Graham Cracker Houses

Don't they all look super excited about the project that Shana and I put together for them???

They could barely sit still! My sis and I decided that the boys needed some sort of craft project to keep them busy for a while and this is what we came up with. Make graham cracker houses and let them decorate them like gingerbread houses. I made support boxes out of an old Ziploc bag box and we glued (using royal icing) graham crackers around it. Purchased insane amounts of candy for them to eat and decorate, gave them each their own bag of royal icing and told them to go for it. Once they started they were really into it and hearing about some of their ideas was fantastic! Trevor, after things weren't staying where he wanted, decided that his house was the scene of a crash...details are sketchy but it appears that a jolly man with 8 pets of some kind slammed into the side of the house. Oliver was obsessed with putting Christmas lights all over his house and Noah and his logical brain came up with ways to make a Santa with sleigh and how you could connect or lay out two candy canes to make designs. I had a great time helping and watching...

And we're off...

I helped Oliver with his icing so he could eat, I mean put on his Xmas lights.

Squeeze from the top...Shana also taped the top shut just in case.

My little thinker...

Oliver's completed house with LOTS of lights, including a big flood light out front.

Accident scene, there were animals and what appeared to be sleigh pieces everywhere! When the crash occurred it also knocked down the candy cane swing set outside. Good thing no one was awake and outside playing at the time.

Noah's sleigh with Santa on board and his chimney.

Oliver's, Trevor's and Noah's

Riding

We rode 2 nights while we were up at Shana's last week and we had a blast!! I just want to say that I am VERY proud of Noah and was ecstatic to see him up on the horses. He has been stand offish and a bit weary about riding in the past but really came out of his riding shell this time. He did a great job, he even fell off once and got right back on. The second night we rode, the guys backed Ron's truck up near the arena, turned on the radio and lit cigars. The rest of us were riding and running around the arena. It was really fun!

Noah getting a ton of help on the first ride of the night.

I loved that Trevor was walking along beside Noah, helping him out and letting him know what to do.

Oliver got in on the action too, he got led around on Pistol.
Pistol...the coolest stuffed animal ever!

Practicing our "Whoa!" Rubi was very patient with Noah.

Trev0r's turn on Rubi.

Oliver was a bit hesitant at first, okay he was screaming, "STOP!" whenever we started to move. My brilliant sister distracted him with the letters on the walls of the arena, "Oliver, what letter is that? Let's go over and see." We'd lead Pistol over to the letter(s) and Oliver would read them. He then started looking forward to the next letter and saying things like, "Now it's M's turn! Go Pistol go." After a while I distracted him with things like no hands, touching Pistols ears and patting patient Pistol on the bottom. He was right at home and having fun in no time at all. He even laughed when I dumped him off his steed. I had spun Pistol around and headed quickly over to Trevor who had just been bucked off by Rubi...she had had enough of Lloyd and decided to chase after and kick at him.

Trevor showing Oliver how easy no hands can be.

Me on Beni...poor Beni was super sweet with me. He put up with all of out-of-practice errors and gave me a great ride. Of course it's been years since I've been on a horse for any length of time so I quickly tired. So much fun to ride though and wished I lived closer, I'd pay my sister for riding lessons or at least revert back to childhood and clean stalls in exchange for lessons.

Shana working with Kip a bit. That haze you see if cigar smoke from our big boys. Kip has come a long way since the day they brought him home. It's probably more difficult for Shana and Ron to see the progress but I saw great strides in Kip.

Love this picture of my sister.

Noah even braved the big guy and rode Beni. He wouldn't go solo and insisted that I lead Beni and I can't blame him. Going from Rubi to Beni is a BIG step up the horsey ladder. Noah even let me trot Beni! Not sure why Noah is sticking his tongue out though...

When Pigs Fly Farm

Okay, so it's not officially called "When Pigs Fly Farm" but they haven't decided on a name yet and my sister mentioned once or twice that she liked that name. What do you think? What should the Rollins Family call their farm/ranch/horse haven? With 6 horses, 2 dogs, 3 cats, 2 chickens and 1 lizard there was plenty to keep the boys busy...even if they didn't want to be busy. They had fun playing together and making a lot of noise during our week long visit. As mentioned in my previous post, playing Super Mario Brothers on the Wii was quite interesting at times. So much so that Shana and I would kick them off then play by ourselves. With 4 acres to run around on though they spent a lot of time out side burning off energy and getting dirty, very dirty...I'm still not sure if Oliver's boot liners are dry yet!

Shana teaching Oliver how to drive the tractor.

This is what Roo and I did all week long. He would stare longingly at his ball, picking it up and placing it at my feet relentlessly, until I would finally pick it up and hurl it as far as I could.

Noah's turn on the tractor. Shana, "Noah if you start to panic or something happens just lift your foot UP and OFF of the accelerator/pedal" Noah, "ok." Driving along, Noah panics a bit and instinctively slams his foot DOWN onto the pedal. The tractor lurches then bounces so much that Shana and Noah leave the seat just long enough for the kill switch to activate and shut off the tractor. I was laughing so hard that I did NOT get a picture of that.
Don't worry, No horse poo was spilled during this event.

Lloyd asking Pistol if he's recently left him any "treats" in his stall?
Reminder to self...don't let Lloyd lick your face.

Beautiful Beni

Next post will be about our fun riding...but it will have to wait until tomorrow.

Let's Eat

Shana had about 20 people for dinner on Thanksgiving day. Both sides of the family and some friends, it was a great gathering. My sister and I can both get a bit over whelmed by crowds so we devised a plan to get away for just a few minutes. My sister's new place has a pretty small oven so she got two smaller birds, cooked one at her house and one at her office. Close to being done time we, just the two of us, headed over to the office to bake the rolls and gather up the second bird. We were there for just about 30 minutes and it was a perfect energy boost and relaxing at the same time. We just sat, chatted and played our Nintendo DS's while the rolls baked then headed back and had a GREAT meal with family and friends. Everyone brought something and contributed to the meal.

Starting in the lower left, at this table we have, the back of Trevor's head, Gammy, Noah wiping his mouth with his shirt, Joel, Oliver with his cape on trying to figure out how to fly out the window, Grandpa Jerry and Grandma Lavelle's hands.

Here we have Beth, Ben (JJ's new and very sweet boyfriend that has an adorable nervous giggle), Grandma Rollins, JJ, Ron Sr. and Ron Jr.

Shana and Charlie...it may look like Charlie is waving but I was standing in front of the TV/football game taking this picture so I'm pretty sure it's the get the heck out of the way wave.

Giving Thanks

I am playing catch up today and will try to get a few posts done. We went to my sister's for Thanksgiving and spent a week up there elevating the level of chaos to new records. Three very active boys that are all smart and strong willed makes for some interesting games of Super Mario Brothers, but that's another story. Anyway, before we left, I got to help out in Oliver's preschool class for their Thanksgiving feast. They had a paper turkey on the wall and each child filled out a feather with what they are thankful for and Oliver said, "being nice, sharing, Thanksgiving and toys." Sounds just like my boy. Here are a couple of pictures from that day...

Their hats and vests, it was hilarious watching the kids try to move around in these. They were all very worried that they were going to rip the vests which means they all moved around like little Thanksgiving robots.

The feast with pumpkin pie for dessert.

Portraits

I have been trying for two days now to figure out a way to add the other pictures that I wanted to share from the boys' portrait session but we are still having some serious computer problems. SOOOO here are the ones that I did get uploaded before we broke something else not allowing me to finish. Amy Vining did a great job with these boys. They made her work for the pictures that she got! Amy and I went to high school together and have recently reconnected via facebook. It was fun chatting with her, watching her son and my boys run around and play and I got some great pictures to boot!

Oliver's LIttle Party

We had just a few family members over on Sunday night for pizza, cake and ice cream. I asked Oliver what he wanted for a cake and his reply was something that would end up over on the Cake Wrecks blog, but hey, he's 4 so he got what he wanted...cupcakes with lots and lots of sprinkles! And he doesn't discriminate against ANY sprinkles, all colors, shapes and holiday inspired sprinkles were welcome! Oliver helped with the baking and he and Noah decorated.
You all saw the birthday outfit on the previous, you can see, he's added the black socks and a Ninja headband by now.
Happy to be opening his presents and getting new Playdoh.

Thank you GrandPop and Grandma Heidi!!
He loves his Jetfire Transformer!

Cars from the Pyryt Family and they came in the most adorable reusable bag!

It's yellow and it's Legos!
Thanks Grampa Jerry and Gramma Lavelle!

And this showed up in the mail yesterday...
"GATOR GOLF!!! Just what I wanted!"
Thanks Grandma Ricki, Auntie Su and Cousins Bre & Brandon!!!

He also got his annual contribution from Gammy for his college fund, a gift certificate to Barnes and Noble from Uncle Ben, and a few Hot Wheels gifts from us. Noah went to an incredible museum with Joel this weekend and got Oliver a really cool rock too. He is a lucky boy to have so many that love him. I will be bringing him and a couple of his friends from preschool to Kids Club Fun & Fitness on Friday to finish off, what has turned into, his birthday week!

He's Bigger Now!

HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY OLIVER!!

I spent all morning hearing things like, "is my toothbrush four now too? What about my clothes? Are they bigger and four? Is my booster seat four? My milk tastes bigger, it must be four too!" Everything that is his, is now four. Gammy, Grandpa Jerry and the Pyryt Family came over last night for pizza and cupcakes (will post those pictures later). Friday I will be taking Oliver and a few of his friends from school to Kids Club Fun and Fitness to play.

I'm proud to be Oliver's mom-mom, the kid can frustrate me and push all of my buttons but he can also make me laugh like no other kid. He is a fun-loving spirited kid that loves life and anyone willing to be a part of his. Happy Birthday Ollie Al, we love you very much!

My baby Ollie.

My little one year old outlaw.


Happy to be 2!

Giving a thumbs up to turning 3.
I told Oliver to go put some clean clothes on because company would be arriving soon for his 4th birthday pizza dinner. He came out wearing this, he later added a pair of black socks to complete the ensemble. Ear protection, sunglasses, swim goggles, swim trunks, hammer, power saw, kaleidoscope and another hammer...perfect! No, I did not make him change, it was his birthday, not mine.

Happy Birthday Oliver...you crack me up!

Gammy's Home

Gammy came home from another stint with FEMA last Sunday. The boys will be going to her house tonight to put in some quality time with Gammy and to give Mom & Dad a night alone. Oliver informed me yesterday morning that he needed to pack. He filled two backpacks and then alternately wore them around all day yesterday. I decided, while he was at school, to go through and see how he did packing. Not too bad for his first try EVER at packing. I have to go and pack it all again, no telling how much trouble I'd be in if he found out I unpacked his bags!! Don't worry, I added socks and underwear...he'll never know!

hammer toy, toothbrush bucket, Frisbee, boomerang, swim goggles, ear protection, truck, car, launching truck with two cars, fridge DJ, O for Oliver, notepad with multiple pens, Handy Manny Drill with accessories, tow truck, monkey flashlight, 1 sweatshirt, 7 shirts, 2 pairs of pajamas, 3 pairs of pants

Boys + Coffee = Disaster

SOOOOO after a long morning of fighting and getting in trouble and by long morning I mean by 930 a.m., it was time for me to go take a shower and get ready to go. I gave the boys VERY specific instructions about not fighting, leaving each other alone and to get dressed and ready to go...be ready with shoes on by the time I got out of the shower. Immediately, I knew something was up when I found Noah HELPING his little brother get ready. Around the corner, into the kitchen and the baby/dog gate was up. Why is the gate up? There on the floor was my coffee mug, shattered all over the floor, then I see it...my laptop, with coffee dripping through it, onto the desk and onto the floor. My laptop is no more or at least not what it used to be. Joel came home from class and removed the memory and hard drive and, fortunately, they didn't seem to have any moisture on them. He has tried to re-boot the computer and it's trying, it really is. We have to buy/borrow a USB keyboard (laptop keyboard is a total loss), plug the hard drive and memory back in and see if we can recover everything. Wish us luck, well wish Joel luck because that's his specialty.

Long story short, my blog posts may be a bit sparse until I get things moved, transferred, up and running, etc.

Update and School Pictures

So Oliver broke the Radius which is the shorter of the two arm bones on the inside. The doctor said it was a clean simple break and the bones hadn't appeared to move at all, still perfectly lined up. He got his splint and ace bandage off and a new yellow cast put on. Yellow is his favorite color.



Oliver's first school picture...


Noah's 3rd grade picture...the kid over thinks it all, including his smile when they tell him to...

Halloween 2009

I hope everyone had a safe, fun and candy filled Halloween! Our Halloween started Friday night with the annual Kanthak Karate Halloween Party. This party is always a ton of fun, the families do a great job of participating and making it a great night for the school. Oliver (see previous post) decided to fall off of the swing after the party and fracture his left arm, but it's not a horrible fracture and he should heal up fast and well. We carved pumpkins on Saturday afternoon, well the boys did, I tend to hang back, watch and take pictures. My hands don't like pumpkin guts. After getting all dressed up the boys headed over to a neighbors house for a pre trick-or-treat party then headed out for the night. Noah took off with a group of older kids (parents too) and stayed out for a good 2+ hours. Oliver and dad hung back with another group of parents and younger kids and stayed out for about an hour or so. They scored a TON of candy and ate way too much before heading off to bed.

Mr. K and Mr. B with the boys at the party.

They always make time to pose with their students.

Noah deciding which pattern he wants to use this year.
I always head out the day after Halloween and pick up pattern books and other Halloween stuff at 50% off. It goes in the storage bin for next year.

Hard at work!

Got pumpkin guts?

Oliver's Pumpkin

Noah's Pumpkin

All dressed up and ready to go.

Oliver said, "Look! Halloween butt!"

Oliver's loot and Dad trying to steal a piece. I failed to get a picture of Noah's pile of goodies but I can tell you he got a lot. At least four times this much.

Tuckered out!
Thank goodness he has Route 66 Bear to keep him company and help elevate his arm.

Happy Hall-OW-ween!

We went to the annual Halloween party put on by the karate school last night. Joel and I were helping clean up post party so the boys went out to play on the swings. Short while later, the boys reappeared, Noah lecturing Oliver and Oliver crying. Turns out that Oliver either fell out of the swing or tried to jump out of the swing (both done many times before) and landed hard on his arm/shoulder/face. It wasn't swollen or bruised just sore so we iced it off and on last night. Oliver woke up crying saying that his arm still hurt, after some probing and poking I narrowed it down to a small but VERY sore spot on his arm just above his wrist. I talked with Joel and we decided to go ahead and bring him into the same day clinic. Xrays show that he does indeed have a small fracture, in one of his bones, just above the wrist. It is just splinted for the weekend with the possibility of a cast later. Tylenol, if necessary, to help with the pain, ice, elevated arm and rest are in order today.

Tallow

Some may not find tallow a.k.a. rendered fat very exciting but I do! Check out this blog contest and enter to win a bucket of fat! Just think of the tasty things I or you could fry up and I could finally try to make my soap with tallow! We've talked about rendering our own fat from our grass fed beef but I just don't see it happening anytime soon. Anyway, go check it out and enter to win and hey, even if you don't want a bucket of tallow, I know someone who does. ;)

Illahee Walk-A-Thon

The annual Illahee Walk-A-Thon is back! The money raised will directly benefit the school - paying for field trips, art discovery, playground equipment, passport club and many many more. Pledges can be collected until 11/4/09. If you would like to sponsor Noah during this fundraiser please email me or leave me a comment. You can sponsor per lap or make a flat donation.

On a side note, I would just like to say that I LOVE Noah's school. They have some incredible programs and great sense of community. The PTA works very hard at making sure these programs are not cut due to budget constraints.