Sandstone Creek Living

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Kingdom in Box

December 2012: Babbaco Box
Theme: Royal Kingdom

Create:

Turn shipping box into a castle. (Complete with color crayons, coloring pages, pinwheels, etc.)
Everything needed to make a personalized coat of arms/family crest wooden plaque

Explore: bells and ribbon to make your own musical bracelet. Oh and a free song download.
Story tell: Get Well Good Knight book. A very fun song, and the source of the Toddler's new favorite catch-phrase: clippety-clop!
Connect: The app this month was Fairy-tale Preschool. Huge hit! It teaches colors, counting, memory matching, and ABCs.

Everything needed to make our very own coat of arms!

A new book! Get Well Good Knight.

Info on medieval instruments and ribbon and bells to increase the noise volume.
It also came with a free song download which was kinda fun.

My favorite part was getting out the scissors and turning the box into a castle!
(I'm also pretty proud of my knight and princess...Mom may have taken over the activity!)

The pinwheels were a huge hit with both boys.

Not the best picture, but he is shaking the bells to make music.

Rose Water - the Parent Gift this month.
Used in ye olden times, it is alcoholic...and apparently also good for cooking.

Overall I like the boxes. By doing the annual subscription it cuts the cost down (to about $20/box). However I am not sure if I will continue doing it. The age range is 3-6, but my 3 year old isn't as interested/able to do as much as I thought he would be. Maybe I just micromanage. I'm going to give it another month to make up my mind. I love the idea behind it, just wish my little guy would be a little more hands on...though it may require me being more hands off.

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Photo Bomb 36

Happy New Year!

2013 is indeed going to be a splendid year! Why am I so confident? Well because of you, my dearest Hubby, you will be coming home from your deployment and back to us. You+Home=Better than anything 2012 had to offer.

To wrap up Week One of the new year, we didn't get too wild and crazy. Daycare was closing early New Years Eve so we took advantage of the extra daylight and visited your grandma when I got off work. Apparently she was enjoying our unannounced pop in visit, because she invited us to stay for supper as well. When we got home I washed up the boys and sent them to bed early. They hadn't had naps and had played hard at G-mas. I stayed up until 3am. Rang in the new year by drinking 1/2 glass of wine and holding the IPad in hopes you were wrong about not getting the day off. I wanted to stay up in just case I could catch you on a lunch break. It wasn't to be had, but I did catch up on some Dr. Who episodes. (By the way, in addition to catching up on episodes of HIMYM together, I think we should throw in some Dr. Who episodes too!)

New Years day I woke up and ended up snuggling with both boys in bed. The wiggly giggly little guys were a bright start to the day, and just what I needed. We spent the morning playing and watching some Rescue Bots (The Toddler has discovered a deep love for robots and Transformers). While the boys napped, I finished my house work and replenished the diaper bag...and vowed to be more vigilant on the no snacks in the living-room Who had the brilliant idea that a couch with non-removable cushions would be easier to keep clean and keep it from eating toys and miscellaneous everythings? What? That was me, really? Well I was dead wrong.

When the boys were up from their naps we headed to the farm and spent the evening with your folks. We walked in on the ruthless ending of a cutthroat game of Horseopoly. Your mother remains the reigning champ, your sister may or may not still be pouting.

The rest of the week was spent indoors and out of the cold. And sending lots of happy thoughts and prayers your way.

The Big D enjoying this months Babbaco box. He loved the castle we made and the bells.

We also took down all three Christmas trees and a good percentage of decorations...though I am still finding more hidden around.

The Toddler begging me to put back up the Christmas trees again.

Who knew tents could roll?

Well they can...roll that is.

(PS - totally unrelated note, but I don't think the boys are ready for camping yet)

Another favorite game of the Toddlers: playing a dog
(does that correspond to why he says loves so many girls?)

Who gets to pick out the next book to read is HUGE deal!

The Big D's favorite pastime is riding on the the rocking horse...

...and wearing hats, he still is all about wearing hats!

Playing a game on the IPad.
(and in big boy underwear! Progress, progress, progress)

Daddy? Hi Daddy!

Monday, January 7, 2013

Photo Bomb 35

Dear Hubby,

I realize it is Monday...meaning I am late yet again with my weekly obligation for updated pictures of your growing monsters and weekly wrap-up on our little families doings. I'm guessing you will forgive me because you don't have much of a choice...mwuah hahaha...that and we actually email, FaceTime, and message each other throughout the week so you kinda already know what we have been up to.

As always we love and miss you and pray for your safety everyday. Oh yeah, and a very belated Merry Christmas. Christmas Eve daycare was closed and I had to work so the boys got some Grandma/Papa time in at the farm and when I got off work we exchanged presents (aka-the boys unwrapped Toys-R-Us). Next stop was your grandmas and more gifts. The boys are now proud owners of a microphone that plays holiday tunes and turns your voice into an elf, as well as a 5 ft x 5 ft inflatable bounce house castle complete with 100 plastic balls.

Christmas Day we went to mass and I will admit it was a hard one for me. The boys were acting up, I was exhausted and mainly just missing you. The entire day was just hard without you, everything felt wrong. But we overcame, we went to friends/quasi brother-in-laws for lunch (I count my sister's in-laws as my inlaws too). Our gracious host even went shopping for the boys so they would have the same amount of gifts to open as the other kids and sent them home with gift bags full of candy and a new matchbox car. After some much needed naps we were back out at the farm to have supper with your family.

The Toddler's favorite toys seem to be the karokee robot and a remote control car, or as he calls it his Racing Tractor. The Big D is smitten with the tot sized card table and chairs, and then big blocks. Actually they love everything, but the week of Christmas those were the big draws.

I didn't pack my camera around to all the Holiday feasting and festivities because I know myself well enough to know I still wouldn't get any pictures. I am so happy that we were able to FaceTime on Christmas day and that your whole family got to chat with you.