Wednesday, December 15, 2010

impatient love

one of my favorite things about christmas
is seeing my kids getting excited about giving gifts.

i love LOVE LOVE when they come home with a decorated 'secret' bag, box or envelope!



i love how they just can't even stand it
when i even suggest waiting until christmas to open it!



AND ...
i also love deciding that sometimes being patient is SO overrated ;)

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Tuesday, December 14, 2010

BOOM!

tonight i took the boys
and met some friends
at a free holiday chemistry magic show
that was put on at a local college.

it was run by a guy
who was a perfect combination of
the absent minded professor
and
rick moranis in honey i shrunk the kids ;)


this was him getting ready to fire the cannon
which never fired ;) haha

it was essentially an hour and a half of fun experiments

among other things -
they combined dry ice and soap



they electrocuted a pickle

they made fireworks
and made them jump around the stage -
although that wasn't supposed to happen quite the way it did
and we heard that phrase quite a few times ;)

they played with chemical reactions and color



they washed people's hands with dynamite soap

and
they started carbon dioxide on fire.

it was so fun
because nothing seemed to go as planned
yet they just went with it.

you could see that this little man just loves what he does
and loves to just have fun.

as i watched him,
i thought about our morning.
we were getting ready for school
and ben put an acorn in a cup and heated it in the microwave.
after realizing what he was doing
i stopped him
obviously
i asked why in the world he would try to microwave an acorn
and where he even got an acorn in the first place ?!?!
and he said
'i just wanted to see what would happen'

i just have this feeling that someday,
ben is going to be wearing the tie-dyed lab coat
and HE is going to be the one randomly mixing things ...
just to see what happens ;)
p.s. thanks to jen for the pictures ;)
what was i thinking leaving my camera at home?!

Sunday, December 12, 2010

collapsing craziness

when i woke up this morning
i expected the excitement of our weekend to be over.

BUT i was SO wrong.

at 5 a.m. this morning
due to the weight of all of the snow
AND that the vikings needed a little extra time for favre to heal
AND ALSO that they think they need a new stadium and will do anything it takes ...

the roof of the metrodome COLLAPSED!!



snow poured in ....



and the roof came down!
and if you haven't seen the video -
you HAVE to watch
it ...
it's unreal!



20 inches of snow in 24 hours.
the roof of a major stadium collapsing as a result.
the vikings being set to play as the home team at FORD FIELD in DETROIT with all tickets being given out FREE?!
seriously?!

i am hoping for a VERY boring monday.
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Saturday, December 11, 2010

blizzard 2010

last night and today will forever go down as
'the blizzard of 2010'



today consisted of -

lots of playing with neighbors



lots of laying around

and of course
LOTS of snow!



LOTS LOTS of snow ...
as in, as of tonight, we believe we got somewhere around 18 inches in the past 24 hours -
for most of the morning we were getting about 2 inches of snow an hour!
the roads were empty
(well, except for the construction workers
that came to work on the house 2 doors down
AT SEVEN FIFTEEN!!!)
the mail never came
the plows didn't even come through until around 2 pm!

it seemed as though most people stayed inside -
and those who did venture out got stuck ;)



our neighbor john was quite busy getting all of the neighbors where they needed to be ;)



we had a LOT of snow
and
a LOT of wind
and CRAZY deep drifts



drifts deep enough to trap even a snow plow!
yes ... that'd be our kids trying to help him out ;)
what a lucky guy.
eventually a front loader came to his rescue.

it was a truly CRAZY fun day!!
BUT NOW ...
it's time to say GOODBYE, blizzard 2010.
these temperatures you have left us with are ABSOLUTELY ridiculous.
BUT ... that's ok.
we were able to use the kostes snowblower to 'dig' our way out
and we are SO thankful



we have kids that don't mind the cold and that LOVE the snow ;)
and also neighbor friends that kept them busy all day



and we have a nice warm house
that i barely had to leave today
AND
that i can hide out in tomorrow as well ;)



SO ... SEE YA!
thanks for the memories ;)

Thursday, December 9, 2010

when santa arrives via firetruck

last night we had a little different type of fire drill in our neighborhood

i witnessed my kids
STOP where they were
slightly panic
DROP what they were doing
and immediately RUN for the door.



alex, of course, grabbed his noise protecting headphones
cassie came out covered in chicken pox
AND
the koste boys even came running out of the house in their boxers.
they were QUITE a group ;)

BUT ...
they made it out JUST in time
to see santa make his annual trip through the neighborhood on a firetruck



and that is all that mattered.

NOW ...
if i could just get them out of the house that fast on any other given day ;)
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Wednesday, December 8, 2010

life as we know it ...



just got much MUCH louder ;)

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Tuesday, December 7, 2010

which of these kids is not like the other




yesterday i took the kids and our neighbors/friends to play laser tag
AND
if there was ever JUST ONE picture
that i wish was in focus ...
YEP
this is the one ;)
guess that's what i get for taking a picture in pitch black
and hoping it would turn out ;)

Sunday, December 5, 2010

math with alex

alex: mom what's 5 + 4?

me: 9



me: what's 2 + 2?

alex: 4



alex: what's 1 + 1?

me: 2

alex: WRONG!
it's 11.

can't blame the kid for thinking out of the box, right ;)


Saturday, December 4, 2010

alex knows

some days
when you've played hard all day
and
you can't take any more
you just have to deal with what you're dealt ...



EVEN if it is
furry
pink
and
covered in bratz.
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Friday, December 3, 2010

what's hot

watching a movie on nickjr.com
TOTALLY yesterday
watching a movie on nickjr.com through a periscope ...



NOW we're talkin.
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