Little League Baseball

Kyle received two new games for his DS for Christmas - Little League Baseball was a hit tonight. He played it after dinner with Ryan taking careful notes over his shoulder!

Go!

Carter has learned that he has to be speedy if he wants to keep up with Ryan. He will just be playing in the living room and shout "go" and take off running. Maybe he has a career ahead of him in track and field?

Stroller for Disney

We are heading to Disney in April and I needed a stroller for the boys that wasn't too big and clumsy to take around the parks. I found a Sit-N-Stand on clearance at Target yesterday - exactly what I was looking for - score! We took it for a "test drive" around the house tonight! It gets a thumbs up! :)

Vocal Smoke Detectors

I watched a documentary several months ago that gave a startling statistic - 19 out of 20 children will not wake up while sleeping from traditional smoke alarms. I watched a video of children repeatedly sleeping through the smoke alarms going off in their bedrooms. I was shocked and scared enough to do a little research and find the new KidSmart Vocal Smoke Detectors, sold on Amazon for $128.99 were on special for $9.99 each. I purchased 3 of them, 1 for each of the kids' rooms. Evan installed them today, along with the "help" of Ryan and Carter! The thing I like about these smoke alarms is the "familar voice" alarm message, recorded by you for specific messages for each of your children. Ryan heard Evan recording this in Kyle's room and we explained to him that the smoke alarm would talk to him in case of an emergency and he should listen to the instructions and get out of the house as quickly as possible. As I was cleaning up the lunch dishes, Ryan went into Kyle's room and whispered to the smoke alarm "Hi, Kyle - it's me, Ryan - it's okay buddy...can you hear me?" He couldn't figure out why it wasn't responding to him! (Evan's recorded message on Kyle's alarm was "Kyle, Kyle, it's me, Dad - it's okay buddy.....") The things kids pick up on! :) I hope I will never go through a house fire with my kids, but heaven forbid we ever have to, I know I can sleep better knowing I have these alarms in each of the kids' rooms.

Sledding

We took the boys out sledding this afternoon. It was a little windy, but the kids never seem to feel the cold. We had the best luck pulling the sled right in the street - it was slick out there and we could get up more speed with the sled. The boys had a blast. It wasn't long and our neighbor, Lukas (Happy Birthday today Lukas!) and his cousin, Camden joined us. What a fun time outside!

Canada Ice Fishing Trip

Evan, my Dad, Rich, and Shane all went to Canada on their annual fishing trip. They had a great time and the fishing was excellent. Evan and Dad hope to get Kyle up there yet this winter - he would love it! They had an icy ride home, Rich guided the truck/trailer into the ditch to avoid an upcoming accident. Thankfully no one was hurt, truck and trailer were fine, and the wrecker that was on-site for the accident pulled them out of the ditch. They were back to my parents' by Monday, but due to the snow, Evan just returned home yesterday.

Railing

No matter how many times we tell the kids "no playing on the railing"...