The vista I see now is changing

It was a busy weekend, but a good one. The boys played with a lot of old toys in new ways, and Jack was full of imagination, and this was his favorite creation: Long Arm Guy
While volunteering in the library last week, I found out that Harry has been going with his friends who have trouble reading the AR quizzes and reading the questions/answers to them. What a good little helper he's being for his teacher and classmates :-) He hasn't taken any this year, but I just spent an hour listening to him read this book for an Accelerated Reader quiz tomorrow. It was a crazy long book, almost 40 pages, and still worth only .5 points. Who knows what will be on the quiz, how he'll do, or whether the librarian will think we're crazy for letting him try a 4th grade book, but....it's the most motivated I've ever seen him. I learned a lot and he was able to answer all the comprehension questions I asked him...except when he was joking around :rolleyes: He insisted on reading the entire thing in one sitting, so best of luck in the morning, little man!

Jack is reading this "In the wild" series, and this is the dolphin version. They are early 3rd grade, about 25 pages, and also worth .5 points. The librarian gives them a party at the end of each month if they earn a total of at least 3 points.

It's hard to believe how life has changed in the last couple of years - hang on, cause I doubt it will slow!

REM's Accelerate

But singing works just fine for me

Is there anything better than a rainy day forecast that is wrong? Especially in Spring?!This is that beautiful, overgown, tree that always heralds Spring at our old house...there are even a few tulips blooming, and I saw the first hostas poking their shoots out from under the leaves this morning. Something about digging in dirt just rights all sorts of things!

It's been a creative time around here - both boys are making up songs constantly, some of which are better than others ;-) This is Harry's roll-up keyboard that he bought with some birthday money - he's picking out tunes and putting his good ear to use.

Jack has also been building lots of lego creations with Dean. This was his first complelty solo attempt at one with more than 4 pages of instructions, and he was so proud to finishi it all by himself!

Our house is a series of projects in process - every surface is covered with a half-read book, portions of lego sets, stacks of drawings, etc. It feels good....well, except for my stack of half-sewn mending and half-changed-over winter/summer clothes...all in good time - there are some plants that need attention on this bright sunny day.

A great big Thank You goes out to all the people who work hard to make others' lives easier, better, healthier and safer.

James Taylor's Sweet Baby James

Presents To Send You

Well, birthday money was burning a hole is some boy pockets last week, so we headed to TRU. Harry got a cool roll-up piano, and Jack got a bunch of new Legos with their money from Grammy and Papa.
Jack chose this synthesizing guitar and Harry chose a monkey he names "Sweetie" from Grandma. Thanx to you all, they are happy boys!

After tough toy shopping, nothing beats a trip to 5 Guys!

bellied up to the bar

Jimmy Buffett

Here Comes The Sun, little SNOWSTORM

This is my favorite moment of any snowstorm....

how different things looked yesterday!
Our little snowmobile

a couple of the boys' favorite rides - this is what happens when you don't put away your toys - who knows when they will ever thaw out....you can't see the iceberg in the one under the deckThere have actually been some sweet (quiet) moments, like what I think is the first time they grabbed a game to play together, all on their own

And if you're superstitious...maybe I should take this snowflake out of the window? I took it off a gift they gave to a teacher because I couldn't figure out how to wrap it and thought it fit in the window....now that I think of it, it was the week of the first snowstorm....hmmmm

Jack is a little concerned about the trees - 'it's beautiful, but it might hurt the trees'

So far, we've been lucky at both houses

Enjoy, stay warm and safe!

The Beatles

Will I dig the same things that turn me on as a kid?

It was lego sort of Christmas and the boys have been stuffing their playroom of late, but they still love an afternoon at the library. Harry's reading a really long chapter book and Jack's working thru a stack of puzzles.
Harry bought this Playmobil bathroom (surprise!) set yesterday and practiced his plumbing skills today. One of his latest favorite things to do with Daddy is ask him what all the bathrooms he visited on his business trips looked like - the comparison of color handles, brands of toilets, sinks, etc. are an endless source of entertainment recently.

He put the instructions to good use (and I caught some wild sun rays with the camera - yes, Virginia, there IS a sun)

and checked himself out in the tiny mirror ;-)

Jack decided the sponge made a great brain and did a little neurosurgery on the poor guy who probably just signed on for a shower or other mundane experience

He put him back, so I'm guessing we don't have a budding Sid (ala Toy Story) on our hands...whew!

Beach Boys' When I Grow Up (To Be A Man)

Old toy trains, little toy tracks,

The train made it's way back into the toy rotation today

The best thing about having your house on the market for a long time?

It's like Christmas when you open the packed-away toys at your new house!

Old Toy Train

It's the happhappiest time of the year!

What looks happier than a gum drop tree? It always makes me smile and hum that song...if all the raindrops were lemon drops and gum drops, oh what a rain that would be!

Streeetch! Jack was so proud that he could actually reach Santa's beard this year - and he's crazy about my slippers....thankfully no stilleto's here ;-)

Practicing the drive the sleigh one day?? Yet another use for those dump trucks - they still try to wedge themselves in for a ride, so maybe this is his alternative....legs only!

And Dean is Harry's hero for fixing the gingerbread house!

Welcome home, Daddy

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

Decide, decide, make up your mind

I've been a slacker - we're packing up and spending our time on hefty decisions....like which are the perfect boogie boards ;-)

Hope your days are sunny and bright!

Talking Heads' Tentative Decisions

Brand New KeyCHAINS

Wanna see how much joy you can buy for $5 each?? These heinous new money pits known as Bakugan have morphed into other money pits that create this reaction.... he's a marketer's dream - he had the same reaction to a Star Wars shirt
Harry couldn't step away from the Leapster....

...longer than it took to pose for this winking picture

Jack, however, hasn't put his down in the last 45 minutes

...and is practicing his best mean bakugan face

Despite the above grouse, we'd like to thank our friend Zach for keeping us on the cutting edge of cool! It was a lot of fun yesterday, despite the loss of my keys.....hopefully I won't lose the keychains for Asher and Grayson before tomorrow ;-)

Melanie's Brand New Key

we sing about beauty and we sing about truth

I've been a slug, it's true - somehow I just can't get thru all the pix and such and keep on doing the normal living stuff, plus I found a cool site that holds some weird fascination....sorry it's been a little slow. We have been busy, enjoying a movie with friends...
...checking out apple blossoms....

...making funny faces for Daddy...

...and practicing balancing skills...

...and feeding the birds...

Hope your Spring is going well!

Dr. Hook's Cover of the Rolling Stone

You've Got A Friend In Me

It's been a lazy day around here, and the sunlight has been amazing -

here's Harry's studious face...

and his pure joy (just in case you weren't sure that he liked it, Christina - Thanx!)
Friendship Train

Harry's been into creating parking lots all over, but this time they cooperated and had a "car party - everyone's invited! You better get there quick because it's CROWDED!"

We watched two of the best friendship movies today - Cars and Toy Story

Randy Newman and Lyle Lovett

Where do we go from here?

aka: How the Garmin has changed our lives

Harry's always been our go-guy - he wakes up most mornings asking where we're going that day and is always up for an adventure. Did I mention that he *loves* the Garmin?!

It has solved any slow buckling because he's decided that I'll turn it on as soon as he's buckled (not really, but hey, whatever works). It has solidified a lot of reading and directionality and math understanding - not just mine ;-) It has reduced my stress level despite growling at that lady who can't figure out that we have a drive and don't have to go off-road to get to our house. It has given us a chance to introduce some new words into our daily chats....recalculating, navigate, highlighted, etc. I haven't even shown them the cool phone, picture, and music features, or even used it to find our car yet LOL

Another big milestone has occurred over the last week. I took Harry to do some errands, and we had a good time talking - somehow we got around to working on his L's and he did such a great job that I was cheering like crazy. It stuck this time, and he's been self-correcting and doing a great job. I sort of miss his sweet voice saying "I wuv you, Mommy" but I'll take "LLL-ove" too. My speech path friend says it's really typical to have L's be lacking until 7yo or so, so we are ahead of the game :-)




David Bowie's Looking For Satellites

12/09/08 Jack: I'm so hungry my stomach is screaming all thru outer space! Harry: I need to get a Garmin for my Gator!

It May Sound Silly

We bought the boys this Giggle Gear Mega Mask, and it's been a big hit so far

Here's Harry's morning creation

and Jack's video rendition

Happy New Year from our sillies!

The McGuire Sisters

I Get Lost Sometimes

I am possibly the world's worst navigator, so my sweet husband bought me a bangin' new Garmin that we're all having fun playing with....I just found out that it will help me find my car in when I lose it in the parking lot. My life stress level has dropped amazingly - thank you, dear!

So, what sort of gifts did you get? Hope it was a treatful time for all :-)

Mr. Mister

ETA: It's HASAY Monday and I'm typing this from the Y - yay for me! I am still not committed to posting all the stats and stuff, but I *am* trying :-)

GIVE it up!

We're trying to help the boys build a sense of giving, and get organized early enough this year for donations to help others at Christmastime. (Yeah, it also de-clutters our house, so score two for the home team!) They did great with it, downstairs yesterday and upstairs tonite. We introduced it and asked that they give up at least four big, good toys each and sort of hoped there would be a sizable grand total.

Here's Harry playing on the way upstairs tonite

Not sure why I love photos on our stairs,

but it's amazing to see how they've grown (see comparison below for a big awww)

Halloween 2005, Harry standing

Jack asking if they need to include the Toy Sweep Bag
(I may try a Tricky Tuesday post and share that one then)


Here's tonite's haul....

and yesterday's. I also pulled a few 'treasures' that I'll keep.
We were really proud of them and hope to make the actual giving special.

To the tune of Bob Marley's Stir It Up