Ammo, the Arts, a flashback, and a deep longing for Spring!

January has absolutely flown by and we’ve been keeping busy still breaking out our new Christmas toys…

Princess Marlo in one of her many dress up outfits (enjoying a nice little bowl of ice cream!)

 

She got very creative and moved her stool over to her new house to make sure she can get her dolls into every room :)

Sibling LOVE <3

Snuggie Time…

Snack time…

One-last-pose-with-Christmas-decorations-before-we-put-them-away time :)

Handy Ty all geared up for who knows what!

As you may remember the big ticket item at our house this past Christmas was The Nerf Gun.  We have 3 of them in our house now, in various shapes and sizes (and power too!).  When an unsuspecting member of the family crosses the threshold they are greeted with a shower of styrofoam bullets!

Uncle Brian was the target on this particular day…(Ty was hiding out in the corner over there-ready to strike!)

 

The gunmen meet face to face!

And then, after a day of battle THIS is the kind of aftermath I’m left with (and this is a VERY common occurrence in our house these days!)…

While waiting for SPRING to get here we busy ourselves with playdates, when we can fit them in…

Marlo and Eli just hanging out :)

Ty and Trent were down in the basement, all by themselves, for quite some time and when I finally went to check on them they pieced together a very detailed story of how they were fixing the roof of the house.  Sure thing, boys! 

 

On these frigid winter days that keep us from being outside where we really want to be, we also wield brushes and other artistic tools and create, create, create…

 

Or we practice “writing” shapes or letters in shallows containers of flour…

This flour activity proved to be quite the challenge since on this particular day Ty was coughing up a storm and I had to remind him no less than 76,000 times to not cough or sneeze directly into the flour, lest we create our own indoor snow storm.

This next set of pictures may seem like an unfortunate early morning hair crisis, but actually I’m just happy that Marlo is growing ENOUGH hair to even have a “bedhead” problem :)

Goodness gracious, I love this little precious angel…

 

Ty has shown a solid interest in the symphony and musical instruments, so I took him to the Cincinnati Symphony’s Lollipops Concert.  It began with a large gathering in the grand ballroom of Music Hall (where Tommy and I had our Wedding reception!!!) with little crafts and also a “Petting Zoo” of sorts for each of the instruments.

 

Double Bass?  Or Cello?  I forget…

The harP.  I have to remind him of that last sound because he mostly calls it a harT!

This was for the kids symphony…

This was our reception :) 

*Ahem* back to our regularly scheduled programming!  Ha.

Decorating a top (not sure what this had to do with the symphony, but he loved it!)

Right before the show I caved in and bought him a little sweet treat at the little concession stand.  Chocolate covered marshmallows (which also became chocolate AND DUST AND DIRT covered marshmallows shortly after we sat down, since he dropped it about 2 seconds after sitting down!)

 

What trip to the grand Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra at the beautiful Music Hall is complete without a little goofing off on the springy chairs???

And let me leave you with perhaps the most adorable peaceful image.  Our children, just tonight, after returning home from a fun-filled night at GG and Grandpa’s for dinner and playtime, they immediately ran to the playroom and sat down quietly next to each other and read books alone.  Not a peep was heard from them for about 7 minutes, and THAT’S a long time for them, ha!

 

It was just a tender site to see this from across the room…

I feel like all we did was blink and January was over!  Now if only we could just BLINK and Spring would be here!?! 

Oh, 60 degree temperatures…WHERE ARE YOU? 

Sun?  Chirping birds? 

See you in a few blinks!

Instructions for a snow day

Step 1:  Clear the driveway (disregard any violations of child labor laws.)

Step 2:  Step back and admire the job you just did (despite the  man of the house telling you to hire someone to do it whilst he’s out of town, how convenient!)

 

Step 3:  Go for a spin (literally) in your high end SUV.  Get stuck despite “4 wheel drive”.  Make Mommy park it back in garage.

Step 4:  Create a snow “man”.  More like a snow pile with features.

Step 5:  Conclude the adventure by curling up in a Kiddie Snuggie with a snack and watch a little Disney film :) (of course there was hot chocolate involved!  In sippy cups.)

 

Step 6 (will probably be):  Stare out front window in shock and disappointment at the likely nocturnal disappearance of Snow Pile’s edible features…BUT, I won’t get ahead of myself.

Update tomorrow :)

Toy-Influx 2010

Christmas Eve began at Buddy and Sharon’s house, which ALWAYS begins with a piano concerto! 

Me and my girl :)

 

Let the gift opening begin!

 

Marlo’s first American Girl Itty Baby doll!

Next it was, over the river Beechmont Avenue and through the woods to GG and Grandpa’s we went!  After a yummy turkey dinner MORE gift giving and opening commenced…

Marlo getting some assistance from Grandpa

 

Santa Baby Scout (and me, slightly giddy to be holding her!)

Marlo had quite the paper-tearing technique for her first few presents.  One tiny strip at a time.  THEN, she realized the immediecy with which most kids tear into their stuff and she switched her method!

 

Gunnar was super busy with one of his first gifts, a toolbox :)

 

and his baby sister Scout just generally hung out in the arms of her doting family :)

 

More present unwrapping!  Would you just check out that incredibly shy smile Ty is showing, ha…

Marlo is in love.  Truly. 

 

Having too many life size toy story figures is apparently a new sport.  And our children are excelling quite nicely!

 

 

Somehow we managed to bring ALL of our presents home and fit in our car, all in one trip, ha.  We were full to the brim.  At one point Ty asked, “Mommy do my feet have to stay up this way all the way home?”

Once we were home we rushed around to get the kids in bed, who very willingly gave in to sleep.  Then we had to do all of the “Santa” work, which involved quite a lot of heavy lifting and shuffling up and down the stairs.

 

*Notice the hilarious segregation of Toy Story and Princess wrapping paper.  That Santa guy is SO smart!

 

A little snapshot of the kids’ ornaments from Aunt Ann.  So cute.

As Tommy pointed out, we will probably remember this little story forever…A few days before Christmas I took the kids up to Walgreens to pick out a present for Daddy.  They were able to choose anything from any aisle and Ty chose TicTacs, blue ones!  Marlo chose an orange Tootsie Pop (which she spent half of the shopping trip trying to open, after which I had to conceal it in my pocket, thus looking like a shop lifter!) 

Ty wrapped and tagged the tiny gift all by himself and was soo excited for Tommy to open it on Christmas morning.  Fast forward to waking up on Christmas morning…Ty saw the gifts from the balcony upstairs, and proceeded to run all the way downstairs straight to the tree.  As Tommy was video taping, Ty’s very first gift to grab was Tommy’s little tic tac box and with such excitement he said, “Here Daddy!”.  Our hearts just swelled with love.  That’s what it’s all about.

Marlo came flying in with sponges in hand.  Don’t ask.  Ha!

She greeted our new friends Donald, Mickey, and Pluto (Thanks Daddy!)

As if we don’t have enough Toy Story paraphernalia, Santa decided to bestow upon us some more life-size figures!

 

Oh, this was a big ticket item for him.  It was at the top of his list…

 

Oh boy…what’s in there…???

 

BIG BUZZZZ!  Number two item on his list for Santa!

Marlo’s “big” item this year.  She is thoroughly overwhelmed with it, as you can imagine!

Ty started clearing out to make sure all the gifts were accounted for and we said, “Ty do you see anything else for you?  Any other gifts?”  He was insistent that there was nothing else left, despite that HUGE presence in the background there!  That huge red bag was clearly for him!  He just didn’t see it as a gift, ha!

Then he saw it and started peeling the bag away…to reveal…

The third item on his list, a BIG BOY BIKE!

Santa did indeed visit Tommy as well, he and Ty got Nerf Guns, which was at the top of TOMMY’S list :)

And this is the wonderful mess I get to deal with when they get into battles!

Later on Christmas Day we headed out to Aunt Connie and Uncle Dale’s for the Holterman Clan celebration.

Aunt Connie brought out some nice distractions to keep the kids’ attention until food and gift-opening time~

Barrel o’ Monkeys

And the most popular, TOY STORY 3!

After a yummy comforting dinner it was time to tear into some serious gifts!

It was also time to goof around and play with some of the garbage!

 

Ann opening a gift…

Me being really serious…

“Model Model!”

 

We also had a surprise Birthday Celebration for my dad too, he turned the BIG 6-0 earlier this month…

As you saw before, I am super serious for pictures and always cooperate.  Clearly I am a mature woman.  (Ty was the one being a little stinker, so I just followed suit!)

 

Holterman Siblings

Ann, Tommy, Marlo (intently watching Toy Story 3), Me, Ty, Papa

 

Merry Christmas Everyone, what a year it was!