Captain Eli

Eli has never been a big hat kid like his Bubba. He doesn't like things on his head and prefers wearing sunglasses. But ever since we got Caleb's new Captain Rex costume, Eli has been obsessed with the mask which stays on with an elastic band. He tries putting it on himself. When he can't get it on, he finds one of us and begs with a "peeeese!" It is so funny to see an 18 month old who loves Star Wars.

Star Wars Costumes

I got the boys' costumes for Halloween today. To no one's surprise, Caleb decided that he and Eli ought to be Star Wars' characters. He decided on Anakin for himself and Darth Vader for Eli. As soon as I got home from shopping, both boys insisted on trying their costumes on. They looked great.

I think it is going to be a fun Halloween!

Edited to Add: Caleb's Anakin costume was way too big, so I took it back to the store to exchange it. Unfortunately, they did not have it in a smaller size. He decided to be Captain Rex instead.

Chefs in Training

We made homemade banana muffins this morning. We all love muffins and make them at least a few times a week. Today, both boys wanted to help. They took turns putting ingredients in the bowl and stirring. They worked together to put the muffin cups in the tins. It was fun seeing them enjoy baking with me.

Muscle Men

Here are some silly pictures of Daddy and the boys pretending to be muscle men. We took these right before Allen left for his fantasy football draft today. His team is named the "Crunk Jews," which explains the shirt he is wearing. I made it for him using freezer paper stencils.

Tropical Storm Fay - Day 5

Today was our fifth day of dealing with Tropical Storm Fay. The boys were fussy, and we were all very ready for some hot sunshine instead of rain and wind. I tried to keep the boys busy, and these are a few of the things we did today.

We began with bath time which was actually well overdue. The boys always enjoy playing in the tub together.

Then we read the Happy Healthy Monsters book. Auntie Mack gave us this book, and it is a lot of fun. Grover asks you to jump, run, dance, and so on. It is a great interactive book that keeps kids' attention and gets their bodies moving. I figured it would be a good way to get some energy out, especially since we could not go outside.

During Eli's nap, Caleb and I freezer paper stencilled some shirts. I had been wanting to do it for a while after reading about it on several different web sites, but I never seemed to have the time. Today, we did have the time, so we took advantage of it.

It ended up being a fun day, which I was grateful for. Hopefully, the sun will come back out tomorrow!

First Day of VPK

Today was Caleb's first day of VPK. VPK stands for voluntary pre-kindergarten and is provided to all four-year-olds in the state of Florida for free. The idea behind it is to help children get ready for kindergarten. VPK is held at Miss Tammy's house with five other children three days a week. Ms. Tammy came highly recommended from a close friend.

Caleb had a great first day and had a lot of fun. He seemed to enjoy having something special to do today without Mommy and Eli tagging along, and I enjoyed spending some one-on-one time with Eli. It was a bit strange, though, to look in the back seat and see only one kid where there are usually two. Eli didn't seem to notice that anything was different until we got home after going to the Y. As soon as we stepped in the door, Eli started calling for Bubba (what he calls Caleb) and looked for him all over the house. It was so cute.

We plan to continue homeschooling and see this as another class Caleb is taking. I am excited to see what he learns and how he grows from this experience.

Fun Family Time

Auntie Mack, Lily, and Anabel came to visit us for a few days this week. Caleb had really been missing his favorite girl Lily, so he was very excited about spending time with her. Both Caleb and Lily start their VPK programs next week, so we figured this would be a good time to have one last hurrah together! The kids' school schedules are going to make it difficult to visit each other for more than a weekend until next summer.

The big kids slept in the same room for the first time. They did pretty well over all. Lily started off on the floor the first night but ended up sleeping in the bottom bunk under Caleb. There was some talking and giggling, but they did eventually fall asleep.

The cousins had lots of fun playing together. Dressing up was a theme, but strangely, I have no pictures of Caleb (the costume king) dressed up. I am not sure how that happened.

Mom Mom came over to visit yesterday which was nice. Caleb was in a funny mood when we took pictures, so he is not in any of the ones I took.

I think a fun time was had by all!

Bunk Beds

Caleb is almost five now and very tall for his age. He has outgrown his toddler bed, so we got him bunk beds. He loves them! Tonight was his first night trying them out. Our plan is to put the boys in the same room once Eli is big enough.

Eastern Lubber Grasshopper

Today, we discovered a huge eastern lubber grasshopper outside our front door. He was hanging out on one of our lawn chairs and was not bothered by us watching him closely. Apparently, they are pretty common here in Florida, but I had never seen one before. We had found a molted exoskeleton a while back which must have come from this guy. You can learn more about eastern lubber grasshoppers here.

Zoo Splash Pad

Today we tried out the Central Florida Zoo's new splash pad. It was a lot of fun.