Alex has been asking for the museum where he can change the tire (also known as the Betty Brinn Children’s Museum). Imagine Alex’s excitement when there was not only one car, but two cars, with tires to change. He tried a few other activities but would always return to the cars and tires.
Month: August 2012
Alex spent all morning changing tires at the Betty Brinn Children’s Museum.
We are dog sitting Abbie for the weekend and Alex can’t get enough of “playing with the dogs”.
Funny because he rarely wants to play with Madison – only antagonize her.
Taking a bike ride on the lake front.
Amber is trying to make Abram’s “last week” (before starting “real” school as a kindergardener) full of fun and adventure. Today’s adventure was a trip to the lakefront for bike riding and kite flying. I think Alex was most excited about us all riding in the same car – which we haven’t done since Grant was born.
Alex got this tractor in December of 2010. He has loved playing on it, but always had to be pushed. Today he mastered the pedals on the tractor!
Not much has changed since January.
Arrgh. It’s a pirate’s lunch for us.
Unfortunately the reason for our trip to KY was a sad one. My Aunt Gayle (my Dad’s sister) passed away on August 11. A service was held in DC last weekend and one was held in Paducah today. The only upside was seeing family that we don’t see often. We spent the morning at Dad’s house with our cousins and Uncle Bob. Alex loved having Tyler and Katrina as playmates.
Books before nap.
Traveling to KY or TN is normally uneventful. Wade and I joke that the only pictures I take are of Alex sleeping. This trip was also uneventful but I did get some funny pictures. After about an hour Alex was definitely bored in the backseat. I handed him a brand new toy – thinking it would entertain him for a while. After five minutes he was done. I handed him this book, which he hasn’t read in a few months. He looked at the pictures for over an hour (and then again later for an equal amount of time).
Alex loves driving the “Barbie Jeep” and hopped in the minute we got to Gam’s.
My instructions to Alex were – go sit on the couch or the rug.
(I was mopping the floors and wanted to keep footprints from appearing.)
“Lawning”
Rocket boy.
We only use cloth napkins and placemats at our house – partly for environmental reasons and partly because that’s how I grew up. I love setting a table (although admittedly I get lazy and tend to use the same ones over and over). We recently moved some furniture around and the table linens are all sitting out waiting for their new home (see here). Having them all on display makes me realize how many I have and how many are never used. Ooops. I’ll have to work on that.
Alex has gotten in a lot of trouble over this shampoo container. He knows he isn’t supposed to get shampoo on his own but often sneaks it into his bowl (to make bubbles). Tonight he got caught.
Little boy see. Little boy do.
I thought it was cute when Alex asked for the hot drink with little tiny marshmallows. I fixed it for him and then he slipped up and called it chocolate milk.
Smart kid figured out how to get chocolate milk when it wasn’t a special treat.
Alex spent all morning terrorizing loving Madison. The cute part was Alex wanting to tuck her in and sing her a song.
Wade made this lunch box for Alex quite a while ago, but Alex has had a renewed interest in it lately.
Alex was so excited to take his nap today. He knew when he woke up his friends were coming to play. Abram and Riley wanted to see Alex’s new bed first thing. Then they promptly got uninterested and wanted to play trains and firetrucks. (Riley was scared the space ship was going to blast off with him in it.) It turns out having three boys around a train table causes a few too many problems so we took a break to decorate cupcakes (My mother-in-law sent us a recipe and ingredients for making sunshine cupcakes.) Then we headed back upstairs and this time the boys loved playing “astronaut”.
Today Alex and I are celebrating. For numerous reasons, I started my maternity leave today. Work has been increasingly plentiful and stressful the past months and I needed a break. First up for our celebrating day was a trip to Chuck E. Cheese (which Alex has been requesting for weeks and weeks). Tristan conveniently had the day off school and joined in the fun.
Alex loves the sand. I think he’d be content to play in it all day.
Alex has struggled with swim class this session. He has a different teacher (who I really like) and the teacher pushes Alex out of his comfort zone. Regardless of what Alex says, he has come a long way this summer and can now “swim” by himself (with a bubble belt and noodle). Alex knows he won’t go under the water but doesn’t like being on his own. He keeps begging the teacher to just let him hold his pinkie. The teacher will say no (but stay right by his side) and then Alex will swim to the wall on his own. Then the entire process repeats again. I’m hoping he realizes sometime soon how great he’s doing and forgets the fear part. (Below are the two expressions that Alex rotates between in the water.)
At Alex’s request….
I’ve been a slacker about finding a new home for Teague’s car seat (until it goes in my car for him), but Alex seems to love having it around.
(Abby used it for our beach trip last week and it’s been sitting in my kitchen ever since.)
Who knew? The ironing board makes a great train track.
I’ve been on a big kick lately to organize, clean out, and redo. We have always had this desk and chair (from Wade’s Aunt Viola) at the top of our stairs. I finally (after 4 years) recovered the seat cushion. The pink is gone and red is now the theme. I also moved my blanket chest from my office to the foot of our bed. Now I have a great place to store all my bags!
Alex requested painting so we painted.
Alex woke up to a street full of construction equipment – all for his house! (We are having our old garage floor removed and a new floor poured – because it slopes the wrong way and doesn’t drain). The guys were great with Alex and thankfully worked quickly. They were done by nap time.
Little boy heaven.
(We are getting a new garage floor poured today.)
My son the elephant.
My garden is doing well this year. I have picked my first round of tomatoes and with just 6 tomatoes had about 7 lbs (That means the tomatoes were huge!). I tried to grow squash last year and didn’t get a single one. This year I have a single squash (as of right now). My green beans are also doing excellent. Last year we got two. The plan for dinner tomorrow night is squash and green beans from the garden – yum!
Let’s call it like it is.
I forgot to take Alex’s picture until 5 seconds before Wade and I left for dinner.
Alex’s bed is 95% done (just the cargo and fuel tank, with attachable fuel line, left to go). Read below for a step by step. Below is a series of pictures from drawing the ideas to assembly and painting (from April till August).
The concept on paper (Alex was in charge of drawing the antenna).
Then Wade mocked up in cardboard (and convinced a friend at work into drawing it in CAD to figure building supplies)
One of the biggest challenges was the material. Wade needed curved wood and finally found a guy near Green Bay that would bend it to the necessary specifications. Then Wade took over our garage and got to building.
Alex and I returned from a week away and found the bed in the room and partially primed. (At this point Wade reiterated that he hated painting and I agreed to take over.)
The finished product has lights underneath, a working control panel (with a parent kill switch for bedtime), and a built-in night light. I kind of want a rocket ship bed too.
First night in the rocket ship bed.