Photos Courtesty of Jason

Seriously...I don't know why I'm slacking in the picture department lately.

The few I do have for today were all taken by J while I was gone last night. But first we must go back to where we left off. We indeed went to Wal-Mart after quiet time. On our way out Easton ordered apple dippers at the McDonald's only this time it was crowded in there. He had to wait in a line 2 people deep. He did great, but then when it was his turn, no one thought he was a solo customer. They kept looking over him to the adults saying, "I can help whoever is next". Poor E. So I went and got in line with him so they'd pay attention and I plopped him in front when it was our turn and went back to Dalton and the cart in the doorway.

We stopped for a Redbox on the way home and then came home to watch.

Jason got home from work a little early and we ate dinner before I ran off to a Montessori parents informational meeting at Eastie's school. I was excited about it but Jason wanted to stay home and watch the Saints on MNF...he knew I could fill him in. We went to the 3 preschool/pre-K classrooms and each of the 3 teachers for those age levels did a little presentation on the "works" the kids do and how they teach them things. The teachers put a ton of work into it and not a lot of parents showed up, even though it was offered to five different classes, there were maybe 10 or so of us with 4 of them being two married couples.

I'm really happy at this point that we chose a Montessori approach for Easton. I think the way they learn certain things and concepts is pretty cool...makes me wish you'd learned it that way sometimes. But one of the teachers with some older students (like our 5 year old neighbor) left out some of the stuff her students had been working on that day and it was amazing to see the sentences kids no older than 5 were "writing" with their moveable alphabet in their phonetic spelling. So cute. Or, it was cool to see examples of stuff Easton has mastered...like in the math presentation, I had no idea what the "bead stair" was when Mrs. M told us he mastered that back at his conference...but last night I got to see what it was.

So, I was there for 90 minutes and then came home to Jason who had done the bedtime routine with both boys all on his own as well as taken these:

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School was this morning and Easton did great yet again...this makes 4 times in a row now. And Mrs. M wasn't even there. Funny, she was there last night, but not today. Perhaps she has plans for the holiday? I decided to hang back and watch E for a bit. He walked in happily and wandered around for a bit while he looked around for the work he wanted to start with. He picked something and carried it over to a table where he sat and just went right to work. Montessori kids are so independent. He looked so cute, his little feet didn't quite reach the floor. A little later a classmate (whose feet did touch) came and sat across from him, but it's not like they sat there and acted silly, two boys at a table, they both just happily did their works. I'm glad he doesn't do this all day every day, because I love time to be silly...and even within classtime they do "fun" things, he really loves the songs and stories. And you can't forget recess.

I'm glad he's on a streak of doing so well and it's nice to have the confirmation that we chose the right type of school for him and our family. I mean, the way it's carried over at home...he's like above and beyond responsible much of the time...cleaning up after himself at the table, pushing in his chair...but then he'll clean up after Dalton too. He rocks.

When we went to pick him up I stopped and watched them on the playground for a bit. He was in the sandbox (as always) with a few other kids and when the teacher rang the "lets line up" bell all but one kid immediately stopped what they were doing and lined up all nice and orderly. I like for kids to be kids, but I LOVE kids that listen the first time and I LOVE "nice and orderly". But that "good listening" carries over at home even more than before as well. I've always thought Easton usually minded me fairly well, but it's gotten even better since he's been in school. Oh and he's extra polite now.

Anyway, we're thrilled with this little preschool program. I'm sure he might've adjusted more quickly to the separation experience if he just ran around and played for 3 hours, but now that he's doing well we're extra glad we chose this school. And the fact that he learns Bible stories and such... we're happy. Happy happy happy.

This was waiting for me in Easton's folder when I picked him up:

I know it's for me because it's purple.

We came home after school for some lunch and we made ourselves some binoculars for our safari we're planning later today.

My mom and just one sister will be joining us for dinner tonight. It's Sheree's potato soup in the Crock-Pot and it's smelling so so yummy.

Anyway, before I go I haven't shared this video yet...Dalton isn't too fond of getting too close to our homemade puppets. So this is me tormenting him first, and then Jason wanting to see for himself:

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

T-Time

It's getting closer and closer to Thanksgiving...which Easton calls Turkey Time. I think my mom started that. He thinks he likes turkey but I'm pretty sure he's thinking of the turkey cookies we made last year.


Goob.

So anyway, the weekend. Well, I went to bed early Friday night thanks to my late night at Twilight the night before.

But Saturday we just hung around the house for awhile...I cleaned the bathrooms, Jason took Dalton to a make-up AussieROO class, I organized my sock drawer, we watched LSU lose...you know...fun stuff like that. Jason and the boys played "stair chase" and Jason surprised Easton one time and then Easton said, "Dad, you gave me a big fright!" :)

Saturday evening we met my mom and both my sisters for dinner. Jessica is in town for the holiday and so we met for dinner at Lauren's restaurant where she was working. It's kind of a bummer for her not to be able to hang out with the rest of us but oh well. She passes by from time to time in between our mouthfuls.

After dinner we came home, Easton fell asleep in the car. I stuck him on the potty, in his jammies, and then straight to bed. In the morning we had plans to meet up with all of them again at our favorite brunch buffet (where we go for my birthday). We took pictures after breakfast:

Me and my boys:


Me and my man:


Me and my sisters:


Me and my family:




While we were there the fire alarm sounded, a bunch of people...mostly staff...evacuated (it's in a hotel). Fire trucks and firemen came and we stayed inside and watched and took more pictures.








I caught Gramoo and Lauren having a blast...NOT:


I made Jessica pose in front of the tree and told her I'd make her Christmas cards out of it:


I wasn't kidding:


My boys enjoyed running laps around the huge Christmas tree:


It was hard to get any good pictures, the lighting in there was weird, as you can see above, it was hard to get a truly crisp picture of anything...even sitting relatively still.

I loved this one of my boys and wish it was sharper:


After brunch my little family came home for nap and quiet time. We watched the Broncos (lose to the poopy Raiders) and then we went out to another buffet. But this time it was with our friends Little John's parents. Little John wasn't there as he spent the weekend with his grandparents but his twin brothers (4.5 months) were there and I think we all got our baby fix. Well, maybe not Easton, I'm not sure he could get enough babies. Seriously, I love how much he adores babies. Even Dalton was pretty cute with the twins. And as it was a buffet all us adults took turns holding the babies while we made repeat trips up for more food. Good times.

We had to leave when our boys started getting a little too restless as it neared bedtime. Both boys went to bed easily, which is usually the case anyway, but it was a few minutes earlier than normal, is all.

This morning, instead of juice/milk and a TV show in the big bed we had to go straight to Dalton's follow-up dermatology appointment. They weren't too happy being shoved in their clothes so early but in the car they were fine as they sipped juice and milk on our drive to Boulder. Dalton got a new prescription for the eczema on his leg...this one doesn't have steriods in it. We'll use it for a week and then the steriods again if need be. Hopefully not.

After his appointment we finally made our way to our Monday morning doughnuts, eating them inside Krispy Kreme. Then we came home and did a few things. Now it's Q.T. and off to Wal-Mart this afternoon. Gotta get our Thanksgiving fixings and I'll have to decide if I want to clue Easton in on what turkey really is before Thursday when he says he's going to eat turkey because he likes it.

Friday Fatigue

I'm still seriously lacking in the picture department...I think it's Facebook's fault.

And also, today it's because I'm kinda tired.

I had a big day yesterday. Dalton woke up from a 3 hour nap with quite a fever. Not quite sure why.

Then, for dinner we met up with J first at Sears Grand where the boys played toys for a bit and then we all played on the ellipticals. Then we went over to Mimi's Cafe for dinner.

We came home and Thursday night is our big TV night. So after putting the boys to bed, Jason and I settled in for our favorite shows. And then, I had the biggest plans I've had in awhile: Lauren and I were going to meet for the midnight showing of the new movie, "Twilight". And we did.

Here we are waiting for it to start:


Then I came home. I headed up to bed at 2:50 a.m. but it always takes me awhile to fall asleep. I got up once with Dalton at 5 something. Then J and I were both up with him for the day at 6:11. Blech.

I said above that I'm tired, but it's really not too bad...yet.

I had the energy to shower. And then to get a free McCafe in the McD's drive through. We got breakfast at the grocery store and ate it at a table in the rec center before gymnastics. It was E's last class. We're not going to sign up for the next session. Maybe he'll try something else, maybe not. We don't have a plan yet.

When we got home, it wasn't long before Dalton went down for his nap. He's still running a bit of a fever and also he has to go back to the dermatologist. He had two spots and one cleared up, one didn't. She told us to do the topical steroids for 5-7 days and if it wasn't gone to call. Today is day 10. First thing they said was, "Don't put any more Cloderm on him!" Oops. His spot is better...much better, but not gone. So he's going back bright and early Monday morning. Good thing we don't have co-pays, huh?

Anyway, so while Dalton began his little nappy-do, Easton and I did something super fun: we made puppets!


Here are their mug shots:




This one is supposed to be a turkey...Easton was really wanting to make a turkey. I don't think we did too well but he's happy which is really all I care about:




He's playing "puppet show" for his quiet time right now. He was really cute when he was making the "turkey" gobble at Blitz.

I have zero idea what this afternoon holds. And I don't know much about our weekend yet either. So there ya go...

Breakin' Boyz

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Running Out of Material

I have no pictures. Oops.

I don't even have a lot to say. We went to the library yesterday afternoon. Then to play at the rec center play area which was the "mall" Easton was thinking of. Dalton refuses to slide these days. He sat at the top and cried for help. I was at the bottom cheering him on but he wouldn't budge. Easton tried several times to go down with him...other moms were offering to hold his hand. He'd take it, scooch to the edge of the slide and then cry and refuse once he really thought about it. Silly boy. He used to love sliding.

After playing we came home and made breakfast for dinner. That contractor (for finishing the basement) was coming back up to meet with us and give us his proposal and bid. The boys ate first so we could stick them in front of the TV while we met with Joe and Jason and I ate after Joe left. He was late, though, so we were stupid not to simply eat with the kids. Oh well.

Jason also wanted to check out Dalton's chipped tooth and asked him to smile...we discovered he does this:

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This morning Easton had school. I got a text message from Isaac's mom saying Isaac was sick and to warn Easton he wouldn't be there. I told E, "I think Isaac is sick" and he said, "So he can't come? I'll be brave." And he was! He did great...he's watching Batman as I type this. That's 3 great days in a row for my boy!

Dalton and I did breakfast, Wal-Mart, and AussieROO. And Target. Then we went to get Eastie. Ben's dad (our neighbor) stopped me in the hall and said, "Thanks again for having Ben the other day...he came home and said, 'That was a hoot!'" and I wanted to go, "Really? Your 5 year old says 'hoot'?" but I refrained. Ben sometimes talks like an adult like when he told me, "Not necessarily" or the few times he said, "That sucks" or the one time he said, "Dammit". Lovely. So, maybe he said, "hoot" I dunno. He really is a good kid...different people just allow different words, right? I'm sure if I asked him not to use those words he would have.

Anyway, that brings us to know with E on the couch watching earned Batman cartoons for his quiet time and Dalton having a nap.

That's it!

Dentist Updates and More

The dentist this morning went suprisingly well. Dalton was more cooperative than I thought he'd be. The dentist and I sat knee-to-knee and Dalton straddled my lap facing me then we had him lay back to put his head on the dentist's lap so he was upside down to the dentist. I held his little hands and he did okay.

The dentist needed to use his little diamond tipped sander to round off the chip because it was quite sharp. The loud drilling sound freaked Dalton out at first but he didn't fight it, he just seemed scared. It didn't take long and he sanded the rough and sharp edges on both of his two front teeth and we called it a day. There was no obvious evidence of further damage but Dr. Dave told me what to watch for and such. Will do. He thinks there won't be anything futher. That's his hunch.

We came straight home after that. I offered the mall to play but Easton didn't want to go to the mall I offered (with the giant breakfast foods) so we came home. Easton wasn't thrilled with that, he had a different mall in mind but I don't have a clue what he's talking about.

It took forever to get Dalton down for his nap. I'm a tad worried his mouth is bothering him or something, but I'm sure it's just that he's a goober and I'm a worrier.

So yesterday the neighbor boy came over for a few hours. He's the one that goes to Easton's school but we don't know him that well. We're not the most friendliest of neighbors as we can be quite anti-social. But we know them well enough and spent some time with them on the farm field trip. He's 5 and a half and a really nice kid. Last week his mom called me. We've never exchanged numbers but we have a school directory and she told me she got the number out of there. My first thought when she called was, "What? Is my garage door open or something?" :) But she said she was hoping our boys could play while she took her two youngest to the doctor for shots and such. Ben doesn't like to be around for that, I guess.

I was both flattered and happy to help. So he came over and they played in the sandbox for a bit:


Then Ben thought it was getting a bit chilly since the sun goes down earlier these days and he headed back inside so I made E come too. They moved onto some Playdoh, then upstairs in E's room to play for a bit, then back down, we got out the Legos, Easton got out the costumes...E's Venom/Black Spidey get up was the only one even close to fitting Ben:


They also played this game for a bit and that's how Dalton got hurt:

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

At around 5, Ben's mom walked over to pick him back up. She said she could tell he didn't want to leave because he was sorta dragging his feet when it came to greeting her, putting on his shoes, etc. I guess that's good, right? I had thought he was kinda bored as he's nearly 2 years older than Easton and we don't have a ton of toys, especially not cool 5.5 year old toys.

After they headed back across the street I made jambalaya and we watched for Easton on the 5 o'clock news (the weatherman had visited the school). We saw the segment but only Easton's head. Not worth saving or sharing.

Dalton dressed up again:


Bedtime followed and that brings us to today which you already heard all about. :)

The end.

Just Can't Get Enough...

...we're heading to the dentist this morning.

Dalton's turn.

This morning I noticed the gap between his two front teeth is even more pronounced. Not only that, but I could tell that he'd chipped at least one of his front teeth. What the frick is it with me, my children, and our easily chipped teeth????

Here's his old smile:


And his new one:


I guess he must've done it yesterday afternoon. Easton bumped into him when the boys were running around and Dalton fell face first onto the tile floor. I knew he'd bit his tongue, you can see that in the 2nd picture above, but I didn't realize anything had happened to his pearly whites.

Anytime you hit a tooth hard enough to chip it, there is always the possibility of damage to the root or nerve or other issues, so our dentist wants to see him. Our friend Max had a similar issue with a severe tooth bonk (his didn't even chip) and he ended up developing a horrible abscess that ended up needing surgery and the tooth had to get pulled. And this was all a year later. We want to avoid that, if we can.

So off we go...we just can't get enough of the dentist, eh? Thankfully my children do not go anywhere near Dr. Incompetent where I go.

Wish us luck, I doubt 20 month old Dalton is going to be very cooperative. :(

A Full Blog...Finally

I don't remember too much about the weekend at this point. I have this picture of all my guys reading Saturday morning. E's fingers aren't in his nose, but he's likely wiping it which is equally gross:


And playing:


I just asked J and he doesn't remember either. We remember Dalton fell out of his crib that day. And started jumping with two feet off the ground (barely) that day. And we went out to dinner that night where my (very delicious) margarita cost more than my meal. We stopped at the grocery store on our way home for some lunch fixings for after church on Sunday.

Sunday was Easton's church performance. He looked super cute for church. Dalton too. Their second time ever going to church.










He actually did better than I thought he would, which still wasn't all that. Grammy, Grandpa John, Gramoo and Lauren all came too. We sat close so that Easton would be able to see me while he was up there. The Lutheran service started and eventually the kids got called up to perform. Some teacher we don't know snagged E by the hand and helped him up to the front. He kept reaching out for me and wiping his eyes and nose, but he didn't cry loudly (I thought he might) and he didn't refuse to stay up there (I thought he might) and I didn't have to move closer or anything (I thought I might). But, he didn't sing. Or do the hand motions.

Oh well.

This is him wiping silent tears away, poor guy:


And after awhile he settled down even more:


I have video if any of you want to see it. You can email me your "request". :) But because of all the other children in it, no way will I post it here.

However, this is what we what we might've seen:

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Immediately after the song and "children's message" Jason took Lauren and the boys home, stopping again at the grocery store. Dalton was too sick to put in the nursery and no way could he have made it through that whole service. Heck, I hardly made it through! But Diddles had already thrown 3 different things in the time he was there. So they came home, the rest of us stayed for the rest of the service before all meeting back up here at our house for make-your-own sandwiches and such:


And cookies...


Dalton went for a nap at some point. Easton wanted to go for some quiet time and eventually everyone else left. Easton and I played Thanksgiving dominos later:




He totally gets the game and beat me fair and square the first three times (obviously a lot of the game is luck). But he likes it a lot. I already bought him a cheap set of real dominos as a Christmas or birthday present. But those are the numbered kind, not festive holiday pictures.

Monday morning we went to eat at Krispy Kreme. We got 3 free doughnuts again which is always nice. They were so warm when she handed them to us that Dalton couldn't even eat his yet. "Hot! Hot!" he said.

After doughnuts we went to play toys at Target and trains at the bookstore. It was really nice. We didn't have any other agenda or anywhere else to be soon and we were able to simply enjoy hanging out and playing. We came home for lunch. Neither kid is liking boxed mac and cheese these days. Oh no. So D went up for his nap and Eastie hung on the couch while we waited for Lauren to arrive to babysit yet again. At this rate I think she could quit her other job :) Kidding. You already know more than you wanted to know about how the dentist went for me.

But I came home and Lauren stayed and hung out with us as we walked up to McD's for another ice cream and a Redbox. The weather today and yesterday was just too beautiful not to spend some time outside. So, ice cream first:




Followed by a trip to "my little park" as Easton calls it:



But it got cut short when Easton continued to fling/throw sand after I'd asked him to stop.

We came home, Lauren left, Easton watched the Redbox and Dalton checked out my blogging:


I didn't make dinner. I wasn't sure I could eat it. So Jason had leftover sandwich fixings and I made myself a smoothie.

After we got the boys to bed I ran up to Wal-Mart for my weekly trip. I went at night because Jason had to bring me some coupons home from work. I hardly spent any money, though! I've overspent this month so we're going to be eating simple things that we already have most of the stuff for. I was surprised at how little it cost because I also had to buy Easton's snack supplies. Today was his snack day at school and he wanted to do muffins. Everything has to be store packaged though, which is a bummer as I can't make festive things. We looked at all the regular stores for muffins that weren't made with or around nuts. We can't do nuts at his school either. Never did find "safe" muffins so instead we decided on Dora yogurts and lemonade. Plus I had to buy spoons and cups. I was supposed to bring 5 oz. cups but I found 7 oz. Diego ones but then I freaked out that they'd run out of lemonade so this morning Easton and I ran back to the store for 5 oz. cups.

He was so excited to bring snack today. Plus the weather man was visiting his school today so it made for a very easy and tear-free drop off. He did excellent!!! Jason was presenting an academic paper (tied into his Master's program) at a conference downtown later today so he was off work and stayed home with Dalton while I took my biggest boy to school.

After school we had to enjoy the weather once again and so we went to a park. We weren't there all that long when Easton slipped and totally racked himself on a metal bar. Oh, the poor boy! I heard the guttural noise and then the tears. Sometimes when the kids fall or get a little bonk and they cry, it doesn't affect me. Like, I feel bad for them and want their pain to go away, of course, but this time, his cries brought tears to my eyes. He was hurting so badly. I asked him, "Was it your pen is?" and he wailed, "It hurts so bad!" You could just tell from his cries that this was a very deep pain. It breaks my heart even now.

We had to come straight home and he recovered in front of Batman (since he had a great tear-free day at school) and also downed a couple more Dora yogurts:


Dalton got in on it too:


Now they're in their rooms, Jason is home from presenting downtown, and we're waiting for our neighbor boy to come over for a bit while his yougner siblings have to go to the doctor.

Till next time...