We wanted to do something for Valentine's day but didn't want to spend a ton or take forever. We decided one evening to just use a few pieces of pretty scrapbook paper and scallop scissors to create a few hearts. Ilya loves cutting paper and had a blast making each one. The picture doesn't really capture the paper colors very well. So pretty!
If you happen to have watched Guy's special about Christmas at Disney on the Food Network, then likely you saw the portion on the amazing handmade candy canes. If you didn't see it, check out this link at about 6:30 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5buhCaD1kw&feature=related
These candy canes look amazing. They are handmade only a few times a year around Christmas. They are so labor intensive that they only make about 100 each time. Not everyday is a candy cane day. After watching the guys make the candy canes, I think they'd quit if they had to make them everyday. They are tough!
We thought, "Cool, saw that on TV. Would be great to try one." Um...we must have thought we were the only people who watch Food Network. Because everyone else at Disney thought the same thing. The nearly laughed at us when we stopped by the candy store and asked to buy one at about 3 in the afternoon. Remember the part about them only make 100 every few days. We thought oh well, we'll never get one. With the encourage and the energy of the nearly teenager with us...we were talked into it. So much fun! The next day we got there when the park opened and ran...yes ran...with the crowd (it was that or be trampled). And.....
Voila!
The thing is huge!! They sell them wrapped because most people ship them home. We purchased two (come on...wouldn't you...after getting up that early...make it worth it) and quickly dug in. It is pretty good!
If I close my eyes, I still feel like I'm going in circles. No joke. We rode this rocket ride soooo many times that I still feel like I'm spinning. Ilya got everyone to take him on this ride at least once if not 50 or 60 times. It clearly deserves a post of it's own. I wonder what the record is for this ride. At one point, the park was empty (we were there early---see the post about candy canes) that we didn't even have to get off to ride again. There wasn't anyone waiting in line--lucky us!
Ilya with Papa...
Ilya with dad...
Ilya with uncle Scott
Dylan ahead of Ilya (I'm behind the camera)
We have a million more pictures of each co-pilot...but I think you get the idea. The kid loves rockets (see prior posts about living in rocket pj's...and yes, he asked if he could wear the pj's on the ride).
I love using words like Christmas and Disney in the same sentence! We had a blast. The first night there we were able to catch up with my Godparents, my cousin Erin and her VERY adorable little girl. Then for the next several days we joined Eric's parents for a few adventures in Disney.
While it was a bit rainy to say the least, we didn't let it stop us. Our tour guide led the way...
We made sure to see all the favorites
Got front row seats to Disney Clubhouse live (Ilya was in awe and so excited to dance along).
A few days into the trip...look who we bumped into...cousins Kylee and Dylan. Who knew they'd be here for Christmas too! They were all thrilled. Best present ever!
A few more rides...
We completed the week with a great family Christmas dinner, saw the fireworks, watched the snow fall and scrolled down Main Street back to the hotel!
After our successful attempt and Christmas cookies, I thought we should try a little something new. I had huge goals of making a gingerbread house. I even download templates, planned out my candy decorations and found the perfect dough (according to a few hundred people on foodnetwork's site). After taking just one step back to think about what I was going to attempt...and looking at the cost for the monstrosity. This handy gingerbread train kit for $9.99 looked pretty appealing. I'd already heard from a few friends that they tried their hand at it successfully. I figured, start with the train and if it looks good...then build the coordinating house...or station...or town!!! As you will notice in the pictures. We have a fabulous train...but no coordinating quaint house and hardly a gingerbread town is in sight. And trust me....they aren't going to show up anytime soon! While the kit was relatively simple. The blasted thing wouldn't stay stuck together! The directions of "hold together for just a minute" does need a slight bit of rewording. "Hold together for 20-30 minutes with four...no wait five hands," would be more accurate and help align expectations. But all-in-all it was totally worth it! Once I got it to stay together, Ilya had a blast decorating it! He took nearly an hour to meticulously dab frosting on each piece of candy and place it in the precise predetermined spot. While he was waiting for me to get the train together, he thought through the placement of all the candy. The result a nice mix of matching the picture on the box and his own creativity in placement. Voila!
I came across a great little kit from Crayola that I thought would be a fun twist on cookie decorating. The kit came with edible "paint". Ilya enjoys painting with a brush so I thought why not try it on a cookie. What a great project! Ilya did it all. From making the dough, rolling it out, cutting the cookies, baking and finally icing and painting. They turned out great (and taste really good)!
So many decisions!! Which costume to get? Who to be for Halloween? Whew! After about a million times of changing our decision, Ilya finally settled on...(drum roll please) a Cowboy. For a brief moment he wanted to be Snow White. He doesn't know who Snow White is but 5 of the girls in his class are going to be Snow White...and well why not make it an even 1/2 dozen Snow Whites running around out there. Then we moved on to Spiderman, airplane, conductor (thought the whistle was cool), pirate (they carry swords) and finally we thought "Super Boy" would be cool. Never heard of "Super Boy"....well let me tell you about "Super Boy". He wears rocket pj's and runs around my kitchen in circles saying, "I'm Super Boy"---really loudly! Ilya thought it would be hilarious (actually fell over in laughter) to not wear a costume but to wear pj's trick-or-treating and this was his sales pitch to me. It didn't work---so he finally decided on cowboy, with the ever so cool hat!
After having selected the world's greatest pumpkin and caring all 1lb of it to the car "by myself" (that is until he got tired and had me carry him, carrying the pumpkin), Ilya couldn't deal with the idea of cutting the pumpkin. He thought we were insane. That would "break" the pumpkin. Instead, he colored it with a "happy face."
Ilya thought Eric was nuts for wanting to "break" his pumpkin but at least it wasn't his pumpkin so he thought the design was pretty cool.
According to the Candy USA (wonder if I can become a member), today is National Gummi Worm Day. http://allday.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2009/07/15/4378246-happy-national-gummi-worms-day Yeah! Who knew there was such a national day? We couldn't let this one pass us by! So, we made "dirt" cups. Ilya had a blast turning a box of powder (pudding mix) into chocolate with just a little milk and whisking. He was amazed that chocolate could just appear before your eyes! I would share but these disappeared quickly after dinner.
What a great morning and even better day!!! Ilya was up bright and early to see if that silly rabbit really did hide the eggs! Notice how the blinds are open and it's still incredibly dark outside!
When I decided how many eggs to cook for Easter egg coloring, I thought one little boy...12...no just in case 18. Ilya thought we needed LOTS more. It took about 15 minutes and he had them all colored! With each one he oooh'd and aaah'd at the white becoming a color. We made a HUGE mess but had a great time doing it!
If you ask Ilya who hides the eggs and brings a basket of goodies at Easter, he will tell you "The Pizza Bunny". You might be asking---what did you have delivery or Digornio for Easter?? Nope, that's just how he pronounces Easter...Pizza. Hilarious!!! (I wish we could have caught it on video.)
Arbor Day Farms is such a great place! We headed over there for their Easter Egg hunt. Such a beautiful day to wander the trail and search for eggs. This was a great way to enjoy the area and the visit with Papa and Gram Souders. Ilya had a great time reading about each and every tree. Seriously, I really mean each and every tree that had a plaque, Ilya asked for it to be read. Think about how many plaques that is---it is ARBOR DAY FARMS. I have no doubt that there are a hundred or more plaques describing the tree, the history of the tree, the uses historically and current for the tree...you get the idea. Whew! I say next time bring Papa Kenny too (for those that don't know my dad he owns a nursery full of trees)!
Easter eggs here we come!
Posing for a picture :)
Ilya being silly with Dad
Ilya being silly with Papa and Dad
This last week we had a great time with a visit from Grandma and Grandpa (Baba and Papa). We started the visit with a few Christmas presents!! Ilya loved that Santa came again...this guy is great! I wish more of the pictures turned out...but...um...let's blame the camera. A least we got a few of the main highlight---the blue truck from Uncle Kevin. A favorite from the start!! In the picture on the right, Ilya is giving a "tour" of the truck and all its features!
Who knew there were so many ice skating rinks in Omaha! Gram and Papa Souders took the grandkids out for some time on the ice. The kiddos loved it!
Gram with all the kiddos
Kylee teaching Ilya how to balance and Ilya teaching Kylee how to stop...with style!
Freedom...watch me go! A natural on the ice--Ilya keeps asking to go back!
And cousin Dylan showing off his spectacular moves with a few spins-whew--just watching makes me dizzy!
Ilya was thrilled to meet Santa. We told him that this was his chance--he could tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas. What did Ilya ask for? Maybe more cars or trains? Maybe blocks or paints? Nope---he wanted a candy cane. Santa agreed this was a good choice and promptly gave him a candy cane...like he gave the child before and likely the child after Ilya :)
Ilya was so proud of his candy cane. Here he is showing dad...
And showing Uncle Kevin.
Back by Ilya's request---the Tigger costume. I loved it because it's pretty cute (and saved buying a new costume). Ilya loved wearing it because he got to bounce like Tigger all night. After many please and thank you's mixed with the words trick or treat, Ilya got right to the point, "Please, trick or sucker." We had to stop and let him know that not every house would have a sucker and the point is to say, "Trick or Treat". Needless to say, when we got home, Ilya quickly counted his suckers and was THRILLED---to say the least! We said all along when we got home he could pick out one piece of candy...guess what he picked?
As we prepared to carve the pumpkin, you would have thought that the world was ending for Ilya. What were we thinking...cut the pumpkin??...hurt this perfect pumpkin that we had waited weeks to get and selected from hundreds??? NO WAY!!!! This pumpkin was to be decorated...not cut. So, we don't so much have a jack o'lantern this year as we have a very colorful pumpkin decorated with Mickey Mouse pieces and crayons. I think it's quite nice (and the kitchen is cleaner!). Ilya loves it--we routinely have to get the pumpkin off the counter so Ilya can give it a hug and kiss...what can I say...he's proud of his pumpkin!
While Ilya LOVED the fireworks in the distance and had a great time calling out the colors, he was not thrilled about the ones that were up close. However, he just couldn't take his eyes off of them!
Ilya kept asking, "Bunny coming?"..."Bunny coming?" He was thrilled to see that the bunny finally came! He found all the eggs, dove into the jelly beans and then realized the really fun part of the day was yet to come. We got to go to church!
Ilya loves going to church. At every song he dances. Usually, after a few songs and the kids message, Ilya goes to the nursery (in another year he will go to Sunday school). On Easter, there isn't a nursery. After an hour of singing and listening and being patient...Ilya was done. As the pastor gave the final blessing and had a quiet moment of prayer, I quietly whispered in Ilya's ear a few prayers. I tried to lengthen the prayers out to match the pastors timing. However, Ilya knows how long it takes for an Our Father, Hail Mary and our special prayer for the day. As I said, "Amen" on our last prayer, Ilya announced to the entire (silent) church, "All done prayers." Several people snickered, one shot us a bad look and another man muttered, "Kinda what I was thinking."
Ilya loved coloring eggs. In fact, he has asked to color eggs again SEVERAL times. While our final product is a little worse for wear (and some eggs didn't even make it to the end)---we made a huge mess and had a ton of fun doing it!
Ilya loved hanging out with friends Nolan (right), Emmett (middle) and Logan (not pictured) on New Year's Eve. While Emmett was the only kiddo to make it to midnight, all had a great time singing, yelling and playing with the wii, Thomas the train and many more toys.
Once Ilya realized that the stack of paper wrapped boxes held treasures like train movies and boots...it was all over. Ilya would rip into one present be so incredibly amazed at what was inside that he would play with that toy for awhile (sometimes hours) and forget about the rest of the stack. That pace took us to about 4pm when the last present was opened. Ilya even got so tired we had to stop for a two hour nap.
While it took quite a bit of encouragement, Eric finally convinced Ilya to wear his Halloween costume. He loved bouncing around like Tiger! While we only made it to three stops on our trick-or-treat quest (sorry to everyone we weren't able to see), we had a great time. Our first stop was to see cousin Dylan. Dylan was appalled that Ilya didn't have any candy in his budget yet so he filled Ilya's budget 1/2 up with treats from his house and his bucket. Then, Dylan took Ilya to the next door neighbors. Ilya looked up to him the entire way!
Ilya wasn't exactly sure about this pumpkin carving thing. He gave it a good two or three minutes of interest and then was off to play with cars. That is until Eric showed him the final product!!! Ilya was so proud to show off the pumpkin to everyone that visited this week!
