Parker and Graham's Party

Lucas was invited to two birthday parties today - Parker/Graham and Seth's.  We got the P/G invite first and accepted.  When we got Seth's I told him that about the party and was about to tell him that we couldn't go.  He surprised me by telling me that he didn't think he should go to Seth's because P/G would be sad since he already said he'd go to their party.  There is some compassion in him!  He fights with Ellen so much that we weren't sure : )

The party was at G* Bananaz and was fun for both kids.

There were bumper cars for the big boys...

And bouncy house slides for my lady!

I took this picture for my dad.

Cute with her little ponytail.

Another pic for my dad.

Lucas and his classmate, Henry.

As usual, Lucas is beside the birthday boy.

Ashley and I held them off the video games as long as we could...

Tag with the Camera

Griffin came over for a play date today, which was rainy, so we had to get creative.  I invented this game of tag with the camera.  If I got a picture of their face, they lost.  Anytime we get rowdy like this, Tyson takes it as his cue to attack, which the kids love.  Total chaos for about five minutes.

"Hmmm, I think they want me to chase them and try to bite them."

Sleep Chart

1 out of 2 isn't bad.

Nature Girls

Rob and I took Karis and Ellen to Banbury Park today after preschool...

Boring Box

Lucas found this box in the kitchen today and thought it needed some work. 

First, he asked Jeff to help him cut some holes for eyes:

Then he got to work on the design:

Dick and Jane

Our neighbor, Michelle, let us borrow one of her favorite childhood books.  Lucas took right to reading it.  I noticed that when Jeff and he were reading it later that evening that Jeff was calling the chapters "levels" and Lucas was loving it.  Connecting reading with video games to get him interested - smart move, honey.

He was so interested in the book, and proud of himself for completing so many levels, that he wanted to take it to school.  The intent was not to read it in front of the class, but that is what his teacher asked him to do.  The book came home with this note:

Crawford's 2nd Birthday Party

We were invited to Melissa's daughter's 2nd birthday party yesterday.  It was a princess theme and there were several costumes and sparkly hats to choose from, if you wanted to dress up.  Ellen and I selected one and then went to the bathroom to change her into it. 

She was really enthusiastic about it.

We settled on just wearing the sparkly hair piece.

Melissa had a room setup for the older kids to watch a movie in.  Pierson and Lucas started out like this...

Then I saw the baby sitter wrestling Lucas back into the room as he was laughing hysterically.  I just walked back into the party.  Figured that is what they are paying her for  :)

The boys eventually made it into the ballroom for cake and balloons.

Happy Birthday, Crawford!

Crazies.

Guess who slept in their bed all night?

She was so happy to finally get a star on her chart!

Lincoln is always here!

It's strange, but we have randomly seen Lincoln in this toy store more than once!  Today the boys played while I talked to Brandon about how they just put their house on the market : (

Allowance

I recently stumbled across the topic of giving an allowance with a couple of friends.  I liked their ideas of giving an allowance to teach them about money, but not have them earn it by doing chores.  The idea being that helping out around the house is not an option.  Lucas and Ellen don't do much, and I probably need to come up with some more significant tasks.  Anyhow, I tied his allowance to sleeping in his bed all night because I thought that would give him the extra incentive to stay in his bed, and also let him have a little cash to make purchasing decisions.

Somehow Lucas had a little cash saved up already, so with the $3 we gave him today, he had $12.  It was burning a hole in his pocket, so we headed to Target (we were going anyway.)  Let it go down in the history books that Lucas's first purchase with his very own money was a mini death star lego thingy AND an ice cream from our favorite $1 ice cream place.  He actually had $1 left in his wallet and was dying to spend it.  I think he was happy with his purchases. 

I think Ellen was just happy to be part of the excitement : )

Pancake Drafts

Lucas and Ellen fight over everything.  At this point I would not recommend having a son and then a daughter 2.5 years apart.  She mostly nags him.  I think she just likes his attention, anyway she can get it.  We even have certain "ways" we go home.  We usually go the shortest route, but one day Ellen wanted to go the slightly longer way.  When Lucas protested, that became her way and the shortest route became Lucas's way.  So now, every.single.time we are in the car they fight over going "my way, no MY WAY!"

Among the many other things they fight about, it's who gets the first pancake.  One day Jeff had a brilliant idea to have a pancake draft.  He flipped a coin to see who would go first, and then they took turns choosing their nearly identical pancakes. 

It feels so good when we have an idea that brings peacefulness for a few minutes.

Sleep Chart

Grandma's work of getting the kids to sleep all night was short lived.  Lucas was quick to figure out that the $ store grab bag treats were crap.  And Ellen soon followed his lead.  She actually came to my room one night, stood beside my bed as I slept, and said, "Mommy, I don't like the grab bag anymore."  Yes, she woke up and made the decision that having mommy at night trumps the crap in the bag.

I talked to a therapist about it and how we had tried both positive and negative reinforcement.  The positive being the grab bags and the negative being no screen time (tv, iphone, ipad, computer) unless they slept all night.  That was just punishment for me.  She suggested that I try the positive reinforcement again.  She said it still works, they just get bored and I need to change it up.  That is how this chart was born.  I think it's going to work for Lucas.  After a week of stars, he gets his allowance of $3.  Today was the first day of the chart.  Lucas got a star, but Ellen did not.  See her face?  This might work for her too...

Curls!