Our Fun and Busy Weekend

 Saturday morning was the annual fundraiser for a group called Raising Readers. The whole event is focused on books and reading.  What could suite me better?  I ended up winning all this stuff in the picture above.

 First I won a baking basket - which came with a mixing bowl, spatula, potholders, kitchen towel, two round cake pans and a box of the good kind of German chocolate cake mix and frosting.

 I also won a box of kids' books and a stuffed bunny.

These three books were ones that each of the kids got to choose for free, along with a free toothbrush.  Other freebies included pencils, bookmarks, rubber ducks, and other trinkets.  They were giving away door prizes, and had a breakfast that was just a donation thing.  We had a nice time.   They had people dressed up as Dr. Seuss's Cat in the Hat and Grinch, and one lady was dressed like Ms. Frizzle from the Magic Schoolbus book series.  Our three year old was afraid of the Cat in the Hat.  He didn't see it coming, and the person bent down right in front of him, then he turned around and it was right there.  Poor kid was terrified.

 The eight year old's favorite part was the face painting.  He intentionally wore his Batman shirt so he could get the mask painted on his face.  They had just done around his eyes with the black, but when he got home, he smeared it down like this.  This is the most Batman-like pose of the group of shots.  He was trying to be all cool about it, and took several poses, which I'm including here because we make the blog into a family yearbook and someday he's going to get a real chuckle out of this...

Yep.  This is a case where the pictures pretty much say it all ;)

 Coincidentally, this was the next picture on the camera - which caused me to laugh hard, because he wasn't posing - we just caught him at an odd moment.  But it sure looks like he was imitating his brother.

 Surprisingly Saturday night was the first time the baby had been given a bath in the sink, which he thought was great fun.  I usually use the baby bathtub, but we have been sorting and cleaning and the counter was a little cluttered ... okay, a lot cluttered.  Anyway, he saw me coming with the camera and started smiling and hamming it up.

 I hadn't planned on rearranging the living room, but just started moving stuff last night and now it's completely different.  Sorry no before pictures.  You'll just have to trust me that it's a lot different.  We took the futon couch to the thrift store, and brought in a couple smaller chairs we had in the garage. 

I moved the toy sorter which used to be under the boxes on the wall and put it over by the changing table to separate the living and dining room.   Don't look too closely at the dining room yet.  I haven't gotten that far yet.  Right behind the sorter is the changing table.

Then I took the bookshelf which had been by the changing table and turned it to block the pack and play so I now have the option of putting another pack and play in the living room without the kids being able to see one another. 

 I thought a reading nook would be nice, so I slid the bench around the corner from the front entry (still loaded with snow gear and roller blades and helmets) and put it in front of the window as a window seat, complete with pillows.  That also helps to hid the plug where the boot dryer is plugged in. 

The window seat is opposite the bookshelf, so hopefully the area will be used for that.

We brought in the red chair on the right and the beige rocker on the left.  I think it is a lot more open this way, and I think it will be a nice change. Anyway, that was all on Saturday.  By 10 pm, I still hadn't started my casserole for the church breakfast we always have after Easter Sunrise Service.  I finished that but thanks to a pulled muscle, my talkative daughter ;) and a baby that decided to be hungry just as I was falling asleep, I didn't actually get to sleep until around 1:30 am.  And sunrise service was at 7.  Well, we made it through the day, but I must say I'm pretty exhausted.  And here I sit on Sunday night after midnight.  Ugh.  Will I ever learn?  Thankfully I only have one daycare kid tomorrow, and she's the easiest one, so it should all be good.  Since we brought my big stroller in yesterday I'm planning on taking the kids to the park and maybe the library if it's nice again tomorrow.

 I did manage to get my boys to the park tonight (after a very insistent three year old convinced me that we needed to go.)  I had seen this little stroller trick before but wasn't sure the three year old would cooperate.  He liked riding this way and visiting with his little brother.  It gave them both something fun to do.  This stinker didn't even take a nap today.  Doesn't he look tired here?  He's not usually up until 9:30 or so, but this morning I woke him at 7:30 and we were on the go all day.  Even after we got home from the park and played a game of dominoes, he was still up.  It was close to 10 pm before he fell asleep - while his diaper was being changed.

He decided to give swinging a try tonight.  The baby loves to swing, and bobs himself back and forth to let us know to push him higher.  And the eight year old is a daredevil who loves to get going really high and then fly off the swing.  But the three year old panics when he swings.  I guess he decided he didn't like the baby being able to do something he didn't do because tonight he wanted to swing.  I barely pushed him at all, and he told me in a very trembling voice, "I'm being brave."  The other day he told the baby, "You're a big boy L---.  You need to go potty in the toilet."  I guess he's heard that a lot given the fact that he's three and a half and absolutely refuses to use the potty.  For a long time he was afraid of it - even the little potty chairs.  Now he will at least sit on it once in awhile.  Oh well.  I guess he'll figure it out eventually.