Winter OIympics 2014

We celebrated a LOT during February. We had Chinese New Year, the Superbowl and the Winter Olympics all in the first week or so! The kids were loving all of the fun stuff we did. I was just loving the food. Just keeping it real.

I decided that I wanted to have a little party to celebrate the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. We made a paper chain out of the Olympic ring colors. I still have a bunch of strips leftover from our snake project from last Chinese New Year, so any time we can use our strips, we do. Here's what we did for Thanksgiving with more strips. And the leaves from Clark's family tree used these strips too!

For dinner we had Russian Blini. Oh. My. Goodness. Can I just say that I was instantly back in Russia when I took the first bite. The phrase for "blini with sweetened condensed milk" is one of the key phrases that I remember in Russian. That's how much I used to order them!! 

We used this recipe and they turned out so yummy. We had many different toppings to use: sweetened condensed milk (my favorite), strawberries, bananas, cream cheese fruit dip, chocolate spread, chocolate almond spread, chocolate hazelnut spread, powdered sugar, and maybe a few more things. I can't remember. It was fun to just try different combinations and see what we liked the best. I stand by my favorite of blini with sweetened condensed milk lightly dusted with powdered sugar on top. Oh, who are we kidding, you just load that thing up with powdered sugar! I won't be waiting until the next Russian Olympic games to make them though!

During the opening ceremonies, we played a little bingo game that I found online. It didn't last long. We really just liked talking about the different countries and guessing how many athletes each one would have. We had the globe out so we could find the different countries and we had google out so we could answer any of those tough questions Clark asked!

Clark really enjoyed the Olympics this year. Everyday he would follow the US on the app and see how many medals we won. He loved watching the videos of all of the new (to him) sports. He thought curling was hilarious. It was so fun to see how much he enjoyed the games. Made me love them more too!

Tubing Fun

Josh celebrated his tenth birthday at Villa Olivia for tubing. After the sadness of the forgotten snow pants, we all had a great time. Even if some of us were a little colder than others. Some of the group ready to go! 

Ready for some tubing fun!

Clark and Kent had the best time ever on the hill. Clark jumped right in and rode all by himself. Kent had to ride with an adult, but he didn't mind one bit! Jason had him hugging him for the first two or three rides. Then he turned him around to face forward and Kent just went crazy with excitement!

The best part...not having to walk up the hill. Minimal effort. Maximum fun.

Some fun shots of people coming down the hill. Thanks Gigi for taking them! Top to bottom, left to right: Clark, Boompa, Alvinia, Uncle Dave, Jason and Kent, me

And finally the birthday boy! I didn't see him out on the hill at all, but I saw him for a little bit at the restaurant afterwards. Happy Birthday Josh! Thanks for such a wonderful time!

Fizzy Eggs Experiment

Our winter break was extended due to the polar vortex. And while most of Chicagoland looked like this

We stayed nice and toasty working on our fizzy eggs. Clark watches YouTube a lot for Minecraft stuff, music videos and science experiments. He saw this video and knew that he wanted to try it out for himself. So we gathered our supplies and made some fizz eggs. I didn't have enough baking soda, so we used washing soda instead. It still fizzed but I don't think it made a good enough paste. The eggs were super hard to form.

Fizzy Eggs Part 1

Fizzy Eggs Part 2

And finally, my favorite video, Fizzy Eggs Part 3

Clark is anxious to do an entire series of science experiments and put them on YouTube. He is so funny!

It's Christmas!

Huh? Christmas was last month? Where does the time go? Christmas was lovely. I wanted desperately to buy Christmas pjs for us all this year, but I couldn't find anything that I even remotely liked. I had 8 yards of fabric from last year that I never used, so I pulled it out and made us some quick pjs pants. The kids' pants all turned out pretty good. The adult pjs had issues. Whatever. Slap a smile on your face and it's all good, right? I used this tutorial for the pj pants this year. It was super easy, but I have yet to find a decent method for making adult pj pants.

Christmas Eve we have a pajama party over at my parents' home. My dad had set up the train that he got for Christmas in 1957. The kids had a blast playing with it. It's amazing that it is in such great shape and runs well too. My mom made an amazing prime rib for dinner. I still think about it often it was so good. My iron must be low...dreaming about red meat! The kids played a left/right game with this story where we passed gifts around in a circle. Poor Kent was so confused and just wanted to open a present. After the game we watched the video that came with the book Christmas from Heaven. I would recommend the book, but now it's selling for $233! I certainly didn't pay that much!!

Then the gifts poured! It was certainly a football Christmas for Kent. Check out how excited he is for a chocolate football. Touchdown!! Clark loved his Kid Tough binoculars. I love the Kid Tough stuff. It really is tough.

A few more favorites...

We came home and the boys went right to bed. They did say they were going to stay up all night and listen for Santa. We told them that Santa wouldn't stop if they were awake. They weren't willing to risk it!

Santa came! Clark got a bean bag chair, diamond sword and pick axe, Lego Minecraft The Nether, Minecraft plush Creeper and Enderman, and some Minecraft guys. Kent got a bean bag chair, iron sword and pick axe, Bears football jersey and helmet, Minecraft plush Creeper and Enderman, and Bears Teammates. Kara got a Disney Princess Songs Palace. All of the kids got a Lionel Scout electric train set too. I can't wait to set that up each year!!

Look at me - I'm going to shoot my eye out! Opening gifts was a lot of fun. I just love seeing their faces get so excited about things. The best is when they actually stop to put it on, open it up, try it out. Then you know you picked out the perfect gift. Clark was very efficient at opening gifts. He stopped a few times to check things out, but knew that the ultimate purpose was to open things up as fast as he could and then check them out. Kent was v.e.r.y.s.l.o.w. at opening gifts. He wanted to open everything. Total overload. I felt bad rushing him at the end, but we had a busy day and had to move on!

Amidst the wreckage

Our next stop is over to Jason's parents house. We have a nice breakfast while we're there and then all migrate to the front room for gifts. Jason claimed his spot on his "sick chair."  I was handing out gifts most of the time, so there aren't many pictures from this presentfest, but it was fun! Cam made Wendy a beautiful shelf for the family room and he also got her wedding ring fixed. She was in tears! Such a fun morning!

We headed back home to get the sweet potato casserole in the oven and to meet my mom and dad. They came over with another one of Kent's gifts that was too big for Christmas Eve. They made him some PVC uprights for the backyard! I can't wait to try them out when it warms up a bit! They also brought over Jason's Thundercats Lair. Seriously. I could tell he was pretty bummed on Christmas Eve when he didn't get the Lair. He KNEW that my mom was going to get it for him, but he didn't open it up. He was okay with it and decided that he would just buy it with his Christmas cash. My mom likes to make him sweat I think, so she waited until Christmas Day to bring it over. He was very happy!! Like a kid on Christmas?! Clark also took a few minutes to try out his snowboard from Jason. He's since tried it on a lot of snow and loves it!

Our final Christmas stop is by Jason's Gram's house. We went and a lovely dinner and gifts. The boys were playing after dinner near the pool table. They weren't really being rough or anything. Kent bumped into the pool table and started crying. Jason went over slowly to see what was the matter. He looked kind of shocked and took him to the bathroom. I figured it was just a bloody lip which is pretty common with these boys. A few minutes later I went to the bathroom to check on him and there was blood everywhere! His gums were all black and blue and then I wiggled his tooth. It was loose! I was hoping it would just be kind of loose, but by the time we were done with presents it had fallen out. He was a trooper through the whole thing. I was probably more of a wreck than he was. My little hillbilly!

After a few phone calls to dentist friends, we realized there was nothing we could do. We took him to the dentist the following morning and they said his remaining teeth looked fine and that there was no damage. He was kind of excited to get the first visit to the tooth fairy in our house. She even brought $5 since it was knocked out! I guess we have to get used to this one tooth wonder!

Merry Christmas - a month later!!

Holiday Highlights

I thought I might take the rest of our pre-Christmas photos and compile them into holiday highlights reel instead of them each being their own post.

The Christmas Lights Polar Express

This was so much fun! When Clark and Dad got home (and Kara was fed) we gave each of the boys a ticket for the Christmas Lights Polar Express. I punched them with my favorite teeny paper punch just like in the movie. We made a stop at McDonald's for drive thru dinner and set out for Elburn, IL. Seriously, it seemed as far as it would have to go to the North Pole. 

We watched a few episodes of The Great Christmas Light Fight and saw the Larsen's house on the show. They won the prize for the night and we knew we had to go see it. In the long drive, we had enough time to eat dinner, read a book, fall asleep...you name it. The lights did not disappoint. I was hoping we would have been able to see more or do more, but Kent kept saying that he had to go to the bathroom. We don't mess around when he says he has to go to the bathroom. We're hoping his bladder control gets a little better for next year's show! After the lights we of course had to have some hot chocolate while listening to the song from the movie. That was Clark's idea. He's so funny!

Clark's Class Christmas Party

Clark's teacher is so nice to invite all of us to school events. Kent, Kara and I all went to Clark's Christmas party to have cookies and take pictures by the fireplace. I'm so glad he loves his class. Kent loved hanging out at his school too. He found these little blue papers that you could see through and was checking out how they made the everything look. Clark even made us a Christmas card - love the spelling on the card. I used to sign my name "Merry" on Christmas cards, but I think his version of "Mary Christmas" works too!

Our Christmas Tree

I didn't hate our Christmas tree this year as much as last year. It looks so sad though. It's no longer pre-lit and the extra lights that we put on this year just weren't enough as you can see on the bottom rung. But we're holding out to buy a new one after Kara goes through her toddler years. I'm just hoping this tree is going to make it!

Kara's Christmas Dress

I was so glad that I was able to make Kara's Christmas dress this year. With the way things were going, I thought I was going to have to buy one. That wouldn't have been a terrible thing. But I just really wanted to make one for her. I even found this shop that sells cute dress patterns for infants. I made the Ella Dress. I figure the boys just have to deal with having a silly picture here. This one showed off Kara's dress the best.

A Season of Excess

I have seriously felt the excess this season. It's everywhere. Smeared all over Kent's face in the form of cake batter and on Clark's plate for Sunday lunches. His new favorite sandwich...the triple decker. I am so grateful for a January of Simplicity after the December of Excess.

The Loyal Order of the Water Buffaloes Christmas Party

I should have declined the work of putting together a Christmas party for Jason's friends, but I always love a good party. And to be fair...Jason did most of the work despite having to work crazy long hours too. Dave was even kind enough to wear the shirt I made the group for their first Christmas party 3 or 4 years ago. I think he's the only one that still fits in his shirt!

Next up...Christmas!

The Writing in the Snow

Clark was so excited to see a note written in the snow! He stepped in the message and then started yelling for me to come see the message. Thanks dad for a little bit of fun as Clark starts his day!

Paint Stick Snowmen

I originally thought this was way too early to be making a snowman craft, but since we've already had our first snowfall I say bring it let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! This was a super easy craft that didn't take that much time and was pretty easy for the kids with a little bit of help from the grown ups. We actually did these for our Super Saturday at church and my mom had some sticks left over so the kids got to make some.

Supplies:

Paint sticks

White paint

buttons

black foam (free hand cut to a hat shape)

brown pipe cleaners (make snowman arms)

googly eyes

scrap piece of fabric

foam brush

hot glue and gun

Step 1: Paint the paint stick white and allow to dry (check out the concentration on these two!)

Step 2: The picture clearly shows me using tacky glue which did work, but I think hot glue would have been quicker and it works better for the pipe cleaners on the back. So...

Attach the hat, eyes and buttons to the front of the snowman.

Step 3: Attach the pipe cleaner arms to the back using hot glue. The tacky glue didn't work at all! The best part about crafting with boys is that you just never know what you're going to get. Kind of like that box of chocolates...! I would never have made a 4 eyed snowman like Clark or put the snowman's hat on upside down like Kent did. It's always fun to see how they interpret things!

They both loved their snowmen so much! We added a pipe cleaner hanger to the back and they are proudly on display in their bedroom. I can't help but smile when I see them!

Our Zombie Snowman

...or what I like to call "another reason we should rake leaves in the fall"

With all of our new snow, a new snowman was in order. Jason tested out the snow and knew that this was going to be a much bigger and better snowman than Iceman. Making the snowballs was a cinch...getting them where  they needed to go...that was another story!

He lost the first belly section to the forces of gravity. Spilled guts and everything.

I think he can. I think he can.

Maybe he can't. The second seemed to be going the same way. He tried to enlist the help of the boys, but neither of them were really interested. But he was going to make that snowman if it was the last thing he did.

I went in to stir dinner and came out to victory! He had managed to get the second section up. Now the problem was getting it to stay there.

Meet Rambo (his head is too big to wear a hat, so he only gets a headband)

More fun in the snow. Kent shoveled lots of grass.

Manifestation of my new flamingo obsession.

Making a New Friend

The boys made a new friend this weekend! Meet Ice Man. It's funny how even something as simple as building a snowman can be powered up when you let DAD help the boys.

First you need to roll a nice big snowball.

Then you roll two more!

Stack the balls from largest to smallest. Ask for help when the ball is too big! Teamwork!

Step back and admire your project. You have worked very hard.

Gather some warm weather gear, a face and some arms.

Ta da! Take a picture with your new friend.

Wait...there's more? I don't remember any other steps...enter the man's guide to building a snowman.

Fortify your friend's resolve by spraying him down with a nice thin layer of water. Be sure to cover him completely so that no one can push him down and he nearly lasts forever.

Now you're finished. Well, I guess that is open for debate. I did have to nix a few more ideas involving Kool Aid, ladders, heavy machinery and loads of other costume options. I also got to listen to stories of snowmen gone before. Ahhh...the carefree days. This picture makes me so happy.

Hello Ice Man. I hope you can stay for a while.

These boys LOVE playing in the snow. I don't know how they can withstand the cold for so long. It's so fun to watch them though...as I'm sitting in the house sipping hot chocolate.

Hey look...a token picture of me. I was there too. Not that this is a super flattering pose...and I needed some of that heavy machinery to help me get out of my snow chair, haha!