Boxing Dinosaur

Take a look at Josh's t-shirt.

Yes.  Yes that is a boxing dinosaur t-shirt.  That's all kinds of awesomeness, my friends.

Last week we were at the store and he found this shirt and fell in love.  And who can blame him?  He certainly didn't need another shirt - he has a ton passed down from Spencer.  But as he put it, "I don't want just Spencer shirts!  I want a Joshie shirt!"  How can a mom argue with that reasoning? 

But today when I put it out for him to wear?  No way.  He would have nothing to do with it.  No amount of reasoning or questioning could get him to change his mind.   

Me: Why won't you wear the shirt, Joshie? 
Josh: No. 
Me: Don't you like it anymore? 
Josh: No.
Me: But why not?  You chose it.  This is the one you wanted!
Josh: No.
Me: So... why won't you wear the shirt?
Josh: No.
Me: Please?
Josh: NO.
Me: Put the shirt on, Josh.  NOW.
Josh (throwing the shirt and running away): NO!!

I was baffled.  He had no good reason for this.  Other than "No".

In fact, he decided he not only didn't want wear the shirt, but he also didn't even want it in the house - he was going to throw it away.

Not so fast, Paco.  I told him that if he threw it away, then I was going to take $3.50 out of the $5 of birthday money he had.  Then he would only have $1.50 left and that would only buy him one ride on the Big Bounce at the school's chili dinner next week.

This gave him pause.

This was cold, hard cash.  This was now serious.

He put the shirt on.

Five minutes later he was playing "Boxing Dinosaurs" with Spencer, just as happy as could be.

Oh Josh.

This shirt is the very definition of your personality.  You are my little boxing dinosaur.  You're loud, you growl a lot (both figuratively and literally), you're always ready for a fight, and you're pretty cute.  But in the end, your little boxing arms are pretty useless against my Mommy Powers.

At least for now.  (Heaven help us all!)

3 Down, 17 To Go

Spencer lost yet another tooth today while eating lunch at school.  At this rate he will be gumming his food at Thanksgiving!

*****

On a very random side note, I feel the need to complain.  Just a little. 

I AM SO SICK OF FEELING SICK!  Will this never end?  Will I ever feel good again?  Why do my children continue to demand to be fed and clothed when I feel so gross?

I'm beginning to think the answer is no.

Thank you for listening.

Blech.

Spencer's First Grade Picture

Remember last year how I decided to embrace bad school pictures?  Encourage them even?

This year Spencer did not disappoint.

I don't know, not as great as last year, but certainly not a good picture!  Was he trying to hide the gaps in his teeth?  Did the photographer tell a joke that was only half funny?  Was he whispering to one of his friends out of the side of his mouth right at that moment?

I've asked him.  He has no answer.  The world will never know.

Awesomely bad.  I love it.

p.s.  Please excuse the poor photo quality.  Our scanner is having issues so I had to take a picture of the picture.  Lame.

Life in Suburbia

This afternoon I had a rare hour of non-nausea.  I decided to make dinner, which has become something of a luxury lately.  Poor Lance doesn't ever know if he's coming home to a hot meal or to a sick wife who can barely sit up.

Anywho, as I worked on dinner I looked around me and noticed the following:

• Five kid bikes and helmets strewn across our front lawn
• Around eight kids running around like wild banshees in the back yards and having a great time
• Cole taking the plastic bowls out of the cupboard.  Again.
• The distinct smell of autumn in the air, with someone burning leaves a mile or so away
• The lovely cool breeze coming through the house
• The sound of a lawn mower in the distance

It was idyllic and happy and calm.  I felt blessed and humbled at the blessings I've been given.

All of a sudden, as I stood there enjoying my nice suburban scene, Josh streaked through house, singing at the top of his lungs Everybody Dance Now. Then he ran out side, in his socks (no shoes of course), and started chasing Spencer with his light saber, who started shrieking at the top of his lungs.

And reality set back in...

An Evening With Bill Cosby

On Friday Lance and I treated ourselves to a night out - sans children.

Any night without the kids is going to be nice.  (Sorry kiddos - love you!)  But this one was especially great.

We started the evening at a local restaurant that I've always wanted to go to - La Scala.  When I'm not with the kids I'm all about going to locally owned restaurants rather than chains.  Preferably something without a kids menu.  This fit the bill.

Even though we had a reservation we still had to wait nearly 20 minutes.  And the hostess sat someone who came in after us who had a reservation for the same time.  We were not impressed with the hostess.  But then we got a super waitress who totally made up for it.

The food and the atmosphere were both excellent.  We even splurged and got an appetizer.  (Image borrowed from their site.)  Okay, it wasn't so much of a splurge as this pregnant lady was so hungry she was pretty sure she was going to die if she didn't get some food RIGHT THEN.

It worked.  I didn't die.  And the bruschetta was fantastic.

We ate and then rushed over to the campus because we were going to spend the evening with Bill Cosby (and several thousand of our closest friends).  We got to our seats right before Mr. Cosby came out.

For a split second I was a bit disappointed that he wasn't wearing a signature brightly-colored sweater.  Instead he was wearing Purdue gear from head to foot, which I guess is a good close second.  He was also wearing Birkenstocks, which might seem weird on a 73 year old comedian in sweats, but they seemed to suit him.

Well.  The show was AWESOME!  Seriously, that man is a class act and a natural entertainer.  We laughed for the entire two hours and would have willingly stayed for another two.  It was wonderful.  Lance and I both laughed to tears during a story he told of his 6 year-old self having a tantrum, probably because we could relate so well to it.

In fact, even though he was a poor black child who grew up in the projects of Philadelphia, he tells stories in such a way that even if you're a white girl who grew up in the suburbs of California you feel as if you can totally relate to all of his experiences.  That's the sign of a great entertainer in my book.

Even though we had to wait in the parking garage for 30 minutes before we could drive home and I felt completely nauseous all the way home, it was a wonderful evening.

A Bit of This and That

Spencer lost another tooth on Tuesday.  He was quite excited  (Not enough to open his eyes for a picture, though.)

The Tooth Fairy forgot to come that night.  What's wrong with her?!?!  Fortunately, she mysteriously appeared Wednesday morning while Spencer was in the shower and left a whole dollar, mainly because she felt guilty and only had $.32 in spare change.

*****

I finally got a covered garbage can for the pantry.  Huzzah!

This is big for me, mainly because when I am pregnant I suffer from SUPER smell.  I can smell anything and everything.  (Another reason why this was so fun.  Oh, and although I didn't mention it in that post, I threw up collecting those samples.  Three times.  You owe me big time, Cole.)

Anywho, it was getting to the point that I just couldn't open my pantry anymore because of the garbage smell.  Which only I could smell.  (But does that really matter?  I'm the one who's in there the most.)  It doesn't open all the way because the shelf is a little low, but I don't care.  Why don't we put the garbage can somewhere else, you ask?  Because our kitchen is a little weird, and there really is no where else to put it.  Trust me.

*****

Over the last week or two Cole has become a climber.  And a curious explorer.  And a BIG mess maker.  You know - a toddler.  Right now some of his favorite things include:

- Getting out the oils and vinegars from the Lazy Susan cabinet in the kitchen.  Nice.

- Climbing onto the dishwasher.  And trying to get the knives out.  And trying to hurt himself with the knives.  Pesky child.

He's now figured out how to open the dishwasher even with the latch on, so this is our current safety lock.  (I haven't found anything at the store that I like.)

- He is also obsessed with getting out all of the big bowls that I keep in one of the bottom cabinets of the kitchen.

They are CONSTANTLY on the floor, mainly because I get nauseous when I bend.  Today we also had a knight's helmet and breastplate as well as liquid smoke join the bowls on the floor.

Why do we not have locks on the cabinets?  Good question.  Ask Lance.

- We now host Seminary in our storage room in our basement.  Although we keep the door to that room closed, Cole has discovered that the door doesn't latch all the way and is easily pushed open.  Here's what I discovered him doing the other day.  (Photos recreated for dramatic purposes.)

I've never had a climber.  Heaven help me.

- Finally, Cole has discovered the boys' computers.  He lurrves them.  And he seems to have a very good idea of how to use the mouse.

Is anyone else disturbed by this?  The boy is 15 months old.  Lance couldn't be prouder.

A Little Excuse

I've been a bit of a slacker lately.

My house is a mess.  I haven't dusted in at least two weeks.  Laundry needs to be put away.  The hideous yellow bathroom is still very much yellow.  The dark maroon man-cave office is still dark maroon.  And Cole's ferocious pink room?  Still ferociously pink.

Blogging has been quite hit or miss.  So have trips to the park for the kids.  And 'real' dinners for my family?  Not so much.  I'm lucky to get Spencer's lunch packed for school.

But I have an excuse.  A little, tiny excuse. A little, tiny excuse that is making me totally nauseous pretty much all the time, but especially in the morning and in the evening - prime house cleaning and blogging times. 

This little excuse will make his/her appearance around mid-April.  At which time he/she will then be just another excuse to not get stuff done around the house. :)

Here we go again!

Henry's Back

I've made it no secret in the past how much I lurve King Henry VIII.  He is sheer awesomeness.  Actually, anyone associated with the whole Tudor dynasty is sheer awesomeness in my book.

I've been feeding my addiction again with a couple of books, this time about his last wife, Catherine Parr.  Talk about a rough life; 4 husbands, one of them that scoundrel Henry, and when she finally gets to marry her love, Sir Thomas Seymour, she gets pregnant, he fools around with her 14-year-old ward (who just happened to be ELIZABETH I), and then Catherine dies in childbirth.  Holy shnikes, it was like a medieval soap opera, only with better costuming and not as melodramatic.

Anywho.  The addiction is back.  And I now have several related books awaiting my arrival at the public library.

I was dinkin' around on the computer, checking out pictures of the castles associated with Mr. Henry Rexicus (Do I smell a 15 year anniversary tour of King Henry VIII's castles and homes?!  Perhaps!!  It's either this or the Anne of Green Gables tour, Lance!  I want to go to there!) when I decided to see if Etsy had anything Henry-related.

To my surprise, they did.  Here are a few of my favorites:

Why yes, that is a pin of Henry singing his favorite song.  ("I Henry the Eighth I am, Henry the Eighth I am, I am...")  It can also be made into a magnet, which I think would look pretty awesome on our new fridge in the basement.

And look!  It's a Henry VIII pocket mirror.  Because... well... I have nothing clever to say about that.  I don't even own a pocket mirror.  But if I did, it would definitely be this one.  Because it's Henry.

And these?  Well, I can't say I really love these domino magnets.  Seriously, what possessed this person to say, "Hey, I have these extra dominoes, and these pictures of Henry VIII and his wives.  What can I do with these....?  Oh wait, I know!"  Seriously?  Well, whatever, they made me laugh.

But now, the piece de resistance, the one piece of Henry memorabilia that I would truly consider buying (now that my ornament collection is complete) is this:

How awesome would it be to have a Henry VIII necklace?!?!  (Answer: very.)  Oh c'mon, don't roll your eyes.  Sheer sophistication is what that is.  I would wear it whenever reading about him or his consorts.  Or maybe when I'm just feeling a little saucy.  Or maybe just to bunco. 

But whatever.  I would wear it and I would lurve it.  Just like I lurve Henry.

Samples

In my 6+ years as a mother I thought I had done and seen a lot of things.  A lot of gross things.

And I have.

But today reached new levels.

See, poor Cole has been having... *ahem*... digestive issues for over a month now.  And in the last few weeks it's just gotten worse.  We've been working with his pediatrician and have tried lots of things, including removing dairy and fresh fruit from his diet, filling him up on fiber, and giving him super-expensive child probiotics.  Nothing's worked; explosive diapers have ruled my life for quite a while.

So Dr. Oliver finally decided that it was time to get some samples.  You know... diaper samples.  Now, I generally have a fairly sturdy constitution, but today put me over the edge.  I don't know why.  But having to put those samples into three little containers?

Erlack.

We dropped off the samples at the hospital lab this afternoon.  I thought it would take all of five minutes; the hospital had other plans.  They tried to admit Cole, even though I very clearly kept telling them that wasn't necessary.  I'm not quite sure how they construed "His pediatrician said to just drop these samples off" as "Acck!  My baby really needs to stay the night in the hospital!" but whatever.  I obviously don't speak "hospital administration".  

All I know is that I walked into the hospital with a bag full of poop and then had to deal with some different kind of poop.

Anywho.  

That's not the point of this post.  The point of this post is that moms have to do a lot of weird things for their kids.  Like save poop and argue with hospitals.

But that's okay.  Because the ones we do it for are definitely worth it.

A Conversation with Cole

Why yes, that is Lance laying on the floor in the back ground.  I had just smacked him in the head with a frying pan.

No.

But apparently he was so tired he couldn't make it into the bedroom.  Or something.

First Lost Tooth!

Spencer lost his first tooth today.

He was eating lunch on the couch while we watched a movie.  (A rare treat!)  Suddenly he said, "Hmm.  Mommy, my tooth came out."  As calm as can be.  I looked over and there it was - a bloody little tooth.  On my couch cushion.  Not on the plate he was holding.  *sigh*

He complained that it hurt him a little, which is understandable.  (I remember my gums being sore after losing teeth.  Do you?)  He didn't think a wet paper towel would help.  But a nice cold soda?  Definitely.  (Another rare treat!)

He sure is proud.  He likes to look in the mirror at the small gap, and he likes to be called "Jack-o-lantern".  I didn't even know he had a loose tooth on the bottom!

I know it's silly, but I was almost a little sad holding that gross little tooth.  I remember him growing that little tooth when he was a baby. I remember brushing that little tooth before bedtime.  I remember him biting me with that tooth when I was nursing him and yelping out in EXTREME pain.  Maybe I won't miss that little tooth all that much.

Well, the tooth is safely in it's mail box, waiting for a visit from the Tooth Fairy tonight.  Excitement abounds.

Happy Fourth Birthday, Joshie!

Today is Joshie's fourth birthday. 

Can I believe that he's this old already?  Yes.  As much as we love Joshie, this has been a long four years.  I think I deserve a medal for not running away.  Joshie deserves a medal for stubbornly never giving in.  Ever.  Lance deserves a medal for hauling Josh off to time-out when Mommy's had enough.  Medals all around!

Josh was adamant about wanting a chocolate cake today.  So here's what I made:

What?!  That's not a cake?  It's just a giant brownie? 

SHUSH YOUR MOUTH.

I just couldn't bring myself to make a whole cake today when I had just made 24 cupcakes on Friday.  Plus, my kids are notorious for ignoring birthday cake and only eating the frosting and the ice cream.  So I'll admit it: I just put a brownie mix in a springform pan, baked it, and then threw on some white chocolate chips and sprinkles.  I called it chocolate cake.  Daddy called it chocolate cake.  The boys never questioned it and happily ate large slices.  Everyone wins.

This is one of the more exciting birthday videos we've shot.  See if you can catch Lance almost dropping the cake, my voice changing like a 13 year old boy while we sing, and Spencer adding a little something special to the cake at the very end.

Notice that Josh actually blew out the candles and enjoyed being the center of attention today.  (As opposed to his behavior on Friday.  Cantankerous four-year-old!)

Josh got some pretty great gifts.  He got some Battle Bugs from Spencer and Cole.  (Nice finger, Josh.)

He got an awesome voice changer from Lance and I.  (He and Spencer fought over it all evening, which means it is an excellent gift.)

Grandma Joy and Grandpa Viggo sent a really cute Tickle Monster book, complete with tickle monster gloves.  (He wore the gloves to bed.)

And Grandma Susie and Grandpa ElRay sent Spongebob Sorry.  Josh chanted "Spongebob!  Spongebob!" over and over as he opened it.  He was quite excited.

Obviously, when it's your birthday you don't have to wear pants.

The evening was laid back and fun.  The boys actually played nicely for a while!  (Miracle of miracles!)

Oh Josh.  We sure love you. You are definitely the character of the family.  On your fourth birthday, when I think of you I think of:

• How much you like dinosaurs, dragons, and running and jumping away from them.
• How much you LOVE to swing.
• How much you love to be a stinker in Primary.  You're so good in class, but when you're in the room with me you are naughty!
• How much you really do like Cole, even though you'll never admit it.  (Even if you did hit and shove him the other day.)
• How you trick Cole into going into the toy closet, close the door, and then turn off the light and listen to him howl.
• How even though Spencer is bigger than you, you have no qualms takin' him down when you find it necessary.
• How you can be really quite sweet.  (Especially when you want something.)
• How you are so good at getting yourself dressed - much better than Spencer was at this age.
• How you like to snack ALL DAY LONG.  You would be perfectly happy skipping all sit-down meals and just snacking.
• How you have recently started coming into our room at 6am and laying down on the floor by my side of the bed.  You do it about 3-4 times a week.  I'm not sure why.  Have you noticed the pillows and blankets I've started leaving there?
• How you would be perfectly happy wearing the same shirt for three days in a row.  Pants optional.

I love you, Joshie!  Happy fourth birthday!

Joshie's 4th Birthday Party

Joshie's birthday is on Sunday, so today we had a little friends birthday party for him.  A while back Josh decided he wanted a Popcorn birthday party.  What can I say - the boys likes his popcorn.  So first we mailed out these invites:

Not bad, right?  (The smudge is our address, in case you're wondering.)

Then we decided that a popcorn birthday had to have popcorn cupcakes.  What do you think?

I think the marshmallows really look like popcorn!  So did the kids, apparently, because they all wanted the cupcakes with sprinkles.  Go figure.

This is the first time I've entertained in our new house.  I have to say, I reallllly love having the wetbar downstairs, especially since we now have a fridge down here too.  It makes life so much easier!

Big Kudos to Grandma Susie for finding these awesome popcorn bags for the party favors (which I forgot to give to some of the kids, dang it!) and for eating our popcorn.  I thought they were great!

They set the color scheme for the party - red and orange. 

I drove across town with a dozen helium balloons and two kids in the back of my mini van. You've never seen such happy, giggly, and entertained little boys!

Here's the birthday boy - refusing to pose for a birthday photo.  Growling at his mother.  Because that's how he rolls.

He was actually quite anxious for all of his friends to arrive.  He was quite excited to take the gifts they brought and then show his little friends downstairs to the party!

It was a typical four-year-old party.  We played a few games - like Don't Eat Popcorn Pete.  But mostly the kids just played with toys and each other.  Us mommas chatted and tried to prevent too much kid-related damage.

Finally, it was time for the birthday candles!  I thought Josh would totally be into this.  He loves to be the center of attention.  (Heck - half of his behavior - good or bad - is related to him wanting attention!) 

But no. 

He wanted NOTHING to do with blowing out candles. 

He wouldn't sit in the chair, he wouldn't listen to the birthday song, he would not cooperate at all.

It wasn't until I threatened to blow the candles out myself that he finally got his act together.

Pesky child.  I didn't really expect his "terrible three's" stage to be over right away just because we were having his birthday.  But I was kinda hoping...

Well, despite his protests against the candles, he had no protests whatsoever against eating the cupcakes and ice cream.

He also didn't mind opening his gifts. 

He didn't act that impressed right then, but trust me - he loved his presents and played with them all afternoon!

As you can see, he really liked the knight outfit his friend Cassidy brought for him!

Thank you to all the fun friends who came to Joshie's birthday party - it was a fun afternoon!