Two Boys Doin?

First day of School

2011-08-23T21:39:00.009-05:00

It's that time again...back to school!
Here we are for the traditional front-porch pose.

It's just starting for Grant. Here's my big Kindergarten boy!

He was very proud to be wearing his backpack and catching the bus with big brother.

There's Connor, heading off to 3rd grade, I can't believe it!

And here's my boy in true Grant fashion. He is really really mad at me for taking another picture because he's "going to miss the bus!!!"
They didn't miss the bus, as you will see..
Though he was mad at me for distracting him as he tried to board.

Here's hoping for another great school year!

Girls and Boys

2011-08-23T21:29:00.004-05:00

Newsflash: Boys and girls are different! My boys have always been loud, active, moving, jumping, climbing machines! They make a lot of noise, they make guns out of pencils, and will try to climb anything they see (I caught Grant hanging on the towel bar in the bathroom once). I watched my friends with girls and saw how different they were, but did not fully understand until I had Reese. Yes, Reese has her brothers who show her how to do many things that are "boy-ish," but she is very much a girl.

I caught her tonight at her grandma's house playing with the dolls.

One doll was in the crib, another was in the shopping cart (she was playing "Hy-Vee"), and the stuffed bear was the "mommy" of the dolls. The mommy was feeding the babies their bottles, taking out the "runined" (yes, that is supposed to be "ruined" but I spelled it like she said it) blanket and replacing it with a fresh blanket. She went on like this for about 30 minutes. My boys still sometimes have trouble sustaining an activity for a half an hour!

It was just fun to see the differences in the kids and it is great fun to see Reese becoming a little person!

The Lucy

2011-01-27T14:19:00.006-06:00

You knew we could not wait until spring. We wanted to wait, really, we did. But our house was just TOO lonely. Eleven years ago I went "shopping" at the pound and came home with our first baby dog, Molly.
While Jeff was out of town (yes, I had his blessing) I took the kids and we went "shopping" out at Halfway Home Pet Adoptions and came home with this giant bundle o' love.

Lucy is about the laziest one-year-old dog you can imagine. She sleeps all the time. She occasionally tries to do puppyish things like stealing shoes and socks to chew on. But she quickly loses interest and decides that her time is better spent in more leisurely pursuits.

When I cannot find her, I can almost certainly go back to my bedroom and find her with the blankets under her, piled high for her very own "princess bed." She cuddles like nobody's business, and Connor loves that about her.

She has made herself right at home and we are thrilled to say she's a keeper.

From Grant

2011-01-27T14:16:00.002-06:00

So, yes, I have become a serious blog-slacker. One would think that my newfound unemployed status would lend me all sorts of time for my blogging. Alas, this has not been true. BUT, I promise to keep trying, so please keep checking.

Last night, we were watching the movie Monsters, Inc. with the boys. Grant had not ever seen it, and had several questions while we were watching. Near the end, when Sully has to shred Boo's door, we were all sad. We asked Grant if he was sad that Boo and Sully would not get to see each other again.
His reply: "No, they will get to see each other again next time I watch this movie!"

I have very practical-minded children, don't I?

We'll Miss You Trumie

2010-11-10T20:56:00.005-06:00

This past month we lost our sweet dog Truman. She had cancer and went to play in the heavenly fields with her sister Molly. Truman was buried with all of the tennis balls we could find in the house. This was partly for her, but mostly so that we would not be reminded of our grief. We spent the whole day out of the house to avoid the sadness, but returned later in the evening. The boys were getting ready for bed when Grant found another of Truman's tennis balls. He asked Jeff to "put it in a safe place so that I can take it to heaven with me and throw for Trumie."

This dogless house just isn't the same for any of us these days. We miss you, girl.

Our cuddly boy

2010-04-22T07:40:00.002-05:00

Grant, upon waking this morning: "Can I go in and cuddle with Dad?" Me: "Sorry, Buddy, Daddy's already at work." Grant: "That's too bad. Dad would 'apprishidate' it if I cuddled with him."

Happy Birthday Reese!

2010-04-07T15:17:00.014-05:00

We celebrated Reese's first birthday on Saturday with a cupcake party. All of the decor, down to her adorable cupcake shirt (thanks, Amy!) reflected the cupcake theme.
I was surprised that Reese didn't really seem to "get" that the party was all for her. Generally, she is very friendly (some might say "flirty") with people-smiling coyly, waiting for them to smile back at her. She didn't really act like that much on Saturday. She just enjoyed her cupcake and her presents (after we "helped" her open them--she didn't "get" that either). Oh well, Reese...you have lots more years to catch on to how this "birthday thing" works. We sure had fun celebrating you and are so happy you are part of our family!

soccer practice and park fun

2010-04-03T20:07:00.008-05:00

Grabbed a few pictures outside the other night while Connor had soccer practice. Unfortunately, I didn't get any great shots of Connor--they were on a field too far away and my stroller doesn't go "off road" very well. I did, however, get some better pictures of Grant and Reese playing during soccer practice. Enjoy!

Grant's Adult life

2010-03-19T15:49:00.002-05:00

In the car yesterday, Grant started talking about what job he wants to have as a grown up.
He told me he wanted to have a BUNCH of jobs, and these were his choices-in order. There was absolutely no input from me, just his thoughts.

1. "Dirt digger", upon further questioning..."drive a bulldozer"
2. "Build cars"
3. "AND build trucks"
4. "McDonald's worker (who wouldn't want unlimited chicken nuggets?)"
5. "I gotta teach basketball. That's how I will get my money" We frequently have to remind him that Jeff goes to games to earn money for our family.
6. "Superhero"

Breakfast this morning

2010-03-18T08:23:00.003-05:00

If this comes up blank, it is because I am still learning. I recorded Reese (and a bit of Connor) this morning with our laptop webcam. Let's see if it worked.
Please leave me a comment here letting me know if you could view this or not?

Our home, America

2010-03-09T13:34:00.002-06:00

Grant loves spotting the American flag. He is so adorable about it too--"Mom! I see the place where we live!!" Every time he sees an American flag, that is what he says. So we're driving the other day and he sees several American flags, and I decide to remind them that we have a great country. I say, "I really love America, don't you?"
Grant responds with "Yes, I do. AND I love Raintree!"
I say, "why do you love Raintree?"
"Because grandma lives there and I like it there. And my other grandma lives in the REAL America-not Raintree."

So my parents' neighborhood across town apparently qualifies as another country.

All things Reese

2010-03-03T21:55:00.012-06:00

Speaking of birthdays, it has been almost a year since little miss sunshine joined our family...here are a few pictures of Reese!

Here is Reese at her favorite afternoon spot-the back sliding-glass door. She loves to watch her brothers play outside!

Big brother Connor was talking to her through the window and she leaned over to "kiss" him through the glass.

More watching...

And waiting...

Reese and Grant in a rare moment. Grant is typically running away from Reese and taking all of his toys with him. "I don't like her slobber getting on my things!" he says.

Connor and Reese playing on the floor-they have a great time together! Apparently Connor does not share Grant's aversion for Reese's slobber.

This is what adoration of a sibling looks like.

Daddy's girl, banging on the door after he left in the morning.

She took a minute out from her banging to ham it up for me.

This is our girl-happy and always on the move! Her name means "running" but right now it translates to "super-fast crawler"!

And He's FOUR!

2010-03-03T21:35:00.007-06:00

If you ask Grant about his birthday, he will tell you that he is now BIG! He is not little, like when he was 3 and 3/4, or 3 and 11/12. Yes, he really referred to his age in fractional form for the past 6 months. So, to celebrate his growth from the babyish 3 and 11/12 to the ripe age of 4, we rang it in with hot dogs and cup cakes.

We are so lucky that this party even got to happen, first we had a quick round of stomach flu (Connor) followed by nasty ice and snow. Fortunately though, we overcame those troubles and our friends and family ventured to our house to celebrate the blessing of Grant.

We are so blessed to have this little guy in our lives. Grant, you bring much sunshine and laughter to our house. And you also really try my patience, so God must be using you to make me better!
We love you!

Vanished! Temporarily...

2010-03-02T19:01:00.002-06:00

We had quite a scare last night at our house.
Around 9:15 or so, I was reading in our room and heard Connor get up to go to the bathroom. I called out "Connor?" and he replied "yeah" so I knew it was him. I reminded him to wash his hands and shut his door back when he was finished, but he didn't say anything. I got up about 5 minutes later and checked the boys' bedroom door--open. He frequently "forgets" to shut it--I am pretty sure he just wants to make sure that he can be the first one out of bed if anyone else is waking up. He is our farmer.
I called into the darkness of their room, "Connor, you were supposed to shut the door," but got no reply.
"He was tired!" I thought.
I then went about the evening bedtime rituals and told Jeff, who was working on the computer in the kitchen, that I was headed to bed. I always check on the kids very last thing, just to make sure everyone is covered up and asleep.
Reese's room was first. I can just barely open her door and listen for her breathing. She is a LIGHT sleeper. Check.
Then Grant, he needed to be covered up, it is still so cold at night. Check.
I climbed a couple of steps on the ladder up to Connor's bed and didn't see him. I figured he was at the other end, so I started feeling around.
Nothing.
My heart started beating a bit faster as I ran out to turn the hall light on to illuminate their room without waking Grant.
He wasn't there.
PANIC!!
I went running 0ut to the kitchen yelling, "Jeff, I can't find Connor! I can't find Connor!"
He comes running back and turns on the bedroom light-we are checking the closet, behind the door, the floor, everywhere. Still, we can't find him. We begin yelling his name, Jeff checks in Reese's room--just in case he went in there???
I've been all through the house putting things away and preparing for tomorrow. I haven't seen him. Where could he be?
Jeff has been sitting in the kitchen, we can't figure out how he could be anywhere but his bedroom.
Jeff checks the basement, I am walking through the house calling his name. I call loudly while standing in the living room.
The red blanket moves. Sweet relief...Connor is curled up in the chair, completely covered by a red blanket with a pillow in front of him. He hears his name and stirs, looking at us as if he can't quite figure out why we have woken him up.
Jeff grabs on to him and asks him if he remembers coming out here.
"no."
Are you awake?
"yes."
"You scared us to death!!"
He is giggling and proud. Though he didn't mean to "get us" this time, he is quite pleased that he did.
We send him to the shower to "wake up" completely and he dresses himself and gets in bed.
Then remembers NOTHING this morning.
Can you even believe that?

Of course, this is the same kid we found one summer night at 10pm (two hours after lights out around here) standing in his underwear under the shower spray. Again, no recollection.
We're gonna have to watch our little sleepwalker!

Out of order--Omaha Zoo

2009-09-11T21:02:00.009-05:00

Summer was quickly drawing to a close for us, so the week before we all went back to school we decided to take a day trip to the Omaha Zoo. We'd never been, even when Jeff and I lived there, and were anxious to take the kids to what was supposed to be a really great zoo.
My mom and dad kept Reese, so that was really helpful, because we never could have had the fun we did if she'd been along needing to eat and sleep like she does.

I forgot to mention that Spiderman and his Teddy, I mean "Spiderbear" came with us!

The boys had a great time! We saw lots of cool animals, but loved the aquarium best. There were large sharks and stingrays in the tank that went up over our heads--a really neat experience.

We rode this cable-car ride across the zoo...Jeff hung on to Grant for dear life. He's a little fearful of heights, but was more fearful that wiggly boy would wriggle right out of the seat!

I'm glad we took the time for a quick little getaway as our last hurrah to this summer...it went too fast!

Exersaucer time

2009-09-11T15:13:00.005-05:00

My work schedule has been keeping me busy each day here at home (really? Maybe that's why I haven't blogged in several weeks...). Fortunately, Reese is a happy girl who isn't too picky about where she's hanging out while Mom works. This past month, we tried out the exersaucer. She's had lots of fun looking at the bright colors, chewing on the toys, and figuring out how to be upright. I'm grateful she's able to spend some time without being talked to and held. It's just a bonus that she loves it!

4-5 months

2009-09-11T14:44:00.006-05:00

During the past few weeks, Reese got to try out cereal and some baby food.

We're working on keeping her hands out of her mouth now, but at first that was all she wanted to do. She did a lot of spitting the food out, but seems to enjoy it now.

Her favorite appears to be applesauce mixed with her cereal in the morning, but she eats her veggies quite well too.

Now we're dealing with teeth as well, so it won't be long before she's able to eat big-people food!

First Day of First Grade...only a few weeks behind!

2009-09-11T14:36:00.005-05:00

We now have an "experienced" elementary student living in our house.

Blog fodder

2009-09-11T14:32:00.002-05:00

Grant gives me SO much blog fodder...

He likes to drink "Atorgade" instead of Gatorade
He called me into the living room while I was working because "Urglur is on! Urglur! Urglur!"

WHAT??

"Wordgirl" was on.

He does everything now with "Teddy." And many of his requests come though Teddy as well. Pictures to follow.

He's tough not to love, I'll tell ya that.

Grant says...

2009-07-30T10:09:00.003-05:00

Grant has been occasionally waiting "too long" to go to the potty. Who can blame him, there is SO much to do this summer and stopping for a potty break is so not cool. It's happened a few times in the past couple of months and we've had several talks about it, reminding Grant that it takes much longer to change pants and clean up than it does to stop and run to the bathroom.
Jeff went swimming the other day and came home in his wet trunks. Grant ran up to him and hugged his legs. He then stepped back and said, "Dad, your pants are wet. Did you wait too long?"
It was all Jeff could do to answer with a straight face, but at least we know our message is getting through!

Halloween Prep...in July?

2009-07-30T09:57:00.002-05:00

If you needed more proof that Connor was my child...he is already planning his Halloween costume. Most people may not know this about me, but coming up with an original and great idea for a Halloween costume probably caused me more stress during my childhood years than just about anything else I can remember. I recall spending hours (really? Not sure...but it seemed like it!) dreaming up and discarding wild ideas, remembering that I would rather not depend on mom's sewing or having to buy anything. I had some great costumes over the years that my mom made for me--Mickey Mouse, a bunny rabbit, but overall I felt that my costumes needed to consist of things already found in my home with minimal extra work. It really was a project every year that stressed me out right up to the end as I second-guessed my choice of costume. I even remember one year being one thing at school and another to trick-or-treat. See, my indecisiveness runs deep.
Back to Connor's plan, though. He was sitting out back reading the other day and I went out to see him. He told me he had a great idea for Halloween. He wants to take a Jack-o-Lantern out trick or treating with us, but we need to cut out the bottom of it. His plan is to make his head "disappear" into his shirt and hold up the jack-0-lantern just as each door is answered. I told him it was a funny idea, but would probably scare all of our elderly neighbors. He told me that was what he planned on. He'd yell "trick or treat!" and they'd see his head "disappear" and would be so scared they would drop their bowl of candy. He would then be able to get extra large quantities of candy from each house. Very creative, huh? Not sure how or if we'll do this. I'm not sure of the feasibility of carrying around a jack-o-lanterns, but we'll see. Hold on to your candy bowls!

Stitches

2009-07-07T14:53:00.003-05:00

All is well, but Grant got whacked with a baseball bat last Sunday. He was crying--a little. I was screaming--a lot. All I saw was Jeff bringing Grant in the door with blood on his face and heard Marjie telling me, "Grant got hit with the baseball bat."

After a few deep breaths, we saw that it was a gash in his eyebrow and took him to the emergency room. He was a CHAMP there. It probably didn't hurt that everyone who passed by our room felt the need to come in and tell Grant how adorable he was though. The dr. gave him a shot and two stitches. That tough kid didn't flinch. He was begging to play baseball again from the moment we left the house to go to the hospital...and had a short game of catch upon his return. We're so glad he's all right and that he's learned the valuable lesson of not walking into another kid's batting swing!

Baseball

2009-07-07T14:39:00.007-05:00

Baseball season has come and gone, but I thought I'd upload some pictures of Connor and his team. It was another great year. We just love his coach and the parents and kids on his team--2 more years we'll all be together, so we're looking forward to that. Jeff was able to help coach this year and both he and Connor had a great time together.

Connor really improved a lot from last year. He hit the ball really well, even getting doubles and triples! He also worked on his fielding skills quite a bit and made some nice plays. In fact, during the last game of the year he made a great double play to end an inning. Enjoy the pictures!

Pics of Reese, June 2009

2009-07-07T13:51:00.006-05:00

Well, she's growing fast! Reese is just over 3 months old now and is really a joy! She is a master sleeper--roughly 11 or 12 hours at night--and is super-cheerful during the day. She loves to talk--lots of cooing, giggling, and noises.

Big brothers are loving her, especially Connor. He tries to have a "conversation" with Reese at least once (usually more) per day.

Dad is even great with her, as is evidenced by the name I've given him..."Baby Whisperer." He always seems to know if she's fussing because she's tired or hungry. He is also much better than me about letting her fuss for a couple of minutes in her crib--and she inevitably sleeps for 3 and 4 hour stretches when he's home.

Check back in again, I'll keep taking pictures!

Swimming lessons

2009-07-07T13:20:00.010-05:00

Both boys had swimming lessons for the past two weeks, and I am so proud of my boys!
Connor has become quite the fish and is using his arms so much more this year. He did very well and had a blast jumping off the diving board and swimming the length of the pool.

He was in a class of younger boys, though, and I was a bit disappointed that his teacher didn't work on diving with him at all. By the end of last summer he could do it! Oh well, I guess that will be a job for mom.

It's a blessing and a curse that I taught swim lessons all of those years. You'd think it would come in handy and I could teach my own kids how to swim, but not so much.

They don't think that mom knows what she's talking about.
Go figure. I have no idea where they get that.

Hush Mom.

And we're on to Grant's swimming lessons. He was something else this year, and he really didn't want to do lessons very much. The first couple of days he cried at the beginning of the lesson, and when he thought I might be looking his way, he was sure to frown really big so I'd see it.

His teacher was a cute 17-ish girl--Ashley. Miss Ashley did a great job with Grant, pushing him to keep doing more, but also making him comfortable.
On day 3, Grant was crying again, so the 40-ish pool manager (a very nice woman, but she's no 17 year old girl in a swimsuit) took Grant for that session. He SCREAMED! For much of the lesson. Finally, I walked over to the pool's edge and asked Grant, "what is wrong?"

"I don't like HER!"
"Do you want to go back to Miss Ashley?"
"Yes."
He was all smiles after that. He had gotten the cute girl back. As one of the dads from another class said after watching all of this..."that boy's no dummy! He wants the cute girl!"

So, Grant did not learn how to swim this year, but he did successfully manipulate his way into the arms of a cute older woman.

We're still here!

2009-05-15T15:15:00.003-05:00

We're hanging in here at the Hardin house with three kids, it's just taking me a while to do anything that doesn't involve feeding or its byproducts--thus the month-long hiatus from blogging. Seriously though, we are doing great. Reese is six weeks old today and has grown and changed so much! She is smiling more now and has gotten really long. The boys have adjusted beautifully to having a baby in the house. They are expert "shush"ers because I told them that babies like that sound when they're upset.
Connor has lost even more teeth. He's missing 4 on the top row and just lost another one on the bottom row today. The tooth fairy is having a wee bit of trouble remembering what with her midnight feedings and all. Fortunately, if it seems the tooth fairy has forgotten, Mom gets right up and helps Connor look for where the tooth fairy might have put the money. By the time Connor has gotten up and gone to the bathroom, Mom has found the money and pointed out where it is. Crises averted.
We're in trouble if he ever really thinks about how that goes down.

Grant is just...Grant. He is hilarious and headstrong. Talkative and tons of fun. These are a couple of his latest funnies:

"Mom, come quickly! (said "quickwee") There's a river otter (said so garbled only Jeff and I can understand those two words when they're together!) in the backyard!"
I run in and see that it's a squirrel.
"No Grant, that isn't a river otter, it's a squirrel."
He has an overdeveloped sense of the absurd at this age and says, "Silly squirrel! What's a squirrel doing in our backyard??"

I guess he thought it was perfectly rational for a river otter to be back there.

And, on the same morning we had the following conversation.

"Grant, you need to get ready for school because Mommy has to get to the eye doctor."
He is concerned, "Why you have to go to the eye doctor?"
"Because the doctor needs to check out my eyes."
"Your eyes are above your nose and under your eyebrows. They're (Dey're)fine."

I love how his little mind works!

Arrival of Reese Mackenzie

2009-05-06T18:16:00.009-05:00

This one is my favorite...I told the boys that "shushing" babies made them feel better, so big brother Grant got right to it.

Well, she's been here for over a month and I am just now writing about it. Better late than never...
I know these are out of order too, but at least they're on here! I've got some more updated pics, but thought I would start here and get to the rest another day.
Overall, we're doing pretty well--though we couldn't have made it without the constant help of our friends and family!
Reese is sleeping pretty well, but of course still up once or twice per night to eat. I am hanging in there, just hoping that she'll sleep through the night like the boys did--around 10 or 11 weeks. She is already almost 5 weeks old and it's hard to believe. She is growing and changing every day!

The boys are fantastic big brothers and super-helpful. I promise to write more later and of course upload more pictures!

Catching Up

2009-03-26T11:01:00.017-05:00

I don't anticipate being able to write again for a little while, so I am going to do a little bloggy catch-up here. First up, Grant's 3rd birthday... We had a party at our house with the aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents.

Big brother happily volunteered to assemble goodie bags...what a helper!

We served Grant's choice for dinner-hot dogs and chips! Grant was having so much fun he didn't realize that he sat in someone's plate--in the ketchup of course:)

We had a variety of theme options, but he ended up choosing SPORTS. If you've spent any time with him in the last three months, you'll realize that this is not a surprise. The good news about a sports theme vs. the Mickey Mouse theme we were going to attempt...easier-to-make-at-home cupcakes! These really turned out pretty cute except for the soccer balls. Those kind of looked like they had black webs on them.

It's really a shame that Grant is so shy and withdrawn. Just kidding, he was loving being the center of attention as we all prepared to sing to him!

Yeah! The first year he could blow out his own candle...he's getting so big!

Of course Grant chose a basketball cupcake. He LOVES basketball just like dad. If you can't tell, his shirt even says "basketball" on it!

Present time was fun too. It is a little overwhelming to open so many gifts, he just wanted to stop and play with everything as he unwrapped it!

And the party's...over...Truman was WORN OUT! You'd have thought SHE was the one who entertained the troops. Oh wait. She was.

Well, we did have a little bit of post-party entertainment. Jameson and Connor got out the boxing gloves and did their best toothless smiles (and growls) before they put on a lively match.

Connor gets one in!

Ohhhh! Jameson comes in with his left hook. Notice the proud papas in these pictures.

I think everybody had a good time celebrating our 3 year old boy!

Latest funnies from Grant

2009-02-13T10:07:00.002-06:00

Grant has a habit of saying things or people are "silly" when something is out of the ordinary...
Here are a couple of gems from our recent talks:

Grant: "Mom, why did God make germs at the zoo?" I undoubtedly displayed my germophobia while we ate our lunches at the zoo last weekend.
Me: "I'm not sure why God made germs at the zoo or anywhere else!"
Grant: "SILLY GOD!!!"

Me: "Grant, do you have to go potty?"
Grant, said while wiggling: "No!"
I then proceed to carry him back to "try" to go potty.
Grant, sitting on the potty, happily "going": "I tricked you! I said I no have to go potty, I tricked you!"

Me: "Grant, only 8 days til your birthday!"
Grant: "I gonna be eight!"
Me: "No, you will be three, but we only have to wait 8 more days til your party!"
Grant: "I almost eight!!"

Me, every morning as I drop Grant off at school: "I love you, have a fun day!"
Grant: "no!"
Now, every morning when I drop him off he informs me: "I won't have fun today, mom!"

But when I pick him up, he's very happy...reminding me that he had a "great day."

At least he didn't mean the cow?

2009-01-27T11:55:00.014-06:00

Anyone familiar with "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" ?

* (By the way, I never quite know if my question mark should go inside those quotation marks or outside since it's not a direct "quote".)*

There is a cow on there, her name is Clarabelle. Also, Grant LOVES Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and our family is familiar with its characters. --and this is important for you to understand before you embark on this story-journey with me.

Before I tell my story, I will go back a few weeks... After I put away all of the Christmas gear--on December 26th, oh yes, I am a humbug, I pared down some of our picture frames and things in our living room. One picture that I moved was an 8x10 of Jeff and me on our wedding day.

Grant noticed it right away on our side table and pointed at me, saying, "Mom, your a care-a-bell" over and over again. Then he said I didn't have wings. I kept prodding him..."What is a Carabell? Do you mean an angel?"

I believe that it is never too early to win your children over with the power of suggestion... "No, not an angel, a Care-a-bell!" said more forcefully. Ok, got it. Not an angel.

The conversation was dropped for the time being since none of us could crack his code, but 3 or 4 more times over the course of a couple of weeks, Grant would point at me in the picture and call me a "care-a-bell." I suppose he grew weary of me continually asking him to explain and suggesting that I appear to be part of the heavenly host, but that is what mothers do...strive to understand our children and suggest that we are angelic beings, of course!

He kept saying something about me not having wings, but I just didn't get it.
Fast forward to last week, I was getting myself ready for bed. I was lookin' good with my hair back in a headband and a clip, dressed in my bedtime finest-a too-small (now) ripped t-shirt and jammie pants. Grant came in, looked at me, and again said, "Mom, you're a care-a-bell but you got no wings!" With great trepidation, I asked, "Grant, do you mean Clarabelle, the cow on Mickey Mouse clubhouse?" It had been in the back of my mind for some time that I looked like a cow, but I definitely don't look like a cow in my wedding picture...I was baffled.

"No."

Whew. I mean, really, I am 30 weeks pregnant, and there are some serious similarities between Clarabelle and me at this point.

Then Connor joins our conversation. We are both trying to figure out what the heck a "care-a-bell" is when it dawns on me...Wings. Tiara..."Do you mean 'Tinkerbell'?" "YES!" Hallelujiah, message decoded.

"Oh, honey, that is really nice of you to say Mommy looks like Tinkerbell!"

My son thinks I look like Tinkerbell. Me, in my wedding dress as Tinkerbell, and I suppose that a clippy up on the top of my head made him think of the tiara too??? Not sure...

But leave it to your eldest child, your firstborn, the light of your life to bring you back to reality.

"No, Mom, Grant doesn't mean 'Tinkerbell,' cause you don't look like that little 'Tinkerbell.' You look more like the little fat man on Peter Pan!"

At which point I had to remind myself that kids are nothing, if not honest..

Preschool!

2009-01-23T11:40:00.003-06:00

It hit us rather suddenly in early January that we needed to change Grant's daycare situation. His babysitter was nice, but things weren't...great. He was having some behavioral issues there that we'd never seen or experienced at home that I believe were directly related to his sitter's style. From what I've been able to gather, they butted heads more than a little bit.
With the new baby coming in a couple of short months, we decided that January was the month to make the move. We felt like that would allow Grant to get adjusted to a new setting prior to the birth of a baby so that his whole world wouldn't rock on all fronts at once. We also plan to move him to part-time care once the baby arrives to provide me a little respite while I am home and to keep him in a routine. We knew this wouldn't work well with his sitter and felt forced to make a quick decision.

So, we provided our notice to the sitter...2 weeks were required...and by the next afternoon we knew that we couldn't stay. Things got pretty uncomfortable there between her and me and leaving your baby in an uncomfortable situation just doesn't work. Fortunately, we had some stellar stepping in from Grandma and were able to transition Grant over within the week.
It really was a terrible time to move his daycare. We'd started potty-training just 2 weeks prior to the move and though he was doing great, we were afraid that this would upset his progress. I fretted over this decision like I do most every other decision in life, but Jeff, who is much more objective about these things reminded me how great everything worked out there for Connor and that it was TIME to move on.

Well, I am happy to report that Grant has been at his new "school" for 2 weeks now and is doing really well. Every day he tells me how much fun he had at school. Every. Day. That means a lot...he never once told me that at his prior daycare, though I know he did do fun things, I think this place is a better fit for him. I love his teachers--they are so kind and flexible, something we'd had a bit of trouble with before.
As for potty training, well, it's going better than expected. He's still dry most of the time during the day, with just a few accidents because of a couple of refusals to potty while at school. Hopefully that issue is resolved and we can continue on our journey to be a diaper-free household for a few weeks at least!

Our morning transitions are still hard for both of us, but he is getting much better. The last couple of days we've even parted without tears (his or mine)! One of my favorite parts of him going to preschool is how proud he is. He often tells me in the morning, "Daddy's at school, Mommy goes to school, Connor goes to school, and Granters goes to school!" I think it makes him feel grown-up to be heading off to "school" like the rest of us.
I hope to get a couple of pictures of him at school one of these days soon to post.
In fact, if I ever get around to uploading the photos on my camera, I might eventually get ANY pictures on here again!

A Giving Heart

2009-01-21T10:57:00.003-06:00

Connor's school is collecting money for the Children's Miracle Network and there is a contest between the grades in the afterschool program. Over the weekend, he was asking me how he could earn money (he's already spent his Christmas stash) so that he could give at school.
To my surprise, I went into his room on Monday, MLK Jr. day (off from school) to find him with a big pile of coins on his desk. He proudly showed me the pile of coins and told me he needed a big bag to put it in to take to school the next day. I asked him where he found all of that change. He pulled out this coin-saving book he's had for a while that was nearly full and showed me that he'd completely emptied it. He then told me that the money was for kids who were in the hospital and their moms and dads couldn't afford the bills.
I was torn, because I hated for him to give away all of his money, but also so proud of him for WANTING to give it away! I just gave him a hug, told him that he was doing a nice thing, and brought him a ziploc. I want to cultivate a giving heart and spirit in my kids, something that doesn't come naturally to me--at least not with money. I am really pleased, though, that he wanted to do this and hope that he continues to be a giver.

Whew!

2009-01-06T10:01:00.003-06:00

So, judging by the fact that I haven't blogged in over a month, could you have guessed that things have been busy?
Let's do a recap...sorry, no pictures right now, but hopefully I will get a few in here. I honestly didn't take but a couple on Christmas, shame on me.

Jeff and I celebrated our 10th anniversary on the 19th. I honestly can't believe it has been that long, and I am happy to say that we still (mostly!) have fun together. Thanks to our lovely parents who kept our children for us, we were able to have a mini-getaway up to Parkville at a lovely bed and breakfast. We shopped (mostly for the kids) and ate, but overall, just had a relaxing time. As we walked around Zona Rosa in the subzero temperatues, I started to wonder what had possessed us to get married during such a crazy and COLD season! Still, we had much better weather than we had the evening of our wedding, when a huge ice storm hit the city.

Christmas was a three-day-affair for us this year where Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the 26th, brought us together with family. The boys had a ball playing with their cousins, eating wayyy too many sweets and treats, and getting completely spoiled with toys from their grandparents. Christmas night we tried something new, we went out for Chinese food! The boys thought it was great--an umlimited chicken nugget buffet!

Our break from school was really long--16 days this year! We so enjoyed having the time off and being able to relax. We saw a couple of dog movies. Marley and Me...sniff, sniff...don't see it unless you want to cry. We took the kids to see Beverly Hills Chihauha at the dollar theater and managed to keep Grant in the vicinity of his seat with an IV of popcorn, candy, and root beer.

Connor lost both of his front teeth in December--I promise to post pictures, really. He is getting so big...We've already begun talking about first grade quite a bit. He asked me the other day who his teacher would be, and my reply was "we'll find out who the best teacher is and you will get her."
His reply to that was: "I hope she is more challenging for me."
Too smart for his own britches, that boy!

Grant began the adventure of potty-training.

We could use your prayers.

Seriously, he is doing quite well, other than the occasional refusal to use the potty where I have to hold him on there and then he breaks into a grin as he gives in and goes. He has a touch of the strong will. Speaking of...that is probably another post. We have decided to leave his baby sitter and move him to preschool in two weeks. Such an agonizing decision, but I am now confident we've made the right choice.
I might write more about it later, but we are still in our 2-week finishing time with the current sitter, so we are just trying to get through.

I am now at 27 weeks in my pregnancy and seem to be growing every day! So far, I really feel pretty good, so hopefully that lasts for another 3 months until delivery.
At my next appointment at the end of the month, I believe we'll be setting an induction date. The doctor says that we'll do another sonogram to gauge baby's weight and growth, so as not to let her get too big, but I am hoping for a late March delivery.

We're now in the long stretch of the school year. The abysmal winter season of January and February. This is definitely my least favorite time of each school year, but we'll get through.

I hope to have more interesting writing sometime soon. And pictures too, of course.

Christmas Season

2008-12-04T14:28:00.002-06:00

I am trying something new with the kids this Christmas season, in light of reading various blogs and talking with friends (thanks, Marjie!). I am trying to celebrate Advent.

Growing up, we did not generally have an advent calendar or do any activities associated with advent. I think we once had one of those boxes with the cut-outs that has chocolates behind each date...but I could be wrong. Anyway, I thought it sounded like fun, and after reading the different things people were doing with it, I thought, "hey, I can do that!"

We aren't doing anything fancy, and we're not giving gifts like some do for advent. That would have required more than that the 1.5 hours of planning that went into this project. I kept it simple, just making one small activity or fun thing each day...a little something for the kids to look forward to and a concentrated effort to spend time as a family.

Since we started yesterday, December 3, I labeled slips of paper that I stapled shut starting with "3" and ending at "25" when Christmas arrives. The little slips of paper are in a very un-fancy cookie tin on our table, but next year I hope to take more than a couple of hours from my school day for planning and actually wrap things and activity explanation in little boxes. It just wasn't happenin' this year.

Here is our list...if you see Connor, keep it quiet! Every day is a surprise. Grant totally doesn't get it, but will get in on some of the fun with us.

December 3
Watch Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and make a Christmas Chain

December 4
Wrap Gifts for teachers to put under the tree and gifts from the Gingerbread Shoppe

December 5
Get picked up from Kindergarten—no Kids’ Country in the afternoon…then have a sleepover at Grandma’s!

December 6
Go See Christmas In the Park

December 7
Watch a Christmas movie and eat popcorn

December 8
Pick out a gift to give off the Angel Tree at Wal-Mart

December 9
Craft: Create Christmas cards for your teachers

December 10
Read Christmas stories

December 11
Make Christmas cookies for sharing

December 12
Go see Christmas lights

December 13
Go see Mr. Stinky Feet’s Christmas concert at Crown Center

December 14
Bake blueberry loaves for your teachers, wrap them up to take
the next day

December 15
Watch “I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown” on TV

December 16
Bake Christmas cookies for sharing

December 17
Deliver Christmas cookies

December 18
Camp out in front of the Christmas tree and read Jesus’ Christmas story

December 19
Mom and Dad celebrate being married for 10 years! Special dinner

December 20
Trip to McDonald’s!

December 21
Go see Christmas lights

December 22
Sleepover at Grandma’s

December 23
Family game night

December 24
To Aunt Marsha’s to celebrate Christmas eve…you may open one of your gifts

December 25
Breakfast at Grandma Pam’s for Christmas day, spend the afternoon at Grandma Gayle’s

Overheard

2008-12-02T09:26:00.002-06:00

Overheard, by my older cousin, during our big Italian-cookie making fest, which, shockingly, I attend much less for the cookies (try to contain your amazement) than for the socialization with my aunts and cousins.

Connor was sitting at a table eating lunch with my cousins's kids who are all about 5-7 years older than him.

"Guys, I need to talk to you about something."

"What is it, Connor?"

"Guys, I need to know WHY my mom's baby has to be a GIRL?!?"

The explanation from my cousin's 12 year old daughter that God wanted our family to have a little girl was sufficient for him, but he isn't accepting this without a fight.

More on baby

2008-12-02T09:10:00.003-06:00

So I was going to post sonogram pictures of baby girl, but decided against it, as most of the pictures are just confirming her gender. And someday she won't like that her goods were all over the blogosphere.

If you know me, you know that I have a little trouble when there is nothing in my life to worry about. It's true. If there's nothing to worry about, I will invent something to obsess over. Thus my obsession over whether or not I am actually having a girl and not another boy.

So it should come as no surprise that after the sonogram we had on that Friday, I started to have doubts.
Serious doubts.

How good was the sonographer? Had she REALLY looked hard? She could have missed something. And the angle of the picture that I had was not too convincing.

I had my dr. appt this past Tuesday and I expressed the concerns above. Namely that
I CANNOT BE TOLD I AM HAVING A GIRL AND THEN FIND OUT IT IS NOT!!

My doctor understands how reasonable I am and invited me in for a "freebie" sonogram the next morning to CONFIRM what the sonographer says. She apparently has more faith in the sonographer in her office than I do.
So, hello, I was there bright and early Wednesday morning for more pics of what I hoped would continue to be baby girl.

I caught a little flack from the sonographer (have you noticed, I am trying to see how many times I can work the word "sonographer" into this post!) for not fully believing her the first time.

She just doesn't understand though. I NEVER thought I'd be able to have a little girl. Oh, I wanted one, but Jeff comes from a long line of boys-only families!
There are a couple of stray girls in there, which gave me a bit of hope, but it seemed to good to be true!

I hopped up on the table and we got down to the business of looking for girl parts. THIS time I am sure, the sonographer looked up, down, around, (baby girl was pretty active!) and found no extras! Hurray!

Now I can confidently buy pink, and Jeff can wallow in his fears of being a permissive father who can't say no to his little girl and her wedding. Yes, he's already worried about that.
I think I get the better end of this deal!

It's A....

2008-11-24T09:08:00.003-06:00

GIRL!

To say we were surprised would be quite the understatement. I made the sonographer look, look again, then look some more. I am still having a hard time believing it, but I have no reason to think otherwise.
I will post more on reactions when I (hopefully) put the sonogram pictures on here...but the general reaction was over-the-top excitement, but Marjie beat them all. She made me feel like I'd just won the gazillion dollar lottery with her ecstatic screams. Of course, this is way better than some stinking lottery.
We truly are blessed. Three healthy children...and we get to experience raising both boys and a girl. Thank you, Lord, for our life!

Kisses Make It Better

2008-11-20T12:06:00.007-06:00

Grant always has been a slightly more affectionate child than his older brother. Jeff and I have attributed that to Connor being more "prickly" like me, while Grant is more outgoing and physical, like Jeff. Grant will hug me for no reason and kisses are available on demand.

I have noticed in recent weeks a trend with Grant.

Every time he bumps into something or thinks he is hurt, he comes running to me for a kiss. I will then kiss said owie (which has only posed a problem once--when he hurt his bottom), ask him if it's all better, and he replies "yes!" and runs back to playing.

I love this age and stage.

Yes, we sometimes (though less frequently now) have dinner battles, I have to provide him a choice about everything including which shoe he would like to put on first, and he can get whiny.

But he still believes that his parents can fix anything. And that is special.

I still remember being sad the first time Connor told me that my kiss didn't make his owie feel better.

I just hope Grant doesn't realize it for a while yet.

Connor's take on Baby 3

2008-11-12T20:55:00.002-06:00

One of Connor's after-school teachers pulled me aside the other day and told me about a funny conversation she had with Connor.
She prefaced it by saying that Connor is usually very subdued and quiet in the after-school program and generally doesn't talk much to the grownups.

She was talking with him about our family and if we were going to have another baby ever (I suspect b/c they've noticed my expanding waistline and got curious!) and Connor immediately piped up:
"Yes and we find out what it is in TWO WEEKS!"

She then asked him if he wanted a boy or a girl.

Connor replied, "I want a boy."

Teacher: "Why?"

"Because if we have a girl, we're going to have to take her to ballet and stuff. Yuck."

Waiting

2008-11-12T20:49:00.002-06:00

Here at our house, we're on a countdown. Ok, it's just me. No one else seems nearly as concerned as I am with the possibly life-altering information we will find out next week.

I might be a touch on the over-dramatic side on this.

Next Friday, we find out what our baby is. Of course, this is depending on baby's cooperation, I've been told. I am leaving nothing to chance, and having a big caffeinated drink before we go for our sonogram. That kid is gonna be hyped up and moving so we can see the parts!

Everyone here is rooting for a boy. Except for mom of course. It would be really nice to have someone on my side (besides the dog, who is also a girl). The boys spend most of their time with Jeff arguing about who gets to be on his "team" for various activities.
We were in the car the other day, and I kid you not, the kids were screaming at each other over who got to be on dad's team. We weren't playing a game, we weren't even TALKING about playing a game, but by golly, they were each going to be on dad's team!!

I would like for someone to want to be on MY team once in a while. Not that a girl necessarily would. And boys are great...truly. I've always said I'd take a house full of boys over a house full of girls any day, and I mean that.

I just kinda want to buy pink this time.

Halloween Festivities

2008-11-03T10:59:00.014-06:00

And here they are, the all-important costume pictures!

Getting the boys to smile naturally (Connor has inherited my fake-camera-smile) was quite the challenge, but I did manage just one with my little peace-nik.

I REALLY thought we were going to have trouble getting stubborn little Grant to wear his costume, but he surprised me! He was excited to put the costume on. Now, the cape? That required a little trickery from Dad. Grant did not want to put it on...until he was told that "Daddy wants to wear it" and Daddy put it on. Hmmm...all of a sudden it held more appeal. I was able to wrestle it from Jeff (who occasionally dreams of being as superhero!) to complete Grant's costume.

Before it was dark, we stopped out at my parents' house. It was Friday night and still daylight savings time, so it was nice to show off the costumes and get some goodies early.

Connor worked all night on getting the perfect "mean pirate" face. I think this was his best effort.

Connor may have been being a rocker pirate. Not really sure, but he was having fun!

This was the first house the boys went to trick or treat at, next door to my parents'. I WISH I'd had my camera ready when the lady came to the door. Grant's expression was pure terror...until she offered him candy.

See, I think this "mean pirate" is pretty good too. He really just got better as the night wore on. Even occasionally saying "Trick or Treat" in his "mean pirate" voice.

Earlier in the day, before he was overcome with the spirit of being a pirate, Connor had a much more angelic look about him. I surprised him by showing up at his Kindergarten Halloween parade. It was really cute, seeing all of the kids in their costumes. I was, however, reminded that I want nothing to do with teaching elementary school. While I was waiting for Connor's class another Kindergarten class was using the bathroom. As they came out, they were standing in line. One of the boys came out of the bathroom and announced to the teacher, "I got pee on my costume."

Yuck. Um, I might have kept that to myself.

The day after Halloween, the Zoo hosted a "Pumpkin Smash" day which in theory is much more exciting than in reality.

This was the highlight of the day for the boys.

We did take some time out between watching the kangaroos and tigers eat pumpkins to visit the Baobob tree playhouse.

Grant, while waiting for the Kangaroos to get their pumpkins. It was all quite disappointing. The zookeeper just tossed pieces of pumpkins at the kangaroos and they either sat there and got hit or grabbed a piece and started eating. Not too exciting. Actually, the tigers were pretty cool, puncturing the pumpkin with his teeth.

Overall, Halloween 2008 was fun. It was great that Grant was more "into" it this year and worked very hard to keep up with big brother.

They got oodles and gobs of really good candy...seriously, our neighbors didn't go cheap at all this year, I am used to a bucket full of smarties and tootsie rolls. No, these kids got the real deal, chocolate candy bars, reese's cups...good stuff!

It was a great weekend though Sunday, when whatever respiratory ailment the boys had last week finally caught up to Jeff and me. We spent the majority of the day woefully lamenting our inability to breathe from one nostril or the other.

"Wicious!"

2008-10-30T11:24:00.000-05:00

If you haven't heard Grant say the word "Delicious" you really should give him something yummy. He has been saying it all the time with (almost) everything he eats.

"Mmmm...Wicious!"

Try it, it will bring a smile to your face.

Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-30T11:01:00.003-05:00

Note: My camera ran out of batteries, and I had planned to put in new batteries before we left and forgot. I only got two pictures....neither of which involves any pumpkins!

We finally made it to our yearly trip to the Pumpkin patch...only we tried something new this year. See, in the past, we've been able to go to the local 'patch and have a good ol' time without paying the high ($8+, yikes!) price of admission. Connor is a very reasonable child and understands that if we have a talk beforehand about what we will and won't do, that is just the way it's going to be.
Completely reasonable.
Grant?
Not so reasonable. He IS only two, plus has a little more...how shall I say...forcefulness to his personality!

So, me being the cheapskate that I am decided I was NOT going to shell out $30+ just for admission to the pumpkin patch--that doesn't even COUNT the pumpkins! I looked online for "Free pumpkin patches in Kansas City."
And I found one!

It is located in Sibley, MO, which is north of Grain Valley. Not too bad of a hike if there isn't a 10-mile backup on 1-70 where you literally sit still for 20 minutes only to see NO ROAD CONSTRUCTION ahead (though the signs warn you it is coming!) So we did what any reasonable person would do. We drove in the lane that was apparently "coming to an end" all the way to our exit.
Whew. I am glad Jeff was driving. I am just not that brave.
So, we made it to Sibley, which is a lovely little town.

Jeff and I always think we want to move to a small town, it looks so quaint, so carefree. They probably have jobs and life too, though.

Anyway, the pumpkin patch was great. There was a cool orchard store where they sold apples, jams, frozen berries, and apple cider. Let me tell you--I think apple cider is gross--this stuff is G-O-O-O-D!
We went on a little tractor ride out to the "patch" which was a little sparse. I am thinking we went a little too late in the season. All of the big pumpkins were "mashed" according to the boys. Fortunately, there was also a big section of small "pie" pumpkins and there were lots of great little ones to choose from. We took 5 home because I was all set to try to make my own pumpkin butter.
What can I say, sometimes I feel like a farm girl. Next thing ya know, I'll be churning my own butter.
We got some good-looking apples, some cider, and those pumpkins, but then had to be on our way. It was past nap time for someone. Oh, and Grant too.

On our way home we were watching the rolling farmland and the cool old farm houses, and Jeff said, "You really would like to live in the country, huh? I've converted you!"
I said, "Yeah, that would be great, we could have 4 dogs..."
Grant, excitedly from the backseat: "FOUR DOGS!"
Jeff: "and maybe a cow?"
Me: "Nah, it's too much trouble to milk it every day and night."
Jeff: "Really?"
Me: "Ok, we can get a cow, but I want to hire someone else to milk it."

Ah yes, I think I am still a ways off from living the farm life.

Out of the Mouth of Babes

2008-10-21T09:16:00.003-05:00

We were seated at the dinner table last night eating dessert.
If you've ever heard Jeff clap, tap, or do anything percussionistic with his hands, you know that he is loud.

Jeff was tapping the table, singing a little song. Fairly quiet for Jeff, actually.

Grant seemed to be concentrating with the focus of a 2-year old eating his ice cream while Jeff was tapping. Then he stopped, looked at Jeff and said:

"Dad, please stop that! You are driving us CRAZY!"
It took all we had not to bust out laughing.

Chicago Marathon...done!

2008-10-14T13:35:00.003-05:00

Jeff had his biggest race ever this past weekend--the Chicago Marathon. He left on Saturday and returned yesterday to many hugs and squeals (and barks from Trumie!)
He brought all sorts of great loot from his goodie bag for the kids--they loved it!

He had gone with the original intent of qualifying for Boston. He needed a 3:15 to do that. Unfortunately, he realized about halfway in that he wasn't going to be able to make that. And he did something I'm proud of him for. He slowed down and enjoyed the race.
He ran through Chinatown, through the Mexican part of town (I don't know the name!) and gave high-fives to all of the kids he passed that wanted one.
He still landed with a 3:30. Not too bad for someone that decided to slow down and "enjoy" the race, huh?

I wish I could have been there. I wanted to go, but days off of work are precious and few around here and we didn't think I could spare any. Fortunately, his big brother Steve went along for company...and they had a great time from what I understand.

We're glad to have you home, Jeff. We're proud of all you've accomplished, with or without Boston!

Chopsticks

2008-09-17T08:34:00.005-05:00

Monday night, we had a treat. We hardly ever get Chinese food at our house, but we all like it and it was sounding pretty good since I had office hours that evening and didn't want to cook. Our favorite place, Master Wok, has moved and is too far away for carryout anymore, so we went with Connor's choice for Chinese food--Hy-Vee.
It's actually a pretty good deal and we can just barely feed our family on their "dinner for two" so we save some money.

I think one of the kids' favorite things about getting Chinese is, of course, the chopsticks! Grant was very into holding them at the grocery store, and mispronouncing the word...I kept thinking he was saying "hospital."
He did, indeed know what chopsticks were and what they are for, as he ate his dinner by poking pieces of chicken with his stick.
Except he had stopped calling them chopsticks. Instead, he called them "muscles."

"My muscles fall down! I pick it up!"
"Look at my muscles!"
"I eat with my muscles!"

You get the idea.

Jeff reminded him they were called "Chop-Sticks!"

Grant's reply?

"Muscle chop sticks!"

Next time you eat chinese, try to use your muscles.

Math Man

2008-09-17T08:13:00.002-05:00

Connor has been really into his addition and subtraction lately. He has a couple of activity books that he has been working through, spending time almost every night! In fact, Friday night it was time to go to bed, but he begged to do a math page.

Well sure. Isn't that what most kids want to do with their Friday night?

I had gone to the store and gotten a few things over the weekend, including Fig Newtons. I NEVER buy packaged cookies. Hello? I love to bake! I guess I was having some pregnancy craving or something. Anyway, I gave the boys a couple of cookies each to have before bed. Connor was eating cookies and working on his subtraction page. He had a couple of problems that he was having trouble with in particular...18-7 and 18-8. We started talking about the concept of subtraction and "taking away."
He had worked with a number line and he got 18-7, but this one problem, 18-8 was really tripping him up.
We tried relating it to 18-7...which led to Jeff asking Connor:

"Let's say you have 18 Fig Newtons. If I were going to take some cookies away from you, would you rather me take away 7 or 8?"

My sweet boy answered:

"I'd want you to take away 8!"

Jeff: "Why? Then you wouldn't have as many cookies!"

Connor: "But then I'd know the answer to 18-8 was!"

Duh.

He's getting better

2008-09-12T12:06:00.002-05:00

Connor is having a better time with Kindergarten.

I am sure it has nothing to do with our bribe for him this week.

If he went to school every day, without crying and complaint, then he could invite a new friend from school out for pizza and video games Friday night.

Hmmm....what could I be bribed with?

Well, I have to say, that he did a FANTASTIC job this week! We've had a lot of changes at our house, with the going to school, starting the after-school program, having to buy his lunch. All rather traumatic to our eldest. But he is a champ.

Many of you have expressed concern over him, but be aware, he is better. You may certainly continue to pray for him (and all of us!) as this year is a trying one. But thank you for your words of encouragement and offers of help.
He is growing into a brave Kindergartner!

Weekend and chili dinner

2008-09-09T11:25:00.003-05:00

So this weekend was Jeff's annual trip to the lake. The guys all get together and take time out and their time together? Well, from what I can deduce it involves quite a bit of drinking, horseshoe playing, and eating of spicy food. That is just what I can deduce. Unfortunately, this year they didn't spend much time out on the boat or the lake because of the cool temperatures. I was told, though, that it was still a great time and nice to get away.

While daddy was off playing, the boys and I had our own fun. Actually, Friday night started with them over at Grandma Gayle's. My friend Marjie's 30th birthday prom party was Friday night, so I went stag with some girlfriends. Fortunately, Grandma Gayle was kind enough to watch the boys 3 NIGHTS IN A ROW so that our week could go off as planned. Thanks:)

Anyway, Friday night was fun, but also humorous. It was a 90's prom, and several people did come dressed in their 90's gear. I am not that brave, so I stuck with a borrowed dress from my sister that did manage to fit over my belly pooch. There were oh...10 women there who were pregnant...I told Marjie she should have called it a "white trash" prom b/c of all of the pregnant girls. Just kidding, Marje:) It really was fun and I am very impressed that your husband pulled that off for you. Kudos to Nate.

Saturday I awoke with a killer headache (I could make some reference here to my high school proms, but won't.) and couldn't figure out why. I figured I'd forgotten to drink enough water and took some Tylenol. I took the boys to the zoo and made a grave mistake. Grant told me he wanted to walk at the zoo. I said "ok, that is fine, but I am not going to carry you."

Two year olds don't have much in the ability to reason and think through consequences. Clearly, I don't either.

So I took the boys to the zoo--WITHOUT the stroller, but WITH a gigantic headache. We saw a few animals, but mostly we just threatened to leave Grant at the zoo if he didn't walk with us. He would stop, squat, then pretend that he just wasn't going to walk any further. At which point I would tell Connor to "keep walking, but slow down" so that he THOUGHT we were leaving him. It worked probably 30 of the 40 times we had to do it.
At one point, my wise little almost-six-year-old reminded me, "Daddy would have spanked him by now."
Connor was right, and the point was taken.
We only made it through Africa, God bless me, I have no idea how, and then we headed on home where we EACH proceeded to take a three hour nap. It was blissful. Except when I had to wake up...and I STILL had the headache!

Aside from the headache, the time with the boys was good. We made a crock-pot of chili, which I talked up and tried to get the boys excited about . We even went to the store to buy fritos and cheese for the top. They weren't unhappy, never mind that my boys are a little bit picky, and I don't cook chili often (jeff won't eat beans). So, I gave Grant the CHOICE (I am learning a bit about parenting toddlers) and asked if he wanted to his fritos on top of his chili or under his chili. He wisely chose "on top." The chips and cheese provide a nice disguise from what otherwise might be suspect food to a 2-year-old.

Connor decided that he wanted his chips and cheese in a little bowl on the side.

The verdict? Grant ate quite a bit. I am not sure how much chili got into his mouth, but thankfully we had brownies and ice cream to fill up the empty spaces in his belly afterwards.

Connor didn't like it. "Eww. I don't like it" I offered him several options including eating the meat only or having no brownies. I also offered up the suggestion of putting his chips and cheese on top for some "crunch." I then left it alone and devoured my bowl, because honestly? It was good chili.

A couple of minutes later, I hear this from Connor:

"I gotta tell ya mom. This is pretty good with the fritos and cheese on it."

How old is this kid? He cracks me up. I am just glad he (mostly) ate his chili.

And then filled up on dessert. I don't know where they get that.

Kindergarten Blues

2008-08-25T12:01:00.005-05:00

Connor's got 'em.

Every weekday (since his first day) he's been crying and telling me he doesn't want to go to school. The reason? He's bored, he's sad, he doesn't want to be away from us all day.
The all-time most painful comment from him...

"Some kids don't have Kids Country on their nametag. They get to be a car rider or bus rider and go home after school. Why can't I come home right after school?"

Uggggghhhh. Just a minute.

Extracting. knife. from. heart.

So, ya see, this is pretty painful for all of us right now.

I know that he's bored in his class because they are doing "boring" things like talking about the alphabet and reading easy books. It isn't his fault he's a prodigy, y'know.
And the after-school program? I am thinking it must be lacking in structure and activities. His teacher told me he gets progressively "sadder" as the Kindergarten time draws to a close and the time draws nearer for him to go to Kids Country.

This morning was another sad one, with him repeatedly crying to me that "I don't want to go to school!"
"Me neither, Pal," was my response one time.
I asked Connor what he wanted me to do and he had a couple of solutions:

"I want to go to school with you or Dad." "I want to stay home." "Can't I go to Grandma's today?"
He did seem to settle down a bit when I told him that I was looking into other options for him. I won't tell him what they are, just in case things don't work out.
I then asked him to trust me. That Jeff and I were doing all that we could to make sure he could have a good day every day. "Do you trust me?" I asked.
"Yes."

So now I'm on a mission and there MAY be a solution in sight. I am quite excited for the possiblity of returning to a familiar place for part of his day. Much to the chagrin of my independent self, I can't solve this problem alone. But God is good, and I am so grateful for the army of love and support that is being shown to our family right now.

So, if you think of us, will you pray for our family? The adjustment is rough, and when a kiddo's heart is broken, so is Mom's.

Connor's 1st day of Kindergarten

2008-08-22T10:06:00.004-05:00

Connor went to Kindergarten on Tuesday. It was a really big day for him. Being teachers, Jeff and I don't always have the most flexible schedules, but we were both fortunate enough to take him in for that all-important first day.

He and Jeff went out for a breakfast sandwich at Hardee's, then off for a quick visit to Grandma's house, then I was able to meet up with them at Connor's school.

We got a picture of him with his teacher right before I went in. I think we both kind of wanted to stay, but in asking the teacher, she said that "it's really best for all of the kids if you go ahead and leave." So, reluctantly, we did. We were pretty torn up, but we made it though the day.

Connor did better than we did on that first day. It's a big step for mom and dad too.

Connor outside his school.

At home, heading out the door with dad!

Alabama Vacation

2008-08-07T14:38:00.024-05:00

A few pictures from our 'bama vacation...

We spent 18 hours in the car going both there and back...this is how Connor spent MOST of his time.

If you ask Grant what he liked most about vacation, he will tell you that he got to eat Teddy Grahams in the car. Clearly, we didn't need to spend money a beach vacation. A $1.99 box of chocolate chip teddy grahams was all the boy wanted. You can see him applauding in the car in response to my question, "Would you like some Teddy Grahams?"
"Yayyy Teddy Grahams!"

We got to the beach too late to play the first night, so this was our first day out there. Connor and I spent some time jumping over the waves.

Grant--taking in the Gulf.

Connor, surveying the waves...

Now he's having fun. He was running, jumping, riding, falling, and just generally enjoying the waves!

We went to the U.S.S. Alabama--a retired battleship docked in Mobile Bay.

This is Connor in front of a WWII airplane they had on display at the Battleship Park.

Another day, we went out to Alligator Alley--an refuge for "nuisance alligators" (those that grow over 6 feet long, those found outside of their natural habitats, and a couple that were found in people's backyards--eating their dogs.)

The boys both got to hold the 2 year old gator. He was REALLY strong!

Grant held and kind of "hugged" the gator.

Thought Grant didn't love playing in the waves like we'd hoped, he did enjoy floating with me. We did this quite a bit, and even saw dolphins swimming out just a little ways away from shore while we were out there!

Jeff and Connor spent a lot of time building sandcastles.

Grant spent a lot of time digging in the beach bags, looking for any stray snacks we may have brought.

We buried Connor in the sand!

More castle-building!

My handsome big boy.

Grant, trying to get the sand off of him, or throw it. He alternated between the two actions.

First try for a family pic on the beach.

We liked this one a bit better though.

We had a great time. The boys got to sleep in bunk beds, which was a source of endless excitement for Grant. We loved our condo, there were a bunch of pools and the beach was just beautiful. Maybe in a few years we can go back!

You're Gonna Miss This

2008-06-28T14:39:00.002-05:00

Ever hear of the song? I don't know who sings it...it's on country stations and I don't listen to much country, but this song will bring up tears every time.
It is about how we basically wish away these stages of our lives, but then look back and miss the times that have gone by.
Oh, I think I feel tears coming on now, as I think that the song might possibly be the theme song for my life thus far. I am trying to snap out of it and am doing a little better since I see how quickly time flies and how fast the kids are growing.

I took the boys to run errands today...had a great time at the dollar store, Beauty Brands (hey, I had a coupon I had to use!), and then to the Farmer's Market. When we got home I saw that Jeff wasn't ready for the the t-ball pizza party yet, so I started nagging him about getting with it so we could go. He told me he'd been sitting and listening to that song and was a little sad.
You know how sensitive I am, so I am sure you could script my reply...
"That's great. I like that song too. Could ya please go shower now?"

Anyway, I went back to our room a little while later and found Connor crying while he was talking to Jeff.
"What's wrong, Buddy? Why are you sad?"

"Because I love it when Dad throws me into the pool and someday I am going to be too big for him to throw me in the pool!"
More tears ensued.

I don't know how many kids stop and think about the passing of their childhoods, but I am thinking that I really didn't. Ever.

Connor has such a sweet and sensitive spirit...he could only think of how sad he'd be when he can't play with his dad like he does now.

We assured him that when he gets bigger and is a daddy he'll get to have even MORE fun, because he'll be getting to throw his own child into the pool. We told him he has no idea how much fun being a Dad is...but it's even better than being the kid.
That seemed to suffice for him.

For us, it just served as a reminder to treasure this time...we won't get it back.

Swim lessons

2008-06-28T14:17:00.007-05:00

Connor had his SECOND round of swim lessons during the latter half of June. If you know me, you know that swim lessons are HUGE to me. I was a lifeguard and swim lesson teacher for more than 7 years and I am VERY particular about what I expect my children to learn in swim lessons. Unfortunately, our first round did not make the cut. I wish that I weren't so non-confrontational...the lessons really were so NOT good that I should have asked for (at least a partial!) refund after the first week. It is my own fault though. I was trying to save money on gas by staying here in town. Lesson learned...from now on we'll continue trekking down to Pleasant Hill for our lessons. They are so great! We loved them last year, but tried something a little closer to home during the first part of June. Oh well, I am sure it didn't hurt my little fish to be in the water a bit more!

I am so proud of how well Connor is doing. He is working on diving now, and it comes and goes.

He can get all around the pool now--"Look Ma! No floaties!" and it really gives me such peace of mind to know that he can get himself from one side of the pool to the other. Aaahhh. The other child? Not so much. A few words to describe Grant around the water? Totally fearless and utterly ignorant. So far, it is still pretty stressful to take that one to the pool, but we are getting along ok.

Connor had several MUCH older kids in his class, but he always kept right up with them, doing everything they were, doing races and all. I told him I am MOST proud that he is learning to swim without depending on goggles or plugging his nose--two "habits" that I find can really impair kids as they grow as swimmers.

He had a blast with his friends, can do a "mean" freestyle and has confidence in the water. I just can't ask for much more!

I am proud of my boy!

Chicago

2008-06-23T15:42:00.005-05:00

I am not a great traveler. (Did I spell that right???) Don't get me wrong. It always SOUNDS great to go somewhere new and see the sights, but when it comes down to it, unless my family is coming along, I am usually a bit apprehensive.

My trip to Chicago was no exception, but I still really enjoyed it.

Katrina and Angie invited Marjie and me to go on a sightseeing girls' trip to Chicago. Flights were cheap (though I have no idea how with the prices at the pump!) and I have never been to Chicago. It isn't too far from here and I had always intended to go with Jeff, or with friends...it just never happened.

I was so nervous to leave the family at home...but they did beautifully without me. In fact, I believe Connor's words were: "Mom, I missed you just a teeny tiny little bit." Not to be confused with his dramatics surrounding Jeff's impending departure. He cried the entire day before Jeff left for Oklahoma for bball camp.

I know they did miss me...and I missed them. I was ready to go home after a short 36 hours in Chicago of shopping, eating, and WALKING! Considering my leg bone is fractured, it probably wasn't the best use of my time, but it was a place unlike any I'd ever been. I felt very small and a bit "country," though I know that I am not. When we arrived, we had a bit of trouble figuring out the train, the bus, the trolley. In fact, the question "Why are we so STUPID??" was the mantra for the first day of the trip. The free yet oh-so-elusive trolley that would take us all over downtown makes for fun memories as well. Chicago was LOUD, but I loved the easily accessible public transportation (once we got over our stupidity!), the sights, and just getting away and taking time out for me. Sometimes we moms just don't do that enough.

Yes, I am still here!

2008-06-23T15:40:00.002-05:00

Not that anyone reads this...except for a couple of you...but I have been BUSY!
Let's see here...lots of fun going on this summer. We've had swim lessons, a girls' trip to Chicago, Jeff has been out of town, and we're preparing for vacation. Whew. And I thought summer would be a "break!" It has been good, just not the slower pace that I envisioned.
I want to post pics of Chicago and the swim lessons, so stay tuned.

funny from Grant

2008-05-23T12:40:00.002-05:00

We had our carpets cleaned on Wednesday as part of our rid-the-house-of-any-allergen-and-all-dirt-particles-frenzy. We are having the air ducts cleaned next week, buying a dehumidifier, and doing some deep spring cleaning. Good times for us, better times for our checkbook. Not really.
Anyway, the guy who cleans our carpets is really a nice guy. When my in-laws lived in this house, he was the one who cleaned their carpets...and he remembers this. In fact, when I book an appointment and give him my address, he always says, "Gayle's old house, right?"
And his name is Jeff. Which is confusing to the little one.

Grant was a bit fearful of the loud equipment, but mostly that he was going to be taken away by the carpet cleaning man. I was trying to subdue his fears, and I introduced him to "Mr. Jeff."
My mom was over and talking with Grant about "Mr. Jeff" and how nice he was. She then said, "his name is Jeff just like your daddy!"

She might have confused him a little bit.

The next day, Grant asked me several times where "Cool Beans Daddy-O" was at. Now, I say "cool beans daddy-o" at least once weekly, so I wasn't sure what he meant, but went out on a limb...
"Grant, do you mean 'where is Daddy?'"
"Yes" (pronounced Yays--it is too stinking cute, get him to say it for you soon)
"Daddy is still at school. He'll be home soon."

Several minutes later, we're in the van on our way to meet Jeff at school. Grant, out of nowhere, busts out with the following:

"I no like Mr. Jeff. I like my DADDY!"

I hope he isn't scarred for life thinking I was trading Daddy in for the carpet cleaner just because they happen to have the same name!

Y'know, any old guy with the name of Jeff will work...just kidding, Honey:)

Campout

2008-05-16T12:49:00.004-05:00

It's the first campout of the season!

If you know me at all, you know that I am NOT a campout-kinda-girl. I prefer my toilets to be indoors and for there to be running water and electricity--no matter where I am.

Picky, aren't I?

BUT...this kind of campout I can handle. My in-laws have 18 acres and so we go out to the back side of their land, take a fire pit, some dogs (hot dogs, and sometimes furry dogs), the kids, some treats, and cold refreshment down the hill behind their house. Then, our family (because we are allergy prone and I SWEAR our kids will sleep nowhere when other people are around them) happily heads home to sleep in our own warm and soft beds.
Perfect arrangement.

All the junk-foody-goodness of camping, without all the hassle of sleeping with "nature." Ugh.

Actually, I rather like being outside. It is sharing the outside that bugs me.

Speaking of "sharing the outside," there is a movie trailer out there right now that just might be the death of me (oh, I hope not!). We saw it last night while watching The Office. No, I still don't have a DV-R, though we did "tape" it so we could run, but unfortunately, sometimes we forget to fast-forward through the commercials. I am afraid that this one may be burned into my mind for life.

Like that scene from "Seven" where Gwyneth Paltrow's head is delivered in a box to Brad Pitt. One of the worst movies, ever, in terms of scariness, I might add--oh, maybe there's worse, but I have only allowed myself to be talked into one movie-- The Blair Witch Project since I saw "Seven"--too scared. And Jeff had to spend most of that movie reminding me that the people were actors.
And that they were likely eating donuts when we couldn't see them on camera.

Anywho. It's some movie about these people that live out in the country and there is someone terrorizing them. Then the terrorizer breaks in and presumably kills them.

Beautiful and happy thoughts.

After watching it, I was totally freaked out, but decided to bite my tongue. Jeff calls me a "wimp" because of my inability to stomach scary movies.
And he's mad because we can never see them at the theater.

Or rent them.

Or look at them in the video store...due to my inability to erase killer images from my mind.

It was Jeff who spoke up and said he thought that might have been the scariest preview he'd ever seen. We agreed on that. Because it was actually plausible. Shudder.

Anyway, so tonight when we are in the woods...far away from other houses...I am certain that awful image of the stranger standing in the woods will haunt my memory. Hopefully the delighted squeals of my children shooting each other and their cousins with marshmallow guns will drown out the fearsome images.

Countdown to Summer

2008-05-15T14:12:00.002-05:00

Hard to believe, but we have only 12 days until our summer begins. We are more than ready. Lots of fun planned...
A vacation to Alabama--the beach! The boys have never been and it has been wayyyy too long since Jeff and I have been.
A new waterpark in our city. It is ALMOST finished being built, hopefully it is up and running in the next couple of weeks.
Grandma's pool! Gets filled up tomorrow! Brrrr!
Playdates galore...it seems that everyone wants to get together while we're off!
Basketball league games--this is Jeff, but it keeps us busy!
T-ball games
Down time. Much needed, for all of us.
I hope it doesn't go by too fast!

Mother's Day 2008

2008-05-12T10:30:00.003-05:00

We had a great Mother's Day...exhausting, but great. It began with a deliciously sweet breakfast of donuts from Lamar's...my favorite! Connor was so pleased that he and Daddy "tricked" me into thinking they were cooking me breakfast.
We headed off to church earlier than usual so that we could pack more into our day...my self-imposed craziness of trying to pack too much into too little time!
Connor made a bracelet...kind of big for a bracelet, but kind of small for a necklace. I say "kind of" but mean "way too" in that last sentence. I saw it when we picked him up from his Sunday school class and was so touched. I thought it was for me, you know, it being Mother's Day and all. I am so silly.
"Mom, look what I made for Hailey!" Hailey??!!!?? Are you kidding me? Hailey is his cousin, and of course, I love her, but she is not a mother! She is 7! I guess that makes her cooler than me, but alas, I have to admit that I was a bit saddened.

Subway for lunch was fast and cheap so we could head to the zoo! We arrived there by noon or so, and began our trip through Africa. Connor was tired from all of the walking, but the zoo really caters to moms on Mother's day, providing free ice cream FOR MOMS ONLY and a free train or tram ride FOR MOMS ONLY. Brilliant marketing, Zoo.
Really, it was fun and the boys liked the extra-special treats, so other than the endless walking with little reward in terms of actually seeing active animals, it was a great trip.
We headed home around 3:00--pretty much the time Grant normally WAKES from his nap, so he took a snooze in the car.
We were then off to dinner at Grandma's and riding big wheels in the front drive. Oh, how I always wanted a big wheel. I love how they kids fly around on them, spinning out. It's lots of fun to watch.

As Connor was winding down for bed, he was telling me how he was going to take the bracelet to school to give to Hailey's brother (since he'd forgotten to take it to his Grandma's) and I offered to make it smaller so that it would fit her.
He informed me that it would fit her just fine in a while. I put it on my arm and it fell off. After our discussion about wrist growth over the course of a lifetime, he did finally agree that making it smaller might be a good idea.
So, I lovingly took apart his bracelet and retied it to fit Hailey's seven-year-old wrist instead of my thirty-one-year old wrist. I was feeling kind of sad. I felt a little guilty, but I had to ask him:
"So, did everyone else make bracelets for their mom, you know, since it is Mother's Day today?"
Connor: "Oh, our teacher said we could give it to anyone we wanted."
I need to have a talk with this person.
"oh." I suppose he doesn't get "momspeak" for "you should feel guilty about this" yet.
It is really all very sweet and innocent. I really am fine, not scarred even a little bit. I do suppose that there will be many more times in my life that things like this will happen. I am just grateful for my boys and for the time I have been given with them. I got a kiss and a big hug and an "I love you" from my big boy. I also got a "Happy Mudders Day" said by a tired little guy.
Who needs a bracelet when you've got that?

Not about the boys...just this once

2008-05-09T12:28:00.004-05:00

Just this one time, (ok, it may happen sometime again in the future) I am posting NOT about the kids...but about Jeff and me! We both ran a great race this past Sunday in Lincoln and really enjoyed it. Jeff ran the full marathon in 3 hours, 26 minutes. I ran the half marathon in 1 hour, 53 minutes. Both of us exceeded our own expectations in terms of our "must have" goal times, so we were pleasantly surprised! The course was GREAT--aside from a few miles of packed-in-like-sardines-sidewalk running, everything was perfect. The town of Lincoln seemed to thoroughly enjoy hosting this race and were perfect cheerleaders at the early hour of 7am.

Oh. Except for one poor soul. Jeff saw her, but as he recounts the story:

"We were running through this intersection and the police had the cars stopped until there was a break in the runners." BTW, this was happening all over the city, not just a couple of intersections. Anyway,

"There were cars stopped, and people yelling out their windows things like 'Go Runners!' 'You can do it!' and the like. Well, one woman had had enough. She got OUT OF HER CAR and YELLED: 'I HATE THIS RACE!' I am thinking that maybe she got out on the wrong side of the bed, or was running a titch late for something." (Actually, there may have been a few runners who echoed her sentiments at that exact moment!)

So, aside from this woman, the town of Lincoln was delightful.

If you've never run in a race, just trust me that it is SO much easier when there are people (even if they are strangers!) cheering you on. Like I said, people were even yelling (mostly nice things) from their cars. The weather was unbelievable. We had both been concerned that we'd be cold, thus our "winter" attire, but it was a gorgeous day.

The boys stayed with J's mom and loved every minute of it. I was informed that "We didn't miss you while you were gone." Which is about the most resounding recommendation for a babysitter that I could ask for.

Connor's 1st Ever T-ball game!

2008-05-07T19:45:00.007-05:00

Connor's first-ever tball game, and thus our foray into what I assume will be our long relationship with community sports, began this past Saturday.
He was SO excited...I think he woke up at 5am that morning. Not good, considering Jeff and I were trying to get just a little bit of sleep before our trip to Lincoln for our big race on Sunday.

He couldn't wait to get dressed in his sharp new uniform. "Snakes" T-Shirt? Check. Bright white baseball pants? Check. Cool super-long baseball socks? Check. Arctic layering pieces? Check??
Yes, they were necessary, as it wasn't quite typical baseball weather at the brisk temperature of 37 degrees. In addition to the temperature being cold, the fields where he plays are known as the local version of the arctic wind tunnel. Seriously. Running out there is like nothing I've ever experienced. No trees, no shelter, just lots and lots of wind. Standing out there is even less pleasant, at least in terms of the weather.

The game we watched, however, more than made up for the unfavorable weather conditions.
It was wildly entertaining, what with the players being five years old and relatively new to the sport of t-ball.

Connor gave me a little grin as he headed out to bat.

A hit! YEAH! He was so excited, he forgot all about baseball and its rules. The coach yelled "Run! Run!" Oh, he ran. In circles. It was hilarious! He didn't know whether to run to the dugout or to first base. So he just ran--kind of a back-and-forth kind of run. The coach graciously took his shoulders and directed him to first base. Too cute.

Here he is in the "outfield" (they're five, remember?). Looking a little (yawn!) bored, I'd say. Not too much action this far from the plate, that is for sure.

Overall, it was a successful game. Yes, it was cold, but we had fun. Connor is already counting the days until he gets to play again.

MeThinks the Boy Doth Need His Own Sunglasses

2008-05-02T09:32:00.004-05:00

He borrowed an old pair of mine to play his beloved baseball...we went to Wal-Mart that night and got him his very own pair.

Reality is spicy

2008-05-01T12:35:00.003-05:00

We took the boys to Planet Sub for their Tuesday night special--Kids eat free! I love it when the kids eat free! Because I like to think that I am (somewhat) careful about the quality of food the boys ingest, and I am also cheap, I have a hard time forking over $5 for some over-processed junk that they barely nibble on.
Planet Sub has pretty good kids' meals, though. The boys could choose either a turkey or ham (Connor chose turkey, Grant, the ham--how appropriate) sub with chips and a drink.
Well, the boys generously "donated" their drinks to mom and dad while they drank water. Oh yeah, we didn't tell them the drinks belonged to them, we just took 'em. AND we also commandeered their bags of chips as family property. Though we did steal their chips and drink, I made up for it by buying 2 large cookies-for us all to share.
We were all enjoying our subs and chips...pretty happy for a little evening out that cost under $10. Jeff and I were sharing the jalapeno chips, while Connor and Grant were sharing Fritos.
Grant was rather "active" at dinner (read: crazy toddler, trying to escape the booth!) and we were plowing him with Fritos and the promise of his m&m cookie if he would just take a couple more bites of ham.
Grant then decided he wanted to try "Daddy's chips" though he grabbed one from my plate. These are the delicious kettle-cooked chips that are sooo crunchy. Oh, and they are coated in jalapeno flavoring. We didn't stop him, instead warning him that they were spicy and he might not like them. He took a teeny-tiny bite. Then he made this horrible face. (Why oh why, can't I remember to take my cell phone in for its camera!) I would have loved to have had a picture. He started spitting and taking a drink. Then, the most interesting thing happened.

He took another big ol' jalapeno chip and proceeded to take a huge bite out of it!

Again, horrible face, but this time LOUD crying, some screaming, spitting, and I am pretty sure gnashing of teeth accompanied his bite. He tried to spit it out, he tried to drink away the pain, to no avail. This went on for at least 5 minutes and was absolutely hilarious. Sorry, Granters, but it was!
In the end, he ate a bit more ham, killed the spice in his mouth and was able to enjoy the nibble of cookie that the rest of the family left for him.

Zucchini bread overload

2008-04-29T11:53:00.002-05:00

The boys and I made zucchini bread last night. Except I had to call it zucchini "cake" to get Grant to eat it. Ah, a boy after my own heart.
They were SO helpful--really! except it took quite a bit longer with their "help" but that's ok--they both took turns grating up the zucchini, they dumped in ingredients, Connor beat the eggs, Grant stirred the mixture. Connor has been working on his flour-measuring technique (not exactly a requirement to get your "man card" but important when you're baking with mama) where he levels off the flour. Oh, he is getting good at it!

We made a double-batch so we could give some away. I always love to send some to J's grandparents b/c it is her recipe, and sometimes we share with the neighbors. We made five small loaves and one large load (underdone inside, so a bit wasted) and easily polished off a small loaf and a half last night. today I think I have eaten about 1/4 of the large loaf--the done part, of course!--and am starting to feel a bit queasy. Ugh.

I love baking, and I do hope it is something the boys will continue to do with me as they grow. Sometimes they want to help, but mostly they just want to eat. It seems they are more motivated to participate when they have jobs, so I need patience and a little extra time for preparations.

Some fun pictures

2008-04-28T12:21:00.014-05:00

The boys were both sick over the weekend. Connor with pneumonia, Grant with croup.

Good times.

We did get out for a little while Sunday night and the boys enjoyed bubbles. Connor blew through a whole bottle, and Grant mostly tried to make bubbles come out of the wand by spitting at it.

My dear ankle-injured husband would have you ignore the height of the grass. I am confident he will be mowing soon. Notice Truman, our wild jungle-dog.

Night Reader

2008-04-23T12:30:00.002-05:00

Connor got into a little trouble the other night. Not "bad boy" trouble at all. In fact, more like "good boy" trouble.
The kids LOVES to read. Has since birth. He recently started reading, and I am quite the proud momma since he hasn't even started Kindergarten yet! The kid reads everything! It's crazy.
We've (mostly Jeff) been reading to him before bed since he was a wee little baby and have continued the tradition to this day. He loves this reading time and it is one of his *worst* punishments to have his "books before bed" reading time revoked for any reason.

The other night, Jeff went into his room to check on him and found him reading IN THE DARK by the light of the night light.
After stifling a chuckle, Jeff reminded Connor that it was time for bed and that he should not read books in the dark as it can hurt his eyes. Connor was quick to tell Daddy that his eyes didn't hurt a bit!
Jeff and I talked about it and made a decision that Connor could pick out a book each night to read on his own AFTER his normal bedtime books. The stipulation was that he had to leave his lamp ON and then turn it off whenever he was finished. So far so good.

Would we be so lucky that all of our kids get into this kind of "trouble!" That would be great.

Conversation with a Granters

2008-04-23T12:22:00.003-05:00

I picked him up from the sitter's yesterday and our conversation went something like this:

Me: How was your day today, Grant?

G: Good. I hab pun at Judy's!

Me: What did you do?

G: Pun!

Me: You played and had fun?

G: Yeah!

Me: What did you eat for lunch? (I always ask the kids this question, I don't know why.)

G: Yes.

Me: No, what did you eat for lunch?

G: Wunch?

Me: Yes. What did you eat?

G: Eat.

Me: Yes...what did you eat?

G: Eat....samich.

Me: Oh! (breakthough!) You had a sandwich! That sounds so yummy!
What was on your sandwich? (I should have just quit while I was ahead)

G: Yes.

Me: No, I asked what was on your sandwich?

G: Yeah.

We went on like this for a few minutes. Both of us getting frustrated, him saying "yeah" several times to questions that aren't asking "yes" or "no"

And...the conversation was...over.

No wonder we're exhausted when we get home, I spend half of my leftover energy trying to extract information from a child who is trying desperately to figure out why I keep asking him about his lunch. He already said "yeah" for Pete's sake! Enough, woman!

love this one

2008-04-22T13:10:00.001-05:00

This would have been such a cool picture...if I had moved my camera over just a centimeter or so. I just love the way he is running!

T-ball pictures...possibly one at a time.

2008-04-22T12:50:00.002-05:00

I will keep posting pictures one at a time until I get all of the cute ones in! This is my big boy!

No pics yet--but fun weekend!

2008-04-22T12:09:00.002-05:00

Apparently blogger is having some serious issues with photo uploading. Let me tell ya about our fun weekend with the boys!

Saturday we visited historic Independence and ate at Square Pizza. What a fun night! The pizza was super-yummy--I highly recommend the cheese breadsticks. Afterwards we visited Clinton's Soda Fountain and had ice cream. Mmmm!
It was a gorgeous night, so we walked around the square, reading the historic monuments and explaining what they were to Connor. Then Grant started to get a bit cranky, so we packed up to head home. Instead of the usual boring highway-way home, we took the scenic back route through old neighborhoods and quiet streets. I love a long drive home when everyone is full and happy, and though the boys got a bit antsy, they seemed to enjoy it too. In fact, Grant was in a pretty good mood. Nearly every song that came on the radio he said "I wike that song!" The best was his spontaneous outburst of praise on the way home, he proclaimed: "I wike square!"

Sunday was great too. We bought a Friends of the Zoo pass this year and are already loving it! I don't remember how much it was, but we've decided it is totally worth it! We can go to the zoo, hit just one area and avoid the all-day "come-on-we've-got-to-pack-all-this-fun-in-right-now-because-we-paid-for-the-whole-day-and-we're-gonna-use-the-whole-day-dangit-no-matter how-tired/cranky/hungry/sunburned-we-all-are!
I tell you all that to say that we went at 4pm. The zoo closes at 5pm. I am so crazy, I directed Jeff where to park (the parking lot is under construction and a little nuts) soooo far away, with my reasoning being "that is where all of the people are headed...they must be headed inside!" Um, no. Most people were LEAVING the zoo, and instead of rock star parking we were eons away from the entrance. My lovely husband did not so much as tell me "I told you so," God bless him.
Anyway, as we fought like salmon to get into the zoo, we realized that coming at the end of a day like Sunday (nice weather, not too hot) was a great idea! The sea lions were extra lazy, but we got to see one sleeping that reminded us of Sweet Molly. The un-lazy sea lion was rather enjoying a water bottle that had hopefully been inadvertently tossed into their pool.
We saw the kangaroos lounging around and one even wanted to come check us out a bit before we scared it away with our noise!
The best visit that day was by far the tiger's cage. There are two enormous tigers on exhibit that usually are found sleeping inside these gigantic logs. We happened to arrive at feeding time which was obviously something that got the tigers' attention more than oodles of onlookers. They were pacing around their cages, running back and forth, alert...it was cool.

We topped off the fun with dinner at McDonald's on the way home. I saw a former student...she was no less pleased to see me than I was to see her. She is an interesting character, and definitely not on my list of "happy memories" from a former job. Actually, I can't remember any "happy memories" from that particular job! Oh well, it was good to see her in her element, yelling at the other workers--and she did ensure that Jeff got his double burger without cheese QUICKLY. Maybe she'll go off to join the military?

The boys slept WELL that night, and I felt great because we'd gotten to get out and enjoy our city a bit. Grant is still talking about "go to zoo and see the 'angoos, the grillas, sea wions, and tigers!"

Finally--T-ball!

2008-04-22T12:00:00.003-05:00

P.S.--on top, because that is how these things are read....I am going to try to post the pics in a separate posting...blogger seems to be having a little trouble with images right now.

We were soooo excited for t-ball practice on Saturday morning! Though it was wet and pretty chilly outside, Connor had a great time running around, fielding, batting, and catching the baseball. Almost all of the other kids on his team--the 98.9 The Rock "Snakes" will go to his elementary school, so we're happy that he'll already know a couple of kids next year. Mostly the kids just stood in a big clump trying to catch the ball, then waited patiently in line for their turn to catch and/or bat.

The coach seems good--and on a side note, he told all of the parents that he can occasionally get concert tickets. There are three coaches, and they seem pretty knowledgeable, but the best thing is, they seem to like the kids. There was one dad there that ought to be...interesting. Jeff said that he was directing the boys--taking over and yelling at his kid, out on the field. They're five, dude...back off! I guess we'll get used to those parents...oooh...I just had a terrible thought...I hope no one ever refers to me as one of "those" parents.

While Connor had a blast, Grant got a little antsy. Actually, he preferred for me to "hold-ju" (hold you--him) during practice, so we scooted out for a while and got our grocery shopping down. Yeah for efficiency!

Enjoy the pictures!

No T-ball AGAIN!

2008-04-18T13:14:00.003-05:00

What a bummer!
The rain started about 15 minutes before practice was to begin. So I did what any good mother would do...I consoled my children with homemade cookies and television. Actually, Connor watched a movie, wrote for a little while, and Grant ended up playing with Mr. Potato Head. Overall, it was a nice and rainy night.

"Conker" Bwett!

2008-04-17T11:39:00.004-05:00

Just a funny memory to record...

I often call Connor, "Connor Brett" in everyday conversation--not when he's in trouble or anything, just to get his attention, or for no reason at all.
Grant picked up on that on our last trip to Iowa...which reminds me of the other fun details of that trip!

Grant had been really constipated--I can't even remember why (it was a whole month ago!) but he was. We'd been giving him Miralax and juice and stuff, but he was pooping out what appeared to be golf balls--not white, gross.
Anyway, he had a HUGE blowout on the way to visit Jeff's grandparents the LAST time we went, so we were at least relieved that this time he was constipated. Well, there must be something relaxing about going to Iowa for Grant, because he turned it loose again for us on the way up there.
It was just awful...funny, now, but awful then!

We stopped at Subway to survey the damage.
I went around the side of the van to get him out, and hopefully take him in to the changing station inside the restaurant.
I lifted him out and...um, we would not be welcome to go IN anywhere in his condition! Immediately I start shouting orders to Jeff as if I am a surgeon.
"Wipes!"
"Clean clothes!"
"Get me a trash bag--STAT!"

I start peeling his gooey caked (sounds yummy, huh? It wasn't!) clothes off of his body and he is crying. I would be crying too if I had that much poo all over me. It is about 30 degrees and dusk and I am standing in the parking lot of a Subway restaurant in WhoKnowsWhere, Missouri (or were we in Iowa?) with patrons trying to enjoy their sandwiches (meatball, anyone?) wiping the poop off of Grant that extended from his neck (no joke!) down to his feet.
My poor little Bean is standing in the cold wind completely naked while I clean his body with baby wipes.
We eventually did get everything cleaned up, found clean clothes and he was even able to return to his seat--amazingly, that stayed relatively clean throughout the whole ordeal!

After all of this craziness, you would think the kids would be tired--especially Grant. We arrived at the Grandparents' house around 9:30 or so? Of course, I bathed Grant first thing, then took him downstairs to go to bed. He apparently wanted Connor to come down there and be near him while he slept.
We could hear him from upstairs:
"Conker!"
"Conker!"
"Conker Bwett!" "Conker Bwett!"

It was nice to have a good laugh after the events of that evening!

We decided next time we go to Iowa we are either going to starve Grant before we go (so he's empty) or dress him in a trashbag! Clearly Iowa bring the best out of him!

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

2008-04-17T11:29:00.003-05:00

I am praying and hoping that the rain will not come to our town until AFTER 7pm tonight. Connor is supposed to have t-ball practice--what should be his THIRD practice will actually be his FIRST--a rain out and a cold/snow out prevented our previous practices. He is so excited to finally go...he's been out hitting balls almost every night! If I do say so myself, I think he's pretty good!
He was so disappointed last week when it was cancelled--we didn't have the heart to tell him that he was supposed to have practice on Saturday, too, but it was snowing, so no go.

Now, here's the dilemma. Little Bean thinks that he is a baseball player (A "Wildcat!" no less). He has been carrying "Conquer's (Connor's) baseballs around the house (at least 2 of them, but usually 3 at a time) and last night tried to sleep with them in his bed. I am afraid is going to be devastated when he is not allowed to go out and play with brother tonight. At home the boys take turns hitting. It is still difficult, as Grant wants to use "Conquer's" aluminum bat and he can't even lift it off of the ground. We've even had a couple of near-misses with Grant almost getting knocked in the head with the bat or one of Connor's super-hits!
Of course, I could just skip taking Grant to practice and have Jeff and Connor go on their own, but I don't want to miss this.
My guess is, Grant and I will need to drive separately so that he can be brought home in the event of a meltdown--his, not mine.
I will bring the camera and hopefully have some good (non-crying) pictures tomorrow!

The trouble with lying

2008-04-15T08:18:00.001-05:00

Connor has had a little trouble with lying the past few days and it has gotten him into quite a bit of trouble. He has not yet realized that telling the truth, even when he does the wrong thing, will get him in less trouble than telling us a lie to cover his hide.
Last night he and Jeff went to the park to play. A situation arose where Jeff asked Connor if he'd done something and Connor said "no" repeatedly, until he finally wised up and told the truth.
They immediately came home, missing out on at least a half an hour of park fun.
When they came home, Connor went straight to his room, crying. He was so upset because he knew he'd disappointed Jeff and that is just about the worst feeling ever for a compliant first-born (I should know!). After crying in his room for a couple of minutes, he came running out to find me, just bawling.
"What's wrong?" I asked him.
"I was hugging the picture of dad and me in my room and I broke it!" More sobbing ensued.

Poor kid, he was so upset he was actually hugging a picture of a happier time with dad...and then dropped and broke it.
Jeff fixed the picture frame and Connor calmed down. Hopefully a lesson has been learned.

Goofy Eye

2008-04-14T07:47:00.002-05:00

Well, Grant got pinkeye over the weekend. He came down with it Friday while he was at Marjie's house, so thank God she had him and not his sitter. We got the medicine Friday night while his eyes were super-goopy. I guess Marjie had told him his eyes were goopy, because as I was washing them out that evening, he laughed into the mirror and said "I have goofy eyes!" It took me several times of him saying that for it to register that every time I said he had "goopy" eyes, he said "goofy" eyes.

More Grant

2008-04-11T10:28:00.000-05:00

We have been doing all-out BATTLE at dinnertime. Connor is 5, so it has been a while since we've fought with a toddler over mealtime. Every afternoon Grant tells me how he doesn't want to eat dinner, he wants to eat snacks. The kid loves crunch. Crackers, chips, popcorn, cereal...you got the picture. Typically, dinner is not all crunchy and involves things like meat, so it just isn't up his alley.
We went to my parents' house for dinner Sunday and he absolutely refused to eat any of his raw veggies (which he generally likes). I kept reminding him to eat one green pepper slice or cucumber chunk. He kept refusing, and instead eating his hot dog. I hate feeding my kids hot dogs and choose to see them as nutritionally deficient, so there has to be something redeeming eaten during the meal. Everyone else finished their meal despite our back-and-forth banter about eating peppers or cucumbers. I gave him a choice, isn't that what toddlers crave? Choices to help them feel more in control over their lives?
Anyway, time went on, and on, and I just left him at the table. I periodically went back into the kitchen to check on him and remind him that fun and sweet treats were an immediate reward for eating one measly vegetable. He had been pretty adamantly saying "no" and was fairly confident in his decision. The next time I came in, I noticed that he was changing his tactics.
"I'm vewy sad" he said with his most pitiful face.
I am proud to say that it didn't work on me, not this time anyway.
A few minutes later my dad walked into the kitchen and said, "Hey, why don't you eat your pepper so that you can get down from the table?"
Grant immediately ate the veggie and ran into the living room, smiling with his triumphant exclamation:
"I ate my peppers!"

He's a character.

Sweet kid

2008-04-11T10:21:00.001-05:00

Connor is such a sweet boy, especially when he doesn't feel great. Allergies have hit full-force in our home--and he is suffering the most right now. His little eyes are all watery and his nose is stuffy.

He has been extra lovey and in general just very sweet since he started feeling bad. I hate that he feels bad, but love the effects.

We went to the library last night and get several books that I had reserved for him. He was so excited to read them last night! He read the whole Transformers book on his own! Such a smart boy.

Tonight is mom-and-boys date. I think we're gonna hit some fast food and even get a toy. I generally have them skip the kids' meals because they are more expensive and the toys are just junk. Junk or no junk, kids love to get new trinkets, though, so I will probably treat them to one tonight.

I love to do fun things with my boys.

We'll be busy reading tonight!

Manipulation

2008-04-08T12:11:00.000-05:00

It's is shocking, I know that this sweet little face belongs to a master manipulator. He has his momma wrapped around his sticky little finger. Let me back up just a bit...We have had, shall we say, a "difficult time" adjusting to me no longer being at home and going back to work. Early in the school year, he cried and was sad for much of the day. If you are a mother, you know the heartbreak I felt each and every day that I left him. He was then ok for a while, really enjoying his time at the sitter's, and seemed pretty well-adjusted. I had a bit of a setback in my resolve to work, and he must have sensed the weakness in me. He began pouting, then crying, then saying "momma, I want my momma," most mornings when I dropped him off. My heart was torn in two as I dropped him off daily, and I left for work crying most of the time.

The sitter pulled me aside last week and told me,

"Grant is SUCH a happy child!"

Me: "Really?" It's not that I don't believe it, because he really is a joy, but he also really seems to enjoy whining and screaming at home..I digress.

Sitter: "Oh yes, in fact, I have been wanting to tell you this, but I think that he is "playing you" in the mornings. I think he sees how upset you get whenever he is upset, and he is perpetuating that.

Me: "hmmm...I had never guessed he would do that, but I suppose I could see how he might..."

I have watched him carefully and talked with him a bit about this, and he is at an age where he is enjoying any kind of "power" that is given to him. I do believe that the sitter is right. He likes to help around the house, to be in charge of something, and to tell me "no" with as much frequency and volume as he wants.

One of his favorite games is the "love" game. I will tell him how much I love him, then we'll say, "who loves Grant?" Or the other variation, "who does Grant love?"

When it is time for the answer to be "mom," he will look at me, grin that ornery grin, and say "NO!" with as much force as he can muster.

It is good to be loved.

My "pace" hurts!

2008-04-07T10:09:00.000-05:00

We had such a fun weekend! My BF Marjie and her family came over for a cookout. The boys all get along so great and are stair-stepped in age--5,4,3, and 2. Grant had such a great time trying to hang out with the big boys. The older boys were running around the yard, just being kids, enjoying the warmer weather. Grant tried so hard to be a part of things, just laughing when they laughed, perching his plate on the edge of the (very overcrowded) picnic bench where the other boys were eating. He was satisfied just to be a part of things.
All of the boys were super-tired that night--up wayyy past bedtime. Finally, at 9:00, Grant had been so silly, munching on snacks, being cute and getting extra treats for being that way...he walked up to Marjie and said "Mawjie, my wegs (legs) hurt!" I then took him off to his room to go to bed, and on the way back, he starts telling me of his ailments.
"My pace (face) hurts! My eyes hurt!" Poor kid, I don't think he's ever been that tired before!

He awoke after 8:30 on Sunday morning, so it was good!

funnies to remember

2008-04-04T14:34:00.001-05:00

I have to tell you about Connor. He is sooo matter-of-fact, super-bright, and such a firstborn (just like his Momma!). When Grant was just a few months old, we had a bad night-time spell. You know the spell--it sometimes lasts for years within families--the "I'm not gonna sleep at night" spell. Thankfully our spells were both short-lived, but no less memorable.

Anyway, one night we were having trouble getting Grant to sleep. I was in and out of his room several times that evening before I went to bed, soothing him, rocking him, feeding him...you know the drill. This was very close to the time that Connor had requested a night light for his room. We gave in, knowing that he was probably scared in his room, but at the same time knowing that he generally wouldn't sleep a wink unless a room was pitch-black. Connor got up way past the time he was supposed to be asleep and I sternly asked him, "Connor, is your night light keeping you awake? If it is, we're going to have to turn it off!" He calmly replied,
"Mom, it's not my night light keeping me awake, it's my BABY!"

We laughed about that one for weeks!

My two boys

2008-04-04T14:27:00.001-05:00

I named this one Two Boys Doin? because of Grant. Whenever he sees two (or more) people doing anything, he asks me "Two boys doin?" meaning, what are those two (people) doing? It gets a little tricky when the "people" in question are not boys! Oh well, he is two and he still thinks that everyone is a boy, just like him.

I am also reminded of Connor when he was about this age, anytime there was multiple anything he'd call it "two."

I wish I'd thought of blogging all of the cool happenings of my kids' lives earlier, but starting now is better than not starting at all, right?
Connor is 5 and we are gearing up for Kindergarten this fall. Grant is 2. I am beyond blessed with my two boys and look forward to sharing with you more about what we're "doin"!