Lately

Whew, I need to do better at posting! We've been keeping busy around here. Memorial day weekend snuck up on us so we didn't have any big plans. Danny took Cohen camping for one night while Ezra stayed and Gramma's and I got a night to myself! We had a few plans here and there and we kept busy. We took the boys down to the Children's museum and to a big dinner out at Costco. That's how we roll.

Cohen has been a busy boy too! He has just 2 more weeks of school left so we went in for a meeting with his teachers and therapists. He seems to be doing well and likes going. It's always good to hear from the teachers because all Cohen says about school is "nothing".  We went over his IEP and goals that will continue on to next year.

Cohen also moved into a big boy bed. It was strangely emotional to see him in a real bed, not a toddler bed anymore! From isolette to an actual bed, he looks so little. But he loves his bed and we repeat many, many times a day to the boys that the bed is not for jumping, but they both like to hang out up there. Cohen has also enjoyed telling anyone that will listen that "I'm turning four soon!" and that he wants to have a "farm animal and trucks and tractors birthday party". He is also getting SO good at his riding his balance bike. He has always loved walks, I think it's calming for him, and now he can ride his bike while I push Ezra in the stroller. Ez is usually content to just sit and ride, which is way easier than Cohen speeding down the sidewalk on his bike and Ezra stopping to look at every bug and flower along the way.

Ezra's just been keepin' on being a toddler. He learned the words "no" and "mine" in the same week. He and Cohen fight frequently, but then I hear them over the baby monitor giggling and laughing and talking when no one is watching and it's the best. Love these brothers so much.

The Real Life Christmas Card

We have so far been unsuccessful at sending out Christmas cards since having kids (and before). This might be part of the reason...Just keepin' it real.

At least they're cute!

A Camping We Will Go...

Even though last year we were brave enough to go camping with a 2 month old and a 2 year old, this year I just couldn't quite pull the trigger on it. My dad wanted to have family camping trip for his birthday, so we decided to give it a go. It was stressful feeling like I was always 2 seconds from someone taking a dive into the fire, but having family around helped a ton!

We have outgrown our four man tent so we gave that to my parents and we borrowed "the mansion" tent from my brother. It has room divider making it a two room tent with a front porch. It's not easy to put up, but it worked well so we could put the boys on on side and we could sleep on the other.

Grampa brought his fishing boat and Cohen and the other kids loved going out for rides. Cohen saw the buoy in the middle of the lake and thought it was the funniest thing he'd seen all day. The whole way back (and back out on his next trip) he would say buoy, buoy, buoy repeatedly.

(And yes it was super humid and my hair was a little out of control, good thing I didn't know until I looked at the pictures!)

There was a big field right behind our campsites which worked out well. We could send the kids out to play and they had a little more room to run. Cohen brought his little bike and walked it all over the campground.

Cohen helping Daddy make foil dinners and marshmallows for dessert!

After one night of no sleep, we almost packed it up, but we stuck it out and survived another night. The boys loved it and I'm excited for next year when they are a little older!

Staycation 2014: Railway Museum

We have a little Railway Museum nearby and I have been wanting to bring Cohen for awhile now and we finally made it happen! I never really know how he's going to do at places, if it's going to be a 10 minute wander and leave type thing, but he loved it here. It's hard to find things that keep Cohen's interest without being overwhelming, too much noise, not enough things to touch etc.

We walked in the door and he was already trying to get to the trains before we even paid admission. It is super kid friendly which is really nice. There are little stair stations set up so the kids can get up close and see the trains.

There is another little section with smaller trains and the kids can push the buttons to make the trains go. Cohen was a little too tempted and kept trying to touch the trains as they went by and knocked them off a few times, whoops.

They also have several train tables set up and boxes of train toys that the kids can play with. Cohen loved the train tables and all the trains. His favorite parts are the bridges and seeing how many trains he can connect and making the longest train ever. The only downfall is that they don't drive very well and he hates it when they fall apart or fall off the tracks! But, he did really well and I was very proud of him.

Ezra also loved watching the trains too. He would climb up on the little stairs and watch the trains go by. He would point and grunt every time they came by.

It was kind of small, but I am thrilled to have found something that keeps both boys entertained, although it probably wouldn't be as easy to watch both boys without Danny. We'd definitely go back here for sure!

Staycation 2014: Picking Blueberries

This morning we headed out with my sisters and nephews for some blueberry picking. In the past, we've done strawberry picking but we totally missed it this year. There is a blueberry patch down around the corner from our house so we rode our bikes down. Cohen has always loved riding in the bike trailer so he was thrilled. He did a good job picking berries, refused to eat any, and got distracted by the big sprinkler. We brought the blueberries home for Ezra to chow down on, boy loves blueberries. Danny even made us some blueberry muffins!

Staycation 2014

We are on a little staycation over here, both Danny and I have the week off. We started the week off by a nice weekend away. We had two sets of friends getting married so we left the kids with Gramma and Grampa and had a little much needed grownup time.

We made a little list of things we'd like to do, but no set plans. Hopefully a nice balance of crossing some projects off our list, family fun, and relaxing.

For our first day, we laid low, put together some shelves from Ikea that we picked up over the weekend. And took a trip to the park after naps, per Cohen's request. The boys love our local park and really love splashing in the creek!

Can I just take a minute to say how proud I am of our big boy? Even within the last year he has come so far in his physical abilities and his confidence in them. From a kid who wouldn't walk on any kind of uneven or not firm surface to a guy who will go across the wobbly bridge (most of the time), climb ladders, and go on a tire swing! My heart is just so proud of him. It's the little things that are the big things.