May 20, 2008

This is a quickie but I want to document it before I forget.

The boys and I went to the park today and we had a fun time on a beautiful day (although it is getting pretty hot now). We were getting ready to leave and Nick was a bit ahead of me and Ben, when I heard him say very urgently, "Mommy! A mouse! A mouse!".

I looked to where he was pointing, not too far from us, but there was a big tree in the way. I kept looking, thinking that I would soon see a squirrel run from behind the tree. He was standing where he had a better perspective and could see past the tree better than I could. Again he yelled, "Mommy! A mouse! A mouse!". He was so excited.

A second later I saw a lady come from behind the tree, walking down the sidewalk and a millisecond later I saw her little tiny chihuahua come trailing after her on a leash. She had heard Nick calling her little dog a mouse and she was cracking up and, by then, I was cracking up laughing too. It was quite a funny moment.

May 19, 2008

It is officially hot here now:). Summer has arrived. The boys have been outside playing in the water for the past couple of weeks. One day last week, it was warm outside but was not hot yet. They were wearing shorts and T-shirts and playing in the couple of inches of water in their little swimming pool. They waded in it once in a while but, for the most part, they were leaning over the side, filling up containers with water and then walking around the patio and yard and dumping the water on various things. I was sitting on the patio, reading a book. Out of the blue, they both decided they wanted to take off their shorts and their diapers but they wanted to keep their shirts on. We have a wooden fence around the yard and, heh, you're only young once, right? So they played for a while with their T-shirt on and their little birthday suits from the waist down. I thought it was quite funny.

Today, the dad was outside with Nick, while I was in the house cooking dinner and Ben was sitting nearby at the kitchen table, coloring, cutting and pasting. The dad later told me that Nick was going behind the bushes to hide and then yelling, "honey! honey!" at the dad.

We are now hearing almost-full sentences from both boys and they never shut up! (I love it most of the time:) Today Ben told me "mommy, boo boo all better".

Tonight at the dinner table, Nick said "that tasty", after tasting lemonade for the first time. That was the first time I had heard either one of the boys use the word 'tasty'. They pick up on new words so quickly these days. It is so amazing.

Whenever we are out shopping and someone happens to be in our way, as we are going down an aisle with a shopping cart, before I have a chance to even consider it, one of the boys will be telling them 'scuse me'. They say this to each other in the house if one of them is in the other's way and they also sometimes say it to stationary objects that happen to be in their way...and of course, they also say it to the cats if they are in the way.

Nick is now at the point where, if he happens to hurt me accidentally, by kicking me in the head when we are laying together on the couch for example:), and I say 'ouch, that hurt', he will immediately say 'soddy mommy' and give me a hug and kiss. He is big on doing this with brother too but brother frequently does not want the hugs and kisses, as he is annoyed at being injured. Nick also gives Ping a hug and a kiss and says "I'm soddy", as we read the book The Story About Ping (I think that's the name).

They are both very big into the blame game these days. If I ask 'who did that?', they will both say the other one did it.

I got tired of hearing the boys whine and ask me to help them every time they got stuck while riding their tricycles in the house. So I finally told them, "when you get stuck, you should say 'oh man!' and then get off your bike and move it so it is not stuck anymore'. This has really worked remarkably well and I smile every time I hear 'oh man!', as they are riding around the house. If they forget and start whining, I give them that raised eyebrow look, like only a mom can deliver. That usually gets a cute little smile and then 'oh man!' and then the stuck child climbs off the trike and pulls it free.

Today I bought a $4 vinyl table cloth that I can throw over the kitchen table when the boys want to color, draw or paint. Much nicer than using newspaper every time and much more likely to prevent writing on the table. Ben really enjoys sitting at the table and coloring (scribbling), cutting and pasting often now.

It seems like we definitely have two opposite personality types in our house with our two sons. Nick loves being outside and would stay out there all day long if we let him. When we have been outside for a few minutes, Ben is likely to start asking to go into the house. Twice within the past few days we were outside, I was reading and the boys were playing, when the dad got home and came outside to join us. I had to go inside to start dinner and, soon after, Ben wanted to come in with me. As soon as he came inside, he asked to sit at the table and color, cut and paste (he always does all three:). Nick stayed outside with the dad until he absolutely had to come in.

This evening Ben asked me "mommy, read, read?". As he climbed up on the couch next to me, out of the blue he said "no poopy mommy". Big red flag. I asked him if he was poopy and he said again "no poopy mommy", so I checked him and, sure enough, he was. I had not even suspected anything until he spoke up. He was not too happy when I told him that we needed to change his diaper before we read our book.

Today was the last day that our Parents as Teachers lady will come for the summer. We will see her again in August but we will age out when Nick turns 3 in November, so we will probably only see her again three more times, once each in Aug, Sept and Oct and then we will probably be done. I think I enjoy her visits as much as or more than the boys. She and I spend a lot of time talking about everything and anything while she is here.

It's hard to believe that summer is already here. We have two graduations to go to this Friday evening. My two nieces are both graduating from different high schools on the same night. I think within the next week or two, all of the schools here will be out for the summer.

May 16, 2008

I am very excited about homeschooling our kids but I am also very realistic, or I try to be anyway. I know that there will be times in the future, once we really start school, when I will be tired and frustrated and it won't all be a bed of roses at our house. Sometimes it is hard to remember things like this when I am in the throes of research and planning. I really enjoy the research and planning.



Nick loves to ride this little rocking horse.












Nick trying on my readers.












My grandmother's funeral was yesterday and we were very blessed that it did not rain. My husband was able to get off work and my grandmother's church provided a very nice lady to watch the children during the service. She was great and the boys loved her and had a great time. When I asked them if they had fun, they shook their heads yes and said "again?, mommy, again?", indicating they would like to go back and play at that church again sometime. They cried when we left them but they soon stopped and obviously had fun and they were happy to see us when we returned.

The church family also provided a meal for the family before the service. My grandmother has a pretty big family these days, so that was quite an undertaking. They had two large hams and a large turkey, with all of the veggies, potatoes and gravy, bread, drinks and desserts too. It was quite a nice spread and it was very nice for the family to be able to sit down together and spend some time visiting and catching up. Several of my extended family members had heard a lot about our sons but had not met them yet so it was nice that they were finally able to meet. Several of my family members had also not met my husband yet, so it was especially nice that he was able to meet them.

In the service, one of my nieces did a wonderful job of playing the piano and singing a song, accompanied by her good friend on the guitar. Another niece did an amazing job of writing her own speech and then standing in front of the congregation and speaking about grandmother Rilla. She had everyone shaking their heads and leaning to the person next to them to say "yep, Rilla always did that", or laughing about funny things that grandma did. It was so good that everyone clapped when she finished, which is a bit unusual at a funeral. My dad's wife sang with her two friends in a trio and they did a beautiful job. They sang a song that my grandmother had specifically asked her to sing at her funeral, so that was special. My grandmother's pastor spoke and then my uncle, who is a Baptist preacher, spoke for a while. He did an awesome job and I know it could not have been easy for him to do that at his own mother's funeral. He also had us laughing, knowingly nudging each other and crying at times. The church was packed out, which was not surprising. She knew a lot of people and everyone who knew her loved her. There were lots of tears, from those of us who will miss her smiling face so much....she would have been 97 years old tomorrow. She and grandpa lived on their farm together for over 70 years and he had been gone now for about 10.5 years. After 45 years of going to grandma's for visits and always having her meet me at the door with a big smile, it is hard to imagine never doing that again. I will miss her dearly but I am so happy for her because she is no longer suffering. She is in heaven with Jesus Christ and she really is singing with the angels now.

Yesterday was the first day that our sons have not taken a nap. They actually did quite well, considering. I was really surprised because I thought they would both fall asleep as soon as we started home but they did not. They both fell asleep when we were about 15 minutes away from home. We were all exhausted yesterday evening. We put the boys to bed an hour earlier than normal, which seemed perfect since they woke up at their normal time today (they normally sleep late if they go to bed late and wake up early if they go to bed early). They were pretty tired by nap time though so I'm sure they are still catching up and will likely take a longer than normal nap today.

Today the boys and I took their cardboard 'slide', turned it over and spread it out on the floor. Then, using some permanent markers, we drew out roads, houses, stores, parking lots, a church and school and a park (I am no artist so believe me when I say it is very crude). At one end is our house and our neighbor's house and at the other end is grandma's and aunts' and uncles' homes, because it is a long drive (1.5 hours one way) to visit them. In between, there are all of the other stores and park and stuff. It is pretty simple but I think they will enjoy playing with it and we had fun drawing it out. I will let them color it later and am thinking of adding some tunnels and hills.

The boys are spending more time these days coloring, cutting and pasting. We are now doing this at the kitchen table, which has a lot more space....much better than using their little play table. I am getting to where I frequently leave stuff out on the table so they can get up there and doodle as they want. I don't leave the scissors and paste out though:).

I have an alphabet book that I bought at the homeschool convention that has a different Bible verse that starts with each letter of the alphabet. The boys wanted me to read it to them before nap time today and I was asking Ben what sound some of the letters make. I was quite surprised at how many he already knows, although I still think he is a ways from being ready to move much further than that.

According to our local school district, our sons should officially start kindergarten in August of 2011. So we have three more years of playing and having fun before we really have to start school. In the meantime we will continue to have fun, while learning what we can along the way. It is amazing how much they pick up from just playing. If they show an interest in doing more before then, we will.

I have an interesting situation with Nick that I need to pray about more. He often seems very reluctant to let me show him or teach him things. The other day, we were outside and I had pulled out the little plastic T-ball set we have. I wanted to show him how to hold the bat and he threw a little fit and wanted no part of it. Later, the dad came home and I quietly told him what happened and suggested that he try and see how Nick would respond. It was interesting that, when the dad asked Nick if he wanted him to show him how to do it, Nick immediately said yes and wanted his help multiple times. I am thankful I have some time to pray about this and learn how best to approach Nick before we really have to start school. It is very likely that I need to learn a different way to approach him or something and, hopefully with God's help, I can figure this out in time and maybe Nick will mellow out about this as he gets past the two-to-three year old age.

May 27, 2008

I thought I would end the day on a happy note. These are a few things I have been wanting to document so I would not forget them.

-- Nick is going through a stage where he wants to pull stuff out of the books we read or climb into the book to play with something. Today he saw a slide in a book and put his feet up, trying to climb into the book and slide down. Tonight at bedtime, when we were reading the children's Bible, he wanted to bring Hannah out of the Bible. He does this quite often these days. When he is trying to get in the book or take something out of the book, he makes this 'uh? uh?' sound and looks at me as if I should know how to do this.

-- Ben has discovered that he enjoys licking windows and then rubbing his finger all around on the window where it is wet. He especially likes doing this when he is outside, which I find odd because I would think they would not taste very good, as they have not been cleaned in a while. I am trying to discourage this behavior, since it makes quite a mess of the windows. However, it is quite funny and I usually have to hide my laughter before telling him to stop.

-- Today the boys and I were outside playing in their sandbox. Nick found a small rake and started raking the sand around. I heard him mention 'poo 'poo' a couple of times and was wondering if he had found some cat poo, since we had left the top off the sandbox for 24 hours the other day. I finally figured out, as Ben joined in the 'game', that they were pretending they were cleaning the cat's litter box:). Isn't that special? Since they are in the "help mommy" stage of life, they are always wanting to help me clean the cat box but, much to their disappointment, I make them keep their distance.

Tonight for dinner, I fixed some stir fry Asian veggies. They came frozen with a small package of sauce to put on them and they were quite good. They had mushrooms, broccoli, snow peas, peppers, water chestnuts, those baby corn on the cob things, carrots and I am sure I am leaving out a couple of other things. The boys had not ever tasted water chestnuts or the baby corn on the cob things. They both ate it and enjoyed it. It was funny because Nick especially liked it and I lost track of how many helpings he had. He kept asking for more and more and was still eating about 20 minutes after the rest of us had finished. When he first started eating, he would pick up a piece that he had never seen before and ask me what it was. I would tell him the name and he would repeat it and then pop it into his mouth. I am amazed at how both of our sons will still try any and all new foods and they seem to like everything.

We knew the restaurants would all be packed after church on Sunday so we planned ahead. We brought a menu with us for the place where we wanted to eat and, as soon as we got into our car after church, we called and placed an order to go. By the time we got there, it was ready and we took it home and ate it. It was such a great idea, as the restaurants around here have really long lines during busy times like Mother's Day after church. And we had a delicious, quick and peaceful lunch at home, without having to cook and very little clean up.

One of the side dishes that came with my meal was some spinach orzo which is not something I really care for. I was not eating it and Nick pointed to it and asked for some of it. I gave him a little, thinking he would not care for it and he ended up eating more of it than anything else on his plate. Ben liked it too, although Ben seems to be eating much less of everything these days. It is so odd to see him eat like this.

My attitude about the eating less thing is that I provide plenty of healthy foods for them and let them pick and choose what they want to eat. It is interesting because at some meals they load up on the carbs and just eat a bit of protein and veggies and then at other meals, they load up on the veggies or the protein. When you look at the big picture, they seem to eat what their little bodies need, they are just doing it in a different way now. I have to be careful how much I fix for them for lunch and snacks because we end up wasting more food if I'm not careful.

Tomorrow we are going to the bouncing place again. Our friends have free tickets and they invited us, which is very nice. The boys were excited when we were saying our good nights.

My sister called this evening and it looks as if my grandmother's funeral is going to be on Friday afternoon. I have been trying to figure out the best thing to do with the boys, since the dad will not be able to leave work (he has to see patients on Friday). Our babysitter is out of state on vacation so that's not an option. There will be lots of relatives whom I have not seen in a long time and probably won't get to see again for a long time. So I am thinking of going early and taking the boys with me. Someone can watch them while I say my goodbyes to grandma, I'll get to visit with the family and introduce the boys to many people who have been wanting to meet them but I will not get to go to the actual funeral. That's the only thing I can think of.

May 12, 2008

I have such a mix of emotions today. My sister called a bit ago to let me know that my grandmother died this morning. She was 96 years old but she would have been 97 in five more days. She had been in quite a bit of pain from the many cracked and broken bones she had had over the years, as she had osteoporosis for quite a number of years. She was a bit confused of late because of the pain medication. She had gotten to a point where she could no longer get around without assistance and she had been eating very little for a couple of weeks.

She had been in an assisted living facility she had to move out because she could no longer take care of herself to the point they required. My dad and his wife took her back to her own house a week or two ago and they moved in with her to take care of her, along with help from my uncle, aunt, sister and almost daily check-ins from nursing staff. She really wanted to be home so it is wonderful that they were able to take her home and care for her until she passed away and that she was able to be home when she died. She was with it enough to know she was home, for a few days anyway.

So, I am very joyful for her, that she is no longer in pain, no longer suffering and unable to do the things she enjoyed so much. She was an avid reader and, for many years, that was about all she was able to do for enjoyment but she had lost her eyesight to the point where she could no longer read much over the past number of months. I am very joyful for her, that she is in heaven and with my grandpa, who died quite a number of years ago and whom she never stopped missing. She missed him so much. She told me once, when he had been gone about 5 years or so, that people had told her that it would get easier as the years went by but it had not. They had been married since she was very young, maybe 17 or 18 years old I guess. I think he may have been gone around 10 years now.

She was such a wonderful Christian lady and such a great example. She loved the Lord so much. My sister told me that one of the workers at the assisted living place had told her that she (the worker) came in to check on grandma and grandma didn't know the worker was in there yet and the worker heard grandma just a singing away. The worker asked grandma what she was doing and grandma told her "I'm singing with the angels". She loved to sing the old hymns and my sister would sit and sing them with her when she went for visits.

She was a hard worker too. She and my grandpa had around 400 acres of land that they raised cattle on for many many years. At one time, they had a dairy and chickens and pigs and stuff but for as long as I can remember they only had cattle (not dairy cattle). When I was little, they always had a big garden and us kids would help to snap the green beans and shuck the corn in the summer time. We would always go stay with them for a week in the summer. It was a wonderful place to spend a week every summer in childhood, much like something you would read about in a book. I would always try to tame the baby kittens that would inevitably be running around the farm wild. We would go fishing at the many ponds, pick blackberries and play in the small wooded areas. We would chase after grandpa and follow him around so we would not miss out on any trips out into the fields to 'check the cows'. When we were big enough, we would open and close all of the gates for him, so he probably loved having us around during those years.

My grandmother could fix quite a huge, down home, wonderful meal. She could cook everything up from scratch in no time at all and, boy, was it good. She had some great stories too, about her childhood and what things were like back then.

Overall, she was just one of those really good, wholesome people. She was well loved by many and will be missed.

So I am sad because I will miss her dearly. It just seems odd to think that she will not be here anymore. But I am happy and joyful for her. As my Houston pastor, Dr. Ed Young, used to say, she has graduated and is now with our heavenly Father.

And now I have to go because the boys have awakened early and it sounds like they are tearing the place up upstairs. They are doing great and we had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend. More about that at another time, along with some cute pictures.

May 6, 2008

It is a dreary, cloudy day today in Oklahoma (at least where we are anyway). I don't mind that. We have enough beautiful, sunny days that it is kind of nice to have a rainy day here and there. The bad thing is that these big storms and fronts that move through give me bad sinus headaches. I don't like that part.

So, last night I woke up around 2:00 or 2:30 and could not go back to sleep. Just one of those times that I started thinking about all kinds of stuff, nothing bad, just busy:). It never fails that it is times like these when my self discipline really kicks in and I lay there thinking how I am going to eat so much better the next day and start working out. After thinking about this a while and not getting any sleepier, I got up, retrieved a flashlight and proceeded to move the headset attached to our downstairs TV (where I watch news when the boys are sleeping) and took it upstairs. I had recently traded the larger TV in our upstairs game room with the smaller one in our guest room, because my brother was staying with us and he enjoys watching baseball. So, I traded the TV's back to where they were and then hooked up the headset to the TV in the game room so I could listen to the news while working out on the EFX machine. Yes, I did all of this around 2:30 to 3:00 in the morning. I worked out for about 20 minutes, although I could not use the headset after all because I could not get it to work.

Afterwards I went back to bed and still could not go to sleep. We have been thinking about going to Houston for a wedding and also a visit with friends but were not sure we could since my husband has to give 60 days notice of any vacation days (before they schedule patients. He had already scheduled the week after the wedding off, just by coincidence, but the wedding is on a Saturday so he would need the Friday before the wedding off too so we could drive down. So I was thinking about how we could make this work and was thinking I could drive down with the boys and the husband could fly down after work on Friday. I thought of lots of other stuff too, like how I could go about building a child-size coat rack type of thing on which to hang the boys' dress up clothes. I was quite the busy beaver last night:).

I was still awake when my husband's alarm went off at 4:45am and, after telling him good morning, I told him about my solution for our Houston problem. He said, "oh, I was able to take that Friday off after all because I didn't have any patients scheduled". That's great news but so much for all of my late night problem solving:). Needless to say, I am very tired today.

The boys had a dentist appointment today. My husband called me at 8:30, telling me that their appointment was at 9:30 and we had forgotten about it. The boys and I were getting around very slowly this morning (or I was anyway) and they wanted to eat eggs and toast, which takes a bit longer than oatmeal. So we had just finished eating, I had not cleaned up the mess yet and we were all still in our pajamas. We had to rush around to be ready to leave home in 30 minutes. We made it just in time, thankfully.

This time was completely different from the last dentist appointment the boys had, which was their very first one. We had a different dentist this time and she was really great with kids. We were in a small office, rather than out where all of the dental chairs were, and there were even a couple of toys in there. She had the dad hold each child facing him and then they laid the child back into her lap. She did a great job and the boys both did a really good job too. No tears or anything. It was great. We will make sure we see her the next time we go back. Their teeth were fine. We brush them really good at bedtime and then I let them brush their own teeth in the morning after breakfast. Sometimes I will do a little brushing for them in the mornings, if they did more playing than brushing but I really like to let them try to do it then.

Yesterday evening when the dad got home, he took the boys outside to play. He does a bit of reading while they play and then he also plays with them some. I cooked dinner and took it outside on the patio and we all ate out there. It was such a beautiful evening and the boys had a great time getting to spend so much time outdoors. They were blowing bubbles and using sidewalk chalk, playing in the sandbox and swinging and sliding, pushing around the play lawnmower and their wheelbarrows. They did a little of everything and, just before bedtime, we brought them in and rinsed them off in the tub. They had chalk and soap all over them. I just love seeing little boys get dirty while playing outside. It is just the way it should be:).

Here is another thing I forgot to add to my update yesterday. Both boys are really talking a lot these days and are easier to understand. I think Nick may be just a bit ahead of Ben in picking up new phrases and putting sentences together, but they are so close it is really hard to tell. I love hearing them talk and talking to them though. They still want me to repeat everything they say. Fortunately that comes pretty natural to me. Some day they are going to tell me, "stop repeating everything I say" and then I am going to have a hard time breaking this habit:).

May 5, 2008

Some things I have been meaning to document for a while:

-- Nick is now a little under 30 months old; Ben is now a little over 31 months.

-- we have not had to tape diapers for quite a number of months now.

-- although the boys can now climb out of their cribs pretty well, they don't...don't ask me why. I'm shocked that they wait for me to come and get them but I'm not complaining.

-- they still are not sleeping in their new beds. Ben will stay in it all of 5 seconds (literally) after I leave the room at nap time. Maybe they just feel safer in their cribs. I'm sure they will get it eventually, as I don't know any 18 year olds who are still sleeping in cribs:).

-- Nick finally has a little belly. I think it is because he figured out that he really likes bread/toast A LOT so he spent some time packing on the carbs. He looks really healthy though.

-- Ben is slimming down and getting taller. We no longer have to monitor what he eats, as he quits and leaves food on his plate on a regular basis now. His weight has leveled off and is staying at a pretty good level for him now. I wish I could say the same thing about myself.

-- I think we finally filled them up. Both boys have slowed down on how much they are eating lately. I think part of it is that they are at a point where they are busier and more interested in things they are playing so they would rather play than eat. They had never been that way until now.

-- They still eat anything and everything. I am the pickiest eater in our house.

-- They are getting faster and stronger. I am amazed at some of the things they can do now.

-- Nick continues to be consistently ahead of his peers in his motor skills abilities. He is quite nimble, quick and coordinated for his age.

-- Ben continues to be consistently ahead of his peers in his cognitive abilities. He can pick up little counting bears, one by one, and put them into the matching plate while counting them up to 13 or 14. That's pretty good for a child who is just over 2.5 years of age. He knows all of the basic colors and a lot of others, he recognizes all letters in the alphabet and numbers up to around 12 or 13 or so and knows most of the alphabet song. He also has an incredible memory. The dad frequently lets Ben finish sentences when he is reading books to him and it is amazing how much he remembers. I will be quite surprised if he is not an early reader. He is always very interested in learning about letters and listening to me talk about the sounds they make. He watches my mouth closely and tries to repeat what I say. He has a pretty good attention span, when it comes to this sort of stuff.

-- both boys love for us to read to them and they ask me several times a day ("mommy, read, read?"). I normally read several books during morning and afternoon snack times and sometimes during breakfast and lunch and then we also sit on the couch and read a lot too. If they are not playing outside after we finish dinner, the first thing they say is "daddy, read, read?".

-- they still watch very little TV at home. My best guess is that they probably average about 15 minutes every 2 weeks.

-- Nick loves, loves, loves to be outside and is happy to play outside even when an adult is not outside with him...but he wants his brother (or someone) to be outside with him.

-- Ben loves to play outside too, but not so much if an adult is not outside with him.

-- I am still loving my life as a stay at home wife and mom. I'm far from perfect at this and still have much to learn but I sure do enjoy it and I am constantly amazed at how fast the time goes by. I can't believe that my sons will be 3 years old in just 5 to 6 months. Wow.

May 3, 2008

We had a very busy week. We went to the park again on Wednesday and had a picnic lunch with friends. Our boys had a fun time playing together and it was a beautiful day. My mom and sister came to visit us on Thursday and it had been a while since we had seen them so it was extra nice to see them this time. Yesterday the boys and I did some grocery shopping at Sam's Club and had lunch there.
A funny thing lately is that the boys now recognize places where we have been with them previously. When we were driving in Kansas City last weekend, Ben saw the Sam's Club sign and immediately pointed and said "Sam's Club!". It was so funny, as he had only seen the sign and not the store. Both boys point and say "Home Depot", when we drive by one of those and they both recognize our bank as we are driving by on the main highway, even if we don't turn in.

This morning after breakfast, the dad took the boys to run some errands. I surprised my husband by mowing the lawn while they were gone. The only thing is that I was trying to hurry to get as much of it mowed as possible before they came back, when I ran out of gas. When I came back to the garage, I saw they were already home. Turns out they had been home for about 10 minutes already. My husband said he was surprised though and he was glad I had mowed. It was the first time I had mowed in quite a while, since my back and legs have been hurting me so bad. They did pretty well today...another sign that the chiropractor is helping.

We went to look at cars today so the boys were very late in going down for their nap. They were so tired and went to sleep very fast. They are still sleeping though and it is almost 5:00. I may have to wake them up before long. I am very tired too. Mowing the lawn made me face how out of shape I am.

So, nothing too exciting going on around here. I have still been spending a lot of time researching the various home schooling curriculum and I am still leaning towards My Father's World. I am going to go back to The Well Trained Mind and compare their recommendations to MFW's curriculum to see where we would need to supplement, as I am pretty sure we would. I am thinking of purchasing MFW's preschool year. It looks cute and I would like to see what their manual that comes with it looks like. I am going to research this further before I do though. Research, research, research....that seems like all I do these days. Thankfully, I enjoy researching:).

I need to post some new pictures. I have been bad about posting pictures lately and I so enjoy looking at other people's pictures of their children on their blogs. So I really need to get with the program.

April 29, 2008

So, yesterday was such a beautiful, wonderful, fun and loving day with the boys. I think I wrote something like 'it doesn't get much better than this' in yesterday's post. I guess I should have expected things would take a nose dive today:).

Actually it was not that bad but we did seem to have a lot of whining, crying and 'mine, mine' type of fighting going on this morning. Nick and I did not get enough sleep last night and I would guess that Ben was probably impacted also.

I heard Nick crying around 3:00am and he sounded pretty upset set ("mommy, daddy, mommy, daddy!"), so I ran upstairs and rocked him for a bit. When I told him that we both needed to go back to bed, he wanted to get into his new bed (the boys are still sleeping in their cribs at night). He has slept in his new twin bed several times now and I was thinking that maybe he had had a bad dream and felt he needed a change of scenery so I tucked him into his twin bed and I went back to bed.

Fast forward about thirty minutes. I had not been able to go back to sleep yet and was laying in bed awake. The dad was asleep, never knowing there had been an issue. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, BOOM! (that's what it seemed like), the lights in our bedroom were on, right in our faces. Now that is a rude awakening, even when you are already awake. It took the dad a minute to wake up and realize something was going on. Since I was already awake, I sat up and looked towards the light switch. Standing in the doorway next to the light switch with a big smile on his face, was little Nick. He seemed quite happy with himself.

After a quick explanation to the dad as to what happened, I turned out the light and took Nick to the living room to rock for a few minutes and explain to him how this is not a good thing to do:).

For some reason, he had a really hard time sleeping last night and I'm not sure why. I heard him again around 6:30am and he again sounded very upset. I had finally gone back to sleep and was sleeping later than usual, trying to make up for some of the sleep I had lost. I went up to him again and calmed him down....calmed them down, since Ben was now also awake and they both went back to sleep for another hour or so. You would think with all of the time they spent outside yesterday playing at the park (the dad took them again yesterday afternoon so they ended up going to the park twice yesterday), that he would have slept really good. NOT. That's the first time I have ever had to get up with one of the boys during the night when there was no fever. I hope this is not going to be a regular thing. I really don't do very well without my sleep.

I guess it is not surprising that we are all a bit tired and cranky today. Plus, I took them shopping today, which is not how they really enjoy spending their morning, and I was late fixing their lunch and getting them down for their nap. As the boys are all too quick to say these days, oh well.

I went to the Christian bookstore today and bought a DVD that has children singing and doing hand motions to some of the old Christian children's songs that we used to sing when we were kids. I think the boys will really enjoy watching it. I was singing some of them with them yesterday, from memory, but I knew I was missing a bunch of the ones we used to sing and I could not remember all of the hand motions that went with the songs. I will probably enjoy this DVD as much as the boys do. So the next time they get their hair cut, they will have something new to watch, although we should probably not encourage the hand motions while they are in the barber chair:).

I also got some small pencil grips that put the kid's fingers in the correct position to hold the pencil. I am hoping it will help the boys learn how to hold their pencil better and maybe give them more incentive to try to hold it the correct way. We'll see.

I also got a couple of books. One of them is A Survivor's Guide to Home Schooling which was recommended in one of the seminars I went to at the home schooling convention last weekend. I am looking forward to reading it....which I am going to start now. Bye.

April 28, 2008

Yesterday evening we returned from our Kansas City trip. We had such a great time. We stayed with friends with whom we were in Russia on one of our trips. They are such gracious and fun people and we all really had a lot of fun and laughs while we were there. They have two girls from Russia, an almost three year old and a five year old. The boys had so much fun with the girls and it was so cute to watch. The five year old would hold both of the boys' hands and lead them around and they really liked it. It was adorable. Watching all four of the kids playing together made me think that God surely must have meant for people to have larger families, since children clearly thrive in that situation.

We went to K.C. to visit our friends but we also went to attend their homeschooling convention. This was the first homeschooling convention we had ever been to and it was quite an exciting thing for me. I really enjoyed it. There were many wonderful speakers and a couple that were just OK. The great thing is that you can buy CD's of the seminars that you miss so my husband and I listened to three of them on the way home, while the boys slept. I really enjoyed walking around the exhibit hall and seeing all of the wonderful tools available to homeschoolers these days. It is really amazing how much is out there now to make our jobs easier. There was one speaker who talked about "Homeschooling in the Real World" who I especially liked. That was one of the CD's that we listened to on the way home and my husband really liked it too. The speaker had some great information and advice. He and his wife are the authors/owners of the 'Our Father's World' curriculum, which I enjoyed learning more about.

Before attending the convention, I had been leaning towards the 'Tapestry of Grace' curriculum. They were there also, as was the Sonlight folks, which my friend in K.C. is leaning towards. So she and I both enjoyed getting to talk to reps for all three curriculums and compare and contrast them. After doing this, she is still leaning towards Sonlight and I am leaning towards My Father's World, although we still have a couple of years before we need to make a decision, so we will keep our eyes and ears open and keep praying about it.

We went to church with our friends yesterday and then we all went out to eat at the Rain Forest Cafe. I had been to one a couple of times in Houston but our sons and the dad had not been. All of the kids really enjoyed it. After that, we let them ride a carousel twice. This was the prettiest carousel I have ever seen. It was actually a two story carousel, which I had never seen before.

As we left for home, both boys fell asleep not long into the trip. Nick slept until we drove into our city and Ben woke up just a little before that and had a snack. So we had an easy trip back and we drove straight through, which was nice. On the trip there, we stopped about half way to eat and let the kids play, so it added about an hour and a half to our trip.

It was a bit colder and wetter there than it was here so the kids did not get to play outside. Also, I had not seen them for the largest part of two days, which is the longest time I have been away from them since I was in the hospital. So this morning, we just took it easy and had fun all morning long. We read books, ate a late breakfast, stayed in our PJ's later than usual, and colored, cut and paste paper. We went upstairs to get them some clothes and stayed for a while so the boys could jump on the beds. Then we all laid down together on one bed and read a book and then read their Bible and prayed. After that, we got ready to go to the park. We had a beautiful morning at the park. The weather was cool but not cold and it was sunny with bright, blue skies. There were very few people at the park, which was nice because the boys could have a lot more freedom to run around and try different things. We took a walk along the creek in the park and looked at waterfalls, ducks, birds and squirrels. We stopped to look at ants and threw rocks and sticks off the small bridge, into the water below. We ate snacks as we walked and met a dog as we were leaving the park. The boys got to feed the dog a fish cracker, which they thought was great fun.

We came back and read some more books, at lunch, played and, finally, it was time for nap, which is where we are now. What a beautiful day. It just does not get much better than this:).

April 23, 2008

It seems that sometime, while I was sleeping or something, my little baby boys became little boys. What's with this seemingly sudden change that toddlers go through around the 2.5 year old mark? The dad noticed it too, so it's not just me. The boys just seem so different and it seems to have happened so quickly. They remember people, places and events so much better and they talk about them or reenact them more now. After our trip to the park at the end of last week (our first since last fall), they cannot get enough of the park and they talk about it all day long. So we have been to the park three times in four days. They want to be outside all the time, which is great. I love for them to be outside, playing and getting good exercise. They are talking more and more in sentences (toddler sentences - no prepositions and there are some other things missing but still sentences) and can better carry one half of a conversation, although there is still a lot of deciphering required to understand it all clearly....though I am improving in that regard. They are very into climbing these days. They now sit on the tall chairs at the kitchen island without booster seats and they climb up and down all on their own (and pity the one who unknowingly tries to help!). They still sit in their booster seat at the table though. They can open the car door without help, from the inside or the outside and they climb in and out of the car and into and out of their car seats without help. We are working on dressing/undressing skills. They are pretty good on the bottom half but still have trouble getting out of a pull over shirt. They can take their own shoes and socks off. I just bought them a new pair of sandals on Monday, so they are now practicing with their sandals. Nick can put his on by himself, although he needs help with velcro-ing the straps for the correct fit. They can sometimes take them off without help but are still getting the hang of it.

I am finding it very interesting how quickly they become independent on so many things. It is truly amazing how God made people, isn't it? That He instilled them with this desire to learn to do things for themselves and they protect that and practice it so diligently and with such eagerness and joy just amazes me. I have relocated all of their dishes and some of ours (the nonbreakable ones) to shelves within their reach so they now help me by getting plates, bowls and cups and also putting them away when we empty the dishwasher. They can also reach the silverware drawer well enough (on tiptoes) to get their own forks and spoons and they pull up a stool to help put away the clean silverware. They can also help empty the trash, load the washing machine (they sit on the dryer and I hand them the clothes), load the dryer and empty the dryer. And they love to help pour and stir when I am preparing food in the kitchen. They are quite the little helpers these days and it makes them so happy to be able to help. They really are such pleasant little boys and I just love them so very much.

We are enjoying the beautiful spring weather we have been having lately and spending a lot of time outdoors. Yesterday we spent all morning at the zoo and we had a great time. Unfortunately, since it is towards the end of the school year, there were lots of bus loads of kids there and the place was packed. This wasn't so bad, since it is a pretty good size zoo, except for when we were playing at the park that is inside the zoo. Trying to keep track of two when there are that many children is quite a challenge, although the boys were pretty good (sometimes reluctantly:) at staying together and nearby to where I was. They spent a good deal of time playing on this truck-like climbing toy. It was quite large. When they were sitting in 'the cab' of the truck, they were at eye level with me. It had a steering wheel and they both really enjoyed driving and they were pretending they were going to see Papa and Mimi, Mama and Aunt Kathy, and Uncle Kenny (Uncle Kenny has been taking showers and eating dinner here off and on lately, as he has been staying with a friend who is in the hospital nearby).

At one point, Ben was driving the truck and Nick was playing in the back part of the truck. This group of boys, probably around 8 years old, descended upon the truck...they were everywhere. I was helping Nick with something, while keeping my eye on Ben. These boys started moving in on Ben and were basically in the process of intimidating him and taking over the steering wheel, when I moved back by the window near Ben. I let them know, very nicely but firmly, that he was playing with it, he was only two years old and what they were doing was not very nice. They looked a bit ashamed of themselves as they moved away from him. I find it very interesting how bold kids become when acting in a group, whereas it is likely that, had only one of those boys been there, he would not have considered doing what the group was trying to do.

There was another situation where Ben wanted to ride one of those animals on the springy thing. He was standing near it, waiting for me to put him on it, so he kind of had his back to it. Two boys got on it and Ben started whining about it and pointing to it. I told him he had to wait his turn and he still stood nearby, whining/crying. One of the boys told the other one, "that little boy wants to ride this" (they were a little old for it) and he got off so the other boy did too. Ben and I told them "thank you". So, in that case, it was nice to see those two boys do the right thing.

Anyway, the boys especially enjoyed riding the carousel and the train and playing in the park and petting the goats and sheep and, of course, seeing all of the animals. Even though we had the stroller, they walked (and ran) a good amount of the time. At one point, they were running and Ben fell down and skinned both knees but he bounced back fairly quickly. We were late getting home for nap time so they were pretty exhausted by the time they finally were in bed.

Last evening after dinner, we all went for a walk and took some bread with us to feed the geese at the neighborhood pond. We live in a hilly neighborhood and we ended up walking a loop, which meant that we had to climb two large hills. The boys did great, although Ben did let us know that it was a "hard hill" both times we were climbing up. He did very well though and seemed to be commenting rather than complaining. We ended up feeding two geese, four ducks and a turtle so the boys really enjoyed that. They were, once again, exhausted when they went to bed...and so was mom:).

April 20, 2008 Part 2

We had such a nice weekend. The weather here was absolutely beautiful, sunny and in the high 70's and low 80's in the afternoons and then cooling off at night.

We hired our babysitter on Saturday. They boys were so excited to see her, they were asking about her at breakfast. She arrived while the boys were napping and we left while they were still asleep. That was the first time we had ever done that so I was not sure how they would do with it but she said they did not cry when they woke up. They were in such a good mood when we got home, it was quite obvious that they had had a wonderful time with her.

I am so thankful we found a great babysitter who the boys love. She spent time outside with them, playing in the sandbox and on the swingset and slide and going for a walk. They played with the bean box and they played in the water at the kitchen sink. They always get to do fun things with her and she plays with them the entire time so they have a great time. She fed them their snack and the were eating dinner when we got home, while she read to them. The boys told me that she prayed with them before they ate. Ben also told me that she has nice hair. Isn't that a funny thing for a two and a half year old to say? They got to see her again today at church so they were excited to go to church today too.

While the boys were having so much fun, the dad and I went looking for tile for our bathroom again. This process is going very slow but it's a good thing because the shower leaked again recently (I may have already posted about this but I can't remember and don't want to take the time to look it up). We had some bad caulk so we think our problem is now fixed. We found several tiles that we liked. We brought one home to look at in our bathroom and the sales lady is going to order a couple of others that we liked and we should have them by Tuesday to see how they look.

After looking at tile, we went to the movies. We saw Expelled, No Intelligence Allowed (I think that's the name). I'm not sure what I expected but it exceeded my expectations by a lot. It was quite an eye opener and also entertaining. We thought Ben Stein did an excellent job on this documentary and I hope lots of people will see it.

Today we went to church and it was our turn to watch over the boys' class during the worship service hour. This was also quite an eye opener. Our little guys are not so little anymore:). It was so funny to see them with all of the other little ones in their class. There were children in there who were about the same age as our sons when they first started going to this class. Our sons were the tallest in the class and appeared to be the oldest. There were two little girls who are probably very close in age but they are small compared to our two. Also, our two seemed to talk more than anyone else but maybe that was because we were in there.

While the boys were napping, I went shopping. Yep. I......went.....shopping. And I have much more shopping to do. I have been neglecting my wardrobe since we moved here and I quit my job. I have not bought one nice outfit since moving, since I had plenty of stuff from my corporate days. But that can only take one so far and I think I have pushed it further than it should have been pushed. I also need to lose some weight:(. I ended up just shopping for every day casual stuff today but I still need to buy some nice outfits for church and dressier occasions, although we are pretty casual people and avoid dressy events most of the time, except church of course. I'm really not looking forward to this shopping thing and, this year, I really must buy a new swim suit also. Yuck. I really dislike buying new swimsuits and don't particularly enjoy shopping for myself all that much these days. But shop I must so shop I will. I also gave myself a pedicure today, my first for this spring and I'm enjoying my pretty feet:).

When the boys woke up, we went to the park. I had taken the boys to the park on Friday and they have been talking about it since then and wanting to go back. They started asking about it again on the way to church, saying they wanted to go back and wanted the dad to go too. So we told them we would go after nap time today. Unfortunately it was absolutely packed with people but the boys had a fun time and we did too.

Overall, it was just one of those wonderful family weekends, where you end up just feeling so blessed and content to be with your very favorite people. Hope you had a wonderful weekend too.

April 20, 2008

We had such a nice weekend. The weather here was absolutely beautiful, sunny and in the high 70's and low 80's in the afternoons and then cooling off at night.

We hired our babysitter on Saturday. They boys were so excited to see her, they were asking about her at breakfast. She arrived while the boys were napping and we left while they were still asleep. That was the first time we had ever done that so I was not sure how they would do with it but she said they did not cry when they woke up. They were in such a good mood when we got home, it was quite obvious that they had had a wonderful time with her.

I am so thankful we found a great babysitter who the boys love. She spent time outside with them, playing in the sandbox and on the swingset and slide and going for a walk. They played with the bean box and they played in the water at the kitchen sink. They always get to do fun things with her and she plays with them the entire time so they have a great time. She fed them their snack and the were eating dinner when we got home, while she read to them. The boys told me that she prayed with them before they ate. Ben also told me that she has nice hair. Isn't that a funny thing for a two and a half year old to say? They got to see her again today at church so they were excited to go to church today too.

While the boys were having so much fun, the dad and I went looking for tile for our bathroom again. This process is going very slow but it's a good thing because the shower leaked again recently (I may have already posted about this but I can't remember and don't want to take the time to look it up). We had some bad caulk so we think our problem is now fixed. We found several tiles that we liked. We brought one home to look at in our bathroom and the sales lady is going to order a couple of others that we liked and we should have them by Tuesday to see how they look.

After looking at tile, we went to the movies. We saw Expelled, No Intelligence Allowed (I think that's the name). I'm not sure what I expected but it exceeded my expectations by a lot. It was quite an eye opener and also entertaining. We thought Ben Stein did an excellent job on this documentary and I hope lots of people will see it.

Today we went to church and it was our turn to watch over the boys' class during the worship service hour. This was also quite an eye opener. Our little guys are not so little anymore:). It was so funny to see them with all of the other little ones in their class. There were children in there who were about the same age as our sons when they first started going to this class. Our sons were the tallest in the class and appeared to be the oldest. There were two little girls who are probably very close in age but they are small compared to our two. Also, our two seemed to talk more than anyone else but maybe that was because we were in there.

While the boys were napping, I went shopping. Yep. I......went.....shopping. And I have much more shopping to do. I have been neglecting my wardrobe since we moved here and I quit my job. I have not bought one nice outfit since moving, since I had plenty of stuff from my corporate days. But that can only take one so far and I think I have pushed it further than it should have been pushed. I also need to lose some weight:(. I ended up just shopping for every day casual stuff today but I still need to buy some nice outfits for church and dressier occasions, although we are pretty casual people and avoid dressy events most of the time, except church of course. I'm really not looking forward to this shopping thing and, this year, I really must buy a new swim suit also. Yuck. I really dislike buying new swimsuits and don't particularly enjoy shopping for myself all that much these days. But shop I must so shop I will. I also gave myself a pedicure today, my first for this spring and I'm enjoying my pretty feet:).

When the boys woke up, we went to the park. I had taken the boys to the park on Friday and they have been talking about it since then and wanting to go back. They started asking about it again on the way to church, saying they wanted to go back and wanted the dad to go too. So we told them we would go after nap time today. Unfortunately it was absolutely packed with people but the boys had a fun time and we did too.

Overall, it was just one of those wonderful family weekends, where you end up just feeling so blessed and content to be with your very favorite people. Hope you had a wonderful weekend too.

April 18, 2008 Part 2

I meant to post more pics the other day so here they are:

Ben, Nick and Papa, blowing out Papa's birthday candles. We were on our way home from running errands one day this week and, out of the blue:
Ben: "Papa, Mimi?"
Me: "Papa and Mimi are at their house".
Ben: "Papa, Mimi, cake?"
Me: "yes, we had cake with Papa and Mimi when we were at their house, didn't we?"
Nick: "Kaky?"
Me: "yes, Aunt Kathy had cake with us too."

They remember things at the funniest times.

They like to do this because they see the dad do it sometimes.





















And this is Nick, pretending that his baby spinach is an airplane. They are both very into pretending that their food is an animal or truck or plane or whatever. It makes for a very interesting meal.

I have really set their expectations now so that every time they sit down for breakfast, lunch or snacks, they want me (or the dad, on weekends) to read to them while they eat:).

I don't know if I mentioned that the dad didn't like the sticky-uppy hairdo on N so we are not doing that anymore.

That's all for now folks. I need to take more pictures. I have not been doing to well with this lately.

April 18, 2008

I have mentioned before that the staircase in our house does not have a landing. It is just one long, tall staircase that goes straight up...or down, depending on where you are standing:), and we have 9 foot ceilings so it is extra long. To make it worse, the floor at the bottom of the stairs is a hardwood floor and the first step up is also hardwood. So, if someone were to fall down the stairs and land at the bottom, it would be a pretty long fall with a pretty hard landing. We still have gates on each end and we still use them, as we think it is risky for the boys to do alone.

The other day (I think it was Wednesday), I went upstairs to get the boys up from their naps. As we started to walk down the stairs, Ben took the first step before he took hold of my hand. That's all it took. Down he went, tumbling over and over. Thankfully he landed on his hands and knees and stopped about two thirds of the way down...or may three quarters....either way, he went down a long ways, just a few steps short of the bottom hardwood floor. It scared all three of us (Nick, Ben and me) pretty badly and the dad and I have thanked God many times that he was not hurt.

Yesterday was a cool, very cloudy and rainy day so we went to an indoor bouncing place. The boys loved it and I got a pretty good work out myself. It was $7 per child for as long as we wanted to stay. They have been open for 6 months and are pretty close to where we live. I wish I had known about it before now. It is a wonderful way to spend a rainy morning.

We had a very busy week this week. We went somewhere every day this week, which is not my favorite way to spend a week. I end up feeling like I don't get to spend enough time just relaxing and having fun with the boys, sitting and reading, coloring or working puzzles, etc. I think I am going to try to start setting aside two mornings a week where we don't go anywhere, although I think this week is a bit of an anomaly for us.

Monday we went clothes shopping all morning, ate out at Subway and came home in time for naps. Tuesday morning we went to MOPS, came home in time for lunch, 30 minutes of playtime and then naps. Wednesday we went back to the MOPS church to retrieve my cell phone, since I had dropped it the day before and didn't miss it until we were home. After that we went to an indoor play area at a small mall that we had never been to before. It was cute and the boys really enjoyed it. After playing, we ate lunch at the food court and came home in time for naps. Yesterday was the bouncing place and today we went shopping at Sam's Club. We really needed a lot of stuff today so we were there for quite a while and ended up eating lunch there before coming home. This was a very unusual week for us, as we normally hardly ever eat out during the week. We always eat out after church on Sunday's and once in a while I take the boys out to eat for lunch during the week but that is usually only maybe twice a month, if that.

Next week we will be staying home much more, as I need lots of home time before we head out to Kansas City, introvert that I am:)....did I mention we are going to K.C. for an extended weekend? We will be staying with friends and attending our first ever homeschooling conference. I am really looking forward to it.

April 14, 2008 Part 2

I am well overdue for posting some pictures so here they are.

















Can you guess what happened? On Sunday morning, while I was getting ready for church (not sure what the dad was doing), Nick was sitting on the potty chair and one of the boys decided that Nick needed some toilet paper. So Ben got him some:). Isn't that hysterical? I cracked up laughing when the dad showed me these pictures. I'm so glad he remember to take pictures before cleaning up. There is always something amusing going on around here, with two little two year olds running around.




Here is our homemade slide. N is playing with a bunch of buttons in this picture. It is fun to watch the buttons go down the slide.











In this picture, you can see the little sink/faucet and stove areas that we made for the boys. They enjoy pretending they are making cocky (coffee), oatmeal and pot pies and serving them to people.

April 14, 2008

What a very busy day, with a few mishaps. The boys and I hit the ground running this morning. They were up around 7:00am and I sat upstairs and watched them play in their room until about 7:30. They are very into jumping off of the end of their new beds. They are not so into sleeping in them yet, although they are still very into the idea of sleeping in them:).

Thanks for the comments on the sleeping issues. I think you are right...they just may not be ready yet. I think if they were in separate rooms, they would likely settle down and go to sleep more quickly. Since they are both in the same room, they start playing and jumping and get totally wound up. We considered putting them each in their own room but then decided against it. It would take a big effort to move everything around, including breaking down one of the cribs and then putting it back together. Neither of them have ever spent a night in a room alone, as far as we know. So we decided that it would be a bit risky to separate them now. We might turn our great sleepers into not-so-great sleepers and it's just not worth it. For now, we will continue to let them try to sleep in their new beds at nap time. I am allowing more time for them to play on their new beds and we are also now lying on their new beds when we read our night time stories before bed. They also get to play and jump a bit before and after brushing teeth at bedtime. So in time I'm sure they will get their fill of the excitement of the new beds and they will be able to settle down and actually sleep in them.

After playing, it was downstairs for breakfast/quick kitchen clean up, reading some books, brushing our teeth, getting dressed and running out the door to do a bit of shopping. We went to Target, Kohl's, Babies R Us and Walmart looking for clothes, sandals and jackets and the overall selection was pretty slim. We did find a couple of great jean jackets for $5 each and Babies R Us had some cute shorts and shirts for $5 each. We did not find any sandals that I liked though so we'll have to keep looking.

We ate at Subway in the Super Walmart and the very sad news of the day is that we lost the most favorite Ya Ya today. We left it at Subway and we believe that someone else took it home. I called Walmart when we got home and they did not see it anywhere. I did not know we had left it at Subway. I ran back over there when the dad got home, while the boys were napping, and looked for it myself. There were two ladies in the Subway that said they had just seen it a few minutes before I arrived but it was no longer there and they thought a child had taken it. Then the lady at the Walmart Customer Service desk said she had seen it at Subway too but nobody had turned it in. I went by Tuesday Morning to see if they might have another one just like it but they did not. I picked up three new small stuff animals to see if we might convince Nick to accept a new Ya Ya. More on that later.

After we came home, the boys went down for their nap and I cleaned up around the house a bit. Then I went outside to plant some flowers and vines in some very large pots that I have had for years. I wanted to put them on the corners of our front porch. So I got the dolly out of the garage and it was very hard for me to load one pot on the dolly because the pots are so big and heavy. But I did it, Yay! And I moved the pot the front of the house and was trying to pull it up the steps to the front porch. I was not strong enough to do it so I decided to leave it there until the husband got home and could help. He was due home any time. As I lowered the pot back to the ground, it was so heavy and large that it tip off the dolly away from me and fell over onto the sidewalk. The huge pot just broke into about six large pieces and dirt and plants/flowers went all over the sidewalk. It was the second sad moment of the day.

Fortunately, I had two more pots that went well with the one remaining large pot so I replanted the flowers and vines and moved everything to the front of the house. The husband helped me move the other large pots to the porch and clean up the mess.

Nick seemed very happy about his new Ya Ya's. He picked two of the new ones to be his new Ya Ya's and Ben got a new bear too. So everyone seemed happy but I was not sure what would happen when bedtime came around. Nick was happy until it was time to lay down and that's when he started asking about the "other Ya Ya?". We talked about it and about the new ones and he was doing OK. But when we came downstairs, we heard him crying for "other Ya Ya" over the baby monitor a few times. Fortunately, it did not last long and he and Ben were playing for a while before they fell asleep (in their cribs). Hopefully, he will quickly attach to another Ya Ya and forget about the lost one. I plan to check back at Walmart/Subway tomorrow again, just in case.

The funny thing is that he still has the very first, original Ya Ya, which we bought in Russia. It was the favorite one until we lost it and then he grew to like this other one that was lost today. We eventually found the original one months later behind the dryer and Nick was very happy to see it but it never became number one again.

Other than that, we had a wonderful day today. The boys were really very good, considering how many stores I dragged them to and we had a fun evening together too, including some time playing outside. Now they are both sleeping and I am soon to follow.

April 9, 2008

Not much! :)

Today was the first day in I don't know how long that I did not have to wipe a running nose...other than blowing my own nose. The boys seem to have gotten over their colds. I am still not feeling great though.

On Saturday I thought I had beat it. I was feeling much better, had a lot of energy and just wanted to enjoy the day. I bought some flowers and spent a good amount of time planting them in the front flower beds. Before I was finished, I could tell I had over done it and I have really not felt very well since then. By last night, my voice was almost gone but it is better again today.

We had a very bad thunderstorm Monday night. We have one of those emergency radios that will come on with an alert anytime there is a severe thunderstorm or tornado threat. It woke us up during the night and we turned on the local weather channel to keep up with what was going on out there. They sure have great technology for tracking bad weather these days. They can tell you down to the street level, where the hail is or where there is a possibility of a tornado or whatever. It really is amazing.

My husband and I watched the reports on TV for a while, trying to decide when we should go up and get the boys and bring them down. We were watching the worse part of the storm move straight towards us. When the local tornado warning siren went off, we decided that was probably a good indicator that it was time to bring them downstairs:). I have heard that siren go off every Wednesday at noon for the weekly test since moving here but this was the first time I had ever heard it for real.

We woke up the boys and carried them downstairs and put them in bed with us. We kept watching the news to determine whether we needed to go hunker down in the small downstairs bathroom, which is the safest place in our house for a tornado threat. As it turned out, the spinning area that was causing the tornado warning ended up going north of us so we did not have to hunker down. We did end up getting to see quite a spectacular hail storm, with some pretty big size hail. It was not golf ball size but it was not too much smaller than that. Sadly enough, it did quite a number on the flowers I had planted and the huge amount of rain will probably finish them off. Oh well (I say this so often, the boys now say it quite frequently for me:).

The boys were in our bed for about two hours and then around 4:00am we took them back upstairs. They were little troopers, went right back to sleep and slept until 9:00 am.

It looks like we are going to be replaying this scene, maybe multiple times, over the next couple of days. I can already hear the thunder starting up again. It's that season here in Oklahoma.

On the flip side, everything here is so beautiful now. The flowering trees are all blooming, there are tons of flowers everywhere, the grass is turning green again, the leaves are coming out on the trees and there is beautiful color everywhere you turn. My azalea's have little tiny red buds all over them and will be exploding into color anytime now. Hopefully we will get to enjoy them a bit longer this year than we did last year, when they were cut short due to a late ice storm. I love this time of year.

We have not been very successful in switching the boys to their new beds so I am thinking our approach must be flawed. In the beginning, we would put them in their new beds every time it was nap time or night time. Inevitably, Ben would get up and sometimes Nick would get up. The rule has been that if they get up, they have to sleep in their old bed (crib). The getting up became so regular that we decided to make them sleep in their old beds (cribs) for a few days. Starting yesterday, I decided I would let them try to sleep in their new bed at nap time. They lasted less than 5 minutes. Today we tried it again. I waited outside of their door and in less than one or two minutes they were opening the door to come out, so I put them back in their cribs. I'm not quite sure what approach to take to make them stay in their new beds. I really think that if Ben would stay in his, Nick would stay in his. Nick has slept in his new bed several times but Ben has never slept in his because just won't stay in it long enough to fall asleep. I think it has become this kind of game for them. They are not climbing out of their cribs though, so that's a good thing.

I'm not sure if we should change our approach with the new beds or just keep doing what we're doing until they get to the point where they really do want to sleep in their new beds. What do you think? On that note, the boys are awake so I must run.

April 4, 2008

Last night was the second time in the year and two months that they boys have been home that I had to get up during the night with Nick.

Nick caught another virus from church last Sunday. He seemed fine when we went to MOPS on Tuesday, but by that evening his nose was running. On Wednesday he started running a fever and his nose has been running very badly since then. Yesterday afternoon, he was playing as if he felt fine. I took his temperature and was shocked to see that it was 105.3. We had to start overlapping Ibuprofen and Tylenol to get it to stay down. The Ibuprofen wore off right around 2:00am last night.

When I got him out of bed yesterday morning, he had wet through his diaper and was soaking wet...and he was burning up with fever and clearly felt very badly. I knew that with being that wet and having the fever, he had probably been chilling at some point. I told him that if he wakes up and needs me he should call "mommy! mommy!" and I will come to help him. He repeated the "mommy! mommy!" after me, as if practicing, but I was not sure if he really understood.

This morning at around 2:00am, I heard "mommy! daddy! mommy! daddy!". He was also crying and it sounded as if he was scared. I rushed upstairs and picked him up and he was pointing to his bed, saying "ants! ants!". This is the second time this has happened....that he thought there were ants in his bed, although the first time was towards the end of a nap, a week or so ago. We have been battling ants in the sandbox for a couple of weeks and we have also had some ant problems in the house recently, although none in the bedrooms, thankfully.

Ben was awake and sitting up at this point so I turned on the light to show them there were no ants in the bed. I was going to lay down with Nick but he was frantic about the ants and wanted no part of his new bed at that point. Also, as I was sitting down on the bed, my cheek rubbed against his and I realized that his fever was back up. So I took him downstairs and gave him more medication.

We went back upstairs and rocked in the rocking recliner in their room. Ben sat in his crib, watching (he was in his crib because he still has not been able to stay in his new bed, although he has been, and continues to be, given lots of opportunities....he's just not quite ready yet it seems:). I asked Ben if he wanted to rock with us but he said no. Nick and I rocked for quite a while. At one point I could tell he was a bit restless and was not falling asleep so I asked him if he wanted to get back in his bed. He said "yes, old bed". He did not want to sleep in the new bed because he still thought it might have ants.

So I put him in his crib and rubbed his back a bit and then rubbed Ben's back a bit and then just stood leaning on Nick's crib, watching him try to go back to sleep. I thought he would fall asleep fairly quickly at this point but he was very restless. He finally fell asleep on his back, his thumb falling out of his mouth. Ben was also asleep by this time. So I tip toed towards the door and, just when I was out of his line of sight, I heard "mommy!".

I went back to Nick's crib and explained to him that I was tired and needed to go night night too. When we were downstairs, he had asked me where Daddy was and I had told him that daddy was in his bed sleeping. I think this was all a revelation to him, that mommy and daddy sleep too at night time. Anyway, he told me "hug?" and stood up to give me a big hug and then he was fine.

The funny thing is that I ended up feeling that both of the boys were so very sweet, even though neither of them were feeling that great. (Ben is congested with the same virus that Nick has.) I sat in the rocking chair, rocking Nick and watching Ben, thinking that I could just sit there all night. I am thankful that my boys are such good sleepers but since this was only the second time I have had to get up during the night with Nick (and once so far with Ben), I just ended up feeling privileged and thankful that I am their mom and I could be there for them when they needed me. There is just nothing quite like seeing your little ones sick and feeling badly that brings out that nurturing feeling in a mom.

When Nick's temp spiked yesterday afternoon, it was just before lunch so we had not eaten yet. He was chilling and shaking badly so I sat with him with a blanket over him and rocked, all the while knowing that Ben was probably starting to get pretty hungry. But Nick did not want me to put him down. At one point, he said "night night?" and I asked him if he wanted to go night night and he said yes. I explained that Ben would not want to go night night yet and asked if he still wanted to go by himself. He said no but then a couple of minutes later he asked "mommy and daddy's bed?". I asked him if he wanted to go lay down in our bed and he said yes. So I took him in there, tucked him in, gave him a few small toys and turned on a children's program. I explained to him that I needed to fix lunch for Ben and he could call me if he needed me.

I checked in on him often and he was doing fine. About the time Ben was almost finished with his lunch, Nick was feeling better. The medicine had brought his temperature down a bit so he was ready to eat and he ate well and then they both took a good nap.

I can tell my body is fighting this virus also. I felt great yesterday morning but by the afternoon, the glands in my neck were really sore and by last night my throat was hurting a bit and I was feeling drained.

I am happy to say that the boys both seemed to be feeling better this morning. We read for a while and then had a fun time playing with play dough. After that, the boys had fun playing with buttons. They pretend they are food (they don't put them in their mouths though) and they pour them from bowl to cup and bowl to bowl, etc. Then they had the best time pouring them on the top of the cardboard slide we still have set up in the library/playroom and watching all the buttons slide down the slide. I would help them pick them up and they would do it over and over. It actually looked pretty cool when all of those different colored and sized buttons all slid down the slide:).

In the past, I have not been so easy going about the button play and did not like them to scatter them all over the floor. I have been working on chilling out about stuff like this and I was rewarded for it today. What a fun time they had. They were just giddy and I found it quite funny.

Afterwards, they decided to 'go shopping with/for mama gorilla (Grandma Rilla)' and they pushed their shopping carts all around the house. I made up a grocery list for each of them, which helped them enjoy their shopping adventure a bit longer.They are playing so nicely together these days and we are all having a fun time together.

I recently relocated all of their dishes and cups to a low shelf that they can reach so they can help get their dishes and cups and put them away from the dishwasher. They love to help with everything these days so I look for ways in which they can help. They sit up on the dryer and I hand them clothes to throw into the washing machine. They help get the clothes out of the dryer and they have helped to dust and clean some windows here and there. They love to try to sweep and they love to help stir anything I am fixing in the kitchen. Yesterday when Ben was playing, he did a great imitation of me mixing up some scrambled eggs. It was really funny.

We may all be going to Kansas City later in April to a homeschooling convention. There are lots of speakers I would like to hear so I am hoping it works out. We're still waiting to see if the dad can get the time off. He is suppose to give two months notice for time off and we only had one months notice so we may not get to go but we are hopeful. Also, our friends from KC are coming to visit us the weekend before the convention. So, if we end up going, we will get to see them two weekends in a row, which would be so much fun.

Overall, life is good with us, even though we are going through another round of colds so soon. I am always amazed at how the boys just keep going, like energizer bunnies, even when they don't feel that great. I love spending time with them, playing with them and teaching them things. I have not been spending nearly as much time online lately, since I have been working on lifebooks and also had been doing some reorganizing of my 'stuff' (life/scrap booking stuff and homeschooling stuff mostly).

Well, I have written a book, making up for missing so many days. Time to go get something done before the sweeties wake up:). Have I mentioned that I love being a mom and wife? I love my life. Thank you Lord for blessing me so abundantly:).