Knight Thomas

These last few weeks Thomas has gotten the idea that he is a knight. I really have no idea where he came up with being a knight came from, but his "costume" is pretty good :)

 His green bucket on his head is his "knight hat" which he keeps in a special spot so Sup can't get it. The spoon is his sword, which of course "every good knight must have". Last but not least the pizza tray is his shield for protection.

I think at this point he was ready to attack and I think Sup may have been the target of the attack. 

Box O' Fun

 I have been playing around on my new computer that I have been neglecting my blog. There are a lot of new features and apps that Eric and I have been using and by the time I got around to the blog, well...it was way past bedtime. 

 So it is a new week and I think I am back on track and after navigating through how to get these pictures off iPhoto I hope to post more often. As for Eric and I we are having fun with the computer but the boys had much more fun with the box so it was a win win :)

 The boys have used the box and the styrofoam blocks for all kinds of things. Sometimes they are some sort of base or fort for the Transformers and/or dinosaurs. One time it was a cashier stand that they could go and "buy" things from each other. I can't even imagine what else they have planned for it.     

Thomas wanted to try and make a big tower with all the pieces. This came with more then one challenge, but the biggest challenge was trying to complete the tower before Sup could get to it.

It was complete with a green T-Rex protecting the structure. The styrofoam was the other challenge because of the shape so this was his solutions. He was proud of his accomplishment and I think it stood for a few moments before Sup drove his truck into it ;)

Goodbye PC

Eric and I have wanted to get a new computer for some time now. After doing a lot of research and talking to our knowledgeable technology consultant ;) we decided to save our pennies...a lot of pennies... and enter into the world of Apple and get an iMac.    

After much anticipation we were able to make the big switch. After only having it for a few hours (although I have to admit we stopped by the store many of times to just play with it) it has been worth the wait. Reading some of the reviews and hearing others opinion the biggest obstacle is learning the differences between simple task e.g. copy and paste a picture (like the one above took me a few tries to get it). 

But I am happy to learn and willing to learn a new system and so far am very happy with our choice. The boys think it is really cool too and there was a free app for a train game. They sat and watched it for a long time but with much to do I couldn't just sit and play the game the whole night. I have a feeling it will be a well used app :) Goodbye old PC, I can't say that I will miss you! :)   

My little helper

The other day I decided to have a beef roast for dinner. It is a great meal just to throw in the crock pot and it is all ready to go when we are.

 One of the great things about the roast is that can be a whole meal if you throw in some veggies and a starch..potatoes.. and there is really nothing else you have to make even right before dinner. Sup really wanted to help that morning so he took on the potatoes.

 He really was a hard worker, we only needed about four but he decided we needed more. It was a little over half of a ten pound bag..they all got a scrubbing ;)

He was very happy to be such a good help to Mommy :)

Beating the winter blues

Our boys love to play outside and although it has been a mild winter their outside time is pretty limited if they do get to go out.

 When they are stuck in the house they can become a little silly. This particular morning they decided to be ice cream boys. Now I am not sure how they came up with this idea but with these two anything is possible with their imagination.

 So here is Thomas's ice cream hat and in order to give out the ice cream this is a necessity, if you didn't have the hat then you could only receive and eat the ice cream.

The hat can change and this is their afternoon hat I was told, even though it was still morning. Sup liked the round hat and was in charge of the "list" of ice creams you could choose. 

Green mustache

So Pillsbury came up the toaster strudels that have green icing for a special Christmas addition. Funny that I didn't see them until after Christmas. I thought it would be a fun treat for the boys for those ummm.. quick breakfasts ;)

I really wasn't thinking when I bought them. The boys love them and the green icing just puts it over the top for them. Thomas did really well with them Sup he loved it and it showed all in its green glory. This was just after a few bites, amazingly it wiped off clean! But he did look pretty cute with his little green mustache :)

Building a city

We have been through a few big cities as we have traveled. The boys both love to look at the big sky scrapers and the big professional sporting stadiums.

 So one morning Thomas woke up and and told me he was going to build a big city....I really never know what to expect out of my boys each morning. "Okay Thomas. Let me know when it's done." "Mama make sure Sup doesn't come and destroy my city!" Oh how he knows his little brother so well ;)

It was more of a challenge to keep Sup away from "city" then I first anticipated. It was one of those challenges he took and my my did he try his hardest. Thomas was really particular how he wanted to place his various size buildings. 

Foosball

Eric was able to get a pretty good deal on this little foosball table we got for the boys. At first they were not to sure about it but Thomas was excited to try it out.

 Daddy and Thomas played first and after a few rounds Thomas seemed to understand how it worked and was trying to get the soccer ball into Daddy's goal. Sup was more interested in trying to catch the ball and dropping onto the board. This worked well most of the time with the exception of a few times just running away with the ball and having us running him down.

 After Daddy and I had a turn with playing with each of the boys, they were ready to play with each other. They both did pretty well with moving and spinning their little soccer players, and with the exception of chasing Sup down for the ball they really seemed to enjoy playing it together.

After awhile they really got the hang of spinning..lets just say I am sure some of those little soccer buddies were a bit dizzy after the game ;) Since there were two balls that came with the game the boys thought it would be more fun to add the second one to the mix...so "each boy could have one to play with". Now the trick is trying to not lose or have Sup get and hid the soccer balls.  

Beware the mini M&M

About a week ago the boys and I had a well 'll just say an entertaining night. The boys got a lot of candy for Christmas and I have been trying to ration it out a little at a time. Thomas is actually really good. They each have a candy bucket with a lid and I will tell him he can pick two candies for the day and picks his two happy with that puts the lid back on and moves on. Our Sup on the other hand would sit and eat the whole bucket if I let him and throws a fit about having to ONLY pick two. Needless to say there are times he doesn't get any because of that reason.



Well one night they decided to pick their little tube of mini M&M's. They were excited about this choice because there are quite a few chocolates in one tube so they thought they really got lucky with this choice. A few minutes later Thomas is telling me that Sup put a M&M up his nose!? "Really !? " "Yes Momma it is a red one."

At first I didn't see it and let him play of a minute and I watched him and he said his nose didn't feel good. This time I put him right under the light and seen a little red M&M. Great.... not this again I thought ( When Thomas was three he put a bead up his nose and I had to take him to the ER for them to remove it). As I looked it wasn't too far up there..thank goodness... I took a chance telling him to blow it out (sometimes he blows in sometimes he out). Thankfully with a prayer he was able to blow it out and no trip to the ER at 8:00 PM was necessary. There was a long and scary story, probably more embellished by Mommy then it really would, be about not putting things up our noses and what would happen if a trip to the hospital was necessary. It ended with a "Ooookay mama, no more up my nose, no more."

New Years cheer

Our New Year's eve was pretty simple and laid back. Eric and I just wanted to have a family night with some fun snacks/treats and rent some movies.

 Since the boys fell asleep at 9 pm Eric and I wanted to wait for our New Years toast with are special New Years drink... sparkling white grape juice. So after church on Sunday...and back into jammies, we poured our juice had a "Happy New Years!!" cheer. The boys thought it was pretty neat and I think did the cheer about 5 more times.

 As you may have noticed we had a lot of jammie days during the holidays. Now that it is getting colder out they don't like to get out of their nice warm jammies, and if we were not planning to go out it was not worth the fight. And because Daddy was home for the week I could run my errands and not have to worry about taking them with me.

Transformers

One of the things that the boys are really into are Transformers. It was nice because they had some really good deals this year for the toys so the boys were able to add quite a bit to their collection.

 They really wanted some decepticons in their collection so the good guys could fight the bad guys. So each of the boys got some of each for Christmas. This was the highlight of their Christmas for all of my boys ;)

 I am still trying to get all the names but Thomas knows them all so if I forget or call them the wrong name I am quickly corrected. They are a pain to transform and Thomas says I do not do a very good job so this has become Daddy's job....Which I am entirely okay with it can take any where from 5 to 10 mins even if you know what you are doing.

They will play with these throughout the day. Even if they play with other things there is always a Transformer nearby that is playing whatever imaginary game or situation they have come up with. 

Gramma's T-Rex

Thomas and Sup got Gramma Diana to buy them these talking T-Rex's and they absolutely love them.

By now I have all the lines memorized that he says and I think I have tuned it out. Thomas like to cuddle with one of his toys when he goes to bed and lately he has been choosing his T-Rex. He looked pretty cute all snuggled up with his special Rex. 

Dinosaur puzzles

Papa Mark had this idea of making the boys some dinosaur puzzles that could be interchangeable. So for Christmas he made the four different dinosaurs they could be creative with. He did a really nice job cutting them out and painting them for the boys.

 With the dinosaurs they each had two legs, a head, and a tail that could be put together. It was nice that Papa made four that way each boy could have two to play with which made everyone a happy camper :)

 It was nice because all the parts could go on any of basic bodies of the dinos. At first there was no switching and coming up with new or different dinos. All the colors had to go together according to Thomas.. he has always liked things organized and separated properly. He probably gets this trait from me.

But Sup didn't have any trouble mixing up his pieces and make "silly dinosaurs". Once Sup started mixing them up Thomas had to think about it for a little while but soon started making his "silly dinosaurs" too. 

One problem two soultions

There was one problem with the bed set..it only came with one pillowcase. The pillowcase had one side with Prime on in and the other side with Bumble Bee.

 This became a big issue at bed time because it was a fight to which boy got the pillow and since Thomas likes Prime and Sup likes Bumble Bee they wouldn't even share.

 My solution..Make two pillowcases one for each boy. It was kind of a pain to unpick the pillowcase because you had the serger end and the actual stitch line. It was also a panel piece so I had to cut it at the top to make two separate pieces..one Prime and one Bumble Bee.

 I already had some dark blue fabric so I cut out a back for each pillow sewed it on the three sides and put the hem on the other side and created two Transformers pillowcases. (Sup wouldn't leave his pillow so he is pretending to sleep and this is excatly how he sleeps :)  

The boys acted liked it was Christmas all over again and because I didn't finish them until about 8:30 pm they were really excited to go to bed. So they took their two pillows and joyfully hopped in their bed and I have a nice quiet night :)

Squinkies

I am new to the world of Squinkies as they were first made for girls and in a house full of boys I am not really up to date on the girl world.

 I am not sure when they started making boy Squinkies but they are these tiny rubbery little toys. They have a few different choices for boys so they got some Marvel guys and Cars/Cars 2 Squinkies.

 Both of the boys love to play Squinkies and they really have a fun imagination with them. They each got a little bag from Gramma to help keep their Squinkies together.

 Thomas still keeps track of his and makes sure they get back in his bag. Our Sup on the other hand...well lets just say I am sure I am going to have fun finding Squinkies in all kinds of places.

Eric thought it would be fun to get some girl Squinkies for me so I could play with the boys. They are Little Mermaid Squinkies to here they are taking the girls to the movies. There is one Squinkie that I have to try to keep track of for Sup...The little blue doggy that is sitting on the hood of Ironhide (the orange and red truck for those not familiar with Transformers :)

Rock 'Em Sock 'Em

I am not sure who was more excited about this gift if it was Daddy or the boys but either could wait to try it out.

 The game is called Rock 'Em Sock 'Em. They are two robot looking people that you move around and box with. When they are hit just right their little head pops up. It is a pretty old fashion game but all the boys were ready and very excited to try it out.

 Because there were only two, only two could play at a time. Initially I thought this would be a problem, but it doesn't take too long for someone to have their little head pop so it was fast moving and there was not much sitting around waiting for your turn.

This kept their attention for some time and I was able to get a few things done around the house while all my boys were entertained ;)

Ready for bed

Eric and I thought it would be nice to get the boys their own bed. As mentioned before they were once on the couch. Now they are in their room but like to just sleep on the floor.

 We still have to figure out how we want to organize their room but after saving our rebate money we were able to get a twin mattress for under a dollar. We thought it would be fun to get them some Transformer bedding and they thought it was a really fun gift. Of course after they opened it they wanted to try it out.

Even though we were in our front room they laid right down and cuddled with each other and their new toys. It was actually a nice break for us to look at some of our gifts and clean up a little bit :) 

Special Christmas treat

After an early morning and busy day full of excitement and playing with new toys and games I thought it would be fun do to something special to wind down for the evening.

 Milkshakes have always been a popular treat for our family. Eric grow up in a family where milkshakes were a very common treat and thus it has carried over to ours. Amazingly I never made one before Eric and I were married so I soon learned the art of milkshake making ;)

 So when I was thinking of a fun treat I thought I would go fancy with a family favorite..milkshakes. To make it go along with Christmas I made a strawberry vanilla milkshake. I made the strawberry first which was my red and then the vanilla and added some green food coloring to make it green. Then poured them together side by side to get a red and green milkshake for Christmas! They may become a traditional Christmas evening treat :)

 Milkshake always go over pretty well in our household but Thomas was very excited because I let him have one from a glass milkshake glass. And when he seen the red and green he was so excited and quickly started in.

Our poor little Sup was pretty tuckered out with all the activity that Christmas brings. I am not sure how he fell asleep with the sound of the blender from the milkshakes but here he was curled up on the couch. A little bit later he did wake up and was able to indulge in the Christmas milkshake. 

Our Christmas morning

Our Christmas morning started about 7:30 am. Which for our boys is about the time they usually get up so not any earlier then the normal start to our day. Thomas was a little more excited then Sup but they quickly made there way to their stockings.

 Transformers had been really popular with our boys so Santa brought them some autobots and decepticons. Thomas was so happy that within the stack there was a Megatron.

 Sup was excited as well to see that he too got some Transformers to play with Thomas. Although I think he was more excited to see that his stocking was filled with all different kinds of yummy candy. Santa brought him some Reese bells and still to this day can not convince the boys they are Reese's so they may be donated to Daddy ;)

We wanted to have a special Christmas breakfast so we went with Christmas tree pancakes and a Merry Christmas pancake sign. I really had a fun time making them.

 I thought I would make candy cane shaped sausages. This was not as successful as the pancakes because I forgot as the sausage cooks it also shrinks so some came out better then others. But I was at least successful enough that Thomas recognized them as candy canes :)

 We thought it would be fun to have some fun Christmas breakfast drink so we did white hot chocolate. It tasted really yummy. It was actually really easy to get the boys to the table because they were "starving!!" And the promise of Christmas trees pancakes and candy cane sausage made them run to the table.

Each of the hot chocolates were topped with a VERY generous portion of whipped cream and Christmas sprinkles. As you can see the whipped topping was the highlight of the meal for our Sup.