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Three things I should never do:

1.  Go shopping with the boys unless absolutely necessary.

2.  Buy electronics.

3.  Go shopping with the boys unless absolutely necessary.

OK.  So my DH has been gone a lot which  requires me to take the boys on all errands. So, I had to return a couple of things to the Gap from our last crazy trip there.  Needless to say...it was not much fun.  Again.  It isn't a good sign when the sales guy knows you and is trying to avoid us at all costs.  I don't blame him.  J threw a plastic fish the last time we were in the store and it hit him on the head (I am talking a long distance over a huge sales counter).  No, he is actually really, really nice and entertained the boys and laughed with them a lot the last time we were there.  In fact, he is amazed at their throwing abilities and keeps telling me that they have to go into baseball.  He was laughing tonight bc he found them hiding under some terrific women's fall pants.  

Anyway, then they started throwing their digger trucks and knocking over very perfectly arranged women's underware displays.  Seconds later, W is standing on top of one of their racks of clothes.  I am not kidding.  That is when it is time to high-tail it out of there.  Pronto. But then my angels returned and they went an entire wing of the mall just walking next to the stroller holding onto each side.  Then bam!  They both went running off and next thing I know...J darts into a fancy jewelry store of all places and W darts into the Victoria Secret store right next door.  So I am standing in the mall between the entrance of both stores yelling for J and W to come back NOW.  And here comes W with a Victoria Secret hot pink dog (price tag and all)...I don't know how the alarm didn't go off and I thanked the Lord that he didn't run out with some lingerie or something.  That would appear pretty desperate - having my 2-year old steal undergarments for his me!   He put them back and I got them both back to the stroller in their new riding position.  They like to sit on the stroller's footrest facing the seats.

As for electronics.  We just need to stop.  We are cursed.  Even if we buy an extended warranty.  I had to return a portable DVD player today that I bought in December last year that doesn't work.  Even with a 24-month extended warranty somehow I had to pay $50 to replace it.  Long story-I will spare you the details.   We have no kidding gone through:

Two very nice and expensive TVs 

A toaster

A microwave (on the fritz but still using)

Another microwave that we electrically blew out and had to pay almost as much as replacement value to fix

A DVD player

A VCR

2-3 cordless phones

A receiver

A 2-year old computer is not working very well

A portable DVD player (which by the way, the nice Circuit City salesman tells me today "we never get portable DVD players back...I think you are the first.")

And now our 4-slot toaster.  Two slots work and two slots don't. 

And there is more but I am too tired to list....

 And it's not like we buy the cheapest or lowest quality stuff.  We research before we purchase and it still just doesn't work out.

I am pretty certain there is a conspiracy going on.......

Mommy Foiled

So this morning I get the boys decked out in hats, coats, shoes, and even mittens.  It was COLD!   We head outside for a walk but the boys wanted to play in the driveway instead.  I manage to get J in the stroller but W is standing by his play jeep just shaking his head at me saying "noooo...nooo walk."  I told him that J and I and the dogs were going to go without him.  I went to get the dogs and came back and W still did not want to go.  So I did the "alright then we are going to go without you."  And I walked around the van to the other side and started across the yard toward the street.  I was waiting (and hoping and envisioning) for W to come running after us but instead he stepped around the van, looked at us, waved his little mitten hand and said "bye bye!" Backfired.  

15 Minutes

I had Mom's Day Out today and I think I am using my time a little better.  Instead of rushing around like a mad woman to try to do way too much in four hours, I limited my to-do-ing to only three things.  Simple.  Much less stressful.

I also have decided not to fight the boys for a naptime today because by the time we get home (after 2 pm) they are overtired and just don't take one.  If they do take a nap, it is short and they wake up C.R.A.N.K.Y.  It's just not worth it.  So instead, we are shooting for an early bedtime.  We try to be sticklers with getting the boys to bed by 7:30 p.m.  It is amazing how the evening seems exponentially shorter if we don't get them to bed until 7:45 or 8:00.  Really, it is only 15 minutes but in the world of evening post bedtime hours (ahhh) every minute counts. Same as if I get them to bed at 7:15.  It is just 15 minutes early but the night seems exponentially longer.  So that is my goal.  Dinner is done and it is time for baths, lotion, breathing treatments, medicine, tooth brushing, story time, prayers, hugs and kisses.  Nighty night.

BTW, one of their "teachers" at Mom's Day Out informed me today "I am sorry, but you are going to have to sign something for me.  J bit a girl today on the back today.  She was trying to take his toy and she just wasn't going to give up...so he bit her."  Wow.  An incident report. Only 26 months old.  Little rascal with sharp teeth!  Is it bad that I asked "but did he break the skin?"  Because he and W have definitely done that before.  But I guess he liked the girl...because he didn't.  Whew.

Happy Birthday Logan!

Vote

The boys each got a sticker as proof that I voted!

Have you voted yet?

The Simple Things....

I am amazed by how much the boys learn just by being outside on our walks. They are very familiar with pine cones, baby pine cones (what we call the really small ones), and twin pine cones (two attached together). They know what pine straw is and what acorns (and twin acorns)are. They know all the types of construction trucks and buses. They regularly see fighter planes and helicopters. In fact, last week they each brought a hot wheels helicopter with us on our walk. So we talked about helicopters and they both made their "wubba wubba and dududududud" sounds. As we walked into our driveway a real helicopter flew nice and slow over our house so the boys got a close up view. It was perfect-I couldn't have PLANNED that!

They know what a water tower is, what the US flag looks like, where the hospital is and that doctors and nurses work there. We live under a mile from a hospital so whenever we walk past, I tell them who works there. The last time we had a doctor's appointment at the hospital, we were walking out of the peds clinic and I told the boys to say bye bye to the tech...W yelled "bye bye doctor!"

They know where the water is and we have stopped to listen to fish jumping in the water. They know what a palm tree is and what a sidewalk is. Not to mention all of the wildlife and insects we have seen. I am so happy we purchased that double jogger. I think our dogs are too.

Onto something different...but still "simple". This morning the boys got a hold of their beach shovels and started to throw them around. I was trying to think what they could use them indoors for. I always hear about people using dry pasta or beans for projects so I pulled out a bag of dry black beans and dumped them into a big bowl. I gave them each a smaller bowl and told them to scoop out the beans and pour them into their bowls. We moved down to measuring cups (bc the shovels were too awkward) and eventually moved down to their fingers.

I was impressed how long they spent doing this and how focused they were. Then I told them to pour their bowls back into the big bowl. Then we went out for a walk-success. HOWEVER, when we came back into the house we were distracted doing other things and I ended up in their bedroom doing puzzles with J. Then I heard the beans.

Uh oh.

Little stinker. I guess the bean project was a success until I left them out!

Our Little Burrito...

Snippets

I have been going back and forth on if I should get the boys' hair cut. Grammy or I have given them their haircuts so far but I have never paid to get it done. Well, for the sake of getting their pictures done on Friday I figured I should do it. So it is at least e-v-e-n. I guess I should say that I got W's hair cut.

His doesn't curl as much as Jack's so it is not as forgiving when I cut it. So I let the hair lady go short. He fussed and struggled (he did what I call the nordic trac-you know skiing your legs really fast with them straight...watch out!) when I tried to put him in the chair, but she handed him a plastic thing that he could hold then he sat perfectly still and quiet the rest of the time. He even giggled when she used the razor blade on his neck.

Meanwhile, J was laughing from the stroller.

I am not sure what he was laughing at...but he was laughing so who cares!?

Then the sweet lady offered to just clean up J's hair-for free! All she did was use the electric razor around his ears and on his neck-it probably took all of about 25 seconds (why I didn't even get a picture)..but I figured it would help Geoff tell them apart more. I will trim J's hair a little more before the pics though so I won't look back on the pictures and wonder why his hair was so long....

Pumpkin Patch Playdate

Our MOPS group had a playdate today at a local pumpkin patch. All the kids got to rotate through sizing pumpkins, storytime, and making their own pumpkin out of toilet paper. Followed by snacktime-of course! And they each got to pick out their own wee pumpkin.

J really enjoyed being the scarecrow.

Here is J with W:

Here is J with his friend Bo:

Here is J with his friend Rylee:

Yes, J was in that scarecrow spot for a loonnng time.
W, me, and J:

The boys picking out a pumpkin:

On our drive home W said "no naptime no naptime." And then I look back and see J already asleep and W has very heavy eyes. It was still 2 hours until naptime. So I tried as hard as I could to wake them up but it just wasn't worth crashing my new van to do it. J woke up immediately when I pulled into our driveway-typical for him. But W stayed asleep even as I carried him in and took off his shoes and laid him on the couch...and that is where he still is asleep...on the couch. No sign of waking up. All those pumpkins most have been exhausting! So I have one taking a nap right now and one running around playing with his tractor. This means mommy will have no free time today. Oh well. I will settle for putting them down for an earlier bedtime.

By the way, before I finished this post, W woke up and both boys are throwing their bouncy balls around the kitchen.

The Halloween Extravaganza has Begun!

"AAARRGGHHH Pirates!"

We went to a children's Halloween party today at Geoff's work. I know I am biased but I LOVED them in their little pirate costumes. And W must have enjoyed being a pirate because he surprised us by wearing the hat the eNtIrE time...including for an hour before the party and for about an hour and a half after the party. Jack didn't have much for it though. He humored us by wearing it for about 5 minutes while we took these outdoor pics and for the parade. I really really like this picture. It makes me smile big:

Still running (at the building before going into the party):

J in a rare moment with the hat on:

The boys had plenty of treats at the party. They started out the sugar-fest first with dum dum lollypops:

and moved on to pretzel rods and newton pops:

Then they filled their homemade paper bag with more goodies including goldfish, teddy grahams, M&Ms, fruit snacks, pumpkin medallions, crayons, play tatoos, and mini play doh containers. Then they did a fishing game in which they scored three matchbox cars each. And they made sure to get a couple of more dum dum lollypops after the pumpkin pinata was busted open. It was a challenging pinata....all the kids at the party had a few whacks at it and it wasn't budging. So one of the dads had to beat it to a pulp.

After all those goodies, the boys kept a close (clutch) grip hold on their treat bags:

Here is W checking out what J got in his gift bag:

J trying to swat at the pinata:

W's turn!

J proudly/smugly marching through the end-of-the-party parade set to Michael Jackson's Thriller jamming in the background:

Tennessee

Alright, my 3rd and final post in this series.  We stayed at my parents house to and from Indiana. The trees were turning there too and it was so pretty.  We enjoyed visiting and the boys loved chasing their two cats around.  They also enjoyed the rooster that lives a few doors down.  The first time they heard it they bolted for the porch.  They have heard roosters before but I guess this one sounded too close for comfort!  

But after a day or so they were saying "bye bye rooster" when they didn't hear it and "night night rooster".  Their vocabulary sky-rocketed in the last two weeks.  They are repeating everything we say and saying lots of new words including "mine" (my least favorite).  They must have picked that up at MDO because I certainly did not teach them that.  The other day W said "mine" and we said "that is not nice" and he said "mine please."

W has become quite the horder as well.  He gathers up as many toys as he can manage and stores them in a truck or something and then spends the rest of the time trying to maintain his toys from J or any other kiddo that might be around.  Poor thing.  He can never rest.  He is always on the lookout for thieves.  

*On a side note* here is a snip-it of a conversation Geoff and I had in front of an Indiana Starbucks.  

Me:  What do you want?  (Geoff is a Starbucks rookie and he doesn't drink coffee)

G:  Just a hot chocolate.

Me:  Do you want a tall then?

G:  No, I don't need anything that big.

Me:  A tall is a small.

G:  OK, yes a tall then...

Me:  Sigh.  Hahaha!  My poor, sweet, patient husband.

But while we were there the nice barista (I had to find a way to get that word into this post) let me have a sample of the salty caramel hot chocolate.  It is good.  It does seem strange watching them sprinkle sea salt onto a hot drink though.  

Ok, back to Tennessee.  Some pics with the family...

Here is J and W with Papap, Uncle PJ and Grandma...

The boys...

The boys enjoying the beautiful view from the back porch....

 

And some pics from a  rest stop (doesn't everyone take pictures at a rest stop???)

 

Indiana

On our Indiana trip we stayed with one of my best friends Claudia (we went to Purdue and high school together) and her family. We celebrated Geoff's birthday, we played Euchre, we jogged (Claudia is the one that got me into running), we went to a great pumpkin patch/apple orchard, we went to the Indianapolis Children's Museum, and we visited my Grandpa. It was full-up fall (at least the week we were there) and I loved wearing jackets and sweaters again.

Here are some pictures from our visit.

Audrey with the birthday candle--she ate the biggest piece of cake I have ever seen.

Putting final touches on Geoff's b-day cake (decorated by Audrey and Geoff):

Liam, Claudia, me and Wyatt at the Children's museum:

At the pumpkin patch...in front of a skyscraper of pumpkins, gords, and corn...you don't get to see that everywhere!

I asked W to stand next to the pumpkin....so he turned around and s.l.o.w.l.y backed up to it.

Up close to a gazillion live bees:

J holding a baby pumpkin:

W posing with his wagon:

W running out of the maze (like his hair is on fire):

J running out of maze (also with his hair on fire):

Claudia, Liam, and Jim (Audrey was at school):

Tasting apples in the orchard store...we didn't get W's apple away fast enough...he already ate a good bit of the core (guess he was hungry):

Eating apples back at the house:

Claudia ran Liam to sleep...

W with Claudia:

Trying to get a group shot...3 out of 4 looking isn't bad-thanks for having us Claudia and Jim-we had so much fun!

Family picture with Grandpa/Great-Grandpa:

Enjoying the view from the porch:

Grandpa and I...we love you!