The Week that Was....

Well, we're now fully back into the swing of things and Mr. Aidan and Mr. Ethan are doing great.

This past week we started up Instructional Soccer League at the indoor place we go to.  Aid's lucky to have the same teacher from Kickaroos teaching this class, Taylor, who actually is soccer player himself at a local university here in town.  Aid really likes him and he's great with kids, so for us, money well spent!

He wanted his hair spiked like a mo-hawk so we obliged, heck, lots of soccer dudes style their hair like that.

Next, a special order came in from ebay that is going to support our trip to Disney in just a few weeks.  One thing they do down there is trade pins. Rather than go into the ornate details, just check the link here for how it works. The pins themselves run 6-10 bucks at Disney, but you can order authentic ones on ebay for less than 1.50  a piece, so we got 25 for the boys.  They took turns one by one selecting the pins and then we pinned them on lanyards that they can take with them to WDW for trading!  Less than 45 days!!

Finally this weekend was the first of two train shows coming to STL in the next 3 weeks.  This one was pretty booty, but we did manage to see some nice layouts and get a laugh or two.

They love them trains...."Trains on the Brains"

Mookie sportin' the "wet look" on the hair :)

This was a neat "kid friendly" Halloween layout.  Note Aidan pushing the yellow button causes the hand to come down and "act" like it was alive!

That's all from here.  We've got quite a big week this coming week with work and school, so wish us luck and we'll talk to you later!

Have a great night,
Ty, Emmy, Aidan and Ethan

January Swim Time!

Yes, it's January and we're goin' swimmin'.  Awhile back we picked up a Groupon for a nice indoor aquatic center near us and decided on Sunday that it was time to burn that baby.  After A+ behaviors by the boys at church (second week in a row of perfect behavior!), we did early naps and then headed out to the pool.

This pool was great, lots of kid things to do and some other amenities that was fun for Mom and Dad.

 

 Fun water features for Ethan!

 The superfast Lazy River for all the boys!

 E, Aid and I hanging out in the alcove by the lazy river

 Look for Aid up on the platform waiting to slide down!

 And of course, the boys spraying Daddy in the face with water....go figure!

One thing we didn't get a picture of was the vortex pool that Aidan so aptly named, "The Hurricane".  Wonder where he gets all these weather terms!?  Well anyway, it was really cool and both boys loved going around and around in "The Hurricane's" flow.

Both boys did do some swimming too and Aidan was able to do a few yards without any blocks!  By Mexico I bet he'll be 100% block free!

That's all for tonight....more fun in the coming weekend with the Train Fair Train Show!!

Have a great night,
Ty, Emmy, Aidan and Ethan

Cookin' up a good weekend!

This past weekend Mommy and I got a night out (thank you Auntie Elizabeth) to attend a cooking school here in St. Louis.  The theme of the night was Italian Lobster and it was really good.  It was a hands on class, so we both got to take part in making the dinner for the 6 or 7 couples in the class.  For the record, I was the one that killed the lobsters, so we might as well just get that out of the way right now.  Emmy did most of the cooking for the dessert, which was a semi-frozen chocolate Italian ice cream called semifreddo.  It turned out really good!   

In addition to being the lobster-cutioner, I made the mushroom risotto that went along with our veal shanks, homemade lobster ravioli with tarragon butter sauce, roasted balsamic pear salad with reduced apple juice vinegrette and chocolate semifreddo and lace cookies for dessert!  All it all it was a great time and we loved being able to cook some new things and get new ideas for our kitchen too!

Sorry Mr. Lobsta and Mr. Lobsta's friend.... :(  Executive chef to my side, BTW.

Stir, stir, stir and more stirring to get the risotto cooked just right. 

Our final product, veal shanks with mixed veggies over a bed of mushroom risotto and covered (by me) with Parmesean cheese.  Everything is good with cheese.

Elizabeth brought over her pictures from the birthday/Christmas night we had last week, here's some shots of the boys!

They love their Auntie E....

Have a great night,

Ty, Emmy, Aidan and E

The End of Fun

Well, tomorrow all is back to the grind, unfortunately.  With Boeing being off since Dec. 23rd, I have no real desire to go back in, but....all fun eventually has to come to an end!!

The break has been quite fun...visits from family, fun times out and about and of course fun with the toys from Santa!

And what to do with all those toys?!?  Well, Aidan really went crazy with the Legos this Christmas and Birthday, so I spent last week custom building him a new Lego Table.  It's pretty big and Mommy was perplexed at the enormity of the table (It's 60"x50"), but the purpose here was to keep the Legos off the floor and display Lego City in all its grandeur!!

That's some fun stuff there....Is this excessive??!?!?  

New Year's Day we had a lazy day and cleaned up the basement a bit.  Mommy had a great idea and the boys sat down and did some painting, which they loved.  And of course, painted some serious masterpieces. :)

Ethan's contributions up on top followed by Aidan's red Diesel engine and then two weather pictures, a tropical storm on the left and a hurricane (see the eye) on the right.  Nice work boys!

Today, we wanted to something fun (and it was brutally cold) so we headed to Monkey Joe's, an inflatable kingdom near Crestwood, Missouri.  We got there early and that was a good thing because by the time we left the place was packed.  Fortunately the boys got in a good solid hour of bouncin' and playing.  Both wore themselves out and were zonked on the way back home.

With Monkey Joe himself!

E loved the special 3 and under bounce house!

Bounce-heads!

A super slider!  Light speed!

After we got home, E wanted to play in the basement.  Mommy found him on the excavator with helmet being a big construction worker!

And then it was more time for painting too while Daddy and Aidan played Legos!

What a silly little man....

That's all for tonight, have a great day tomorrow!

Ty, Emmy, Aidan and Ethan

Happy New Year 2012!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Another year has passed and so many memories of fun and love with the FFA and all of our family and friends.

Last year we did a top five list of the "Greatest Things To Happen in 2010", so again, here's our compilation of the Best of the Best in 2011.

#1:  The St. Louis Cardinals are the World Champions of Baseball....especially after this horrible night, and this equally bad night of baseball (coincidentally, after that game is when the Cards went on their tear and won it all!)

#2:  Ethan talking up a storm and Aidan reading full books.  Amazing how these boys just keep growing and growing and becoming such smart little cookies.

#3:  Major Home Improvements!  The kitchen and living room being our big one, but also our Master Bedroom and Aidan and Ethan's rooms!  Whew, what a ton of work!

#4:  Lots of "wicked" travels.  The Duck Boats of Boston, Sesame Place in Philadelphia, the Legoland Discovery Zone in Chicago, the Castle of Ha Ha Tonka, Entertrainment Junction of Cincy, the tractors of Tennessee, and of course  the sand castles of Mexico!  All fantastic trips, all a ton of great memories! And 2012 promises to be another fantastic travel year!!!

#5:  The Good Things Close to Home:  Aidan's first real soccer league, Mommy and Daddy got promotions, and Apple and Blackberry Pickin' as a family.

What a great year.  What a GREAT year!

As always, we post a picture of the boy(s) together with a makeshift Happy New Year sign, here they are!

Just the Big Guy in 2007, 2008 and 2009.....

Our first year with Ethan, 2010. 

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And Last Year with a couple of Silly Boys.

And this year, I could not get the Silly one (you know who it is below) to keep his eyes open with the flash.

Happy New Year everyone.  Have a great 2012!

Ty, Emmy, Aidan and Ethan

Aidan's Big Birthday Bash!

Well, maybe not big, but it sure was fun being with him.

Grammy and Natalie were still with us in STL on Monday so we decided to head to "ol reliable" The Magic House.  Of course, the boys love that place.  The running, playing and overall fun just has them fully happy!

Mommy and Ethan tried some magnet fishing this time!  E caught one!

Aid had a "lightning" experience in the Power Station room!

Aunt Natalie funneled her inner career aspirations as a pizza cashier in the Pizza Restaurant.

Every time the big guy puts on a medical outfit, it just seems to look right.  He knows what to do!

Dr. Aidan I presume.

It was startin' to get pretty busy in the water room, so we did a few more things and headed to Dewey's for lunch.  It was a perfect morning!

After Aid took a long nap (a rarity for him, but TMH really tires them out), it was time for birthday presents...and who could have guessed, yep, more Legos.  Seriously, we've blown the top off of our maximum limit, he must have tripled his collection this past week!

Lego Coast Guard (a tough find), but we did it!

Building the Street Sweeper...he's an awesome Lego builder!

Finally it was time for cake!  We had a special cake made and boy was it good.  Check it out below!

Legos...of course!

That Mookers loved it too!! (mostly the icing...little devil)

On Aid's actual b-day I had to take Grammy and Nat back to the airport early.  Aid got to play with all of his new Legos in the morning and then we headed to Chuck-E-Cheese for games before lunch.

Drivin' already!?!?

MONSTER TRUCK!!

If it's not Legos, it's trains!

Get those sharks, man!

Preparing for Disney with the Rollercoaster simulator!

Well, that's all.  I think the big guy had a great birthday.  Thanks to everyone for your gifts and well wishes.

Have a great night,

Ty, Emmy, Aidan and Ethan