Xander and Roman have been taking swim lessons this winter (while Jonas is taking art lessons and trying his hand at Destination Imagination). It’s always so exciting for me to see them swim…I’m amazed at how quickly they learn and how far they can swim.
Before winter break started, I tried to stock up on a few activities for the boys to do at home in between outings. Today we busted out the Gingerbread House making kit!!! The boys watched a how-to video on www.wilton.com/gingerbread-wm while I worked on getting everything set up (gingerbread, candies, and icing). We ended up learning a few fun, helpful things from the video…you can use sugar as snow, a gumdrop can be rolled out flat and then stamped out with a small cookie cutter shape, and it works better if you decorate your gingerbread (and let it dry) before you put it all together. Here’s what Jonas, Xander, and Roman came up with…
The boys and I loved checking out the Smyrna Outdoor Adventure Center today. Aunt Jean bought them a membership for Christmas…thanks, Aunt Jean!!! I know they’ll have a blast in the climbing rooms in the fall/winter and at the pool/splash pad in the spring/summer. Here’s Xander scaling the climbing wall, and Roman monkeying around on the ropes.
The boys enjoyed making and decorating sugar cookies this morning…
I loved being able to be a part of the boys’ winter parties on the last day of school before winter break. Xander’s class hunted for candy canes, painted ornaments, and played reindeer antler ring toss. Jonas’ class listened to Mrs. Blackburn’s special Christmas stories, made a ribbon/cinnamon stick ornament, and exchanged books with their secret pals. Roman’s class decorated Santa hats, enjoyed a game of holiday bingo, and played musical stuffed animal presents. They loved joining in the holiday sing-a-long in the gym…their favorite part was seeing the Gingerbread Man.
I subbed in an Early Childhood classroom last week and was so TOTALLY inspired by her sensory table filled with Cinnamon Vanilla Rice that I had to rush home and make some for the boys. I never thought much about integrating the sense of smell into play, but it makes it all so much more fun.
They have played with it like it’s going out of style…from the time they get home from school until it’s time for dinner, after breakfast until it’s time to go to school, etc.
Here’s Roman “dabbing” behind the “snow castle” he and Xander built.
We spent Thanksgiving in Virginia this year. Here we are with Grandma and Grandpa, the Northern Seyfrieds (Tim, Mary, Lindsey, and Audrey), the Longs (Rich, Sherri, Kaitlyn, and Andrew), the Paccassis (Dave, Tree, John, Lily, Peter, Sam, Gianna, Philip, Sam, and Gabe), and five priest friends from Ghana (Father Felix, Father Eric, Father Patrick, Father John, and Father Eric).
Happy Halloween from the Seyfrieds!!!
Jonas: a Ninja
Xander: Ash the Pokemon Trainer
Roman: Steve from Minecraft
Tom: an alien
Jodi: Katniss Everdeen from the the Hunger Games
I loved being able to go on Roman’s kindergarten field trip with him to Walden Pumpkin Farm. He visited with the animals, learned about the life cycle of a pumpkin, picked out a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch, and went on a hayride.
We had a wonderful Fall Break!!!
On Wednesday, I took the boys to the Patterson Park Community Center indoor pool. It was the first time that Jonas and Xander were tall enough to ride the big, twisty slide…so they were super pumped. Roman was bummed out that he couldn’t ride it but found a friend from school to play with and got to spend some special time in the water with Mommy.
Grandma and Grandpa came in on Wednesday night to spend Fall Break with us. We always love their visits…Petra too, she does laps around the house as soon as they walk in the door.
On Thursday, Grandpa and Tom went golfing, while Grandma and I took the boys to the zoo. First, we stopped to see the monkeys who were spunky and swinging from the branches. Then, Grandma rode the zoo’s zip line ride, Soar, with Jonas and Xander…she’s so cool. The boys were even tall enough to ride it with each other, which was really exciting for them and a little bit scary for me. We rode the carousel several times, and Grandma got to cross two things off of her bucket list (riding on an elephant and riding on an ostrich). Afterwards, the boys ran around on the playground and we snapped some pictures with the pumpkins.
On Friday, we relaxed at home (the boys love playing board games with Grandpa), and then went to Walden Pumpkin Farm. The boys visited with the animals, ran through the mazes, and played in the activity center.
I enjoyed being able to go to each of the boys’ fall parties. They had so much fun wrapping their friends up as toilet paper mummies, making scarecrow and pumpkin crafts, and eating yummy fall-inspired food. What a great way to ring in Fall Break!!!
The boys were SO excited to run in the Fun Run. Thank you so much to everyone who sponsored them!!! They had a blast running and helping raise money for their school.
Jonas is playing soccer again this fall (Tom is his assistant coach…go Daddy!!!). This was the first Saturday that we had fall weather…it was beautiful. Here are all three of my little dudes in action during the game:
Roman had Apple Day in his kindergarten classroom this afternoon. I loved being able to be there with my little buddy and help out. It was such a fun set up…the kids rotated through the following stations: apple stamping and face painting, apple stained glass, apple graphing, apple weighing, and apple tasting. I think Roman’s favorite station was apple tasting…with red and green and pink apple slices, red and green apple chips, apple fritters, apple pies, and apple juice.
Roman was SO excited to bring Chester, the classroom raccoon, home this afternoon for an adventure. He and his brothers had a blast running around with Chester…
The boys had Donuts with Dad this morning at school. I was SO incredibly moved by how many dads showed up to be with their kids…the line literally wrapped around the school and snaked down the hallway…I teared up and applauded all of the daddies as I walked by…especially this one with these three boys.
We picked the boys up early from school, so we could all watch the eclipse together. We drove about an hour north where totality was longer. My favorite parts, aside from sharing such an historic event with my family and watching the boys play in the lake afterwards in the changing light, was hearing this precious lady say, “Praise Jesus!” and seeing all of the fish start biting when the sky went dark. What an amazing day, and what a gift it was to witness it!
Today was Roman’s first day of kindergarten!!!
Roman, going to kindergarten: “When I grow up, I want to be a drummer.” AND “When I grow up, I want to sell cars.”
After seeing what he came up with to wear on his first day, a gray Minecraft t-shirt and gray athletic shorts…I decided that I would try to finagle him into wearing something nice for his first day of kindergarten. (I know…I know…but I just couldn’t let it go…next year.) I explained to him that every other day of the year, he can wear whatever he wants (besides picture day and church day which are nice clothes days). He heard that and agreed to put on some khaki shorts. So, I thought I’d go for the polo next (not a button down…a polo). He even picked which two he liked best but then totally put the breaks on. Being one of the stronger willed of the three, he REALLY put the breaks on. As I was watching us all lose patience with each other and the anxiety increasing and seeing his sweet little face start to break down and cry and meltdown mode beginning, I decided that it just wasn’t worth it. After Tom stepped out of the front door, Roman walked up to the kitchen counter, with his tear stained face, and started counting out poker chips (we use them as “task coins” for completing tasks and each one counts for a minute of screen time…the boys prize them…especially this one). I said, “Roman, what are you doing?” He counted out 17 task coins (to add to the three already in his jar), pushed them over to my side of the counter, and said, “I’ll do it for 17.” I said, “How about 15?” He said, “Nope. 17.” I shook his hand and said, “You’ve got a deal.” (I’m not in the habit of making deals, mind you, but I made a deal this morning…and my strong willed five and a half year old put on a red polo for his first day of kindergarten with a big confident smile.) Ah, life.
Here Roman is holding his first day of school sign, posing with mommy and daddy in front of the school, walking into the kindergarten hallway with this big brother, putting away his backpack, and getting started on a gingerbread necklace with his sweet teacher. Look out kindergarten…here Roman comes!!!
The boys and I enjoyed checking out the Adventure Science Center again…
