Misbehaving Kids & Giant Bats

We had to run to the store tonight after dinner but the kids were less than agreeable. They misbehaved in the car on the way there and in the store itself. In fact, they were so naughty in the store that I took them back out to the van, seat belted them in their seats, and then stood outside the van to wait for Ron. When Ron returned, he insisted the kids not speak until we got home.

Danielle's seat is behind mine. When Ron drives, he typically rests his hand on the back of my seat. Shortly after Ron's no talking decree, we heard a raspy whisper from behind me:

"Tyler, I got Daddy's fingers with my shoe!"

Ron & I couldn't help but laugh. We tried to keep it quiet, but Danielle wasn't fooled.

She whispered "Tyler, Daddy's laughing now."

Tyler replied, "No he's not Danielle. He wouldn't laugh about something like that."

Tyler's class went on a field trip to a dental office today. I was negligent in returning my permission slip, so we took a field trip to the zoo instead. I would like to say we had a wonderful time. If I had followed my intuition and dressed them in rain boots, it might have been a little better. It was nice to get out, though. Our zoo has a relatively new exhibit that includes the largest bats I've ever seen (flying foxes). They are amazing in a creepy sort of way. Here are some pictures from our day:

Let's Play Ball

Ron took Tyler to sign up for that wonderful, all-American past time today - baseball. Well, tee ball, actually. Father and son headed out the door this morning to register and then made their way to the local sporting goods store to pick out Tyler's first mitt. When they got home, Tyler bounced through the door with his new mitt and practice ball. After a quick lunch Ron and Tyler played pitch and catch in the playroom for awhile. Tyler was really excited about practicing and stuck to it much better than we expected. Of course, Danielle was jealous of the attention Ron was giving Tyler. Graciously Tyler allowed Danielle to take a turn playing with Daddy.

Practices start in April. His first game will be Memorial Day weekend. I'm sure his games will provide me with a wealth of entertainment for my blogs this summer.

I think Ron was trying to repay Tyler for the snowball incident last week.

The Boring Life of a Stay-at-Home-Mom

I was awakened by a tap-tap on my shoulder: “I have to go potty, Mom.” This is my alarm clock most days. Unfortunately, the snooze function never works right.

Once awake we moved downstairs, where a battle for my chair (the only piece of furniture covered in fabric and therefore not cold) ensued. Tyler won, but Danielle stationed herself at his feet and scowled at him for a full 30 minutes.

I take very short showers – 10 minutes max. Today my shower was interrupted 4 times. (Our bathroom door does not lock…yet.) Tyler interrupted me twice to show me his Lego creations. Danielle interrupted me for help putting a crown on her pony and a second time to help her find the same pony’s little white slippers. I looked, but they were not in the shower.

Reluctantly I went back downstairs after getting dressed. Our family room is nearly 300 sq ft; however, the kids were fighting over the same 1 sq ft of floor space.

After lunch & play at BK, we headed to the library. Tyler played on the computer while Danielle and I looked for books. Each time he needed me (which was approximately every 30 seconds), he yelled “MOM?” He had padded earphones on and couldn’t hear himself talk. Everyone else could, though.

As we exited the library, I held the door for a man entering. Danielle looked at him, looked to me, and said “He’s really old.” He was, but I’m pretty sure he already knew.

Next stop was the grocery store. We made a pit stop before the kids went to the play room. Usually that bathroom is empty. This time every stall filled after we entered. Everything echoes in the bathroom, including “I don’t want to go because it stinks in here.” and “I see your butt, Ty!” and “Look! I’m pinching my pen!s to stop the pee.”

On the way to the grocery, Danielle complained that her pony tails were poking her. (?) While I was loading the groceries into the van, Danielle enlisted her brother's help to remove said pony tails. I looked up to see her lean across her seat & over to Tyler, who picked out the butterflies, rubberbands, and barrettes. Not realizing I saw them, they sat in their seats and giggled, thinking they got away with something.

After putting the groceries away and reading every single book we brought home from the library, I turned the kids over to Dad and headed out to Tyler’s conferences. One year his preschool teacher told me, “Tyler’s verbal skills are remarkable! He’s so good at rationalizing his behavior!” This sums up about every conference he’s had.

And all this was before 5pm. Before Tyler was born, a coworker told me I would be so bored being home full time. It’s been 5 years and I’m still waiting for those boring days.

More Fun in the Snow

We went outside for a very short time today to enjoy the snow. It's supposed to warm up and rain a little in a couple days, so we thought we should enjoy it now before it's too late.

King of the mountain!

This is my favorite picture!

Lego Man

Tyler is slowly transitioning from Duplos to regular size Legos. He has a couple small sets of Legos, but today he used money he's earned & saved to buy a larger set. This is the Lego City Hospital with helicopter & emergency vehicle. (He already had the ambulance.) He does an impressive job of reading and following the instructions. Ron provided a little help and Danielle added a lot of distraction, but otherwise Tyler did this all by himself. It took him 2 hours! You can't tell from the angle of these pictures, but there are 3 rooms inside the hospital, each with appropriate hospital type furnishings.

Winter Storm Warning!

Today we've been under a winter storm warning. A couple counties over from us have actually been under blizzard warnings! Since we are all stocked up on groceries and don't have any where we have to be, we've really enjoyed the weather! Before the snow changed to sleet this afternoon, we had 10-12". That's a lot for us! The sleet is compacting the snow some what now, but at least it's not blowing around so much. My only complaint is that I've had to shovel the driveway (3x so far) since Ron is out of town this week.

After shoveling the drive, I just didn't have the energy to pull the kids on the sled. In a stroke of brilliance, in my opinion, I discovered the drive made a perfect sledding hill. By the time I finished the drive, it was covered with a light dusting of snow again, so it was just perfect. The kids had so much fun. Ron questioned my decision to slide them down towards the street; however, not a soul was out. Well, there was one SUV out pulling kids around on a giant tube, but that was it.

Here are some pictures from today. Several of these are earlier in the day, so there's not as much snow yet. (We went out to play twice.)

Before going in, I made a Valentine for the kids. They're still so easy to impress.

Sick Days

You may have noticed there's been a lull in my posts lately. I've been taking a couple sick days.

A week ago Friday Tyler complained of a headache. The next morning he woke up with a temperature of 103.7! At his pediatrician's suggestion, we visited the Urgent Care last Sunday, where the doctor on call declared "there's nothing wrong with him". His fever went up and down for 3 days. Dr. Mom has since self diagnosed his symptoms to be the flu. This Friday was the first day he really started to act like he felt better. But when one child gets it, chances are they both will...and mom, too.

Danielle had the sniffles last week, so at first I thought she started all this; however, this Friday she started to complain she wasn't feeling well. She woke up yesterday with a fever of 102. It fluctuated up and day all day today, and if history repeats itself, it will tomorrow as well. So we have another week of illness to look forward to.

And, as expected, I was sick, too. Our mini-epidemic spread to me last Monday. Today is the first day I've felt remotely human. Usually mom has to muscle through the illness to care for everyone else, but this really knocked me out. I could barely get us all dressed (there are a couple days I didn't even try), there was no way any "work" was going to be accomplished. The house is a mess, the cupboards are bare, and my sick day allotment is running out. I'm so glad Ron was home this week to lend a hand (i.e. bring us food). Hopefully this will be a better week, and I'll have more entertaining stories to share.