The Boys' Big Move

We mentioned bunk beds to G about a year ago and he's been excited about it ever since.  G and D have shared a room for about a month now and for the past couple weeks Paul and I have enjoyed the silence that SHOULD happen at bedtime.  It was an adjustment for the first couple weeks as they were both so excited about the bunk beds that it took HOURS for them to give it up at night and stop the silliness, laughter and general spazzing that ensued nightly.  The nursery is now my office again and I am thrilled to be done with setting up my laptop and work documents at the dining room table!

The boys each had a theme during their time in the nursery.  Gabriel's was antique transportation and David's was cowboy.  Both themes had similar rustic primary colors so I took a chance and mixed the two in their new room.  This is the result:

 Here's the picture above David's bed since it's partially hidden in the previous photo.  I modge podged a poster (ebay!) to mdf that Paul cut and painted black.

 I found this sign at Canton last year!

David's personal items are on the nightstand and little shelf.  I plan to hang a cluster of 3 frames between the two.

Their names took turns hanging above the crib over the past 5 years and are now on either side of their shared closet.

 Gabriel's personal items are on top of the dresser.....out of David's reach.  :)

The print in this photo was also a poster that I modge podged to some mdf that we painted black.  Much cheaper than buying something, even at my much loved Hobby Lobby!

 And the closet.  Nothing extraordinary or straight from the Container Store magazine, but it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling to see this and know that their individual closets were full!  With a little help from Pinterest, The Container Store and Target I got some affordable ideas to use the closet space more efficiently to fit BOTH of them.   Very few toys or books are in their room although the train table is quite large!  Our goal was to keep the toys in the play area so we did some "purging" and donated quite a few items they hadn't played with in awhile. 

• The white bags hanging on each side are for their dirty white socks.  No more figuring out which sock belongs to which boy!
• The LEGO binder replaced a tupperware box as storage for instruction manuals.  It is full of clear pages to hold the manuals so he can easily see what he has.

We have seen our boys play together better and share more than they did just a month ago.  Hallelujah!  <this is me bustin' a move>

Project: Fort - Six More Weeks of Progress

It's been almost six weeks since the last fort posting.  A few things came up that pulled Paul away from working on the fort but now, except for a roof, it's finished!

 Paul cut out the front window and built the eaves on the front.

 

Next he cut out the second window and made the windowsills for both.

Now the boys like to enter and exit through the windows......

Paul engineered a trapdoor so that it doesn't slam shut on heads or little fingers.

We made a chalkboard for the boys from a piece of wood that was cut off the rock climbing wall.  And in this picture you can see the handles Paul added to help with climbing in from the rock wall.

 I finally got around to sewing the curtains that Gabriel wanted.  The Bear County Boys Club in a Berenstain Bears book have curtains so they were on his must-have list as well.

Next up:  the roof!

Project: Fort - Day 2 and The First Injury

My dad had to leave after lunch to drive back to Corpus but they were able to cross off a few more items on the fort to-do list.  They put up another wall and a half and measured and remeasured, cut and remeasured and cut again (repeat many times) to get the ladder just right.  

David advised his dad and grandpa on the placement of the ladder.

All the guys worked hard all morning!

Time to stop for lunch and say goodbye to Grandpa! 

And the first injury goes to ....... David!  But its nothing that a little ice pop can't help. 

 And some silly brotherly time had him back to normal!

Hide and Seek

Since Mother Nature feels deprived by not being able to give us a real winter this year, she seems to be acting out by giving many beautiful days of warm sunshine in February followed by rain and cold temps in March.

So while she throws her pity party, the boys and I stayed warm and cozy in our pj's (photo - David likes to eat a big apple like Bubba.  No slices!).  Gabriel and I did puzzles and played Sequence for Kids while I handed David games that he couldn't bend or break (UNO Moo, an extra set of tokens from our game, Hungry Hippo, etc.).   Then Gabriel asked to play Hide and Seek.

Gabriel's Hide and Seek Rules:
1) Everyone must hide (even the counter)
2) You must count to 15
3) Little brother David must help Gabriel find Mommy
4) A great hiding spot should be used EVERY TIME

After hiding in David's closet (straightened the shoes on the shelves while I waited to be found) and the boys' tub (put away some bath toys as quietly as possible) I found the best place for a mommy to hide.  The bed.  I laid alongside the headboard and was perfectly hidden by the pillows.  Seriously the best hiding place.  Ever.  I smiled to myself as I listened to Gabriel say "Nope!  She's not in here David."  "Come here David.  Let's look together."  "No, we already looked there."  "Hold my hand David."  David called out "Mama!" intermittently.  Then Gabriel gave up.  "Mom!" he called out.  "Come here!  Come here to us!".   Rest time was over.  I called his name loudly and then more softly as he came back down the hall.  David sat down on the dog's bed and then he spotted me peeking out of the pillows, "Mama!!!"  Gabriel said, "Mommy!!!  Hide there again!  We'll go count!".

Operation Igloo Rescue

Shortly after lunch on Saturday (this should explain why David is shirt-less in these pictures because eating is a full contact sport!) the boys entertained themselves with their daddy's lunch box.  Our eldest was giggling and yelling to Paul that he was stuck and needed his Daddy to get him free.  This is how Paul found him.

Paul laughed, grabbed him by his waist and flew him around upside-down while Gabriel prostested loudly to be put back down - in the lunch box.  David apparently did not like seeing his big "bubba" stuck in the lunch box (again) so he took it upon himself to "rescue" his bubba over and over and ....

  

 In the end they had a great time, no one got hurt, and ended up fighting over who got to stick their head in the lunch box next!

The Art of Planking by Gabriel

To be fair to Gabriel's mad planking skills, he comes by it honestly.  We never told him about planking.  He just calls it "making a bridge". A week or so ago Gabriel discovered that he is juuuust long enough to make a bridge in the entryway.  David appears to be taking mental notes as he watches bubba plank.

Next comes the brotherly instructional time.  

David tries in vain to apply the tips big bro offered him.

Maybe when David grows another foot or so he and Gabriel will attempt the LBJ and 75 interchange bridges.  But lets not give them any ideas.....

Cruising Through "Hotter'n High School Lovin'" July

Back in my highschool days, I heard a youth minister say it was "hotter'n high school lovin'" outside.  Every summer that quote is in my head but probably never so much as this summer with all of the 100+ temps.

I'm not sure how it happened that there is more summer is behind us than in front of us for 2011, but here we are at the end of July.  My boys are keeping things interesting (understatement) and I've captured some of their moments below.

I sure wish this actually worked!  Both boys now take turns "helping" with their vacuum.

D waited patiently for the 4th of July fireworks and once they (finally) began at 10:15pm, it seemed anti-climatic for him because he went to sleep immediately.

D - "So since this toy spins the cars around....maybe I can take a ride too....."

"Peeks!"  The boys like to hide behind the glider in D's room.

D found big bro's hat and managed to put it on his head.  By the time I got the camera I was getting this view of him walking off.  I love how you can tell that he is strutting!  He thinks he is big stuff!

I moved the table and chairs to try and prevent D from pulling books off the shelf and bending/ripping them.  However, he found a way......

Looks like D is ready to "bust out!" Time to lower the crib to its lowest level!  

Both boys were ready to help!

Double splash time!!                                                                       My little monkey.