A trap

Tonight we were playing hide and seek when Liam laid these quilts on the floor and proclaimed that he had laid a trap for Karsten.  Karsten was in another room hiding and waiting for Liam to come find him, so he didn't see that a trap had been laid, nor did he know the game had changed.


This is Liam explaining how his trap was going to work.  I think it went something like, 'when Karsten comes in, he'll fall in the trap....and then I'll roll him up'.


Liam took his blankies, left the quilts and went over to a chair to wait for Karsten to come to the trap. He also yelled 'Karsten, I have a trap for you'.


When Karsten ran into the trap, Liam and Scott rolled him up like a burrito. I wish you could have heard the giggles - their laughter was contagious!


Next, Liam said 'Now trap me, my turn!'


Whomever said quilts were just for beds obviously didn't know they could be traps or forts or a million other things that cross the boys imaginations!

ONE Day...

Dinnertime is familytime at our house - no tv, no phones, just catching up with each other's day and having dinner.  Sometimes it's quick and others it can take an hour since the boys often get distracted with talking and don't eat.  We're working on taking turns talking so they don't just start talking and get progressively louder if someone else is talking.  So, we'll say something like 'Just a minute, Daddy is talking, it's your turn when he's done.'

Usually, when Liam's been waiting to talk and it's his turn, he doesn't really have something to say, he just wants to be sure he's part of the conversation.  So, he typically starts with 'ONE Day...' then he'll tell us something that happened today, or make something up (he went to see a volcano today!) or bring up something that happened long ago (my friend Quentin hit me).

Now, when it's his turn to talk, we all wait in anticipation and then giggle together as he starts with 'ONE Day...'

Wordless Wednesday - Brothers

Homework

Karsten had an optional worksheet that he could do for school, and if he did, he would get a sticker for his sticker chart.  He has his eye on a beanie baby crab in the treasure box, so he was all about doing his worksheet.

Liam immediately wanted to do homework like Karsten, so we got out his water paint alphabet cards so he could paint his letters.


Wouldn't it be great if they would always be this happy to do homework?

Success and Build A Bear Celebration

In a moment of potty training desperation last weekend when we were trying to convince Liam to poop on the potty, I said we would go to Build A Bear when he pooped on the potty.  After doing a great job potty training at Gail's house this week, we were hopeful it would continue at home this weekend.  He pooped in he potty on Saturday, so we headed out to Build a Bear after dinner.

We had checked out the bear options online, so the boys had already decided that they wanted superhero bears - batman for Karsten and superman for Liam.  After they chose their bears, they got to choose a heart and select the characteristics their bear would have.  They could choose things like 'Brave' or 'Strong' or 'Kind'.




The next step was the soundmaker, but (thankfully) they didn't want their bears to make noise.  So, we moved along (quickly before they changed their mind) to the stuffing station.  The gal that helped us was awesome, she talked to the boys and told them about what she was doing.  At the end, they kissed the bear's heart, rubbed in their hands and put it in the bear.


Next the bears got a pretend bath to get rid of any dirt or fuzz.


The completed bears and the boys - all ready to go home!


Liam had trouble keeping the box from bouncing on the floor or against him, but he wouldn't let us help him.  He wanted to hold it himself.


We're so proud of him - and he's pretty proud of himself as well!  We had to clear up a misconception that he got to go to Build a Bear EVERY time he went poop in the potty.  Haha!


First thing this morning, the boys wanted to color their bear's houses!

Lucky me!

Look what was waiting for me when I got home from work today!  No special occasion, Scott said he knew I loved hydrangeas and pink, so when he saw them he knew he had to get them.  What a great surprise!

Ready or Not!

Tonight we went to a parents information meeting about Kindergarten.  I know with 100% confidence that Karsten is prepared for Kindergarten, and I believe that this extra year we gave him was the right decision.  He's going to be much more confident and comfortable socially.  Not to mention all of the great things he's learning this year - math, reading and writing.

Now - am I ready for Kindergarten?  That's a WHOLE different story.  I think I'm in denial that he's five (and a half) and is going to Kindergarten.  Time goes too quickly.

After much consideration, we've decided to send him to the school at our catholic church. We love the community, like the religion that will be incorporated into his days and are impressed by the high academic standards of the school.  He'll also have slightly smaller class sizes than he would at public school which was a small bonus for us.  It was a tough decision, especially since we live in a fantastic school district, but we decided for our family, this is what felt like the best choice.

Wordless Wednesday - Spelling

Moothies

We've been on a green smoothie kick for a while, and we all love them.  It's a great way to get lots of fruit and veggies into the boys.  With so much crud going around, we've been having smoothies with lots of vitamin c in them to try to keep everyone healthy - our favorite has spinach, water, a banana, 2 oranges, frozen pineapple and mango.  This is the 'Hulk' smoothie, and if we have a berry smoothie, it's the 'Superman' or 'Spiderman' smoothie.

Now, some of you who know me well may be saying 'what? she ate a banana?'  It's true, I have an extreme adversion to bananas, but in most of these smoothies, you can't taste the banana!

Anyhoo, back to the moothies as Liam calls them.  The boys take turns getting straws for the smoothies - one gets straws and the other gets napkins for the table.  Tonight was Liam's night for straws, and he spent a lot of time pondering the color of the lines on the straws (please ignore the clutter that is my pantry).  

I've found a ton of great smoothie recipes at Simple Green Smoothies - if you join their 30 day challenge, you'll get receipes emailed to you during their challenges.  YUM!

I miss you!

When we got home from work, school and daycare today, Liam told each of us 'I miss you day'.  Aww, melt my heart, plus add a heafty dose of mommy guilt. After the weekends which are full of family time, it's often a tough adjustment to routing on Monday.

While some evenings the boys start squabling as soon as they begin playing, tonight the boys played together so well. Karsten had a very specific story he wanted Liam to play along with, and luckily, Liam was on board and happy with the role he was given.


When they cleaned up and gathered up all their Legos, Karsten wante me to take a picture of him with his lego guys and hospital.  Not to be left out of the fun, Liam hopped into the picture.

Growing Teeth

Karsten's second front tooth only fell out a few weeks ago, but his permanent teeth are growing in more each day! I've been surprised at how quickly they went from whit spots peaking through his gums to actually looking like teeth.

Marble run

The boys are still having a great time playing with the marble run that Santa brought them.  It's been built and knocked over more times than I can count. Each design in the instruction book has been built and now Karsten is suggesting other ideas of ways we can build the ramp.  They're not always structually feasible, but he's learning each time we try something and it doesn't work.

Liam is less interested in building the marble run and more interested in dropping his marbles in and watching them run.




Fun for all ages!

Beados

Who remembers Beados from when we were kids?  They may have been called something else, but they are beads you put on little plastic shapes, then use an iron to melt the beads together.

Karsten did a Beado at school and was so excited about it when he brought it home.  I immediately thought 'ohmygoodness, crafts!' and bought Beados. We've made several at home, and Karsten continues to make them at school.

I've suggested adding magnets to the designs or using them as coasters.  Nope, he'll have none of that. He just likes to stack them up, occasionally throw them like a frisby, and get them out to look at.

Peanuts and Potty Training

Liam is halfway done with potty training.  Why halfway you might ask?  He has mastered going pee in the potty, and immediately wants a new pull up if he has an accident.  He does not like to be wet.

For some reason, he does not like to poop in the potty, so he holds it as long as he can.  Eventually he complains that his bottom and 'peanuts' hurt and wants medicine (aka diaper cream) on his bottom.  We make several trips to the potty where he claims 'no working now' or 'poop is sleeping' or just 'I NO WANT TO'.

So, for now, we encourage, we bribe and we wait.  We have a jar full of cars and balls that he can choose from when he goes poop in the potty, and he get's M&Ms as well.  He's had a few successes that we celebrate grandly hoping that he's finally on his way to being fully potty trained.  We'll get there soon enough.

Wordless Wednesday - Hi Hi Cheerio!

Tic Tac Toe

Tic Tac Toe is a popular passtime at our house lately.  Karsten talked Liam into playing with him tonight, and he said 'Don't worry, I'll take it easy on you.'  Hahaha - this cracked me up, because I recall saying something similar to Scott long ago when we were playing checkers.  Oddly, he never wants to play checkers with me.  ;)

True to his word, Karsten let Liam win a few times, and after several games, Liam was starting to get the hang of it and actually be a worthy opponent for Karsten.

The real world

After enjoying two weeks together on Christmas break, it was time to go back to work, daycare and school.  We had so much fun enjoying relaxing days together, playing games, reading books, taking naps and celebrating with family.

When we were getting ready for work, Karsten asked if we got another Christmas break after this week.  How nice would that be?

When we finally got on our way (we were moving a bit slow because no one wanted to wake up), Liam was upset because he wanted to play at home.  But when I reminded him of how much fun he was going to have with his friends, he thought of a few things he was excited to tell them and Gail.  Karsten was looking forward to seeing all his friends and hearing about their Christmas breaks.

The day went quickly as I had a lot to catch up on, so before I knew it, I was on my way to get Liam.  When we got in the car, he said 'I miss you mommy' {melt my heart} and 'I play Karsten at home?' When we got home, Liam ran over to Karsten and gave him a big hug before he took his hat or shoes off.

But, don't be fooled, after a few minutes, we started to hear the familiar 'Mommy, he's touching my toy' or 'he stuck his tongue out at me.'

I think we were all excited to get home and see each other!

Belated Christmas

Today we celebrated Christmas with Linda, Leland, Kelli, David, Trent and Taylor. Karsten had a birthday party to go to this morning, so when he and Scott got home around noon, the festivities began with present opening!

Trent got a workout this morning running around carrying Liam and Karsten.  They would run around in circles and the boys would say 'AGAIN, AGAIN!', and Trent was a good sport and kept going.


When Karsten got home from his party, he wanted to join in on the phone.  Check out that tattoo sleeve - that was the party favor from his party.  Cool idea!


Then, finally it was time to open presents.  All four boys have been waiting very patiently as they eyed the presents under the tree searching for packages with their name on the tag.


Karsten's going to have fun playing Batman on the Wii - I bet Trent and Taylor could give him some tips!


Liam has enjoyed his light up Ninja Turtle that Linda gotten him for his birthday, so Kelli got him a big Dream Light dino.  I know he'll love it - every night before bed, he would grab his turtle and say 'You gotta see this.', then shine the lights on the ceiling in different colors.


Checking out his new Superman cave with Daddy!


So glad Trent and Taylorlike their Royals ALCS Championship hats!  Hopefully the winning ways will continue and we can get them another one next year!


Liam and Papa have had a lot of fun playing together.  Papa may be getting tired of Liam saying 'Play with me Papa!'


Checking out Karsten's new game AnimaLogic.  I'm not sure I completely understand how to play, but we'll get it figured out.


Look who wanted to play with Karsten's Light Brite!


We decided to have a family picture, but I couldn't find the camera attachment for the tripod, but Scott remembered reading somewhere that the bottom of cameras will screw into the top of a lamp.  So, we gave it a try, and voila, this was our makeshift tripod.  Luckly, our lamp bends in two places so we were able to bend it to get an angle we needed.  Add a game for stability and a few movies to level it off, we're set!  I think I should add a tripod to my birthday or Christmas list.


My models to see if we could get in everyone from front to back.


We thought we nailed it with one of our first takes, but them we noticed that Leland was partially nidden by Linda.


We corraled everyone bck to the sofa for another picture and ended up with a good pic (except for the lack of smiles from my boys - Karsten said he WAS smiling).


This one only took one shot - they did great!  Beautiful smiles and who loves Kelli's hair?!


Grandma and Papa with the four boys!


Much to Scott's chagrin, I wanted one more family picture.  Kudos to Trent, Taylor and Kelli for making the boys laugh!


It was a fun Christmas celebration - we ended with dinner, wine and chatting.

When Karsten saw how close Liam was sitting to Trent, he wanted to move his chair close to Trent.


Then we had some great pies and sweets for dessert.  I wish I could claim those pies, but they're from the meat locker in Linda and Leland's town.  Delicious!