Rub a dub dub, a new bath toy for the tub!

When you have a ten year old boy that no longer gets into the tub willingly, and has to be dragged into the shower on a daily basis you can really appreciate having a little boy that loves to take a bath. A little boy that runs to the bathroom door, jumps up and down, and starts taking his clothes off so that you know he really wants to get into that water . It makes bath time in the house fun once more.

 

At first all there was to do in the tub was to suck the water out of a wash rag or splash about......

Then he discovered the toothbrush and decided this was the optimal bathtub toy. You can brush your teeth, suck the water out of the bristles, and knock the shampoo bottles over the ledge with it. Call it a magical toothbrush wand if you will, but then.........

His wonderful Meme bought him his first real bathtub toy for Christmas and bath time became a whole new experience. This little octopus plays music, lights up, and blows bubbles all over the place. It has created such a fun environment for bath time that we end up with a tub of cold water and one wrinkly toed boy before I can get him out of there. He loves to dance to the music and poke the rainbow bubbles with his toothbrush.

I know this will not last forever and before I know it I will be dragging him kicking and screaming to the tub but for this moment in time we are celebrating the simple joys that only water and bubbles can bring.



He's no mountain climber.......

A couple of days ago Grant brought his Little Tykes table and chair set, that he has had since he was three, out to the living room for Ryan. We all thought this would be cute to have a place for Ryan to sit and play at but you could see the light bulb go on immediately. Ryan discovered he could use the chairs to stand up on and get to things that he wants. Needless to say we had to hide the chairs from him because he was standing on them and jumping off, and not so graciously either! This didn't solve any problems for us though because he is trying to climb on everything now. This brings back fond memories of when Grant was a baby and we had to bolt the bookshelves, entertainment center, stove, etc to the wall. We just didn't plan on this child doing things like this so soon. So far he has pulled the dining room chairs on top of him trying to climb on them, pulled the baby gate off the wall trying to climb over it, fallen off his toys numerous times because he stacks them and climbs on top so he can reach the patio door handle, and stacked the laundry baskets on top of each other to climb on top of mom and dad's bed. Here are just a few moments captured of him in the act.........



That's a wrap.......

During the holidays my family and I take off for a two week winter vacation to Missouri to spend time with friends and family that we typically do not get a chance to see all year. This year we have been able to take a trip home once a month since we live a lot closer now. We have been taking advantage of this because we know we will soon be taking off again to live much further away and these trips home will be very limited again.

The Christmas festivities began early on Christmas Eve at Papa Denni's house for breakfast. We had a lot of fun cooking and visiting with him. Next we took off to Noni and Andrea's house to celebrate Christmas with J.R.'s mom and family. Grant finally got to tear into some presents and Ryan gave us a taste of what he thought about it all. Not a present opener at all, but he did have fun playing with his neat toys and eating all that great food. We left around 8pm so we could hurry home and get the boys to sleep for Santa was coming in the morning.

We have a very early morning for Santa every year at 5-6am because we head off to Meme's for a traditional Christmas morning breakfast so the boys were half awake. Santa was very good to the boys this year!Grant was very excited to get his PS3, PS3 games, John Deer boots, jewels, and Lego's and Ryan.....well Ryan was confused, sleepy, and just wanted to eat his candy in his stocking but it was very cute.

Next it was off to Meme's for breakfast, visiting with our loved ones, and lots and lots of presents to open. The boys loved all the great toys they got from everyone and JR and I could tell already that it might just take a u-haul to get it all home!

Our next stop was at Papa Johnny's house where we had a great visit and exchanged our gifts. Tina made the boys some cute things like pj pants, blankets, body pillows, and letters for Grant's room....but it's not over.....

Our last stop was Mama Cindy's house. We finish Christmas here every year with a dinner and then the kids tear into their gifts. Often by this time we are all stuffed by our many stops and the kiddos are exhausted and fussy. It went very well this year because most of the kids are so much older and can handle it better and grandma changed it up with fried chicken....yummo. Ryan finally got the spirit of Christmas and dove into ripping up the paper and screaming in excitement.

Here are the only pics I have because I couldn't find where I put my camera. Sadly it was left at my mom's and no pictures were taken until that night when I cleaned out the room to find it.

Introducing Christmas evening 2010.....

The trio....Grant, Maddie, and Ava getting their first present of the night open......

Ryan playing with his V-Tech Alphabet train...He loves this toy so much......

Grant, our little chemist, got a chemistry set and the kiddos were quick to start mixing the vinegar and baking soda the next morning......

Choo chooo......He thought this was pretty neat. Thanks Grandma Cindy and Papa Tim!

Michelle and Brody opening Brody's gifts.....He's going to look so cute in his argyle....

Aunt Nicole and Brody.....best Aunt ever, after me of course!

We spent the next couple of days packing things up and preparing for the trip home while daddy took a short trip to Florida for his PhD program. New Years was brought in with some sparkling grape juice and a lot of rented movies. A perfect end to a great year! We headed out in the afternoon on the 1st for our long trip home. It was great seeing everyone but two exhausted parents chasing a baby around houses that were not child proof for two weeks almost beat us! We made it home safe and sound and ready to begin 2011! Happy New Year!