My Birthday Day

I was too tired to go the grocery store Sunday night, so I snuck out this morning while everyone was still in bed. I enjoyed the ease of shopping without children before the store was busy but regretted it the moment I walked back in the door. I returned to find two teary eyed, sniffling children standing in the kitchen in their jammies. They thought I had disappeared. No one thought to ask Daddy (who was in the shower) where Mommy had gone. It was sweet and sad, all at the same time. So, we started our day with lots of hugs.

Tyler raided Grandpa R's closet and presented me with a roll of pennies the other day for my birthday. This morning while I was making breakfast, Tyler decided that he really wanted to "just look at them". I was afraid he'd dump them out of the roll. We went back and forth about it for a minute. He came back in the room, roll in hand, swinging his arms around to emphasize his words, and adamantly said "I AM NOT GOING TO TAKE THEM OUT!" Just as he finished his sentence, the pennies flew out of the roll. He stood there for a second, looking at the pennies scattered over the floor, and quietly said, "Well. Now I am."

While lunch was in the oven today, I tried to pack up some of the kitchen stuff. I really don't enjoy packing. I like unpacking and getting everything reorganized, but I really don't enjoy the process of packing. Guess that's why I've waited until the last minute. Anyway, I packed some of the pantry stuff - some went into a box, some went into a trash bag. During this time, there was an incident in the family room. In the amount of time it took me to rescue the fallen, banish the offender, and comfort the weeping, the stupid dog knocked the trash bag over, decided the open end didn't look good enough, and proceeded to rip a hole in the bottom of the bag. (Our dogs NEVER get in the trash.) So, I had to rebag everything before continuing. By that time, the offender was yelling down that he/she could indeed behave now and was ready to come back downstairs, the kitchen timer was buzzing, and Ron was walking in the door for lunch. So, I still have lots of packing to do tonight.

This afternoon we went out to the new house to wait for my appliances to be delivered. It was so incredibly hot today. The appliance movers were wearing long pants and must have been very very hot. (Well, I know they were hot. I watched the sweat roll of their noses and onto my new floor.) Anyway, with all that sweating comes body odor. Tyler stood at the side of the kitchen, holding his nose and saying "Stinky, stinky, stinky" while they were bringing things in. Also while we were there today, Danielle christened the bathroom floor. She is so bad about waiting until the last possible second to run to the bathroom. Today she just didn't make it up onto the potty in time. She stood in front of the toilet, dress in the air, and peed. She gets emotional when this happens. I have to admit I was a little emotional about it today, too (but showed remarkable constraint).

Tonight we went to the Olive Garden for my birthday dinner. Tyler told me this morning he wanted to tell our waitress that it was my birthday so she would bring me a cake. Once we were seated, I conveniently went to the restroom while the kids and Daddy made the appropriate arrangements. I acted very surprised when it came out. The kids were proud of themselves and enjoyed the cake (although they had been too full to eat any of their dinners just minutes earlier). We were entertained throughout our meal by Tyler hitting on our waitress. He's a natural with pretty girls. She asked him what he wanted for dinner and Tyler responded, "I'd like to have you." How slick. I suppose anyone older than 5 would have been slapped, but our waitress just melted. Ron teased Tyler about getting her phone number. Later Tyler told our waitress he was going to come back every single day. The banter continued throughout dinner. Before we left the waitress told us that she would love to babysit sometime and gave us her phone number. Guess Tyler scored the digits after all.

One of the birthday calls/emails I got today was from my mom. In the email she talked about the day I was born and the little details she remembers. It was sweet and made me smile. I know my parents love me, but I never really understood how deep that love is until I experienced that love for my own children. I know how sentimental I am about our kids. It's nice to be reminded that someone is that sentimental about me, too. Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes.

Our New House

Sorry I haven't posted anything for several days. The kids spent a couple days with Grandma & Grandpa R, and we were busy buying a house!

We will be moving in this Wednesday. Today Ron hung ceiling fans and bought our garage door opener (all the essentials - picture by Tyler). My new appliances are coming tomorrow. We took a van full of toys, packed around a giant rented stepladder, to the house today.

Tyler enjoyed playing in the sprinkler for a few minutes today. It was too hot to stay out very long, though.

The kids seemed to enjoy playing in the new play room. We were able to dump out almost all the Legos and still have room to walk!

While the kids were visiting Grandma & Grandpa, we found an amazing deal on a playhouse and put it together in the playroom for the kids. They were surprised and are really enjoying their "new house in the new house". We've also enjoyed playing hide & seek in the house. There' are lots of places to hide, plus it's a great way for the kids to get used to the house so they won't be afraid when they are alone in a room.

My Deal of the Day

When we were selling our house, we had some miscellaneous stuff we needed to get rid of. I tried posting it on http://www.craigslist.com/ before hauling it off to the dump. Almost everything was cleared away, and I became a believer in this website.

I check it daily just to see what bargains might appear. It's also humorous to see how much money people think their junk is worth. I got lucky today.

Someone was selling a super huge lot of Lego Duplo blocks. We have a decent amount of these already, but she had some large base plates that we have been looking for (but haven't wanted to pay for). She was selling all these bases and blocks for $20. We hurried over to pick them up. In addition to the large base plates (retailing for $10 each) there were at least 400 blocks. That would be at least $60 in the store! So, I got about $100 worth of Legos for $20. I felt like I got a great deal.

The kids were so excited. This became an all day project. We brought them home and washed them all. We dried them and inspected them. Then we spent the entire rest of the day playing with them. So, not only did I get a good bargain for the blocks, I got entertainment for the day, too! Definitely money well spent. (And if we tape the bins, the movers will move those, too.)

"Parts" Panic

If you have kids (or grandkids) or are an elementary school teacher, you've probably read the book Parts by Tedd Arnold. In the book, a fearful little boy panics because he's certain he's falling apart - something "gray and wet" falls out of his nose and he thinks his brain is falling out. He finds lint in his belly button and he thinks he's losing his stuffing. The skin between his toes is peeling and he thinks he's shedding his skin. At the end of the book his parents tell him - in a "oops, should have told you sooner" fashion - that these things are all normal and are not causes for alarm. They are holding a book that says something to the effect of "Parenting for Beginners". (I just packed our book away and can't remember the exact wording.) It's a funny book that the kids enjoy - especially Tyler.

We had one of those moments today - something happened to Tyler's body, and I realized I probably should have warned him about that sooner so he wouldn't panic.

In the car tonight Tyler was really quiet, so I asked him what was wrong. He finally said, "My pen*s is really really dirty." Ron added, "Oh yeah. When I took him to the bathroom he kept looking at his pen*s and said it was really dirty." I said, "Well, was it?" "I don't know. I didn't look at it!" Men! I reassured Tyler that I would check things out when we got home to make sure everything was ok.

As I was helping the kids get their pjs on, I remembered Tyler's issue of concern. "Ok, let me see it." I said bravely. He got that worried look on his face again and slowly pulled his shorts down. He held it out for me to see and exclaimed, "See! See how dirty it is?!" He was seriously concerned, so I did not laugh. Instead I reassuringly said, "Tyler, that's just black fuzz from your new underwear. It will wash off and you'll be just fine. " You could see the relief wash over his scrunched up brow. "It'll wash off?" "Yep. You can take a bath tomorrow and see. It'll be just fine." Guess I should have warned him about new underwear fuzz on the goodies. Oops.

Why I Avoid Public Places

Danielle has been begging me to buy finger nail polish, mainly because I joked one day about painting Daddy's nails after he fell asleep. I rarely paint mine anymore and threw out what I did have when we moved to the apartment. I bought a very cheap bottle of nail polish when we went to the store today. She was so excited! When we got home from the store, the two of us sat on the couch and did each other's nails. I painted hers, and then she painted mine. I just wish I would have remembered that I also threw out my nail polish remover before allowing her to do my nails. I smile every time I look at them.

At the store where we purchased the fingernail polish (and new undies for Tyler), the kids asked to ride in a cart that had two seats and then a shopping cart attached. I was pushing the kids through the store when Tyler suddenly said, "I'm going to show everyone my pen*s!" I looked down to see he had scrunched up the legs to his shorts and had indeed pulled it out to show it off. He thought my hysterical reaction was hilarious. (Funny - when I told Ron about it, his reaction was the same as Tyler's. He laughed until he cried.) I can't wait until he's old enough to be embarrassed by me in public.

Being Unselfish is Hard Too

Parenting calls for a lot of unselfish acts. There are lots of things you choose to go without so your kids don't have to. I can't remember the last time I bought tennis shoes for myself (my staple footwear 8 out of 12 months), but I've purchased three pairs of shoes for Danielle and two pairs for Tyler just since April. And underwear. Let's just say I would be embarrassed if I had to be rescued from some odd emergency like the ones your grandparents warn you about. But Tyler will be getting new undies this week. When the money is there, it's just normal to look for and fill a need (or even a want) that the kids have before worrying about ourselves. I think that's normal for most parents. (Honestly, it's a lot more fun spending the money on them anyway.)

There are lots of other things we "pass up" out of love for our kids - sleep, any movie not rated G, dates, quiet dinners, a sporty little car, the last piece of pizza or chocolate cake, a clean house, a restaurant without a play area. We share our time, our bed, our sushi, and our big Chipotle burritos. As responsible (most of the time) and loving parents, there are lots of things that we willingly and even gladly sacrifice so our children can have the benefit or pleasure of enjoying.

Honestly, everything I just mentioned is relatively easy for me to give up, go without, or share at this point in the game (although I do still miss having a date with Ron now and then). But before you think too much of me, I have to admit my deficiency. My selfishness kicks in in the kitchen. Of all the things I'm willing to give up or share, why do I have to share the brownie batter spoon?? I'm even ok handing over the cake beaters, but there's something about that brownie batter spoon. I'll gladly wear holey underwear, smelly old shoes, and watch Barbie Mermaidia twenty times while they split the last brownie from the batch, but please please don't ask me to share that spoon.

It doesn't matter how quiet I try to be in the kitchen mixing things up, the kids KNOW. Danielle usually picks up on it first because she's begged me to make some brownies and is watching for it. "Mommy! Whatcha doin'? Are you makin' brownies?! Can I have a taste? Now? I want the 'poon! Can I have the 'poon? Please, Mommy? I really want the 'poon."

I may battle that selfishness internally for a minute, but really, what choice do I have but to hand it over?

(But I hide the bowl for later.) :)

It's So Hard to Do the Right Thing

We were someplace with a play area again today. In the corner of the play area was a kid-sized basketball hoop with 4 red balls. There were at least 20 kids in the play area. Needless to say, all 4 balls were taken. Tyler really wanted a ball. He waited his turn and went to pick up a free one when someone was done. Right before his hand grabbed it, another kid snatched it away from him. (Earlier I had watched that same kid purposefully throw a ball and hit a girl in the head just to get her seat on the teeter-totter.) It wasn't fair. Tyler was understandably upset but didn't yell or even speak to the kid. Instead, he turned around and stole someone else's ball. I had been watching all this from across the room. When Tyler stole the ball, I hopped up to provide some guidance: "No, it wasn't right for the other kid to take your ball, but that doesn't make it ok for you to take someone else's. Just because someone is mean to us doesn't mean we can be mean to someone else." Tyler did the right thing. He gave the ball back and asked the kids if he could play, too. They said, "No." We were both frustrated. I finally convinced him to find something else to play with and he slouched off.

It's so frustrating to try to teach these guys to play by the rules when the other players won't follow the rules, too (and their "coaches" won't make them). Where are their parents - or why don't their parents care? It's also tough to watch someone mistreat your child, no matter how trivial the issue may be. The over-protective mothering instinct kicks in and I have to remind myself to behave like an adult.

Anyway, I went back to my seat to watch them play. I happened to be sitting next to the parents of the little boy whose ball Tyler had taken. They came with 3 boys. 2 of them were playing with the balls. A couple minutes later the boy without a ball came running over to his parents, complaining that no one would share a ball with him. This is what his father said to him: "Well, with this many people here, not everyone is going to get a ball. If you want one, you're going to have to get in there and fight for one. After someone throws it, jump in there and take it. I got your back. Get in there and fight for one." I was floored. I had just corrected my son so their son could have a turn (and in the process deprived my own son of a turn) and this was what he was teaching his kids?!! Had I heard him say this before Tyler took the ball, I wonder if I would have reacted the same way. I like to think I would have. Anyway, I realized I was standing there, incredulous, staring at them with my mouth hanging open. It was all I could do to keep words from coming out of that gaping space and felt it best to collect my kids and leave before making a scene.

It's so hard to do the right thing - whether you're 4 or 34!

Finding Love at McDonalds

I think Tyler is trying to drive Ron and I apart. He asked me to marry him again the other night, and tonight he told me he loves me more than Daddy does. For some reason, the number 21 denotes a super huge amount to him. He declared tonight that he loves me 21 times. Whoa!

Speaking of love, Tyler was looking for love at McDonalds today. After enjoying a movie together, we went to McDonalds for lunch (not the one with the poopy slide). As we pulled in Tyler said he wanted to find a girlfriend in the play area today. He corrected Danielle when she said she wanted to find a girlfriend too. (No, Danielle. You can find a BOYfriend.) He hurried to eat his lunch and then ran off to play. As he climbed into the tunnel I heard him yell, "Are there any girlfriends in here? I need a girlfriend!" Within seconds he found one. She was a little older than him and very attentive. The two of them took their Happy Meal toys (pirate journals) up to the top of the playset and drew pictures together. Meanwhile, Danielle was clambering around inside yelling, "Ty! Where is that Ty?!" He had a nice time with his girlfriend, who was wearing a pretty purple dress he said.

At one point during playtime, a McDonalds employee opened an emergency exit door. The signs are right - an alarm will indeed sound. The busy play area suddenly became very quiet while everyone listened to the persistent beep beep beep of the alarm. Just as the alarm stopped, an all too recognizable boy's voice shouted, "Fire! Fire!" I couldn't help but laugh. I did so quietly, though, so as not to disturb the nearby mother who was comforting her panicky little boy.

Tyler came down a short while later and declared something smelled like poop. We all flashed back to the infamous poop slide of before and decided that experience dictates if it smells like poop, there must be poop. We quickly left. Ahhh...another day full of good memories.

Speaking of memories, thank you for the responses to yesterday's post. I really do find it interesting to hear what people remember from those early days. Maybe I'm looking for validation that my mistakes will be overlooked in the long run. So far no one has mentioned remembering their mother scowling at them over their bowl of cheerios.

Finally, Ron grumbled last night that my blogs are waaaay too long. So, I'm sorry for rambling on longer than necessary at times, and thanks for reading anyway!

Early Memories

Ever thought about your earliest memory? I remember holding my dad's hand and walking into the store on the corner to pick out a birthday present for my brother. I remember watching the automatic door open for us as we went in. We picked out a toy telephone and something else. Maybe a bear? My mom says the gifts were for my brother's first birthday, so I was almost three and a half. It's a very pleasant early memory - holding Dad's hand, picking out birthday presents together. Very nice.

Ron's earliest memory was when his Grandma forgot to open the flue to the fireplace before lighting a fire. The family room filled with smoke, prompting her to open a door and fan the smoke out with a rug. Ron thinks he was three or four. He still laughs when he talks about it. Another very nice early memory.

The other day the kids and I were talking about Grandma & Grandpa C's recent trip to the beach. Tyler said, "Do you remember when we went to the beach with Grandma and Grandpa C? Grandma said to me, 'Ty, do you see the dolphins?' But I couldn't see them because they were too far away." I didn't even remember this until he mentioned it, so I know he's not merely repeating something he's heard us discussing. What amazes me is that he was only 19 months old at the time of that vacation. I don't know if he'll continue to remember that event as he gets older, but I still found it impressive. Tyler's memory has always been impressive.

That's what worries me. I attempt to do lots of fun things with them every day. I find myself saying "we made lots of good memories today" a lot of times. That's really important to me. When our children are older and reflecting on their childhood, I want them to remember how much we loved them, how much we laughed together, and how much we just enjoyed life together. One of these days one of our activities (organized or not) is going to be one of our children's earliest memories, and I'd prefer it be a pleasant one. Of course I'm most mindful of this after I've been impatient or too quick to punish. Like today.

Today I took the kids to the beach at a reservoir to play. We really did have a lot of fun. We played in the sand and in the warm water. The kids giggled a lot in the cold shower in the changing area and were just as excited over the snacks we splurged to buy from the vending machine before heading home. There was no fighting, very little sand throwing, and few embarrassing remarks made to passersby. Yet what I'm afraid they will remember from today is the time I lost my patience because Danielle had to go the bathroom.

Whether you want to admit it or not, we all know there is an unwritten rule stating it's OK to pee in a large body of water that is not chlorinated. You can deny it if you'd like, but I bet you've done it. Danielle had to go today. The bathrooms were a good walk from our spot on the beach, it was over 90 degrees out, and the bathrooms were going to be gross anyway. I told her to just go in the water. Tyler thought that was just hilarious and forced himself to go. Danielle just couldn't do it. It didn't matter what I did or told her, she couldn't go. We even tried taking her suit off in the water so she could go. No luck. She stood on the beach and wiggled. She stood in the water and wiggled. She cried and wiggled. She just couldn't physically make it happen. In retrospect, this makes perfect sense. She's been potty trained for about 5 or 6 months now, but how many times have we told her to only go in the potty? Finally, frustrated, I hauled her out of the water and to the distant bathrooms, Tyler in tow. As soon as her rear end hit that seat she was going. How silly to get frustrated over something so inconsequential.

In the amount of time it took to pull up her suit and leave the bathroom, she had seemingly forgotten my frustration, but my guilt was setting in. I read something once that said we hold our children's hearts in our hands. How true that is. Once we got back to our blanket I apologized for being impatient. Obviously she had moved on to bigger and better things by now (eating goldfish crackers) and wasn't sure what I was referring to. "It's ok, Mommy." she said.

We went back down to the water and the kids took turns giving me mud baths. We looked for shells, made soggy sand castles, and laughed about the sand in our suits. Hopefully these are the times they will remember 30 years from now when they're writing a blog about their children.

We made lots of good memories today. I don't know if the kids will remember anything from today, but I will.


By the way, I'm interesed in hearing other people's earliest memories. Feel free to leave yours, along with your age (at the time of the memory), in the comments section.

Bologna Art & Carpet Angels

I mentioned in an earlier post that Danielle is able to sort everything into a Daddy, Mommy, & Baby category. From food to stuffed animals, everything can be filed this way. It takes her forever to eat spaghetti because she's so busy lining all the "family groups" up. She has now progressed from making daddies, mommies, and babies out of her bologna to creating animal shapes.

For example, today at lunch she ate some of her bologna and declared the half eaten piece to be a bat (for which I had to make eyes and a mouth). She ate another bite and it became a pig. (Actually, it really did look like a pig.) A couple more bites and it became a bird. Another bite and it became a fish. She ate another bite and had a teeny tiny piece left. She declared the remaining piece a tadpole before popping it in her mouth. Such an imagination. She asked for another piece, so I gave her half a piece from Tyler's uneaten sandwich. That started out as a manatee. After a few bites it became a "flying bird with a arm". (Not sure what that's supposed to mean.) Another bite and a little rip and it became a "bird that pulled apart". She stuck the pieces back together and declared it a parrot - as pictured. Do you have any idea how long it takes us to get through a meal?!!


They installed the carpet at our new house today. It's lighter than I remembered, but it looks really nice. Everything is finally coming together and the end is in sight! As you can see, the kids LOVE all the space!! They also enjoyed making carpet angels (Tyler's idea, Danielle's angel).

Dressing Up

(She had toys stuffed under her hat.)

The Boring Store

Tonight Tyler was disgruntled about picking up the Legos he had been playing with earlier in the day. He was mumbling about his task being "sooo boring" when he launched into this monologue:

When I'm a Daddy [meaning when I'm grown up] I'm going to be a builder. I'm going to build a store. It will have zero items in it. It will be called The Boring Store. I'll hang a sign on the door that says "The Boring Store". It will be really boring.

He tossed a couple more Legos in the bin and continued:

I'll also build a store called the Terrible Dangerous Store. (You don't want to know about that one. He's such a boy. We'll fast forward here.)

Then I'll build a store called The Halloween Store. It will have costumes in it and three cracks in the wall. Ghosts will come out of one crack and say "BOO!" Monsters will come out of another crack. (Never heard about the third crack. It may have been a passageway to The Terrible Dangerous Store.) It will have scary Halloween music playing, too. It will be really spooky.

The pile of Legos continued to migrate from the floor to the bin:

Maybe I will put something in The Boring Store. But it will still be really boring.

He trailed off, lost in thought about boring merchandise for his Boring Store. All the Legos were finally picked up. I don't know what he was talking about. I didn't find that task boring at all.

Boys Like Sushi

Tonight was Tyler's movie night. Several months ago we went through a difficult time of getting Tyler to go to bed. Mainly he wanted to be downstairs watching tv with us. In a moment of divine inspiration, we decided to offer him a weekly movie night. If he goes to bed without incident during the week, he can stay up late on Friday night. He gets to pick out a movie (usually something his sister isn't allowed to watch yet) and a special snack. It has worked out really well. In the four months we've been doing this, I think he's only missed 2 or 3 movie nights.

Early this week Tyler decided he wanted sushi for his snack this Friday. He has been talking about it all week. He tried Ron's once and loved it, so for his snack tonight he wanted his very own plate of sushi.

The tricky part of movie night is getting Danielle to bed. We try to downplay it a little so she doesn't get too upset. Tonight I put Danielle to bed while Ron and Tyler slipped out to pick out a movie and get their sushi. While getting ready Danielle asked where Daddy and Ty went. I told her they went out to get stuff for breakfast tomorrow (which they were also picking up). She added, "And sushi." I asked her if she liked sushi. She said, "No. But boys like sushi."

So, here are some pictures of Tyler tonight with his very own sushi. (Notice how nicely his clothes match? He's getting better!) He ate almost all of it. He's giving me a "thumbs up" in the second picture.

Just Another Day

Today was just another day, but since I haven't posted in a few days, I thought I would share it anyway.

Tyler has suddenly decided to display his independence in a constructive way. He has decided he wants to pick out his own clothes and get himself ready, including brushing his teeth and combing his hair. I talk to him about the day's weather so he can make the right choices for clothing (shorts rather than sweats, etc.) and oversee the brushing and combing. This is the outfit he picked out this morning, blue shorts with yellow stripes and a red shirt with white stripes. And Ron didn't understand why I found it amusing.

We are trying to complete the library's summer reading program but are having a difficult time keeping up with it this summer. (We're out trying to avoid the apartment too much, I think.) The kids and I got serious about it this morning and spent some quality time curled up together in my recliner. One book we read today was Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing, by Judi & Ron Barrett. One of the pictures was of a porcupine wearing a shirt. The shirt was all tattered and torn from the quills poking through. I asked the kids why a porcupine shouldn't wear clothes, and Tyler replied, "Because their pines stick through the shirt." Get it? PorcuPINE? Ha ha. (He was serious, though.)

Early this afternoon we went to pick up my van from the shop. During our 4th of July celebration - somewhere between mooning the oncoming truck and peeing in a bag - I pushed the button to open the back hatch and the button fell right through the hole into the door. (That sounds as if I did the mooning and peeing. I did NOT.) Anyway, we were reminded of why we need a minivan the entire way over to the dealership. "He's touching me!" "I want to put my window down." "I want my window up." "She's kicking me." "He touched my side of the seat." This led Ron and I to revisit our conversation about the terrible twos vs the fearsome fours (as we've lovingly dubbed them).

The clouds parted for a short while this afternoon, so I took the kids to the pool. On the walk to the pool Tyler wanted to know if it was ok to fart in his swimsuit. That was followed by a grunt and "Guess I can't make one anyway." We got to the pool and it was completely empty! I worried briefly it was contaminated and maybe I was the only resident that didn't know about it, but I got over it and shoved the kids in. We had the ENTIRE pool to ourselves. Where did the kids want to play? In one spot (both in the same spot) by the garden hose that was pouring very very cold water into the pool. There was a lot of fighting and yelling over the hose. Danielle wanted to wash her piggies. Tyler wanted to swim through it. Finally I declared if off limits and imposed time out on anyone who tested me. (In case you're wondering, they both had to sit in time out twice.) I yelled at Danielle multiple times for drinking the water. Why is it that I can't get this kid to drink water any other time than when she's in the bathtub or pool??

Tyler has been getting in trouble lately for calling people dumb, idiot, or stupid. I think I can probably blame the term "idiot" on me. I think "dumb" and "stupid" are from tv shows. That has led me to reinstate my ban of Spongebob. (I know the show has no redeeming qualities, but the kids were soooo quiet when it was on!) Anyway, Tyler called me a dummy this afternoon for no apparent reason and was sent to his room. I have such a difficult time thinking of effective ways to correct Tyler's behavior. I remember my dad making my brother and me sit on the couch and hold hands when we fought with each other. I've tucked that one away to use at a later date. For this transgression, I decided he should say something nice about me. Guess that was a little challenging for him. He said, "I'm sorry." I told him I was glad he was sorry, but that wasn't what I was looking for. He offered, "I love you?" Nice, but still not what I was looking for. To help him out a little with this daunting task, I asked "Why do you love me?" The perplexed look on his face changed. Ah! He could answer this! "Because you feed me lots of food every day!" (Lots of food = love?) Well, good enough for a 4 year old, I guess. Interestingly, he didn't call anyone stupid, dumb or idiot the rest of the day.

Tonight at dinner the kids were drinking from their personalized cups. Danielle wanted to know if the letters on her cup were T Y L E R. That led Ron and I into a discussion of how Danielle always calls Tyler Ty even though we usually call him Tyler. (Such stimulating dinner conversation.) As if I had a point to prove, I said "Danielle, what's your brother's name?" She said, "Ty." I said, "Tyler what?" She paused and looked at Tyler for a second, grinned, and then said, "Ty Monkey." We all cracked up. Tyler laughed with that deep belly laugh that is so genuine and contagious. Those laughs are my favorite sounds in the world. After the laughing subsided she quietly added, "It's R****. Ty R****."

After dinner we went out to check on the house. Ron met with the building supervisor today to discuss his list of 175 items to be corrected. The building supervisor agreed not to charge us extra for the bulges in the drywall or paint on the woodwork and said everything would be fixed by mid-week next week. We'll see. The house is looking nice, though. They did the initial grade on our lot today. I took this picture while Ron was stuffing the kids back into the van.

We returned to the 'partment (as Danielle calls it) in time for the kids to collapse into bed, tired, dirty, and apparently full since we love them so much. And that's our day.

All the World is a Stage...

Danielle managed to catch whatever it was that gave Tyler a fever the other day. Her temperature was exactly the same as his and didn't last long either. The difference, though, was that her illness was accompanied by vomiting - on my side of the bed, including my pillow, in the middle of the night. Sigh...

She was better this morning and wanted to play with chalk. She drew a manatee. Tyler asked me to draw Hunter so he could color her in.

Since I had the camera out taking pictures of their drawings, Tyler asked if he could use the camera. This is a picture he took of my van. Pretty creative, don't you think?


Tonight we spent a couple hours at our new house. Ron made a very thorough list (150+ items) of issues for our precarpet walk-through later this week. While he was inside, the kids and I walked and rode bikes around our new neighborhood. Later I sat on the step and watched Tyler ride his bike on the sidewalk. It is going to be so nice to be in a house again. Anyway, Tyler pulled his bike off the sidewalk and got it stuck in some gravel in our lot. He was trying to pull it back to the sidewalk and yelled up "Hey Mom! I could use a little help from the audience, please."

Today's Sunday School Lesson

Just when I think the kids aren't going to give me any "blog-worthy" material, they say or do something funny and save the day. Today was no different, although retelling it isn't nearly as funny as witnessing it firsthand.

Tonight while I was making dinner, Tyler excitedly ran into the kitchen:

Tyler: Mommy! I learned Karate in my class today!

Lori: (Huh?) What class? Your class at church?

Tyler: Yeah!

Lori: (OK. This should be interesting.) Who taught you Karate?

Tyler: My teacher.

Lori: (Ah. Blaming the teacher!) Your teacher where?

Tyler: At church. In our song church.

Lori: Miss R taught you Karate? (Surely no one would encourage this kid to be MORE wound up during song time!)

Tyler: Yeah! We did it with the songs! Want to see?

Lori: Ok (This is going to be interesting)

He proceeded to kick his little chicken legs and wave his arms all around, shouting "HI-YA" the whole time.

Lori: (I imagine his teacher performing these moves and smile.) You learned this at church?

Tyler: Yep! Miss R taught us!

He ran off to karate chop his sister, who was now flailing her arms and legs and yelling "HI-YA".

(I can't wait to tell Miss R! At least he learned something at church today.)

I managed to capture some of the "performance" on tape, but unfortunately I can't figure out how to post video clips. You'll just have to use your imagination - which I'm sure won't do it justice.

This afternoon the kids played doctor. Casey wouldn't cooperate, but Hunter was a docile patient, as you can see. (That's the blood pressure cuff on her foot. Danielle was giving her shots in the stomach.) Golden retrievers are such great dogs!

Bubbles and Eye Boogers

When was the last time you had this much fun in the bathtub? (Rhetorical question. Please don't respond!)

This was about the most active Tyler was today. He had a fever and spent most of the time lying around. Danielle made up for Tyler's inactivity.

Danielle rubbed her eye today, held her finger out to me, and rambled:

I picked something out of my eye.

It was pointy.

It pointed that way [pointed left].

No, it pointed that way [pointed right].

To a cave.

A 'pooky cave.

Where a bear lives.

At this point I interjected, "You got ALL that out of your eye?!" She looked confused for a split second, like she forgot how her story started. Then she laughed and said "Yeah!"

Oh What a Beautiful Day

Danielle found a more amusing way to express her dissent today:

"Danielle, would you please take a bite of your lunch?"

"Mommy, my answer is...NO!"

"Danielle, are you done going potty yet?"

"Mommy, my answer is...NO!"

A giggling Tyler and I had this conversation while I was tucking him into bed tonight:

"Mom, when I was in your tummy did you pee the bed a lot?"

"No. Why?"

"Because I was pushing so hard on your pee-holder thingy."

Today was just a perfect day weather-wise. I was so grateful to be outside enjoying the day with our children rather than stuck inside or in a cube. (Sorry to those of you who were.) We made the most of it. We went to a park before lunch. After lunch we went for a walk in the woods and then played at the play area at the metro park. By bedtime the kids were asking to be carried upstairs because they were so tired. That's how I know we had a good day - 2 exhausted kids. These are some pictures from today. Anyone know what kind of evil looking bug this is? It was about 3-4" long.

Not for Those with a Weak Constitution

I think I can "stomach" a lot, but this even grosses me out.

Tonight we took the kids to McDonalds to get sundaes and play in the outside play area before heading out to look at our house. Ron picked up the sundaes while I took the kids to the play area. When he brought the sundaes around, the kids came running to the table. Panting, Tyler commented that the tunnel slide smelled like poop. About that time Danielle scratched her butt, so we joked about Danielle making the slide smell. They took a couple bites and ran off to play.

A minute or so later, Danielle yelled about something so I went to check on her. Tyler ran by me and said he had just gone down the "poop slide". Just to be sure, I checked Danielle's undies. Clean. (She hasn't had an accident like that in weeks!) We laughed about it some more and the kids continued to play. I returned to the table to eat my sundae.

A few minutes later Tyler ran over to our table to take another bite. I noticed a rust colored streak down the front of his shirt. Since both kids were wearing Gymboree outfits, I panicked a little and feared the rain may have caused something in the playset to rust. No way that was going to wash out (or be resold on Ebay). Then something clicked. I smelled the rust mark. It was NOT rust. It was POOP! And it was NOT from my children. I quickly pulled Tyler's shirt off and marched into the McDonalds. To accomplish what, I do not know.

When I returned, I studied Tyler further and found two streaks on his shorts, in addition to the 5x2 inch streak down the front of his shirt. Danielle had some on her skirt, too. I ripped Danielle's dress off and started to pull Tyler's shorts off when I realized my kids were standing half naked, smelling of someone else's poop, in the middle of the McDonalds playland. Ron finished the last bite of his sundae (anyone else find that amusing?) and we hurried to the van. Tyler stripped down to nothing. We strapped them in and hurried home to sanitize ourselves. (Having lost my appetite, I threw the rest of my sundae away.)

Our 4th of July

Here are some highlights from our day, including our trip to view the fireworks:


The kids were sitting on the couch eating a special snack when Tyler yelled. We looked over to find Danielle, grinning broadly, repeatedly stabbing Tyler's big toe with her fork.


We went to the store today to look at appliances for our new house. We want something that doesn't show a lot of fingerprints, so we were checking out the appliances that resemble stainless steel but are made of a different material. It's hard to tell the difference between the new material and stainless, so Ron asked Tyler to stick his hand on the refrigerator to see if it left prints. It was still hard to tell, so Ron jokingly suggested Tyler lick his hand and try again. Since Tyler is such an obedient little boy, he obliged and we all laughed. Later Ron and I were discussing something, and I momentarily had my back to the kids. When I realized it, I turned around to find both kids licking their hands and sticking them on every door of every stove in our aisle.


We watched the fireworks from a parking lot this year. Not nearly as nice as walking out our back door, but we still had a nice time. When we first pulled into the lot, it was raining steadily. We figured it would stop raining before the fireworks, though, so we waited. We were only there maybe 15 minutes when Tyler suddenly got a panicked look on his face and the van filled with a foul odor. Yep, he had to go. Ron grumbled about having to drive all the way home. I handed him an umbrella and suggested they try to find a port-a-pot. He and Tyler headed out. Several minutes later the boys returned (as pictured). They found a port-a-pot, but Tyler would only pee.

The rain finally stopped and we enjoyed our sparklers. You know how sometimes it takes a minute for your brain to decipher something you've just heard? Well, in between sparklers Tyler suddenly yelled, "See my butt! See my butt!" In the split second it took me to register what he said, he managed to pull down his shorts and underwear and moon the truck driving by us. What possesses this kid to do such things? We finished the rest of the sparklers without incident.

At this time, Tyler again got that panicked look on his face. It was too dark and too close to fireworks time to trek off for the port-a-pot this time. I had some bags and, well, I tried to improvise. (Sorry, this is not for the weak of stomach.) After hurriedly getting the bags positioned just right (in the dark), he only peed. A little frustrated, I explained that being a boy, he could pretty much go whenever/wherever he needed to go, so there was really no need for all the bags if he was only going to pee. I triple bagged it and sat back down. Just about that time Danielle decided she needed to pee, too. I pulled off her shoes, pants, and underwear, placed her between our two chairs, and stuck Tyler in front of her. I thought she could just go quietly and we could move on. Nope. Tyler started yelling, "She's going to pee on me! She's going to pee on me!" Once she started to go, it changed to "Ahhh! She's peeing on me!" Thank goodness it was dark.

Finally the fireworks started. Tyler absolutely loved them! His face lit up and he squealed with delight. He reclined against Ron and never took his eyes off the show. It was so worth the wait just for his reaction. (Danielle was afraid of the booms and was not quite as delighted.)

We actually had a pretty good 4th of July and managed to create lots of lasting memories. Hope you all had a good holiday, too.

Return of the Weary Traveler

Ron made it home from Russia around 12:30am this morning, without his luggage. The airline assured him it must just be on another flight, and they would deliver it once it surfaced. Since he packs like a girl, he had just about every piece of clothing he owned in there, including every last pair of underwear. I was as bad as the kids. The first thing I did when he told me his luggage was lost was to lament the loss of our souvenirs. (No need to fear. They were in his carry-on.)

When there was no sign of his suitcase on our patio this morning, Ron started to get a little concerned about his lack of underwear, toothbrush, and deodorant. I did some quick laundry while he brushed his teeth Survivor style (with his finger). He declined to use an extra toothbrush we had for the kids. After some deliberating he decided that he would rather try my "made for a woman" deodorant than go without (a decision for which we were all grateful). Somewhat refreshed, we headed out to check out the new house and figured we'd stop to get some basic supplies for him on the way home. While we were out, the airline called and announced they had delivered his suitcase. Thankfully, it was waiting for us on the patio when we returned. So...Ron and all his belongings made it home safe and sound. Thank you all for your prayers for his safety (and our sanity).

I am posting some pictures he took while sight seeing on Friday.

"Real" (for a price) Russian Soldier Girls

Church of Our Savior on the Spilled Blood

Beautiful mosaics covered the walls inside the church

The Hermitage Museum

Madonna Litta by Leonardo Da Vinci

The Return of the Prodigal Son by Rembrandt

The Holy Family by Raphael

Woman in the Garden by Claude Monet

Cottages by Vincent Van Gogh