Let's Get Real...

Ok, I know it's been some time since I visited my little corner of Blogland.   I came by last night and read through old posts and remembered things about my kids that I had already forgotten.  I also came to a few conclusions.  I started this blog as a way to vent some of the frustrations that are inherent with attempting to raise (and who am I kidding? just living with) the smallest people in my home.  It has been a venue to document the good, bad, and often slightly ugly happening in our lives, but a place where I can also (eventually) see the humor in most of the daily situations of family life.  

I have also used this space to attempt (not always so well done) to keep connected with friends and family.  I have been a little frustrated at times with the lack of comments and wondering if anyone ever bothers to have a look at the antics of our home.  After strolling through the past few years online last night, I decided I don't care if anyone looks or comments.  This has become (at least for me and hopefully my husband and children) a chronicle of the little and not so little events and memories and precious moments in our lives.  

I decided to recommit to posting more often.  I'm not going to say how often, but I realized the importance of this family journal, even if this blog is just a place to keep it safe for awhile.  Life is busy, crazy busy in our house, but I don't want to miss out on recording and preserving little snippets of my children as they grow.  

With that said, our little family has grown since the last post.  More to come soon!

Half-pint Makes His Debut in the Art Show...

Half-pint's illustration was chosen favorite by his principle to be part of the school district wide art show that was showcased and open to the public at the local outlet mall a few weeks ago. We were so proud of his work! There was a reception one evening during the show's run and we were able to see his art on public display! For now, it hangs in the library at his school, and eventually it will be returned to Half-pint. Way to go Kiddo!!!

below text taken from Half-pint's school art show web-page.  thanks art teacher!!!

" “...The Three Little Kittens Have Lost Their Mittens…”  Do you remember this fun nursery rhyme? Third grader (Half-pint) used this as inspiration to create his very own illustration. This illustration really captures the essence of that story and communicates it’s message extremely well. Not to mention that it is an adorable illustration. "

Blood Moon...

A few weeks ago, I happened to be awake for the lunar eclipse and woke the older two boys up to see it.  Thankfully, we could see it from their bedroom window so they didn't even need to go outside.  Half-pint tried to figure out why on earth I was wide awake at 2:00 in the morning and excitedly telling them about the eclipse.  I simply replied that I had been awake for awhile (actually for nearly an hour when I woke them up!).  I did go outside to set up my tripod to get a photo or two.  It was another hour or so before I got back into bed, to have Half-pint wake up screaming from a particularly bad nightmare shortly after I dozed off.  It ended up being a short night of sleep for me, but the eclipse was pretty cool.

Happy Easter 2014...

Grandma, this one is for you!

Here's the boys this morning before church...
We had a great day celebrating with family after church.

Checking out their Easter baskets: Legos, Book, sidewalk chalk, small chocolate bunny, and some M&Ms

Stuck Between A Rock And A Hard Place...

Zoo Day....

I took the boys to the zoo for a little summer fun.  It was fun...but very HOT!  We had to stop for ice cream just to cool down!

We ate our way through the park, with specially bought snacks just for the occasion (Oreos, Twinkies, Chips Ahoy-Soft (that soft is VERY important...2 stops to get the correct cookies), beef jerky, crackers, yogurt, etc).  We ate SO much junk, the boys said "Don't tell Dad" and "We better eat a really healthy dinner tonight!"

We did have fun, despite the heat!  We basically wandered the entire zoo that hot, hot afternoon.  

Here's my little hoodlum - complete with crooked hat and sagging shorts...eaten' it up.

And my 3 monkeys checking out the Great Apes

They had a great time watching the Gibbons swinging all around it's enclosure.  We all agreed that it would be pretty fun to brachiate like they do!

This is my personal favorite to see...the Cassowary (or "Dinosaur Bird" as I like to call it).  It has HUGE feet with SHARP claws...And I just think it looks pretty primeval.

And this is something you don't see everyday, as Half-pint put it when showing the pictures to Daddy.  He's right though, I've been to the zoo a lot and I don't think I've ever seen this before!  I'm sure it happens--Tigers can climb--but it was fun to come upon it.

Look carefully in the center of the photo...then below for a closer shot

Close up from inside the building...

Easter (Just a Little Late)...

Okay, so I haven't been very good about posting recently (I still need to post about all the reasons I haven't been posting).  Here's the yearly photos of the boys together on Easter!  Since Half-pint was baptized earlier this year (a post on that later...I promise) he has been wearing ties to church...so we make Quarter-pint wear one as well.  Peewee-pint doesn't want to be left out and insists on wearing a tie "like big boys"!  I think it's adorable!

After church, we headed to Grandma's house for a nice dinner, and the traditional Easter egg hunt in the backyard with cousins.  

Peewee-pint even had it figured out this year.  
The boys got a new pair of pajamas in their Easter baskets; Quarter-pint and Peewee-pint insisted on wearing them to Grandma's house.

Half-pint won the Egg War this year.  He beat Aunt C5, and he was pretty pleased with himself!

We also enjoyed Carrot Cupcakes that Aunt C6 helped make. 

They were delicious!  I think each of the boys ate two or three!

Half-pint Races Cars...

Half-pint was lucky enough to begin his Cub Scout career with the Pine Wood Derby!  What a way to begin!  He was really excited to build, paint and finish the car with Daddy's help.  They worked together for hours to get it just right.  The day of the race was pretty exciting!  He had a cheering crowd with both his parents, brothers, both Grandpa's and Grammy as well.  He even won a few of the heats!  He's looking forward to doing it again next year.  Quarter-pint is already planning his "sibling car".

Quarter-pint Has A Surprise...

Daddy took the boys on a few errands this afternoon.  When they got back...Quarter-pint was missing something...I guess it was pretty loose (although he didn't really talk about it before hand) because all the sudden, something felt funny in his mouth and his tooth was out!  He kind of freaked out, Daddy had to pull the car over to figure out what was going on.  The kid jumped out of the car and wandered around in a little bit of pain, but more confusion.  He just wasn't sure what had just happened!   Quarter-pint was pretty excited...when they got home, he came right in and put the teeny-tiny tooth under his pillow for the tooth fairy to find after dark.

Shopping...

It's amazing what you can pick up at the big box stores!!!

Peewee-pint Speaks...

Peewee-pint has really turned into a little talker.  He talks so much more than Quarter-pint did at the same age.   It's really fun to hear a little of what's going on in that head of his!  Here are a few of the things he's said over the past few days:

Last Sunday, we went to my parent's house for Sunday dinner.  Grandma got an iPad for Christmas, and the boys are still excited about it.  The rule is the boys can play on it, but only when they are sitting down (and not getting up with it) near someone big (i.e. an adult).  The two bigger boys had a turn and Peewee-pint wanted his iPad time.  I told him to go sit with Grandma so he could play.  He sat there happily in Grandma's lap for quite some time.  When we got home later that night, he recounted the whole adventure to me at bed time:

"Me, me play iPad...Danma (grandma) house...me sit Danma lap...play dames (games) Danma lap...motorcycle dames...wweeee...Danma house...play dames me...iPad...Danma lap...FUN!  Me!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After I (we, Peewee-pint and I) dropped the bigger boys off at Daddy's office so they could go to an NBA game, Peewee-pint was pretty hacked off being the only kiddo not invited.  He screamed in the car during rush hour traffic on the drive home.  Trying to distract him, I asked what he wanted to eat for dinner...the answer was quick and decisive: "Take (cake)-birfday take...happy birfday Daddy...take!"  When we got home I tried to convince him to have something a little more healthy first and suggested a cheese stick for starters.  His answer: "no cheese stick!  Me want eat take, ice team, tookie dough!  Eat take!!!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He is really enjoying saying his prayers, especially at bed time.  He's gotten the hang of it and needs fewer and fewer prompts.  In the middle of Sacrament meeting last week (it was ward conference) the Stake President said "Jesus Christ" and Peewee-pint piped in "Name Jesus Christ, AMEN!"

When we help him pray, we generally try to keep it pretty strait forward.  The prompts are typically something like "thank you" or "bless us".  He has started filling in the blanks before we have the chance to supply a thank you or blessing.  My favorite is when he quickly and definitively says "bless us be HAPPY!" in every prayer.  The other night, he was filling in all the blanks, starting with the "thank yous" with things like his brother's names and happy; then when he wasn't sure what to say next, he opened his little eyes, looked at me in his darkened bed room and said "what else?"  I was a little surprised to realize that he was actually thinking about what to say next and not just waiting for me to tell him something to say.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When we were thankful for Jesus in his prayer the other night, that sparked a memory from Nursery, and in the middle of his prayer he excitedly started telling me "Me play, choochoo track...nusy (nursery)...fun...choochoo...nusy...play...me."  After he was finished telling me what a fun time he had playing with trains in nursery, we finished his prayer and he fell right to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peewee-pint has a little bit of a temper.  And when things don't go his way, he's quick to scream at the top of his lungs.  I deal with this by giving him a couple of warnings, then place him in his "baby-jail" room.  We have the doorway double gated (two pressure gates...one on top of the other) because he climbs over if there's only one.  He knows this is the consequence for screaming and I always hear his pleading for mercy as we head up the stairs.  "I be nice... you...I be nice...I be HAPPY!"  I usually say something like "Good, I'm glad you will be nice to me, but you still need to go to your room."  He doesn't like that answer, but grudgingly goes to his room for a few minutes.  When I go to release him, he always says "I be nice now Momma...I be nice you."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The baby-jail gates also prevent Peewee-pint from getting out of his room when he's awake in the morning or from his nap.  We've learned our parental lesson when we found him rummaging in the bottom drawer of the fridge for cheese sticks in the middle of the night-more than once (those were a one gate night...hence the double gates).  Whenever he wakes up...even in the middle of the night...he typically goes to the gated door and says "I all done... I sleep all night long!"

Saturday Morning...

I woke up yesterday, to the sound of tiny feet toddling into my room.

"Momma, Momma, det out"

I peek out from under the covers...

"Det dessed"-a set of little hands grab my jeans (and nothing else) and thrusts them into my, now extended and still kind of tingly hand.  Then more toddling-around to the other side of the bed-it's easier to climb up from that side-that's the usual climbing side.

"Me help" he says as he tries to pull the comforter off my snuggled body.  Then he's confused when he finds a layer of BOTH blanket and sheet under the comforter...he doesn't use blankets on his own bed yet...much to my dismay.

"Me hold you" (which really means I want YOU to hold ME).  
"Det out.  Me help"  

That's when I get up...who can resist that?

I promised Quarter-pint cinnamon rolls for breakfast...and he came into the kitchen as the rolls were baking.  He scrunched up his face and said:

"Man, you make smelly cinnamon rolls!  They smell really good."


Peewee-pint, watching the rolls bake, excitedly piped in:

"Cimm rolls smell yum!  So yum me!!!"

Then, after enjoying the good smelling "cimm rolls" we were off to Half-pint's last basketball game of the season (they won, which always makes the season-end celebration more fun!), and after the game, he and I had pizza with the team.

Random Photos...

I know I am WAY behind on posting...it's been a CRAZY few months at our house...but here's a preview of what's coming to blogland:

And this is what I find when the kids get ahold of my phone...

And these are just the "good" ones.

Porcupine Head...

Porcupine Head???

Who Me???

HA!

...At least, that's what Daddy and Half-pint have started calling Quarter-pint recently...

The First Day of School...

The boys (yes, plural) started school mid-August.  Half-pint began 2nd grade, and Quarter-pint is a kindie!  

(No Quarter-pint-that's the wrong way!)

The school requested the parents escort new kindergartners into the classroom on the first day of school.  I knew parking would be a nightmare, so I offered to walk the boys all the way...they were ecstatic, so the 3 of us all loaded the "two seater" stroller with kids and backpacks and off we went!  It's over a mile to school, so we allowed extra time and I was glad (and prepared) to have the big stroller-Quarter-pint requested to ride a couple of times.  

When we got to school, seasoned Half-pint marched into the building through the designated 2nd Grade door and he was off...I made him come back to give me a hug before I left him disappear into the bowels of the building.  Then, Quarter-pint, Peewee-pint and I headed in through the front doors and into the mayhem of the first day of kindergarten.  

Quarter-pint was a little nervous and apprehensive, but he did great!  The teacher had the kiddos find their hook / cubby and hang up backpacks then find their name on one of the tables...meet new friends, don name tags and then all head to the alphabet rug for a story.  When the story was finished, the parents were kindly told to leave and the kids officially began school.  

I got a little weepy thinking about Quarter-pint being at school and not home with me (but who am I kidding---he was gone more last year between his 2 different preschools than he will be this year), but held it together in front of him.  By the time I got outside, I was totally distracted with Peewee-pint's refusal to get back into the stroller and then by visiting with friends and neighbors to actually cry.  We finished our walk for exercise on the way home and turned around about 2 hours later to pick Quarter-pint up.  

Quarter-pint was really excited to start riding the bus on the second day of school.  Riding the bus alone was harder for me when Half-pint began school; but this time around, I didn't think twice about Quarter-pint's first bus ride.   I knew he had his older brother to look out for him.  Half-pint has already missed a few days because of a concussion, and Quarter-pint has been anxious to make it to the bus stop on time...he's fine on the bus by himself.  What a big kid!

With a few weeks under their belts, both boys are comfortable and happy at school.  They are enjoying all the "specials" (ie p.e., technology, music and art) along with recess, book buddies and library day.  Half-pint is loving math and Quarter-pint has been focused on colors.  Book orders and school fundraisers have already begun.  Everyone is settled back into the routine...now we just need to weather to cool down a little bit so it begins to feel like fall.

Peewee-Pint Discovers Sidewalk Chalk...

Peewee-pint discovered the creativity of sidewalk chalk this afternoon.  He spent a good half-hour or more (which for someone his size is an amazing amount of time on one thing!!!) outside exploring with color and lines.  He roamed the entire driveway-marking his territory the entire way and covering himself-clothes and skin in the process.  It was fun for both of us!