We checked out the Harvest Festival in our local recreation center on Saturday.  Connor was excited to dress up as a fireman, but Logan seemed to be embarrassed and eventually wanted out of his knight top.  Once we were inside, the boys enjoyed the kid games.  Connor followed Logan’s lead, played through the different booths and received small toys rewards.  Afterward, Connor was more interested in the art and craft booths than Logan was, but they both made a little bat.  We got some popcorns to snack too.  Then Connor and I went to join a music class while Logan and Stuart got us some books from the library.  We also let the boys play at the playground before we left for lunch.

   Connor and Logan are very different in the sense that Connor is always listening and more attentive.  When Stuart and I talk among ourselves, Connor often asks us “What you talking about?” or “Are you talking about me?”  He catches on what Logan is doing and mirrors quickly.  When we play “I Spy”, he copies Logan and randomly gives clues “it is inside the car” or saying things like “You give up?”.   He can recall many locations that we drive by, like the swim school, our old apartment, an ice cream place or Scottie’s vet.  Unlike Logan he remembers names well.  He still can recall his old school’s teachers while he talks about his new teachers.  He even knows Logan’s teacher too.  Many things we only have to mention once and he remembers.  He asked us once the reason we eat at the kitchenet table vs. at the dining room table.  We mentioned that we would eat at the dining room when we have guests.  This morning Stuart shared with Connor that the grandparents will be visiting us soon, Connor’s first reaction was confirming that we would be eating at the dining room table.  He has also learned to recognize a majority of the alphabet, and knows many shapes and colors.  Logan is starting to feel a lot of competition as Connor is hot on his heels, and sometimes quicker, in answering quiz questions from us.  Connor loves the idea of homework that each night he enjoys going through his school work with one of us.  Tonight he even showed me how he writes his name too.

    Can’t believe it has been 8 years!  Stuart and I took today off to celebrate our day together.  With so many things we need to do for the house, today was a perfect day to go shopping.  We went to six stores, shopped for hours, spent lots of money, and we felt accomplished.  Going shopping with the boys lately has been tougher as they are more hyper and playful together.  So today was very nice to be able to take time studying and deciding what we need.  After the productive day, we were tired and needed to take a power nap together before picking up the kids. 

   Our good day however started and ended not too pleasant.  Logan had his picture day at school today.  His hair has been getting long and can get messy at times, so we had talked with Logan about his hair for picture day a few times.  Logan did not seem interested about it until this morning.  He suddenly got mad and would not tell us the reasons until Stuart sat him down.  It turned out that he was worried about not having the ordering form.  We must have missed the form somewhere, so we tried to reassure Logan that I could pick up another one from the office before class.  He was still so worried that we ended up searching the house and running a bit late.  I had the boys rushed into the school with me so we could grab the form from the office, fill it out and hand to the teacher just a couple of minutes after the class started.  It was not fun being a frantic parent.  Then tonight after a good dinner, for no reason this time, Logan got whinny again on the drive home.  He was being huffy and very stubborn throughout the rest of the night for which we just ignored him.  Logan ended up not getting bedtime reading with Connor and he finally broke out crying.  He eventually went to sleep when Stuart threatened to take his animal away. 

    I forgot to blog about pizza making last Tuesday.  We have been wanting to do this for awhile now.  We picked up the kids from school and went straight to Pizza My Heart.  The boys were excited with the idea of making their own pizza.  We were given the supplies (dough, sauce, cheese, pepperoni, ham and pineapple) quickly; we sat down and started assembling.  The boys had fun; they were not greedy, did not put everything on their pies.  We quickly finished the job and hung out while waiting on the pizza.  I later picked up some pizza for Stuart and I, and the boys shared some of ours until theirs were ready to eat.  Logan had a great appetite; he almost finished his entire one along with small slice of ours.  Connor finished half of his too.  They both also enjoyed the left over at lunch the next day.

    I took the boys for a walk to the local elementary school this Saturday while Stuart did some yard work.  I accidentally took the wrong route (or longer route), so the boys were laughing at me and calling me “Bad Momma”.  We enjoyed our walk and checked out the houses with Halloween decorations.  But Connor was walking very slow at times that even Logan tried to rush him so we could make it to the park there before sunset.  When we arrived, we went directly to the bigger kid playground.  Logan seems very happy to learn that this would be his school soon.  The boys ran around the structure chasing each other, and they also played as handymen fixing the structures.  For the rest of the time, the boys spent watching another couple of siblings playing together on the structure too.  They were well entertained until it was time for us to go home.

    The next day we tried a bike ride to the trail near our house.  It has been awhile since Logan got on a bike, so he was a bit rusty and the nervous-nelly he usually is with slopes.  Connor on the other hand tried to ride superfast to beat Logan.  We managed to ride around our neighborhood and saw the trails.  But we decided that it was a good first ride for them, so we turned around to ride home.  We did stop by the school again to allow the boys another quick play.

    We all finally had our vaccines on Friday.  Stuart picked up the kids early and brought them to my office, then we headed over next door for the vaccines.  There were no lines, so we had a chance to chat with the nurses for a little bit.  I had told Logan and Connor before the day that they could choose between a shot to the arm or a liquid to the nose, but Logan insisted that he did not want either one.  Thus while we were in the clinic, we just defaulted on giving the boys the FluMist while Stuart and I received the shots.  The boys watched us getting the shots, and did not react to it.  Then when it was Logan’s turn, the nurse (trying to trick him) asking if he wanted chocolate and strawberry flavor, but Logan declined both of them.  I made the executive decision for him to get the chocolate liquid, and the nurse proceeded to give it to him.  Logan turned his head with the first round, so some leaked out, but he did ok with the second nostril.  We kept with the strategy and asked Logan to inhale and tell us if it was the chocolate favor, but he said “I did not smell anything”.  Connor’s turn went fast.  He stayed very still and received a dose on both nostrils quickly.  The nurse instructed him to sniff in and asked if he smelled chocolate, Connor gave a small smile and a small nod.  He was sweet and gullible.

    Tonight started at dinner time, we noticed both boys seemed to have a sniffle.  By reading time, they became more congested and had a runny nose.  We had to have a tissue box and a wastebasket next to us while we read.  The exact onset of both of their symptoms made me wonder if it is related to the FluMist but today was day 3 already.  I guess we will have to wait to see how they both are doing tomorrow, but hopefully it is vaccine-related.