Lazy day

The boys went to Silver Dollar City yesterday with Mandy.  They had a very full day and got home late, so we expected them to be extremely tired today.  Noah's a mess when he's running low on sleep, and he didn't disappoint.  We had to put him back to bed by 10:00 and he slept for over three hours.  The weather cooperated - it was dark, cool and rainy, and there wasn't much to do outside.

After naps, the weather and their moods were both much better, so we went outside to play.  I put a brake on Elliot's little bike while they were sleeping, and I intended to teach him how to use it.  The pedal-less bikes don't come with brakes, and the bike store says that most kids will use their feet to slow and stop themselves.  But they haven't met Elliot, who has crashed a couple of times now due to uncontrolled downhill speed.  We had to buy one of these for Noah's bike too, though more to save money on shoes than to keep that speed demon from crashing.  He literally burned holes in his shoes using them as brakes.

It wasn't a success.  Elliot tried, but only momentarily, and then reverted to the shoe-brake again.

Noah made these at school.  He asked his teacher if he could make another one for his brother.

I have no idea where this came from

Trying the brake out

Comparing war wounds. Noah was showing Elliot some old bike-crash injuries.

This little worm entertained them for quite a while, until they lost it in the grass.

Racing down the church driveway.

Swinging hard.  

Elliot wants so much to do everything his big brother does.

Awwww, playing together.

That didn't last long.  Momentary brotherly spat. 

Hanging at the church with Elliot

I love mild winter days.  Elliot and I went for a walk today, but the walk ended as it often does, at the end of the block.  The church just draws the kids to run and play and according to neighbors with older kids, always has.  Paul recently shared about the trouble with this vacant church.  BUT, great news for the church - it was recently purchased!  The new church has several locations and this is going to be it's newest right here in Brookside.  It doesn't reopen until Summer so they can do necessary repairs and maintenance.  We are so happy this beautiful church is being taken care of in our neighborhood, and staying true to it's purpose.

The Church

There is a church down the street from us, at the end of our block.  We've referred to it many times, because we've been there many times.  Never inside.  Always outside, where we take advantage of the empty driveway, the wide, flat sidewalks, being able to climb on the steps, lay in the grass, or pick up pine cones, etc.  It evokes a lot of memories; this is the place I think of when I remember Noah learning to ride his tricycle on the long, sloping driveway, and then his bikes, both pedal-less and pedal-full. He learned something about gravity and physics, braking and turning.  And now his 2-year old brother is learning to do the same.

It was the home of the Sixth Church of Christ Scientists, but it's empty now.  On any given Sunday, there were probably a couple dozen cars parked outside for service, the owners of which were decidedly aged. The congregation, what little there was left of it, had decided some years ago to raze the building due to the lack of membership and the operating costs.  They were talked out of it by the local homeowners, who thought it would be a shame to tear down.  They tried to make a go of it, but dwindling members can only mean one thing.

I'm fascinated by this church, because it's not only one of the most beautiful churches I've seen - and I'm generally not sophisticated enough to be a discerning fan of architecture - but it's one of the most beautiful buildings I've seen. It is built from stone, and from the outside it almost has a castle feel to it.  Its tall copper spire is identifiable from many blocks away, and provides an easy marker to tell how far from home I am. Until it recently collapsed in a storm, the front yard of this church held the most massive tree on our block.  It would have taken four or five of us just to reach around it.  There are many times, especially at night when the moon or streetlights are illuminating it, when I wish I'd had a camera with me to record the beauty, but knowing I could never do it justice.

The church is for sale now, and selfishly I hope it goes to someone who can continue with its intended use.  The property is also zoned residential, so technically it's feasible to make this thing a giant house.  And don't think I haven't toyed with the idea.  But given my gas, electric and water bills, I can't imagine what this thing would run.

A part of me hopes it is never sold, but more than anything, I hope it's never torn down.  I hope it finds new life.  Isn't finding new life what a church is supposed to do?

Taking a walk

These are just a few cellphone pics of my walk with Elliot yesterday.  We used to do this more often when it was just three of us, before Elliot and before Noah got so mobile.  Now Elliot tends to get the short end of the stick when it comes to just taking a walk because we are always "on the go", strapping him into a bike seat, or car seat until we get to our destination.

It was enjoyable - I mostly just watched.  He ran sometimes, meandered others, and occasionally just sat down to play.   We walked down to the church, across the street to the Trolley Trail (where "we" stood in the middle of the trail making joggers and bikers go around) and around the block.  It's fun to go at a little kid's pace once in awhile, and have no particular place to be.

Spring is in the air

It has been a LONG winter. Not just cold and snowy, but without SUN! It felt so good just to drive with the sun shining in, much less actually getting out and playing outside. I'm so glad Spring is coming!

I got Elliot his first pair of real walking shoes. It is still muddy from the melting snow and his little soft soled crib shoes aren't going to work for all our outdoor play coming up. He instantly crawled, forgetting how to walk as soon as I put them on. I'm sure it won't be long before he's running in them though. He measured a size 5 1/2 Wide. Noah was 5 1/2 extra wide (at 9 months when he started walking). So smaller than big brudder for sure. I thought his feet were narrow - hahaha! I'm used to huge Fred Flintstone feet I guess. Noah also got some new tennis shoes that have green trim on them, so he was thrilled. And taking them both by myself shoe shopping at Nordies went way better than I expected. Shoe shopping with Noah is something I have always despised. Waiting for our turn, him cooperating sitting still to try on shoes, etc. He did awesome yesterday! Elliot was the one running away into their stock room multiple times! I bribed Noah with a Merry-Go-Round ride and cherry limeade if he did good.

We spent the afternoon outdoors. E loves digging in the dirt, playing with acorns, trying to RUN even though he only really started walking in the past couple of weeks. I was just trying to prevent a face plant injury on the cement at the church. He is at that age that he is wild, has no fear and has his own agenda. This spring & summer he's going to keep me on my toes just chasing him. I had to run him home quickly to wash hands after him attempting to pick up dog poop someone didn't scoop.

I only have a few cell phone pics of E. Noah was running around playing Captain America chasing Batman & Wonderwoman (Hudson & Addison).

This is as far as he got climbing. God forbid I try to help him or move him to something else!

Playing at the church. This little vest brings back so many memories of Noah playing in the dirt too (only it was Fall for him)

Playing with acorns

Boyz in da hood

Today Noah and Hudson were riding bikes and Noah comes up to me "Take a pick-er of Hudson and me". So I did.

Noah rides that pink princess bike of Addison's probably just as much as his own Lightning McQueen bike.

This is his new thing. He stands up while riding all the time now. He thinks he's big stuff.

Mobile uploads

Just running around at the church, as usual. He's such a ham with the mobile phone pics because he sees his face on the screen and thinks it's hilarious.

Some random recent pics

I am always taking pics when we are outside on walks and playing with my phone. The quality isn't the best, but hauling around Elliot and Noah, it's just not as easy to carry the nice camera on the go.

This is Noah showing off his knee boo-boos of the day. These were from skidding/rolling down the hill at the church.

I wish this was a good quality photo. He was making Elliot laugh. They really do love eachother.

One of our favorite places to play is the church at the end of the block.

Last week, Paul took a day off to spend with us. We went to the bouncehouse place, to lunch, walked to Brookside for ice cream and the Reading Reptile and the boys both fell asleep on the way home.

Aunt Rara brought some crafts to do with Noah the other night when she babysat, so Paul & I could have a date night. He told me today "My gwasses special to me". Of course he then told me that his sidewalk chalk, squirtgun, marker caps and baby monitor were too. Haha.