Slide, swings and resumes!

Friday night I got to hang out with my girlfriends while the boys stayed home watching Gold Rush.  Saturday we painted Rod and Jans bedroom for a little extra cash which we used with the little bonus money I got from work to purchase 2 swings and a slide for the boys, that was the least expensive part- I had no idea the hardward and the wood would be so expensive!  Poor Rory spent all day on Monday working on it and hurt his back, but now the boys have even more to do in the backyard :)  We are thinking about making our own greenhouse so I can start flowers from seeds and we can have vegetables too!  Maybe our next project...  But we still have to put a porch on the fort to attach the slide, so right now the slide is just in the backroom propped against the couch, which the boys are enjoying anyway. 

Quinn enjoying the slide...

More sliding and climbing...

Ronin chillin' in my chair, again...

Quinny can get up on the couch by himself now, and here he's holding brothers toy gun

We got a nice sunny day on Monday (holiday) so the boys were able to play in the yard for a bit.  I may have overdressed Quinny... making him look even more like one of the boys on The Christmas Story...  haha

Ronin in his fence-post-taking-out jeep!

At least he's warm... and he has his own Jeep too :)

So it was a good week and weekend!  Ronin had his last rock climbing class last night, he climbed 3 times, 2 times past the orange line and the other time he just wanted to swing.  I think we'll put him in soccer soon or some other sport, it seems like he enjoys going to the gym to learn new things :)

New words for Quinn- "Diaper" which sounds more like "Byper", "Down", "Done", "Banana" which sounds more like "Bapana", "Mine", but his favorite is still "UP!"

I applied for the administrative assistant job in the purchasing department under the same Director at work today.  It would be dealing with bids, quotes, contracts, ordering equipment, etc.   I did it for two reasons:  one is to learn a different part of Operations, since I've been in my job for 17 years, I think it's time for a change.  The second reason being because my boss is retiring in March and the Director will be retiring in 3 years.  Although I may apply for my bosses job (even if I get the Purchasing job), I don't like the uncertainty of not knowing who my boss is going to be and how my work will be impacted since I've been losing some of my responsibities as more things get automated....  So it seems like a great time to try for a change!  It won't be more pay- it's more of a lateral move. Wish me luck! 

Quinn has his eye appointment tomorrow, hopefully it's good news that his eyes are changing still... but if not we'll have to think about surgery in the near future... 

This weekend Sean is spending the night, which is actually really nice because Ronin and Sean just play and do there own thing while I can kind of relax for a while.  Unless Quinny follows me around screaming "UP!".  haha

Lots of Love,

Chrystal

Up, Dude!

Quinny is now saying "UP" very clearly when he wants you to pick him up.  At first it was "UT", but now he's got that "P" in there and it's very clear what he's asking.  How can we not pick him up when he says it in his cute little baby voice??  Oh and he's got a second molar tooth on the bottom now!  I think that makes for 10 teeth!

And Ronin has been watching way too much Scooby Doo because his new favorite word is "DUDE" and this morning he said "DUDE, I just totally paused my cartoon as I was sliding off the couch!"  haha

Our weekend was another lazy laid back one.  We went to dinner at On The Border- mexican food.  Quinn didn't like the beans, which is weird because he likes to eat anything!  and Ronin didn't like his enchilada...  guess they just aren't into Mexican food.  :(  We went to Home Depot to price out some pieces for Ronin's fort -- we are going to try to add a slide and some swings to Ronin's fort after this next paycheck so he'll have it for his birthday this year :)

Here are some hand-tree's the boys made with me yesterday:

Ronin's tree- he cut and pasted everything himself

Quinn's tree (with fingerprint apples)

Ronin and I had our dental cleanings/exams with a new dentist this last week.  They were very thorough and a lot more high-tech than our old dentist office.  Ronin has his first cavity :(  We have to go in next month to get it filled.  I didn't tell him there will be a shot yet... I've only told him he's going to be a pirate once he gets his gold tooth.  The dentist thinks it might not be from food sitting on it, but it didn't finish forming properly when it was growing.  Either way, it's a hole that needs to be filled up.   I get to go in next month too to replace a filling-- the dentist is going to try to do it without novocaine because it's not a deep filling.  I actually hope they change their mind and give me the novocaine, I don't really want to feel them ripping my old filling out...

Ronin's dentist photo

I painted another wall in the house- so now my back room is almost complete!  I just need to finish painting the other walls tan and then it should be done.  I love my new rug and my chair cushion :)

New paint, curtains, rug, wall decorations, I moved my TV back there too... I love our backroom now!

The boys in my chair, Quinny is clapping

That's about it for this week... Ronin has his 3rd rock climbing class tomorrow!  And I've found a new camera I want to buy!  It's $250- but it's a waterproof Nikon CoolPix AW100 camera so we can take it with us in the pool or the river and it's made a lot tougher than our other cameras so the sand won't bother it at all... so now I have to save my money!

I made this delicious cheesecake on Monday for my boss's birthday, everyone said it was the best cheesecake they've ever had and that it was better than Larsen's Bakery - quite the compliment!  And it was super easy to make!

Brownie Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

The recipe is on Allrecipes.com

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Brownie-Chocolate-Chip-Cheesecake/Detail.aspx?prop24=etaf

The boys are still waiting for Nana and Papa to get Skype on their computer so they can see and talk to them!  (hint, hint)

lots of love,

C

Foil and Dog Water

This last weekend was pretty boring, I was still sick and recovering and Rory was coming down with whatever I had.  But not a dull moment really considering the kids are constantly into things.  Quinn (somehow?!) got my roll of aluminum foil and ran into the front room... moments later I heard a weird crinkle-crackle noise coming from that room... I ran in there to see Quinn running around in circles trailing behind my roll of aluminum foil.  I had no idea I had that much left on the roll... Of course he was having a blast and cried when I took it away.  

Another favorite of Quinn's is the dog water.  He likes to dip his cracker in the dog water or put his hand in it and lick his hand off.  Lately if I don't get to him in time he'll start softly splashing in it until I hear what he's doing, and I yell "Quinn!  Get out of the dog water" and then the splashing gets louder and he starts laughing by the time I grab him and put the dog water up, again.

The other day Ronin was filling in some of his "I'm a big brother" book I bought him when Quinn was born, and one of the pages asks you to draw what your mother looked like pregnant...  keep in mine that Rory drew the big one on the right (Ronin drew a line through it so we'd know he didn't draw it) and then Ronin drew the one on the left...

At first glance it looks a little R rated, but I assure you it's better than that-- So the "blobs" up-top is my bra, and the "blob" down below is the "bump" that is the baby.  That's what Ronin told me.  At least I look a lot thinner when Ronin drew me pregnant...

And here is our family photo- I love that Quinn has a belly-button and I have a heart necklace :)

He says Daddy and he have big belly's because that's the only way he knows how to draw them.

Ronin and I are starting to plan his big 5th birthday party - Mad Scientist Party!  So I let him play with some of the test tube alien slime, hand boiler and some Mad Scientist glasses we got for decorations- he's been having fun testing everything out.

Glasses + Hand Boiler = Mad Scientist

Ronin went to his second Rock Climbing class yesterday, he nearly went to the top!  He got his rope behind his back though and got a little scared when he couldn't come back down until he had someone help him put it at his belly again.  That didn't seem to stop him, he was anxious to try it again on a harder wall, didn't get as far, but it's good exercise!

Ronin's 2nd climb!  The orange line is just a "goal" to reach and then go past.

Not too much else going on... here's a picture and video of Quinn from this week...

He loves the bath and the pool- he's a water boy for sure!

I love how eager he is to get in the tub!

Have a great weekend :)

C

P.S.

Here's the Oreo cake recipe Ronin made for Christmas: 
(website: http://www.mybakingaddiction.com/oreo-cake/ )

Oreo Cake

Ingredients:

For the Cake

1 (18.25 ounce) package devil's food cake mix {with or without pudding}
1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup warm water
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

For the Oreo Buttercream

1 stick salted butter – room temperature
1 stick unsalted butter – room temperature
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 pounds confectioner’s sugar (powdered sugar, 10x)
3-4 tablespoons very cold milk
25 Oreo cookies chopped

Directions:

For the Cake

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line the bottoms of (2) 9 inch round cake pans with parchment and grease pans thoroughly.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mix, salt vanilla, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs and water. Stir in the chocolate chips and divide batter into the prepared pans.
3. Bake for 25-35 minutes, rotating pans half way through baking the baking time. Bake until the top is springy to the touch and a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool cake for at least 30 minutes before inverting. Allow cake to cool completely on wire rack.

For the Oreo Buttercream

1. Cream the butters in the bowl of an electric or stand mixer. Add the vanilla extract and combine well.
2. Begin adding in the sugar and mixing thoroughly after each addition. After all of the sugar has been added and mixed thoroughly, begin adding the very cold milk… one tablespoon at a time, combining well after each addition until you reach the desired consistency.
3. Fold in chopped Oreo Cookies and frost your cooled cake layers.

Christmas, New Year, and the last Twinkie

Happy 2013!

We had a fabulous Christmas and a good New Years so far :)

We spent the weekend before Christmas at Nana and Papa's house and the boys were spoiled with all kinds of fun gifts!   Ronin was hoping for more snow at Nana's house, but he was pretty content to play with his new toys and the dogs.  :) 

Quinny showing Papa he knows how to rip up paper!

On Christmas Eve night we opened gifts at Grandma Jan and Grandpa Rod's house, everyone (except us) had to work so it was a late and rushed event... but the boys got spoiled again there too!

New gloves

Happy boy with his Ritz cracker

Me and Brooke

Ronin found a Twinkie in Grandma/pa's freezer... we told him it was the last Twinkie on earth, but he didn't seem to care:

Last Twinkie...

Christmas morning was nice and relaxing; the boys got their santa gifts first, Rock-em Sock-em Robots for Ronin and Quinn got a new (toy) cell phone... and stocking stuffers.  They opened the rest of their gifts and we got to sit around in our PJ's the rest of the day and play with all the new toys we all got :) At some point in the day Ronin exclaimed "This is the BEST Christmas EVER!" 

During one of Ronins time-out for something... he came out and gave me these self-portraits...

he said they are of him crying...  haha - poor guy!

Ronin made a pirate ship :)

While Ronin was watching Finding Nemo in the living room, Rory and I watched "The Immortals" in our room (Quinny was napping) and since Ronin's movie got done first I told him to play quietly in his room... Well instead he got some paper and tape and made himself a peg-leg:

Creative little bugger!  Peg-Leg Pirate Ronin!

I got a new rug for my "reading nook" in the back room, and we tend to spend more time in there now... and the boys enjoy pulling my papasan chair cushion onto the floor on my new rug and Ronin decided to make a cage for him and his brother out of my chair too..

Quinn doesn't look like he's having as much fun...

While I was at the movies on Saturday Ronin got really sick and puked all over our bed...  He said he felt better afterwards, and then he fell asleep in his little rocking chair in the living room... poor guy. It was the first time he's ever puked, and he's a nose-puker like his mom apparently... hehe

Sicky

New Years Eve brought on a bunch of snow!  It didn't really sticky at our house but it did in Orchards.  On New Years day I took the boys out to Walmart for something to do while Rory was still at work... Quinn was NOT happy that I put a hat on his head to keep him warm:

Poor guy!

Oh, and Quinn LOVES Cheetoh- PUFFS, he will take them out of your hand if you aren't paying attention... he climbed ontop of his car, somehow managed to balance there without falling off and on his tippy toes he reached for the bag of Cheetoh-puffs that was on the couch, managed to get them and started walking off with the whole bag...  He also got a new tooth, his first molar tooth!  Now he'll really be able to bite!

Ronin reminded me this morning that we forgot to set up a Santa-trap on Christmas Eve...  he was dissapointed that we didn't try to trap him.  Maybe next year!   Quinny started dancing lately too, I need to record it, but we were dancing in the kitchen on New Years and he kind of squats to the music over and over... so cute!

After Ronin got to feeling better he decided he wanted to sing his own song and play guitar, so here's his song:

Ronin starts his Rock Climbing classes tonight at 5 for the next 4 Wednesday nights, it was one of his Christmas presents from us.  I'll have to post photo's/video soon!

Happy New Year to whoever reads this!
C