from the mouths of babes

A couple of funny things heard around our house lately.....

They are doing a school supply drive at my church this month. So on Sunday I gathered what I had bought for Carson's school supplies and decided to donate them to the church. I put them in a bag and handed them to Carson when we were at church and showed him where they needed to go. He was pretty proud to carry the bag and put it in the box all by himself. Fast forward to yesterday and we were getting ready to go to the pool. As he was coming down the stairs he informed me that we also needed to stop at the store because Jesus needs more crayons!

On our way home from the pool on Monday (hmmm, I sense a pool theme here) Declan was in his seat chatting away about anything and everything. Carson just sat quietly looking out his window. About 3 blocks from home Carson turned to Delcan and pretty much yelled, "Be Quiet Dekan!" Glad to see I'm not the only one who goes crazy sometimes.

Declan insists that he climb into the car and into the carseat, ALL BY HIMSELF! It wouldn't bother me except it can take about 23 minutes each time, I'm not exaggerating. The other day I was in a little bit of a hurry but mostly just didn't feel like dealing with him getting into his seat. Here is how the conversation went.

Me: "Come on Delcan, get in your seat, we aren't pissing around today."
Carson: "Yeah Delcan, we aren't pissing around."

Oops. Guess I need to watch my mouth.

Weekend on a budget

Trevor and I have tightened the belt so to speak on our budget. I'm not really sure it could get any tighter but somehow we've found a notch or two. So that means finding stuff to do that is free! So what does a family do on a Saturday night to entertain their boys?

Why, they go to Lowe's and drive the tractors around of course! I'm not sure who had more fun, daddy or the boys?

Carson decided he wanted to go fishing today. Sure! That fits perfectly into our "free" entertainment lifestyle. He carried his tackle box around for an hour or so waiting for Declan to wake up.

Carson sure doesn't have his daddy's nose. That'd be my round nose on his face.

Thanks to the monsoon weather we've been having this week everything is nice and green (and the grass needs mowing. Blah!)

Even Declan took a turn at casting. But he would prefer, "no help daddy."

And when your bored with fishing what can you do next.....that's free?

You take silly pictures of yourself while looking in mommy's viewfinder, of course.

I wonder how long this cheap entertainment will last?

A list of my thoughts

I have lots of things on my mind that I want to mention on here and there isn't really any order to them so I'll just make a list. How fun!

* This morning around 1:30am. I heard Carson come out of his room and shut (er, slam) the door closed. Something he does regularly. I opened my eyes just a crack waiting for him to appear at my bedside. He didn't. I listened for a few more seconds wondering what he was doing. And the next thing I heard was the door to the garage opening. I slapped Trevor awake and told him to go see what he was doing. I'm not sure why I didn't get out of bed to go check. By the time Trevor got out of bed and down the stairs Carson had already made his way into the garage and was trying to get back in. We're not sure where he was going or what he was trying to do. One thing we do know....it gave us a good scare. This morning he said he was trying to find grandma but I'm not even sure he remembers being out there. It's a good thing he makes a habit out of closing his bedroom door when he leaves because had I not heard that I'm not sure what would have happened and I don't even want to think about it.

* It's the middle of July and BOTH of the boys have a cold. In July? Really? Those parenting Gods can be cruel people.

* The boys and I have been going to Target on the Friday that Trevor gets paid. We get all our essentials, browse through the toy isle and then have lunch at Target (mmmm...Pizza Hut). I was thinking about skipping today and going tomorrow morning when Trevor said, "You can't skip it's tradition." And he's right. This simple little errand has become a tradition for us and I love it. So do the boys because they usually get a cookie for desert!

* We've been on a stirct plan to rid Declan of his plug. When we went on vacation he had it in for the entire trip. So when we came back I vowed to not necessarily take it away but to vastly reduce the amount of time he had it. The first few days were tough and I thought I was going to lose my mind but it's gotten alot better. He only has it in his crib now! However, since its out most of the day now......he NEVER stops talking. And more then half the time its, "Mommy wook" "Mommy wook" MOMMY wook" MOMMY WOOK." All day long. And he doesn't stop until you acknowledge whatever it is that he sees. Today it was a crane and a big balloon and then McDonald's. Good thing he's so darn cute.

* Carson is going to be a car man just like his daddy. He was about to lose his mind today when we saw not 1 but 2 Chargers on our way to Target. And every car he sees has some sort of relation to a car from the movie Cars. Today we saw Ramone, Flo, Mack and Filmore. And they looked nothing like any of them but he insisted they were.

* The other day we were at the park and there was a huge rainbow filling the sky. We pointed it out to Carson and his response, "Jesus sent us that rainbow." Ahhh, good parenting moment!

* Carson's favorite phrase these days is "Sometimes they do that." It's pretty comical.

* Declan LOVES to check out the potty after Carson has gone. Regardless of what's in there his reply is always, "Big poops bruder" followed by "wittle poops too bruder."

* My garden is completely overgrown. It needs to be at least twice as big. My tomato plants are ridiculously huge. Yesterday we came home and they had all fallen over. Check out this tomato mountain.

You can almost see the humidity in these pictures. It's been like soup outside lately.

* My engineering husband rigged up some posts and they are now standing up. Sadly, we lost about 20 tomatoes because we had to cut them back. Hey, that's a lot of spaghetti sauce that we won't get! And yes, there are two shovels in the ground helping hold them up. He's resourceful!

* Declan was trying to get Tickle Me Elmo to laugh today and he couldn't get it so he just laid on him and away he went.'


* Carson starts school in a little over a month. Ack! I got a list of the school supplies he will need at Target. For a kid entering preschool that list is quite long. Kleenexes, cups, play-doh, enough glue to last a life time, markers, pencils, backpack, band aids, etc. It goes on and on. I picked up a few things today that were on sale. I know he's going to love school but a part of me is sad and still wants him to be my baby and home with me all the time. But buying all these things is exciting. Reminds me of when I was little and got all new supplies. Then I'd spend the next few weeks until schools started organizing them and putting them in my backpack. So much fun!

* I have to work tonight but we get to wear jeans. How is it that just being able to wear jeans makes going to work so much more bearable?

Fun in the Sun

The boys and I have been spending alot of time outside lately. Thanks to $4 a gallon gas we've stuck close to home or rode our bikes when we can (nice workout for me!). My parents were in town earlier this week so grandma bought them a Slip-N-Slide. Remember those? Well let's just say that the boys didn't really want anything to do with it. Declan was crabby that I had to hook the hose up to it because he just wanted to watch the water fall from the hose. Carson wasn't sure he wanted his trunks on. So I decided to try and show them how it worked. It just doesn't work as well as it did when I was 8. After one short trip down the slide I walked away with sore ribs and stomach muscles. Sorry, there are no pictures of that disaster and even if there were, I'd spare myself and not share them. So here is some of what we have been up to....

Enjoying a rest period at the pool.

Being silly while daddy is trying to cook supper.

He sticks out his tongue when he is concentrating just like my dad does.

He's a fierce water gun fighter.

All smiles!

Gotcha!

Declan just prefers to read his books outside while all this is going on. He's going to be our bookworm.

A trip to the Dentist

Carson had his first dentist appointment today. When I called a few weeks ago the lady informed me that at this particular practice the children are taken back without the parents. They do their checkup and then you have a little pow wow with the dentist about how it went. I wasn't sure about it and I almost canceled the appointment. I knew Carson would be ok once he was back there and I figured he would probably do better since he would just play shy if I was there. Being back there wasn't my issue, getting back there without me was. So this morning I told him we were visiting the dentist and that if he was good and behaved like a big boy I would take him for a donut afterwards. His first response to that was....

Carson: "Mom, I want Dekan to gwo firwst."
Me: "Well Declan doesn't need to see the dentist yet because he's not a big boy."
Carson: "No, I want Dekan to gwo firwst. "

So needless to say I was a little apprehensive about how this was going to work. When we arrived the waiting area was FULL of toys. The boys were so excited because they even had a kitchen!

With a phone!!
(Yes, I brought my camera to the dentist)

So they called his name and about 4 other kids at the same time. The hygentist was a little excited about it being Carson's first time. He hesitated for a few seconds (probably because she was a little loud) but he went right with her. 45 minutes later he came trotting out holding his "score card" in one hand and a balloon and new toothbrush in the other.

The hygentist said and I quote...
"He was excellent. He's one of the best behaved kids we have ever seen."

HALLELUJAH!!
(Happy Mom Dance)
Not only did he do great but I suddenly felt like the best mom in the world. There is nothing better then when people, complete strangers at that, tell you how excellent your child is. Not only did they clean his teeth but he let them take x-rays and do a flouride rinse. His teeth look excellent. I met the dentist too and he told me that they usually have to remind parents of 3 year olds to START brushing and lay off the sweets, take care of those teeth! He was very happy that he didn't have to have that conversation with me.

But at that moment Carson decided to tell him we were going for a donut. Lovely!!

And here is our little dentist pro with donuts in hand. That's all he ate for lunch(and Declan for that matter). Guess we better scrub those teeth pretty good tonight.

Potty Training Woes

Earlier in the week Carson went 6 straight nights where he leaked through his diaper. I was the on the verge of a mental breakdown. Seriously, ask my husband! Mostly from having to strip his bunk bed every morning and remake it all over again every night. Whose idea was it to have those bunk beds? Clearly, it couldn't have been mine?

Trevor and I tried to cut back on his liquids to make it stop but nothing seemed to work. I bought bigger diapers which helped a little but he still leaked. By Tuesday I was convinced we would be in diapers for the next 15 years.

Carson has been waking up 1 or 2 times a night for quite awhile. He usually stumbles into our bedroom and collapses on our floor. I think he's usually out before his head hits the floor. One of us gets up and carries him back to bed and he's out again. He's never mentioned he needs to go to the bathroom. Which in his sleep walking state may be hard for him to do. So the other night we decided to try and take him to the bathroom. And lo and behold the next morning he was DRY. I think I may have done back flips down the hall that morning.

So last night we did the same thing. He got up twice and we took him to the bathroom and he woke up dry. Seems like everything is solved right? Wrong. Here's the problem with this situation....
1. Waking up twice a night
2. Dragging a half asleep (if not asleep) 3 year old to the bathroom.
3. Taking off a diaper, while holding up a half asleep three year old.
4. Propping said 3 year old up to the toilet so that he can pee and not get it all over my bathroom.
5. Lay said 3 year old on the floor to re-apply the diaper and half debate whether the stickies have been used up and maybe you should go get another one for fear of this one not working. However that would take more time so you just put this one back on and press a little harder in hopes it stays all night.
6. Carry 36lb little boy back to bed and hope he's out till morning.
7. Repeat twice.....at least.

I did this twice last night and I'm exhausted. I think it was easier to feed and diaper an infant in the middle of the night. Seriously! I think I am going to invest in some Pull Ups to make this easier but I'm still wiped out and debating which is worse, this or changing sheets every day. Verdicts still out.

Enjoying Summer

I love summer. I especially love this summer. The boys are so much fun. It's great watching them enjoy the simplest of summer time pleasures. I don't want summer to ever end! Here is some of what we have been up to.

Running through the sprinklers on a very hot day. He wasn't sure at first but once he got going he couldn't stop.

Pouting for some unknown reason. I think because I was trying to get him to look at the camera. I can still see you behind those fingers...and your even looking at the camera.

Declan, where's your belly button? (Pulling back big belly to find said belly button)

There it is!

The boys "helped" me make a rhubarb cake. They preferred eating the marshmallows instead of putting them in the pan. Carson thought the cake was for his birthday! Why not? It's like Christmas in July.

Carson loves to pick the vegetables out of my garden and eat them too. As long as its from the garden he'll eat it. Hmm, how am I going to convince him that even in Jan the green beans are still coming from mama's garden? He keeps checking the tomatoes to see if they are red yet. It might be awhile for those. I wonder if he'll actually eat them? I wonder if I could convince him that EVERYTHING comes out of my garden. Think of what he would eat?

Declan loves checking out the bugs.

Carson only wants to touch it if Declan is around.

Summer isn't complete without a water fight or 2. Watch out, he's good.

Helping daddy refill the squirt guns.

Declan didn't really care for the squirt guns.

He just wanted to watch the water fall out of the hose.



Maybe take a sip or two.

And help brother take a drink.

And completely drench yourself, creating an extra load of laundry for mama but that's ok! It was worth every minute.

Who needs shorts? Time to hit the bath.

A Great Read

I recently stumbled on a blog that I have really enjoyed reading and I thought I would pass it on to everyone. It's called 6YearMed and its written by Danielle who just graduated from Med School in May and has started her residency in pediatrics. She's a great writer and its a fascinating look into her world. Some of its sad but alot of it's a funny, straightforward look into the world of a doctor.

So click on over to 6YearMed if you get the chance.

Our Vacation.....Part 1

How come the vacation never lasts as long as the anticipation of going on vacation? Although its good to be home (and in our own beds) I'm really sad it's over. We drove the entire 775 miles home yon Saturday. YIKES! It was long but it was nice to have a day to recover before the work week starts. I took over 500 pictures on our trip. I've weeded through them all and deleted a good share but I've got lots to show. We actually got alot of great pictures. So prepare yourself and I'll try and do this is some sort of organized fashion.

Day One

On Sunday we headed out to Rapid City. We stopped in Wall, SD to visit the infamous Wall Drug. You can't miss it. They have an excellent (yet annoying) advertisement campaign that involved placing a sign, usually with a silly saying on it, every 1/4 a mile (across the ENTIRE state). The first few were fine but 500 Wall Drug signs later and we were a little crazy. It's a neat place and definitely something to see.

Future Cowboy

Making friends with (fake) cowboys.

A smile that will melt your heart.

No stop on vacation is complete without a little ice cream.

Day Two

On Monday we spent the day seeing Mount Rushmore. Or as Carson called it, "the fwaces." No matter how many times you see it they are still amazing.

Not a cloud in the sky.

It's hard to get a picture without 14 other families in it as well. I'll have to Photoshop them out!!

They don't know how to look at the camera. I wonder at what age they develop that trait?

Daddy and Declan (who had his plug in for the entire trip)

Mommy and Carson

Being silly while enjoying a healthy lunch of chips and cookies.

This is probably the BEST picture we have ever gotten of the two of them. Love it!

A little brotherly love.

Declan showing us his jumping skills.

On our way out of Rushmore we took the scenic route through the park and into Spearfish. It was gorgeous and I think we are going to try and go there next summer for some camping. We were able to get this side view of Washington as we came down.

A little entertainment in the hotel.

Too bad the cooler was to heavy for either of them to pull.

Day 3

We headed from Spearfish, SD to Cody WY. This time we went through Big Horn National Forest. It was such a pretty (long) drive. There is nothing quite like the mountains. They are so incredibly breathtaking. Maybe some of my envy comes from the fact that I live in the flattest part of the world!

It was a little chilly up in the mountains! There was a little bit of snow too. Good thing I had the boys dressed appropriately in sleeveless shirts and shorts, oops!

I don't have any pictures from our night in Cody but we did have fun. We watched a Gunfighter show downtown. Carson like to call it the "boom show" since they let off real blanks. At dinner that night we ate at a small cafe downtown. There were only a few other people there and they eventually cleared out. They had a guy singing with his guitar so after everyone had left he serenaded us with Puff the Magic Dragon. Both the boys loved it and were dancing away. Why didn't I have my camera????