Posts Tagged ‘Alex’

On Monday Brian told us we were going to get a surprise after dinner. The kids guessed ice cream. They were right!

For more Wordless Wednesday visit 5 Minutes for Mom!

First, how cute is Alex! I can just get lost in those beautiful eyes of his. I’m not just going to have to lock up Brianna and Katie but my son as well. The girls won’t be able to stay away from this handsome boy! He’ll have to beat them off with a stick!

Alex and I have been enjoying Toddler Time Tuesday at the local library. They read a couple of stories, bobble some theme shaped cardstock cutouts on the parachute and then color or do a craft involving glue sticks.

Alex doesn’t really like sitting still for story time, in fact he runs out of the room to look at the board books, magazines or picks out puzzles. He does enjoy participating in the parachute, sometimes, and always the craft.

The first time there he noticed an old Sports Illustrated for Kids magazine that had Cole Hamels, a pitcher for the Phillies, on the cover. He was completely amazed and in love. He carried it with him all over the library telling everyone he ran into that it was Cole Hamels in a loud voice full of excitement.

I couldn’t believe it had never occurred to me to check out baseball books for Alex, especially when he only has one baseball themed book at home. Another one is about puppies, but he loves it because there is a bat and baseball in one of the illustrations.

So I went to the handy dandy computer catalog and looked up all things baseball. We went on our search through the shelves and picked out a large variety of books. It completely made my little guys day.

Now every time we go to the library for story time we bring back some baseball books and check out some baseball books.

Every time Alex gets a huge grin on his face and proclaims for all to hear, “Baseball Books!” as I nod enthusiastically while holding my finger to my lips to tell him celebrate quietly!

Right now he loves reading about Babe Ruth and it’s adorable hearing him say “The Great Bambino!”.

I will end this here as he just brought me the book about the Philadelphia Phillies winning the World Series in 2008 that he wants me to read to him!

Speaking of which, baseball playoffs start tonight for the Phillies.

Guess who will be watching (from home of course)!

Last year I learned that some friends from church had started something absolutely brilliant. In fact I was in shear awe of the whole idea and instantly tried to put it into practice. Which actually turned into a lot of talking to friends about how great the idea was and that we all agreed we needed to do it and then nothing ever came from it. We sat on brilliance for months. We were crazy!

Somehow it came up in conversation with friends, Tammy and Lyndsi, after dropping the kids off at Awana and the rest is history.

Our Babysitting Co-op was *finally* born!

Two date nights with the husband and then one night of watching all eight kiddos!

It’s really fun to see how excited the kids get when we say it’s co-op night. They love it just as much as we do because they get to play with their friends! In nice weather we have them play outside until it gets dark and then we put on a movie with popcorn to share. During the cold months we might need to have some crafts/indoor activities for them before movie time.

Having consistent couple time away from the kids is very important to a marriage. Brian and I get to reconnect over dinner, try new things, see movies, go shopping, do fun activities just the two of us!

One of the greatest perks… FREE BABYSITTING!

It has been a true blessing. We don’t have a babysitter, nor could we really afford to use one if we did. The grandparents watch the kids, but I try really hard not to take advantage of that.

Lyndsi took the above picture of all the kiddos the second time we did co-op, a week after Alex had broken his arm on Easter 2010!

Are you participating in a babysitting co-op?

If not, would you start one?

We are blessed to have fantastic neighbors!

The kids  have built in friends and they play just about daily. We consider Cole and Kamryn family at this point!

That being said, the decibel level climbs to levels I wish were not possible.

In the above picture they are playing a rousing game of Super Mario Bros. Wii and I can barely hear myself think.

In fact I would say I’m on the verge of not being able to take it.

No matter how much I remind these beautiful children that they need to use indoor voices the loudness factor creeps up until I feel as though my brain just might implode.

My ipod is the only thing saving my sanity.

While writing this blog post Alex came over to me asking repeatedly for something and I could not figure out what it was.

He brought me over to the freezer and I realized *finally* that he wanted a popsicle.

So being the awesome mom that I am I told him no.

Instead we went out to Wendy’s and brought home frostys for everyone.

All the kids happily consumed their frozen chocolate confections and the noise level was greatly reduced for all of 5 minutes maybe.

Now the game is back on and I can already tell the noise level is rising.

Yet, they are happy and enjoying spending time together!

So I’m about to put my earbuds back in and be happy too!

Happy Friday everyone!