Tag: play

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More “organizing” and “go-karts”

My organizing son struck again.  This time his target was the basement family room.  He cleared out everything in the room (minus the couch) and created a “hockey rink.”  I don’t know what he meant by that.  Maybe it was just the first thing that came to mind when I asked him what he was doing.  I just smiled and thanked him for organizing the room for me.

Later in the day, Lincoln turned one of our wheeled containers into a “go-kart” and rode it down the hallway.  Nolan noticed it was so much fun, he joined in.

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OTW – friends, volleyball, and little helpers

Friday morning we ventured out into the below zero wind chill to spend a few hours at my friend Brooke’s house.  The four of our kiddos had fun playing with little people and cars, munching on Chex Mix, and eating sticky buns.  Good times!  I love it when we have a chance to hang out with friends.  It’s great for the kids to play with other kids and I welcome the conversation with another mom.  I came home refreshed.  Thanks, Brooke!

Jake and the boys hung out on Saturday while I played in a day-long volleyball tournament.  This particular tourney has become an annual event for me.  It’s my one non-stop (almost) day of being on the court and is a fantastic workout.  The only downside are the aftereffects.  My muscles scream at me for a couple of days, but eventually I recover 🙂  Good news is, we took second!  Not bad for a team that hasn’t played together as a group of 6 before Saturday morning.  During my absence, the boys apparently had fun using the containers on wheels from the toy room to store “stuff” and themselves.

After a full day on Saturday, Sunday was much more low-key.  After we returned home from mass, we had an early lunch, and Lincoln and I crashed.  Nolan and Jake ran a few errands and returned home with a new bird feeder.  Nolan was SO excited to show it to us from the living room window.  Jake hung it in one of the Linden trees out front.  It’s bright red, so you can’t miss it.  Now we just need bird visitors.  N & L decided they would “pick up” the toy room later in the day.  Lately this entails moving everything that was previously organized on one side of the room to the other.  Sunday’s migration of toys ended with everything being placed in front of the doors to the porch.  I walked into the toy room to check on my little helpers and found them sitting in chairs overlooking their accomplishment.  Too funny!

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Phones and footballs

Jake called this afternoon and asked to talk to the boys.  Nolan talked for a while and then handed the phone to Lincoln.  I took a few pictures so Jake could see Lincoln in action.  It was pretty cute seeing him jabber to his daddy – it was like he was having a regular conversation.

And on a completely unrelated note, my kids enjoyed wearing football helmets today.  Who knew an empty popcorn tin could be so fun?

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O Christmas Tree

Last year I made the mistake of pointing out to Nolan that the garbage man was taking our Christmas tree away (as the man was tossing the tree into the back of the truck.)  Apparently this was the wrong thing to do; clearly a rookie mistake.  I felt horrible!  He was incredibly saddened by the event and talked about it for months.  I’m not exaggerating.  It was summer and the little guy was still talking about how the garbage man took the tree but we’d get a new one next Christmas.

This year, we’re trying something different.  We started talking about taking the tree down several days before we actually did.  We also had the boys “help” us take the ornaments and lights off.  Now the tree is sitting out front in the snow waiting for the garbage truck to arrive in the morning.  I think I may strategically plan a visit to the gym that coincides with the tree pick-up.  Once he realizes it’s gone when we return home, I’m hoping his reaction is that he continues to tell us that the garbage man will be taking the tree away to give it to other people who need a tree.  After all, that’s what we’ve told him happens when we donate items from the house that we no longer need.  Why wouldn’t the tree go to someone else too?

On a completely unrelated note, this is what happens when you forget to put away the paper towel roll that you were using to pad ornaments as you packed them away.  Lesson learned.

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NYE

Jake loves being a dad.  Things like this make me smile – he really loves his kids.

Just in case you were wondering, there are about 70 balloons there – all inflated by my husband.  And no, he didn’t feel light-headed after blowing them all up.  Thankfully, we have an air compressor that did the job.  We rung in the New Year with a few friends, 3 kiddos, a warm fire in the porch, and a few tasty treats.  The kids lasted until about 10:30, so the party ended a bit before the official start of the new decade, but that was ok.  Our family had to get some sleep so we could get up and make the trip up north to the Iron Range to visit my dad’s side of the family.

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Christmas 2009 – take 3 & take 4

We woke up Christmas morning to snow and rain…yes, rain on December 25.  Jake  started a fire in the porch so we could open presents without freezing around the tree.  We gave the boys sleeping bags & cots this year.  It was pretty funny watching them practice taking naps.  It’s the first Christmas morning in several years that we didn’t have to load ourselves into a car to travel to a morning or out of town gathering.  What a gift that was!  We spent time as a family, the kids napped in the afternoon, and in the evening, we headed to Jake’s grandparents’ house for the Settergren family Christmas celebration.  35+ of us were able to make it this year.  Believe it or not, we were missing a few due to the weather.  I forgot to pack the camera for the big family shindig.  Maybe that was a good thing though – I didn’t worry about capturing all that I could, digitally.  Instead, I just enjoyed the evening as it unfolded.

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Blast off to Planet Bass

The following conversation took place this morning while Nolan was drawing on his Magnadoodle:

“Tell me about your picture, Nolan.”

“I drew a rocket!”

“Where is the rocket blasting off to?”

“It’s going to Planet Bass!”

What makes his response so funny to those of us in my family is that Planet Bass isn’t a place he made up.  It’s actually the name of his Uncle Tony’s company.  I called my brother after this short exchange and I think it’s safe to say Nolan made his day 🙂

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Big shoes, little feet

Saturday morning after we got the kids up and dressed, they ran into our room and came out with my “inside shoes” on their little feet.  It’s hard to imagine the day their feet will dwarf mine!

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Snow with gingerbread – media overload

The temps rose into the mid 20’s today, so we took advantage of the balmy weather and sun and headed out back to do a little shoveling & playing.  The snow was perfect – light & fluffy and easy for the kids to maneuver through with their snow gear & boots on.  Nolan helped me clear off the patio and Lincoln assisted with brushing off the wood bins on the deck.  They were both my little helpers this afternoon.  Nolan asked me to get thee sled out of the shed and he was nice enough to pull his little brother around the yard.  It was pretty funny to watch!  There were several times I thought Lincoln was going to tumble out, but he hung on!  Once Nolan was tired from pulling, I had Nolan jump in the sled and I took them around the yard.  We drove Maverick nuts as we made a figure eight path.

I bribed the kids this afternoon.  I told them we could finish decorating the gingerbread house we assembled this morning IF they took naps.  For Nolan, he not only had to take a nap, but not get out of bed (at all.)  It worked!  Both of them crashed for a good chunk of the afternoon, which really isn’t surprising since we spent about 45 minutes or so out in the cold right before they went to sleep.  I loaded the gingerbread with frosting and let the kids add the candies.  Lincoln actually ate more than he added to the house – at least the gumdrops he was eating were miniature 🙂  Nolan really got into the project.  It was a good way for him to have fun while practicing his counting.

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OTW – food (cake) frenzy

At lunch on Friday I was getting something from the kitchen, turned my attention from the table where the boys were dining for a split second and saw this when I directed my attention back at them:

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Nice huh?

Saturday we had hosted a birthday party at our house.  Our friend, Deacon Joseph, came over for dinner and knew WE were celebrating with him, but had no idea about 20 other people were going to show up to surprise him too.  Nolan had so much fun getting the birthday decorations out for the party.  By far the best decoration in his mind was the Mylar balloon which we accidentally forgot to send home with our friend.  Whoops!  I guess we can re-use it for Jesus’ birthday in 11 days.  🙂

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Sunday we had a visit from my mom and a friend of hers who was visiting from SD.  She saw our house shortly after we bought it 6 1/2 years ago, so a lot has changed since then.  It was fun giving her the tour – she remembered so much about the way the house used to be.  I’m so glad we no longer have straw on the ceiling in the basement or black & neon fish wallpaper in the mudroom.  Seriously…you should see the pictures.

We’re still eating leftover cake from Saturday’s party.  We even sent cupcakes and cake home with other people.  I don’t think the problem was that we made too much, it’s that people didn’t eat enough!  Now I’m stuck with yummy frosted desserts staring me in the face when I walk into the kitchen.  My willpower just isn’t strong enough to withstand the temptation.  We had cupcakes for dessert tonight and Lincoln had a great time with his.  At one point he was using a portion of it like it was some sort of animal.  He hopped it along the tray of his highchair and made animal noises.  I know I should have probably kept him in line, but it was too funny.  I missed getting a picture of that specific scene, but do have a few of him making quite a mess.

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Nolan didn’t take a nap today.  The result was one tired boy at 7pm.  It was amazing how fast he crashed once we got him ready for bed.  I had told him earlier in the day that he was going to go to bed early tonight, but I didn’t think he’d have a problem making it until 7.  Guess I was wrong.  Lincoln on the other hand, was in good spirits for about an hour longer than his big brother.  That meant he got a little solo time with his mom & dad.  Here he is reading with his Daddy.  I love how much our kids enjoy reading books.  They even enjoy reading to each other – so cute.

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