365 Days of my Life: Productive and lazy, all rolled into one.

As I said before, I am going to try harder to take it easy, relax, and treasure the small details of my life that may be inconsequential to others. After these guys are all grown up and gone, all I am going to have left are those little memories to make me laugh when I am having a not so great day.

Thursday was just a day of pure excitement and fun. Pierce kind of went back and forth with the listening ears, but he is 2 1/2 and I cannot expect him to be perfect. That would just be unrealistic and would probably end up destroying him mentally. I love that he challenges me, although sometimes I do want to pull my hair out.

During the morning we took it easy. Pierce did some school work that focused on cutting, pasting, and matching his letters. Carter started off coloring, but ended up eating more crayon than what was on the table. Mommy brain kicked in, so I made him a sensory bag with shaving cream and larger beads - squishy and solid. That was fine and dandy, until he ate a hole into the corner of the bag. Then there was shaving cream and beads all over the floor. (BTW, shaving cream is a fantastic floor cleaner. Just saying). Of course, big brother needed to play in shaving cream as well, so school work was done and tossed aside like an old bowl of salad. They had so much fun playing in the shaving cream - decorating each other, sliding across the floor like a slip and slide, anything they could get into. I had read something on pinterest that if you add cornstarch to shaving cream, it creates a moldable play dough type of thing, but is much more giving. We still had the bowl of cornstarch out from our play dough making the night before, so we dumped it in. And it worked! Pierce and I had a "snowball" fight in the house, while Carter loved picking it up and hearing it go splat.

The boys did have to take a bath after...there was no denying that. They played with their homemade bath crayons, and I started cleaning (they were within view at all times). After bath, we had an open play and eventually Carter fell asleep. Then it was time for Pierce and I to head outside and enjoy the quickly melting snow. Before we headed outside, we obviously had to dress in our snow gear. I wanted Pierce to wear his winter boots, and he argued with me about how he HAD to wear his YELLOW fireman boots. I finally surrendered, and he went outside in a complete snow suit and fireman boots. We did attempt to make a snowman, but instead we made a snow castle with our buckets. This was after he shoveled off his fort so he could play in it, and mommy attempted to slide in the way too wet snow. Glad Pierce could not stop laughing at that sight. :)

That afternoon we went to our friend's house to make stain glass turkeys, and the boys wanted NOTHING to do with it. Well, let me rephrase, Pierce helped make the stain glass part, and let me trace his hand. Carter ate everything. So we ended up having a free play which worked out better since us moms were able to talk. Ah yes, the power of adult conversation. lol.

Friday ended up having to be a low key day - my car was beyond dead. Would not start even with the jump box, and nobody was home to help. So, we had another free for all day. But not totally. The boys thought it was a free for all day. It was really mommy needed to clean since there was a meeting at the house in the afternoon, and the boys needed some self directed play. I set them up with cookie cutters and their lavender smelling play dough, which they loved. They were both doing letters, animals, shapes, etc. They practiced rolling it out, and Carter kept saying, "squish" as he squeezed it in his hands. It was awesome. For some reason my boys love sponges, and Carter grabbed the sponge off the counter and started cleaning. I was certainly not going to complain, so I directed him over to his kitchen, and had him start cleaning everything. Pierce then joined in, and before I knew it the place was sparkling. Pierce even used the vacuum and begged to do some more! Yay!

Then in the afternoon the kiddos had a play date while a few of us got together to discuss the playground we are approved to rebuild downtown. We were actually very successful, and the kids of course had fun having company. I am noticing the more children, the easier it is. And no, that does not mean I want a third. It does mean I need to host more play dates.

Once people went home, the boys went outside. Pierce is finally big enough to jump off the front steps, without tumbling. He LOVED making footprints in the snow. The snow did turn to mud as he did it, and of course mommy and Carter joined in. Then Daddy came home and fixed my car while the boys played in the driveway. Carter exemplified his fine ability to problem solve - he could not reach the pedals on the bike so he started using his feet and was riding the bike that way yelling "Wee!" the whole time. It was awesome. And when he got stuck, he would say, "I stuck" and Pierce would run over to help without even asking.

Today we spent the morning at Rockwell Park doing our usual activities. We ran into an old friend again, and the boys loved hanging out with his little girl. Note to self: make a play date. Then we came home, the boys passed out cold from all of that beautiful 60 degree weather, and I headed out to the library. It was so nice to leave the boys with Dan and be able to really look at the selection of books without having to chase the kids around. I found some books on Santa, since that is currently Pierce's go to subject (works great for behavior). Once they woke up, I was actually still napping since I became useless with yet another migraine (the 4th this month I think?). Once mommy woke up, we attempted to make glue yarn covered balloons (epic fail), then we made a collage (success), and made gak (an even larger success). Since both boys were completely disgusting, we did a glow in the dark bath. I had bought some glow sticks awhile ago, and threw them in the tub and turned off the lights. I will be honest, it was not my original idea, but it was a HUGE success, nevertheless.

Now we have some family over, and I need to hop off this computer before I am completely rude. No matter how hard of a day it is, or the amount of clean up I have every day, it is 100% worth it. The experiences these boys have will forever be with them. I will take pride that while we may not have money and we may live with my in-laws, my husband and I have given them the best start to life we possibly can. Nothing can ever replace that.