Tuesday: a day

Today was a rather normal day, with lots of cute (and annoying) things.

Joshua threw a temper tantrum over wearing the shirt that he picked out.  It didn't have a rocket on it.  Luckily, I had one nearby.

Isaac worked hard on his new Legos and got his robot to work.  He loved to make it spin.  and spin.  and spin.

Joshua took a nap.  He falls asleep in random places in his bedroom.

Isaac was helping me change the batteries on the robot (probably from too much spinning) and suddenly said, "I'm going to do some push-ups."  He went to the floor and did about five of them, then mentioned how they made him rather tired.  I'm not really sure what inspired him to do the push-ups.

At bedtime Isaac said his favorite thing about the day was having a sleepover with Joshua (which hadn't actually occurred yet.)  Isaac proceeded to go right to sleep after I left the room.  He may have been talking about last night, when they stayed up for an hour talking.  I went in at 9pm and said they should be quiet for about five minutes to see if they fall asleep.  Whispering ensued and I realized I had just been lawyered.

Chicago day 1

The boys and I spent two days with Cheryl in Chicago.  We went by train and the boys were excited, especially Joshua.

We went to the Museum of Science and Industry first.  I said we were going to see Robots, and so Joshua was all about that.  It was a timed entry though, so we "had" to do some other things first.  Isaac loves mazes, so we went to the mirror maze first.

We did the robots after that.  Joshua said it was his favorite part.

There were a lot of intense stares while watching robots do cool things.

Isaac really wanted to do the magnet cubes, so we headed over there.  (It was nice to have two adults.)  Each cube preforms a different function: battery, wheels, sensor, spinner, etc.  After a bit of work he finally got one that moved and spiun at the same time.

We then had a long period of time where I don't have any pictures.  I really thought I had taken some, but maybe I was just too caught up in what we were doing.  The main things that we did were looking at trains, the coal mine (which Isaac said was his favorite), and the IDEAS exhibit.  The IDEAS was just for younger kids and they loved the place.  There were balls and water.  Joshua made a big robot/path from the heavy foam building blocks that you see in museums and probably spent about 30 minutes on it.

Near the end Isaac and I took a quick look at the circus portion and I loved the falling light dots.

We also took a quick stop at the farm while trying to figure out where to go next.  It closed at 4pm.  (The hours of everything perplexed me.  Everything opens at 10am, which seems rather late.  Kids are up early!)  Joshua got up on the tractor, but was too tired to get on the cow.  Who can blame him?  We were up early and had had a full day.

We ended up going to the Cheesecake Factory (yum) and then back to the hotel.  We took a short swim in the pool and then went to bed.  Joshua didn't fall asleep right away (probably because of the nap in the taxi).  Isaac just curled up in the bottom corner of the bed with the sheets over him and fell asleep.  Joshua was determined to sleep where I was and so I ended up switching sides of the bed a few times...moving him didn't work for more than five minutes.

Monday: home again home again

Last week we did a lot of traveling...I expect to blog about about it shortly.  Today was the recovery day; laundry, unpacking, and wondering why the house is such a mess.

Saturday

It was a laid back kind of day.

Friday: goofballs

All three of them...

(It rained all day so they didn't go play outside. That was sad, but the all day rain was wonderful!  I have missed the clouds these last few weeks.)

Isaac: 65, 66, and 67 months

Haha...I'm ok at taking the monthly pictures, but haven't been so good about posting them.  Here they are, in a picture overload again.

65 months:

Silliness: The silliness has ramped up in the last month or so.  It's getting a bit obnoxious, actually.  When I ask a question and get "baulk" (the thing the chicken says) as an answer it just isn't fun any more.  He also does this to other people, and that doesn't work for me either.  Being that silly with close family is (almost) fine; being that silly with others is weird.

Playing: he still loves to play and plays with Joshua easily.  Sometimes it seems like Isaac gets to make up the activity and Joshua just follows, but it works for the two of them right now so I won't interfere.  There's been a lot of running around lately, but he's still playing with marbles and Legos a lot.  Anything that involves putting things together is usually a hit.  He likes mazes.

Dislikes: Isaac has been more vocal about things he doesn't like.  This includes coloring, singing, and assorted outside activities (walks, biking at times)

66 months:

Screen time: Isaac makes sure he gets his allowed screen time every day.  He has expanded to the computer some days, and sometimes wants to watch Ben or me play a video game.

Surprises: Isaac loves surprises.  So much so that if I accidentally tell him what a surprise his there is a high chance that he'll start crying.

Eating: Isaac is a good eater.  He often eats everything on his plate, although I think the incentive of a treat afterwards has worked well for him.  He especially likes lemon things right now.

Crying: I've seen Isaac cry a bit more than normal lately.  Today it was that he'd 'never get to see Ceiling Spider again' after it came into the sink and so I washed it down.  It's usually over little things, and he knows that thinking about something funny helps him calm down.

Puppy Dog: Being a puppy dog isn't happening quite as much lately.  I still get woofs a few times a day, but it isn't all the time.  And I can call him Isaac at home without being reprimanded. :)

67 months:

Routine: Isaac is very good with the routine we have, but also does well if we change the routine and explain it to him.  He usually wakes up around 7am and gets dressed.  I'm often woken up by Joshua around the same time and then we'll have breakfast.  We tend to do our outings in the morning, come home, have lunch, quiet time/screen time, and then putz around until Ben gets home.  His green alarm clock has been wonderful; he is good about not going too long with the screen time.

Chores: Isaac currently cleans his room once a week, puts away the silverware, feeds Flurry, and puts away his laundry.  He doesn't love it (especially hanging up his shirts), but it does it without complaining...usually.

Kindergarten: Kindergarten starts in a month, and although we've talked about it I'm not sure he really understands what it entails yet.  (That's ok.  Neither do I.)

He is a fun and easy-going kid to be with.

Tuesday: blueberries and party

This morning we picked blueberries.  Isaac wasn't very excited at first, but had fun with it.  The playground was a hit afterwards.

We had Joshua's party in the evening.  He found the party hats and kept one on for the rest of the night.

Joshua choose waffles for dinner and I added eggs, sausage, strawberries, and peppers.

This is a classic Joshua face.  I'm not really sure what it means most of the time.

He was excited about his presents.