Such Good Intentions

For Thanksgiving we go to TJ’s Mom’s every year.  She is such a great cook and hostess.  This year she asked me to bring some brownies or cupcakes for the kids for dessert.  I had such big plans.  I was going to make brownies with a special marshmallow gooey center.  Oh wouldn’t they just be delicious.

Well, this is what they ended up looking like.  I call them my “Open Sore Brownies”.  TJ called them “Acne Brownies”.

I put half of the brownie mix in the pan, added a layer of mini marshmallows and poured the rest of the brownie mix on top.  But as I poured in the last of the mix, the marshmallows all floated to the top.  And then as they cooked they bubbled up and when they cooled they all popped open.

I still laugh every time I think of them. 

They looked disgusting but were still very tasty.  I will have to remember them for my next Halloween bash.  They will be perfect.

Foot Puppets

 

TJ and Tucker were playing foot puppets.  They had different voices for each foot and carried on a whole conversation with each other, laughing all the while.  

Funny funny boys.

LiveJournal Tags: Tuck,puppets

Children’s Museum with Grandma

Grandma Connie and Grandpa Jake got us tickets to the Children’s Museum in Indy for Christmas.  TJ was hunting so we invited Grandma to join us.  I have never been here and I was just as excited as Tucker was.  We talked about it for days before going, guessing what all we might see. And boy did we have fun.

After our 45 minute drive we decided to go to the Playscape to burn off a little steam.  Of course, Tuck had to try out the Indy car, what good Hoosier boy could pass that up?

He had fun with the water area.  There were fishing poles and a waterwheel that really caught his attention. And isn’t he just so cute in his little smock?  Tuck is all about pretending right now so he really got into playing puppy.  I couldn’t catch him with his tongue out. Kora loved playing in the garden.  She would pull all the vegetables out and another little boy would put them back in, over and over. 

LiveJournal Tags: Tuck,Kora,Adventure,Museum

She also liked playing in the Babyscape area with blocks and Grandma.

Isn’t she just the cutest.

He is such a fan of his sandbox at home that he knew just what to do here.

And after lunch we went to see “Da Bears”.  He just loved everything about this area.Kora loved the bears too. So much so that they wore her out and she napped for about 45 minutes.

The Penguin Slide was a big hit as well.

And then on to see the Dinosaurs.  Tuck made me hold his hand as we went down the ramp.  It was dark and kind of spooky but that didn’t hold him back for long.  Soon he was dragging me along and trying to get me to crawl into all of the kids caves to see what we could see.

Here is Tuck as Mr. Archeologist.  He was learning about casts of bones.

This is what he would look like with a T.Rex tooth in his head.

And we all loved the dress up areas.  Here he is as dinosaur.  He wanted to play with the dino eggs so badly but another little kid was hoarding them.  Tuck waited him out though.

And finally, we finished the day in the train section.  Here is Tuck inside the train exhibit where the kids can see the trains from their own little portals.

The kids slept the whole way home.  We sure did have fun at the museum.  Did I mention that Tuck and I learned to Rumba? I can’t wait to go again and see even more.     Especially once Kora is bigger and more interactive.

Tuck’s Vocabulary

Here is just another sampling of Tuck’s ever expanding vocabulary.

Alligator: agigator

Far away: Fa away, this is used to describe the stars as well as a toy that is out of reach

Big High: “push me big high” on the swing, and when we went golfing he told Papaw “that ball went big high”

M&Ms: emma emma, these are bait for using the potty; so far there is very little interest on his part, even with TJ’s bribe of a kitty.

Halloween 2010

This Halloween was a big success.  Missy had the annual Halloween party in her back yard.  Dinner was great and all of the festive deserts were a hit.

Connie came to spend the evening with the kids.  She loved seeing them all dressed up.

Tucker was “Baby Joe” aka Little Joe from Bonanza.  He watches this show every night and just loves Little Joe.  I found a pattern for the vest and chaps and surprised myself at my sewing prowess.  HA.

  

Tuck decided that Mommy should be Big Hoss.  Daddy thought that was pretty funny.  I did dress in my vest, boots and a borrowed cowboy hat.  Humbug Daddy wouldn’t even dress up; not even to play along and wear the Hi My Name Is Ben Cartwright name badge.  He’s such a party pooper.

Giddy-up horsey.

We swept the party with prizes.  Tuck received Most Original and Kora was Best Costume, mainly cuz she’s just so darn cute.

Kora was just starting to cruise pretty good.  We put her in this cute little giraffe costume.

Isn’t the tail just the cutest?

We made the grandparent rounds in Crawfordsville and Linden.  The kids made out like bandits.

Next year, we have decided that the grandparents will be invited to Missy’s and we will make the Main Street rounds.  It was so hard this year to pull Tuck away from all of his friends and to load and unload them all evening.  We may regret this decision next year after experiencing the crowds but we will try it once.  Maybe next year they will be Mickey and Minnie, or Chip and Dale or Green Eggs and Ham.  Who knows what Mommy will come up with……

Farmer Tuck

My friend Dave, from work, was cutting beans in a field not far from our house and invited Tuck to come ride in the combine with him.

   

I took Dave some leftovers in payment and he took us on a couple of rounds.  When Dave asked him if he liked the combine or the horse riding better he waffled, still unsure of his preferences of farmer or cowboy.  I think he still has time to decide. 

He got to ride in the semi and honk the horn in it too.

We went by this field a week later and Tuck recognized it and called it “My bean field”

Horseback Riding

My friend from work gave us a standing invitation to come out and ride horses.  We finally took him up on the invitation and Tuck loved it.

He wore his hat and his boots.  Boots were always the rule when I was growing up.  It didn’t matter what else you had on but you had to wear boots when you were with the horses.  I even pulled my boots out of the back of the closet and dusted them off for the evening.

Chris was so good about telling Tuck how to approach the horse, where to brush, where to stand, how to throw the saddle up, etc.

Before we got Sierra ready, Tuck was trying to give another horse some grass.  We were trying to warn him to hold his fingers out flat but he couldn’t hold onto the grass if he did that.  Needless to say the horse bit his finger.  Or as Tuck told us: “That horsey eat me!” There was a little blood, a few tears but all in all no lasting effects.  Tuck only made about half a loop around the corral before he told us “Me done”. We kept him up there for one more round.  It was hardly worth saddling up the horse but Chris was so patient and this day was such a hit with Tuck.  He talks about it still.  My good little cowboy. And Kora was having a ball just watching.  Is this not the sweetest smile?!

LiveJournal Tags: tuck,horse,adventure