Busy weekend!

Seems like we were on the go all weekend! Friday the boys mowed the backyard (always an exciting time for "mini Ryan" [Austin]). Then Caitlin & I went to Walgreens & I took her to Ritters for an ice cream treat. We surprised Austin with some ice cream for all his hard work mowing with Daddy. She was cute in Walgreens...pushing the little cart & putting the items up on the counter to be rung up. Saturday Ryan took Austin to his work to pick something up and then Austin wanted a haircut (YAY!)...so we each got some alone time with a kiddo. Which was very nice! Caitlin and I went to Target and then out to lunch. She was perfectly perfect the entire time. Ryan said Austin was great and so talkative on their adventure too! I think that even though they don't like it initially, it's nice for the kids to just have some time to themselves without competing for attention. Not gonna lie, it was like a walk in the park for me too....one 4 year old is waaaaaaay more managable than two! ;)

After naps on Saturday we went to buy a new grill to replace the one that bit the dust in a terrible wind/rain storm at the end of last summer. So Ryan spent a couple hours assembling it while the kids played. The new grill is almost exactly like our old one...soooooooooo excited that we got it....we are habitual bbq'ers in the summer! :)

Friday & Saturday Ryan & I had "movie nights"...it's something we enjoy but rarely get to do! I'm glad we took the time to do it...both movies were EXCELLENT! Friday we watched "Seven Pounds" which took awhile to get into, but was very good once we figured it out. Saturday we watched "Slumdog Millionaire". Our pastor's son spent a few months in India with an organization called Truthseekers International & said that the depictions of poverty were completely accurate. A very sad fact. So with that knowledge before seeing the movie, I watched it with a different perspective. In my adult life, I have seen & read 3 things that I would say have "haunted" me...the book "The Pact" by Jodi Picoult, the movie "The Kite Runner", and now "Slumdog Millionaire". Uplifting, eh?

Yesterday we did some things around the house....the boys mowed the front yard, Caitlin and I laid in the grass & chatted and then explored the ants that were on the sidewalk. Then we all went to Kroger to stock up on meat for the grill! Ryan cooked the burgers (YUM!), we had a family dinner (the kids' favorite was the "melon" - cantaloupe and watermelon) and then had bath time. After that the kids went to bed...they BOTH have the sniffles which usually equals a NIGHTMARE with Caitlin because she won't take any Benadryl which helps immensely at bedtime.

This morning we read about a million books. I LOVE that the kids love to read. Austin even stopped mowing to join in story time! They have these little ABC books (there is a small book for each letter of the alphabet) with a picture and its name on the opposite page (ie: cat - then there's a picture of a cat)...they enjoyed spelling out each word this morning. IMHO they are incredibly smart little kids! I created a matching game to help them learn their personal information (first, middle, last names; phone number; address; city; state) by writing each thing on 2 paint sample cards. Austin's set was blues & greens; Caitlin's was pinks & purples...anyway...we laid out half of Austin's set in the dining room & half of Caitlin's set in the office. I kept their other halves in the living room. The game was...I chose a personal fact from my cards, we went over it, then they took their card & ran into the other rooms to make a match & bring it back to me. THEY LOVED IT & didn't want to stop playing.

Some of their latest funny sayings...

*Caitlin saw a picture of Joe Biden on the internet and asked me, "Is that Bob Evans?" Oh my gosh, I was rolling!!!!!!!!!!

*Austin got some paint on himself & told us happily, "I'm a work of artist!" :) Sooooo cute!

*Caitlin also saw a picture of Nancy Pelosi and asked, "Is that Judge Judy?" LOL!

Today is going to be low key. It's supposed to be beautiful outside all week, so we'll be outside most of the time after naps. Austin's public school speech cuts down to one time a week starting this week, so for the summer we'll have Friday's free. Thursday they get to take their bikes to school for their version of the Indy 500. Austin is looking forward to that...Caitlin is not, due to her phobia of the buckle on the helmet.

Okay, gonna go play now!