Happy Birthday Matt

Today my little boy turned 5. He would say that he had a good birthday (except for the time that I put him in time-out for jumping on Thomas' head). We painted a volcano that he got for Christmas and he really enjoyed that. Hopefully the volcano kit works when we try to make it "erupt" (with baking soda and vinegar through a straw). If it does work I'll put up a couple pictures. One of his friends came over to play and then we had a wonderful birthday dinner of....macaroni & cheese, and dinosaur Jell-O knox blox. I recently got a silicone dinosaur cake mold and thought I'd try it out with Jell-O. The lime green wiggly T-rex was a hit. I had to tell Matt to "stop patting the Jell-O". Unfortunately the brontosaurus came out headless. Oh well. He got a couple books about outer space and (of course) volcanoes, Chutes and Ladders, and an abacus. He surprised us by counting by 10 to 100. I don't recall teaching him how to do that. After we played a challenging game of Chutes and Ladders (I won), we all played video games. There is a car game on the PS3 that Matt wins quite often. I even try to do well, and I just can't get it sometimes. Oh well. It makes him feel good when I score 2 and he scores 12. (It's "Calling All Cars" that you can download from the PS3 in case you were wondering). His aunt called him and she got a lesson on how a Gallimimus is a meat eater, but doesn't eat other dinos, just their eggs. ( I'm not sure where he got that info, 'cause as I look it up online, it seems that it is an omnivore eating mostly bugs and plants and small animals.) She also got to learn about the different kind of lavas out there and the bad consequenses of being in an earthquake (like he knows). So if you ever call here and talk to him be prepared to hear a lesson on some type of dinosaur, or the difference between pahoehoe and aa lava. (by the way "aa" (pronounced 'a-ha') is a real word that you could use during a game of Scrabble. It is the bumpy lava that when it cools turns into the bumpy, spikey rock, rather than the smooth, rope like lava. But I digress). He will have a birthday party on Saturday. He's having a Luau party complete with the Limbo, and a volcano cake. Hopfully it is fun and the activities flow well. (get it- flow, lava... ha, ha, ha I'm so punny!)

Yesterday we took the boys to Chuck-E-Cheese for the first time. They thought it was so cool. (we thought the pizza was crappy, but I seem to remember that from 20 years ago). We got a lot of tokens and only used a few, so we can go back and just play instead of eating their yucky pizza.

Other than birthdays, all is well. My parents are coming next week and the boys are very excited that Grandma and Grandpa are coming. The boys get to participate in a Ward Pinewood Derby next week so we are glad to have our Pinewood Derby expert Grandpa coming to help. We'll see how that works out.

Well, it's late and tomorrow Matt has his doctor checkup complete with shots, so I'd better get some rest. Later.

Silly quotes

Matt: "Maybe if I turn 10 before Soren, then I will be bigger than him!"
-note: Soren is already 9 and is 5' 1'' (yes, taller than me). Do you think Matt will fulfill either of these thoughts?

Thomas: "Look! They're arrows!"
-note: We were eating spaghetti and he was referring to the spaghetti he was dropping off the table while making sound effects of an arrow.

Matt: “I can’t use my energy for sleeping”
-note: Matt didn't want to go to bed

Matt: “This is as far as my legs will take me”
-note: I told him to go to his room and this is what he said when he stopped in the middle of the stairs

Thomas: “Let’s go clean my toes and I can take a bath”
-note: We asked the boys what they wanted to do for fun. This was Thomas' responses

Thomas: "I’m getting bigger” (he says after touching his chin)
Mom-“Why do you say that?”
Thomas: “Because I’m getting scratchy like dad”

Me: "Do not cut your food with Alma"
-note: we have a toy that is a figure of Alma from the scriptures

Me: "Do not use force lightening on your brother!"
-note: Matt was pretending to use force lightening on Thomas when he was just a baby. Scary that a 2 year old knew about the dark side of the force.

Matt: "Mommy! Daddy was vaccuuming me!"

There is a little bit of silliness around here.

Thomas' Birthday

Today was Thomas' 3rd birthday. What a big boy. It's late, and I'm tired, but I wanted to post a couple pictures of how I started my day. So you can get a feel for how tired I am.

This morning Thomas woke up earlier than I would have liked and I asked Doug to turn on cartoons and get him a box of cereal. Normally this is a good idea that gets me at least another hour of sleep. I heard Matt wake up and they were happy, and being quiet, so I thought they were watching cartoons, so I stayed in bed. When I came downstairs, this is the scene I walked into:

Notice the little balls of KIX cereal all over the floor. Here's a closer look.

Of course today of all days, when I had so many other things to do and we were having company over for dinner, the boys decided to "race" their cereal. I wondered for a minute why the race track was in the living room. That is until I saw them putting the "balls" at the top of the track and saying "on your mark, get set, GO!". When a bunch of "balls" collected at the bottom of the track,then they sent cars down to crash into the cereal.

I figured it was partially my fault for giving them free reign with a box of cereal and no parental supervision. I was impressed that they came up with the idea and set up the track all on their own. I'd rather clean up KIX cereal than Rice Krispies anyway. Since we were going to vaccuum anyway, I gave Matt the resposibility to vaccuum. Then we ate breakfast for real, and started our day.

When making a birthday cake, make a note not to experiment with a new cake recipe and a new cake pan all at the same time on the day that you need both to work. I bought one of those silicone bake pans that is shaped like a car. The car is actually little cupcakes that, when pieced together, make a car. Then you frost it like a cake. So the cake completely overflowed the pan and I was quite worried. But when it was cooled I just scraped off the part that was overflowing and prayed the cake would come out of the mold. It did. Here's a picture of the finished product:

Of course Thomas wanted a car cake for his birthday. It was a nice birthday for him, just a little busy. Thomas got some balloons, a new car track (this one crashes cars), a new truck book, and a Triceratops that Matt picked out at the store. We had some friends come over and had pizza, played games, and had cake and ice cream. Then, of course, the boys stayed up a little too late. (Mom and Dad too). That is all for now. Nighty night.

Pigtails

If you're ever feeling old, I have one word for you....Pigtails (or is that actually two words?) Anyway. I swear it takes an instant 5 years off your age. So when you turn 25 for the 10th time and you no longer feel like you look 25, part your hair in two and do pigtails. Only don't do it too tight, or you will have a headache by the end of the day.

Quote from Matt. "Mommy, when you were my age were you 4?"

Boys with imagination

The other day Matt comes in and says, "Hey Mom, guess what?!" I wonder what could be so exciting. "Did you know that 'spanky' and 'ranky' rhyme?" And then he ran off. He's been going through a phase of finding words that rhyme. I hope that he doesn't find ways to use the words "spanky" and "ranky".

He has also been in a mathmatical phase. He is constantly asking us what different things add up to. I tell him to try to use his fingers and toes to figure it out. But when he gets up to "what does 40 plus 12 make?" then we tell him. Maybe we should get some flash cards.

Here's something creative that Matt thought of the other day. Guess what this is a picture of...

If you said that it's a thing to build Legos on, you are wrong. Apparently it is a gyser field.



It's time to feed the dinosaurs!

Who knew that a T-Rex likes lizards. Rubber lizards that is.


I'm not sure if this lizard is on his way in or if the "Chinese dinosaur" is regurgitating it. Matt say's that it is a chinese dino because its name isn't on the bottom of its tummy. It only says "Made in China"

I don't think that this Dimotrodon can't handle this dragon fly. Maybe Jurrasic dragon flys were a lot bigger back then.

Finally it snows!

It snowed yesterday. All day. And we were happy. The boys were very excited, Doug got to come home early, and we got some use out of the boots and snow suits I bought. We went outside and played with snowballs, snow angels, shaking it out of trees, and making a snow volcano. Let me tell you that a snow volcano is a lot easier to make than a snowman. I shoveled a bit of the parking spot and the sidewalk and dumped it in a pile. The boys patted and... voila...a volcano. Then we got out red fod coloring and dumped red water on it for a nice effect. Of course today I'm suffering from sore arms, which I'm sure is a result of lifting a shovel of snow over and over. The sun has been shining all today and a lot of it is now melted. At least I didn't have to really scrape the car, the sun cleared it for me.

Matt making snow angels. The boys have been practicing making "carpet angels" for a while now. I think this was the first time they actually got to do it in the snow.

Matt and Thomas found a "hill". It's not too big, but it worked for them. Matt suggested they be penguins and slide on their tummies. Thomas, of course, followed along. He will do most anything that Matt imagines for them to do.

Here is the volcano.

Matt trying to catch the snow on his tongue.

Meat eating dinosaurs

This morning I woke up to a conversation between the boys about meat eating dinosaurs. They were talking about whether meat eaters like to eat frogs. (of course frog legs taste like chicken) I wondered if they were referring to the big stuffed frog that is easily 3 times the size of their T-Rex, or the tiny Beanie Baby frog. I'm not sure which they were talking about because if no one is screaming, I opt to stay in bed for as long as possible. Thomas came in later and handed me my glasses saying that the sun was up and it as time for me to get up.



The meat eating dinos versus the plant eating dinos have come in handy during dinner time occasionally. We ask the boys if they are going to be carnivores, herbivores, or omnivors. Matt usually chooses meat. Whenever we read the dinosaur books the first thing they ask is whether or not that particular dino is a meat or plant eater. Then they ask how they can defend themselves. (swinging a spikey tail or run away quickly). I'm learning alot about dinos. And volcanoes. And construction vehicles. Sometimes Matt says he wants to be a chef and I look forward to being able to teach him the ways of the kitchen.



The kids are racing cars in the kitchen right now. I also woke up to find about 50 cars lined up in the living room this morning. Apparently they were busy this morning while I was still in bed. They are finding the cars with the round tops and turning them upside down because they spin really well on the kitchen floor.



Thomas just brought me a box of Pop-Tarts and said he wanted a treat. We've called them a "treat" because there is no way that a food that contains high fructose corn syrup, brown sugar, corn syrup, dextrose, sugar, and corn syrup solids can constitute for a breakfast food. It seems that I am just rambling now. So I'll go do something more constructive, like read a book.

getting on the blog bandwagon

So I thought I'd try this out. I really appreciate many of my friend's blogs to keep in touch and see what they're up to. Plus it might be fun to share a little of my life with you with various stories. I always mean to start some sort of a journal for myself or the boys but never get around to it. And they do or say silly things and of course I forget them by the end of the day. So perhaps we can have a few laughs, but mostly I'll have different things documented. I have been writing down the silly things that are said around here, so I think I'll have a "Silly Saying" posted here each time I post. Here is today's "Silly Saying":



Today at lunch Matt was blessing the food and he said, "and please bless the junk food so that it is healthy food and we can have our vitamin C."



He's been on a healthy phase lately always wanting to know what it good for you in a particular food. I guess there are worse things to be obsessed with. It's a good thing Dark chocolate is good for you!