Mommy's Brain

Now that I am back to school, I have been so busy with helping support and develop a new autism program at my site, which I thoroughly enjoy; and in exchange, my blogging has had to take a temporary back seat! But don't worry, I'm still here and have lots to blog about...eventually!

And just in case you've ever wondered what my brain looks like, Jaden apparently knows and has illustrated it for everyone else to see too (and even though it doesn't look like there's a whole lot going on in there, I assure you, there is!)...

Project Playroom - - UPDATE!

Waaay back at the beginning of June, I posted about beginning our Playroom Project (see that post here: (http://momoftwopreciousboys.blogspot.com/search/label/Playroom). Well, here we are at the end of August and I have yet to post an update on the big project, which literally took me all summer to complete! We (meaning my Aunt Mary and I) still have some final touches to do, but here it is!!

After much contemplation, I decided to go with GREEN for the walls!

My little helper ready to go!

I was so nervous about this part, but after a little while it was Jaden's nap time, and by the time he woke up, the wall was completely painted! (He is wearing a tank top of mine, not a dress - in case that question was going through your mind :o).

I originally had white shelving in the room, and something about it just wasn't "right" in the space with the new wall color, so I decided to go with dark brown instead.

And here the room is now, after two months of work!

The Reading Area...

Above the Block Area, my Aunt Mary painted this frame to surround the collection of picture frams. I attached wall decal dots, and she printed the Dr. Suess quote "Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is noone alive who is youer than you." around the inside border.

The photo collage wall. I used the old wrapping paper trick to get each frame placed just right (I traced each frame onto wrapping paper and cut them out, then positioned them with tape until I was happy with the layout; then swapped the wrapping paper for the actual frames).

Organizing (my favorite part)!!! I have a bit of an obsession with labels, organizing, containers, and baskets. I printed pictures of each container's contents and slid each one into a plastic badge holder and used the badge clips to hook them onto the containers (and added a little bit of ribbon, just cuz)! Did I mention how much I love organizing :o).

Still to Do: The main green wall will eventually have a large blue tree painted on it, along with some framed pictures. And a few Dr. Seuss wall decal quotes will be added.

Jaden Got Mail!

As part of their usual routine, Sam takes Jaden with him to get the mail everyday -- granted the mailbox is only three houses away, but it's very exciting to a three-year-old who loves any kind of "daddy time." He always wants to know which item is his in the big stack of junk mail and bills, and as much as I would love to give him all the bills and let him take care of those, I don't think that using them for cutting practice or painting projects will keep the electricity on. So lucky for him, I frequently get classroom supply magazines or stickers and such, and those are his "mail." Until the other day, when he really did get his very own piece of mail! And he knew it was his because it was addressed to HIM! (And I think it's possible that every other person in our neighborhood also knew that Jaden had gotten mail because of his extremely outward expression of excitement... AKA jumping up and down and screaming his head off!!) He got a letter from his cousin Lance in San Antonio and he could not wait to open it; actually, he had mevverify a thousand times that it was in fact his name and address on the envelope! As you can see by the pictures, he was so thrilled! Thanks cousin Lance for making Jaden's day!!

Goodbye Summer

Sadly, my summer vacation has come to a quick end. Seems like just a few weeks ago I was hurrying to get my entire classroom cleaned and packed up so I could begin enjoying my summer vacation with my boys! And just a week ago, I headed back in to unpack, set up, organize, and even paint my classroom walls! And as sad as I am that we are back into our usual school-time routine of going to bed early, waking up early, rushing around in the morning, and getting the boys to their babysitter, I am also hugely excited about the school year ahead. After a few years of contemplating and requesting, this year I was approved the opportunity to share my teaching position with another teacher, meaning I will only work for half the day and will get to spend the other half of the day with my two favorite people in the world! I couldn't be more thrilled! I get to spend my days doing the two things I love the most, being a teacher and mostly a mommy!

Name that Tune

All day today, Jaden was going around singing (or attempting to sing) the words to a currently popular (very un-preschool) song. See if you can guess what song he was singing.

Jaden: "Alley, alley, ondro....Alley, alley, ondro..."

People - from a Child's Perspective

Jaden is recently very into drawing pictures of "people." I just think it is so cute the way probably every preschoolers draws their first people pictures: a huge head with disproportional eyes, a nose somewhere on the face (in this case, under the mouth), and a mouth that stretches past the eyes; the classic arms and legs coming straight out of the head; and occasionally hands (with a thousand fingers) and shoes. And no matter who the subject of the drawing is, they all look exactly the same.

Here's his drawing of me:

Gotta love it!

Backseat Traffic Cop

Whenever we are in the car, Sam and I are so lucky to have our very own traffic cop on board, sitting right in the back seat. Jaden definitely keeps us in line and makes sure we are following the rules of the road at all times. Who needs red light cameras when you've got a three-year-old making sure you stop on red; and he's got tickets ready to hand out, if necessary. Here's some of what we hear from our little backseat traffic cop:

"Mom, the light is red up there. You should start to slow down."

J: "Dad, did you see that red light that you just passed?"
S: "It was a yellow light that turned red."
J: "But yellow means that you are supposed to slow down."

"Why are all the cars not going and the light is green?" (Then I had to explain that it just takes everybody just a minute to move their foot from the brake to the gas to get going again....geez.)

"Are we going too fast?... Are we going too slow?... Are we going the right fast?"

"Are those cars speeding? I think the police are going to give them a ticket. But not us because we're not going too fast, right mom?"

"Are we going the right way? I think we are supposed to go the other way."

"Why is everybody going so slow?... Why are we stopping?" (FYI: construction)

"Mom, there are two red lights up there, so we will have to stop two times."

"Don't go until the light turns to green."

"What number does that sign say about how fast we can go?" (He's always keeping an eye on speed limit signs).

By the way it sounds, you'd think we've had several run-ins with the law! But I assure you, we have not. And I hope our little backseat traffic cop continues to keep us safe on the road!

Summer, Swings & Ice Cream

Whose bright idea was it to go to the park right smack in the middle of a 100+ degree afternoon?? Oh yea, that'd be ME. And the boys couldn't have agreed more. They thought it was a grand idea too! Unfortunately the slides, tunnels, monkey bars - okay, just about everything - was too hot to play on (like I said, bright idea). But the swings were like baby bear's porridge...just right! And who doesn't love a good ride on the swings? They would have stayed on those swings for hours; don't worry, I didn't let them. We stayed just long enough to get a good dose of Vitamin D and tire the boys out for naps...but not before stopping for an extra special summer treat.

Such disappointment that the swings came to a final hault (or maybe it's exhaustion?).
And we finished off the afternoon with with cherry topped Dilly Bars (and snoozing boys in the backseat by the time we got home)!

We love summer!

Little Bitty Bookworms

I have two little guys who absolutely love books and will gladly hop in a lap to listen to a good story! (But they aren't picky -- the floor will do just fine if a lap is not available :o).

An Unexpected Water Day

Our day began with the boys going outside to "help" me to water the yard, which turned into a very enexpected water day -- in pajamas! And why not...that's the fun part about summer, right!

Jaden did everything he could to make sure the water from the sprinkler not only watered the yard, but that it also soaked every last square inch of his body, making sure not to leave a bit dry. He went back through several times, just to be sure that he wouldn't be dry any time soon. He had water sqishing out of the sides of his shoes, dripping off the ends of his eyelashes, and even coming out of his ears. I'm pretty sure we could have filled our swimming pool just by wringing out his clothes and dumping out his shoes. Elijah was content playing with the water in the water table, while watching his silly brother and contemplating whether that looked like more fun...

...and i guess it eventually did. Elijah decided to abandon the water table and got in on the sprinkler action. I think his main plan was getting to the watermelon, but he didn't mind getting soaked in the process. Much to his disappointment, the watermelon wouldn't come detached. And by wringing out the water from his soaked clothes, I'm pretty sure we would have been able to water the garden for a week.

Next was soaking wet car and bike riding, which would normally be a good way to dry off, but with the amount of water in these jammies, it didn't even turn them from soaked to damp.

And eventually, all of this water fun led to stripping down, leaving the wet clothes outside, and going inside for popsicles (because there's nothing a mother appreciates more than kids eating popsicles without their clothes on -- well, maybe a few things, but this is definitely up there on the list)!

One of the many joys of summer with two awesome little guys!