A Fall Mashup

I mentioned yesterday about how unseasonably warm it was all weekend. It was still summer-like on Monday, so we were able to enjoy lots of outside play again. I'll share this picture first because I love the mixture of seasons in it; the leaves on the ground, the shorts and t-shirt since it's so warm all while having an Easter egg hunt while Bryce was napping! It's like the seasons were all mashed up!

When I pick Brennan up from school, we've been having fun playing on the playground right there. We have about 15 minutes we can play on it before the big kids come out. Some days almost his entire class comes over and plays. It's so fun to watch them interact!

And few more of our Easter egg hunt...

Weekend Wrap Up

We had a ridiculously gorgeous weekend! Highs in the 80s both days! On Saturday morning Kyle and the boys dropped me off at our church's Upward soccer game. One of my Jamberry recruits is doing a fundraiser for Upward and I helped her set up and man the table. We were able to pass out a lot of brochures and samples and we're hoping for lots of sales since 20% of them will be donated to Upward.

Since I was working there, Kyle took the boys to BF Clyde's Cider Mill. We always make a couple of trips there each fall. He sent me these two pictures of the boys! I will have take them back and get our annual pictures with pumpkins!

All three boys ended up coming up to soccer and hanging out for awhile. I'm hoping Brennan will play next year, but I'm thinking he might take after his momma when it comes to sports skills! His main reason for wanting to go to the soccer games is the candy at the concession stand!

We headed home after that, ate lunch, and let Bryce take a nap. I took Brennan to Books-a-Million for story time. I misread the flyer and thought The Avengers were going to be there, but instead it was just an Avengers-themed story time. His friend CJ was there too and they had fun coloring, making bookmarks, and eating the snack. Brennan also had fun looking at tons of books!

Saturday night we ended up meeting our friends, The Cizeks, for supper at Chilis. It was slightly chaotic with four boys there, but it was fun. Then we got to go see their new house!

Sunday morning and evening were spent at church. During the afternoon, Bryce napped and the rest of us were outside. Kyle cleaned the inside of my car and I cleaned the boys' water table so we can pack it away for winter. It was warm enough that Brennan was able to play in the water, so his day was made. Here's a picture of Bryce all ready for worship team practice to start!

I love New England fall, but it was nice having one more summer-like weekend!

Chick-fil-a

If you know Kyle at all, you probably know he loves Chick-Fil-A. The day Kyle and I met for the first time we actually ate at Chick-Fil-A. When we moved to Connecticut, he was quite disappointed that there wasn't a Chick-Fil-A in the entire state. Not even one in nearby Rhode Island! The closest one has always been in Massachusetts and that's a little over 1.5 hours away. But we always make several trips up there each year just so he can get his chicken fix.

That has all changed now. Connecticut will be getting several Chick-Fil-As in the coming months, but one has already opened in Warwick, RI and it's only about 30 minutes from our house! It opened on Sept 1, but Kyle was out to sea for the grand opening. The day he got back home we went there for dinner. And we've back two other times since then. Well, technically three, but once it was pouring down rain and the line was out the door (it has been every time), so we picked a different place to eat.

We went there again today for lunch. I think it helped cheer Kyle up a little since he is home sick from work right now. He's on the mend though and I'm sure his chicken nuggets helped!

I took this picture right before we picked Brennan up from school. Bryce was refusing to put down either of his sippy cups or his snack trap!

Bryce took a little snooze on our way to lunch!

The boys like the play place! We have no restaurants with play places nearby, so it's a treat for them.

I think it's safe to say we will be making many trip to Warwick in the near future!

Sidewalk Chalk

I mentioned earlier that Brennan and I have been enjoying playing with sidewalk chalk the past few days. I wanted to share some of games we've been playing using it in case you'd like to use some of these ideas.

Hopscotch is a big favorite! It's good practice for Brennan standing on one foot.

He loves math, so I've been writing "plus 1" problems for him and he writes the answer. Not only are we working on his math skills, but he is getting much better at writing his numbers.

We've done some "What's missing" with the alphabet and counting by 10s. I wrote the ABCs and skip counted by 10s, but left some letters/numbers out and Brennan filled them al in.

More math problems! This time he wanted harder ones!

And this "Yes/No" game is one of his favorites. I ask him a series of yes/no questions and he moves to the correct answer. So simple, but he loves it!

We also dipped our sidewalk chalk into water. This is my ghetto chalk paint method! It makes the colors brighter and the chalk makes cool little bubbles when you put it underwater.

I'm loving our gorgeous fall weather that's allowing us all the outside play time!

Field Trip to Whittle's Farm

Brennan had his very first field trip on Tuesday! And it was my first time being a parent chaperone; which is way more fun than being the teacher on a field trip! We went to Whittle's Farm which is located right in Mystic. It was an apple picking field trip! Well, it was supposed to be. Once we got there Mrs. M was informed they had lost most of their apple crop this year and so we couldn't actually pick apples. Each kid got to "pick" an apple from a box. Ha. The kids didn't really care though. We walked all around and the kids searched for items on their scavenger hunt list. After they picked their apples, we headed to the pumpkin patch and they each got to pick a pumpkin fresh off the vine. That part was pretty cool. It was just a short little trip since he is only in school for 2.5 hours, but I'm glad I went! Brennan is already asking when his next field trip will be!

Brennan was so excited to ride the bus. I was excited I was able to leave Bryce with a girlfriend and enjoy some time with my big boy!

It's hard to get any decent pictures of a bunch of 3 and 4 year olds!

Bryce Update

Here's a little update for Brycey!

In a nutshell: he's crazy. :)

I love his craziness. But he is busy busy busy! He didn't even slow down this past week while he had Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease!

I am blown away that he will be two in January. Brennan keeps asking me if Bryce will still be a baby after he turns two. Of course he will still be a baby! He's my baby!

He's appetite changes daily. Some days he eats a tons, but many days he eats barely anything. But all days he loves dip! He loves grapes and pears and apples. And he LOVES milk! He almost always has his sippy cup and snack trap full of Goldfish in his hands.

He's a great sleeper and takes a good nap everyday. Some days he will wake up before 7am, but is pretty content staying in his crib for a little bit. He typically wants nothing to do with snuggling. He likes me to read him a story, sing his song, and put him in bed. Thankfully he is showing no signs of trying to climb out of his crib yet, so I guess I can't call him too crazy.

He mimics everything Brennan does or says. This is especially true in the car. Brennan will clap and Bryce will clap. Brennan will make funny noises and Bryce will make the same ones.

His vocabulary is growing daily. My favorite is when he tries to count. It doesn't sound anything like numbers, but he does it the same every time. When the boys are having a hard time sharing, I will often say, "Count to 10 then let you brother have a turn." For that reason when Brennan has a toy that Bryce wants he will start "counting"! It's super cute. And that counting trick works almost every time FYI.

He loves watching movies and has his spot that he sits on the couch (with his sippy and fish of course). He is obsessed with brushing his teeth right. He loves books and pointing to things on the pages. He loves making messes, but is also good about cleaning up. He's so tough and rarely cries if he falls down. He will rarely leave his shoes on while riding in the car. He loves people and often hugs the other parents when we are waiting to pick Brennan up after school.

He obviously still has his blonde hair and blue eyes. Whenever someone says something about how cute he is, I always tell them there is a reason! I love this crazy cutie so much!

Brennan Update

Ok, so here it's been super long since I've blogged again. We had to clear up some space on our computer so I could upload some new pictures and now that we have done that, hopefully I can get back into blogging. (If I had a nickel for every time I've said that!)

To kick my blogging back off, I wanted to start with an update on each boy. So here is a little update on Brennan.

I can't believe that he will be five in February. I know that's still several months away, but five seems so big to me! He is loving his new school. I knew he would. He loves school just like his Momma always did. I dropped him off on the first day and he didn't cry at all. He stood in line with his teacher and has made lots of friends this year. I think it's funny because his best friends in his class last year were boy/girl twins. And this year he has good friends again that are boy/girl twins!

His teacher pulled me aside after the very first day of school and said, "He reads. Like really reads." She's been teaching many years and I'm not sure she's had a reader in her preschool class before. She is loving it and has been collaborating with the kindergarten teachers on what to work on next with him.

Not only can he read, but he also loves math. He's a little nerd all around! He loves for me to quiz him on math problems. We've been using sidewalk chalk a lot the last few days and I'll write out math problems for him to solve. Isn't that what all four-year-olds want to do when they play outside? He can count by 10s forward and backwards and can also count by 2s.

He asks a bazillion questions every single day. And I try to answer all of them. He never slept during the 13+ hour trip from CT to TN and from KY back to CT. Him not sleeping meant he was talking the entire time! He is so observant and is my little backseat driver telling me when lanes end and what the speed limit is.

He has quite the imagination lately. He is always making up games to play. He still loves his iPad, but also loves all kinds of board games and knows the rules to each one of them. He has gotten better about losing too, which is a big improvement.

He still loves AWANA and everything about church. He just started Cherub Choir again and I can't wait for him to sing on Sunday mornings.

The biggest change I've seen is that he has decided to give up his nap. It was a glorious 4.5 years, but it has come to an end. I need to get better about creating some quiet time activities for him. Right now he is playing iPad so Mommy can have some quiet time and write this blog. :)

Since nap time is no more, he's been going to bed a little earlier. Most nights he is in bed by 7:30 and some days now he will actually sleep past 7am, which used to never happen. He's got quite the little attitude problem which hasn't been fun. I'm trying to give him some grace because I know his body is adjusting to no nap, but sheesh he can be frustrating. Thankfully he seems to be a little angel at school.

He's getting so big, but also still likes to be carried sometimes. There are more things he needs to learn how to do independently (putting on his shoes, getting dressed and undressed), but most days I pick my battles.

Here are his answers to some questions I like to ask him a few times each year:

1. What's your favorite color? Pink
2. What's your favorite song? Deep and Wide
3. What's your favorite book? Nap Yes Nap No
4. What's your favorite tv show? Daniel Tigers' Neighborhood
5. What's your favorite movie? Rio
6. What do you like to drink? Chocolate milk
7. What do you like to eat for lunch? Lunchables
8. What's your favorite snack? Skittles
9. Who's your best friend? Liam
10. Who's your girlfriend? Mommy
11. What's your favorite thing to do with Mommy? Play games
12. What's your favorite thing to do with Daddy? Wrestle
13. What's your favorite game? Connect 4
14. What's your favorite restaurant? Panera
15. What's your favorite iPad game? Minion Rush
16. What's your favorite place to go on vacation? Florida
17. What's your favorite thing to do outside? Swing
18. What do you want to be when you grow up? Doctor

So there's a little update about B-Nugget!