Ho! Ho! Ho!

These boys are SPOILED ROTTEN!










Sam's stuff (above)

Santa left them both a racetrack
Jack's stuff.

Pilates for Men

Keith is falling apart over here. He hurts something of his at least once a week. If this is what 30 does to you, I'm not turning thirty in 2010. No thanks. One of his ailments is his back. He has been doing Pilates sometimes to help his back to (hopefully) become more limber. One night the boys all did the whole 30 minute video together. It was really hilarious. Sam made it almost the whole way through but at the end he was just climbing on Keith or going under his legs. Here are some pictures of the scene for your enjoyment.

Christmas Crazies

I need to get some Disney pictures up, but hopefully I will soon. I managed to forget my camera to BOTH children's Christmas programs. Mom of the year! However, my children still seem to be surviving.

Jack told Keith today in the car that he can't wait until we die because then he will be able to do whatever he wanted because we would no longer tell him what to do. He doesn't, of course, realize how mean that is to say, though we tried to tell him. He said in response, "Well, Dad, You will definitely die first because you are 30 and we are only 5 and 2." Let's all hope that is very true for the both of us!

Keith really enjoys antagonizing Jack, which I'll admit is not terribly hard. One thing he does that really bothers Jack is answer "Your face!" to everything. We were in the car (again) and Jack was naming a bunch of countries and saying he was going to paint them ("Paint Nigeria!" "Paint Haiti!" "Paint Chile!" I have no idea how he knows about all this stuff. He got really annoyed when I said Antarctica because MOM IT IS NOT CONTINENTS!). Keith says to him "Can I please just say 1?" And Jack says "NO DADDY! Because I know you are going to say Paint Your Face!" And the sad part is that if you know Keith at all, he probably was, and he even admitted that he had considered it.

Keith went to volunteer in Jack's class the other day and the job he got was to laminate these pages that the kids wrote that said "Christmas is about __________" and then they fill it in and draw a picture. He wrote "love" and then drew a picture of all of our stockings that said Mom Dad Jack Sam. It was really cute and he said maybe some of the things we tell them actually get through. Keith also went to lunch with Jack's class and said two of the boys kept asking him "Are you Jack's brother?"

Sam is also a little bit bad lately. A little bad is an understatement, but whatever. He has taken to asking as soon as we get in the car "Are we there yet?" Then he repeatedly asks you "Where we GOIN'?" and "Are we there yet?" the whole way to your destination.

He told his teachers at school that he really wanted Santa to bring him a car, a truck and a muffin.

He saw this Santa the other day in the dry cleaners and he told me "MOMMY, I really think that Santa want to tell me Merry Kiss-mas!"

He also saw a Smart Car and told me "Mommy, this car is tiny. The other cars is big. Why is this tiny?" It always makes me amazed where they pick up some of these words. I really don't feel like I use the word "Tiny". Maybe Wow Wow Wubbzy and Dora 'splore can be credited with something around here.

Merry Christmas to all!

Hope you had a lovely Turkey Day!

The Pilgrim and the Indian both enjoyed theirs.

Do You Follow?

We frequently get these types of instructions. I certainly can't follow it. Can you?

Our Summer Garden

I think I should start at least occasionally brushing my hair!

To everything, turn, turn, turn, there is a season, turn, turn, turn

All of the sudden, Jack eats dinner.

For anyone that has ever been around him, this is a huge accomplishment. He is one hell of a picky eater. I totally realize that this is the pot calling the kettle black here, really. I do. But still, I have to deal with it day in and day out and IT IS EXHAUSTING.

Here is what he eats: fruit, carbohydrates, and dairy. (A few months ago, as I was talking to someone else about this, he added 'I like junk too!') That leaves a few LARGE categories that he'll have nothing to do with including meat and vegetables. He also hates peanut butter, pizza, mac and cheese, and all normal kids food. Plus, as anyone that knows me knows, we don't eat any condiments around here. So REALLY it is just fruit, carbs, and dairy. Every day.

So this is what he eats at EVERY MEAL: some sort of bread with jelly or honey on it, some kind of fruit, and either yogurt or cheese. Occasionally substitute the sandwich for like, crackers.

Can you imagine?

So, where is the breakthrough here? Lately, I make him some variation of this, put it out for dinner, and the child eats it. All. With no arguing, no whining about what is there, no complaints about the kind of bread. He just sits there and eats. IT IS THE LITTLE THINGS, PEOPLE. Trust me.

And, yes, we've tried the hard line. Several times. And yes, we could try harder, I know that. We could demand more of him, fight with him more. We could go through another week of him throwing up at the table every night, everyone yelling, tears. But yesterday, I put corn on the child's plate and he didn't cry, he just took the three bites I asked of him. Last week he tried buttered noodles. Today I put different bread in his lunch and asked him if he ate it. He said "Yep." I asked him if he liked it, and he said "Not really, but I ate it all." Now, who are you and what have you done with my son?

While I'd love to sigh now and feel accomplished, at least a little bit, I have to tell you, so far, Sam eats even less and even fewer items than Jack ever has. So, let the games begin, again.

Eliza Visits for Halloween

I love how I never have a picture of the person who visits since they take all of the pictures!!


Sam as a bat



Jack as black spiderman


"Nobody Take My Candy"


The said candy


Jack scored two goals on Halloween and was very proud!

The many faces of Jack

I hate that my scanner has sort of distorted them, but Keith says they are very Vincent Van Gogh :-)

Uncle Shane Does SC

My brother came to stay with us and see how well he could handle the craziness. We all had fun!

Sam and Jack say WELCOME! (Okay, well, Jack just ignornes you, but that is his classic welcome)


We go somewhere with no children dressed for fall!


We go to a soccer game and fight to keep Sam off the field just like every week!


Jack scores two goals for us!


Sam warms up to him and finally lets him hold him!


Shane thinks this is pretty representative of how things go around here....


Jack is in Pirate Jail at the Children's Museum.


Sam says So Long, Farewell, and We Hope you come back SOON!

Cha Cha Slide

This is a video of Jack doing the Cha Cha Slide, which apparently they do at school if it is raining during recess :-) We originally video taped it b/c it was pretty funny to watch Sam try to copy everything Jack was doing, but of course by this point he was mostly bored with it and ready to play with something else. He comes in and out of the dancing. The video is almost six minutes long, but just the first 30 seconds or so should give you the general idea!!

Sam's Puzzles

We get worried around here, because our oldest child gets called "bright," about all the implications that that could have on the youngest child. You know, the one that is 2 1/2 but still says that almost everything is the color "OR-AAAAAANGE"?

So we were happy the other night when he got down this Opposite Pairs puzzle and did it all by himself, without big brother's "help" (*cough* interruption). It's hard sometimes to speak for yourself when you're always being spoken for!!

What they do when you think they are sleeping

And yep, that's sharpie. Any ideas on how to get it off? Magic Eraser?

Jack-isms (and Sam-isms Too)

Jack says the funniest stuff these days. It is just because he is so grown up sounding. Oftentimes I will think I am going to write something on my blog that he says, but it just is not as funny if you cannot hear the WAY he says things. So matter-of-factly, as if he is the authority on all things.

He got moved to an advanced reading group, and as I have been sort of waiting for this, I was very curious about it. The only way to get any info from him is to ask VERY specific questions, which he loves.

So I was asking him all about it...

..."And then how do you go to your new library class?"

"Well, Mrs. Someone comes to our door, and says 'Jack and Camryn, right this way!' and then we stand up, holding hands, and walk to the library."

I mean, it is hard not to crack up and this stuff. You can just see the mental picture. As always, you are NOT allowed to laugh at anything he says or he gets deeply offended.

In the same conversation...

..."Do you know any of these other children in the class that come from the other Kindergarten classes?"

"Well, there are only six."

"Do you know them?"

"No"

"Are their any other boys in there?"

Long, pensive pause. You have to retain utter silence during these pauses or he once again gets angry.

"Well, mommy. I am not trying to tease about this. There is a boy in there but he really looks like a girl."

"Well, that is o.k. I realize you aren't trying to tease, and it is o.k. to say to your mommy, just try not to say it to him, though, because that would really hurt his feelings."

I mean, seriously? He is five! How does he come up with this stuff?

-------------

Sam was taking a bath in 'Jack's bathtub' the other night, as opposed to ours, where he usually bathes. Reason being I was washing dishes and then I could still see him, but obviously not well enough. I walk back in there and water is all over the floor.

"Sam! Did you do this? Pouring water out of the bath is not nice! That is not for good boys, it is for bad boys!"

He jumps down, then dashes off and says "I a bad boy, mommy!"

Mary Had A Little Lamb

Jack had to memorize this poem for school. I think he has done a great job with it! He says "He doesn't want anyone to think his stuff is cute."

My little Mess

Yesterday, I took the boys to an ice-skating birthday party. Keith is working 70 hrs a week right now, so Sam had to come, and of course he had to SKATE too, like the big kids. So after all that fun, we are driving home, and I see some Mormon Missionaries outside in our cul-de-sac. I am obviously not in the mood to deal with them so I come in, shut the door, and tell Jack if anyone rings the doorbell we are not going to answer it.

After a few minutes, we are getting the kids in the bath, and of course the doorbell rings.

Jack is very excited about the prospect of ignoring it at first because we have never done that before.

"Be quiet!" I tell him.

"Momma, why? What do they want to do?"

"They want to tell us about Jesus, and mommy doesn't have the patience for that right now."

He sits there quietly for a few minutes, then says...

"Momma, can we PLEASE open it? I really don't know all that much ABOUT Jesus!"

Coming Right Up!

Sam is problematically cute these days, thus he can get away with almost anything. One of his favorite games is to pretend to sell you food. What I love about it is that he usually says, "Do you want i-creeeem?" and You have to say "Yes" and then he says "OK, coming right up!" It is so precious, I could die. He also says "Yes, sir" a lot and you can hear both in this video. The "Coming Right Up" is right at the beginning if you want to just watch for five seconds, which I would not blame you for at all.

Becoming A Person, not just a Kid

Jack has taken to a new form of interview. No longer does he want to just talk to me about whatever. As a matter of fact, he has never been one to tell you much about himself or what he thinks or what he has been doing. Suddenly, though, I have become very interesting to him, and it is a little disconcerting if you ask me.

Last night, we went to see a movie called Inglorious Basterds. He asks me what movie we are going to see. I tell him. We go. We return. We walk loops around the cul-de-sac.

"What happened in your movie, mommy?"

Ok, now, this is going to be hard to see where the problem lies unless you have seen the movie. But you've all seen SOME Quentin Tarantino movie, haven't you? Can you think of ANY scene from any of them that would be appropriate to relate to my five year old? I have already told him the inappropriate name for this movie. And I quite liked the movie, myself. But it is in all ways totally violent and nothing I can tell him about.

So, I tell him some part about a fire, some part about nicknames, some part about how the germans do the sign for three differently than Americans. He loves this and practices the three and says we can now go to Germany. Then he looks at me deeply and says, "Okay, mommy, just three more things about the movie. Please."

I am perplexed. Never has he cared so much about what I have to say, and I do want to indulge him, yet this topic is just SO wrong.

And then today, he had an 'incident' at school in which he got upset because he thought he was being punished for bad behavior when he was not. It was not a big deal at all, but he got upset, and so his teacher told me he was upset, and he heard her. We get into the car.

"I don't want to talk about that."

Well, ok. We drive.

"Please tell me some things. Not about when or why I was upset. Please tell me something else about you."

Now, this is even worse. What in the world am I going to tell him about what we did all day. Sam watched TV while I cleaned the house and surfed the internet? So I tell him about 18 kids and counting and something interesting that happened on that show, and how Sam took a long time to fall asleep, and when he asks me for one more thing, I tell him about a graduate school I read about on the internet. He seems satisfied enough. Then we walk in the door, and he says:

"Mommy, I see this laundry here. You did not tell me about this. You must have forgot."

These types of things don't last long with him. But, it does make me think that he is a big boy now capable of understanding big concepts. And worse, he LOVES to try to grasp these types of larger concepts. The problem is just, how will I keep coming up with stuff to tell him?

I think I am going to have to stay up late and look up stuff on howthingswork.com.

My "Official" Kindergartner

Jack came home with a sticker on that said he was an official Kindergartner, so I guess he is! He had a great first day of school. He was really excited when he woke up and he did great when I dropped him off. He was a little tentative, but he was sitting next to his good friend Abby from last year, so that made him feel much better! He took his lunch today (they eat at 10:30!) and had an afternoon snack. He said he even "fell asleep a little" during rest time.

When I picked him up he said he loved it and asked if he could "Please please please please go back to school tomorrow!" He also said Mrs. Zielke and Mrs. Keller were the best teachers ever in the whole wide world. I guess that is a rousing endorsement if there ever was one! I'm glad he likes it. Maybe I'll take some more pictures of him tomorrow in his PE uniform.

Fun in Texas

We did lots of fun stuff in Texas, but we didn't take many pictures of it ;-) Here is us at the zoo. Sam HATED feeding the birds and said he wanted to immediately "GO OUT!" But Jack really liked it!