Lego Olympics

The boys took the Olympics to heart this year. Watched them as often as they could and recreated many of the events at home with their Legos and Playmobile. I did not get any pics of the Playmobil Olympics but those were the summer events. The took the plane and carried all the guys and their stuff up our stairs and we had the summer events on our stairway and upstairs hallway. Quite inventive they were! I've gotten use to finding playmobile, legos and hot wheels ALL over the house!! I have to laugh sometimes when I find them in my makeup drawer in the bathroom, parked in between our bikes in the dining room and lined up in our kitchen.

Back to the Snoop Olympics...the boys went winter Olympics with Legos. They especially loved the bobsled and luge. Kaden has been fond of bobsledding for a long time and loves watching it. His 1st derby car was a bobsled even. Here are some of their creations!

Splitting up

Last weekend we were quite busy! Kaden had a cub scout campout from friday evening till sunday morning. Salem had a merit badge class from 9-3 on Saturday and then he had a campout until sunday morning. Kaden's event required a parent the whole time, Salem's merit badge required a parent so Keith and I split up. Keith took Salem for the weekend and I took Kaden. Having only 1 car Keith became out taxi driver! He dropped Kaden and myself off at camp and left :( The next day Keith and Salem headed down to Iowa City for the merit badge class. After that Keith dropped Salem off at his campout and enjoyed a quiet evening alone. Sunday he picked up us and then we all picked up Salem. The timing was perfect the whole weekend! Hectic but all went well and I'm glad we were able to do it all!

Kaden's campout went very well, I was quite concerned. It was the 1st campout for these boys and the people scheduling it. There was another mom with me so that was nice. The weather was tolerable. Chilly and icy/snowy (already on the ground) but Saturday when all the outside stuff was planned was sunny!! We slept in a lodge with 2 fireplaces/furnaces that kept us very warm!! The lodge was winterized so no running water, had to use the latrine or porta potty (depending on how far you wanted to walk) and boil water on the stove to clean dishes and wash hands. So while we were inside, it was more roughing it than what I thought. I loved it though!!

The boys completed some pins for Webelos and had lots of free time. I think they enjoyed themselves! They had a full cord of wood dropped off that they had to carry down a big hill and refill the stockpile. The kids (and adults) were required to do chores each day. Also the last night we had a campfire and Kaden taught everyone a song, he also organized a couple kids to do a skit with him! There were no major injuries, 1 bloody nose for Kaden about 20 minutes after we arrived. And I burned my finger cooking breakfast that required some cream and a bandaid. Otherwise I think everyone else was just fine!

Salem's merit badge was boring says Keith and Salem. He chose Space Exploration to earn. Keith and Salem agreed going to Kennedy Space Center last summer taught them more than the class did. They launched 2 rockets for the whole class of 30 kids, so they didn't even build their own. Most of the class was large group talking and some small group talks. Not hands on anything :( I guess we could have done that one at home, oops. But for all the other kids it was a new stuff I'm sure. Not everyone has the bonus of being able to go to NASA. Well, now he has officially earned the badge though, so that is a plus.

So overall a great weekend! Busy, but better than sitting around bored!

Our most recent ice storm

Yesterday the kids had a scheduled day off school for professional development for the teachers. Good thing as we got hit with ICE! The morning started fine, but every school in the area closed due to what was to come! Ha another day they have to make up that we don't! We had a fun day out of it! Salem had a friend spend the night before so they played video games for a while then his friend went home and we went outside. Everything was covered in 1/4-1/2" of ice! Made for fun sliding! I chopped at the ice along the sidewalk but left the driveway for the kids to play on. They broke out the sleds, snowboards, skateboards, scooters...all sorts of stuff to go down it!

Eagle watching

Last weekend we drove down to the Coralville Dam to see some Eagles and boy did we ever!! Estimate of 50 adult and juvi's flying around! What a beautiful bird to watch!! Here are a couple of my favorite pics! Look closely at the 1st and 3rd pic, they have a fish!

Welcome Frappuccino!

Facebook is funny...for many many reasons. This one being a friend of ours posted asking if anyone wanted a guinea pig. I've been wanting to get a pig or hamster for a while now, but haven't actually gotten around to doing more than wanting. But if we got one the kids would have to help of course! So I message this friend to get details. Ends up the person with the pig is our neighbor, how funny is that! The neighbor is having financial problems (ha who isn't) and has to really really cut back on everything. Their guinea pig had to go! I send Salem over to check it out, Kaden had a rough day and was taking a nap, then I also went over. Keith said he didn't care as long as he didn't have to take care of it. No probs the kids and I had that covered. Keith took care of the fish anyway! So Salem and I come home carrying the guinea pig :)

He's honestly not the one I would have picked out, but he is a cutie, and was free! We just have to get a big cage for him and his food.

We've had him for almost 2 weeks now. He loves veggies and fruits! Green lettuce, cucumbers, apples, carrots, grapes! Loves his hay too, especially the tickle strands. I don't know the real word for them, but when we go hiking Kaden picks the tickle weeds and tickles us.

Frappy has been fun to have around the house, he's quiet unless Kaden pets him wrong, which we're working on! Kaden has been really good about feeding him in the morning and helping change his cage. Salem doesn't seem to be too interested in the rat, but that's ok.

Happy 2010!!

Happy New Year! Here's to a VERY healthy and happy 2010!

The days after pics

Here are a couple pics of how his lip has been healing! Wednesday the swelling was the worst! It looked like Botox surgery gone really really wrong!

Here is today Thursday, the swelling has gone down greatly (compared to yesterday) In this pic he is pushing his lip out so it looks more swollen. The outside has all scabbed up. The inside is still healing. His teeth are still sore, can't chew or bit with them. So anything he eats has to be in tiny pieces to avoid the front/bottom teeth.