the car ride from hell...

We just got back from a whirlwind trip to Missouri. We left Friday late afternoon for my mom's house at Table Rock, went to Branson and Silver Dollar City on Saturday, and came home this morning. I hate boarding Fozzie, so he came with us and did surprisingly well...until the ride home. About 10 miles from the cabin, on some really hilly roads, Fozzie barfed at my feet. Great. So we pull over at the next gas station, get gas and clean up. About 30 minutes later, Tim yaks his entire cup of MILK from breakfast all over the back of my seat and all over his blanket and bear. Neat. Another pit stop to clean that up at which the bear got thrown in the trash. About an hour later, Fozzie, who was in the back seat at this point, throws up again all over Isaac's jacket on the floor of the backseat. Screw it! We didn't even pull over - full speed ahead! All was well until about 5 miles from home, I hear weeping in the backseat. I asked Tim what was wrong and he said, "I miss my bear!" So needless to say, Tim is getting a new bear for his birthday.

Then earlier tonight, Tim was in the bathroom for what was turning out to be a lengthy transaction. I peeked in to see if everything was OK. Tim was on the pot and Isaac had taken his basketball game that hangs on the doorknob into the bathroom and was shooting baskets, keeping Tim company. That's love...

Tim is Ticked!

I finally broke it to Timothy yesterday that his favorite playground in Winfield burned to the ground. I expected about 400 questions, but I didn't expect the strong reaction that I got. With arms crossed in the back seat of the car, he demanded to know who did it, how old they were and where they lived. First, he was just going to kick them for doing it, then changed his mind and said, "I'll give them one more chance, but if they burn another playground, I will set THEM on fire!" I did my motherly duty of discouraging him from setting someone on fire, but had to suppress my laughter in doing so. He also wanted to go door to door to find the people who did it. Later, I showed the boys pictures a friend had taken of the playground on fire. Tim briefly looked at them, then turned around and walked off saying, "What rude kids!"

I Boated!

Yesterday, after I picked up the kids, I told them I had to go vote, then instructed them that they needed to be very good there. Isaac, who always repeats everything I say back in a question, says "You have to go bote, mom?" Yes, Isaac. Apparently, he thought we were going to go BOAT, so he said. "Well, I need to go home and get my life jacket!"

Halloween 2008

This year, we had 3 fun-filled days of Halloween. Because there was no school on Friday, Timothy had his parade and class party on Thursday, then we had trick-or-treating on Friday and then a Halloween party on Saturday. All events went very well and we will be eating candy until next Halloween! Here are some pics from the festivities.

Timothy's Kindergarten class
Kindergarten class party - with Isaac participating - shortly before he almost threw his mask in the fishbowl

The three Super Heroes - Timothy as the Dark Knight, Isaac as Spiderman, and Luke as The Hulk

4 cousins - the Super Heroes and Abby as a Monarch Butterfly

Trick-or-Treating

boys-n-baseball

I'm not one of those obnoxious parents that think that my kids need to be good at sports to be a successful person. In fact, I hate those people. Honestly, I wouldn't care if my kids didn't play sports - then I wouldn't have to be around those other parents. But, I tell you what - Isaac may be a pro in the making. And if he is, then all the trouble he has caused along the way will be worth it. It started with the rock throwing that hasn't entirely subsided. That kid can launch a rock...which he has done at the neighbor's windows and gotten the cops called on him...that is another story entirely... and at my new car that I had owned for 1 week. But now he can hit a ball being pitched to him about as hard as I could. I was pitching to him in the front yard last week and he hit it right back at me...and hit me in the mouth. No time to react. This 3 year old hit a wiffle ball back at me so hard that it made my teeth cut the inside of my lip. Batting next in the lineup was Tim. First, he hit a rocket into my shin. Not a huge deal. Then, I pitched a ball to him, leaned over to pick up another ball, and he hit a ball squarely on the top of my head as I was leaning over. At this point I was not pleased. Being the butt of every joke and the target of every misplaced throw growing up with 2 older brothers, I don't have much of a sense of humor in this department. I informed them that the next time I got hit, I would no longer pitch and go inside. YES - I KNOW - they have no control over where they hit it, they are little boys - but I was having childhood flashbacks! Timothy tried to act serious about it, but could not suppress his laughter at me and said, "Mom, I'm sorry. My giggles are just coming out." Which made me laugh...even though I didn't want to. Baseball is in their genes. I just want them to grow up loving it, playing it, and making memories with their friends. As long as they are doing that, I'm happy. And please, if you see me acting otherwise throughout the years, please slap me as hard as you can back to reality.

E.T. Phone Home!

This weekend, the boys and I watched E.T. I hadn't seen it in a long, LONG time and the boys had never seen it. Tim just continually amazes me with what a dear heart he is. It was the part of the movie where E.T. was dying and Tim just busted out crying. I said, "What is the matter?!" After a little coaxing, I got it out of him that if he had E.T., he would take care of him and love him like Elliott did, and he would be so sad that they were both dying. What a precious boy! I said that I knew he would and everything was all better when E.T. came back to life and made us all laugh with his "E.T. phone home" business. I love that he is this way. I hope he stays this way and doesn't come across dirtbags that change him, because I will then have to punch those dirtbags out. Obviously, I have a lot to learn from Tim.

I wasn't even trying to eavesdrop....

but last night, the boys were in the bathtub playing with the empty shampoo/soap bottles and I overheard Timothy say to Isaac, "Member? Mom said no weenies in the bottles." I bet alot of you all haven't had the pleasure of having that conversation before!

Sunflowers!

A few months ago, in passing, I mentioned that I wanted to take pictures of the boys in the sunflowers that are everywhere! Tim has not let me forget it and every morning when we drop Isaac off, we see the sunflowers by his babysitters house, and he's all "Moooommmmm - when are we going to take pictures in the sunflowers?!" So we finally did it -but we did it at dusk and our pictures turned out kinda dark - but cute nonetheless...

What dog breed are you?

Here's what mine said:

Wow, You're a Labrador Retriever!

Labrador Retriever
The Caretaker
Your family is what makes you tick, and you never "flea" from an opportunity to hang out with the whole gang. A family picnic complete with hot dogs, deviled eggs and a refreshing swim in the lake is hard for you to stray from. Your sparky temperament and dogged intelligence mean you are not only a blast to hang out with, but great to work with as well. Your close pals appreciate your patience and forgiveness, knowing you'd rather let sleeping dogs lie than dwell on the mishaps of the past. Your dashing good looks may one day lead to a modelling career, if only you can tame the unfortunate clumsiness that sometimes causes you to go flailing from the catwalk. Learn more »
FAMOUS LABRADOR RETRIEVERS: Bill Cosby, Jackie Onassis, Dr. Phil, David Beckham
LIKELY PROFESSIONS: Doctor, Sales Executive, Teacher

Find out what you are at http://www.dogster.com/quizzes/what_dog_breed_are_you/

Artwork

Yesterday at daycare, Isaac and his friend Taylor had some fun playing with markers. It was later discovered that their masterpieces were...on each others butts...in brown marker.

The Scare of My Life

So, yesterday was the first day that I officially thought I had lost one of my kids. It turns out I didn't, but I haven't been this scared since Isaac was in the PICU when he was 7 weeks old and they were wearing haz-mat suits around him thinking he had meningitis. The boys were outside playing yesterday morning. They play out front every day with the neighbor kids and never go very far at all. We were getting ready to go eat brunch and realized Tim was inside and we hadn't seen Isaac in a while. We went outside and he was nowhere to be found. THE scariest moment of my life. It turns out, he was ready to go eat and had buckled himself into the Supercar (what the boys call the Honda). Once he buckles himself, he cannot unbuckle himself, so he was just sitting in there waiting on the rest of us. I asked him if he heard me yelling for him and he said, completely calm, "I told you I was in the Thupercar!" He wasn't even fazed.

Cuge!

The other night, Tim was really in a funk and had to go to bed early. Isaac was sitting in the big chair with me eating Skittles in a little bowl for dessert. Tim came to his bedroom door to bawl about something and I told him to get back in bed. He proceeded to slam his door as hard as his could, which scared Isaac so much that his Skittles flew everywhere. It was hilarious! Not the door slamming - the Skittle shower. All he said was "Dat scared me!" and we picked up the Skittles.

Isaac's new word is "cuge" - which I believe is his own combination of "huge" and "cool". Whenever he gets a toy to do something cool, he says, "That was cuge!" It can also substitute for just "huge". It's quite interesting. Am I a bad mom for not correcting him and getting quiet amusement out of it every time? I hope not - Tim still says "hupcolder" for "cupholder" to this day and now, so does Isaac. Ooops!

little ditties...

Just a few funny things from the weekend...

Saturday we were heading to Ponca City to help Paul's sister move. We had told Isaac we were going to help Jessica move out of her apartment and he asked "Is her house heavy?"

Tim was watching Paula Deen with me on Sunday and she was making an apple strudel. After she took it out of the oven, she cut it open and talked about how good it smelled. Tim said, "Oooh, I wish I could smell that!" My thoughts exactly - God, I love him! Hopefully, he continues watching cooking shows with me with such zest.

I realized I said a certain phrase alot when at the dinner table last night, Isaac said to his dad, "For God's sake, Paul!"

And finally, we were at Wal-Mart yesterday, where Tim always begs for a toy like he's never had a toy bought for him in his whole entire life. We had just watched Transformers last weekend and he saw the Bumblebee Transformer and about lost his mind. I have stopped buying him toys for the year and now tell him everything goes on his Christmas list for Santa. So the entire rest of the time at Wal-Mart, I had to hear the Bumblebee play-by-play from the movie and how he (Timothy) wished he could be a Transformer. Needless to say, I will be buying a Bumblebee in the coming months...

Aww man...

The boys haven't really provided much material for my blog lately, but Tim pulled through last night.
Apparently, the dogs got a hold of a half-eaten package of peanut butter M&Ms the boys left in the back yard. This was unbeknownst to me on the 1 day that I decided to let the dogs stay in for the day since it was rainy and cool. When Paul and Isaac got home, there were land mines everywhere. Timothy and I got home about 20 minutes later and Paul had already sprayed all the spots with cleaner in preparation to use our carpet cleaner on them.
T: What is in that?
J: It's just foam.
T: What is it doing?
J: It's just the cleaner. There are poop spots underneath.
T: Aww man! I wish I would have seen that!

Doesn't take much to entertain him...

fashionistas

This morning I decided to wear a denim shirt and it brought about some comments from the peanut gallery.

I: That shirt is like my pants.
J: I know. Cool, huh?
T: It's like jeans! I want a shirt like that when I get big!

For having 2 boys, I get an awful lot of fashion comments and advice. It's not unusual for Isaac in particular to ask "Why you wear dat?". I mean, should I have to defend my wardrobe to a 3 year old boy? Oh well...they won't notice or care in a few more years!

self-confidence

I'm happy to report that I have, so far, instilled self-confidence into Isaac. Yesterday evening, he was coloring in a coloring book and as he was working on his second masterpiece, he said "I'm kinda good at this." I, of course, agreed. Then, as he was working on his third, he said, "I'm great at this." Again, I had to agree.

2 ends of the spectrum

Today was the first day Timothy said what he wanted to be when he "got big".

T: I want to be a hospital worker when I get big.
J: Like a doctor?
T: Yeah.
J: That's a good thing to want to be.
T: Do you want to be a doctor?
J: No way!
T: Why?
J: I don't like all the blood and gross stuff.
T: I wish I could cook stuff and be 5 years old. (?)
J: You know you could do that too when you get big - work in a restaurant and cook for people.
T: Nah.
(5 second pause)
T: I want to work at McDonalds!!
I just laugh.
T: Actually, I need to think about Wendy's or McDonalds. Yeah, McDonald's.

love and hate

Isaac's new thing is telling people he hates them. I don't like it, but I don't make a huge deal because I know he just wants the reaction - on top of the fact that I am positive that it's not true. Last night, as usual, he was still awake 2 hours after I put him in bed. He kept talking and I kept telling him not to, and I got an "I hate you." He doesn't even say it in a mean way, so it's totally ridiculous. A few minutes later, I was getting some dessert and he said from his bed, "I'm still hungry!" He did eat all his dinner, so I told him he could come have a few cookies. As we were standing in the kitchen, he said:
"I like you"
"But you just said you hated me."
"I know."
"That hurts my feelings when you say that."
"I know. But I like you now."
Such a fairweather friend!

The boys new insult to each other (and me) is "Baby!" Whenever anyone does something they don't like, you hear them call someone a "Baby!" What's funny, is now when other people irritate me, I think in my head "Baby!". Lord help me.

best friends

Tonight we were eating dinner at my dad's house. While I was filling my plate in the kitchen, the boys and Grandpa were already eating at the table. Isaac, as usual, was messing around and not eating, so my dad got onto him and told him to start eating...so Isaac told him, "I'm not your best friend, Grandpa." It was so funny.

As promised, here are the pictures of Fozzie, post-haircut. He is half the size, but twice as adorable.

Again, before:

And, after:

I mean, can you believe that?!?! I've never seen such a makeover on a dog! I was worried he would look totally wierd, but he is PRECIOUS!

No new Kindergarten news - they did scooters in P.E. today - let's hope he doesn't do what his dad did in 8th grade and dive on a scooter, break his jaw, and have to get his mouth wired shut.
For fun, here are comparisons of Timothy last year and this year.

We also went to the zoo yesterday and I have to share this picture. Check out the sheep's tongue!

Yowza!

Isaac is trying to maintain a conversation with me even though he is in bed and should not be talking:

I: "Where are you?"

J: "Don't worry about what I'm doing."

I: "I do!"

That's SO his dad! Just plainly stating that he will be in your business. :)

First day of Kindergarten

Tim had a great first day of Kindergarten. In our discussion, he was telling me how they made a sunflower "WITH REAL SEEDS!!" Then he asked me if I knew what the outside of a sunflower seed tastes like. Of course, I asked what? "STICK!" I laughed and he said "It does! It tastes like stick!"

He found a new friend, which is nice since he didn't have any of his existing friends in his class. He was also pretty jazzed about P.E. - no surprise there. The played "Freeze" and then melted onto the gym floor. Sounds fun to me...

A day in the life...

The evenings always start out pretty tame and escalate to the point that I send them to bed and do not want to hear their voices anymore. For example, today when I was changing clothes after getting home from work and Isaac asked why I was putting on a baseball shirt (His favorite shirts are anything to do with baseball). I said because I like it - you have one on too. And he said, "I know. We're best friends."

Then, as I prepare dinner, this, or something like this, goes on:

Tim is watching Spongebob, Isaac is shooting his dart gun at the front window and then jumping off the couch to retrieve the darts.

Almost got it...

Just missed...try again.

Got it that time! For those of you that don't know, this is what little boys do. They continually hurl themselves off of stationary objects.

Eventually, something happens and the calm co-existance escalates into some sort of battle that forces me out of the kitchen in order to send someone to their room. I don't really care who, as long as the madness stops! Battle cries seen here:

And here:

Isaac gets sent to his room, but still has it in him to smile for the camera.

Because it's summer, they can go play outside with the neighbor girls until bath and or bed time. This is nice, but actually, more tattling than usual goes on because one of the girls comes in to tell on the boys...alot.

Bath time will be extra fun tonight because I have a 3rd customer - Fozzie. He has a strong dingleberry odor coming from his backside that must be addressed. He is going to the groomer on Saturday - most likely he will be shaved because he is matted in several places - I swear I'm not a bad dog mom - I must be using the wrong kind of brush... Anyway, at least this will solve the dingleberry problem for a while. Here is his before shot:

Stay tuned for the after shot...

Alas, the fun that is now all mine will soon be shared since Paul starts his 1st shift job on the 25th. It hasn't been all bad, after all they do have their redeeming moments:

Classic Isaac

This morning, Isaac was lying in my bed while I was getting ready. I came out to tickle him because his laugh is irresistable. After he got done laughing, he said
"I farted."
and then
"I like you."

Ah, boys.

More bedtime drama...

I: Mom, can I sleep with you?
J: No
I: Why?
J: Because you crowd me and kick me
I: Is Timmy sleeping with you?
J: No
I: But I'm a wittle boy!

Warning! Disgusting!

So, it's part of my life that the boys describe things they left behind in the toilet. The more odd, the more excited they are...

T: "Mom - guess what! Isaac pooped today and it was a big pile of sand with corn in it! A volcano!"

J: "Wow..."

Isaac just grinned from ear to ear and said, "Yeah, a volcano..." in awe of himself.

I know it's gross, but this is my life and I must record it.

boogers and aliens

Isaac and I were sitting in the chair tonight with Fozzie in our laps.

I: "There's boogers in Fozzie's nose."
(There weren't)
J: "Are there boogers in your nose?"
I: "No...I took them out."

I shouldn't have asked if I didn't want to know the truth.

Also, I overheard this statement from the bathtub tonight...
"I want to see your weenie under the water..."
I don't really know where to go with that one. I'm hoping it's a guy thing.

And finally for today, as we speak, Tim is whining from his bed because I won't let him watch TV with me. He says that I'm upsetting him, and wants to know why we can't be best friends. He then proceeded to come out, promising to be quiet, which prompted Isaac to come out also to see if he could get in on the action. I finally had to state loudly "GET BACK IN YOUR BEDS!" This resulted in tears from Tim, and I was informed that I was hurting his heart. (What the hell is he watching on TV?) The icing on the cake was he just said he was having bad dreams about aliens...and he hasn't even gone to sleep yet.

Gotta go...must calm fears about aliens.

Classic Tim

I had to add a few classic Timothy moments before they leave my brain forever...

Several months ago, we had come home from work/daycare and for a reason I have now forgotten, I took my rings off in the boys' bathroom and left them there. Later on in the night, Tim was in there going to the bathroom. He comes out with big eyes and the conversation went something like this:

T: "Sorry mom."
J: "What are you talking about? What happened?"
T: "Your ring is in the toilet."
J: "WHAT?!?!"
T: "It was an accident!!!"
J: "Did you flush it?!?!?"
T: "No..."

I rush into the bathroom and lo and behold, I see the back part of the band of my WEDDING RING....under a piece of poop. That's right folks, after he "accidently" dropped my ring in the toilet, he "accidently" pooped on top of it. OMG. So I brace myself, grab it out touching as little poop as possible, and proceed to scrub my hands incessantly. Everything was OK and I was so relieved that my ring was not sailing through the sewer pipes that I wasn't even mad. But I will never understand what possessed him to poop on the ring. Ever. As long as I live.

On a less disgusting note, just this month, on three different occasions, Timothy has been randomly chatting about something or other and out of nowhere, will end his thought with a wistful, "And I love chocolate...". Hilarious. I think everyone should throw one of those into their daily conversations.

And finally, since the boys bathe together, we have had to have the conversation about which parts are private and therefore only you are allowed to touch them. Actually, we have had to have that conversation a couple times... Anyway, Tim took the conversation to heart and has now become the body part police. Last night they were getting undressed to get in the bath tub and Isaac was proudly yet crudely making his nakedness known, so Tim yells, "MOM - Isaac has his privacy out!!"

genderless?

So yesterday evening, we were on our way to Grandma Shelley's (so I could get a dinner out with old coworkers) and the argument at the time is what color the ambient lighting in the car should be. (Yes, I can change it in my car from orange, pink, purple, and blue. It's awesome.) Timothy wanted blue, Isaac wanted pink...

Timothy: "Pink is a girl's color!"
Isaac: "Nuh-UH!"
T:"Yeah-HUH! You're a boy! Mama's a girl!"
I: "Nuh-uh! Mama'a not a giwl!"
T:"Yeah-huh!"
I:"NUH-UH!!!"
Me: "Isaac - I'm a girl!"
I: "No you're not!"
Me: "Well, I'm not a boy!"
I: "You're a MAMA!!"

So, I'm a mama, we compromised with blue ambient lighting on the way there and orange on the way home. (Isaac later tapped me on the shoulder and whispered that he wanted orange on the way home. Apparently, pink IS a giwl's color.)