The Battle For Bedtime Continues

Darth Papa has been back in the Gibson galaxy now for 3 months, yet the battle for bedtime still wages on. Young Nikolas the Ridiculous insists that he needs all his treasures in bed with him and thus escapes multiple times to go fetch his precious treasures. When he has accumulated everything to his contentment he then announces that he is thirsty, sick, needs to go potty, etc. etc. etc.....His last plea is for Queen I'm the Mama to come stay with him and "never to leave".
To end this cycle of insanity Darth Papa has declared war on young Nikolas the Ridiculous, vowing to put a stop to his midnight escapades.

And so it begins:

The battle rages from one end of the Gibson galaxy to the next. Both sides show no sign of giving in to the enemy.

In his last attempt to flee, Nikolas the Ridiculous shows his Jedi skills by leaping off the top of the couch to apparent safety.

His skills have so impressed Darth Papa that he is granted a momentary reprieve. The battle finished for the night, Nikolas the Ridiculous then holsters his trusty light saber and arrogantly struts away.

Beware young Padawan,
you may have won the battle,
but you have not won the war!!!

Our Little Daredevil

It felt like a spring day today with the temperature in the 50's, so the boys and I headed outside and rode bikes to get the wiggles out. Nikolas had to show me all his cool new tricks, and wanted me to take "pictures!" as he is yelling in the video.




He amazes us with his athletic ability. I showed him once how to ride off a curb and he did it first try like a pro.




Today he did something new and impressive. He was riding like he was weaving in between cones. I'm ready to go pick up some cones and set up an obstacle course for him, just to see what happens. I definitely see him "competing" in some bike races this spring, won't that be so cute?!

I've Been Working On The Railroad

This day was one of those, "It's cold out and I don't want to get out of the house with the boys so I need an activity for them to do" type of days. Luckily, I just happened to have a gingerbread train kit! (BTW, these are clearanced at Fred Meyer right now for $5.99)

As you can see, Nikolas took this quite seriously. He is, after all, our Junior Conductor. Now Lukas......he mostly wanted to hold all the little candies in his chubby little fist until they were slimy and he had red, blue and green smeared everywhere. He also liked smooshing the gum drops as far into the frosting as he could get it to go, which meant that it kept falling over. Nearly two year olds, they are just so "in between". Not quite old enough for any activity, yet needing something to occupy those growing little brains of theirs.

All done!

Isn't she beautiful? Okay, I would like to say that the boys did this entirely on their own, because, well, look at it.... not the prettiest decorating on the block. Unfortunately, I have to admit that the sloppy frosting job was my doing. Let's face it. I'm not Martha Stewart. Actually, I don't even come close to my friend Kate, who might as well be Martha.

Here is what it could have looked like:

It was fun in spite of the appearance and fulfilled its purpose of keeping me from going insane on a winter day. I'm slightly tempted to go to Freddies and get some of the clearanced ones, just in case. One never knows when a mommy break is suddenly absolutely neccessary and one of these would really come in handy. We'll for sure be doing this again next year!

Some Sibling Love

It's not everyday that I'm with both my brother and my sister, and it is especially rare that we get a picture of just the three of us. Since both of these rare events happened due to my big brother's birthday, (last year in his 30's!) I figured I should post it.
So here we are: John, Kellie and Rebecca (though when spoken of together like that it has always been "Becky".) We really didn't plan on dressing complimentary, but it sure worked out nicely.

I'll just take this opportunity to say that I am so thankful that I have both a brother and a sister. Naturally, I have both fond memories and foul memories of these two while growing up. They could definitely say the same of me. We had our moments of tormenting each other, but when I think of growing up on the farm I think of all of us playing in the woods, swinging on the rope swing, climbing trees, playing Ghost Runner baseball, picking blackberries, apples and all the other fruit and nuts we had plus so much more that we did together.
In fact, I would have loved to have had younger siblings to play with as John, being 5 1/2 years older, was in Junior High by the time I entered grade school, which didn't give us too many years where we were both little kids at the same time. Then he was in high school and Kellie soon followed and there I was, still a kid, roaming the woods by myself. I didn't even have my dog, as Dad had chopped it's legs off while cutting hay when I was 9. Thanks Dad. (It's okay Dad, I know it wasn't your fault;) So a younger sibling would have been quite fun to have around (and totally annoying, I know, but fun nonetheless).
So there you have it, I enjoyed my brother and sister so much I would have loved to have had more! Could be one of the many reasons why I want more children.

Ya know, I never realized that John is a full head taller than me. Then again, I am a midget. My shoe size is 5.5, to which Tone' comments that I don't have feet, I have hooves. Thanks, babe. It does come in handy when I can buy my brand name shoes in the kids department for a fraction of the adult price. I'll take my hooves, thank you very much.

Here's to 33 years of memories and at least 33 more!

The Dread Pirate NoBeard

Lukas has become our little pirate lately. He will suddenly disappear down the hall and moments later he comes running back with his pirate hat on and his hook and a big smile across his face. He is so funny and cute and we laugh every time:) So it was no surprise when, after he saw a new bowl filled with bright little oranges he raced down the hall and emerged as the Dread Pirate NoBeard, ready to defeat the enemy keeping his "baby" oranges captive.

First he attacked from the side:

Just needs a bit of sharpening, arg!

Then an attack from above:

This is tough work, but I'm a pirate, so don't you worry.

AGGHHH! Monkey Trap!!!

Pullin' out the trusty hook again

At Last! The treasure is all mine!

I just love this little pirate.

Gibson Family Christmas

I need to get my Christmas posts up before we're too far into the new year, so here they are!

Christmas Eve we spent at Tone' brother, Bill's, house. He spoiled us by preparing Prime Rib, BBQ ribs, garlic mashed potatoes, bean salad, Shrimp Pad Thai (just for me!), bread, and tons of appetizers. It was absolutely wonderful.
We all arrived around 5pm thinking we would eat around 6 and then open presents soon after. With this thinking I didn't take any toys with us as I knew the boys would be receiving PLENTY of toys from their Grandpa and Grandma Gibson and also from Uncle Bill. As I have been in the Gibson family for 12 years now, I really should know that you can't rush a good Italian cook. Even when he is cooking non-Italian food. We didn't eat until after 8pm. That was totally fine for our stomaches, as the Gibson men also always make sure their guests have plenty of appetizers. The slight difficulty came with the boys having no toys. This was resolved for quite some time with Uncle Bill's game room. Oh yes, he has a game room! Fooz Ball, air hockey, darts, and old school video games, what fun! So we all had fun taking turns playing all these games which almost took us up to dinner time, but not quite.

After dinner we moved onto stockings and gifts, Nik's favorite part of the night, naturally.

Grandpa Gibson gave both boys a stocking with their names embroidered on them. It was so sweet and they will be using these stockings forever, I'm sure!


Trains! Nik hit the train jackpot and has been "chuggaing" his trains all over the house and sleeping with them as well. He's an addict. Oh, and the bandaid and black eye are from running into the corner of the bread board at Grandma Grahams house. Ouch and lots of blood.

Thanks Uncle Bill for all the cool toys!

Lukas driving his new dump truck with his new ball inside. He and Nik have been piling things into both of theirs and driving them all over the house. I can tell you from experience that it does not feel good to have a steel truck rammed into the back of your ankle. Grrrrr...


Arrggghhhh!

This is Lukas smile after I asked him to smile at the camera. Thanks kid. I mean, pirate.

Christmas Gathering #2

The Graham Family Christmas party was just the beginning of multiple gatherings to exchange presents and to celebrate Christs' birth. The day after the Graham party, Tone's Aunt Anita, Uncle Ed and Grandma Gibson came up from Sweet Home to visit with a few people and exchange gifts. They took the time to stop by our home Saturday morning and so the boys were able to open some more presents before Christmas Day. They don't mind that at all!

Luke is much better at opening presents at this age than Nikolas was. I'm not sure that that is a good thing, unless it is just a sign that he knows what he wants and how to get it. Hmmm, once again, I'm not sure that is a good thing.

TRAINS!!!!!

Naturally, Nik is quite pleased with his gift from Uncle Ed and Aunt Anita. He has been sleeping with the train for the past 5 nights now. Can we say, "Obsessed"!

Lukas absolutely loved the trucks that Uncle Ed and Aunt Anita gave him and Nik. You pull the cord and it starts vibrating as it pulls the cord back in. It looks like it is idling and Lukas has been staying occupied with it pulling it over and over just watching it idle. He's so cute:)

He also has been having a great time driving his motorcycles and truck and trailer around from Grandma Gibson. Today his sippy cup was being hauled all over the place.

The boys having fun.

The men "talking" with their hands. It's not just an Italian thing:)