Raising the Raines Rascals

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Checkups & Monster Trucks

Last Tuesday Josh & I went to parent-teacher conference at Ethan's school. As always, Ethan is progressing very well! We are so proud of him. His teacher said that his conduct is always wonderful and that he's always quick to help others. Ethan is reading at a 4th-5th grade level and he's only in 2nd grade! Since they were having conferences all day, the school was closed. Of course, Ethan was THRILLED to get another day out of school and his excitement was doubled when he found out that his dad had taken the day off to spend with us. We just hung out at home, played a board game called Last Word, and watched another old movie that Ethan had never seen...Rookie of the Year. That evening we stopped by school for the conference and then headed up to BG for Ethan's baseball lesson. Fun Tuesday!

On Thursday I took Landen to the pediatrician for his 3 year checkup. He is 37 months old and weighs 44.5 pounds! He is 41.5 inches tall and is above the 95th percentile for both height and weight. We just don't have small children. Ethan has always been a big boy but I think Landen may outgrow him! The doctor said that he looks great and is growing/developing perfectly. He knew how to do everything that they asked except for pedaling a tricycle (we haven't tried since September since it's been chilly out) and he isn't potty trained. BUT the pediatrician did say not to stress about him not being potty trained yet. He has three boys and none of them were potty trained before 3 years old. That took a little of the pressure off. Landen has some interest in using the potty but it comes and goes. He can do the other things they asked like count to three and name at least 3 shapes no problem. He labels a square, circle, heart, star, and rectangle by their name but he calls a triangle a tent, an oval an egg, and a crescent a moon....oh, and of course an octagon is a stop sign! After his checkup we went to the grocery store where he told everyone he saw about his dump truck sticker that he got at the doctor for being a good boy. Once we got home he was ready to relax and play. I grabbed my phone and got a picture (a blurry one) of him with his safety goggles on his head just working away with his tools...

Back in November Josh had bought tickets to take the boys to Monster Jam in Louisville. The show was this past Saturday. So, after Ethan finished up his Super Saturday class at WKU, we stopped by Cheddar's for some lunch and then made the 2 hour drive to Louisville. Since the show didn't start until 7:30pm we figured it would be bedtime before it ended so we decided to just get a hotel and stay the night. Once we got checked in at the hotel we headed to Freedom Hall for the show. Ethan LOVED it!

Landen wasn't so sure...

He eventually warmed up to the action and ended up having a great time! He just didn't like when the trucks revved up their engines to take off and in his defense...it WAS loud. We all wore ear protection the entire time. The trucks were cool! We had taken my brother many years ago but I barely remember the show from way back then. The boy's favorites were Scooby Doo and Grave Digger.

While the monster trucks were taking a break and getting ready for the "free style", these robotic looking, fire breathing, transformer things came out.

This may have been Ethan's favorite part!!!

Once we got back to the hotel the boys wanted to take a picture and show off their Monster Jam loot...

On Sunday after sleeping in (mental note: black out shades = boys sleeping late), we ate pop-tarts for breakfast and played Mario Monopoly. Once Ethan beat Josh and I badly at Monopoly we got ready and checked out of the hotel. We let the boys choose something to do before we headed home and they chose Chuck E. Cheese. Besides me driving them crazy about not touching their faces for fear of catching flu germs (we germ-x'd as SOON as we got back to the truck)....we had a BLAST playing games and watching Landen climb and slide. We got home early in the evening and caught up on American Idol from the DVR together while resting up. Perfect ending to a perfect weekend!

Monday, January 21, 2013

Quiet Quality Time

It seems the boys and I have had a little more quiet quality time than usual these past couple of weeks and it's been nice!

On Thursday 1/10, Landen and I hung out at home all day and played. Since we didn't have to go anywhere I decided we would try wearing underwear for the day and see how Landen would do. We have worked on potty training before, a few months ago, and he just didn't seem ready. So, we put on his new Lightnin' McQueen underwear and gave it a whirl. He did okay for the first time wearing underwear. We set a timer and went every 15-20 minutes (I quickly realized that this is how frequently he pees...I'm assuming that is a side effect to wearing diapers and being able to let it fly anytime you fell the urge.). I did have to clean up a couple of wet messes but once he actually came and told me that he had to go and then he peed right in front of the toilet while I was pulling down his underwear! The second day trying, he did #2 in his underwear and I think it traumatized him. He was so upset that he had "pooped on Queen" that he refuses to put underwear back on or sit on the potty EVEN for a Mickey Mouse sticker! So for now, we are taking a break and will try again soon.

This is Landen with the road that we built with blocks to run his cars on. (Excuse his pj's in a lot of these pics...we tend to play a lot in the mornings before we get him dressed.)

On Tuesday 1/15, we met up with some friends for a play-date at Hopscotch's Play Place. It is going out of business in March and we are SO sad about that! I used to take Ethan there when he was Landen's age and each of my boys have had a birthday party there. Anyway, Landen had a blast playing with Xander and I enjoyed chatting with his mom while we watched them play. We had planned to get lunch together afterward but I received a call that school was letting out at 1:30 due to sleet/freezing rain so we had to skip lunch and head back to Franklin to pick up the older boys.

Playing dress up...love that little lion, and such a cute Elmo!

Last Friday 1/18, Landen wanted me to set up the tent that we used at his brother's army birthday party. It has a tunnel and he LOVES it! We played in it all afternoon and then when his brother got home from school they both enjoyed it. I'm pretty sure Landen might have even lured his daddy in there at some point on Friday night. Ethan went to spend the night at his great-grandparents so Landen was lost without his brother home.

On Saturday 1/19, the three of us went and picked up Ethan and his cousin Zoe from my grandmother's to go to the birthday of one of Ethan's long-time friends. The party was at the bowling alley, which was perfect because when Landen and I were driving to his play-date earlier in the week we had passed a bowling alley and when he saw the sign he said "I wanna' go there and roll balls!' Ha! So, we got Landen and Zoe a lane right beside the kids from the birthday party and they all had tons of fun! After bowling, we let the kids choose where to eat and they chose...Fazoli's! So, after they had some spaghetti, bread sticks, and a chocolate chip cookie we headed home.

Can you see the love between cousins?? Ha!

Today is MLK day and so Ethan didn't have school. Since he has mentioned several times lately that he and I never get time to play together alone, I planned to have Landen stay with a grandparent for a while and asked Ethan what he wanted to do. Our first stop was the public library only to find out that they too were closed for the holiday...we were both a little bummed. So, I offered to take him to BG and we could go hang out at Barnes & Noble (I got a 15% off coupon in my e-mail on Saturday), both of us can spend hours there, and then we could go have lunch at Shogun (a rare treat). But to my surprise he wanted to go rent movies and come home to play and watch them. I did talk him into stopping for lunch by offering to go anywhere... he chose McDonald's.

With his Happy Meal toy and something else he brought from home

Silly faces at lunch

After lunch we headed home to watch "Harry and the Henderson's". It is evidently a classic move that I have never heard of. It came out in 1987 and is about Bigfoot. Ethan saw a few minutes of it while getting his hair cut last week and has talked about renting it ever since. I have a feeling we will own it soon. It was a great movie!

Ethan and I also practiced magic tricks with the new magic set that he got for Christmas and then we played Kinect Adventures on Xbox. It was a very fun afternoon...so fun that he teared up when it was time to take him to dance (he takes lyrical hip-hop) and go pick his brother up. In order to cheer him up, I promised that the fun wouldn't end there. Josh had a business dinner appointment this evening so the boys and I came home, played trains, got showers, ordered pizza, and watched a pirate movie that we rented today. FUN!!!

Both of the boys are at such a fun age! Ethan can carry on a conversation about AnYtHiNg and Landen is talking in sentences now. They both have such unique and fun personalities and they're so fun to just hang out with ~~as long as they don't start arguing~~! Just this week, before school Ethan said to me "Mom, the first step of a relationship with a girl is just hanging out and getting to know one another....just BE CAREFUL and don't skip to step fifteen....getting MARRIED!" I couldn't help but to laugh right in front of him....silly boy.

Oh! And I forgot to share this with you all in Landen's 3rd birthday post...LOVE it!