Weekends

We live for our weekends and usually make the most of them. Last weekend Grandma W came for a visit via the train!

Saturday was a beautiful, but chilly day, so we decided to take our first trip to the zoo this season. Our neighbors joined us and just as we were leaving the house, another family called to see if we wanted to meet them there. Woo Hoo! Tyler was very excited to have so many friends at the same place.

Here is one of the few pictures I got of the boys. They were usually all running in opposite directions! We had 6 adults, but it was still difficult to keep up with 5 boys and one adorable little girl.

Ryan was very into his animal viewing.

See... he got right in there!

I imagine this view was very intriguing for a little boy.

Yippy!

Poor Ryan didn't want to be stopped. Come on Grandma... let me down!

This weekend we took a trip to the science museum. And, I confirmed my fear. Dan and I have reached the point where we can no longer enjoy an experience together. If you noticed I had more pictures of Ryan at the zoo, you'll see the same thing at the science museum. One kid goes one way and the other takes the opposite direction! Of course!

This museum had a very cool Sesame Street exhibit. Here is Ry dressing a magnetic Elmo.

Tyler did an awesome job answering body part trivia.

Mr. Hooper's store was very cool. Tyler and Daddy spent a lot of time there.

Ryan took a quick break for a picture with Oscar's garbage can.

Ryan loves opening doors so this exhibit was right up his alley.

It has been a while since I've watched Sesame Street, but I seem to remember this door being significant.

Can I go play now??

Ryan is a lot more daring at this age than Tyler was at 3. Here he is climbing to the top of a slide.

Then he turned around and went down feet first on his belly. Weeeeeeee!

I managed to capture Tyler in this picture. He just kept running. (and, went to sleep last night without a peep!!) I realized how immune I've become to Tyler's constant noise. The staff at the obstacle course commented on Ty's sound effects noting that he was making a different noise on each lap. Until they pointed it out, I hadn't heard him at all. I guess it is like living near a noisy road... eventually you just don't hear it.

Tyler's favorite part of the museum was the dinosaur exhibit. He's going to love the robotic dinosaur exhibit that is coming this summer!!

They had an area for the kids to play... and mom and dad to take a seat. Here's Tyler enjoying some water play.

And, making our souvenir penny!

Tyler and I have quite a collection of pennies from all of the places we've been. It will be fun to go through them together some day.

Tyler's New Room

On January 6th, Dan started his biggest home improvement project yet... and he's done a lot of them!! Finally, it was time to start on the worst room in the house. Here are a few pictures to prove how bad it really was.

See the yuck above the window?

I'm not sure if I'm really seeing all the waves in the ceiling and the walls in this picture or if it is just ingrained in my memory. The coloring was also off and the popcorn ceiling was lovely!!

You've probably noticed the spots in the pictures. The rational part of me knows this is lingering dust from activity the room, but the superstitious part of me believes we have ghosts. This is an old house so you never know!! I used to lay on the couch downstairs below the "nursery" when Tyler was a baby and swear I was hearing footsteps when I was alone in the house. At the time I found comfort in it hoping I was getting a little extra help with my special boy. I certainly needed it.

When Dan tore out this part of the wall he found hints that there used to be a sink here??

Another lovely stain on the ceiling. There was actually a hole here when we looked at the house from running plumbing upstairs. This is the patch... nice, huh?

There goes the nasty carpet!! He's stirring up all those ghosts!

Check out the floor! Fancy stuff!

Dan also discovered that the back of the room used to be part of the foyer. Or, there may not have been a foyer at one time. The living room may have just been really large. What I don't understand is why they left the wood floor under the carpet. This explains the really big bump under the carpet!! You can also see where they used the original molding on the side and then just put a plain board against the back wall.

One less room with lath and plaster in our house!

Dan found a few odd things in the walls, but I didn't get a picture before he threw it out. Mostly it was old bent tools.

Once Dan got the room cleared and a frame built to lower the ceiling, he had to figure out how to hang drywall on the ceiling by himself. I was impressed with his solution. Check this out...

He built a swing arm to hold the drywall.

Then he swung it up. It was hinged on one side.

He then braced it so that he could secure the drywall. Viola!!

Dan insulated the exterior and interior walls. Yippy! Soundproofing!

All the drywall is up and the taping/mudding/sanding is complete. Thank goodness! This part has been over for weeks, but I don't think I've got the dust out of the whole house yet!

Tyler was very excited about this process... until he slept in the room for the first time last night and realized that all he could see from his bed is the kitchen... Ha! I think that is awesome and am quite surprised that it took him that long to figure it out. Did he really think we wanted him to have that room because it was bigger?? Silly boy!

Complete! Isn't Dan talented? With the exception of the carpeting, he did it all himself.

Dressed!

Woo Hoo! Some day I'm hoping for shelving above his bed, but Dan isn't ready to put holes in the walls yet. I can't say I blame him after dedicating most nights and weekends to this project for over 2 months.

Here is the other side of the room. I'm also hoping to replace all the doors in the house... we all have to have dreams, right?

Our next step is to move Ryan downstairs. I can't wait to be able to put the boys' laundry away during commercials! And the entire upstairs will be adult space. Yippy!

Snake Cooties

I'm not sure if this is normal boy behavior, or if my boys are a bit strange. You tell me at the end of this post.

You may recall that I chaperoned a field trip over the summer to see the reptile guy with Tyler's class. He was really cool so when Tyler was invited to a birthday party that featured the reptile guy, I suggested that Dan accompany him. He agreed and ended up spending four hours with the moms of all the little boys at the party. Oops! I had a nice time at the mall...

I called to find out when they would be home and was told that Tyler held a snake. So, when they arrived and Tyler wanted a hug, I told him no because he had snake cooties on his hands!! Tyler laughed and said "mom, the snake did not have cooties, it wasn't even slimy, it felt like rubber!" Silly mommy!

Tyler actually volunteered for this experience. Here he is eagerly awaiting the snake...


And, receiving the tail end. He doesn't seem quite sure of his decision yet.

All is well. He seems pleased, doesn't he?? YUCK!

After surviving the show, the kids headed outside for fire truck rides. This was a great party!

Two boys dancing on a boot, of course! Haven't you always wanted to dance on a boot?

I'm putting this picture in here to document the day that Ryan won. This was Friday morning and I was summoned to the back room by Tyler yelling that he was being attacked. Ha! We knew it was going to happen sooner or later. It only took 1 day short of 16 months.

I don't understand this at all. Saltine crackers were a really big hit with both boys yesterday. Why were pictures of this event necessary? You'll have to ask Tyler.

This I have no explanation for other than to say it is par for the course in our home. Madness I tell ya! The inmates are running the asylum!

Here is the new favorite weekend activity. I have to say it is quite gross in my opinion. I was throwing laundry from the basket in the hall into the larger hall for sorting. I couldn't see him coming because of a wall, but somehow Ryan launched himself into the pile. I'm sure my memory has exaggerated it, but I can close my eyes and see Ryan flying into a pile of dirty laundry. And, Tyler wasn't far behind. Why??

Shouldn't at least Tyler understand that this isn't good? They both thought it was hilarious, asking for more and more clothes to be thrown on top of them.

Yes, they did both get baths after this. Please tell me that this isn't the kind of normal boy behavior that I have to look forward to for years to come.

How did I get this while my sister has 3 sweet heads to cover in adorable hats??