Interviews with our Soccer Stars!

Blake and Louie's first season in soccer! The field was a couple of blocks from our house which made it easy to take our scooters over to practice.  It was a little cold but they hung in there to chase a read and white ball into a net.  I think they really liked it... but here are their thoughts.

LOUIE AND MOM

M:  "Louie, what did you like about soccer?"  

L:   "The medals and kicking the ball into the...what is it called? 

M:   "the goal."  

L:  "Oh yea,"  

M:  "Do you think you want to play soccer next season?"  

L:  "Yea!"

BLAKE AND MOM
M:  What did you like about soccer?
B:  Look at these dinosaurs!
M:  Blakie, what did you like about soccer?
B:  These dinosaurs do soccer.
M:  Blake, do you want to play soccer next season?
B:  Yea!  And kick the ball like this!

Kidzania!

Kidzania was the perfect place for Blake's birthday party.  The guests were... Louie, Mom and Dad.  Kidzania is its own little town where kids can earn money (kid bucks) by learning how to be a fire fighter, or plant a garden or paint a house or make their own pizza or how to be a pilot (full size cockpit).  Then they can take their kid bucks and buy food, toys or have their faces painted.  The boys had an absolute fantastic time.  This might have to be a repeat in the near future.  We just couldn't get to everything!  

And to top it all off... the next day, we celebrated at Cheesecake Factory!  He was so entranced with HIS little chocolate birthday dessert that a photo wasn't even a consideration.  Not even a nod. 

Happy Birthday to our Blakie!  We love you so much and everything that packs along with you... dinosaurs, dragons, books, books and books, blue blanket (still), airplanes, fishies, sharks and a few more dinosaurs.  We love to watch you charge at life with full gusto; learning from both the ups and downs.  You are quite the conversationalist on the phone with a broad vocabulary.  You were quick to learn your numbers to 10, colors and some of the letters in your name.  As we drive to your preschool, I love to listen to the songs you sing-- especially the ones you create adding your own little twist.  You love to swim, ride your scooter with your shark helmet, play soccer and just started to ride a bike.  It's hard to believe how much you have changed and really grown into a little boy.  We love you and look forward to another year of surprises, laughter and continue to wonder what's going on behind that charming, sly grin!

Bikes

 First day on our bikes.  Surprisingly, Blake is just as cautious as Louie.  Thank goodness!  Not sure how long that will last.  They were the same way when they got their scooters a year ago.  And now, they zoom around on those lightning fast!  Picture below is Louie going for his first solo ride using the pedals.  He made it 10 feet!!!

Happy Valentine's Day: A Day of Discoveries

Happy Valentine's Day!  Louie is doing well to keep his lolly still but Blake is on the cusp of a giggle and was torture for him to TRY to remain still!  Discovery #1:  Sugar and photos don't go together.
The boys had a fun night making Valentines for school.  These mustaches were for Blake's preschool... there were kissy lips for the girls and mustaches for the boys.  We made hearts and more mustaches and kissy lips to mail to our families. 

 Above, I lovcd watching Louie write his love notes on each valentine for each grandparent.  He would draw the words out slowly to hear the sounds and then wrote his squiggles to represent his words.  "IIIIIIIII loooooove youuuuuuuuu.  So cute!

Louie made bird feeder Valentines for his class as school.  After he finished the first one, I realized we were in for a long night.  The pattern is methodical and perfect.  According to Louie, each one had to be like this.  My suggestion of "random selection" to expedite this process did not compute in his engineering brain.  After Louie completed four of these, he was done!  So yes of course, I had to finish the remaining 20 for his class.  This Pinterest idea is cute, but not for the faint of heart.  Discovery #2:  I think paper valentines are going to be a great idea for next year!

Discovery #3:  Next time, throw away Blake's Valentine's candy from school while he takes a nap.  There was so much, it strung out for days!  I couldn't get him to eat regular food... he held out for the sugar!  I mean, I really can't blame him.  However, the sugar ignited this burst of energy which couldn't be contained.  Blake was hopping through the kitchen, jumping of the couch, and running circles in the house.  This kid has a huge smile (full of candy) for a reason!

Super Hero Training Camp!

Louie's 5th Birthday was so much fun!  We held a Super Hero Training Camp for all of our birthday guests.  Louie had a perma-grin for two hours!  In order to earn their capes and masks to best fly over the city, all guests had to go through grueling challenges to prove they could be a Super Hero.  Besides going through an obstacle course to test agility, they also had to prove themselves through challenges such as trying to lick their elbow with their tongue,

or sing Happy Birthday to Louie in a disguised voice or possibly the most difficult... actually catch a villain with their laser spray (squirt bottle). 

After our graduation ceremony of Super Heroes, we celebrated with cupcakes for Louie's 5th Birthday!

Happy Birthday to our Super Louie! At age 5, he is still loyal to his trains, loves to wear his new tennis shoes that make him run the fastest, likes to swim with his gobbles (goggles) on and ride his scooter with Blake and his friends.  A highlight each day is riding the bus to school.  He is learning his alphabet letters and sounds so quickly.  He hopes to learn how to ride a bike this year.  At home he helps with a few chores, enjoys reading books, can say his own prayers, likes to play games with mom and wrestling with his dad.  Louie, we can't imagine our life without you.  We love you.

And to all of our birthday guests...Thanks for coming to make Louie's day so awesome!

Not to be forgotten... our own Batman in Training... Blake!

Ohhhh, he loves the wings on this Batman costume because really they are "dragon wings."  And no one can convince him otherwise!  Such a fun age.

FUN DAY at Preschool

Louie says, "K4 Ponies Forever!"  He loves his preschool and his teacher Miss Meg.  Today they ended their transportation unit with all these fun activities.  I think Louie spent the most time with the scooter activity since his teacher was riding down the hill with them.  I wish I had one of these water tables in my backyard...

Discovering different tire tracks in paint.  The day was unstructured to allow the children to spend time where they wanted.  Louie couldn't quite stay away from the draw of the scooters...

"Sven from Sveeden"

Today we took my sister to the Olympic time trials in Park City.  I had never been to an event like this but was captivated!  It’s one thing to see ski aerials on TV but  another to be there in person. 

Blake was decked out in his new sunglasses for the first time.  We could not get over ourselves!  We were laughing so hard.  He put on those sunglasses, put his hands in his pockets and began to strut!  He knew he looked cool.  We started to call him Sven from Sweden.  So entertaining. 

And leave it to Park City to build a whole play area for the kids and booths to keep them entertained.  

Do you want to build a snowman?

My sister and I took Louie to the movie, Frozen.  I think we LOVED IT and he just really liked it.  The voices were incredible.  20 minutes into the show, my sister is looking online to see who they are.  Well of course, one of the voices is Elphaba from Wicked.  And the other was Kristen Bell.  Who knew she had a voice???  It was excellent and totally set up for Broadway in the future.  So of course the next day, Louie wants to build Olaf the snowman.  Well, our snow wasn’t packing too well that day and he turned out on the small side.  But cute nonetheless!  And not to be missed in the picture, Stormfly and Toothless (Blake’s dragons) were placed as close as possible.  

Merry Christmas!

Ohhhh, Louie and Blake were up EARLY today!  I don’t think the sun was up yet.  Somehow Cody and I rallied to make breakfast and break open a Diet Coke. Even Grandma Marcy had a Coke.  The boys were running around in their jammies waiting to open presents while we got breakfast on the table.

 Yesterday, I found this yummy breakfast recipe that included chopped up cinnamon rolls, eggs, cream and butter.  I figured any dish with those four ingredients would be deserving on a Christmas morning for breakfast.  It was divine.  I think this might be a repeat for next year.  

  
After breakfast, we opened a few gifts while waiting for our cousins to join us.  Blake loved all his new DRAGONS.  And Louie was delighted that Santa did remember the T-Rex after all!   Blake was a little confused why ALL the presents under the tree weren’t for him? We had to coax several presents out of his hands and redirect him to his dragons!  We came close to a few botched surprises for the cousins.

 Marcy prepared a delicious Christmas lunch with beef tenderloin and ham this year.  Afterwards, we opened stockings from Grandma Marcy and then gifts from our cousins.  Louie could not be more pleased with his green candy cane.  

 This is an attempt at a panoramic picture of a few of us opening gifts on my phone.  

 We had a very Merry Christmas this year!  It's always surprising to me out of ALL the gifts that the boys received, they truly just hold onto the one thing they asked for in their letters to Santa.  Louie loved his T-Rex.  And Blake loved his dragons.  Note to self!

SNOW!

Our boys have been talking about making snow angels, building snowmen and skiing since Halloween.  They couldn't be more excited to jump into the fluff!

Ready to pounce the snow!

Ready to pounce Blake!

 

So Grown UP

Blake has a fetish with dinosaurs now.  Sometimes he will ROAR in response to questions.  We have to kindly remind him to turn off his inner dinosaur and use his words.  He also invents words to sing his dinosaur songs.  Such as…”Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs, ROAR, ROAR, ROAR, ROAR, ROAR, ROAR, ROAR, ROAR, ROAR.  Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs ROAR, ROAR, ROAR all through the town.  He even incorporates them into familiar stories, “Dinosaur, Dinosaur.  What do you see?  I see a dinosaur looking at me.”  And of course as a previous teacher, I am elated to hear the familiar rhyme of Brown Bear, Brown Bear.  What do you see?  In this photo he is ROARING as I am trying to get him to smile.  No such luck.

 In my further attempt to get a picture of my baby "all grown up" I realize (as usual) I need to go with the flow and embrace it.  So in my baby's "all grown up" photo, there are his dinosaurs of which he could not be more proud.  Surprisingly, there are only two dinosaurs... usually there are at least four... two for each hand.  Today must have been a light day. 

Eventually, I did sneak a quick pic as he was telling me all about his dinosaurs.  Such a happy boy in the world of dinosaurs!

So Excited about Santa...Maybe.

Yep, it's Santa Claus!

 

Just going to keep on walking...your turn Ludie (Louie).

 Louie and Santa.  Louie made a red paper airplane for Santa.  And Santa had a gift for Louie and his sick dog, Murphy. 

Now Blake's turn.  Just keeping a few feet distance but really wants that present.  Walking back and forth... not sure.  Finally, goes in with a safety net...mom.

We eventually get a "thanksh!" from Blake.

Merry Christmas!

Halloween 2013

Happy Halloween!  We had a little decorating party with our friends Benny and Max.  Pumpkins, bats, cats and witches were decorated and sometimes redecorated with a different choice of candy or sprinkle.  Yummmm!

Or sometimes the frosting didn't even make it to the cookie and was directly deposited at the final destination... some may call this cheating... others might call it efficiency.

While we were waiting for another batch of cookies out of the oven, Blake provided us with some entertainment with his latest trick of kicking up his back leg.

A quick picture of Blake with his friend, Betty/Wonder Woman.  Not sure where Blake's boots went to his Woody costume?!  But he sure couldn't take his eyes off Wonder Woman. 

Trick or Treat! with our buddies, Max and Benny.