Last week was very very tiring for all of us! We’ve been dealing with some pretty major sleeping issues with Aiden stemming from a newly-developed fear of the dark. A week ago Friday, I wondered if he might feel better being in the same room with Logan. They talk a lot about getting bunk beds and sharing a room someday. We pulled Aiden’s mattress into Logan’s room and put it on the floor. Logan was a complete doll all week about the whole thing. He would offer to cuddle Aiden, tell him stories, let him leave the light on in the room (like the one on the ceiling!) and let him have his noise machine in there as well. But Aiden would still have troubles settling down, wouldn’t let us leave him and would scream any time he woke in the night and we were gone. Things are getting better now, mostly thanks to an idea that I found on the internet while trying to “Google” our way back to some semblance of normal nights (because let’s face it, I haven’t had a full night’s sleep in almost 5 years! Someone is ALWAYS up in the night). On Wednesday, after dinner and baths, we had a dark party in Logan’s room. I took three of the glow-in-the-dark stars from the ceiling, got ‘em real nice and glow-y with a flashlight, put them on the bed and called everyone in. Every light was off. I even covered the clock face with a tee shirt. The boys each sat where one of the stars had been and we played games.

Game 1: Guess the food. I brought in baggies of blueberries, strawberries, a few Doritos and cereal bars. Everyone took a bit and then we counted to 3 before yelling out our guesses. Logan won that game!

Game 2: Guess the toy. I passed around small toys and the boys had to figure out what they were. We had a little stack of legos, a small plastic sword from our pirate game, one of Aiden’s stretchy lizards and something else I can’t remember.

Game 3: Guess the animal. We took turns making animals sounds and everyone had to say the animal name. Fact: a bunny can say “moo” if he is pretending to be a cow…at least that’s what Logan told us when his bunny went moo.

Game 4: Hide the stars. This was an unplanned game, but the boys were having so much fun that they requested more “dark party”. I would have them either cover their eyes or hide in the closet while I spread the stars around the room. They would run out and look for the glow. I put them on top of daddy, in my pockets, up on the door frames and all over the furniture. We talked a lot during this game about how much fun we were all having in the dark, “right Aiden?! isn’t this so much fun?” He said it was.

As soon as games were over, Brady was removed to his room while daddy told a story in the dark about the stars on the ceiling. The stars were born far away, but wanted to live with little boys. Lately, they were really sad that they couldn’t be seen at night because the lights are always on.

I can’t say that all nighttime issues have faded, but things are WAY better. We can now leave only a nightlight on and the door open to the hallway lights. Aiden doesn’t scream when he wakes up, but he does come find us. I’ve also been sitting in the room until he drifts off, but that won’t last forever…baby steps.

Last night, we made Logan’s room officially into “Logan and Aiden’s Room”. Logan gladly offered to downsize his queen bed to a twin so Aiden could be there with him and they would still have enough room to play. He is now sleeping on a daybed auntie Denna had when we were growing up. Aiden is in a bed someone from Brian’s family had as a child. It’s quite a mish-mash of furniture in the room right now, but I think bunk beds are on the horizon!

The mini man cave. Brian, brilliantly, suggested that we put the rolling drawers from the (broken) train table under the day bed for toy storage. I’m going to have to work that out sometime this coming week.

Brady was following me around today and climbed into “O-gan’s bed”. Maybe you’ll be invited to the party in the mini-man cave someday darling, but not now – crib-city for you sweetie!

Speaking of room for 2, Aiden and Brady apparently don’t even need beds! Look how nicely they fit into the living room blanket basket. It’s a stylish and affordable way to store your children…maybe I can put our gobs of blankets in Brady’s crib??

Being the mother of all boys can present a girl with a number of challenges. One must condition herself to accept certain things like rough play as an every-day occurrence, sound effects as a way of communication, a bizarre yet impressive innate ability to understand electronics, and the constant building of ships and guns when encountered with tinker toys, legos or anything else that could just as easily have turned into something more tame... One must abandon her more gentle sensibilities and embrace all that is “the boy”…plus a degree in engineering would be mighty helpful! Today alone, I was called upon to design and construct several different forms of entertainment. These, I might add, must be assembled at a break-neck speed lest the requestor lose interest and you’re left running after him (them) demanding why there is now another mess-in-progress elsewhere when you have just spent 15 minutes trying to give them what they wanted. Don’t get me wrong, even though the play time enjoyed with most of these things is far less than the time I spend putting them together, boys love their mommies…give good thank-you hugs, lots of praise for well-constructed lego ships…and the smiles are priceless.

Logan was super way-impressed with my ships today. He said, “and you always say WE build good ships! Yours is great!” Ahh…go on! Obviously I spent a little more time building the one on the left. I thought I was done, but he then asked for “a bad guy ship”…so I threw the other one together.

He wanted to be the “background” for my picture.

Brady, the current lover of trains, always stands at the basement door saying “come on mamee…come on mamee!” complete with the come-here hand motion that means he wants to play GeoTrax. The problem is that he usually destroys them when he’s done so I have to build a new one every few days from the rubble. Here is today’s creation. I take pride in my GeoTrax configurations, putting guard rails at the ends of steep drops so the trains don’t fly off, choosing the right tracks for inclines (some don’t have treads and the trains get stuck), and testing traffic patterns in both directions

And finally, we also hit the trick-tracks bin this afternoon. We have a standard configuration, but you have to carefully search through the car bin and find just the right car for each job. View the video below and you’ll see what I mean. (the Bears car doesn’t quite make the cut through the loop section of the track…) While I was building this, Logan lost interest, found a remote in the office/playroom, tested it out, discovered it was for the computer, put on the media center and started Charlie and The Chocolate Factory through our on-line Netflix. It was all I could do to drag him back to the track he BEGGED me to build.

Our membership at the Aquarium expires in Feb so we squeezed in one final trip last weekend. The kids love it there and we may renew, but we’ve discussed joining a different place next year (maybe the Museum of Science and Industry) to mix it up a bit.

We’ve been to the aquarium so many times now that Logan decided to be our guide. He grabbed a map and pointed the way to the play submarine…by far his most favorite place!

We hadn’t been to the new show so we checked it out. It was really really cool!

Sadly, the submarine area was closed for a private event until noon. We played in the penguin area and then hit the cafe for lunch to kill time. Look at the cool view from our table!

Aiden stole my camera for a minute. I guess this is a child’s view of mommy.

YEAH – the submarine is open!

The boys played here for a while until we dragged them kicking and screaming to the underwater reef…which they also love so they calmed down once we mentioned sharks and “Nemo fish”

I love music. Lyrics stick in my head and I just can’t help but sing them. Lately, whenever I’m jamming out in the car with kids or making up a funny little ditty around the house, Brady will look at me and say, “um..mama..no. no sing-ig”

everyone’s a critic!

I forgot to post a picture of the boys from our sledding trip last week. It was relatively warm last Thursday so I asked the boys if they wanted to go sledding (insert jumping and yelling and general excitement). Brian had spotted a big hill and said we should try it out. After a trip by Dick’s Sporting Goods for some saucer sleds (we only had a baby/mommy one), we went over to the park. The first thing I said to the boys when I saw the sledding hill was, “guys…your daddy is crazy!” The hill was HUGE! We stayed on the smallest part and everyone did really well. Logan had one mis-hap where he accidentally launched before one of his legs was in so he dragged it down the whole way. He had that panicked look on his face and was yelling “mommy! mommy!” I was trudging my way up the hill after a trip down with Brady. After his scare, Logan came back up the hill and, after I explained to him that he needed to wait for me at the top sit on his bottom not on his knees, he went right back to it. I was really proud of his bravery! Aiden did great and Brady loved our trips together in the double sled. I think I was the only one panicked the whole time. I kept thinking I was going to capsize my sled with Bear or that the older boys were going to go flying out and break a limb! I don’t think it helped that we parked directly by a sign warning about the dangers of sledding (which, it noted, do include death – ack – don’t show me that!) I guess it’s my job as the mom to worry about these things!

Here are the boys at the top of the hill. See the lights on the car from the parking lot WAY down below? That’s a good estimate of how big this hill is…and we were on the VERY smallest part! They loved it!

Since Brady turned 2 last month, I’ve been wanting to “promote” him from hallway and pool-side sitter to actual class taker. He’s been my “waiting buddy” in a wide variety of venues while one or both of his older brothers enjoys swimming, soccer, karate, projects class etc. While we have been doing a gym class together since he could crawl, I thought it was time for him to get a more robust activity schedule of his own. Step one, I enrolled him in the pre-pre-school class Aiden took and loved called “I’m Not Two Young To Learn”. I also thought it would be fun to get him in a swim class (with me) while his brothers are in their respective classes. Of the 4 10:00 Monday swim sessions at the YMCA pool, I now have a kid in 3 of them. Each of us is in our own area and I can still see Logan and Aiden doing their lessons, with the added bonus that I don’t have to chase Brady around hoping he doesn’t fall in.

Not Two Young To Learn Day One: Stood at the (closed) door crying for 15 minutes. The teacher came out and said she was OK with him as long as I was. I offered to come in, help him get involved in an activity and sneak out. No such luck. My excuses to leave and go to the bathroom or to, “get my camera so I can take pictures of you in your big boy class,” were apparently weak and transparent. I let him come out of class, with me, at least 15 minutes early. But…we’ll try again this week!!

Swim Class Day One: Yesterday the four of us got ready in our suits and towels. The big boys seemed to relish the freedom they would have and promised not to need to use the restroom while I was swimming with Brady (a-hem…Aiden went twice and Logan went once) But…back to Bear, the boy who loves nothing better than to have the whole bathtub to himself so he can lay on his tummy, blow bubbles and kick. He cried the whole time, tried to run away during any “side of the pool activates” and kept pointing to the ladder saying “out…that way…out!” But…we’ll try again next week!

I’ve been thinking a lot this Winter about the amazing things you see in nature. I just wanted to write down a few of my observations. I was always told that the Eskimos have over 50 different words for snow. I have since learned that this is more an urban myth. But, I can understand how it could be true. Living in an area where we have snow more often than not, I myself have at least a dozen different ways to describe it. My words are things like fluffy snow, quiet snow, sparkly snow, beach sand snow, snowman snow, too heavy for me to shovel snow (usually a good indication that it’s also snowman snow). One evening back in December, I needed to make a late-night run to Target for some wrapping supplies. Everyone in my house was already sleeping (including Brian). I left a quiet house and entered a quiet night where the snow was falling literally one flake at a time. There was no wind and the lights from the shopping center illuminated the sky making the snow look like glitter. I felt like I was inside a snow globe. It was awesome! We saw giant snow globe snow once in Wisconsin during Christmas of 2007. When I got back home after my Target outing, I noticed that there were tiny, perfect, individual flakes stuck to the side of the car.

The other day, I was driving around town and noticed a funny little phenomenon on top of the stop light pole (the one that is suspended over the ground and holds all the lights). Instead of settling along the pole, the snow had settled along a wire which was wrapped around the pole. It looked like someone had painted a white line around and around the top – pretty cool!

Yesterday morning, I went out for the paper. All the trees, plants and bushes looked just like those fake white Christmas trees. I have absolutely no idea what causes this particular frosting, but upon closer inspection, I realized that everything was covered in tiny spiky snow crystals. I had to take some pictures to show the boys.

Winter, despite the chill, is pretty cool.

Yesterday, a new treadmill was delivered to our home (yeah me!) Can you believe the audacity of the delivery guys who tried to take this beautiful box with them when they left?!!

In actuality, they were quite thrilled when I told them to leave it! After we played a few different games with the box, we headed outside to carry out a directive issued by dad: build a snowman. Brian called and told me that a warm-up is on the way so we better get our snowman done. Neither of us took into account that what we currently have on the ground is most definitely not “snowman snow”! We did our best…

I wanted to put a big sign beside him that said “I’m melting…I’m melting!”

Since that whole activity was a bit of a bust and we were all decked out in winter gear, I gave the boys spray bottles of colored water

And finally, in other news, Aiden is Picasso

Well, I forgot my camera again at our neighborhood New Year’s Eve party (what’s with that!?). I’m going to get some pictures from Anne, but we haven’t been able to sort that out quite yet (my computer wouldn’t read her memory card and her camera doesn’t have a USB port which is what I usually use with mine). Long boring story short, I promise to post a picture of the kids at the party as soon as I can, but I do need to do our hand-prints post.

Every New Year’s day for the past 3 years, the boys have done handprints that I keep in a book along with a write-up of their favorite foods, toys, games etc from the year. They had a lot of fun letting me paint their hands (it tickles) and the bigger boys only had to do 1 print each – an amazing improvement from previous years! To go along with the other camera problems, the battery ran out before we got pictures of Brady. I sure hope the year 2010 is not the year of camera mishaps!

Also, I’m not sure if my hair has EVER looked worse than in these pictures. I didn’t realize daddy got me in the shots too. I had it up and then took it down and obviously had not made friends with the hairbrush for a few hours – ug!

Anyway, here is Logan getting his hand tickled:

After seeing how much art work comes home from school involving hand-prints, it’s no wonder that Logan and Aiden are pros at this by now!

Home run! Whose next?   

Also note the legos on the table…we’re nutty for legos right now in any size (and we seems to have many many sizes available! They are transformed mostly into ships, buildings and weapons…)

Aiden was thrilled with his blue hand!

Look at these giant hand prints. I only say giant because…

Look at last year’s…

…and the year before that! Brady’s hand was still in the constant baby-fist stage!

Night before last, it got so cold that a 12-pack of Diet Cherry 7-Up cans that was sitting in our garage experienced several can explosions. I walked out to warm up the car and was greeted by a fine dusting of a pink snow-like substance all over the stairs and on the floor. It made me laugh, but then it made me sad because I had to sweep so much yummy looking slushy on to the driveway. I decided not to open any of the surviving cans for fear of another explosion.

Sorry for the nasty picture of my sink. Here are the 2 cans that exploded. The boys thought these were way cool, plus it was an really fun way to teach them about how water expands as it freezes into ice.

The cans that didn’t explode looked like this…still covered in the slush of their fallen comrades.

In other news, I was making dinner tonight when Logan and Aiden came by to see what I was preparing. At the time, I was slicing a tomato…they like tomatoes…they asked for a piece…then they ate all of them…then they saw another tomato on the counter and asked for that one too. I cut it into quarters mentioning that I had been planning to save that for my eggs tomorrow morning. Logan ate both his quarters. Aiden ate one and then said, “mommy…I want you to have this one for your eggs.” What a sweetie. Later, Logan saw that piece laying on the cutting board…and he ate it.

I also happened to be cutting up some tofu to make some soup for myself. The boys all tried some. Logan spit his in the garbage. Brady spit his in the garbage. Aiden asked for more on a plate. Wonders never cease.

This afternoon we were quite bored so I suggested a project that has been in the back of my mind for quite some time: turn Logan’s closet into a secret hide-out. The boys were all over it! We decided it was for super heroes and for spies. The closet contained an old mattress, a box of 5T cloths and a bunch of assorted other clutter. Logan’s cloths are all contained in a dresser in his room.

Step one was some internet research. My father in law recently gave me a pack of photo paper so we used a bunch of it to print “posters” for the hideout.

BEFORE: Here is the closet with most of the stuff cleaned

FINISHED PROJECT: I hung the boys’ super hero costumes from Halloween on the support bars of the closet shelf. Three of our “posters” were of the boys last Halloween so I hung each photo by it’s appropriate costume. Oh…and Aiden insisted that we print out a lizard poster as well

 

The wall on the left has three “spy-themed” posters hanging up high. I am planning to paint a square on that wall with chalk-board paint this weekend…perfect for plotting out hero and spy adventures! We stocked the closet with all caped costumes, blankets (not my idea) and spy gear of course.

The title of this post is in reference to the abbreviation for Oklahoma (OK)…our official Christmas destination of 2009! As is typical of many families, we are lucky enough to have two Christmas celebrations every year…Brian’s side of the family and then my side of the family. Each year we rotate which side gets “actual Christmas”. This year, Brian’s family celebrated on December 19th. It was a fabulous time as always…delicious food served Memaw-style complete with fun activities like graham-cracker house building. Can you believe that I forgot my camera that day? I took a few pictures with my iphone though.

On December 22nd, shortly after the break of dawn, we all set out in various methods of transportation that would eventually lead us to Stillwater, OK…home for the past 30+ years to my grammie and grampie (now affectionately known to the boys as GG and GGpa <—Great Grandma and Great Grandpa). Brady, Aiden and I were shuttled to the airport by Memaw and Grandpa while Daddy and Logan set out via super van. 5 round-trip tickets plus the necessary van rental while we were there was atrociously expensive…not to mention that we had all our gifts, toys for the troupe, and all our cloths to pack. Divide and concur seemed the best course of action. My crew did very well on the plane. Nana greeted us at the airport and we made our way to what we’ll refer to as “The 723”.

Daddy and Logan joined us a mere 4 hours later – go super van team! We spent the next 4+ days being fed ridiculous amounts of delicious grammy-food and hanging out with the family. Auntie Denna, Uncle Tom and Baby Ryan joined us later on Tuesday. Papa arrived, by sheer miracle, early Friday morning. You see…while we were hanging around the house on Thursday, Oklahoma and the surrounding area was being hit hard by a monster of a snow storm. Papa made it as far as Texas Thursday evening (via Las Vegas where he drove from their home in Los Angeles). He even GOT on a plane that was delayed and delayed and delayed before they were told that they had to get off because the Tulsa, OK airport had been closed. Papa then rented a car, drove as far as he could and then continued on the next morning (Christmas morning) to join us. Nana, GG & GGpa were actually sleeping away from The 723 each night, in GG’s twin sister’s home, and they got stuck in a snow drift right outside the house Thursday night for no less than 1/2 an hour!

Despite the weather, we were all together on Christmas. It wasn’t just an O.K. Christmas…it was a chance for the boys to visit GG and GGpa for the very first time and a chance for me to return to a treasured place I haven’t seen in far too long. This journey would have been nearly impossible only a year ago, but it proved to be a fun adventure for our family. We struck out for home on Saturday morning and made the 12+ hour journey back with very little fuss from the boys…a true Christmas miracle! ;) We even had a pizza party on our way back. Brian and I needed some coffee and pulled into a Starbucks-containing plaza around 5pm. He spotted a sign at an adjacent Little Caesar’s advertising $5 ready-to-go pizzas. We bought one for the car and kept on “keepin’ on” instead of stopping for dinner. I think the two of us thought it was more entertaining than the kids…but whatever, it saved us at least an hour of non-driving time!

Pictures!

Here is Aiden with his graham cracker house during “1st Christmas”

Logan was more interested in tasting the building materials than in creating his house

At some point, Aiden spilled something on his pants and expressed a strong desire to have them dry (ie: freaked out a bit until I got them into Memaw’s dryer). He was cold so he snuggled under a blanket to watch a Christmas special on TV…Bear snuggled with him.

Aunt Diana sent me some of the pictures she took…I am way impressed at this year’s picture of the boys! Even Brady was looking at the camera!

Here are our boys the next morning enjoying Logan’s new Playmobile Dolphin show. Any toy that requires water is a big hit all around!

Random shot of Brady enjoying the train…he’s making “a tunnel”

Heading for Oklahoma – my crew on the plane! I took a car seat for Bear which was a God send! He wasn’t as crazy as usual…although he spent a good deal of the flight “yelling” at the window because he wanted to put it up, then down, then up, then down…but his single little hand couldn’t do the “up” part very well. I was across the aisle on our tiny little plane and leaned over to lend him a hand for while until, eventually, I just had Aiden switch seats with me. Here, Aiden is frustrated playing a game on my iphone. I think he’s actually yelling at it!

Aiden and his McD’s pancakes. That kid made me carry him on my shoulders (double stroller being otherwise occupied by Brady and the car seat) through the entire airport…and we had a long walk! Mama need a chiropractor!

We had to wait a while for the plane to be de-iced. I have never seen this before, but it’s pretty cool! Whatever they spray on the planes turns them orange then green. This is a bad shot of the wing outside of my window (shockingly, I had both seats to myself!)

Shortly after our arrival at The 723, GG and GGpa left to pick up Denay and her family. We started to get stir crazy so me and Nana took the boys out. We had to stop for some supplies and Aiden wasn’t content until I gave him my camera in the shopping cart at the grocery story. Here is a picture he took of Brady.

Ah…a Stillwater tradition – lunch at Eskimo Joe’s. I had to document the boys’ first trip!

Logan is quite fond of his baby cousin. Hopefully someday the feeling will be mutual :) Here is he giving baby Ryan a hug at the restaurant.

In an effort to keep them entertained, the boys got to open one small gift Wednesday and Thursday mornings (Christmas being on Friday). Thursday, Brady opened his bug-hunters kit from mommy and daddy. He had a blast hunting for these little sponge animals we hid in the hallway.

The Wii also traveled with us to Oklahoma. It was good for keeping all my boys (big and little alike) from getting rambunctious…it just also meant that we were a little hoggy with the TV! :)

This is the greatest thing of all time: garage turned playroom! GG and GGpa’s garage sits right off of their living area (perfect for keeping an eye on the kids). A while back, they saw that the local Masonic lodge was doing a carpet change and asked if they could take some of the remnants. GGpa sealed off the door with plastic and they bought a few cool-to-the-touch space heaters. GENIUS!

A Christmas Eve tradition: opening one gift from GG and GGpa. The boys got books this year…

…and then story time with GG

mommy likes stories too

After the boys were nestled all snug in their beds, Santa dropped by with an item that required a little mommy and daddy-elf assistance…a 500-piece marble run for Aiden. It was quite a process, but we actually had a lot of fun putting it together…even though bedtime came around 1am.

Another Christmas tradition: opening stockings! Santa was very kind to the boys…lots of fun stuff!

Senior sweet-tooth went straight for his candy bracelet.

Aiden spent most of the morning organizing and re-organizing the contents of his stocking. Brian says it’s scary how much the two of us are alike – har har Mr. Funny Man!

The pocket doors between the living and family rooms were pulled shut so as not to reveal the gifts Santa left. Here, the boys wait not-so-patiently with the little puppies they got in their stockings (Logan had to go and get his whole “crew” for the big reveal)

Just what he asked for – a nerf gun! This is actually dart tag and comes with 2 vests, 2 guns and velcro-tipped darts. Daddy and the boys have had a lot of fun running around the house with these!

Brady got a Geo-Trax airplane – big hit!

I didn’t get a shot of Aiden and his marble run, but he loved it…as did Brady…and mommy and daddy (admittedly, we played with a bit before going to bed on Christmas eve)

Bear got himself some new drums (thanks Denna, Tom & Ryan)

Ryan got some cool stuff too…which Brady thoroughly enjoyed while Ryan spent a little time playing in a box – so stinkin’ cute!

2 of Aiden’s favorite gifts: a dollar from his stocking (he was still carrying this around the week after we got home) and a make-your-own-lizard foam “blocks” set.

As I mentioned before, we were hit with quite a huge snow storm while in Oklahoma. No offense intended, but that state maybe owns 1 snow plough from the looks of the roads on our way home. Here, Aiden was complaining that the sun was too bright so I gave him my glasses. funny!

It didn’t seem awesome at the time, but Brady woke up around 5 the day we left…that translated into a big long nap for a while as we set out. Kids sleeping in car seats…equally adorable and SO uncomfortable looking!

Here is a road two days after the snow stopped. Clearly only one side was touched…

There were tons and tons of vehicles abandoned on the side of the road…

…as well as some recent slips into the ditches. Brian and I counted 54 cars and 3 semi trucks along our route. Once we got out of Oklahoma…it was smooth sailing all the way home (props to dad who is an excellent driver in bad conditions…and for the long hauls as well…he drove the WHOLE way!)

Back at home, we set up the massive amounts of cool farm toys the boys got from GG and GGpa. Logan and Aiden got barns complete with various tractors, animals, and other buildings. Brady got a horse carrier.