violin

Matt took Luke to the Loft Violin Shop to get new strings for his violin. They came home with this.

We are now the proud renters of a 1/16 violin. All the money we spend on rent is put into an account at the shop that we can use towards the purchase of a violin in the future. They don't stay in this tiny size long enough to make purchase practical.

Matt says he holds it very well and can already play the first four notes of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. As far as I'm concerned, those are the most important four notes anyway. After all, that's the "Twinkle, Twinkle."

Here he is a year ago with his box violin.

And now.

racetrack

Sometimes I think my Hot Wheels obsession out paces my kids'. I've had dreams of shooting cars down the stairs for a while now. Toys R Us just started selling the old school track I remember from being a kid and I picked some up. Jennie, Luke and Michael raced cars for quite a while this morning. I have bigger plans in the works. I saw a track that can attach to the top of a door to make a super steep drop. I have a vision of hooking it up to Luke's bedroom door, running it all the way down the hall, down the stairs and through a loop of some type at the bottom. Makes me think I need to get Luke's friend Eli over here soon, I think he likes cars as much as I do.

Valentine's Party

On Monday, we ditched the snow make-up day at school and went to Nolan and Mason's house for a Valentine's Party. Loads of fun, but man the kids are getting big! Luke and Jake's knees were brushing the floor when they took the ride-ons for a spin. Michael and Charlie looked like little men at the train table. We went outside for a bit and it was shocking--a handful of almost four-year-olds were too many for the sandbox and too many for the play structure. A year ago, that wasn't the case. Where does the time go?

Play-doh

WARNING! This image may be disturbing to some viewers.

I know there are moms out there (I'm thinking of you, Melissa) who work really hard to keep the play-doh colors pristine. Just look away now.

This is what happens when you let your 3-year-old boy explore what happens when you mush 20 small cans of play-doh all together. Now we have a giant ball of grayish-colored playdoh in one tupperware as opposed to a ton of tiny cans. But now I want to go buy more and do it all again because it really was fun.

Naptime

Clearly, Michael does not have enough in his crib.

Thaw!!!

We're in for a warm few days and a major meltdown! Our never-plowed street is a torrent of icy water. I've decided rain boots are the best invention ever. I don't think I ever needed them much as a kid--Colorado's dry weather combined with a girlish distaste of being wet and dirty. Not so my boys. They loved being out in sweatshirts as opposed to big coats and both got wet and gross. I think they'll be living in the boots for the next several days, heck, with spring on its way, they may be in rain boots for the next three months!!

Daytime Slumber Party

Today was Slumber Party Day at Luke's school. Luke wore his jammies and brought a sleeping bag, pillow and stuffed animals. He had to wear his rainboots because they were the only shoes that fit over his jammie-feet. They watched a video, made pizza and had a great time. Mommy, however, thought it was an awful lot of extra stuff to lug to school and is glad that it only happens once a year.

computer time

It's been a bit of a challenge getting adjusted to my new work schedule. Now on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, we mainly stay at home so that I can get ready for work. Here they are having their own computer time while mommy works at the big computer.

25 Random Things about Luke

This activity has been sweeping across Facebook for the grown-ups. I thought it would be fun to post 25 Random Things about each of the boys. For mommies with blogs, by reading this post, you are committing to writing them for your own kids! Just kidding.

1. His original name was Luke Samuel, but I wasn't fond of how it sounded. My stepdad thought to name him Samuel Luke and call him by his middle name. We knew we wouldn't call him Sam because he has a cousin named Sam.
2. His current obsession is mummies and "scary" beetles (scarab beetles).
3. He loves gory saint stories like John the Baptist losing his head and St. Sebastian getting shot by arrows. He'll make a great little Catholic.
4. He will sit and eat an apple for 45 minutes or he'll take one bite and be done.
5. He must have an apple in his lunch at school, but he doesn't ever eat it, it just has to be there.
6. He loves words. He likes to talk about words, make-up words and ask what words mean, but he doesn't like to read all that much.
7. He refuses to learn how to dress himself.
8. He hasn't napped since he before he was 2 1/2.
9. He has learned how to "pick-up"--we caught him running hand in hand with some little girl at Polaris yesterday.
10. He makes up songs. Long songs. With titles like "The Wind Is Gone." His favorite repeating verse is "and through that time," he sings it over and over.
11. He'd rather have 50 small crappy toys than 1 big nice one.
12. He is very dramatic. His teacher says he puts on quite a show when he gets hurt. He once scratched his leg at school and spent the rest of the day hopping around on one foot because he was "too hurt" to walk.
13. He could care less about numbers and counts terribly after ten.
14. He loves rings--the sparklier, the better.
15. I'm not sure he will ever be a very good "team player."
16. He still only uses the little potty.
17. He's not scared by scary things--he loves skeletons and ghosts and monsters and vampires and rats and snakes. He's watched things would terrify most kids, but . . .
18. . . .he is randomly scared by situations on Curious George and I have to be sure to watch it with him.
19. He has the healthiest diet and eating habits of anyone in the house.
20. His jammies must have feet.
21. He can't stand it if he's not good at something the first time he tries it (can't imagine where he gets that).
22. He's very agile, nimble and pretty fast for his size.
23. He erupts with spontaneous praise and thank-yous, especially for dinners he likes, even at friends' houses and restaurants.
24. He wants whatever toy Michael has. He wants to do whatever Daddy is doing.
25. He is exactly like his mother only at a louder decibel level.

25 Random Things about Michael

1. He can sing the Spiderman theme song--"Miterman, Miterman"
2. He has a recent obsession with colby-jack cheese sticks.
3. He would do anything for gummy fruit snacks.
4. He is still missing quite a few teeth.
5. He likes to poop in the middle of the night.
6.He can build a pretty good tower out of mega blocks.
7. He has learned to say "no," but he says it very cutely "no-wa" with a dramatic hand gesture.
8. Because he's going to be in his crib longer than Luke was, I have set it up more like a bed with a pillow, cute blanket and about a zillion animals.
9. He says "bye-bye" to everything and everyone.
10. He loves his boots.
11. He hates being carried except when he demands to be carried--which is always when I am trying to cook in the kitchen.
12. He can spot a McDonald's from the car--"Mmm.Mmm.Mmm.Nonnal's!!" I swear we really don't go there that often.
13.He runs errands with mommy like a champ and doesn't mind repeated ins-and-outs from the car.
14. When he snuggles, he has to tuck his arms in.
15. He really loves books and especially enjoys pretending to eat pictures of food.
16. He currently disdains most fruits and veggies.
17. He only wants milk from a bottle.
18. He was born almost two weeks early, but only weighed one ounce less than Luke who was only born two days early.
19. He can fill out 18-month and even some 24-month pants. Luke was still wearing 18-month shorts last summer and grew too tall to ever make use of 24-month pants.
20. One of Luke's classmates has had a crush on Michael for over a year, unfortunately, she expresses it by, well, crushing him.
21. He looks just like Matt's mom and seems to be channeling her, my great-grandmother Vera, my grandpa S.T. and all of the calm and gentle familial spirits.
22. He is a late-ish talker and his limited vocabulary features a disproportionate number of tv character names.
23. He's had a rash on his legs for probably 3 months, the doctor doesn't know what it is, nothing we've tried has worked, but it doesn't bother him and isn't spreading, so I'm just letting it go.
24. He's always had a ridiculous amount of hair and it grows really fast.
25. He sometimes stays up for almost an hour at naptime and bedtime screwing around in his crib. I once went in to find him holding some kind of meeting with all of his animals/dolls lined up and sitting across from him.

Making Gnocchi

It was gnocchi night at our house tonight. Luke has been helping Matt for a while now and he's getting to be a pretty good gnocchi roller. Now Michael wants to help, too and that is a disaster waiting to happen. He was relocated several times after managing to reach hot burners and sharp knives. Notice the "chair cage" Matt finally built to keep Michael from killing himself.

Lukism of the day . . .

Luke is like that old saying--when he's good, he's very, very good and he's bad he's horrid. Luckily, this evening was a good moment. He ate four helpings of pasta, then thanked me profusely for the meal. Then he said "Did we get this at Giant Eagle? I'm going to write them a letter saying thank you for selling us this yummy pasta."

Suck up.

Random stuff

Here are some random photos and thoughts from the past couple of days.

Hat head Michael.

Practicing "cheese" for the camera.

Running through the house today, it struck me that Michael is losing his toddler proportions . . .

. . . and starting to look more like a big kid. Sigh.

Why you should go to the zoo in the winter . . .

. . .but don't forget the camera like we did. The January thaw was not quite as warm as I thought it was when we set off for the zoo. It hovered around 30 degrees and was windy, so it was pretty darn cold. But it was dead empty and the animals were awesome. Fluffy, the largest snake in captivity, perked up as soon as we rounded the corner. The bats were stretching their wings. The water moniter lizard was walking around. The monkeys were playing. The markur goats were jumping all over the place and, best of all, the tiger was pacing right up against the glass and rubbing his face all over it. We were the only ones there. The reptile house and aquarium kept us from freezing and we all enjoyed the muffins I brought and the adults appreciated the thermos of coffee. Brave the cold and go to the zoo!!!

Obamicons!!

If you've got time to kill, you can make an Obamicon, too!

Backyard rink video

Matt spent some time this afternoon trying to teach Luke how to do a hockey stop. I'm still afraid to do a hockey stop myself. As always, it ended with Luke having to be dragged off the ice kicking and screaming because he wanted to stay and skate despite the fact that the sun was going down and it was dropping towards 10 degrees. I took this with my still camera, so there's no sound.

How many people can fit in my house?

More than I thought, it turns out! I hosted a playdate today for the moms' group. 9 moms plus 9 firstborns plus 6 secondborns equals a full house, but it was an amazingly low key affair. The kids played great and then we turned them loose outside to test out the rink. They all enjoyed falling down and then trying to get up again. Fun morning!

MNO- January

The Moms' Night Out this month was a baby shower for three at Kendra's. Lots of fun. My cheeks hurt from laughing. Sharleen always organizes the games and this time we played Pictionary with baby words. Some particularly memorable drawings for circumcision and breastfeeding, but I think my nieces read this blog, so won't post the pictures of the pictures!

The ladies of honor: Jennie, Allanya and Stephanie.

Here we are practicing our Reese Witherspoon smiles--tongues behind teeth.

Thanks for the pics, Alyssa!

Lukism of the day

Luke told us tonight that he wants to be a park ranger when he grows up, but not the kind of park ranger that lives at the park, only the kind that still lives at home. Matt asked him if he was going to make lots of money and buy things for the house (since he apparently plans on living at home well into adulthood). Luke said "Yes, I'll buy some concrete and maybe I'll buy Michael some Zambonis." Not sure if it's Zambonis or Zambonies -- spell check doesn't like either option. Can you tell Luke has ice skating on the brain?

Skating Phenom!

I left my camera at my friend Kendra's last night and, of course, it turns it out to be a day I really needed it! So I was reduced to my cell phone which was not bought for its camera capabilities. This morning we skated at Blendon Woods. Luke is freakishly good for a three year old who has only been skating 3 times this season. He doesn't hold hands anymore and he goes really fast. He can get up by himself when he falls and can get over and around the big bumps that occur in "real" outside ice. Right now, he is out back breaking in the backyard rink. He's having a harder time getting used to the short turn distance, but he's refusing to come in. I see a tantrum looming.

At Blendon Woods, too eager to wait for the ranger to finish with the snowblower.

Michael did great, too!

Back home on our backyard ice.

Did I mention it's snowing like crazy while they're doing this? I, myself, am still cold and stiff from this morning and think they're both nuts for going out again.

Katie is blogging while taking a break from Facebook

For a long time, I have let Matt be the family face on Facebook, but I have finally gotten sucked in myself. Wow, it's exhausting to get started. But it has sure been an interesting 24 hours of finding high school classmates, overseas cousins, grad school friends, childhood playmates and all sorts of folks I had lost contact with. And it is yet another way to chat with the mommy friends who I already communicate with multiple times daily via blogs, the message board and email. I'd write more, but I'm feeling compelled to check back in on Facebook as I haven't checked it in almost 2 hours. Ok, so perhaps it is just a teeny little bit addictive. Good thing I'm not an obsessive person or I might be in trouble. Uh-oh.

Oh yes, the ice rink . . .

Well, it is still in process and I am not allowed to post any pictures until it is finished. Matt relocated it and started over yesterday. Now he is happy with the location and the super cold weather is doing its job. He has high hopes that it will be ready this weekend. We also discovered a store called "The Hockey Stop" down the street from our house--I think there are sticks and pucks in our future.

Brrrr, it's cold!

Lots of snow here, finally! Even Gavin won't leave the house without his coat and boots. The boys have been helping Matt shovel. Mom, if you're reading this, the great myth of my childhood has officially been busted. Tights under jeans are NOT equivalent to snow pants! Witnesss your elder grandson happily rolling around in the snow in 19 degree weather. I got jipped!

small skull or big hat?

Ok, so I just changed the pictures on the margins and realized that Luke has been wearing the same hat for three winters. The picture in the car is 2007 at age 20 months, the picture with the snowman is 2008 at age 2 1/2 and if you scroll down to the sliding post from a few days ago, you'll see he's still wearing the reindeer hat at 3 1/2 years of age! Of course, he was also still wearing his 18-month shorts this past summer. No butt and a small cranium.

Our little Buckeye

We are not huge sports fans and haven't done too much to emphasize the whole OSU Buckeye thing with Luke. I dress them in Scarlett and Gray on game days--lest the whole family be hazed for going out in public with the wrong colors on, but I haven't really explained why I do it and my kids don't really notice what they are wearing most days. Tonight we were at a restaurant in a strip mall and Luke noticed that there were two doors. He wanted to know which one we came in. Matt pointed and said "that one." Luke said "The one by the Buckeye store?" Sure enough, you could see an OSU Buckeye store from where we were sitting, but neither Matt nor I had called attention to the store nor have we ever taken Luke into a Buckeye store or told him what a Buckeye store is. Matt asked him how he knew it was a Buckeye store and Luke said "because there are "3"s all over the shirts" (there were a bunch of jerseys with the number 33 on them--I'm sure most of you know why, but I don't).

Huh. Apparently, if you are born in Columbus, Ohio, you innately know how to recognize all things Buckeye. O-H-I-O!

"Good Boy" Dollars

We are tiring of Luke's constant requests for treats when we go out. He is too young for an allowance, but my friend Ali suggested that we might try an exchange program where Luke earns some sort of token which can be exchanged when he earns enough. Matt came up with these "good boy" dollars that Luke can earn. He will keep them in his Transformers wallet and can exchange them for small treats. We haven't quite come up with how much one is worth or how many it takes to earn a treat, but I had to share the image Matt used to make them. It's hilarious.

still sliding

Now that we finally have some snow, my kids are very happy to play outside. Well, sort of, Michael hates his boots and snowsuit and can't keep his mittens on, but he still begs to go outside. They really like their slides as much now as in the summer.

glasses

Luke has been begging for a pair of real glasses. I found this old pair of mine. He's allowed to wear them for a few minutes at a time, but mainly he just likes to clean them and take them in and out of their case.

Playroom makeover

Ok, so taking pictures of a small room doesn't work so well and the colors didn't come across, but you should be able to get the basic idea. We painted the walls light blue and the trim/doors white. It is a great improvement over the beige on beige on beige. The new IKEA storage furniture and table and chairs was our xmas gift from Matt's dad. We also finally replaced the terrible old light fixture with a really cute new one, but you'll have to see that in person.

Ice Skating

Luke got new big boy skates from his Granddad for Christmas. We went skating last night at the zoo which had a little rink up for the holidays. Matt took him to the Chiller last week and they had a great time, then he came home and exchanged Luke for Michael and went back. Michael loved it, too. But the zoo was really crowded and Luke didn't like skating with sucky me as much as his Canadian daddy. I couldn't figure out how to skate with Michael without killing us both, so it was a very quick skate. For those of you less familiar with ice skating, Michael's skates are double-bladed bob skates that attach to shoes. Luke's are the real thing, but they adjust from size 8-11. Matt says they are much cooler than the skates available when he was a kid.

"Trotting" down the stairs

Our friends Mike, Colby and their four (soon to be five) kids came over for dinner tonight. Luke was a total train wreck for the first hour, but finally settled in after pizza and enjoyed himself. Isabel, Catherine, Joseph and Zeta are unschooled and their parents limit the kinds of toys they can play with, so they think our house is some kind of toy wonderland. They also liked our stairs. The kids have a very distinct way of speaking and I think Catherine was calling this game "trotting" down the stairs. Whatever they called it, the kids had a blast.

Lukism of the day--part deux

Luke had a playdate with a friend this morning. She said "I want Luke to come sleep with me in my bed." Luke refused. Guess he doesn't know how few and far between those invitations from ladies are.

She has a fairly large toy jewelry collection. Luke really liked the rings. At home later he said "When I get bigger, I'll have my own little boys and I'll find my own mommy and the mommy and I might even have a wedding and, guess what, I might get my very own wedding ring!!!" Let's hope the rings and the wedding come before his own little boys arrive.

Lukism of the day

The first Lukism of 2009.

While shoveling food in his mouth at dinner last night:

"Mom, I have the biggest mouth ever!"

No argument here.