Polar Express

Well we finally went to the North Pole yesterday!  Via- the Polar Express.   It was a lot of fun!  We took Shelley and Sean with us and the boys were all good, Quinny even enjoyed it and he got his own gingersnap cookie and hot chocolate too.

Us after we boarded the train

Ronin with Santa, Santa gave him a bell

Ronin and Sean

Ronin told Santa he wants a Spiderman outfit that shoots real webs, a slingshot and some Stompeez.

Quinny and Santa

Quinn's visit with Santa, I was trying to take pictures at the same time..

Quinn mostly just stared at Santa.  He didn't cry but he was very curious... haha

Ronin and his "golden" ticket with the letter "P" punched out...  I told him it stands for "Polite" as in he needs to be more polite.  :)

Quinny snuggling up on the train

Ronin and his hot chocolate :)

Santa's house & shed

It even snowed for us :)

Ronin and Sean

Quinny enjoying his Ritz cracker and milk on the train

All-in-all it was a great experience for the boys, but kind of over-priced for what it was.  I'm pretty sure the train just went back and forth like 4 times instead of going anywhere specific.  But we did watch it snow out the window so it really did seem like we went to the North Pole.  Ronin loves his bell that Santa gave him and slept with it and his golden ticket that night :)  Quinn won't remember a thing but he was free at least ;) 

This is a manger scene Ronin and I made in his room...  Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head are the proud parents...

We had to pre-make our Christmas cake to make sure it tastes okay... it's oreo and chocolate pudding cake... sooo yummy!

Ronin and I made Play-Doh snow-people... guess which one is his!

A house in the next neighborhood - this is only a sample of the light display, it was awesome!

The boys in my chair :)

Ronin in my chair...

Weirdo... haha

What a ham!

Me and the boys before we went to the Polar Express

Rory and the boys

Quinn "petting" the cat

The boys are growing up so fast!  Quinn practically runs when he hears the bathroom door, fridge or pantry open - he must think there is something fascinating in one of those places.  The few times he makes it to the bathroom, or opens the door and lets himself in, he immediately goes to the cupboard doors to open them...  only one time did I see him go for the toilet to splash...  The pantry he likes to take things out of... and the fridge he always goes for the soy sauce, ranch, or barbecue sauce.  

Ronin is super excited about Christmas and keeps asking if today is Christmas and can he open presents yet.  One morning when I gave him a hug goodbye he said "Mommy, maybe you should take a shower today"  and I said "why, do I smell bad?" and he said, "your hair does..."   haha, I had put a little baby oil in my hair to keep the frizziness to a minimum, apparently he's not a fan of the smell.

Quinn had another eye appointment on Friday.  His eyes haven't changed at all since his appointment 6 weeks prior... which isn't good, but nothing to panic about yet.  He just said that if we keep seeing no change at all then surgery is looking more likely.  So he gave us another eye exercise to do at home and I'm just going to have to try harder to make sure we do all his exercises every day because I really don't want surgery to be the answer.  We notice his eyes don't point to the middle nearly as much, but it's the fact that they don't look to the outside that is what needs to be fixed...  so we'll just pray that his next appointment in 6 weeks shows improvement!

Well It's almost Christmas!  I hope everyone gets what they want :)

Later,

C

Bloody worms

We got our Christmas tree last weekend.   Ronin was so excited to decorate it with us that he made us wait until he got back Sunday morning from his sleepover.   He had his first successful sleepover at Seans house Saturday night!  Although I don't know if we'll let him sleep over there again for a while- he was being sassy with Mike and Mike pretty much hates all kids except his own. 

Quinny is fascinated with the tree, and the decorations, and wrapping paper and presents.... and pretty much everything that isn't his toy... He's already opened one of his gifts... which I had to re-tape back together.  It was just pajama's but he proceeded to sit on the box until it was flat and then rip it open.

As you can see from this picture - Quinn is grabbing the ornaments...

Quinn's 4th tooth on the bottom (8th tooth in total) came in on Sunday.  Which explains his heightened need to bite everyone and everything...

Here he is playing and then going for a bite...

The boys got their letters from Santa last week!  Ronin is super excited and is planning on "trapping" Santa.  I asked him why he wanted to trap Santa and he said "oh, just to ask him a few questions".  ha ha

I think I've also scared Ronin into not killing bugs.  Instead of letting a stink-bug go back outside he decided to flush one, and I told him that when he goes to Heaven he has to meet all the bugs he killed and tell them he's sorry.  Also that stink-bugs family is probably worried about him and wondering where he went.  So he told me the other day that he never wants to kill a living creature ever, even when he's an adult.   hehe

Ronin's fish ran out of fish food so I asked one of my friends at work to borrow a pinch of food to get them through until I can remember to get them food.  Well he gave me a little ziplock baggy with different kinds of fish food in it, blood worms, pellets, and flakes.  I brought them home and explained what each was to Ronin and he keeps calling blood worms "bloody worms", so now he sounds English asking "Mommy can I feed my fish the bloody worms?"  and I can't help but break out laughing when he says this; I stopped correcting him because it's much cuter to hear "the bloody worms" come out of his mouth.

Quinny is now into EVERYTHING...  He can even open all the doors in the house... there's nothing that's beyond his destructive hands... we joke that he is Hulk and say "Quinny Smash" when he walks towards something because he will knock it down or tear it apart... he's also not very gentle with his older brother, besides the biting he hits him and tries to remove his eyeballs or scratch him...  Naughty baby!  "The Hulk" fits him perfectly...

Here's Quinn trying to take off Ronin's goggles in the bath...

Quinn is trying out sentences lately too and I swear he can say "God dang it"!   I'm not really sure if that's what he's really saying but it sure sounded like it... 

Christmas is creeping up...  I think we are mostly done buying presents once payday comes this Friday.  I feel bad that we can't spoil the kids with gifts, but it's probably better that they don't get over-indulged in the gift opening and I know their grandparents will be spoiling them anyway ;)

Take care and happy shopping!

C

Mule Deer Thanksgiving

We had a great time up at the Mule-Deer lodge for Thanksgiving last week!   Rory's sister, Melanie and her family were up visiting so we got to spend a lot of time together.  The boys LOVED the lodge.  Ronin loved the snow so much we had to tell him to come in to get warmed up each time he went out.  And Quinn loved all the room there was to walk around - he got quite a bit of practice and is now toddling everywhere- and he's fast!

Quinn walking away...

Quinn walking towards me...

We had a great time playing Monopoly, watching movies, playing with the kids, eating (a LOT of eating), baking cookies...  I wish we had our own cabin in the mountains that we could escape to!  Ronin was pretty heart broken after he woke up the second morning and most of the snow had melted... I really thought it would snow over night too.  Poor guy.  And Quinn ate and ate and ate, mostly all he did was eat... and sleep... and walk.   So here are some pictures from our long weekend:

Ronin and some snow...

Ronin throwing snowballs at me!

Quinny didn't like the snow too much...

Cousin Nick and Ronin

The same bear from 3 years ago :)

Quinny and the bear :)

Smiles :)

Grandma Jan tickling Quinn

Us girls making a Brooke sammich!

Some writing under the table...

Uncle Guy playing with Ronin

Quinny eating, again... and visiting with Aunt Melanie

Playing in the snow

Grandpa playing with the boys

Us girls again

Melanie and her boys

Ronin with food in his mouth, and the "basket" behind Rory looks like it on his head...

Aunt Melanie and our boys

Mega Block building with Nick

Rory and me

Wiggle-worm and me

Unhappy boy :(

Brothers :)

Ronin has a very frightened look on his face...

a group shot, minus Brad and Brooke...

Mr. Bear

I just bought tickets to the Polar Express for me and the boys to go on Sunday the 16th...  Shelley and Sean are going to come with us too.  It should be fun! 

Enjoy and take care,
C

Unicorns and walking babies

Quinny had his 12 month doctor appointment last Friday.  He's in the 95th percentile for height!  the 70th percentile for weight and head circumference...   He's a tank!  

Quinn giving himself his own exam

He's been keeping his glasses on a lot more lately and he's decided to start walking a lot more!  He's leaving his safety zones like the couch and walking from one object to the next without holding on, he's so proud of himself!

A short video of a little bit of walking...

Saturday was a rainy day so Ronin and I did some crafts for Chirstmas and made lots of cookies.  Sunday we went to Mike and Shelley's for dinner - Quinn walked to Shelley twice and snatched my cookie out of my hand a few times.   We call him the little "hulk" because when he gets mad his face turns red and he makes fists and shakes and growls at us- it's pretty funny to watch!

On Friday I got to break away to see the final Twilight movie with my girlfiends.  Shelley surprised me with a unicorn pillow pet!  I kept joking that I've wanted the unicorn pillow-pet for years, and she gave it to me for my birthday :)

My ereader, papasan chair and pillow pet - this is my "mommy time" place.

Ronin found a pair of panty hose and this is his "thug" face

Some random cuteness:

High-fiving himself

Taped up glasses

Trying to eat with a fork ;)

Ronin talking instead of eating...

bath time

Brothers

what a face!

He was running away from me here ;)

this was after Quinn tried biting Ronin...

Now this week/weekend we are off to the mountain to do some sledding and snowman building!  Ronin has been asking every day "is it the day we get to go to the snow?"  I sure hope it dumps a bunch on us just for him!   :)   

Happy Thanksgiving!
C