Is there a subject you want to know about? Any part of our lives that you are especially interested in and would like me to devote a post to? On the right sidebar (under the tickers that are counting up the boys ages) is a formspring box just waiting for your question or topic.
Maybe you want to know the books we have been reading, or see more of the house and where we live. How about another “day in the life” slideshow? Just let me know and I’ll do my best to cover the topic!
After 5 days of being housebound, and no I am not counting going out to play in the snow, we finally broke free! A few friends met up at Jumpzone, a location I have mentioned before. *pictures are in no particular order*
It is a large high-ceilinged room filled with inflatable bounce houses in various shapes and with various themes. Most of the themes are kids shows. A sesame street bounce house with a 5 foot Elmo head guarding each side of the entrance, and decorated with numbers, shapes, doors and a small slide in the interior. A giant sinking ship wrapped in octopus tentacles, as if being pulled down by the cracken, with a slide inside that shoots you down what seems like an impossible angle when you sit at the top. We don’t ride the Cracken, I got an injury the first and only time we tried.
There are 5 others with 7 houses total occupying the space . The middle of the space is a large open area with a small space off to the side for younger siblings who can’t play in the bounce houses just yet. There are a few party rooms for birthdays and the like where you can go eat pizza and cake after playing.
The old favorite bounce house was an obstacle course that ended in a slide, with a huge Batman figure guarding the tunnel entrance. He has disappeared though and the new favorite is his replacement, a Finding Nemo house with an obstacle course on one side, a slide on the other, and a lare area of open bouncing space in between. The kicker is the gaping shark’s mouth entrance, complete with pointy inflatable teeth.
Oliver LOVES jumpzone, I think it’s one of the more annoying places to be, right up there with the kiddie casinos, but without the redeeming quality of lunch provided. It is nerve wracking watching your kid bounce around like a ping pong inside a giant blow up room filled with kids who are bigger, and at times rougher, than he is. But what can you do? Oliver enjoys his time there and I enjoy watching Oliver play.
Today I settled Max into the wrap and followed Oliver around from bounce house to bounce house. One of the children there was having a birthday party, a fact which annoyed me since they didn’t pay the extra money for a party room but instead opened gifts in the middle of the main play area. This, of course , forced the rest of us to explain to our kids that they couldn’t be part of the party too. Not a huge deal, but still disappointing to a two year old. On the upside the birthday boy was a big batman fan. He had what looked to be a young uncle dressed up in full Batman costume and playing with the kids for about 45 minutes. He also stopped to take photos for a while, and he was hardcore, spandex and all. Oliver followed Batman around, never going more than 20 feet away, but not any closer than 10. Maybe he was afraid Batman would start POW!-ing people.
The cousins Posted on February 1st, 2010 @ 8:02 pm
Oliver and Max have two incredibly cute cousins, Marley and Macee, who now have their own home on the Internet at Nyachikanda.com. You can find a link to their site over on the right side of the page under the photoblog. Stop in sometime and say hello!
More Funnies Posted on January 31st, 2010 @ 1:11 pm
Oliver is very literal, as you can tell by the previous funnies. Ryan commented that the microwave gets Oliver’s Easy Mac “So screamin’ hot we cant serve it right away.” Oliver says “No it’s not screaming, Dad, it’s STEAMING”
Oliver informed us that he wanted a hamburger for lunch, with a toy! Ryan (though he heard perfectly well and was just teasing Oliver) said “you want what?!?” Oliver replied “Daaaaaad, I want hamburger for lunch, with a TOOOYYY!” You could hear that teenage attitude coming through.
He stakes his claim as the boss of the house pretty regularly. The other day he told me “that baby’s not hungry, I don’t want him on your hummy (his word for nursing), put him in that swinger”
Obviously he is still battling a few jealousy issues although it hasn’t been nearly as bad as it could have been. When we were taking Max to the doctor, he told me “we don’t need to go to the doctor for a new baby brother, we already have one.”
He is quickly becoming knowledgeable about working the situation to get what he wants.
O :Mom say ‘do you want to watch (fill in whichever movie is popular this week)”
Me: Do you want to watch (the movie)?
O: Yes I do! Let me get you the remote.
or
O: mom say ‘what was that?’
Me: What was that?
O: Oh nothing just a burp, Excuse Me!
You would think we never pay any attention to the child the way he pre-prepares these dialogues for us. I think it’s just his way of trying to have some control.
We had a leisurely morning, waiting for the sun to come out from behind the clouds. We baked banana muffins for breakfast, played some batman, picked up a bit around the house. And when Max went down for a nap we suited up and went outside. Poor Oliver is still in last years snowsuit, but it’s warm and just a little tight, so he hasn’t complained yet.
I got a picture of the house since Max’s baby book has a spot for “Our home”
Get ready for a major picture overload in the photoblog section and even a few shots of Ryan and I as we got in on the sledding too! This bunch of photos is a little light on Max pics since he was inside swinging and sleeping, but we can try and remedy that later.
It started sleeting at 6 pm on the 28th and has not let up since, although as I am typing this I no longer see any out the window. Anyway, this lead to record snow fall with one news station reporting that today made it into the top 10 since they started recording that type of thing. One of my friends posted on her Facebook status this evening that she and her daughters were enjoying Snow Ice cream. Whaaaaaaat? SNOW ICE CREAM?!? I must try this, and Oliver will LOVE it! A quick Google search led me to a few different recipes and we went with the one for which I had the ingredients on hand. It was 8 pm and we are snowed in after all.
This is courtesy of allrecipes.com all though we had to put our own spin on things. (Please excuse the outfits, we were already showered and ready for bed, and Max was already asleep for the evening, when I decided we needed to try this while the snow was still fresh)
Snow Ice Cream
Collect at least a gallon of fresh snow. Either place a very large, clean bowl outside during the snowfall or, as we did, send daddy out in the dark to collect some. Don’t scoop too deep and get grass though. As you can see we have some beautiful fluffy white snow.
In a LARGE container, we used my dutch oven, Combine 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
You can add powdered kool-aid mix for flavored snow, chocolate milk or syrup, for adults add in some rum instead of vanilla flavoring…So many possibilities! Yet another recipe called for beaten eggs and condensed milk. I can certainly understand why, ours was tasty but a very light treat. The eggs and condensed milk would make for a creamier, more authentic ice cream consistency.
Our little food experiment nearly required another bath, and most definitely a change of pajamas, and I can’t tell you how long it took me to convince him that we didn’t have to eat the entire dutch oven full. Unfortunately snow ice cream doesn’t keep, but it’s cheap, fast, fun and easy to make. Now we have to wait for the next snow to try out some of the variations.
I will try and get some pictures of the snow and the boys up tomorrow, I am hoping we can put our sled to use.
Max had his 2 month well-baby check up, just postponed a few weeks due to the snow closings we had around the time he should have been getting his check up. He is 15lbs, 8 oz and 25 inches long, that’s the 97% for weight and 95% for height. He was just as happy as ever,, smiling and laughing at the doc as she was checking him out. Then came the shots. He has tried to maintain his cheerful attitude but he spent most of the day as picture above, and has been a little fussy and feverish this evening.
I believe vaccines are very important and have eliminated some serious illnesses from our society. For these illnesses to stay gone we rely on herd immunity, those that are not vaccinated won’t get the illness because there is no carrier to give it to them. Although there is no definite link between vaccines and Autism etc, the number of vaccines that kids are given are growing quickly and in my mind 6 injections is a lot of stuff for a tiny little body and immume system to deal with all at once. When Oliver was a few months old I started doing some research on the illnesses that posed the greatest risk, the injections that contained questionable elements, and with the help of the internet, a few books, and our great pediatrician came up with a vaccine schedule that will get the boys vaccinated but keep them from having more than 2 injections on any given visit, and and postpone their exposure to some of the vaccines that have raised questions in some of the Autism debates, as well as making me feel better about what is going into their bodies. (Yes this coming from the woman who’s child has a large collection of happy meal toys, but hey he eats the WHOLE burger!)
Of course they have their little differences that, I am certain, will only become more apparent as they get older. But, there are moments when I feel like I gave birth to twins, just a few years apart.
Today Max, you are 2 months old, and so very happy, despite what it seems like in this photo. Always smiling and “talking.” Today you are 15.6lbs, such a big boy but, at the same time, still so small. You love when we get close and talk to you, your whole face lights up.
In such a hurry to be a big boy, this is the the feat you accomplished at just 7 weeks. Slow down please sweetheart, you are growing fast enough!
Oliver : Batman, he fwys!
Oma: He does’t fwy, he flies, with a “Lll”
Oliver: batman doesn’t fwy with a “Lll” he fwies with a cape!
Oliver has been trying to tell his first knock knock joke. I have been saying “who’s there?” all day. He mixes it up a little and leads with the “orange” instead of the “banana.” It’s still funny because he gets such a kick out of it.
Have any questions?
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odds and ends
