2 At A Time!

So every night when it's bed time usually both LOB and DJB give us a million and one reasons why they can't sleep or why they don't want to go to bed. Here's some examples: "I'm not tired. My eyes won't close. I'm thirsty. The tv is too loud. I forgot to tell you something. I'm hungry. Did you sign my school folder? Do we have school tomorrow?", ect. But last night LOB came up with a new one. "I have 2 teeth loose." Well, really, they've been loose for a few weeks but you know it's reason not to go to bed. As he wiggled and giggled the 2 bottom teeth, I decided to go to bed because DVB has been sick since Saturday and I knew I'd be in for another long night. So GOB quickly whispered as I was walking away, "What do I do?" Me: whispering back, "Like how to play Toothfairy? I Tell him to put the teeth in a plastic baggie and put them in his toothfairy pillow." (duh?) GOB still whispering: "Well how much money should I give him?" Me: "How about 2 bucks a tooth?"

So this morning GOB tells me that the teeth came out and he left the money. I hear LOB wake up while I'm in the laundry room. He said, "YES!", you know like boys do? and checks out his loot. He jumps out of bed and is so excited to show me the holes between his teeth, telling me he can't decide which hole to stick his tongue through. (such a boy!) Then as we are driving to school he says, "Mom, the Toothfairy lowered her prices!" If I were drinking coffee, it was one of those moments that it would have sprayed right out my nose! I explained that the first 4 front top and bottom teeth are the biggest and must be worth more money! He agreed! whew!

Sheesh! It's getting more and more difficult to play these fictional characters!

Grandma B in MN, notice the family freckles?

Campin' With The Cousins!

We had a TON of fun camping with The Cousins this past weekend. They took us out to one of their favorite spots out in the desert. They brought out all their ridin' toys. I knew they had them but never thought that we'd be thinking of getting a couple until I saw how much fun GOB and The Boys had with them. So here a few million pictures of all the fun we had with them. Hopefully they will let us go out with them again soon!

Besides all the quad riding, the cousins brought out their model rockets! Big fun! We'll have to get some of those too! Those cousins, I tell ya, they are quite the influence of fun stuff!

5....4.....3......2......1....blast off!

DVB borrowed a itty bitty quad from some of the Cousin's cousins!

Here's Cousin A taking a break. That ridin' stuff is hard work. Well, only if you ride like him! Thank goodness he's fully geared up when he's tearin' it up!

I loaded my pictures in backwards again. Here's LOB geared up in Cousin Little J's gear. After riding around with GOB, he decided he wanted to take the quad for a little spin by himself! ****gasp****

You can tell he's smiling big time and you can't even see his mouth!

DVB enjoyed washing my broom in a nearby puddle! Oh well, he had fun!

Toni loved trying to swim in the puddles! Such a lab, she is!

GOB is probably telling LOB to slow down! Thank goodness the quad has some speed limiting do-dad on it (sorry, I'm a little uneducated on quad lingo!) That's Cousin S walking by in the background and that's the only pic I have of her!

Here are all the Boys! Look at all those smiles!

I can't believe how much they all enjoyed riding!

DJB just preferred to toodle around with GOB. He never showed any interest with riding one by himself! ****whew!****

Here's DVB pouting when he had to give someone else a turn to ride with GOB!

One happy dirt diggin' camper!

This was one of the first rides LOB took with GOB before he got brave and rode on his own!

DVB getting his way! I think he'd ride with GOB all day if you let him!

That's Cousin Little J showing LOB how to do it!

This look is DVB watching all the traffic of other people riding quads, sand rails, and dirt bikes!

DJB doing a little more dirt diggin'! Good thing for dirt or he'd be bored!

I think this is Cousin Big J riding his dad's quad! Oh Big J, be careful!

This is a picture of our view. That's Four Peaks with snow on it!

Toni got to run off her tether for the first time. I was surprised she didn't wander off! She ran and ran and ran, she could barely get up off the ground by the end of the night!

Happy camper for sure!

Look at silly Cousin Little J! He's a hoot!

And then my camera died and I didn't bring the battery charger! Darn it! There was so much more to show you too! Like the Christmas Tree burning in the fire pit! Like Cousin Big J and his friend riding their dirt bikes! Like Toni playing with her new friends Taily(who hated Toni!)and Kona The Fire Ember Eatin' dog! Oh well, like I said hopefully we'll have tons more of these Cousin Campin' Weekends and we'll have more pictures of the fabulous fun we have!

This Post is So Lame, I Know!

So I know that this post is so lame! But since I don't have anything better, you are subjected to looking at pictures of the cat! You can just hit the close button right now if you want to. My feelings won't be hurt....*sigh* But if you want to see some silly pictures of Tiger, scroll on down. And NO Little Brother, I don't carry my camera around with me all day and take pictures of my cat like you do! Ha!


Tiger seems to think this is his perch! It was ok until we caught him doing this...


....trying to catch a snack!


And then try to roost IN THE CAGE! The boys took Oreo, the guinea pig, out to play and the cat decided to make himself at home!


While doing something in the kitchen, I heard DVB in the bathroom talking to the cat. This is what I found! DVB said he was washing "Tiggy's hans!" I thought cats weren't supposed to like water but this cat doesn't seem to mind. He likes to hang out in the sinks as well as jump in the shower when someone is done!

Apparently, Little Tykes climbers are attractive to not only kids!

Toni and Tiger are buddies now. The cat is definitely in charge! It's funny!

Sorry for the boring post but I felt like I had to post something! We have a fun weekend planned so there will be better photos coming soon!

Holy Rain!

We have got more than half a year's worth of rain in 4 days! You out of state people might think, pffft, 3-4 inches is nothin'! But where we live, this is unheard of! It's not supposed to rain this much in the desert in such a short period of time. And if it does, it means flooding. Massive flooding! All of our neighborhood parks and green belts are now lakes. The kids say they go to school on an island! It's going to take weeks to dry all this water up!

This is our main park that I would guess is now a 2 foot deep lake complete with real ducks!

This lake usually has a side walk down the middle of it. I couldn't believe the kids who were trying to ride their bikes around it! I bet they were a little wet and in a little trouble when they got home!

This is the school. The drop off line this morning was about 3 blocks long in each direction! There wasn't even any crossing guards out! I think every kid either rode the bus or got dropped off! Imagine 800 kids' parents, in the pouring rain, where it nobody knows how to drive in it, trying to drop off their kids! What a mess!

DVB liked looking for the ducks in our new lakes!

I'm sure you are all laughing at us wimps with all this rain! It really is a big deal around here. And we are not even close to having any damage like the poor people just an hour north of us who got 5-8 inches of rain! Now that's a mess! Not to mention the several feet of snow the mountains got!

But looking at the bright side, Spring is going to be beautiful! I better make a doctor appointment to get that allergy medicine refilled!

This Is Delish! You Gotta Try It!

I've been in a soup mood with all this rain and wintry weather. Of course all the boys in my house turn their noses up at soup! But that didn't stop me! I whipped up a batch of this yummy stuff and I have enough to eat all week! I don't know what everyone else is going to eat! Ha!


Chicken Taco Soup- I modified from original recipe from Allrecipes.com

1 onion, chopped
1 (16 oz) can of black beans, drained
1 (16 oz) can of pinto beans, drained
1 (15 oz) can kernel corn, chipotle flavor, drained
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
1-2 cans or bottles of beer-depending on how soupy you want it.
2 (10 oz) cans of Rotel with green chilies, mild, not drained
1 package of taco seasoning
3 whole skinless boneless chicken breasts
shredded cheddar-optional
sour cream-optional
crushed tortilla chips-optional

Directions:
Place the onion, beans, corn, tomato sauce, beer, and Rotel in a crockpot. Add taco seasoning and stir to blend. Lay chicken on top of the mixture, pressing down until just covered. Set crockpot for low heat and cook for 5 hours.

Remove chicken breasts from the soup and shred it. Then put it back in the soup and continue cooking for 2 hours. Serve topped with cheddar cheese, sour cream and crushed tortilla chips! Enjoy!

I didn't top the soup with anything and it was still delicious! Hope you like as much as I do!

The New "Woody" (with picture overload)

We finally had some time to do some camper shopping a couple weeks ago-we had been meaning to for about a year or so! Actually, that would be GOB finally had time to shop. I let him go on his own and weed a few out for me to look at. Then he made me do the wheeling and dealing! Blech! I hate doing that but he seems to think I'm good at it!

Anyway, I digress...

So after tons of shopping, stocking, prepping, packing, and reorganizing, we took "Woody" out for his maiden voyage this past weekend! Every one was so excited. We thought we should try a camp ground for our first outing so we could easily test and try out all the bells and whistles! We chose a state park just out side of town. Here are a TON of pictures of the new rig and our first outing!


This is "Woody"! He is a used 2009 28 foot toy hauler. I'll have to explain where the name "Woody" came from some other time!

Here's the back door. It's so nice and easy to load all our toys in here. Although we aren't using the space for real toys like 4 wheelers and dirt bikes, we can still manage to take advantage of the space!

Here's the living area. The couch and table both fold flat for beds. Also, there are 2 bunk beds. This area is supposed to sleep 8 people!

This is LOB checking things out!

This is the master bedroom! It's nice to have a little separation from the rest of the camper!

This is the kitchen complete with a microwave, stove, oven, fridge, and freezer! The only thing I'm missing is a dishwasher! I guess that's why you're supposed to use paper plates while camping, right?

Here's the bathroom! It's so wonderful! Let me tell ya! A toilet, shower and running water in the sink make camping a little more convenient!

LOB and DJB trying to play a stacking game...

Here's how I set up the beds for the boys. DVB was supposed to sleep in his peapod. LOB and DJB were supposed to sleep on the bunks!

But this is how they wanted to sleep! On the floor!

This is the view from our campsite. My camera lens must be a little dirty!

Here's the boys coming back from a hike. This park had some great hiking trails.

Toni LOVED camping! No, the cat did not get to come along! The boys tried to convince me to pack the cat but camping with a litter box doesn't sound too good to me!

Sure wish I would have cleaned off the lens!

DVB is having a snack! Look at his feet crossed!

GOB was checking out all the connections and buttons and figuring things out!

DVB loves to dig in the dirt and move rocks around!

This was so funny. We were hiking down a trail and DVB decided he needed to take a break!

He's not exactly a great hiking partner!

Checking out a metal coyote along the path!

Grammy and the boys! Grammy or BoBo as DVB calls her, and Grandpa or Bampa, came to visit us. They have their RV parked just about 5 miles from where we were.

Well, there you have it, the new camper! We are hoping we can take Woody out once a month. And of course the 4-5 days at NASCAR twice a year we'll be using it. Hopefully we can add a couple more weeks during the year camping in other states too for vacation!

Happy Trails to us!

Lately...

Lately, we've been busy! When aren't we? I know!

Lately, I haven't been keeping up my blogging duties!

Lately, it's been easier to Facebook! So find me on there if you want more frequent updates!

Lately, we've been spending a lot of time (and money) on getting our new camper stocked and ready to test out!

Lately, I've been meaning to put some pictures on here of said camper but I can't seem to find the time!

Lately, I've been thinking I should really do a better job at blogging and I promise (maybe) that next week I'll have a little more time to do so! And I'll find that time to post some pictures!

Gotta run! I'm busy!

My First Award!

I received an award! Ooooh, I've never got a blog award before! My BFF sent it to me!



I'm supposed to tell you about 10 things that I enjoy. Ok, I can do that!











Here they are in no particular order:



1. My Family, of course! Well, usually! You know...when everyone is cooperating, playing nicely, eating their supper, cleaning up their toys, doing their homework, listening the first time. I don't ask too much of my family, do I? That includes GOB too!



2. Crafting! I haven't had much time lately but I should would like to work on some of those projects I have stacked up in my craft closet! Someday!



3. Shopping sans children! No explanation needed there!



4. Friends! We've got a great group of friends in our neighborhood that we enjoy hanging out in the front yard with. I sure wish I could get together with my oldest friend more often! Well, not that she's old, but she's been my friend the longest of any other friend I've had!



5. My pets! I may say that Toni is a PITA (pain-in-the-ass) but she can be sweet and I can't imagine our house without her! And new little Tiger makes me happy too! He's so sweet and cuddly!



6. I'm not ashamed to admit that a glass or bottle of beer makes me happy. Michelob Ultra on tap would be my first choice but I also enjoy Blue Moon, Bud Light Lime, Gordon Biersch Hefeweizen, and a few others!



7. Eating dinner out! Preferably without children! Anywhere!



8. Working! I know this sounds weird to most, but I do enjoy my job. I didn't realize that I missed working as much as I did after not working for 5 years. I really like the people I work with and for. It's fun!



9. A clean house! I used to me a little better at keeping things organized. Lately, I've been a little laxed on the organization...my closets look like a hurricane has blown through them! But when I do have a clean house, it makes me happy!



10. School! Like the place I drop DJB and LOB at every morning for 9 months of the year! I really wouldn't mind year round school! They really enjoy school at the moment and I am really happy when they jump out the van door in the morning!



So there you have it! 10 things that make me happy. Of course there are many more but this will do for now.

I'm supposed to pass this award on to other bloggers. There is a problem though. I don't personally know any other bloggers that BFF didn't already tag. Oh well, thanks for the award Mrs. ESPN! It was fun!

They Named Him "Tiger"

LOB, DJB, and DVB love their new kitty! We adopted him from the Humane Society the day after Christmas. He's about 1 year old. This cat is the most mellow cat I've ever seen! Right away he was comfortable with the chaos in our house! He's even tolerable of the dog! He's wonderful with the kids. DVB drags him around and he could care less! He's perfect! So here are a few pics of the little guy!


The cat's name changed about 30 times before everyone agreed on a name. In the shelter, his name was Sebastian. He was also briefly named Buzz, Gizmo, Spike, Mr. Whiskers, Tinsel to name a few. Finally everyone decided "Tiger" was the perfect name for this orange kitty. DVB calls him "Tigo."

Ooops, I forgot to correct this picture so you'll have to turn your computer instead! Anyway, he's laying on his back on my lap! Talk about being relaxed and comfortable!

The Christmas tree came down pretty quick after Tiger's arrival. The boys got a good laugh when he tried to climb the tree!

The highchair was one of the first spots he checked out!

Stay tuned for some more "Tiger Tails" in the future!

The Best Christmas Ever!

I've heard the boys say a couple times now, "It was the best Christmas ever!"

LOB and DJB were eagerly awaiting Santa's arrival on Christmas Eve. They were just sure he would show up after dinner. They were even tracking his flight pattern on a website and were updating his status to us quite frequently; Mongolia, Malaysia, Norway, Spain, Ireland (probably not in that order!) So while we were eating dinner I came up with a plan. It went like this: Suddenly Grandpa got sick and the computer broke so the boys couldn't get their updates. So while Grandpa puked and Papa fixed the computer, the rest of us loaded up in the car and drove the neighborhood looking at lights. As we were driving around, we came upon a house just a couple blocks from ours. Santa was standing in the driveway! Total fluke! How perfect! He came up to the car and we told him we'd hope he'd be going to our house soon! Meanwhile, Grammy who was along with us, was texting Santa's helpers to make sure they were setting everything up correctly. We continued to drive around and then LOB said, "You know, how come I didn't see Santa's reindeer on the top of that roof?" I said, "Oh, they must have been on the other side where we couldn't see them." LOB then replied, "It's always something. There is always something that isn't quite right!" Grammy and I started busted up laughing! LOB has just about figured it out! So finally the text came in that we could come back home. The boys were sure that Santa was going to come while we were gone so they raced to the front door. Here's the climax of the story: So as we opened the front door, Santa was just leaving out the back door! Perfect! It went off without a hitch!

LOB also remembered that when Santa came last year, I had snapped a couple pictures of him. Well, I really used the capturethemagic.com website and uploaded my pictures of the loot and added Santa to the pics. This year, GOB snapped the pictures with the real Santa and it's funny how they look almost the same as last year's!


Looks like Toni had a little fun with Santa! Santa brought LOB and DJB electric scooters and DVB a new 3 wheeled scooter. And some other loot too!

So in the eyes of the boys, Christmas was perfect! It was so fun to see their excitement!

Next up: (in a day or 2 or 3!) Our New Family Member! Wait for it, wait for it!

A Plethora of Pictures To Catch Up!

I found my camera cable! So here's a plethora of pictures from over the last month to catch up!


Here's the first pic on my new little camera! Aunt J and DVB!


On Thanksgiving we went to a local zoo! It was the perfect day to go! We will never go to the zoo again on any other day than Thanksgiving! We owned it!


They have a really cool petting zoo!

Aunt J really liked the baby deer!

LOB was thinking about taking this turkey home and cook it up!

There were goats and deer all over the place!

One of the best things about this zoo is that you can get so close to the animals. Here, LOB was feeding the baby giraffe!

So cool!

DJB's highlight of the trip was petting the sting rays! In fact, at one point in the last month, he was planning on asking Santa for 2 sting rays! *gulp* Thank goodness Santa's helper talked him out of that one!

I thought this little monkey was so stinkin cute!

And now onto DVB's 2nd birthday! We had planned a Vikings vs. Cardinals birthday party for him but as it turned out, not many people were able to come because of the late game time on Sunday. So we cancelled the party and saved the decorations in the hopes of a Vikings Super Bowl Party!

Here's the Birthday Boy hiding in the new and improved toy box that my Grandpa B made for me many years ago. Bampa repainted it and it's now full of toys again!

Here's DVB playing in his new tunnel that attaches to a play tent!

DJB had fun playing with it too!

DVB wasn't too thrilled with the candles! Maybe I won't have to worry about him playing with fire when he gets older!

He did, however, like to play with his cake!

OH MY GOSH! Everyone is smiling AND looking at the camera! It's a miracle!

And finally here's the end of picture plethora! Last Sunday Mom and I baked about 60 dozen cookies! My neighbor has asked me several times to make cookies for her clients. It's always fun, but a big project! So in this picture is "Nissy" the Elf helping me bake a couple red velvet cakes for cakeballs! Remember last year? She/He watches the kids during the day and at night time, she flies back to Santa to report the kid's behavior. Remember that the elf is supposed to move every night? If only I could remember to do it! I can't tell you how many times I've woken up during the night to move the elf. I can't tell you how many times I've moved it just in the nick of time! I can't tell you how many times I have forgotten to move the elf! And my co-elf mover-supposed-to-remember-also-helper IS NOT HELPING! I only have to remember 8 more times and I only have to think of 8 more places for Nissy to hide! Wish me luck!

So I feel better now, I'm all caught up! Next up will be LOB and DJB's school program!

Happy Blogiversary To Me!

Happy Blogiversary (probably not even a word) to me!

It's been one year since the birth of my blog! Although I haven't been able to keep it up as much as I have wanted to, it's been fun! We'll keep it going as long as we have readers! I know you would all miss the weekly action at our house if we didn't keep on blogging!

Does anyone know of a blog-to-book archive? I'd like get a copy of all I've written but I haven't come across exactly what I am looking for! I'd like a printed book if I could find a company that does it!

So here's to another year! Cheers! Happy Blogiversary To Me!

The No-Parent-In-The-Picture Christmas Card!

So after multiple attempts to get a decent Christmas card photo, I've decided that it is just not going to happen! I give up! This is what I am sending out! It's real life, you know? It depicts EXACTLY how we roll! BTW, Santa and Mrs. Claus are the CEO (Mrs.) and VP of the hospital GOB and I work at.

I hope every one's Holiday planning is going well! Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to say, "Bring it on!" A trip to the post office and a few million envelopes to address are the only things left on my list besides wrapping Santa's gifts! I have a request for some lefse from my Dad so maybe, just maybe, I'll find some time this weekend to whip up a couple batches of it!

The 13 Course Meal!

I am so lucky to have my own personal IT guy! He got the pics from his phone to my desktop for me! The quality of the pics aren't great but they will do.

So this restaurant a vendor took us to in Chicago was called Moto. I was really looking forward to this experience after we got the invitation. I had checked out their website prior to going and was intrigued by the description of their food. So in no particular order, because I uploaded the pictures all crazy, here are the 13 courses we noshed on while drinking fine wine and beer!


This was a 3 piece dessert course. It consisted of a mini cheeseburger that actually tasted like a banana split, a cherry bomb complete with a flame, and a log that tasted like pumpkin pie! Yummo! The cherry bomb even kind of blew up in your mouth!


This dessert was called Ants on a Log. It was a celery sorbet. It doesn't sound appetizing but let me tell you it was! I can't remember what the white stuff was, but the ants on top were made of chocolate!

This may look like a dessert but it was far from it! It was some kind of duck puree with a mole sauce. The white stuff was really spicy hot! They called it a Mexican cannoli. I really didn't care for this course.

This one was called Reuben Lasagna. It was delish! It tasted just like a Reuben sandwich!

Cuban Cigar! I really liked this one too! It was a pulled pork wrapped in kale leaves. The ashes were ground up poppy seeds! GOB didn't care for this one. It even had an edible paper label on it!

A rarity, I know! A picture of me!

This one was kinda cool. The chef had the pineapple rings wrapped in aluminum foil and were in a soda keg pressurized with CO2. The pipette had a capon broth in it. So as you took a bite of the fizzy, jerk flavored pineapple, you were supposed to squirt in some of the broth. It was tasty, but weird!

This one was called Seared Buffalo Hot Wings. It was capon breast on top of shredded capon leg. The paper was edible and VERY spicy. Also the little red dot was another spicy sauce. I can't remember the white sauce...probably bleu cheese or ranch flavor.

This one was called Loaded Fries. It was a dollop of mashed potatoes with bacon, cheese, and onion on top. The funny part was when the waiters poured what we thought was candle wax on top of this dish! It turns out the candle that was burning at our table was actually made from beef fat! Again, weird but tasty!

This one was called Gruyere and Onions. The cheese was melted to the side of the bowl and then the waiters came around and poured the hot broth in the bowl. The curly thing on top of the onions was like a dehydrated onion puff. GOB said it tasted like a Funyun.

This was actually our 2nd course. It was called Scrambled Eggs and Muffin. The egg looking thing was actually a extremely light puff that tasted like garlic-it just melted in your mouth. The scrambled egg was a puree of carrots and something else I can't remember but it was good! And the other thing looked like a tator tot but it was a shrimp bite. Very creative!

The very first course, I forgot to take a picture of. It was an extremely thin piece of garlic bread with an edible paper on it that had the vendor's logo on it.

This was a very fun experience. It was something I wouldn't probably go for if we had to foot the bill ourselves. It also took 4.5 hours!

Also, the restaurant had just finished filming a reality tv show there. It will be on in 2010 on the Planet Green channel (a Discovery channel) and is called Future Food. I also heard that the chefs that own this restaurant were on the Food Network's Iron Chef show one time! It'll be cool to watch the show!

I Want to Show Pictures But I Can't!

So I sit down today with intentions of writing a post about our Chicago trip. The problem is, that I can't find the cord to my new camera to upload the pics. AND, the pics GOB sent me from his phone are horrible quality so I can't put those up either! Arrrgghhh!

And to boot, it looks like my laptop is teetering on dying! Every little wiggle I make, the power cord plug-in light thingy is flickering on and off! Guess I better ask Santa for a new laptop!

So wish me luck that my IT guy can help me out tonight with my issues! I'll be back later!

Happy 2nd Birthday, DVB!

We got home just in time for a birthday party! It'll be a mini party this time but DVB won't mind! We had planned a Vikings vs. Cardinals party on Sunday afternoon but since the game time changed, most of our friends couldn't come. So we are going to save all of our Vikings decorations in hopes to celebrate a Super Bowl!



GOB and I just spent 5 days in the Windy City! And let me tell you about that wind! Brrrrrr! We had a great time despite the chilly weather. And to be honest, I'd go to Alaska for vacation just to be kid-free for a couple days!

GOB and our boss were in Chicago to attend the annual RSNA convention. I just went along for the kid break and all the fancy vendor dinners! I did go to the convention one day just to experience it. They say 50,000 people attend. I'd say that 45,000 were from outside the US! It was ridiculous! Those foreigners have NO etiquette! Rude! Disrespectful! Anyway, it was pretty cool to see the state-of-the-art equipment and what companies have planned for the future.

When I have a little more time, I'll have to write a post on the most cool dinner experience I've ever had! So wait for it! Oh and the shopping on Michigan Ave and State St! Now all I have to do is find time for a little blogging! Hopefully I'll be back in a couple days!

Blog? What Blog? I Have a Blog?

I know I've used this excuse a million times, but man-o-livin life is CRAZY around here!

First up: NASCAR. Uncle B joined us for 5 days of camping in dirt and watching rednecks! We wish Aunt J was there too but she joined us a couple days late due to work.

Even the dog loves NASCAR camping. She enjoys being the camp watchdog!

DJB liked to run in and out of the pop-up! Notice the snow cap? It was a might bit chilly during the night!

DJB stole the world's largest lollipop from one of his brothers!

Here's a portion of our camp.

Next up: Thanksmas! What? Didn't you know about that holiday? It's the 2nd or 3rd time we've combined Thanksgiving and Christmas. Since Uncle B and Aunt J were in town we decided to celebrate the holidays. We even put up the christmas tree-complete with only Vikings decorations! Ya know, we have to celebrate our team's fabulous year!

Here's P playing a little Clone Wars Wii with LOB.

Uncle B showing the boys how to operate the mini remote helicopters they bought for the boys!

DJB picked out this carniverous plant farm when Uncle B and Aunt J took them to Toys r Us.

Mini remote control helicopter!

Uncle Bent, as DVB calls him.

Aunt J in her new apron.

UB and AJ are THEEEE coolest evah!

The boys have wanted these for a long time and they didn't even know that when they bought them!

Next Up: An extra 5 days with Aunt J! She changed her ticket to spend some more time with us! We're planning on a not-so-crazy week. On Thanksgiving day we're going to a local zoo we haven't been to in years! Hopefully everyone else will be home eating turkey and we'll have the zoo to ourselves!

I planned on putting some more pictures up but my camera took a poop! Looks like we'll have to find some time this week to go camera shopping! Any suggestions?

Too Much Going On...

We are still around but there's too much going on to find time to write a blog post! And if I could find the cord to my camera, I could post some pictures from our fun weekend at NASCAR. It's probably buried in the bottom of the camping crap or maybe under the piles and piles of dirty laundry. But for this week, we're going to enjoy our company. Aunt J and Uncle B are here till Monday. Maybe next week we'll be back to normal....

The Great Toy Purge of 2009

Whew! The Great Toy Purge of 2009 is complete! 4 garbage bags of broken toys, misc. game pieces, and garbage later, all toy boxes are clean and the toy room once again organized! All baby toys were put away for a future niece or nephew (get moving you 2!) I feel like I've accomplished a major project today. All that work only to make room for more toys on the way for next month's festivities! Oh well, it will stay organized for at least a couple hours!

So as I'm cleaning and organizing away, I came across the HUGE set of Little People stuff we've accumulated over the years. Oh perfect, I thought! DVB will love these and since I put all his baby toys away he'll need something new to play with! And that he did for 1.5 hours straight! Heaven, I tell ya! I brought all the toys that were downstairs, back upstairs and I brought the entire set of Little People downstairs. I set them all up for him in their matching accessories and people/animals. I must say it was kinda fun! He was most attracted to the garage set-go figure! He's really into cars right now. Maybe after his nap he'll explore the farm, or the amusement park, or the zoo, or the pirate ship, or the race track, or the castle, or the airplane... I'm pretty impressed, I might add, that almost all the pieces were found to the sets. I'm sure if I dig out the in toy boxes in the garage or through LOB's bedroom, I'd find the rest. Nah, that would be too much work!

It was just like Christmas for DVB! Hopefully it'll keep his interest for at least a couple more days!

Babybook Entry Post

DVB you are growing so fast, it's time for another update! In the last two weeks your vocabulary has at least tripled it seems! You are even putting together 3 or 4 words. Most of your free time you spend following your brothers! I must say you keep up pretty well! You are a tough little bugger, sometimes even tougher than your older brothers!

Here's some of the things you are jabbering about:

peetza - You LOVE pizza! Thank goodness since we eat it at least once a week!

milky - The first thing you ask for in the morning is a cup of milk! We go through a gallon a day between all you boys, including Papa!

ju - aka Juice - Occasionally you'll accept a cup of 1/2 juice, 1/2 water.

turkeeee - We put the pookins (pumpkins) away and now the turkeys are out. You call the turkeys "pooky" like you did the Halloween decorations! I'm trying to teach you to say gobble gobble-we might get it down by turkey day!

ticken - You call the turkeys tickens! Aka chickens!

Toni - You finally got that T in Toni!

arrrgh! - Whenever I get mad at Toni, I make an arrrrgh sound in frustration! Now whenever you see Toni doing something naughty you make the sound too! It's hilarious! I guess it's better than saying a naughty word!

bank - aka blanket. You've cut back on your blankie fetish! But you still like to have about 3 of them in bed with you!

boots - You LOVE to wear your hand-me-down cowboy boots. You like to stomp your feet in them!

wanna - Wanna go ouside! Wanna milky!

cuz - The other day I asked you to do something and you replied No! So I said, why? And you said cuz!

shippy - You know the cupboard where the sippy cups are!

cup - Lately you've been asking for a cup instead of a shippy! :(

boke - aka broke! When Toni chewed up one of your wooden cars you said, Toni boke!

moob - If anyone or anything is in your way you say, moob! And whoever better respond quickly or you'll moob them!

moobie - The other day in my mini van you said, moobie on! How spoiled is a almost 2 year when he can watch a movie in the car?

oh, man! - This is another phrase you picked up from me! The other day you walked into LOB's messy room and you said, oh man! And OH MAN, you were right! Last Sunday when we were watching the Talledega NASCAR race, you said, oh man! big cash! when you saw Ryan Newman wreck!

Gog - aka LOB! For awhile you called him Go Go but now it's Gog!

Day - aka DJB! DJB doesn't like you calling him Day! He tries to tell you to call him D!

Guys - It's so funny when you call your brothers, guys!

Bampa - You know, Grammy probably was hoping you'd say her name first! Whenever Grammy asks you who's boy you are you say, Bampa! And sometimes all she has to do is look at you and you say Bampa like a little smarty farty!

mash cash - One of your favorite books is called SMASH CRASH! I think I've read it so many times I've got it memorized. Not to mention its been looked at and read so often that's it's missing a few pages!

iddy biddy spidey - Another one of your favorite books is a version of The Itsy Bitsy Spider! I always sing the words and all of a sudden you can sing it! Too cute!

monkey - You have a stuffed animal mouse but you call him a monkey!



I was trying to get a picture of you in your wild thing jammies that Grammy and Grandpa bought you!

Here's proof that you are always looking for trouble!

I can't believe you are almost 2 years old! Most of the time we laugh at your silly little antics! You are very entertaining! But there are times your strong willed attitude can be frustrating. Thankfully, you are usually in the entertaining mood!

Are we going to start seriously working on that potty training next?