Saturday Stuff

Yesterday was just a good day. We met some friends at the park and went to get ice cream with them.

Then we spent the evening having a family movie night. We watched "The Wizard of Oz" and the original "Annie" movie.  The boys did really well through both of them. It was actually a really nice day.

Ryan Says

A quick observation from Ryan as he was getting dressed the other morning.

"Grown ups don't usually like it when you go commando."

In case you don't know, go commando = not wearing any underpants.

Um....I'm speechless.

Big Questions

In the course of twelve hours the boys asked me the following questions:

What does Heaven look like? (asked by Wesley)
   I told him that no one knows for sure, but that I imagine it is a wonderful and beautiful place.

Can God ever die? (asked by Ryan)
   Not sure I wanted to get God being three in one - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - with a four year old who probably was asking the question casually. I just told him that no, God can never die.

Will Sanders be in Heaven when we get there?  (asked by Wesley)
   My answer? That I really hope so. That Sanders was very special to me and I loved him dearly. I like to think that I'll see my kitty-boy again. But maybe there's a separate Heaven for animals (statement by Wesley)  Maybe. But whether Sanders is in people Heaven or an animal Heaven, I know he isn't in pain and he's happier than he's ever been.

Big questions from little guys.

A New Copyright

Wesley has been dutifully working on his many many books this summer. Not a day goes by when he doesn't write at least a chapter about the Family Cat Team.  He loves to show us his work, and while he certainly is prolific and creative, he isn't the neatest of writer. We have tried talking to him about spacing and writing in a straight line to no avail.

"Wesley, these are pretty hard to read," I told him. "Why don't you try writing a bit neater so it will be easier for everyone to enjoy your books?"

"Oh, don't worry Mom! When I grow up and become an author, I'm just going to copy these using the computer and people can read them then."

Trouble in Reading City

I had the boys sign up for the Summer Reading League at my library a couple of weeks ago. We've been very diligent about reading every day and checking the time off on their reading logs.

Just before bedtime Sunday night Wesley looked at me with a guilty look in his eyes.

"Mom, something really really bad happened," he told me.

Now, we had been together as a family all day, and I couldn't think of anything out of the ordinary that had happened. Still, I asked "What happened?"

Wesley looked away from me and said, "I don't think I want to say. It's really bad."

"Wesley," I sighed. "I am your Mommy and you can tell me anything. If it's something really bad, you need to tell me so we can work together to try and make it right."

"OK. As long as you won't be mad."  Here Wesley took a deep breath as if to steady himself. "We didn't do our reading today," he blurted.

Seriously? That was the really bad thing? Well, I guess when Mommy is a librarian that might seem like the end of the world, but we all know it isn't. I assured him that it was fine and we would be sure to read on Monday. You'll be happy to know that I didn't report him to the SRL Police and no one ended up in Library Jail.

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama.

I did not accidentally try to put my phone away in my glasses case and got very frustrated when it didn't work.

There is absolutely no way I received a jury summons for the week I have taken off work to teach Vacation Bible School. And it certainly didn't go to our old address even though the Board of Elections has our current address. And I'm not begging for a postponement. 

I did not attempt to take a big drink out of a straw after having both sides of my mouth numbed at the dentist, thus causing me to drool and crack up the girl working at Dairy Queen. Nope. Never happened.

I did not freak out because I couldn't find the kitten and hadn't seen her for two hours. And after frantically searching the house, I did not find her contentedly sleeping under our bed.

The Love of a Little Boy

Tonight Ryan told me, "Mom, when I am nineteen I am going to drive you around to all the parks!" If he wants to drive me to every park in 50 mile radius when he's nineteen, I'll take him up on it in a heartbeat.

Even if it means we're on the back of a motorcycle.

Hey, we are talking about Ryan

Pool Boys

We decided to celebrate the first day of summer by using a free family pass we had to a local pool. Aunt Cathy, Sho, and Kei met us there and we spent the evening swimming.

Checking out the splash pad

Ryan checks things out in his own way

Kei shows them how it's done

Ryan braving the kids pool

He looks right at home

Sho took great care of Wesley in the pool since Wesley can't swim

A happy Kei

My three favorite guys

\

Sho and Kei play water basketball

What a team!

Rest break

A cold and tired boy

A very prune-y and large Wesley foot proves we had a great time

Summer Shirt

Ryan chose to wear this summery Hawaiian print shirt today to celebrate the first day of summer. The shirt is a little small, and I will probably retire it after today, but he was so excited to wear it. He started the day by saying "Aloha, cousin!" to everyone.

The best part of Ryan and the shirt was as we were walking into the grocery store.  "All the girls will think I'm one handsome man," he told me. 

"They sure will!" I agreed.

"I think I'd better hide behind you then."

Yeah, wouldn't want to cause a riot at Kroger or anything.

More Pinterest Parenting

I took another parenting cue from Pinterest today. Last night I froze several of the boys action figures in big blocks of ice. This morning I told them that Mr. Freeze had broken in and frozen the heroes, so the Family Cat Team (Wesley's imaginary team of hero cats) needed to come to the rescue. At my suggestion boys grabbed their squirt guns and headed outside.

At first Ryan was kind of put out by the whole thing. He was annoyed that the figures were in ice and was annoyed by the Mr. Freeze ploy. I finally confessed that I froze the action figures, only to be scolded "You should not have done that, Mom!" Of course, then he demanded to see my freeze gun.

One Wesley started working on freeing Captain America though, Ryan joined right in.

It was pretty simple way to keep the boys busy for a good half hour. They enjoyed it enough to ask me to freeze some more heroes for them to rescue tomorrow.  Plus there was ice to eat!

Pinterest, Picnic and a Pretty Good Day

Last week I spent three days home with the kids and was about ready to pull my hair out. I think maybe I just needed to get back in the swing of being home all day with them, because today went much more smoothly.

Right after breakfast we headed to the library so the boys could pick out their books for the week and get their first prize for the Summer Reading League. They were so excited to pick out their puzzle erasers and equally excited to pick out their books. Wesley is still going strong on the "Magic Tree House" books and has recently discovered the "Stink" books. Ryan is all about the "Elephant and Piggie" books and pretty much cleaned the shelves of them.

After library time, I decided to try something I saw on Pinterest. Yes, I am a Pinterest addict. This activity was making sprayable sidewalk chalk. It's just food coloring, flour and water.

The boys did a number on the driveway, then we got some paper and made "marbled" pictures.

 

By the time finished emptying the spray bottles twice, it was almost time to drop Ryan off at Safety City.  While he worked on traffic signs and playground safety, Wesley and ran errands and decided to have a picnic in the park for our lunch.

I have to admit, it was pretty darn nice to have a kid who wanted to sit and talk with me on the blanket or sit in a tree.  It went so well that we had a second picnic in the front yard with Ryan after Safety City. And the best part of the day?  The boys decided to walk over to Grandpa H.'s and pay him a little visit since Grandma is out of town - which meant I had nearly 45 minutes to myself before heading into work.

I could really get used to days like today.

What Daddy Does

Yesterday evening we took my van out to our brother-in-law's place to have something fixed. I was following Duane in a second car, so we'd have something to drive home.

Now while I try very hard to set a good example for the boys when I'm driving (not texting or blasting music or the like), I'm not always the most patient driver. The boys and I ended up behind a rather pokey driver and my impatience came out. "Come on, person! DRIVE!" I semi-yelled.

"That's not what Daddy says when he drives," Ryan said.

"It's not?" I asked.

"Nope!" Wesley said. "He says bad words."

I know full well that Duane is not one to say bad words in front of the boys, that honor is usually reserved for me, so I asked, "What does Daddy say?"

"I can't say because they're bad words," Wesley told me.

"I am giving you permission to say them just this once. What does he say?" I prompted.

"He says 'stupid driver'" Wesley finally confessed.

"And 'jerk!'" Ryan piped up.

Oh my. Such filthy language (she said sarcastically) They should hear what I say when I'm in the car by myself. On second thought. It's probably better if they don't.

Quick Father's Day Story

I feel like I let Duane down on Father's Day. He made Mother's Day so wonderful and special for me and I just don't feel like I did the same for him. Of course we had to teach Sunday School and I also had to work on Father's Day, so that did kind of cut into things.

I do want to tell you all about Duane's Father's Day gift that the boys picked out. Wesley and Ryan decided that Daddy needed a cross to wear. In fact, they were adamant about it. They agreed on a black and silver one with a small stone in the center. It makes me so happy that the boys decided on their own that Duane needed a cross.  That they can see that Duane is a man who serves, worships and loves God. That they want others to see it too.  Seeing that was a gift to me.

Along the same lines, Ryan wants a cross of his own. He wanted the same one we got Duane, but it was just too big for a little guy. We might have to look for one for Ryan for his birthday.

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama.

I did not tell my kids that if they continued to fight, I'd kick them out of the house and force them to play outside for a while. And I certainly didn't make good on my promise.

There is no way I gave let Ryan finish my iced coffee, figuring that since we were headed to a trampoline place, he'd bounce off any effects of the caffeine it contained.

I certainly did not tell Ryan that the police officer that showed up at Uncle Stacey's house (he's a very good friend of Uncle Stacey's) was looking for him. And there is no way he hid under a chair after I said that. 

Quick Recap

Well, despite the tone of yesterday's blog post I still have two children.

They were heavily punished for yesterdays misbehavior. In fact, when we got home from the park yesterday they went straight to their rooms. I took half an hour to calm down and have a little lunch. I felt a lot better after that, so I made Wesley and Ryan a no-frills lunch. When I called them downstairs and they sat at the table Wesley looked at his plate and said, "But I didn't want this for lunch."

I glared my most terrible mommy glare and said, "Do I look like I care what you want?"

He cleaned his plate without another word.

After lunch I grabbed a blanket and a book and sat in the yard under a tree for about an hour. I'm not sure the kids knew where I was, but I didn't hear any screaming or smell smoke, so I figured we were good. By the time they realized I was outside, I felt refreshed and the boys seemed much calmer.

The boys may have had to miss out on a park day and a sleepover, but we did go to a 90th birthday celebration for a close friend of the family, "Grandma" Sandi last night. I honestly cannot believe she is 90! Duane made a great cake for her too.

I had to work today, and I work tomorrow, so Duane had the boys. He also managed to work his rear end off around the house. We took my stepdad out to dinner for Father's Day since I won't get a chance to see him tomorrow.

I think it's going to be an early night for me though. I ate so much, my tummy looks like I'm about 6 months pregnant and I can't stop yawning. So until tomorrow, folks - good night!

Le Sigh

I hate it when things don't work out as planned and I have to be the mean (aka responsible) parent. I tried to take the boys to a park downtown today for their kids activities. The plan was to have pizza there, play on the inflatables, ride the carousel, have some ice cream and then go play in the fountains. The reality was that we never even made it out of the pizza line because the boys could not stop fighting with one another and I drove them home.

So now, instead of enjoying a fun and beautiful day, we are stuck at home. No pizza. No ice cream. No fountains. No fun.

The real kicker is that I was looking forward to it at least as much as the kids were, so it's almost like I'm punishing myself.

Pretty Wicked Kind of Day

Yesterday was a day of high and lows. I don't know if I was just in a mood or the kids really were that obnoxious, but most of the day felt like a battle. Despite the fact that we did some fun stuff together, it didn't feel like fun at the time.

Not so fun was taking my van in for service yesterday morning. Oh, actually taking it there was fine. The kids behaved and played with a couple of dogs another customer had with him. The man even complimented me on my kind and well behaved children. The bad part was discovering that they wanted $1,100 dollars to fix my car! NOT HAPPENING! My brother-in-law is a mechanic in another part of town and we'll get the car to him somehow.

The boys and I did a little Father's Day shopping, which went pretty well until Ryan started begging for toys I told him we weren't getting. Then I had to be mean mommy. Oh, and for some reason Wesley felt the urge to randomly drop to the floor in the store and do his version of push ups. Not weird at all.

We spent the later part of the morning at Skyzone, which is an indoor trampoline park. The boys had a fabulous time and got to bounce off some of their energy. Sorry for the blurry pictures, but it's hard to capture bouncing boys on an iPhone camera.

 A couple of short videos too!





We spent the rest of the afternoon at home (with the kids driving me nuts). I have started enforced reading time this week. The boys don't mind it at all and it gives me a break.

The day became wonderfully, wickedly awesome when Duane came home. He and I had a date night to got out to dinner and see the show "Wicked."

We clean up alright

Goofballs on the town!

We ate at Milestone 229, which is near our old neighborhood. The food was wonderful and the views of the city were so pretty.  I love our city and really wouldn't want to live anyplace else.

The show was fantastic! It's been so long since I've been to show where I didn't already know all the songs and I really enjoyed it. Great singing, beautiful costumes and some laughs made for a perfect night out. Well, that and the wonderful, thoughtful and handsome man at my side.

My dad watched the boys for us while we hit the town (Thank you, Dad!). And this is what we found when we got home.

So the boys slept on the couch for a good part of the night and we fell asleep with the land of Oz in our brains.