A Few Updates and Some General Silliness ...

So, here's something that I'm sure the boys will want to kill me for posting when we look back on this moment sometime in the distant future. But, I just can't help myself -- this was just too cute to pass up! Although we are still very far from being officially potty-trained, the boys are making some progress. They've taken to doing tandem potty sessions. Hey, it doesn't matter to me as long as they are trying! They also must both have reading material (even if Gage's is upside down!)

We are also working on finally breaking Riley's binky habit since he will be 3 in March. We decided to go with clipping the end off since cold turkey was proving to be way too traumatic (yes, yes -- probably more so on ol' mom than on Riley -- what can I say? I'm a softie.) Anyhow, the first time after we gave Riley the snipped binky he promptly stated very matter-of-factly, "Hey! This binky is broken! I want no broke binky!" We then advised him that because he was so big, the binky's were breaking and we didn't have any more that were not broken. He seemed fine with that and didn't even pitch a fit. It has been 5 days now and he still occasionally requests his beloved bink, but after putting it in his mouth, he pretty much just tosses it about 30 seconds later. He has even fell asleep the past 2 nights without even putting it in his mouth. He has been content just to hold it! Yay!!!! Soon it will be bye bye stinky binky for good = )

Otherwise, our week and weekend have pretty much just been the usual. However, I can tell we are all starting to have some major cabin fever. Spring please come soon! We did venture to McDonald's PlayLand on Saturday for a while to let the boys get out some of their ya-ya's. That place is always so crazy! But, the boys love it = ) Gage especially loved it this time. Since he is still fairly little compared to most of the kids there, he has usually just climbed inside the bouncy room and jumped like a mad man. Well, this weekend, he finally ventured up into the tube climbing structure and made his way to the twisty "tornado" slide. Well, that's all it took, he was hooked! He probably made his way back and forth no less than 20 times before we left. And trust me, that is no small feat! As you can probably imagine, he slept very well that night = )

Here's a couple more random pictures from the weekend:

Dinosaur war - Rawr!!!!!

Riley stole mom's socks and thinks he's hot stuff! He's right = )

And finally, a silly little video. I can't believe I was letting them do this -- oh my poor curtains -- but, again, the cabin fever thing is getting to all of us. Plus, they were having so much fun! And this is only a glimpse ... they literally continued this little game for almost 30 minutes! By the end, all of our sides hurt from constant giggling!

It's like trying to herd cats ...

I've heard this saying before and always thought that it was really just quite silly. There was even a Super Bowl commercial a few years ago depicting the scenario ... and I remember while watching it thinking that the computer generated graphics were pretty cool, but that the whole premise seemed rather ridiculous. Well, this was obviously all before I had children. With 2 boys that are well-entrenched into the "terrible two" phase, each and every day I find myself reflecting upon this cat herding phrase. I love cats. I even have two of them. But, I can't make them do a darn thing that I want them to no matter how hard I try. They just keep on doing whatever their little cat hearts desire. That is also how I feel about my two very strong-willed boys way more often than I care to admit. This morning seemed to be particularly exasperating with both Riley and Gage fleeing in opposite directions while I tried to wrangle them into our routine. I'd like to say I won, but I'm not quite sure that would be an honest assessment. Anyhow, this is mostly just rambling I needed to get off of my chest. I suppose I should be thankful that my boys are free thinkers who want to do things their own way instead of following the herd mentality. However, I wouldn't reject a little more of their cooperation from time to time, that's for sure! Ahhh, the joys of motherhood = )

Beer Hocks, Buddies, and Buying a New Ride ...

Well, I'm working backward from the title here, so sorry for any confusion! So, Corey and I have been going back and forth and back and forth about getting a mini-van for a while. I was very reluctant at first, because, let's face it -- when you enter the min-van club, you really kind of lose any sense of youth and/or hipness that you've been holding on to. No? Ok, maybe that's just my perception. Anyhow, I started doing quite a bit of online research the past couple of weeks and this week we started test driving. That's pretty much all it took. The damn things are just so functional, I could no longer deny the practicality of getting one. So, after much debate, we finally agreed on a model that we could afford. It's pretty plain jane, not a lots of bells and whistles, but it sure is a welcome addition. It has already proven itself to be handy and the kids love it! Here's the new wheels ...

Our good friends Corey and Jen, along with their son, Cooper, came up to visit us this weekend. We had such a good time hanging out with them. In preparation for their arrival, the boys helped me make bierocks -- or as Riley calls them "beer hocks." And boy, does he love his "beer hocks!" He ate 3 whole ones all by himself this weekend!!! Not all at once, of course, but still, he did us proud = )

Our friend Corey's birthday is next week, so we of course had to make another cake while they were here. Riley, Gage, and Cooper all helped and did an excellent job of taking turns with the measurements, pouring, stirring, and beating. What good boys -- they are getting to be such pros! And Riley for sure has deemed Cooper his good buddy. Coop is about a year and a half older than Riley, so everything he did, Riley wanted to emulate. Too cute! As Jen and I were catching up on some girl talk, we noticed that things had gotten pretty quiet so we went to investigate. We couldn't find the boys anywhere until Gage helped point them out. They had emptied all of the toys out of the toybox and closed the lid. We couldn't believe they both fit in there! Here's a pic of the little squirrels hanging out inside the box ...

Here's another buddy pic, this time of Riley and Gage. I love it when I can actually get a photo of them together. They are both usually in constant motion, which makes this task expectedly difficult. Thus, I really relish any time everything seems to fall into place = )

Cute pic, huh? Yep, I think so, too. However, what was NOT so cute was the screaming wrestling match that took place about 1 minute after I snapped this. Riley wanted to keep posing and Gage did not. So, Riley tried to manhandle him and was basically putting him in a chokehold. Well, Gage did not appreciate this, so he bit Riley and got him on the ground. Although I did contemplate taking a photo of the skirmish before me, I deemed it more appropriate to break up the battle before serious injury occurred. Brothers!

Another weekend gone too quick ...

Ahhhh, well, here it is again, Sunday night. The kids are down, and Corey's about to be. So, I'm sitting here reflecting on what a great weekend we had and wishing we were back at the beginning instead of the end. But, I can't figure out how to get my kids to consistently use the potty, let alone time travel, so I guess this is it.

Anyhow, this Saturday was just about as good as it gets. We started out the morning the usual way -- all of us hanging out, snuggling and watching cartoons, and having a big breakfast. We then got ready and headed to the store to do our weekly grocery shopping. Even though this trip is often hectic and I dole out several threats of removed privileges and toys throughout, it is also still wonderfully fun. We get to the store around 9am and the first thing we do is head to the bakery department. This is where the boys get their complimentary cookie. Yep, I let them eat a cookie at 9 in the morning and am not apologetic about it. It really helps make at the least the first half of the shopping excursion go extremely smoothely. About 3/4 of the way through the trip the sugar kicks in for Gage and he wants out of the cart pronto. Luckily, they have a great book aisle, so Corey does super daddy duty and takes our little redhead over to check out the selections. Riley also decides he needs out of the cart about now, but he wants to help mommy shop. That is if shopping means running up and down the aisles as fast as possible to find the brightest packaged item and see if he can sneak it into the cart. Sometimes this works, but mostly it is just a way for him run off some steam. We occasionally get some dirty looks from other patrons, but mostly we get smiles from the older shoppers with comments like, "boy, he is full of energy" or "what a great helper you have!" I also get many "knowing" looks from other moms that understand that sometimes the kids just need to run. As long as he stays in my sight and doesn't bother anyone or anything else, I figure no harm no foul, especially since this doesn't occur until about the last 3 aisles anyhow. So, now we meet up with Corey and Gage and head to the checkout. Ugggh, there is a long line of full carts. I give the boys a lecture about staying put as we are almost done and need to be respectful of others. Just then, a lovely young lady taps my shoulder and says, "Ma'am, I can help you right over her." Yay! Jackpot! I love when this happens = ) So, we head over to the next register and the boys help me unload the cart. They actually like this even more than putting things in the cart. The moving conveyor belt fascinates them, plus they really do like to be helpful. All right, one successful mission down, several to go ...

Now, we head home to unpack and make lunch. This all goes extremely well and no one pitches a fit. Woohoo, we're on a roll. Next is naptime. Corey and the boys all zonk out within minutes. Great! I use the next 2.5 hours to complete chores and projects in peace. It's amazing how much I can accomplish when I am not interrupted. Awesome, several more things checked off the list.

It's now 2:30 and the boys start to awake from their slumber. Since snack time is right around the corner, we start in with my first planned cooking project of the day -- homemade chex mix. This was so easy and so fun! Riley was in charge of the liquid ingredients and spices, while Gage was in charge of mixing together all of the dry goods. Riley was king of his domain melting butter in the microwave and using measuring cups and spoons for all of the other stuff. He was such a big boy! And Gage had a blast using not 1, but 2, large spoons to "toss" the chex, crackers, and pretzels. Yes, a lot of it ended up on the floor, but that's just something we're slowly learning to live with at our house! After the boys enjoyed the fruits of their labor, we moved onto the next project -- making a cake. Gage was done with cooking at this point and went off to toil with his daddy for a while. But, with more measuring being involved, Riley was right by my side. Oh, what pure joy this boy had when I broke out my new hand mixer (thanks Tracy!) Now, technically a mixer is not a power tool, but according to Riley it is. He describes it as "a drill that goes round and round and spinmixes." Sounds good to me! Anyhow, combining cooking with power tools is just about as good as it gets for that kid. And let me tell you, he was a pro with that mixer! And he was sooo excited when he got to use it again to make the frosting! Especially since we tried mom's new recipe for fluffy white frosting which requires you to beat the ingredients for about 10 minutes = ) Gage came in to join in this fun and the boys did a wonderful job of taking turns. Here they are relishing the best part of making frosting from scratch -- licking the beaters = )

Later in the evening, our sweet neighbor girl, Sara, came over to watch the boys so Corey and I could enjoy a much needed date night. We headed over to Topeka to watch our friends' band, The Marmots, play. So much fun! We really enjoyed the great tunes and hanging with friends. I think as we get older, these nights out mean even more to us since they are so few and far between. Also, it really is great to get out as husband and wife every once in a while instead of always being mommy and daddy. We love our kids with all of our hearts, but having the chance to connect on and talk about things at the adult level helps remind us of what brought us together in the first place.

Ok, before I get too mushy, let's move on. Sunday morning, the kids actually slept in until 7:00! This almost never happens. They pretty much rise every day between 5:45 and 6:00. You could literally set your clocks by them. So, that was a real treat and sooo nice of them since mom and dad didn't get to bed until almost 1:00. Unfortunately, they both woke up with head colds, though. But, with them not feeling 100%, they mostly wanted to laze around in the morning which was fine by us! The rest of the day was really just lovely since we got to hang out together and spend some time outside in the sun. A little outdoor time and sunshine seem to make any day better as far as I'm concerned = )

Well, since I started this post, both of the boys have now found their way into our bed. I would try to get them back to their own, but the poor babies are having a tough time breathing, so I guess I'll just have to go snuggle with them and try to keep them propped up. I probably won't get much sleep, but at least I'm getting to be close with my boys. I'm going to enjoy it now because tomorrow it's back to the grind.

Some Potty, Some Art, and Some General Mischief

Well, we are slowly, but surely experiencing some potty success at our house. I am trying oh-so-hard to not get too excited, yet I sooooo dream of the day that I no longer have 2 boys in diapers! It was about this time last year that Riley was really making some progress in the potty training area and everyone told me not to get my hopes up -- that he was too young -- it was just a curiosity -- he's not even 2 yet -- boys take longer -- etc... Of course, I thought I knew better than everyone else and was sure he was going to be fully toilet trained in no time. Yeah, well, instead he fully regressed and has been less than cooperative about getting anywhere near a toilet for quite some time. Yep, so much for mother knows best! Anyhow, we have recently been watching a lot of the Elmo Potty Time video as well as reading Elmo potty books. Gage finally got it that his potty chair looks almost exactly like Elmo's potty and that's pretty much all it took. Elmo is his hero and if Elmo goes on the potty, Gage wants to go on the potty, too. Yay!!!! So far it is only peepee, but he fully comes up to us and tells us he needs to go. We, of course, make a huge ordeal out of the whole scenario complete with clapping and singing and M&M treats. Well, when Mr. Riley, the OLDER brother sees this, he too wants praise and treats. And wouldn't you know, lo and behold, he needs to go peepee on the potty, too! And he actually does his duty! Hooray!!!! Again, I am trying not to get my hopes up and to let things unfold naturally. But, let me tell you, it will be a glorious, triumphant day when these two finally become "big boys." Wish me luck and, as always, I welcome any helpful hints or tricks of the trade = )

One of the gifts the boys received for Christmas are these huge coloring books. They are almost as big as the boys and they love them! It's so funny, right now they totally shun the regular size color books. When we try to break them out for art time, Gage usually blurts out, "No, no widdle draw book!" And Riley is quick to claim, "Mom, that's your book, my have the BIG book!" They can be so particular! Anyhow, here's a few pics of the artists at work...

Pooh Bear getting some color

Riley taking a break from coloring to sing the Go, Diego, Go song.

A collaborative art project (this was taken right before crayons started flying from hand to head in each direction -- harmony is a tight commodity at the Huber household)

Not long after the coloring episode, the boys became bored watching the football game with mom and dad and wandered back to Gage's room to play. Well, after a little while, it sounded like there was just way too much fun going on back there so Corey and I went to investigate. Below is a video of what we found. Granted, this is a much more toned down version from what we walked in on as mom and dad had to instill a little order so no one would get hurt. They worked really hard to put together their landing pad. Oh my little daredevils, what will they come up with next?