Carter Boy

This kid has my heart.

On friday Carter was the star student and he was allowed to bring in a special treat to share with the class.  He wanted me to bake chocolate chip cookies and I had on hand some of the Hershey-ettes which are like m&m's but not processed with peanuts.  So I made the cookies with both chocolate chips and hershey-ettes and he was blown away!  He told me I was such a good chef and I should be on TV!  Such kind words that are really not warranted with my cooking skills!

One day I walked into my bedroom.  The lights were off and it was dusk, so there was very little light in the room.  I walked into my bathroom before I realized there was a sniper in my bedroom who had me in his sights!  Thankfully it was just my Carter boy!  He dressed in all black, just like in this picture.  It was pretty tough to see him!

I love you sweet Carter bean.  You brighten my day every single day.

Pinewood Derby Time!

This morning was the Pinewood Derby.  Carter was SO EXCITED!!!  Last night he had a hard time sleeping because in anticipation!

The eight year old excitement was palpable!

This year was quite an improvement!  His car was faster and he made it into first and second place in some of the heats!  He didn't win any awards this year, but isn't that a valuable lesson in and of itself?  We were proud of the hard work he put into his car and being a good sport by congratulating his friends.

This year Dawson entered the unlimited division (for siblings/adults/etc.)

Dawson's car was really fast!

A fun day for our boys!

Enjoying January

Ava got all decked out for the Steelers play off games.  Steelers jersey? check.  Steelers gloves?  check.  Steelers jersey on her bear?  check.

The kids are really enjoying their new board games.  Nothing better when the snow is coming down that to pop some popcorn and pull out a game to play!

At times when Dawson is getting grumpy and he needs to be distracted, pulling out my phone and taking a selfie with him has really helped.  You can see his eyes are still a little red, but a smile is starting!

We really enjoyed our long weekend.  We went to Cincinnati to visit friends and visited the Mckinley Museum too.  Today we had our George Washington's Socks Book Club night.  We made a George Washington craft and made cookies for the night.  The kids enjoyed talking about time travel and discussing the little snippets that they learned about the Revolutionary War.  Thanks Grandma and Bo for the book!  We are moving onto George Washington's Spy.

MAPS Museum

Over Christmas break we went to the MAPS Museum.  It's a local air museum near our house. 

Checking out Cockpits

Did you know that Goodyear made an airplane?

The kids enjoyed exploring a military jeep.

Our verdict?  An interesting little museum, but the Air Force Museum is much better.  But the kids enjoyed exploring the museum and we are going to be going there with Cub Scouts in two weeks.

Happy New Year 2016

For New Year's 2016 we went to visit Grandma and Bo.  Here are some of the pictures from our fun visit.

Mike took a little snooze and held hands with Carter while he was sleeping.

Fireworks!

The kids had a ball making fruit skewers.

The first fruit skewers of Christmas!!!

Wait, what?

Sorry, Polar Express reference.

Dawson felt like fruit skewers were overrated, but marshmallow skewers were much better.

Thanks Meme for the 2016 Gear!

We had a fun time playing board games with everyone.  The kids are loving their new board games, thanks Grandma and Bo!  It's fun now that we can all play board games that are more advanced.  One can only play Hi Ho Cherry-o so many times!   

Despite the look of this picture, everyone made it until midnight.  We played some board games and the kids spent time making obstacle courses and running around and around.  They even thoughtfully cleared the bedroom of every pillow, blanket and sleeping bag and made a big crash mat in the hallway.  Mike remarked that they had gone into "shark mode" if they stopped moving they might die (or fall asleep).  Thank you guys for the fun New Year's Eve!

Natural History Museum

Dawson has been begging to go see the dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum.  We love going to Museums, so we gladly obliged and made it during Christmas break so that the entire family could join.  Of course, I took plenty of pictures but the kids did too!

Dawson was a little disappointed because from the commercial he thought that the dinosaurs were going to walk and move, but they did not.  He still had lots of fun checking out the dino footprint.

They loved testing out the earthquake simulator.  

They were also interested in the moon rock because a Curator told them that it cost millions to retrieve.

Balto!

Ava was fascinated and ended up choosing a Balto stuffed animal (of course) and book from the gift shop.

We all had a great time looking at the dinosaur fossils.  

I carried their devices in my purse so they could take it out and take pictures.

Ava dino footprint fun

Carter dino footprint fun

They loved excavating for dinosaur bones.

We also went to see a planetarium show.  Dawson was a riot!  He was yelling out answers to the man's questions (the earth is made of hot lava or magma), shouting questions and asking Mike a thousand questions a minute.  He was clearly very engaged and excited about the planetarium show.

Playing with polar bears and ice

Microscope

Megalodon tooth!

The kids took selfies with Steggie, while Dawson was climbing up the back.

A fun day with our family!  

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

As always, our kiddos were spoiled rotten.

They surprised me and decided to look in their stockings first.

Wait is there a floor?

Carter received a kayak, and he was in love.  Thankfully it was warm out, so he took it down to the neighborhood pond for a little spin. 

While his little brother did his best to play in the water and get stuck in the muck.

Thankfully Daddy was there to save him and search for a missing boot in the pond.

After Christmas dinner we went over to Aunt Pam's and visited Dad's side of the family:  Grandma Jackie, Aunt Pam and her son Alex, Aunt Lee and Uncle Joe, Desi and Johnny.  It was so nice to all be together!

Silly Pic!

What a wonderful day!