before and after

I cut Alex's and Jack's hair the other day and I just have to share. Here is Alex before:




and after:

Holy twins! I now realize I needed to take a picture of both of them for all of you to get the full effect of the twiness. When he turned away from me and ran to the sandbox I almost cried! He looks totally different and way older (and his head looks even more massive, if that's even possible). Part of me wishes I would have waited until after school starts so everyone could see the transformation.

Speaking of school starting, we had the boys' back-to-school night tonight. They both met their teachers: Alex has the same teacher Jack had in Pre-K and Jack has the same teacher he had last year (she moved from Kindergarten to 1st grade) so it went really smooth.

Alex fit right in and went to the rug to play with all the kids. No holding back with him. Jack got to put all his supplies in his very own desk and seemed okay with his room. He is sitting next to a boy who he really doesn't like who has some sort of sensory disorder/issue thing. He is a very naughty boy and stabbed Jack with scissors last year but I think it's what ever he has that makes him that way. Not ADD/ADHD but he's got something where they brush him with different textures throughout the day to help him deal. I'm trying to explain this to Jack so he has a little compassion for him, not just annoyance. It's hard to explain to a kid that not everyone is as "perfect" as he is =)Jack's cousin is also in his class so we just hope that will go well and not have to many interruptions. It should be good. School starts Thursday and I can't WAIT!! Alex will only go 2 full days a week but I'm going to make the most of those two days!

We are fully weaned from the binkys!!! Yay! Ben hasn't asked for one for weeks. Alex this weekend found one and stuck it right into Ben's mouth. I had no idea what was going on but my mom was here and quickly got it away from him and both said no binkys. Nothing more was said about it and I am so pumped it went so much better than I thought it would.

We have also really started working with Ben on using the potty. He has been doing really well. I by no means am thinking he will get it overnight at a little over 2 years old but I will take every pee in the potty over another diaper change. He does really well at home in undies and when he has naked time but we need to work on a solution for out and about. I ordered some cloth diaper fabric to make my own trainers out of little undies. We will see how that works out.

the grain bin

Prepping the site

Unloading the bin

Putting the roof on

Jacks are ready to go

Jacking up the bin to put the third ring on

My dad and Chad putting bolts in holes

All rings on and bolted down

The boys for good measure =)

It took 2 days and five guys to get the bin up. They said if we would have had the company build it for us it would have taken twice as long as it took us. We didn't really have an option--it had to be done in two days...Chad had to go back to work Sunday night.

There is still a lot of work to finish it, but it's up and bolted down which is the hard part that requires much assistance. The boys helped a little but for the most part stayed out of the way. I helped some but most of my participation was to bring meals and snacks.

I'm so glad it's finally up. I just hope we get it finished before we have to put corn in it!

oops

Here is the video of the boys from Vacation Bible School. It didn't come through as a video on the other post, so here you go...

bye bye binky

That's right folks, no more binky!!! Today marks 1 full week that Benny has been binky-free.


Last week Ben's bink 'broke'. Uh oh! And we 'couldn't find' all the other ones. While he wasn't looking I hid all of the extras and cut the tip on the one on the counter. The look on his face was priceless when he put it in his mouth.


The first couple of nights he asked for it and stayed up until 10 but it has gotten easier each night and he hasn't even asked for it for the last few days. Winning!

vbs

The boys went to Vacation Bible School this week and tonight was their program. I recorded it for Chad (and to have) because he had to sleep so he couldn't go. Alex did awesome! He was super excited to go tonight where Jack was not. We had to bribe him in the first place to go. He said he wasn't standing in front and singing but ended up going up there. He didn't sing, but he did the actions and I am so proud of him that he was there.

Here's one of the songs...

When it was all over, one of the helpers came up to me and said all the teachers had voted Alex best prayer (apparently he would be loud and crazy and then when it came time to pray he closed his eyes and folded his hands and got down to some serious praying) and biggest flirt! I told her there was no surprise there. She said he would sit in a pew with all girls and no boys. Oh dear lord we are going to have to watch that one!!!

summer

I cannot believe it is mid-August already! Time has both flown and crawled this summer. I can't WAIT 'til school starts!!!! We are so sick of hearing "I'm bored". And the thing is, they have plenty to do. That is why it bothers us so bad. Our school starts Sept. 1st here so a few more weeks to go. I've had all their supplys bought for over a month now so we are sooooooo ready!

I was really super horrable at taking pictures this summer. I managed to get a few of Jack at his Park and Rec Golf...

I blurred out their shirts since it says what city we live in. I'm almost 99% sure you all know where we live anyway, but you never know!

I forgot my camera each and every time Alex had Tot-Ball =( I really wanted to get some shots of him since he loved it so much and was actually pretty good for a 4 year old. Also, forgot the camera for swimming lessons, our family reunion (on Chad's side), and for our little day trip to Dyersville to the Farm Toy Museum. Chad said, "Maybe we should get you a big, expensive camera you can bring with you so you can take some pictures. Oh wait, we did." Uhhhhhh!!! What a bummer. At least I have the memories in my head.

One of the four pictures I did manage to take was of Ben sitting nude on the front porch. No idea why he was out there without clothes, but at least he has his hat on!

Hope everyones summer is good for what little is left anyway. I really need to take more pictures. We are building our grain bin this weekend so I am planning on getting some shots of that for sure.