Dinovember

So, Ian was poking around on the computer the other night and found pictures from a family that had created "Dinovember".  Similarly to the Elf on the Shelf concept, in Dinovember, toy dinosaurs sneak out while the kids are asleep and get into trouble.  Since we have several bins full of toy dinos, Ian couldn't resist the opportunity.

The first night, the dinosaurs got into the food on the counter...

The second night they ransacked the bathroom..

The third night they tied up poor horsey...

The fourth, they destroyed one of our pumpkins...

They've also been seen reading a book, taking pictures with mom's camera, trying to help mom with the vacuuming, and playing with playdoh.

So, how did the boys react??  Well, Evan was the first one who saw the dinosaurs.  His hypothesis was that Ben had done it, he had put the dinosaurs in their positions on the kitchen counter.  Then, when Ben woke up, he actually agreed with Evan and took full credit for the whole incident...the little sneak!  For a few days, Ben loved saying that he was responsible for the mischief, so that's why the dinos decided to kidnap his horsey (which he didn't find too funny).

While we've all been having fun with the dinosaurs, however, there have been some unintended consequences.  Now, the boys walk around all the time talking about how they have to do "mischief" like the dinosaurs.  We even tried to change the dinos wicked ways one night and have them help with the vacuuming, but the boys turned it around and said that they were trying to break the dinosaurs.

Sigh...now we're thinking those dinos need to be taught a lesson...we'll have to see if they make any more appearances in December!

A Little Cousin Time

This year it was a Bitler family Thanksgiving, so our little family had some traveling to do.  We hopped on a plane and headed out to Dallas for our first stop.  Since the Mhires had other family to see this Thanksgiving, we decided to pay them a visit before the big holiday so we could get a chance to see them.

We arrived on Saturday afternoon and the kids didn't ever stop playing until we left on Tuesday morning.  The three boys were quite a group.  They played really well together, too well when it came time for bedtime.  Olivia went to sleep happily in her room, but the boys all piled together in sleeping bags in Jack's room.  It took them an hour or two to finally quiet down each night.  Jack kept popping out of the room to ask questions and tell us what was going on in the room.   Cute kids, but boy were they tired by the end of the trip.

While we were there we did a little shopping, went our for a delicious Mexican meal (Got to have some me some Tex-Mex!), went to a beautiful museum downtown, ate a delicious pre-Thanksgiving feast, and even had some time to just play at home.

We arrived on Saturday and had a great time playing around at home all evening.  The boys took turns playing Leap Pad and I-Pad and looking over each other's shoulders.  They built marble towers and played with Jack's remote control Cars track.  Meanwhile, Livi just wanted everyone she saw to read her books.  She would walk each book over to your lap and then sit there while you read as many as you could.

(Meal time for the monkeys.)

(focusing)

The next morning, it was very chilly outside.  That didn't stop us from putting on our coats and gloves and playing in the backyard for a little bit.  They swung, they slid, and thanks to Uncle Tommy they had a great time juggling and throwing poblano peppers on the patio.  (The garden was overflowing and a freeze was coming.)

 

(pepper chucking)

(my little blue eyes)

After a somewhat less than productive trip to Target we headed back home and Grandma and Grandpa arrived from San Antonio.  It's so much fun to have the whole family in one place, so we all decided to head out and get a Mexican food fix.  The boys feasted on mac and cheese and quesadillas while we enjoyed margaritas, queso, and other deliciousness.  I also discovered that they are opening one of their restaurants in Raleigh, so authentic Tex-Mex may actually be coming to North Carolina.

(yummy Mexican food)

The next day after another late night of giggling and jumping on the bed for the boys, we all headed down to the Perot Museum in downtown Dallas.  This was a cool museum, and thanks to our membership to the Museum of Life and Science in Durham, our family got in for free!  The museum was beautiful and every little detail of the architecture was fun to look at.  We entered the museum by way of a 4 story series of escalators, one of which was exposed to the outside with a great view of the city.  We saw dinosaur skeletons, space movies, we created our own bird, we saw gems and 4 foot geodes, made lightning in a tube, and played on slides.

(goofballs with the dinos)

(musical masters)

(The cousins check out the sights.)

(Looking for someone to read her a book.)

(What a pretty museum!)

That night, we topped off a great visit to Dallas with a Bitler family Thanksgiving, since Audra's famil wouldn't be there for the actual Thanksgiving celebration.  We had ham, stuffing, corn casserole, crescent rolls, and pumpkin pie-yum!

(My wonderful family)

As always, we had a great visit to Dallas, except that it was too short.  It's so nice to get the cousins together so they can get to know each other and have fun together, and of course, I always love to hang out with my sister.  Hopefully, it won't be too long before we can see each other again!

His Own Playmates

When Evan was little we had a big playgroup of little ones his age, mainly boys that we hung out with all the time.  It was great, there was never a day when Evan wasn't playing with someone his age.  (Well, at that age it was more like playing near kids his own age.)

Anyway, when Ben came along, we still hung out with all of our friends, but since our group consisted of Evan's friends and their new younger siblings, there weren't so many that were just his age.  I've always had a much harder time getting Ben to hang out with kids his own age, especially boys.  (Of course, we all know he definitely leans toward the older women, HA!)

As the year started off I felt completely at a loss for how to get Benny some friends his own age.  Lots of our playgroup friends had moved on, so we were even losing lots of our younger sibling friends.  So, I decided to take it upon myself to get Ben some opportunities to play with kids his own age.  As room parent of his 3's class, I emailed the class to set up some playdates.  Fortunately, there were some nice parents with kids who were looking for the same thing.

So far, a little group from Ben's preschool has been to several parks, a nature storytime, and the mall.  It has been so much fun to watch him play with his own peers.  I'm so used to seeing him with girls, it was fun to see him pal around with the boys, playing chase and climbing.

Here's a few pictures of our recent preschool fun!

(Ben and his buddy Apostoli play on the see saw.)

(The kids run to the playground.)

(sharing snacks)

(Everybody joins in the fun!)

Let the Holidays Begin!

This weekend, our little family was feeling especially festive, with Thanksgiving around the corner, we were starting to get in the holiday spirit.  So, we headed to downtown Durham where they had just opened the new holiday ice rink!

Evan was excited about the prospect of ice skating.  He had been a couple of times before and really enjoyed it.  Ben, on the other hand, wasn't so sure.  He had only been once before and I don't think he remembered it.  So, we arrived at the ice rink not quite sure how it would go.  However, when we picked up the skates, they had some little ones for Benny that strapped on over his shoes and had two blades instead of one to make them more steady.  So, we were a little more confident that fun would be had by all.

We headed out on the rink and each of us took one boy in hand.  However, after a few seconds on the ice, we soon let go and let the boys explore on their own.  Turns out, those little skates made Benny much more steady on his feet and he clopped right around the rink.  Evan grabbed the wall and wanted to try it all on his own.  He wanted to try doing turns and jumps and couldn't get enough of it.  Ben tired more quickly and resorted to Mommy putting him in between my legs and speeding him around the rink as fast as I could.  Evan, on the other hand, skated around the rink as long as we would let him.  We even saw some of our neighbors there for a little added fun!

So, I think we can consider the Holiday season officially kicked off!  A great time was had by all, except when I had to trek across the whole American Tobacco Campus to find an open restroom for little Benny B.  However, all the ice skating fun made it completely worth it!

 (He starts off not quite so sure...)

 (...eek, this ice is slippery!)

 

(Now, he's found his footing...)

 

 (...my little speed skater!)

(Benny's fancy shoes)

 (He's not really not so sure about this whole thing...)

 (gets a little coaching from mom)

 

 (Now, this is the way to skate!)

 

 (...Boy, skating is tiring!)

(Zamboni...Durham style)

  

(a little neighborly fun)

(a beautiful Durham view)

(admiring the Durham scenery)

(My boys!)

(Aren't we cute?)

Durham Adventures with Uncle Reid and Aunt Candice

Last weekend while Ian had headed off on a work adventure up to scenic Toronto, the boys and I were stuck at home by ourselves.  Fortunately, Uncle Reid and Aunt Candice headed up to make our weekend much more enjoyable (and pick up a very large piece of furniture).

They arrived Saturday afternoon, and we immediately decided to head up to downtown to check out a new playground.  I always love a new playground, and the boys love all playgrounds, so we were excited.  Aunt Candice and Uncle Reid learned what monkeys the boys are and had fun climbing around with the them.  We also tried out some little spinners that the playground had that made us all dizzy.

After quite a bit of playing we were all getting a bit tired and chilly so we decided to head to dinner at nearby Bull City Burger.  This is one of Ian and I's favorite burger joints in town.  Aunt Candice loved the fried pickles, Uncle Reid liked the Boylan's fountain drinks, and I loved the play area where the kids played nicely before and after we ate.  Of course, we couldn't stop there, we had to get dessert.  So, we headed over to The Parlour where the boys both had an ice cream cone.  It was Benny's first cone and he lasted about two seconds before dumping it in his bowl and going at it with a spoon.  I think he'll take after his mom and be an ice cream cup kind of guy.  The grown ups also managed to enjoy some ice cream, hot chocolate, and spiced cider.  The next morning we had to finish everything off with some donuts and a little more playing.

The weekend was so much more entertaining with Uncle Reid and Aunt Candice.  The boys and I had a great time and didn't want to see them leave.  However, we had to send them home with a very large buffet that actually fit in their car.  Hope we can see them again soon!

(goofing off with Uncle Reid)

(I try out one of the playground spinners.)

(monkeys on the climbing structure)

(Mmmmm, ice cream)

Ninja vs. Animal Rescuer

Happy Halloween everyone!

This year Evan and Ben were really looking forward to Halloween, especially Evan.  He remembered that you get to go Trick or Treating on Halloween and get lots of candy, and he was ready for it.  He had been counting down for days.

So, Halloween finally arrived.  Somehow we ended up with 8 pumpkins on our front step, but only two of them got carved. I was pretty impressed because Ian did all of that carving without our pumpkin carving kit. Evan's turned out completely traditional, while Ben's was a bit abstract and Picasso-esque.

The boys both had Halloween parties or parades at school where they got to dress up in their costumes and celebrate the season.  These boys were excited, but unfortunately, after all that excitement they were pretty wound up around lunch time on the big day.  I didn't know how I would kill the time between lunch and Trick or Treating.  Fortunately, I found a library party perfect for my little ninja and Diego.  So, we went and made plastic bag ghosts, listened to some stories and rhymes and got our first, but certainly not last treats of the day.

Finally, Daddy got home, the sun started to set, we ate dinner, and we were ready to go.  We lit the glow sticks for them to carry, met our neighbors Izzy and Carolyn in the cul-de-sac and were ready to go.  This was the first year that they were actually able to go up to the doors themselves without a parent.  It made me a little nervous, and I'm sure the homeowners could hear me yelling from street for them to "say Trick or Treat" and then "say Thank You!"  Hopefully, they were polite.  I did catch Evan asking the homeowner if their candy had nuts, what a critic.

About halfway around the neighborhood we met up with some new neighbors that had two boys about Evan and Ben's age which was also fun.  Ben is at that age where not only does he tripped over his feet in the dark every two seconds, but he also had to be eating a piece of candy at all times.  This hindered Evan's goal of getting to houses as fast as he could.

In the end, we headed home with two full pumpkins and two happy kiddos.  As we speak, we are happily munching cookies made with Halloween candy, so I think the holiday worked out well for everyone!

(a little pumpkin carving)

(Diego, his rescue pack, and Baby Jaguar)

(Watch out...it's a ninja!)

(You never know what's hiding in the bushes.)

(Our little group is ready to go!)

(my 2 boys)

(my 3 little skeletons)

Go to sleep!

We've been having a lot of trouble getting Evan to go to sleep lately.  He goes to bed just fine, but he can't seem to turn off the big brain -- two hours later, he's still talking on the baby monitor and calling out to us to share his ideas and stories.  You can tell he's tired because they come out a little mixed-up, but he still won't go to sleep.

He's also been sleeping with his closet light on because he's a bit afraid of the dark.  Tonight it occurred to us that maybe that's part of the problem, and so I tried to push it a little further to.

"Daddy, it's too dark like that."

"Well, Evan, let your eyes adjust for a few minutes.  Then it won't look so dark."

"Daddy, when it's that dark I'm too afraid to go to sleep."

Fine.

"Alright, Evan, I want you to lie down, close your eyes, and relax.  Try to imagine you're somewhere warm and calm and peaceful.  Like the beach."  My mom told me this kind of story when I was a kid and couldn't sleep.  "Imagine you're at the beach, lying on the soft, warm sand, with a gentle breeze blowing.  There's no one around but your mommy and daddy and..."

"And Nathan and Anna."

"What?"

"And Nathan and Anna too."

You're missing the point...  "Fine.  Anyway, it's very peaceful, and you're just lying on the sand, in the shade of the tent, and having a little rest..."

"Daddy, when Ripple dies, do you want another pet?"

What???  "Well Evan, Ripple is going to live a long time still, so--"

"I know.  Ripple was such a good, sweet dog--"

"Evan, he is a good sweet dog.  He's fine.  He's going to be around for a long time still--"

"But when he dies, would you like another pet?  I'll catch you a pet, one that lives in a tidal pool.  A fish!"

Oh, so that's where he got this.  Hmm, what's more boring than the beach then?

"Daddy, I'm thirsty."

"Fine!  Go get yourself a drink of water and get back in bed.  I'll see you in the morning.  I love you, goodnight."

At this point I had to go downstairs.  I swear, he's hopeless.  I wish I knew what to do to help him sleep, but the big brain just won't be quieted!