Great weekend!

This past weekend was really great! We spent a lot of time together as a family, which was needed! As a special trip for our new potty trainee (ok and we wanted to get out and have fun!) we took the Metra downtown and walked down Michigan Ave. It's been over a year since we last did that....last year we went for our anniversary and Z was 3 weeks old! Anyways, Samuel had a GREAT time!! We went to the lego store and let the boys play for the longest time:) Samuel cried when we had to leave. We stayed downtown for several hours and didn't get home til 4:30pm, fed the boys and had them both in bed by 6pm! Yes! Samuel has been asking about the train everyday since..
The weather was SOOO beautiful all weekend, which was refreshing! We went to the park on Sunday afternoon where Samuel made some new friends and Zakkai practiced walking. Monday we went to a BBQ with some of Ben's classmates and their families. It was really nice to meet the people he's been talking about for the past 2 years (they are all 2nd years so Ben's the big man on campus to them!) It was really fun and the boys had a great time. Samuel made another new friend named Abigail and they had a blast running around giggling:)
Tuesday we had some friends from Indiana come stay overnight with us. Tom and Eileen are moving to China to teach at an international school and were passing through on their way to visit family for the next 7 weeks before heading off to China! They were SO great with the boys. It took Samuel a little while to warm up but once he did, he was attached like glue to Mr Tom! They got him to eat every bite of his dinner, kept the boys occupied while I was cooking...I was ready to hire him as a nanny!! It was really wonderful to spend time with our friends, who are such a great blessing to us.
PS. Tom, we found the green tractors today...in the laundry basket! Samuel has started this new and very annoying thing of climbing out of his bed! Would you believe it took him almost 8 months to try it??!! He climbed out the first morning after sleeping in his "big boy bed" and we told him he couldn't get out until we came to get him and that was that! Now all of the sudden since last week he keeps climbing out and does several things. One he goes behind the rocking chair which is by Z's crib and wakes him up (GRRR!) or plays with him or goes and sits behind the door. I'll come in and Samuel will be in bed and I'll find toys in Zakkai's crib and think "How did that get there?" We've tried a few things but it's not working! If you have any suggestions, I'd love them!!
Samuel is funny when he talks sometimes because he tries to use very grown up words and they don't always come out quite right or he'll use them in every sentence. For instance, the other day we were building train tracks and he was jabbering on and on about something and kept saying "especktally," in every single sentence! At first, I couldn't figure out what he was saying and then realized that he was trying to say "especially" but was combining it with "exactly!" Ha! "And then the train goes here and especktally this one goes here..." it was hard not to laugh!
Zakkai is starting to throw tantrums. Did I mention that yet?! The toddler show of independence has begun...He'll get frustrated that something hasn't gone his way or a toy was taken and drop down, crawl about 2 feet and spread out on his tummy on the ground. Then he'll get up and look at me with a crocodile tear like, "Did you see that, mommy? Can't you see I'm upset?!!" Such a hard life!! Especially when your older brother won't let you rip apart his puzzle or steal his animal crackers or mommy won't let you call friends on her phone! Sigh..
We're doing good and have had a pretty good week, other than the fact that Ben has come down with a cold and feels pretty crappy. That's not too good when you have exams to study for! Other than the cold, he has been feeling better and looks great. He's dropped a lot of weight and is working out a lot. I'll have to post a picture of my new buff skinny husband:) We've both been trying to exercise a lot and eat lots of veggies:) Now if we could just get Samuel to like vegetables....