DIY Light Box!

We have been slowly (and I do mean slowly) working on getting the boys a light box built.  It has taken months and months, but it is so close to complete that we couldn't stand not to let the boys have a sneak peak.

This was out on the front porch as the sun was setting.  We'll have to bring it inside because it will be too cold when it is dark - but the boys immediately started gathering their Magnatiles and building.

Meal Planning Monday - Back on the Wagon

I have totally fallen off the meal planning wagon, and it shows in the quality of our meals these days.  Our life is so freaking chaotic and crazy with all the things three little boys entail - I figured I have to get back to this or will simply not survive!  (OK, the boys will, we feed them - but Doug and I are another story.)

I will link up the recipes as soon as I get a chance.  

So this week I am planning on making the following meals:

• Big Taco Salad
• Chicken Saltimbocca
• Sauteed Kielbasa with root veggies
• Something with Tofu - just not sure what
• Homemade  Pizza Night
• Frittata with Veggies (anything left over or in need of being used up at the end of the week), Salad, and Rolls

This past weekend I made some snacks in advance for the week, two loaves of bead, canned about 40 pound of tomatoes, and made a protein side dish to take in packed lunches:

• Whole wheat bread
• Rolled cinnamon and raisin breakfast bread
• Blueberry oatmeal bars (for the kiddos)
• Honey Lentils (packed lunch protein)

Linking to OrgJunkie, where MPM lives.

Evening at the Park

Since school has started we have made Thursday afternoon "Park Day" for the boys.  After I get off work I go pick them and take them over to the park and Doug meets us soon there after.  Some weeks we get a pizza or subs, but this week I packed a nice picnic and we stayed until the sun started to set.  The park is on a creek and the boys wanted to go over and look at the water before we left.

They were really busy the whole time we were there, but this was a nice end to the day.

Name tags and Letter Sounds

The boys are in week 2 of school and working hard.  They had been telling me about using their name tags at school on their work - so I thought I knew what they meant.  (They put them on something they are working on but not finished with so that no one else will mess with it.)  Grayson actually asked me to get them name tags at home.

Doug snapped this picture of Gabe's work this morning.  He is working on matching up items and their letter sound.  Gabe loves to play this "game" at home - asking and trying to figure out what letter different words start with.  He is on the cusp of reading and it is so interesting to watch as he slowly figures it all out.

In the Nuts and Bolts Section

One of Reece's favorite activities when he is at work with Daddy -- the Nuts and Bolts section of the store.

Monday morning

Grayson has started his Speech Therapy again this fall and today was his first session.  Doug played on the playground with Gabe and Reece while Grayson was inside - but the real fun was AFTER speech when they all got to get out of the car and visit the HUGE COMBINE that was out by the road.

As we suspected, Grayson has made progress - maybe too much!  He has his next re-evaluation this winter and we are expected they will cut off his services all together.

In the meantime, we are looking into private OT because we know the evaluation given at the school we false - as we watched them help him do things he can't do and then report him as capable of doing them.  It really bites - because he clearly needs just a little help to catch up.  It is going to cost us a small fortune and I'm not sure how on earth we are going to find the funds to pay for it, but it just has to happen.

...and he ran out of steam...

Sometimes little boys just won't quit.  

...and sometimes they just collapse,

 in their PJs, 

with the lights on, 

right where they were when they were playing.  

(Of course, the lights were off and bed time was called over an hour earlier...)

Boxes are (still) fun

Somehow this toy box :


ended up at our house.  We are not fans of the huge toy box concept, but apparently it is Doug's old toy box and now it is ours, so we have to figure out a good use for it.  Right now, it is the place where the boys 1- hide, and 2- go to play when they want to be left alone.

Weird, I know.

If WE put them in a box CPS would come and tell us we were terrible parents.  If they put themselves in the box, however, it is OK.

(Gabe refuses to not make weird faces when he sees the camera. I tried three times, sadly, this is the best face.)

First Day of Pre-K

I can't believe today is the first day of Pre-K for the boys.  Not that they didn't go to "school" last year, they did.  But somehow this is different.  (Just bear with me...)  It is different because it is the last year that they don't have to go.  Don't get me wrong, they love, love, love school.  But this means that they are now one year away from going to Kindergarten and I am terrified of sending them to our local public school.  Which is bad, because I work in a public school.  Which probably is why I am so freaked out about the whole thing. 

So today was the one year of worry mark.  Ugh.  I hate that I am such a worrier, but I can't help it!

A little surgery for the 4 year olds...

Tonight Doug decided it was time to take out his massively wide stitches he got about a week ago when playing with the table saw.  The boys have been very, very interested in his thumb all week and taking inventory of if has healed yet.  So this combination of events led to a little preschooler surgery in the kitchen tonight.

Doug gave each boy a hemostat and then snipped the stitch and let them each have a tug and pull one out.  (Pictures to come when I can get them off the camera)

I have to say I thought this was pretty brave on his part - and the boys thought it was very neat.  (Gabe wanted to actually keep the nasty, crusty stitches - but luckily we convinced him it was not a good idea.)

The Buick Refuses to Die

The Buick absolutely refuses to die.  I keep thinking - this is it -- finally! But no.  It just keeps hanging on.  Today Doug needed to get the Roll Back so he could take the Buick into the shop and have the brakes checked, as the brake lines leaked out all the fluid last month and now we need the third car for kiddo pickup.

So the Roll Back is called in, the Buick is loaded, the chucks are pulled out from under the tires and...well, the Roll Back did just that.  It rolled.  Back.  And over the 8 foot retaining wall.  With the Buick on it.

Sigh....  and was the Buick injured?  No.  Was the Roll Back - ummm, yeah.  So a BIGGER Roll Back was then called upon to get the first one (with the car still on it) from the dangling position it was in over the wall.  Many, many hours (and an ulcer on my part -- but great fun for the boys and a large portion of the neighborhood) later the Buick was on the Roll Back, which was on the Roll Back.  

Welcome to what it is like to be married to a Bowen man.