Lego Population Explosion

My boys like Legos. We've recently graduated from the Duplos for ages 1 1/2 - 5 to the smaller 4+ Legos. Max still builds towers to knock them down, but he is starting to build houses and trucks and other structures. So it was with great excitement when my cousin JM donated a BIG 12 gallon box of Legos to the boys. These Legos have grown into quite a serious collection and JM was generous enough to share them with us. But many of the Legos are too small and detailed for Max or Miles right now. And b/c I like to organize I became a little obsessed (about 3 days worth of obsession) with finding all of the Lego guys and putting the dismembered ones back together.

It turns out there are over 100 Lego people in this box of various characters from all over the world and time. Some of my favorites are the buxom pirate woman, the Japanese warrior and the skeleton (Halloween is my top-rated holiday). And now I've got to find all of the wee-est of wee Legos and put them all in a Ziplock baggie and put it away for 5 years when I'm sure Miles won't choke on them. See you in a week or two!

Thanks so much JM! And if you ever get a hankering to build again, you're welcome at our house anytime!

Max is 4!

Max had his 4th birthday the end of February. I can't believe he's four! And I decided what better way to celebrate his birthday than with a construction truck theme. I had already planned on making these cute bulldozer and dump truck cakes from parenting.com.


And while I was perusing Etsy for more ideas I saw some cool birthday banners on Etsy and decided I could make one of my own. From there everything snowballed. Then I had to make a construction machine table runner, cover the dining room chair seats in yellow and orange, and make fabric chair back covers with a red number 4 inside a black gear. I also created some little drawstring goody bags, out of the same material as the table runner, to hold the party favors.

Happy Birthday Max!

Florida Fun

So last week we had our first REAL (said like Nicole Kidman as Satine in "Moulin Rouge" when she dreams about being a "real" actress instead of just a courtesan/can can dancer) family vacation; sure we've been to a few cabins over the years, but we haven't taken an actual get-away-from-Minnesota vacay. Gange and PopPop kindly and generously brought us to Florida and treated us to all kinds of fun in the sun.












There were many firsts on this vacation; this was the first airplane ride for the boys (thank goodness for the portable DVD player).









It was also the first time they saw the ocean.












And it was the first time they sipped the contents of a coconut right off of a tree in Grandpa and Grandma's front yard! Grandpa got out the drill and the hack saw to extract the precious milk from the coconut. Although the milk was a bit green, Max loved seeing the power tools at work.


So many cool, new experiences and a great time was had by all.

Thanks Grandma
and Grandpa!