Life as a Leach

A day late, but why not?

Grammy and Pop came up this week to stay with Isaac and Ezra while their parents were in Maine. We hung out with them a lot: going to the zoo, playing in our pool, and watching Cars at the church. Caleb loved being with his cousins and grandparents! Here are some highlights of their visit: We went to the zoo on Saturday (after I called to invite them over and then they asked if I wanted to go with to the zoo with them!) The zoo was really crowded and there was lots of construction going on, but it was still fun! On Monday, Barbara came over with the boys for lunch and pool time. Isaac and Caleb had a great time playing in the pool and sprinkler, but Ezra wanted nothing to do with the water! He was quite content to sit in his chair and watch though.

So, sometimes this blog is to tell you guys what is going on in our lives...and sometimes it's to get my thoughts in order! I have been thinking about Caleb's birthday (yes, yes, I know he turns three in January ...what can I say? I'm a planner!) and I wanted to get my ideas down. It's going to be a carnival theme! Games: * moon bounce (my sister has one that we are going to borrow. That way, I don't lose money by canceling one I order because of snow.) * ring toss * ski ball * bowling * duck pond * ball pit (I'm going to fill up the baby pool!) The four real games will have prizes for each kid. These prizes will be in place of the goody bags. I'm considering doing rotations for these four games so that it will go quicker...we'll have a "game time" and someone managing each one. Then the kids just go to each game. The moon bounce and the ball pit would be outside, so half of the kids would go to one and half to the other. What do you ...

Caleb likes to take toys to the potty with him to keep him company. It makes him happy, so I say WHY NOT?? Well, now I know why not! Yesterday, Caleb had a dump truck with him and did his business just fine. I flushed the toilet and--oops! The truck fell out of his hand! Despite my best efforts to rescue the poor guy, it would appear that he was lost forever. Caleb burst into sobs and cried for a very long time. Even after the tears subsided, he felt the need to inform me every few minutes that he was sad that his truck went down the toilet. Well, we went to see the movie Cars at church last night and several people got a good laugh out of the story. Matt went to the bathroom after we got home and I thought nothing of it...until this morning when Matt said that he couldn't get the toilet to flush properly. Uh oh... So, Handyman Jack decides to take the entire toilet off of its "hole" and peer down into it. No truck! Must mean that it's in the toilet. Long, a...

I haven't blogged too much this week. Wanna know what I've been doing??? In no particular order... cleaned bathrooms multiple times went to Giant vacuumed twice went to the zoo with Grammy, Pop, Isaac, and Ezra emptied the dishwasher a bunch made chili had Jenn and Emma over to play in the pool shopped for stuff for Caleb's room at Target made major progress with the potty training went to Chesapeake Grille with my parents organized the secret room with Erin had a sleepover with Owen, Sara, and Amy looked at pictures of Samson, Amy's (hopefully!) new dog played with Caleb with all kinds of toys watched TLC every night went to the chiropractor twice cleaned floorboards and walls with Erin watched Baby Mamma went to church had pizza with my family cleaned out a bunch of cabinets ....sure there's more, but Matt is talking to me and I can't concentrate! :)

Today is one of those days when I wish I had ONE laptop that TOTALLY worked, instead of TWO laptops that have ISSUES! I have a story to tell, but it isn't nearly as great without pictures. I know I'll forget them if I wait to post the pics. I guess you'll have to wait on those until I get to Walmart. Anyway, "Aunt" Jenn and Emma came over to play today. After lunch, the kids got swim suits on and headed out to the baby pool so that our bathing beauties could splash around. They had a great time playing! After Emma got tired, I put the edge of our little slide in the pool so that Caleb could slide down it into the pool. He LOVED it! (yes, all of this leads up to the funny story!) We headed inside after a while and played some more until poor Emma was so tired she could hardly keep her eyes open! After they left, Caleb played a bit and then said he was hungry (4:30ish). He didn't have a nap today because he played all afternoon with Emma. Just as I was...

Caleb's picture came yesterday, so I went to Michael's today to get a frame. I'm really happy with the result! They also sent me a wonderful picture of two giraffes as a little thank you, which matches Caleb's bathroom perfectly! I framed that and will hang it today as well. I also got a simple plastic trashcan and a baseball decal to put on it. I bought some baseball ribbon and am going to make simple little tie-backs for the curtains using velcro, but I can't do it until Caleb wakes up from his nap. Because the dresser we have is a little smaller than the other one, I am having a little trouble fitting everything in! What's more, our wonderful walk-in closet has a flaw...you can't shut the door if there are clothes about a foot from the front of the closet! So...that rather limits the clothes we can put in there. I bought a 4-drawer plastic container to put in his room. That way, I can put some of his clothes in there. I already have a storage bi...

As promised, here is a picture of what the quilt will look like!

...Because Matt Leach will be throwing out the first pitch at the Bowie Baysox game on August 13th!! This has been a lifelong dream of his, so it's pretty exciting! His enthusiasm was rather thwarted by the fact that I made him go on a treasure hunt to get this special prize at 6 a.m. this morning...guess I didn't think about that when I was planning it! I do think he is excited though, even if he did get a little tired during the hunting process! :)

For all of you who have been as excited about Caleb's new room as I am (okay, "all" is a stretch...) I am happy to provide updates. A few nights ago, we put the baseball decal up on the wall. It is over top of his bed and looks AMAZING! I am very happy with the quality...and how well we put it up! We went to the mall today and got tab top curtains at Penney's in navy blue for a stellar price. I was very excited about how inexpensive they were. (FYI: Macy's doesn't carry curtains--who knew??) At Babies R Us, I was able to get two crib sheets (Caleb's toddler bed uses the crib mattress, so twin-sized sheets don't fit) in RED and NAVY BLUE! I was very excited to find both of those colors...in the same store...on clearance! Wahooooo!! I stopped by Target to see if they happened to have any of their baseball line in the store. They didn't have the tie-backs, but I was able to grab a baseball beanbag seat! The two they had on the shelf were fil...

I am taking a grueling class this week, so don't expect to hear too much from me. In the mean time, here is a picture to ponder....

After much searching and deliberating, I have finally found some TOTALLY cute baseball decorations for Caleb's room. My plan is to have his room done while Matt is at Momentum. He has promised to take the bed out and put it away before he leaves so that the room will be ready for me to work in! Here are the items I have bought: Baseball Pillowcase : Barbara is going to be making Caleb a baseball quilt, but I got this pillowcase because the color scheme we are using for the quilt matches this print. I like it and I think it's okay that it won't necessarily be the same fabric. I don't want the quilt to be overly "baseballish," so I'm pulling it out a bit here. A Door Hanger : I will either hang this on the door knob or put it on a nail on the door...haven't decided yet. Of course, the name on it won't be Jackson... :) Glove/Ball Photograph : I absolutely LOVE this photograph! Can you believe it was taken by a 9 year old boy??? This will be a...

This week has been Vacation bible School, and we have been traveling back to Rome! This VBS curr iculum is completely different than anything I've seen, because the kids dress up as Roman children, learn Latin, play Roman games (javelin, chariot races, etc.), do Roman crafts in a marketplace (making jewelry, baking bread, making paper, weaving, etc.), and even get to meet Paul and go to the catacombs! It's such a great experience for them because most of them have no prior knowledge. I am a family leader this year. Last year I was in the market place teaching about herbs and spices, which I loved. They needed a few more family leaders this year, so I volunteered. I'm having a blast! My group is ridculously cute and sweet. When all of the other groups are running around acting like little hooligans, my wonderful group is just sitting and talking together quietly. They love to hold hands with me, which I love. They even fight to grab my hands first! They're just...

I've been having Blogger's Block. I couldn't even think of anything for Not Me! Monday! Here's a picture for you to enjoy whilest I am trying to be inspired. PerhapsVBS tonight will give me something to write about!