Guitar playing take #2

Guitar playing take #1

Andy made a guitar

And I told him I'd take his picture with it after his bath.

Ryan had to get in on that camera action.

Birthday presents

My gifts from the 5 men in my life.

Alex and Andy helping.

Ryan helping, while Seany observes.

My rings -- Grandma's ruby and my plain band for everyday.

My mysteries on DVD!

What is this kid's name?

Yesterday, I overheard during our walk...

"HIEFER, stay with your brother!" Mom shouted.

(That can't be right...)

"HYPER! HYPER get on the sidewalk!"

(Still can't be right. But this is Utah any word, sound, stringing together of letters will do.)

"HAPPIER! Get on that sidewalk! Now, HOPPIER!" (as in a happy bunny?)

(No, still a no go. Definitely something that end in -per. All I've come up with is Piper, but that doesn't cover the "H" sound at the beginning. Crazy lady.)

Any ideas?

Walking

Ok, I realize I haven't felt well for 2 weeks and the snow is finally melting, but I may have gone a tad overboard today.

At 8:15, my friend, Tina and I, dragged our boys out (in stroller) and around for 2 miles with a stop midway at the park.

At 12 noon, I walked the twix (in stroller) out and picked up Andrew at preschool. Then we walked to the snow covered park, struggled a while and played about half an hour. Then we continued on to a wee little park Andrew likes but is far away. We got there played for another 15 minutes and headed home -- uphill. That walk is about 5 miles (not all uphill).

Its good to go out again...

Serial casting

Alex is going to start a new treatment plan for his toe walking -- serial casting. He will be put in a cast below the knee on each leg that stretches the tendons for 2 weeks. Then a new cast for 2 more weeks. Then he should be done.

If he stretches each day and tolerates the casts, he should be able to avoid surgery.

Cast #1 goes on March 14th. Cast #2 comes of April 11th. He should be cast free for 1st communion!

Alex's Basketball Magazine Cover

Smartie Pants

Ryan is a smart cookie. We all know this, occasionally he proves it.

Yesterday, he was minus a pair of pants -- I couldn't tell you why. At some point he asked for a new shirt, his button down plaid.

Later, he disappeared. Only to reappear at the foot of the stairs, "Daddy, Daddy! See my paas!" Ryan had gotten out clean pants, put them on, and was tapping them to show them off!

Best of all, he LEFT the other pants IN the drawer.

Mischiefmakers in action

First, this is why I try to buy only what we actually need.
Second, thank the Lord Almighty that they didn't empty that coffee container, it contains oil.
Third, even dry brownie mix is very hard to get up.
Forth, Seany (in button up) and RyGuy (in tight jammies) learned to open doors yesterday, this pantry door would be their favorite.

Also, I had followed parenting instructions (i.e. gave them an activity to do while I pottied, maybe gone 3 minutes) and what do I find when I return, the race cars untouched and yet look at the kitchen.

Anybody wondering why, oh why did they do this? Peruse down, please.


Candy. Candy, Candy.

Earthquake in Utah?

Yes, its true. The epicenter was Wells, NV -- a place I've traveled through many times 204 miles away.

I felt it. I was laying in bed and thought, "Wow, its just like a little earthquake from back home. I didn't hear I giant truck, hmmm, I wonder what that was..."

By the time I got out of the bed, brushed my teeth and went downstairs, I'd forgotten all about it.

Apparently it measured 6.3 and its caused some serious damage there -- it will take the news crews a couple hours to get there so we'll see.

Peeps here keep calling into the news -- "We've never experience one before -- its kind of cool."

No, its not cool, people can be seriously hurt as can buildings, etc.

Ryan in a football helmet

Ryan came to me and said, "Mommeeeeee ball haa peas." Then dropped it to the ground to sign "ball" "hat" and "please." Just to make sure I got the message.

Andy at CEC

Andy on the clock ride. Last year, when we went this was "too scary."

Andy driving the monster truck.

I never could find Alex when I had the camera, he was very very busy. When he collected all his tickets, the lady said, "You have enough for cotton candy or a toy."

She didn't even finish the sentence when he answered, "Cotton Candy."

He doesn't get to have much sugar at home so, any opportunity away from home he takes advantage of.

Chuck E Cheese

RyGuy with his Daddy.

Seany with the mouse.
Ry with the mouse.

Seany on his horse.

Ryan on his horse. They like the ride so much the would just move to another horse when it ended and then wait expectantly for me to start it up again.

A bunch of boys

They like to watch movies together -- that day it was "Night at the Museum." So the line up, RyGuy, Andy, Alex, and Seany.

From Auntie Erin on their 1st birthday

Seany sporting grey.
Ryan in dirty blue.

They are finally well established in sizes 18 months and moving into 24 months. It only took them until 2 and a half!

Alex's bahamas cruise...

Yep, I'm concerned his identity may have been stolen and because he's a minor it quite complicated to get a copy of his credit report. Stupid red tape. At least I can put fraud alerts on his ssn. If it has been stolen, it can cost tens of thousands of dollars to repair.

Mark's Valentine's

Our gifts from Mom & Dad D.

Mark got a card and chocolate heart from me. Where as I got a tale about a card with two cats and giant coworker's foot.

Twix Valentine's

Ryan loved his card (as he had no crayons to plow into his coloring book) from Nona & Papa.

Again, very interested in his card from Grandma & Poppa and later the Pez dispenser (when he learned there was candy in it!

"Wook, Wook!" said Seany showing off his card from Nona & Papa.

He couldn't grace the camera with his face, so absorbed he was in his Pez from Grandma & Poppa.

Andy's Valentine's

Andy got seek & find book from Nona & Poppa.

A treasure chest and 'treasure' from Grandma & Poppa.

And at preschool, he 'made' a frog bag to carry all his Valentines!

Alex's Valentine's

A puzzle book from Nona & Papa.

A treasure chest and 'treasure' from Grandma & Poppa.

Smarter than 2 2-year olds, I think maybe not...

Yesterday, Ryan perfected a new skill. He can open every door in the house -- those with doorknob covers are no challenge, they used to give me time to stop them, not any more.

Ryan opened the mudroom, Sean took everything off every shelf -- we need to invest in locking cabinets for storage. While I was cleaning that up, Ryan opened up their bathroom door and they both emptied all flossers (kid floss on colorful sticks) unto the floor and into the toilet and bathtub -- this they did 3 times. I didn't know about the 3rd.

Ryan opened the 'coat' closet -- where the poker chips are located and they dumped those -- while I was cleaning up the flossers the first time.

Then, they got bored with the door game and moved on to climbing furniture and yanking hard on the blinds in the front room. I took all the furniture out of there and jammed it all into the guest room, so now we can't walk in there. I need Mark to move the chair for me to another location.

Sean attacked my uncle's painting over the couch; I need to find a new wall for that to protect it from them.

I tried to lay them down for naps, but with my cold (that's making me queasy) every time I lay them down my nose starts dripping. Every time I left to get a tissue, they were up and out of there, running up and down the stairs at top speed.

Anyone anywhere got any ideas on how to keep doors closed?

Tracks

Early last week, the snow had started to melt, so I took the chicklets minus Alex (at school) out for some walks.

Being a mom, I wanted to try to make it fun and educational. "Andrew look at those tracks, what kind of animal could have made them?"

"A dog."

"Right! What about these tracks (pointing to his tracks behind him)?"

"Ah, Mommy those are tracks, those are my footsteps."

Later, we as we headed home, he pointed out my tracks and Sean's tracks. "Mommy, you make super big tracks. And Seany makes tiny tracks."

Tooth Fairy Prep

Alex proudly showing off the first tooth to come out.

Closing up the tooth bag.

Preparing the pillow.

Ready to go! "Mommy, go to sleep EARLY!" As I head down the hall and the stairs, "EARLY, MOMMY! EARLY!"

In the morning, he hopped up next to me in the bed, "Mommy, the tooth fairy came, look at my gold dollar!"

"Wow, what's that on it?" I groggily asked.

A flash of red and then the lights were on. "AH! FAIRY DUST!"

"Let me see." I carefully examined the dollar and look at his face, "I think she landed on you. There's a smudge on your face."

He was off! Five minutes later, he and Andrew were back. Showing me the inside of the bag, where MORE FAIRY DUST lie.

They were totally delighted.

NO cavities

Andy & Alex left the dentist certificates in hand. (Andy's dead front tooth, the gray one, doesn't count against him.)

Too expensive

We stopped in at Penney's to look at new plain bands for me. I want a band I can wear everyday since wearing my bridal set in dangerous and risky.

Andrew stepped in the store and said, "Guys I don't think we'll buy anything here its too expensive."

On our way out, "Yep guys, I told ya. That store is WAY too expensive for us."

Guns in disguise

Alex and Andrew finally used their birthday money from Grandma & Papa to choose a toy. I suggested they might to save some for a vacation later in the year and Alex steered Andrew away from the $20+ toys and toward the $10 ones.

They choose a "Power Ranger Drill Thing" and a "Power Ranger Mercury Locator." Don't sound like guns do they. Guns they be, I was to discover when actually looking at the toys while prying them out of their packaging tearing up my fingertips.

"Mommy we need batteries for the sounds."

"No, no batteries. You guys can use your imaginations to make sounds."

Andrew, locator/gun in hand, looked at me, looked at the gun, scrunched up his nose and asked, "Uh, so Mommy, how do I use my imaginations?"

Darn those big words!

Loss of first tooth

Alex lost his first baby tooth today! At the dentist visit last week, he threatened to pull it. It was crowding the permanant tooth trying to come in behind it.

I felt wiggling out teeth is part of the fun of being a kid and especially the first tooth. I said, "Don't worry, Alex will wiggle it everyday until it comes out." We were given a month.

Alex was so proud and excited -- it happened at church. Bloody mouth and tooth in hand, we went to the bathroom. Applied pressure, then he gazed gleefully in the mirror admiring his raw gum.

He said, "Mommy, tomorrow everyone will pay attention to me at school!"

"I can't wait to show Andrew!"

"Can I call Nona and tell her my tooth came out?!"

"I wonder how much the tooth fairy will bring me. Do you think she'd bring me $100?"

I assured him that although the tooth fairy would remember him and leave him something, she could not afford to leave $100 a tooth. Why in our house alone with 80 baby teeth due to all wiggle out, that would be $8,000! He was shocked by such a number and thought of all the kids he knows and said, "Maybe she'll leave me a special gold dollar AND a quarter!"

The tooth fairy will be leaving a special gold dollar and a quarter and some fairy dust...

Post parenting lessons applications

So Friday morning, (the day after my first class) Sean & Ryan were walking around the house with Andrew's undies on over their jeans. I really didn't want to go to class/therapy with them dressed like that. So I applied some of my new tools.

Tool #1: Does it really matter THAT MUCH? (because sometimes it does matter THAT MUCH)
My Answer: No. We are going to therapy, a place where everyone knows what we're working on...

Tool #2: If one asks a yes-or-no question one must be prepared to respect the no answer.
My Answer: I really didn't want to go this route, but I felt since we were going to therapy, I could more easily respect the no. Good practice.

Tool #3: When doing something they may not like, offer a First _____ then ______.
My Answer: I asked Ryan first, "Ryan, can we take your underwear off and put them in a safe place until we get back from Kids on the Move?"

"Yes." Ryan smiled and slipped off the fireman undies, placing them in his favorite China closet cubby.

I turned to Sean, "Sean, can we take your underwear off and put them in a safe place until we get back from Kids on the Move?"

"No." My face fell (I'd gotten a rush of pleasure at Ryan's agreement). Sean slipped off the undies (Nemo) and jeans and swapped their positions -- undies over diaper and jeans over undies.

I was so thrilled! So some of the first tools I've tried have been successful!

Resolutions and Revolutions

Alex: "Mommy, I know you're having a hard time keeping your revolutions from Janunary 1st."

Mommy: "Huh? What do you mean?" I thought I was doing alright -- lost 2 pounds, yelling less, taking parenting classes to create more peace, etc.

Alex: "Well, its hard to be a better mom when the babies are always ruining things."

Guess I'm not doing as well as I thought.

The Mysterious Mess

This morning, the twix came down to the basement with me and all was well for 5 minutes. Then Ryan opened the guest bedroom door and slammed it shut behind him. After I finished an email I headed in.

There was Ryan standing on top of a pile of stuff he'd dumped out of a drawer.

"GASP! Ryan what happened? That's a huge mess!"

Ryan calming stepped over and around the mess and stood directly infront of me. Then he turned around looked at the mess and gasped.

Kid vs Man

Yesterday, the twix found an album I made for Alex of a Disneyland vacation when he was 3 years old. Andrew was very very interested.

"Mommy, I'd like to go to Disneyland while I'm still a kid."

I answer, "Well, we're looking at going this year. And there is that picture in your room from when we took you and you were just 9 months old."

"Mommy, I was a baby! I WANT to GO to DISNEYLAND while I'm a KID!"

Yeah, he's 4.

Snow Wars

Andrew preparing to battle.

Alex was digging out a place to stash some 'weapons' aka snowballs.

Snowman

Ryan and Daddy built the snowman.

Then Seany came over to help.

A very snowy day

The street -- we had more than a foot of snow with more on the way.

Can you spot Mark by the 6+ foot tall snow stack?

Seany doing his part to clear the snow.

Puppy Boy

Since only 1 person could help cook, Seany got wear the puppy costume all day long. (The last time this was worn, Seany weighed 5.5 lbs and Andy, then owner of said costume, was 22 months old.)

Ryan is a chef

Ryan stirred up the marshmallows and butter.

This is how he got up there. That red patch on his leg -- eczema.

Andrew speak

"That is so totally wicked!"

"Whoa, I can't believe it!"

"(GASPS) Babies you are so in time out when Mommy sees this."

"Babies! I said you are not supposed to be up there!"

"Mommy, can I play Alex's DS up in my room?"

"Mommy, can I play Daddy's Xbox 360 in your room?"

"Mommy, I don't want to play thaaaattt."

"No Mommy, you don't make the sign for cow. Signs are for kids."