Ice Skating

We found a thing on Groupon that let us try ice skating. We left the littlest offspring with a fellow primary teacher and to the rink we went. We didn't know how M and K would do with it. We've never taken them and didn't know how they would react. Our kids aren't the,"I kind of liked it" kind of kids. They either really like something or they really don't. It turns out that they really like ice skating. I don't know how the ice skating rink, that is in the middle of a parking lot, stays frozen. It doesn't get very cold around here. When it gets down to 9 degrees, there's a two hour delay for school to start. Due to 9 degrees being too cold to wait at a bus stop. There are mass e-mails sent out by the weather people to tell us to stay inside because it's too cold to be outside. It's not like there was ice all over the roads. It was clear skies with the sun shining and a two hour delay for school. I'll take what I can get! Anyway, my point is that I don't know how the ice stays frozen. By some handy work by the ice skating miracle workers, the ice is in fact frozen. It's not even slushy. The rink is bite size especially when it's filled with humans. I had called before we went to see if they had those little walker, helper things for little kids to use. I knew the lady didn't know what I was talking about when she said," No, we don't have employees that can walk with your children, they need to be supervised by you." I just said thank you and hung up. What joy filled our little hearts when we got there and saw that they did indeed have little walker helper things for little kids to use. Too bad there were only six and all of them were in use. One was being used by a group of teenagers. I almost got enough courage to ask if we could use it, but as I skated closer towards them, I got all sweaty and filled with anxiety, so I skated on whilst holding on to K's hand. The mom's of the other little kids that were using the blue helper things were really great about taking turns. Not the mom's taking turns of course, but having their children letting other kids use them. Not that I needed to clarify, just sayin'.

Yay for the little helper walker things! M loved them and was super nervous when we had her give hers to another little kid. She didn't really trust me and my skating skills. She clung to B like she might die if she fell the four feet it would take her to land on the ice.

He loved it! He would try to go pretty fast when he got a turn with one of these. Pretty soon he was ready to venture out on his own. As he skated away on his own I thought, this is what animal mom's of the arctic must feel like; did I teach our young enough to stay safe?

When we had them surrender the blue things, the wall was the next ice skating method of choice. M knew to hold on with one hand and skate like normal. K on the other hand, well...

He held on with both hands and instead of moving his feet, just moved his hands as he pulled himself along. Whatever works right?!

I just love this picture. This is at the end right before we left to go get little B. Since we didn't know if they would like ice skating we had told her that we would only be gone for a couple hours. We were sad we had to leave. They really liked it and we hope that we can do it again next year.

This was taken right after he fell because he had insisted on letting go of my hand and not holding onto the wall. He had been able to stay up for about ten seconds and then got to know the ice up close and personal. He didn't mind really other than it was cold to touch. There are perks to being short and one of them is that when you fall ice skating, it doesn't hurt very bad.  

 B and I are happy to know that they like ice skating so much and we hope that we find another Groupon that will let us go back. We loved it but not enough to pay the full price of $12 a person. If the $12 included lessons on how to do a triple axel or a back flip or roses being thrown on the ice as the crowd cheers wildly as you skated by, then maybe. Until it does we will look for cheap ways to fulfill our need for ice skating.

There's a first for everything

There comes a time in every one's life when a haircut is no longer a desire as much as a necessity.

This here is little B's first haircut. He was six weeks old and his hair was long and nasty. It was growing over his ears and the back of his shirt. We failed to document his second and third haircuts. Actually they were more like a trim. But, this past time it was a real deal. His hair was so long on top. Really it was only long in a couple spots. It was long enough that when we walked outside if there was a breeze, his long hair would blow in the wind. It was truly awful. B and I decided that something needed to be done about it.

This isn't a very good picture to show the length. It's just so cute that I couldn't pass putting it on. Ok for real this time, a picture of his long hair.

Gross! It wouldn't be so bad if it was that length over his entire head. But it's only that long in the back and over his ears. It was long enough that we could have put it in one of those spiky up pony tails that people with baby girls do sometimes. Anyway, we needed to take care of it. Now, I in no way profess to be a barber. I don't know how to get a nine month old baby to sit still whilst I cut his hair. So, we pulled the clippers out and just removed all of it.

Clearly he wasn't too thrilled with the idea. 

There were a couple moments when he wasn't totally screaming, but they were few and far between. Poor baby! So sad.

But it didn't take him too long to forgive me. His reward for excellent behavior was to get in the bath. That made everything better. I wish that I knew how to cut it so that we didn't have to buzz it, but, I don't and a buzzed head baby is better than a mullet head baby!

Let's Discover

On New Year's we decided to give the children's museum a go. We had a total blast! We loved it enough that we got a year's membership. The offspring have asked to go back almost every day. There have been tears shed because we can't go every time they want to go. When you first walk in, you see the fire truck and the ambulance. K truly almost had a heart attack from the excitement. He ran, more like sprinted over to where they were at. we walked past the ambulance to get to the fire truck. He stuck his head into the ambulance and when he realized there was no one in it, he took advantage of it. Of course he was the driver and was so happy until he realized that there were pedal's at M's feet. When she used the pedal's, the lights came on on the ambulance. There was an instant change of position so that he could try the lights. Keep in mind all of this only took a matter of seconds. He liked the ambulance, but he knew that the fire truck was just sitting there waiting for him to play on it.

They had all the fireman gear that he could have put on, but he couldn't wait to get in the driver's seat. He loved that he could turn on the siren. There was a cb radio that you could hear the dispatcher on. There was even a nasty stuffed dalmatian that I wouldn't let him touch, but it was there for kids (with nicer mom's) to play with. 

Both of them loved the little restaurant. I loved watching them pretend to make B pizza and get him so many drinks that it's no wonder he couldn't finish all of his food. There was a cash register that M fell in love with. At first she tried to organize all of the food that was scattered all over the place. But she soon learned that not all the other little kids shared in her need for a tidy kitchen. She then tried to man the register, but it only took one boy getting in her space before she decided to help K make food for B. When K told B that his total was over $1,000 I was thankful I had passed on getting anything!

They have this really awesome baby area. The flash went off on our camera so you can't really tell, but he's sitting at a table that has water in it. It smells so strongly of  chlorine that I'm sure the germs just got a whiff of it and die. He loved being able to splash. I'm not sure that the little boy next to him was too thrilled that little B loves the water so much. Once his face was dripping with water and the other little boy was wet thanks to him, I took him out and put him on the little cushion things. 

At first he crawled over and tried to steal a toy from the unsuspecting baby that was there before him. I pulled him back and that's when he noticed the mirror. He loves to look at himself! I know that most babies do, but if he's crying and we put him in front of the mirror, he stops and starts to clap and laugh at himself. He crawled over to the mirror and obviously got close to it so he could admire himself. He and I stayed in the baby place for a long time. He never got tired of the mirror or the fact that he was the biggest kid there. He wasn't the oldest, just the biggest. Poor, smaller, helpless children that met him. It's not like I let him lay on top of the smaller species, but he's mobile. He would crawl from one side to the other. By the time I had walked to the other side he had inevitably crawled over someone or taken a toy from someone else, or both. Darn It! Hopefully he grows out of the right?!

There was a sunken ship. They crawled in the hole and studied the map to try and get back to the surface. Thankfully the ladder was calling their name and they climbed up it and were able to come out. Why they didn't just crawl out the hole on the side of the boat will forever be a mystery. They had to crawl passed the hole to get to the ladder, but whatever!

I wish that there was a way that I could have gotten a better picture of the airplane. Alas, it is not to be. If you can't tell by their fake smiles, we were ready to wrap up our visit to the museum. They loved it and had a really good time, but we were all ready to go. We can hardly wait to go back!

Cars, overpriced canvas and...

A full length mirror! That was M's big gift. I told her on Christmas Eve that she had a gift that I really wanted and so there was a good chance that I would just keep it. She just laughed and rolled her eyes. I've been telling her and K that they weren't getting any presents because B and I were just going to keep them. Truth be told I didn't want the hot pink alarm clock that she was getting or the hot pink sweatshirt. But I really wanted the mirror. I wanted to put it in my room and dance in front of it. When I was little my parents had a mirror attached to their closet door. I would spend hours in front of it singing and dancing. Some habits are hard to break. Don't you worry your pretty little heads off, I was grown up enough that we gave it to her. We knew that she would love it. I have caught her more than once standing in front of it admiring herself. Of course all K wanted was cars. M made quite the list of things that she wanted. On Christmas Eve K came over to me and said,"mommy, we forgot to make my list of what I wanted for Christmas." I told him he didn't need to make a list. I asked him what he wanted and he said,"cars." I said,"and what else?" He smiled and said,"just cars." I told him that's why he didn't need to make a list. When you only want one thing, you don't need to write it down. B and I don't do gifts for each other. We feel like Christmas is for kids. Not to mention that giving gifts feels me with a whole lot of anxiety. I worry that I won't get the right thing. Or what if they don't like what I get them. I have to have a list of ideas. If there's no list I almost go into hysteria. So gifts for each other is usually out. But this year I had an epiphany and knew exactly what I was going to get B.

When we went to look at our family pictures the photographer showed us this one. We both loved it but her prints where so much money that we didn't feel like we could justify getting one. Don't panic ladies and gentlemen. The wheels in my head were turning. It was a Thursday night. B had scouts. As soon as he left for scouts, I called her and told her that I wanted this print in a canvas for Christmas. She had me come over the next morning to pick a size. I don't remember the size of this one. Let's just say that it's big by big. It hangs quite nicely right above our bed. I thought that he knew about it because I had wrapped it and hidden it in a closet downstairs with the vacuum. I knew that B wouldn't open that closet so it was safe. On Christmas Eve M and K decide that we should play memory. It sounds harmless enough, but they take turns setting the game up. Instead of just covering their faces, they hide. Of course K decides to hide in the closet with the vacuum. He opens the door and says,"Whoa! I see a huge present in here. Who is that for?" B is sitting almost right next to him. I try not to sprint over there and slam the door shut. I did manage to walk to the closet. I whispered to him to be quiet, it's a surprise for daddy. M hear's the word present and comes running over. She looks in the closet too and says,"Mommy?! Who is it for?" I told her to be quiet, it's for daddy. B didn't say anything but I was sure that he knew there was a present for him in the closet. That night I laid in bed until I was sure that B was asleep. I snuck down the stairs, got the picture out of the closet and put it under the tree. On Christmas morning, B didn't say anything so I was positive that he knew it was there. About ten minutes in to opening presents he said,"Sweety? What's that present? Remember you weren't supposed to get me anything?" I told him to just relax, it was for both of us. He opened it, loved it and gave me the award for being his favorite wife! I asked him if he had known about it. He said no. When I asked him what he had thought when both M and K had found it in the closet and asked about it. He told me that he thought they were just being nerds and making stuff up. Isn't it so awesome?! I love it and I think that it was worth every dollar. Now for your viewing pleasure, here are the cute members of our family on Christmas.

 

This is waiting to go down the stairs to see the tree. Both of them slept with their Santa hats on.

They helped each other open gifts

We thought that he would go nuts to rip the paper apart. We were wrong. We handed him some paper to tear apart. He put it on the floor and crawled under the tree. He loved to play with the stand of the tree. He left all the presents a lone and went for the stand. I ended up opening his presents because he was too interested in the stand the tree was in.

Isn't it lovely! My little heart gets so excited just looking at it. I always wanted a mirror that is on a stand that you can move up and down. Having it is like a dream come true!

Putting this picture on is simply because I love it. I don't know who in their right mind wouldn't like it. He loves to stand especially next to the couch. We had an awesome Christmas and loved watching our kids. Christmas with little kids is the best!