Fun day at the park

After school the other day we called up a classmate and friend of Diego's and headed to the park. It was a beautiful day and some much needed energy was needing to be burned. The mom of Diego's friend was a little worried that I'd be taking 4 boys to the park but I said it was no biggie....and it wasn't. The boys spent the whole time building a fort. While there were girls screaming in their high pitched screams and running around the park, my guys were busy building a fort! Again, who needs girls?... I'll keep my guys!!

The boys started to draw attention to their creation. Some kids came up and said "hey that's pretty cool." They even helped gather sticks at one point.

Here are the boys and the finished fort. Diego was so happy. This was just a few sticks when it started and they managed to find more sticks and leaves to make their cozy fort! Yea for beautiful days!!

Growing up

So my little guy is growing up. He has come to the ever independent stage where he wants to get dressed by himself, put his shoes and coat on, brush his teeth, get his own snacks/drinks...all by himself. Most of this is great except when we are in a hurry. Last night he surprised us by saying the family prayer all by himself!! Usually he wants help but last night when I tried to help he said "Noooo mom! I can do it myself!" And he did and it was precious! The picture above is of him holding his cousin Autumn, whom he loves a lot! Here they were watching tv together and she fell asleep on his lap. What a great big cousin! He is constantly making me laugh with his expressions and out-of-the blue comments. I'm glad this cutie is mine!!

Who needs girls!

So somehow as we were cleaning the boys' room today I ended up at the "Hair Salon de Christian" Girls, do you remember sitting in school on the floor for an assembly and your friend would be sitting beside you and she'd play with the hair of the girl in front of you and you secretly wished she'd play with yours?... or was that just me?! Well today for a good 45 minutes, I was treated to luxury by Christian and Anthony. Guess I don't need to have daughters to do hair with!

This one cracks me up...notice the concentration!

Anthony was too funny. He kept telling me he was a "dresser MAN" not a "dresser woman" (that would be his term for hairdresser). In this pic he is a "Dresser Man with a hood."

Making progress...

The finished product...notice all the blankets on me. They were so worried about their customer they wanted to make sure I was warm. What great customer service!

After all that, I think they needed to be manly and build something because I was called back to their room shortly after and found they had built a clubhouse.

Oh, what do you do?

What do you do when there is no power and the kids are freezing from being out in the snow a good portion of the day?

Diego decided to make a checkerboard. He got pretty good at the game after a few times and some hints. He really focused on this project which was a nice break....all the way around!

Boys and Brothers!

Christian went even as far as shining shoes for everyone...ahh that kid!

When the power had been off for a few hours we decided to get the candles and flashlights out just in case. Good thing we did. The boys loved eating by candlelight.

Anthony loved pretending to blow out the candles. Though he didn't love it when the candles we had going set the smoke detectors off...twice! At least the boys discovered what the detectors sounded like and if they hear that noise, what it means. A good learning moment!

When they plowed the street they took all the snow from the whole street and put it on the island in the middle of the street. This made for a 15 foot mountain which had the boys going crazy to get out there and climb it. I let them go at it today!

A Fun Friday

The weather finally warmed up to somewhere in the 50's on Friday so we took advantage. We headed out to the park to get out some much needed energy. Many parents had the same idea because it was crowded (even though you can't tell in the pics), but it did the trick. We made a fun day out of it going to Cici's pizza afterward for dinner and then a trip to the dollar store. We had a good day!

Christian was pretty proud of himself because he could do the monkey bars backwards. If you see in the picture the monkey bars go around in a circle and he was proud to show me he could go all the way around. The boy has some good arm muscles.

This is one of Diego's favorite things to do at the park. He was proud that he could get it going pretty good all by himself.

Here is our monkey! Every time he climbed he'd want his picture taken. He will do anything the older two will do.

Christmas!!

It has been a wonderful Christmas season for us. Christmas eve and day were no exception.

Here is Diego opening a game for the Wii that he really wanted. He was one happy camper.

Here is Christian with a favorite gift: the complete set of Indiana Jones movies. He came up to me later that night and said "Mom, the rule is: if you want to watch one of the movies you have to ask me first!"

After leaving Jose's parents we came home to get ready for Santa. Here the boys left their letters and goodies for Santa and the reindeer. They kept asking to add things to their lists.

Santa was good to them. They were all happy campers. Here is Christian in his Obi-Wan costume. He has yet to take it off and I'm thinking there is a good chance he will be sleeping in it!

Anthony was thrilled to get "Mac" from the movie Cars. He loves anything that has wheels but he has been asking for "Mac" for a long time.

So then it was off to Nana's for more presents. The day just keeps getting better!! Here is Anthony awaiting his gift. He looked so cute trying to keep his eyes closed.

And here is what he was waiting for: a giant trash truck. His cousin has one similar and loves to play with it when we go. Nana couldn't resist when she saw it at the store. He has been in heaven all day with his trash truck and "Mac."

I thought this picture was too cute. Sitting side-by-side playing their DS's...I love moments like this!

Here, Anthony is helping me listen to my new MP3 player giving his approval of songs. He loves his music!

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

A Photo Op

Last week my sister blessed her baby and since we were all looking snazzy we took her up on her offer to update a picture. Here are some of my favorites. Thanks Kelli!