What Did You Accomplish Before 9:30am Yesterday?

Me, well I accomplished quite a bit. I woke up with the help of 'Mommy! Mommy! I can't find my elf - he forgot to come back!' Which then resulted in an elfin-hunt. Not to worry, he was found dangling from a hook in the playroom. I then got Nick up before he punched a hole in the wall behind his bed. Then, being a responsible parent, I fed the boys breakfast. Then I got dressed and brushed my teeth. While brushing my teeth the boys were up to some scheme. See if you can guess what they had for breakfast from the pictures below.

Yes, that is Nick covered from head to toe in cheerios and milk. I have no idea what the heck these two were up to, as I was brushing my teeth, but it somehow involved combining cereal into one bowl that then somehow got dumped on Nick's head.

So, then I have Nick a shower.
Then I had to clean up cheerios and milk from the floor, table and chairs.

Then at 8:56 I realized the boys had doctor's appointments at 9:15, not 9:45 as I had thought, and I had to bust it to get out the door. Nick had stepped in dog poop the night before so he had to wear his brand new boots. I didn't have time to find scissors and clip the tags, so I ripped off the tags and left the plastic loop (which the doctor later pointed out to me).

We make it to the doctor at exactly 9:15. Ben was cleared of pneumonia finally but then there was Nick. I figured the doctor would tell me it was teeth or just a cold he had. But no. Double ear infection. Are you kidding me?!? 

And then it was 9:30 and I was done for the day. 

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

This past Thursday, the boys woke up to find their shoes filled with new toy cars! St. Nicholas had come that night and left them some new toys. 

Unfortunately, Ben had trouble following directions and not touching his brother's shoe, so Ben didn't get to keep his cars very long that day. With good behavior at Sharon's they were returned before bed that evening. 

Parent of the Year Award, Right Here

Ben picked up and played with every single toy gun he could find at Bass Pro Shop. Every. Single. One. He wanted to go straight up stairs when we go there so he could play the shooting game.  

But then there were even more in the Santa room! Including a Wii game (which was kind of fun, I will admit)

And then the piece de resistance - a bow and arrow. Ben has been pretending to by Hawk from the Avengers this week and shoots arrows with a toy he pretends is a bow. 

At home, it's a different story. Any toys used as a gun gets thrown away now. He's lost a few good toys to the guns in the garbage initiative. But I think BPS may have killed any progress we had made this week. I have the feeling Ben is going to get in a lot of trouble at Sharon's tomorrow for pretend gun play (which is against the rules at Sharon's). 

Poor Santa

Poor Santa. He just can't get any love from the Wolny's. I don't know why we thought this year would be any different than years past, but we did it anyways. We took the boys to see Santa. Ben even got in line and everything. But, alas, it came to be our turn and out came the boa constrictor. I did get a few pictures of Nick with Santa before he realized he was supposed to be petrified. But then he screamed while Ben clung to Adam. I guess Santa is just that scary. 

A gem.

Though, this is the closest we have gotten Ben to Santa since he was 11 months old, so we are making progress. At this rate of progress, we might be able to get him to make eye contact by the time he's eight. I think Santa should give the candy canes first, sweeten the deal a bit. 

Three minutes later all was right in the world again and Nick was happy and Ben was shooting arrows.

Waiting for Santa

Tonight Adam and I took the boys over to Bass Pro shop to see Santa. Ahh, what silly people we are. We had about 30 minutes to kill before we could get in line so we walked around the store. The boys looked at the fish before going over to the Santa area and played.

Had either of them actually spoken to Santa, one of these might have been on their wish list. They hung out in the atv's for the majority of the wait.

Nick colored a picture or two. He even shared the pencils with the other kids.

Happy Baptism, Avery!

Last Sunday Avery Secrest was baptized at Blessed John. She was the super star of 9:45 mass! 

She made it to the big screens

She and Fr Herb took a walk-about so she could see everyone. I call it the Lion King.

I think Fr Herb was getting a little tired after walking around church for 4 minutes with Miss Avery.

After church Nick went home to take a nap (after his epic melt down at the end of church) while Ben and I went over to Cameryn and Avery's house for a little baptism party. Happy Baptism, Avery!

The Clash of 21 Months and Christmas Decorating

Did you know that it is scientifically impossible to put up Christmas decorations with a 21 month old in the house? Well Nick spent 4 hours proving it today. After an epic melt down at the end of church, Nick took a 3 hour nap. In that time, Adam and I started to put up the Christmas tree. Nick woke up while I was finishing the lights, so he was fully awake and present for the ornaments portion of decorating. To make a long story short, we lost somewhere in the neighborhood of 4-6 ornaments (nothing special) and it took probably 5 times longer than required. I thought I could try to outsmart the 21 month old (hahaha me!) by getting him is own tree to decorate. Fail. He strung some Mardi Gras beads on it and then headed right back to the big tree and glass ornaments. By the time we were finishing the ornaments, Adam was kind enough to wake Ben up from his nap, so I had both boys 'helping'. I persevered and got it all done, but it was far from a pleasant experience. I don't think George James is going to have a glowing review of today's behavior for Santa. There's always tomorrow...

The final product

No Yogurt for YOU!

The you would be me - the mommy. I am no longer able to eat yogurt unless I eat it in the car on the way home from the grocery store. These kids eat yogurt like the last dairy cow in the world is about to die. A few weeks ago I bought a Chobani 4-pack. It was completely gone by the time I had all the groceries in the house. No lie. Fage was on sale 10 for 10 this week so I bought 10. Ben was very excited that he got to eat the 'fancy' yogurt. In less than 6 hours, there were only 4 left. I actually got to consume one this morning. I hid one in the back of the fridge in hope that it might survive long enough for me to take it for lunch tomorrow. 

Here, Nick is sporting the yogurt half-stache

The Return

It is that time of the year again. Time for the return of the Elves. Our elf, named either George or James depending on who you ask, made his arrival on Tuesday. He was expected to arrive Monday morning, but must have gotten tied up in Christmas magic traffic. George/James made quite the splash when he did finally arrive. Tuesday morning I am getting dressed when I hear screaming in the living room. Ben comes barreling into the bathroom, screaming ''Mommy!, Mommy! My elf came! My elf came!' Unfortunately, I believe George James has had to make some not so sparkling reports to Santa this week. One little boy need to learn to listen and another needs to learn that furniture is not a trampoline. They have 24 days to clean up their acts.

Workbook Time!

Ben is now the only 3 year old at daycare on Tuesdays and Thursdays so I thought he might enjoy doing workbook activities with Sharon on those days. I bought a few workbooks at Learning Express yesterday, along with a little mini taper measure that someone was not supposed to find, but did. One workbook stayed at Sharon's and the others came home. I figured the cutting one was better done at home. I don't think Sharon would appreciate Ben with scissors in her house. So this morning at 7:30, Ben was all ready to go and do one of his workbooks. I gave him one of the cutting pages where he needed to cut in a straight line. Before he could cut, though, he had to measure - several times. He used his little tape measure to measure the length of each line. After carefully measuring each line several times, he was able to proceed with cutting. I'd like to note, that I had no input on this train of thought. I think it's funny that he had on his handyman gorilla jammies, too. As for the cutting, he cut in a perfectly straight line. We just need to work on following directions, like when to stop cutting.

Stickers, Stickers Everywhere

Last week I let Ben get a sticker book at the store. I really am brilliant sometimes. I let him get one with like 500 stickers, most the size of a pencil eraser. I believe all 500 stickers have in some way, shape or form been applied to either human skin, my furniture or the dog. Lesson learned.

Wresdling

Wresdling: A simultaneous combination of wrestling and cuddling. 

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Exhibit C

Turkey Cookies!

I forgot one! I forgot this post because the pictures were on my other camera. A few weeks ago our friend Susan invited us to Meijer to decorate Turkey cookies using Oreos. The kids had fun making a mess of the melted chocolate and candy. After our cookies and the purchase of some white asparagus, we headed over to Barry's Bagel for a yummy lunch!