Collages

 

Dylan

 

Grant (I had to take a double take on a few of these, I thought some were Jack)

Jack

Glass Frog Description

Dinner conversation:
Dylan:  Hey did you know there is this frog called a glass frog?
Family:  No, why is it called a glass frog?
Dylan:  Because it has this clear skin and you can see the testicles and the bones and everything!
Family (Laughing hysterically)  Wow, you can even see the testicles?
Dylan:  Yea, why are you laughing?
Family: Dylan, think about what testicles are.
Dylan (now laughing hysterically)  Oh, I meant the intestines.

Meet Jack the Brave

Jack had a bone marrow test done at Children's Hospital today.  He was so brave and so sweet and so darn cute in the blue hospital jammies. What a blessing he is to those around him.

It doesn't add up...

I just got finished playing a million (ok it was only 5) games of 'Don't Break the Ice' with Grant.

 

If you're not familiar with the game, it goes a little like this: 1.Put the blue ice rink together. 2. Shove, push, squish and contort the 2,000 (ok it's only 25) ice cubes into the tray.  3.Flip the tray over and quickly try to grab the skating bear and insert him into an ice cube before your son tries it and breaks the ice before the game even starts, if that happens, repeat steps 1& 2. 4. Take your chosen hammer and smack the ice cubes preferably ONE at a time trying NOT to be the one who lets the bear fall through the ice.  5. Repeat all steps in approximately 3 seconds after your inpatient  son (who has been warned to go slow and take his time) smashes all the ice cubes and runs around the house swinging his hammer and yelling 'YEA, I WON!' 

Preparation time:  Way too looooooong!

Playing time: 3 seconds

Grant loves the game and I usually end up laughing at him hysterically (or maybe I'm just hysterical) by the time we are finally finished.  Now, slow down, don't break the door down on your way out to buy 'Don't Break the Ice.'

Double Overtime!

 

Dylan made the basket that tied his game up tonight in the last 3 seconds!  They had double overtime and ended up winning by 2 points.  It was awesome, we were all yelling and jumping up and down and clapping.  The kids were so excited, almost as excited as their coaches!  Way to go Celtics and way to go Dylan, we're so proud of your hard work!

Swings- A new olympic event

Jack and Grant were swinging this afternoon and they always try to swing simultaneously and say 'HI' to each other while they're swaying back and forth.  I'm not sure why, but they think this is hilarious and Grant usually laughs so hard that he gets weak and can barely hold onto the chains.  Today Grant announced as they were trying to determine who was swinging the highest, "Hey Jacky we can bose win, we can get two gold medals in the 'lympics!" 

Ode to John Denver

'Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy....sunshine almost always makes me glad...'

We are not alone

Grant and I watched this little squirrel in our front yard today diving for nuts.  His poor little body would dive down, completely covered by snow, looking for some nourishment.  We decided, we're not the only ones getting tired of all this snow.  You are not alone little, hungry squirrel, you are not alone.

Over the River and through the Snow!

 We went to my parents' house on Sunday and guess what....it snowed and snowed and snowed some more!  We were snowed in!  What did we do, you ask, for 3 days while we were snowed in?  Well......

We did a lot of that!  The boys were loving the hill mom and dad have in their back yard.  It's the perfect size hill, big enough to go fast and small enough to climb back up easily.  They even went out once at night with a spotlight.  One time Grant lost his glove and had to come in and enjoy a 'warm-up' with blankets, hot chocolate and grandma.

Dad brought home an airplane game for the computer and that kept the big boys busy for quite awhile.  Every 5 minutes they had to switch to avoid the bickering that goes along with being snowed in.

 

We ate a lot including these delicious brownies that mom whipped up with Grant's help.

We watched a lot of Olympics:

Grant played football (in the living room) :o(

And Dylan played leggos in front of the fireplace, the best place in the house.

We also went over to the church to play basketball (a little perk of parents with keys to their church).

We made it home safely Tuesday afternoon just in time to guess, what....play in the snow.

Matt built an awesome fort.

 

Dylan (and Jack) made a snowman:

 

HAPPY WINTER to the boys and the mom's:

 

:o)

Bags and Blankets

Somehow I've managed a few little projects over the last week.  I made these cute, no, cool bags for the boys out of a shower curtain that used to belong to Matt.

 

Each boy got their own.  The shower curtain already had the gromets so the boys just hook one of their grappling hooks through the hole and they are good to go.

I made a taggie blanket for my cousin's baby girl and I just had to make a bag for their little 2 year old boy. They are missionaries and are returning very soon to Africa. I thought the safari fabric was perfect! 

I hope he enjoys stuffing if full of treasures. 

My last project is for this little angel who is being baptized next week.

I'll post a picture after she receives her present :o)

Two more stories

First Dylan:  When he heard about the snow day this morning, being the worry-wort that he is, he said, "man, we better have school tomorrow or we'll use up all our snow days and Strickland will make us go to school in the summer".  Our reply, "Dylan, quit worrying and go have some fun."

Next Grant:  We were all bundled up in the car going to have lunch at Wendy's and Grant piped up, "I sink I'm gonna need my sucking singer."  Lo and behold his hideous gloves had covered up his prize possession, his thumb....off with the glove, in with the thumb.

Two Jack Stories

Story #1: Yesterday, I had Grant go tell the boys that it was a 'no school-snow day' and I heard Jack go to the window and say "Thank you God for all this snow, oh, and for no school." Amen

Story #2: This morning just as I was getting in the shower, Jack plowed in to go to the bathroom (funny how that works) and was giving me the once over and asked where my scar was from having my babies. Last week Nicole was showing Jack her c-section scar and he was sharing his scar with her, so naturally, Jack wanted to see mine. Oh Lord, "Well honey, Mommy didn't have her babies the same way Aunt Nicole did.  God gave ladies.... yadda, yadda, yadda.....and when babies don't have their heads pointed down before they are born, doctors have to "cut" the babies out.  But you came out by ....yadda, yadda, yadda......."  I was in the shower at this point and couldn't see Jack's face (I can only imagine), but heard his reply of, "REALLY?"  Yea, really!  And with that, the door shut and he went back to eating breakfast. Whew, not prepared for that at 8 AM.

One hundred is...

One hundred is
the number of days the boys have been in school (OK it's a little over 100, but bare with me here)
the number of times I hear 'Mommy' in a day
the number of socks my family wears in 10 days
the number of times I've told Jack to hurry up in the bathroom (OK it's way over 100, but you have the idea)
a song Jack sings about while he is in the bathroom
the number of steps I took while hauling Grant up and down the sledding hill today
the number of posts on my blog!

Here's to the next 100!

Haystacks

We received a box full of goodies from Matt's mom today:  There were pop up placemats for the boys:

 

some Valentine pez candy, and a very important recipe.... for haystacks, Matt's favorite candy!

(Sorry it's sideways) It's a recipe from Matt's Grandma Winger (who passed away a few years ago) in her own handwriting.  What a thoughtful Valentine gift, it makes the haystacks all the more special.  We whipped up a batch as soon as we were done with dinner.

They were a hit!  

Snow Glorious Snow

New glasses

Dylan broke his glasses last Friday so he and Matt headed out Saturday morning  to pick out some new ones:

He's a looker, that boy Dylan! 

Funny pictures

Nicole came over to watch Grant while I took Jack to the doctor for his follow-up appointment (which turned out great).  Grant got ahold of the camera and took these pictures of Sam:

 That's his belly button on his cute little belly hanging out of his shirt :o)

He also took some of Nicole and I that I won't post because of the potential embarrassment....you can only imagine.....

Fantasticly Awesome

Last night I made Sweet and Sour Chicken and the boys said it was Fantasticly Awesome!  Wow!  It was a lot of work but all worth it when I receive compliments like that.  After dinner we broke out Rock Bank Wii and had a jam session! 

 

Dylan refused to let me take his picture, but you should have seen him 'rockin'!  He was really good on the guitar, down on his knees and swinging his arm around :o)  After showers, we listened to the radio really loud and they were running around and singing and dancing and I managed to get these pictures of Dylan:

We had some ice cream and then off to bed.  Who knew sweet and sour chicken could lead to a Fantasticly Awesome night!

Go Bucks!

 O-H-I-O

The boys, Grammy Farmer, Paulette, and myself all headed to an OSU basketball game on Wednesday.  We had a lot of fun.  The boys got to participate in the high five tunnel when the players ran out on the floor and Dylan got to shoot a layup on the floor after the game.  The only snaffoo occurred when my three little boys didn't return to me after the high five tunnel!  They were lost for few minutes which caused me quite a bit of anxiety!  They had gotten separated from the group and were walking up through a different section.  A small search party was sent out and they were returned, thank goodness :-) 

Our seats were way, way, up! 

 

And here's a picture from Grant's perspective:

 

At halftime, the OSU football team and Coach Tressel presented the Rose Bowl trophy to the Buckeye Fans!

 

 

And what event would be complete without blue cotton candy!

 

I did have a wonderful picture of Grant with Brutus but he erased it from my camera :o(  We had a great time, thanks to Grammy and Paulette for coming!