The painter..

One of the things Oliver and Wyatt got for Christmas was a set of wooden models that they can paint. Oliver painted and put together a car. He was very careful with the brushes and did a great job painting!

He's definitely loving arts and crafts. Here is the finished product!

Little piggy...

I made strawberry yogurt for the boys. I guess Wyatt liked it!

Also in eating news:
Wyatt was munching on a banana when he stopped mid-bite, held the banana up to his ear and said "hello?" I wonder who was calling him at breakfast time!

For the record we've never pretended a banana was a phone, he thought of it all by himself!!

Wyatt in training...

I put Wyatt in training pants for the first time since he's been doing so well peeing on the potty. Unfortunately he decided to mess the pants shortly afterward. I put the training pants project on hold until he's trained a bit better.

He's just too cute in these little pants, though!

It was warm a few days ago...

It really was quite warm so we went outside (with no jackets!) to play for a while before Bob got home. The boys wanted to do yard work, go figure! Wyatt tried to rake some leaves with the tiny rake but really he just ended up moving them around. Oliver pretended that popper thing was a mower and off he went up and down the yard. It looked like hard work!


Oliver is such a poser. This is Bob's hat so it's way too big but he wore it after Wyatt threw it off. I wonder what he's thinking...

new washer and dryer!!!

Wednesday after a long hard day at work Bob went to pick up the new washer and dryer at Sears. He then spent several hours getting them in the house, building the base and installing them. Finally they were done and they look fantastic!

The next morning I ran the test cycles and they seemed to be fine so I washed everything I could get my hands on. I even washed our bed pillows to see how the bulky/bedding option works. My pillow smelled so fresh last night!!

Today I'll be finishing the laundry and finally dressing the boys in clean fresh clothes. I'll also have to go out and pick up more laundry detergent. bleh! Maybe we'll make a trip to the toy store for the boys, too.

New year's resolution

One of my resolutions this year was to cut out all artificial sweeteners. It's turning out to be insanely hard - a lot harder than I thought it would be. There is High Fructose Corn Syrup in everything!
One trick I've learned is to shop the edges of the grocery store and make short "away missions" into the middle for items that are really necessary.
There's not a single gum in the checkout aisle that's not made with aspartame. There's even HFCS in jelly! I finally found a low sugar jelly that's only made with sugar and it's the best jelly I've ever had! I've found them in spaghetti sauce, pasta dishes, frozen entrees...all kinds of things you would think were safe really aren't. I've actually cut down on all types of sweets just because they are all made with those artificial sweeteners. Now a treat is a banana, an apple, maybe a sweet potato with cinnamon. Instead of waffles with syrup we have waffles with berries or yogurt. Instead of boxed macaroni and cheese now we have homemade - with REAL cheese! We still have sandwiches but with less sugar. No more sodas in this house, just 100% juices - and we water those down 50/50 to reduce the intake of regular sugar.
I've already lost 3 pounds on this "diet". I just read an article that says adults eat 22 teaspoons of sugar every day. Do you think that's impossible?! Keep track for a day - every 4 grams is equal to one teaspoon.

New pajamas!

We've been having some laundry issues so when we were out yesterday I picked up these cute new jammies for the boys. They are very soft and WARM. The boys were too cute after I put them in their new pajams.

Oliver kept jumping up and down because he was so excited about the dinosaurs.

Since the new year...

We celebrated Bob's birthday by going to see his family in Raleigh. We had a yummy lunch and some good visiting time.

Wyatt got a horrible stomach bug on the 10th. He was puking and had diarhea. The next day Bob, Oliver and I all got it. It was miserable. Bob was lucky because he never puked but Oliver and I spent a lot of time with our heads over a bucket. Bob and I were fine on Monday (Wyatt recovered on Sunday) but poor Oliver had a few puking incidents on Monday, Tuesday and one final one on Wednesday. Happily everyone is better now.

Gramma and Grampa came on the 16th and 17th so Bob could go to Digits and Anni's baby shower and I could work. Wyatt got very attatched to Grampa! He followed him around the whole time. Gramma taught Oliver how to draw people and he did a very good portrait of the four of them. Grampa brought Arby's home for lunch on Sunday - the boys love Arbys!

We cleaned the house and reorganized the playroom. We also got the boys a play kitchen. Now I spend half the day eating plastic food and sipping invisible lemonade.

The washer started to malfunction so we had to go buy another one. We got a front load HE Energy Star washer. We're very excited to pick them up!!

We took a trip to Ikea during our vacation (3-10) and picked up a few new things. I got a new stainless steel pan set that is just fantastic. We got new curtains for the living room, a plate/bowl/cup set for Wyatt, some placemats for the table, and some other things that I can't remember now. Ikea is a magical place! We will be going back at some point to get a new chest for the bedroom. The one I'm using now is too small and doesn't match the bed (which we also got at Ikea)

Wyatt has started talking up a storm. He will even used two words together occasionally. His vocabulary is huge and gets bigger every day! He also learned to spin. He'll go around and around until he's so dizzy he falls down then he gets right back up and does it again. It's silly but I guess he likes it because he keeps doing it. Another new skill is running. He used to just walk faster when we told him to run but now he gets those knees up and legs pumping. It is too cute!

Oliver's can tell what the first letter of a word is. He can also name any letter and tell what sound it makes. He learned to do mazes, which he thinks are super fun. He can read a few words and we're working on more. He has also become very musical. He got a guitar for Christmas and he asks to play it all the time. He makes up little songs and plays the guitar along. He plays the keyboard a bit, too. I guess it might be time to get him in a Kindermusik program or something like it.

Bob is back in school but the classes he's taking should be easier than the ones he just finished. As always there is a lot of reading but he finds time somehow. He still finds time to play with the boys and spend time with me - even with work and school. It's a hard balance but I think he's doing a pretty good job!

I am hoping to get my hair cut soon. I can't decide how I want to get it cut but it's so long that I can barely stand it. I was tempted to just take the scissors to it myself a few days ago. Luckily I didn't because it probably wouldn't have turned out very well. Half the problem is that I'm so cheap I don't want to spend any money to get it done.

I guess that's it for now. I'm going to try to keep this updated better in 2010. My other resolutions are to lose 10 pounds, not drink soda, no MSG, no artificial sweetners and to be 15% nicer...lol

Don't bother me, I haven't had my coffee yet!

playing with the new kitchen

We sort of got Oliver all excited about a new kitchen for Christmas and then we didn't end up getting one. Well a few days after Christmas we got some rewards coupons from Toys R Us and so this set was almost half price!! I couldn't pass up that deal so for two weeks I used the idea of a kitchen to get Oliver to behave. Yesterday we fulfilled the promise and here it is! It is really neat - one of the burners lights up and makes a really annoying noise, there are spices and a peppermill, there's lots of food and dishes and pans. The best thing of all, though, is that it's big enough for them to play side by side without FIGHTING!

putting together the new kitchen

Words...so many words!

Wyatt is now saying:


Santa
pancake
please
ME!
Merry Christmas
STOP!
No!
paci
Batman
pizza
star
kitchen
fruit
bottle
blue
juice
nose
robot
rocket
backpack
cheese
lemon

his vocabulary has exploded lately and its hard to keep track of new words so this will probably be the last "new word" update for him.







Oliver's newest phrases:



It's just what I wanted!
I did it all by myself!
Hicca Bicca Boo
Wyatt is the destroyer

the igloo!!!

Uncle Dave and Grampa made an igloo! It was just Oliver sized so we got him in his coat and sent him out. He was a little afraid to go in until Bob gave him a flashlight.

Then in he went! He shined the flashlight around for a few minutes and peeked out at Bob and Dave (the girls stayed inside because it was COLD!)

Then out he came like a little Eskimo!

more presents from Gramma and Grampa

I love the way both boys are ripping the paper in this picture. This was Wyatt's present, a little jungle with two safari guys and a jeep!


and for Oliver - a little guitar!

clothes...

It's hard to get excited about clothes when you've opened so many toys but the boys did ok. They each got two outfits, new jammies, and a few other things from Aunt Rachael and Uncle Dave.

Aunt Rachael made Wyatt a hat. It looks like an acorn!!

Gramma and Oliver dancing

Well it looks like they are dancing but they are acually seeing how slippery Oliver's new slippers are!

Wyatt and I reading the robot book