Monday, February 12, 2018

Winter Break

I was cleaning in the other room and I heard James call out, "Help! Mommy we got stuck!" I guess they were playing inside of Baymax's kennel and put the latch closed and then couldn't get it open. It was awesome!

One of James' reward choices on his reward chart is to get to sit in the front seat when we go through the car wash and he was so excited about it!

Rett doesn't like the car wash when we are in it, but when it is all over he says, "That was fun!!"

We tried to do some surf fishing, but it was sooooo cold! Since Anthony wasn't catching anything we gave up pretty quickly and left to go pick up Baymax to finally come home for good. He got his first round of puppy shots and they were ready to let him go :)

On the way to Petco to buy some dog bowls, dog food, and other puppy supplies:

Sleeping:

More sleeping:

The boys love snuggling him at bedtime and Rett was feeling left out since he can't be on his bed on the top bunk, so we brought his mattress to the floor so he could have a turn with him.

After the first few nights of Baymax waking up at midnight and jumping on the boys trying to get them to wake up and play, they decided he didn't need to sleep with them anymore :)

Ball of fluff!

He is usually outside during the day while the chickens are out there. He is doing really well with them. He isn't old enough to realize that he is supposed to guard them, but he is learning very quickly not to chase them or try to play with them.

We had our septic tank pumped for the first time (for regular maintenance), and it was an interesting process. The boys loved watching the big truck and James especially was very curious about the hoses and everything. I was fine with not seeing all of that. Some things are better left to the imagination ;)

Baymax chewing on bark:

Watching the chickens:

Sleeping:

The weekend before school started up we spent the weekend with my mom in Trenton and visited this Elephant refuge. They do a little question and answer session about the elephants and then they get a paintbrush and paints for one of the elephants to paint a picture. He looks so happy doing it!

The boys got to feed one of the elephants a few carrots. She is all painted because they recently rented her out for an Indian wedding.

In addition to the elephants, they also had a zebra, a camel, lemurs, an ostrich, and an emu.

While we were in Gainesville, we went to the mall for lunch and we let the kids play in the play area. It always surprises me just how many kids are around when we go there! We never see that many when we go places at home. Rett and James both found a friend to run around with and had a blast. Rett told me this was his surprise (?) face. Whatever it was, it was really funny.

Once school started again, we started getting our veggie delivery from the farm again and this time we got a small citrus called calamondin in the bag. They looked like teeny tiny tangerines and were sooooo sour. James had fun trying it and then watching Anthony try it.

Bathtime mohawks:

Someone behind Anthony's work must keep chickens, because Anthony sees this rooster around the parking lot all the time!! I thought it was so funny that the chickens find him even at work :)

Sunday, February 4, 2018

Christmas 2017

I baked some cookies for Santa, but they got a little crispy... James wanted to make sure that we left some carrots for the reindeer. He counted out one for all of them and left a note to make sure that Santa realized there was one for Rudolph.

James really wanted to sleep by the Christmas tree and catch Santa, but since it was in the middle of the living room we compromised and he slept on the floor in our room. With the door open, you can see directly under the tree and he was determined to stay awake and keep watch.

That didn't last long! :) Baymax spent the night just for Christmas, so he slept next to James.

Christmas morning the boys woke up and we got to check out their stockings. For some reason, we've gotten really lucky and on holidays they sleep like any other day and get up at the same time so we haven't had to deal with them getting up at 5am or anything like that. Which is funny because I remember being too excited to sleep at that age and just staring at the clock waiting for it to be time to get up.

Hugging the hot wheels:

James was kind of all over the place this year and kept changing his mind on what to ask Santa. (That makes it hard for Santa to keep up by the way! ;) At first he wanted a Krazy Kar that he tried out in occupational therapy. It is an old toy from the 90's that you sit in and control with your hands, kind of like an athletic wheelchair. Then he changed his mind and wanted a smartwatch (one for kids that only calls a few numbers) and after a few different changes he finally settled back on a Krazy Kar. So Santa brought him one!

James' teacher told him a story about how in her family they put rocks and different things in the presents to make it heavier so that they can't guess what it is based on how it feels. He really wanted to do that, so he got a bag and some of Anthony's work gloves in it with a big pile of rocks. He was giggling so much watching Anthony open it.

James got Anthony a flexible screwdriver that can curve and go in tight or awkward places.

This huuuuuuge present was a gift for Anthony from my brother Daniel who spent Christmas eve and Christmas day with us.

A folding fish cleaning table! It even has a place to hook up a hose to it. Now we don't have to clean fish in the house anymore. Yay!!

Testing out the Krazy Kar:

I don't know why I didn't get pictures of Rett opening his presents, he must have been going too fast, but he got angry bird pez, hot wheels tracks, and angry birds hot wheels tracks. I got a ton of Harry Potter things and I loved it! Anthony even surprised me with Harry Potter bookmarks after he made a big deal about us not getting each other gifts. Stinker!

We had our annual Christmas t-shirt competition:
James:
Me:

Daniel:

Rett:

Anthony:

Dallas:

Aunt Eileen:

Nevada:

It was a close call on the facebook voting for who won the tshirt contest, but I think Aunt Eileen won in the end with her light up reindeer sweater.

There was a lot of trying out of the Krazy Kar for the next few days. We even took it with us to the park!