2 Part Post: Trains and "Precious"

First of all, just a couple thoughts. I think I'm finally adjusting to this whole CT thing. I feel like it's taken a lot longer this time. I'm not sure if it's because the move was so fast, the distance from family, problems with our townhome, being on antibiotics three times in a month, or maybe a combination of all of those factors! All I know is I feel like I am finally catching my breath. I can't believe we've been here 8 weeks already! We are making friends and keeping VERY busy. 

Part 1: TRAINS. 

Trains are a way of life in this part of the country. We live at the end of the Metro North Railroad line that goes into Grand Central Station in NYC every day. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before, but we actually live right next to the train tracks. It took our boys about a week to get used to the train going by. We live next to an intersection, so the train conductor pulls the horn when he goes by to alert people in the intersection. Great for safety, but not so great for sleeping children at midnight and 5:30 a.m. (thankfully there's no trains between those times). We do have noise makers for the boys, though, and that helps. Thankfully it's not too bad most of the time, but we do get some conductors that are horn happy. During the day, the train is one of my boys' favorite parts of our place. Parker runs to the window when he hears it go by. Brody has down which trains are which and counts how many people cars are on the engine when they go by. It's actually been pretty fun! 

In Danbury they have a Railroad Museum next to where the train is parked at night. We were able to check out a pass from the library to go for free on a Saturday afternoon. It was great because we pretty much had the place to ourselves. They had a train yard with retired trains and really was a history lesson. It was great! (On a side note....Brody's grown 2 inches or so since Christmas. He is going to outgrow me way too soon as he already comes up to 2 to 3 inches above my belly button!)

Sitting with Dad in the caboose!

 My new favorite picture of my boys. This was inside the steam engine

 Dad showing the boys the parts of the train

 For train loving little boys, this was great!

 The train that isn't retired and drives by our house 10-12 times a day!

 Inside they had all of these model trains set up. The boys pushed the buttons and watched the trains go round and round. 

 Also had LOTS of train tables to play on. They Loved it!

 Such a curious face!

 Part 2: "Precious"

A girl at Jared's work has a dog that's her baby. She is from Texas so all of her family lives far away. She was telling Jared one day how she didn't know what to do with her dog when she went out of town and how it made her nervous to keep her at a kennel. My dog loving husband quickly grasped on that and said, "Oh, we'll watch her!" The dog's name is Precious and she is the most spoiled dog I've ever met. However, we watched this dog last night and my boys were in HEAVEN. I really wish I could've had a video camera on Brody the whole time the dog was here. He followed her all around and was very much a little caretaker. He wouldn't let us leave her in her crate to go out at all. When we went out he had to hold her on his lap in the car. When Jared would get out Brody would say, "It's okay, Precious. He'll be right back. He just went in to get his wallet. I love you, Precious. You're a good dog, Precious!" He'd even put his voice up higher and everything. It's been so funny. We only had her for a night this weekend, but we'll have her all weekend next weekend, so more fun to come! I tried to take a few pictures to capture this little relationship between Brody and Precious. Precious would wait for Brody to come back and as soon as she saw him she'd wag her tail. When he'd leave she'd just wait for him. He has a friend! :) 

Parker was more interested in chasing the dog. Our two boys are so different it's hilarious! Lastly, just a couple pictures from Parker today. Mr. Rascal liked only a certain part of his special donut: haha!

 The personality just kept coming out, so I'll add the last two pictures. :)

Hope you are all enjoying Conference weekend!!

Trouble

Oh my little boys. They crack me up. First up: Parker man. We went to Target yesterday to get Brody some new underwear and when we got home Parker insisted on trying it on also. I opened the package to let Brody pick out which ones he wanted to wear and Parker took off with a pair. I look in Brody's room and he's standing up balancing himself against the wall holding them up and trying to get a foot in the hole. He was having trouble so he sat down and tried again. He eventually got one leg in and I thought it was so funny I helped him with the other leg. He was so happy and ran around the rest of the day like this: 

(hard to see with this shirt on. Anyone else remember Brody wearing this shirt like yesterday?!! How does it already fit Parker?!!!) 

 He tried to give me a bum shot haha!

 Then the shirt came off and away he went!

 He's trouble this little one :)

 Brody doesn't really like having his shirt off (ahem...Jared) but he didn't want to miss out of this little run-around-with-your-shirt-off event. 

Next up: Brody. Last night he was supposed to be going to bed but kept coming out to tell us these elaborate stories he had come up with. We were getting a little frustrated with him because this had been going on for a while. Well, the last time he came in, he said, "Hey guys. There's a big daddy piggy who stomped on the ground and went, "(insert loadest snort ever!)" Jared and I both busted up laughing. It was so funny and he was so proud of himself that he had made us laugh. It's like he'd been planning that one in his room for a while. They absolutely crack me up! 

Mother Goose Time

Hello again! I hope you have all had a great week! We have been lucky enough to have some wonderfully warm (60 degrees!) weather this week so we've tried to get outside as much as possible. We have had several play dates, another trip to the zoo, and just some great activities. I can honestly say I don't think I've ever had too many activities going on, but so far here we really have! 

One of our new activities is an at home pre-school program. Private pre-school around here is $400/month. There is a public pre-school but there is a waiting list for it right now and next year Brody won't qualify since he'll be old enough to go to Kindergarten (though we aren't sure we're sending him....topic for another post another day). Anyway, a friend told me when moving here about a program called "Mother Goose Time". She said she had her Masters in Education and thought it would be a little ridiculous to pay someone else $400/month for pre-school when she could do it at home. So, I thought I'd share the program with you so if any of you are in a similar situation as we are, you know there is this option. I was a little bit unsure of it at first, so I only ordered the first month, but I'll tell you what I've learned so far and you can decide from there. :) I will say, however, if we had stayed in Boise I would've kept Brody in his pre-school because he just loved going so much! Anyway...

Mother Goose Time is an entire program that is actually the same exact one Brody's pre-school teacher in Boise used. I am able to order lesson plans depending on how many students are in my "class". Since it was only $4/month more to add Parker on there, I ordered enough for 2 students this month. It comes in a box with a school bus on it and my kids were excited just from that! Parker said he wanted to drive the box. haha! It comes with 20 lessons plans for the whole month. It has a starter kit, calendar, circle time activities and CDs, books, and a packet of materials for each day/lesson plan. It costs me about the same amount of money each month that sending Brody to pre-school in Boise did ($65/month). I was a little overwhelmed at first at all of the information it contained, but I figured out how to adapt it for my kids and it really has been so much fun. I'm someone who does better when they're busier, so this definitely has helped me get more done (I know that sounds strange, but my only 4.0 gpa semester in college was when I was taking 18 credit hours, newly married, working as a teaching assistant, and had 2 other part-time jobs. I'm weird.) 

Brody calls me "Mrs. Mommy" during pre-school time. We have a better, more structured routine and get dressed, etc. before "school". I have special chairs they sit in and Brody is so cute. He raises his hand to answer my questions, corrects me if I don't do something exactly how Mrs. Stacey did it, and helps Parker to know when he's not doing something right (which is frequent....2 year old attention spans are VERY short). They have loved taking turns as VIPs just like Brody did in his pre-school class. Remember the constant thing from a few posts ago? Brody is very happy about this arrangement. We had a playdate today and when his friend came over he was so excited to show his friend how he has school at his house! Parker's favorite thing to do is the craft that comes with each day. Sometimes it's painting, writing practice, making lanterns, etc. Parker also likes to look out and do the weather for us. Other than that he struggles with the little lessons, so Brody and I usually do those together while Parker takes a break and plays. Anyway, I know different things work for different people, so I just wanted to let anyone know about this who is interested. If you have any questions, please let me know! Brody misses his pre-school in Boise and this is definitely helping to fill that void. 

Just a few pictures of our wall that is now our "classroom":

 Brody wanted his men in the picture :)

 I really should've taken better pictures before doing this post, but I just have a couple of a couple ideas we did yesterday and today. We are actually doing the theme for February since Brody missed February of "Around the World". We are learning about money, passports, modes of travel, countries around the world, etc. One day it had the idea to make boats out of pita bread and cheese (I added the twisty mac and cheese and PB crackers for portholes). 

 The boys also made cameras that have different pictures in the back that they can switch out. 

I guess I've been so excited about this, because I feel like I've had good ideas in the past but didn't know how to put them together. This is great for me because it gives me a framework to work with and even sends me all the materials I need! In the next few weeks we are going to put our new traveling knowledge to the test and take the train into New York City after a visit to the Railway Museum here in Danbury (you can check out passes from the library to go for free...hooray!). I'm grateful to have all of these wonderful things at my disposal to make this program fun for my little boy who misses his pre-school. I should add that we are trying to do playdates 2-3 times a week to fill the socialism void and so far have been successful in that. It's great having so many young families here! 


The website for mother goose time is:

http://mothergoosetime.com (no, I don't get any kickbacks or anything for recommending them...I really do just love their program!) 


Well, Jared and I are speaking in our new ward on Sunday so I should probably go finish my talk. I think this is record timing for giving talks in a new ward! This will be our 4th Sunday. haha! Hope you have a great weekend :)