A Team Week 81: Double the Fun, Double the Love

One of the greatest things about having more than one child is getting to see them interact with each other (well as long as one of your kids isn't Macaulay Culkin from The Good Son).  These days I love watching Asher and Avery together.  Although it isn't always rosy, and they sometimes fight over toys or even my affection, for the most part they get along quite well.  Asher does a great job of looking out for his little brother and shows genuine concern when Avery is hurt or sad.  He also cannot wait every morning to get his little brother out of bed with Eric or I and often insists on being the first one to enter the nursery.  From Avery's perspective it is becoming more and more apparent that he loves his big brother and wants to be just like him.  He copies everything Asher does (the good and the bad) and giggles at all of Asher's antics.  This brings so much joy to this momma's heart!  As Avery gets older and can play more like Asher, we have started to see their bond really growing.  They go off and play together in Asher's room and the giggles that ensue make my heart burst.  Just thinking about it makes my mouth turn up and smile.

Avery playing hide and go seek with Asher & I.  He was pretty proud of his hiding spot! :P

This week was a pretty rainy week, so there wasn't much time outside.  However to break things up a bit, the boys and I met Eric for lunch at Kenosha's newish Choo Choo Charlie's for lunch.  Here is Avery excitedly pointing out a train going by.

Video: Avery What Does a Train Say?

Before we left Choo Choo Charlie's, each of the boys got a chance to pull the chord of the train horn.

Avery stacking the blocks from Asher's game on Wednesday afternoon.

Video: Window Watching

Video: What Does the Fox Say?

On Wednesday afternoon I put Avery down for his nap and watched him lay with his feet very close to the crib sides as I closed his door while having the random thought that I was surprised he never gets his feet stuck in his crib sleeping like that (Asher used to all the time).  Apparently it is possible to jinx your child by having thoughts like that though because on Thursday morning we woke up early to Avery yelling out for Dada to come in a panicky way.  Since he is usually pretty happy when he wakes up and just lays in bed making silly noises with his lips, saying mama, mooing or roaring we knew we better see what the trouble was.  Sure enough, Eric went in to check on him and he had tears streaming down his cheeks with his foot stuck in his crib.  Poor Guy.  It's my fault.

On Thursday night, Eric had a Trustees meeting at church.  Now don't get me wrong when I say this, but whenever I know I have to take care of the boys by myself after work, I kind of dread it.  It isn't like I can't handle them, or that I never spend time with them on my own, it is just that coming home after a long day at work and having to care for two tired, hungry, and possibly grumpy boys is a bit daunting when you have to do it alone.  (I'll say this before and I'll say it again, I don't know how single parents do it!)  On this evening, in addition to dreading going solo for the night I was also dreading the nightly dinner struggle with Asher at dinner.  Although the boy loves to eat and will easily eat more than Eric or I when it is something he really likes, the rest of the time is a bit touch and go.  Some days he eats great and other days we cannot get him to eat more than a few bites without fighting with him.  It can make for some very frustrating dinners...especially when he is asking for something else to eat minutes after getting up from the table or whining that he is hungry right before bed.  To try and fight these possible issues before they escalate, I came up with a plan.  Since the boys always want a snack when we get home before dinner I told them that we would eat our left overs right away when we got home.  Then, once both of them had eaten their dinner we could make popcorn together and have a movie night while we wait for Daddy to come home.  My plan worked like a charm!  They both ate their leftover chicken pot pie like champs and then happily made popcorn with me.  Then we headed down into the basement to watch Jake and the Neverland Pirates while we munched on our popcorn.  It was a good night.

Avery's snack after work on Friday.  Real grapes and pretend french fries.

The boys snuggling together watching cartoons.

When the weekend came, we enjoyed a mostly lazy time together at home.  Eric and Asher planted some seeds to prepare for the growing season, and then we used the rest of our time to play and clean.  On Saturday evening Eric and I did get a little date together to go see a completed house that I had worked on, while the boys went to the McGowans' to play (thanks Allison & Andy!).

Kisses from my boys on Saturday morning.

Planting seeds with Daddy.  Asher insists they grow in his room despite the fact there is little sunlight in there, but he loves to see the progress they've been making.

At lunchtime on Saturday, Avery decided it would be a good idea to use his mac and cheese bowl as a hat.  Eric seemed to think a quick wipe with a wet napkin was enough to clean out his hair...obviously, it wasn't.  ...full disclosure: Avery didn't get his hair washed until Sunday morning.

Photos from the house I worked on located in Caledonia, Wisconsin.

Dining Room

Kitchen

Living Room & Kitchen

Living Room with Sanctum Above

Living Room

Living Room to Kitchen

Kitchen

Master Walk In Closet

Master Bath

Sacrum Entry

Sanctum Catwalk

Sanctum Skylight

Master Bedroom

Sanctum Skylight from Master Bedroom

Front Entry Stair to Main Level

On Sunday, we had a very rainy Spring day.  Therefore after church and naps, Eric and Asher headed to the movie theater and Meijer to pick up some movie popcorn and a family redbox movie.  Then, we all enjoyed some more lazy family time snuggled up watching Paddington Bear.

It's that time of year again!  The boys doing what they love...sitting in the lawn furniture at Meijer.

Avery & I enjoying our movie time snuggle.

I love how Avery crosses his feet when he gets comfortable.

After movie time, we had dinner and a little bit more playtime before bed and a new week.  After washing Asher's bed linens, I had to get it remade before bedtime.  The boys had other ideas and decided to play "hide and sneek" from Mommy!  :)