Day in the Life

A while back I posted pictures throughout a day in Virginia--and here's a random day in Pennsylvania. Currently no day is typical--we're still not really settled in and Sol is on a different schedule every week.  This week he's working nights--so he came home during breakfast and slept until dinner.  Poor guy!  Braden requested pancakes this morning for breakfast--which he pretty much always requests.



Luckily, Sol makes extra on the weekends so I just pulled a few out from the fridge for him.  They were messy.



If you've ever even once read this blog... you probably know that Braden likes trains just a little bit. We have a ever-evolving line up of trains that go everywhere with us.  Yesterday, it was Thomas, "train cars" and what he thinks is the Polar Express.  (It's really a train named Arthur. I'm sad I know that.)



Finley didn't eat breakfast with us, because as part of my plan to be mother of the year, I've been leaving a bowl of dry cereal out for him at night for him to eat the next morning so he'll let me sleep.  He thinks he's so big eating breakfast by himself. Jokes on him! His favorite activity is building stuff with his Duplos--probably because he can make the Duplos be whatever his current obsession is.  He LOVES LOVES Mickey and the Beanstalk--so he was building a beanstalk and the little dudes were cast all his characters. Sir Topham Hatt was Mickey, the Police Man was Donald and the Firefighter was Goofy. I can not tell you how many times I've acted the story out with him. I think he mainly likes it because the beanstalk breaks Mickey's house, and he really likes to be destructive. BOYS.



Finley is in swimming lessons currently--and is doing pretty good!  He's a cautious fellow but is (mostly) participating in his class and trying out what they tell him to do. This was the only even close to decent picture I got of him during class.  I do not have a bright future as a paparazzi.



As I mentioned before--the pool is pretty neat. Aside from being in an Orchard, they have a splash pad, three baby pools, a medium pool, super high dives and a big lap pool. It's awesome. Braden loves that fountain.



Technically the baby pools weren't open yet... but they let kids play in them because it was SO HOT. The boys just had a blast running through the fountain water.  Which was good, because I couldn't really take pictures of them if they were in the baby pool.



Finley is getting a lot braver about the water--this weekend we made some big strides with him going down a pretty good sized slide into a pool and retrieving those diving stick things from the bottom.  He was also willing to wear floaties and kick around without holding on to us. Progress!



Braden is pretty fearless--which scares me.  Maybe because he's second and has a big brother to keep up with--but I'm pretty sure his swimming skills will catch up with Finley quickly.



They really love snuggling in their towels and warming up. Cuties.



Because I'm the world's biggest sucker and have INTENSE ice cravings... I took them to Chick fil a after swimming.  I tell you, once I start thinking about ice I just have to have some. And Chick fil a's is PERFECT. I recently went in and ordered two large cups of ice and that's it. But that's another post.



Lunch took an entertaining turn when Braden decided to wear Finley's sunglasses.



He thought he was pretty hot stuff.





And then we went home. In our van.



Braden took a nap when we got home. Finley is not allowed to nap under any circumstances--or he won't sleep at night. We watched a little Veggie Tales (upside down?) while I did some cleaning.



And then he begged me to help him make a recycling truck... which is really hard because he has a very specific idea in his head that he has a hard time communicating. But we got there.



This is his Optimus Prime Transformer truck. The second picture is him "smiling" and the third is his Optimus Prime face. Whatever that is.  I just really love how creative he is with the Duplos! He had all sorts of things set up that I wasn't allowed to touch and were very specific. Silly.



And then we read a little--he can kind of somewhat sort of read a few of the BOB Books--but is sometimes hesitant to try on his own. But he's decent at sounding out and really likes to be able to successfully read something! Since the boys shared a room in Virginia, Finley isn't used to having a "rest" time but I really need to institute some sort of quiet time for an hour in his room... because I think I'll really need the break when there's three knuckleheads here. I think I'm going to try to collect independent activities and special toys to keep in his room--suggestions? Please?



In the middle of Braden's naptime was a massive freak hailstorm.  It was so strange because of how hot and nice it was this morning! We collected a little hail to show Sol and I managed to refrain from eating any. I did feel a bit like it was God sending me my own personal manna from heaven. I mean doesn't that look DELICIOUS???



I really didn't want to make dinner and seriously wondered if the boys would care if I didn't feed them.  And then Braden requested cereal and I rejoiced. For the first time ever, I put milk on his cereal and gave him a spoon.  I have been so lazy about giving him the chance to learn how to use a spoon and now he has no idea how to do it and he's two. Whoops.  I just really don't like cleaning up messes... so we need to practice spoon skills. Fun.



Finley had a few smoothie pouches--I bought these reusable little bags that are like the little applesauces  my children love so much.  The bottom zips shut--so I made a little banana/cherry/raspberry/spinach smoothie and tricked them into eating them. Heh heh heh.



Sneak peek of Finley's room! Our days normally end with all the boys in Finley's top bunk, reading books. Copper was terrified of the storm and refused to be away from us all day... so he apparently had to be under everyone during reading time.



Braden has this book practically memorized. Finley and I both actually have it memorized. We have like seven of these books--they are so catchy and the boys love them. Here's Sol and Braden reading... spoiler alert: it ends in disaster. Braden's favorite thing (aside from trains) is watching videos of himself on YouTube... so for his viewing pleasure...





We lost power in the middle of that video (you can hear random beeping of things alerting us) and it derailed my night significantly. Time where Sol is awake and the boys are asleep is rare and valuable... and losing it because there's no light is FRUSTRATING. It's really hard to get much organizing/unpacking/cleaning done in the dark. Even with our nifty headlamps.  And, of course, the power came back on right as I decided to give in and go to bed. Luckily, I edited these photos while the power was out and then stayed up a little later to upload them all... so you get a long, picture-y blog post. You are welcome.