Random Acts of Life

Letter J Week

2015-01-30T16:07:00.001-05:00

We've had some fun with the letter J this week. Here's a look at some of our activities...

J is for Jellyfish...

...and j is for juggler....

We did lots of jellybean math...

...I might have eaten a few too many of those. Woops!

We also made jellyfish in a jar ( a bit of a pinterest flop...)

...which we rememdied with another jellyfish craft which was much more fun...

The boys are fascinated with these creatures...

We also had fun with lots of books, several field trips, lots of outdoor play with our gorgeous weather and we learned a new game too, a childhood favorite of mine -- slap jack! If only there were more jacks in a deck of cards :-).

Theme Park Weekend

2015-01-28T15:19:00.000-05:00

What do you get when you combine hotel rewards with free tickets to SeaWorld thanks to your husband's service to our country? A really fun mini vacation in Orlando, that's what!!

We hit the road bright and early Saturday morning to get to SeaWorld right when they opened. Being one of the first ones there is definitely the way to go.

We loved the penguin exhibit...

....and the walrus was a big hit too...

Beluga whales are a lot of fun to watch play too. They sure loved batting that buoy around...

We got a big kick out of watch them put the flamingos away...

...they are almost like cattle. Crazy!

Of course the aquariums and shark tunnel are a big hit with the boys...

The boys took notes and can now officially bark like seals now too...

...you better believe I'm one proud mama :-). Speaking of mamas, this turtle's name is Big Momma...

...she is so sweet and injured but doing great thanks to their rescue and care taking of her.

After a fun-filled day at sea world, we were more than ready for some good food followed by some snuggle time at the hotel. Aunt Miriam even joined us for dinner at Bahama Breeze and a round of jumping on the hotel beds, don't tell the management :-).

Sunday took us to the Space Center for our second time this year. It was just as much fun as the first time.

We checked out some stuff we didn't get to last time, like taking a turn sitting on the moon vehicle...

...and learning about the wildlife that's all around there on their protected lands. We're big fans of the hogs :-)...

We also checked out the other IMAX movie...

....and tried more of the simulators...

There is so much to do there.

I love that the boys are so interested in all of it and it's close enough that we get to experience it rather easily. Who knows, maybe they'll be future space explorers...

There's a rocket launch coming up February 8 we're hoping to check out from our yard. Living this close to the space center is a fabulous thing!

After our fun day at NASA, we enjoyed a gorgeous sunset on the way home...

...we made it home in time to grab some delicious pizza and cozy up on the couch for a movie before calling it a weekend, and a great one at that.

We Love Florida Winters

2015-01-27T19:02:00.001-05:00

Last weekend, I ran my second half marathon of the winter. It was my first time completing two and while I was getting pretty burnt out, I did at least walk away with a PR...

...1:46.01...that's a good time for me :-). And now back to running for the fun of it rather than training. I sure do love winter running in Florida. Mornings like this are tough to beat...

We spent the rest of that beautiful race day going out for brunch, getting haircuts, and doing the park thing...

...and the coffee and cookies things. I love family fun days.

We headed back out in the gorgeous weather the following day for some fun downtown at Rockin Riverwalk...

....Colton got his dance moves on....

Monday continued the outdoor fun with a little gathering at the causeway...

...we didn't last long in that wind but found it to be a little less breezy near Stuart beach and had some fun at the park there...

I love that we can roll around on green grass here in January...

Of course we had to take a little walk (with some detours :-) ) to check out the waves...

...did I mention I love Florida in the winter? :-) In case I didn't, here's just a few more reasons why...

Come visit!!

Our Magical Day

2015-01-27T01:00:00.000-05:00

The boys and I got lucky and got to take a trip to Disney World a while back. It was truly a magical day. Of course it would have been even more magical if Mickey could have joined us for it but when you have access to free tickets on a Thursday, you don't pass up the opportunity, right?? We had so much fun...

I teared up watching their faces light up as we walked right into a parade with Mickey in it...

Since the boys aren't big fans of rides, we started off easy with the people mover. It was a huge hit...

...and we got more and more daring as the day went along...

...finally braving Dumbo...

...and the teacups for a little more excitement...

Of course we loved the tree house....

...and the jungle cruise...

...even the shows were a huge hit...

...which surprised me since the boys aren't too thrilled with people dressing up as giant cartoon characters. At a distance, apparently, they're awesome!!

We lucked out with a cool, overcast and rainy day which seemed to keep the crowds down...perfect for us. It was truly such a fun day and we can't wait til our next visit WITH DADDY, of course.

Hope to see you real soon, Mickey...

Back to Our Routine

2015-01-26T10:54:00.000-05:00

Our staycation wrapped up with a visit from Oma. We always love when she comes...

...then it was back to life as usual.

We studied the letter I...

...and caught up on lower case h which we had forgotten to finish up before Christmas...

We did a building and painting project at Home Depot....

...the boys were pretty proud of their sleds. :-)

We're also back to our workouts at gymnastics...

...and at the park...

...and on our bikes...

We've been putting our Christmas presents to use. One of our favorites is the Cootie game...

...and our new hot wheels track...

...the puzzles are always a hit as well...

We hit up the River Center for Story time...

...and put the workers to work with all of our questions...

...and are back to our weekly story times as the library as well...

...gotta love Ms. Jayme.

I even got to squeeze in a girls night out...

This happy dance in the toy aisle is a pretty good representation of how much I enjoy a night out...

We've discovered some new fun spots, like the lego table at Barnes and Noble...

...and the new Thunder Bay donut shop...

(they're so good it hurts :-). )

We also revisited some old favorite spots like feeding the ducks...

...going out for ice cream...

...and checking out the sunsets on brisk evenings...

We're back into the church routine and loving it...

...(Colton still isn't a huge fan of coloring though... :-) ).

He is a big fan of the beach, however...

...and so is his brother...

Even a windy day couldn't spoil our fun...

Life is good! Happy New Year!!!! Hope your's is off to as great of a start as ours is.

Family Staycation - Part 2

2015-01-25T08:36:00.000-05:00

Part two of our family staycation took place at the Kennedy space center to check out some NASA stuff. The boys have been fascinated with outer space lately and this was the perfect destination.

We started off at the rocket garden which in itself was mind-blowing...

...I don't know how those astronauts flew in such confined spaces...

We also took the bus tour out to the Apollo/Saturn V center...

...we saw things like the moon buggy up close as well as got to walk under the shuttle for an up close look. It was unforgettable...

...the simulators and shows were pretty impressive too...

I think the highlight of it all was Atlantis, their new exhibit...

...the boys tested out flying and landing the orbiter...

...and I tested out the slide...

...the boys also explored the space station exhibit...

We had an incredible time and highly recommend a visit if you get the chance...

Our Family Staycation Part 1

2015-01-20T21:49:00.000-05:00

Mickey had the week between Christmas and New Year's off so we took full advantage of it with some chores combined with a bit of a staycation. It was pretty darn fantastic.

We went to Busch Wildlife Center, a favorite destination of ours. We love checking out all the animals...

...checking to see if we're getting any closer to being the same size as an eagle...

...and just enjoying each other's company as well, of course...

After that little taste of nature, we decided to up the ante and continue on to Lion Country Safari. Wouldn't it be way more fun if traffic jams always included ostriches??...

...these guys were some of our favorites too...

...but I think the giraffes stole the show...

This just might be the best photo bomb ever...

The carnival rides were a big hit as well...

We also made a few trips to the beach...

...one trip even included my family and I managed to sneak into one of my dad's beach photos...

...and days at the beach typically lead to post beach happy hours which are always fine by me...

The fun continued with a trip to DeLand to ring in the new year with Miriam, Leah, and my parents...

...the boys even made it all the way to midnight...

After not enough sleep after that late night, we all hit the road for a day in St. Augustine. Cheers to 2015...

We had such a fun day with Mimsy and Teddy...

...and finished off the night with a train ride to check out all the Christmas lights...

...oh, and a spotting of this guy at the gas station...

...gotta love St. Augustine! Next up, our trip to NASA...stay tuned!

Christmas Fun

2015-01-20T20:25:00.000-05:00

We arrived back in Plankerville with very little time before Christmas but we managed to find enough time to make cookies for Santa...

...he left a note saying they were delicious!

We enjoyed a beautiful Christmas Eve service at TC3...

...which also happened to be the boys' first time to hold candles. Special memories!

We also did our best to document the year with some selfies on the iphone...

...this one will have to suffice...

Good thing I decided to wait to eat a cookie until after church and photos...

...I guess I got a litte food dye happy with my frosted cookies. I'll keep it in mind for April Fools Day treats :-). There was no sneaking a cookie in this house, haha!

Once we had the boys in bed, it was time to play santa...

...before heading to bed ourselves.

Christmas was truly magical this year.

I tried my hand at duck to enjoy for our Christmas feast...

...with a balsamic glaze it was darn delicious! Even the boys agreed and gave it a T-Rex approval...

...always a good sign. It paired nicely with the Bloody Marys...

... which definitely need to remain a Christmas tradition. :-)

You know what else should become a tradition?? Day after Christmas lunch with the family...

...a girl could get used to all this family fun.

Some favorite gifts besides the gifts from Santa ("a #5 black race car with a white #5" for Colton and a "big army jet" for Mason) include spider man masks...

...Darth Vader ornaments...

....a fort making kit...

...santa beard lollipops...

...and tool kits...

...which just might include my favorite part, the helmet and goggles...

...I sure do love my Mason and his rule-following ways :-). The hammer says to always wear a helmet and goggles when using it and by golly, he makes sure he does it every time. ADORABLE! I love this stage where Christmas is so magical. It was so fun to bring back the excitement of Christmas with my amazing boys. God is good!

Post-Wedding Evansville Fun

2015-01-19T15:09:00.000-05:00

After the wedding was over, we still had a bit of time to enjoy in Evansville before heading back to the sunshine state.

We had fun at the post-wedding brunch at Jenny's mom's house where the boys brushed up on their pool playing skills...

We also had fun playing around Mimsy and Grandpa's house...

...houses with multiple stories are so much fun! They're even more fun when you can watch the deer from the windows inside of them...

We also made sure to squeeze in lots of snuggle time...

...and caught up on our rest after all that partying...

Another highlight of our visit was our annual Christmas get together at my Aunt and Uncle's house. This year, we made it extra special by all wearing lovely Christmas sweaters...

...the family just keeps growing. Aren't we a good looking bunch of siblings???

Leah and Scott won the award for best vests...

...although I think Jenny's bells on her sweater stole the show.

I think we're going to have to move up to the 5 by 7 photo prints in order to see everyone in the photos...

Lon always has a new gadget to try out to improve the photography process too...

...he's the best!!

A family get-together at Peggy and Lon's isn't complete without at least a few games of Uno...

....we take our Uno games very seriously :-).

Before we knew it, it was time to head back home for a little Christmas fun at our own house...

...I sure wish we all lived closer and could see each other more often but in the mean time, we're super grateful for FaceTime and airplanes.

My Brother Got Married!!!

2015-01-13T16:45:00.004-05:00

The weekend before Christmas found us on a plane en route to Indiana for a very exciting weekend...Aaron was getting married!

We arrived on Thursday morning and were glad we got there in time to help with some last minute details. Abigail won the award for hot gun queen...

...Aaron got best penmanship...

...Jenny snagged best organization for guests...

...and I think my numbers on the table tents and my assistance with the photo booth props was pretty darn stellar as well ;-)...

It was fun to have us all together to help out with the wedding prep. I LOVE my family!

Friday found us helping get the reception venue ready. The boys were big fans of the stage...

Friday night's rehearsal went well. This time the boys even practiced walking down the aisle...

...and the rehearsal dinner was a blast at Tin Man Brewing Company...

....Aaron even surprised the boys with some fantastic gifts which were right up their alley...

My dad made us all tear up and my Grandpa even surprised us with a few words about Aaron. He's one of the funniest men I know. Love him!!

Before we knew it, it was time to rest up for the big day.

All 11 bridesmaids had fun getting dolled up all morning and soon it was time to witness the first look (love this idea of the photographer catching the groom seeing the bride for the first time) before hopping aboard the party bus for some photos around town. I can't wait to see the finished photos. We hit up some great spots around Evansville and I'm positive their photographer snagged some amazing shots. I was impressed by him style....very modern and unique!

While the bridal party was getting ready all together, the boys got ready with Mickey at the hotel...

...I must say I have a fantastic catch in Mickey. Didn't he do a fantastic job getting them all snazzed up and ready?? I hear they turned some heads walking out of the hotel :-).

I made sure to snap a few selfies with my little studs prior to the ceremony...

...and couldn't resist nabbing a few shots of them with my brother as well...

...the sure do love their Uncle Aaron!

I made sure to document myself with some of my other favorite people as well...

My mom was glowing with pride that day and I don't think that smile left my brother's face all day either...

The ceremony was absolutely beautiful and perfect with a message that couldn't have been more perfect. It was an honor to get to be a part of it...

They had the most fantastic sparkler exit from the church...

...it was the coolest exit I've ever seen.

Once the ceremony was over, we all relaxed a little bit with some fun on the party bus and some mandatory fireball shots...

...that time on the bus with the bridal party might have been my favorite part of the whole weekend. They have a fantastic group of family and friends. We were all smiling and laughing the entire time. It was a bus literally crammed full of love and it made my heart so happy for them...

The fun didn't end there. Our bus delivered us to the reception which was in a beautiful lodge-style building at Burdette Park...

The food was delicious, the DJ kept everyone dancing. Some of us slowly...

...and some of us with a bit more energy...

...the place was packed to the gills with smiling faces...

...every detail was beautiful, including these two...

...and these two ;-)...

....and we all had blast celebrating the newlyweds and putting my photo booth props to use...

We all partied til we dropped...

I am so glad my grandparents were able to make it. They say they're never traveling again and I don't think they couldn't have picked a more perfect last hurrah to their traveling days...

Oh and in case you ever need entertainment, my dad has volunteered to be the agent for these two little entertainers...

...they never met a microphone they didn't like...thank goodness this random one wasn't on :-).

It was a fantastic wedding and I am so happy for my brother and new sister. I've got the most incredible group of siblings. Like I told my brother, it's pretty amazing when your siblings who you grew up being annoyed with become some of your most favorite people in the world. I'm incredibly blessed...

Stay tuned for more holiday festivities recaps :-).

It's Been a While...Holiday Recap Part 1

2015-01-12T18:04:00.001-05:00

Hi friends! Long time no see huh?! How has it been almost 2 months since my last blog post? Like they say, time flies when you're having fun and we've been having TONS of fun over here in Plankerville! Between Thanksgiving, my brother's wedding, Christmas, New Years, and everything in between, it was a busy holiday season. Now we're finally settling back into our routine (whatever that is ;-) ) and I'm hopefully getting back to this blogging thing with a little more regularity. Here's a snapshot (hello photo dump) into our the last two months...

We've been putting lots of miles on the jogging stroller thanks to my idea to sign up for two half marathons this winter...

One is done and it was my absolute favorite race so far (I love trail running!) ...

and the other is coming up this weekend...wish me luck!

We're finally enjoying some cooler temps which gave us our first sip of hot cocoa...

...it was a winner :-)

We've had plenty of sunny, warm days as well to enjoy the park...

We've done lots of exploring around town...

...and had lots of long overdue family time...

We finished out the planksgiving and prayer challenge...

...and also survived our first soccer season...

and have the trophies to show for it...

...everyone's a winner, right?! :-)

We had a great visit at Oma's for Thanksgiving (why are family photos so difficult??) ...

The cool temps there made for some great hiking weather...

...and golf cart riding weather to see the local sights...

...isn't that the coolest golf cart ever?

The running weather was pretty incredible too...

We got home in time to pick out our Christmas tree...

...thank goodness superman was there to help :-).

Not too shabby huh??

Our gingerbread house was definitely an improvement from last year...

...our cookies, not so much, so we opted for the store bought goodies sometimes...

Christmas was definitely exciting this year with these two kiddos...

Their belief is Santa was so real, they worried this sleigh downtown might fly away but felt better once they figured out is was bolted to the ground :-)

They loved Santa from afar...

...but still have absolutely zero interest in sitting on his lap...

Colton discovered a love for sweaters (you may have noticed a recurring santa sweater) and has his own unique sense of style...

...and we also discovered a new sunset destination...

...I try to get there at least once a week. It's soul food!

The boys and I made the trip down to West Palm Beach to check out the sand sculptures and other attractions they had set up for the holidays...

...impressive, huh? I hope they do this every year. I'm bummed we never made it to see it all lit up at night.

We've become big fans of the movies in the park and hope they continue to show them...

...Stuart is pretty darn awesome!

We rounded out our pre-wedding holiday fun with a fantastic Christmas story time...

...it was a packed house. I love my story time friends.

Stay tuned for part two...aka My Brother's Wedding Recap. It was pretty darn wonderful too.

A Impromptu Weekend With Miriam

2014-11-17T17:20:00.004-05:00

Our Friday got off to a exciting start with a trip to the park to meet up with some friends...

...things were a little less exciting for a while after that as we waited for the plumber to arrive and finally finish his work 5 hours later...so much for tackling the day the way I had planned. Good news is, our laundry water doesn't back up in our kitchen sink any more :-) I guess that's worth it...lol!

After he left we found some more entertainment in the form of a trip to the grocery story and a long stroller run while the sun went down. The sunset coming back over the drawbridge was GORGEOUS!! I need more evening runs in my life :-)

The excitement picked up even more as I got to hang out with some girlfriends for a bit at a toxic-free workshop (way more interesting than it sounds and extremely eye-opening by the way) and came home to my sister on the couch, ready to hang out with us for the weekend! Woohoo!

We kicked our Saturday morning off a little lazily with a big breakfast and some bagpipes...

...then it was time for the beach. The boys had a blast building their fort with a wall around it...

...and combing the beach for other interesting finds as well...

...I was completely lazy and don't think I moved from my chair the entire time I was there...it was pure bliss!

Miriam and I spent nap time on a long walk with the boys in the stroller. It was fun to get some exercise and catch up while the boys recharged. Then we were ready to head out for a little fun at Longneck...

We enjoyed dinner and more family time back at home before all of us fell asleep one by one on the couch. Signs of a good day, right?

Sunday kicked off with a little run with Miriam before we loaded up the bikes to check out the green market downtown.

Then it was time for soccer. The boys are starting to kind of get the hang of things and their team is so adorable...

...Mason even scored a goal with an assist from Colton :-). Fun times!

After soccer, we came home for lunch and naps. This time while the boys napped, we headed out for some coffee and a stop at the store for the rest of the ingredients for banana zucchini chocolate chip muffins...

...red cup season at Starbucks combined with buy one get one free coffees is always a reason to smile, right?

After naps, we headed down to the seafood festival and Mickey convinced the boys to give the rides another shot while I bit my tongue since I'd been the one to let them ride the roller coaster at the air show. He talked Mason into the fun slide. They made it to the top and then Mason panicked...

...lucky for them, it was getting wet from dew and not many people were riding it so Mickey had to keep pushing them along down the slide.

Mason's pretty sure he doesn't need to ride that ever again. Lucky for them, they got their tickets back and Mason decided to give the train a try. He finally talked Colton into climbing aboard too. They weren't happy that we weren't riding with them and weren't convinced it wasn't going to go fast like the roller coaster. Notice their enthusiasm...

...but they survived. At least we're in no hurry to go to Disney. Fine by me:-)

Things like Monster trucks are MUCH more exciting for these kids...

...they've been talking about Rat Nasty all day! Go figure! Love those two.

Before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye to Miriam...

....we'll see you in a few weeks for the half marathon!

"G" Week

2014-11-17T16:41:00.000-05:00

It has been so gorgeous outside that we've had a hard time staying inside to do any kind of "school" and instead of making excuses for not tackling it, I finally decided to just get a little creative. We kicked off our G with with a scavenger hunt to look for as many Gs as we could find around downtown. This way we could get some fresh air and exercise while familiarizing ourselves with the letter, in lots of different fonts by the way too. Here's a glimpse into some of our findings...

...this was WAY more exciting than I ever anticipated. We will definitely be repeating this activity. I had no idea how tricky the lowercase g can be in so many different fonts. It was a good reminder to show them a variety of styles of each letter.

We also made our own G is for goldfish crafts...

...that ended up looking like this...

...I had hoped they'd look more like this...

...but the boys clearly had something else in mind :-)

We also repeated our goldfish counting game...

...what's not to love about an edible counting activity?

Another big hit was the G puzzle compliments of this site that we cut apart and then put back together...

...we're still working on cutting skills but they're coming along and Colton was able to put his back together...

...Mason initially cut his well and then decided cutting it into teeny tiny pieces was WAY more fun. I kind of agree :-)

We also did a G maze...

The In my World Blog provided some serious inspiration this week :-). Check her blog out!

We also made lowercase gs with GREEN GRASS. Not surprisingly, GLUING and cutting were the highlights of the project....

...and here's the finished project...

We also made some GOBBLING turkeys out of toilet paper rolls and cupcake liners...

...and as always, there were lots of GIGGLES...

...as well as lots of books, lots of ABC mouse, some fun shows, and the usual.

Another Weekend Already...Woohoo!

2014-11-13T15:54:00.000-05:00

We kicked off our weekend a bit early once again last weekend by getting things started on Friday. And suddenly it's already Thursday again and I'm just sitting down to computer...signs of all the fun we've been having...

Like movies and lollipops...

...beautiful long runs in the mornings...

...open gym at YMCA Sportsworld thanks to the Family Place...

...Mason's getting his forward roll now too...

...adventures at Target (can you tell we can't wait for Christmas??) ...

...fireplace s'mores with the A?C on...

...a little home fitness with Mommy...

...building fun at Lowes...

...a birthday party where we devoured our cupcakes like puppies...

...and wore ourselves out on the bounce house...

We also tested out some experiments with the new science kits we built...

...watched church from the comfort of our own home in our pajamas (gotta love TC3)...

....added a few things to our Christmas wish lists, such as disco balls and remote control cars...

...took a rest from shopping in some adorableb each chairs...

...and discovered a newfound love of helping Mommy clean...

....gonna milk this for all it's worth while I can...

...they even dust base boards for lollipops or stickers on their charts :-). Sorry folks, they're not for hire!

We also made a visit to our favorite ducks and turtles...

...check out how gorgeous the sunset was that night...

...I'm finally not complaining about the weather any more :-).

We also made sure to celebrate Veteran's Day with a visit to the parade...

...our favorite was the old fashioned fire truck and the lollipops we caught, of course...

We love our Veterans, especially the one we call Dad :-).

I had some time to get a little crafty with the boys...

...and we discovered the joy that is Candy Land as well...

...I'm thinking we're ready for some other fun ones like Cootie and Don't Break the Ice too.

With two extremely busy boys, our days are filled with things that make me want to pull my hair out (I try to focus on the positive here) and thing that make me giggle. This was one of my favorite giggle moments this week...

...another perk of being a twin is having enough matching shoes for your hands AND your feet.

I've also discovered a newfound love of napping with my boys...

...in my quest to hang onto naptime as long as possible, the only way I can get them to lay down long enough to fall asleep in the afternoons is to lay down with them. Needless to say, most days I'm pretty sure I fall asleep before them. They always fall asleep too :-) I forgot how much I love a good power nap.

Time to take advantage of the rest of my sacred quiet time while it lasts. Happy Weekend...remember, we start early around here :-).

"F" week

2014-11-07T18:27:00.000-05:00

"F" week actually took two weeks to cover here at Planker academy. We had some interruptions with travel, Halloween, doctor's appointments, etc. That's the beauty of homeschool though, you can bump and roll without missing out on instruction that others received. Here's a glimpse into our activities to learn the letter F.

F is for fire...

...the cutting is great for scissor practice and the boys always love a chance to glue. This one got two thumbs up from them.

Our lowercase f was full of flowers...

...thanks to some leftover mothers day resources. :-)

F is also for FRUIT which gets delivered to our house in this giant refrigerated truck every Wednesday...

F is also for FIREMAN pole...

...the boys had fun pretending they had to hurry down this pole. I had fun getting in my run by taking them there on foot. They impressed me and walked/ran most of the way back home on foot. It's almost 2 miles to this park.

F is for FUN which we always have a story time at Coffee Bar Blue Door...

...Colton was my big rug helper this week...

F is for FIELD trip to the museum. Our favorites were the bus...

...the model military ships and planes...

....and the collection of old cars that could take turns being displayed on a turntable...

...big smiles all around at that exhibit.

There was a lot of stuff that was completely over their heads but they had a blast just having a change of scenery and learning what they could from it all. I had fun too!

F is for FOAM...

....this was much more exciting for Mason than for Colton. Mason went all in while Colton stayed a chopstick's distance away from the mess.

F is for FROGS...

...thanks Pinterest for the inspiration, and thanks to Colton for the idea to add legs. :-)

We also did a little study of FROG life cycles...

...when cutting and gluing are included, the boys are 100% engaged. We had read several books about frogs so we used this activity to review as well as to practice those cutting and gluing skills.

I got the idea from The Preschool Journey...

...which I highly recommend by the way. It's been a great starting place for me.

We also did the FROG sensory sink that was included in the book...

...what a fun idea to color the water with jello! We had fun testing things to see what would FLOAT and sink. Next time I think we need a kiddie pool to really have some fun with this one.

We also had fun with the Fish and Tweezers math game from Angela Thayer's book...

...numbers are easy, pincher grasp needs some practice ;-).

F is also for FIZZ...

....just your standard vinegar and baking soda trick but stuff like that is ALWAYS exciting for little boys. I need to get the BJs sized versions of both ingredients so we can do it over and over again.

F is for FOOD...

...as if Halloween didn't provide enough sweets for our house, I treated the boys to cookies with my leftover birthday reward from Panera. The boys were kind enough to share with me and we had fun enjoying the fresh air on the patio.

They even made rockets out of the patio chairs...

...I love their imaginations and I love Panera for not kicking us out :-)

F is for FITNESS....

...this basketball court is one of our new favorite places to play. We're still trying to master FREEZE tag and I'm afraid leapfrog will end in tears but we had a lot of fun running around and shooting hoops.

We read lots of books about fish, frogs, and firemen as well as tons of others. You know us :-) This was one of our favorites this week...

Well Hello, November!!

2014-11-05T16:42:00.000-05:00

November is off to a great start!! Our chilly Monday morning kicked off with snuggles from this guy in our "big bed"...

...I love when they come crawl into bed with me in the mornings. It's the sweetest.

We spent the majority of our Monday morning at the cardiologist's office for a formality follow-up on Mason's heart...

...two hours at a doctor's office is way too long for anyone, especially two 3 1/2 year olds. We turned everything into toys and played at least 100 rounds of I spy. Thankfully everything is A ok and no follow up appointments are required.

We celebrated with a trip the best park around. I spy with my little eye a cute little boy at the top of the playground...

...do you see him peeking out?

Constitution park in Tequesta is seriously the best park around as you can see...

They even tackled the big scary slides...

...maybe that scary roller coaster was good for something after all :-)

Tuesday kicked off with story time at Blue Door, which was fabulously breezy by the way, followed by some library time and then some gymnastics. I think the boys have found their new love...

...they're so cute to watch together...

...and are having a blast tackling some new challenges. The handstands on the wall were a big hit...

...as well as the newly discovered forward roll...

...I think Colton is addicted. Keep on rolling, buddy!

We also got a bit creative at home with some painting that day...

...they sure do love paint! And now we have adorable birdhouses handing in our tree :-).

Wednesday kicked off with a run to the park for some fresh air before our busy day set it. Produce and story time rule the schedule onWednesday. We got some entertainment at the park in the form of this bucket truck rescuing a football from a tree...

...isn't our small town great?!

We had fun hanging out in the courtyard and enjoying the gorgeous weather after story time was over, complete with some fun masks from a friend....

Music class resumed on Thursday and we were thrilled to be able to spend time with Miss Rabe again. I love watching the boys music skill develop and love how she works with them so well on the social skills as well. Thank goodness for a class full of boys!!

This week I took on a little challenge and joined the #planksgivingandprayer gals for their month of planks and prayer. It's been fun to do a different plank each day...

...all good stuff! Thanks, Colton for the photography skills!! Off to get an early start on the weekend...woohoo!

Not Exactly the Weekend I Had Planned...

2014-11-04T16:25:00.000-05:00

My weekend did not go exactly how I had planned. I spent most of it looking like this and having to cancel all of my Saturday plans...

...thanks to a scratched cornea as a result of a darth vader helmet mishap at the end of our trick-or-treating fun Halloween night. It was my brush with the dark side... and I don't recommend it. I had no idea how painful scratching your eye can be and I'm considering wearing protective goggles on all future Halloweens as a result...kidding...kind of. 2 1/2 days of incredible pain, blurry vision, lots of ibuprofen, lots of tissues, antibiotic eye drops, and lots of darkness later and things are finally looking up. I'm hoping the blurry vision continues to improve and am anxious to follow up with my eye dr. to make sure things are healing properly. I only get one set of eyes and I truly appreciate the work that they do for me. The boys were troopers accompanying me to urgent care since Mickey was at drill. They praised me for my bravery. It was cute!

Despite the watery, painful eyes, the boys and I did manage to get to the weekend's air show they'd been anticipating for at least a month. I enjoyed it with one eye open while hovering in any shade I could find. Thankfully we had access to the VIP tent which helped with that.

The boys make some cute VIPs...

...and we had fun checking things out for a couple of hours before calling it good (thank you very, very loud jets for making it easier to convince my kiddos it was time to go :-) ...

The boys were very happy to finally be able to touch some planes...

...and even thought hiding out in the tent every so often was pretty fun too...

Thanks to a generous kiddo who had some extra tickets, the boys were able to ride the roller coaster they'd been eyeing all day...

...brave kiddos that they are even chose front row seats...

...and I'm quite certain that one little ride cured them of wanting to visit the midway again for a good year or so...

...that, my friends, it the face of a kid who realized halfway into the ride it was a bad decision. I know that feeling well roller-coaster hater that I am. Live and learn, right???

We also had another fun day of soccer. The boys are finally participating a bit more...

...along with some pretty regular distractions, such as the bouncy netting on the goal...

...they did actually get in on some of the action on the field (they're numbers 2 and 3) ...

...Colton even got to dribble a bit...

The boys were the winners of the sportsmanship award this week for being good buddies/teammates...

...they were pretty darn excited...

They also earned patched for having a good attitude last week and being brave this week...

...I love i9 sports focus on building character along with teaching a sport.

We celebrated with frozen yogurt...

...and soft pretzels...

The boys get very focused with their treats :-)

We spent some time this weekend changing up our decorations...

...sitting fireside...

...and enjoying some gorgeous fall weather...

...which obviously required a trip to the shady bouncy bridge park...

...in shorts nonetheless. Once again, live and learn, right?? Colton told me "my teeth are moving, mom." So cute! We learned how exercise can warm us up. So do snuggles...

...these days one cute picture leads to many silly ones...

Despite my painful, busted eye, we managed to have lots of smiles and enjoy our change of plans to accommodate my healing. Be careful with your eyes, people!! A scratched cornea is no fun!!

Halloween

2014-11-03T15:53:00.000-05:00

This year's Halloween is the best one with the boys by far. They are so into all of it and the whole month has been filled with excitement and anticipation. It's incredibly fun!

We had fun carving pumpkins together. Colton and I were a team for this creation...

...and Mason and Mickey made this one...

They were great helpers...

We managed to carve 4 pumpkins and the boys were thrilled with the display at our house as a result...

We kicked off Halloween morning with a trip to the Library for their fun event.

There was coloring...

...sensory bins...

...and lots of fun stuff to play with...

We love our library!

Before we knew it, it was time to trick or treat.

Colton got ready first...

...and we finally convinced Mason to join the party...

...homemade glowstick lightsabers for the win!!

Check out our two adorable Darth Vaders...

They had a blast trick or treating around our neighborhood on a gorgeous night ...

It was especially fun to trick or treat while keeping an eye on the evening air show in the sky complete with fireworks. It was the best Halloween for these two kiddos yet... I have a feeling they only get more and more fun over the next few years.

My Brother's Getting Married and I Got To Party With His Future Bride :-)

2014-10-30T20:55:00.002-04:00

As you probably already know, my brother is getting married in December. Upcoming weddings mean bachelorette parties and I'm so happy I got to be a part of this one. First off, I owe a HUGE thank you to my husband for manning the home-front while I was gone. I owe him BIG TIME!!

Last weekend, I got to spend some time in Lexington celebrating my future sister-in-law. Here's a glimpse into our fun...

Friday kicked off with some fun at the Buffalo Trace distillery...

I had hoped this trip could help me to love bourbon a bit more, but like my sister, the bourbon chocolates and bourbon creme were the only bourbon variations that really struck my fancy...

Some of that bourbon creme in my coffee over the holidays would be fantastic though...

It was absolutely gorgeous there...

...doesn't this just scream fall??...

The rest of our day was spent with dinner and dancing...

..smiles all around with these ladies.

Saturday morning kicked off with some tailgating at Keeneland...

...cue the gorgeousness again...

...even the clock was a Rolex...

The crowds were entuhisastic and it was fun to be a part of it on such a gorgeous day...

I bet on a Da Big Hoss in honor of my brother who has the nickname Hos...

...no luck in the winnings department but it definitely added to the fun. $2 well spent, I'd say! It was smiles all around once again for Jenny's gang of girls...

After a day at the track, we spent our evening out for dinner and drinks again...along with some entertainment from the band and their new bandmate...

Before we knew it, it was Sunday and time to wrap up the festivities. We hit up a local breakfast joint before most people headed home.

Lucky for me and my sisters, we had one more day to explore Lexington and took full advantage of it. First up, a walk through the University of Kentucky's arboretum...

...it was so wonderful to be able to be there in the fall to get my colorful leaf fix...

We got in about 4 miles before heading back to regroup before heading out for dinner. Dinner at The Village Idiot was the most scrumptious meal of the weekend.

I started things off wtih the Jack-O-Tini...

...stoli vanilla, caramel pumpkin pie syrup and pumpkin liquor....YES, please! It was incredible!

We decided to order a bunch of dishes to share and the brussels sprouts with blue cheese and pecans were the definite highlight of our choices for me...

...they were insanely good. I will be trying to recreate that dish at home for sure. We followed up dinner with a couple more drinks at a fun wine bar before calling it a night...

...it was the perfect ending to a very fun weekend. I'm so glad I got to be a part of it and can't wait til Jenny and Aaron's big day.

"e" week

2014-10-23T17:15:00.000-04:00

I'm a bit behind in my updates but here's a bit of what we've been up to as we wrap up the letter e.

We made the letter e out of all kinds of things...

...I love that the boys realized without my help that it's just a c with a line through the middle.

We also ended up making ELEPHANTS...

Of course we had a craft...

We also burnt of lots of ENERGY...

....from getting lots of EXERCISE...

...some of which involved friends...

...how cute are they all together trying to pull that wagon through the sand?!

They're a fun bunch...

We also had fun with some pinterest-inspired Halloween activities. Not everything has to follow the letter of the week plan, right??

These were my favorite...

...thanks Pinterest!

We also had a family night out, an EXCURSION if you will...

EXPERIENCES are EDUCATIONAL too and equally important if you ask me. We're making memories...

As always, we spent a lot of time with books, ABCmouse.com, leap frog dvds, and our new favorite, The Monster Math Squad...can't remember if it's on Netflix or Huluplus but we get it through our appleTV and it's a lot of fun. We give it two thumbs up!

Happy learning!

"E" Week

2014-10-17T17:19:00.000-04:00

This week we've been tackling uppercase E at "Planker Academy." So far, this has been the hardest letter for me to get creative with but we managed to have more fun than I expected we'd have. Here's a peak into some of our activities...

We had lots of fun with EGGS. The boys helped me make deviled eggs...

We did an experiment with vinegar and eggs...

....did you know the shell turns soft when you leave eggs in vinegar for an extended period of time? They were like snake eggs. It was a fun sensory activity for us. We were even able to bounce them a bit.

We also got some seed planted in the egg carton...

...we're hoping to grow some of the boys favorites--red peppers, cucumbers, and kale. I selfishly have some beet and tomato seeds going too. Fingers crossed we have a bit of success this year.

We made eagles...

We also got some exercise working on our hand-eye coordination...

...Mason actually even hit the ball once...

How cute is Colton with all his exercise gear??...

We did lots of eating...

...this time was frozen yogurt as a reward for the excellent behavior for their haircuts.

We also did an experiment called elephant toothpaste...

...it was so cool watching it erupt out of the bottle...

We had to do it a second time to show Dad....

...needless to say, he was impressed too. :-)

We also did some fine-motor work painting E's with q-tips...

...we had to paint our names too :-)...

We also read some great E-themed books with some help from this list. She's always got great suggestions there. Some of our activities were a bit of a stretch but we still learned a lot and had a lot of fun, especially with the experiments.

Things I'm Loving Thursday - October Edition

2014-10-16T15:29:00.001-04:00

It's time for the Things I'm Loving Thursday October edition. Without further ado...some of my faves these days...

1. Simply Balanced Sparkling Water from Target...

...I don't drink soda but I sure do love seltzer. This blueberry flavor is good, but their other citrus one is even better. I highly recommend it...and it's cheaper than La Croix too. Bonus!

2. Castronovo Chocolate...

...I got these truffles as a gift and they were INCREDIBLE! It's a local chocolate shop and I can't wait to pop in and purchase more for myself. She knows her chocolate!

3. Stroller Running...

...the weather has cooled off enough that stroller runs are back in the regular workout rotation which makes for one happy momma....perfect timing for half marathan training. I'm signed up for 2 this winter and absolutely giddy about it.

4. Clif Kid Bars...

...my boys love these things and have been especially thrilled with the halloween version. I feel good about feeding them a nutritious, organic snack. It's a win-win. I can only find this variety at Target so far...just fyi.

5. RealBeanz...

...I think I found my new favorite long run recovery beverage. This stuff is delicious and currently on sale at the Fresh Market. I don't love coconut water but know how good it is for me after a tough workout and apparently I do love it mixed with coffee. Who knew?? Check it out!

6. Mrs. Meyers cleaning products...

...If you haven't discovered Epantry yet, you need to check them out. (Shameless referral link included.) They were having a nice sale and as a new customer I got an extra $10 off and free shipping. I didn't have to think twice before stocking up. Love all the unique scents to help make cleaning a bit more enjoyable.

7a. My boys...

...watching them play together makes my heart incredibly happy!

7b. My boys again...

...I love catching moments like these.

8. Halloween Season...

...every year our neighborhood does this fun booing thing and it always helps add to the fun of the season. This week we got booed and got to boo some other neighbors. It was fun!!

9. Free coffee...

It's free coffee week at RaceTrac and they have pumpkin spice...need I say more?? Only 2 more mornings left to take advantage of it.

10. My PiYo Strength Slides...

...I've been using this things a couple of times a week this month and have fallen in love with them. It's such a nice way to mix things up and get a killer workout without impact. I think they're alot of fun too. They're part of the PiYo deluxe workout upgrade and worth every penny. You can get them here. You won't regret it!

What are your favorite things these days? Care to share? I'd love to know what you're lovin' these days too.

It's Beginning to Feel A Lot Like Fall

2014-10-11T16:48:00.000-04:00

It's beginning to feel a lot more like fall around here...at least in the mornings and evenings. It's a good enough improvement for me. It's fun to see so many people out and about again now that the temps are becoming bearable again. We were cooped up way too long this summer!

Cooler temps mean much more outdoor adventurizing for us. Check out these fun turtles we've been visiting this week...

...I'm still trying to figure out what kind of turtle the one in the water is. Anyone know?

We've made several trips to the park too but have also been loving our back yard. I discovered the boys' secret stash of baby coconuts in their castle yesterday...

...it's good to know they're prepared to defend their castle, right? While wearing my pink flip flops of course...

...fitting for breast cancer awareness month though. Real men wear pink!

We've also been huge fans of all the halloween decorations people are putting up. So far the boys' favorite is this cat...

...it's huge and has a head that rotates back and forth. We have to stop and watch it every time we run by it. Never gets old for the boys :-).

Speaking of Halloween, we've been making some fun stuff around here for the holiday too. We had a return of the toilet paper tube frankenstein...

...and we made a couple of cool haunted houses at Lowes today too...

Cooler weather means even more enjoyable evening story times on Wednesday nights. This week's featured stories were...

...it's so nice to want to linger outside afterwards instead of making a mad dash for the AC.

We even hit up Blue Door a second time on Thursday night for a little happy hour before the homecoming parade which was a HUGE hit with the boys...

...pretty girls, fancy cars, loud bands with drum corps, policemen...what's not to love??

And speaking of things to love, what's not to love about dancing Christmas toys in the stores already...

...I'm not gonna lie, I'm getting excited myself for the holiday. It is the most wonderful time of the year after all. Happy Saturday!

"d" week

2014-10-11T16:25:00.002-04:00

This week at "Planker Academy," we're focusing on lowercase d. It's been a fun week. Take a look...

We made lower each lower case d with dots (Mason's had a dozen and Colton's got a little dirty)...

...the d had a door. AND inside the door was a dragon...

...Colton's had a dog inside too :-).

We've been having lots of fun with dominos...

...sometime we can stick with finding matches and other times we count the dots but to be honest, they spent more time this week just building and playing with them and I'm totally fine with that too. Colton's really good at putting them away neatly :-).

We also spent some time decorating pumpkins for the coloring contest at the Fresh Market...

...cutting was the biggest hit of this project. I wasn't surprised.

Speaking of decorating, the boys also decorated the house for Halloween a bit more...

...cute, huh? Thanks Grandpa Teddy and Mimsy for all the goodies.

We had some sensory fun with a doughy dinosaur dig...

...thanks to the measured mom for the idea. She's got tons of great ones over there. You can find the recipe for the dough there too. Cornstarch, old sunscreen, and green food coloring went into ours.

After we got bored with the dinosaurs, the boys decided to make some footprints. Fun times...

With soccer season under way, we've also been working on our dribbling...

...and passing...

We also made some fun Pinterest-inspired donkeys...

...which ended up looking a bit more like pigs, especially with the legs that the boys insisted were necessary :-). They sure do love anything that involves paint and didn't they do a lovely job with the smiles? Fine motor skill development at work here for sure!

Probably the most fun thing the boys did all week was another "dig" for dinosaurs activity...

...we simply froze little dinosaur toys in water inside a pan and they had fun trying to get them free from the ice. We seriously had to repeat this activity at least 5 times. Who would have thought??

Other letter d activities included lots of books about dinosaurs, ducks, dragons, dogs, even doughnuts. Oh, and we also had lots of play dough fun. It was a great week!

A Wish Come True...Temporarily :-)

2014-10-07T16:52:00.001-04:00

My wish for cooler weather came true temporarily for the weekend and beginning of the week and we've been taking full advantage of the cooler weather by spending as much time as possible outside. It's already heating up again but we know that little tease means more should be on the way in the near future. We're excited!!

Saturday morning was still quite toasty and we were all awake WAY too early so we had a very lazy morning at home before we headed off to spend the morning doing what we do best on Saturday mornings--building....

The boys had fun making their ambulances and I got them to pose for about a second together on the pumpkins. This is as good as it got...

Our next stop was Michaels for the most disappointing activity the boys have ever attended in their lives. They had hoped to make the spider and frankenstein (cool, right??) ...

...but the teacher only provided them with rocks, paint and googley eyes that were enormous for the very small rocks these kids with developing motor skills were supposed to paint...

...she was incredibly unhelpful and we left with these lovely painted rocks that I very unhappily forked over $4 for.

How can places like Lowe's and Home Depot have such fantastic, free projects for kids but Michaels charges you for pathetic ones like this?? Aren't they supposed to be known for their crafting supplies?? Get us hooked on some cool ones we might want to buy more of to use at home. LAME!!!!

Anyways... after a quick stop at Target (it's a requirement when you're in the neighborhood, right?:-)), we headed home for lunch. We almost made it home before the boys passed out in the car so instead of heading inside for lunch, I transferred them into the stroller (transferring them into their beds NEVER works) and hit the road for a run while they napped. It was starting to cool off a bit and the run actually felt glorious. We covered 7 miles before calling it quits and giving lunch another shot. Success!!

We spent the rest of the day playing in the backyard which felt like just a little bit of heaven.

Sunday morning's weather looked something like this...

...hello perfection!! Needless to say we spent the ENTIRE day outside starting with some yardwork before everyone was even dressed for the day....

...we ate breakfast outside and then headed out for a bike ride to the green market and made a pit stop for some coffees too.

Before we knew it, it was time for the boys first soccer practice and game. How cute are they??

They were pretty reserved for their first day but had a good time as long as we stayed close by. Good thing they allow parents on the field at first...

...it was a beautiful day to kick off the season and seems like it will be alot of fun for the boys once they get comfortable.

We followed up the soccer match with some lunch before heading home to load the boys in the stroller again for a very late naptime. Another trip downtown was in order. We walked around for an hour or so before parking ourselves at the Pelican cafe for some beverages and outdoor fun on the beautiful day...

...it was the perfect ending to a perfect weekend.

Monday morning was still gorgeous so we took advantage of it and headed off for a run that ended up at the park first thing in the morning...

...the boys and I love beating everyone else there. We had the place to ourselves. While we were there, we noticed that it looks like they've got some remodeling in the works. How exciting...

The boys decided they wanted to walk all the way home and they ended up stepping up to the challenge beautifully...

...they walked the entire mile and a half without a single complaint. They took a fantastic nap too :-)

Today's starting to warm back up again but we still had a nice morning walk to story time and much nicer weather than it has been while we read, sang, and danced. Today's features were...

Zoe Hall does a great job of educating and entertaining with these fall-themed books.

We spent the rest of our morning playing and exploring at the park. Once again, the boys decided they'd just walk home...I'll have to start planning in extra time for those little feet to walk the mile + home. It's nice to just enjoy the journey once in a while though. They're good at reminding me of that when I'm patient enough to embrace it and I see lots of walks in our near future to help me do just that.