Rewind: Lego Americana {August 2015}

A few days before Aria was scheduled to arrive, I heard word from a friend about something crazy awesome that was in town for the next few weekends. The boys were SO excited when we pulled into the mall to show them this:

Yes!! Lego creations of pieces of American history!! Not only was this super cool for them to see, but it was pretty fun to share with them the places that Jason or I have actually seen when we were about their ages. Seeing these gorgeous landmarks scaled down to Lego size was pretty cool. Check it out!

Pretty cool, don't you think? We love Lego!

Currently. {Vol. 6}

Enjoying:

All the packing!!! Seriously. I am loving it! The boys are, too!

Took all the boxes home from a friend who just moved!

Austin makes sure to pack the essentials! LOL

Loving: 

My amazing friends!!!

Last night, my awesome girls and I parties it up to celebrate this little girl of mine! We had so much fun!! I am pretty blessed to have them in my life! Love, y'all!

Planning:

Oh, the planning. The planning is tuning into something else, let me tell you!

A. 15 days until we move!
B. 34 days until Andrew starts kindergarten - aaah!!!!
C. 49 days until Aria is in my arms!! GASP!!

I mean...WOW!! There is SO much to get done.

For moving - I'm averaging about 5 boxes packed a day. The majority of our stuff is already over at the new house. I got the U-Haul reserved. Our address has been changed. Mail taken care of. Utilities stuff mostly done. I'm sure there is more...

For Kindergarten - I have Andrew partially registered. I just need the deed and all those things that prove we live where we will be living in the next 15 days!

For Aria - I know. You are wondering... I had my doc appointment today and we schedule the c-section!! YAY!!! She will be born (she better not come before...) on August 26th!!! YAY!!!! I have a few more things I need to get, but that will all happen very soon.

Feeling: 

EXCITING TIMES!!!!

Making: 

Lots of to do lists!

Listening:

A lot of explosions from imaginations!

Reading:

Parenting Nerd Alert! LOL

Amazon

A few of our friends use this and we started it a couple weeks ago. It seems to be working out. There's no more yelling (mostly) from me. So, I'm good with it.

Watching: 

Way too much TV. It is too hot outside for this mama. But, I live in the South and wouldn't trade that for anything!

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Next time you read another "currently" we should be at the new house!!!! YAY!!!! Stay cool, y'all!

Brendan's Visit

This past weekend, plus a few extra days, was great!! My third youngest brother, Brendan, came up for a visit. We had such a great time!

Our first stops, of course, were Dave's Pizza and The Shops of Grand River, with my mom who had brought him. It is one of the few, but good, places that allows pets. It was fun! And, the boys knew that about half way through the numerous stores they could get slushies and pretzels out of Grandma. Haha! Thanks for the treats, Mom! 

 

After dinner on Friday, Brendan and I ran to Target to get the needed goodies for us grown ups. This not only included Orange Fanta, gummy bears, and licorice... But also a taste of the Force:

Yes, that is a marshmallow Stormtrooper and a cereal TIE Fighter and X-Wing. Score!

Saturday, we introduce Brendan to the wonders of Costco! He was rather impressed with the sizes of things that you could buy. We even got a huge Costco pizza to take home! Yum!

While the boys played with Jason, he helped me get dinner started in the kitchen. I'm not sure if he knew I took this picture or not. But, you can only take so many of Brendan before reaching his personal quota. Love you!

Sundays are lazy family days around here. After Mass and lunch at Moe's, Austin went down for a nap while the rest of us played Super Mario Brothers and Wii Resort. I have been banned (by my doing...) from playing Mario with the boys. But, listening to all the guys playing, big and little, was HILARIOUS!

On Monday (sadly, Jason was out of town most of this week), we traveled a little south of Birmingham to check out the sights at The American Village. What a cool place!! I have had this on my list of places to go for a good while now. I'm glad Brendan had picked it out. Andrew and Alex loved it, too! 

The Colonial Chapel where we heard Patrick Henry's famous speech. Andrew thought he was pretty cool.

Where Patrick Henry stood in the Chapel. Beautiful!

Liberty Bell Garden

The National Veterans Shrine - Brendan's favorite place! He was able to speak with one of the Veterans while we toured this beautiful building.

Andrew and Alex went on a Scavenger Hunt to find some pretty amazing things inside the Shrine.

 

Liberty embracing the fall of one of Her men during the Revolutionary War.

 

Mount Vernon

Brendan hard at work in the Oval Office

Encampment

Brendan took Andrew and Alex down to see the Encampment up close

After some shopping was done in the gift shop, which YES! included a new addition to my coffee mug collection, we headed back up the road and stopped for lunch. Everyone was starving from all the fun that was had at the American Village. We can't wait to go back!!

Tuesday morning, we headed out to the movies for one of the summer $1 flicks. Brendan hadn't seen Mr. Peabody and Sherman. So, after watching the trailer for it on YouTube, among many other videos we had to share with each other, he decided it would be fun to watch. And, yeah! We got the butter soaked movie popcorn and huge drinks! We don't get out much... Ha!

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Wednesday came around and it was time for the fun to {almost} end. Brendan was heading back home today. Mom drove back up and met us at the Galleria this time. There was a "threat" of storms (which apparently decided to hold off until today...and for the 4th of July...) so our normal outside options weren't in the cards. 

Seeing an Ironman Transformer of some sort was cool.

But, since the Lego store is at the Galleria, the boys were fine with the change of plans. 

Well...Austin wasn't a fan.. He was told not to open the Legos until we got home. But, we knew a cookie would fix that frown in a heartbeat.

But, our time with Brendan was coming to an end... So, once we said our goodbyes, we all headed in our different directions back home.

Mr. Sleepy

Austin was pretty tired, so he took more of a real nap at home. The other two knew that the time has come for their new Lego sets to be taken care of finally! Here are two of them -Lunar Rovers (by the way, go Lego Store for the freebies to honor space exploration this month!). I'll have to get a better pic of Andrew's Snow Truck and Alex's Swamp Police set later. 

 Once Austin woke up he got down to business with his little pond set.

Busy builder man

It is so crazy to think that the next time we see Brendan... He will be a soldier of the United States Army. I am so very proud of him. We all are! He is one amazing guy and I am so very happy to call him my brother. And, I am so grateful for the time he was able to spend with us these past few days. Sure, he may not like his photo taken, but I grabbed what I could and I am so thrilled that I did. Here are my favorites that I will end with. We love you Brendan!!

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Currently. {Vol. 3}

Enjoying: The cuteness factor of the bond between brothers!

Alex isn't a huge fan of trains, but he definitely needs to be in on all the action... Especially when Andrew is picking out every one's trains. Also Austin is learning all kinds of word these days about the world of trains: train, track, chug-chug, choo-choo, car, wheel, etc. It is super cute!

Loving: The awesomeness of the McWane Center.

Y'all. For real. You just don't even know how extremely happy the moms are to have this Itty Bitty Magic City within the McWane Center. The Stroller Parking in a cute "parking lot" is adorable. The GATED ENTRY with a sign that not only clearly states "kindergarten and under ONLY" but with a McWane employee manning the gate?!?! HELLO. This place is at a whole new level of awesome. Really and truly, there are not enough words to explain how happy we mamas of little ones are. You could see it on all of the mamas faces. Andrew and Alex could run around and play their little hearts out without me constantly saying something about running off and not being able to see them. There is even a spot where Austin could play that is for 2 year old and younger. Seriously, y'all. This place really is "magic" and we are thrilled!

Planning: Something. I'm always planning something. For now it is just baby stuff.

It's all I can do really... Until we are actually moving for real there isn't anything I can do. And that may be what is slowly killing me. Having a true panic attack on a daily basis can't be good. Maybe I should plan how to stop those before they start. Suggestions are highly welcomed. But not the fluffy bologna, please. Much thanks.

Feeling: Unbelievably stressed out to the max. I'm sure there is another word for it...

However, due to some recent feedback... Maybe our luck is about to change. Oh, don't worry though. I'm no longer giving my hopes up or anything. I might give myself a little gift when this junk is over.

Alex & Ani "It Is What It Is"

I mean really. It is my current motto. It is perfect.

Making: Everyone crazy? Kidding. Though I probably am...

We did make up a fabulous play date for all the Moms & Tots though! Good times!

It was a perfect day for our bubble fun, too. The sun wasn't beaming down on us due to the threat of spring showers that never showed up. It was great! The kids all had a great time. My lame joke was that since it was my last year as Mom & Tots Coordinator for our Guild at OLS, that I was "popping out of here!" Haha, I know. We all had a great time!! And, I know that our next mama to take over is going to great!!

Listening: Some serious Lego building is going on in the kitchen.

I found a small, manageable box of Legos for while we are in the "oh, my gosh! the house must stay perfect all the time!" stage. And, yeah. They are of course loving every piece. It is just cracking me up while I'm typing. I can hear Alex telling Andrew to "put that wreckin' ball down before I get mad!" and Andrew is saying something about "those pieces are for his creation that his wreckin' ball will never touch. ever!" See? Serious building. No joking.

Reading: A whole mess of books. I have issues. As clearly stated.

Ok, before you gasp at the MASSIVE size of The Goldfinch... That is in large print. It was the only one I could put on hold for some reason. But, I wanted to read it. So, there you go. One massive book. I also have Gone, The Sandcastle Girls, and In Sunlight and In Shadow in that stack. The kindle has about 3 books in the works right now, too: A Mother's Rule of Life (for the 2nd time. It's really good when you are losing your mind...), Love the Home You Have (because I am losing my mind with selling the current home), and Far from the Madding Crowd (which is slow going...not sure if I am a fan yet...).

Watching: Sadly nothing... My show just ended and won't return until October!!! NOT FAIR, CW!!! October is TOO FAR AWAY!!! It's the only show I watch. The only one where no one is allowed to call, text, email, anything while it is on. I'm so sad... I know...

I might watch The White Queen on Amazon Prime, but I don't know. Maybe I'll back up my historical fiction and watch The Tudors again. Or maybe Vikings or Rome. We only have Amazon Prime for now... so no Game of Thrones for now.

I'm hoping that I get to watch Jason and a bunch of awesome friend fill up a moving truck soon more than anything though....

For now, we will just keep moving our pieces around the board.

From Instagram: Andrew: "I got mmmmmolasses...yeah..." Alex: "GOATS!!!! YES!!!!"

 

Homeschool - Week 2

Week 2: The Glorious Flight / Letter B

Art: Working on their collage for letter B - cutting out things that start with B

Science: B is for...bird! The boys went birdwatching - complete with explorer hats and vests!

Zoo day - went to see all the birds with some friends

Math: B is for buildings and bricks. The boys guessed how many legos tall an item was, then measured it. We also made towers and measured those (big, bigger, biggest - like the planes in our FIAR book)

Religion: We also learned about St. Benedict of Nursia  - the patron saint of students

The boys really liked this week! They said that their favorite part was "school legos" - imagine that! The rest of the day they were busy measuring anything around the house. So cute!