Sleep!

I know I have whined about how the boys are early risers so I promise this isn't another whine fest even though it may start out sounding like it.

About a month ago, Alan and I were beyond frustrated and totally exhausted. Isaac would wake up around 4:30 and fuss for a bit, eventually falling back asleep, but by that time Alan and I were wide awake. Then Jacob would wake up for the day around 5:30 and Isaac would be up shortly after. Isaac wasn't napping well either and many afternoons I would walk around the neighborhood for over an hour while the boys slept in the stroller. By the end of the week Alan and I were tired and cranky and wondering what we could do to get the boys to sleep in longer in the morning.

About that time one of my friends posted a link to the Good Nite Lite. We were desperate so we ordered a couple. You program the night light for when you want the moon to shine and when you want the sun to come up.

We prepped the boys and showed them the pictures repeatedly in hopes that when the night lights arrived, they would know what to do.
When the moon is shining, you need to be quiet and go back to sleep.


If you wake up and the sun is shining, then it is okay to call for mommy and daddy.


Isaac actually did better at it than Jacob. Jacob would still wake up around 5:15 and call for us. Grrrrr! So we decided to make a chart. Gotta love charts! We told them that if they are quiet until the sun comes up, they get a sun or a moon on their chart and once they reached 5 we would take them out for ice cream. We finally got to go for ice cream today! Isaac reached 5 a few days ago, but Jacob was lagging behind.

I think we'll continue with the chart since they seem to like it and it seems to be working. We started with wake up time at 5:30 and we just kept moving it forward 5 minutes at a time. We're at 6:00 wake up time now! Isaac has even been sleeping until 6:30 some mornings and his napping is much, much better. He sleeps in his crib, doesn't scream and will nap for 2 hours or more. Yay! Yay! Yay!

They are so funny with these night lights! They say, 'Night-night, moon!' When Jacob sees the sun shining he says in a totally monotone voice, 'I see the sun. I see the sun.' Isaac says, 'Good morning, sun!' and starts jumping up and down in his bed, giggling.

Hopefully the better sleep habits will continue and get even better!

Trip to the Zoo

Alan is on spring break this week so yesterday we headed to the zoo for the day. We were supposed to go last Saturday with my parents, Jeff, Mike and Jennifer, but it was rainy that day so we cancelled.

The boys loved the elephant statues!


Man, these tusks are HUGE!


Giving the baby elephant a big hug and kiss.


Baby jaguar just like on 'Diego'. Okay, it wasn't really a baby, but that's what the boys thought.


This was in the polar bear exhibit. There was a tunnel that kids could crawl through and even though neither of the boys was brave enough to do it, they thought it was super funny to watch other kids do it.


At the giraffe exhibit Jacob asked me what giraffes eat and I told him they ate leaves so he went looking for some leaves to feed them.


Isaac wanted in on that too! 'I feed them. I feed them.'


Fun day! The boys slept almost the whole way home, waking up after 5:00. I thought maybe they wouldn't fall asleep at their regular bedtime, but they were all tuckered out.

Crafts

A while back someone (Charlee??) posted a link on Facebook for No Time for Flash Cards. Its a website with tons of crafts and sensory activities to do with kiddos. The boys and I are loving the projects! I like them because they are super simple to prepare and the boys love them because they are fun and creative. Jacob is always asking if we can do a craft. I love seeing him so excited about educational stuff! Well, he may not realize its educational. :P

Shape pizza - I did circles, squares, triangles, rectangles and stars. You have stars on your pizza, right?




'I' is for ice cream


I realized after we made these that I should have made the I's more squat to look more like a cone. Oh well. The boys don't care!


'U' is for umbrella - we did this one on a rainy afternoon


This is one of my favorites - 'X' is for xylophone.


We are planning to make a trip to JoAnn Fabrics soon to get some more craft supplies so we can make all the cool letter crafts.

Pizza shop tour

This morning we went with my moms' group to tour a local pizza shop. First we watched the guys make the pizza dough into big flat circles using a machine that reminded me of a motorized pasta maker. I think Isaac was a little disappointed that they weren't throwing the dough in the air. All morning he talked about how he was going to throw pizza dough in the air (yeah, right!). We got to go in the pantry where they keep all the dry goods and Isaac tried to climb the shelves. Then we saw the big fridge, and then the dish washing room where Isaac found a fork and tried to put it in the running dishwasher. I want their giant dishwasher that gets dishes clean and dry in 90 seconds! Then we got to see how they make, bake and cut the pizzas. The boys had a lot of fun, but especially loved eating the pizza!

Waiting for pizza




So happy!


So messy!

Imagination

I just love how imaginative the boys are these days!

Sunday morning I came home from my run and could hear screeching coming from our house while I was still on the sidewalk! I wondered if these were angry or happy sounds and if I should just keep running. :P

It was the boys, Isaac especially, getting all excited trying to find their new imaginary friend, Ricco. They kept running around telling us where he was - on the ceiling fan, upstairs sleeping, outside. Isaac would run to the back door and screech, 'He's out dare (there)! Out dare! Ricco!' He was having so much fun! Even after church he was looking behind the plants and yelling, 'Ricco!'. Not sure where they came up with this but it is so funny!

Jacob is still loving all the branches in the backyard and likes to make 'tents' for Isaac. He hauls the branches into a circle so Isaac can go inside.



You'll notice he is still into his crown too. (Although, a couple days ago it finally bit the dust.)


Isaac was busy exploring while his 'tent' was being built.


Jacob was trying to coerce Isaac into the 'tent', but Isaac wasn't interested. You'll notice that Isaac is still loving 'Spierman', but unfortunately he too bit the dust. Too many trips into the 'tent' made of pokey branches.


The boys enjoy 'making pizzas' with play dough.

So long cypress trees

About a month ago we received a letter from our neighbors expressing their concern over our cypress trees. They were depositing a lot of debris into their yard, clogging up their gutters, attracting rodents, etc.

See how it is barfing its insides here? On their side it was like that times 10.


We were never fond of the trees ourselves. Even though they did provide some privacy, whenever it rained or was windy our driveway would become littered with tree debris. They were also so tall that they shaded our garden. Boo!

See how tall they were? No way we were going to attempt trimming those suckers!


Taller than the telephone poles.


So, yesterday the crew came and chopped them all down. All 5 of them. Jacob was quite enthralled with the guys climbing up the trees trimming off all the branches.


Trees gone!



It does feel very bare over there now and I'm totally thrilled with having to look at the neighbor's house, but we'll get used to it and plan to put in some sort of hedge to provide some privacy and give it a less naked look.

Random pictures

Its been a couple weeks since I've posted anything about life around here. I guess I just haven't had the energy due to early mornings and nap refusals. Excuses, excuses, I know!

Anyway, these are just some random pictures taken over the past few weeks.

Isaac loves to wear his hooded towel after bath time. He calls himself a ghostie.


Hugging or wrestling? Not sure.


Isaac loves to help me with chores and wanted to help out with the dusting one day.


I got the boys visors to wear in the bath because they always complain (mostly Isaac) about water in their face while I rinse their hair.


'How does this thing go?'


How cute is this guy? Such a sweet face.


Jacob wanted to try his hand at photography. This is his first attempt. Looks a bit like the pictures my grandma used to take (mom's mom). She was always cutting people's heads off!


Second attempt - I see improvement! I won't show you the third picture he took. Alan would not be happy since it was a close up of him (wearing a bath visor). Bahaha!


Alan did a major trimming of the walnut tree and Jacob has been fascinated by all the branches.
Like his crown? He made it in TMOMs a couple weeks ago and has been wearing it every day. He says he is 'King Jacob'. Isaac puts it on and says, 'I'm a KING!'


My brother got this Spiderman blow up punching thing for the boys a while back and Isaac just LOVES it. He hauls 'Spierman' all around the yard, swings with him and dumps dirt on him in the sandbox. One afternoon he was pretty tired and was just standing there swaying back and forth with Spiderman. I asked if they were dancing. 'No! I'm NOT! I'm not dancing with Spierman!'


I told Jacob to take the stick out of his mouth and he told he was playing the tuba. Gotta love that imagination!