Month: February 2013

Madison got up on the bed to escape the boys. They climbed up to follow her…

Milwaukee might have disappointed me in regards to snow most of the winter, but it is making up for it in February. We got more snow yesterday and went out to play this morning (with snow still coming down).

Teague’s missing banana from a few days ago….

I had hoped Madison had eaten it, but no such luck.

How appropriate that the craft at story time today was a bookmark. Alex had fun making it and couldn’t wait to get home and use it.

Do you remember 80s? Are you kind of a geek? Then I recommend this book. It’s a fun read. I loved it!

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Alex has wanted to make a snowman all winter. Wade agreed to give it a try today. They went out this morning and the snow wouldn’t pack. Wade got a spray bottle of water and that helped a little. They made a mini snowman and agreed to try again after nap time – hoping the temperature would go up enough to make the snow melt a little. No such luck. Below is as good as it got.

On this snowy day..
Alex got to watch some Scooby Doo

Teague learned to gas up his car

Mom got some new boots

Daddy got to take a pretend snooze with Alex

It’s birthday time again! Today is Teague’s second birthday! We had his two “big” presents (one from us and one from my mom) put together and waiting for him when he woke up. The minute he saw the car his eyes lit up. Then we had our traditional birthday muffins before heading off to school.

We spent the evening celebrating! First it was cake and ice cream with the neighbors.

Then it was time for presents. Alex had a hard time letting Teague do it on his own, but we finally got that worked out. Cars were a pretty common theme, which just happens to be one of Teague’s favorite things!

Alex has been enrolled in Kindermusik this year. Today is the first time I have had the opportunity to take any pictures (through the window).

Most of our toys are now organized into these plastic boxes. One of Alex’s favorites is the McDonald’s box. Yup, it’s a box full of McDonald’s toys – including ones from when I was a kid.

I just wish he found the hotcakes transformer as cool as I do.

The weather people said the temperature was supposed to get over 40 degrees today. We decided that made it park weather. We loaded up the kids and out we went. It turned out to still be quite cold, but the kids had fun running around. I also learned that Alex is a little behind in his snow skills. Abram and Riley were making snowballs and Alex didn’t know how. He had to ask and hope they would make him one to throw at the train tracks. That will be at the top of the list for our next snowfall.

Candyland might have been replaced by a new favorite game – Busy Town. (Thanks Abby and Asher!)

Today’s big event was the boys’ birthday party! Teague was just happy to be along for the ride, but Alex understood exactly what was going on. We got everything gathered together and arrived a few minutes early to set up. The cakes were delivered (made by Amber’s awesome baker friend Rachel) and were perfect!

We had nine friends for Alex and three friends for Teague – not to mention all the parents. The kids had a blast running wild after the lady tried a few “structured” activities.

Then we headed upstairs for cake! Alex enjoyed being sung too and blew his candle out at exactly the right time. The only issue being everyone wanted a pirate on their slice of cake. Teague had been watching Alex blow candles out for a few days now. I never dreamed he would do anything drastic. I thought if anything he would do nothing. He sat through the singing and said “car” a time or two. When we stopped he immediately reached out with his hand and grabbed the flame. It put it out and startled him, but didn’t hurt him. It’s definitely the first time I have seen a two year old do that!

Teague’s love of cars is well documented. I knew he would love these new pajamas but I didn’t anticipate they would keep him from falling asleep. I heard him in his bed long after I turned out the lights last night saying, “car car car.” Then the minute I got him up this morning he kept pointing to the cars. “Car” wasn’t his first word, but it is definitely his most used!

I had been hoping for a picture of the boys together this morning. After a few pictures (and realizing we were going to be late for school) I thought this was going to be the best I got:

Then Teague sweetly leaned his head onto his brother’s shoulder and Alex got a big grin on his face.

Alex had a Valentine’s Day party at school and couldn’t wait to check out all of his Valentine’s when he got home.

Tour Club took us to the Humane Society. Alex is normally a little reserved when people are asking questions (not to be confused with his usual rambunctious self). I was pleasantly surprsied at how interested and talkative he was in the tour today. My favorite comment occurred when we were touring the cat area. Each cat had a large room to itself. The upper part of the walls were glass. Alex piped up to ask, “Why are the cats organized?” What a cute way to ask why they are separated and not all allowed to play together.

I think Madison has decided there should be some perks of being the “oldest”. She can pretty much always be found on the couch (shh… don’t tell Wade) and normally she has made herself quite comfortable. The other night I woke up and was concerned because she wasn’t asleep beside our bed. I went to check on her and found her on the couch. I guess if I were choosing the floor or the couch I would go for the couch too….

Alex woke up knowing it was his birthday. He immediately wanted to check out his cake. Then we changed tradition slightly and had birthday donuts instead of birthday muffins.

Next we opened a few presents, worked a few puzzles, and even Teague got a gift (a welcome “home” present from friends in Collierville).

Wade was able to come home for lunch so we decided to go ahead and have the cake. Alex was ready! (He had already decided his piece would have the mouth – conveniently made of a stick of gum.) Then we let Alex open a few presents before nap (I knew some assembly would be required and could do it while the boys were sleeping.)

It took every bit of their naps (and the extra hour I let Alex sleep) to get everything put together. Thankfully the new toys were great entertainment while dinner was cooking and cleanup was being done. We decided there was no reason not to light the candles and sing “Happy Birthday” a second time. And then we had a last few presents before bedtime. (Teague was trying his hardest to open a present but thankfully Aunt Lissy used super strong ribbon that was too much for an almost-two-year-old to figure out.)

Today’s big adventure was creating Alex’s cake for tomorrow. The desired configuration is a robot and from the picture/directions it didn’t look too hard (see here for original recipe/design). I got it all together and then realized the directions and their final picture don’t match. They removed some extra cake to make the arms appear just right (on a side note – searching the internet shows other people have discovered this too). This wouldn’t have been an issue if I had realized the error earlier and saved some of the yellow icing. Instead I used the yellow icing to make the green.

I was debating what to do with my oddly proportioned robot (we had attempted to make him a multi-armed robot) when Wade walked in and assured me he could make the cut and salvage the icing.

Wade was absolutely right and the robot looked much better after his “surgery”. A mom-made robot cake created with love.