Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving!
I'm going to put a list of suggestions for the upcoming birthday/Christmas time for the boys. If you would like suggestions, please read and take them as suggestions not demands. If gift lists offend you, please pretend the list is not there and stop reading. I can't believe the boys will be 2 next week!
This is an older pic, but I still think it is funny. They really like riding on things. Unfortunately, a lot of their trucks weren't made to ride on. This results in head bumps and cries. It is cute tho! Ben maybe?
I don't know if these were posted yet or not, but we took them to the county parade. They didn't care much about the floats, but they loved the air plane flying around. Alex blue Ben green.
Getting bored
Ben left. Alex right. They were looking at Hot Wheels cars. Passing them back and forth and making car noises.
Babies versus Lemons
Ben
So I put some lemons in my fruit bowl on the table. Ben managed to stand on a chair on its side and pull himself up on the table enough to grab a lemon out of the bowl. He immediately started chewing on it. I figured it would be a quick (and maybe fun) lesson in why you shouldn't eat things you pull off tables. I was wrong.
Once he started to gnaw through the skin, Ben asked me to peel some of the skin off. I took a big hunk off the top so he could better enjoy his lemon.
Ben
He loved it.
Proof my babies are mine. He sat on the couch enjoying his lemon for 10s of minutes.
At some point, Alex asked for one also. I peeled his before I gave it to him. He was not quite as sure about it.
Coming around
I thought the crazy hair helped set the scene.
Eating it like an apple
Too much
Watching tv and chowing on lemons
The lemons were demolished. They loved it. Little weirdos. I love lemons also and would eat them like this if given the option.
Our wonderful neighbors across the street invited us over to their house to celebrate Thanksgiving. They have actually had us over there the last like 3 years. She is way more adult in her party having than me. No novelty table cloths to be seen! We had a good time. Her parents were in town and her husband got deployed right before Thanksgiving. He was mid-tile project and our neighbor's dad was going to finish it. He had some questions, so immediately after we ate Cody was on tile consult duty. It is nice that he has learned enough to help other people, but it will be really nice to no longer be doing projects. Anyway, they have a almost 1 year old. Our boys and the girl played together nicely. Until the boys suddenly got super upset and crazy. At the time I thought it was because they were tired of being caged in the play room, but when I got home I realized it was because it was almost 6pm and they hadn't gotten dinner. Silly babies didn't realize that Thanksgiving is a one gigantic meal midday and snacks right before bed. I felt bad and then fed them something delicious and probably unhealthy.
Anyway, I didn't want to cook our personal turkey right after the holiday because we still had some leftovers from her house. We waited until Sunday to cook our personal Tgiving meal. It came out... okay. I made the most deliciously awesome bird, but it was finished cooking about an hour before I expected. That meant I had no sides finished. Everyone started getting cranky and crazy. Cody eventually made the boys a plate with what we had available at the time and threw it down for them. They ravaged it like wolves. It really was an awesome turkey. (Even Cody raved about how awesome it was after spending 4 hours telling me how much he hates turkey and I better not make it dry OR ELSE.)
Alex orange. Ben yellow. See? Wolves.
Pausing to catch up on Yo Gabba Gabba
Notice how they are both holding their utensils confidently in their left hand? I think we're going to have LEFTIES. Poor boys.... :)
Anyway, between trying to finish making food and taking these pictures and watching them enjoy their food, I didn't get to eat until everything was really cold.
I don't usually have food tips, but I have a GREAT food tip for you now. I bought a bag of frozen rolls (the kind that are individual dough balls) to make with our meal. I didn't realize they needed hours to defrost, rise, then cook. I only had about an hour and a half. I did a quick google search and found someone that suggested putting the frozen rolls in the crock pot on low for about an hour and 15 min. She said it would defrost them and allow them to rise. She also suggested cooking them in the crock pot on high, but I didn't have time for that. After they defrosted and rose, I popped them in the oven. They were perfect. If you ever need those frozen rolls for dinner, but don't have time to let them do their thing: try the crock pot.
Playing in the crib (still Ben's)
Gift ideas for the boys
(I've been asked by a few people for ideas of what the boys might want or need.)
I'm going to include some things that we don't need. If you have already purchased something on that list, we would still be happy to have it and we will use it. I just know many of you that may want to give the boys something they need don't know what we already have.
We have plenty:
Heavy winter coats
Ride on toys like 4 wheelers (including the motorized ones)
tractors
winter clothes (we have plenty, but more is always fine!)
warm hats and gloves
Gift ideas:
This is my new favorite toy store. (Actually, my first favorite toy store.) I love nearly everything they sell. They have stores in Overland Park and Omaha. COINCIDENCE? They allow you to choose the age and gender of a child and they give you gift suggestions. Anything on this suggestion list would be awesome. (bilibo, sound puzzle, tobbles, squigz, brain quest, spooner board, etc.)
1. Books: We don't have any Dr. Seuss yet, for instance. A mother goose nursery rhymes book maybe? Whatever. They LOVE trucks and dogs. (EDIT: We have a Dr. Seuss box set now)
2. Things for them to put together like this:
(I know it seems too old for them, but they REALLY love putting things together, taking them apart, using screw drivers and hammers, etc.)
Master builder set:
or this Fix it Tool box
We do not need one of the workbenches. We have one and will probably be gifted another (Yay :) ). 2 is great, but enough.
3. This Melissa & Doug Deluxe Pounding Bench
Really a lot of the Melissa and Doug stuff is great.
4. Art supplies meant to minimize mess and destruction to mother's things
5. Things that are made to be climbed on. Not one of the little toddler lil tikes or step 2 things. I mean like things to replace finding ways to get on my counter. I didn't find a product that fit what I want though, so maybe it doesn't exist.
6. Yo Gabba Gabba dvds for the van. (EDIT: We now have plenty of Yo Gabba Gabba dvds.)
7. Foam blocks to stack/ throw at each other and jump on
This set is a little expensive, but I'm not shopping around, just looking for ideas. It doesn't need to be this set.
ECR4Kids Softzone Foam Big Blocks, 7-Piece Set
8. If you want to do truck toys, they like construction things more than farm things. (I know, I know) Especially if there is something that will really dig or whatever. They like digging and construction stuff.
You probably see a pattern in my suggestions: things for them to climb, hit, destroy, and build. They are crazy creatures.
9. An exception to the "we have enough clothes" thing: They could use some more 24 month Short sleeve onesies. They like to wear them under their footie pajamas. I mean the shirts that have the buttons in the crotch to keep them from riding up in their sleep. Shirts like this with a flap in the front and back with snaps. (snaps circled):
Their 18 month onesies are no longer snapping in the crotch. Little monkeys are growing up.... All stores with baby clothes will have them. We get them at Walmart/Target/Kohls/Costco etc.
Clothes: 24 month would probably be best right now for everything. 2T would be a second choice.
Hats: Gigantic, nearly adult sized. more specifically a child size hat not a baby hat.
They love dum dums, the cheap little suckers
They like kit kat, m&ms, and skittles.
They would rather have most fruit than most candy.
Again, this information was only for people that want suggestions or guidelines. We will be happy with whatever. They are most happy playing with my vacuum cleaner and eating lemons, so don't feel like they need anything fancy or expensive. :) Buying them nothing is also fine, of course. They have plenty of treasures anyway.
This got really long and I'm tired. I'm not even going to try to proof read. Please enjoy any weird word mixups or other errors. I don't usually proofread much, but I'm not even going to bother skimming. Living on the edge!
