Boston Visitors

Friday evening we got to finally have our Christmas present exchange with Lea and Ryan. They were quite generous and thoughtful in their gifts.

Here's Ben embracing his stuffed shark.  Ben loves sharks.

Auntie Lea had written all of the kids a letter and asked what they wanted for Christmas.  Levi's immediate response was, "a shovel."  When I passed on the information to Lea, she asked me to elaborate about what kind of shovel.  I didn't have the answer for her. 

As it turns out, this was the very shovel Levi had been admiring at Home Depot while on trips there with his Daddy.  Lea and Ryan shlepped this shovel all the way from Boston and Levi did not let go of it the entire night.  The next morning he went outside to shovel things. 

The next day we went to Science City.  It was the first trip there for our boys.  They loved it. 

They tried to get this helicopter off the ground.  No one could find the ignition.

Uncle Joel demonstrated one of Newton's law on this 'gravity bike.'  We were all impressed with his bravery and amused by his feigning of fear.

Electricity!  Yes.

Milo didn't partake much in the peewee golfing but he sure did love carrying around the club.

There was an area for digging for dinosaur bones.  They were giving very serious looking goggles and really wimpy shovels.  Levi was wishing he had his new one.

They had fun and I loved watching them work in those goggles.  Very amusing.

Mr. Crankypants here is expressing that he is quite sure it's his turn to now use the magnet.

We went out for lunch and later all came back to our place for dinner.  We put the kids in bed and the grown-ups played games for awhile.

Auntie Lea and Uncle Ryan Visit

Blogger is giving me trouble these past two days. Sorry, Nana, I could only get this one picture from the weekend uploaded. It keeps crashing when I try to load more. Maybe I'll have better luck tomorrow. I hope everyone is having a good week!

Flashback Friday- Grammie

Grammie Feerer at age 10. What a cutie. Something about this picture reminds me of cousin Avery.

Our Dusty, Fun, and sometimes Blurry Day

This week we've had several contractors working at the house.  Of course, the boys have been enjoying that immensely.  It's made for topsy turvey days with lots of dust BUT lots of progress.  Yay!

snack time on a bench, wait, that's a ceiling fan box.  Potato, potahto.

A hug so fast it could not be captured without blur.

Here they are both pretending to be puppies.  They alternated barking with eating their snack, sans hands, out of the bowls.

The dust!  oh, the dust!  The electricians have been drilling holes in the kitchen ceiling.  Lots of dust.  Milo is retrieving a ball that went down the heating vent.  Yep, we're living here.

Today the installers came to put in our new front door.  The boys, of course, wanted to get right up in their business.  I put a stripe of blue painters tape on the floor and told them they could NOT cross the blue line.  Here Levi has his foot up off the ground passing into the air space over the blue line.  Test boundaries much?

My helpers in the laundry room with me.  Levi is wearing my tank top as (in his words) "those things girls wear at weddings" (a veil, I presume) and Milo is wearing his brother's underpants as a (in his words) hhhaaaaatttt"  Both of them did this spontaneously.  I promise you, I do not model this kind of behavior to them.

Blurry, yet adorable nonetheless.

Hugs.  Could I be any more blessed??

Tools of the Trade

Lucas stripped the carpet and pried the staples off of our main staircase. Last night the boys were helping him take care of a few areas that needed some repairing. Milo decided to concentrate his efforts on the bottom stair.

First he grabbed the tape measure and checked the dimensions.

Next he took the tape measure back to the tool area and grabbed this drywall knife (it's not really a knife knife, don't worry)

Levi was pulling out staples.  Milo was scraping to and fro.  Scraping what exactly, I do not know, but scrape he did, indeed.

Then it was back to the tools again, this time to return with a paint brush.  He brushed here and there and everywhere.

To finish his task he returned with a different scraper.  You really cannot scrapes stairs too thoroughly.  Just look at his face.  He was so intent on his project.

Baby Celebrations

We spent most of this weekend up at Lynn and Marji's celebrating babies. On Saturday there was a shower for our little niece, Amelia, who will be joining the family any day now. On Sunday, nephew Kosse was dedicated and there was a little meet-and-greet for him in the afternoon.

Cuddling with Gran and Grandpa.  Milo was so still and quiet for the longest time.  Not a common occurence!

Pinterest was a great resource for the party.  Marji and Corrine rounded up some really fun ideas.

Like this punch, for instance. 

Levi is really into doing push-ups lately.  He will randomly drop to the ground and get at them. 

Kosse cuddling up to Aundrea's baby bump.

Somebody is proud to be holding the baby.

I'm so glad he's had this time to bond with the Kosse.

Now of course if Levi does something Milo must have equal opportunity.  The baby looks to be in a precarious position here but I promise, Corrine was holding up his head.

Before meal time, praying.  I get such a kick out of the sweet way Milo folds his hands.  Also, take note that Marji put a special table cloth and battery operated candle at the kids table.  I'm hoping this will cancel out all the meals they've eaten at our house next to piles of lumber.

All dressed up in his baby finest.

I don't think there could be a prouder grandfather.

He looks a lot bigger than when we first laid eyes on him 2 weeks ago.

Unseasonably Warm Weather

It may be January but you would not know it by the weather last week. They boys and I got to enjoy time at the park and in our yard. I continue to get a huge kick out of Milo on the scooter. He's getting pretty speedy on that thing. Levi is also getting faster on the skateboard. How long until I stop being thrilled about their wheeled antics and start covering my eyes in fear?

Playtime in the Playroom

Can I just say that during the course of my day I talk about construction equipment WAAAAAY more now than I ever did while I was working full-time as a STRUCTURAL ENGINEER.

The boys' first crane.  Pretty cool, huh?  Well I thought so, too, until it earned the title. "Object Most Guaranteed to Disrupt the Peace".  It doesn't appear that  there is a way for a 4 year old and a 22 month old to both play harmoniously with a toy crane at the same time.

You can tell Milo is concentrating by the position of his tongue.

Here he was saying, "Nigh-Nigh!!".  It was adorable.

Here, Milo wasn't actually saying anything but I imagine that his inner discourse sounded like, "What??  I just put you to bed, Mr. Orange Person!  I am displeaed by your insubordination!"

"Hmmm, perhaps someone to keep you company as well as this red block will ensure you stay in bed.  Nigh-Nigh, Sir.  I said, NIGH-NIGH!"

This is the garage he built for the construction equipment today.  I think we might have a Greek Column enthusiast in our midst.

Tuesday



After their breakfast the boys got down to work on their nail boards. Levi had removed, with his Grandpa's pry bar,  most of the nails he had already pounded in.  Once they were out the boys were ready to replace them.

Having taken care of the boys thru their breakfast, I sat down to mine: oatmeal, tea, and sudoku.

"hot!" he says while gesturing to my cuppa.

I got smart and gave him brad nails to work with- the smaller nails take more time and effort to hold and maneuver.  It's a lot less noisy when he pounds on them as well.  Also, you should see how satisfied he looks when he drives it all the way in.

yep, this about sums things up.

Later, in an area of the house that has actual flooring, Levi very proudly built a garage for his construction equipment.

I found a big set of construction toys on an after-Christmas sale.  My intention was to set it aside for use at a later date but I couldnt resist giving it to them right away.  I think that is Luke's influence on me!

off to work we go.