The Weekend That Was

Nothing too crazy. We've had BEAUTIFUL weather in NY lately (knock on wood) and we are trying to take advantage of getting out while balancing out our home chores.

I took Matthew to church on Saturday (I usually go by myself - it's been tough to go as a family, with Noah being a maniac and all). He was well-behaved and quiet. He colored and played with his little action figures. And when all was said and done, he was actually sad to leave.
Noah is starting to master drinking from a sippy.
We went to BJs on Sunday and Matthew asked if he could have baby doughnuts (read: Munchkins), so we stopped at the DD drive thru.
Sunday night Matt gave Noah his first West Point Cadet haircut. No more "baby" hair.
And I played around on Instagram after the boys were in bed.
It's cold today, but we are going to "heat up" this week into the 40s and 50s. Spring is coming - I can feel it! :-)

Some video fun

Matt's birthday was this past Tuesday. We don't really do gifts for each other, but I still like to make the day special (especially since Matthew is REALLY into birthdays - parties and presents of course). So, when the boys got up on Tuesday (long after Matt had already left for work), I made this video. I think it's too cute not to share:

Wordless Wednesday: Buddies

Winter Blues

According to the news, by January 21st last year we had already had 31 inches of snow in NY. The average for the young month is 9 inches. Saturday, we got about 5-6. So all in all, not so bad. But still unwelcome! I was enjoying our seasonably warm winter until this hit.
But we tried to make the best of it. Since it was Saturday, we didn't have to be anywhere. So Matt started a fire.
And at about 8AM our house already looked like this. Notice Noah, standing at the train table, surveying the damage. We were lazy for a bit. Watched some movies.
Played with some "new" toys that we brought out from storage.
And just basically hung out (and for some reason, we hang out in the kitchen a lot).
Every 10 seconds, Matthew asked if we could go outside and go sledding. I told him no 50 million times. Then I finally told him yes. Think he was happy about that?
We bundled up a-la Randy in A Christmas Story.
Matthew was happy just to walk in the fluffy stuff.
I took him to the school for a little sledding. And we stayed out until our noses were runny and we couldn't feel our hands.
Then we warmed up inside and Matthew busted my chops to play my iPad.
Today we're scheduled to get close to 50 degrees. That's more my winter style! The snow was a nice change for the day, but I'm over it!

9 Months Old

9 months old as of yesterday. Such a big boy now.
Stands like a pro. Cruises along furniture and people.
Cute little gummy smile.
And active isn't strong enough a word to describe him. Most of the pictures I take look like this. 1st birthday party planning is under way! I'll give you 3 guesses on it's theme (and the first two don't count!).

Wordless Wednesday: Matthew's 1st Dentist Appt

Brothers

Matthew and Noah played nicely together this weekend. Nicely in that Matthew tolerated a little more than usual from his little brother.
Until of course Noah started with his Godzilla impressions.
Then I had to intervene and distract Noah with shiny things like the cabinet handles.
Which gave Matthew all of two minutes to play in peace before El Destructo returned to the village (notice the little hand in the lower right hand corner).
But for the most part there was peace in the house.
And a little bit of harmony.
We made our weekly trip to Target (okay, we don't go EVERY week, but sometimes it sure feels like we do!). The clearance section was insane. We couldn't pass up this Chuggington racing railway for $5.98. This thing was $40 a few weeks ago!
We also saw these awesome Angry Bird pillows - but I couldn't bring myself to spend $20 on a pillow. We'll stalk these until they go in sale.
We had a lazy Sunday.
Matthew took advantage of Noah's naptimes.
And Noah took advantage of everything.
Now we're back to Monday. Matt is off, so he's entertaining the boys today. This is how I left Matthew this morning. Can you see how broken up he is that I was leaving??
1st trip to the dentist today for young Matthew. Then it's back to a busy week for all of us. Happy Monday!

More Favorite Apps

As Matthew grows, so does our app collection! Here are a few more that have captured his attention in the past few weeks:

Harold and the Purple Crayon:

This app is $6.99, but well worth it. It's an interactive story that's pretty unique, requires Matthew to listen and follow directions for images to appear, has puzzles inter-weaved in the story and some coloring that's basic and easy, but very engaging. He loves this app so much that I decided to stick a crowbar in my wallet and buy him the holiday version.

Harold at the North Pole:
This one is also $6.99. Matthew gets just as much out of this one as he does the original. Worth it for sure!

My Coloring Book:
I was looking through the top free apps when I came across this coloring book. A lot of the free books are rather cheesy, but this one is pretty neat. It has a nice range of pictures and a nice color palette. It's tap to fill which is nice - otherwise Matthew just scribbles!

Tozzle:
I like these puzzles for Matthew because it has little "cheats" - if he doesn't make the connection between the letters, the app helps him out (as you can see from the picture). There are a range of pictures from animal scenes to words, numbers, etc. Worth the $1.99 price. There's also a LITE version that you can download for free to try it out.

There's a new educational children's app coming out from a new company called Mitchlehan Media that looks pretty cool. Here are a few of the animals they've created to be part of the app:
One of my favorite blogs - Life Of A Sippy Cup Mom - is hosting a giveaway of an 8GB iPod Touch for the launch of this new app (the winner will also be able to download the app for free). You can check out the giveaway here.

I'm always on the lookout for new apps -educational and fun - so, as always, if you have any suggestions, let me know!

Wordless Wednesday: Matthew's 1st Art Project

Weekend Wrapup

Nothing too exciting to report for this weekend. Pretty low-key. Which was nice. The weather has been pretty nice here for January (knock on wood!) and that's made it possible to get out more. No cabin fever here!

Saturday night my friend Julie came over for dinner before we headed out to the movies. Matthew forced her to read him every super hero book he owns.
Sunday started with an early morning Angry Birds tutorial.
The boys played nice for the most part.
I only had to intervene when Noah did his Godzilla impression on Gotham City. Noah did in fact play with his baby toys again. For a few minutes anyway.
He just can't resist the big boy toys.
And when he thinks no one is looking he savors those few minutes of freedom with a stolen toy.
One day he'll be right there in the mix with Matthew. But for now, he'll take his few minutes with the Batmobile before it's snatched out of his slimy little hands.