construction zone

A couple of weeks ago, the boys eagerly went to a construction playday with other boys from church (despite the temps in the high 90s and no shade in sight!). The boys didn't care that the dirt was dried up and difficult to dig in because what could be more fun than permission to use their big construction trucks and play in dirt and with construction hats!

Asher's good friend Ethan joined in the fun (meanwhile Ethan's sisters were inside in the air conditioning learning ballet).


Thanks to Lucas, the boys played with this really fun excavator!


The older boys made a quick connection that with they could use the water for drinking purposes to make MUD!!


Jonas knew that all construction men needed adequate water breaks while on the job.


Very busy boys working in the construction zone...if they only had cones!

firefighters to the rescue!

Our local Chik-Fil-A was having a Family night with Firetrucks and a police car. We didn't want to miss this! We also ran into our friends Lila, Ruby and Levi!

One brave boy got into the hook and ladder firetruck.

Another brave boy shook hands with the fire cow.

Jonas wanted his picture with the cone!

We feel much safer now that we have been in and around a firetruck and learned more about what they do.

trains!!

We had been hearing about the train display at Cheekwood for weeks and finally, we found a day that worked for our friends and the weather! This is a must see if you have children that love trains!!


This was when we first arrived and Crosby lasted about five seconds in the stroller before he wanted out with the rest of the boys.



All the kids waiting so patiently for their moms to get their lunches for them. We thought this was a perfect moment to try and capture a picture with all of them.

Sweet brothers!!

Waiting for the trains....(we kept trying to explain to them that if they just stay in one spot and wait, they will see the trains come around again instead of trying to chase them down.)


Since Asher was the oldest one there, I didn't know what his response to the younger boys would be. I soon found out that he took on the motherly role by helping Miss Danielle chase down Crosby. Asher grew very fond of Miss Danielle so I had to get their picture together to remember this sweet morning.

tulips in the park

Every March, we have the tradition of taking pictures in the tulips at Centennial park. Here are a few of our favorites from this year's visit.

construction

After continual requests for a construction vest, I finally went to the fabric store, bought bright orange fabric and reflector tape and came up with this.
Front

Back

Asher actually did have the final say in the design. We picked out several pictures of construction men and he decided which direction the reflection tape should go.

If you are in need of home or road repairs, please call Asher at 555-0000! :)

snow day

What should you do with two little boys when you are snowed in? Read The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. Spend as much time getting dressed in your snow pants, boots, coats, hats and gloves as you did spending time playing outside in the snow (it was only a high of 19 degrees today and then windchill was nine degrees...brrrrrr!)! Invite your friends from the neighborhood (who's preschool's were closed today) over for a playdate. Warm up spiced apple cider for your mailman and then miss him by a few minutes (we were terribly sad about this one and hoping we will catch him tomorrow). Spend time coloring pictures and completing a book of mazes. Go around your house and make "rug," "floor," "couch" snow angels because you forgot to when you were outside and it's just too cold to go out again and do the real thing. Sit on the floor and sing Christmas songs you learned in music class. Play chase around the house when your daddy comes home a few minutes early to surprise us!!

That's at least what we did on our snowy day! What did you do with yours?
(Sorry for no pictures of this day. We are still without a camera and are making mental and written pictures of these special moments. :))

advent sneak peak

Here is a quick sneak peak of the advent calendar that I have been working on since LAST Christmas. I think it should be ready for December 1 of this year if I can get 5 more red buttons. The ones I went with were not what I had in mind but I gave up on it just to complete this already too long of a project. I still would like to solicit some of your help for this calendar. While I will go with the fun, traditional theme of filling each day with a special chocolate candy for us to enjoy, I also found a cute idea of including an activity for our family to do each day. Here is a sampling of things that I have come up with so far but would love any other ideas!!

-Give cookies to our trash men, mailman and local firemen and police men.
-Take dinner to a family in need.
-Make homemade decorations for the tree.
-Make cut-out sugar cookies and ice.
-Buy presents for an Angel Tree child.
-Make a gingerbread house.

first book

The boys (especially Asher) love to do imaginative play and turn our couches into every type of vehicle possible (fire trucks, ambulances, excavators, dump trucks....you get the picture). On this day, they were pretending to be construction men on a crane and had been "moving" all the pillows behind them.

Since Asher's little mind was coming up with such an ongoing story, we decided to turn it into a small book. I had him tell me the title, Crane, and then he helped spell it by telling me the letter that came next after I would give him the sound of that letter.

He then colored this picture of a crane.

This is the story he came up with and I wrote it down word for word.

We should have the downloadable version up any day now for your Kindle! :)

plan city at discovery center

This picture captures two things that our boys love these days. The first being Plan City toys!! We love them and plan to continue to add to our collection for birthday and Christmas presents. Plan toys are socially and environmentally responsible and safe (no toxic chemicals!!). So if you are needing some creative ideas for Christmas presents, check these toys out. They are available through Amazon and locally, you can find them at Phillips Toy Mart (another one of our favs).

The second great thing about this picture is where it was taken---The Discovery Center in Murfreesboro. It's a bit of a jaunt for us to travel there but worth the extra effort for all the amazing activities they have for these children. We also love the old time firetruck that you can climb on and the donated firemen's hats, boots, coats and pants! Other favorites things include the mini excavator, trains, car garage station and Tiny Tot Town. If you live anywhere near Murfreesboro, you need to check it out (and invite us to come along!!).

gentry's farm

I took the boys to Gentry's farm with some friends to enjoy a pumpkin patch day. It was our first time to Gentry's and I was amazed at all the fun things we could do and we ran out of time to do them all. Our morning began in the corn maze.

Luckily, the kids were able to find our was out!













We are already looking forward to going back next year!!

hatcher dairy farm

This past week we took a tour of Hatcher Dairy Farm. It is a local farm that has 4 generations living on it! We couldn't have timed this trip any better since it was Jonas' birthday week and he was wanting a farm birthday party theme.

A bull and pregnant momma cows...

one day old calf...





Let's have our turn at milking a cow....

Farmer John Deere...

the milking room...

mmmm....chocolate milk!

Highly recommend this tour if you are in town OR find a local dairy farmer near you and learn where your milk comes from!