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 stand back in awe (and a little disgust) as Duane sifted through the kitchen trash can looking for a little one inch tall plastic toy of Wesley's.

When Wesley's finger was infected Duane and I did not tell Wesley his finger might have to be cut off if he didn't go see the doctor about it.  Nothing like striking fear into the heart of your child, right?

I did not schedule hair appointments for the boys for shortly after the school carnival, thereby insuring at least one of them would be overtired and whiney for the appointment.

I did not make cinnamon roasted almonds one night "just to get the almonds out of the cupboard." Nope, not me.

I did not spend more than an hour looking all over the place (after I had cleaned out my closet and dresser) looking for a bathing suit bottom that I bought LAST summer. And I did not get super frustrated when I couldn't find them. That would have been ridiculous since I have no plans to go swimming anytime soon.

MINE!!

Ryan is kind of a granola bar fiend. He doesn't eat them all them time, but when he does eat them, it's usually two or more at a sitting.

Duane bought a fresh box of granola bars at the grocery store this week. The box was sitting on the counter next to the Pop Tarts so Ryan could pick what he wanted for breakfast (and lest you think I'm only feeding my child junk, homemade pancakes and toast are also daily options.) Ryan noticed the granola bars immediately grabbed the box and proceeded to open it. It was a multi-flavor pack, so Ryan took one of each flavor out of the box and put them on his plate.

I helped him open one and explained we would open the next one if he was still hungry after finishing the first. Well, he plowed through the first bar and we opened the second. He make short work of that one too and when there was about 2 bites of it left, he asked me to open the third. I opened it, but reminded him that he needed to finish the one he was eating before he could start on the next.

Ryan looked at the newly opened granola bar, looked at me, then proceeded to lick the entire bar before putting it back on the plate and finishing  the bar he was eating!! It was like he was making sure I wouldn't take the newly opened bar before he finished the one he was working on! And he laughed about it, so this kid knew what he was doing!!!

I now know better than to sneak food off Ryan's plate!

Fun-N-Frolic

Today was the annual Fun-N-Frolic (read: sort of carnival) at Wesley's school. Being the sadistic supportive PTA parents that we are, Duane and I volunteered in a variety of ways for the event.

Duane went to the school after work last night and spent several hours helping to set up games and tables so things would be pretty ready today. Then he came home and made a cake to donate for the cake walk game at the school. And, as you know, Duane cannot do an ordinary cake. He made an octocake!

It was a hit at the cake walk. One of Wesley's classmates won it and her mom was showing it off to people. Even better, this family has a birthday party tomorrow and is going to use the cake for it. Double win!!

Anyhow, this morning Duane dropped me off at the school to finish set up, then he and the kids joined me about an hour later.  And then the fun really began.  Duane and I ended up running one of the games for awhile because some of the volunteers we late, but the boys got to do all the games and they had a ball. Here's where I give a big shout out to my friend and PTA partner in crime Pam and her hubby who also went above and beyond in helping today as well!

Wesley and Jack kicking back before the festivities

Wesley and Jack hitting the road

The guys getting temporary tattoos. They skipped the crazy hair though.

Wesley's favorite thing was the sand art. He must have done 5 different containers of it.

Ryan really liked it too

Ryan won a root beer playing Ring-a-Pop.

Of course, once the Fun-N-Frolic was over, we stayed to help clean up. Which was notably less fun. Next week is the school yard sale, which will allow us to wear ourselves out all over again. Ah, the joys of being a PTA parent!

I'll Take a Shot of That - Or Not

Like most kids, Ryan has a special place in his heart (and stomach) for chocolate milk. He loves the stuff and we try to limit his intake of it to only a couple of times a day.  The other night Ryan started to have a tantrum because we wouldn't let him have any more chocolate milk.

"Have some water," Duane said.

"I don't want water!" Ryan pouted.

"Then have some white milk," was Duane's next suggestion.

The pout continued, "I HATE white milk."

Duane didn't even bat an eye before answering, "Then have some turnip juice."

Ryan had been on a roll, so he started to protest right away. "I hate....wait...what's turnip juice?"

A Lesson Learned

"Betcha don't know what I just did!"

They say you learn something new every day.  I don't know who "they" are, but most of the time they are right.  Wesley and Ryan learned something new about our cat Sanders the other day.

I was in the kitchen getting the last bit of prep done so we could leave for the day when the boys ran into the kitchen giggling.

"Mom!" Wesley cried. "Sanders just tooted! Only it wasn't a 'pbbbttttt' kind of toot, it was more of a 'ppphhhww' kind of toot!" Then he and Ryan erupted into giggles again.

When Wesley kind of caught his breath, he sighed, "Wow, I learned something I didn't know today. I didn't know cats could toot."

Some lessons might have been better not learned.

What Day is It?

Ryan has recently become very interested in the days of the week. I guess I can understand, when you don't go to school yet, I would imagine the days kind of run together.  It's probably pretty important to knows which days your brother will be home, when your swim class is and when you go to church. 

On Tuesday Ryan asked Grandma H. several times what day it was. Grandma answered him several times, but after about the third time she said, "Yesterday was Monday, so what is today?" 

Ryan thought about it for a moment then answered, "I know what day it is! It's 'I Love You Day'! "

I think everyone needs a spontaneous "I Love You Day," don't you?

My Little Pooh Bear

Grandma and Grandpa H. took a little trip last weekend and, like many grandparents would, they brought back souvenirs for the boys. In addition to t-shirts (which Ryan insisted on wearing right away), each boy got a little something extra. Wesley got a book of word puzzles, which is perfect for him. Ryan got a little honey bear. It's the one on the right in the picture.

See, isn't a cute little honey bear? But allow me to let you in on a little secret - the honey in it is a refill. Ryan loves honey so much that he ate two honey sandwiches using the honey from his bear today and chugged the rest of it like he was doing honey shots. It hurts my teeth to even thing about guzzling honey like that, but apparently it didn't slow Ryan down at all.

Um....yum?

Secret Identity

Wesley has been all about super heroes lately. He even wants to be one when he grows up. He has said he is going to be Anything Man, but I have come up with a new hero identity for him.

Sunday evening, while the kids were in the next room, Duane and I cleaned off the bookshelf, put the kids books on the bottom shelf and some of my many many ARCs on the top shelf. The kids could see us working on the shelf, but still, Wesley must have walked by it a dozen times before exclaiming, "Hey! There are adult books on the top shelf of the kids bookshelf!"

Therefore I have dubbed him Captain Obvious - able to see the evident in a single glance!  Of course the flip side of the character would be Captain Oblivious - able to ignore what has happened less than ten feet away!

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.

When hearing my youngest child cry out for me in the middle of the night, I did not call back "Go to sleep, Ryan!" instead of getting up to check on him. That would have been selfish and not exactly nuturing.

I was not so tired one morning that it took me three tries to button my shirt correctly.

I was not incredibly, overwhelming flattered when two of my friends told me I look like a particular sitcom character. No way was it the best compliment I have gotten in a long, long time.

I certainly did not find myself telling the boys, "I don't want to hear anymore fart noises!" That would be fighting a losing battle in a house with two boys and a whoopie cushion.

Growing Up in Bits and Pieces

Wesley has been really throwing me for a loop lately. It's not just that I sometimes look at this kid who's all arms and legs and wonder whatever happened to my baby - although that's a big part of it. It's that he is such a big kid in so many ways, and such a little kid in others.

For example, this weekend Ryan has rediscovered "Dora the Explorer" and has stumbled upon a new Disney show called "Doc McStuffins." He loves them and we've watched more Dora in the last 48 hours than we have in the last 4-8 months!  Wesley, however, has turned his nose up at his first love (Dora) and has dismissed both shows as "baby shows." And by "dismissed" I mean "says he isn't going to watch them but watches them while pretending to do something else." We've had to tell him that they aren't baby shows and that he was watching Dora pretty regularly until he started kindergarten, but it doesn't seem to be changing his mind.

Last night Wesley asked me if he could call his friend. I told him he could not because it was starting to get late. "I could just text him," he said. WHAT!? Dude, you are six years old. I'm not letting you send texts to your school friends. Good grief.  He already wants his own iPad and a television in his room (neither of which we are getting him), but texting!?!  I think not!

The other thing that makes me realize how big Wesley is getting is that Mom is no longer one of the smartest people he knows. Never mind that I have a little bit of life experience on the kid and a Master's Degree to boot. Nope, judging my the eye rolls, sighs and cries of "Mo-om" that I get, I must be one of the least informed women on the planet. Seriously, this starts at age six now? I shudder to think what the teen years will be like.

And then it's like a switch is flipped and my little boy is back. Really, how big can a kid be if he needs his teddy bear and a night light every night (which I love)? He hasn't yet reached the point where he is embarrassed to hold his buddy Jack's hand, and he still lets me pick out his clothes.

Wesley is still such a sensitive soul, despite all the superhero stuff he has going on these days. He still needs a lot of reassurance and still tells me he loves me "all the way through the solar system." I hope some thing never, ever change.

He's a Little Dizzy

What is it with kids spinning around in circles?

Ryan has done this repeatedly this evening - except he did it while standing up straight and not on his side. Sorry about the lousy videographer. 

He finally landed in a heap.

Right after this picture he asked "Mommy, are you dizzy too?" 

I'd say "no" but I think some of my friends might disagree with me.

Just What the Doctor Ordered

My stress level has been a bit on the high side lately. I'm not really sure why although I think it has to do with four things 1) the school year is winding down for Wesley which means the PTA involvement is gearing up. We have two major events coming up in the next couple of weeks and I am helping with them both - not to mention a couple of side projects for the school as well. I love doing it and feel very strongly that I need to be doing it, but it does create stress 2) we are getting ready to put our house back up on the market, which means house projects 3) the summer looks like it might be a little crazy and I can't stop obsessing about it and 4) I am over my magic number of accrued vacation hours, which usually means I'm stressing at work too.

So to sum it up, I've been a little ball of stress. Fortunately, yesterday had the remedy to stress - physical labor and a night out with some of my besties.

My sainted father and stepmother came down yesterday to help me paint the dining room and living room. These folks are pros! With their help, we got two rooms completely painted (2 coats each) and the place is looking good. I cannot put into words how much their help meant to me. I love them both so very much and things like this.....well, it's just icing on the cake. They are amazing and kept me sane through the whole process. 

But the best part of all was going out with my girlfriends last night. Kate and Danna and I all used to work together and our kids are just about the same age. These are two of the ladies who know me best. They are the girlfriends I can confess all to, laugh with, cry to, and just be myself. Our night was going to be cheap Mexican food and margaritas, but we ended up going to a nice restaurant with excellent food and excellent martini. And it was perfect. I was so happy last night being just me, just one of the girls. It makes me wish we could get together more often, but when you take 3 moms who work full time + 5 kids between us, it = grab the opportunities when you can (and when your amazing hubby is willing to watch 4 of the 5 kids so you can have a girls night)

So today I feel  better than I have in ages. More relaxed, more in control and generally happier. And I thank God for putting such fabulous people in my life. You all mean the world to me!

You Can't See Me

Yesterday the boys were downstairs early and I let them get dressed in the living room. After they were dressed, there were pajamas and underwear strewn all over. I asked them to put their things in the hamper in the laundry room. Ryan surprised me by volunteering to take his things and Wesley's to the hamper.

While Ryan gathered the clothes, I ran upstairs to get something I had forgotten. As I was coming down the stairs, I heard the trash can lid close. When I entered the kitchen I saw Ryan coming out of the laundry room and a few pieces of trash on the floor.

"Ryan, did you put the clothes in the trash can at first?" I asked.

"No!" Ryan answered emphatically. "Besides, you didn't see me!"

Guess if no one sees it, it didn't happen,

What's For Lunch?

As I am sure is the case in a lot of families, we spend part of most weeknights packing lunches. I pack my lunch darn near every day and Wesley prefers to pack his lunch most of the time. The other night while Duane and I were gathering the lunch fixin's, Duane came up with the idea of packing a lunch for Ryan to take to Grandma's. Ryan recently uncovered/rediscovered a Hot Wheels lunch box handed down to him from his cousin, so it seemed like a good idea.

Ryan came into the kitchen and helped decide that would go in his lunchbox. We decided on a PB&J (no crust), baked chips, a juice box, some blackberries and a few mini oreos for dessert. Ryan was so excited to have a lunch box sitting in the fridge next to mine and Wesley's. Yes, everyone was happy - until the next morning.

When it was time to get the lunch boxes out I said something along the lines of "Here's Wesley's lunch box to take to school. Here's my lunch box to take to work and here's Ryan's lunch box to take to Grandma's." That's when Ryan whipped his head around and said, "No! Not to Grandma's! To school!"

Ooops! Apparently Ryan was so focused on the "packing lunch" part that he forgot or didn't hear the "take to Grandma's." It was not a pretty sight when he learned he wasn't going to school. He threw a true three-year-old tantrum which included throwing the lunch box across the kitchen. Thank goodness most lunch boxes are soft sided now.

Wesley was really good about helping talk Ryan out of his tree. "Ryan, you can play school at Grandma's when you pack your lunch. Grandma and I used to play school all the time and she's really good at it. And you still get to pack your lunch just like I do."

Believe it or not, that actually helped a great deal. Ryan calmed down, picked up his lunch box and was ready to go. When we got Grandma's he couldn't wait to show her what he had in his lunch box (and sample a few of the items as a second breakfast.) He ate every single bit of food that was packed - which is a minor miracle where Ryan is concerned. In fact, it was probably the most food he had eaten in a single sitting in a week! There might be something to this packed lunch thing after all.

Bad Mom Confession

Last week one of my friends posed a question on Facebook. She asked if, as a parent, you should tell your child when they aren't good at something they think they are good at. The verdict came down to not say anything - someone will break the child's heart soon enough if they really aren't good at it and it shouldn't be the parent.

I am trying to keep that "conversation" fresh in my head these days.

Wesley's school is going to have a talent show in May and auditions are coming up.Wesley wants to try out, which I think is great! His teacher thinks he's really quiet (hah!) so she is quite encouraging about him participating in the show.

I have absolutely no problem with him wanting to be in the talent show. My problem is with his "talent."

Wesley told jokes for the preschool talent show last year and he was really good at it. His timing was great and we had parents coming up to us for a couple of weeks afterwards telling us how good he was. This year Wesley wants to dance to "Party Rock Anthem". And if you've never seen my oldest son dance, well...... it isn't exactly pretty. And he is convinced he's really good at it.

I've tried to subtly change his mind about what to do for the talent show. Okay, truth be told, I'm subtle like a chainsaw. I mean, the Easter Bunny even brought him a new joke book. However, Wesley's mind is made up. He's going to audition with his dance.

So what have I done instead of being a super supportive mom? I have started to pretend the auditions aren't coming up. I don't talk about the talent show at all in hopes he'll forget about it. And I don't really know what my problem is. Am I afraid the other kids will laugh/make fun of him? Yes, a little, but really, his school is so tolerant of differences, that laughter probably isn't going to be an issue. Am I worried that I'll end up embarrassed? Yes, kind of - which makes me a completely bad mom. I think my biggest worry is that he'll try out and the people running the auditions will see what a bad dancer his is and not let him perform. I'm worried his fun-loving, "I'm great!" spirit will be crushed.

So while most of me is pretending that the talent show isn't coming up, a small part of me is preparing for it, just in case. I bought the Kidz Bop CD that has "Party Rock Anthem" on it so the song will not contain any questionable lyrics and will be a bit shorter than the regular version. I have started to think about what kind of costume he'd perform in. I've even started wondering where to get colored hairspray/gel for his 'do while he's performing.

Maybe I'm not quite as unsupportive as I think I am - but I still wish he'd tell jokes.

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 have not started telling my children that I am the mommy and as such they are not allowed to tell me "no."  That would be a complete mommy power trip.

I did not spend several minutes trying to figure out what was missing from my purse because it "felt too light." And I was not a little embarrassed to discover nothing was missing.

It's not the least bit embarrassing to realize your longest and most detailed blog post is the one about food. Nope, not at all.

I did not liberate all the bite-sized Butterfingers from the candy bowl in a single afternoon.

Demotion

Last night the boys were playing some kind of imaginary cat soccer in the living room and knocking things over. I finally turned to them and said, "You guys need to stop doing that."

"But we're playing ball!" Wesley protested.

"Well, I said to stop and I'm the mommy. Who's in charge here?" I replied.

Ryan didn't miss a beat before answering, "Daddy!"

Wesley Short Stories

Wesley asked me to put some music on in the van yesterday. "I don't care what the music is," he said. "I just want to listen to it while I look out the window and imagine things. That's what I do in the car."

**********************************************

After a trip to Target, I asked Wesley to please carry one of the bags into the house. He happily took the bag from me, then walked over to Ryan and said, "Here. Mom wants you to carry this."

All Day I Dream About Food

I am a self professed foodie. I am one of those people who wakes up and immediately starts to think about what I'm going to have for breakfast - and as soon as breakfast is over I immediately start to think about what I'm going to have for lunch.  I read TONS of food blogs, subscribe to at least five different food related magazines, watch Food Network day and night, and most of my pins on Pinterest have to do with food.

I often get food cravings and they don't go away until I give in to them. For a couple of weeks I was craving City BBQ, but we took care of that craving last weekend. Sometimes my cravings are for big ol' greasy burgers, sometimes it's for something crisp and fresh. Just depends.

Yesterday on the way to work I had the sudden craving to go to McDonald's and get a bacon, egg and cheese biscuit. I totally blame Clinton Kelly for this craving because of something he said on The Chew recently.  I managed not to drive straight to the golden arches, but now that blasted biscuit is in my mind and I'm pretty sure I will succumb to the grease fest sometime in the next week.

Since my mind jumps around and I have many "Oh, look! A chicken!" moments, I spent the rest of the drive thinking about some of the best food I've eaten - things that always make my mouth water when I recall them; the things I could happily eat for my last meal on earth. So I've decided to share them with you. Grab a snack and read on.

Amish Country Breakfast - When I was in high school I took a camping trip with my mom and stepdad in Pennsylvania. We went to Gettysburg, Hershey and though Amish country. We stopped a farmer's market and bought some fresh brown eggs and some sausages to fix for breakfast in the morning. Now it is already a well known fact that my mom makes the best scrambled eggs in the world, but these eggs, scrambled over the campfire, along with the juicy sausages and campfire coffee made up one of the best breakfasts I have ever had. Just good, simple food.

My next three foods to share are all foods I experienced in my former life (aka my first marriage). They are also all foods I had at a Disney property. If you have never dined at a Disney restaurant, you are really missing out. The food is just one reason I am so anxious for this summer's trip to get here.

My favorite place to stay at Walt Disney World is the Port Orleans Resort. It is designed to make you feel like you are in the French Quarter in New Orleans and since I've always wanted to go to New Orleans, this is the perfect compromise. When staying there in 1996, I had a breakfast "appetizer" of strawberries with brown sugar and cream. I know. I know. Strawberries with brown sugar and cream. Big deal. Oh, but it was! So perfectly sweet and delicious and even though I can easily make it at home, it never compares to that first dish of it.

Fast forward a few years to 2000, when he-who-shall-not-be-named and I took a Disney Cruise. The cruise itself was amazing and the food was out of this world. One of my favorite dishes was, again, an appetizer. It was at the Animator's Palate restaurant on the ship and contained three of my favorite ingredients - duck, goat cheese and carbs. It was a duck breast and goat cheese flatbread. Excuse me, I think I just drooled on the keyboard. After returning from the cruise, I tried for weeks to get Disney to give me the recipe, but I didn't have any luck. It's one of those foods I fear I will never get to eat again.

The other food that really stands out for me on the cruise was actually a meal - a cookout on the beach at Cast Away Cay (Disney's private island). I don't know if it was the combination of the sun, a day swimming, or what, but that cookout was some of the best food I've ever eaten - especially the fruit. Oh my word......the fruit. Fresh pineapples, mangoes and papayas, cut right in front of you while you stand in the warm sand, their juices dripping on your bare toes. Hands down the best fruit I have eaten in my entire life.

Time to leave my former life behind and move on to 2004, when I married the love of my life, Duane. We went to Mohonk Mountain House for our honeymoon. It was gorgeous and one of the very best weeks of my life. The food at Mohonk rivals food at some of the fanciest restaurants, but the one dish that really stands out in our memory is the house made venison sausage and pasta dish I ordered at dinner one night. It was slightly sweet, not gamey at all, and totally delicious.  Duane didn't even order it, and he still talks about it after only one bite. Honeymoon or not, I was not parting with more than a bite of that sausage!

Mohonk is situated about 30 minutes away from the CIA. No, not the Central Intelligence Agency. The important CIA - the Culinary Institute of America. We drove there one day and I was in foodie heaven. We watched a pastry class through a window, strolled the halls and visited the student bookstore which was filled with cookbooks and cooking utensils. I was so happy I cried. I also teared up when I bit into a Mudslide cookie at the bakery there. Chocolate coffee heaven in cookie form. I have the recipe for them, but haven't made them yet. One day.....

Let's move on to my culinary crush: Michael Symon. I love him. I love how he laughs. I love how personable he is. I love how he works hard to represent Ohio and Cleveland in a good way.  While I haven't had the chance to eat at either Lola or Lolita yet, I did get to visit B Spot last year on the way home from a conference in Cleveland. Yes, the burgers were fantastic, but the thing I dream about is the potato chips with Parmesan rosemary fondue.  I could eat a lot of those!!!! Of course, my thighs wouldn't like it nearly as much as my mouth would. 

My favorite work related conference is held in NYC. While I am not a huge fan of the city that never sleeps, I certainly cannot deny that it is a food lover's paradise. On my last trip, paradise took the form of sushi from Blue Fin restaurant at the W Hotel in Times Square. Unfortunately the sushi I fell in love with was on an appetizer platter and I don't even know what it was called. I ate more than my fair share of it that night just so I could carry the memory with me. It was like a food one night stand.

Finally, we come to my current favorite food indulgence. Duane and I have a favorite grown up date night restaurant not too far from our house. For those of you in Central Ohio, Third and Hollywood is owned by the same people that own Northstar Cafe. It's upscale casual, the customer service is out of this world and the food is so so so good. We've taken friends and family there. We go there for romantic dinners. It's kind of become our place. On our last visit I tried the prosciutto wrapped roasted dates with almonds and goat cheese. One bite had my eyes rolling back in my head and a moan escaping my lips. They were that good.

So, are you hungry yet? 'Cause I sure am!

His Brother's Teacher

Wesley has taken on a new project. He has decided that Ryan needs to learn how to read before starting preschool in the fall and, of course, he feels that he is Ryan's perfect teacher. So far they have worked on word recognition on the Starfall website and Wesley has created a chart of his word wall words from school for Ryan to practice with.

It sounds really sweet doesn't it? Unfortunately, Wesley is not the most patient of teachers and believes that just because Ryan read some of the words, he should be able to read all of them. It's almost like Wesley believes a magic reading switch has been thrown and suddenly Ryan can read everything. If only it worked that way.

I really applaud Wesley's effort and desire to teach his brother how to read - I just hope they both survive it!

Sweet Dreams

I always wonder what is going on my children's heads. Ryan has been dreaming a lot lately and the things he says when he wakes up are so cute. 

There is a new playground being built near Grandma and Grandpa H's house and Ryan cannot wait for it to be done. Whenever we drive past he checks to see if it is ready to be played on. Ryan must have been dreaming about it the other night because when he woke up he came into our bedroom and said, "I went to the new playground and went down the green slide and it had flowers growing all over it!" 

I made the mistake of saying, "That sounds like such a nice dream."

"It's not a dream!" Ryan insisted. "I went there!"

Okay, honey. Sure you did.

Tuesday morning I had to wake Ryan up to get ready for the day.  I sat down on the bed, rubbed his back and shook him gently. Ryan rolled over, looked at me and said, "But Mom, I don't want to see the Easter Bunny today."

I guess he still had Easter on the brain. Don't worry though, I didn't force him to go see the Easter Bunny. He went to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa instead.

Faces Only a Mother Could Love

So I downloaded a new photo app on my iPad and we're having a lot of fun playing with it.

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 want Duane to yank Wesley's loose tooth out because I was too squimish to do it myself and I was getting grossed out by it wiggling so much.

I was not embarrassed to discover that I kind of like canned cream cheese frosting since I am a bit of a food snob and profess to hate any frosting except buttercream.

I was not tempted to do cartwheels in celebration after my kids ate (at least part of) their cheese quesadillas for dinner one night without complaint!

I certainly did not ask my stepdad to help me duct tape over the holes in the bottom of Wesley's backpack just because there is no way on Earth that I was going to buy him a new backpack with only eight weeks of school left.

Happy Easter

It was another busy, but fun, holiday for the W. household. We started off with a visit from the Easter Bunny at our house. The bunny treated the boys REALLY well.

Ryan with his bunny loot. Doesn't he look like he's trying to decide where to dig in first?

The Easter Bunny brought Wesley an animal joke book. We got to hear knock knock jokes all day long!

After going through our baskets at home, we went to church for a great service, then stopped by Grandma and Grandpa H.'s for a little visit.

My little Easter hams

A rousing game of "Hi Ho Cherry-O" was played.

Yea, I got this!

Me and my mom!

From there, we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa P.'s for our Easter dinner and more fun!

Awww....isn't he cute?

Those aren't bunny ears!

Wesley reading his joke book to Grandpa P.

Looking for those eggs.

Ryan with his Rubik's Cube

Chocolate covered strawberry heaven.

Hope you all had a wonderful, blessed Easter!

A Three-Year-Old's Logic

The following conversation took place one hour after dinner last night.

Ryan: Daddy, can I have some Froot Loops?

Daddy: Nope. You didn't eat your dinner.

Ryan: But they're fruit!

Daddy: No, they're not.

Ryan: But they taste like fruit!

Nice try, kid.

Whole New Meaning to Personal Shopper

Fair warning: this post talks about underwear. My underwear. If this makes you uncomfortable for any reason, stop reading now.

Being a parent means that sometimes you have to drag your child/children along when you run errands. I try not to take both of them with me most of the times, but usually errands with just one child aren't too bad. Usually.

Yesterday I found myself in the position of needing to buy some new bras when I had Ryan in tow. Luckily Grandma H. was also with us, so it wasn't as difficult as it could have been, but the experience was still not exactly a picnic. I needed to be fitted again, which meant trying on several styles of bras and I knew the process would take a while.

Overall, Ryan was very patient while I had my fitting and tried things on before settling on a couple that were comfortable. Then I decided to get a couple of different colors as well. Ryan was absolutely determined to help me select my new underwear. He kept showing me this HUGE electric blue bra and insisted that was the one I should get. When I turned that down, he fixated on a black and white leopard print one.

And can I just tell you, it's really weird to have your three year old son walking through the lingerie department, picking out bras for you.  But not nearly as weird as it is when you are paying for your underwear purchases and the same three year old son decides to announce loudly that he needs to check his ... parts. 

Yeah, not embarrassing at all. Especially not when the saleslady starts laughing and says she can't wait to tell her coworkers about your son. 

It might be awhile before Ryan gets to go shopping with me again.

Number 1 on Speed Dial

I knew that when Wesley started Kindergarten, there would be a lot a changes in our lives. What I didn't anticipate was how often I would get phone calls from the nurses at school. I'm starting to think they have me on speed dial.

This year I have received the "your child choked in the lunchroom and we had to do the Heimlich Maneuver on him" call, the "your child is running a fever" call, the "your child is complaining of a sore throat" call, the "your child fell and hit his head on the playground" call, and the "your child threw up" call. Some of them more than once!

I'm shocked we haven't had the "your child has a bloody nose" phone call because he gets those sometimes. Oh, and when he got smacked in the face on accident we got a note sent home rather than a phone call.

I got another "your child threw up" call today. Fortunately he felt fine and wanted to stay at school. Turns out that someone else's lunch grossed him out and caused him to lose his own lunch. Wesley can get all gaggy just looking at a bowl of oatmeal, so that doesn't surprise me too much. But it was still a lot of fun to explain to the nurse that my kid is just pukey.  Good thing Ryan has a stronger stomach.

Mean Ol' Mommy

I am the first to admit that I am a mean mommy. Well, maybe the second since Wesley would be pretty darn quick to tell you how mean I am. Yesterday morning he even asked me, "Why are you mean every day?"

"How am I mean?" I asked.

"You always tell us not to do stuff and to eat our dinner when we don't like it," he answered.

I was a little miffed, so I asked, "What about all the other stuff? Who brought home a movie for you to watch last night? Who lets you sleep in their bed and snuggle? Who helps you with your homework?"

Wesley thought for moment before answering, "Maybe you're not always mean."  Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence there kid.

Believe it or not, the conversation actually went downhill from there. Wesley then informed me that he would rather live with his grandparents.

Even though I knew I'd regret it, I went on to ask, "Why do you want to live with Grandma and Grandpa?"

"Every since you moved the toy boxes to our rooms there are no good toys downstairs. The only things I like to do downstairs now are read my books, play on the computer or watch tv. And you won't let me have a tv in my room. But Grandma and Grandpa have good toys everywhere, so I want to live with them," Wesley replied.

Now I am a little embarrassed to admit that being called mean and then being told that my oldest child wanted to go live with his grandparents within the space of five minutes did kind of hurt my feelings. Wesley must have been able to read it on my face because he came up and hugged me and said, "Don't worry, Mom. It's not because of you that I want to live somewhere else."

Like that's supposed to be encouraging.  Someone needs to tell this kid to quit when he's ahead.

Cats, Not Kids

Time to give a little blog love to our first three "children"

Gus!

Sweet Sadie Rose

Stretch cat

Look at those sweet paws

Sanders the thinker

Buddies. At least sometimes.

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 take my iPod out of my work bag, start to put it "away" somewhere and think "I'll never remember where I put it if I leave it here" and then left it there anyhow. And there's no way I still haven't found it.

I did not tear up when my girls night out had to be rescheduled due to someone being sick.

I certainly did not have a total fan girl moment with the food blogger who judged the Edible Books contest at the library. And it was not embarrassing at all.

There is no way I encouraged Duane to take our oldest son to Target when the tornado sirens were going off. Although, if I had it was only because all the news stations said that the danger was in the extream NE part of the county and nowhere near where we live.