Pictures of the weekend visit

They are asleep (below)

Yikes

“Hey mom look at this…... I wrote my name on the car with this rock!”

(The picture does not give you a truly accurate view )

 

What happens at home…stays at home….

Well my dear readers I don’t believe I have much to share. You see, Erik took Alec away for the weekend. 

I’m pretty sure everyone knew this as I was shouting for joy from the top of my lungs. It was the day ‘hooray’ could be heard round the world.  My first time in about 4.5 years that I was left alone in my house without another human….no getting up early, no worry about meals, no finding  the _fill in blank here that is really sitting in the fridge directly in front of your face. 

No agenda.

ALONE.

Except for the one tiny fact that as the third child- I get lonely pretty quickly- it was bliss.

Of course, the furball was by my side but that was fine.  She is 99% self sufficient.  She likes to do what I wanted to do…lay around; sleep and hmmmm…maybe eat.  She did more of the sleeping while I ventured out for some shopping and brunch. She needs more sleep than I do.  I need to shop more than she does.

Did I mention I got 11 straight hours of sleep Friday night? 

No?

I got 11 hours of sleep.

Seriously.

I rocked this alone thing really well.

In the blink of an eye it was Sunday afternoon. I was in the screen porch reading a book and I heard the pitter patter of little feet the pounding of little kid feet who didn’t take their shoes off at the door running through the house–flinging open the screen door as it bangs on the side of the house, yelling “momma…I gotta pee” and just like that my boys were back.

My world was right again.

And Alec’s Adventure? 

I heard it was pretty fun exploring Albany and good time visiting cousin Leo, Courtney and Raja the dog.  I also heard that Alec and Raja were having conversations at the top of the stairs at 5AM one morning after having gone to bed at 11PM and then 4AM the next morning. 

That’s one adventure I am glad I missed.  ;)

Apples!

Wednesday–Wild World of Sports

The Farm

I haven’t been out to the farm for pick up in a few weeks. Hilary has been super accommodating in picking up the share on her way home from work while I adjust to Alec’s school schedule- me working on Tuesdays and getting him to gymnastics by 3. Today I had a few extra moments to spare before I did the child pick/gymnastics thing up so I swung by on my way from work.

The fields are starting to look weathered. There is no longer that bright green that signifies new growth. The colors are more dramatic in dark sort of way.  I love to crest the hill right before the entrance and see how the landscape has changed since I was there last.  I look forward to see what the share has in store for me that week- which veggies will excite me, which will challenge me and which may want to make me gag. Or Erik. Just say the word Brussels Sprouts to him and see what happens. It’s kinda fun.

So I saw this tub sitting there and I immediately has a flashback to living to Pennsylvania and there being a tub in the woods that the cows could drink out of-like a small stream running through it. Seems to me it was like down a little hill past a field.  Tell me family members …did I make that up? Seems like a real memory to me. But hey-I was only 3.

I didn’t take a picture of the goods this week. I was feeling a little overwhelmed when I got home. Alec was hungry ..dinner needed to be made…laundry to be done. You know the drill. I am sure it is no different for ya’all.  I cooked these up as snack and Alec actually ate a few. I couldn’t believe it. 

Although I did tell him that Mya and Faye LOVE to eat it.

Peer pressure helped.

Plus lots of salt.

Pool time

Noelle and I put the boys in swimming lessons together.

I gotta tell ya…on the way there I wasn’t sure if this might have been a mistake. They can crank each other up!

Ben was a little nervous as this was his first lesson. Alec took care of him though.

Fortunately they wound down, settled in and did a great job! And it didn’t hurt that they were on opposite sides of the group!

Too much fun!

Bragging

I make good salsa. 

Just sayin’.

Volcanoes, Earthquakes, Oil Rigs & Easy Bake Ovens

Alec like many kids is multifaceted. Not only does he prefer non-fiction-he prefers destructive non-fiction. Here are a couple of his favorites.

And then we get this from school. Just to show he is in touch with the softer side of things….

I love it.

P.S.  I stole this right off the wall of the daycare center his last day there.   Alec was yelling at me  “what are you doing mom?????” In my head I saying ‘sshhhh don’t draw attention to us’ but of course without thinking I responded “stealing it”.  Ya think that might have been a poor choice of words knowing what you know about Alec?  UGH. You know it. I heard about it all the way home.  In case you need to know….”stealing is NOT ok”.

Thank you police officer Alec.

Wordless Wednesday -Palace Playland- Labor Day Weekend

PreK–Part II

About a year ago Alec moved up from the preschool room at daycare to the preK room. There was no pomp and circumstance around it. I dropped him off in the morning and he was in preschool…I came to get him – he was in preK –just like that. It made me feel so sad as I saw other parents posting pictures on Facebook of their kids going off to Nursery School or preK last fall. I felt like I was somehow failing Alec that since he was in daycare he didn’t get to have those special moments. Yes, friends, I do know that the only one disappointed was really me. He didn’t care- he was just excited to be in a new room. And the guilt of daycare…well that is a whole other blog. I will just say that although it is not for everyone – it does Alec (and I) more good than bad.

I digress….

Fast forward a year and I get to have a little moment all my own. Yay! Although Alec did not change daycares – they moved the preK class out of the center and into the main building with a new teacher. I am happy about this because I was really sad (guilt) that he would have to spend 2 years in the same room doing/repeating the same curriculum all over again. Hence the reason we were looking for new schools. Mind you, I was not worried about it from an educational standpoint, he’s a bright kid- he’ll figure it out, but from a ‘boring’ standpoint. Bored kids have enough time to cause trouble. Plus I really like this new (to us) teacher. She had subbed in other classrooms in the past and she really relates well to the kids. Sweet!

Today –they started in their new classroom. And I got to get my ‘it’s a big deal’ pictures! :)

I had to laugh at myself as I followed him outside with the camera because I wanted to choose a place I could take his picture for the next 13 years. Ridiculous I know.

And he stood still for none.  ;)

And the classroom;. they haven’t finished it yet but it is coming along nicely. There is a separate room that has all the toys for free play. I really like that. They have birds and goldfish and plants to take care of and lots of fun new thing to explore! And they still have swimming lessons on Wednesday mornings.

Is the school perfect?

Nope.

But I have high hopes it might work out just fine.

AND

I got my pictures.

A first….

The other night Alec rode his bike all the way to Nana and Grand-pooh-pa’s house. No, not by himself- I was with him but he did it. And a few dead-end streets along the way too –just to explore.

Big road crossed and he’s off!

By the sledding hill.

Almost there….

Done!

Mission accomplished. Hasn’t he come a long way since this winter?  Now….about those training wheels. When do they come off?