Some Things Never Change

Then....September 2008

Now....

That Was One Busy Bunny!

Today was the Easter Family Fun Day at our church. I had to miss it due to work, but Duane and Grandma W. took the boys.

We Have a Winner!

Tonight was the Edible Books contest at the library I work at. Duane decided to enter this year for the first time. His edible masterpiece was that of "Pete the Cat - Rockin' in My School Shoes"

It's really nerve-wracking to have someone judging the creation of someone you love. And there were some other really nice cakes there.  I'll admit to eavesdropping in the room a little bit. I overheard one woman say to another, "See that cake (pointing at Duane's)? I saw that when I came in and almost left without dropping mine off." 

And guess what???  DUANE WON the Adult Presentation category!!! That's the one he really wanted. And lest you think my library friends voted for him, the judges were a local food blogger and the food editor of the city paper, so they had no idea who he was! They were really impressed with his detail work on the cake.

I am so very very proud of my hubby! And the boys are pretty proud too. On the way home Ryan said, "Mom, I'm so glad my dad's cake won. It's a fantastic day." And Wesley wanted to call his friend to tell him the news, but I told him it was too late at night.  Needless to say, we're all smiles in this house tonight.  Way to go Duane!!

Planning Those Lazy Days of Summer

March is almost over and summer is just around the corner. We have just about eight weeks until school is out and I'm starting to freak out a bit about what I'm going to do with my kids.  Last year Wesley did an acting class, Bible school, zoo camp, and swim lessons. It was pretty darn good summer for him. This year though, things are different.

This year my mom, who watches the kids 3-4 days a week, is going to need to have some work done on her shoulder. She really needs to have this done and while I know it means she's going to spend a chunk of the summer recouperating, I also know she'll feel a million times better after it's done. So this summer will be different. We'll be adjusting our summer schedule and cutting way back on activities. Wesley is signed up for tee ball and Bible school. Ryan will do Bible school and swim class and that's it for us this summer.

And part of me feels guilty that I don't have more planned for the boys this summer. I know every day doesn't need to be programmed to the hilt for a child to enjoy it. I know that we are hoping to have our house back up on the market so things could be in a bit of limbo. I know that we have a big vacation planned for the end of the summer.  And I STILL feel guilty about it.

I think part of the guilt stems from the fact that Duane and I are working parents. Duane's mom was able to stay home with her kids, so Duane's summer days were filled with bike riding and backyard sports. My parents were teachers/principal in the school district Kirk and I attended, so we all had the same summer break. We took camping trips and Kirk and I played outside, set up lemonade stands and rode our bikes to the park. My mom would take us to swimming lessons and the pool. We'd pick strawberries and make jam. It was WONDERFUL!

Duane and I don't get much of a chance to do those things. We have a limited amount of vacation time - especially Duane - and need to use it accordingly. Our neighborhood doesn't really allow for carefree bike rides and our backyard is the size of a postage stamp.

My friends all have their kids signed up for swimming and soccer and scouts and baseball and science camps and what not and I feel like my kids are going to be bored and left behind. What can I do to rid myself of today's dose of Mommy Guilt?

Warm Fuzzies

So we all know that Ryan has been torturing paying a lot of attention to the cat lately. Last night he was pummeling petting the cat and said, "Sanders, you are such a good cat. I missed you today." 

It's almost enough to make you forget all the cat stalking Ryan does.

Almost.

Anybody Have a House for Haunting?

Wesley and his buddy Jack have been working on some big plans lately. It might not be as ambitious as the hang glider that Jack plans on making with his dad (*wink, Pam*) but it's still a pretty big plan. Wesley and Jack are planning to make a haunted house.

And this won't be any run of the mill haunted house - at least I don't think it will be considering the amount of work and creativity they are putting into their plans. There have been recess meetings about the haunted house. Books have been drawn, phone calls have been made, really, no idea has gone without discussion.

This morning Wesley told me, "I can't wait for me and Jack and our dads to make our haunted house. And Grandpa P. should help us too. I bet he can make a great haunted house!"

I told Wesley that he was right. "When Grandpa P. was a principal like Ms. J, he always made a haunted house for the students at Halloween." 

"I knew it!" Wesley exclaimed.

Would it be weird to make a haunted house over Spring break? I know a couple of little boys who would probably love it.

Nosebleeds and Nightmares

What a "fun" night it was in the W. house last night. Wesley had a bit of a nosebleed during the night. Not too bad, but Duane had to get him up and take care of it.  And let's face it, nosebleeds are never fun.

Ryan woke up at 3:00 this morning just screaming and crying. We could not get him to settle down. He kept saying he lost his "Thing" Squinkie (a little tiny plastic toy) and he was darn near inconsolable about it.  I finally went into his room and got in bed with him. As I rubbed his back he told me that his Thing Squinkie had gone down the bathtub drain.

Now I knew the lost Squinkie was only a dream, but good luck telling a three-year-old that in the wee hours of the morning. He honestly believed one of his favorite toys was gone forever.  He didn't calm down until I assured him that we would get him another one (since I'm sure the first one isn't actually lost in the bathroom pipes).  He finally fell back asleep. Poor guy.

So if you catch me yawning quite a bit today, at least you know why.

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to http://www.mycharmingkids.net/ to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I didn't not wake up the first morning of Spring to find the weather warm enough for shorts after dreaming about a freak snowstorm that dropped more than a foot of snow on the city the night before. That would have been weird.

I have not been considering keeping track of how many times I say "Leave the cat alone!" or "Get your hands out of your pants!" or "Get your finger out of your nose!" and turning it into some kind of drinking game.

I did not discover, two days after doing clothes shopping for the boys, that all of Wesley's solid color shorts are way too small, leaving him nothing but a plethora of plaid shorts in various colors.

I did not burst into laughter when I asked Wesley if he was 100% sure about something and he answered "About 90"

Ryan Short Story

Yesterday we took the boys to the Pet Expo with Grandma H. Considering how much Wesley loves animals and how much Ryan has been stalking the cats in his life, we figured this would be a really fun thing for them. However, we neglected to figure in how tired they would be after an overnight with Grandma and Grandpa and that we'd be there around lunch time when they'd be hungry.  So it was pretty much a whine-fest with a few stops to pet animals.

However, I did get one good story out of it.

We went into the cat area and Ryan saw a bunch of Oriental Shorthair cats. In case you aren't familiar with them, they look like this.

Now imagine you are three years old and you see a group of about five of these things looking at you. Ryan looked at them for a moment, turned to me and asked, "Mommy, what is that!?" Guess it looked like no cat he'd ever seen before!

That Parent

We all know that parent. The one whose child is always right no matter what. The one who always wants exceptions made for their child because their child is "advanced for their age." The one who wants the rules rewritten for them or does their child's assignment or picks arguments with the coach/teacher because the grown up they are confronting doesn't understand how special their child is.

I live in fear of becoming that parent. And yet.......

The other day Wesley brought home a notice from the school library stating that he did not return his library book for the week and was not able to check out a new book because of the overdue item (they are only allowed to check out a book if they return the one they had out the previous week.) I was confused by the notice for two reasons. First of all, the book on the notice was not the book that Wesley had brought home the previous week. I knew that because we read his library book together several times. Secondly, Wesley returned the book he had brought home.

I talked to Grandma H. about it because I knew she checks Wesley's bag each afternoon that she picks him up and she had no recollection of the "missing" book. Neither Duane or I recalled seeing the book and Wesley said he never checked that title out. We looked at our bookshelves just in case something weird had happened, but the book in question was not there.

I wrote a note to the school librarian explaining that while Duane and I would be happy to pay for the missing item so that Wesley could have his library privileges reinstated, we thought there had been an error. I explained that the item listed on the notice was not the book he had brought home the previous week. I explained that no one in the family had any recollection of the book being checked out and that Wesley had returned the book he brought home the previous week. I gave her my work number to call me if there were any questions, asked her to please let me know the cost of the item to replace and thanked her for all she does for the students at the school.

She called me at work to touch base about the situation. She is not asking us to pay for the item and allowed Wesley to go to the library and pick out a new book, but I can tell she still believes he checked the book out and I still  believe he didn't. I thanked her for her understanding and it all ended on a good note, but I now worry that I have become that parent to her and she will always dread any kind of communication to or from me.

Did I handle it appropriately, or am I really becoming that parent?

Awesome Hubby Award

It's been awhile since I've gone on and on about what an awesome husband I have. I really do have an awesome husband. He puts up with my crazy times, loves me unconditionally, is a fantastic father and that's just the start. Here's the story of his latest round of awesomeness.

I adore the blogger/author/tv host Ree Drummond AKA The Pioneer Woman. She just seems so cool and down to earth. She has a great style and can cook just about anything. I was beyond thrilled when I discovered that she was coming to a bookstore near my house to do a book signing. But then I discovered that the signing was the same day and time as a PTA meeting.

I know, I know, just blow off the PTA meeting, right? Well, I can't. Our PTA is very small (about 10 people per meeting) and we have a lot of big events coming up. I feel very strongly that I need to participate in Wesley's school however I can and since I can't volunteer in the class very often, that leaves PTA.  Duane agreed to go to the PTA meeting in my place and even take the kids with him so I could go see Ree. That would pretty much qualify him for the Awesome Hubby Award right there, but it was only the beginning.

Last night he presented me with Ree's newest cookbook to have autographed. I was so excited!!! But then I noticed on Facebook that the store would be giving out line tickets when they opened this morning - after I would be at work. Duane left his work, drove over to the bookstore and stood in line before they even opened to get me and my mom line tickets for the signing. Can you believe that!?!

And he got a funny story out of it too. While he was in line, a police "paddy wagon" showed up and parked in front of the bookstore. The officers got out and headed straight for the line. Duane said that everyone kind of started looking around wondering what was going on. The officers got into line behind Duane and one of them said something along the line of "I'm here for my wife." Isn't that funny!?

And it was totally worth it. Ree is as charming and sweet in person as she is online and on television. I even told her about what Wesley said this morning when I mentioned I was going to meet the Pioneer Woman. "She's your best friend, Mom!" Ree said that was sweet and "Why of course we're friends!" 

And now I've even got the picture to prove it. By the way, Marlboro Man was all of three feet away when this picture was taken. He walked up right as Ree and I were getting ready to smile. I told him he was welcome to be in the picture too, but her declined. I have to say that in person he is ridiculously handsome. I'm pretty sure I'm blushing in this photo. 

Big Game Hunter

I don't know exactly when it happened. I don't have the slightest idea why it happened, but sometime in the last couple of weeks, Ryan has become a cat stalker. If there is a cat in the room, Ryan is determined to bestow affection upon it - whether the cat likes it or not.

Grandma H.'s cat is a nice enough cat, but you have to read his body language. He thinks nothing of giving love bites - or much worse. I have dubbed him the long-haired venomous house tiger for reasons I'm not going to go into here, but Ryan will not leave the cat alone. He's been nipped and hissed at. The cat will get up and leave the room, but Ryan will not back down. Pretty soon I'm sure there will be some bandages required as a result of Ryan's determination.

You'd think it would be a little better at our house where we at least have three cats to...share the love. But no, Gus and Sadie manage to stay out of sight when Ryan is awake, leaving Sanders to bear the brunt of Ryan's attention. I have found Ryan picking the cat up around the middle and carrying him from room to room. I have found Ryan pinning the poor cat to the floor so he can pet Sanders. I have even found Ryan sitting on the poor cat!  He will not leave the cat alone!

Now Sanders is just about the most gentle cat on the planet, but he has even given Ryan one or two warning nips over the past week. There's just no place for Sanders to hide. He's a social cat and wants to be around people, so hiding under the bed is out. Sanders has tried getting on the fireplace mantel, but Ryan goes all the way upstairs and gets his stool so he can reach the cat. Sanders tries hiding on the dryer, but Ryan will pull the laundry hamper over and stand on it to reach the cat. Even sitting on my lap isn't safe since Ryan will take that as an invitation to hug and pat the cat.

Poor sweet Sanders. I hope his old bones can continue to put up with Ryan. I guess it's good that he's so tolerant, but I really wish my kid would cut the cat some slack.

Looking Sharp

We have been enjoying some June-like weather over the past week or so in central Ohio. I've had to break out some of my summer dresses already and I actually put the boys in shorts today. SHORTS! IN MARCH! Crazy times!

My mom and I took Wesley to pick out a few spring shirts and what not at the store the other day. Normally I just pick out Wesley's clothes, but I didn't want to hear that he wasn't going to wear something I had purchased, so I dragged him along.  For the most part I wasn't a bit surprised by Wesley's choices, but I was shocked when he picked out a short sleeve, plaid, button down shirt. Not that he hasn't had similar shirts in the past, but he's been on a real button avoidance lately.

We got that new shirt out yesterday morning and matched it up with a pair of shorts. Wesley took a look at himself in the mirror and said, "Hey, I'm looking pretty sharp! But can we go downstairs and fix my hair? Then I'll look really sharp!"

Like I have said before, no self-esteem issues with this kid.

He even makes a pretty good looking horse.

Rockin' the safari hat my boss brought back from a conference for him.

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to http://www.mycharmingkids.net/ to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I did not suffer major mommy guilt for dressing my boys a little too warmly on a gorgeous March day.

I did not tear up when Wesley had to be disciplined for behaving like a little terror.

There is no way I had a nice glass of wine with a a fast food sandwich for dinner one night. That would just be weird.

I know I didn't spend several minutes rummaging around in the fridge looking for the bacon, only to discover it was already in my hand.

Definitely His Mommy's Boy

Wesley is definitely my kid. He looks like me and my side of the family. He's a big ham and, if I'm being really honest, he probably gets his nonstop talking from me too.  Unfortunately, he seems to have also inherited my fear of storms.

I HATE storms. When the sky gets dark and the winds start to blow, my heart rate rises and I start to feel a little panicked. I try really hard to hide my fear when the kids are around, but sometimes it's really hard.

Tonight I heard the tornado sirens go off as I was getting dinner pulled together. I am not a person who can ignore tornado sirens - especially since the house we live in has a cellar rather than a basement, meaning we have to go outside to get to it. I'm telling you, if we ever get to move I am insisting on a house with a basement - preferably a finished basement. Anyhow, the sirens were going off, so I moved to the family room and turned the news on.

Now I don't know how many of you live in central Ohio, but anytime there is a storm of any kind, or even the threat of a storm of any kind, our news teams treat it like the world is about to end on a moments notice. I was watching to track the storm and see if we needed to get shoes on and head outside and downstairs, but Wesley picked up on the anxiety of the newscasters (and probably of his mom). Within moments, Wesley was convinced that a tornado was about to come out of the sky and kill us all.

We kept showing him where the storm was the worst and where we were on the map (no place near the worst of the storm), but that didn't calm him. We kept telling him that there had not been a tornado yet. No one has seen one. A tornado had NOT come out of the sky in our city tonight. I told him that I am 38 years old and there has never been a tornado in Columbus in that time. Nothing helped. He sat on the couch and stressed. And of course, since I am afraid of storms too, I didn't want to change the channel, even as I tried to downplay the whole thing to Wesley.  When the rain and hail finally hit our neighborhood, I thought he was going to pass out!

Wesley didn't calm down until 7:00 when the warning was lifted. Now he's running around the house acting like nothing was ever wrong. In the case of storms, I wish he was a little less my kid.

Walk N Roll-a-Thon

I neglected to mention that Wesley's school had their 5th Annual Walk N Roll-a-Thon last week. Around $3000 was raised for the school and kids had a great time. I just love that the school's major fundraiser isn't selling anything and promotes physical activity. That's a win-win in my book!

Jack and Wesley did their laps side by side (no surprise), with Jack's mom/my friend Pan and I cheering them on and passing out the wrist bands the kids got for each lap. The younger grades (K-2) did nine laps in their allotted time. Not too shabby guys!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone out there! I hope your day was filled with the luck of the Irish - or at least with sunshine, good food, good friends and happiness. 

I had to work today, so I didn't get as creative as I wanted to with St. Patrick's Day for the kids. I did manage to get green chocolate chip pancakes made for their St. Patrick's Day breakfast and Duane whipped up some "leprechaun milk" - white milk with food coloring. Wesley LOVED it, but Ryan didn't care for the milk. Still, I thought it was a pretty successful holiday breakfast.

I spent most of the day at the library, while Duane and boys got to hang out together, but we did have a great family dinner of corned beef and cabbage, and Irish soda bread with Grandma and Grandpa H.'s. It was so delicious and Wesley shocked us all by really liking the corned beef. He ate a ton of it! Ryan wouldn't touch it but was quite fond of the soda bread slathered with Irish butter.  We ended our meal with a green velvet cake with a green cheesecake layer in the middle. 

That's not mold on the top of the cake - Wesley and Ryan were a little heavy handed with the sprinkles.

It's also not mold on the inside of the cake, but Ryan REALLY liked the food coloring.

After dinner we moved away from anything even remotely Irish and played some baseball/tee ball in the yard. Let me tell you, I've got a couple of future sluggers in the family!

Right bat, right tee, wrong ball.

Didn't slow him down though!

This is Wesley's future trading card.

Run those bases!

All in all it was a pretty low key day - just the way I like it!

Bedtime Stories

After a really tough Wednesday evening, last night was much better and much more calm. In fact, I even let the boys cuddle in my bed with me for awhile at bedtime.  Really, snuggling with the guys in the big bed is one of my favorite things to do and I sometimes get the best stories/blog material when we are there. Take last night for example, the guys came up with four gems that I had to share.

I had the Food Network show "Chopped" on the tv when we first climbed into bed. Wesley will watch almost any cooking show with me, but both boys were pretty interested in Chopped last night because 1) one of the contestants had a blue and purple mohawk and 2) one of the secret ingredients was leftover pizza.  At one point the host said something along the lines of "These chefs will show you what you can do with leftover pizza other than reheat it in the microwave."

 I said to the boys, "That's silly, you don't reheat leftover pizza in the microwave. You eat it cold out of the fridge!" 

Wesley very seriously replied, "Mom, you don't do either of those things. You heat it in the oven so it doesn't get soggy."  LOVE that kid!!!

Now time for the potty humor.  As we were trying to fall asleep Ryan....shall we say, let one rip.  "Eww!!" I laughed. "Ryan did you just fart in my bed!?"  Ryan responded by laughing. 

"The next person that farts in this bed has to go to their own bed!" I told them.

 Ryan's response? "I fart in my own bed too. Sometimes it goes 'toot toot toot'  and sometimes it is really quiet." Wow. Thanks for sharing.

 Once we got the potty humor out of the way we had to have some sweet time. Wesley grabbed my hand and told me very seriously, "I love you Mom. I don't just love you to Pluto and back, I love you through the whole solar system!"  Gotta love that.

Ryan wanted to declare his love for me too, so he told me, "Mommy, you are my best because you have three hairs."  WHAT?! 

"What do you mean, I have three hairs?" I asked.

 Ryan explained, "You have hair with the big orange thing and hair with the black rectangle and hair with nothing."

The sad thing is that I knew exactly what he meant. Hair with the big orange thing is when I put my hair in a tortoise shell hair clip.  Hair with the black rectangle is when I pull part of it back in a barrette and hair with nothing is when I wear it down. Nice to know Ryan notices these things. Between his hairstyle advice and Wesley's fashion advice, I should be all set.

Want to Trade?

Being a parent is full of wonderful moments - the first time your child calls you mommy or daddy, hearing your child read their first book, baking with your kids. There are some really great times to be had. And then there are days like today....

I do not want to go into a lot of detail here, but let me just say that my children (especially Wesley) behaved so badly at their grandparent's house after school that I am surprised they will ever be allowed back in the door. They behaved so poorly, that it took Grandma over ten minutes to tell me of their "adventures." They behaved so terribly that I think I saw red the entire drive home.

Needless to say, tonight has not been a fun night in the W. house. Television programs have been erased, a ban has been placed on electronics for several days, much time was spent in individual bedrooms and a letter of apology was written by my eldest son.

And the worst part? I'm still not sure it has sunk in to the boys how disgusted I am by their behavior earlier.   Sigh.....

You know, the other morning when my dad picked Ryan up from my work, he handed me a box of Krispy Kreme donuts and then left with my kid. I joked that morning that I just traded my kid for a box of donuts and that I got the better end of the deal. Tonight, that's a trade I'd be pretty happy with.

No S.W.A.K. Here

Remember signing cards or notes with S.W.A.K. - or Sealed With a Kiss?  Well, with two little boys there's none of that mushy stuff in this house!

A couple of nights ago I asked Ryan if I could please have a kiss. Ryan's idea of giving a kiss is to either kiss your hand, or to present you with a cheek so you can kiss him. On this particular night Ryan leaned a cheek towards me and I planted a little kiss on it.

As soon as my lips left his cheek, Ryan raced to the corner of the room where he proceeded to inconspicuously (so he thought) wipe the kiss off.

"Ryan!" I cried. "I know what you're doing!"

He peeked around the corner with a grin and replied, "No, you didn't see me wipe it off!"

I fake pouted and told Ryan, "Wesley never wipes my kisses off!"

Wesley happened to be sitting just a few feet away and piped in, "Well, I don't wipe them off if you remember to kiss me on the mouth. If you kiss me on the cheek or anything I wait until you can't see me to wipe it off."

*sniff sniff* Guess my mommy kisses are going to waste in this house.

Making it Up as I Go

Being a parent means that sometimes you have to get creative with the answers you give your children.  I try not to lie to the boys, but every now and then they demand an answer to a question that I have absolutely no idea how to answer.

As I mentioned about a week ago, Ryan is obsessed with the Super Hero Squad and with the Thing in particular. We were watching the show the other day when Ryan turned to me and asked, "How old is the Thing?"

Now the librarian part of me wanted nothing more than to get on the computer and find out when the Fantastic Four comic strip (of which the Thing is a part) was created but I knew that wasn't really the answer he wanted. Oh, and for those of you who care, the comic debuted in 1961. 

"Um.....I think the Thing is in his twenties," I answered, thinking that he MUST be in his twenties if he has the energy to run around smashing things and the self confidence to go without a shirt.  Not to mention the literally rock hard body. "I think he's 27."

Of course, I should have remembered that I was talking to a three year old and 27 is absolutely ancient when you are a kid. "I think he's nine!" Ryan told me confidently.  Yep, must be nine. My mistake.

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to http://www.mycharmingkids.net/ to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I did not look down at my bowl of chocolate peanut butter oatmeal and suddenly realize it looked exactly like a big bowl of ground beef. That would have been a little surreal first thing in the morning.

I did not send Wesley to school with a sore throat and a cough, even though I knew it mostly likely meant I'd get a call from the nurse at some point in the day. And there's now way I heaved a big sigh and said, "I knew it would happen" when the call arrived.

I did not learn the hard way not to show your 6 year old a cool new book you checked out of the library for him half an hour before you need to leave for a hockey game - especially if he hasn't eaten dinner yet.

I did not feel like Super Mom for a little while after I made chocolate chip pancakes to freeze for the boys breakfasts instead of buying the Eggo ones (like we've been doing for who knows how long)

What Time is It?

"Springing forward" with daylight savings hasn't been too much of a pain for me the last couple of years and this year seems to be no exception. The boys have been waking up between 6:30 - 7:00 every morning for the last week, so at least this way they are getting up at a more manageable time.  Of course, tomorrow morning might be a little rough, but we'll see.

Another good thing about setting the clocks forward? Well, I work today, so it means I'll essentially be done with work an hour earlier  - and don't tell me it means I go in earlier too, I'm ignoring that part.

Of course, there is the added benefit of more daylight in the evenings and since I'm completely solar powered, this is a very very good thing. 

Add in the warmer weather that's supposed to roll in this week and I just might be a very happy camper!

One of Those Nights

Duane is busy giving the kids their baths and instead of getting changed for exercising, I am sitting back with a glass of wine. It's just been one of those evenings. You know, one of those evenings when:

• one son refuses to eat a single thing on his plate while the other one nearly cleans his plate then vomits.

• the son who lost his dinner, stood inside the bathroom, yet let loose on the kitchen floor instead of the toilet

• you go to two stores with the kids and one child has to go to bathroom at each store.

• your children tell you that you are mean

• one child actually tells you that if you were nicer to him, he'd give you a hug. Never mind that the reason you weren't nice was because he was beating on his brother.

• you look around at the dirty house and are starting not to care about the way it looks

• you actually considering calling your parents and begging them to take your children for the night.

Big Day

Ryan had a very big day today. He had his second swim class today and did a fantastic job. At the end of class, the teacher asked the kids if anyone wanted to go down the big twisty slide. Only three kids said they did and Ryan was one of them. Ryan went down the slide with his teacher and loved it. Then she asked the three if anyone wanted to go again, and Ryan was the only one that said yes. In fact, he went down the slide twice more, each time by himself, with his teacher waiting at the bottom for him. I'm so proud!

We went to another hockey game as a family tonight. Ryan couldn't wait to go and wanted to wear his foam finger and his cap. The game itself was the best we've been to in awhile, but Wesley is still feeling not quite up to par, and as I said, Ryan had a big day. Need proof that Ryan was a busy guy today? Check out these pictures of him from the first period of the game.

Going....

Going....

Gone...

Sawing logs, do not disturb.

The guys sitting around us were getting a big kick out of Ryan sleeping at the game, all decked out in his hockey stuff. Of course, we all had a good laugh at Ryan's expense when the Jackets scored and the horn blared and the crowd roared and the cannon fired. Poor Ryan was instantly awake with wide eyes and a wee bit of terror.  But it didn't keep him from dozing off a second time. Needless to say, we left during the second period. Big day for a little guy.

Little Romeo Part 2

Apparently Wesley isn't the only young W. male that has a girlfriend. And no, I'm not talking about Duane. ;-)  There's a little girl in Ryan's JumpBunch class that has stolen his heart. How did she manage to break through to Mr. Strong and Silent? Well, last week he wanted a particular color ball and they were all gone. She gave him hers and true 3 year old love was born. Awww.....isn't it cute?

Little Romeo

Wesley is a handsome boy. Yes, I know I'm his mom and I'm supposed to say that, but it really is true. He's a cutie.

He has never lacked a girlfriend either. During his first year of preschool there was E. Last year there was C. This year there is a girl in his class, L., who has such a crush on Wesley that even their teacher has noticed it. We also hear a lot about M. too.

This morning when Wesley was getting dressed I commented of how nice his shirt looked on him. "You look quite handsome today Wesley," I said. "L and M are going to see you and giggle 'Hi Wesley' in goofy voices."

"Probably A too," Wesley answered. "She says she loves me and wants me to kiss her and for us to get married."

WHAT?!?!?

"Well, DID you kiss her?" I asked, praying for the answer to be no.

"No," he said. "And I told her I haven't decided who I'm going to marry yet because I have a lot of other girlfriends that aren't even in our class."

I'm not sure if I should be proud or slightly terrified.

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to http://www.mycharmingkids.net/ to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I did not freak out when I noticed that I weigh a bit more since I started exercising even though my clothes are fitting better. That would have been silly.

I was not more nervous about Ryan starting swim class than he was. And it couldn't have been because Wesley has not exactly excelled at learning to swim.

There is no way I let Ryan dine on chips and salsa on Saturday night, followed by a dinner of croutons at a church potluck on Sunday. Nope. Didn't happen.

I would never call my oldest son a baby stalker for following around a baby at church and trying to get the baby to laugh.

The Sort of Super Hero Squad

Ryan's newest obsession is "The Super Hero Squad"

The obsession started when Ryan picked out his big boy underpants and chose "The Super Hero Squad." It has grown as I brought home books from the library and Duane started recording the show on TV.

Like any fan, Ryan has a favorite member of the squad. His favorite is "Thing." Ryan wants to wear his "Thing" underpants everyday and looks for "Thing" in each book and show. Ryan seems to like Thing's smile and the fact that he is made of rocks. The problem is that "Thing" is a minor character in the Super Hero Squad and does not make a bunch of appearances.  And have you ever tried to find a "Thing" child size t-shirt? It's pretty rough. And of course, since he is a minor character, he isn't on very many of the toys.

So Ryan has picked a second favorite - the Hulk. Of course, when Ryan says "Hulk" it sounds a lot like "Hawk", which probably ticks off "Hawkman" since doesn't even appear on Ryan's super hero radar.

This morning Ryan, Wesley and Daddy were sitting on the couch watching the Super Hero Squad.  In this particular episode, Hulk was holding a golden fractal (don't ask) and it caused him to turn into a baby.  Ryan exclaimed, "I like Hulk because he 'nacked 'em with his golden 'nana and turned into a baby!"  Translation: I like Hulk because he smacked them with his golden banana and turned into a baby!"

A couple of minutes later it was time for the heroes to "hero up" and Hulk flexed his muscles in a typical bodybuilder pose. When he did that, the building behind him exploded. "Wow!" said Ryan. "He tooted and building 'sploded!"  Translation: He passed gas and the building exploded.

Guess we all have our special super powers. I just didn't realize flatulence could be considered one. I suppose now I know why Ryan likes Hulk.

Trying Again

Yesterday was Ryan's first swim class. Yes, you read that right. We have signed Ryan up for swim class - not that three years of swim classes did Wesley any good, but apparently I just don't learn. That saying about stupidity being doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results had been going through my head in the days leading up to the class. And do you know what? It wasn't that bad.

We have a couple of things working in our favor when it comes to Ryan learning to swim: 1) he's pretty fearless 2) he was practically swimming at the end of last summer 3) he's on this "big boy" kick and believes that big boys can put their faces in the water and 4) he has seen the super cool water slide at the hotel we'll be staying at late in the summer and I told him he can't go down it unless he learns to swim.

I'm not saying he took to the water like a fish today. After all, it has been at least five months since he's been in the water, but overall he did really well. Yes, he climbed out of the water to wipe his face off a few times, but he also practiced shaking the water off his hands and then wiping his eyes with them without getting out of the water. He blew bubbles in the water and even laid down on his back in the very shallow end to practice kicking.  Wesley STILL won't lay his head back in the water, so I'll call it a success.

I'm just hoping the momentum gets going with this class, and he really takes off. I'm not looking for an Olympic swimmer here, but a child who can go underwater and down water slides with me would be really cool!

Career Change

Don't worry - I'm not the one changing careers.  I'm very happy in my corner of the universe ordering books, thank you very much.

The big career change has to do with Wesley. He has decided that he no longer wants to be an animal rescuer when he grows up. What's his new vocational calling?  Super hero!  In fact he told me, "When I grow up, this town will FINALLY have a super hero!"  

What will Wesley's super hero alter ego be? He will be Anything Man - the hero who can turn into anything! Ryan has decided he will grow up to a super hero as well. He'll be Anything Man's trusted sidekick - Ranger! 

Good to know the city will one day be in Team Brother's capable super hero hands. Here they are showing off their super hero moves. I'm not sure what those moves actually accomplish, but they look almost impressive.