Operation Big Boy

The weekend after Christmas we traveled to Colorado to visit my family. We had a really fun time. Because we have has several "Christmases" once we were done, Truitt thought the gifts should keep appearing under the tree. Our kids totally cleaned up. I really had to sift through the toys and get rid of a lot of stuff.
Now that we have started a new year we are starting "Operation Big Boy"! We have said goodbye to Truitt's binkey, we are going to start wearing potty training pants tomorrow, and tonight is Truitt's first night in his big boy bed!
I will have to admit potty training intimidates me a little, so if you think about it pray for us.

The difference

It's amazing to see how different siblings can be. Even at this very young age I can see little ways that Ephraim's personality, likes and dislikes are so different from Truitt's. Truitt enjoys playing with cars mostly, and superheros. Ephraim seems to have more imaginative play at a younger age than Truitt. Ephraim likes playing with toy animals and he likes to play pirate. I love it when he comes toddling out of the play room with his pirate hat on and sword in hand swinging wildly with a big grin on his face. Tonight I got out the crayons to see how he would do with them. He actually colored with them. Truitt was NOT interested in crayons at this age.

I'm excited to see how Christmas turns out this year. We got Ephraim a Mr. Potato Head with lots of accessories. I really think he will like this. Mr. Potato Head is perfect for pretend play.
We got Truitt a Leapfrog Scribble and Write. The screen lights up to show him how to write a letter then he traces it. I've tried the pen and paper approach and he's not that interested, but there is something about a "computer" that I think he will find more interesting. It's simple enough though that I will still be involved. If you know me you know that I'm not for a computerized device teaching my children how to read and write. I believe that's the parents' job. That's a whole other post.

We had a lot of fun setting up the tree with the boys this year. This is the first year that they were old enough to help. They also helped me make Christmas cookies. That was more work than I anticipated, but they had fun. Here's to making memories!

Halloween

Ok so I know tomorrow is December 1st, but I wanted to post this. I know I'm really behind...I will try harder.
Our kids won a Halloween costume contest. We were so excited because is means a $50 gift certificate! As you can see Truitt was Dr. Frankenstein and Ephraim was his monster.

What's new?

So much has happened since my last post. Ephraim had his first birthday! While my parents were here we all went to Deanna Rose Farmstead. The boys had so much fun! Ephraim loved the ducks. Truitt liked getting close to the goats. Ephraim is now walking! He tries to keep up with his big brother, which can be hard when Truitt knocks him over while he's running past. I am looking into different options for schooling the boys. I just don't think that the public school will keep Truitt challenged. This is a boy that knew all of his capital letters at the age of 20 months, and currently is 2 but has the mind and vocabulary of a 3 year old. That being said I'm looking into some charter schools (we would HAVE to have scholarships). I'm also looking into home schooling. I know there are several different methods, so I want to look into those. I'm also going to be asking some moms that schooled their children to see what challenges they faced etc.

chicago

A couple weekends ago Aaron and I went to Chicago. We had a wonderful time! I was nervous about leaving the boys with someone else for the whole weekend but to my relief they did just fine! It was so relaxing to have a weekend to ourselves. We stayed out as late as we wanted and didn't have to worry about anything. This was our first plane ride. It was so weird being that high above the ground and knowing that only air was holding you up. Everyone said that I would love flying...they were right!

Friday night when we arrived we got to our hotel and then took the L to a movie theater where we had dinner and watched the new Harry Potter movie (which I loved by the way). We got back around 1am. Saturday morning we took the L downtown. There we found Millennium Park. Here we saw one of the coolest sculptures I've ever seen.

It's called the Bean. It is a huge silver sculpture shaped like a kidney
bean. Because it's silver it reflects everything.

Then we walked down and around Michigan Ave. There is so much to see and so much shopping. In the evening we went down to the Navy Pier and walked around there and eventually went on the huge Farris Wheel.

The city was beautiful. Sunday we rented bicycles. It was a very fun way to get around the city. First we went to this amazing coffee shop called Intelligentsia. The espresso was fantastic and they even did Latte Art

.

We went on our own little chocolate tour. There is a place in the city that offers one but we just did it on our own. That led us to More Cupcakes. They are a quaint little shop that makes savory and sweet cupcakes. I was hoping to try their artichoke parmigiana cupcake, but they didn't have any savory ones on the day we were there. So we bought a salted caramel and a chocolate crème.

We rode around some more and for lunch we stopped at "The Big Bowl". It is an Asian cuisine place that had amazing food and even made their own ginger ale fresh every
day. It was yummy! We then rode to the beach and followed the shore line for a while. We decided to stop and enjoy our cupcakes. Then we tried to build a sand castle, but we didn't have any tools. We tried to use the box our cupcakes came in but that didn't work out so well. Eventually it became a sand mountain.

That evening we had some Chicago deep dish pizza with some friends. Later that night, we all when shopping at H&M. There I found a cute jacket and some hats for the boys. We left for the airport early the next morning. Truitt and Ephraim were very excited to see us. We had a great time but it’s good to be home.

Summer Plans

Aaron and I have a lot planned for the summer. Aaron is wanting to get some more improvements done on the house. He is currently working on replacing the sink and dishwasher. I am going to start priming the trim in the kitchen. I will try to post before and after pictures. Later in July Aaron and I are taking a little weekend trip to Chicago. The boys will be staying with some friends of ours. I'm a little nervous, because I've never been on a plane. We plan on seeing the pier and of course riding the Farris Wheel. Hopefully it will be a very relaxing weekend. Then of course in Aug. Aaron will go back to school.

Eventually (when the boys are on the same nap schedule) we will put them in the same room together. The other room will become a playroom. So I am wanting to decorate their bedroom in guitars and drums. Their play room will have a pirate theme. I have lots of ideas for their rooms and I'm very excited to get started decorating. We are going to do it little by little so that it does not cost a bunch of money all at once. I will also post picture of that when I'm done, but those rooms will be a while.

Ephraim's accomplishments

Ephraim is now crawling and pulling himself up to standing. This all just happened suddenly in the same week. Congratulations little guy!