Monday, January 04, 2010

The Holidays...aka a massive post

Blog? I have a blog? What's that you say? I've been neglecting it? Well, If that is the way YOU feel, than you should enjoy this post. It is extremely picture heavy and long.

We'll start out with Tab's letter that he wrote to Santa. It says: Santa
Hiro, Victor, Spencer, (and then he got tired of writing and made me write Sodor Steam Works and Megatron). Signed by TabGetting ready to go to the mailbox.Anxious to get his letter to Santa.Signed, Sealed, Delivered...Jason made this wreath out of the branches he clipped from our crazy tree. I just forgot to post it before and he was pretty proud of it, considering it was held together with just some thin craft wire. I took the picture after it had hung on our door for over a month, so excuse the somewhat ovalish shape. I was quite pleased with it as well. I have never had a wreath before.Oh yeah, also leading up to Christmas... I think Jason got sick of getting after Tab to eat his lunch and stop horsing around, so Tab got tied to the chair. Tab was clearly quite pleased.As our present to the kids, we took them to Great Wolf Lodge for a few days before Christmas. I dare say we had as much fun as they did. It was so nice to get away as a family and focus on enjoying our time together instead of getting "stuff" done around the house.

The boys were absolutely thrilled by having a set of bunk beds in their "own room".
Of course, the main attraction was the indoor water park. My biggest kid of all enjoyed in thoroughly.Tab was surely not disappointed. Tab loved coming down the slides.There was also a fun kiddie area. Benton really loved floating around on his dad's back.Just playing in the water.One of the big things is this massive bucket that dumps 1000 gallons of water over the entire "fort" every 5 minutes. Tab would go running for it whenever he heard the warning bell.Here is the "fort". Behind this is the other half of the park with 3 big water slides, 2 pools with various "things" in them and a lazy river.And a family picture.There was also a "cub club" at the hotel, where we took the boys to do crafts and play and just be out of the water for a bit.Then there was the arcade! They really had a blast there.
Notice Tab clutching his tickets. That was um...well...special. He was actually getting half decent at the Skee Ball.There was a fun roller coaster ride at the arcade that the boys loved.We really enjoyed our game of air hockey too.
Paisley, well, Paisley finally slept! Wahoo. She doesn't really nap when we are out and about unless she is in the carrier. I have to say that she actually was quite well behaved as she was being carried the majority of the time.Just hanging out.The boys after their "wolf walk" in the morning. They had a guide come out and talk about different wolves and bears as she pointed to the different stuffed animals that they had mounted in the lobby.
And I have to share this picture because I just love Tab's face. He has the funniest grumpy facial expressions.Back at home after our trip we did some baking.The boys had fun helping me make some yummy gingerbread cinnamon chip biscotti. Isn't my mixer sexy?As Tab's one request was that we make gingerbread houses, I couldn't say no. So here we are kneading the dough together.Rolling out and cutting out the gingerbread house.Assembly and decoration.Jason was quite pleased with his mailbox.
Benton's contribution: Tab's contribution:Who want's to open a present before bed?
I made the boys Pajama pants to wear to bed Christmas Eve.Pais, all ready for bed. And yes, her face is pretty much always orange like that. Baby food tends to stain pretty good.
And I stitched their names onto the bottom of the leg so that they would know whose was whose and which side was the front.Tan was super excited Christmas morning.Benton, not so much. The poor kid was sick. He had had a fever off and on and we had to give him some Tylenol at about 4 AM.The boys digging into their stockings.
Benton opening his transformers.He was a very happy boy.Lucky thing for us that Grandma and Grandpa got Tab a transformer because it might have gotten ugly.Pais was happy that Grandma and Grandpa got her a present since mom and dad didn't, sniff snif.Over break to get out of the house we went to the local Children's museum. The boys spent most of their time at the sand table.The train table was also a big hit. Man alive do those boys love trains.They had an awesome bubble area.Jason and Tab played at the drive up bank for FOREVER!Paisley was a big fan of the mirrors.Apparently, Jason found some mirrors that he enjoyed as well.
The boys enjoyed cooking for us in the huge play kitchen.
It isn't a trip out without a potty break. Jason felt the need to take these. All I can think is...ahh, blackmail photos.Hey, at least he washed his hands right?
They loved the magnet table too.For Christmas my sister bought me a pattern to make this hat. I love it.
Jason insisted that I put the maryjane strap on it. I think I like it better without it. What do you think?And this is the only picture I took at the New Year's party that we attended. The boys sat by the older boys while they played Wii. The older boys were nice enough to let Tab and Benton hold some of the controllers and pretend that they were playing.Oh yeah, and I did more baking.And last but not least, what would this post be without mention of the latest Home Depot project?

It may seem like our break was crazy and packed full, but mostly there was a lot of this. And this is the part I enjoyed the most and will miss the most.Phew....congrats if you made it through this entire post. I barely did...

Friday, December 11, 2009

Renegade post #2

Sorry about the delays... Jenny is up to her ears in Christmas junk and hasn't had a chance to blog something lately. She feels awful. So I am posting this SANCTIONED post:


Benny is the best after he wakes up from his nap. He is almost always wiped out and will cuddle until we get antsy and want to do something else. Here he is one Sunday afternoon just after his nap (and just after cuddling his daddy). Note the stolen blanket from Eesy (AKA Paisley... it is the best that Benny can do to say her name.)

Before the snow began to fall we actually made it outside to play from time to time. Here is a picture of Jenny that Tab drew on the driveway with sidewalk chalk. As far as we know this was the first (and best to date if it was not) attempt by Tab to actually draw a person. Note the arms, legs, dress, and smiling face. All drawn by our Picasso. And, true to form, Tab spent a good amount of time detailing the multiple intricacies that exist within Jenny's hair. (Take that how you like...)


And... Paisley... Her new nickname being PITA. (PS... it is an acronym but Jenny won't allow me to elaborate any further...) Here she is actually happy. It might have something to do with the flavor of her sweaty big toe. In all seriousness, she has actually been happier lately. She is eating baby foods and, as always, she loves the family favorite, the "sweet, sweet leches." I prefer the technical term, "competitive inhibition."
Tab has been rather ill of late. He has disconcerting spells of overt affection that catch us off guard. He has started saying please and thank you. He helps with chores (vacuuming and other stuff...). He helps with Paisley. His only fatal flaw is that his little mouth never rests. That just gives us more to look forward to each evening when he goes to bed.



Here she is again, Miss P's. She loves her Butt-bo. Her little "round bottom shuffles from side to side in the supportive chair until she gets stuck/slumped over and lets loose a scream. A few more spankings and we will be able to flatten that little butt right out so that she can sit up better. Some might call it corporal punishment... but I like to think of it as charity.
Again, things are going well. Busier than ever. The 3 above have nothing to do with the workload either. (Feeling the mildly sarcastic undertones yet???)

Until next time... good night and good luck!

-Jason

Monday, November 30, 2009

Thanksgiving

We were so lucky to have some of our best friends come visit us for Thanksgiving. We enjoyed Thanksgiving with them last year as well. Sarah and I really enjoy cooking together. The men, well... there was a bit of complaining about how little time we spent hanging out with them. Sigh... the sacrifices they made...

The kid's table.
The adults. Our friends, the Fullmer's came for dinner too.Friday afternoon we all went to pick out our Christmas trees. We looked up some U-Cut Christmas Tree farms and picked one to go get our trees. When we pulled up it was an old house with a sign on the door that said, "Go cut tree", and then regarding payment it said, "if no answer (meaning at the door), use coffee can". We got a kick out of this. So we picked up the saws off of the doorstep and drove down the road that led behind the house. And we saw this. Essentially a forest with a road through it. After looking around and deciding that we didn't drive all the way out there for nothing, Jason picked a tree and lopped the top off.We were kind of annoyed at the lack of "christmas tree farm-ness" of the place but were determined to come out with a tree. Matt paced around and finally went for it.After a lot of trimming, we brought the tree in the house.Tab was pooped from a long day of fun.When we were cleaning up, Tab insisted on vacuuming. He actually did a really good job. I think I can feel a new chore coming on.We didn't get around to trimming the tree until Saturday morning. Tab insisted on wearing gloves to protect his hands.
Benny loved helping too.Pais was there.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

My Tiger

Benton was crawling all over me growling. He was so funny. Don't mind the leftover ketchup from lunch all over his face.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Lovin' on Pais

Tab can be such a big helper with Paisley. A lot of the time all she wants is to be held and given some attention. Tab was reading her a book while I was trying to make dinner. One night Tab was just sitting there holding Paisley's hand during dinner. I thought that it was pretty sweet. Paisley is slowly working on her sitting skills. So Jason decided to help her strengthen her skills while she helped him with some studying.
Working on those sitting skills again.And occasionally mom gets some loves too.