Chopsticks for Kids

As soon as we arrived in Billings, Nanny gave the boys their own learning set of chopstick. They look like giant clothes pins. I didn't think they'd be able to use them until they were a bit older but they surprised the heck out of me!

This is what they look like, but in brown : )

On Monday night for Perry's 27th (!) birthday, Perry, the boys, grandma & I went out to eat at our usual spot, Bamboo Chopstix. The best chinese food in Missoula by far! And I of course brought along the chopsticks! They did awesome! Here's a video of JP demonstrating his skills...and he only had a couple practice bites before I started the video!

Graduation Weekend in Billings

Last weekend my younger sister Robin graduated from Rocky Mountain College in Billings. The boys and I headed east to join in all the fun! Before we left Friday afternoon with Aunt Kim, I woke up early to finish up Robin's cake....errr start to decorate Robin's cake. I had a *very* trying morning attempting to create a cake and watch the boys at the same time...I'm just glad it's a new day!

I did think ahead and baked the cake a few weeks in advance, but left the decorating until the day of. Typical me - always pushing the deadline! I had a few struggles with it, but here's the finished product!

It didn't have enough time to set up in the fridge so the page edges ended up drooping. I believe I had to "open" the book about 3 times before I was done messing with it. Clearly didn't think everything out!

She loved it! : )

Kile was able to make it over for the weekend as well so the four of us (along with Nanny and Papa) spent the weekend together celebrating.

Here's her cheering section!

Hunter had a *very* hard time sitting still so soon after graduation started, Nanny took him out to run around and left him with "some college kid." My heart sank when she returned without Hunter, and sank again when she said she left him with a stranger....so I went to retrieve him. Upon my return, Jimmy was passed out!

Here's Aunt Bobbie getting her college diploma! She graduated Summa Cum Laude (with a gpa between 3.8-4.0)!

These boys were pretty excited to stand in front of the Rocky bear.

By the end of night, these two little buggers were SO tired! JP somehow stayed up until about 11:15 - probably because of all the cookies he ate! Hunter passed out around 10 watching Veggie Tales. And, for the most part, they were troopers on the way home! I'm so glad Kim was able to ride with me - made the drive a lot more manageable!

Almost Finished Laundry Room

Although it would have been MUCH easier to have painted the laundry room before the cabinets went up, I sucked it up and painted around them. 

I'm not sure how I came to the colors I picked out, but I really like them!

To finish it up a bit more, Perry added a cap to the ledge to tie the room together. The only thing that is left now is adding the trim around the door and the bottom of the walls. If we end up staying in Missoula, I might be able to convince him to make me a collapsible table so I can have more folding room!

Here's the old colors : Purpley-gray and green...ick.

Any suggestions for wall art for my new laundry room?

A Day on the Town with Aunt Kim

Our schedules finally matched up this week where we both had the day off. Little JP has been calling Aunt Kim on his play phone for the last week. Hunter has been as well, but he actually has conversations with the imaginary Aunt Kim. It sounded like they were missing her a bit!

We met up at my house and headed downtown to the Carousel. Last summer Perry and I took the boys there and they were not too fond of it. Hunter sat with me in a chariot and JP had death grip on the horse. I was delighted when this go round they both we all enjoyed it! 

JP seemed a little hesitant about the whole thing so he rode with me.

The cool thing about the Carousel downtown is that the entire thing is hand carved and is one of the fastest carousels in the nation! There is a dragon that "spits" out rings every ride, and if you get the last ring, which is golden, I believe you get a free ride. It was mine for the taking and I missed it! Hunter enjoyed holding the ones I got before though!

From there we went next door to Dragon's Hollow, a play park. I've never been here before, just because I've been afraid of losing Hunter. I was happy to know the place is pretty much enclosed!

 The place is full of stairs and tunnels and slides. It's pretty cool! I explored it too and even went down one of the slides with JP!

JP found a slide that he REALLY liked - it was rather steep, enclosed, and ended about 2 feet off the ground, so he would literally shoot out of the slide. He loved it! He's usually not very daring so this caught me off guard a bit. He normally sticks to the open ones where he can see the end.

Hunter had a hay day! He is such a social kid calling everyone he sees his friend. To him, everyone's name is  "My Friend." It didn't surprise me at all when he found some kids to run around with, girls none-the-less!

These boys have so much fun together!

After playing around for a while, we took a walk down to the Big Dipper for some ice cream! I have a little fear of heights, so crossing the Higgins bridge made me a little sick when I looked over! Busy street on one side and river below...not fun for me!

JP doesn't quite understand the concept of licking his ice cream - he likes to suck on the top and make a mess. Silly boy!

 These are my sugar-rushed kids...yay!

With no naps today, these boys were exhausted by the time we got home!

 I put in a movie just before dinner, and Hunter was holding his eyes open!

Do I need to mention they passed out at 7pm. Feels like a record compared to Hunter's normal 2 hour "fight bedtime" routine!

P.S. Thanks for the matching Hawaii shirts Nanny!

Skull and Crossbones Cake

I'm happy to report this is my first "girl" cake! I love how it turned out too! A co-worker of mine, who is on maternity leave, sent me a text in panic mode asking if I could make a cake for her daughter's 5th birthday, which was in 2 days. Initially I thought it would be pretty easy to create...and it was! The cake on the other hand....not so easy!

I don't know what it is about me forgetting the parchment paper on the bottom! I made a large 10x14 cake and then it stuck to the bottom so only half came out! I thought I would just "glue" it together but the second half was just stuck in the pan. So my idea of getting a head start on Tuesday was a complete bust. Hunter didn't seem to mind eating the mistake cake!

Her mom sent me a picture of a cute black and purple skull and crossbones, but I knew black was going to be a BIG challenge for me and with the limited time I had, I didn't even want to attempt it! I ended up drawing my own skull and crossbones and then cut them out to trace around on the fondant I used.

I'm not very skilled with frosting cakes so I decided to try my hand at it this go around. I didn't do too bad! I didn't quite make enough frosting, but just enough to get by. More would have been less stressful! And as soon as I finished frosting it, I tipped over my mixer bowl on to the cake...and had to start over. This is when I decided that I was going to need to open a bottle of wine...

Perry came home at 1a for his "dinner" break and found me dancing and singing in the kitchen. Hunter slept right through it on the couch : ) I finished cleaning up my kitchen at 3am and fell immediately asleep! Here's how it turned out!

Easter

Happy *late* Easter everyone!

We didn't do much for Easter this year. I had to work until 3 and Perry worked until 8a and then slept in the afternoon and woke up just in time for the Easter Egg Hunt in the backyard.

The boys were so excited to open their Easter baskets from Grandma.

Tried to get a picture of the boys with their buckets before they went out to find eggs. Kim and Ray pulled up so the boys got a bit curious and it was all over from there once they got out of the car. 

 JP was a good little egg finder!

 Especially when compared to his brother, who insisted on showing Uncle Ray Ray how he can jump...

 ...And do a somersault...

 ...and find things other than the eggs...

                                       ...and tell all about the broken one that Roxy got into!

But he still ended up with more than JP!

Poop on the Walls

About a month ago, I came home to a little mess in the boys' room. I was so disgusted with them!

 Poor Winnie the Pooh (no pun intended!) suffered too.

 And I had to shampoo the carpet...

Yesterday I came home to something similar...except instead of clearly just smearing it around, they were literally throwing it. 

 I somehow missed the *mother load* in this picture, but it was in the top right, both on the ceiling and the wall.... 

 I will admit, I did giggle a little when I saw Hunter chuck one at the wall.

 You can't really see it on the car, but it's wheels were covered. 

I had to use an SOS pad to scrub the walls...and then I threw it out of course!