Old Tidbits

I came across this blog post in my drafts folder (now that I'm finally finished with my "Road Warriors" series, I can move on to other things!).  It's over a year old, and only had pictures uploaded.  Sadly, I don't remember the stories associated with all of the pictures (a hard lesson to learn about the downsides of procrastinating when you have a leaky memory). I'll try to scrape together the fragments of memory I can recall...

1. Bryce developed a crush on the daughter of one of our good friends.  He talked frequently of wanting to visit her.  Sometimes he would joke, "Mom, I'm going to walk to Skye's, okay!?"  We would all laugh, because Skye lived about a mile away across a very busy highway.  

One night, Bryce got Thane and Graham in on his plans.  They all packed up their backpacks, then put on their shoes, all the while laughing, "we're walking to Skye's!"

We were laughing right along with them. Until they walked out the door, and didn't come right back in.  By the time I realized they were serious and ran out the door (in my socks) after them, they'd made it to the corner of our street (in the dark, in the rain). Yikes!

We had some serious conversations after that!

2. Inspired by the brilliant idea of our friends, I bought a bunch of large plastic cups from Costco.  We dubbed them our "Sunday Cups," because the kids can only play with them on Sundays. 

They made regular Sunday appearances for a long time, but it's been awhile since we've pulled them out. 

 I should resurrect them because they provide hours of (relatively) calm entertainment.

3. The Monday before Valentine's Day last year (2016), Aubree was in charge of Family Home Evening.  For our activity, she had us make adorable love bugs. 

Thane was especially excited about the activity and made oodles.

4. Baby Nell loved being bounced on my legs.  Toddler Nellie concurs.

5.  Our local grocery store started giving out produce samples for kids.  In the beginning, they usually had apples, bananas, and oranges.  Now they usually only have bananas and oranges, which my kids don't love as much, but it's still a great program!

6. Graham is such a funny kid! He loves to dress up, and always comes out of the playroom in hilarious outfits.

7. Instagram for the win with this picture! I had only the vaguest recollection of why I took the photo, but apparently I posted the reason on Instagram.  Here's what I wrote on March 14, 2016: "We've been listening to the Harry Potter books in the car.  A lot of kids might then pretend to be wizards and cast spells.  My boys prefer to play 'Whomping Willow.' Sigh.  'Dis can only end in teers.'"

8.  Ummmm.... cute boys and their sister? Thane refusing to let me take his picture? Thane wearing his Dad's wool socks? No idea.

9. We went to the NOAH Bowl-a-Thon last year as well.  Bryce and Thane had soccer that day, so I took Aubree, Graham, and Nellie.  Graham was officially too young to bowl (whoops), but they let it slide.  Aubree was so kind and helpful when it was his turn.

Aubree's friend Allie joined us for the day.

10.  Aubree reading.  Did I take a picture of this because there was something particularly interesting about this particular set of books, or just to document what life with Aubree typically looks like? She's a reading machine!

11.  Surely I wrote somewhere, sometime about Thane's obsession with Super Heroes?! In case I didn't, this picture shows how he would spend hours pouring over comic book encyclopedias learning about all the different heroes and villians.  Now that I think about it, he's mostly outgrown that stage.

12. Mark takes a different kid out every month on a father/kid date. It's a long-standing, fantastic tradition.  I'm with the kids all day, every day, but realized it could be beneficial to have more one-on-one time with them.  A couple years ago we started a tradition where I take the kids out to eat for their half-birthday.  It's been a lot of fun.  This picture is from last year when Aubree and I went to Red Robin.  Interestingly, today is Aubree's half birthday and guess where we're going to eat tomorrow? I suppose she's a creature of habit.