Fun Times With My Boys

Ricky got an amazing opportunity to go on an eleven day trip to Israel to tour Jerusalem and other important biblical cities and sites. I was very excited for him to have that experience but it also meant that I was home with the boys. During the week we kept up with the normal routine of school, karate, meals, homework, etc. and the weekend we tried to squeeze in as much fun and relaxing as possible. This was the longest that Ricky and I have been separated and we sure missed him! I am grateful for the time and special memories made with the boys.

 We spent an afternoon at Sky Zone. The boys did a great job playing together and unfortunately since my ankle is still healing, I couldn't jump with them - bummer. 

 Lincoln was really brave at the foam pit and jumped right in. Logan on the other hand had to slowly work up the courage to actually jump in.  He would bounce to the end, sit on the orange padding and then do a scoot like motion into the pit. It wasn't until about his 25th try did he actually jump. Once he did he was so proud of himself and would only do it if he could see that I was watching. It was adorable. 

 One evening activity was at Peter Piper Pizza. Lincoln has all of a sudden decided that he doesn't like pizza but we still had a great time. 

 Lincoln hit the 500 ticket jackpot on his first try. 

Two minutes after Lincoln hit jackpot, Logan hit the 100 ticket max jackpot on the game right next to him. Lucky day for these boys!

 I let the boys help pick places for dinner when we go out and of course Lincoln picked Red Robin. 

 Logan kepis us busy with selfies while we waited for our food. What's a selfie session without a few funny faces!?

Lincoln was extra excited because they brought him an extra big bowl of mac-n-cheese. He was proud to show it off but I was proud that he actually ate all of it. 

 Lincoln at karate. He won't be a high yellow belt for much longer!

 We spent a day last weekend at the children's museum. This is a wonderful place for the boys to play inside where it's cool and get some good energy out. We ended up being there for three hours which is the longest they've ever made it. 

 The hot dog exhibit is new and Logan loved it. He was quite the little hot dog maker and sales man. 

I was hoping they would take a short rest in the reading area long enough for me to get through a book with them but no such luck. They sat for a minute to rest their legs and then they were off again. 

 Lincoln made a helmet from office copy paper and tape. 

We've had a lot of game time too. Logan has taking a liking to games but he has a fierce competitive spirit so we are working through the fact that sometimes you win and sometimes you lose and you have to be okay with that fact. We'll get there but I'm glad he has the drive to win.

This is the cute face you get when a four year old eats candied dirt cake. 

 The boys had a character fair at their school which included an ice cream and an opportunity to do different actives that demonstrate or develop certain positive character traits. It was quite a zoo but the boys had fun. 

 Eating their ice cream before the actives. 

Lincoln had to be trustworthy and tell brother how to get through the obstacle course.

Not sure Logan was really trustworthy as he excitedly claimed that he could see through the blind fold at the end of the course. Pretty funny but I think they got the idea.

Around the House in August

There is always something going on. August was an especially busy month for us. We had to unpack from our trip, the boys started back to school, I started back to school, we bought our new house, we put our current house on the market, I got a job managing a new team over the summer so work has been ridiculously busy for me, Lincoln's karate, Logan tried a week of Little Dragons (decided he didn't want to do it long term) Rick has been packing our house and loading up a storage unit, doctor's appointments, hair cuts, and everything else that goes along with raising a family.

We also try to take some time to have a little fun as a family. Evenings and weekends are definitely times I look forward to when I get to spend time with my boys. Here are a few pictures of what we've been up to.

Boys will be boys....and I definitely have boys.  They are in the rough house stage (does it ever go away?) and I found Logan tackling Lincoln trying to get him to wake up. 

Logan has really taking a liking to his teddy bear over the last couple of months. 

We let the boys pick the family activity one night and they picked Chuck E Cheese. Lincoln was off winning tickets with Daddy while Logan rode all the rides. 

Logan and I met Dad and Lincoln after karate at dinner and Logan's new favorite thing is taking selfies. 

Logan used some creative mind power to build this rocket ship with his magna tiles. 

We've been blessed with some rain and beautiful summer skies and this is an example of one. 

No, it's not Halloween but Logan is playing dress up with his train conductor costume. 

We met some friends at Playgrounds for a Saturday afternoon activity. 

Logan practiced his letters while Lincoln did homework. 

Lincoln brought this to me one night and I thought it was pretty awesome. Things like this make the tough days worth it. 

Then I got this one....

And finally this one.  

Logan trying Little Dragons karate at a different studio. 

Family dinner at Dillon's where the boys watched the flamingo's and sharks while we waited for our dinner. 

We gave the boys our duck calls from our Seattle Duck tour. It was funny for like the first 2-3 minutes and then it because a headache and a decision I regretted quickly after that. At least they were having fun and laughing. 

We tried an experiment that we saw on Facebook. It didn't turn out to be as exciting for them as I hoped but then we turned it into potion making time. 

Lincoln and Daddy at dinner. Lincoln chose Buffalo Wild Wings because now that we let him eat ranch (he was allergic previously) it's all he wants to eat. 

Logan is still obsessed with trains so there is always a train track on the tile of our house somewhere. 

We spent a day at Big Surf water park.  The boys love the water slides and Lincoln's favorite is the wave pool. Logan was hesitant to go down the slides at first but after a few runs he was brave as could be and then wanted to hit the biggest slides in the park. Luckily for me (and my heart) he wasn't tall enough yet to ride them. Soon enough they won't need us to accompany them. Lincoln already did some of the bigger slides by himself.  My babies are growing up!

August School Work

Another new school year brings another nine months of creative, entertaining, and beautiful school artwork and papers. Lincoln is doing much more writing/spelling on his own and Logan is doing more deliberate art creations. Here is what they brought home in August.

Lincoln:

 Lincoln's first project of the year was a "get to know me" poster.  These are all the things that he wanted to tell the class about him.

 This was on the back of his poster so he could read it during the presentation portion of the project.

 Lord Business and the Lego guys that it did in after school club.

This is a mine craft page that he made during art. 

Logan:

Logan made this adorable hat and was proud to wear it home.