Yo Mama, we missed you.
Teague
I managed to get everyone dressed in Valentine’s appropriate clothing but getting a picture was quite a feat!
Then Teague had a birthday party he didn’t want to miss. I braved the sudden snowstorm and we made it safely.
Wade and I figured the snow couldn’t be too bad on the interstate so we bundled everyone up in the MDX (the minivan would never make it up the driveway) and drove to Milwaukee for a night of games and fun.
Happy Valentine’s Day.
Teague and I both felt a little under the weather today. We snuggled in the big red chair all day together. The biggest boost of energy I got out of Teague was when I proposed this selfie.
Kaitlyn the monkey is sitting where she shouldn’t and amusing everyone in the process.
Teague loves to watch me cook. I used to think Kaitlyn liked to watch me cook too. Now I think it’s a combination of her love for climbing and her love for Teague that gets her up in the chair.
Somehow my firstborn turned 7 today! Where has the time gone? We started the day with powdered donuts – always his favorite birthday morning treat.
Then Alex spent the day at school and had to wait till Wade got home from work before we could start the celebrating again. He chose our dinner menu – breakfast for dinner. His main focus was bacon and chocolate chip pancakes. We had presents and then a dinosaur cake. Yay for birthdays!
I have this strong suspicion Teague got into the chocolate while I put Kaitlyn down for a nap.
Due to some miscommunication with the babysitter, I ended up taking all three kids to the eye doctor. We all deserved ice cream after that…
Long goodbye hugs are definitely necessary when tomorrow morning’s class is so far away.
The Lego play in this house never-ends (which I kind of love). Big legos. Little legos. This kid playing with them. That kid playing with them. And thankfully even Kaitlyn understands how to pick them up!
There is nothing I love more than a snowy bus stop morning.
Teague loves to cook with me. One of his favorite parts of baking is smelling the vanilla.
(Earlier this week at school they did a smell test and he guessed vanilla correctly.)
Alex had constructed a very strict set of rules on when Teague was allowed to join his playdate and when he wasn’t – evidently this was an okay time.
The boys figured out how to take out the recycling with a little teamwork.
The favorite hiding spot all week.
Alex was in charge of the bedtime book tonight.
Pajamas.
(I really was just impressed I had three days in a row with all three kids in a picture together.)
We had a typical crazy day at our house. Teague built a car out of Legos and carried it everywhere.
Kaitlyn wanted to be in charge of the umbrella (note that it is larger than she is).
Alex celebrated 100 days at school and wore his hat home from school (and then all evening). He also wanted popcorn for an afternoon snack – I need to buy in bulk as this is a daily request.
Wade was out of town so we had breakfast for dinner. (Everyone’s favorite!)
Alex had to go to bed early so Teague requested Electronic battleships. To my surprise he had no trouble figuring out the grid system on his own and made it easily through half a game.
The Game? Zombie Orbitz (I think. The last word is always mumbled. I still want to know where they learned about zombies.)
Daddy went to Atlanta and brought everybody back GaTech shirts.
(Truthfully Kaitlyn’s was a little big so this is one of Alex’s when he was younger.)
Red Jeep had a run in with a tree shortly after we moved into this house. Today the repairs were made. Teague was ecstatic!
This boy loves his chocolate chip pie. (And I do too!)
Teague has been struggling with his pencil grasp and his writing. Now we practice every afternoon (on top of his practice at school) and I’m starting to see some real improvement.
We’ve been around the world with speech evaluations for Teague. He’s always been more difficult to understand than Alex (who enunciated extremely well from day one). Teague’s preschool did a free screening and Teague’s speech was noted as a concern. We decided to go through the public schools for potential services. This required another screening and then an evaluation. It was finally determined that Teague doesn’t have enough of a problem to qualify for an IEP, but they did offer him services. He goes once a week to work on his “s” blends. It was determined his other problem sounds fall within development guidelines.
My helpers on trash day (especially when Wade is out of town).
Before preschool:
After preschool:
After swim class:
I was told they are “making.”
Birthday invitations finally arrived!!
I was later informed they were fighting zombies from Fort Sinister (The location at least is from a book we are reading together. The zombies are from who knows where….)
The latest in tandem sliding.
Fort building – every day.
We haven’t seen that sneaky nap in quite a long long time.
(or any nap at all for Teague)
Alex had library at school yesterday and leaves the books at home for the entire week. These guys love the latest books he brought home. They couldn’t wait to finish their snack so they could look at the book.
The boys begged for a bubble bath tonight.
(Showers are so easy and much less messy.)
The dreaded flossing.
Do you see the awe on all three faces? Wade got some kind of crazy converter that lets old school Nintendos (we own them all) be played on new TVs and look somewhat decent. He’s introducing the boys to old favorites.
Teague has the cutest phrase for tears – “cry water.” Any time there happen to be tears and he has been wearing his glasses, he’ll come to me and ask me to clean off the “cry water.” The picture below has tears, but from a nap, not sadness!
Everybody had today off school so they built a fort in the kitchen – perfect.
This picture needs a sound track. I had no idea Alex and Teague were going to sing when I lit the candle.
(They didn’t last night.)
The kids and I drove to Milwaukee today for Riley’s birthday party. There were games in the gym, but my favorite were the games Nicki had out in the common area. Hilarious!
We have a lot planned for tomorrow so we decided to start celebrating Wade’s birthday today – with Rendezvous ribs, birthday cookies, and a few presents.
The kids were super excited to start celebrating Wade’s birthday a day early.
The snow is definitely melting, but today one of the Moms brought sleds to our after school playdate! The boys loved it!
Today we had sleds!
These boys and their after school snow fun – it’s almost every day!
These boys can’t get enough of playing together in the snow after school. Here’s hoping we don’t get any warm weather.
I think we need a bigger chair.
Teague is taking semi-private swim lessons with our neighbor. They seemed to be having a great time with their instructor today.
Another Monday. Another bus stop picture.