I don't like it

I don't like it. That has become Justin's new saying and it is driving me nuts. He tells me that when I try to put his clothes on him. He tells me that when I put his lunch or dinner in front of him. He tells us that when there is a song on the radio. He tells us that all the time and it is driving my family nuts!

Anyone hungry? Part II

It really amazes(?), annoys(?), surprises(?) me that while we are still cleaning up dinner dishes, one of the boys will come up to me and tell me that they are still hungry. Sometimes I get upset and tell them that we just ate and that they should have ate more at dinner. Then I remember that I watched Nathan suck the meat off all the T-bones, or Darren went around eating any loose noodles on everyone’s plate or on the table. And that they ate everything and that there was no more food left for them to eat. I guess I would rather have that then the alternative.

The alternative being that sometimes my kids are temperamental. I will make beef stroganoff one day and they are practically licking the pan when it is all gone. I make it a few weeks later and they all turn their noses up at it and say that they do not like it and they are only going to have green beans/corn/peas for dinner. I lose my cool on those days when they tell me that they are still hungry while cleaning up dinner dishes. I tell them to have some of the main course, or go to bed hungry. If they are still complaining, or whining enough later, I will let them have a bowl of cereal. Then they typically eat two or three bowls….

Anyone hungry?

The other night at the dinner table (the same night Justin was singing the Ozzy Osborne song) I watched Nathan devour an entire T-bone steak, and half of another one. He ate several helpings of green beans and several helpings of scalloped potatoes. It would be safe to say that he ate twice as much as I did and he is only seven! Granted, he is a tall, solid seven, but still.

When we go to a fast food restaurant and get Nathan a Kids Meal, he always asks if he can get a second meal. He has come home from school certain days and said that he ate his entire lunch and he was still hungry after eating it.

When Nathan or his brothers start eating to fill their hollow leg, I can only watch in amazement and fear. Amazement because I wonder where they are storing all this food and fear, not because I worry about them getting fat (they are too active for that), but in fear for my wallet. Thank goodness that we get beef and pork from my family. The green beans we ate the other night came from the garden, so the only real expense in that was our time and supplies to can them. Bruce or I may have to get a second job just to buy groceries!

A commerical family

At the dinner table last night Justin starts saying, “Bum Bum. Bum Bum.” Bruce and I are looking at each other mystified trying to figure out what he is saying. Then he goes, “Eye. Eye.” We are still confused. Then Justin starts making something along a zooming noise when we realize that he is singing the Ozzy Osborne song that is on the Honda Pilot commercial. Once we all realized what he was doing, we all start laughing and join in with the song. We were like the family in the commercial.

Three in a bed

I may have mentioned before, but Nathan and Darren share a full size bed. Because Darren is a little guy, the bed works for them currently. I got a warm fuzzy feeling one morning when I walked into their bedroom to wake them up and saw that sometime during the night Justin crawled in between his two big brothers. He must feel safe there!

Nathan funny

I don't know why I just remembered this, but I just thought of it and had to post it although it happened quite a while ago. The older two were outside playing on a nice Saturday afternoon while I was busy cleaning, when I heard the hum of a motorcycle. I didn't think much of it assuming that it was our neighbor on his cycle getting ready to pull out of the driveway.

After several minutes of a constant hum from a cycle, I decide to check it out. I look out the window to see a lot of motorcycles, in a constant stream, going past our house. I walk outside to see what the boys thought of all the cycles. I am assuming that there was a poker run of some type because there were a lot of cycles. Nathan looks at me and said, "I haven't seen that many motorcycles in a lot of years!" This from the boy who apparently peaked at age seven!

Big bed

One morning, I see Justin walking around the house and I ask Nathan if he got Justin out of the crib. He said that he did not and that Justin crawled out all by himself. I crossed my fingers that was just a fluke and that he hadn't learned how to climb out of his "holding pen" yet. A few days later he was being a major crab and whining and crying around, so I picked him up and put him in his crib. He does not stand in the corner, so his punishment was to stay in his crib until one of us had calmed down enough (usually me). Justin is in his room crying his heart out when I notice that the crying sounds are getting closer. I look towards the hallway, and sure enough, Justin is walking down the hallway. Apparently crawling out of the bed the first time was not a fluke and he has figured out how to escape his punishment.

Deciding that we better get him into a regular bed before he fell crawling out of the crib, we weighed our options. Since the older two boys absolutely refuse to sleep upstairs, I had to figure out how to get enough beds in that room for three kids. My sister Carla said that she had a toddler bed that we could use, but we weren't sure how long we might need it and I know that Carla will need it before to long with her crew. Then we remembered that the crib converts to a toddler bed even though we never used that feature with the other two kids. Somehow Bruce remembered how to convert the crib and Justin has been sleeping in in his own "big bed."

Can you say tough on clothes?

Thank you Sears for having the Kidvantage program! You have no idea how much money you have saved me in the past two years or so. The program is great because if your kid wears out his clothes and shoes before they outgrow them, they will replace them with new.

We went to Sears on Saturday and picked up a pair of jeans for Darren. They did not have any Toughskins left in his size and he needs the Toughskins jeans as they are double-kneed. Which means that they have an extra patch at the knee to keep from wearing a hole in the knee. Because they did not have the double-knee jeans in his size, we just picked up another style. The first day of wearing them yesterday he comes home with two holes in the knees of his jeans. Not small holes, but holes that are ripped almost from seam to seam.

His tennis shoes, which were new on Saturday, are also destroyed. He did not wear his new shoes on Saturday and he wore them for just a few hours on Sunday. He came home Tuesday and had the front sole tore away from the front fabric of his shoe.

How is it even possible that he can destroy clothes that fast? If anyone ever needs someone to test the durability of clothes, I have the perfect candidate running around my house!

Is anyone out there?

I am still here; I have just been really busy. I thought that since this is my blog, I will take a moment to pose the question that has been bugging me since lunch today. I went to a clothing store (that shall remain nameless) here in Sidney during lunch. I was just browsing and not looking for anything in particular. I decided to try on a pair of shoes.

Granted, my work "uniform" is pretty conservitive. Because I have ruined many tops, pants and shoes at work I tend to stick to sensible clothing and shoes. I would love to wear big earrings all the time, but I am on the phone to much to do that. I love to accessorize with jewelry, but again, I am afraid that I am going to break it so I never wear it to work. One way for me to show a bit of my individualism is to wear some funky socks when I wear my kahakis and polo top.

As I was trying on the pair of shoes mentioned earlier, a sales clerk came who probably wasn't more that 21 came over to see if I needed anything. She saw my sock and said, "Cool socks." Then she had to ruin it (????) by saying that she had a pair when she was a kid. Uh? Does that mean that she thinks that I am trying to hard to act young? That she thought I was a huge dork wearing some funky socks? Or did she really think that my socks were cool?

Animated about school

I am not sure if it is because Nathan is a boy, if it is because he dislikes school, or if he tries not to think about school once he is done for the day, but I can never get much more than one word answers from him. For example, "What did you learn in school today?" "Nothing" is his answer. "What did you play in gym class" usually is a better question as that is his favorite subject and I get more than a one word answer. "We played ball tag."

So imagine my surprise the other day when he came home from school and I asked him how school was. "Guess what happened today in school? Kiki (I don't remember the name) threw up in school. In the classroom by her desk! It smelled and was really gross." Apparently someone getting sick in school is how I will get the all the details on how school was!

Darren in preschool

Darren has been going to preschool for about a month now, and I have to say that I am impressed with how well he likes it. As I sit down to do homework with Nathan every night, Darren is always asking what his homework is. Sometimes I will tell him that he has to write his name, or color a picture or I will make him work on a page in the preschool workbook that we have. Although I rarely ask him to do that because then he is constantly asking me what to do next and Nathan can't handle the distraction/interruptions without causing Nathan to seriously derail his homework progress.

"Mice"

At times I am concered with how Justin speaks, but then I remember that he is only two and some pronunciation problems are to be expected. For example, instead of saying "mine" it is always "mice."

It is alarming at first when he is calling his shoe, yougurt cup, bad, toy "mice" but it is kind of cute.

School problems

Nathan would probably be embarrassed to know that I am telling everyone this, but I thought that I was going to have to hire a tutor for him. His first spelling test of the year he got a 58%.....a "F". The second spelling test of the year he scored an "A-". Much better. Not sure if he wasn't as prepared for the first test. Or if he was still in summer mode. Or if it was a fluke on this last test and those were easy words for him to remember. Or if the change in how we studied helped. Or if it just starting to click for him. Hopefully we do not have a repeat of that first test grade as he will be in for a long school career if that is the case.

A sad day

One step closer to a toddler, one step away from a baby. Although Justin has not sat in his high chair in the past six months except to make his brothers mad, I cleaned it up and put it away for the final time. Once he got moved to the toddler room at daycare, and there they have to sit on a chair at the table for lunch, he has wanted nothing to do with the high chair. Which didn't surprise me as the older two boys refused to have anything to do with the high chair once they were 18 months old too.

It just pains me to know that my baby took one more step out of the baby stages and towards the toddler stage. A baby stage that I will not be sentimental about outgrowing is diapers!!

Bulls are getting out

This morning, since we have had a cold snap, I let the boys put on their jeans. As I was making sure he was ready, I noticed that his zipper was down.

Me: Darren your zipper is down. Your cows are going to get out.
Darren: No, my bulls are going to get out.

I just sat there kind of speechless as there are so many thoughts running thru my head. Not sure what he meant by that or where he may have heard that.

Soccer

Nathan had his first soccer game on Saturday. I was a little concerned about how he would enjoy soccer as he complained when he heard that I signed him up for it. However, he complained when I signed him up for t-ball but he always had fun when he was at the games.

He had a lot of fun and tried many positions. He was even goalie although he told me that he did not like that postion. He said it was too boring and lonely being goalie.

Sleep-deprived

Bruce left Thursday morning to go to Bristol, TN for the NASCAR race with my Dad, brother-in-law and uncle. On Thursday evening, on Nathan's second day of school, he went in the living room after eating dinner to watch TV. I was in the kitchen cleaning up when Darren walks in the kitchen from his bedroom to ask where one of his toys was. I told him that I did not know, so he needed to ask Nathan. He runs into the living room and comes back immediately. He told me that he couldn't ask Nathan as Nathan was sleeping. What? It was only 6:40! I debated on what I should do. Do I wake him up? Do I let him sleep and take the chance that he sleeps all night? I finally decided that I was going to let him sleep as it is hard work to be in school all day. If he got up in the middle of the night, I knew he would turn on the TV and watch TV until he fell alseep again.

Last night (Sunday) he was sleeping on the couch by 7:30. I know that was because he was up at a party at Mom's house (the party was because Dad and grandpa weren't home) until 11:30 or so and then he was up again at 7:30 am. About 4:00 yesterday afternoon I could tell that he wanted to take a nap, but I told him that it was to late in the day for a nap and too early to go to bed for the night. So I tickled him and tried to get him to wake up enough so that I could kick him outside.

When I asked Nathan why he was so tired, he told me very solemly, "It is hard work going to school all day"

First day of 1st grade

This morning Nathan was already complaining that he doesn't want to go to school. I told him that we couldn't start dragging his feet about going to school on the first day of 1st grade already! He has twelve more years of school. I can't listen his whining and complaining every day I told him.

Later that morning when they were all climbing in the van for the ride to daycare, I remembered that I did not take Nathan's first day of school picture. I made him unbuckle his seatbelt and get out. He was asking why he needs his picture taken on the first day of school. I told him that I am going to take his picture on the first day of school every year. He asked in awe, "Even when I am in the sixth grade?" I told him that I would take a picture every year, "even when you are in high school." He seemed amazed by that.

School open house

On Monday evening the entire family went to the school to talk to Nathan's teacher and check out his classroom. On the way home, Darren said that we have to go to his school now. We asked him where his school was. His reply? "In Dayton." What?

Good (Bad?) Parenting 101

Here it is. I am going to spill some of my good parenting tips.

Justin and Darren typically take a bath together. Sometimes I don't think about it and leave a bottle of shampoo or a bottle of body wash in the shower stall. When I do that, one of the boys (I am sure that Darren taught Justin so I am not sure who to blame) will take the bottle and empty the entire thing in the tub so that they get bubbles and now have a squirt gun. Rather than wash them up, I just wash their hair and get them out of the tub after a half hour of playing. Depending on how much they have rolled around and dunked their head, sometimes I don't even wash their hair!! I figure the water to soap ratio is really high and they have just cleaned themselves.

This is not so much good parenting as lack of organizational planning. The other day Justin ran out of diapers and my emergency supply was also depleted. He wore swim diapers that day to daycare.

Brother

In the past few months I have noticed that Justin does not call his brothers by name, he just says "brothers."

Justin: "Where is brother?"
Me: (knowing that he is talking about the brother that is not sitting next to him) "Which brother?"
Justin: "Brother!"

Justin: "Brother hit."
Me: "Which brother?"
Justin: "Brother!"

I know he knows his brothers name, but I rarely hear him say them.

Still here

I know that it has been a while since I have posted and I apologize for that. There just never seems to be enough time in the day. Look for some new posts in the next few days as Nathan gets ready to go back to school on Wednesday.

Learning to drive

Nathan has recently taken it upon himself to inform me when I am about out of gas. Just this past Tuesday I got a new van and the fuel gauge is on the other side of the display panel. This morning Nathan tells me, "Mom, your gas is on C. What is C?" I told him C stood for cold and that meant that the engine was cold. He immediately realized then that the H stood for hot and informed me that was what the H was for. I told him that the fuel gauge was on the other side and then he informed me that I was less than halfway to empty. Thanks for watching my back!

Fair adventures

While at the fair last night, Justin kept insisting on walking around and looking at the animals. As I may have posted before, last year and at the beginning of this summer, he was terrified to be around animals. He will approach animals now, but it has to be on his terms. If an animal gets startled and moves abruptly, he will try to crawl up your leg. Or if you are holding him, he will try to crawl in your skin.

At one point when Justin insisted on walking around and looking at the cows for the 58th time of the evening, my brother-in-law Dan decided to come with us. Along for the walk were his kids Gavin and Jenna, and my sons Darren & Nathan. Of course Jenna and Darren were too cool to hold any of the adults’ hands, and Nathan pretty much has free reign of the barn area. That meant that I was holding Justin’s hand and Dan was holding Gavin’s along with a drink. Once we got in the barn though, my hand was not protection enough. He insisted, rather urgently, that Dan hold his hand. Apparently Dan is a better protector than I am? That kind of hurts my feelings….

Pictures

I tried to upload some pictures yesterday so that I could bring my blog into the 21st century, but I must have done something wrong as the only thing that showed up was gibberish. Sorry! I guess I need to talk to an expert to see what I am doing wrong.

Darren funnies

Darren recently helped Bruce pick some green beans from the garden. When Darren asked what we are going to do with the green beans, Bruce told him that we were going to eat them. Darren looks at Bruce and asks, "How are we going to get them in the can?"

This morning as I was getting Justin dressed, Darren asked me when we are going to another party. I told him that we do not have a party today, and he was getting a little spoiled going to all these parties all the time. Darren then says, "I like a good party." Uh-oh, I think we are in trouble.

Best Friend

As I have mentioned previously, we were camping in the backyard of our friends house. They happen to have a boy who turned four in June. The father, our friend, was a bit of trouble-maker in school and still likes to raise a little he** when he can. That is why the hair on my neck stood up when Darren announced that Max (the 4year old son of the host) was his best friend. They are both good kids, but they sure like to push the limits. That could spell trouble!

New Yawker

Darren tends to speak with an accent at times. A New York accent. He likes to put the letter "W" in everything. (I hope I can spell the word how he talks.)

Darren: My feet are dwerty.

He sounds so funny when he pronounces some words. It is noticeable enough that other people have commented on it.

Justin's 2nd birthday

My little boy turned "2" on Saturday. It is a bittersweet time as he is my little one so he has to slow down on growing up so fast, but at other times I can't wait until he gets a little older and I can take him places easier.

For instance two weekends ago, one of our friends had a family pool party/campout at his house. Knowing that there was at least 8 couples there with their kids and that there was probably 10 kids under the age of 10, I decided that I could not trust Justin. He has no fear so he definately jump in and with so many kids running around, I was afraid that he would "get lost." He stayed home with my cousing Dylan. This past weekend, another friend had a campout at their house. I was going to take Justin out Friday night and let Patty watch him Saturday, but he was tired and cranky when I got home from work Friday night, so I asked Patty if she wanted him on Friday night already. Of course, she quickly agreed. It is not fair that my older two miss out on things because Justin is at a bad age, nor is it fair that Justin misses out on swimming and camping out because he is at a young age. What a catch 22!

Experiment

We recently tried a new experiment at our house. Nathan was absolutely positive that he wanted to have his bed moved upstairs so that he could sleep up there at night.

We have been trying to think of things that would temp the boys to move upstairs. We told them that if they move upstairs, they could paint their room any color they wanted. That we would put a TV in their old room so that they could watch their shows downstairs in comfort.

The boys are petrified about going upstairs by themselves, so imagine my surprise the other day when Nathan announced that he wanted to move his bed upstairs. Bruce and I were all for it, but I decided that before we move his dressers, headboards, etc. that we would just move the mattress up there to see how well they would do. If they did good, we would move all their furniture up there the following weekend.

Not surprisingly, they did not want to go to bed that night. When they finally fell asleep on the couch we carried them upstairs. About midnight we here Nathan in our room telling us that he does not want to sleep upstairs anymore. We tell him to go sleep on the couch. Laying there trying to go back to sleep, we hear Nathan muttering to himself. Finally Bruce gets up to see what he is doing. Eventually Bruce determines that Nathan is worried about Darren being upstairs by himself. Bruce tells Nathan that Darren is fine and to go to sleep. The next morning when I walk in the living room to get Nathan up, I discover Darren curled up in my chair.

Needless to say, the experiment of having the two boys sleep upstairs was a complete failure. However it was nice to discover that despite all their fighting, Nathan really is concerned about his brother.

Ride his bike faster

I typically have a problem going the speed limit. I am usually about 10mph over the speed limit in rural areas when the speed limit is 55mph. After I picked Nathan up from the Y day camp after work the other day, he asked me the following.

Nathan: "Mom? Can we go any faster? I can ride my bicycle faster than this!"

Really? Where does he get that need for speed from? (Uh-hum Bruce)

This is to easy....

Lately Justin (who will be two in about 2 1/2 weeks) has been saying potty. I mostly ignored him as I just figured it was a word that was fun to say. And every time I sit him on the toilet, he would just sit there with no results. Finally on Sunday I got tired of hearing him say it so I sat him on the toilet. He actually peed! Hip-hip-hooray! I rewarded him with candy. About a dozen times that day he said he had to go potty and I set him on the toilet every time. He only went pee on more time after the first time however.

Last night when he said that he had to go, "potty" I put him on the toilet again. He peed! The only problem is that he does not like to push his business down, so he pees on the small toilet seat and the big toilet seat. When he said potty later that night, I grabbed Bruce's step stool and let him stand on it so that he could try peeing standing up. He went again and only got his socks a little wet;-)

I am waiting for the bomb to drop as this seems entirely to easy. When I was recapping Justin's accomplishments to Mom last night, she asked if I had underwear for him. I told her that I am just putting Darren's on Justin for the time being since they are the same size. They weigh the same and can wear the same size clothes - Darren is just a few inches taller.

Revisiting an old habit

I may, or may not have posted this a long time ago. When Darren was a baby, you knew that he was trying to soothe himself to sleep when you heard him humming or singing to himself.

Coming home from vacation Saturday (more on that later) I hear Darren singing. It is mildly annoying but I let it go because I figure that at least he isn't fighting with his brothers. Eventually he goes quiet. I did not think anything about it until about an hour later Nathan announces, "Darren is awake." Then it hit me like a lightening bolt. He sung himself to sleep! It had been so long since Darren sung himself to sleep that I had forgotten all about that habit of his.

Day camp

Since I knew that Nathan got bored (which then got him in trouble) at daycare when he was there all day, and there were no boys his age to play with, I decided to look into alternative daycare for him this summer. My parents had offered to watch Nathan during the summer, but I knew that would make Darren made since he would still have to go to daycare. I had heard great things about the Sidney YMCA summer day camp which is geared for kids out of school for the summer. Since they take field trips, they go swimming, they sign the kids up for the library summer reading program, I felt that Nathan would have fun and hopefully yet learn something. Since I work in Sidney, it really wouldn't be out of my way to drop him off and pick him up.

Two Mondays ago was his first day at the day camp and when I picked him later that day, I asked him how it was. "Okay" was his response. Uh-oh. Then I remembered that the kids from Sidney had their last day of school that day so there probably wasn't many kids around and they probably did not do many activites. The next day, Tuesday, when I picked Nathan up and asked him how it was, he told me it was great! The next morning when I was dropping him off, one of the teachers asked me how Nathan liked it. I told her that he really seemed to like it and I am glad as I was wondering if I had made the right choice. She told me that she was glad that Nathan liked it and she told me what a great kid he is. He is very polite, helpful and always has a big smile. (I should have told her to see if he was still a good kid after she got to know him a little bit)

I obviously think that Nathan is a good kid, but it is nice to hear from someone else that they think he is a good kid too.

Hair on chest

A while back Bruce bought some horseradish mustard from the store. He bought it home and put it in the fridge. The other day when we were having hamburgers, Bruce convinced Nathan to try it. He told Nathan that it would put hair on his chest.

Fast forward a few days later. Nathan was pulling his t-shirt away from his body and looking down the neck of his shirt with a confused look. I asked him what he was doing. Nathan said," Dad said that the horseradish mustard would put hair on my chest, but I don't see any."


How could you not laugh?

For sale

Every year on Memorial Day, Bruce goes to Versailles and spends the day with his Dad so that leaves me alone with the kids all day. Usually not a big deal. However that was not the case this year. Before lunch I text my aunt Patty and my Mom with the following note, "For sale: An almost two-year old who likes to throw things when he gets mad. Not potty-trained." I immediately get a text back from both of them saying that they will take him however no one showed up to claim him so I have my doubts as to if they really wanted him.

It all started when I corrected him for something while we were in the living room. He got mad and picked up one of the boys tractors and tried to throw it. Because they are heavy, and he was trying to throw it over his head, I was worried that it would fall on his head or he would put a hole in the wall. He got a "time-out" for that which equals me putting him in his crib until both of us have calmed down.

Only like a half hour later we were in the kitchen. I had got into the drawer that I keep my recipe books at because I was planning on doing some power cooking. I pulled out a round, glass vase that I took home from my cousins bridal shower earlier this spring. When Darren saw the round "bowl" he thought that would make a good holder for his fruit goldfish, so he proceeded to dump his goldfish in the glass bowl. When Darren was done, I told him to just sit the bowl on the counter so that I could wash it before putting it away. Justin then crawls on the counter. I do not remember if me telling him to get down is what caused him to lose his temper, but before I knew it, he picks up the glass bowl and throws it toward the refrigerator. It shatters into a million pieces. Darren is in the fridge getting something to drink, and he does not have any shoes on, so I tell him not to move. Of course, he immediately starts backing away from the shards of glass. Since I had flip-flops on, I pick Darren up and carry him over to the garage and told him to put his flip-flops on. I pick Justin up and put him in time-out and begin the process of cleaning up all the glass. I was extremely upset. I looked at Nathan and told him, "See what you taught your brother by throwing things?" Nathan realized he wasn't a good example, and I was upset, so he offered to help clean up the glass. I told him that I appreciate the offer, but I don't want him to cut himself, so he just needs to go outside and play. I let Justin sit in his crib crying for 10-15 minutes before I got him out and gave him a stern talking to. He was better the rest of the day, but those two episodes just put me in a mood for the remainder of the day.

Unusual sights

In the past few weeks driving home from work I have seen some unusual sights. I say an honest-to-goodness crop duster plane the other day spraying a field. I thought that crop duster planes were only used in the movies and out west where the length of the fields are measured by the miles and not by the feet. It was kind of neat to watch.

Then a few days later, I saw the Goodyear blimp. That is not as uncommon because I see a blimp about once a year, but it is still neat. I stopped on the road and tried to get a picture of it with my cell phone to show the boys, but it did not turn out.

Spelling his name

For a while now, Darren has been able to recite the correct way to spell his name. A lot of times he recognizes his name also. To keep him sharp, I will ask him at random times to spell his name. When I asked him yesterday at Mom's, I was in for a shock. We were at Mom's for my niece's 1st birthday party. In front of his grandma, aunt, uncles and cousins I ask Darren how to spell his name.

"A-S-S" was the reply I got. I know that I got wide-eyed and asked him how to spell his name again. I got the same response. Of course everyone is laughing at this point. I asked him who told him how to spell that word. "AJ from daycare." Of course, when in trouble always blame the kid that isn't around. I told him that was a bad word and if he did it again he was going to get some soap to wash out that dirty mouth. What a corker!

Tawawa Park

Shame on me. I am a native of Shelby county, I have worked in Sidney for approximately 15 years and I currently work about a half mile from Tawawa Park and made my first real visit to the park today. Boy, was I impressed! You can see the pool from the road, and I have pulled back into the mouth of the park, but I did not realize that there are many sub-parks once you drive in further. I have been trying to walk during part of my lunch, so today I decided to head to Tawawa. There are lots of trails, shelters and playgrounds. I will have to bring the boys sometime so that we can go "hiking" since they are always asking to hike.

As I am sitting in the parking lot at the park changing into my tennis shoes, I see a friend of mine from high school, Patti (who also lives in Loramie) pull in and park two spots down from me. What are the odds that she would pick that location at the exact time that I was there? We spent a few minutes talking all the while I was amazed by the coincidence that we were there at the same time.

Another bad Mom story

I can't believe it! Nathan was 7 years old a week ago today and I never took the time to mention it! Add that to the bad Mom tally. The score has to be like
11 good Mom and 35,657 bad Mom.

Yeah!

In the past several years, Loramie has begun to announce at the end of the school year who the kids' teacher is for the next year. I had been dreading this moment because I did not want Nathan to get Mrs. D. Everyone says that she is a great teacher, but she must give out hours of homework every night. At the beginning of the school year every year there is a fuss with parents about the amount of homework. I had a hard time getting Nathan to do what little homework he had in kindergarten, so I knew it would be a huge fight every night to get his homework done once he was in 1st grade.

I did not want to be one of those parents that call the school and request any teacher but her, so I prayed and hope that both of us would get lucky. When we had our last parent teacher conference for Nathan, I asked Mrs. Knouff if she had any say in who the kids got for a teacher the following year. I told her that I only ask because while I know Mrs. D is a good teacher, I cannot fight him every night to do hours of homework. Nor do I have the time to. Mrs. Knouff was very good in saying that all the teachers give about the same amount of homework, and that they were all good teachers.

When I sent Nathan off to school on Wednesday, I had an ache in the pit of my stomach. I was so afraid that he would come home and tell us that he had Mrs. D next year. When I got home from work Bruce told me that Nathan got Mrs. D. My jaw dropped. I thought I might cry. I let out a wail. Then Bruce said, "Just kidding. He got Mrs. Poeppelman." Whew! I know 1st grade will still be challenge, but that was a load off my mind.

Captian Underpants!

I admit it. I don't make my kids take a bath every night. Sometimes there is just too much going on, and if they didn't sweat to hard, I don't force the issue. This morning, because Darren did not have a bath last night, I made him change his underwear when he was getting dressed for the morning. To my shock and amusement, I discover that Darren had two pairs of underwear on! I guess he decided to pack a spare!

Sunscreen anyone?

Last Friday Nathan had a field trip to the park and enjoyed a picnic lunch. As he was getting dressed that morning Nathan said that he had to make sure he put sunscreen on. I finally asked why and he said that his teacher said that he had to. I told him that he does not need sunscreen because he tans so easily. That the warning to wear sunscreen was for the kids in his class that are pale and not used to the sun. Sure enough, when he gets home Friday, you can see tan lines.

Saturday night fright

I don’t think our babysitter will ever want to come back to our house. This past Saturday we had Clair watch our boys, and I had remarked that she would have it easy as the older two had already fell asleep for the night. As we walked outside to get in our vehicle, we hear an incessant buzzing. We finally realize that we can hear the smoke detector going off in the neighbor’s house. That presents a dilemma as he is in the nursing home, so the house sits empty. We do not see or smell smoke, so we didn’t think that it was an emergency. We got on the internet trying to find a phone number for the neighbor’s brother. However he must only have a cell phone number and not a land line because it pulled up his address but no phone number. Unsure what to do, and reluctant to leave two sleeping kids home with the sitter in case there really is a fire and they would have to evacuate, we try calling the town cop. Only there is no answer and the recording says to call the sheriff department. Bruce calls the sheriff department and explains the situation to them. We then go outside to wait for someone to show up, and soon we see a former neighbor walking down the street from his parent’s house. He explains that he is on the fire department and heard the call from the sheriff to respond. Once he appears, we are trying doors to see if we can get in and determine where the smoke detector may be only to find the doors are locked. As the guys are trying to figure out their next move, another fireman showed up in his personal truck. Quickly they explain the situation and they start looking for a way to enter the house when they realize that the noise is coming from the porch. They find a garbage bag and pinpoint that the noise is coming from there. They put on some gloves, dig thru the trash and find the defective smoke detector. Crisis averted!

We head to Versailles for a house party at one of our friends, and saw how black the sky was. I remarked that it looked like it was raining pretty heavy over to the northwest. We drove thru some rain, and about a mile from the house we realize that the radio was turned way down. We turn it up in order to hear a storm warning saying that a tornado was spotted in Piqua and the path was going to hit Newport, Ft Loramie and Minster. Uh-oh. Bruce and I talked about going home, or at least calling home, but decided that we didn’t want to scare the sitter. After we were at the house for about 10-15 minutes, Bruce gets a call from the sitter that said her Dad was going to pick her and the boys up and take them back to her house. We then talked about going home, but didn’t think that an actual tornado would hit and we would be driving home in the midst of the storm so we just stayed put. When we got home later that evening, the kids were home and sleeping. What a scary Saturday night for the sitter!

The boys were excited the next morning that they got to play on a Wii and they said that played other games in the basement too. No scary moments for them, only fun times!

Eyes in the back of my head...

After watching the weather Sunday morning, I decided to start weeding out some of the boys winter clothes and putting in summer clothes. As anyone can tell you, that is a long, drawn out process. It took me over 2 1/2 hours to make the switch!

Since I was hanging out in the boys bedroom, the boys decided to hang out with me. At one point all three boys were laying on the bed and laughing and dancing when a good song came on the radio. I know that I was being hypocrite by allowing Justin to jump on the bed and yelling at the older two to knock it off. I had just told Darren that if jumped on the bed one more time, I was going to make him sleep on the porch that night. I turn around to hang some clothes in their closet and I hear, "Squeak, squeak, squeak." I know that he is jumping on the bed but as soon as I turn around to catch him, but he happens to be sitting on the bed looking all innocent. I told him that he needs to quit jumping on the bed! He gave me a look like, "How did you know I was jumping on the bed?"

Still here

I realize that I have not posted in a while, but I don't want to post my next story until I take the time and figure out how to download pictures on my computer. Week nights are always too hectic, so keep checking in over the weekend!

Friday night fish fry

Last Thursday was my birthday and Mom watched the boys for us so that we could go out for a while. Since she was also going to watch them on Friday (Good Friday) she decided to just keep them overnight so that both her and the boys wouldn't have to get up so early Friday morning.

When I picked the boys up Friday about 5:30, they just looked tired. I know that Nathan will not take a nap when he is on the farm as he has to much to do, and Darren will sometimes take one.

I had invited my parents over for a fish fry that we were having along with our neighbors. I had also invited my sister, her husband and their kids. The neighbor kids were also over, so there was not a chance that I could get the kids to bed early. When Carla left about 10:00, I did manage to get the younger two to bed. Finally about midnight I forced Nathan to come in the house with me so that he would go to sleep. I bribed him by telling him that he could sleep in bed with me. He really didn't want to go in the house, but he knew that he did not have a choice. I tucked him into bed and went into the bathroom to get ready for bed. By the time I had come back out, he was already sleeping.

BONUS: All the kids slept in until at least 8:30-9:00 the next morning and Justin slept in to after 9:30! YEAH! No naps on Saturday afternoon so I knew that they would be ready for bed that night and I could play Easter Bunny with no interruptions. But that did not work out according to plan. (See below post)

Fire the Easter bunny too!

A few post ago, I wrote how I need to be fired as the Tooth Fairy because I was incompetent. The same goes for playing Easter Bunny.

We were at Bruce's parents on Saturday night for Easter, and we purposely waited to leave until we were pretty sure that the boys would fall asleep on the ride home. Nathan also falls asleep on the way home and when we were taking his shoes and coat off, he was sound asleep. I wait a few minutes to make sure no one stirs before I decide to get the Easter Bunny gifts out. As I am laying the boys' gifts on the floor, Nathan walks out of his bedroom saying that his back hurts. I immediately run up to him and turn him around while Bruce throws a blanket over the toys. Nathan asks, "What is that?" We tell him nothing and I shuffle him off to my bedroom to watch TV. After a few minutes he comes out, I think in the hopes of seeing what is on the floor, and says that he wants to watch TV with us. Eventually he falls asleep. Bruce carries him to bed. I wait 10 minutes or so and then go to my bedroom and start getting the candy ready. Nathan walks in again! He says that he has to go to the bathroom. Seriously?!?!? I can't catch a break.

Eventually I get everything set out. Nathan got two cap guns with a holster, Darren got an etch-a-sketch (to replace the one that Justin threw in the toilet) and Justin got a folding lawn chair. They also got a few pieces of candy each. The Easter Bunny was good to the boys!

New year, new look

It is my, GULP, 35th birthday today. For some reason the "milestone' birthday's have begun to bother me. (i.e. 30 & 35) I decided a few weeks ago when it took me over 45 minutes to blow dry and straighten my hair that I need a new do. My hairdresser has evening hours on Wednesdays so I thought that was a sign that I was meant to have a new do for my debut on my birthday. I told her that she can have total control over my hair. If she wanted to color it black and give me a pixie cut, I was all for it.

I sat down in her chair last night at 5:30. She asked me if I was sure that I wanted to turn control over to her. I said yes. She immediately gathers all my hair in her hand and proceeds to cut 4-5 inches off. GULP! What did I get myself into? She said that she cut it off this way she wouldn't have to bother color/highlighting it. That makes sense. It was about 6:45 until she got all the color on. She then swept up that pile of hair. She then gave me an actual cut with texture and then she thinned it out. That was another huge pile of hair. It was after 8:00 until I got out of her chair. I like my new cut/style, and it reminds me of "The Rachel" haircut that was all the rage several years ago. The older two boys that my haircut was "cool" (Darren) and "cute" (Nathan).

When is my birthday?

Darren turned four last month on March 14th. I am guessing that because we have been talking about my upcoming birthday that Darren keeps asking about his next birthday. Or maybe because when he goes to Wal-Mart with me, or sees a commercial on TV for a toy he wants, I tell him that he needs to ask for that for his birthday or Christmas.

He keeps asking me when his next birthday is. I keep telling him that it is a long time away yet. Then he will ask me how old he will be. I then ask him what number comes after four and he tells me five. He proudly announces that he will be five on his next birthday. NNNNOOOO! He is not allowed to be five!

Another Tooth Fairy Mishap

I think that I need to be fired as the Tooth Fairy. I can't seem to do the job on time or properly. Whatever day last week Nathan lost his tooth (there is some debate as to if it was Tuesday morning or Thursday morning) he was in his bed. He had come home from daycare the night before and said that his tooth was loose and was doing everything he could do to wiggle it and get it out. That next morning I had got him ready for the day when I asked him if his tooth fell out during the night. He checks and discovers that his tooth is still in his mouth. I move on to getting his two brothers ready for daycare when Nathan proudly announces that his tooth "just fell out." Yeah right. I tell him to get a bag and put his tooth in it and then set it on the counter so he can show Dad.

That evening rolls around and he proudly displays his tooth to some the of the neighbors who were over and he puts it under his pillow for the evening. It is while Bruce and I were laying in bed talking that I remember that I need to play tooth fairy. I didn't want to get up in the middle of our conversation, so I make a mental note to do it after we are done talking. Only, oops, I forget.

The next morning I go into the bedroom and slip a dollar under his pillow only I cannot find the tooth! I get on my hands and knees and start looking under his bed. The only problem is that it is still dark out and I did not bring a flashlight. With all my rooting under his pillow and under the bed, Nathan starts to stir. I quickly lay flat on the ground and hope that he lays back down. I search for the tooth some more and finally just give up. It is as I am getting up that Nathan notices me. I told him that I wanted to make sure he was covered up as it was cold in the house.

It was only later as I was getting the boys ready for the day that I send them into the kitchen to get their shoes on that I turn the light on and find the tooth. I am stuffing it in my pocket as one of them walk into the room to see what I am doing. I make something up and quickly walk to my room and stick it in Bruce's underwear drawer. Whew!

All I want for.....Easter?

You know the song "All I want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth?" We are going to tweak that song for Nathan and say, "All I Want For Easter is My Two Front Teeth." In the past week or two, he has lost both of his top, front two teeth.

You can't help but smile when he smiles at you with his big gap in his teeth. I told him that he needs to tell Grandpa Ken to pull out his partial and they can be twins!

Darren's song

There is a current hit country song by the group Lady Antebellum called, "I Need You Now." The lyrics go, "It is a quarter after one, I'm all alone and I need you now." (Imagine that being sung).

Darren's take on that song goes like this, "It's quarter after noon, I'm all alone and I want to eat now."

He takes that song and definitely makes it his own!

Fishing

Yesterday morning, my Dad stopped over after running to the hardware store in New Bremen and asked the boys if they wanted to go fishing later that day. Of course the boys were all excited and said yes.

We go out to my parents later on so that the boys can try their hand at fishing. Dad gives his pole over to Nathan and shows him what to do. Nathan gets the knack of it pretty quickly. My brother Bill walks out and grabs the second pole and attempts to show Darren how to fish. I thought that will be interesting as Darren has a really hard time sitting still. Sure enough, he can only sit still with his line in the water for 30 seconds or so before he has to lift it up out of the water and look at his hook, or quickly jerk it to the left or right. He checks his hook and is super-excited to learn that he caught a worm!

Nathan is getting some nibbles and with Dad watching over his shoulder, Nathan does catch a few fish. Darren however gave up pretty quickly. Darren got upset after Nathan caught his third or fourth fish and said that he wants to catch a fish. He goes over to Bill again and helps Bill hold the pole. Bill told Darren to sit still. This makes Darren mad (because he was tired) and as Darren is storming off, Bill gets a bite. We tell Darren to get over to uncle Bill so that he can help bring the fish in, but he doesn't move.

It was getting late, but they had to watch and see how Dad cleans fish. They watch Dad cut a couple of bluegill, and then they watch him clean a bass. Nathan asks what that yellow stuff is and Dad tells him that they are eggs. You can tell Nathan was confused as that does not look like eggs that he is used to, so I explained fish eggs are a lot smaller than normal eggs.

When we get home later that night, Nathan tells Bruce that he caught a couple of fish all by himself. Darren tells Bruce that he also caught a fish, but he helped Bill catch it. The boys also gave my parents strict instructions that they are not to eat the fish until they are there and can eat them too!

Like father, like son....

Saturday afternoon after I got out of the shower, I was in my bedroom in my bra and underwear. The older two boys came in as I was putting on lotion, and they both asked for some lotion. After all of us have our daily requirement of lotion on, I walk back into my bathroom to put my lotion away.

I was rooting thru my drawers trying to find something to wear and when I turned around, Darren was standing there. He reaches up, taps on my breasts and exclaims, "Boobies!" and runs away laughing.

I was standing there in shock and trying to resist the urge to chuckle. I told him that you do not touch women there, nor do you talk like that. I think that Nathan encouraged Darren to do that little trick, and I also told Nathan that was unacceptable.

Dumpster Diver

Last night, Dad had called and asked if the boys wanted to come out to the farm and help process a pig that was put down because it was sick. So the the boys and I picked up McDonald's for dinner and ate it at Mom & Dad's.

Justin was in such a hurry to get out in the garage and see what was going on, that when his brothers said they were done eating, he decided he was to. He got up and threw his cheeseburger in the trash. He must have had second thoughts about throwing the cheeseburger away because he got it back out and took another bite. Then it went back into the trash. Periodically thru the night he would go in the house, pick up his cheeseburger from the trash, take a bite and throw it away again. It is a good thing that I am not germ-a-phobic!

Full House?

Depending on the order you are reading the posts, you may have read the previous one and saw that I had a full house on Saturday night and wondered what that meant.

My sister Carla usually has either my parents or her in-laws watch her kids, but obviously my parents could not watch them Saturday night for the wedding and her mother-in-law could not watch them either. She asked if I could get my babysitter to bring a friend with her and have them watch all the kids at my house if that was okay. I knew that Darren would love having a 'friend' to play with, so I had no problem with the arrangement. We decided that instead of waking the kids up once they got home, that everyone would just spend the night at my house. I slept in my bed and Carla and her family just kind of slept where ever they could find room. Both Jenna and Darren were excited to be able to play together for a while Sunday morning.

I do have to say that the sitters earned their keep. Once Carla and her crew arrived, they were super excited. Then the babysitters arrived and they got even more excited. Then my parents and my sister arrived to pick us up, and I think the kids were bouncing off the ceiling! I am sure that they calmed down once we left, but they did have five kids four and under to contend with.

Another tooth out

On Saturday afternoon, we had the neighbor from down the street watch our kids for an hour or so while Bruce and I went to my cousins wedding mass. When we got home from mass, Nathan had pulled his loose tooth out on accident. Apparently he had his shirt sleeve in his mouth, which he is not supposed to do, and when he went to pull it out, the button got stuck on his tooth and it just fell right out.

We told him that we would put the tooth under Bruce's pillow since we were going to have a house full of people that night. Guess what? The tooth fairy came on time and left Nathan a dollar!

Charley Horse

Bruce and I are laying in bed last night and Bruce was watching TV. I hear a funny noise, but just attributed it to the TV. Bruce must have heard that same noise a few seconds later as he mutes the TV and asked me if I heard that. We both listen intently and we hear it again. It kind of sounds like one of the boys laughing, but trying not to let us hear. Bruce gets out of bed to see what is going on and is calling out to make sure that one of the boys have not gotten out of the bed and is hiding in the other room. Bruce comes walking back to our room carrying Darren and Darren is crying. Bruce lays him on his side of the bed and we ask what is wrong. Darren says his foot hurts. Bruce starts to massage it while I ask him if he was sleeping. Darren confirms that he was sleeping and so we guessed that he suffered from his first Charley Horse. Poor guy. After a minute or two he says it is better and wants to go back to bed.

While I was pregnant, I got Charley Horses all the time, but usually in the calf and not the foot. Sometimes so bad that the next morning it felt like I had a pulled calf muscle. I have never heard a clear answer on what causes Charley Horses, so I am not sure what to do to prevent him from having another one.

LaLa

Last night we were at my parents and my sister Carla was there with her kids. Justin walks up to Lydia and gives her a little hug. He then says, "Hi LaLa." (Or what sounds a lot like LaLa) Pretty cute!

Another tooth

Nathan had a front tooth that was a little loose yesterday, but it kept getting looser as the day progressed as he was determined to get it out. It eventually fell out last night. I know I have wrote about the troubles I have when it comes time to getting the boys to bed and lately Nathan has refused to go to bed unless we do. Which is not a real hardship on me as I go into my room an read for a while or watch TV. Only, oops, I fell asleep last night and did not get a chance to play tooth fairy. I was going to play tooth fairy this morning when I got up to take my shower, but I did not want to take a chance that I would wake the boys up before I was ready for them to get up. I decided that I would just play tooth fairy when I got them up for the morning only they got up before I got a chance to.

Nathan must have looked for his money and then came out to talk to me. He asked me, "Mom, do you know why the tooth fairy didn't come? It's because my tooth fell off the bed!" I made all the appropriate noises and then we loaded up the van for the trip to daycare. I made an excuse to go back in the house and that is when I finally played tooth fairy. Then on the ride to daycare I said that maybe the tooth fairy would still come this morning since it was still dark. Sure enough, we get home this evening and the tooth fairy had already been here. That darn tooth fairy must have been running behind schedule today!

Small World

Sometimes the world seems so large, and other times it seems so small. For example, when my boss was vacationing in Europe a few years ago (I forget which country) they happen to see a man walking around with a Hobart coat on. Since my boss is not timid, he walked right up to the couple and asked where they were from. They said that they were from a small Ohio town. My boss said that he is from Ohio and then asked them what town. The told him that the were from Troy. My boss excitedly stated that he was from Sidney. What are the odds of that?

Today at work, a co-worker asked me and another gal from Loramie if we knew who was getting married in the church this weekend. I said my cousin was. She then went on to explain when she was younger that she used to babysit for the groom as they lived directly across the street from her parents house. Her parents were invited to the wedding this weekend. What are the odds that my cousin is marrying a guy from West Chester, and my co-worker who originally hails from West Chester and used to babysit for him, and I work together?

Chipies!

I took the two older boys with me to church yesterday, and if I was thinking, I wouldn't have done it. Since the girls played in state tournament on Saturday, and a lot of people went to watch them play, church was packed yesterday. Like Christmas mass packed. People were sitting in the choir loft. Because it was so crowded, Nathan had to sit in the pew in front of me while Darren sat with me on my lap.

As they were bringing up offetory later, Darren watched them walk up the aisle. He must have gotten a good look at the bowl of wafers when they walked past because he looks at me at excitedly and said, "Chipies!" (His nickname for chips) I kind of snorted because that is pretty cute when he looked at me again and said, "and juice!" I bite back a shout of laughter. Obviously my kids need to go to church more....or at least explained the religious symbolism.

Skeeter-Bug's Four year checkup

I meet my Mom at the doctor's office on Wednesday so that Darren could get his four year check-up. He has gained a whopping three pounds in one year. Last year he weighed in at 32 lbs and on Wednesday he is at a fighting weight of 35lbs which puts him in the 45% percentile for weight. What? How do I have a kid that is that skinny? He needs 3T jeans for the length, but about 18 months for the waist size. Darren and Justin could really almost share clothes never mind that they are 2 1/2 years apart. He was 41 1/2" tall which places him in the 75% percentile for height which is pretty good.

I did ask the doctor about these flesh colored bumps that Darren has on various spots over his body as well as Nathan. He said that they were caused by a virus, and that they would go away on their own in 6 months to 2 years. The doctor also explained that the bumps are harmless and they are not sure what causes the virus that causes the bumps. Hopefully some of these bumps will start disappearing in the near future.

Perfecting a hobby

I know I have mentioned before how much Justin likes to play in the toilet. Well, he is now perfecting his craft. Last night, in the space of five minutes, he put the hand towel in the toilet, Darren's brand-new travel-size Etch-a-Sketch and the cordless phone. At least he hasn't learned how to flush yet!

You can zip it

When the weather is cold, I make sure that at least the younger two boys wear footie pajamas to bed. They are constantly rolling out from underneath the covers or kicking them off. Last night after Darren's bath, he asked me if I would help him put his pajama's on. I told him sure seeing as how he had put his foot thru the arm hole. As I was helping him get his p.j.'s on correctly, he told me, in all seriousness, "You can zip them up for me."

What? That is his favorite part and he is letting me zip him up? He must really love me!

Doesn't run in families?

There are certain illnesses that the doctors claim are not genetic. For example, appendicitis supposedly does not run in families. Yet my Dad had appendicitis, I did, my sister Carla did and so did my sister Stacey. We were all roughly the same age at 21 except Stacey was a little younger at 18 1/2.

My Dad has a bad back and he has had a few surgeries. My sister Susan has also had some back issues and I could barely walk over the weekend and Monday until I got into the chiropractor Monday evening. I woke up very stiff again this morning but after applying heat for about an hour, it was feeling pretty good.

Now I find out that my niece Julia has broken her nose. Just like me and her aunt Stacey. Granted our broken noses were because of some drunken escapades and Julia's was just because she was being a mischievous kid. Although if you think about it, it is about the same.

Maybe because I have four siblings and that constitutes a large family that it is just a coincidence that a lot of us suffer from the same aliments. Maybe. Luckily, knock on wood, none of my kids have had to have stitches or had any broken bones. Nathan has a scar on his forehead from the time I tackled him on the road and a small scar at the corner of his eyebrow where he got hit with a toy that him and his cousin were tossing back and forth. Those are just the more noticeable scars on my kids.

Skeeter is four!

Today is Skeeter's (Darren) fourth birthday. We celebrated his birthday yesterday with his grandparents, and godparents. He was pretty excited to have a party for himself at his house. I made shredded/pulled/BBQ pork sandwiches, potato salad, cheese noodles and set out salad just so we had something green to go with all the yellow food. I also made him a dump truck cake (which I may post a picture of if I ever take the time to figure out how to download pictures). I flew thru the decorating process, but I think that it turned out pretty decent.

As Darren was opening gifts later, my sister had to remind me that four years ago I fell on top of Nathan while I was overdue with Darren by three days. That was not a pleasant experience that I want to repeat.

What can I say about Darren? He is a skinny, knobby-kneed, ornery firecracker. He is a trouble maker and will do anything that anyone dares him to do. He eats like a 400lb linebacker, but never seems to gain an ounce. He defiantly has the build his Dad had in the days when Bruce's metabolism was running in high gear.

Second date

Since Bruce and I had no plans this weekend, I decided that I was going to take the older two boys to the movie theater. Rango and Gnomeo & Juliet were playing. I decided that Rango was probably going to have a long line, so we were going to see Gnomeo & Juliet.

As we were getting ready to leave, Leslie (the neighbor girl) calls and asked if Nathan was allowed to play. I told her that he would have been allowed to play, and then Nathan yells, "Stop. Wait Mom!" I told Leslie to hold for a second and Nathan asked if we could bring Leslie to the movies with us. I said sure and told Leslie that we were getting ready to go to the movies, but she was welcome to come along with us.

Before we left, Bruce was teasing them about going on a date. As we were driving to the movies, I was listening to their conversation. I can only imagine what my parents had to think as they were listening to our conversation and driving me to the movies or bowling alley when I was in school.

I told Leslie that I would buy her ticket, but if she wanted any snacks, she had to buy them herself. (She tried to give me some money for the tickets so that is how I knew she had some money) She was very well behaved, but I can't necessarily say the same about my two. About ten minutes into the movie Darren said that he wanted to go home. About halfway thru the movie Nathan said that his foot fell asleep and he wanted to get up an walk around. Since we were in the very back row, I told him to stand up and wait for his foot to wake up.

It has been some time since I have been to the movie theater, because Bruce usually falls asleep in a dark room, and if I have a few hours to myself I would rather read than watch a movie. I enjoy movies, but not enough to pay $7-$8 for a ticket for me and then another $5 plus for a snack. Call me old-school, but I would rather buy a movie from Walmart for about the same price.

Technology, schmuckology

As a lot of people are aware, I enjoy technology, but to be honest it intimidates me. I don't own an iPod, a Blue-Ray player or anything that is just out on the market in the past few years.

I have a digital camera but I am terrible at taking pictures and terrible about downloading them. We have had a computer at home for over two months now, but I have never taken the time to figure out how to download the pictures. In fact, I got my camera three Christmas ago and I still have the very first picture I took with that camera still on it. Along with the picture I took last night.

Nathan wanted an iPod for Christmas two Christmas's ago, but I was afraid to get him one for two reasons. I knew that he wasn't responsible enough for one and I had no idea how to download songs onto it. Luckily, my sister Stacey got an iPod Touch a few years ago and no longer needs so she sold me her old iPod cheaply. And aunt Stacey is responsible for putting new songs on the iPod for Nathan.

I also think that it outrageous to spend X amount on something when in a few weeks or months the technology is already outdated. To keep it in perspective though, I just think about how much we spend on a Saturday night when we get a sitter and go out with friends. That in itself is a small fortune.

I am trying not to pass on my intimidation of technology though. I recently showed Darren how to play some games on the computer and while he struggled on how to operate the mouse, within ten minutes he was an old pro. His little hand on the mouse moving and clicking is inspiring.

Little sister

I know that I am a bit behind, but my baby sister turned 21 about ten days ago on the 23rd of February. How is that possible? If I can convince her to stop having birthday's now that she hit the legal age, maybe I can stop having birthday's myself and keep from getting older.

Because she is so much younger than I am, I think that is why I was never a nervous/worrier/anal parent. I didn't raise Stacey, but I saw how my Mom did it and for the most part we all turned out fine. At least in my mind!

O-H-I-O

After my kids are more than a few months old, I typically do not sing to them because I know that I have a terrible voice. However during football season I teach them the easiest Ohio State Cheer.

I say O-H and then the boys will answer I-O. Sometimes the boys will attempt to start this cheer themselves and they say I-H. I look at them and respond with International Harvester. Then we all start laughing until they remember how it is supposed to go. Last night Justin was trying to say O-H and I could not figure out what he was grunting about. I finally realized that he was saying O-H and as soon as I said I-O, he was all smiles and grunted out O-H again.

Nathan's Mom?

Friday night while I was out with a few of my friends, we went to the local bar for a drink. My aunt Patty was in there with their good friend Carol. Carol happens to babysit for kids before, during and after school. And one of those kids is a girl that happens to be in Nathan's class.

Carol leaned over and asked me if I was Nathan's Mom. I said yes. She said that Jessica talks about Nathan quite a bit because he is always in trouble. Which fits in exactly with what Nathan's teacher said about him being Mr. Social therefore he probably gets a lot of warnings. I could only chuckle as it sounds like variations of what I have heard over the years. There are two Mom's that were a grade older than me in school and their kids also go to the same daycare as my boys. They have told me that their girls come home and all they can talk about is Nathan and all the antics that he did that day.

Apparently he is a ladies man, just not in a good sense!

Parent Teacher Conference

Two weeks ago, Nathan's teacher sent me a note and said that she was trying to get a jump start on some of the conferences and wanted to know if we would be willing to come in early. I had a feeling that the conference would not be all roses, and it turns out I was correct.

I haven't posted about the conference yet even though it was 10 days ago because I have felt like a failure as a parent and a little ashamed. I know that I probably don't work with Nathan enough, but I also know that it is so hard working full-time and coming home make dinner, help Nathan with school work, pay attention to the other two kids and control the constant chaos that we live with during the week.

His teacher told us that he is still very social and always willing to help out the other students at the expense of doing his own work. He cares about the other kids feelings and always participates in class. Him and his current table-mate must talk all the time, because she said that she is constantly telling those two to be quiet. He still needs to work on his handwriting, letter recognition and pronunciation of letters. Then she showed us the results of the test he took at the beginning of the year and again at the halfway point. His score, while above average at the beginning of the year, has not changed and is now below average. He still has problems once in a while writing his numbers backwards. She suggested that he go to Reading Enrichment where he can get some one-on-one time working on the letters and see if that helps him. We whole-heartily gave our approval and questioned if there was anything else that we could be doing. She said that they will continue to watch him and if further help is needed, she will let us know.

I went out with a few of my friends on Friday night and they asked me how Nathan has been doing in school. I admitted that I was a little embarrassed to tell them and went on to tell him what we just learned. All three of them have/had at least one kid (all boys) go thru the same thing. That made me feel a lot better.

Broken record

I have added another habit of Justin's that isn't cute to the list. Have you ever seen the commercial for Family Guy where the little boy (I believe Stewie is his name) is standing by his Mom's bedside and keeps saying, "Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom!" He keeps repeating that until she finally goes, "WHAT?" Then he just looks at her and does it all again.

That is a typical conversation with Justin lately. It goes like this:
"Mom."
"What?"
"Mom"
"What?"
"MOM!"
"WHAT?"

I eventually start ignoring him otherwise I will go crazy! Or I try to distract him with a toy or some food so that he is thinking about something else.

Power-cooking

Sometimes on Sunday's I like to make two big meals so that we do not have our typical scramble every evening trying to figure out what we are going to eat. I tried two new recipes last night, and I know the one was a success. I made "Baked Potato Soup" and that is what we had for dinner. We all thought it was good, but I think it was missing something, but I haven't figured out what exactly it was missing.

I also made a lasagna from a different recipe, but I know the essentials to a good lasagna so I added a few things to the recipe. I did not bake it, but put in the refrigerator for a meal tonight or tomorrow.

I was going to make another meal, but I was out of clean dishes!

Nail polish

While at my parents last Sunday, my niece Jenna asked me if she could paint my fingernails. She was asking everyone in the house, but of course only the girls accepted. One hand was a goldish green color and she painted the other hand pink. I looked very professional going to work on Monday!

Best friends?

I have posted in the past about how Darren and my niece Jenna (Carla's oldest) are best friends and are five months apart. I think we have another set of best friends between our two families.

Last Sunday we were at Mom's to celebrate her birthday. Bruce was holding my niece Lydia and Justin comes up and starts grunting so Bruce lowers Lydia so that Justin and Lydia are face-to-face. Lydia is 7 months old and Justin is a year and a half. Lydia kept grabbing Justin's face and trying to give him kisses and they kept hugging. They were smiling and laughing at each other. Surprisingly, Justin wasn't trying to touch Lydia other than to hug her and that is surprising because he is always touching faces. I guess he instinctively her knew that he had to be gentle with her. He has always been affectionate with her, and it just keeps continuing.

Best day ever!

We used to have fish in a five gallon aquarium, but when they all died, we cleaned the tank up and put it away. The kids have been asking lately for fish, so we decided to get the tank back out. We put water in the tank and some stuff that is supposed to help get the balance of the water where it is supposed to be. On Sunday we went to Jack's Aquarium to let the boys pick out the fish.

You would have thought that my kids have never seen an animal before. Justin kept squealing and running from cage-to-cage. He loved seeing the puppies, especially when they would try to get out of their cage. He liked looking at the bunnies. He liked looking at the parakeets when they would squawk although he kept putting his fingers around the cage and I kept having to pry them off so that he wouldn't get pecked.

After we finally got the fish picked out and bought, we went back out to our van. As we were pulling out of the parking spot, Nathan goes, "This is the best day EVER!" Never mind taking the kids to King Island to ride the rides, or to the zoo to see the animals. Just pick out $20 of fish and my kids are satisfied.

"Don't copy me!"

I know that I have not posted in a while, but I have been super busy lately.

This morning as I was helping the boys get dressed, Darren said that he wanted to wear a shirt like Nathan. Then later as we were pulling out of the driveway, I pointed out an icicle that was neat looking. Nathan said that was "cool." Immediately Darren chimes up and says that it is "cool." That upset Nathan. He told Darren, "Don't copy me!"

I explained to him that as the oldest, his little brother wants to be like him so that is why he repeats and does everything that Nathan does. I told him that when I was little that I was the oldest and aunt Susan always wanted to do everything that I did. Nathan then asks in disbelief, "You are older than Susan?"

Yeah for me! Not so good for Susan though. I am not sure if he understood the point I was trying to make, but at least I got my feel good moment in for the day!

More!

Sometimes my kids fight me when I give them medicine and I was a little leery of how Justin would do with taking his medicine. All I can say is that this medicine must take like candy because the three times a day I have to give it to him, he never puts up a fight. In fact, as I am cleaner the dropper/spoon out, Justin always asks, "More!"

Justin's 18 month checkup

Justin has been sick off and on probably since Thanksgiving. He would get the runny nose, coughing for a few days, and then when it was getting ready to go into the 5-7 day time frame, his symptoms would clear up. As most Mom's know, most doctors won't even see the sick child (extreme symptoms non-withstanding; and I do not run my kids to the doctor every time they have the sniffles. Sniffles are a part of being a kid growing up) unless they have been sick for 5-7 days because it is just a virus that has to run it's course. Fortunately (or unfortunately?) this happened to be one of the times that he was coughing, running a low-grade fever and had a runny nose.

His weight gain in the past six months certainly reflected that he has been sick. At his one-year checkup he weighed 22 lbs and 8 ounces. Today he weighed 22 pounds and 12 ounces. He did grow about two inches though at 32 1/2". I have no idea what percentile he was in either height or weight because he screamed the whole time. Not cry; screamed. He was not happy. Dr G determined that it was because Grandma Deb wasn't there. Grandma Deb had to take my Grandma Ernst to a doctors appointment at the same time, so my Mom was with Grandma because she typically confuses her insurance cards.

Anyway, when Dr G tried to look in Justin's ears all he could see was wax. He got a pointy stick and pulled out a huge piece of wax out of one ear and then rechecked it. That ear had an infection. He went to the other ear and tried to pull the wax out. I don't think that he could get a good grip, and Justin was carrying on, so he just let it go. Dr G said that he had it in his ear and throat, so he wrote us a prescription. We were in and out in a relatively short amount of time, but I don't think that they could take the screaming so they wanted us to be in and out. He never has a problem going to the doctor or having his ears checked, but apparently he didn't feel good and was tired. A dangerous combination.

Twins

My cousin has twin boys who are a few weeks older than Darren; they will be four later this month. The twins would be second cousins to my boys and we see them several times a year as they live near by.

Last night, Nathan and Darren were acting all serious. They said that they wanted to be twins like G & L. I said that it was to late for them to be twins, but they could be nice to each other and that means that they would act like twins. They thought that was a good idea, but apparently to good idea was forgotten as Nathan got mad at Darren and then shoved him off the couch.

Big appetite

The boys asked if I would make pancakes this morning for breakfast. Since all I had to do was add water to the mix and stir, I decided that I could handle that. I made 13 pancakes.

Bruce, Nathan (6), Justin (18 months) each ate three.
Darren (3) ate two.
Me: One. Luckily I am not a huge fan of pancakes, otherwise I would have been upset that I only got one of the pancakes that I made.

Nathan's first date!

Yesterday morning Nathan went over to the neighbor's house. After he is there for a while, he calls the house and asks if he can go with Leslie and her family to watch Leslie's sister play a 5th grade basketball game. Once they were back from the game, both of them came back to our house to play. Of course, we are giving them a hard time asking them how their first date went.

They keep denying that they are boyfriend and girlfriend; just good friends. And as Nathan says, "We have never kissed. Our lips have never touched!"

Another movie line

I posted a while back that Darren has been watching the Little Rascals a lot lately and he has been going around quoting several lines in the movie.

His most recent is a play on what they say in the movie. He will come up to me and say, "Mom, you look so bee-u-tiful." (He really stretches out the word beautiful) I feel like I am on top of the world when he says. Then reality comes crashing back down as he will then look at the chair or some other inanimate object and say, "You are so bee-u-tiful."

Reading books

Nathan has been bringing home easy reader books from school the past week or so and reading them to me at night. He isn't reading so much as looking at the pictures and then saying what is on the page. Hopefully though he does look at the word and begins to associate the word with the picture.

Superman

Scene: Darren sitting on the toilet trying to poop. I walk in to check on him.

Darren: "Mom. When I grow up can I be Superman?"
Me: "Sure Darren. Why not?

Bats in the belfry

I am almost to embarrassed to post this. Over the long new year weekend, I decided to put away the roll of wrapping paper that I had sitting in my room just in case I had forgotten to wrap any Christmas presents. I go upstairs, go into the boys toy room and open the attic storage door. I turn on the light and I see something flying. At first I just thought that it was my eyes seeing shadows, but I quickly realized that it was a bat. I am ashamed to admit that I squealed like a girl and slammed the door shut. I ran downstairs and grabbed the phone. I called Bruce and told him that he had to get home to take care of the bat.

When Bruce gets home he grabs his weapons (a broom and a tennis racket) and heads upstairs. I follow him up shutting any and all doors behind us so that the bat can't fly downstairs. We get into the storage area, and nothing flies toward us. We tentatively make our way in. I make Bruce move all the tubs of clothes to scare the bat into activity. Nothing happens. I then make him look behind all the tubs to make sure that it isn't sitting there laughing at us. Bruce determines that the bat has left the same way it had entered. I am still a little intimidated to go into that closet, but I will make sure I go in armed!

New Years Eve

This year for New Years Eve we just stayed home. In the past I have always felt that this night is so hyped up that I am disappointed when it turns out to be just another night so we decided to stay home.

Earlier in the day the neighbor girl came over to play with Nathan and Darren. It was sunny and in the 60's that day, so the kids had been outside playing for a while. When they got muddy (just my boys) they decided to come in the house and rest for a little bit. All three were on the computer on the youtube website watching their favorite music videos. I hear the neighbor girl ask Nathan if they are going to stay up and watch the ball drop tonight. Nathan was confused as to what he meant, so he asked me. I explained that the year 2010 was going to be done at midnight and then 2011 would start. A big ball slowly drops as it gets close to midnight and when it hits the bottom, the new year has begun. I know that Nathan was up to watch the ball drop last year, but he must have not understood the significance. He just thought the horns and hats were fun! Anyway, later when Bruce came home, he told Bruce that he was going to stay up and watch the bell drop. Too funny. He never seen the ball drop this year as he fell asleep about 11:30. So close.