Playing Like Real Kids

We spent the first several weeks in January without any snow enjoying unseasonably warm weather. We took bike rides and used our rollerblades almost every day. Loved it!


The kids spend time outside each and every day (unless it is raining) after school. They need to burn off energy and just spent time being kids. The thing that I love most about our new house is that we have so much space for the kids to play outside and there is very little traffic so they can be outside for long periods of time without me needing to check on them or worry. It is such a nice change from our house in Pittsburgh that was on a corner with tons of traffic going by all of the time! The kids are actually able to play without adult supervision the way that we did growing up.

They are free to make bad decisions and learn from their mistakes without me hovering over them barking instructions. If you climb a tree and stand on weak branches, you will fall....lesson learned. If you step in a puddle in the back of the yard and get your shoes soaking wet, you will be cold...still mastering that one. If you build a homemade bike ramp that is not too sturdy, you will eat dirt....literally. These boys are growing up like we did back in the 70's and I love it. Some days I make the kids cookies or bread and set it out on the deck with some hot chocolate and they re-fuel before heading out again, but they really seem to enjoy the freedom that they have living here. Shovels but no snow hmmmmm.......... now what?

Sam seriously NEVER wants to come in the house. He thought that John's ice shanty was a tent so that they could sleep out on the ice...for real! Sam is truly an outdoorsman if I ever met one! He is soooo enthusiastic about anything involving outside! I have found that he is highly motivated to clean up his toys and clothes if it has to be finished before playing outside. He will wake up before anyone else and clean the playroom and upstairs hallway just so that he can play outside sooner! If you know Sam at all then you know that cleaning and him have never been used in the same sentence. Sam's latest obsession is sneaking up on the birds at the bird feeder with a bucket to try and catch them! Hey Grissly Adams... i think that I just found your replacement!
Here birdy birdy....

Catch up

We have a bit of catching up to do and fortunately even though I have not written in a while I am still taking pictures every day so I have a visual record of what we have been up to the last 3 weeks.

When I last left Jonah and Sam had just turned 5. It turns out that 5 is a lot like 4 except that now I can say "seriously you are 5 years old what were you thinking?!?!" when they do something crazy like wake us up at 5 am jumping in the bounce house in their bathing suits. (Did I ever write about the time a few years ago when we were living in Pittsburgh and John and I woke up to the doorbell ringing at 6 am? When we went downstairs Wyatt was standing on the front porch, all of about 2 1/2 years old, in his pajamas outside and we never knew it! That is story is already practically a made-for-tv-movie! Thus began our system of locks and bolts and cages...., but I digress....) Anyways Jonah and Sam are growing up and I have started filling out
their Kindergarten registration forms this week! It is amazing that we have almost arrived at this milestone!

Shortly after the twins birthday we celebrated John's birthday! He will be hitting a big milestone next year 4-0!!!! John celebrated by getting himself an ice shanty and doing some ice fishing! They have caught a handful of little fish but are still figuring out the ins and outs of Lake Winnebago!

We are enjoying ourselves and staying busy so far this 2012. I am hoping to be more consistent with blog updates too, but sometimes life gets in the way! We are looking forward to a great 2012!

Birthday Wishes

Jonah and Samuel got the best birthday surprise this morning...they woke up to snow! We got about 2-3 inches of snow overnight and the boys were thrilled. Can we plow? Can we shovel? Can we build a snowman? Can we build a fort?

Not yet guys!

First we have to go to church...then we have to pick up the cakes from the bakery...then you can play in the snow!

When we got to church we had a bit of a surprise when they told us that it was family Sunday and kids were supposed to attend church with their parents and not go to Sunday school. Hmmmm.... that should be interesting! We weren't prepped for that! It went well despite the change of plans...surprisingly! Except for the part where the offering plates were being passed around and Wyatt "whispered" (which is more like talking in a normal voice with a hiss) "Mom, we're supposed to put money in the bowl...not steal it out like last time right?" That got some interesting looks from the nearby congregation members!

The cakes that I ordered turned out great! It was a big deal because we had to modify from the original design because they couldn't do the designs that the boys picked out on the cake sizes that we ordered and they had specific guidelines and a bunch of other reasons that made us a little skeptical of how the final product would turn out! No worries though the boys were thrilled!



When we got home the boys shoveled the deck, back patio, and driveway for hours! They worked really hard and John and I sat inside reading the Sunday newspaper proud that our boys were trained so well. Then we checked outside and realized they boys had deviated from their original shoveling attack plan and had, in fact, shoveled everything into a big pile in the middle of the driveway instead! I guess that we have some more training ahead...Oh well, they tried!

Then we ate lunch and did the birthday cake celebrations since we had plans to go out to dinner. It was nice to enjoy the cakes so early in the day with the boys before they got too tired out!
Next they opened presents and napped.


Then they hit the snow again! This time they were supposed to remove the big snow pile from the middle of the driveway. Daddy finally got out the four wheeler and helped the boys out. Then he tied their sled on the back of the four wheeler and drove the boys around the house until the snow was gone! The kids were in heaven! (I think that Daddy was kinda in the zone too!)


Finally we packed everyone up and went out for Mexican food. It was a great meal and just before we left we overheard a server tell another table that on Sundays kids eat free! Holy cow... we didn't know that! They were about to lose money on us for sure! We ended up getting 2 kids meals for free and since I have to pack Shane's meal anywhere we go, we only paid for John, me, and 1 kid! Score!

The kids are exhausted and I expect that they will sleep in tomorrow (but I doubt it!). Jonah and Sam are five years old now and I can barely wrap my head around that! When we asked them what their favorite thing about their birthday was they both said "EVERYTHING!"! My thoughts exactly......

Happy 5th Birthday Jonah and Sam

Jonah and Samuel will be 5 years old on New Years Day! They are such wonderful little guys and I am so thrilled to be able to celebrate with them!