A Team Week 147: Soggy

After our celebratory week of ups and downs, this week began by waking up to a soggy mess outside.    Early that morning, it had started to rain heavily, and within a couple of hours we had received around 4" of rain according to our gauge (while areas close to us received more than 6")!  Our yard was soaked and most of Kenosha along with it.  Eric even went to the neighborhood of the home we had offered on to see that most of the area was heavily under water, giving us peace that we had made the right decision, even if the owners swear they've never had any water problems.  Our decision was also confirmed that prior to us rescinding our offer the owners had counter-offered asking us to remove the contingency of the sale of our home...something that we cannot do as we would be unable to purchase a home before selling ours.  Thus, the week started off dreary, but with a peace that things were as they were meant to be.

Avery and Asher reading Asher's Lego Magazine together on the dreary Monday morning.

Water in the neighborhood of the home we had offered on.

The boys playing outside on Tuesday night despite another bought of rain.

(2) Videos: Rocket Ship

On Tuesday night, Asher built a "rocket ship" out of random supplies he found around the house.  He called us outside to watch it blast off but then became very upset when we realized that he wanted us to light it on fire to make it blast off and we were not willing to do that for him.  Instead, Eric came up with another idea to make his rocket ship blast off: The retractable clothesline...

On Wednesday morning the sogginess continued as we woke up to more thunder and the sound of raindrops pelting our roof.  In a short amount of time we had racked up another 2+" of rain on our rain gauge and our backyard looked like a small lake.  The rain was coming down so hard that the gutters (partially filled with leaves from the trees above) could not keep up.  Thus, while the boys and I stayed inside, safe from the rain and constant lightening, Eric headed outside in his swim trunks to the clear our gutters and those of our neighbor who was away for the week.

Heavy water at the intersection two blocks from our home.

This day happened to also be my day off and we were supposed to spend it with friends in Illinois playing at a park enjoying the sunshine and a picnic.  Instead, our playdate was canceled (as one of our friends was also dealing with the rain which was making its way into her basement).  With no playdate to attend, the boys and I spent the day together at home.  Since the date was July 12th, it was not only a Wednesday and my day off, but it also would have been the birthday of our good friend Mike Hryshkanych who passed away at the beginning of the year.  Thus, I declared it forever as #belikemikeday and the boys and I wore our "i wanna be like mike" shirts in remembrance as we enjoyed a quiet, relaxing morning together loving on one another just as Mike was known for. <3

The boys built a pretty awesome fort in the dining room while I got some other things cleaned up around the house.

We also played Legos together.  Asher and I finished off his new Batmobile and then he and Avery continued to play with their Legos while I put together my new Lego treehouse.

Asher put Batman on the floor under the car to work fixing it!  :)

This is what a previously clean house looks like when the boys are home and the weather requires us to stay inside. :(

Video: Avery Wants Daddy's Chocolate Milk

After a long morning inside, lunch and naps the sun finally came out and we were able to enjoy some time outside.  It was great to be outside, but I quickly realized that with the yard being such a soggy mess it was going to be impossible to keep the boys from getting completely soaked and muddy.  So, as I considered what to do I decided to simply embrace the mess and let the boys enjoy the water and mud by changing to swimsuits and heading down to the park in search of puddles to play in!

The previously empty kid-sized wheelbarrow was almost completely full of rainwater!

At the park, we found a gigantic puddle in the ball field where we spent about an hour as I photographed and videoed the boys having a complete (& messy) blast!  Lots of pics...enjoy! ;)

(Lots of Muddy) Videos:

From Wednesday afternoon on, the sun was out, the sogginess slowly went away, and we were able to enjoy the rest of the week both indoors and OUTDOORS.

On Thursday night, Asher insisted on making himself a sandwich completely on his own for dinner. Ingredients included bread, salami, mayo, strawberry jam, blueberries & strawberries. Thankfully the look of disgust that he saw on my face convinced him not to add ketchup!   When the sandwich was complete he said, "Oh this is gonna be GOOD!".  Then he took a bite and said, "This isn't very good, but I like it."  A few bites later, he said it was gross and asked if he could throw it away!  I wanted to saw I told you so, but I held my tongue and thanked God for his creativity! ;)

Thursday night...more bedtime fun with Avery and Facebook's photo booth....

Video: Avery Names the Dinosaurs

On Thursday night before bed, Avery picked one of his dinosaur books to read.  As we read it I randomly started asking him which dinosaur was which not expecting him to give me correct answers. I was totally wrong, the first time I asked he named every one correctly.  On the video he couldn't remember Stegosaurs, but for a two year old, I think I can cut him some slack! ;)

On Friday night I had to finish a few things up before I left work so Eric picked up the boys and they all played down by the lake for a bit before I got home.

Drone photo of Kenosha harbor.

Drone photo of Kenosha

Drone photo of Lake Michigan

On Saturday we enjoyed a beautiful family day together.  First, we started things off with a morning bike ride to Meijer.  Usually the boys go by themselves, but on this morning it was so lovely out that I couldn't resist some time outside with my guys.  We rode our bikes to Meijer to pick up some groceries and then back home.  Along the way there we passed a garage sale that I thought might be worth stopping at right at about the same place that Asher decided to try and jump a curb with his bike and COMPLETELY wiped out on the sidewalk.  On the way home, we did stop at the garage sale where I found a battery operated two-seater kid-sized gator with a dump on the back on sale for $20!  I know our boys really don't need more toys, but for that price I couldn't pass it up.  We gave the owner (who swore it still worked) the money and told him we'd come back to pick it up when we got home.  We headed back to the house and stopped at the elementary school along the way to let the boys play on the playground for a bit.  When we got there we were excited to find our ex-pastor's wife there with her son, daughter-in-law and grandkids!  We enjoyed a nice impromptu visit with them and then headed back home where Eric got back into his car and drove off to pick up the gator!

The boys and I enjoying our donuts outside Meijer.

Saturday morning quote : 
Eric: "Asher, are you guys playing on the stairs?"
Asher: "Yeah, but Batman never falls."
Eric: "Ok, but let's not test that theory..."

Waiting for Daddy to arrive back at the house with two very excited little boys was tough, but eventually he and the new toy arrived along with the news that the guy returned $5 to us because he said the switch wasn't working very well.  Eric said it wasn't working at that moment, but since we have had it home, we haven't had any trouble with it working, so we actually only paid $15 for a working child-size car which although faded would have cost about $400 in the stores!

The boys spent basically the rest of the weekend driving the car around our small yard while Eric and I were able to get a few things done and relax as we looked on.  I'd say it was definitely $15 well spent!

Cleaning up the yard before bed.

Video: The Boys and Their Gator

Campfire s'mores to end the day!