A Bug and a Stove

We've been battling a little bug in the house - not an insect, but some sort of illness. The boys had it over the weekend, I had it Monday and Adam Tues/Wed. We are now all back to normal (we hope).

Since Sunday, we've also been without a stove! Adam moved the stove and fridge to finish the floor but with the illnesses things have been on hold. So its been dinners that can be made in the micro around here. Last night I stopped at the grocery store and had to read the mac and cheese box to see if it could be made in the micro! Had to do the easy mac!! Hopefully tonight or this weekend things will be back in order in more ways than one! 

The floor looks awesome and Adam has done a great job! What was suppose to be a little weekend project over President's weekend has turned into something much more time consuming but we are happy with the results!!

Spring Break

For spring break I wanted to go somewhere warm but the thought of bringing the boys and staying in a hotel room didn't sound much like a vacation, so I stayed home. I did a lot of laundry and actually some sewing.

I took the boys to MOA for a day. We saw some characters from the upcoming movie Cars 2 as well as a stop at the Lego store and a few other fun places.

Here is one of my sewing projects - little reversible pants for Emmit. I loved how they turned out, I made a second pair. I made something special for Gerrit (he hasn't received it yet) so I won't talk about it yet. I made a bib too which was a prototype and I think I'll give that one another whirl when I have time. I will definitely make more pants for Emmit, I just need to wait for him to grow as well as find some more fun fabric!

The New Playroom

This was (and still is) a familiar site of Gerrit playing:

And now we get this site:

Maybe we should decorate this area and call it 'the playroom'.
You definitely have to watch where you walk when you go up or down the stairs - you never know what toys will be on the step!

Seeing I had the camera out I got a few other shots of Emmit today:

This one is my favorite:

Dr. Birr's Assistant

Adam explains his day with Gerrit:
It's been a big week for snowmelt which means long days in the field collecting samples.  Today I got a call that we were having some issues with a couple of our monitoring stations.  Despite being a Saturday, you don't get many opportunities to collect these 'edge-of-field' samples so I decided I needed to make some site visits.  I asked Gerrit if he'd be interested in going into the 'field' to help daddy to which he responded quite enthusiastically.  In all we visited 3 sites and he had a blast.  He was a big help and I was amazed how he picked up on stuff such as where the water was coming from and which direction it was flowing.  Of course the fields are wet with a lot of mud which is not a good combination with a 4 year old.  He had been playing around the puddle in the upper left hand corner for some time and the temptation was too great.  I heard a 'plunk' and looked up to see him falling in.  He quickly jumped out and said "I'm o.k., I'm o.k. daddy!"  At the last site the farm cooperator was out doing chores so Gerrit got to meet him.  He was pretty excited to meet a farmer.  On the drive home he said that he wanted to be farmer and listed a litany of animals he wants to raise.  It was a lot of fun spending time in the field with Gerrit and seeing his enthusiasm.  Perhaps these sites will be the subject of his dissertation some day...

 

Words of Wisdom

Gerrit has been known to talk in his sleep. This morning when Adam was waking Gerrit up, Gerrit said:

"We should wear lots of underwear". 

We realized he was not fully awake but I thought I'd see if he'd respond so I asked him why.

His response:

"So then we can poop in each of them."

Starting Early

Luke came over for dinner the other night. While I was getting things ready, he was keeping an eye on the boys.( I love it when Luke/Pual come fod dinner!) Seeing it was Luker that taught Gerrit how to ride a 2 wheeler at the farm, he thought he'd try his hand with Emmit. The seat needs to be lowered but I bet by summer he'll be chasing after his brother! (And yes, my microwave cart is in the living room - needed to get everything off the floors in the kitchen so Adam could regrout (or in our case, retile first, and hoping to get to the grout soon!).

ALCO

We are trying to break Gerrit of the bad habit of sleeping in our bed. He likes to play in our bed because it is bigger than his and has more room for all of his toys. He usually ends up falling asleep in our bed and Adam gets lazy and does not transfer him to his own bed, which means he ends up sleeping with us.

We told him if he sleeps in his own bed for a few nights, we will go to Alco and he can pick out a new car, truck, motorcycle... (Alco is a little five and dime store in town which Gerrit loves because they have cool motorcycles and four wheelers.) He was really bummed when his favorite motorcycle broke and has been wanting a new one ever since so this 'bribe' was the perfect idea. He did great the 1st night and talked about it all day at Julie's. 

The second night came and it was around 4:30am when Gerrit walked into our room and said: "I don't care about Alco" which was his way of saying, I want to sleep with you guys! I said fine and he hopped up in bed and went back to sleep.

{We went to Alco this morning to get the motorcycle. He can not play with it until he sleeps in his own bed a few more nights. I figured if he saw the 'prize' he might be more inclined to sleep in his own bed and not ours!

Gym Night

We had a little gym night through community ed last week. There were not a lot of kids but that was fine by Gerrit. He enjoyed playing basketball and having more room than our basement. I thought Emmit would work on his walking skills, but nope. It was faster to chase the ball via crawling! It was a great chance for them to run off some energy which was well worth the rush of dinner to make it on time!

He Passed the Test!

Gerrit had his pre-school screening this afternoon. All kids in MN have to be screened around age 4 to make sure they are on track developmentally for school. They check their height, weight, hearing, etc. He did very well in all areas. He was pretty shy but Adam helped him along and he managed to answer the questions or do the tasks requested of him. The only thing that was a 'red flag' was his 'th' sound. They don't worry about that really until age 6 or 7 so she said not to worry. During tubby time I asked Gerrit to say some words that had the 'th' sound and sure enough, he can't do it. Never noticed that before. The woman doing the screening said that Julie does a great job preparing her kids for school. It made us feel even better about where the boys are each day. 

Gerrit has been asking about preschool lately. We talk about how he will be going next year and that he won't be with Emmit anymore during the day. It might actually make him enjoy Emmit a bit more and have more tolerance for him when Emmit gets after his toys!

I love how he is growing up and able to do more things yet sad to think he's not my baby anymore. There are times I'm ready to give him away and other times he melts my heart. I feel like I will blink and he'll be driving and chasing girls...time goes so fast! I will try and treasure all times with him while I can [even the times when 'I'm not his best friend' (as he likes to tell me when he's mad at me)].

Playin' with the Big Boys

Adam has been a busy little beaver testifying before the legislature. With the new legislature in session, they need to get up to snuff on what's been going on before they took office. So, last night Adam had to be at the capitol at 6:30PM (yes, PM) to testify for a whoppin' 10 min. They were running late so he sat and waited an hour to give a 10 min. talk. 

Today he had to speak at two different occasions and one was video taped. Here is the link to Adam's TV debut. He's on at about the 25 min. mark (or about 1/3 of the way). You see him briefly and then the rest of the time are his slides. I keep telling him I could give him some cool fonts and really make his power points look more attractive but he never wants to take me up on my offer! Guess that's because I would be violating the States requirements - yes, they are picky about the font and color used on your PowerPoint. Anyways, Adam dusted off the suit so he at least looked the part and they even flashed the PhD behind his name. Guess the 8 years of extra schooling was worth something! 

Because he seems to be spending more time at the Capitol, they are giving him security clearance to take the underground. From what he says, this access is not open to all employees. He even walked past the governor's office today.

I guess you can say he is playin' with the big boys now.

No Vacation Here

I realize I have not posted anything in a long time and it is not due to being on vacation. Here is what has kept me from posting:

1.  Re-grouting the floor - Adam started removing grout in the kitchen only to learn that the tiles are not secure. What was thought of as a 'quick' project has turned into a slow process. Now the kitchen has a third of the tiles missing and every time we use the microwave requires a walk into the living room!

2. Erika and Ella came for the weekend in honor of Ella's birthday. We did a lot of shopping and a lot of hanging out as Ella wanted to spend time with Emmit (even if he is still in the 'only wants mama stage').

3. Friday I came down with strep. I did not let it stop our shopping experience, it just forced us to Target. Erika called in a prescription after I agreed that it felt like golf balls in the back of my throat! That is a scientific way of diagnosing strep, right? And I was thinking ahead by getting a double prescription in case Adam got it (he decided after hearing that Erika tested positive, he'd just take the antibiotics to be safe).

4. Erika took great care of all of us and she organized my scrapbook/craft area! Now if only I had some time to use it. Spring break???

5. Monday was my 'birthday' and Adam had a late meeting so I fed the boys and Adam brought take out home for us. We did not eat until after 7 but it was nice. I was hoping Adam would be home earlier so I could rest (I probably shouldn't have gone to work that day.) The plan is to 'celebrate' my birthday this weekend when we have time to breathe and time to shop for a new watch (mine quit on Sunday - what timing!)

6. Adam has been putting in long hours this week - not just Monday. We did manage to take the boys to open gym for little ones last night at the Elementary school. We thought Emmit would fine tune his walking skills, but he enjoyed chasing after a ball on all fours. Gerrit loved shooting hoops and running around!

While we have been busy with the above, the boys have been busy too:

1. Emmit has been walking more than crawling which is fun to watch. He looks drunk, but is making progress.

2. Gerrit has learned how to spell his name, well sort of: He tends to forget the I but who's keeping track! He should be in good shape next week at his pre-school screening (assuming he is not shy!).
3. Today Gerrit learned how to snap his pants - he said he figured it out during a time out today! Guess he was bored. At least he's making the most of his time!