts, rainbows and tiger paws!

(Owen did the two on the right, he's still not big on coloring yet.)

Christmas morning this year, Santa brought them matching #10 jerseys.  

They've hardly taken them off since!

Go Tigers!

Rainy Day

Ryan went back to work today after almost 2 weeks off for the holidays.  It was a yucky and rainy day and the disaster that is my house right now was making me more depressed.  I called/texted no less than 7 friends to get together a playdate but no one was quite feeling it today.  (Note to self...give friends more than a half hours notice when you want to hang out.)

We ended up doing the only thing I could think of that would help the boys release some of their pent up energy while being indoors...we went to Monkey Joes.  Sure they'll have a cold for the next two weeks now, but it was fun.  It also reminded me how thankful I am that the boys are so close in age since they pretty much ran around and played with each other the entire time.  I often forget how great it is that they're only 18 months apart since 50% of the time they're together they're fighting or arguing over a toy.  The other 50% of the time they're best friends though, so it makes it all worth it!

Happy 2014!

Surprise!!

We're back!!

Monster Truckin'

Mine and Ryan's 5 year anniversary was August 11th...which just so happened to coincide with the big Back to School Monster Truck Bash at the Charlotte Speedway.  Our boys really love their monster trucks, and this is a once a year event, so we put the romance aside for awhile and off we went!  And since his grandsons have converted him into a monster truck fan as well, my dad (Papa), came up and went with us too.

We started at the pit party and got pictures with all the trucks and even a few of our favorite drivers.  Austin and Papa rode Sergeant Smash and it was a big hit.  Owen was fascinated, and apparently a little hungry because he kept sneaking up to the people behind us and stealing their food.  Austin's favorite truck, Stone Crusher, won both events and I couldn't wait to see how excited he'd be...until he told me that Stone Crusher was now his old favorite truck and his new favorite trucks were Equalizer and Hooked.  I should have realized that when Stone Crusher did so well that Austin was going to lose interest.  My boy loves an underdog!!

 Austin posing with his "former" favorite truck

Owen watching Sergeant Smash do his thing. 

 A rare photo with me in it!

 Big Tires!

How many children can you fit in a monster truck tire?? 

Austin and Papa after riding in the truck.

Me and Austin with our favorite driver, Jim Koehler.

Austin with Steve Sims, Stone Crusher's driver.

"Hands on your knees, hands on your knees..."

"You see dat??"

Project Playroom: Chalkboard Table

One of my "must-haves" while we were house hunting was that it had to have a space that I could use for the boys' playroom.  I was tired of having my living room covered in toys that I had to clean up several times a day and the boys needed a bigger space all their own to play in.  The new house has a formal sitting room downstairs that ended up being perfect for project playroom.

It is still a work in progress, but coming along pretty good so far!  I hope to do a whole blog tour once we're a little more settled, but I do want to share my super easy, super cheap and super fun chalkboard table project since it's one of the first things I accomplished after we moved in.

I am so grateful that we have an IKEA less than 10 minutes from our house and a lot of my projects involve cheap IKEA finds.  This table was less than $20 and was fairly easy to assemble on my own.  Out of the box it is a natural wood color with a white top and seats so there are tons of possibilities.  I chose to add a  couple coats of orange spray paint and with some swipes of chalkboard paint on top...voila!  Easy chalkboard table!!

FYI - I have since added a hook and a small bucket on the outside to hold the chalk and erasers.  Chalk storage is key, as I learned rather quickly.  Otherwise you'll find chalk all over your house, it will get stepped on and end up as multicolored dust all over your new floors!!

Pretty Pink Polish

So, one day last week I was in the kitchen putting away some dishes, Owen was napping and Austin was playing with his cars quietly on the stairs.  It was a typical weekday afternoon...except that Austin was quiet, which is most certainly NOT typical.  However, before I put 2 and 2 together and realized that I was doing household chores alone and quietly while my 3 year old was awake...I see him walking towards me with a huge grin on his face.

Uh Oh!

Before I could ask, he says to me, "Hi!  I'm Mommy" and holds out his hands.....

Of course my first reaction was to panic and run around looking for spilled pink polish on our brand new carpet.  Luckily I found the bottle upright, closed up tightly and sitting on the stairs where Austin had been playing.  Then I was finally able to "admire" his work (and make a mental note to hide all my nail polish in the future).  Now, there's nothing really wrong with a 3 year old boy wanting to be like his mom and paint his nails pink, but just for good measure we decided it couldn't hurt to go play a few games of monster truck racing and superheroes....

Confessions and Updates!!

Well hey there...remember me?  It's been so long that I barely remember how to work this thing anymore.  I haven't even taken a peek at this blog in months or even considered writing again, but for some reason tonight just seemed like a good night to give it a try and possibly get back in the swing of things.

This blog was a huge part of my life for so long, but honestly, life just got in the way.  I have really missed updating this online scrapbook about my boys' lives and the adventures of our family.  It was not only a place to jot down some awesome memories for my own future reference, but a way of letting friends and family know how we were doing and what we were up to.  My mom especially loved my blogs and it's been difficult to write them knowing she's not able to read them anymore.

It's been a little over 8 months since she's been gone now.  Her sudden passing really sent me into some dark places, a depression if you will, and it's been a daily struggle to deal with so many of those emotions.  I often don't feel like the same person I was just 8 short months ago but I'm fighting now to get that person back.

Back in my busy blogging days I took my camera everywhere just in case a blogworthy moment popped up.  I wrote down the funny things the boys did or said so I wouldn't forget to share it in my next post.  I even made sure we had exciting adventures as often as possible so I could fill the blog with our fun family memories.  I'm hoping that re-starting this blog will bring some of that back.

So, without further adieu, let me catch you up on some things!

-In April we celebrated Easter at Papa's house as well as his 61st birthday.  We spent a lot of time outdoors in the beautiful Spring weather, rode scooters, went strawberry picking, attended a few baseball games, met Braves legend, Dale Murphy, and met up with friends in Columbia for Toy Story on Ice and Tyler's 4th birthday.

-In May we celebrated Owen's 2nd birthday, attended Austin's end of the year preschool party, went to Tiger World, did a lot of swimming and some slip 'n sliding, had Austin's last t-ball game of the season and watched our first major hail storm.

-In June we went to the beach, saw a good friend get married, Austin caught his first crab, Owen had his first glass of sweet tea and stayed awake for about 14 hours straight and after months of looking we bought a new house!!

-In July we packed...and packed...and moved...and moved...and cleaned...and unpacked...and moved some more...and continued unpacking and made several trips to Lowe's and spent way too much money on U-hauls and blinds and paint and furniture, etc., etc.  We also celebrated the 4th of July at our local park, had a huge yard sale, played in the pool, ate popsicles on the porch and Austin started swim lessons.

So there ya have it...4 months in one post!  Whew!  Still with me?  Hope so...and hopefully a lot more where this came from in the near future!!!