Cuddle Time

Ok, so when it's time to cuddle with daddy, everyone piles onto the couch. Lots of room for everyone. When they have to cuddle with me, it's always when I'm sitting in the chair and they all squish and get on top of me and it is not a pleasant experience. I don't see how this is fair.

When One iPod Just Isn't Enough

Sometimes, you just need two.

The Family That Colors Together

These are pictures of Nick coloring, but they illustrate the point. Tuesday night, all the Wolny's sat around the living room and colored. Ben colored at the coffee table, Adam was on the couch, I was in the chair and Nick floated between helping Adam and I. We used the new twist crayons I bought and the twist colored pencils that Grandma gave Ben for his birthday. We all sat and colored for probably at least 30 minutes. It made me laugh - all four of us sitting around the living room just coloring away!

Legos Time with Daddy

Monday night Nick was asleep by 6:30, so Ben and Adam had some one-on-one time. Since Nick was asleep, they could work on the Lego's that Auntie Dre, Uncle Kevin and Eva got him for his birthday. There are some very small pieces, so it is only for playing with when Nick is not around. They started working on the Cars legos around 6:45. When I got back from zumba at 9:15, they had just finished up and Ben was on his way to bed. They finished everything in the set!

You Have to Put All the Animals To Bed

Ben had to put all of his animals to bed this week. Each one had to be turned on its side or back to go to sleep. Then in the morning, they were all placed back on their feet when it was time to wake up. The ones on the carpet are in the desert. His animals help him protect his room.

Cousins

Taking pictures of the three of them together is nearly impossible. This is as good as it gets! But, they are still pretty cute.

More Birthday Fun

Saturday we headed to Milan for some more birthday fun. Unfortunately, Ben wasn't feeling super great. He had been a little funky most of the week, but no real symptoms. Saturday afternoon he peaked a fever of 104°. But before he got to feeling too bad, he got to open some great presents! He got a new backhoe, a science kit, a lego set, bike accessories and a matching game. Though, I have to say, the boys had the most fun with the little balloons Grandma got for decorations. 

Eva's pretty dress that Auntie Gwen knitted her for Christmas. It's kind of ridiculously cute.

After some Motrin and a nap, Ben perked back up just in time for cake and ice cream (I think he was playing us so he could eat cake without having to eat dinner first). Again, he covered his ears for Happy Birthday singing...

Avengers Birthday Presents

Last Wednesday Ben received a present box from Grandma and Grandpa B. It was chocked full of Avengers presents! It included a watch, coloring books, crayons, some cool colored pencils, a puzzle, new Avengers bags and an Avengers book! Ben had been asking for a watch and a wallet recently, so Grandma also got him a wallet. He was pretty excited about his presents, though he was down playing it a bit for the camera in the video below ;) He took the coloring stuff to his doctor appointment on Friday which kept him happy during our wait times. And he had to take his watch and wallet to Sharon's to show her. Now I just need to make him some play money for his wallet.

Monster Faces Craft Time

I got Ben a paper plate monsters craft kit for his birthday. He wasn't feeling super hot on Wednesday, so we did one after dinner instead of living room UFC. The kit I got is really nice in that all the pieces for each monster are packaged together so you can just pick which monster you want to make and pull out that bag and everything is in it. Ben picked the spidery monster to do. He glued on the face, applied all the sticks just as the directions showed, strung the feet on the pipe cleaners and glued on the paper fuzz. He did a really good job with little help or input from me. 

The final product

And then there is Mr. Me Too. He was soooooooooo angry that he couldn't do the craft too. I got out coloring stuff for him, but he wanted nothing to do with it, just the giant glue stick. So, he spent most of the night crying and throwing a fit. Ahh, Twos are such a wonderful time in life...

I Almost Forgot

To ring in turning 4 years old, Ben got married. He and Lexi (next door), had a beautiful fall wedding (that's what Lexi said). They had leaf decorations with sticks and twig center pieces. The bride wore a lovely white veil and purple princess dress and carried a lovely bouquet of daisies. The groom wore muddy fleece and dog poop shoes and carried a big stick. The bride had some trouble with a run-away groom a few times, but once she trapped him in the garden, she was able to make it down the aisle to her waiting groom. It was kind of a last minute affair, so we were not able to hire a photographer. I believe there is one picture floating around somewhere on an iPhone, though. If I get a hold of it, I'll post the picture of the cute couple.

Happy Birthday, Ben!

Ben is officially a 4 year old now. But man, the first day of 4 was a rough one. Ben started out the day by waking up early, sneaking into the kitchen and taking a huge bite out of his birthday cake I had left on the counter. Well, that led to a morning of time-out in his room which led to a nap while I ran to the store and made another cake. Both boys napped and Adam had to go into work while I decorated Ben's Captain America cake. Then both boys woke up, while I was still finishing up the cakes, so they were left to play in the living room by themselves. Well, somehow Ben got mad at Nick and Nick ended up with a big puzzle piece to the eyebrow, resulting in blood shed. Ugh. So, that resulted in more time out and the faux cancellation of his mini-party. Which led to tears. Ben might have been a little dehydrated today from all the crying. 

But, by the end of the day, he more or less pulled it together and we had the Secrest's over for dinner and cake. Luckily, Adam was able to make it home for dinner. Ben's mini party was a combination Jake and the Neverland Pirates (because Walmart had some cute stuff) and Captain America (because it was a pretty easy cake to make). 

He is still so weird about singing Happy Birthday. He does the same thing at other kids' birthdays, too. Blowing out the candles was a group effort. Maybe all the hyperventilating and crying throughout the day left him a little short of breath. Sorry for the bad singing!

Here's to hoping that the first day of 4 was a fluke and not going to be the norm for the next 364 days!

Me Too!

And this is how 2 year olds break their arm. Once Ben had finished riding his bike, Nick had to have a turn. I guess we will be looking for a 10"or 12" bike for Nick at the garage sale this year. 

The Most Important Thing

So we are at Toys R Us trying to pick out a bike and what happens? Ben gets totally distracted by the safety cones and signs. It is the only thing he is focused on - forget the bike, forget the horn, forget everything but the safety sign. I wasn't sure we would be able to get him to ride his bike without it, so we picked up a safety sign. It had to be placed in the driveway before Ben would get on his bike. 

The Bike!

Saturday was a beautiful day for mid-January - 60° and cloudy - so we decided to get Ben's bike a day early so he could enjoy it. We took him over to Toys R Us and let him pick out his bike. He said he wanted a blue one. We ended up getting him an 18" which is just a smidge too big, but will probably be perfect by spring/summer. Well, the only blue bike they really had in that size just happened to be an Avengers bike! Perfect!

Ben helped daddy put his bike together. It took them about 10 minutes.

He was a little whiny when he first got on and tried to start, but once he figured out how to petal and not apply the brakes, he was off! He rode for about 15 minutes before he went onto the next thing but then once our neighbor Lexi came out, they were racing their bikes around the cul de sac and showing off his mad biking skills. He did fall a few times, but no tears. He just got back on and took off again! Hopefully he'll remember the next time he gets to ride his bike which probably won't be until May!

It was such a nice day, Ben ended up playing outside with Lexi for almost 5 hours! A great way to spend a January day!

Playing Trains

One of the things the boys played was trains. For some reason they crammed into a tight space in front of me, between the ottoman and the coffee table for this. But they played trains for probably 30 minutes together and we had no issues other than Nick getting in Ben's space a few times. I did some toy rotating and organizing. It is amazing to me how much they are playing with toys they haven't touched in months!