Monday, January 12, 2009

Breakfast in Bed


This weekend was pretty boring and uneventful for us which is nice sometimes. I did try a few new recipes for dinner which was fun. Mike took the boys up to the park so they wouldn't be in the way. He knows just how awful I am at following recipes and didn't want me to screw up his dinner I am sure. I forgot how much I like to cook actually. Not that I don't cook, I do. It's just that there is usually two or three kids fighting over who is going to help me, who is going to stir, and who is going to pour what. Then there is usually a baby who is vocally demanding my attention and running me over with his walker too. Cooking without "distractions" is fun.

Aside from cooking, Marcus being the sweet little man that he is, decided to make Mike breakfast in bed. He woke him up with two pieces of buttered toast. Sort of. It was more like a stick of butter on cold toast. It's the sweetest thing, I know. I am just glad he decided to give Mike breakfast in bed and not me. I couldn't help but smile when Marcus laid there right next to him to make sure he ate every last bite.

Friday, January 9, 2009

Our new Pests...Er I Mean Pets

Marcus is the proud new papa of 29 harvester ants. He had been impatiently awaiting their arrival since the day after Christmas, and on Wednesday the came! The box they were delivered in was ominously marked with an -It's Alive- sticker. Oh to be a postal carrier.


The ant farm was by far Marcus' most prized Christmas gift. No sand for this ant farm. It's all suped up with lights and gel which is also their food.


Ever since they were dumped into their new home, Marcus has hardly left the counter. He is in awe by them and yells out when he sees them digging in the Jell-O as he calls it.


The fly swatter is just a precaution. The last thing I need is 29 crawling, biting arthropods loose in the house.


When the boys got home from school yesterday, I was shoved out of the way while in the middle of my "how was your day at school?' questions so that they could go see the progress the new family pets had made in the past seven hours.

I admit it, ant farms are awesome. I get giddy when the boys go to bed and I have one on one time with the ants. I am trying to convince Marcus that the safest place to keep them is on my desk in my office. So far, he doesn't agree.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Brothers

When James was giggling and squealing in his crib, I went to see what was so funny.


Nathan had snuck into his crib and was playing with him. Two little monkeys jumping in the bed! Well, not jumping but it reminded me of that song. Normally, crib trespassing is not allowed but how could I be mad.


James and Nathan are best friends. Nathan loves to play with James and tickle him. James loves to throw toys at Nathan and drool on him too. James chases Nathan all around the house in his walker and gets mad when he goes somewhere his walker can't follow. James spends his morning looking for the boys while they are at school, and gets so excited when they finally get home.


Do they come any sweeter than this?

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

How Boys Play


Sometimes I wonder, if I didn't stop them from wrestling how long would they do it? That is an answer I will never know. I can only take so much. It almost seems like wrestling is as important as breathing. They are like magnets, helplessly drawn to each other with figure four leg locks in mind.


It is definitely a boy thing. I'm sure if I had four girls I wouldn't be dealing with this. Jason is definitely the worst. Just yesterday I saw him pounce on Nathan during the two minute commercial break of SpongeBob.


In their eyes, greatness is measured by how high you karate kick, how authentic sounding your hi-yah noises are, and how easily you can pin your brother.

The Little Things

* WARNING* This is a mushy mommy post that is intended for journaling purposes.


I thought I should write a few things down since my memory is pretty lame and it only gets worse each day. I wanted to write down some of those little things about the boys from when they were younger.


Jason, I had you when I was only sixteen years old. I needed you as much as you needed me. You helped me grow up. You were my little adventurer. You were walking and climbing when you were only ten months old. You used to spit up all the time. You always slept in my bed and hardly ever slept in your crib. I used to babysit Brianna when both were nearly one year old. You were best friends even though she always made you cry. One time you got a hold of my deodorant and took a bite out of it. You also ate dog food once. You never liked to play by yourself. You were and are very emotional. We nicknamed you BooBoo because you always said you had owies and always made boo boo lips. Grandma and Grandpa used to call you Bubba, not sure why. Grandma used to think you looked just like the elf that wanted to be a dentist on Rudolph. You were a late talker. I actually took you to a hearing doctor to make sure you could hear okay. You used to fall asleep while eating all the time. You hated to be dirty and hated to finger paint because it made your hands all messy. Grandma gave you a floppy stuffed dog when you were only one year old, you named him Joey and you loved that dog so much, you still sleep with him. You used to pick your nose and put them on the wall by your bed. You always used to sing yourself to sleep and still do. I love to listen to it.


Nathan, you were my happy fat baby. I barely made it to the hospital before you were born. The doctors told me I was having a girl so you were definitely a surprise. You had big chubby cheeks and big dark beautiful eyes. You loved to eat and would eat anything except for peas. You were crawling by eight months and walking at eleven months. You would follow Jason everywhere. You never cried much and you used to sleep so much. You were very very clumsy and would fall a lot. You were tough though and never cried. You loved to sleep, sometimes it would worry me because you would sleep for twelve hours straight. You used to love to swing in the baby swing and watch everyone You used to suck your thumb and had your red blanket that I bought from Walgreens wherever you went. You were very very hard to potty train. You used to call airplanes emmedowns. You just made it up. You were always very quiet and very shy. One time you locked yourself in your bedroom. We didn't have the key for that lock and you wouldn't unlock the door. We had to call Grandpa to come take the door off the hinge. You were very smart and knew the alphabet and how to count before you even went to school. You have always had a very mature sense of humor.


Marcus, you were my fussy baby. You cried all the time and woke up a lot at night. You were a very little baby even though you were average weight. I had to buy you preemie clothes. You used to chase us all down in your walker and hit our feet. You used crawl up to everyone when they had food and try to get some. You had a laugh that would make everyone else laugh. You used to throw yourself out of your crib on purpose to escape. I had to put pillows on the floor so you wouldn't hurt yourself. You drooled a lot until you were three. When you would wake up in the middle of the night you would never come out of the room, you would just cry under the door till I came and got you. You had big curly crazy hair. You used to have an imaginary baby you named Juicy Helmet who went everywhere with you. You used to sneak into our bed just about every night and sleep right in between me and Mike. You were so sad when you were too big for you sippy cup. You love to help with everything, especially cooking. When you were four you nicknamed yourself Mad Dog. You used to tell me all the time how much you loved me, at least five times a day. You have always been the sweetest little boy. You were very scared to lose your first tooth. You want to do everything your big brothers do.

James, it was a bit of a scary ride to finally meet you but it was worth every bit of it. You are my mellow fellow. You are such a happy baby.You were a giant baby, bigger than your brothers. You still don't sleep through the night even though you are ten months old. You have a dimple on your left cheek. You love to make noise and scream. You love to kick your feet like a crazy man for no reason. You love to eat. You chase after your brothers. You started crawling when you were nine months old. You love to take baths. You used to like pacifiers but now you don't. You never cry when you are in the van or going for a walk. You like to sleep on your tummy. You like to be rocked right after your nap. You have an infectious laugh that always makes me laugh too.

I could go on and on. It's sad how easily it is all forgotten and I don't want to forget any of it. It is sad seeing my little babies get big, but at the same time I get to see them learn and grow and turn into such beautiful people inside and out.

Monday, January 5, 2009

33


Does he look older? How about wiser. Well he should, Mike is 33 years old today! He is very excited about it because he says 33 is his lucky number.


Mike on his treasure hunt

We celebrated yesterday because he works today. The day started off with the kids hiding his presents and making him a present treasure hunt to find them, just like we do to the kids. We got him some very not so cool presents like new work shoes, jeans, and polo shirts. Not cool gifts but very necessary and he acted super excited to get them. Mike never buys himself new clothes/socks/underwear/shoes. This is why he receives them as gifts for birthdays/Christmas/Easter/Valentine's Day.

Then we made him his birthday cake. Cherry chip just like requested.


Mike at work

Then we went to the horse track, otherwise known as Mike's Disneyland. We were so close a couple times but no luck. Sadly, it was raining so the kids couldn't really play and James doesn't appreciate horse tracks yet so we didn't stay very long.

My sister came over after we got back and agreed to watch all four of my children so that we could go out. I'm thinking about buying her a medal for her bravery, four boys is no easy task. Usually when we get the opportunity to go out we will spend an hour or so asking each other, so where do you wanna go? I don't know, where do you want to go? This drives me insane. I have learned that it is a real downfall in a marriage to have two indecisive people who aren't real big on planning. That's us. This time I made sure that wouldn't happen. I planned to take Mike out to a German restaurant and then to go see a movie. We ended up at a bar/grill that we had a gift certificate for instead. So much for planning. We held hands, reminisced, and ate without interruptions, it was heavenly. Later, Ryan met us up there and then it was mostly us with a couple adult beverages talking, laughing, and betting the dogs. It was an off track betting bar of course.

We never made it to the movie but we had a great time. We finally won on our last bet so that was a nice way to end the night.

Happy Birthday to my cute, loving, ambitious, hard working, thoughtful, humorous, did I say cute, husband.

Me and the boys love you!

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Friday, January 2, 2009

Jason's Post


Jason wanted to post something since he LOVES reading the blog. He wrote this in the beginning of December but never told me he was done. I was just cleaning out all my unpublished drafts and found it. So here it is.


Hi,
I finally came up with something to write about. All the 5th graders went on a field trip to go rafting.

My field trip was great. It was a LONG bus ride. I got up at 4:00 am. When the sun was down we were supposed to have our eyes closed but I never shut them.I did 3 things on the long wait,read,play video games, and talk. I sat next to Scottie.
We went over the Hoover Dam. On a raft we went down the river for two hours until we went to a beach. The lunch we had was great! I took a camera but lost it by the end. Since the water was clear and we could get knee deep,we drank the yummy water. When I got wet up a little higher then my knees I had to get out. On the way back each kid spent $5 on burgers.

p.s. We got very wet.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

The Police Again

Well this New Year's definitely topped my worst New Year's list. Our next door neighbor called the police on me, again.

Apparently, Nathan was throwing dirt clods against the wall to break them open and one went over the fence. Yes, that was definitely a stupid idea to throw dirt clods. He didn't break anything but the neighbor John thought he better have an officer come out and take a report. He thought we were throwing a dirt clod in retaliation for him calling the police the first time. This time the officer wasn't nearly as nice as the last one. I can only imagine all the things John told him. I'm sure he made me seem like the devil lady and he was a caring saint. The officer completely took John's side and told me I need to get control of my kids, he said they were going to take a report and if it happens again my neighbor could file a civil suit. My neighbor is also threatening to call CPS on me because my kids play in the front yard unsupervised. Really, at age 11 and 9 don't you think playing in the driveway and front sidewalk is okay? The way the officer took his side though made me feel just awful. The way he was judging me just from whatever my neighbor told him. He made me feel like I was the worst mother ever.

I admit it, Marcus kicked a soccer ball over his fence, Nathan threw a dirt clod over the fence. But could that really be all that is making him so hateful towards me and my kids? Maybe he doesn't like kids, maybe he doesn't like the fact that we are renting. The first thing his wife asked me when I introduced myself to her was if we were renting or buying. A very odd opening question, maybe that is their issue. Maybe they are racist, maybe they are just terrible people, or maybe it is me that is wrong. All I know is I spent the next few hours crying like an idiot. I felt so angry and hurt. Hurt by my neighbor and hurt by the officer. I always try to raise my children to be respectful good people. I feel like they are good boys, they are children though and they do dumb things sometimes. The ball over the fence was not one of them. The dirt clod was, but does that really require a police report?

All I can say is, I give up. You win John. I don't know what you want but you got it. If you wanted to hurt my feelings you got it. If you wanted to make sure my kids don't play with balls outside you got it. If you wanted to make me want to move you got it. I can't wait to move. If you wanted to ruin my New Year's celebration you definitely got it. Here I am at 1am on New Year's while everyone else in my house is going to sleep, and I am sitting here blogging about you with a big old dumb lump in my throat. You win.