Daddy's Birthday

IMG_4562, originally uploaded by mamaaho.

A cake makes you the most popular guy in the room.:) Happy Birthday Big Guy! Rob celebrated his day by cashing in on as many free birthday meals as he could. Not as exciting as a trip to Florida like last year's birthday, but we can't always celebrate at Disneyworld!

The Kids on Your Back

Rob's only tried this once before, and it was last year.  At that time, Reagan screamed bloody murder, and sat on Rob's back for maybe 10 seconds or so.  This time, no screaming, but still lasted only a few seconds.  For some reason, she's afraid of her daddy when he pretends to be a horse!  So funny!

Blue and Gold Banquet

Boy Scout banquet tonight - Quinn and Colby are officially Tiger Cubs now. They really enjoy cub scouts.  Rob and the boys are looking forward to Camp Hiawatha this summer!

Cub Scout Night at the Armory

 The Tiger Cubs took a tour of the Michigan Army National Guard's armory. It was so much fun! ALL of us learned a whole heck of alot, and have a deeper respect for what our soldiers do for us and our national security. Mom was more than a little nervous when the young 'uns each got their own set of night goggles to play with. Price tag? $7000. Yeah. A piece. We are Aho's. Those things could survive two war zones, and yet be destroyed by my six year old boys, I have not the slightest doubt. Luckily, we did no damage, and the taxpayers' investment is secure. Overall, it was just a very cool experience.

More Winter Fun, Followed by Pre-Valentine's Day Dinner

The boys and I went ice skating at the local rink again.  MAN, are they getting fast.  Not a whole lot of control with that skating, but lots and lots of speed.  One of these days, we've really got to teach them how to stop without crashing full speed into either the wall or the ice.  The whole thing is a tad reminiscient of pin ball, really.  Zing BONK CRASH. Tilt.  I suppose that ice skating isn't typically considered a full-contact sport when not associated with hockey.  Not so for my boys.  Luckily, we had them in helmets.  Brain injuries would've resulted without, I have no doubt.  We were playing tag, and I fell on the ice myself once, and am still sore, so I can't imagine what they must feel like after the constant falling and crashing at top speed.

Afterwards, once the men-folk finished their traditional Sunday-night saunas, we had a steak dinner by candlelight.  You know,  to celebrate our romantic "Aho Valentine's Day", since I'll be at work until after bed time tomorrow. The menu consisted of Ribeye steaks, steamed broccoli with Bernaise sauce, baked potatoes, garlic french bread, and burnt slightly over-cooked chocolate cake for dessert.  MMM'mm.   The boys had sparkling cider to drink, while Dad and I had wine in our glasses.  Quinn took a sip of mine while my back was turned, and said "Weird, Mom.  This cider tastes like wine!"  OK, first of all.... HOW does he know what WINE tastes like?  And second... get away from my glass!  It's MINE, do you hear me??  I already share my meal and my chair with Reagan.   I'm not sharing my wine with anyone  :).



Winter Wonderland

After a morning at home addressing valentines for the boys' class, we took advantage of the STUNNINGLY GORGEOUS day and went cross country skiing.  Afterwards, we toured the Winter Carnival snow statues, and the boys got their first taste of sled dog racing!  Quinn now has decided to be a sled-dog racer when he grows up.  Iditarod, here he comes!  He has some work to do in the dog-training department though... his dog turned around and started racing the wrong way.

The Alice in Wonderland Tea Party!

2010 Blog Book

I have been working hard over the past few months converting the 2010 entries of this blog into a book.  Here's the results!

Untitled by Monica Aho | Make Your Own Book

Puppies and Toddlers

Not that this is a surprise to anyone, but having a puppy and a toddler in the house is essentially like having twins. They can't keep away from each other, torment each other relentlessly, fight over toys, share food, destroy things, cry when the other sits on my lap,cannot be left unsupervised, and leave litter all over the floor. All. Day. Long. Best friends and worst enemies, Reagan and Sammy are. Good thing both are cute. Really good thing.   'Cuz I don't get a thing done around the house.

Sammy took a nice long nap in my dust pan.

Sammy and the boys' stuffed puppy used to be the same size when we first got him.  Look at that growth spurt in 3 weeks!

Our Idea of Evening Fun

Simple Pleasures for Simple Folks.