An Update on the Boys!

Lets start out this week by getting caught up on our crazy kids!

(This might also be a sneak peak into what our kids might look like on the Christmas card this year)

Spencer 

Our big 5 year old! If I had to describe Spencer's personality I would say that he's very caring. A rule follower and LOVES to help his brother's and us. Currently Spencer play's hockey 3 times a week and he still enjoys it. He's still excited about school and seems to be doing really well. He's been on Blue or above on the behavior chart the whole month of November. We can always tell though when Spencer is over tired because he gets so whiny and sensitive. Things he loves: hockey, bagels with cream cheese, his favorite restaurant right now is Azul (Mexican restaurant) because they serve mac and cheese with gold fish and he likes to mix them together. I'm currently running out of printer paper because he insists on repeating his school projects from the day at home. 

 Easton our little/big 3 year old. Oh Easton, you will always hold a special place my heart. Probably because there's no doubt about it Easton is a mommy's boy. Also because I love the spark in Easton's eye. It's that same spark that drives me crazy on a day to day basis. Easton is our imagination child. He can take anything and play for hours making things up. He loves to pretend play. Things that Easton loves: MILK!, super heroes, little trinket toys and action figures, kiddie cocktails and mostly his blanket. Easton is currently in swimming and loving the 1 on 1 time with mom on Tuesday's. Easton's also getting to the age where he's putting things together and saying the funniest things and the most honest things. Just this week I had a Dr. appointment and Easton says to me on the way into the clinic "Mom...is the Dr. going to look at the scratches on your stomach? You know the ones from when Spencer, Nolan and I were in there?" Oh Easton......

Then there is our little 2 year old Nolan. He's a good mix of Spencer and Easton. He's gentle and caring but look out he can be sneaky and stubborn. He often gets in trouble at school for tackling friends or jumping on his cot. He also already has a girlfriend and he talks about her often. Her name is Reese but we call her "Reesy." Things that Nolan loves: MILK! The iPad, iPhone, spy kids movie, anything his brothers have but mostly footballs and hockey sticks. He loves to sing and read books. He will often just start singing little songs from school and it's pretty cute. Our lives wouldn't be complete without him. Nolan isn't in any activities just yet, but he likes going to the rink to watch his brothers skate. 

So onto a quick peek at our week......

Our tough hockey player....

Post practice. Spencer likes to know if he's sweaty.

Proud of his turkey hand from school.

Our dinner table often looks like this. Spencer eats all and sometimes 3rd, 4th and 5th helpings of things while his brothers hardly eat 5 bites with out being bugged to take another bite.

Easton earned his blue wrist band at swimming. This means he can now swim in the kids pool by himself.

I seriously HATE laundry and it always seems to be never ending!!

We tried out a place called "Club Jump" and the boys and I had a blast going down the blow up slides.

Easton asked me if he could have 1 hershey kiss and when I came down stairs I found this under his feet. I'm going to guess he had more then just one.

The boys helped Ryan out at the Menards.

Ryan swears this wasn't a planned plug for the Target REDcard in his wallet!

Helping Ryan with his 2nd job. Skate sharpening.

Ryan took the boys bowling again this weekend. Our local bowling alley is pretty cheap and it's fun to get out of the house for a bit.

They finished the night off with dinner at Applebee's.

Cheers!

All the activity around here sure tires our kids out!

Phone Photos...

The camera is currently still plugged into the computer from last weekend when I did the blog. So sadly you get just a few camera photo updates.

The boys are taking the competition very seriously for what color they are on that day. Each day when they get home that's the first thing they ask each other. Finally both have earned 10 and I was able to take them bowling. Now they are working on getting more good days so they can spend the day doing something with daddy.

Easton and Nolan got to ride with dad to pick Spencer up from school. It was veterans day so Spencer had made an American flag at school.

I got a touch of the flu at the start of the week. Thankfully I never got sick but just felt like I was going to for about 4 days. I will answer what's popping into most peoples heads when I tell them I've been nauseous for a few days straight... No I'm not pregnant. So Ryan took the boys out for dinner to keep them out of the house and away from me as much as possible. He said the table they found was between two walls and kind of out of the way. A perfect spot to keep them focused on eating!

Easton started swimming again. He moved up in class and can almost pass the swim test to be able to swim on his own in the kid pool. He just needs to work on floating on his back more.

We went to a local indoor park for one of our stay home days. We've avoided these places all summer knowing we'd get our fill once the weather got cold out again.

With hockey season in full swing in our house the boys have enjoyed playing with their hockey guys again. They have them skate up and down the ice, score goals and they even have 1/2 time (even though that's actually only in basketball).

During our days home I make Easton lay on our bed for rest time. Usually he gets to watch a cartoon or something. Every day he tells me he's not tired. Yet here he was sound asleep on the floor at 4:oo pm one day. This is not an ideal nap time.

Spencer begged to make another American Flag. So Ryan put his arts and crafts skills to work with them one night. At least this is better than the last time when they made beer bottle cap necklaces!

Nolan got to spend time with Ryan while I took the boys bowling.... He's so darn cute!

Spencer and I had a very serious lesson on subtraction one day over lunch after hockey. He actually caught up pretty quick.

I'm getting antsy for the Holiday season to be in full swing. I broke down yesterday and bought a few new decorations at Target using their cartwheel app. The boys have enjoyed helping make and put out a few Christmas decorations.

Sick Kids...

We started our week with kids under the weather. They all have that croup/bark of a cough. Thankfully Grandma helped out so I could save some of my PDO. It's only the start of the season so I'm hoping this isn't what our winter is going to be like.

With our evenings filling up with different activities and with the weather getting colder working out in the evening is becoming harder and harder. So my only option is early morning. I mentioned to Heather I was going to attempt some early am work outs. So Heather and Rachel sent some support one morning to show me they were also up working out. I'm proud to say I made it to 3 5am work outs this week.

Nolan got to play in the gym while Easton was at swimming.

Nolan shares the love of hockey with his brothers.

I had a first.... I was in charge of taking Easton to his skating lessons. I was worried I wouldn't get his skates on tight enough and Ryan kept reviewing with me the order everything went on. He looks so cute in all of his gear.

Spencer also started his hockey league this weekend. He skates on Saturdays for 1.5 hours, Sunday's for an hour and on Tuesdays. If you ask me that seems like a lot for a 5 year old. He still loves it though so how can you not enjoy watching him skate.

This weekend Spencer's school had their annual fall festival. They had lots of games and activities for the kids to play.

On Saturday we celebrated my parents 40th wedding anniversary. It was a great party with friends and family. Thank you to everyone who came to help us celebrate.

This is the gift we got for our parents. It's a family tree with all of our pictures on it.

Their original cake topper.

The little kids got to come for a little bit. I was ready though for them to go when the babysitter came. This allowed for us to be able to enjoy talking with others instead of chasing them around. They were hyper!

This is one of my very first babysitters. I always enjoy spending time with her and have some great laughs.

Happy 40th anniversary to the best parents a girl could ask for!

This year for hockey Spencer is required to have a mouth guard. Apparently this means Easton needed on also.

Did I tell you Uncle JB is moving away? He took a job with Princeton University and will be moving after Thanksgiving. The boys are going to miss not having him around. He came on Sunday to watch Spencer skate and help get him dressed.

Spencer picked number 9. Well he really wanted 10 but that jersey was to big.

This week doesn't look like it's starting out any better then last. Nolan woke up with a fever after nap. Lets hope he was just warm from sleeping. There's also been a few flu victims in my family and I'm hoping it doesn't reach us!