While Daddy's Away The Boys Will . . . Miss Him!

It has been a busy week and we are glad to see Friday has finally arrived! We had the book fair this week, which was a lot of fun.  They had so many different books to pick from -- it was great.  I love that a child can get a book for only a few dollars.  You only have $3.00?  Well, we have these books over here that you can choose from.  It's great.  I learned that my children apparently have so many books at home that they can't remember what they have and what they don't have.  Alex very excitedly pulled the book he bought at the fair out of his back pack to show me.  It looked familiar and Logan loudly announced, "We already have that book."  Alex looked upset -- and it was only a $4 book so I told him that was fine because now they each had one.  It is a super hero book and if Alex had 5 of them I don't think he would care. 

We also finished the fundraiser -- which I am happy to bid farewell!  Alex sold over $100 worth of items and was very proud of himself.  I told him he would get two prizes and he said, "that's fine, but do I get to go to the ice cream party and play in the bouncy houses?"  Ha.  "Yes, you do," I answered.  "YES!"  was the reply.  Who needs prizes when there is ice cream and bouncy houses!

I took Logan to the park yesterday to play for a bit and as he played the wind blew through the trees and gold leaves fluttered down to the ground.  Logan looked up and watched them fall and then shouted for everyone in the park to hear, "Mom!  Look, the leaves are falling! It's fall!"  It was so cute.  I, too, am ready for fall! 

The school picnic was tonight but it was so windy, Logan kept saying his throat was hurting, and everyone was talking about rain -- so we stayed home.  I am now very pleased with my decision because it did rain.  The boys played video games for a little while and I did laundry.  We had dinner together and watched The Backyardigans and then after they had baths they played with Legos -- they are actually still playing with Legos.  In a bit we'll do the bedtime routine of brushing teeth, washing faces, getting one last drink, making one last trip to the bathroom, reading books, and tucking the boys into their beds. It's a routine that usually involves Jacob, but he is out of town this evening for work.  I figure he'll be home around 10:30 or 11:00.  The boys didn't understand why we ate dinner without Jacob or why their daddy wasn't there to read with them, play with them, and help them put their pajamas on. It is weird not having him here, but the boys and I had fun and I tried to keep them busy.  We tried to make the Krusty Krab, but those Legos can be frustrating (especially when you don't know where the instructions for the Krusty Krab are).  

I need to get the boys ready for bed -- hopefully the sound of the rain will help them go to sleep easier.  Tomorrow is Fun Friday and Crazy Hair Day -- you better believe there will be pictures . . .

It seems as if the farther into the school year we get the busier our days become.  The next two weeks are full of dental appointments, book fairs, school picnics, UCO campus festivals, and ice cream parties.  We still have the different therapies for Alex and the many therapists who are involved.  We have activities we are doing at home with him for speech as well as Handwriting Without Tears which was recommended by his occupational therapist a couple of weeks ago.  Alex is a hard working boy and I understand when he has days where he is very emotional or just plain tired!  We have also been working on tying shoes every day.  We have a book we use and Alex is very interested in learning.  I'll blog more about that later.  I just wanted to post some new pictures of the boys (of course).

Alex with one of Jaocb's Mastodon CDs.  We were getting ready to ride in "Daddy's Car" and Alex picked the music.  He's making his best tough guy face here -- he's still cute, though.  LOL

I make a big breakfast every Saturday morning and Logan is always so chatty that everyone finishes and gets up and leaves and he is left there finishing his breakfast alone.  Here, we decided Tigger could have breakfast with him and he wouldn't be alone.  He liked that idea!

Jacob and Alex watching a ball game.  They watch both baseball and football together -- I can't remember which they were watching here, but it was one of those two.  Ha. They go outside and play those two sports, as well as soccer, all the time -- the boys love it!

Logan working on his homework.  He did a great job!

Alex vacuuming the living room for me -- he's a great helper!

Logan watching cartoons with "Big Bear" -- it used to be Jacob's and was given to the boys.  Logan LOVES him!

Alex playing at a park while at a birthday party!

Logan helping me make mini pizzas for dinner one evening. 

Alex playing the X-Box in our bedroom.  He gets to play when he works hard during speech therapy and earns his time to play. 

Alex beat his daddy at an old computer game.  He was very proud.  Jacob took this picture of him standing beside the computer while the screen reads, "The Winner Is: Alex!"

There will be more exciting stories to tell in a week or so with all the activities coming up.  Ha.  Until then, I need to go help Logan with his homework . . .

  



So This Is What They Call A Rainy Day!!!


It is definitely a rainy day.  It has rained all day long and isn't supposed to stop until sometime tomorrow.  This is all well and good, I guess.  The temperature has dropped, but who can go out and enjoy it with the sky spitting on you and laughing.  On our way home from picking up Alex at school this afternoon we saw high school students walking home in the rain. A truck splashed water all over one teenage girl.  She looked shocked, stopped walking, and then looked as if she was going to cry.  She shook her head and kept walking.  I felt bad for her -- and then I wondered why she didn't have a rain coat -- or even an umbrella.  I know some teenagers think they're uncool, but if you have to walk home in the rain you would think you would want something to keep you dry -- or at least a little less wet. We made it home and pulled into the garage. The boys hopped out of the car, ran inside and Alex immediately asked if he could watch a movie. Since it is rainy and gross outside, it seems perfect for a movie!

Alex came home from school with a folder full of work he did today. It was all done correctly and we are so proud of him.  One worksheet asked that the students circle the "I" in the sentence and underline the "am."  They had to fill in either "I" or "am" in a sentence as well and Alex did it all correctly. I was telling Alex how proud of him I was when Logan said, "R-E-D That spells red."  I said, "Yes, it does!  Where did you learn that?"  He shrugged his shoulders and said, "At my school."  I was one proud mommy at that point.  I was certain my boys were just the smartest boys in the world.  It's funny how proud you feel at every little thing your child does correctly or everything they achieve.  I was very proud of both of them.

Now, on this rainy day I am about to make some home made chicken noodle soup for dinner.  The weather seems perfect for it. I do not mind rainy days like this when I don't have to get out in it.  I can stay home, drink coffee or hot cocoa, and read a good book and enjoy it.  I do mind them somewhat when I have to make three trips to the school in the rain and have to run to the library, the bank, or any other place. Its just easier to do things when it's not raining. :)

So, here is hoping that some time tomorrow the sun makes an appearance and we can step outside with out being pegged by rain drops.

Until that happens, enjoy these pictures!  Ha

This is a picture of the sky last night.  It was so pretty!

And I had to include a picture of the boys!

Thankful

This is the boys' second full week of school.  It's going pretty well so far, other than Alex's crazy schedule forcing us all to run around like insane people trying to get from point A (school) to point B (some form of therapy).  The school year has also opened my eyes to a few things -- and because of these things I am more thankful than ever for my family and what we have.

Every morning Logan and I walk with Alex to the back of the school where the gym is located.  Alex's class sits in a row (as does every other class in the school sans Pre-K) and looks at books they bring from home until their teacher comes and walks them to their classroom.  We always stop in the entryway area and tell Alex goodbye then we watch him walk and join his class.  He sits down, waves, and blows me kisses -- which I return and then Logan and I walk back to the front of the school where his class is sitting. This is our routine every single morning.  A couple of times children I don't know (older than Alex) have come up to me as I'm hugging Alex and said, "Can I have a hug, too?"  So far I have had two little girls do this. It caught me off guard at first, but now my heart goes out to them. The older of the two told me yesterday that her mother is still asleep when she leaves for school and she doesn't get to tell her mother goodbye -- or get a hug from her before she leaves for school.  She turned to Alex and said, "Hugs are important, don't you think?"  Alex looked shy and Logan loudly agreed, "Yeah!" The little girl looked at Alex and said, "I like your mom.  You're lucky--she's really nice."  She smiled, thanked me, and walked to join her class.  I hugged Alex once more and watched as he walked across the gym floor -- his backpack almost as big as he is, carrying his lunch bag and I realized how lucky I am.  Alex made it to his class, turned and sat down, and looked at me and smiled, then blew me a kiss. With Logan hugging my leg I blew Alex a kiss and we slowly turned to leave.  By this point the halls were full of parents, teachers, and children. I felt Logan's little hand in mine as we walked down the hall.  His huge backpack scraped against the wall from time to time as we walked. Occasionally, he would look up at me and smile.  We turned a corner and could see Logan's class sitting against the wall.  One of his classmates was being dropped off by his grandmother.  Logan said, "He lives with his grandma.  He said he likes living with his grandma better because she is nicer to him, but they don't have money to buy snacks and things." I said, "Who told you this?"  Logan shrugged his shoulders and said, "His grandma talks to the teacher a lot and we can hear them sometimes."  Logan told me he didn't understand what they were talking about but the boy is good at playing tag and sliding on the slide. The school bell rang so I hugged Logan and told him to have a good day.  We went through the usual routine of him sadly telling me he'll miss me and I excitedly telling him he will have a lot of fun and I'll pick him up later.  I watched him join his class.  Several little voices filled the hall greeting him with high pitched, "Logan!" or "Hi, Logan! Sit by me!"  The teacher said, "Good morning, Logan," and rubbed his hair and smiled as he walked by.  Logan sat down between two children with a big smile on his face and waved at me.

On the drive home I realized that I have a lot to be thankful for.  Things aren't always perfect, sometimes money is tighter than we'd like it to be, the kids get sick, something breaks, days are stressful, the list goes on and on, but our children always have food to eat, and they are loved and happy.  I don't have to wonder if my children know that their father and I love them -- it's evident that they know.  I am thankful that I get to take them to school and still get hugs, kisses, and smiles.  I'm thankful that I get to drive Alex to all of his appointments and help them with their homework.  I'm thankful that even in the worst of things we still have it better than some people in the world.  I'm thankful for a husband who works very, very, VERY hard to give us all that we need -- and even things we don't need but think we do. :)  I'm thankful for a beautiful 5-year-old boy who is the hardest worker I know and who has taught me so much about overcoming obstacles.  I'm thankful for a cute, sweet, 4-year-old who always makes me laugh and still thinks I'm awesome!

Here are a few more pictures of these awesome people in my life!!

Logan, King of the Burgers!

Alex and his buddy, Zachary, playing the "old" X-Box

Logan and Jacob playing the Atari!

Logan (Iron Man), Zachary (Iron Man 2), Alex (Storm Trooper)

Alex at the park -- he loves this swing.  He says you can lay on it and see the clouds move

The boys playing on the playground at the park

Jacob and Alex playing baseball at the park -- Alex is practicing his batting!

Alex ready to bat with the Little Tikes bat

Logan sitting on the bench waiting for his turn to bat

Logan building forts out of blocks for his action figures

We Survived the First Full Week of School!!

This week was the first full week of school for the boys.  It was also the first week for Alex to go to school all day and then have speech therapy and occupational therapy after school.  His schedule is keeping us busy but it is now officially Friday.  Logan has made it through the week and Alex is three hours away from hitting that mark.  We have had to talk to teachers about different things, we've already received the snack bag, and are slowly getting out of the summer schedule and getting into a school schedule.  We have also experienced the fun (and grossness) of another child's apple juice leaking all over every one of the students' lunch bags. Alex is always a little hesitant to go into the gym with his class (and the rest of the school) in the mornings. He keeps thinking of random things he just "has" to tell me. Yesterday we stood at the entrance to the gym -- Alex sat his lunch bag on the floor beside his foot and said, "Wait, mom, one more thing."  I said, "What?"  He said, "The next time you go to the store you need to get more things for piggies in a blanket.  I really liked them and want to bring them in my lunch again sometime."  I finally asked him why he didn't want to go to the gym.  He told me it was loud in there and the PE teacher was always yelling at the older kids and blowing his whistle.  "That whistle is really loud and hurts my ears," he said. So, we read Gym Teacher From The Black Lagoon, which is about a boy (with a big imagination) who thinks the gym teacher is a monster from the black lagoon but at the end of the story learns that he is really a nice man.  After reading we talked about the gym teacher and I told Alex that it was loud in the gym because everything echoes in there and the teacher has to talk very loudly and sometimes shout to be heard over all the children in the gym.  I explained that he only uses his whistle when the older children aren't listening and it is the only way to get their attention.  I said, "You take your books and sit nicely and look at your books and you won't have anything to worry about."  He smiled and nodded and although he wasn't in a huge hurry to leave this morning it did seem to go a little better.  Other than having to sit in the gym in the mornings before walking to his class, Alex really enjoys kindergarten.  Logan really seems to enjoy Pre-K as well and even got to pick a prize out of the treasure chest today for being good all week.

I wanted to share some pictures from this week--not from school, but from home.

Logan using his hammer to "fix" the Rock'em Sock'em Robots!

Alex and Jacob watching a baseball game together!

Logan wearing one of Jacob's ties.  He asked Jacob if he could wear a tie so Jacob put it on him. It was so cute!

Here is Logan's cool pose while wearing Jacob's tie.

Alex relaxing on the couch and playing the harmonica for Godzilla and Brainstorm (from Ben 10)

I love this picture!

The boys were watching cartoons on the computer -- Jacob walked in and found them sitting together and Alex had his arm around Logan.  It was adorable!

Logan on Monday afternoon.  We have started a routine of eating lunch together and then watching Yo Gabba Gabba.  He didn't feel great on Monday (he was congested and had a sore throat) and he eventually asked if he could pick a movie and watch it in our room on our bed.  About ten minutes later I found him like this.

Alex after school one day this week.  He is still getting used to his crazy schedule!  On the bright side, he still asks Jacob to go outside and play flag football or baseball when he gets home from work!

Logan having lunch today.  "It's Friday!"

Information Day

It has been raining off and on today.  It was nice this morning while I was drinking my coffee (although Jacob told me while we were having lunch that it started pouring about the time he stepped out of the car to walk to his office this morning).  It is raining again as I type this.  Today has been busy and my two little boys are making the first day of school seem like a wonderful thing.  Every one talks about how it is a bittersweet moment--taking your children to the first day of school and leaving them.  My boys have been bouncing off the walls, fighting, and just being down-right crazy.  People will make excuses for them, but the truth is--summer vacation has come to an end and it IS time for school to start again.  I will miss them while they're at school and I will think about them on their first day, especially Alex who will spend his first full day at school on Thursday.  We've bought the school supplies, we have back packs, the boys have new shoes, new clothes, Alex has a lunch bag and Thermos.  We are officially ready for school.  Jacob took off work for a couple of hours (or so) this morning and we took the boys to the school for information day.  We went to the office and asked where we needed to go.  The classrooms are always being moved for some reason and I had no idea where either of the boys' classes were.  We asked the office and they said that they hadn't assigned the kindergarteners to teachers yet because they had so many kindergarteners that they had to hire more teachers.  We didn't get to meet Alex's teacher or see his class because no one knows what class he is going to be in.  We did, however, get to see Mrs. Cook, who was Alex's Pre-K teacher last year--she is teaching Kindergarten this year and got a hug from Alex.

We then walked down the halls until we found the Pre-K classroom.  Logan was excited about the classroom.  He kept pointing to things and saying, "Look, mommy!"  or "I want to play with that thing."  His teacher seems young and appeared to be a little nervous, but she was great with the kids and Logan liked her--but there are very few people Logan doesn't like! Logan seems excited about school--Alex doesn't seem to care either way, so hopefully day one will go well!

We had lunch with Jacob today before he went back to work--that is always a nice treat. We then ran some errands which included returning books to the library (and getting more, of course).  We were leaving the library and the boys always like to push the OPEN buttons to automatically open the doors.  They waited patiently for other people to come through and then when there was a gap Alex pushed the button.  The doors slowly opened outward and a man wearing a wife-beater shirt had jogged up from his car (it was sprinkling so I assume he thought he'd melt?) When the doors opened he looked down at the boys with an annoyed expression, looked at the doors, sighed loudly and then pushed his way by the boys, forcing them to get as close to the doors as they could to let the man by.  The man was also nice enough to give me a dirty look--how dare a woman and two little boys get in his way.  Jeez.  As he passed Logan said, "Hey, watch it mister!  I'm walking here."  As we were walking to the car I asked Logan where he had heard that.  He shrugged his shoulders and said, "I don't know.  TV maybe?"  Ha.

We have been practicing name writing this week and yesterday I packed Alex's lunch in his lunch bag so he could practice eating lunch from it--learning where everything is, how to open things, what goes in the trash and what comes home.  He thought it was cool once he figured out where everything was--we will try it again tomorrow.  I am glad we invested in a lunch bag for Alex--we received the school menu for August today and out of the two weeks of lunches this month there are only three days Alex wants to eat what the cafeteria is serving. I also packed Logan's lunch in a brown paper sack so he could join his brother and not feel left out--he will only be going to school for half a day so he will get to eat lunch with me!
Here are some photos of the boys eating lunch and Alex taking a test run with his new lunch bag.

He doesn't look excited here, but he was excited about eating out of his lunch bag.  He said it was "cool"--I think he was giving me a sad face here because I didn't pack ranch in his bag to dip his potato chips in.  He's a picky eater--a picky eater who thinks everything should be dipped in either ranch or ketchup--depending on what it is, of course! Ha.

Logan got to pick out a Thermos when Alex got one.  Here Logan is having a sack lunch with his brother.  He thought it was pretty cool, but doesn't understand why Alex gets to eat at school and he doesn't get to.

Lunch buddies!  They both took a drink from their Thermos at the same time! 

Here the boys are after a busy day (which isn't over, yet).  While we were at the school we kept hearing, "Hi, Alex."  Alex would wave or just say "hi" and then either ignore the child or just act goofy.  It was funny, but he seemed to know all the children in the school.  Hopefully Kindergarten will be a lot of fun for him--and I'm sure Logan will love Pre-K.

The Glamorous Side of Motherhood

Yes, that title is meant to be dripping with sarcasm.  This weekend has been a fun one--we have spent a lot of time outside playing different sports with the boys, went to the park, let the boys play on the Slip N Slide while we grilled, and watched a cheesy 1966 Batman movie for movie night with the boys.

There are some things that happened this weekend that didn't seem so funny at the time they happened, but seem funny to me now when I think about them.  I decided to sarcastically give this blog a title with the words "glamorous" and "motherhood" together. I'm not even sure if it's possible for these two words to be put together without being sarcastic.

Last weekend, while the boys were at their grandparents', I took the time to paint my nails.  It was nice--Jacob and I were watching television and I sat and painted my nails.  It was very relaxing.  Well, now, a week later, my poor nails look horrible.  I keep thinking, "I really need to redo those" but something always seems to come up and I forget about them. The boys have both been nice enough this weekend to point our my nails and tell me they are "messed up" or look "bad."  ha. So, the term glamorous doesn't really apply in this mother's world. 

Messed up nail polish on my fingernails is only the beginning of some of the "not-so-glamorous" things that have happened this weekend. We took the boys to a park near our home that has a playground, tennis court, basketball court, and a small baseball field.  We went to the baseball field first to play baseball because there is rarely a day that we don't play baseball--especially the boys. We were playing and having a good time.  Jacob and Alex were on a team and Alex pitched for a while and then we switched so Alex and Jacob could hit.  Logan tried pitching to Jacob and after awhile Jacob said, "Logan, why don't you let momma pitch to daddy?"  Logan said, "Okay," and handed me the ball.  Now, thinking back on it, I'm assuming Jacob wanted to try and hit the ball as hard as he could.  So, I pitched the ball to Jacob and he hit it.  He hit it hard.  I saw the ball coming but couldn't get out of the way fast enough.  Suddenly, I felt a sting and heard Jacob laughing.  You know, it's like when some one trips and falls and you can't help but laugh--as you're laughing you ask if the person is okay.  Jacob was laughing because when he hit the ball it shot right towards me and hit me on the breast.  I walked around mumbling not-so-nice things and holding my chest while Jacob asked repeatedly if I was ago--while laughing.  Let me just say--it hurt! Alex walked up and asked what had happened because he didn't see it. By this point I was trying not to cry--I'm playing baseball with a bunch of boys and you don't cry.  Remember Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own said, "There's no crying in baseball!" My boys should be proud of me because I did NOT cry--but, man did it hurt! After that we decided to put the baseball stuff in the car and let the boys play on the playground for a while. 

Last night the boys had been asleep for a while and Jacob and I were watching TV when I heard Logan crying. I hurried to the boys' room because I didn't want him to wake up Alex.  I tried to get him to calm down, but it wasn't working so I took him into the living room and sat down with him.  I sat on the couch and pulled him up onto my lap facing me.  He kept crying and I finally asked, "Do you need to go potty?"  This may seem like an odd question to ask when your child is sitting on your lap sobbing, but 98% of the time if Logan wakes up crying it is because he needs to go potty.  I walk him to the bathroom and help him go potty because he's half asleep and quite honestly, I would rather help him go potty than to have him fall face first into the toilet because he isn't quite awake yet.  I keep asking him if he needs to go potty but he doesn't answer, he just keeps crying. Suddenly he looks right at me with this "I'm so sorry" expression and I feel it--warmness. Wet warmness all over my legs. He stopped crying and just sat there looking at me with a sad expression.  I said, "Did you just pee pee on me?"  He shook his head "no" and continued to frown.  I said, "Well, it felt like you did."  He just frowned.  I said, "Hop down and let's go clean ourselves up."  He slid off my lap and stood there uncomfortably because, well, his pants were wet too. I stood up and the entire front of my shorts were wet and it was even on my shirt. I have noticed that when it comes to parenthood and you AND your child are both dirty or covered in the same thing--as a parent you always put your child first.  So, of course, I cleaned Logan up first and he sat with Jacob while I cleaned myself up.  Jacob eventually carried him back to bed and a small amount of normalcy returned to our home for a while.  Ha.

It is NEVER boring around here--that is for sure! Here are some pictures from our weekend!