Ice Chipping...

Last week, after the ice storm, the boys went out to chip ice from the driveway. They SO wanted and needed to get outside....to do anything!

Soon, Jack gave up and decided that pushing the ice with the large shovel was more up his alley. If you look closely, you can see lots of little pieces of ice, those are the pieces that were falling from the trees, not what Sam had chipped off.

In this picture, where is looks as if snow has fallen on the ice or the lighter white spots, that is actually more ice falling from the trees. Every one in awhile, Sam and Jack would head in the garage to take "shelter."

Sam is holding a stick that fell on him while chipping.

I felt bad for Sam, because he sure did work hard and then three days later, his efforts were covered up with snow from the blizzard!

Buzz Light Year...

Yesterday, Jack came up from the basement stating, "Mom! I found my Buzz Light Year costume AND it still fits!" Well, one look at it and you can see it does NOT fit...in many different ways. He ran up and got some LONG white socks to fill in the "blank" area (his legs.)

Good as new!

Here is Jack realizing that the circles are actually suppose to be over his knees. He kept pulling at the legs in an attempt to make them longer. Didn't work. When he turned around, the back end looked very uncomfortable and he kept pulling at that, too. I asked him, are you sure you are comfortable? "Yep," was all I got.

Here is a fantastic Buzz Light Year pose. Jack ran around the house yelling, "Scanners in the gate! Zurg is in the area!"

Check out how tight the purple "helmet" is. You can see the entire outline of his ears! When he sat down, he had to take off the hood, it was choking him!
All of this and it still didn't stop him from wearing it all afternoon!

Outage, Blizzard and Mourning...

I have not had Internet since Friday morning. I just got back on Monday night. I will have new posts, beginning Wednesday.

For those of you in nice warm weather, we had our third blizzard of the season yesterday. I am officially tired of winter. Saturday was in the 40s with rain, but at least it melted a bit of the snow that day. We could actually see our driveway once again...I was so excited. Them, BAM, snow the next night and no more clear driveway...loads of drifts...again.

We are also wearing black because we have been in mourning due to the Vikings lost. We still are not talking about it. Our jerseys have been put a way for the season. We are now praying that Favre will come back for one more season...one more try...

I think god things will start to happen because bad things happen in threes...I am hopeful.

Things to do While Waiting to Play BB...

Walk your fingers along the out-of-bound lines...

See how far you can cross your legs...(while the boy behind you practices his crab walking.)

Count ceiling tiles...

Cover your ears and hum...because it sounds louder when you do that...

Lion King Part I...

Last weekend, we went to see The Lion King at the Civic Center. Jas, my mom and I have seen it before, but we took Sam with us this time. It was so fun to watch Sam watching the show.

Of course we had to take pictures before Sam's first fancy dinner out and "Broadway" show!

We were happy to have my mom join us!

Aunt, my sister, stayed with Jack, who refused to get his picture taken with us (though we were able to get him in the background.) Not that he was jealous of us going and he had to stay home, he couldn't wait for us to leave so he could have Aunt all to himself! Two days before she was to be at our house, he was already asking/telling me, "When Aunt gets here, mom, you leave. OK." He and Aunt played everything possible in the house...he was so happy!

Lion King Part 2...

After all the pictures, we headed downtown for dinner at a "fancy" restaurant before the show. Sam learned how to "share" butter from a "community platter" (which he thought was a big slice of cheese) and worked on his dinner manners. He thought it was great fun!

It was SO cold walking to the show, but I had my mom and Sam stand in front of the Lion outside the Civic Center. (Jas was parking the car.)

Sam loved the show, even if it did get a bit long during the second half. It was a long day and evening and Sam "rested" on his way home, while holding on to his souvenir poster.

Next Room...

I am done with our room and am now working on Jack's room. First thing is to pick a color for the paint...of course Jack wants it painted green (with a jungle tree and monkeys hanging from it.) But, I am struggling with finding the right shade of green...as you can see from the pictures.

(Someone had to clean their room before heading to bed that night!)

These are the different greens I have tried and I really haven't like any of them...then I noticed that Jack made a suggestion, in a diamond shape. He used a permanent marker, so it is good that we are painting the walls!! I will share pictures as the project moves along. I do not think I will be done with his as quickly as I finished our bedroom. He has a lot more..."stuff."

A Weekend Project...

This weekend I took on the project of painting our bedroom. The entire process, from picking out paint to putting the room back together, took about a week. Not bad in my book...

The color in our bedroom was a red and a beige sponge paint. I took this picture right before I began...notice I had already gotten a Starbucks to get me going!! I painted it "corral fence." It's a brown with a dark green tint. It looks different during the day then it does at night...I really like this color and will use it again.

This is the color afterwards...We have a bathroom off of our bedroom and I painted it the same color as the room. I don't believe the previous owners had a shower curtain, but I insisted that Jason put one up...I was freezing in the morning with no "protection!"

And here is the bedroom. I really like how it turned out. My mom made the quilt for Jason and I as a Christmas gift and the colors go well with the new walls. After all that work, Sam was laying on the bed, admiring my work and said, "I think this color is more like you mom. Calm, dull and not very exciting as the red." I am hoping he didn't mean it as it sounded, but after I took these pictures, I was so calm that I laid right down and took a nap!

A Viking Prayer...

VIKING PRAYER

Our Favre-ther who art in Mississippi hallowed be thy name. Thy bowl will come, it will be won, In Miami as it is in the Dome. Give us this Sunday, Our weekly win. Give us touchdown passes, but do not let others pass against us. Lead us not into frustration, but deliver us to the Super Bowl. For thine... is the MVP, the best of the NFC, and the glory of the Purple People Eaters now and forever.
Amen!

Three Guesses...

Can you guess what these boys are doing?
a. Seeing who can be more like Gene Simmons.
b. They have turned into little birds since moving to the woods and they are waiting for me to feed them dinner.
c. Sam has been reading the Guinness Book of World Records and we decided to try to break the "How many popcorn kernels can you catch in your mouth while your mom tosses them to you from the roof" record.

d. none of the above.

e.all of the above

Answer: d. none of the above. (I know that is a surprise!)
Actually, "things" were melting from the roof and the boys were trying to catch the drips with their tongues. Sam believed the more open his mouth was, the more successful he would be. Jack gave his tongue a little ramp for the water to head down. All they DID succeed in getting was a very wet face. (Jack really gave up after 5 seconds and just went and ate some snow...slacker!)

Sam' Game...

Sam had his first basketball game of the season this weekend, too. His was a little bit faster paced then Jack's. Sam did really well and had a great time playing. He shot 5 baskets and made all of them (like the one above.) He has worked hard on his shooting and was so proud of himself (as were we!) The only "oops" of the game was that we were to have picked up his light blue tee shirt before the game and that didn't get done. So he wore his own dark blue shirt and said, "One of these kids is doing their own thing...one of these kids is not like the other!"

Jack' First BB Game...

Jack had his very first basketball game, on Saturday, and it was a hoot to watch! Jack loved playing, but was easily distracted at times. Like the time when I got to the game (a little late) and he ran out of the game to give me a kiss on the cheek and tell me, "Did you know that you are dad's wife?" And off he went to play some more, but not before telling Jason (who is coaching these little guys), "Your wife is here."

This is how you guard the basket when you are 4. You run down to the basket, stand and put your arms in the air. At one time, the entire team was in a line, with their arms up, under the basket. Jack soon learned not to stand right under the hoop...he got hit in the head with the basketball two times in a row.

Jack got to dribble the ball down the floor with a little help from the coach AKA Jason (or dad or my husband.)

Here Jack is shooting the ball. Look at all those rebounders...NOT!! They are all just standing with their arms in the air and watching the ball! Can't wait for the next game... if you would like a good friendly laugh, join us!

"Where's Sam?" asked Jack

Sometimes on snow days, you need to find a "private" spot, away from your little brother and have some alone time to check out your new Lego Books by yourself...and that is OK.

Bring on the Snow!!!

We got some snow yesterday and the boys were SO excited...that they got to take out the electric shovel!!

Both boys are directing Jason on how to plow the driveway. You can barely see Jack between Sam and Jason.

Jason is in heaven (for the time being) with his new toy!

Two New Family Members!

Introducing Natasha (with the lips) and Pogo (Mr. Rainbow who looks as if he needs to go to the bathroom 24-7). They are the newest members of Jack's monkey family.

Can you tell I am stretching/hurting for blog ideas!!!

Happy New Year!

Two favorite pictures from December...Look at the snow flakes on Sam's eyes! BRRRR!
Hope you and your have a great new year!