ok, one more post

I would have put all of these in one post, but for some reason it will only let me upload four photos at a time, so there you go.

The other day when we had our freak warm-up (it got up in the 40's!) I took the boys to the farm. They both really like it (Jack LOVES it) and it's been a long time since we've been out there so I figured I'd load 'em up! Here are a few shots:

Jack loves to ride with his dad in the skid steer. I couldn't even get him out to sled down the driveway. Alex and I did it instead and it was fun. You forget how fun simple things like sledding are. I could have gone a few more times, but Alex was cold and it was lunch time, so maybe another day!

alex's newest trick

We've already had a few spills off of the couch. At least 911 is easy to remember!

party at the cheese

We had Part I of Jack's B-day party at Chuck E. Cheese's on Sunday. I was kind of not looking forward to it in a way, but it went awesome. Cousin Casey was there so they had a blast together, as well as with Papa Dave! Here are a few shots from the day:

Even Alex had fun. They had these little ride-ons that Alex rode the whole time. Luckily each ride was only one token, so that was nice for everyone. I think Chad had had enough by the time we left. He did such a good job of chasing after the kids.

We had a good weekend here. Mom and Dave came over on Sat. and watched the boys that night so Chad and I could go snowmobiling. It was a lot of fun! Going out in double digits is a lot warmer than single digits! They came up to Chuck E Cheeses with us on Sun. which was awesome. I know Jack was so excited to have them there, even though that is totally not my mom's scene. We had a great time and were all exhausted when we got home.

not really news

Now that I'm sort of documenting our lives around here (the blog and project 365) I'm coming to the sad realization that we are kinda boring! Not much varies in our day-to-day lives. That kinda sucks! It's also winter and frickin BELOW ZERO FOR DAYS!!!! No one can stand to be outside long enough to get the mail, let alone play. It's looking like a warm up for the weekend, then plummeting back into the teens and single digits next week. Groovy.

Alex had another swim class on Tues. and did awesome! No one else was there, so we got 'private lessons'. It was fun and he has sooo much fun. I wish I could get some pictures, but there's no way I can handle that stress! He makes a bee line for the door to the pool before we even get jackets off! At least he's excited.

Jack helped his daddy clean the living room while I was getting ready today, and let me tell you I can't even tell you the last time I've felt that kind of joy! If you've seen our living room lately, you'd understand my almost tears of joy. If you don't know what it looks like, imagine Toys R Us exploded and that is what our living room looks like. Actually, it looks like a tiny implement dealership exploded with tractors, round balers, manure spreaders, combines, yada yada yada...

Going to go to my kickboxing class again tonight. I'm getting kinda bummed-there's only 2 classes (I think) left. I'll have to look for something else to do 'cause I want to keep this momentum going. I've actually lost 31/2 lbs and my pants are fitting looser so that's great! I'm a teeny bit proud of myself! My goal is to lose my baby pooch, so I got a ways to go yet.

Here's to a happy, healthy, and a I-have-to-buy-all-new-clothes-'cause-my-old-ones-don't-fit New Year!

weekend update

We had a nice little weekend around here. Jack had his last swim class on Friday and his certificate said he can move to level one when he's 5! That's great. Only 2 more years to go :( I don't think it will take that long, but I've heard rumblings that the pool is closing in May due to money issues. I hope they figure something out.

Sunday we went over to Chad's sister's to watch the big game. Such a shame how it ended (he he)!! We had a good time and the boys played the night away. Baby Ryan is growing bigger and bigger each day!

This is an unrelated photo (and not a great one, by the way) but it further proves my point that this boy's a lot to handle. He was supposed to be napping, but he had peed his pants and changed into a pull up and put his pants on backwards! I know people always say, "Cherish these moments because they grow up too fast." Sometimes I can't wait 'till he's in high school and can (possibly) put his clothes on the correct way!

Tonight the bathtub was actually clean, so I put both kids in and let them have fun. And they did.

Doesn't he look like he's trying to sell the rubber duckie? Almost like the mentos adds.

Rubber Duckies: The Bathmaker!

untitled

Boy, staying on top of this blogging thing is harder than I thought. It doesn't help when we have a million and one things going on right now. Lets see, Alex and I had our first Parent-Tot swim class Tues. It went great! He is a little fish out of water. I was nervous because the weekend before we took him to the pool and he hated it, but the pool at the hospital is like taking a bath. He floated around, kicked his legs, sat on the side and kicked, he even 'jumped' in. He would lean forward and kinda fall in the pool. He had a great time. Angie (the instructor) even had him learning how to climb out on the ladder! Here's a few shots of him tonight:

Jack is still not doing great at his swimming lessons. He doesn't listen or participate--it's like if your going to act that way, I won't even bother with all the hassle of getting you there! He does have fun, though. He needs some socialization, STAT!! I think I'm going to take him to a play group in Westby at the school on Friday. Two of the girls in his swim class will be there, so hopefully it'll be fun.

My project 365 is becoming harder and harder each day. I need to be more disciplined about taking my pictures and taking different pictures. I need to start making it a habit of taking my camera everywhere I go.

My word of the day is becoming lost as well. I need a nice reminder, like a necklace or something that will help me grasp it every day. I could have really used it this morning. Jack gets up way before the rest of us and has gotten into so much trouble, we have to hide practically everything. This morning, he couldn't find anything else to get into, so he got out an entire container of cereal and dumped it all over the couch and peed in the corner. What!?!?! What posesses him to do something like that? Chad said, "I guess one of us has to get up when he gets up." Yea. Since he doesn't get home 'till 3-3:30 in the morning, I guess that one of us is going to be me. Joy. I'm going to give him one more final chance tomorrow morning. Wish us luck.

swim class

Chad and I both took Jack to swim class Friday, so I was able to get a few (not real great) shots. He's the little guy in the orange and blue striped trunks. Here, they're practicing their 'ice cream scoops'...

and here...

Here, our little guy is being anti-social and not listening (big surprise). He didn't want to jump in with the others, so he sat on the stairs and splashed the other kids when they got out. Typical.

This was before it started. Alex wanted to go in, too!

Jack's kind of struggling to sit still and listen. The teacher said I can still bring him, even though on Friday he went kicking and screaming. Once he gets in, he's fine. I don't know.

We took both the boys to family swim on Sat. night. Jack had a blast "swimming" around. He even jumped in a few times. Alex screamed for the first 30 minutes, mainly because he was cold, but after a while he warmed up a little and he "jumped" in to me and floated around in his little floater thing. I hope Alex doesn't freak out on Tues. at Parent-Tot. It is a lot warmer in the pool at the hospital. We went out to eat after swimming and to DQ for a little ice cream. It was a nice night with the family.

recap

No blogging for a few days. It's been busy around here. I started taking a kickboxing class at the hospital that started on Tues. I thought it was a beginner's class 2 days a week for 45 min. Well, it's not a beginners class, it's an hour instead of 45 min., but it does meet twice a week. I'm a little scared for tomorrow's class as I've heard it's harder than Tues. class (which kicked my ass, by the way). Oh well, she said I can handle it so we'll see how it goes (plus she said I have good form). Ha! Who knew?

I signed Alex and I up for a Parent-Tot swim class on Tues. mornings. It's the same class I've taken Jack to so I hope Alex will enjoy it just as much. We will start next week, so we'll see.

Jack just started his pre-level swimming lessons yesterday. He's in the pool with his teachers--no parents. I was so excited to see how he would do, but I was a little under the weather yesterday, so Chad stayed home and took him. He said he was the shortest kid in his class and probably the youngest. He said that he didn't listen as good as the others, which didn't surprise me. He did dunk his head, do his kicks, floated on his noodle, ect. Jack said he had fun, which is the main thing for me so he'll go back and want to learn more. I can't wait to take him tonight. Hopefully I can take some picts. and keep Alex out of the water!

what 'ya call a guy with no arms, no legs hanging on the wall?

I thought it would be fun for the boys to do some art today and not the typical crayons and coloring book, so we got out the glue, scissors, paint, ect. and Jack went to town. He had so much fun that when it was time for lunch he cried so hard he didn't want to stop.

See if you can spot the similarities in these pictures:

You guessed it--the I-can't-concentrate-unless-I-have-my-tongue-sticking-out-phase. I don't know if you can really call it a phase, since I find myself still doing it from time to time:) It's pretty cute! Art is fun, but messy. It'd be nice if we had a certain spot for it so if they made a mess, it wouldn't be a big deal.

I tried to give Alex some paper and these fun crayons that his Aunt and Uncle gave him, but all he wanted to do was rip the paper off his tray and eat the crayon. To be fair, he was in his high chair! That boy will totally eat anything that isn't nailed down! Even then, he might gnaw on it a little :)

pistol pete

This boy is driving me insane! He is 100% all boy, all the time. Check this out:

He's doing summer salts (OK, totally don't know if I spelled that right) off the couch onto the video rocker onto the floor. He has taken so many shots to the head I'm 95% sure he's riding the shorty bus to school.

And yes, that is a kitchen in the background and yes, boys can play with it too. Both our boys love it.

Here's to a better tomorrow!

Ok, here we go..

I think I figured out how to do my web album thing. Here is the link to view my 365 days of pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/littlefarmerboys/365. I don't know how else to get there so bookmark it or whatever!

Having a very stressfull day with or number one son. I think I'm going to 'borrow' another idea from Lori and have a 'word of the year' thing. I think I will take her last years word, calm. I really need it, need to be it, need to display it, and need it around me. This is a very trying time with Jack and I see it beginning with Alex. I just keep thinking of the word and what it means and hope it gets me through the day. Whoever said raising boys is easier, was smoking crack!

ahhhh!

OK, so I'm starting to get pissed. I've been sitting here for over an hour to get all this photo s@%$ to work and IT'S NOT WORKING!
So here are the picts that didn't come through the first time. Enjoy.

every day

Just another day here in the Hoyum house. Everyone is feeling much better now. I hope that's it for 2008. These are a couple of shots of the boys tonight being pretty darn cute.




These boys are pretty darn silly. Alex has a facination for sour foods such as pickles (and the juice) and lemon juice. So he decided he had to have some and so did his brother and these are the faces they made:






Jack had a few drops and was over it. Alex kept wanting more. He's a wierd one.

I have started a little project for the year. I 'borrowed' the idea from my cousin who's blog I frequent and the blogs of others. I will be taking a photo a day for a year. Well, I'll be taking more than one, I will post one a day for the whole year. One photo that sums up the day or something special that happened. It's kind of exciting in the beginning, but as with everything else I do, once the novelty wears off, it'll be harder to keep it up. But I'm gonna try!!

It would be nice to scrap these and to start scrapping in the first place, but I don't know where to begin. I get so overwhelmed with it all and I just say forget it. Maybe some day when I have more time and money to spend on it, but for now I'll just be bloggin'.

I'm going to try to get my 365 album up on the web, just can't seem to get it to work just now. Will let you know when it's up and running.

Oh, and something else... Jack likes to go through my drawer in the kitchen that has all the odd utinsels in it like turkey baster, apple correr, pizza cutter, ect. Tonight he found the egg slicer thing and wanted to play with it. Later while I was getting Alex ready for bed, Jack was sitting on the floor strumming the slicer singing 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star'. I used to do the same thing when I was a kid. Not the 'Twinkle, Twinkle' part but playing the egg slicer. Too funny! Don't know if every kid does that, or just us. That took me back :)

sick part 2

OK, so both my kids got sick Sunday. That was fun. It wasn't that bad 'cause each kid only got sick once. Weird, but I'll take it. The mystery puke in the hallway we later found out came from the dog, who later puked twice more outside. He is the smartest dog on the planet. Who's dog actually goes outside to puke(except for the one in the hallway)?!?

Anyway, I was so excited because Jack actually made it to the bathroom when he got sick! That means I didn't have to spent the night cleaning Tator Tot casserole and strawberry cough drop out of my carpet!!! How great for me?!?

However, this AM Chad got sick, too. He's doing better. Mostly achy muscles and a little dizzy now. Only if I can dodge this bug then we'll be set.

Kind of a crappy start to the New Year. Hope it's not a glimpse of things to come.