Weekly Happenings - 3/17 - 3/23

1.  Okay, okay - we were a bit late taking down our Christmas lights this year but I promise, they haven't been on since just after Christmas!  Unfortunately, we were gone on most good weather weekends and in town on the bad weather ones so the lights didn't come down until this week.  Peyton was insistent that she wanted to help so Chad left a few for her to help with - this lasted about, oh, 2 minutes before she was off doing cartwheels in the front yard!  Oh well - check that one off the list!

2.  On Saturday, Daddy had some work work and some home work he wanted to get done so I took our "helping hands" to Wonderscope for the morning!  The kids had a blast checking out all of the rooms, exploring new things and being creative!  Peyton had gone once before but she was just over 2 when she went so it was a new experience for her!  A few of the rooms were pretty crowded but overall it was great!  Peyton's favorite was the baby nursery where she could take care of babies and Garrison's favorite was the farm / farmer's market room.  What a great morning!

3.  After we got home, the mom of one of Peyton's friends from school called to see if Peyton wanted to come over for a play date.  To say she was excited would be an understatement.  I asked her if she would be ok if I left her there and came back later to pick her up.  Her response?  Yes, Mommy, that would make ma happy!  Too funny!  She had a great time and from what I hear was very polite.  What a big girl!!

4.  After her play date, we took advantage of the sunny day and Peyton, Garrison, Apollo & I took a walk.  Peyton asked to bring one of my purses she plays with on our walk.  I said ok.  Little did I know that she had an old cordless phone stashed in the purse.  She pulled it out and had a nice long chat with someone during our walk.  Hilarious!  

5.  Garrison is oh so close to being completely potty trained.  He hasn't had a "potty" accident in over a week and has started going #2 a few times on the potty.  We are getting there and he is excited to be a big boy!

6.  On Sunday, Peyton & I went to see The Muppets:  Most Wanted.  Peyton was thrilled to not only get popcorn but also an Icee and ice cream - all before lunch time!!  It was a great movie - Peyton's favorite part?  The wedding, of course!

7.  This was a big week for us - Frozen was released on DVD.  Needless to say, we had a picnic on Tuesday so we could watch the whole movie.  We watched it again on Thursday night.  Luckily, Garrison likes it as well!  Unfortunately, Garrison is about done with listening to Let it Go (you know, because we listen to it a minimum of twice a day!) and when we got in the car on Thursday morning he said, "no more elsa please."  Hilarious!

Weekly Happenings - 3/10 - 3/16

1.  On Friday, Grammy & Grandma Mintun came up to pick-up the kids for a weekend of fun!  After the kids' nap time, they were on the road and geared-up I am sure!  The fun started with flying kites - Friday was a perfect day for this!  Luckily, the weather on Saturday was beautiful so they enjoyed lots of outside time at the playground (Peyton went all the way across the monkey bars on her own!), seeing if there were any frogs in the pond, the "girls" went to see Mr. Peabody & Sherman (Grammy fell asleep!) while the boys took a nap, played dress-up and then enjoyed a trip to McDonald's for a special treat.  Then on Sunday, they made cookies, went to church and visited Grandma Mintun at her house before it was time to head home.  Garrison even wanted to go straight to his bed to continue his nap when he got home - poor guy was exhausted from all of the fun!  What a great visit!

2.  While the kids were away, the adults - well, you could say we "played"but we really used the time to get lots of stuff done!  We did enjoy a tasty dinner on Friday night.  On Saturday, we ran several errands - shopping for home decorations which is a bit challenging at times with little helping hands! We also organized the basement a bit, got some work done, raked leaves and cleaned-up the outside a bit to get ready for Spring.  Several things marked off the list - a very productive weekend!  We did also find time to watch Catching Fire - very good movie - can't wait for Mockingjay, the 3rd in the series!

3.  Peyton's class planted grass for one of their daily projects. Peyton has taken her plant very seriously and has watered her grass daily and found a great spot for it to get sun during the day.  Every day, she is so excited to see how much it has grown!  We love how she has taken to taking care of her grass - so much so that we are thinking about maybe creating a small garden for her to grow things this summer.  Something for the list!

That's it for this week - short & sweet!

Weekly Happenings - 3/3 - 3/9

We had a pretty quiet week all in all.  And I managed to not take any pictures with my good camera but did get a couple with our iPhones for the week.  

1.  On Saturday, Grammy & Grandpa were up in the city so came by to have lunch with us.  We arrived a bit before they did so every time someone walked in the door, the kids were certain it was Grammy & Grandpa!  We enjoyed a tasty lunch and the kids had a great time visiting with them and showing them their new comic books they had just picked out at the comic book store with Daddy!

2.  On Sunday, it was time to spring forward.  I hadn't thought about this fact when I volunteered us to sub for another family greeting at church but we still got up and to church by 7:45 to greet for the 8:15 mass!  We were one of only 3-4 families with small children but the kids did great even though they were tired!  Garrison really nailed saying "hello" and "good morning" while Peyton hit her stride with handing out bulletins all by herself!  They also carried food up to the food donation baskets in the middle of mass with other children - it was great!  I'm so happy they are getting more and more comfortable in our new church!  The bad thing for the morning was that the church didn't have donuts after mass.  Since we had promised the kids donuts, we went to LaMars for donuts with our friends for our Sunday breakfast - yum!

3.  After lunch on Sunday, we went to visit Grandma & Grandpa Todd.  Since Morgan is still in the hospital, Lucas was there visiting and Peyton had an awesome time "babysitting."  She talked to Lucas, brought him toys, etc.  Garrison even tried to help out from time to time.  We also visited with Nana & Papa and when we got back Aunt April, Wyatt & Whitney had stopped by for a visit.  The kids had a great time showing off their autograph books to everyone and playing with everyone!  After a tasty dinner it was time for us to head home and get ready to start our week.

Weekly Happenings - 2/24 - 3/2

1.  The kids had some excitement this week - their school hosted a sing-a-long to Frozen's "Let it Go" and one of the local news stations came to film them!  Both kids were on TV for the news report and it was so fun to watch them sing.  Peyton LOVES the song and belted it out - so cute!!

And to keep-up with the Oscar buzz of the week, they all had a chance to vote for their favorite Animated Film and favorite Original song.  Needless to say, both kids voted for Frozen & Let It Go!

2.  So Tuesday & Wednesday were really rough days for me.  Really no major reason but just rough.  I always  know it but was reminded how blessed I am.  Chad took both kids for most of both evenings (including gymnastics!) so I could have some time to take a break to breathe - the gift of time is truly priceless these days!!!  Then on Friday, my friend Marla sent me these beautiful flowers to brighten my week.  And on Saturday, Chad took the kids again so I could  go get a massage.  I feel more recharged and less stressed - and thankful to all of those around me!!!

3.  On Friday evening, we enjoyed getting together with some friends we haven't seen in almost 2 years!  Peyton & Kate used to go to daycare together and were the best of friends.  I wasn't sure how they would do having not seen each other for almost 2 years but they picked right back up almost as soon as we walked in the door!  We had an amazing evening visiting over a tasty dinner - what a great way to end the week!

4.  As of last Sunday, Garrison had little to no interest in using the potty.  I'm still not sure what changed, but all of a sudden around Wednesday/Thursday this week his attitude changed.  He started standing to go potty and loved it - well, that and getting stickers after he was successful!  On Friday, Saturday & Sunday he only had one wet pull-up and that was over nap time.  He hasn't yet done his #2 business on the potty but for #1 he seems to be trained!  Hopefully the rest will click like the first part has and he will be trained in no time!  What a big boy!!!

5.  Today was another snow day.  Not only did it snow but it has been COLD, as in -15 wind chills!  Burr!  Thankfully, we had no reason to get out of the house so we spent the day playing, cooking and organizing/cleaning.  Daddy even put up the large tent in the basement for the kids to check out.  They loved playing in the tent, especially when Mommy was a crocodile and they could hide in the tent!  Peyton even tried her hand at skating a bit and talked Mommy into roller blading in the basement - I'm sure it was something to see! :P