Spring Planting

Reese found some fun planting supplies at Lowe's the other day. He picked his own seeds: Cookie Monster watermelons and Big Bird Sunflowers.

We decided we better get our seeds started. I pulled out the 72 jiffy tray with coin style soil pellets. I can't remember if I ever did it differently or if the was the first method I attempted, but it worked well, so I'm sticking with it.

First we add warm water to hydrate the coin style pellets.

Then we use a leftover plastic fork (Kyle takes washable camping silverware in his lunchbox, but we have a few forks left from our un-eco-friendly lunch box days) to open the mesh netting and rough up the soil.

Then we put our seeds in. I like to make each row a different seed.

Then I use mini-post its to label what the seeds are so I don't get confused. I put the seed packets all together so I can refer back if I need to about spacing and harvesting and such.

We cover it with the included lid and place it on a shelf in the basement stairwell. The sun will hit it here. We'll plant in the ground in late May. I will have way more plant shoots than I have room to plant in my garden. In the past I have planted to many because my shoots were good I hated to waste them. But full grown veggie bearing plants are HUGE and I need to keep that in mind when planting. I'll pick the best to plant and then maybe even thin again. I still have some seeds left so if I have any duds I can start over. This jiffy greenhouse has Reese's watermelon and sunflowers as well as Beefsteak tomatoes, zucchini, bell peppers, chili peppers, green beans, carrots, and sugar pumpkins. I want to go back for grape or cherry tomatoes too.

Let Me Check My Social Calendar

Wowzer we sure have been busy!! Since Reese "graduated" from the birth to 3 program we don't get to see his classmates very much. Of course those are the moms I know since we frequently sit in the parent room during class and chat while waiting for our kids. So, we've been trying to have some playdates. We finally got together with Reese's old classmate, Optimus.

Babies Gus and Magnus had fun in the wagon...though Reese did not want Gus to share his toys. He kept taking breaks to rush back over to the wagon to retrieve toys from Magnus' grasp and say "NO! Gus toys!" (wooo hooo! This counts as a sentence! albeit not the nicest one.)
Gus really didn't get all the hulabaloo and was happy to share with another baby closer to his own size.
It was super sunny though a little breezy down by the water...this is the Silverdale Waterfront Park.

We also had a playdate with Matthew (less than a month older than Reese) and his younger brother, Austin, though I forgot to take photos. We played and had lunch at their house.
A few days later we had another playdate with Sammi. We got our free cone at Ben and Jerry's and then hit the Gig Harbor City Park for awhile. Gus was such a good boy laying on his blanket. He kept trying to get to the edge to reach the bark and then started all over again when I moved him back. Reese and Sammi played super well together and I'm pretty sure this was their first meeting. Then we hit The Blazing Onion for dinner.
Finally we met at Blueberry Park with Liam and Finn (a few weeks younger than Reese) for some McDonald's and playing on the equipment. Reese remembered to bring his football to this park since they have a lot of grass area.
We've had a friend filled couple of weeks! And now we are on Spring Break, so we have some room on our dance cards! Who wants to play?

Bathing Beauties

Woo hoo!! Our boys are finally big enough to sit in the tub together. Since the new year I have been trying this, but not able to let go of Gus. Let me tell you...on your knees, bent over the tub, holding a baby trying to use the wash cloth to scrub...none too comfy..oh wait probably all of you know this from experience.

Anyway, I've been one of those uncoordinated types not able to figure out a good infant bathing method. I just don't have the counter space to use the baby tub on the counter. I am very happy that Gus is now a confidant sitter so he can be in the tub and sit independently.
It's so much easier to scrub all his parts without having to totally support all his weight with one hand and keep him mostly submerged in the warm water. I always hate to lift him too much. I don't want him to freeze and end up hating the tub. Reese mostly showered with us, but it's hard to fit 2 in the shower if 1 is not able to get up. (I envision Reese knocking Gus over while I'm rinsing my shampoo and the poor kid being drowned by soapy shower water!)
So we have officially graduated to the pre-bedtime bath before getting into our jammies and reading our nighttime books.

St. Patrick's Day

In honor of St. Patrick's day I made my very first corned beef and cabbage meal. I wasn't sure if I'd like it. "Corned Beef" just doesn't have an appealing ring to it. I am happy to say it turned out wonderfully! It's a good thing too, that 3 hour cooking time would have really irked me if it didn't taste good. I also never ate cabbage before (I'd don't think) but it turned out good too! The potatoes, onions, carrots, and celery all mixed in with the cabbage cooked in the meat water--really it's like spicy beef stew--what's not to like?
Today is also our 4th wedding anniversary. I think we'll make this our traditional St. Patrick's Day/Anniversary meal. Since it's a work day we will wait until the weekend to go out for our anniversary. When it falls on a Saturday maybe we'll do something else....like go back to Vegas!

Getting Big

It's amazing how quickly both boys are getting big. Reese just had his 3 year old well child doctor visit. He is now 27 pounds and 37 inches. He has grown since Christmas! Reese's pediatrician said in her experience 30 minutes a week of speech is not particularly helpful. She gave us a referral to an outside speech therapist. We are actually already on the waiting list for summer when school is out. We were on the fence about whether we should do speech during the school year, but the pediatrician thinks we should. So we'll get the plan set up next week.

Gus is getting so big too. He has moved on from eating toys to actually playing with them. Okay so he still eats toys, but he spends more time actually playing now too.

He is still working on crawling. He does the rocking back and forth on his knees. He'll even lift one knee in a crawling forward motion, so I expect any time now we'll have to mobile boys.

2 Quirky Boys

These guys sure are cuties! In this photo Reese is eating a not quite ripe banana. The reason I was taking a photo was because this goofy boy was eating it from the side--from the top down to the peel along one side like corn on the cob.Gus in his jumperoo.

Sand Box

We jinxed the weather with our outdoor fun! We had a downright balmy February so we've been anxious to get outside. Of course now it's freezing (and snowing) again! But we did get some playtime in during the sunny days.

Our Kmart is going out of business, so we popped in and found the sandbox we wanted for 20% off so we snagged it and some sand.Reese loves to move the sand into the bucket...scooping is a favorite.He also liked the new sand trucks Daddy picked out for him.
Reese loves playing on the playground at school. He can't get enough of playing outside, so he has been super exited about his new sand box. He even wants to play in the rain. Too bad his mom is an indoor girl.

Gus is trying to crawl

Wow I have taken less than 10 photos in March...oops.

Reese's school schedule has kind of wiped us out. He is attending Monday through Thursday from 8:15-11:45AM except we usually get there at 8:30 because 8:15-8:30 is free play while they wait for everyone to arrive. I don't see the point in waking up earlier to get there for that...we have legos at home...and germ free ones at that. So...we are kind of more tired when we are awake and we go to bed earlier so I guess we haven't been doing any photo worthy activities.
But Gus sure is trying!
He gets up on his knees effortlessly now. The first time he was successful was February 21st. He rocks back and forth and tries to pick up one knee but can't quite get the knees and hands coordinated. Sometimes when he gets on his knees he'll flatten back out on his tummy, then back to his knees...gaining a few precious centimeters with each rotation. Sometimes he scoots backward until he gets his legs completely under something. He's on his way to getting under the tv cabinet here.
Gus is such a happy little guy. He thinks his brother his hysterically funny and loves watching everything Reese does. I think he also enjoys his Reese-free time with Mommy and Daddy though.

lots of school

Wow school sure takes up a lot of time! Reese really enjoys playground time. One day they got to ride bikes. He's off to the races!!Do you see the size of his classmate compared to him?! I am still a little unsettled by how big all the other kids are, but Reese seems to be assimilating fine so I'm trying to get over it.
During one part of the day they get free activity time. The speech and occupational therapists may work with them during this time or observe how they play. Reese is using the sensory table (trucks and scoops in a bin of rice). In the background you can see 2 kids at the computers.One of the other options is this water table. If only it had a running faucet Reese would be in hog heaven!
Though we are somewhat consumed by school...going to it, getting ready for it, eating and sleeping on a schedule so we can go to it again.....Gus is doing cool stuff too!
Check out his 8 month photo. He has been getting up on all fours since the 21st and now can do it pretty effortlessly. He rocks furiously and scootches backward, but can't seem to get the forward crawl going just yet, but I imagine anytime now he'll be zooming. He goes backwards pretty far. Somehow he always seems to get himself under Reese's picnic table. I will try to get a photo of that soon.