Gingerbread Train

Every year when I was little my aunt would have us over to make gingerbread houses. It became a fun tradition that we all looked forward to. Tonight for Family Home Evening we had Marshall make a gingerbread train. As we were getting started he told me it was his favorite part of Christmastime. I wasn't going to do it this year but when I saw the train I couldn't resist and I'm glad I got it! He had such a fun time making it and was so proud of his finished product!!
As the tradition goes, all the kids would line up our houses to be judged. My aunt would cut out a bunch of prize "ribbons" like I did below. Then she and any adults would go along the table at each house and leave a unique award. For example some of mine have been "Best Teeter-Totter House," "Best Springtime in Winter House," or "Best use of Chocolate" for my dad's and "Best Martha Stewart House" for my cousin's. This year Marshall's award was "Most Colorful Train." Looks like I need to step up the creativity juices for next year! I'll have to call my aunt for inspiration. But he loved it anyway!

Ta Da! The finished product!

Coen...

He's CRaZy!!! Coen is so different than Marshall was. Sometimes I just watch him and wonder where he came from. He's so physical and loves to move, move, move. This toy shelf had to be moved so we could get the Christmas Tree in the living room. It's more accessible to climb than it was before and Marshall is always playing on top of it. Well, Coen sees him do it and tries and tries to do it himself. Then the other day he figured out that if he pulled the green bin out a little and climbed in there first he could get on top. What a silly monkey he is!!! He's fallen out a few times but I say let him learn.

Coen looooooves his brown & blue minky blanky. He sleeps with it every day & night and cuddles with it all day. Every nap time picture I have of him, it is right there next to his face. This picture is so funny because it looks like his arms are in fourth position.
Anyway, when he saw his blanky after it was done washing he tried and tried to pry the door open. I had to distract him while I moved it to the dryer.

Free Zoo Day

You know how they say it tastes better when it's free? Well...that's how I feel about the zoo. You don't have to worry if you're kids are cold or whiny and you have to leave an hour into it like you do if you pay full price. It's funner when it's free! Every last Wednesday of the month from November to March (maybe?) is free. So I called pretty much every mom I know and invited them. In the end it was only me and one other friend but my sister Riley was in town for Thanksgiving and came along. She's the best!! She has so much energy so the kids had a lot of fun. And, we didn't have to leave an hour into it, in fact we were there for about 2 1/2 hours!!! We bundled up and had a blast!

I made the mistake of being on time for once (shocker, I know!!!) We took pictures while we waited for my friend....


My siblings and I get totally weird when we take pictures together. The first couple are usually pretty normal...


But then....

I totally teared up when I pointed out the baby elephant nursing his mama!!!

comparing skull sizes, the only similarity here is that an elephant never forgets, but neither does Marshall, this kid has an awesome memory!

so funny with his "maf" aka: map
he carried it the whole time and pretended to follow it

I don't know how this got turned around, but what the heck, I'll leave it
update: it's a really cute picture and I couldn't leave it out, so it's at the top of the post because I don't want to drag it all the way down here.

update #2: okay, maybe I do because I can sometimes be a perfectionist

Marshall turned FIVE!!!!!

For the better part of a year Marshall has been talking about turning 5. "When I turn 5 I can (insert something he really wants to do)" "5 year olds know everything!" "Oh, yeah?! Well I'm almost 5!!" "When I turn 5 I get to make the rules." "I don't have to (insert something he doesn't like doing) when I'm 5!" As you can tell, he was really excited!!! The big day was December 1st.

Marshall and Coen woke up at 5:30 the morning of his birthday. No matter how hard we tried we could not persuade him to go back to bed. He knew there were presents waiting in the living room. I had been up late wrapping presents and was completely thrown off all day and didn't get to do some of the things I had planned. I could've killed him!!! You want their birthdays to be memorable and perfect, you know? He was grumpy and unpleasant so it made it hard to enjoy.

John and I both had to wait all day until after dinner to open presents and we hated the wait, so our tradition is to do it first thing in the morning. Marshall loves this. I lay all the presents out on the couch the night before. I put the safety gate up in the hallway, although now he's figured out how to climb over it but originally it was so he couldn't tear into the presents without me. Now, he asks me to put it up and I remind him to come wake me up first. holding up 5 fingers

So, we opened presents. He had been asking for Bendaroos like he'd seen on an info-mercial. Coen gave him these (actually Wikki-Stix, really similar). Let me just say, they are not as entertaining as he thought they'd be. I tried to warn him but those marketers know their kids!

the "bendaroos!"

We gave him an Erector set, a Curious George anthology (he loves George), a game called Toot & Otto (similar to Connect 4), Star Wars Jedi Math for his Leapster ($5 thanks to PYP), and a digital camera he had been asking for.

his very own camera!!!

In the afternoon my mom picked him up to play at her house while I took a nap with Coen. I got up a little too late and didn't have time to let the cake bake before heading out to dinner. So I called my mom and asked her to do it. In the meantime, John came home and we took Marshall to McDonald's at his request.

When we got back to Grammy's, Great Grandma Marshall was there to celebrate with us. My mom used the Ben Ten figures she was going to wrap and put them on the cake as a decoration with his 5 candles. Marshall was thrilled! My mom also gave him a Spy Kit, and dress up Spy Gear, including a jacket and bag she found at a second hand store (Marshall loves dressing up and pretend), a set of Lincoln Logs and Cowboy & Indian figures, and the Ben Ten guys. Great Grandma gave him a set of bubble blowers for the bath.

Then we sang our traditional Marshall family birthday song while he blew out all 5 candles (though not in the same breath). Needless to say he crashed as soon as we got him home and into bed. Love you, Marsh, Happy Birthday! You'll always be my first baby no matter how big you get!

Marshall's First Crush

Last week we set up a play date with Maddie, the girl I used to watch. All weekend Marshall asked when she was coming. On Sunday night when he asked, I told him she would be there the day after tomorrow. A few minutes later he asked, "Mom, can I take a bath the day after tomorrow?" I gave John's knee a squeeze as we exchanged a knowing look. "Sure," I replied, "Why do you want to bathe on that day?" "So I can smell clean and fresh for when Maddie comes," he said nonchalantly. I had to stifle a laugh. My Son the Ladies' Man!

Look at her! Who wouldn't be crushing?