A Night of Play Time

Tonight the boys played with just about every toy in rotation. They played together for 3 hours non-stop. There was no yelling and no fighting. They were 'going camping' when I got home. Then Ben had to cook dinner with his camping equipment. Then they played animals and cars and trains, bowling, and built with blocks. And amazingly, every thing was cleaned up and put away in its proper box by the time the boys went to bed! 

More Bouncing

Nick has been wired in the evenings lately to the point of being in time out a lot in order to settle down. He took out some of his energy on his bouncy horse.

Water Optional

Nick hasn't gone swimming in a week, so he had to improvise. I particularly like the arm swinging before jumping. Helps get more air time. 

Pants Optional, Apparently

Nick has officially come into his pantsless phase. Every night this week I came home to a pantsless child. He now goes into the bathroom and acts like he wants to sit on the potty, so we take off his pants and diaper, he sits on the potty for 2.5 seconds and then he jumps up and runs away as fast as possible. You will notice a lot of half naked Nick in future posts. 

Just Hanging Around

Last Friday we went over to Playland with Little Ben next door. Nick figured out how to swing on the rings and did it several times, sometimes with my help and sometimes by himself. He could hold on for quite a while.

Still A Very Trying Activity For Me

Decorating cupcakes or cookies with the boys is still a very trying activity for me. I just can't handle the 'Ben Method' and we won't even begin with the 'Chaokolas Effect' that is Nick decorating anything. Anything Ben 'decorated' was deemed to be edible by only Ben, which meant Ben had like 6 cupcakes to call his own. Nick just ate anything he could get his hands on. Needless to say, Ben was pretty happy with just sugar sanding the cupcakes and not going the whole nine yards of creating billiards balls. 

Hello, Cupcake

I have an app on the iPod called Hello, Cupcake. It is based on a cupcake decorating book and it shows videos on how to decorate cupcakes various ways. Ben loves to watch the videos. Saturday he asked if he could make the billiards balls cupcakes. I figured what the heck, so we made cupcakes. Nothing fancy, just straight up chocolate cake mix from the box and Thursh's frosting (which can always be found in my freezer).  Ben even sported his chef outfit for the baking adventure. I also got out the remote for the camera. I believe Ben may have had more fund with the camera remote that with making cupcakes. He took 50 pictures of himself in about 1 minute. I deleted almost all of them because they were the exact same thing, 50 times over. 

Action shot - scooping batter, while taking a picture with the remote. 

The Many Animations of Nick

We all know we love a good Nick crying face - they really are priceless. Here is a sampling of other Nick faces (again, modeling so I could practice with my speedlight)

My personal favorite, the finger thinking pose.

'Huh, you don't say...'

'Oh my goodness, would you look at that!' 

And smiles for mommy

Bucky and Trucks

Last week Nick gave me the opportunity to play with my flash some more while he played with his Bucky ship and trucks. We even figured out how to use the flash and the remote shutter release! Nick loves playing with Bucky and his trucks. I cleaned out the toy room and started a toy rotation and they do seem to be playing with their toys a lot more. The boys have also been playing very well together...Sometimes a little too well resulting in chaos that leads to timeouts, but what are you going to do?

More Painting

Well, if Ben is going to do something, then Nick has to do it too. Nick got to paint one of his painting pages but really, he just painted with water. Ben tried to show him how to use the paints, but Nick just wanted to do it his way. He was pretty happy when Ben left him alone.

A Post Christmas Craft

Saturday Ben did a post-Christmas craft. Grandma sent some sun catcher painting crafts up, but we didn't have a chance to do them before Christmas. Ben did ok with the paint - he spilled some, but he did paint a few of the ornaments before he was done. But really, it was just an excuse for me to practice with my new speedlight...

Ben's Alligator

Ben drew and colored this alligator all by himself

Monster's Christmas Vacation

Monster spent her Christmas vacation at Rover Come Over, a doggie day care we have been using since she was a puppy. This was her first time there for an overnight. The pictures below are from their Facebook page. She apparently had a pretty good time because she's been sleeping non-stop for the past 5 days.

Sledding Time!

The boys headed to Grandma and Dzaidziu's on Sunday with daddy. Adam was going to install the running boards on his truck (so, you know, I can actually get in the darn thing) and take the boys sledding on the hills in the backyard. And I got a morning to myself to clean (woohoo!). The boys both had a good time sledding. Nick just liked lying down and being pulled around on the sled. Snow is a magical thing. It brings bed time at least 30-60 minutes earlier every day the boys play outside. Almost makes it worth putting up with the cold. [Pictures courtesy of Grandma Lee]