"D" week with a bonus lowercase c

We breezed right through lowercase c along with uppercase C last week since they look the same, ones just smaller.  Why can't they all be that way?  We did, however, neglect to make our lowercase c for our alphabet books so we made sure to tackle those this week as well.  The boys seemed to think it was necessary since every other letter so far had a partner.  We decided to go with a cat theme.  Mason clearly has Halloween on the brain but was worried people might not know it was a cat, thus the speech bubble to appease him...

...and Colton is a stickler for things being anatomically correct it seems.  He insisted on pink inside the ears and 4 legs for his cat...

...cute, right??

With lowercase c completed, we were ready to move on to uppercase.  D is for DINOSAUR...

...the boys are always happy to have a chance to cut...

...and sometimes cut everything they can get their hands on once they get those scissors in their hands.  We decided to take a tip from our friend Aunt Sheryl and make some fall leaves with the scraps.  It was fun!

We also made these fun DINOSAURS...

...using this template for inspiration. 

We also had fun with DINOSAUR tracks with some play DOUGH...

...this activity actually got repeated several times because it was such a bit hit.  They started making tracks with all kinds of things and really had a great time with it.  

D is also for DUCK who we love to visit...

...especially now that we are back on the bikes again...

...don't they look ready to conquer the world?  Love them!  

D is also for DUNKIN DONUTS which the boy DEVOURED....

...and I DRAINED every last DROP of my DARK roast...

...it was the perfect afternoon pick-me-up.  

D is also for DIGGING...

...by the way, this little concoction is really fun...8 cups flour mixed with 1 cup baby oil mixed by hand and then played with to your little heart's content.  The boys LOVED it!!  Thanks to the Preschool Journey for the idea.  

Our field trips included 2 trips to the library to restock our stash of books...

...can you tell we're excited about the new season?   We also got some good DINOSAUR, DOG and DRAGON books to stick with the theme.  This list of suggestions was a great starting point.  You know us, we always veer off the path a bit and I'm absolutely ok with that.

We also made a trip down south to visit the sea life at the River Center...

...and Loggerhead Marinelife Center...

...and constitution park for the first time.  How great is this playground??....

...the picture seriously doesn't do it justice.  It is the best playground we've found in this vicinity by far.  We had fun just hanging out for a bit....

...and we will DEFINITELY be revisiting this park every time we're down that way from now on.

Can't wait to see what excitement we can find for lowercase d.  Stay tuned!

A Vacation and Some Birthday Fun

Mickey and I have back to back birthdays...mine is September 12 and his is September 13.  Lucky us, huh??  We get two days in a row each year to celebrate each other.  It definitely makes for a fun time each year.  This year we started the celebration a bit early with a trip to Key West.  It was my first time leaving the boys behind and after a bit of an unsettled start on my part, we ended up having a great time.  It was great to get away from reality a bit and just spend time together one-on-one...something that doesn't happen nearly enough these days.  Thank goodness for sisters who double as best friends and are willing to come babysit...and on top of that thank goodness for soon to be brother-in-laws who come down to help out as well.  We're a blessed family!

The highlights of our trip for me were getting my husband all to myself, LOTS of bike riding, plenty of sunshine, probably too many adult beverages, some incredible food (ask me about the Cuban place...haha, and Amigos - YUM!), some gorgeous sunsets, and time to just breathe for once.  Good stuff!

We were bummed that we didn't even get to see Scott but we did get to hang out with Abigail for a little bit before she had to head home and we made sure to take her to the Food Trucks...

...and took full advantage of the wide open spaces to play while we were there.  I got in a good arm workout too...

LOVE them!! Abigail made sure to get in on the action too...

She and Colton worked on some dance moves for her upcoming wedding as well...

The boys ADORE her!!  We wish she lived closer. 

The next couple of days were a blur with story time, music class, a trip to the airport, produce, fixing the A/C, etc...the usual.  Before we knew it, it was officially my birthday.  I couldn't have asked for a better day.  We kicked it off with a bike, ride, followed by some play time outside which included our first experience with baseball...

It was a hit...

...literally!  They're officially in love with the challenge.

We also squeezed in a quick trip to the beach and some down time at home before heading out for a sushi dinner at Benihana...

The boys are getting pretty darn good at using chopsticks... 

...the cheater kind of course.  Love it!

The fun continued today with Mickey's birthday.  We kicked off our morning bright and early with a family photo shoot courtesy of the AMAZINGLY TALENTED Lindsey Potter.  She already shared two photos so far...

How awesome is she?! To get both boys looking at the camera and smiling is a huge accomplishment.  She is amazing!  If you're local, you MUST get her to take some family photos for you.  She is the BEST!

We followed it up with bagel sandwiches and an impromptu trip down to Jupiter to hit up some of the boys favorite spots...like the Loggerhead Marinelife Center where we made sure to kiss the turtles...haha... 

 ...and played in the play area too...

...we love these big guys...

Our next stop was the River Center...

Their aquariums are FANTASTIC!  Our final stop was the Hobe Sound Nature Center where we had the place to ourselves and the most wonderful staff person to help us check everything out...

We got to see a feeding of a skunk and got to pet each alligator and the crocodile.  The boys were in HEAVEN!  Of course you have to check out the lighthouse and the drawbridges as well when you have toddlers in tow...

Mickey had a quick doctor's appointment once we were back in town so while he did his thing, we did our thing with my running shoes and the stroller....until we started getting rained on.  Oh well.

The birthday fun continued with a trip to Hurricane Wings to indulge in some of Mickey's favorites...wings, fries, and beer.   Its good to let loose once in a while, right?? :-)  I enjoyed every bite.

We finished up our evening with some TV with the boys and some homemade fro-yo prepared in my new ice cream maker compliments of my mom.  It is AWESOME!  I see lots of healthy ice cream alternatives in our future..pumpkin, coconut milk, etc...YUM!  

Life is good...I love how my birthday always helps me to realize how blessed I truly am.  I hope my man felt the same way.  Happy Birthday, Mickey!

Story Time and A Field Trip

We survived our first full day without our extended family.  My book club meeting that was scheduled for last night got postponed, but my friend still allowed me to take advantage of her wonderful babysitting services so I could tackle some errands...I only ended up tackling a trip to Target since I ended up browsing the clearance stuff all over the store...it was nice to be able to browse all alone.  Too bad none of the clothes I tried on fit me right.  I did get some diapers and groceries though, which seems to be all shop for these days, oh, and I did score some new shorts from the clearance rack for the boys. We finished up our evening with a short little jog and dinner before calling it a day.  I fell asleep within seconds after crawling into bed.

This morning kicked off with a quick Shaun T cardio workout (I'm trying to make up for my slacking off over the last month) before our usual Tuesday morning routine of scrambling out the door to get to story time at Blue Door.  Today's featured stories were...

 Denise Fleming has some great illustrations and simple stories that the children loved.

After story time, we headed down the road to visit the River Center in Jupiter.  I can't believe this is the first time we've gone.  It was fantastic!  100% toddler friendly and fun...

This little guy was SOOO much fun!  We thought he was a grouper but ended up finding out he was from the piraña family but had been hand fed by a previous owner and was therefore super interactive.  We spent lots of time with him.

This is where we spent most of the rest of our time there.  This aquarium was huge and full of fun stuff like this...

...and this...

Cool huh???  The boys were mesmerized!

We also had fun going through the hands-on stuff in the drawers...learning about life cycles and studying specimens.  Usual toddler stuff, right???  

We will definitely be visiting that place again sometime.  We didn't even do the touch tank...more to look forward to next time, right??

On our drive home, we stopped by Sandsprit park.  It was pretty hot on the playground...

Can you guess who's who??  Even harder with the sunglasses, huh??

We ended up taking a walk along the water where the breeze was better and we could look at the boats (and the sad, polluted water...but that's a whole other story)...

These little boogers are so much fun....it must be so cool to be a twin.

Best buds for life!!!

We just fed our growling bellies and now it's nap time/chore time in Plankerville.  Time to tackle a couple tasks I've been avoiding for a while.  I'm gonna continue to avoid the yard for another day or two though...it's not going anywhere.