January 2012

Happy New Year!

 We rang in the 2012 playing games!  Memory!  Candy Land!  Uno!  
Ben & Tommy even stayed up until midnight!  It was so much fun watching the "Ball Party"  (What the boys called Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve Party).  

Our first trip in the new year was to the Wisconsin Dells!  We had so much fun!

 Pete and Jesse came over to play!  They made the boys room into a giant tent!  We took them to one of our favorite restaurants-  where your food is delivered by train!

 We then went to the arcade...where Uncle Pete and Dad had to show off their bumper-car skills!

 and their racing skills....

 And Jesse showed us how to hit the jackpot....TWICE!

 We also got to check out the indoor waterpark!  

Tommy & Dad hanging out in the wave pool

 Grandpa & Tommy liked to float with the waves.... 

while Uncle Jonny and Ben went after the "big ones"

We got to go "Tubing" in the water....

and in the snow!  

Tommy didn't enjoy the ride so much 

 Mom & Tommy tried one more time.  

1/2 way down the slopes Tommy started yelling "This is really not so much fun!"  

Ben even tried skiing for the first time!  

Not to be outdone by his older brother... Tommy wanted to ski too!

Warming up with hot cocoa  (no... there is not any Kahlua...that was for Mom, Aunt Becky & Grandma!) 

It was then back out to the slopes-  Grandma had fun giving Nora and Tommy their own tubing ride (a bit slower than the big ride in the background!)

 "The Men"  Play cards :-)  
Dad, Uncle Jonny, Uncle Joe and Grandpa had fun teaching the boys how to play different card games. 

 The boys had fun drinking root beer with the guys.    

 During January, it was unseasonably warm... for Minnesota, that means 10-40 degrees....  however, for one day.... Zumbrota-Mazeppa schools were closed for a SNOW DAY!!!!  I had recently found the wonderfulness of Pinterest and with that...so many different activities!  While the boys watched cartoons in their jammies, I secretly got the hallway ready....

 With LASERS!!! (yarn taped to the walls).  I then ran into the living room telling the boys there was an emergency... They had to go from the living room to Ben's room (The room at the end of the hall) without touching the lasers.  Once in Ben's room, they had to make it back to the living room.  

 We rescued stuffed animals and timed each other to see who could get through the lasers the fastest.  The boys wanted me to keep the lasers up for the entire day...

 which I did, until Tommy needed to go to the bathroom (the bathroom is the door on the right)...then they came down....quickly.  

 After lunch, I had another activity for the boys.  It involved marshmallows and toothpicks.  I gave them each their piles and let them build whatever they wanted!  


Tommy created "a dinosaur."

While Ben created "a church."

It was so interesting watching how they decided what to build and how it was executed.  After we made our creations, we had to have a little snack :-)  

Wow!  What an exciting month!  What will February bring?!  (Besides one extra day!)