Updates coming soon... I promise

I'll be updating soon but I'll summarize to say that we had a fabulous Christmas and we're still enjoying our "break" this week as well.

I've been wanting to document Ross' current vocabulary.

First word - dad da, daddy

Second word(s) - thank you

New words -

Momma

Bad Boy (yep... unfortunately he knows this and says it when he is mad, often followed by hitting someone)

Aye Yah (I want)

Hey and Hi (says in the morning when we go to get him out of bed)

Beth

Ross is also starting to dance. His dancing involves a violent shake of his head from side to side, sometimes followed by a squat but not regularly.

One more night before CHRISTMAS!

Monday - On Monday night Courtney got into town and stayed at our house so we made our advent activity "exchange presents with Courtney." She got the boys some really neat gifts. Ross got two cars and a helicopter that are little wooden cars. Ryan got a pots & pans set that look very real. Reid got a dodgeball game where you weare some vests with velcro to catch the balls that came with it. All of the presents were a great hit.

Our activity on Tuesday night was to "Go out to eat at a FUN place." We took the boys to Izumi, a Japanese steakhouse that cooks hibachi style. We really did have a lot of fun. The big fire at the beginning scared Ross and he cried but once he got over it I think he enjoyed watching the show. The two big boys really enjoyed it and Reid loved it. He loved the entertainment AND the food. He ate with chopsticks and did a great job at it! Each meal comes with a soup that is so good. It is basically clear but has a ton of flavor, almost like a chicken broth but better. Reid ate all of his, Ross liked it, but Ryan wouldn't try it. After the soup we had a salad. I had been there before and did not like the ginger dressing so asked for all of our salads to be served with no dressing. We picked at them and Ryan ate all of the carrots out of many of our salads.

After our soup and salads it was time for the big show. The chef made a volcano out of an onion, grilled the meat(steak, chicken and shrimp) and the veggies, and even tossed some shrimp for us to try and catch. Russ went 2 for 2, Mom was 1 for 2, Reid was 0 for 4, Courtney was 1 for 2 and Ryan wouldn't try it. We also got some bonus noodles that were very yummy! We had a TON of food.

Our chef did several tricks with us and really kept us entertained. He had a ketchup bottle with a string inside it that he squirted at Reid and Ryan at different times and they both fell for it. He had a great sense of humor and really entertained us. My favorite line was when he put sesame seeds on our chicken and then drew a line and said it was "sesame street."

By far one of my favorite nights this month. We've never taken the boys to something like this before (we actually RARELY even take them out to eat) and they behaved so well!

Wednesday - Tonight's activity was to "Make cookies for Santa". We'll be in Holton tomorrow celebrating Christmas with my side of the family so tonight we got our cookies baked for Santa to enjoy. We made chocolate chip cookies and tasted some of them as well - they were GOOD!

Photo Collage

These pictures might be really hard to see but I thought I'd share our "crazy" from last night. Hockey Ross' dad made all of the boys some tie dye shirts so we were trying to get a picture of all of them in them. We didn't get ONE decent photo... so I made a collage of all of the outtakes and sent it up to Ross' house. It should arrive right around Christmas... ha ha...

Who has new shoes and likes to party?

THIS GUY!

Sunday I took Ross to get his first pair of shoes. To date he has only worn his Robeez (which, yes Grandma - we know you think they were ugly). They were functional, he needed something that kept his socks on, and he has chubby little feet. BUT now that he is walking EVERYWHERE and into EVERYTHING... it was time for REAL shoes. I took Ross to Stride Rite and he was a great little boy trying them on and walking around in them. We tried four or five different pair - he needed a 4.5 xw (yes, that's extra wide). The first pair he had on he acted like he couldn't walk and kept raising his leg like they were so heavy. He quickly got used to them and was all over the store. I eventually chose these for the versatility because at nearly $50 he only gets ONE pair.

After we shoe shopped, I took Ross next door to Blue Chip Cookies for a treat. The MINUTE we walked in he had his hand out doing his "I want" sign and yelling "aye yah, aye yah" or something like that. We were third in line and he did that over and over until he had his cookie. It was HILARIOUS and a little embarrassing.

Countdown updates

No great pictures, no big stories.

Friday - Make treat sacks for Beth's daycare Christmas party. The boys are having their Christmas party at Beth's daycare on Monday so we colored Christmas coloring pages to cut out and put on their treat bags. They really enjoyed coloring - it lasted more than an hour! We ended up putting two Clementines, a Hi-C, and a bag of m&m cookies in each sack. I let the boys fill them and then when we were packing them up I noticed one sack was really heavy - it had SIX Clementines in it (Ryan's work). I was putting groceries away and never got back to inspect the others closely so I hope the rest were all equal ;)

Saturday -Go eat at Chuck E Cheese. Saturday night Russ was at the rink scorekeeping for the Russell Stover U16 games and I had the boys. I was struggling with energy levels all weekend and trying not to complain about it. SO... rather than sit at home and feel lazy - I decided to take ALL three boys to Chuck E Cheese solo. Seriously! Actually, it went REALLY well. The boys listened well, ate fantastic, and had a ton of fun. I gave Reid three or four tokens at a time to go on his own to play games and then he checked in when those ran out to get more. It happened that a lot of girls from his class were also there for a birthday party. Luckily we had gotten a table in the sectioned off toddler area and Ryan was pretty happy in there most of the time. When he wanted to go play a bigger game, Ross and I just went with him. Ross kind of just hung out the whole evening until the last 20 minutes and then he REALLY got into playing. He was climbing up the toddler slide and sliding down head first. After TWO hours of playing I told them that it was time to go. The older boys got their coats on and listened really well. Ross - he threw a fit screaming and threw himself down because he didn't want to leave.

Sunday - Watch Polar Express. Sunday morning Reid had a hockey game at 6:50 so after getting up so early it was a lazy day at home. During afternoon naptime we cuddled up and watch the Polar Express. Reid had seen the movie before but neither Ryan or I had. The boys laid pretty well and watched the movie.

Survivor's Ready

Wednesday night is going to go in the record books as the boys' favorite night. They are still talking about it. Isn't funny how it's the simplest things that get kids excited? Our activity was a "Survivor Challenge." We set up a challenge course for the boys: first they had to untie some knots, then crawl under the coffee table, complete a puzzle, finish an eating challenge with hands behind their backs (we had ice cream hidden under a bowl) and then make a basket in a small basketball goal. Ryan won the first challenge and then the boys immediately started asking if they could do it again. They did it a few more times and then started creating their own twists on the challenges as well. They had so much fun and they even asked on Thursday if they could do it again. Reid said he wanted a rematch for one of the nights we have left on the calendar.

Getting instructions on what the challenge will be...

Untying the knots...

Ryan coming out from under the table...

Puzzles! Ryan got quite a lead after this round. Tater Tot was the judge...

Reid focusing on his puzzle...

The ice cream challenge. Ryan almost done, Reid just starting...

Hands behind the backs, no utensils. Chowing down their ice cream. Mom was holding Ross because he REALLY wanted in on the challenge...

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner...

Ross really wanted to play too - he liked the puzzles quite a bit...

On Thursday night I had already went to the grocery store one time and realized that I'd forgotten something. Knowing that I had to go back sometime that evening we made the advent calendar our annual Harvesters donation. We told the boys that we were going to go to the grocery store so they could buy some food for people that didn't have money to buy food. We get to Price Chopper and start shopping down one aisle. Ryan points at a lady walking in front of us and asks "is that a hungry lady that we're going to give some food?" Apparently he didn't quite understand the whole concept. I explained it again, we shopped (which the boys really enjoyed) and then left the food in the Harvester's boxes.

Is it REALLY Wednesday already?

Well, not much to update today but I'm going to document our last two nights (without pictures) so I remember next year what worked and didn't work.

Monday night - I made the mistake of making a dinner that I should not make on a weeknight. It was great but it took quite a while and we ate late, etc. So, for the calendar we let the boys "Watch Wipeout, theater style." In our house that just means we pull the couch up close to the tv, dim the lights and let them have a snack in the living room while they watched a DVR'd episode of Wipeout. It worked, they really enjoy it... and I got some organizing in our bedroom done. Did I mention I have 100 different projects going on at my house? All three of the boys' rooms are clean, organized, etc and now I am working on our master bedroom. It really is a long process when I have to start/stop, fit it in, etc. Well, Monday night I worked on starting to pack away all of the scrapbook stuff that has accumulated in an effort to find a spot for my treadmill (news to come in 2011).

Last night (Tuesday) - we hurried home from work and took off immediately for Wal-Mart in an effort to beat the crowds. Our activity was "shopping for siblings." This actually went really well. We did not have the boys buy for us (parents) this year as we always struggle to find something at Wal-Mart that we both want or that they want to pick. Besides, each boy was now picking out two gifts so we had SIX gifts to try and hide in our cart while shuffling boys between parents. Russ took Reid first while Ryan and I did some grocery shopping. Then we met, stashed those presents under my coat in the cart and switched kids. Reid and I went to electronics while Russ took Ryan shopping in the toys. Then we met again, stashed those toys and Russ took the older two boys to the car while Ross and I picked out his gifts for Reid and Ryan (items the boys had pointed out to us while shopping for their brothers). I had right around 20 items with a few grocery items I had grabbed so we went through the express and Russ picked us up at the door. It went very well and the boys were very decisive and quick - and got each other great gifts that everyone will love.

Tonight - ????