The "Finnster, et al."

After our canoe trip on Sunday,  Michael packed up and went to West Tennessee for the week.  His trip conveniently coinsided with the week the boys weren't in school.  This meant that they were either home with me or with Gran all week.  On Monday the boys went to Gran's house while Mimi and I went to give and take depositions in Springfield. On Tuesday, the boys stayed home with me all day.  Inspite of spending a good portion of the day preparing for trial - we had really good day.  The boys played nicely together and didn't get too frustrated with me vegging on the couch with my file. We also played outside and went to Kroger to buy a new trashcan.  Fancy!  Later that night during prayers, Sam thanked God for "Splash Mountain." MInd you, Sam has never riden "Splash Mountain" but was thankful all the same.  On Wednesday I had to be in trial all day so the boys spent the day with Gran.  The big event of the day was the much needed haircu...

On Sunday a group of us from Sunday School ditched church went canoeing on the Harpeth River.  Okay, we didn't ditch church - we go to Service and Sunday School at night.  We all met in the Kroger parking lot and carpooled out to Kingston Springs.  Elena had made both healthy and nonhealthy mexican breakfast burritos.   We got on the river around 10:30 a.m.  It was an 8 mile trip from start to finish.  I am not a master canoer and Michael had never canoed before so it took us a few minutes to get the hang of working as a team.  Michael sat in the back and I sat in the front.   Once we got the hang of it we were a well oiled machine.  We ended up paddling pretty fast.  About 3 miles down the river our friends April and Jason tipped their canoe.  The rest of us paddled hard to grab their missing items. MIchael and I ended up with a flip flip and a paddle.  Next we stopped and ate lunch on the river bank.  Our entire bag ende...

Friday was the boy's last day of Summer Camp.  In honor of Daddy being home from Seattle, the boys wore their Space Needle shirts.  When we picked the boys up we learned that Ms. Sonya was staying to teach the two year old class on a fulltime basis.  I am so excited! In preparation for school starting we have been working on the alphabet flashcards.  Finn has remembered all of his letters and most of his sounds.  Sam can recognize and say the letters "I" and "J".  He also knows the letter B, C, D and S.  When I show him the "b" card, instead of saying the letter shown he will say, "oh, that's Ms. Beth."  When I show him the "c" card he says, "oh, that's Caleb."  "D" is for Drae and "S" is for Sam.  So while he doesn't say the letter, he does have some letter recognition. On Friday night we went for a cookout at Gran and Pa's house.  Finn spent the night with Gran that evening with...

Tonight we went to Firehouse Subs for dinner.  We ordered the boys a grilled cheese and Cheetos. Sam ended up eating two bites of grilled cheese and four long spear pickles.  He ate both mine and Michael's pickle and asked for more.  We asked if we could have a few more pickles.  They brought us at least twelve.  Sam's eyes were a big as quarters.  All was going well until Sam accidentally bit his thumb while eating his beloved pickle.  He was so pitiful.  He just cried and cried.  And with that unfortunate incident we left. Next we ran over to Best Buy to get a TV mount.  We plan to mount the TV in the playroom on the wall.  Finn and Sam were mesmerized by the wall of televisions.  You could hear them screeching all over the store.  On the way out we looked at the kids movies and the Disney Infiniti games. Once home I gave the boys baths and they are currently watching a Mickey Mouse Christmas program.

Well July 20, 2014, was definitely Christmas in July.  Gran and Pa got and assembled bunk beds for the boys. While the boys were napping Daddy and Pa put the beds together.  Gran and I went to Target to pick out bedding.  We found the cutest dinosaur patch work quilt bedspreads - they were perfect.  When the boys saw those bedspreads they went absolutely bonkers.  I really don't know if I have ever seen them so excited before. Once the beds were assembled, Gran and I put on the dinosaur sheets and the bedspreads.  Then we put the boys to bed - Finn on the top and Sam on the bottom.  Sam really wanted to sleep on top and spent all of his energy trying to sneak up the ladder.  Pure joy - thank you Gran and Pa, and especially Pa for assembling the bed. After putting the boys to bed we waited for the fallout.  We fully expected Finn and/or Sam to get up a hundred times.  Well, Finn only go...

Michael has been out of town at a judicial conference all week.  This meant that I have had a lot of quality time with the boys.  This is also means that I have been pretty tired.  To make things easier on the boys during those times that I Michael is away, I let them do things that they normally don't get to do.  For example, we eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner. watch too much TV and I allow Finn to sleep in my bedroom.   Today is Saturday and Michael will be getting home in a few minutes.  Earlier this evening Finn told me how much he enjoys our "special time together when daddy is gone."  It wouldn't have sounded more sincere had he not been glugging down chocolate milk at the time by the gallon.  The week has actually been pretty good - it also flew by.  On Tuesday night we went to suprise Gran with some birthday cupcakes.  Finn was insistent on cupcakes, so after school we headed over to GiGi's cupcakes.  Well,...