Legos are like crack

I am not against bribing my children for good behavior. We devised a sticker chart with 4 categories :

1-listen

2-good manners at the table

3-do something nice for family or friend

4-no naughty spot violation

The charm of the sticker was wearing off so I upped the anty. If the boys earned 10-4sticker days they would get a lego set. Well, the road was long and hard..but they finally earned it! And it was a happy day (even for Pat)

Now I cant get them away from the legos for even a minute. This morning Jamison woke up, ran to my room and said.."Mom, I will be downstairs decorating my fire truck" Peace and quiet for the next 20 minutes! Can you belive that. No calls for mom, no demands for food, no telling the boys to leave the cat alone or stop hitting their brother. Nothing!

I wonder how long this will last. OR even worse...what I am going to have to pony up for the next 10-4sticker days. (this took them over a month to earn so i am not too worried)

snow fun

Thurs warmed up to almost 25°C so I thought it would be a good time to get out and use some of that stored up energy. So off to New Glarus State Park.This cant be good..... and it wasnt. At least they were smiling and laughing.

The boys were fascinated with the real long icicles hanging off of the equipment. They were pretty excited how big the icicles were..i guess not to many kids make it here at this time of the year.

Back at the ranch Jamison created a new sport...."bo-boarding". It kind of scares me, he has no fear! But of the two, I think he will be the one that hits the hills.

He rolls well after the crash! Maybe I should start saving for the lift tickets!. The neighbor kid is already talking about building a half pipe in his back yard. I am sure Jamison will not be too far behind.

Polar Dash

The Olbrich Gardens hosts the first "Polar Dash" for the kids. It was a race around a track pulling a polar bear on a sled. Below is Peter waiting at the starting block. and across the finish line in a record 26 seconds!Next up Jamison...uno for the money, due for the show, tres to get ready and quatro to GO!

And off he goes.... a tie - 26 seconds! Good think those polar bears were strapped in!

Pat took the boys up to Green Bay for the day to give momma some BFT (Boy Free Time). With that time I took the opportunity to paint the back porch and downstairs bathroom.
The color looks familiar...my favorite "burlap". The same color as my old living room. I had enough paint from when I had to go to Mpls to paint two walls in the house because people thought the colors were too dark, (i am not bitter).And the bathroom is "shadow" (i love paint color names), or a real deep purple. This was courtesy of MA...who had loads of paint left over from a room in her house. In the picture it looks kindof black i guess.And Jamison has started to draw pictures that are recognizable. This is a pilot whale, just for me because mom likes pilot whale.Now i just need to get them to start writing numbers and letters! Then we would be all set for kindergarten!

Farm Toy Show

Sunday we went to the Antique Farm Toy Show. The boys enjoyed looking at all the cool toy tractors, farms, cows etc. Peter was very upset that he did not get to buy something. I explained to him that this was like a museum, and that people wanted to show us what they had collected. Then he was sad that he did not have all those cool things like they all had. Then he was convinced that he was going to win the raffle and when I told him that he did not win, he again was devastated...maybe they did not have as much fun as I thought.

We bought some kettle corn at the toy show and the nice man gave the boys a sample. While we were walking to the car Jamison said. "I thought that man was a Republican. I thought he was going to give me bumper stickers, buttons and shirts". Pat and I busted out laughing.

(dont remember if I told the story...we were planning at trip to Mpls around the time of the Repubican National Convention and I said that we did not want to go there that weekend because there would be too many Republicans. Jamison asked what a republican was so the best that I came up with was that "they were nice people but had crazy ideas and they liked to hand out stickers, buttons and tshirts" I also told him that democrats also had crazy ideas and that the green party hugged trees. I guess the republican comment stuck out in his head.

We went to Pats company party on saturday and the boys had their first experience with the Wii, Jamison enjoyed the running game, Peter did well with the aerobics and both did not have the swing in the hips to get the hoola hoop going. Pats eyes twinkled with the thought of getting a new video game consol. NO way man!

And sunday we had some friends over for dinner and Jamison assisted as my soux chef. He really enjoyed pounding out the chicken...i really had to watch out for my fingers.

this is Indy's favorite new spot...we had to move the phone because he kept pushing it over. I guess it is a cozy spot, it is right above a heat vent and when you have a cat the chews off his hair he can use all the extra heat he can get.

THis is Jamison's impression of a one-eyed pirate. "arg!" He is still working on the one-eye thing.

Diaries of a SAHM

You might remember lastyear when I posted a giant snow man...
http://prjpcullen.blogspot.com/2008/02/snow-man-and-playdoh.html
He came back, this year a little bit more chubby! The boys love this guy and was sad when he finally melted (sometime in May I think).

And I did the typical SAHM activity with the boys....we went to the mall. (yikes. it was cold..that is my excuss and I am sticking to it). There is a little play area there. I even had yoga pants and a fleece vest on, just like 75% of the other moms there. I was a little weirded out. BUT...JPPenney had 70% off of their winter stuff so I picked up jackets for the boys next year. I told them they could pick out a new shirt (also on sale). They are very excited about their new Batman shirts. Peter really enjoyed looking at all of the clothes...."MOM IS THIS MY SIZE" as he shouted across the store

I quess when it is cold out side i update the blog more often.

January

"Jumpy" the Squirrel is getting hungry..."good thing that lady left her fall decorations out!" he says. Since gma gave the boys their new bank they have been talking a lot about what they are going to buy. We needed to implement jobs around the house so the boys can "earn" money. I am not complaining...things are getting clean! Yesterday they vaccumed the couch and made cookies. (you got to have some fun jobs too...) The boys were pretty excited to use the new vaccum, Peter requested that his next job entail a bucket of water so he can wash things. A man after my own heart.

Boys are back in school and we are hoping to get back to "normal", whatever that is.

New New Year Traditions

I think we have defined our New Year's traditions. It started with some chinese take out and a movie...all in bed before midnight (that may change when the boys are older).

New Years Day...a nice breakfast and BOWLING!

Yup, you guessed it! Bowling. It was the boys first time and they loved it! Peter even liked the shoes! A little instruction from Pat...

Jamison even got two spares! Watch out Dick Weber (and yes I had to google "famous bowlers" to get that name...i would have never known who he is)

Jamison did like running back to the monitor to see the fun graphics after the score. We had to remind him that he needed to watch the ball hit the pins before coming back.

Peter goes for the low, super low stance. You got to look cool doing it.And runs back for high fives all around. The boys asked if we can bowl again...Pat said that we can sign them up for the saturday morning kid leagues...maybe in a couple years.

Final score

Beckie-119 (that is what 200$ and one college credit class gets ya)

Pat-109

Jamison 84! (we played bumper ball...no possibility for gutter balls)

Peter 68

And tonight was the first night I used my new dutch oven! Made Chicken with Garlic and Shallots. I think I over cooked it...i guess those dutch ovens are very efficient. Tasted ok though...need more experimentation.

As for the previous post by a mysterious poster....is nothing sacred anymore? marriage?blogs?