Hodge Podge

Have a lot of random things to post about here : )
The first is that Nanny sent the boys a Valentine card with punch balloons and airheads! Getting mail that has candy and balloons is about the best thing you can do for a little person : )
Sam loved the balloon and had a ball with it, while Davis spent most of his time trying to open that candy. Sorry lighting is so bad in these first pictures.






Sam got his first bike today! He has been wanting one for a long time now, we kept putting it off b/c of out yard situation at the present time. He gets to ride them both at Nanny's house and at Granny and Grandaddy's house, so he was dying to have one here at the house. I wanted to get him one at Kid's Market, but didn't find anything I really liked. Then I was rudely awakened to the price of bikes at Wal-mart. Where they are between $10-$25 at Kids Market, they are $50-$75 at Wal-mart.
I thought we were just going to have to wait until next kids market to get him one, but we had seen one at TJ Max. They don't normally carry them but they had one on clearance for $29, so we went to get it today. I walked all over the store looking for it and couldn't find it! I finally asked the right person, b/c he not only knew were it was, he knocked it down $10 more dollars b/c the tires needed to be aired!!!!
So he got his first NEW bike for $19 : )
What a blessing, and he LOVES IT! You can see from his little smile that he couldn't wipe off his face. On the way home he kept looking over his shoulder in the back to see it, and updating us on any and all movement it made while back there.






Teacher moment : )
I started cleaning out some things so that I would be able to tag my Kids Market stuff, while doing this I found these letter blocks. I bought them about a year ago for $1, but they were to hard for Sam at that time. (They still sell them at Wal-mart)
He was thrilled to play with them. As I lay them on the table for him I thought, He really needs a alphabet to use and try to get them all in order. I started to go and print one off on the computer, then I thought I remembered buying a coloring book with letters in it. In the top of the closet I found the book and it had a list of the ABC's in the back. I showed him how to look at the letters and see which one came next, this was too hard for him to look back and forth. Duh, the letters come out, so we started to find the letters and lay them on top of the picture in the book without the square block around them. It was perfect and he loved it : )
By now, Davis is so jealous he is practically throwing himself on the table to be involved. I thought for a minute and remembered the blocks that Sam started with when he was Davis' age. I got them at the Dollar tree and he loved them back then. They were Pooh and they were scattered all over the house and most had been thrown away in the past 2 yrs. I did buy a few extra packs for gifts back 2 yrs. ago. So I just so happened to have a new pack for him in the gift closet (The choice was between princess blocks or spiderman). We went and got them and sat and tried to put them together. By the end of it, he was fighting them like they were action figures, but hey it's a start right : )
After we finished playing we bagged them up and put them back in the top of the closet until next time we need something to do quietly.












A few more thrifty finds:

My sister found this really awesome cape for Sam for $5 at the thrift store! It lights up and makes flying sounds : )

The backpack is from Bath and Body Works for $2.50 on clearance.

Davis' blanket turned hat, was free : )
For about a week every time we got ready to go somewhere, I would here him running toward me saying "Ready Go Moooom, Got my hat!"
I thought he was so adorable with it around his head like that!

That is all I have time to post about right now, but have more to come soon!

Bad Guys...

Sunday Morning I was playing with the boys as Magan was getting ready for church. We were playing with some action figures or as Sam and Davis call them...our guys. Then as we were walking down the hall to go to Sam's room, we heard a loud clanking noise. Now this is a normal clanking noise in our household, and it happens anytime anyone uses the shower/tub in our master bathroom. Most people would have probably tried to fix it by now...but I am really not the guy to do that, and by now, we are just used to it. Anyway...we heard the clank, and in a playful manner I whispered to the boys "Oh no, what was that?" Sam, not really caring that much, shrugged his shoulders and said "I dunt know" and continued on to his room. Davis then looked up at me with very serious eyes and whisped his answer to my question..."Bad Guys". Then his gun fingers on both little hands pointed towards the source of the noise and he started firing...pew pew pew...at those clanking bad guys.

This Much...

Tucking Sam in last night I decided I would show him how much I loved him. I told him I loved him this much...then spread my arms all the way out and gave him a measure of my love. He smiled and said "I know". But then I asked him how much he loved Dad. He spread his hands about 6 inches apart and said "About this much". Thinking that he was not completly understanding this standard of measurement, I showed him again how much I loved him and he showed me again the small amount of love he had for me. Again wanting to confirm that he did not understand my measuring, I asked him "Well, how much do you love your Mom". He quickly stretched out his hands as far as they would go and said "This much". He then replied the same for Davis. I started laughing at this and he quickly joined in as well.

I realized he did understand that measurement, I just don't compare to our sweet Mom and Davis. :) As I finally stop giggling at his little answers I told him "Well that is OK, as long as you know your dad loves you THIS MUCH..."

Another Disney Pic...probably a repeat...but that is all I have on my computer.

Disneyworld 2009 Day 7

Day 7
Hollywood Studios

The day began with us loading up the car and saying our goodbyes to the Sartins. Our villa was very nice, but time to go was finally here. The Sartins were heading to Downtown Disney to visit Legoworld, and we had a few things left we wanted to do at Hollywood Studios.

Well…one thing to mention was the boys would not have made it another full day…they were both asleep by the time we got to the parks. At one point Sam sleepily said Whoa at something we passed…Davis opened his eyes… and say whoa with a little sleepy voice and closed his eyes again.

But we went in and rode the Great Movie Ride which was really neat for the boys, they loved the Wizard of Oz scene and like the snakes in the Indiana Jones scene. It is a fun ride…although often skipped as we did on the first day. We then had a hurried visit through “Man behind the Dreams” a walk-thru tour of the life of Walt Disney. There is a short film after the tour that I wish we could have watched, but we skipped it for the Beauty and the Beast show.

We then ate lunch…looked for a power ranger shirt…and let the boys play in the Honey I shrunk the kids Play area. But it was now noon, and we hoped to be in Chelsea by this night, so we finally had to leave. It is sad each time you leave, but our goodbyes were said the day before…and now it was time to get back to reality.

I can’t remember much of the trip home, except that it took as Sam says “too long”. OK, I am guessing my Dad is probably the only that actually read all of these blogs, so if you’re still reading Dad, we are looking forward to the next trip. Hope you guys will be with us next time.

Disneyworld 2009 Day 6

Day 6
Magic Kingdom

What a difference from our first day at the MK, this day was a perfect 79 degrees and slight breeze. It was great weather and the kids were excited to be back near the castle. We began this day at the Racetrack, Well everyone except for Addy and Marcia who went to get in the hour long wait to see Ariel. Everyone loved this ride so we got in line and raced again. Sam and Sylus loved getting to drive, and I think really believed they were in a race.

After this we went back towards fantasy land where we met up with Marcia and Addy and rode the Pooh ride, then Snow Whites Scary Adventure. This is about the time Sam became almost Manic, and started feeling that he could take the map and plan the best route for us all. His plan basically was him hollering to ride DUMBO at this time. So we decided we would get in line and ride Dumbo. After that we hit Philharmagic and then Cinderella’s Carousel. And finishing off Fantasyland we went off to lunch in Tomorrowland while an alien that I can not remember the name of sang to us while we ate.

Then off to Mickey’s Toontown Fair where Sam fell in love with Goofy’s Barnstormer roller coaster or as Sam would say for the remainder of the day “Dat Doofy Airplane ride”. Riding it twice, and then James took them on it a third time later while I visited Pete’s garage.

We then took the train back over to Frontierland to ride SplashMountain, then to ride ThunderMountain (This was also one of Sam’s favorites and the first time he got to ride with Me and Magan).

We ended the day by going back to Fantasyland. I had a plan where we would ride Peter Pan, then go ride the Doofy ride. Sam pulled me down to his level and looked me straight in the eyes and said “Listen Dad, I got an idea, You go ride peter pan, Momma can take me to ride the doofy airplane”. This was repeated several times, as Sam began to say it dancing and bouncing. He was a little crazy by this point, so after riding Peter Pan, Magan took him and Sylus to ride the Doofy airplane one last time.

A great place we found to enjoy the evening was the Tommorrowland Terrace. We sat down and had a great view of the castle while enjoying some hot dogs and fries from Casey’s Corner. Very tired, we wandered towards Mainstreet and said our goodbyes to the Happiest Place on Earth.

But we decided we would come back the next day…at least to Hollywood Studios.

Disneyworld 2009 Day 5

Day 5

EPCOT

Little late getting out of the gate this morning…but off to EPCOT. I slowly picked up fastpasses as we toured futureworld getting tickets for Mission Space/Test Track/ and Soarin. We began the day again riding Spaceship Earth, this time in English,…wait…I did not ride again this time because Sam and Davis were scared of this ride as well. Oh well…we went to the exit of this ride where we played a game helping us learn to recycle. Yeah!! Anyone Sam and Davis each got to run around on a floor pushing electronic “discs” around. They loved it! We played twice before the crew were finished with the ride.

We then ran off to ride Figment in the Journey into the Imagination…which surprisingly had a very scary scene that scared both Sam, Davis, and me. Well it was just a very loud noise that was really not needed at all. Then we went into the Honey I shrunk the Audience 3D show. Again I am finding out that many of these shows are kind of scary for a 2 and 3 year old. Davis was OK, because he doesn’t wear the glasses, but Sam does wear the glasses and when the giant snake opens its mouth and tries to eat the audience, this is not very fun for Sam…so at this point I am feeling bad for my little friend and just cover his eyes anytime I think something scary is coming.

And on to the Land…Marsha and James rode Soarin with Addy and Sylus…All loving the ride. By this time we did not think Sam would ride…So we told him that this ride was scary and that Mom and Dad would ride it by themselves. He was very adamant that he wanted to ride and it was not scary…so off we go not really knowing what to expect from Sam. We had fastpasses, but this is still a long wait. And we finally make it to the official boarding the next ride and Sam says “I gotta go poopoo right now”. GREAT! So I take Sam back the quarter mile to the front of Soarin where there is a bathroom. A quick poop and back to the front of the line where Magan has been waiting. Magan in the meanwhile has gotten us first class seats on the ride (which is top row center if you ever want to request this). So we finally get to go onto the ride and Sam sees the seatbelts and I guess recognizes this is a little bit more than a Winnie the Pooh ride, then tells me “I don’t want to ride”. So…Magan rides while I wait with Sam at the exit. Then I get to ride while Magan goes off to find everyone else with Sam.

The girls then went off to Norway to have lunch with the Princesses, while James and I managed Lunch with the Boys in The Land. Sylus was a big help in getting all of the food for us, and after a rather difficult lunch, we rode a short boat ride showing us how Disney makes some of it’s fruits and vegetables. While what they are doing is supposed to be state of the art type stuff, it’s funny that I don’t remember any changes on this ride over the last 10 years. Oh well…still a very interesting ride and a must see if you ask me.

And the boys and I were finally off for what Sylus had wanted to do all day…push the Garbage truck around and learn how exciting recycling can be at INOVATIONS West. Magan and the girls made it back to join us, and we let them take the little ones over to China, while the others Sam, Sylus, Addy, me and James went to recycle. Waste Management has a big set-up that let the kids push a small garbage truck around and see ways in which we should recycle.

Then we began our trip around the World Showcase portion of EPCOT. Sam loved the Donald Duck boat ride in Mexico and we ended up riding twice. We then rode the Maelstrom in Norway…again scaring Davis in the small plummet it has. We then went to China where Sam decided to take a nap, so I held him while the others watched the acrobat show.

We then enjoyed Germany…bought lots of Milka and other goodies. Then made our way around past the US, then on to Japan where Marcia and Addy would spend a good portion of the time trying to get a pearl. I remember Marcia telling Addy how she could treasure this pearl and one day give it to her little girl. (Less than a week later, and Addy had already lost it).

Magan and I then took Addy to see Jasmine and it was so cute how Excited she was to see her. I was caught in a slip of the tongue as Addy was running up to Jasmine when it was not her turn, I called out to her “Jasmine, Jasmine…” then realized my mistake and called “Addy”. Well the photopass photographer calls me out on this slip saying “Well…we know what you were thinking about”, leaving Magan a little tiffed at me. I just wanted to mention I felt that was a little un-Disney-like to call someone out like that.

And back to the World…it was getting dark…so we found a McDonalds booth, and had French fries and McNuggets for Dinner. Then back to the Mousegear store to try and spend all our money before leaving. We each took turns riding the Test Track while shopping and then watched the fireworks before leaving. Which did not take to long…the first BOOM, and Davis looked up at me and said “Ready to go, Dad, Ready to go”. So once he started crying as the BOOMS echoed through the air…we decided we better head out. So another day over…