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.

Random Phone Pics

Proof that Noah does play with "baby toys" sometimes.
You know, like when AND ONLY when HE wants to.
Noah's cousin Sam took a liking to him at my aunt's little birthday get-together. They were too cute together.
Noah going after one of his favorite non-baby toys - the remote.
Just chillin' at home.
Playing peek-a-boo through the gates.
And finally, just some random cuteness.
Happy Friday!

Wordless Wednesday: Matthew's 1st Day of School

Back To Work

Well, I am anyway. All of corporate America is off today but me. Don't ask me why.

Our holiday vacation is officially over. It's a new year. A new start. We're in the midst of doing some cleaning and organizing and I've officially started my diet. Pretty boring stuff. But tomorrow Matthew starts school and Noah is thisclose to standing on his own and taking steps. So there will be more interesting pictures to come. In the meantime, here's what we did on our low-key New Year's weekend.

We went to Chili's. Matthew was able to order for himself. The waitress couldn't contain her smile when he told her he wanted a cheese quesadilla in his little 3-year-old lispy voice. He must have said it a dozen times - he really wanted to make sure she got his order right.
Matthew and Matt had fun with the Phineas & Ferb Rollercoaster my sister bought him for Christmas. And yes, they are playing with it on the stairs. It was the only safe haven from a certain maniac named Noah.
We went to Home Depot to look at shelving. Noah kept looking back to make sure me and Matthew were still there.
Matthew of course was in his own world and ignored his brother's loving attention.
And that's that.