mr. stay puft marshmallow man

Anyone who knows Will, or really any of our boys, knows that once they get into something, they eat, live, and breathe it...until the next thing comes along.  In the past there has been Indiana Jones, Titanic, and now the latest thing is Ghostbusters, and more specifically Mr. Stay Puft.  Santa brought the Ghostbusters movies to Will, along with a die-cast Ghostbusters car, and a Mr. Stay Puft bank.  Will loves this thing, and he LOVES to draw Mr. Stay Puft.  I found this series of pictures the other day and knew I had to write about them and show them off.  One thing that will always calm Will down is a piece of paper and a pencil.  So here are Will's sketches of the progression of the Ghostbusters--first in their car, and on to the hotel room (with the chandelier), and finally to the top of a building in New York City to fight off one of the biggest, messiest, and worst villians in history--MR. STAY PUFT MARSHMALLOW MAN.

pajamas

I have no pictures to go with this post today, but I had to write this down anyway.  The boys love weekends so they can stay in their pajamas from sun up to sun down.  They change clothes only if absolutely necessary, like for church.  Well, until now.

Going to church is not Will's favorite thing in the world, but yesterday he found a way to combine his weekend attire and his church attire, I'm sure to feel more comfy at church.  He put off getting ready for church until the last second, so when he emerged from the basement dressed for church I was just happy to see his church clothes on.  When we got home from church all three boys raced in the house to see who could get his pajamas on first--everything is a race around here.  Will quickly spoke up, "I win!!"  I looked at him, curiously, and then he started to get undressed.  "I already have my pajamas on Mom."  Huh?  I knew he occasionally wore his shirt from the morning under his church shirt, but this day he decided to wear his church pants over his pajama pants.  And just like that, his church clothes were on the floor and voila, instant pajamas!  Maybe I'll try that sometime...

beautiful morning

Last night we had a big ol' snowstorm blow in like nobody's business, and by this morning it was nowhere to be found.  It was blowing/snowing sideways last night, and why I didn't think to grab my camera is beyond me.  When I drove Will to school this morning, everything was still so white and beautiful, so I drove home, got my camera, and tried to capture some great morning sunlight that made everything glisten.  That first morning light went so fast that I missed most of it, but I still had a great time.  

 

 This road we drive to school was completely white when I took Will, and just a few minutes later it was gone.  I should always take my camera with me.  What a beautiful morning!!  

end of the year

Our last week of 2010 was full of fun, surprises, and lots of together time...

These first pictures are taken at my friend Erica's house.  Her husband puts this together every year in their front room, and it's a work of art.  Department 56 stopped making these, so they are real collector's items now.  

Christmas Eve!!  With pajamas on and the cookies and milk out, the boys were ready.

It's hard to tell, but we had 3 different train tracks set up at this time--the electric Polar Express around the tree, the wooden Polar Express, and the huge Take Along Thomas train set.  It's sad that the boys are getting older and don't play with trains so much anymore, but I love the magic of Christmas that allows you to feel like a kid again and get all these fun things out.  

Ben made this amazing poetry book at school to give us for Christmas.  As soon as I find it (it's been missing since I went to California for Gma's 90th b-day), I'll copy some of the poems and post them.  They are so funny and I'm so sad I can't find it right now.  :(

Santa knew that Ben, Will and Jake love movies, so he brought each of them their favorite ones with other surprises.  Ben got the Back to the Future trilogy on blue-ray and this '81 DeLorean from the movies;  Will got Ghostbusters 1 & 2 and a Stay Puft Marshmallow Man bank (seriously, how does Santa find these things?!), and Jake got the original Jaws movie with a stuffed great-white shark.  Notice that each of these movies are at least 20 years old!  They love anything old...including us! :)

We all got into helping Daren with his Christmas present--an old-fashioned popcorn machine.  

Unfortunately it was one of those presents that didn't work out too well, so it was fun while it lasted, and we'll go back to enjoying our microwave popcorn.  It would have been perfect in our movie room, too.  

Ben had a Christmas piano recital the Monday night after Christmas.  He played Frosty the Snowman and Joy to the World (as a duet with his teacher, Rachel.)  He did a great job and had many other family members there to support him...

...including Brenda and her kids.  We kept three of them that night after the recital to sleepover, including Ciera, Garrett and Gage.  The next morning they were introduced to the Back to the Future movie.  You just won't escape it if you come to our house!!

WINTER TRAIN FESTIVAL

at Promontory Point

lunch/dinner after that at Robintino's with extended Cox family

And finally, to wrap up the year, we had our own little celebration going on here, with Thomas who joined us for the evening.  These guys all loved playing Legos, drawing, and playing Lego Rockband.  Will and Daren didn't quite make it to celebrate the New Year at midnight, but Ben, Thomas, Jake and then Tom, Julie and their gang joined us for the countdown.  Happy New Year!

midnight morning

Last night when I put Will to bed, he was asking for his "midnight snack."  I was tired and told him he could have it at midnight, and off he went to sleep.  I guess 5:09am is close enough to midnight, because that's what time he got me up this morning.  So, while he is eating his pizza and drinking his milk, I'm writing another post because I'm trying to be a frequent blogger.  :)  (I know what you are thinking--pizza at 5am??  With this kid, you do what you have to do!!)  

Ben finished another painting, and it's really cool.  It's a picture of the top of the mast at one of his favorite places--Pirate's Cove.  

february resolution

I have been a terrible blogger lately, and I've decided to change my wicked ways.  In looking back at some of my older posts, I used to blog often, and mostly about the little things we did.  Lately it's been the bigger events, but even then I haven't been great at that either (did you see my post about Christmas...no?...see what I mean?!) and in all reality, I'd much rather remember the little details of our everyday lives.  So, one month in to 2011 and I'm finally making a resolution to blog more often.  Starting today with, who else, these three boys who are growing up way too fast for Daren and me.

The other day I was really trying to like my 50mm lens more, so I stuck it on my camera and went around taking pictures.  This is a familiar sight on the weekends around here, since it's the only time the boys can play video games, and I loved how they were just lined up perfectly to play.

Their concentration is so intense when they play--talk about being in the "zone."

This is what they have been playing every chance they've had for the past 2 weeks.  Little Big Planet 2 was supposed to come out last November, but for whatever reason it got delayed until January 18.  The boys were crushed that it wouldn't be here for Christmas, although Will was sure Santa could pull some strings and get it for them in time, but no.  I heard the countdown to January 18 for weeks leading up to it.  They had to earn half of the money in order to get it, which wasn't easy for them to do.   In fact, as badly as they wanted it, they didn't earn all the money until Wednesday the 19th.  That's what a little adhd can do to you--hard to focus on something even when you really want it.  So on Wednesday when I picked up Ben and Jake from their bus stop after school Jake said to me, in his most excited voice, "Mom, have you experienced the awesomeness of LBP2 yet?"  What??  Like I'm sitting at home all day playing it while they are gone.  It made me laugh, and we did make an exception for playing during the week that night.  They love this game, and I love it because they are so creative with it.  You can build your own levels, and so they are constantly creating and playing levels which I can't even begin to understand.  It's already happening, where my kids know more about technology than me!!  

After playing video games for a while, they decided it was just barely warm enough to go outside to jump on the trampoline.  They are just dying to get out and run around, but it's been so freezing cold here this winter.  Spring can't come fast enough!!  

p.s. Christmas post coming very soon--I have all the pictures uploaded, I just have to write.  Or maybe not...