temper tantrum

Beau and I came home from dropping off Reed and Blue at school. We actually didn't come directly home, I did stop at a few places first just to torture myself because Beau was so pleasant and charming at each stop (not really). By the time we got home he was so tired. I carried him in and he was crying because he wanted me to put him down then he was crying because he wanted me to hold him. So as he if flailing around and crying I take off his shoes and socks. When I did this he stops crying and looks at me and says "ahhhh" then smiles his goofy proud grin. I smile back thinking he was through with his tantrum. The second I smiled he realized that he wasn't done and went back to flailing and crying. It was hilarious! He must be a creature of habit because he always says "ahhh" every time we take off his shoes, even a temper tantrum couldn't stop him from his ritual.

hans and leia

Colby had a work Halloween party on Friday night. He went as Hans Solo and I as Princess Leia, very fitting seeing as our boys were Star Wars characters also.
Highlights of the evening:
1. The place was decked out in Halloween decor. My boys were thrilled. The house was set up on a hill and the walkway was lined with pumpkins on both sides. Beau loved this because he could give each pumpkin a little push and watch it roll down the hill. I tried to keep up with him but every time I was halfway up with a rescued pumpkin, another was rolling past me.
2. Reed enjoyed the hay ride. The ride took us past a little ranch house and Reed was so excited because it looked like Cy and Dakota's house except this house was bigger and a different color (those were his exact words). With those differences, I'm not sure why he thought it looked like Cy and Dakota's except for maybe the horses walking around it.
3. They gave prizes to all the kids who had on costumes and not just dinky prizes. Blue scored! He comes running up to me with a package the size of him. In it was three squirt guns and one mega blaster. I don't know how he finagled such a prize but he was pleased with himself.
Low lights:
Colby and I did NOT dress up as Hans Solo and Princess Leia but you could imagine.

the force was with me

Tonight we went to the Halloween carnival at Reed's school. Sounds like fun, right?...until I tell you that Colby was out of town so I put costumes on the kids with just a little bit of frustration- Blue was crying because I had to wake him up and we all know that is not easy; and if you look close enough in the picture you can see that I underestimated Beau's size when purchasing his costume and we had to improvise. Then once we got to the carnival I had to hold Beau the entire time to keep him from running in the opposite direction. Not only did I hold Beau but I also held Reed's and Blue's light sabers while they played games and got their face painted. Luckily we arrived right when it started and we didn't have to wait in any lines as I noticed a lot of other people were having to do as we were leaving. In forty minutes we had played all the games, got their faces painted, listened to a Halloween story, and picked out prizes. It definitely was not as bad as I was expecting. A night spent in the company of Anikan, Luke Skywalker, and Darth Vader, I must have had the force with me.

lickety-split

This time of year brings dry skin and chapped lips. Both of which Blue gets worse than most kids. Today we were at Reed's taekwondo class and Blue told me that his lips were hurting. I didn't have any chapstick handy so I told him I would put some on when we got home and not to lick his lips. He didn't skip a beat and said, "I didn't, Beau did." While Beau does give slobbery kisses, I don't think this is what Blue meant. He wasn't even in trouble but Blue is so used to hearing me tell him not to do certain things that his first impulse is to blame someone else.

broken promises

My latest attempt to pass the time between drop offs and pick ups is refinishing furniture- well, sanding, painting, then distressing. I have been sanding by hand for the past few weeks which is very time consuming. Colby kept telling me he had a palm sander that I could use but it was in our storage unit. So, on a regular basis I would ask him to get it for me since he has the only key to our unit. Returning home without a palm sander, he would always reply, "I forgot, sorry." Broken promise after broken promise. Today I finally stopped playing the martyr and bought my very own power tool. Yes, a palm sander. Talk about empowering! I love it! I spent an hour and a half today on my latest project. What I accomplished in that time would have taken me a couple of days to do. I have a renewed motivation- it is too bad they don't make power tools to help you clean your house.

are you gonna eat that

My boys go through these eating spurts like most children, I assume. Today was the start of one of Blue's. This morning he wakes up at 6:00 asking for breakfast. I tell him to give me five minutes. At 6:45 I finally get up and ask him what he wants. He says, "What are my awshuns?" Awshuns in rubberish (Blue's language) means options (Giving options is a favorite among Reed and Blue). I ramble off a few names of cereal boxes in our pantry. "And what else?" I give a few more awshuns. He finally decides on a yogurt. He promptly eats this and asks if he can have a snack. At 7:00 in the morning, are you kidding?! I told him he needed to eat something else for breakfast. He decided on a bowl of cereal. By the time I took him to school around 8:45 he was telling me he was hungry again, this time asking for a corndog. Colby was actually in the car with me when this was going on and offered Blue McDonalds instead. En route to preschool Blue finished a little over three quarters of his sausage mcgriddle.

When I picked Blue up from preschool at 12:00, he asked me where his cake was. What cake? He told me, "You know, the one I was eating before." Oh, the sausage mcgriddle from three hours ago. I had already thrown it out. Imagine his disappointment when I told him I threw it out. Blue had intended on polishing it off when he got back in the car from preschool. Poor kid, he was probably daydreaming about the sausage mcgriddle during preschool.

camo in a concrete jungle

Chea and Wayne and girls came up a couple of weeks ago to visit. My boys love it when Chea's girls come to visit. Here is an example: The morning our visitors were to arrive Colby and Reed went bear hunting. Not more than two hours after leaving the house, the boys were back and I asked why they were home so early. Reed did not want to miss Taryn when she got to our house.
Not only do I like to take advantage of the babysitting from my nieces, I also like to take advantage of Chea's skills whenever she is around...so with just a few minutes notice we decided to do a family photo shoot. What we would possibly wear to give a cohesive look but was already in our closets? Camouflage, of course. I called Colby at work and told him to meet us downtown for a family picture. His response- Didn't we just do a family picture? Boy, was he excited. Thankfully he showed up anyway. Chea worked her magic and got some great shots. Thanks Chea!

lovingly look in your eye

During our impromptu photo shoot Chea asked Colby and me to look at each other. I could not as much as glance in his direction without cracking up. I guess "gazing into each others eyes" was totally out of the question. You know you've been married long enough when just the the thought looking at the love of your life makes you cry...with laughter!

does a bear crap in the woods?

Today was a beautiful day here in Flagstaff! Besides a little bit of smoke from control burns, the weather was perfect! Reed gets out of school at 1:00 on Fridays (love it!) and so we decided to do a little nature hike behind our house. Beau was thrilled, he had a bucket and put everything he could pick up in it- rocks, leaves, rocks, pine cones, and more rocks. Reed and Blue were on the hunt for acorn caps. I'm not sure what they are really called but you know what I'm talking about, right? Whenever they would find one they would yell,"Sweet! Look at what I found." After ten or so I stopped paying close attention to what they were showing me. But I happen to look up when Reed mentioned that he found something that sorta looked like an acorn but wasn't. Hmmm, what could it be? As Reed is holding it in his hand, I tell him that is no acorn but the dropping of a coyote. Ewwww! I had to be careful because you never know how Reed will react to something so out of the ordinary. Luckily, he was not totally devastated. In fact, his reaction was surprising. He just said, "Oh." Almost like he was disappointed it really wasn't a giant size acorn.

tagged

The thing about being "tagged" is you can say you've been tagged when you really haven't. I mean who's gonna take the time to track down your tag-er? While I really was tagged I think it shouldn't stop anyone else who so desires to share their deepest secrets with the rest of us. So here goes (I modified the categories just a little):

My first real job: The best Hawaiian restaurant ever, Aloha Kitchen, and Ray the owner still remembers me after fifteen years. I must have been a dang good employee.

My first real job living on my own: Good ol' Taco Taste in Safford, Arizona. Good times, right Lindsay? Yes, Lindsay worked there also during her brief stay in Thatcher.

A job I would love to do: Write episodes for the Backyardigans. If you are not familiar with what this show is I highly advise you to tune in on Nick Jr. It is by far the best kids show out there...catchy tunes and great moves.

Places I've lived and don't want to live again:
Ghetto downtown Mesa. Our neighbor actually hooked jumper cables to our electrical box and lived that way for a month without our knowledge.
Colby's parents house. It was actually easier for me to live there than it was for Colby but a 10x10 room just wasn't big enough for the four of us (Colby, Reed, Blue, and me).
Queen Creek....gotcha! Of course, I MIGHT reconsider living there again. :)

Food that I would drive more than an hour for:
Green corn tamales. I would drive all day if I could just get my hands on one of Grampy's green corn tamales. Although, there is a restaurant in South Tucson that serves a close second.
Crab legs from Outback. Luckily, there is an Outback here in Flag so I don't have to drive an hour for them. But I would be willing if necessary.

Weird things about me:
Nothing. I am the most normal person you'll ever meet. I have no irrational thoughts, o.c.d.'s, or insecurities- at least none that I am willing to admit right now. Well, here's one for you...naaa, nevermind.

Places I want to go without my kids:
The Rose Bowl Flea market.
Round Top, Texas.
Mostly anywhere would do.

Places I want to go with my kids:
The beach
Disneyland

I believe Francis tagged a couple of other people, what are you waiting for?

blue-isms

On Sunday Colby gave the blessing on the food for dinner. It wasn't a super long prayer but it also wasn't a two-liner. After he was done, Blue said,"Next time just say 'thanks for everything'... that's what I do". Tonight I listened in on his prayer and sure enough I heard a "thanks for everything" and then amen. I think we need to work on that.

Today I was trying to purge a few of the boys' toys seeing as Christmas is right around the corner. I know, can you believe it- where did this year go?! Anyway, I was going back in forth from their room. On one of my return trips I discovered that Blue had taken all of the bedding off of his bed and Reed's bed (again). When I confronted him about it he started looking down at his hands with a concerned look and said, "I didn't know what my hand was doing." He is quite the character!

to be or not to be

How can something {Halloween} so fun cause me so much grief {Halloween costumes}? Every Halloween, ever since Reed was just a baby, costumes have given me grief. The year Reed was not yet one year old I decided we would dress him up as a scarecrow. Luckily this decision was on a whim with maybe twenty minutes of prep time. But as you can see in the picture Reed was not pleased.

Then came the year of the dragon. Reed had a costume that had a hood with a big face on it. Whenever Reed wanted to turn his head he moved his entire body like his neck was broken. It was pretty funny.

Next was Scooby. Reed was so excited but when the day of Halloween came he refused to put the costume on. He cried all through the photo shoot. After Halloween was over I couldn't get the costume off of Reed. He wore it for the entire month of November.


Now Reed was finally old enough to enjoy a costume for Halloween but Blue was a different story. The year of the eagle was the year I painstakingly made an eagle costume I had seen in a Martha Stewart magazine. I mean, come on, who doesn't want their child to look like something out of a magazine? Well, once again, my efforts were in vain. The only time Blue would put on the costume was well after Halloween and it lasted long enough to snap a picture.

Finally, last year, Blue wanted to be superman. But when he saw the Reed was a Star Wars guy with a light saber, he, too, had to have a light saber. Not so bad I guess, I'm sure the force would have come in handy for superman at one time.

So it is costume choosing time again. I can't tell you how many costume catalogs my boys have looked through and then looked through again. I'm not worried about them, it's Beau who is on my mind. I'm pretty sure he will just give me one of his crusty looks which is interpreted as "You will not put THAT on me and if you do, don't expect me to like it." Wish me luck this year!

budding artist

Isn't this the cutest puppy dog you have ever seen?! This is a picture of the puppy Reed is hoping to get for Christmas. Reed is quite the artist. Whenever he is drawing pictures he always asks, "Aren't I such a good artist?" He has decided that he wants to be an astronaut and an artist when he grows up. Well, that was today. Yesterday it was a school teacher and an artist. Which is pretty funny for him to say school teacher because I have never heard mention of this before. I think Reed's school must be trying to persuade children at a young age to go into the education profession.

baby genius

I love my cell phone. I love it because it is pink and is a constant reminder that I am a the only girl amongst a house full of boys. I also love my phone because while in my car I can talk to anyone (usually one of my sisters) and tune out the noise of my boys teasing each other and fighting. But the most useful part of my cell phone is that it occupies Beau while I am at any store. Beau has learned how to call Heidi. They have had some very deep conversations. I know when Beau has called someone because he presses the phone against his cheek very tightly and sits very still while giving me a stoic look hoping that I won't discover that he has actually called someone. As I was viewing the pictures in my phone, I discovered that Beau knows how to take pictures and has taken more than I have. They are all very lovely distorted photos of his own head or the floor of various stores. The other day Beau had enough shopping and pitched my phone. The back plate went flying in one direction while the phone laid lifelessly on the floor. It was still on so I assumed that it was still working. Later on that day I realized that it was not working and I could not call anyone. So I turned off my phone and figured I would "re-boot" it. When I tried turning it back on nothing happened, I was still looking at a black screen. I pressed every button hoping that it would turn back on. No luck. I gave up and decided it was a lost cause. I was going to have to get a new phone. The next day I gave Beau my phone to play with. I didn't think his curiosity would last long since it was broken. A few seconds later I heard some noise coming from my phone. My baby genius had fixed my phone! It works now with no glitches. My laptop has been running a little slow, I think I'm gonna have Beau take a look at it.

Blue no longer feeling blue

Blue is back and better than ever. I could tell he was feeling better yesterday morning when he wanted a corn dog for breakfast. Since he hadn't eaten in a day and a half we went straight to Sonic after dropping off Reed at school. This was a bonus for me since I was all out of diet coke in the fridge. More evidence of Blue regaining strength was that my house was a wreck before lunch time. I had noticed while he was sick that my house stayed a lot cleaner for a lot longer. The kid is sorta like a Tasmanian devil. He makes a mess in one room then moves on to the next. But I am grateful that he no longer has a fever although he is still trying to kick his cough. Today, though, was a sure sign of his well being. We went to the bank (this time without m&m's) and I reminded him that he needed to sit on the couch or stand by me. He heads for the couch and before I am even at a teller window I look back at him and he is upside down on the couch with his legs hanging over the back side of it!

pillow talk

Colby found this picture underneath his pillow last night. When he asked Reed about it this morning, Reed was all grins. Reed was so delighted that he surprised Colby with a picture and more so that Colby loved it. Reed has put pictures under our pillows every so often for the past year. He loves the idea of being sneaky in a good way. He is such a good kid!

just forget 'bout it

For those of you who have carried on a conversation with Blue know that sometimes it is difficult to understand what he is saying. I will usually ask him to repeat things a couple of times until I can figure out what he is trying to say. Well, the past few days have been extremely hard to understand him since he has a cough. So not only is it hard to get what he is normally trying to say, you add a raspy whisper and I can hardly understadn what he is trying to say let alone hear him. He is so exhausted that by the second or third time I ask him to say it again he tells me to "just forget 'bout it." Poor guy. I feel bad but apparently I cannot fluently speak rubberish (as Jessica so lovinly refers to Blue's speech).

pulling an all-nighter

As I mentioned earlier, Reed had a fever on Thursday. With this fever came a very hoarse cough. On Saturday morning Beau woke up with the same hoarse cough then followed with a fever later on in the day. Sunday morning Blue followed suit with the same symptoms. Luckily, by Sunday Reed no longer had a fever and his coughing was not so often. So last night started off relatively uneventful, Blue had fallen asleep around six then Beau at 7:30 and then finally Reed at 8:00. Around 10:45 as I am watching tv I hear Beau whimpering. Since he is not full on crying I hope he will just fall back asleep. Fifteen minutes later he is still whining. So I go in to check on him and find him covered in puke. I know, disgusting! And to think I made him stay in there for fifteen minutes. I felt so bad, but he wasn't screaming or even really crying for that matter. I get him cleaned up put him in bed with Colby while I take off his bedding and put a new sheet on. Not more than a half an hour after getting in bed after Beau's ordeal, Blue comes in hacking and crying. He climbs in with us and he is burning up. I tried to convince him to take some medicine for his coughing and fever but no luck. So I just laid there listening to him moaning and coughing. A couple of hours later Reed comes in because he said he heard some noises in his bedroom. Since there Blue was already in our bed, I went upstairs with Reed to lay by him for a little bit (partly selfish because then I wouldn't have to listen to Blue wheezing and coughing). While upstairs, I heard Beau wake up again but this time he went back to sleep on his own. Thank heavens! The next thing I knew the sun was coming up and it was time to start another day with sick kids. Won't this be a fun day...