The Minton Family.com

For Lana’s 7th birthday, she wanted to visit the American Girl Store.  So, over Labor Day weekend, we went to visit Grandpa and Gram in Schaumburg.  We got in around 9 on Friday night and the kids played will all of the fun toys that Grandpa and Gram have until very late!  The next day, we all took a train ride into the Windy City.  Then, we got to ride in a “taxi car”, as Jonah likes to call it!  The American Girl Store lived up to the girls’ expectations.  With their money that had been saved from birthdays and allowance, Lana bought a new doll, which she named Dakota, and Jada bought an outfit and glasses for her dolls.  Gram also bought them each and outfit for their dolls and got the dolls’ hair fixed.  Josefina REALLY needed a new do!  On Sunday, we did a little shopping and went to the park…it was a perfect day!  We headed home on Monday and stopped by to see Jennifer & Patrick’s new baby, Derek.  All of the kids were begging to hold him (he’s only 8 days old) and didn’t want to give him up when their turn was over!

Levi & Jonah started school at St. John’s Lutheran Preschool today.  They were very excited to get into the van and go!  We hung up backpacks and went to Jonah’s room first.  He gave me a kiss and was on his way.  Then it was Levi’s turn.  He was more timid when it was time for me to go.  After I signed him in, I realized that I hadn’t signed Jonah in and had to go back to his room.  When I got there, he was standing alone looking at the firetruck that someone else was playing with…when he saw me, he said he wanted to go home and got very clingy.  Finally, the teacher took him and redirected him to the toys.  After school, they both said that they had a good time, and Levi had a good note home.  He did admit that he cried because he missed me

The girls are back in school..WOOHOO!  They both got their preferred teachers and are so far doing great!  I took popsicles to Lana’s class yesterday to celebrate her birthday since she has a summer birthday and can’t bring in treats then.

Having the boys at home during the day has been…well, interesting. We have spent some time outside when the weather has been nice, including a trip to the park.  Right now, Levi is taking his turn on the iPad while Jonah colors and I’m making lunch.

I took the boys to meet their teachers this morning.  They were both surprisingly clingy for the first little bit, but then neither wanted to leave!  They will officially start next Wednesday!

We are heading to Grandpa and Gram’s in Schaumburg for Labor Day weekend.  The girls are looking forward to the much awaited trip to the American Girl Store in Chicago and getting to visit with Grandpa and Gram!

We had a great time in KY the first part of August.  Jada and Dale spent most of their time in the pool!  Levi got brave enough to let go of the side of the pool and doggie paddle around (his swimsuit has a floating part to it).  Jonah loved playing with all of Dale’s cars!

Jackie went out of town for the weekend to visit her cousins and after going to the park, walking through the woods, and some Baskin Robbins ice cream, I decided to take the kids to see a movie; Toy Story 3. This was the first time in the theater for both boys. They did really well, even Jonah (still 2). When we walked in, Levi’s first words were “That TV is huge!”. It was pretty funny. At the end of the show, the credits hadn’t yet started, but most adults knew the movie was over, and everyone in the theater was quiet when out of the blue Jonah hollers “It’s over!”.

They seemed to have a great time. Levi wanted to take the popcorn home and to “tell them thanks”. I told him the $60+ we spent was thanks enough.

Happy Birthday to Levi. Grammy and Grandpa & Gram came to Levi’s birthday party today for cake, ice cream, and gifts. He got a lot of fun toys and seemed to have a really good time.

I just realized, now that Levi has had his birthday, he’s 4 and I’m 40. Pretty cool.

I love you Levi!

Taking the boys to daycare often means keeping them talking so they aren’t fighting. This morning on the way to daycare, I mentioned that one of the stoplights was out because of last night’s storm. Jonah then yelled out the color of the next stoplight he saw. I pointed toward the area of trees next to the road and asked him “What color are those trees Jonah?” to which he replied “Green!”. “Good job!” I said. “What color is the grass?” I asked. “Green!” he replied emphatically.

About that time Levi piped up and said “Trees aren’t green.”. Wondering how detailed he’d thought about it, I asked “What do you mean Levi?”. “Trees are brown, the leaves are green.” he replied.

I thought that was pretty observant for a 3yr old.

Mom brought the girls home from their week long stay last Friday. While she was here, Jackie got a call from her cousin Jennifer asking if she wanted to go visit their Grandma Saturday evening.

After Jackie left, we didn’t really have much to do, so we went to BestBuy to check out the 3D televisions. I was the only one who had seen them at this point, so it was all new to them. Mom and the girls were pretty impressed. Jonah didn’t want anything to do with having to wear glasses to watch tv, but Levi’s reaction was the best. He put the glasses on, watched the TV for a few seconds and said “This is amazing!”. We were all cracking up.

So much has been happening lately…

1. We are having no luck getting people to even look at our house, and there have been no offers.

2.  The contingent offer on the Summerwood house expires the 7th which is probably good because

3. I don’t have a job for next year…yet

4.  The girls are out of school for the summer!  They are spending this week at Grammy’s.  From all of the pictures and emails we have gotten from them, I’m guessing that they aren’t going to want to come home tomorrow!  Grammy is bringing them home tomorrow and then heading back to Marion on Sunday. The boys have asked about the girls a lot.  On the way to Janet’s this morning Levi said “I’m sad”.  When I asked him why he was sad, he told me that he misses Jada and Lana.

5. The boys love mud.  I know, big surprise, right?!  We have had a lot of rain lately and there is a mud puddle/pit that just doesn’t want to dry up.  Every day the boys have their cars going through it.  I bought them sandals last weekend and they have been a godsend..it is so much easier to wash those every night than it was the gym shoes!

6.  We are trying to plan some things for the summer.  Lana wants to go to Chicago for her birthday.  We are also trying to coordinate a trip to Holiday World with my brother and his family.  And, we are planning a weekend at their house in August.

7.  Bill got an iPad as a late birthday gift….it has become another appendage…

8. Levi turns 4 in a few weeks….time sure does fly!

Levi – On the way to the babysitter this morning, Levi was singing, but not your typical nursery school song…he was singing “Cheer Up Sleepy Jean, Oh What Can It Mean” – Daydream Believer by The Monkees. Think the girls watch that a little too often?

Jonah – he’s been really fussy lately, terrible two’s I think, but he did let us know he likes to watching “Tigger and Poop”.

Lana – she’s lost a 2nd tooth, but it’s ok, she gained a boyfriend. A teacher emailed Jackie, evidently Lana isn’t too fond of the boy, but he’s got quite the crush on her.

Levi – We had a guy over working on our bathroom floor for a couple of days. Levi went in to check on him and let him know he’d come check on him later. What was funny was that he made him confirm receipt of that by saying “got it”. Something Daddy makes Levi say when he’s in trouble to make sure he knows what to/not to do.

Jada – Well, just don’t talk to her in the morning unless she talks first…otherwise, you get to deal w/the wrath of Jackie…I mean Jada. Heh

Levi – I have two monitors (beside one another) hooked to my PC. Before heading upstairs, I turned them off. Levi asked me why I closed the computer’s eyes.

We’ve been pretty busy lately, so no pictures or videos uploaded. We’re trying to get the house ready to put on the market. We’ve painted the living room, dining, room, part of the kitch, the foyer, the utility room, and part or all of 3 rooms in the basement. We put trim up in the basement, cleaned out a couple of the storage areas, and have boxed up a ton of stuff. We’ve also changed out all of the outlets for the 3 prong kind, replaced a switch, and had the bathroom floor redone (we didn’t do that part). We have some things to give away (old treadmill, two old workout benches, a stepper, etc.), but still have way too much if you ask me.

The title pretty much says it. He’s 3 1/2 now, and trying to figure out if he’s the man around here. He’s talking back quite a bit, manhandles Jonah at every opportunity, and is testing the waters with Lana. Jada is still so much stronger he can only take her with a blind shot but if I were her, I’d be on the lookout.

The other day, he picked up a whiffle ball bat and Jonah ran and hid under the train table. That tells you what Jonah thought was going to happen next. I took the bat from him, but not without a struggle.

Tonight, he popped 3 or 4 keys off of Jackie’s (relatively new) laptop. He broke one of them, and I couldn’t get another one to work after popping it back on, so I went ahead and ordered a new one. After shipping it was about $45. Let’s just hope I can get it changed without breaking something else. If there’s one type of computer I hate working on physically, it’s a laptop.

“Gas Day”, days where I get gas, have turned into “Gas and Doughnut Day”. I like the kids to have little things to look forward to, little surprises and such, and the last couple of times I’ve stopped to get gas on the way to work, I’ve gone in and gotten the boys doughnuts. They of course love that, and while I don’t get myself any, I do love hearing how excited they are all the way to daycare over something as simple as doughnuts.

Levi and Jonah have been saying more and more funny things lately. I can’t remember them all, but this morning, Levi was singing “Cars! Cars!” followed by what I assume to be the rest of the song, but I couldn’t understand it. After 4 times in, Jonah begins saying “Lebi, ‘ats noying”. I think that’s hilarious.

Last night, Jackie was correcting Levi and the way he says certain letters. As he came walking over to her, she told him to say something and shaking his hand left & right, he said “I can say it, don’t worry about it.”. We were cracking up.