Thursday, January 29, 2009

Kids say the darndest...

The boys have each had a couple of really funny things lately.

Ryan...
The other night when I was putting Ryan to bed I was going through our normal conversation that ends with "go to bed like a big boy, I love you."
He says, "I will cry in my bed."
Then...
Me: "No you won't, you go to bed like a big boy"
Ryan (now whispering): "I will cry in my bed"
Me (whispering as well): "No, go to bed like a big boy"
Ryan (even quieter): "I will cry"
Me (quiet as well): "No"
Ryan (itty bitty whisper): "Yes"

It was so cute and funny... I guess he just wanted to get the last word in. He didn't cry, that I heard, so I'm not sure what was up with that whole conversation.

Reid...
Thursday was show-n-tell. I told Reid on Wednesday night that we needed to get his bag packed with what he was going to take. I told him that it was letter B and he needed to pick out something. I suggested book, basketball, and a few other things. He looked at me and said "Mom, it doesn't have to start with that letter. It's ok if we just bring something else." He has said this before and I know they 'can' take something else if they want and I could just tell he had something in mind. I said "Ok, Reid, what do you want to take?"

His reply...
Marshmallows.... Yep, he wanted to take marshmallows. I have no idea why but he was really excited about it. It was bedtime. I wanted to get the bag packed and get him to bed so I didn't argue. I told him not to eat them until on the bus on the way home from school. I made him a ziploc of marshmallows and off he went.
What makes it better is that I didn't think that the class was doing show-n-tell anymore. It hadn't been on the weekly calendar anymore so I thought they had stopped doing it. I found out that they were still having show-n-tell but Reid just hadn't participated for a couple of months! This is our second week back into being active in show-n-tell and I'm sure his teacher is thinking we've totally lost it!

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

How does the dishwasher get emptied?

RYAN... of course! Ryan loves to help empty the dishwasher. He used to only do the silverware but now he'll do it all. He dries them if there is water left on them and he'll help tell us where to put them away at. Here's a cute video to remind him that he used to "like" to empty the dishwasher. We'll show him this if he ever decides it's no longer fun.


Hanging out at the house


So, what new fun things have we done lately? Not a whole lot :) We are sure ready for Spring and the ability to get outside and play but until then, here are some pics that show our "normal" evenings and weekends around the McDowell house.



The boys have got Mike wrapped around their fingers already. Here he is reading Star Wars, the Clone Wars to Reid. Ryan is playing Zingo, one of the Christmas games the boys received.



We've been spending some time playing Wii Sports and Wii Fit. AND... we're still getting "acquainted" with the potty. We've not turned serious just yet. Some days he's into it, other days he's not. He has now officially "peed" and "pooped" on the potty - I know - only other parents will get excited about that.


The boys have also got back into playing on their laptops. They got these for Christmas in 2007 and they hadn't been out for a while but they are back in the routine of the toys we play with now. Reid has also had several opportunities to play with his friend Eli (our neighbor). There's going to be a path between our houses in the next couple of years, I'm sure :) They are becoming great friends.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Moving On...

Ok, I've been really wanting to finish up our Advent Calendar posts and also post what a wonderful Christmas we had... but... something is wrong with our computer, software, or most likely our camera. We can't seem to get the pictures to download. I think our plan of attack now is going to take them off the memory card and burn them to a CD and get a new camera. So the blog will be back in action and pictures will be added soon!

A little update:
We did have a fabulous Christmas! We got a Wii, a Wii fit, three nights at a cabin this summer, many many toys, some clothing, a new crockpot, and 500 rounds of ammo for dad :) We got to spend some quality time with both sets of grandparents and some nice time at our own house playing with toys.

Jake has left our house and moved back to Minnesota. About two weeks after Jake left we were asked if we would house again. As we had planned on having a teenager with us all year anyway, we accepted. Mike Shibrowski, an 18 year old from Minnesota has moved in. He's a goalie - which leads to lots of hockey games where we pause every shot on goal so both Russ and Mike can see where the shot was and how the goalie handled it. Mike is really a great kid. Of course, the boys were really accepting of him right away and we're really enjoying having him here.

The boys spent this weekend at Grandpa and Grandma Sharp's. Carmen had an all day scrapbook on Saturday and Russ and Carmen ran in an orienteering race on Sunday. We picked the boys up last night only to find that Reid had been getting sick during the day. Grandma did a great job taking care of him and he's at home healing up with dad today.

We've been introducing potties to Ryan as of late although we haven't hit the official "potty training" stage just yet. Most of the time he just has no interest at all. I'm sure it will click one of these weeks... hopefully.

That's about all the updates for now - pictures and more blogs to be back on track SOON!