Christmas Season Tradition

Last year, Gavin and I decided to start a tradition of driving around neighborhoods looking at Christmas lights. A couple weeks ago we took our first drive of the season. Owen was much more verbal than he was last year about what he was seeing. He was so excited at times that he could hardly get the words out of his mouth that he wanted to say! He was pointing out all the "Frosty the Snowmans" and Santa Clauses. The ultimate favotire however, is the "spinny thing" aka carousel blow up decoration that actually spins around with Frosty, a Penguin, Santa, and an elf. (Fortunately, for Owen, and unfortunately for us, this spinny thing just so happens to be three streets away from our new house, so we see this almost on a nightly basis when the request is made to go see it.)

At numerous houses along our ride, I pointed out my favorite decorations, the candycane lights that run along the edge of driveways. At one house, when I pointed out the candycanes Owen said, "I don't like to look at candycanes, I like to eat them!" :)

Tonight, we went for another ride. This year we heard about the "Gift of Lights," drive through at the Speedway Racetrack and decided to check it out. We had to pay for the car full of people, but it was totally worth it. It was two miles of lights on both sides of our car. Owen enjoyed this display as well, and at one point struck up a converstation with Max. He said, "look Max, see the lights, do you like them? Look out my window Max, see the stars?"

I just love those moments of true brotherly love, of course, followed by Owen stealing Max's puppy on the way home and making him cry, but oh those precious moments!

Kick off to the Christmas Season

Although the temperatures in Las Vegas were below normal this Thanksgiving holiday, we stayed true to our tradition and headed out to Opportunity Village last night. For those of you that don't know Opportunity Village is a place in Las Vegas, where you can go walk through the Magical Forest of lights, get your picture taken with Santa, enjoy a warm cup of hot cocoa, and a train ride. There are also other fun things for kids to do like a giant slide, a carosel, and this year a putt-putt golf course. But the hightlights are Santa, the train ride, and the magical forest.

Owen was excited to talk to Santa this year and even took a decorated pinecone he had completed at preschool to show Santa. Max was mesmorized by Santa, which surprised me. I was anticipating him not wanting to be placed on his lap.

I loved watching Owen walk through the Magical Forest this year. He stopped at every display and took it all in. Max on the other hand just liked the freedom of walking and as a result he and Gavin were way ahead of us, so most of the pictures are of Owen. A great time was had by all.

The video at the top of the blog is a result of our evening!

Happy Halloween!

This free picture collage created with Smilebox

Thank you to all who voted on my poll, but I decided to go with 2 firefighters! I did browse through Target in search of a dalmation costume, but did not see any, so I stuck with the firefighter costumes! Personally, I think they look adorable in their matching costumes!

Romzek Rock Stars!

Make a digital slideshow

Pumpkin Picking

Click on the link below to view the video I made of our fun fall morning on Saturday. I learned about animoto in one of my classes, so I was experimenting with it, and have now fallen in love. Making this slideshow video was so easy and didn't take long at all! Enjoy!

Pumpkin Picking

Excuses, Excuses!

Owen likes to get away from family dinner time and sneak in a little alone time playing (without Max around) with the excuse that he needs to let his food cool. And sadly he does get away with this for ten minutes or so.

Well, tonight, we had Subway for dinner since we had to take Max to his 18 month check-up. Owen sat down with his turkey sandwhich and announced, "I'm going to go play a little while this cools down."

I responded, "but it is already cool, it was never hot."

To this he replied, "well until it warms up then."

At least he knows the opposite of cool is warm!

Life with Boys!

Another digital slideshow by Smilebox

Picture Perfect Moments

I am curious as to why picture perfect moments only last a millisecond.

This evening for example, Owen got out the Sequence for Kids game. We set it all up, he decided who got what color chip, we dealt the cards, and we were ready to go. He is the youngest so he gets to go first; he sat still, decided which card he wanted to lay, placed that card off to the side neatly (didn't throw it), placed his chip on the animal that matched his card, and then drew a new card. Then I took my turn, Daddy took his. And that explains the picture perfect moment!

Then the craziness started, Owen playfully put Daddy's chip on the board instead of his own, then said, "just kidding, daddy!" Next, he pushed all the other chips off the board. I put all the chips back in their original spots, just for Owen to take Daddy's chip and put his chip in it's spot instead, then when he got scolded, he took Daddy's chip, put it on top of his own on the same animal and said, "I'm just kidding, Daddy, we can share!"

Finally, he got up and started playing hopscotch across the board, that's when the game got cleaned up!

A few weeks ago, Gavin had to work late at school and so I had to eat dinner with the boys alone. Normally, getting Owen to sit at the dinner is a struggle, but this particular day he sat down with me, and for a millisecond I was eating and both boys were eating; it was a picture perfect moment and then.........

Owen threw his plate on the floor and said he didn't like it.

Oh the joys of parenthood!

Handsome Little Men

This weekend we found matching outfits for the boys on clearance at Target. It just so happened that the only two sizes they had were 5T and 18 months, which was exactly what we needed! We are planning on getting a family picture taken at the end of the month and these outfits will be perfect. Tonight, I tried them on the boys to see how they looked. I think they look so handsome! Owen is so excited to wear an outfit that matches Max and have his picture taken, hopefully, he is just as excited when the time comes!



This was Owen's interpretation of the pose I was looking for when I said, "look handsome!"

Owen "Hopscotching"

Owen's new favorite things to do, besides playing duck, duck, goose, is hopscotch. Although, he does not have the hopping part quite mastered. Check out the video below to see what I mean! (sorry about the sneezing, my allergies are acting up now that we actually have flowering plantlife in our backyard)!

Owen's take on Life

Click the title and turn up the volume!

First Steps

Max took his "official" first steps today at the park. He was so freaked out by the water fountains at the park that I don't even think he knows that he walked, he was just trying to get to safety AKA me.

Wild Animal

Owen was thrilled that the water fountains turned on at the Dinosaur Park today. The video below clearly illustrates just how excited he was. When he watched this video, he laughed and said, "that's a wild animal!"

Owen's Obsession...this week!

This week Owen is asking us to play "Hungry Hippos" every chance he gets. We borrowed it from Steve and Shonna's house, because the last few times we had visited too much was going on for anyone to sit down and play this game with him! He loves it and I must say it is a little addictive for me too!!:) Funny that the Hippo to eat the last ball is the winner, it doesn't matter how many total another Hippo may have eaten...gotta love playing by the rules of a three-year-old!

Splash Splash Splash

Max got to experience the water table for the first time on Sunday afternoon. He LOVED it! This kid loves to splash and couldn't believe he had a whole table full of water to splash in his brother's face!! All Owen wanted to do was drive his cars through the water and he was not impressed that his brother was having so much fun splashing!!

Lazy Saturday Morning

Saturday morning, Owen and Max had a prebreakfast snack of dry cereal. They looked so darn cute sitting side by side, drinking their drinks, eating their cereal, and watching TV.



Notice Max is stealing Owen's food!

Bath Time Fun!

The other night, the boys had such a great time in the bath tub, there was plenty of splashing, lots of giggles, and just plain silliness. Max even took the opportunity to get back at Owen for all the times Owen had poured water over his head!

Brotherly Love

Gavin took the boys to the grocery store today. They rode together in the little car that is attached to the front of the cart. At one point during their "ride" through the grocery store Owen wrapped both arms around Max and said, "I love you brother!"

Just melts my heart!

World's Best Big Brother

It often amazes me to watch Owen interact with Max. He can be so kind and gentle.

Here are a few examples of things that have melted me heart in the last couple of days!

Yesterday, Owen wanted to play in his room alone with Max. I allowed this for a few minutes and then went in his room. Owen had his tractors up on his bed and Max was up on his tippy toes reaching for them. When I asked Owen if he could put the tractors on the floor, he refused. I told him that Max needed something to play with. So, Owen picked up the car, put it on the floor next to Max and in a sweet high pitched voice said, "here Max, this will make you happy!"

Earlier tonight, Owen, Max, and I were leaving Subway, )I can't remember how the converstation started), but something about leaving Max at Subway. Owen said, "No, we can't leave Max here, I would miss him sooooo much!"

Then we were home eating our Subway sandwiches at the table and I broke off some of my bread to share with Max, Owen who uncharacteristically, was sitting eating his sandwhich like a little angel, ripped some of his bread off, walked all the way around the island and around to Max's side of the table dropped it in front of Max and in that same sweet, high pitched voice, said "here Max, here's some bread for you."

I hope he always looks out for his little brother like he does (most of the time) now.

Just Another Day in Paradise!

Below is a video capturing a typical rowdy moment with my boys!

The County Fair

Today was the Clark County Fair. The plan was to get there right when the gates opened so we could beat the traffic and the crowd. In the years past when we have left the fair, the cars had been backed up the full five miles from the expressway to the parking lot and even onto to the expressway. Owen is not patient enough to wait in lines, so we knew we needed to beat the crowd. We were there right at 10:00 and for the first round of rides Owen got to have the ride all to himself. We spent the rest of the morning riding rides and eating fair treats! A good time was had by all!!:)


The first ride of the day, the carousel with Daddy! He didn't ask to go on this one again! He must be growing up!


Max enjoying the sights!



This is my favorite picture of the day!
"Tickled Pink" to be riding in a pink car!
Owen loved riding on the motorcycle the most, it shows on his facial expressions!

The fresh air wore Max right out!

I am really hoping Owen doesn't have a huge growth spurt and become taller than he can be to go on these rides with his little brother next year!

BUNCO Streaker

The first Wednesday of every month I go out and play BUNCO with some ladies from my school or who were once at my school, but have now moved to on to other schools. There are 12 ladies total and we take turns hosting throughout the year. We have dinner first and then we play the very fun dice game that is BUNCO.

April was my month to host this year. Gavin helped me have dinner prepared and then took Owen out on a "date" just before the ladies arrived so that we could eat in peace! By the time Owen and Gavin got home we had started playing. Owen was very well behaved when he returned, he was interested in what we were doing and, of course, wanted to play too, but accepted my answer that he wasn't old enough. Gavin did a good job keeping the boys away from us and keeping them on their nightly routine. While, Gavin was getting them ready to take their evening bath, Owen escaped our bedroom and ran out into the living room to streak for all the ladies. I was sitting at the kitchen table, he ran through the living room and jumped into view of me in the kitchen and yelled, "hey, look at me!"

I bet non of those ladies thought they were going to have a show with their dinner!

After his bath and once he was fully dressed in his pajamas he decided we still needed some entertainment and had to get out his "rock star guitar" to play for all of us. After Max was put to bed, Owen asked Gavin to set up his train track. Right before we were done playing Owen announced that he wanted everyone to come check out his train! We distracted him by asking him to choose the door prize winner instead by drawing from the score sheets.

Apparently, while Owen was busy with all of his shinanigans Max was quietly stashing toys in a purse (he loves to put things away). When the ladies all picked up their purses to leave one lady found a couple of toy cars and some round wood stacking blocks. I was nervous that I may find more of my children's toys in my school mailbox the next day, but luckily he only chose one purse to stash things in!

All in all it was a successful (I won $15 for having the most wins)and entertaining BUNCO night at the Romzek household!

Who Let the Dogs Out?

No more "Boom Boom Pow," Owen's new favorite song is, "Who Let the Dogs Out?" While he was listening to the song on the internet I asked him if I could record him. He refused, than I told him I would give him a couple of M&M's if he sang close to the computer (so the microphone would pick up his voice), no argument that time, he belted it out and then enjoyed his M&M's!!! Click on the title to hear him sing!

Happy Easter!

Easter morning festivities were done in shifts this morning. Max woke up first and had breakfast while Daddy cleaned up the kitchen from the night before. We tried to keep Max in his high chair for as long as possible waiting for Owen to wake up, but you can only contain a 13 month old for so long. Finally, he got down to play. He amused himself for a while, until he spotted his Easter basket hiding in the corner. He crawled over and picked out a couple of toys. Then he spotted an Easter egg peeking out from under the coffee table. He continued to crawl around the house and found a couple of more Easter eggs in the playroom! Finally at 8:30 I decided that we needed to wake Owen up. He enjoyed his Easter egg hunt, but it took him quite awhile to find his Easter basket that was hidden underneath his train table in the toy room. He remembered how Gavin taught him to "crack" the eggs into a bowl last year and was very pleased to see M&M's fall out every time he did this! Later, we went to dinner at Shonna's parents house. They have a big Easter egg hunt every year for the kids. Lots and lots of eggs and lots and lots of prizes to go with them. Owen enjoyed this as well, Max enjoyed putting all the empty eggs back into the bin!
After the Easter egg hunt the older kids played a couple of games: balancing an egg on a spoon race, sack race, and real Easter Egg Bocce Ball!
We came home early so that Max could take a nap, since he skipped his afternoon nap with all the festivities and to just relax ourselves before we have to go back to work tomorrow!! It has been a fun and eventful spring break week. I can't wait until summer of 2011 when we will have the whole summer off as a family! My year round schedule has officially returned to nine month!:)

Cookies and Cleaning

Most of today was spent making Easter sugar cookies and cleaning. Gavin had the idea to invite the Oranchak's over to watch the basketball game, which makes cleaning the house faster because it gives us a deadline, had to be done by 3:00!

When 3:00 rolled around Steve arrived with Ally and Jenna, but Shonna had to go back to the house to pick up Steve's sister, who is here visiting, and her son Rocco. Rocco was still sleeping, she said they would be back in an hour or so.

Before they arrived, Gavin had suggested that I let the kids decorate the cookies that we had left to be frosted. That turned out to be a perfect idea since I was alone with all the kids for a little while.



All three decorated at least three cookies, but soon the youngest and the oldest lost interest. I was left with just Jenna helping. She sat there the whole time and decorated every last cookie. In response to this quality time with Jenna I told Gavin, maybe I could just "rent a daughter" every now and then!



A little while after the decorating was done, Ally decided she wanted to do a little art project. Soon all of the kids joined in. It was fun to watch them all sharing the art supplies and creating their own age appropriate pieces of art. Owen with stickers, Jenna drawing and coloring, and Ally practicing her cursive writing!

Then as the kids started getting crazy, I decided to try out the talking egg that Grandma Sue and Papa Dan sent Max for Easter. The kids took turns hiding it and retrieving it. Of course, they all cheated and peeked as the egg was hidden, but it did keep them busy for a little while!

Then, at last, Shonna, Andrea, and Rocco arrived and I was no longer in charge of all the kids!

And at the end of the day the status of the playroom and the kitchen proves that a good time was had by all!!!

Don't Make me Call the Monsters!

Ok, so we won't be including this story in our "Parent of the Year" application, but for the past week and a half or so when Owen has been misbehaving before bed, we have threatened to call the monsters. This threat works wonders. It gets him to brush his teeth, stay in his room, and go to sleep in a timely fashion. I know most kids his age would have nightmares if their parents threatened to call monsters, but we just don't have a normal three-year-old.

It all started one night when Owen wanted Gavin to check for Monsters in his room. Owen used to have a tendency to go to sleep with his music blaring, so Gavin told him that he better turn it down because Monsters like loud music. This started a trend.

When Owen starts to run into our room instead of toward his room at night, all I have to say is, "do I have to call the monsters?" And he stops dead in his tracks.

He will occasionally test us and I actually have to pick up the phone, but he quickly straightens up and follows the rules.

Well, tonight, Owen was supposed to be going potty. He was sitting on the toliet, goofing around instead of taking care of business. I told him I was going to leave for a minute and let him go potty. He didn't like this. He said, "I'm going to call the monsters on you." He continued to hold his right hand out like it was a phone dial it with his left hand, then he put his hand up to his ear, and started talking to the monsters, telling them to come and get Mommy!

I thought for sure this was the end of the monster threat, but it continues to work.

Children's Museum

Today we went to the Children's Museum. Owen, Max, and I went with Grandma Debbie and Papa Steve when they were here visiting in March. I purchased a family pass good for unlimited visits for a year. I thought this would be a perfect break from the heat for the boys in the summer, while I am at work. Anyway, since being there Owen has talked nonstop about the activities there and has been begging to go back with Daddy, so we made sure to include it in our Spring Break activities! Owen had a blast. This visit the two activities that held his attention the longest were the grocery store and this giant wheel that he turned to make the foam blocks go up the conveyer belt. While Owen was busy with that I put Max in the "Oasis," which is a no shoe zone for 0-18 month olds. He had a blast, he was a crazy man crawling super fast around and around!

He even climbed up onto a second level part, I was shocked!
We were home in time for lunch and for Max to take a nice long afternoon nap (that was the plan anyway)!

We made a trip to the gym and Owen insisted on wearing his Santa socks!











The rest of the day was spent relaxing and enjoying the last offical day of our Spring Break!

Change in Plans!

Thursday morning, Owen slept in long enough for Gavin and I to watch a show. Max, however, was up bright and early lounging with us. Gavin and I were sitting on the couch with our coffee and Max thought he should be "grown-up," too and asked to sit in the chair. We put him up there and he was so silly. He sat back, then got his milk, sipped it, then put it back on the table. Then he would sit back again, rock the chair a little, ect. It was quite amusing for all three of us!

When Owen got up, I decided we had plenty of time before we had to leave the house to bake the two batches of cookie dough we had in the fridge. We were doing great, Owen and I were rolling the dough and Gavin was decorating. But then Owen's patience wore thin, he wanted to start the second batch, he got it out of the fridge, set it on the counter where I was still finishing up the first batch. He kept pushing it trying to get it open, until he pushed it right off the counter. It was an accident, but it still ended the cookie baking session!

The plan for the rest of Thursday was to meet up with the Oranchaks and Rudolphs at the Shark Reef! Between Gavin, Steve, and I we were going to be able to get all the adults in for FREE! When we got there, the line for the Shark Reef was at least a quarter mile long, it was insane. We only had a two hour time frame before we had to be at Max's head doctor appointment and even if Owen would have stood in that line it would have been a quick and crowded visit with the sharks! So, instead we decided to head to Town Square and let the kids play at the park there!



The weather turned out to be gorgeous, that is of course, until we decided to go get ice cream. Then the clouds came over head and dropped the temperature a good 5 degrees! This did not stop us from indulging in the ice cream!





The head doctor gave Max great news, we will be taking the helmet OFF next Friday! It will be a whole hour appointment as they will take three D images of his head again and compare to the original images taken so we can compare his old head with his new and improved head! We are all very excited for April 16th!

Play time and Date Day!

Wednesday morning, we woke up to cloudy skies. The high temp wasn't as low as originally predicted, but we had a lazy morning anyway. Max and I stayed in our pajama's until well after 10:00. Owen got dressed a couple of times and ended back up in a pair of pajama's for the rest of the day. You never know what a three-year-old will want to wear!

The morning was spent doing dishes, catching up on laundry, and just plain lounging. Owen and I did make a couple batches of sugar cookie dough so that we can make the actual cookies tomorrow!

At one point during the morning Owen decided that an empty laundry basket was a boat. So, he got inside and I put Max in too and took them for a ride. This was quite a work out! Afterward, Owen and Max took turns riding in the boat. I sat and pushed them back and forth while singing "Row, Row, Row your Boat." I was shocked that Owen was being so good about taking turns. When I finished the song with his turn, he jumped righ out and said it was Max's turn! Then he decided to give Max a ride himself!

In the afternoon, Tobie came over to watch the kids so that Gavin and I could have a date day. We went 1:00 Bingo, then rushed to Target for Easter Basket goodies, than back to Aliante for 3:00 Bingo. Of course, we did not come back winners, but I was so close so many times at the last session! I was one away in multiple games, so annoying, but the cocktails were yummy!!

Now, Tobie and Gavin are out meeting up with a childhood friend for a drink! We have apparently tuckered Max right out the past few days with all our activities, because he demanded to go to sleep at 6:30 this evening! Owen is just as tired, but fighting it. Instead of letting himself fall asleep while watching Thomas the Train right now, he got up to play with his train!

Family Hike and Ice Cream Treat!

Tuesday morning, immediatedly after breakfast we headed out to Red Rock Canyon to take a kid friendly hike. This was supposed to be the last day of nice weather before the wind picked up and the temperatures dropped for the rest of the week. When we got to Red Rock the wind was blowing so hard that I could hardly get my door open. This did not stop us from hiking. Luckily, once we started the hike we were sheltered and the wind didn't bother us.

I had read that this hiking trail was easy for children and had a seasonal waterfall. I love waterfalls so I decided this would be the hike for us. I did actually think Owen would walk, but turns out he is just more comfortable on his daddy's shoulders! Therefore, I had to wear the backpack with Max. It wasn't that bad though, except for when I was trying to balance to get across the river on the rocks. But Gavin carried Owen across and came back to guide me. It worked and we got to see the waterfall. Gavin and Owen even ventured close enough to feel the water on their faces from the water hitting the rocks at the bottom.
Owen did walk for a little while until dirt got in his shoe and he asked to ride on shoulders again!









After the hike we treated ourselves to an ice cream treat! Owen decided he was a big enough boy to have an ice cream cone instead of the usual scoop with m & m's.

At first Max was not happy, thinking that no one was going to share with him.

But then he settled down once a spoonful of ice cream came to his mouth and he enjoyed every bite!

Then we headed home so that Max could take a nap. I just couldn't get enough of the nice weather, so I sat outside with a book, while Owen played. Later, Owen insisted on going to play at the gym so I decided to get off my butt and go work out. Even though I did go for a hike that day! But it was refreshing, I do enjoy my time on the treadmill with my IPod!