This Last Week

This last week we have:

--Made snowman treats (more than once)


--Went to a Birthday Party at Chuck E Cheese and had the best time and the best tasting and decorated cake ever!
--Barrett had minor surgery (well it involved a couple shots and stitches)on both his big toes...which means he's been shuffling around in his slippers all week.
--The boys played in the snow (slush) for the first time this season and had the time of their lives
--We discovered our boys can now eat as much pizza as mom and dad
--Amy played the organ in church for the first time since moving to Dover...and it may very well be the last (it didn't help that I didn't get there very early to practice or that there was no chorister when the first song was announced or that the first song was Who's on the Lord's Side...in 6/8 count...then had to rush off to say the opening prayer!!!)
--Damon came home from preschool sick and lay on the couch all afternoon and night:(
--We watched tons of tv Monday
--Cancelled cable
--Had dance parties almost every day. Tommy will randomly disappear upstairs and come down in a short sleeve shirt and ask me to put on Dynamite so he can dance. One day he even ran into the bathroom mid-song to see the facial expression he had...hilarious!
--Damon had his first 2 piano lessons and first "learning to read" session (taught by his mom) and LOVED it all.
--We celebrated Chinese New Year with rice and orange chicken, reading a few Chinese books (Tikki Tikki Tembo and The Empty Pot), and making dragon puppets. Tommy loved his and flew it around for days.

--Played at the park
--Listened to Tommy snore while sleeping...Damon couldn't fall asleep because it was so loud.
--Took Tommy to his 3 year check up. He's doing great and is the perfect weight for his height (said the Dr.). No shots this time, but we do have to go get blood work done (I'll put that one off a week or two). We also might start him on Claritin before bed.

First Snow Playtime 2012

This weekend we woke up to snow...kinda. The boys have been dying to play in snow, no matter how much or little there is on the ground. So, I climbed over things in the basement storage and dug through boxes looking for their boots and pants. They were the happiest kids. They couldn't help but giggle as I was trying to help them get dressed. They played in the slushy snow for awhile and eventually came in for hot chocolate. Their clothes were soaked, but the boys were happy to finally play in some snow...even if it was slushy.

MLK Day at the DCM

Barrett didn't have Martin Luther King Jr. Day off...but the rest of us did! We decided to meet up with some friends at the Delaware Children's Museum. We've never been there, but our friends have a season pass. The boys loved it! They also loved playing with their friends (I realized besides one other, they are the only girls they have as friends).


The boys "playing in snow" with animals.



Tommy LOVED playing on this big structure. At first he got a little nervous and I had to crawl up there and save him, then he was off!


They got to see how their heart rate increased when they rowed!

Tommy didn't quite know how to make it work, so was kinda pouting.

Puppet show...Tommy loved the "stunt" (skunk).

They all loved the train/car area. It was basically the only place the moms were able to talk for more than two sentences.



There was lots of other fun things that we did and played. We had a great time and are so glad we were able to meet up with our friends for the morning.

Saturday of Memories

On Saturday, we went to a funeral for a wonderful woman we knew in our old ward. I had served with her in the Primary and she taught me so many things. It was nice to sit and listen to amazing people share memories and pay tribute to this great friend we all shared. It was also fun to see so many old friends and acquaintances.

After the funeral, we stopped over to have lunch on Main St. near the University of Delaware (where Barrett studied and earned his Master's Degree). We decided to walk through campus too. The boys loved running, climbing, and rolling (down any little slope or hill they could find). Barrett and I loved reminiscing about the UD days. Somehow (?!!) we forgot that not only did Barrett get his master's degree there, but he would take the train from Philadelphia there and walk over to the campus to study. It is a beautiful campus and we enjoyed visiting.

We had been promising the boys we'd stop off at Costco for a smoothie before heading home. They sure didn't let us forget and boy was it worth it!! Tommy was so excited and thoroughly enjoyed it the whole time. He loved his "smoovie"!

Window Art

My brother's family had our family for Christmas this year. He made us some awesome wood puzzles and they gave us water colors and these cool window crayons. The boys had a great time one afternoon drawing on the windows. They were a little messy, but not too bad. I don't think I'd let them use them unsupervised though:)

Out with Old, In with the New!

Welp, another year over and a new one beginning. It's always fun to look back on the last year and think about all the fun things you did, all the things you didn't do but should have, the heartaches and setbacks, the spiritual progress, the physical progress of your kids maybe not so much about yourself, and wonder what the new year will hold. Hmmm...

So, New Year's Eve was a little difficult to explain to the boys so we just said we were having a party. In the afternoon, we went to the park to play. We played a lot of soccer as a family and took turns making up obstacle courses. I'm lazy and like to pull the "I'm the mom and dad is here to play sports so go play with him" card, but this time I participated and had a lot of fun! We went home and made little pizzas. Tommy loves sprinkling on his own cheese. I used my new Silpat and loved it!! We played lots of fun games like Christmas memory, Simon Says, Cousin Go Fish (or as we call it "Pull a Weed"), and Don't Eat Pete! We counted down the New Year close to 8:00 and clinked cups of soda! It was pretty fun. After the boys were asleep, Barrett and I played Angry Birds on our Roku and watched a movie. A few seconds before midnight I turned on the TV and Barrett ran in to hand me a goblet of soda...just in the nick of time!



New Year's Day was filled with going to church (we were some of the few that went...only 6 kids showed up for Primary! We have a small branch, but not that small!) We hung out and tried to entertain the boys on those long Sunday afternoons. Monday was pretty awesome. Damon had school, but Barrett didn't have work. I did something that always drove me crazy when I worked at the Day Care...we dropped off our kid when we had time off. Barrett and I put on a show for Tommy while we cleaned up Christmas and organized the office which had become a disaster! We picked up Damon from school and all went to McDonald's for lunch then over to Chuck E Cheese to play games. We all had a lot of fun. What a fun way to spend a "free" day to end our vacation.