Boys Room Reveal and Other Happenings

It has been a very busy week!  We have had a great time with Grandpa Bill.  He's helped us with a lot of projects and it's just been really nice having him around.  Grandma Pam arrived on Wednesday and helped with lots of birthday things.  We love our grandparents!

The boys visited the school playground with Daddy

They played some basketball too

Grandpa Bill gave me a few painting lessons and then turned me loose to cover a few walls with color

I've got more plans for this wall, but it's done for now

We enjoyed really warm days and the boys got out their stomp rocket

One of the projects Grandpa Bill helped us with was restoring the Honda's bumper

We ordered a new one off of eBay, it got painted and attached to the car

Yay!  No more ghetto car!

The boys provided plenty of entertainment in the evenings and enjoyed playing and wrestling with Grandpa

Justin specializes in mid-flight action pics!

And we decided to do a makeover in the boys' room as part of their birthday gift.  Theirs is the coldest room in the house, so I sort of got inspired when I started looking to upgrade their bedding.  One thing led to another, and now they have a "space room".  (:  The boys got to camp out in the computer room for a night so we could put this together and then surprise them.  

I put fabric decals on the wall--a big thanks to Grandma Pam for her help with these. The down comforters, star lamps, and canopies are from Ikea--yay for Ikea!

The rest is all things they've acquired over the years.

I love the art wire--it's a great place to display their creations.  Grandpa Bill installed all of the hardware in the room for us.

The solar system was a gift from Aunt Kenzie for Christmas.  It glows in the dark.  Justin put these up, and he and Grandma Pam also put 200 glow-in-the-dark star stickers all over the ceiling.  It looks very cool when the lights are out.

Grandpa Bill took off the closet doors so we could move the dresser into the closet, leaving a lot more space in the room now.

It turned out very well and the boys really like it.  They even wanted to show M & A yesterday during the party.  (:

This is my favorite...and I hope they know it's true.

They really like having a "big boy" room and promised to be responsible for all of the new things.

The boys started swimming lessons last week!  We go on Tuesdays after school.  Yay for remembering to take them after registering! (:

Happy Birthday Jacoby!

This boy is six!  We had a wonderful time celebrating Jacoby's birthday.

 

It started with some custom-made birthday decor made by Grandmanette.  This was a big hit!

We went with a lego theme this year

Jacoby decided he wanted to invite our very favorite friends M & A over for a lego party.  We decorated these really cute mini figures.

 

 

Then we played a building game where each kid got to open a package of legos and add to the creation.

Here was their final creation

Then we played Bingo.

 

Then it was time for birthday treats!

We had cake push pops, jello squares, and fruit kabobs.

After a visit to the dress up bins it was time for presents!

M & A got Jacoby a cement truck lego set

The grown ups enjoyed some time together

 Me & my mama

The kiddos played legos

More presents--lots of legos!

The boys with their finger flashlights--one of our party favors

Jacoby requested meatballs, rice, and broccoli for his birthday dinner.  We finished off the day with a movie.  It was a great time and we're so excited to have a six year old!

Doing Better!

We've had a pretty good week, I'm happy to report.  I think things are a bit better at home, and I had a very good conference with Jacoby's teacher.  We still have some work to do with behavior at school, but I think we're headed in the right direction.

Justin has been working hard on his dissertation, so the boys and I were on our own for much of the weekend.  But we kept busy and spent time together.  We finished up our Valentine's, built a fort, went to the park, and discovered a new game.  I did some cooking for a friend at work who is going through chemo.  Another colleague of ours organized us so we can stock her freezer full during her treatments.  I love the people I work with, and I'm always really proud of how everyone rallies together when one of our colleagues is struggling.

Not much on tap for the week except a Valentine's Day party with the Kinders.  And Grandpa Bill arrives on Friday to spend the next week with us.  Grandma Pam arrives next week for some birthday activities.  Can't believe we'll have a six year old around here!

We finally ordered a new bumper cover for the Honda.  It arrived in a huge box.

 Which we of course had to turn into a fort.  The boys decorated it with markers and we added windows.  They spent quite a bit of time in this over the weekend.

Jacoby woke up on Saturday and decided he needed to write 1 - 100 on his white board, which is on the smallish side so he had to get creative with the space.

I found this little gem of a game on Pinterest (oh, how I heart Pinterest!).  Sometimes I try things and they totally bomb, but this was a big hit.  It's like playing on a giant game board, the object being to get away from the volcano to the safety of your home.  It's a good one for burning energy, since it requires jumping jacks, hopping on one foot, etc.  And the boys really like designing their own "game path".

 Two brothers in a chair, reading all about the X Men and the Avengers.

Jacoby's Valentines.  He wrote all of his classmates names on the back of these and also signed his own...28 times.

 Morgan's Valentines.  These were fun and easy, and the boys liked putting them together.

 Playing at the park

 We scooted to the park so the boys could try this out

Morgan playing the volcano game.  This little boy has another cold!  Bummer!

Hope you all have a good week!