Music through the generations

We are quite honored that Lloyd give us Barbara's piano. I think it would make her smile to see the boys learn to play the piano on it. Once we finally got the piano into our living room (thank you mom and dad and Mark the poor guy that happened to be visiting his parents next door), we started to map out what other furniture we should put in there. You know, something besides trains, the Handy Manny workbench and the dog kennel.

We discovered an on-line Room Planner on American Furniture Warehouse's website that let us try out all of the various furniture arrangements we could think of. Do we know how to have fun on a Saturday night or what?

We settled on two chairs with a loveseat and set off to AFW to look with some purpose this morning. We got these recliners: We also got a loveseat that's the shade of red in the chairs, but it is out of stock for a few weeks. It will face the chairs, making a little conversation area. And it's all made in the USA - woot-woot!

I will eat them anywhere!

I know Dr. Seuss's birthday was earlier this week, but Max's class has been doing Seuss stuff the whole week so he really wanted green eggs and ham for lunch yesterday. It definitely looks "interesting," but he happily gobbled it all up.

Feeling loved...

I had the most wonderful evening with my favorite guys and my parents celebrating my birthday last night. There has been a lot of whispering around our household the last few weeks as the boys and Andrew planned "Mama's birthday." I told Andrew that I think this was the first time in 15 years he's gotten me a birthday cake. He came clean and admitted that it was Max who insisted on getting me a cake and the boys picked it out together...so sweet!

Mom and Dad took us to Chang's...my favorite! Max has been asking to go to the "restaurant with the horse statue" for a few weeks now and was so excited that's where I wanted to go for my birthday dinner. We had the usual delicious fare (crab cheese wontons, Chang's spicy chicken, Mongolian beef, and sweet and sour pork), but also got crazy and tried their fried green beans, dumplings and shrimp in lobster sauce for the first time. The new (to us) dishes were fabulous!

I was so impressed with the main gift Andrew got me this year. When Max was born, he gave me a set of diamond stud earrings, but I lost one of the studs on Max's birthday last November. So he found the remaining stud in my jewelry box, took it into a jeweler and had it matched, so now I have a new set of studs to wear, and one of them is the original one he gave me when our first baby was born...awww, love it!

So Romantic...

Andrew just got home from the store. I'm not sure which is the more romantic Valentine's "gift", the flowers or the pearls. Now that's love, y'all!

Cupcakes, Plan B

OK, the plan was this plus this would make some really cute Valentine's cupcakes.

Yeah, not so much.

This is what I made with a pile of this. And yes, I greased the pan really well.

So the next batch is cooking: plain ol' cupcakes in paper wrappers - but they'll still be delicious! (Honestly, the little pile of cupcakes that I scraped out of the pan tastes pretty delicious too!)

Making It Look Easy

This morning before church, Max informed that he was going to learn to ride his bike without training wheels this afternoon.

And guess what?

He did exactly that.

Suburban!

We traded in the van and the truck today and brought this home:

Mmm, Crow.

Oh how I laughed at our neighbors when they humiliated their dog and made him wear booties after they got their wood floors refinished.

But it's been a mere two months since we've had our floors refinished, and I am appalled at the number of scratches our dogs have inflicted on the wood.

So guess what?

Booty- time!! Ben keeps saying the dogs look "so cute" with their new shoes (which cracks me up because he says it in this little high-pitched baby-voice). I think they look hilarious and ridiculous, but I don't care. On the plus side, they actually help the pooches slip less. And little did I know there's a whole world of dog booties...shoes for inside, shoes for outside...wow.

Afternoon at the Park

We just returned from some tubing and skiing at the park. Vancouver 2010 is a little soon, but it won't be long! ;)


Ben opted for the tube.


There was some serious teamwork going on hauling the tube and the skis back up the hill.
And then Andrew popped the tube. Oops. But also hilarious!!


After drying some tears, we found the tube still worked OK flat.

Good work, boys!


And now Andrew's at the store, buying a new tube.

December

Well, this month we've been treated to musical extravaganzas at churchand at school.And when the little advent tree calendars looked like this
we knew it was time for this. You can see that they were mildly excited. Christmas morning, Max's face appeared at the side of my bed, exclaiming (with the lisp of a six-year-old missing his front teeth), "Mama, I was on the nice list!!"

Other developments...with regards to this new addition, I will just quote Stephen Colbert: "Hello, Sweetness." 55" Sony Bravia. You can see that Andrew wasted no time finding a quality TNT western.

And look how well-behaved our dogs look. Tricky little canines.

Our house has also become the epicenter of some mad jigsaw fun! And after all the fun on Christmas, I got to do some organizing! It brings a smile to my face, just thinking about it. Look at that closetAhhh...and see that drawer? It is big enough to hold the Play-doh kits! I love everything about Play-doh except its mess factor, but it's so much fun that it's worth it. I just had to figure out a suitable way to store those kits and this drawer is the answer! Amen to that.

And the organizing frivolity continued into the basement. And look, it's the playroom floor! Hello floor! Such a zen feeling to have the toys in their places, and to have room to play.

On Regular Visits From the Tooth Fairy

Good thing I made this little tooth fairy pouch last week because we went from this to this today. Max had three teeth pulled to make room for the permanent ones hiding just below the surface. The x-rays show each of his permanent teeth is about twice the size of each baby tooth. Without enough space, they would tend to twist and turn to try to fit into the space left by his baby teeth, so we tried to make a little more room for them.

He definitely takes after his mama in that he needs as much help as possible trying to get those teeth to come in straight! Our dentist affirmed what we already know...he's going to be an orthodontic patient. Just trying to make sure our dentist and orthodontist retire early and in style!

And here's cute little brother, wanting to get in on all the picture action.

Happy 4th, Benjamin!

This morning we wrapped up birthday week at the Shier household. Ben turned 4 yesterday, and his birthday party was this morning. He chose a Lightning McQueen theme, so the kids colored little Cars coloring books, had Cars tattoos put on, and did some scratch-off racing pennants for crafts at Ramone's House of Art. We then played "Lizard in a Piston Cup," where the kids dropped lizards (since Radiator Springs is in a desert...I know, it's a stretch, but just go with it) into Piston Cups. We played "Pin the Hook on Mater," and of course, ate cake and ice cream. I almost hated to cut into the amazing cake that Mom decorated! And last but not least, the Lightning McQueen pinata. It was a fun morning with with just the littler guys over for Ben's party.

This year was the first year we celebrated the boys' birthdays individually, and it's been interesting to see how each reacted when the other got his own celebration. Ben was a very big boy about it last week on Max's "big day," and Max was pretty gracious about sharing new toys on his birthday. However, I was surprised that Max had a hard time yesterday and today with Ben getting his own "big day." We've had some tears and frustration from Max when, for example, Ben got to go first for games this morning at his party or didn't want to share his brand new birthday presents immediately. On the flip side, Ben has been holding out on sharing his toys, knowing that he might be able to get away with a little bit more on his birthday. Brothers! It's not unique to brothers though, so maybe I should mutter "Siblings!"

It's been a great week though to celebrate both our boys and we had a lot of fun with their parties. Happy Birthday, Benjamin!!

Cowboy Up, Max is 6

Today we celebrated Max's 6th birthday, complete with a cowboy-themed birthday party. We did a couple of craft projects, coloring a little cowboy coloring book and decorating a paper bag cowboy vest. For games, we played "Snake in the Boot," which consisted of standing on the coffee table and tossing rubber snakes into cowboy boots. This was a big hit. In fact, Max & Ben played this most of yesterday afternoon also. We also played "Pin the Badge on Max," (Pin the Tail on the Donkey) where the kids stuck sheriff's stars on an enlarged, laminated picture of Max dressed up like a cowboy. Lots of giggles! We also "Roped the Pony" by chucking a hula hoop over a rocking horse. We had a cowboy boot pinata, a cowboy story, a double horseshoe cake and root beer floats. It was a very fun afternoon and now I think we're in for some early bedtimes! I'll yippee-kay-ay to that! Andrew even cowboyed up by growing a cowboy 'stache this week. Here's Maxwell this morning, playing with his new marble run. He played with it for hours, telling me it was "the best present ever!" Of course, once he opened his gifts from his friends, those were some pretty cool gifts too.

Happy 6th birthday, big boy!!

I Just Roll With It

The new bench at the end of our bed has quickly become one of the boys' favorite places to hang out.

Halloween Party, Delayed

Ben's preschool Halloween party was delayed until this morning due to the snow last week.

Serious business: decorating the cookie. Enjoying his cookie. Dancing machine. When the music stops, FREEZE. He told me later he was freezing "like the Statue of Liberty." I can totally see the resemblance.

And this picture is from Halloween night. He fell asleep clutching his Starburst. Ben and Halloween, two peas in a pod.

Trick or Treat!