Here's What Happens

When it's nice outside and you're not spending time inside... this is just a part of what happens.

Thankfully this was the clean clothes that just needed to be folded...

My Wish...

I wish that ALL weekends could be filled with fun, family activities, no crabbiness (by kids or adults), and last longer than 2 days.

Always seems that there's eventually a "not-so-good" weekend after you've had a

few good ones.

Why must it be that way?

One Hot Day

When you spend 5+ hours at a pool you end up with kids that are water logged and TIRED by 8pm. Thankfully we had a nap between some of that pool time...

Happy and Helpful Prayers Needed

I have two things to report on today... one of them happy and exciting and the other is sad and makes me want to cry. So do you want the happy or sad first?? I think I'll start with the happy news.....

Some WI friends of our have been going through an adoption process for quite some time and as of this morning, they are on a plane to Korea to pick up their little boy! It has been a long and frustrating waiting game for them, but they are on their way. I am so excited for them and can not wait to meet their little guy when I come home in July! But they have a long week of travel, getting to know him, and then the daunting task of removing him from the only home he's known for the last year of his life (he turned 1 in May). So, I ask you for your prayers for safe travel, good moments with their new son and a hassle free return with their little guy. (if you would like to follow their journey click here ). Such an exciting time for this wonderful couple. They are going to make amazing parents and their son is one lucky little boy to have them as parents!

Now, on to the sad news. Many of you may know Rick's cousin, Eric and his wife, Nancy. Eric was the best man in our wedding and I posted about them recently in this post. Well, there were some major storms in WI last night and their neighborhood was hit by a tornado. Thankfully, they and their two boys are safe and sound, no one was hurt; however, the same can not be said for their house or vehicles. There house is in pieces (still standing but has holes in roof, siding, windows are blown out, etc) and all their vehicles were damaged. There is a ton of damage to other houses as well and they are hoping that everyone is ok, but have not received word that everyone is accounted for yet. Thankfully, they have family from both sides in the vicinity, but it is going to be a long road to recovery while they work through the house and vehicle stuff with insurance. On this note, I ask for prayers for a speedy recovery of house and home for their family without having to jump through loop-holes to get back a sense of normalcy in their daily lives! We are thinking of you Eric and Nancy. We love you and are SO HAPPY that you and the boys are safe! The material things can be replaced, but there is no replacement for all of you!

It's Official

I hate bugs!

Especially mosquitos.

There.

I said it.

I admit it!

I hate Midwest Summer Bugs!

Don't Worry About the Heavy Sh^&

Rick and I have joked for years that women can do so much and for the most part the guys are around just to "carry the heavy sh^&".  Well, I am here to tell you today, Rick, that you don't even need to worry about the heavy sh^& anymore.

I say this because today I single handedly moved a full sized mattress, box spring and bed frame down a flight of stairs from one room to another.  (Going down was the easy part, I don't know if I could have gone up the stairs with it).  In addition, I moved a glider rocker from the bedroom downstairs to the room upstairs. Well, it was more like dragged it up step by step and before starting I told the kids that if I fell and couldn't get back up they should first fall daddy by pressing "2" and the green button on my phone.  And if Daddy doesn't answer and I'm still not moving then they have permission to call 911.  But have no fear, as I am typing this right now, the chair is moved and is safely upstairs. 

Now, Rick, even though I moved the things today while you are work, it doesn't mean that I don't still need you.  It was my choice to do this.  It wasn't that you wouldn't do it - I was just in the mood to get it done and every woman knows that when you get in the mind-frame to do something, there is no stopping you and it WILL get done, no matter what it takes.   So, I got the heavy sh^& done today, but I do still need you to stick around for those pesky spiders that find their way into our house and to wrestle with the boys periodically.  So don't think you are out of jobs around here yet.  I've still got plenty for you to do...

Letter of the Day - F

So I didn't realize it when the day began, but the letter F activity has been the most fun for me so far. 

We began the morning by painting a paper plate green and a paper plate blue before going down stairs for my work out.  This allowed for drying time before doing the actual craft.  (Now, I was very pleased with myself since I am normally the one that finds these fun things to do, but then realize that I needed to have the kids paint something and let it dry before we could actually do it - ugh.  But not this time.  I was ahead of the game it am so glad I was.) 

By the time I was done working out and done having the kids make their beds and get dressed, the plates were almost dry.  So we began with our normal worksheets.   Trevor was very happy that he already knew how to make an F since it was "just two lines, not three" compared to the E we did the previous day.

On the bottom of the page the question was a bit much for the boys.  It suggested that we write a letter to the local firemen thanking them for what they do and then send it.  Well, we weren't going to be doing that so we decided to make it all about the paint again and make Fingerprints. 

After the finger prints were done, the plates were dry and the craft could begin.  I found this cute FROG craft and spruced it up a bit by putting the frog on the blue plate, or water, and standing the frog up a bit by putting some broken popsicle sticks underneath it to make it more 3-dimensional on the water.  The kids had a blast with coloring, cutting (well, I cut Trevor's out), and making these paper plates magically turn into a frog.   And I have to admit, I think this is one of the cutest crafts we've done in awhile!

Ethan's Frog

Trevor's Frog

Froggy's Found Each Other

In addition, as I was searching for a frog craft, I came across a couple websites that are dedicated to paper plate/cup crafts.   I have put them on the left side bar under "craft things for kids".  Check it out... there are a lot of fun things you can make with paper plates and cups!

And finally, to conntinue with our Frog theme for the letter F, we had two books to read about frogs.  The first is a listen and follow along book called A Frog Thing, and the second is one of our favorites, Hermie and the Big Bully Croaker.

I hope letter G can be just as much fun.....

Letter of the Day - E

The letter E brought us an activity that is always a hit, no matter what time of year.  But before we got to the activity we had to do our worksheets.  No numbers or letter sounds today, just the worksheet and then our activities.  I know - slackers, right!?!   However, we had things to write about on the bottom of the sheet so that made it take a bit longer.   The activity on the bottom was "Write 11 things that make you excited."

Following the worksheets, we did our fun activity that the boys love.... coloring Eggs!!  No matter what time of year they love it.  Trevor, however, was a bit more interested in his snack rather than getting the eggs in the coloring this time ;o) 

In addition to our worksheets and the egg coloring, we decided to read a couple books later in the day that we had checked out from the library.  We had talked about elephants during the day so our book titled Pigs Make Me Sneeze  was a perfect fit. In addition, Ethan had mentioned that "ears" starts with the letter E.  PERFECT lead into our book called Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears.  And especially perfect since we are now back in the land of mosquitoes in Missouri.  But these were two great books that kept the kids' attention the entire time. 

Singing Star

The last few days, when Trevor asks to go play a game on the computer we usually end up hearing this. He's getting more and more words everytime, but definitely knows how to belt out the main chorus! Just makes me giggle every time I hear him sing it....

mute the song list on the right side of the blog so you can hear this.

Child Tattoos

Yes, my children decided to give themselves tattoos today.  Actually, I think it was Ethan saying, "Hey Trev, let me do this to you!"  And Trevor naively agreeing to what Ethan made sound so cool.  I really don't know how it all transpired, but this is what we ended up with...

Am I Nuts??

You answer this question for me...

Am I nuts to think that our boys can and will sleep in the same room without screwing around each and every night??? 

I don't know, but I sure hope not.  I know Rick thinks I am, but I am going to have faith in my boys that they can behave when it comes to bedtime.  Maybe not each and every day, but hopefully most of them.

It all started a couple weeks ago when we had a nasty storm that started right around bedtime.  Trevor, who does NOT like storms at all, was having more than a rough time falling asleep.  Actually, he was just screaming each and every time the thunder would ring its bells.  When there are storms, we typically put on a lullaby CD to hopefully distract him.  On this particular night, the wind had changed directions and the rain was pounding on Ethan's window.  He, who is normally ok with the rain/thunder, was getting scared as well and so came out of his room when I was in by Trevor.  Upon hearing the music in Trevor's room, Ethan declared that he wanted to sleep in Trevor's room.  Trevor quickly said between sobs, "Yes.... Ethan... in... my.... room."  I agreed.  At this point being that I was home alone with the boys, I was ready to try anything to get them to sleep. 

Much to my surprise, as soon as I put them in the same room, they never called me back in!  Aghhhhhhh..... quiet....... except for the rumble of the thunder.  Since that night, they have been asking to sleep in the same room.  Most of the nights I have agreed.  Ethan's comforter goes on the floor, and that's where he sleeps.  He's been comfortable, but I feel bad each and every time I make him sleep on the floor.  For the most part they have done really well with it and my thought is, "If they are BOTH asking to sleep in the same room, why not let them give it a try?"  That would mean I'd only have to decorate one room in boys' fashion (I know, I know... I should have had them decorated a long time ago, but hey that's another story) AND we could move the spare bedroom to the main floor so that when guests visit in the summer, they don't have to roast like chicken on a rotisserie in the upstairs bedroom. 

Today was the day, I started switching them around.  Little by little we are going to do it.  Today, I moved Ethan's mattress into Trevor's room.  If that works, then I'll move the whole bed.  If that continues to work, then I'll finally move the dresser over and consider it THEIR room.  However, it will be made known that should they screw around and not behave upon going to bed, I have the right, as the Mean Mom, to switch them back to the original, separate rooms.

So, I ask you again,  am I nuts for putting them in the same room??

Here is what things look like before and after the switch...

BEFORE

AFTER

(the open space would be where Ethan's dresser goes (should they make it that far in this challenge))

What's Red and White and Striped??

A little disclaimer here before I start this post. If you don't want see some "personal" photos of dear ol' me (nothing that can't be seen, but a little more revealing than most I post), then please please stop reading at the end of this sentence and go to some other website to do your reading.

Ok - you've continued?? You asked for it.

Now that we are in Missouri (aka HOT and HUMID LAND) and I have a pool at my fingertips being that it is just down the block I am seeing the sun a lot more. The kids and I have gone to the pool quite a bit; however, I will admit I don't wear the same swimsuit every day. Now, having said that, one of my goals this summer is to have a nice tan like I did many, many years ago. The past 5 or so years, my tans have been a bit less than desirable due having short lines 1/2 day down my thigh...above that - white as a ghost, I have sandal lines on my feet from having shoes on while being outside in the sun. I have stripes on my shoulders and back due to wearing different tops (swimsuit, tank-tops, t-shirts, etc). Never the same style of shirts two days in row. Oh and then my stomach. HA!! Rarely saw the sun unless I had on a shorter shirt and was reaching up in the tree to get a ball down for the boys and it happened to raise up a bit. That was about it. So it's been a long time since this little belly has seen the sun on a regular basis.

So, now that I have frequented the pool, I have put on a bikini a time or two to give my stomach a few glimpses of the sun. And it has liked it - for the most part. However, there was one day that Trevor and I went to the pool and it was hot and sunny! He played in the kiddy pool while I lounged on the side, and then we played in the big pool where I was about hip-deep in water (with the sun reflecting off the water onto my body). We played and played and played as I was pulling Trevor around or catching him as he jumped from the side of the pool. Now, I'll admit, I'm not 100% confident with where my body is at -- what woman is, let's be honest -- I have a bit extra here and a little more than I'd like there, but hey, I'm a mom of two and I'm learning to be ok with that little extra. Because of this little extra, I realized that I needed to lean back a bit more when lounging to get rid of the little stomach overlaps that I was seeing. Nothing huge, just a little bit, so I thought I was doing a good job of eliminating them, but after I got home, I realized that I needed to do a little bit better.

So without further ado here is what I ended up with after this day of letting my stomach see the light of day for more than a split second... (again, I warned you... so don't say I didn't)

Do you like those lines????   Ha....  Let's just say I was a bit sore for a day or two with all that red skin.

All For a Good Cause!

A couple weekends ago, Rick's work team had a "luau" as a fundraiser for their Relay 4 Life team. All of the proceeds from this fundraiser and many others they have had will be going to the American Cancer Society. As part of their festivities they had a pie throwing contest. Well, not really a pie throwing CONTEST but rather a "buy a ticket and throw a pie (at point blank range) into some lucky person's face".

The first lucky person up for the pies was none other than Rick. Now, one would think that the first person in line might be a secretly disgruntled employee or maybe a super good friend that knows you won't be mad at them for throwing a pie in your face. But no... neither of these two options were the first person in line. Who was it? Come on... guess!!! (and I'll give you a hint, it wasn't me!)

Now, if you guessed Ethan, YOU GOT IT!!! He woke up in the morning asking, "Is today the day I get to throw a pie at Daddy?" So by the time they got to this at 7pm, he was more than ready to get one of those cream pies and smoosh it in Rick's face. Here's the video of it for everyone to witness.


And here are some photos of the fun Rick had....

And the kids had fun doing other things that night, too... swinging, playing Bingo and participating in a cake walk.

Letter of the Day - D

To begin our D - Day we went through some flash cards of the alphabet. Of course, Ethan had no problem with them so we did it more for Trevor. But they were content doing their part. Trevor got to say the letter and Ethan got to say the sound the letter makes. Both of them then tried to come up with words that begin with that sound. Then it was on to the worksheet. Trevor actually wanted to do one of the capital Ds on his own and both had fun imagining about "What it would be like if dinosaurs were still alive". That was our question on the bottom of the page. The answers they gave were as follows:

Ethan - We would be eaten. They would destroy our house by walking through it.

Trevor - You would see big footsteps. They would roar really loud (followed by a loud dinosaur roar!!!)

After the worksheets were completed, it was time for our fun d-activity. Mom's idea today... a Dance competition. Here is a video of their dancing....

They thought their dancing was silly and giggled the whole time while watching the videos. They also collected some things that start with D in their bags : dogs, dinosaurs, drum, etc

Letter of the Day - C

The letter for Friday (we skipped on Thursday since we had Story Time at the library) was C. We wrote our letters, and drew things that started with the letter C (Ethan helped Trev a bit with that cat you see, but Trevor was all about decorating his own cake and putting the candles on). Once the worksheet was complete, the activity to go along with it was to Count the number of steps in and around your house. The boys counted and I tallied them on Trevor's paper. Ethan started tallying, but then stopped for some reason.

In addition, we continued our C activities on Saturday by baking a cake! The boys were having fun adding the ingredients and just as we started mixing a visitor showed up at our door.... our priest from church. Were we being bad? Did we need to repent for some reason?? Nah, we're angels. Ok, maybe I exaggerate a bit on that! But Father Philip was coming over to ask Rick if he could help with moving some stuff out of the current church after mass on Sunday. And then he proceeded to sit with us in the kitchen where the cake was being made, the kids were licking off the beaters, and I had crap everywhere on the counter! Guess he gets to see us in "real life"! It was a nice visit, but it sure did remind us that we are living in a small town!!

Random Tip #9

It's been awhile since I posted my last Random Tip, but I have a good one for you today.  It might not be very random for some of you moms out there, but it is a tip that came in very handy for me today.  We are a house of puzzles.  The boys love puzzles and we have acquired numerous over the past 5 years.  Today, Ethan wanted to do puzzles for a quiet activity after his nap.  Instead of walking up and down the steps multiple times to get different puzzles, he brought down a whole stack of them.  Not a big deal. Until. Trevor.  We finished doing puzzles and after Trevor woke up I was getting the boys a snack.  I came back in the living room to find total of 239 puzzle pieces from 11 different puzzles piled up in one little area of the living room. 

If you ever expect one of your angels to do something such as this - which I know they never ever would, but you could tell one of your friends who has children that may behave in such an atrocious manner - I bring you Random Tip #9.  

If your house contains more than a handful of puzzles, take the time (when the kids are sleeping)  to label your puzzles with letters, numbers, or symbols.

Do this by putting a letter/number/symbol on the back of the puzzle board or on the puzzle box and then mark each and every puzzle piece that corresponds with that board with the same marking.  This way, when you somehow end up with a pile of pieces in one concentrated area, all you have to do is look at the back of the puzzle piece and put it in its correct pile.  It's much easier than having to look at the picture side of the piece and determine what puzzle it belongs to. 

This handy tip which I took the liberty of doing when we moved to Missouri (thank God) allowed Trevor and I to go from this scene (which was obviously taken after all the sorting had been done)

To this scene of 11 completed puzzles.

It's a Real Room - Finally

When we moved into our house in Missouri, we knew that we had NOTHING for the sun room.  It wasn't a room we have ever had before in previous houses, so we didn't have anything to furnish it.   And we were ok with that.  It has been a great room for the boys to play in.  It's a great room to play in that's NOT the kitchen!!  And I love not having toys under my feet while trying to get lunches and dinner ready.

They have played many a games in that room. 

Basketball

Marbles

Tape City,

Just sitting (this was before we had ANY furniture in our house)

And many many more random games/activities.  It's easy to do that when it's an open room. 

But after 9 months, we figured it was time to update and get something in there to make it look like a room that we enjoy. (Actually, my real thought was that I wanted to find something we like to put in there BEFORE Rick's company gives us the word that we are moving again.  Then we'd have to scramble to find something to put in there to make it look lived in when people come look at the house.  And who knows what time of year it will be... if it's winter time there is no way we'd find some indoor/outdoor patio stuff (which is what we wanted to put in there.)  Now - we're not going anywhere soon, don't worry, but we know the time will come, so it's just always in the back of my mind.  Is that terrible to think that way???))   So, that was one of my thoughts, but we really did want to start using that room as a place to just sit and talk and relax.  And now we can. 

Our room went from no furniture to this....

Wearing Protection

Now, this post is not what you may think... this is a very innocent and quite silly post about our oldest. A couple weeks ago he was riding his bike and scooter a lot and ended up getting a blister in the web of his hand between his thumb and index finger. It was a little one, but it hurt enough that he knew he didn't want another one.  To fix it so he wouldn't get another one he came up with an idea of his own. He had seen on TV that people that play sports (football, BMX racing, golf, etc) wear gloves when they play and had just the thing to use while he was playing bike racing in our driveway.

These.....

Yes, these - WINTER gloves.

But they did the trick.  He was as happy as could be using them while biking, golfing and playing around the yard. 

And the important thing to him was that he didn't get another blister no matter how much biking he did!!

Big Boy Way of Playing

The other day I once again was reminded that I have two boys, that are very much ALL boy, living in my home. Playing nicely with the outside car was no longer an option on this day. They had a different idea. A. Much. Better. Idea. In their eyes anyway.

(And as I am loading the video Trevor says, "Come watch this Ethan. We're riding our bikes and crashin' the car. It's so cool!!!" Agh yes...I definitely have boys!)

Turn off the music on the right in order to hear the video giggles...

Letter B Addition

How could I forget this???  Ethan was appalled.  As he was looking at the Letter B pictures that I forgot to put on there that we made Banana-Berry Smoothies as part of our treat!  Ethan loved them.... Trevor not so much (but more because he's not a huge fan of strawberries).  When I tasted it I knew I had tasted it before, but where??  I had an Ah-Ha moment last night and realized that it tasted very similar to a "fun, fruity pool drink" that I had when we were on our honeymoon in St. Lucia.   So, if you want a yummy and easy treat here you go.

Banana - Berry Smoothie
(original recipe)

• 10 oz fresh strawberries, stems removed ( I had 10 strawberries left so that's what I used)
• 2 ripe bananas
• 3 tablespoons sugar or honey (I used honey)
• 1 cup ice cubes
• 3/4 cup milk, yogurt, kefir or coconut water ( I used yogurt)

Wash strawberries and remove banana peels.  In a bleder, process all ingredients until smooth.  For a little extra flavor, a few drops of vanilla or almond extract may be used, but do not overdo as a few drops go a long way

- I made a double batch and substituted blueberries for the 2nd set of strawberries.  I put in about 3 handfuls (or a bit more) of blueberries and loved it even more than the original recipe that had just strawberry/banana.

Letter of the Day - B

B is for ball, butterfly, banana, bed, bum-bum (that was one of Trevor's words). 

So, I wasn't sure how much they liked the Letter of the Day activity yesterday, but when they woke up this morning and asked, "When are we doing letter B, Mom?!?!"  I took that as a good thing.  And they asked several more times before we got to the activity time.  That made me excited to know they liked doing the Letter of the Day. 

Today was B.  Again we started with numbers.  This time Ethan had to go backwards from 20-1 and Trevor went from 1-20 a bit faster than he did yesterday.  Ethan was done in no time so we did an even and odd number pile.  Following that, he continued writing his numbers from where he left off yesterday. 

(once again a rotated picture that I can't fix)

Number cards were put in the bag and then we started on the B worksheets.  Trevor was very adamant that he wanted to make some on his own and I was all for that.  After making capital and lower case letters, it was on to drawing things that start with the letter B.  Trevor needed a bit of help with this, but he was still excited to see the pictures come to life as I helped him draw.  Here are the end results of the worksheets.

(the T on the top is for Trevor)

The "collect things in a bag" activity was once again a hit.  There were a lot more things that started with B in our collection of toys so they had no problems finding items.

Ethan's Bag included...

 Blue and Black marker

Blue and Black cars

 Ball

Bike

 Bumble Bee

Book

Block

Broccoli

Bell

Trevor's Bag included....

Blocks

Books

Bowling Ball

Black car

Bread

Bell

Bumble Bee

Bean Bags

Both are excited to show Daddy when he gets home, but I'll admit there are a few more items today compared to yesterday so we'll see how long it takes to put them away ;o)