A Warning About Dollar Store Toys...

Let me begin by saying I am sorry there are no pictures to show with this post...my camera or software is acting up and after 3 attempts, I gave up.
Anyways, back to the warning.
Two mornings ago, Samuel got off the couch while watching PBS and held up his finger to me and whined, "It's stuck!" What I saw was a small orange tube stuck on Samuel's pointer finger. I thought to myself, "No big deal. It's not REALLY stuck. I can get it off. Worse case, I'll lather it up with soap and it will surely come off."
I then asked him what it was and where it came from. He quickly informed me in his Samuel-sort-of-way, "Well, well, it's to my gum (translation: from my gun)."
After a moment of consideration, I realized it was the tip off of one of his dollar store guns (his and Joel's favorite place to go now).
So I calmly took his finger and tried to pull it off. Nothing. I then tried twisting it. Nothing.
Okay, no need to panic. Off to the bathroom sink. Water and soap applied. Pulled. Nothing. Twisted. Yes, it now would twist, but that was it. It was officially stuck on his knuckle.
Now he was crying and I was starting to panic a bit myself. How ridiculous I would look going into an ER w/ this situation.
"Call Rob! He'll know what to do!" I thought.
So call him I did. He offered to come home to try to solve the problem. In the meantime I calmed Sam down and tried to think of other ways to get it off.
My Pampered Chef all purpose scissors! Don't worry, I wasn't going to cut his finger off, though they will cut a metal can. They infact, won't cut you at all! So I slid them up the side of the tube and tried cutting it. It worked, but I couldn't get it to cut all the way to the top. Alas, it was still stuck.
Then Daddy arrived just in time to save the day, as now Samuel was starting to panic again.
Rob tried pliers to pull it off with. He then tried cutting it more. Still nothing. Then he headed to the bathroom for more soap.
Sadly, in the end, he simply had to resort to a good-old-fashioned tug. With Samuel screaming as he held him still between his legs, Rob pulled as hard as he could and off came the tube, with a bit of Sam's skin as well.
Once neosporin and a Spiderman bandaid was applied, all was right in the Tombrella home once again.

So, the moral to our story: beware of dollar store "treats". They can fall apart (and usually do within a day) and result in a crazy morning like this one. Sure glad it wasn't worse!

bunk beds, boxes, and boys...(and Asher too!)

Sam and Joel are officially 'big boys' now because they sleep in bunk beds (though we keep telling Joel he's not until he uses the potty and says goodbye to the diapers)! They love them and today they loved them even more because Mommy let them play with the boxes from the bunk beds! Oh what joy! I think I should add "...& Boxes" to the title of my blog after this post!
This afternoon I let them play in the boxes in the garage and they had a blast! After days like today I always ask myself why we spend money on toys?!
Another recent thing the boys have gotten into is taking pictures with our digital camera. So very glad it is digital and we can simply delete the crazy ones...though some are worth keeping! What did parents do before there were digital cameras? Waste a lot of money I guess. We are getting Sam a kid's digital camera for his birthday next month, so I'm sure I will post some more of his shots over time!
And I included some pics of Asher at the end because he is just too cute not to! Enjoy!

The beds that made this post possible! ha ha

Jumping on the old crib mattresses from their toddler beds...
another benefit of the bunk beds!

Joel's picture of Sam. pretty good.

Sam's picture of Joel. even better...though Joel's expression is weird!

Sam's picture of Mommy and Asher...not bad.

Our happy little guy!

(Mommy took this one.)

Asher is 2 months old!

I took Asher to the pediatrician for his 2 month well-baby check on Monday. He is doing very well and growing like a weed! He is weighing in now at 11 lbs. 3oz. and is 24 inches long! His weight is pretty average but his length is up there on the chart! Another tall boy in our midst it seems!
He is officially sleeping through the night now and turning into quite a happy baby! We feel so blessed to have him and his brothers seem to agree as well! :) He is cooing more and more and will smile at you a lot now! So very sweet! I'm definitely in love...again! ;)

Visitors and Halloween!

My Granny w/ all her grandsons!

The newest grandson w/ his great-grandma!

My MeMe w/ her 16th great grandchild!!! Wow!

Checking out an I Spy book w/ their Nana and MeMe!

Our little Pumpkin!

Too cute to only post one picture of him!

My sweet Asher!

Our timid little trick-or-treaters!

Checking out Cody's loot!

"Can we fix it?!"

"Ahoy Matey!"

Playing marbles w/ Pop...their FAVORITE passtime!

This week was very busy...my Granny stopped by on the way home to Houston from Oklahoma to meet our sweet little Asher, and then on Friday my parents came up and brought my MeMe to visit and meet Asher as well! They were sweet times with all of them and so great to see each one of them meet, hold, love on, and enjoy little Asher!

Halloween was fun this year...the boys were actually into it! Sam was a pirate and Joel decided on Bob the Builder at the last minute (he didn't like the fireman cosutme I bought, of course). Only 5 minutes into the night though, they weren't recognizable b/c they had shed most of their costumes (ie. Sam's eyepatch and hat and Joel's hardhat). We timed our trick-or-treating just right though and the boys ended up getting to go along with their little friend Cody, our neighbor, to ring the doorbells (he's the spiderman in the pics)! I think the boys just ended up having more fun running on the sidewalk with their friend in the dark, than actually doing the trick-or-treating! Ahhh, the joys of boys! :)