Redemption and the Goodwill Adventure

Rick and I watched a movie once called Redemption. It starred Jamie Foxx as Stan "Tookie" Williams, the founder of the Crips (LA based gang). There was a part in the movie where he goes to prison and the first thing he does when he walks into his cell is stretch out his arms as if to measure his freedom. The width of his cell walls were barely the length of his arms. He didn't have much freedom anymore.

Sometimes this apartment can start to feel that way. It becomes more of a prison than a home. The walls close in around me and I become irritated. I just want to strecth out my arms and feel a little freedom. So I told Rick that we really needed to get out of the house today. Once he got home from work and Ben got his nap, we got ready and headed out.

Nicholas in all his coolness

Ben just as sweet as can be

Ah, the open roads

We ended up going to one of my most absolute favoritest (word?) places. The once place that always pops in my mind when we talk about getting out of the house and going somewhere. The one place I never tire of...

Oh yes, that's a Goodwill

I absolutely love Goodwill. And not just any Goodwill, but this one. I've been to quite a few different Goodwill's, but none of them can top this place. I always feel as if I'm about to go treasure hunting when I approach this place. What does it have in store for me today? A beautiful blouse I can get dressed up in? That cool looking kitchen gadget I saw on TV and always wanted to try. Or maybe that CD I once had and used to play in my car while singing at the top of my lungs before someone "borrowed" it. We never walk out of there empty handed.

This was Nicholas most of the trip, crying or whining about something

Hehe, Ben and his Halloween wig hat

Where'd Ben go?

Tuckered out

Who knew Goodwill could put kids to sleep

In the end we found some really cool things. Among them: 5 books, a jacket for Nicholas, Bryan Adams Cd, a 4x6 pictuer frame, an Arthur book for Nicholas, Crayola washable paint set, and an awesome watering can. To top it all off, we spent less than $20. These are my favorite finds...

3 seemingly good books (all $1 each!)

An absolutely awesome watering can ($3!)

Dirty Room

Today Nicholas made a mess in his room and I asked him to pick it up. Now I'm not expecting him to vacuum, dust, make his bed, and clean his room to the nines. I take into account that he is a 3 year old little boy and he gets distracted by toys and sometimes even his little brother. But I do want him to learn he has to clean up after himself. I don't want him growing up thinking I'm his maid and I'll clean up whatever mess he makes. As long as he makes an attempt at picking up and puts some things away, I'll be happy with that.

So after I went to check his room, I found he had done a really good job. I was proud of him and I thanked him fo cleaning his room. Later in the day I was on the computer looking something up when I heard the boys in their room. I went to check on them and this is what I found...


10x worse than the mess he made earlier



He even took apart the drawers where we keep loose toys

And of course here's the ladder/slide/ramp

Ben doesn't understand what's the big deal

First of all, this confirms to me that they have way too many toys. ight now my dining room is covered in toys that I picked out to sell or giveaway. But from the looks of this, I need to do another sweep of their room. Secondly, it was like pulling teeth trying to get him to clean up this time. It literally took all night to get him to clean up. And in the end Daddy and Mommy had to do most of the work. Ah, we still have another 15 years....



Sleep Time and Snack Time

Lately I've been finding Ben in odd situations when he is sleeping. One night he just wouldn't lay down and go to sleep. I had to tell him numerous times to lay down and stop playing. It wasn't until after he had finally fallen asleep that I figured out what was keeping him up.

If you can't tell, he's holding the plastic stick that goes into the toilet paper roll to hold it onto the dispenser (not sure what it's called). I have no idea how I didn't see him have it, but apparently he was having barrels full of fun with it.

Ben likes to take naps in our bed. Who wouldn't? It's the only time you get a whole bed to yourself. Anyways, he tends to play with his ears when he is tired or as he falls asleep. Today when I went to check on him I found him like this...

...face down in the pillow, still holding onto his ear. He slept like this for quite awhile. It makes me wonder if he woke up with a sore ear.

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Today I was scanning Food.com when I found a section titled, "Top 25 Kid-Friendly Recipes". Now that Nicholas has grown into the picky stage, I had to check it out. It had some really great recipes, one of which I made today for their afternoon snack time.


Cinnamon Tortillas

They were quite easy to make and turned out pretty good. The boys seemed to enjoy them. There was complete silence in my house for a good 7 minutes, so I'd say that's a good sign.



What Today Was About

I've tried this blogging thing before, but after a few weeks I always fell off the blogging band wagon. A blog I've been following for a few months has inspired me to give it another go. This time I really want to do it for me. If someone should come along and read this, great. But if not, that's ok too. It will be a nice reminder of what our days were filled with when my boys get older. I decided to revamp the look and the name of my blog. I'm hoping to customize it more down the road as I learn the ins and outs of the blog world. But for now, this is our story....

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The boys and I were getting a little stir crazy being inside the house for the past few days, so I decided to take them out to the playground behind our apartment.

Love this pic of Nicholas

I wish I had a better camera, but this is an action shot. He was trying to ride that horse off.

We went for a little walk. You can't quite tell, but they are holding hands.

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When we came in the boys got a bath, ate lunch, and Ben went down for a nap. While Ben was napping Nicholas and I decided to bake some of the best oatmeal raisin cookies. It is one of my favorite recipes and the cookies are just so delicious.

Ok, Nicholas was hanging out in his underwear and didn't have any shorts on, so I drew some on him. lol