Mud, Anyone?

I honestly don't even know where in the backyard he found this particular mud because it was not like anything else I had seen. But he dunked his hands in it good. And then smeared it on his face and his coat and his hat and his pants...Boys.

A Day with Thomas

Saturday morning we headed up to Greenfield Village for A Day Out with Thomas the Tank Engine. The boys both love trains and anything Thomas, especially Nick right now. They had lots of special events set up and you could purchase tickets to take a ride on Thomas' train. We got there about 45 minutes before it was our turn to wait in line and take our ride. The first thing we did was stop and look for Thomas because he heard his little toot! toot! coming around the bend. 

And there he was! This eyes move and everything (slightly creepy)

The boys did very good waiting in line for our train ride. We got in line early so we could sit in front. If we ever do this again, I might sit in back so you can see Thomas a bit better when you go around bends and things. 

Ben was getting excited and talking it up to Nick. 

And then we got on the train it was stoneface time. Ben would not crack a smile. Nick was all happy and excited. But Ben, oh no, he could show no excitement. He had to take everything in. At one point I leaned over to Adam and said, 'Well Nick is excited and having fun. Ben is taking it all in so he can be excited 20 minutes after the ride is over'. 

The ONLY smile while on the train

Nick was clapping and dancing to the Thomas music playing during our ride. 

And then there's stoneface over there, just taking it all in. 

After our ride, Adam got Ben a Thomas balloon. Yeah, that lasted about 15 minutes. Someone learned a hard lesson about listening to mommy and daddy that day. He was pretty sad for a while after his balloon floated away. This was the only decent picture I got of the balloon, so at least we have proof of it's existence. 

While Ben pouted and cried about his balloon, Nick took the opportunity to pet a big, wooly sheep. These guys were going to get sheered old-school style that weekend. 

While the boy sheep were getting hair cuts, all the girl sheep were big and pregnant. Five had already had babies that week and several more looked like they were about to drop lambs while we were watching them. This on below is only 1 day old.

It was a perfect day for Thomas! The weather couldn't have been better, the park was not crowded and the boys had a good time. Ben wanted to go inside every little house and building. We toured through every Thomas Edison related building they had. Try explaining history and light bulbs and inventions to a 4 year old who just takes everything for granted. Telegraphs are now officially known as the very first text message. The day worn Nick out. He was out cold in the stroller by 2. He of course woke up the second we put him in the truck and then was a crazy maniac for the hour drive home while Ben passed out in his seat for the ride. Overall, the boys had a great day!

Thomas thought the boys had been very good that day, so he gave them their very own Thomas blankets. The boys take them everywhere right now. (Don't mind pant-less Nick. He was throwing a raging 2 year old tantrum about putting on a diaper after sitting on the potty chair, so he got to wear a pull-up)

A Yummy Play Doh Sandwich

The boys received home made play doh from Lily's birthday party. Ben wanted to make a salad sandwich with it. A salad sandwich is lunch meat, cheese and lettuce. He did very good making it. He found the different color play dohs and rolled it out and cut shapes. It was a pretty impressive sandwich. 

Nick just wanted to play 'me, too' and pretend to eat play doh. 

The First Time in 3.5 Years

Last weekend I took the boys for a walk to the fish pond. Ben hadn't taken a nap on Sunday and on the way back he got very quiet. Then Nick started jumping up saying 'eyes, eyes' meaning Ben's were closed. Ben has not fallen asleep in the stroller since he moved out of the infant carrier three and a half years ago!

Happy Birthday, Lily!

Last Saturday we helped Lily celebrate her 3rd birthday. Adam was on his annual fishing trip so it was just me and the boys. When we got there, everyone was making edible cereal necklaces. Ben didn't even bother stringing his. He just ate the cereal straight from the bag. I strung Nick's and then quickly took a picture before he devoured his. 

Lily got a brand new swing set for her birthday so the kids went outside before dinner to check it out. Ben and Nick really liked the glider. It's a pretty sweet swingset that Lily's dad made!

The kids also got to paint a picture. The boys had a blast and actually painted some very nice pictures. I didn't help them at all other than help move paint closer, but they did a really good job.

We Tried...

Well, we tried. We tried to do swim lessons. We went to class each week, but alas, Ben won out. He never participated in swim class because he was 'too shy'and 'scared' to talk to the teachers. Apparently he is scared of teenage girls right now. He would go in the water and if the teachers were in the middle of the pool with the other kids, he would put his head in the water and play, but he never did the lessons. Ugh.

A Day at Preschool

Last Friday I took Ben to his new preschool for a preview. He didn't really have a concept of what preschool was, so we spent the morning shadowing the class so he could understand what to expect in September. He actually did much better than I thought he would. I figured he would be a leech with his current disposition for not talking to teachers. But after about 5 minutes, he was off my lap and sitting in a chair coloring. We observed circle time and then they moved into learning centers/stations. Ben kind of checked out the room and got a lay of the land for the first two stations. At the third, where they were washing legos in soapy water, he started to join it and participate. I don't think he really talked to any of the kids, but was at least doing the activities. The last station he did was a worksheet where you counted the objects and cut out the number below then glued it to the right box. Ben did it all by himself and did a very good job cutting and gluing. He clammed up again at story time and crazy dancing time, but he was getting tired. Overall, he liked it. When we picked Nick up from Sharon's he was going on and on about all the cool stuff in the classroom and classroom pet crabs. And no, he never did talk to the teachers. 

Rain or Shine

When it's 75° in Ohio in April, you take advantage of it rain or shine. Last Thursday was super nice, but of course it started raining as soon as we got home. Oh well, that's what rain coats and mudders are for. The boys headed outside to play trucks, fence volleyball and on the swingset. We had probably a good 45 minutes before it started to storm and had to head inside.