Special Delivery

We told Mamaw Ginder that we were going to tape up this box and send it UPS to Florida for her birthday (which she celebrated this past Saturday). I'm sure the boys would LOVE to be in the warmer weather. In fact, every time Caleb gets to talk to them on the phone, one of the first things he says is "I'm coming to your house!"

The fun started this past Monday when my Mom watched the boys for me. She took them to Target where she bought them each a car and also picked up a big-boy booster seat for Joshua. Since we were still in the process of trying to clean his old seat (which he's really outgrown height-wise), we needed a new seat for him. Daddy was putting it together when the boys started playing with the box. Here's Joshua modeling his new seat!

I helped Joshua climb in first. He LOVED it! Here's his precious smile as he posed for the picture.

Soon Caleb Luke wanted a turn in the box. We were pretending it was all sorts of things. They LOVE boxes!

As I mentioned before, we didn't have preschool Tuesday or Wednesday because the weather forecast had called for an ice storm. So, on Wednesday we went to the mall (and Mamaw joined us) to play and burn off some energy. Thursday Joshua had his extended day, and that night he had swim lessons (which I will post about separately). During our time together at home, we've been doing more tracing in books. Caleb is getting better at tracing lines in the beginner books (where you follow the path of a bug or a butterfly or a car) while Joshua is working on sounding out the words on special cards where he then traces them. They have had fun with the dry erase markers!

They've also had fun with regular markers. Caleb is using the little writing station we got at a yard sale to try and trace (although he ends up just mostly drawing). We're also working with him to tell us what his pictures are about that he's working so hard on.

Caleb also loves his look-n-find book from Great Grandma Good. He knows where every single thing is in the Handy Manny book, and he'll go over it over and over again. We've read other books, too, and I always love how the boys have many of them memorized that they can say some of the words with me as I read.

We've also played lots of games - Memory, Dominoes, Chutes & Ladders and more! I'm impressed with how their skills at these games get better each time we play. I do miss our time together at parks, the boys riding bikes, taking walks around the neighborhood and being outside in general. But, we've had fun doing indoor activities this week, too.

Friday night we went to celebrate their cousin Jenavieve's 3rd birthday. I think the boys had lots of fun playing with their cousins. Aunt Gayle's older brother created a 'missing person' game with a black monkey. He would go and hide it and the little guys would try to find it. When they'd bring the monkey back, they'd add another stuffed animal for him to hide along with it. Soon he was hiding quite the collection of toys. Joshua thought this was a riot! When we got home, we gave them a bath and put them to bed. It was a shame I had forgotten my camera!

Looking at the above photo makes me smile. The boys did NOT want their time in the box to end. At first they wanted to help Daddy put the seat together, so the box was a distraction. Then it became the main event! They climbed in together and gave each other a hug. Of course, I wasn't fast enough with my camera!

Caleb went to give Joshua a kiss, and the Bean put up his hand. So, Caleb kissed it and we all laughed. As they started rocking the box, I feared someone would get hurt. I suggest that we tear open a corner and start the destruction process as they played. It worked! After a long time of fun in the box, we had ripped it enough that they were okay with moving onto another less dangerous activity. I LOVE MY BOYS!

Here are two little guys that have been a 'special delivery' to us. We're anxiously awaiting the third who will join us in just a few more months. :)