Saturday, October 31, 2009

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Have a safe, fun and HAPPY HALLOWEEN from Mario and Luigi!

!both

!mario       !luigi
Photos courtesy of Stylized Portraiture.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Things You Don't Say to Your Wife Song

I just thought that during trying times it might be god to have a little chuckle, and with all great humor there is so much truth behind it. I hope you enjoy it. Happy Halloween!


Saturday, October 24, 2009

Touch a Truck Day

Two posts in one day, you know we have been having fun today. Our city area sponsored a "Touch a Truck" day for the kids to come out and see all the coolest vehicles from around town. We went last year and T loved it. Q was still a tiny baby and was stroller bound the whole time, so she had a much better time this year. She was just thrilled to be out of the house on an adventure. A whole parking lot filled with stuff to run around was just what she had hoped for.

T was very interested in the vehicles this year. The winners for capturing his attention were: (I think I heard a drum roll.)

1. Ambulance  (Also a winner last year.)

2. Dump truck

3. Tow Truck

4. Bomb Squad Robot

5. Sewer dept.'s sewer robot (Used for looking for broken pipes. Had a camera so he could see himself on the monitor. Small, but very cool.

6. Fire truck

7. Sheriffs dept.'s van.

Q on the other hand liked the city bus the best. She kept wanting to walk over to it. We let her go in twice and pretend ride it. She also liked the postal carriers truck and the ambulance. Any vehicle she can run around in I guess was good for her.

Here are some pictures of their adventure.

[caption id="attachment_775" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Back of the postal carrier truck."]Back of the postal carrier truck.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_776" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Fire Truck"]Fire Truck[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_777" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="T driving the Tow Truck"]T driving the Tow Truck[/caption]

It was a great afternoon, and everyone went home worn out from all the exploring.

Build and Grow Workshop - October

Time once again for the build and grow update. Twice a month Lowes presents a Build and Grow Workshop for kids. T loves to go and loves the projects. Today's project was a Frankenstring Magic Trick. (Pull the string out one side and it is red. Pull it out the other side and it is green. WOW, That IS magic! )

[caption id="attachment_762" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Finished Frankenstring Magic Trick"]Finished Frankenstring Magic Trick[/caption]

Going to these projects is a lot of fun for both of us. T is always excited about getting a new toy, and I get to spend that elusive quality time helping him learn to swing a hammer. Each week he gets a little better at hammering in the nails. sometimes he hammers longer, sometimes he just wants to start them and passes the heavy hammering on to me. For example:


[caption id="attachment_766" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Easy to follow instructions"]Easy to follow instructions[/caption]

T and I follow the simple instructions. They have nice pictures as well to make it even easier to follow.

T hammers just as much as he can until he notices the nail no longer going in any further. At that point he hands me the hammer and I get to wail away on it until it is set. T does final detail work with stickers and we are on our way home to show mommy our new toy. How much cooler can it be.

[caption id="attachment_767" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Hammer Away!"]Hammer Away![/caption]

Once again, our thanks to Lowes for putting on the Build and Grow Workshops each month. If you would like to attend one with your child, check out lowes.com, go to How To tab and select build and grow. As far as I know they are always free. Just sign up, print out the parent permission slip and show up.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Lowe's Build and Grow Workshop II

We went to our second build and grow workshop today. The project today was a ball toss game. T loves to go, and told me that this was the best time he has ever had at Lowes. I thought the fire truck might have been the better of the two, but apparently a game that comes with two free balls beats a fire truck in the four year old world. The whole project had six nails, so it only took us a few minutes to complete it. T enjoys hammering in small doses. He hammers a few times, looks concerned and then hands me the hammer. I hammer it in the rest of the way and he tries the next nail. After the nails were all in, T then felt the need to spend a few minutes testing out the balls, and threw them at the game. This led to a few minutes of chasing the balls across the floor of Lowes. All good fun though. He received another Build and Grow patch to sew on his shop apron.

[caption id="attachment_756" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Assembling the ball toss game"]Assembling the ball toss game[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_758" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Ready to Play"]Ready to Play[/caption]