Booth Fun

 Earlier this month hubby was busy with his woodworking skills....first, he made the boys their own growth charts :

Yep, he painted them himself too! Nate's is the lighthouse one and the other is suppose to resemble a Van Gogh painting for Aaron

Then, skimming through Pinterest one day, I saw pictures of a booth that could be used for multiple play activities. Hubby always seems to be excited about new woodworking projects so I asked him about building it, and he did!

First we decorated it for Valentines Day

Then, this past weekend we used it as a Lemonade Stand -

Strawberry shortcake cupcakes and lemon bars

Strawberry lemonade

It's too large to fit in the house so we're keeping it outside. We're busy now gearing up for Spring Break (in only another week!) so I'll probably wait until the end of March/beginning of April before coming up with our next activity with it. I ought to crank out at least two more ideas, I think, before the hot weather arrives :p Kids enjoy it !

Valentines

We had a wonderful Valentines Day, but I am sure glad it's over! I'm really glad this whole month is about over, though it does only bring on a busy March. I'm just relieved to be done with party preparations, for now :)

Some pictures from our day!

 Typical of late, trying to make the boys holiday lunches. This is Aaron's : heart shaped watermelon and strawberries, purple/pink carrot, milk, a note and meat slices on a heart stick.

I was happily surprised when a good friend dropped this by for me early that morning!

Not the best picture, but I wanted to show that I taped hearts to the boys' chairs :)

I also found some flowers from our bushes and a heart shaped cookie made by my hubby. Yum!

Nate's lunch/snack : message on a banana, also got heart berries/watermelon, heart PBJ, berry yogurt, milk and a note (and yes, this is a new lunchbox! I love that each compartment is labeled as to what to put in there, Nate has started to help me pack lunches)

Got the kids each a chocolate covered marshmallow

Class party time! Cookie decorating station. I planned/hosted and brought a lot of the items for their party. Kids had a good time!

Nate's school had a picnic that day, too!

Making heart necklaces

With their love bug hats

Again Nate was thrilled to come home and open all of his Valentines, including Candy Grams - where we or any friends at school could send each other little notes with lollipops. I remember doing that as a kid in elementary school, too. He thought it was neat to have received a few of those.

My parents then came over that evening to watch the kids so that hubs and I could enjoy an evening out. Great way to end the day!

Mr Six Years Old!

Nate is so proud to have turned the big "6" yesterday! Suddenly he's older and is able to do more things (according to him), like another round of trying new food! (yay for me) I also got him a new lunchbox that has multiple compartments that are labeled (fruit, protein, veggie,etc) so now I'm starting to get him more involved in the lunch making process. I hope the excitement over this lasts! ;)

He had a wonderful birthday. It all began coming to the kitchen and discovering his chair decorated, pancakes for breakfast, I stayed in his classroom to volunteer and pass out birthday treats, Nana came and brought him lunch, then once daddy got home we went out for dinner and ended the night with watching "Turbo" (his favorite latest movie). He went to bed a happy boy!

More facts about this six year old boy....

--Hardly have to bribe him to go to school. He enjoys his teacher and friends. Usually around the time he starts to moan  a little about it, thankfully a break is close by!

--Enjoys soccer. I'm glad I have him only signed up for one outside school activity, with up to two practices and a game each week, it is enough to keep us busy! I imagine we'll sign him up for another session after Spring Break again. We've both made new friends through it and I think it's overall just been a good release! Oh yeah- I also enjoy not having to coach this time as well ;)

--Favorite foods still consist of mac & cheese, chicken nuggets, hot dogs and pizza. He'll eat a good variety of fruit but not so keen on veggies. Slowly I'm trying to get him to try new foods without being confrontational about it. It's interesting to see how the kids differ in this way!

--Most days still likes his little brother. He likes to help me enforce rules, yet is protective of Aaron too. He still has his moments, but overall he's really good with his little brother. And he loves his dog!

--It hasn't changed that he enjoys playing outside the most - his favorite, all-time activity. Though he is anxious for summer so he can go to swimming lessons again.

--For the last year or so, is all about his "schedule". His running line-up of activities. He likes to be busy. All the reason why Aaron and I are staying home more!

--Doesn't watch TV. Not to say he doesn't watch movies, but he only watches things streamed through Netflix or PBS on my iPad. Yep, he's never seen a Fruit Loops commercial and I like it that way.

--Hasn't touched a video game. I like it that way, too. He has a LeapFrog pad that has educational games, which he and Aaron both like to use. What can I say? For as long as I can, I'm keep them as innocent as I can!

--Kind of like his "schedule", he is all about routine. Always doing this first, that second, etc. Predictability always works good for us!

--Likes to help his daddy build things. Sometimes even pitch in with the yardwork or housework. Which makes me think it might be a good time possibly to start thinking about chores and allowances...

Still such a good, sweet and growing smart little boy! He's looking older and older each passing year :( Hard to think I've been a SAHM now for six years. I'm blessed to have the opportunity. Love spending this time with my little guys!

Happy Birthday Nathan!

Nate's Birthday Bash

Yesterday we had a ball celebrating Nate's birthday (his actual day being tomorrow). As usual he's been on countdown for a while. It was great this time being able to hand over the reins to someone else - not having to worry about decorating, coming up with games or activities to do...we simply went to an amusement indoor area that had bowling, an arcade, bumper cars, etc and that provided all the entertainment ! Nate seemed to have a wonderful time (and I enjoyed the extra time getting to mingle with guests while our host did all the dirty work!)

Riding motorcycles with Aunt Angie

Photo booth fun

We were so happy with how his superhero cake turned out!

Cousin Autumn being silly

Happy to have gal pal Lauren back for his birthday this year!

Two friends from class at school

This new rail to help the little kids bowl is great!

So funny...waiting for brother to finish games and we look over to see little Aaron eating cake!

Now of course Nate is looking forward to tomorrow, his actual big day!

Aaron's Valentine Party & Nate's Valentine Dance!

The boys both had a great time at their respective Valentine events today! While Nate was in school this morning Aaron and I went to my Mom's Club Valentine party/exchange.

We brought water bottles and heart shaped strawberries to munch on

Aaron's Valentine box - a school bus!

Not the prettiest but the boys thought it was cool :)

Enjoying the munches. I was pleasantly surprised because everyone brought healthy potluck items and there were was no candy attached to any Valentines! (I know, I know....I'm one of "those" moms!)

 

Aaron didn't really get what was going on, but regardless I'm glad he had some sort of Valentine exchange of his own. Nate has one in class on the actual day.

Then this evening, Nate's school put on a fundraising dance! Oh it was cute. He is a tuckered out boy though so I'm hoping he sleeps in tomorrow! There was dancing with a DJ, a photo booth, raffles, popcorn, candy...it was a party all right.

Decorations before the lights went out

Dancing in the VIP room

Nate with his teacher, Mrs Lopez

Never knew Nate was a dancing machine!

Bumped into good pal Braedan

Lots of fun with his gal pal, Lauren. We are so glad she's back from Australia, we can only hope permanently!

Student of the Month!

We were proud to have found out this week that Nate was one of the kids chosen to be Student of the Month! The character trait for the month was "citizenship", so maybe he acted like a good "citizen" in class? Not quite sure what got him nominated exactly, but he's always shown good behavior at school. At the end of the month there's an assembly to honor all the kids, Nate was excited to go up on stage (then perhaps a little terrified once he was up there!)

I think it's really nice that his school puts a lot of emphasis on good character traits such as kindness, responsibility, respect,etc. During the assembly the school's student council even put on a skit demonstrating the "right and kind ways" to deal with situations. I heart his school even more.

Well, before we know it February will be gone! So busy this month with Valentine activities and of course, Nate's 6th birthday! Wowzers! Hubby has also picked up on his traveling for work so that always makes me extra busy.

Farmer Shopping

I forgot an important part of our "real food" resolution for the New Year - farmer's markets! Yes, as part of trying to eat more "better for you" kind of food, we're trying to shop more with our local farms. Plus, I just like the added benefit of supporting local people and communities. I actually found a decent market near us that happens on Saturday mornings-(I then also discovered that we need to get there before 10am, as a lot of vendors sell out!) It ranges from all sorts of different foods to farms to food trucks to arts/crafts that people make. They also just started a face painting station for the kids. It's very family friendly, people even bring their dogs.

So anyway, below are a few pictures from recent trips!

First trip - got local eggs, juices, fruit, grass fed beef, five ingredient bread, lettuce

Today's trip - fruit, bread, lettuce, broccoli, green onions, sweet potatoes, little chilies (I'm stoked to try those out), more beef and local pork! I was excited for that. I've never seen "organic"/local pork for sale in stores or at the market yet before.

I'm pretty elated about it. Some items are even cheaper than the store. I wish I could one stop shop but my goal is to try and get most of our meat/fruit and vegetables from here. Here's to healthy eating!

S**t Happens

Time for another humorous (now that I've had some happy juice I'm finding it funny)  round-up of something Aaron has done.Before I go any further, my post is a bit gross, so I wouldn't recommend it at the moment if you are eating...

So...it all started when I put Aaron down for his nap/rest time today. He was fine for a while, but once an hour or so hits and I can tell he's not sleeping I usually let him out of his room. I was on my way to do that when I got a whiff...I knew before I opened the door that something was up.

Ta-da! Poop!

 That would be poop on his FACE, hands, clothes...and in his room : dresser, wall, floor, cars, nightlight and humidifier!! (I spared the graphic pictures of his room) What a (not so) pleasant surprise! I would certainly like to think I'd remember such an occasion if Nate did this, but I don't think he did. Boys will be boys?!

New Year 2014

Happy New Year ! We hope everyone had a safe and fun evening. We started New Years Eve with a hike (the boys and Josh's mom did, anyway) while I visited and  cuddled with my good friend's three month old baby. The boys then spent most of the day outside before we met my whole family for a nice dinner out. It was a lot of fun!

"Ringing" in the New Year!

Even our waiter wanted in on the fun!

We had dinner nice and early so that we could do more fun stuff at home before the boys went to bed, like playing a game Nate got for Christmas. Then the kids went off to bed and hubby and I enjoyed some drinks, movies and games. We fell asleep by 10:30, however.... :( (I know I know, but we had been up with Aaron a few hours the night before) Our neighbors were sure to let us know when it was midnight, I think this has been the year with the most firecrackers around! Thankfully the boys didn't wake up at all with the noise.

Now for the good stuff : what are our goals for the year, you ask? Well, sort of boring, perhaps. The same as last year (and like many others, I'm sure!) : generally good health by working out and eating clean. We did pretty well, I think, for our first year trying to eliminate some processed stuff from our diet. Some being the key word. Nate is pretty stubborn with trying new foods (a little better than the beginning of last year perhaps, but still pretty resistant). If I can't cut out a processed food completely, I at least try to buy a healthier version of it (like his chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese). But my goal is to make those things from scratch and have everyone eating it. Well, generally making most everything from scratch by year's end! I'm definately, definately doing better in that regard than what I was doing in 2012. I just need to turn it up a few notches in 2014 :) However, we will still eat out, maybe not have the healthiest things sometimes...that's just life, in my opinion. I believe in the 80/20 rule.

I'd say another reason I believe in the 80/20 rule, is because we're active. Last year Nate started soccer, and I continued to work out - a lot of running, mostly. I was in a few races, including a half marathon and full marathon. I've already signed up for my first half marathon this year, first week of March! There's not much room for slacking in the New Year :) I think I will do one more half in the fall, but doubting I will do another full this year. Break! Looking forward to being able to mix up work-outs again.

Wishing you all a healthy, happy 2014!