Boy genius

Not sure if that's true...but I am pretty proud of Sam for finishing a 500 piece puzzle.  Whenever grandma, grandpa, mom or dad was around he asked them to help him with the puzzle. So, he didn't do it all by himself but he did a good chunk of it, and he stuck with it til it's completion - pretty good for a little guy, huh?

Ben helped with a few pieces so we took his picture to make him happy.

Both boys are doing Lego sets by themselves.  Looks like they got their dad's engineering skills and not their moms skill of doing u-turns anytime I try to get somewhere. 

My boys in BLUE

I was one year older than the boys are now the last time the Royals got this far.  

Go Royals!

First post in a long time

It's been over a year since I posted but in case I end up making this into a book like Matt did me for the first year if my blogging, I want this in it for Sam and Ben to see and appreciate when they get older.

I have been growing my hair out for about 2 1/2 years so that I can do Locks of Love.  Last week I finally cut it!  I'm kind of proud of myself and hope that my boys are proud of me one day too. Now they just think I don't look like their mom.  

Getting big!

My boys are getting so big and strong!

A couple of regular Betty Crockers

....or whoever it is who bakes.  I am just about the worst baker in the world so making cookies, cupcakes, etc has not come up yet in things I do with my kids. Somehow, they ended up getting really interested into baking shows on Youtube.  They love watching a program called Nerdy Nummies.  The girl on it is pretty and they have expressed they thought that, as well.  But, what really draws them in is the character cakes she makes.  Their faves are the Captain America Cake and the Angry Birds cupcakes.  The Captain America cake is a three layer red, white and blue cake that when you cut into it, it looks like the American flag and is covered in perfect fondant icing.   So, when they begged me to make one of the cakes on the show - we went with the Angry Bird cupcakes.  I let them each pick out one color to do and of course, Ben picked black and Sam picked red (their favorite colors).

On Youtube it takes her 10 minutes to put them all together......it took us 2 hours.  The boys loved it and they were very proud of themselves for creating them!

Here they all putting on the many little pieces that make up the angry birds features

We iced the cupcakes, then dipped them in sprinkles, then put marshmallows, laffy taffy, licorice, jelly beans and chocolate chips for their eyes, beaks, and other body parts.  Sam lasted about half way through and then I finished decorating his red ones.  But, Ben put on each and every piece of candy to make his birds.  I was proud of them both because it took a lot of concentration and time for three year olds!

Here is the finished product:

Sam getting ready to eat his cupcake:

Ben getting ready to eat his cupcake:

By the looks on their faces, they are excited to eat a bunch of red dye 40 and black icing that stained my hands (Ben's poop has been bright green every since).

Yep, that's some strong icing!  (Ben was majorly sucking so, no, you can't usually see his ribcage)

Next up.....Captain America cake!  NOT!  I will call my cousin, Mallory, for that :)

Self portraits by Sam

Sam has acquired a few new bad habits.  The worst one is not wanting to sleep.  Since the boys have moved from their cribs to big boy beds, 2 months ago, they only take naps 50% of the time and go to bed on average about an hour later each night....a lot of times not until 9 or 9:30pm.  Also, Sam insists that I lay down with him until he is alseep, which might take an hour.  So, my "me" time at night doesn't start until then.  It's been a rough 9 weeks with him. 

Another of his wonderful habits is getting my phone and taking pictures.  Most of the time I find a series of pictures he took of Ben's underwear (Yes, Ben is finally potty trained - Still a no-go for Sam though), a favorite toy, or me making an ugly face (gross, do I really look like that?!).  Last week I sat down and erased 350 pictures off my phone he had taken without me knowing.

I ran across these pictures he took of himself.  He must have had the camera turned around or the flip feature on.  They were pretty cute.  Sam has dealt me such a fit lately but when I look at these pictures I am reminded how much I love him.  He wouldn't be Sam without all this mischief!

Scooby and Sledding

Ben's new favorite books are short Scooby Doo books.  They must have been written before parents realized junk food was bad for kids because they are all about eating cheeseburgers, pizza, ice cream and any other junk food Scooby and Shaggy can get their hands on.  One of their favorite foods to eat in the books is green olive pizza.  Ben has been wanting to try it forever and I made it for him today.  He loved it- he ate 4 pieces!  Now, I just need to read them more books about characters who eat their veggies.

It snowed about 13 inches yesterday.  The boys went out yesterday and today and had some fun in the snow. It was hard though because the snow went up to their buns and they could barely walk in it.  Here they are sliding down G and G Bleything's deck stairs: