we broke down.

We said we were not buying anymore, but he's officially chewed through every single binky,and we (Mark, Levi and I) are just not quite ready to given them up.  oh well.  these are pretty cute ones, aren't they?  Good choice daddy.

we do what it takes sometimes.

The other night we were having spaghetti, corn and carrots-- three things that both boys will typically eat, and eat and eat, but for whatever reason they just weren't having it.  Isaiah gets up and goes to the kitchen utensil drawer and comes back to the table with the ice cream scoop and begins to eat.    

 I'm not really sure what made him do this, but I figured, okay - whatever.

 Then Levi requests a big scoop too.  So I got him one.

 and they ate and ate and ate.  :)  Sometimes we do whatever it takes!  :)

By the way - the jammies that Levi is wearing are his favorite pieces of clothing that he owns right now.  He requests to wear them just about every day - as day clothes and at bedtime.  On the days we aren't going anywhere, you'll most likely find him in his "Mario jammies."

birthday WEEK.

Mark turned 29 on the 21st!  He celebrated all week long!  I love birthdays and how they are such a good reason to get together with friends and do fun things.  Maybe we should all be more like the Mad Hatter and celebrate our un-birthdays??? 

Anyway, the first celebration was on Monday night.  Mark had a few guy friends over for a fun game of poker.  He used to have a weekly poker night before he started working second shift.  I think they all enjoyed it - I sure hope they find a way to do this more often!  

In case you are wondering - from left to right - Zeke, Mark, Shay, my dad, Brian and Chris

 On Tuesday Mark was asked to be TC for an event at a local elementary school.  It couldn't have been better timing - they needed him from 2:15-3:30.  I get home from work around 1:30 and he has to leave for work at 3:30.  I think he really enjoyed being in "the suit" again and bringing so much excitement and joy to the kids.

Wednesday and Thursday were just normal days, no extra celebrating except when Mark got home from work Thursday he found the card the boys and I made (I guess it was actually Friday by then).

And Friday was the big day!  Isaiah's preschool was cancelled because the very cold temperatures so we had the entire day as a family (plus Caiden) as Mark took the day off work.  We tried hard to be quiet so he could sleep in, but he was up fairly early anyway.  After breakfast we were off to Mark's choice...Chuck E Cheese :)

 

We always have so much fun there!  We don't go very often - usually just on our birthdays, but it is such a great time!  We like to go first thing when they open (around 10) and just play the games.  We easily go through 100 tokens!  Good thing they email us coupons!  Once we run out of tokens we are ready to head home for lunch! 

They had TONS of new games since we had been there the last time.  Mark got pretty addicted to the new baseball one.  He had so much fun on it that he told me I needed to come play it to see if I could beat the high score which he got at 297.  I said okay and gave it a shot -- guess what my score was -- 617!! :) haha.  He had to keep playing (more than a few times) to finally beat my score at 620.  I didn't try again - I figured I'd better let the birthday boy be the winner, right? 

We came home to eat a fancy lunch of Mac and Cheese and then it was time for CAKE.  Check out this yummy cake I made!!  Chocolate Peanutbutter Mousse.  It was amazing!  I'd never tried anything like it, but the birthday boy requested a chocolate peanutbutter cake - and he always gets what he wants! :) haha.

After nap time we gave daddy his gift. - a remote control helicopter.  Look closely in the picture, it's flying in the air.  It's really fun!  Mark's friend has a few helicopters and Mark has had fun flying them with him, so we figured he needed one of his own!  Definitely a fun gift for the whole family. 

Around 5:30 LeAnna came to watch the boys while Mark, my parents and I went to play bingo.  We've gone a few times to play on my birthday because I love bingo and you get to play free on your birthday.  I forgot to take any pictures but I do have a good story!  We happened to be running a bit behind due to some construction we ran into on our way there.  We were in line to get our bingo cards at like 6:50 and bingo starts at 7.  It seems like everyone ahead of us was either asking a million questions or buying like $65 in bingo cards and taking forever!!  Mark decided to switch lines to see if we could get done faster.  They announced they were going to start and so we were all extra antsy.  They showed the first number on the screen -- 21 - Mark's number (he's born on the 21st) -- we (as in me and Mark) got excited! It was finally Mark's turn in line so the lady gave him his cards for free and then I paid for mine.  We sat down to quickly catch up -- they had called like 10 numbers by now.  We figured out we were going for an "M" on the card - Mark's letter!  So we were hurrying and I realized I only needed one more number...and then my number came up!!! I yelled Bingo -- and was the only one so I won $300 on the very first game!!  I really wish that it had been Mark that won - it was totally set up for him.  I've kidded him and said he should have been a gentleman and let the "ladies go first."  But it was still so much fun to win!! Unfortunately the rest of the bingo night was uneventful. 

Then Saturday my department at work was having their Christmas party.  A party bus was rented and we went bar hopping all around town!  We hadn't been out like this in YEARS.  It was a lot of fun.  

The bus was just a white school bus.

The first stop - we played pool with my boss and her husband!  I can't remember who won - we played twice -- did we both win once?  I don't think I even got one ball in, good thing I have a good partner!  Here we are -- I told you Gina that you'd make it on my blog! :)

Tara and I were buddies on the bus - we were supposed to make sure our partner always made it back on the bus so we wouldn't leave anyone.  It sort of worked.  Tara introduced me to Asti on the bus.  YUMMY. It's a really sweet sparkling wine.  You should definitely try it!

Mark sang his usual karaoke song - Baby Got Back.  :) 

We parked our car by the last bar on the bus route so we could leave when we were ready - and so we were closer to home - the bus was actually taking everyone back to the restaurant that we started at -- but way across town from our house.  It actually worked out well because as we were walking in (around 12:30) we were ready to (get some food) and head home.  Good thing Wendy's is open late! 

Happy Birthday week Honey!!  I hope you enjoyed all of your celebrations!  Can't wait for next year -- the big 3-0!

Isaiah's first hockey game.

LeAnna, Caiden, Isaiah and I went to a Blackhawks Hockey game together on the 15th!  I hadn't been to a hockey game in years and Isaiah had never been to one.  The game started at 7 and I had to work until 6 so it was quite the rush but we made it just in time!  With all the people, noise and keeping the 4 year olds focused on getting to our seats we ended up sitting in the wrong seats and had to move right as the game was starting (sorry to those around us!) - and to top it all off my cell phone rang as the Star Spangled Banner was being sung.  It was quite the start HAha. 

Isaiah was awe-struck when the lights went low, the spot lights came on (in red!) and Tommy Hawk (the mascot) came out to skate.

 When the hockey game started the boys were all eyes on the rink.  They thought it was really cool.  The Blackhawks were celebrating John Deere night so were dressed in yellow and green jerseys.  The other team, from Chicago, I think, was in red and white.  So can you guess who Isaiah was cheering for?  yep, the other team.  Every time the Blackhawks scored a goal, Isaiah would say, "oh man, the wrong team won."  But the one time the other team scored Isaiah was so excited that he jumped and cheered.  It's all about the color of the jersey for this boy.  (Yes, he cheered for the Cyclones when they played against the Hawkeyes).

 A few fights broke out with the players - I wasn't exactly sure how to react - was I supposed to think it was rough and tough and great or was I supposed to say that those hockey players were being poor sports?  Luckily Isaiah didn't really understand what in the world was going on and didn't put two and two together that they were fighting - whew!  I got off easy that time.

 After about 10 minutes of hockey the boys were used to the loud noise, the lights, cow bells and screaming and got into the music!  They were putting on a show for everyone around them!  They were dancing so silly - I think they were more entertainment than the hockey game for several couples around us!

It was pretty funny to see them sing to some of the songs too.  Isaiah's favorite was, "hey, hey what do you say, let's go hawks!"  Lucky for him they played it at least 20 times!

 LeAnna went off to get us a snack so we didn't have to disrupt the people around us again (since we were seated right in the middle of the section).  Isaiah enjoyed a small part of his pretzel with cheese, but was more interested in eating the popcorn and drinking the Gatorade that Caiden picked out - note to self -- when out with a friend - have Isaiah get the same thing as the friend!  :)  By about 9:15 (way past bed time, can you believe we were out that late!! :) Isaiah was getting so tired that we left the game part way into the third quarter, but not before searching for Isaiah's missing mitten which turned up in between the original row we sat in and the one two rows forward.  We just couldn't leave without being a pain to those around us again! :)

The boys did good walking the long distance in the c.o.l.d back to the car (thank goodness we found that mitten!) and were happy all the way home.  It was such a fun night for the boys and a good laugh for the mommies.  I think the Blackhawks won - they were up 3-1 when we left.  I think we'll have to go again soon!

Reindeer boys

A few weeks before Christmas my mom was watching the boys for one reason or another and she got the boys dressed for bed.  I came home to find two little reindeer boys.  Since that night we've had reindeer boys several times.  They run around the house like crazy pretending to be reindeer and chasing each other.  It's so cute.   This was the best picture I could get of them as reindeer - they just don't want to slow down! 

By the way - no one tell Isaiah he is actually a moose or we might have a major melt down! :)

Two Jeeps in the snow!

We keep most of our outside toys in our "little garage" which is a tuck under garage connected to our house.  Believe it or not, it is packed full of outside toys.  Because we don't use the garage very much in the winter, we hadn't shoveled it out so when the little Jeep came home from our Christmas party we left it in our main garage.  One day the boys went out to play and the main garage door was open.  Isaiah found his new Jeep and decided to take it for a ride.  Levi asked me to get the other Jeep out, I figured why not.  So the boys drove our Jeeps around in the snowy driveway!  The boys had fun.  I couldn't really tell if one was faster then the other, the traction wasn't very good - I can't wait until we can get them on the grass this spring!  Any guesses on which will be the fastest?

My bet would be on the "fast tractor" as we call it, but out of the two Jeeps, I'm guessing the bigger blue one will be faster! 

New Years Day.

We spent New Years day at my sisters house in North Liberty.  It was a lazy day just hanging out, watching football and playing, playing, playing.  Funny how new toys can keep my little boys busy!

And we got to try out the new portable DVD player my sister's family gave us for Christmas.  The boys were in heaven watching a movie all the way there and all the way home!  I'm trying to expose the kids to all different Disney characters this month preparing for the characters we will meet at Disney World so it was a good chance for them to meet Snow White and the Seven dwarfs and Peter Pan and Captain Hook!  (They definitely enjoyed Peter Pan much more than Snow White!! and Isaiah all out refuses to watch Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty.  How'd he turn into such a BOY?  Anything girly and he won't have it! At least we won't have to wait in the long lines to meet the princesses, right?)

The last few minutes of the trip Isaiah decided he was "just too tired" and sat like this! :)  He likes to say he is "just too tired" anytime he is bored with something or often times when he is asked to pick up his toys.

yummy houses.

The other day last week Levi and I were at Target while Isaiah was at preschool.  They had all of their Christmas things 90% off.  There wasn't much left but I did find a Rice Krispy Treat house building kit for 99 cents!  I figured it would be a fun activity for the boys.  When I showed Isaiah, he was really excited and wanted to do it right away - Levi and Caiden, however, were not impressed and played while Isaiah and I had our own fun. 

Isaiah and I had a good time melting the butter and making the houses.  Then it was time to decorate!

After Levi saw that it involved candy, he then wanted to make one too.  Caiden still had no interest.

Isn't it beautiful?  

The kit made 2 houses and enough leftover to make a few other cut out things.  I made trees and snowmen.

As I was trying to get Levi to hold his plate to show off his finished product, he dropped the plate and broke it - bummer.  So this is the best picture I have of his finished product.  haha. 

It was definitely a fun little project - maybe, just maybe, we'll make more food projects again soon.  I'll keep you posted!

One last Christmas.

We had our last Christmas party on Saturday.  We celebrated with my dad's side of the family at my parents' house.  We had a yummy meal with plenty of food - ham, salads, etc.  After lunch my sister and I put the 2 year olds to bed and we did our annual present exchange.  For as long as I can remember we've done a present game - everyone brings a gift, we draw numbers (hoping to get the highest) and then each person on their turn either picks a new gift to open or steals from another player.  It usually brings some good laughs. This year there were several trades done - people were going after the "3M box" (my cousin works for 3M and always brings a box stuffed full of 3M stuff - all kinds of tape, sandpaper, sticky notes), a box full of lottery tickets, a coffee grinder, Hickory Farms meat & cheese and a handmade shelf made by my dad.

Isaiah isn't old enough to be in this present game (but we did let him draw our numbers and picked the highest one for Mark!) so I brought a present for him and Levi to open as I knew he would feel left out.  He was more than completely happy with the little motorcycle that he got to open.  Levi was equally excited about the Matchbox airplane he opened after he woke up from his nap.  Funny how $2 gifts are just as exciting - if not more exciting than the $30+ gifts they receive.

I forgot to bring my camera, but I got my mom's out at the end of the party when Levi convinced my Uncle Tom to play My Little Ponies with him. 

Then Liahna got out the train set and had him play ponies and trains with them.

After while the barn made it out too.  The three little cousins were playing so well together.  They looked so cute and I even got them all smiling for a picture.

The above picture of all three of them motivated me to get a nice one of all three cousins together - my mom likes to have one like this for her office.  I think this one turned out pretty good.  You'll notice the couch cushions are off (and thrown about the floor as you can see in the above pictures), the kids like to take them off and jump.  My parents being fun grandparents allow this - and let them jump.  A good way for them to exercise, right? :)

In a few months it will be an even bigger challenge to get a picture of the cousins together as there will be a newborn baby too! 

So it's a little sad, but our Christmas 2010 is officially over.