Big Storm and The Stinky Cheese Man

A nasty nasty storm blew through central Ohio last night, causing power outages all over the place. We were lucky and our power did not even flicker. Let me tell you, with the heat index over 100 today, I am counting our blessings.

Of course, just because we lucked out with the rainstorm, doesn't mean we missed out on the storm that arguing brothers cause. Last night they had a fight over a book. Wesley's new favorite book is "The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales" by Jon Scieszka. It's funny (although I'm not sure he gets all the humor) and it does take a pretty long time to read aloud. Wesley wanted me or Duane to read it to him, but we were up to our elbows in dirty dishes at the time, so he decided to read it silently.  Ryan wanted to hear the book too, but Wesley was not in the mood to read out loud.

"Ryan! I just want to read the book quietly in my mind and relax!"  he shouted.

I may not agree with the shouting, but I certainly agree with the sentiment.

Trying to Beat the Heat

We met up with some friends at a park downtown this morning before the heat got too unbearable. I was a little disappointed that the park canceled the inflatables due to the heat, but the kids still had a pretty good time.

After playing at the park for awhile, we headed down the street to let the kids play in the big fountains. They got SOAKING wet, but it sure felt good on this hot day. Why are there no picture from the fountains? Because I was too busy playing too!

Gaming Old School

The boys have been enjoying some of the "simpler things in life" these days. We have a Wii and an iPad and all kinds of electronics, but the thing that is keeping the boys attention these days is an old school Nintendo like this one.

And they LOVE it! They love playing Battletoads against each other and with their dad, and Duane and I love hearing this.

When the Stars Align

If this post had a theme song it would be "Perfect Day" from Phineas and Ferb. Yesterday was easily the best day I have had this summer. Yes, I know technically summer only started a week ago, but I count it as the time since school let out for Wesley.

What made yesterday so special?  It wasn't anything major - unless you count the fact that my children behaved all day long as something special. They were polite to each other for the most part. They listened to me. The behaved in front my visiting aunt and uncle. They were just a joy to be around.

We didn't really do anything out of the ordinary. We took Ryan to swim class. We visited relatives and I let the boys "drive" in the subdivision. We went to Sonic for lunch and I let them order slushies and milkshakes with their food. We stopped by Grandma and Grandpa H.'s.  They played with toys together. It was just a wonderful, relaxing day. 

Almost makes me want to be a stay at home mom - but only when the stars align just like this!

Cannoli Kids

Funny, they behave so much better this way.

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 am not slightly annoyed that my cat suddenly seems to prefer Duane over me.

I was not horrified to learn that Ryan shut one of our cats in his toybox. And there's no way I was even more relieved that Wesley rescued the cat and tattled on his brother.

There is no way Wesley said "Dammit!" after dropping his stuff in the grass. Even if he did, we certainly didn't tell him that he could use any of Thor's sayings from Super Hero Squad instead of cuss words. Could be interesting.

I did not ignore my husband's warnings about heading down a steep bank into a ravine with sandals on and end up sliding down the last part of the path on my stomach. And I certainly didn't feel the need to confess he was right just because I was worried he'd notice the scrapes on my knees, elbow and stomach.

Is the Doctor In?

Ryan is my rough and tumble boy and he says he wants to be The Thing when he grows up. But even tough guys have a soft side and Ryan's soft spot these days is for Doc McStuffins.  It's a really cute show on Disney Jr. about a little girl who wants to be a doctor when she grows up and practices on her stuffed animals and other toys that are broken or hurt. Of course, her magic stethoscope brings the toys to life when it's time for their checkup. Ryan loves the songs too, and as I type this he is singing "Do what the doctor, do what the doctor says!"

We are having a Disney Jr. character breakfast when we go to Disney World later this summer, and even though I know Doc McStuffins is probably too new of a character, I really hope she makes an appearance. I mean, the show is the #1 most watched preschool series launch in cable TV history - is a character appearance too much to ask?  I know it is probably too soon since the series just premiered in March, but a mommy can hope, can't she. It would put his Disney vacation over the top. But I know better to say anything to him, just in case.

In the meantime, we have lots of episodes to watch!

Another Busy One

I am starting to thing it will be a miracle if I survive the summer. I thought working two nights a week would give me a bit of a break, but instead I'm starting to feel like I don't know which way is up. On the bright side, I am getting to do a lot of different things with the kids.

Yesterday we started the morning with (another) trip to the vet. Our cat Sadie is has some sort of infection and they are trying to get it all figured out.  After the vet, we headed up to the zoo for some animals, playtime and a picnic.  We hung out for about 3 hours and had a pretty good time.

The boys got an up close view of the tiger

Climbing on the tiger statue

Wesley riding the warthog (I love alliteration)

After the zoo we went to the park for awhile - just in case they had any excess energy they still needed to burn off.

Ryan on the "warped leaves." Maybe we're letting him watch a little too much Ninja Warrior

My little mountain climber

And just in case all that wasn't enough, we met up with Duane's cousin and his wife for dinner. Unfortunately, I didn't get to actually talk to them much - each of the boys had to go to the bathroom twice and Wesley ended up getting sick while we were there (thankfully, in the bathroom). We're pretty sure he was just overly hungry and ate too fast. Speaking of eating, Ryan ate a ton of fried jalapeno coins - just sliced, fried jalapenos. Yep, he's my kid!

Ryan Ramblings

Ryan is cracking me up these days. Check out some of the randomness that has popped out of his mouth lately.

• "I remember when I was borned."
• "There's an app store on my finger"  I never did figure out what he meant by this.
• "I always wanted to be in a magazine someday."
• "Pandas don't eat fire."

Seriously, where does he come up with this stuff?

Splashing on the North Bank



We decided to beat the heat and the crowds, but visiting North Bank Park this morning. We had the whole place to ourselves!! It was a great way to cool off for awhile.



What Little Boys Are Made Of

What are little boys made of? Frogs, water, dirt, rocks, and sweetness

There was a frog in Grandma and Grandpa P.'s pool. The boys named it "Hoppy"

Wesley played his best game of tee ball ever tonight! I was really proud of him. He's come such a long way in a month and a half! He might even be starting to enjoy it. For Ryan the best part of tonight's game was heading down into the ravine near the ball diamonds. It's the same ravine Uncle Kirk and I used to creek and catch frogs in. I was more than happy to take Ryan down in it for awhile.

Ryan loved throwing rocks in the creek. The bigger the better!

There was a girl in the creek at the same time we were there. She was probably 10 or 11 and Ryan kept trying to impress her with the rocks he could pick up and calling "Hi, Girl!"

He was really excited to show her the worm he found after picking up a really big rock

Passing the time between innings.

 

Just....wow.  Wesley never gets dirty like this.

Ryan guarding the tee ball snacks. Hey, there were homemade rice crispy treats in there!

Gimme a Smooch

The other day Ryan stretched out on the couch, put his hands behind his head and said, "Okay Mommy, do what you always do!"

"What do I always do?" I asked.

"Gimme like a thousand kisses!" he grinned back.

And really, who am I to argue with a request like that?

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 get a perfect score on this test in which identify unwrapped candy bars. And I wasn't equally proud and embarrassed by that fact.

There is no way on earth that I made an impulse purchase of a peach pie. I mean, who does that?

I did not spit clean Ryan. Nope. Didn't happen.

My Little Dingalings

Today was the 125th anniversary of our church. As part of the celebration, a big part of the service was a play depicting the church's history. The video below is from the "talent show" section of the play. The kids from the small group Duane and I joined played a song on the bells. Now, all the other kids have done this before, but it was Wesley and Ryan's first time. I don't think they did too badly for all of five minutes practice.  I'm awfully proud of my little dingalings.

Total Boy Day

It's been a totally boy kind of day in the W. household today.  We started off with tee ball, bright and early at 8:30.  Wesley is really improving with his hitting and was even the lead off batter today. Now if only he'd run to first base, instead of mosey, we might have the beginnings of a ball player. But at least there haven't been any more tears.

Wesley in "ready position" for the game

Here's the thing I don't get about tee ball. We have one child playing on the team, but the other child comes home absolutely filthy!  Ryan spends the entire time looking for bugs, making smoke (picking up the dirt and letting it blow away), and generally kicking and digging in the dirt.

Ryan's "ready position"

I also think it's cute how there is always snack time right after the game and that Ryan (who once again, does not play on the team) always manages to finagle a snack.

Apparently Wesley had a very important call to make on his banana-phone

From tee ball, we headed to a barber shop that my friend recommended to get the boys hair cut. Let me tell you, Ryan has never had a better cut! His hair is extremely thin and fine and the barber did an excellent job with it.  We'll be going back there for sure! We even ran into another tee ball teammate there.

Once we got home, I started the Father's Day baking extravaganza and Duane helped out while his buddy installed a new air conditioner in our house.  Ryan was absolutely enthralled with Mr. Mike and would not leave the poor man alone. Good thing Mike likes kids! Ryan even drew a picture for him and Mike promised he'd hang it on the refrigerator at his house. What a great guy.

Bragging on My Boy

Sometimes Wesley just astounds me with the things he knows. 

Yesterday some friends came over for a playdate. Wesley was very anxious for them arrive and kept asking me when they'd be here.  When I told him that we still had two hours before they came over he said, "120 minutes!?!?"  The kid can't tell time, but he knows that two hours is 120 minutes? Weird.

And just a few minutes ago Wesley handed me a picture of the solar system that he drew. "This is the sun and the moon and earth and the red one is Mars and that's the ice planet and there's Saturn, but I forgot to draw Venus."  Again how does he know these things? I'm pretty sure they didn't cover it in Kindergarten and I know he didn't learn it from me.

Jumping Scrapes

I feel like the blog has been very heavy on Ryan stories lately, but I can't help it, he's just too cute at this age! 

Being the mom of two boys, I have learned that once the shorts go on for the season, the legs become covered in scrapes, cuts and bruises for the rest of the summer. At no time will either of them have clear, healthy looking legs until it's time to unearth the long pants again. 

Apparently Ryan has also noticed this phenomenon, but he isn't quite sure what to make of it. He notices a scrape on his leg, will ignore it for a few days and then notice a new scrape in a different place after the first one has healed. Ryan has new theory for what's going on - he isn't getting new scrapes, the original ones are jumping around on his legs. He has jumping scrapes.

I asked him if he had jumping bruises too, but he empatically told me that only scrapes can jump.  Silly mommy.

It's Snot Funny

Today Ryan said to me, "Mom, remember when I was reading a book and I sneezed and some boogers flew out of my nose onto the book?"

I laughed and said that I did remember.

"IT WASN'T FUNNY!" Ryan hollered at me.

Somewhat chastised I answered, "You're right. It was really gross...but it was a little funny too."

Ryan thought for a second and then said, "Yeah, I guess it was," before starting to giggle.

And here I thought boogers were always funny to three year olds.

Bring on Summer

I love this picture of Ryan even though you can't see his face. In so many ways it's the perfect summer picture to me. He's got his backpack full of gear for adventures. He's got his (dad's) baseball hat and a pair of sunglasses on. There's a band aid looking thing on his leg and he's reading a book. If this kid isn't ready for summer, I don't know who is!

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 correct my child and make sure he was spelling "butt" correctly.

I did not manage to bake brownies, make pancakes and grill steak without getting anything on my brand new never worn before white shirt, only to get stuff on it while making a sandwich.

I did not buy my boys lunch in the hospital cafeteria as a "treat."

There is no way I spent seven dollars on an app for my iPad just because it's done by one of my favorite children's authors. And I wasn't thoroughly relieved when the boys ended up loving it.

What Was That!?!?

Duane and I asked Wesley to remove his shirt before eating dinner. Yes, I know that is kind of backwards of what is considered polite, but we had pizza for dinner and lately Wesley doesn't seem capable of eating without ending up with a fair amount of food on his clothes.

After dinner, Wesley looked down at his bare little boy chest and said, "You know, I should not wear a shirt more often!"  Guess he liked what he saw.

But the part that left me speechless was after dinner. I was in the kitchen and Wesley the shirtless passed me to head up stairs - and he gave me a swat on the rear end as he passed!!!

Seriously!? What was that!?!?!

Summer Saturday

I had to work yesterday, but the boys and Duane had a busy, nice summer Saturday. It started with an early morning tee ball game (which I got to see about 10 minutes of before heading to work) and continued with a graduation party for a cousin. 

The graduate, B., is actually the oldest daughter of Duane's cousin. They live about 45 minutes away and we don't get to see them often so the boys don't really know them. But that didn't keep Ryan from being totally infatuated with B. before the party started. All Friday evening he carried around her picture from the announcement and talked about going to see her.

They swam and jumped on a trampoline and had a great time. I am so sorry I missed it.

I had wanted to take the boys to a nearby park for an outdoor movie last night, but they seemed a little tuckered out. We stayed home and watched "Finding Nemo" instead.

Well, Ryan made it through most of the movie

Strawberry Summer

Wesley has been out of school for one week now, which means in my mind we were overdue to go strawberry picking. We met up with his best buddy, his little brother and his mom and headed into the fields. Wesley lasted about 5 minutes before he started whining (and annoying me to no end), but we ended up with a nice big basket of berries.



And what are we going to do with all those strawberries? Well, I have cut up a bunch to have as brownie/ice cream/strawberry sundaes tonight. I plan on having a big strawberry milkshake tomorrow and I think I'll try this recipe in my donut maker.  Of course, I'll have to fight the boys for the strawberries. They have both eaten an obscene amount of them and passed the last half hour just like this.

The New Routine

Tonight I did something really strange. Something I haven't done in about four years. I worked a closing shift at work (I know, don't hate me my librarian friends).  I am so fortunate to have a job where the hours can be flexible if needed and a supervisor who is willing to make that happen for me a couple of days a week during my mom's recovery. I hated not seeing Duane much today, but I LOVED getting so much done at work. And since it's still light out at 9:00, it didn't feel dark and depressing driving home.

The boys were thrilled when I got home. We went outside together to catch fireflies (thank goodness for no real bedtime tonight) and both the boys pretended to think the sparkles on my skirt were fireflies at some point. Very cute.

The only part that was less than cute was when Ryan looked at me and said, "Now you work until bedtime!?"  I think he's glad our new normal is only temporary.

Game One

Wesley had his first real tee ball game tonight. I thought it went very well overall, but the last time Wesley's team was up to bat, he was in tears. I went to over to see what was wrong, and he told me he was upset because he wasn't good at the game.

I tried to give him a mommy pep-talk and told him that he hit the ball every time and got to first base and was in ready position when he was in the outfield, so I was very proud. It didn't make a bit of difference. Some of his teammates even came over and told him he was doing a great job, but he was having a really rough time shaking it off.  The last inning was really difficult for him.

When the game was over he walked to the car totally dejected. His buddy kept telling Wesley to keep practicing and that he was getting better. I asked Wesley what he wanted to practice and get better at and he answered, "All of it!"

I think part of the problem is that Wesley doesn't like to do things he doesn't think he's good at. He'd rather quit than practice but we told him that he is part of a team and he is not allowed to let his team down by quitting. I think part of the problem might have been hunger. Like his mommy, Wesley gets "hangry" (hungry/angry) if he doesn't eat and since the game was at 6:30, all he had eaten was some fruit.

Of course, the real reason came out at home. Wesley was tagged out at first base during the second inning (not that outs really count since everyone gets to bat every time).  The kid covering first did a little sports trash talk and said, "I was here first, baby!" when Wesley got to the base.  Unfortunately, that totally shattered Wesley's ego.

He's completely over it now (he's eaten something substantial) and says that next time he "totally smoke that kid!" 

I hope the rest of the season lacks this drama - but we are going to get a tee and bat tomorrow so we can practice.

What Not to Wear - Hospital Style

I'm getting ready to head back to hospital to spend the night with my mom there. She had shoulder replacement surgery today and really wanted someone to be with her tonight when they turn the pain medicine block off. The surgery went really well, but she's been having some dizziness and nausea on top of the "regular" pain.

She's not in a private room and there is no room in there for a cot, so I'll be spending my night in a chair in the corner. I've got my yoga pants and a t-shirt on, comfy shoes, my hair pulled back in a ponytail and my makeup washed off. I'm all set for a night of whatever will pass for sleep at the hospital, but I'm sure I look rather frightening.

Please don't let me run into Clinton Kelly tonight.

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 hear a beep on the television, think it was the oven timer and get up to go check the cookies I was baking.

I do not think it is nine kinds of awesome that Ryan loves to watch American Ninja Warrior with me.

There is no way I offered to give our cat Sadie an oral pain-killer instead of offering to squirt her antibotic on a bowl of tuna just because I HATE the smell of canned tuna.

I certainly did not spend the evening feeling sick after we took a friend up on her offer to keep Wesley part of the day. And it certainly wasn't because I was so afraid he's be a little....monster for her and I'd lose my mommy friend.

Next on Animal Planet

We get an up close look at the habitat of the rare raisin-eating-blue-shelled house turtle.

Water Bed

We let Wesley live the dream last night and allowed him to sleep in the bathtub. I don't know why he wanted to do this so badly, but his buddy Colin slept in the tub a while back and apparently it stuck in Wesley's brain.

He made it all night (9 hours) in the tub and was perfectly pleasant when he woke up. Maybe there's something to this sleeping in the tub thing.