Of Bikes and Guns

 Merry Christmas to all!!  The boys both had two similar items on their Christmas list this year:  a bike and a gun. Santa delivered both (plus many other wonderful gifts thanks to Munga and Papa).  We had church at 9am so the boys opened one present each before church and had the rest of their presents to look forward to when they got home.  And that first present was...

 ...bright orange shot guns!  Woo Hoo!!!  We made a rule with the guns that you can't point them at anyone and shoot unless it was agreed upon as part of a game (the guns don't actually shoot out anything, just make a noise).  The boys used the tree for some nice target practice. 

 Why yes, that is a gun holster strapped to Tate's hip.  You never know when you'll need to quick-draw.

The debut ride of the bikes was quite exciting.  Early wobbles quickly turned into confidence which turned into taking sharp turns on one training wheel.  Don't worry, we have helmets, we just forgot them in Ohio. We were lucky to have hit the good weather jackpot while in VA this year.  Several of the days got close to 70 so the boys put in lots of bike time.  More Christmas posts to come...

Caught Red-Lipped

My parent's have a large walk-in closet that we usually put a futon in for one of the boys to sleep there when we are visiting.  On New Year's Eve night, we put Tate to bed in their closet and went downstairs to hang out and play games with the family.  Later, my mom went up to her bathroom to get something she needed.  She turned on the light to the bathroom and was startled to find Tate, in the dark, trying out her makeup. He obviously had already used the lipstick and was just brushing up some powder when she put on the light. My mom gasped just because she didn't expect Tate to be there, but he took it as he was in big trouble.    She came to get me, and I couldn't keep from laughing when I saw him, even though he seemed pretty upset.  I think he was nervous that he was caught doing something he wasn't supposed to and embarrassed that the adults thought it was so funny.  This picture is priceless :)

Kid Hot Tub

Bath time in the Wood house is all about speed and efficiency.  We have a removable spray nozzle on our shower head so we usually just stand the boys in the tub, lather them up, and then spray them down to get them squeaky clean.  I believe we have given Grant a tub bath a few times but the spray down is the only kind of bath that Tate knows.

While at my parents house this Christmas, a bottle of shower gel got knocked over and spilled in the bathroom.  I thought we shouldn't let it go to waste so I scooped it up and made a bubble bath for the boys (there was a lot of spilled soap that resulted in a lot of bubbles)

I guess the bubbles in the water reminded Tate of the hot tub at the pool we go to on campus.  The boys named the experience Kid Hot Tub.  Now, every night, Kid Hot Tub is requested and has become the highlight of the evening (almost surpassing their daily treat allotment if they've eaten their dinner).  It's a win win situation: the kids are actually excited to get a bath, and we look like cool parents because we let them have a Kid Hot Tub.  One day they may actually discover that this is how most normal children bathe, but until then we'll let the kids think we're just being extra nice.