There has been a lot to write about for awhile. I was having a hard time finding time and then when I was sick I actually got so weak that even typing seemed like too much work! Ahhhhh to have energy again! I have NEVER been so happy to clean the house!
OK I am going to see what I can remember of all that has happened since I last blogged....
I have been noticing the boys have been using alot of new phrases lately that are adorable to hear them say:
"Just so you know..."
"Nothin' to see here!"
"I was not expecting that to happen"
They have been really interested in electricity lately. I read them a book about electricity that has been getting there minds turning and coming up with all kinds of questions. Lucky for me, Michael has a special talent for explaining how complicated things work in a way they can understand. It is so nice to get them interested in talking about something other than video games sometimes!
I don't know if I have mentioned this before, but I love children's books! So whenever I have a little extra money I really love to head over to Value Village and sift through all their books! Nothing beats .50 a book and every 5th one free! I bring home stacks. I have all kinds of good ones that talk about important subjects like: lying, teasing, having tact, how to calm down, all different kinds of families, people with special needs, how we are all different but all need love, how to know right from wrong, stranger danger, how love always keeps us connected to all the people we love no matter how far away they are. I also like to get the ones to that make the kids laugh because that is what really makes them want to read on their own time. Mo Willems makes some really great books that are funny! One of his series that we always check out at the library is, "Elephant and Piggie" series. These are so great because right now Rylan is the one that is really liking reading right now and when he starts reading one of these books Lee wants to help! There are always two characters and the characters have word bubbles over their heads so they choose who is reading for elephant and who is reading for piggie. There is always alot of punctuation in those books too! So it teaches them how to read with a lot of expression and sometimes they will make up voices. We are going to have to take a video of them doing that sometime it is so cute!
Another thing that we have been doing lately that is working is giving both boys video game minute magnets if Lee reads a story and Rylan sits and listens and helps him if he asks for help. Lee can read well but needs a lot of encouragement to build up confidence and get's very frustrated if he can't read a word so this is the perfect solution!
Lee loves to help! Both boys do actually but lately Lee has been exceptionally helpful. Sometimes he will ask me if I have any chores I need help with and he is disappointed when I can't think of any for him to do! I give them video game minute magnets for helping usually but sometimes he declares that he doesnt need the minutes he just wants to help!
He had some issues with emotional outbursts at school and at home a couple weeks ago that had us worried again because he has made so much progress and has been such a joy for so long that it was shocking to have him revert back so far...but then this entire week he has been amazing! Helping at school, calming himself down and asking for help! Being extremely grateful and thanking us more than usual. Just last night he told Rylan that he is special to him. He has been finding the positive in things more often and both boys have been great at working through conflicts with eachother. We have looked at eachother a few times this week in amazement. We are really lucky.
Yesterday was the school art walk and icecream social. We went last year and it wasn't as cool as it sounds really and Thursdays are the usual day when we go to Nana and Grandpops for dinner. So we had the boys choose. They picked Nana and Grandpops house! Rylan really wanted tacos for dinner (his all time favorite - he can fit 4 or 5 in his little tummy if you let him) so he EMAILED Nana. Both boys have email accounts now and I am slowly getting them interested in it! So if you send them a message it may take awhile to get a reply. Some tips for getting them really interested are: They really like if you use emoticons especially the ones that move, send them pictures, or videos or tell them about funny things that have happened and ask them very specific questions. They have a hard time knowing what to write when the question is, "How is school?"
I love how they play at Nana and Grandpops house. They run all around the yard, ride bikes, play with the tether ball grandpop set up. There is just so much room to run! At our house they have fun exploring and playing with the hose and mud but they can't run as much. Lee usually asks grandpop if they can build something. He always has wood around so Lee picked out a piece to make a puzzle. He drew on it to show Granpop where to cut and afterward he drew an adorable picture of Michael and I on it <3 He is wearing the glasses I used to wear when I was a little girl! Then he put two pieces of wood together and had Granpop screw them to make a "Luigi's Mansion flashlight" to chase Rylan with! We ate dinner outside on the picnic table and roasted some marshmellows by the fire.
The other day we melted crayons onto rocks that were heated up in the oven. It was surprisingly very fun for me too! Now we have some colorful rocks to border the garden!
The boys have been snuggling with eachother more and more. It is really cool to see. In the beginning even though they always liked to play the same things and liked eachother Lee used to be very defensive of his space with Rylan. He didn't like Rylan to touch him or breathe on him or sit too close or touch him with his backpack between their seats in the car. All that has changed. They snuggle, hug, wrestle around ect...
Mother's Day was amazing! I missed Lee being with us, but he made sure to make me feel special the day before. He helped Michael pick out the purple orchid for me that is in the picture below and gave me a picture he drew of me, a note and a flower he made out of pink tissue paper and a pipecleaner. He told me that he made me two things because last year he just made something for his other Mom and wanted to make sure we both had the same amount. I was so impressed that he rememberd that and thought of it a whole year later. Funny thing is that he had forgotten last year to make something for me but told his teacher after Mother's Day and worked on something special with her for me to give me late. So I scored ;-) Also just a few days earlier he had made me a sweet note at home and put it in an envelope and had his dog deliver it to me. Rylan made me an adorable poem and since he was home on Mother's day he helped Michael cook me breakfast! It was delicious! French Toast, Fruit and sausage with some berry mimosa for me!
It was by far the best Mother's Day I have ever had. While Michael was at the store picking up things to make breakfast I cleaned the kitchen for him (it was a complete disaster) and I realized the most amazing thing! I didn't mind doing that on Mother's Day and it didn't even matter what he did for me to make it special because he makes me feel appreciated and special everyday! What an incredible feeling! I used to feel like everything counted on the gifts of service and presents I got on holidays because it was kind of like the only time I felt appreciated and it seemed like ALOT needed to bbe made up for!
In the afternoon we surprised my Mom at work! She really wasn't expecting it because we were feeling sick until the day of Mother's Day and had to go pick up Lee from the ferry so she was kind of expecting we wouldn't be coming over. We showed up 10 mins before her shift ended! Rylan got dapper for her and carried the flowers in to her. My mom works at an assisted living facility for elderly people so it was quite a show. Everyone thought rylan looked too cute! He felt bashful with all the attention and all the fuss like I would have as a child. We couldn't help but think we need to make sure to come back with Lee all dappered up some time since he is so outgoing I am sure everyone would get a kick out of him too! While we were there and EMT was called and a few vehicles came. One of them wasnt being used and the driver offered to show Rylan the inside and gave him a firehat!
On Mother's Day even my garden new to get me something! My first of one of my most favorite flowers bloomed that very day!
Yesterday was parent date night! The kids were really excited because we have missed a few of our date nights because of all the sickness going around. I had Rylan this time and Michael had Lee. We went after dinner to get a little treat. Michael and Lee went to a mexican restaurant where Lee tried Flan and Fried Icecream and played UNO. Rylan and I went to Michael's to grab a little project to do at Starbucks. I let him choose from any of the goodies they had there (I usually have him choose between the healthiest ones) and the strangest thing happened. He didn't want a brownie or cheese danish or cooking with chocolate or a caramel covered muffin, or a cake pop ect...he wanted a yogurt parfait!
We made some 3d paper dogs from the kit we got and he saved one to give to Lee -and Lee LOVES it
I have a younger cousin, Chris that used to live in Bremerton. Decided to join the Peace Corp. moved to Moldova. Met a wonderful woman in the Peace Corp. then moved to Korea with her. They both teach children how to speak english and they are really great with kids. My cousin also in part owner of a screen printing company and for awhile ran a non profit art magazine in Korea to try and give artists exposure. They met rylan and lee one time last summer when they came back here to get married. We went to their reception and camped overnight in my Aunts yard. They made an impression on the kids because they gave them their full attention and asked great questions no matter how long they blabbed on about Mario! Anyhow he has started to send them some mail every so often! They love it! Here is a package of stickers he sent recently:
I made the kids some sticker books and they had so much fun splitting them up and sticking them in their books :)
Awhile ago I was looking around in the fb group I am in called Buy Nothing Kirkland- I think I have mentioned it here before but just in case - it is a group of people that live close to eachother, they post items in fair to great condition to give away. No one trades or buys anything. All the people interested in the item comment on the photo then the giver chooses who they would like to gift to. Then they send that person their address and put the item on their porch to be picked up. Well....when Michael first moved in he brought his cool fish with. Shortly after they died and he was so sad. But he started showing signs of wanting to get fish again but maybe in a smaller easier to move tank. I saw on Buy Nothing that someone was giving away their tank and their fish with it! I said I was interested and they picked me! The tank ended up to be much bigger than it looked in the picture and the fish were pretty colorless but it was all free and they were moving and needed it out asap! It was so hard to move the tank and clean it and everything but I am happy to report now that it make our living room way more awesome. The kids love the fish. The fish have gotten their color back from being taken care of better and Michael talks about them like he did his other fish he loved so much. One of them is a silver angel fish that get's black stripes and moves around like an excited puppy whenever michael is around because he is the one that feeds them!
Ok that is all for now!
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