New Chair

Ryan got a new chair for his office last weekend and brought it home so Noah could "help" him build it!  Noah loves to help with any job/project/task and this one was no exception.  Not only was there a giant spinning & rocking chair to play in there was the added bonus of a giant cardboard box which was quickly turned into a house and placed (you guessed it) in the dining room!

Hanging in the chair together!  

Pesky little bro...

And he has had enough!

Just a little cozy in there!

Peeking out his window with the "Go Duck" curtains!

I scream you scream!

We all scream for ice cream!!!

We have fallen into the really bad habit of catering to the boys dinner wishes (mac & cheese, PB&J, garden burgers etc).  One of my little brothers ate Eggo waffles for three meals a day until he was 10 and I always swore I would never do this, ha, easier said than done!!!  So things are changing around here, we have been talking about the dinner thing for a long time and decided it is time for the boys to start learning to eat a real dinner, meaning whatever I am making they are eating.  Silas is all for it, he pretty much eats whatever we put in front of him, Noah is not so cool with this change.  He has tried a few new things but is still not happy with the situation...  They both finished all of their chicken Parmesan, pasta and peas the other night so we had a special DQ treat!  Gotta love those faces!!!

Circle Time

Every day after school Noah likes to recreate "circle time" with me and Silas.  It is the sweetest thing ever, he uses his easel and his pointer (a pen) and goes over everything he learned at school that day.  He won't even start circle time until we are all sitting criss-cross-applesauce...  He always talks about the days of the week and does some counting but yesterday he drew a picture of a person!  He always draws pictures for us but usually makes up silly names for them or tells me it is nothing, but he actually pointed out all the parts as he drew them this time!!

Big Boy Bed

Yesterday was a pretty big day around here, we took the rails off Silas's crib and turned it into a big boy bed for him!!!  He has climbed out of his crib once and was really making me nervous with all the jumping and climbing that was happening so we decided it was time.  I am pretty sure Noah is more excited about this than Silas...   Noah really wants a bunk bed.  We told him that when Silas is big enough he can have Noah's current bed and we will get Noah the bunk bed he has all picked out at IKEA (the one with the tent on top like his buddy Kevin has).  Needless to say, he was asking to go to IKEA yesterday to pick up his bed because Silas is ready for a big boy bed now.  Not quite.  Silas did do pretty good though, at naps yesterday I only had to put him back in his bed three times and I think it was three times at bedtime last night too.  Today at naps it was just once so hopefully we are moving in the right direction!

When we said it was bedtime last night both boys climbed into Silas's bed!
Noah even brought in all his own blankets and snuggles as he calls them.

"Does this mean Silas has a big boy bed now?"

Look I can do it myself!

Resort Time

Noah is totally into playing Wii right now and is really starting to figure out how to control the guys on the screen, it is hilarious to watch!  Santa was nice enough to get Ryan the new Call of Duty game in his stocking but he decided to trade it in for a more family friendly game (thanks Daddy)!!  So, we just got the Wii 

Resort game instead and Noah is loving it!

  

Wakeboarding for the first time!

He told us he is going to wakeboard for real at
Nonnie and Papa's this summer but wanted to know if he
was going to get wet while doing it...

Thirsty Thursday

Maybe I have lived in a cave for a while but I learned about Thirsty Thursday at Jamba Juice today!  I hardly ever go to Jamba Juice, it just seems like so much sugar and I think they are a little expensive, but I had a gift card and thought what the heck...  The girl explained that on Thursdays you can get a GIGANTIC cup for $.60 more than the small one.  I usually don't go for this but then she said "I can split it up into cups for you and your son if you like" - she had me!  Needless to say, Silas had his first Jamba Juice this morning and I am pretty sure he is in love.  The girl explained that you can split the humongous cup into two kids cups and have enough left for the small cup, I am thinking this could be a fun after school treat every once in a while when I really want to pump the kids full of sugar and let them go wild :)

Happiest kid ever!

He kept getting chills when he was drinking it and would
do a little shimmy shake and make the funniest face!

I feel potty coming...

My sweet Booga has just finished his second week without diapers!!!!  He kept telling us that on Christmas he would start using the toilet and when he refused Christmas Day we thought, great now it is going to be Valentines Day or whatever other random time he comes up with (he had originally said Halloween, then Thanksgiving, then when it snowed)...  

However, December 26th Noah decided it was time.  He did his first #2 on the big potty chair and informed us that he does not wear diapers any more!! HOORAY!!!!!  He has only had two accidents, one at home and one at school :( and has woken up dry from almost every nap and is also dry most mornings!!!  We don't even have to remind him anymore, he just yells "I feel potty coming" and runs to the bathroom to do his thing!!  

He such a sweet and honest little guy, he has a little container of M & Ms on the bathroom counter and takes just one whenever he goes potty, it would never even cross his mind to take more than that.  He also has a poop box that I filled with little trinkets and toys for when he goes #2.  He has the option of picking a toy, two M & Ms or a little bag of organic gummy bears and he almost always picks the gummy bears or the two M & Ms.  

I am one seriously  happy momma right now!  One down one to go to a diaper free house!!!

Puddle Stompin

I have been meaning to post these pictures for about a month now and finally figured out how to get them off my phone and onto the computer so here they are...
These are from early December when it seemed to rain for weeks on end.  There was a sun break for a couple hours and I asked if the boys wanted to go for a walk to get out of the house.  Noah decided he wanted to ride his bike and we ended up at the soccer fields down the road.  I figured they could run in the fields to burn off some energy but I did not even think about the fact that everything would be an absolute swamp.  Needless to say the boys had the best time ever stomping in the puddles and playing in the mud.

Note to self * next time put them in their rubber boots*

Muddy faces!

Krispy Kreme

For some reason Noah had it stuck in his head that he needed to have a doughnut the other day... I don't know how he even knows what a doughnut is but I love a yummy doughnut every once in a while so I figured what the heck, Krispy Kreme is just around the block lets go have some doughnuts!!!

Yummy!!!!

I think Silas ate more of his doughnut than Noah did...

Raindrops keep falling on my head...

Big thank you to Uncle Dustin and Erika for the new umbrella!  Noah is loving it!!!

Noah immediately had to go outside in the rain to test out his new umbrella!

Christmas Morning

Here are some pictures from our Christmas morning! Santa obviously thought the boys were good this year, or it could have been all those delicious cookies and reindeer food that Noah left out :)  Nothing to do with the fact that I love to shop...

We had a great relaxing morning!  I made cinnamon rolls from scratch (a first for me) and the boys played and played and played all morning long.  We lucked out with the weather and Noah got to take his (their) Jeep out to the culdesac for a spin, he was just a little excited about his new ride.  Silas however was not happy about the Jeep by the tree.  The poor kid is scared to death of it and won't even walk through the garage right now.  It does not help that during his time learning to drive, Noah may have "bumped" Silas a couple times with the Jeep...  

Did Santa bring me this????

Keyboard break! 

So happy!

Checking out the headlights!

Silas and his stocking!  He was perfectly happy with his new
cars and Thomas trains!

Anything else in there???

Silas and his stocking loot!  He does not even know
where to start!
Santa may have gone a little overboard...

Giving his new Thomas pillow a big kiss, such
a sweet little boy!

Popular Branch

I found it absolutely hilarious the way the ornaments mysteriously moved from branch to branch on our tree or how they disappeared to some pretty strange places around the house (pantry, beds, laundry hampers, garage, cars, bathtub etc.)!

Noah picked out the snowman ornament for me
while Christmas shopping with Daddy! It
was supposed to go in my stocking but he could
not wait to give it to me so I got it a little early!
I just love that there are four ornaments piled
on this one little  branch!

Christmas Eve (aka getting ready for Santa)

Christmas Eve is a whole new ball game with a three year old...  Noah was all over the Santa preparation and with the questions he was already asking I am assuming our years of Santa are very limited so we better enjoy them while we can!

How does Santa fit down the chimney?
Where is  Santa right now?
What does he make all the toys out of?
Is he going to put out our fire?
Does Santa's sleigh have an engine?  Does it use gas??  Does it have headlights?
Does Santa shop for toys at Costco and Target?

At school they had been talking about a different
Christmas traditions each day and on his last day before
Christmas vacation they made reindeer food and he
was pretty excited to put that outside in the dark! 

Not the greatest picture but I love the expression on his face!
He got a new doctor kit from his cousins and was pretty excited about it!

Checking out his new doctor tools! We all received
several check ups throughout the evening!

Silas and Jack playing so good together!

Ready for bed in our Christmas jammers!

Still totally into his new stethoscope! 

Putting out his cookies for Santa!
He later added an orange and a cup of milk.  The orange
was his idea, he said Santa might like some fruit
to go with his cookies and milk (so thoughtful)!!!

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care!

Special Delivery

I really am working my way up to Christmas pictures but have not had time to sort through all of them, I think there may be hundreds...
Anyway, here are a couple pictures of the boys having a hay day in a box of packing popcorn.  We received a package of gifts a few days before Christmas and usually I would have whisked the box and all evidence off before the boys could see what was going on, but dinner was ready and Ryan and I snatched up the opportunity to let them have some fun making the biggest mess ever while we enjoyed a somewhat quiet meal!!!  Of course during all of the popcorn chaos our neighbor popped by to delivery some Christmas treats!  When we opened the door for him I am sure he was a little surprised by the tiny pieces of styrofoam that came flying out the door at him and that our entire entry way was covered in the popcorn with random kitchen utensils scattered throughout (they were making stew in the box), Noah was naked from the waist down with pieces of styrofoam stuck all over him (potty training) and Silas was running around like a crazy man, oh well!  They had a blast until bedtime and then we realized the entirety of our mistake when it came time to clean up the thousands of little pieces all over our house.  I think it probably took a week before I stopped finding them everywhere...

Just getting started...

Disaster waiting to happen!