A Team Week 107: The Octigator!!

Like the mythical "Octigator" that pops up in the imagination of our four year old, every once in a while a mythological week in life where everything seems to go right pops up as well.  This week was one of those weeks.  From a great day off with my boys, to wonderful fall family memories, to our two boys playing nicely and loving on each other for much of the week it was pretty perfect.  The only thing that I had to complain about were the muscles surrounding my ribs that I pulled from coughing too much and too hard and although this hurt like the dickens (seriously, on Friday morning I screamed so loud from the pain of getting into my van's seat that Eric heard me as he was backing down the driveway in his vehicle (with the window open) and rushed to my side) it was not enough to put a damper on the wonderful week that we had together.

As I said, Wednesday with the boys was pretty great.  I have started doing "PreK at Home" to help Asher prepare for Kindergarten.  I kills Eric and I both a bit that he can't go to preschool as I think he would greatly benefit from it, but it just doesn't work with the schedules of working parents.  The person that watches him works with him daily though, so I am not too concerned.  Even so, I thought some additional learning at home couldn't hurt.  The plan was to focus on one letter or number a week to really pound it in.  I'd planned to start much earlier in the school year, but only got around to it this week.  So, this week we started with the letter 'A' and worked on both writing the upper and lower case letter and recognizing it by searching for the letter when we were in the car.  I also found some color by letter prints online that I gave to him and then we had one letter focused project: "A is for Apple Pie".  On Wednesday afternoon, the boys and I got dinner in the crockpot and then worked to make a yummy apple pie for dessert.  Asher was thrilled to turn the apple slicer/peeler crank and dump in all of the ingredients.  Both boys were thrilled to eat up the scraps.

A is for Apple Pie

I love that Asher is getting to an age that he understands jokes and  wants to make others laugh on his own.  He, his Gramps, and his cousin Emmett have a running joke where they ask if there is something on their lip, with some sort of food hanging off in a completely obvious manner.  When Asher saw the long string that he had created from the apple pealing, he immediately asked me to take a picture to send to Gramps and Emmett, saying "they will think this is funny." :)

Avery helping to get the peelings off.

The end result.  It must have been good because I think it was the first time Eric has ever gone back to the same dessert more than two times (other than for brownies).

On Thursday morning, my littlest made me laugh.  A friend of mine had just posted a picture of her son with a fart blaster the night before and I was telling her that my boys have one and love it.  Almost 2 years later it is still one of our most played-with toys.  Then the next morning as we are all getting ready for work and daycare, I find Avery blasting Eric in the kitchen as he giggles with joy! :)

On Thursday night I picked the boys up from daycare and Asher said he made me something.  Then he held me out this note.  My heart melted right there on Christina's porch!

Later that evening both of my boys got to enjoy some pie.  Getting Avery to eat dinner these days is PAINFUL.  The kid rarely will eat anything for us that isn't some sort of fruit or junk food.  We have a rule that there is no dessert if you don't finish your dinner.  For Asher that is rarely a problem, but Avery VERY RARELY enjoys any dessert and instead just lays on the floor crying while his brother has a small sweet treat.  On Wednesday he had been running around the house all day saying "pie, pie", so when the time came and he refused to eat dinner he was pretty crushed that he didn't get some pie.  The next night I worked very hard to coax him into eating at least some of his dinner.  It took quite a bit of work and he insisted on sitting on my lap while I fed him, but in the end he did eat enough that I allowed him to have a little pie and ice cream.  Typically the kid bounces all over his seat and will not stay there for more than a minute or two at a time, but while the pie was on the table, he worked hard for probably 20 minutes to get EVERY.LAST.BITE off his plate.  A couple of times in the excitement of what was going on he got up and I asked him if he was done and then he would remember his pie and say "no" as he ran back to his plate to eat more!

After the pie, everyone was a little wound up so the boys burned some energy wrestling with Daddy and then we all sat on the floor together and played Hi Ho Cherry-O.

The next morning, the boys continued to play well together by enjoying Chutes and Ladders (or at least the spinner) while Eric and I got ready for work and then before we knew it, it was already the weekend!

Saturday was a wonderful day.  We had a lazy early morning followed by a trip downtown to the Harbor Market where we munched on kettle corn and the boys sipped fresh apple cider in pumpkin cups.  We enjoyed looking at the harbor and Asher was excited to see a boat come in after we told him we probably wouldn't' see any.  Then to top it off the guy next to us let the boys try flying his cool kite...and that wasn't even the end of our fun!

Asher & Avery snuggled up reading together as Eric and I got ready to go Saturday morning.

Avery, Eric & Asher heading down the trolley track to Harbor Market.

Checking out the harbor.

This guy let the boys fly his kite!

They were all (3) super excited...and as soon as my boys were done some other little guys who had been watching ran over to ask for a try.

Waving at the fishing boat.

Apple Cider and Pumpkin Cups

Me and my Little Loves.

After we had browsed through all of the market tents, we headed to the South Marina to see the docked boats and duckies.  The boys had a blast feeding the ducks and then playing on the next door playground.  Asher decided that Eric was an "Octigator"and that anyone who touched him would also become one.  Thus, I sat and happily watched while Eric chased Asher, Avery and every other kid on the playground (who I'm sure all went home talking about Octigators).

Avery & Eric watching the ducks

Video: Feeding the Duckies!

The boys hiding from the Octigator!

One.Cool.Dude

Can't touch me!

<3

Finally, it was nearing lunch time and both boys were looking quite tired.  Before we headed back home though we enjoyed one more little adventure with the kids: Their first Kenosha Trolley Ride!

Avery was so tired that he could barely keep his eyes open as he sat snuggled in on Eric's lap in the warmth of the trolley.

When we got home from downtown, we had a quick lunch and then naps followed by a relaxing evening at home to round out a great day.

Eric gathered our Fall Harvest from our garden.  Apparently we grow fairy food.

After nap time, Asher said he wanted us to make funny faces on the screen of his laptop (a broken computer that Eric took home from work and gave to Asher).  He spent a few minutes perfectly cleaning his screen so it was nice and shiny and then he, Avery and I spent a few minutes making silly faces into the reflection on the screen.  I love these little goofballs!

Videos: Silly Faces

For dinner that evening, I thought it would be fun to make some homemade pizzas.  Eric picked up some pre-made crusts and then the boys and I worked on covering them with delicious toppings.  We made two pizzas, one for each boy to create, and they (& I) had a lot of fun in the process.

Watching our works of art cook in the oven.

The end result.  Can you tell that Asher is the only person in the family that loves black olives?

Asher sporting his new "shades" (laser level construction glasses).

Sunday was not quite as much fun as Saturday had been, but we still had a nice and relaxing day together to finish the week well.

Snuggling with my littlest on Sunday morning.

So, that was our week...The mythical A Team Week 107.  Unfortunately at bedtime that evening reality hit again and I knew that God had blessed me with this week to prepare me for what was ahead...