I'm Almost Sad the Break is Nearly Over...

I thought this week would be tough... with both kids home all day, every day.

As it turns out, the easy has outweighed the hard this week. The boys have entertained each other. They've gotten along, they've played with all their new toys together, they've played Wii together, Ben has helped Simon with things he needs... it's actually been completely AWESOME.... except for the part where I seem to be running in place with the housework because every time I straighten up somewhere, they come along and decide to play there, which I can't fault them for because they ARE only playing where they are supposed to be playing. It's just that, for some reason, they hate to stay on one floor. They also always both decide to take potty breaks in bathroom where I JUST wiped all the little boy pee off the toilet rim... that sort of thing. :P

But yeah, for the most part, it's good. I think Simon and I are really going to miss Ben come Monday!!!

Random stuff...

My mom and my brother I gave my dad a "cat kit" for Christmas -- a gift certificate for the animal shelter and vet gift certificate and a bunch of supplies. He went yesterday and picked out his kitten, but it couldn't come home until today, so he's off to get it this morning. The boys are SO excited to go over and see it. :) So that's one place we'll be heading today.

Also, off to the store for some organizational supplies.

I'm also on a mission this week to get my kids to eat healthier food if it kills me. Their "accepted" foods have dwindled to basically chicken nuggets, sweet potato fries, plain pasta, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and apples.

Simon is slightly better than Ben... he'll eat vegetables and lots of different fruits as long as Ben isn't at the table saying, "eewwwww!" to dissuade him... he has even started eating Caesar salad... but more nights than not, I find myself taking the easy way out just avoid the whining and complaining. I haven't even attempted to hide anything healthy in dinners in a long time.

We've taken the "eat it or be hungry" approach, which actually works surprisingly well. Tom is much more hardline than I am... I'll give several different healthy options (you can eat broccoli, an orange OR an apple with peanut butter) whereas when Tom is in charge of a meal, he'll make them eat whatever he puts in front of them. I'm not sure which approach is best, I just know what works best for me... and choices seem to bring about better attitudes when I'm in charge. Tom has more patience to engage in a standoff with them until they eat.

I find it very difficult to picture them as teenagers or adults eating anything and everything. The day I see Ben sit down and hungrily bite into say, a hamburger, or some grilled chicken at a picnic, like a normal person... or order and enjoy a salad or an entree that is not pizza or chicken nuggets at a restaurant, I think I may just pass out from the surprise of it all.

Did you know in France there is no such thing as 'kid-friendly food'? Kids eat small portions of what the adults eat... I'm jealous. How do I achieve this? My kids started out doing this... and I had high hopes for Simon... but now they both prefer the "kid food". Where did I go wrong

Back to Real Life...

Well almost. Ben's obviously still off school this week... but he and Simon play well together, so it will actually mean I can get a lot done while they play. :) We might hit the grocery store together today (oooo!) ... but mostly, I'll just be cleaning and purging and organizing and continuing to find homes in our tiny townhouse for all the new STUFF. Luckily, I am the opposite of a hoarder and have zero problem giving or throwing things away. I root for toys to have missing pieces or to break so that I can toss them. Is that evil of me?

Anyway, suffice to say, there is much to be done.

The snow is gone, but I hear more is on the way at the end of the week. (sigh) This is going to be a LONG long winter, I think!

The countdown to Disney is on though! 29 days!!!

Christmas in Pictures...

Grandmom and Poppy's house for Christmas Eve...

This was a hit... with almost EVERYONE. Seriously, put a toy microphone with an applause button out and every extravert in the room is suddenly a performer...


Aunt Debbie gave Ben a school room... complete with desk. This is about 1/4 of it... HUGE hit.


There was even a Christmas "morning" message waiting for him...


Christmas morning...


They LOVE this thing! Simon keeps telling me he wants to go downstairs and "pay for things". LOL!


Coming down the stairs...


Santa came!


Here comes Little Dude...


Opening gifts...


Pa rum pah pum pum...


Rock 'em, Sock 'em..


Another gift that was a hit...


On to Nanee and Pap's...

Ben got a telescope!


Anastasia LOVED the gift opening...


Lining up Disney cars...


And sometime after that last picture was when things deteriorated with Simon and so I stopped taking pictures. I have 76 Christmas photos... thats about 1/3 the number I USUALLY end up with from Christmas. LOL.

Ah well.. things seem to have started improving a bit on the Simon front and he really does love all of his gifts. He played with everything yesterday. I hope next year, he's a better sport about the whole thing... (sigh) It was a LONG Christmas...

And thus ends yet another whirlwind holiday. Onward to 2010!

Christmas 2009

So another Christmas has come and gone... and frankly, I am happy to see it go.

Simon was a beast yesterday, mostly because he has an ear infection, but partially because his intensely strong-willed personality has been rearing its head with ferocity lately. He HATED gift opening, for some reason. we theorize it's because he thought if he opened a new gift, he had to give up whatever he was currently playing with. He would scream his head off whenever anyone tried to get him to open anything. Very strange. His favorites thusfar are his build-your-own lightsaber from Grandmom and Poppy and his toy drum from us.

Ben did well and appreciated everything he got... he has flitted from gift to gift today, just happy to be home to have all the time in the world to play with everything. Hard to say what his absolute favorite it, because he really seems to love everything. If you ask him right now, he'll say the grocery store, but really, I don't think he got anything he didn't love! Santa and our families scored with pretty much every gift this year!

I have pictures that will be attached to this post eventually... but the camera is currently in the car, which Tom just took to go pick up sushi for dinner. YUM!

We spent the whole day at home just putting away and organizing and the boys just played with their new toys. They didn't even get out of their jammies all day. Perfect day!!!

5-3/4....

Three months from six and here's what he's up to... :) List from 5-1/2 -- copied, pasted, updated and edited where appropriate. :) I also know that I still owe Simon a monthday post from 12/11... (sigh) Time got away from me this month.

Likes: (in no particular order)
His school friends, Kaziah and Zac (who he claims is his BEST friend)
Wii games
Playing football with Daddy and simon
Going to Panera for a cinnamon crunch bagel
Shrimp tempura
playing school
calendars
writing on my dry erase calendar (grrr)
drawing and painting pictures of sharks
His brother (about 80% of the time)
His cousin, Anastasia (98% of the time)
Getting shooting stars on his schoolwork
Building with his huge cardboard blocks (they have become quite popular in our house lately)
Reading when he thinks no one is listening
Math


Dislikes:
all veggies
most fruits
eating
getting checks on his schoolwork
having to write big, long sentences
Some kid named Aaron in his class
Injustice (or, what appears to be, in his eyes)
thunderstorms (although this is kind of a love/hate thing)


Fears:
Bees
Spiders
Dogs
the power going out in our house (which happens a lot)
Any number of other things that may change on a daily basis... you just never know

New Skills:
Reading pretty well
Writing letters better, more quickly and sometimes in the lines!

Ready for Kindergarten...

Today was Ben's Christmas party at school. Chaos reigned. They exchanged cards, did a craft, did a measuring activity, had a sugar-laden snack, and read a story.

Simon joined Ben on the rug for the story and it was an absolute riot. He sat right there with 21 five-year-olds and followed along in Ben's book as the teacher read. When she asked questions, he raised his hand with all the other kids. The other moms and I were in stitches at a nearby table. One mom saw him raise his hand and said, "I wonder what he'd say if she called on him?" We didn't find out, because he never got called on, but it was FUNNY to see. He fit right in. When the story was over, he did ask loudly to "read it again!" I think Ben enjoyed having his little brother at school with him for awhile. ;)

And now begins Christmas break. (sigh) I'm ready for a little downtime... but I'm sure I'll be ready for school to start up again soon enough. :)

Dear Baltimore County Public Schools...

You are officially LAME. The kids totally could have gone to school today. Instead, I now have a really bored five-year-old stuck at home for yet another day.

My bets are on you calling it off for tomorrow too... you know just because, why not? It's the last day before the break! May as well!

I'm just glad I haven't bought the cupcakes for the school party yet!

First Snow Day...

So Ben is enjoying his first official snow day from school. This meant I had to drag TWO kids through the snow and ice this morning to go to the store. We made it though and now I think we are staying close to home for the remainder of the day after that little adventure.

Simon is playing PBSkids right now and Ben is flitting from activity to activity. I bought him some new highlighters at the grocery store, so that's keeping him busy.

In the meantime, I'm trying to clean my messy house... why? I don't know. It's starting to seem pointless. Also, the Christmas decoration and baking clutter is starting to make me twitchy. I am longing for the clean slate that is January!!!

Off to try to keep up with the monkeys...

So Yeah. Thassalotta Snow.

The snow was exciting for awhile. Ben counted down the minutes until our planned neighborhood snow play time. He donned his snowsuit, boots, hat, gloves and heavy coat. He looked like the kid from A Christmas Story.






He was excited and a little weirded out when I told him to go ahead and cross the street (where is the street anyway?) himself ahead of Tom, who was still putting on his boots. I always loved that about big snowstorms as a kid... how there were no cars coming down the street ever and you couldn't even tell where the sidewalk ended and the street began anyway. But, I digress.

Out he went.

He was back inside in 22 minutes, having had quite enough, thankyouverymuch. I think the snow he got down into his snowsuit and the biting wind on his face did him in.

Simon never even had an ounce of desire to go outside, which was just fine with me. He was given ample opportunity, but he just kept saying, "No. I will stay inside and play pbskids.org!" (and he did)

The rest of the day, the kids played on the computer, watched movies, played with their toys and played with daddy. All in all, a great snow day.

Tom shoveled once, around 12:30, which I realized was an awesome metaphor for what I do every day... I then I remembered seeing an actual quote to that effect in one of my frequent hunts for quotes for my banners...

"Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing. ~Phyllis Diller, Phyllis Diller's Housekeeping Hints, 1966"

By the time he got to the bottom of the stairs and the main sidewalk, the top set of stairs had two inches of snow covering them again. And eight hours later? Another foot. Yep. That's pretty much my life.

He'll have to do it all over again today. I do hope we can break out of here today though. I have to get a few things at the store, if there is anything actually left at the store. And we have a family Christmas gathering late this afternoon.

We'll see!

Sicky Simon...

Poor Simon. He is just a mess. He and I have both had the same virus, but his seems to have focused on his nose, whereas mine has hung out in my throat. The snot coming from him is just neverending. He has been so pleasant though in spite of it! Every once in awhile, he'll call from his bed, "Mommy! I need a tissue!" and I'll go in to find his whole face smeared with goo, God bless him. I wipe it off and he settles back in and goes right back to sleep.

During the day, his little eyes water all day and he needs his nose wiped about every five minutes. But really, for all of it, he is still somehow happy. I, on the other hand, can't stop whining about this stubborn sore throat that WILL NOT LEAVE. This morning it seems to have morphed into a cough and I think I just heard a cough come from Simon's room, so maybe we've moved on to the next stage. Good times. As long as we get it out of here by Christmas, that's what matters.

Here's what's really weird. Ben seems to have the mildest version of ALL of us. Every once in awhile he coughs, and he was kind of tired for a day or two last week. That's it. The child hasn't had a full-on snotty, sniffly cold-type illness (knock on wood) since he had his adenoids out two Augusts ago. I'm telling you, that is a miracle surgery. He's been the healthiest kid ever! Amazing. I mean, he still gets random fever bugs and stomach viruses now and then... but colds? They seem to be a thing of the past. If a doctor ever tells you your child needs their adenoids removed? Ask them how soon they can do it! ;)

So yeah, anyway... Simon and I are sticking close to home today. He'll be missing his last day of school before Christmas break, but I still have a lot to do to get ready for Christmas, (more .... baking.... there is no end....) so it's for the best. And we sure as heck don't want to be responsible for sending the snot to another family's house just in time for Christmas. LOL.

Ben's Concert...

Okay, so I have to be honest, I was kind of dreading it. Music isn't really Ben's thing and HE wasn't really all that jazzed about going either, so I didn't feel bad.

But then we got there.

He started bouncing off the walls with excitement. I also realized we should have gotten there MUCH earlier than we did. The kids were supposed to get dropped off at 6:30, we pulled in at 6:23.... the auditorium of the high school where they were holding it was PACKED. I found some seats that were really far back and waited for Tom and Simon who were off parking the car. They were gone 25 MINUTES!!!

This concert was only for K, 1st and 2nd, and the class of autistic children. And the accompanying parents/grandparents/etc filled a high school auditorium.

Wow.

So yeah, noted for next year.

Anywho....

The Kindergarten was first. it turns out that their music teacher is freakin' phenomenal. Every song was choreographed. It was side-splittingly funny. I have all three kindergarten numbers on video and I promise it will be up soon. Seriously. I could hardly hold the camera I was laughing so hard. Every song also had kids playing instruments with it. (just bells, xylophones, tambourines and slide whistles... nothing too crazy) But truly an amazing effort on the part of the teacher and the kids. I was so impressed that I'm sending her a card and one of my baked goods gifts today. (you'd think I would have already thought of that given that I grew up with a music teacher as a father)

So yeah, totally worth going. *Totally* entertaining. Ben did AWESOME. And even watching all the other classes was just as entertaining. Next year, I'm staking out my seat at 5:30.

Okay, without further ado... Ben is the red speck on the far right of your screen. (red vest, black pants, in the front)

Regularly Scheduled Blogging Will Resume Once We Have Real Internet Back...

STUPID Comcast. Hate them.

They made us get a new modem. Now the only way we can access the internet is in the corner of the basement tethered to the wall. I don't come down here very often during the day, hence, no posting.

Hopefully Tom can get it working in the next couple of days and I can get back to posting! Tonight is Ben's first Christmas concert at school and I'm sure there will be pictures and video to share! :)

B&O Railroad Museum

We used up some free passes we have had since April to take the boys and their grandparents to the railroad museum downtown on Saturday. Everyone loved it! Well, Simon didn't actually like the real, moving train and I ended up having to sit on a bench with him while everyone else took the train ride with Santa... but it was all good. :)

Checking out some of the model railroad displays






Two boys on a train


Liking the view from daddy's shoulders




Just hangin' around. (trying to open a coal door)


Pap helping Simon open the coal door


I took this picture because I saw a bunch of other people with cameras like mine taking this picture. Wanted to see what all the fuss was all about. I guess it is kind of a neat shot!


A train


Another train (frankly, they all kinda looked the same to me)

I want one of these for my house

So Far, So Good...

(knock on wood)

No vomit action or any other sicky stuff of any kind overnight. I went out at 8, but Tom reported that Ben went to bed right after I left and fell asleep almost right away. (this is pretty much unheard of... usually he's up solving the world's problems until at least 9:30) Maybe he just needed some extra sleep.

I hope, I hope, I hope!

No Duck Sauce?!

Ben came home from school today and was not his usual vibrant, hyper self. He says he feels fine and that nothing happened at school... but he wasn't hungry for chinese food at dinner, and he LOVES chinese food.

Add to that he's just kinda touchy, has cried three times since he has been home and keeps laying his head down on things and I'm really worried he's getting sick.

I hope I'm wrong, but I do know there is a stomach bug traveling around his school and he said two of his classmates have been out sick for two days. One of them he spends a lot of time in close proximity to because they are in the same centers group.

Again, I hope I'm wrong. I checked his temp and it's fine. But I'm still moving the throw rug out of his room tonight (it seems it is always the first target for vomit and it's REALLY hard to clean) and I'm putting a yuck bucket in there just in case. I also told him if his tummy feels weird in the middle of the night, to try to head for the bathroom.

All precautionary measures at this point, but I like to be prepared. Seriously, the kid has NEVER in his life turned down duck sauce.

Look Up!

Lookie! I finally changed my banner! The summer pictures were making me cold just looking at them!

I remember a time when I changed that banner once a month... those days are long gone. I hardly have time to change it more than once a YEAR these days.

Anyway, enjoy. ;)

Rainy Day....

Simon and I are hanging out at home all day. I'm working on the sugar cookies. (the stained glass cookie thing did NOT work out because honestly, sugar cookies with lifesavers in the middle, while kinda pretty, just taste awful) Simon wanders in and out once in awhile to do some sprinkles, but quickly loses interest and goes back to golfing in the living room.

Ben went off to school without incident this morning, happy because today is a gym day.

Other than that, not much going on. I should actually go out and run a couple errands today, but I don't see that happening. Too rainy and gross outside and too cozy and warm inside!

It's a Phase, It HAS to Be...

Simon is in a FOUL mood. He has been in a foul mood since Friday when he woke up. Our tumultuous morning that day culminated in him throwing a jingle bell clear across the classroom at school because "Rowan has MY jingle bell and I don't want THIS one!" I thought that day that he was either getting sick of just in need of a good nap. He took a nap and that didn't help, so i checked his temperature about a hundred times the rest of the day... always a cool 97.3. (he runs cold like his mommy...LOL)

The next morning, I hoped sweet Simon would return. There were glimpses of him, probably since we didn't leave the house and he got to play whatever he wanted all day long without interruption. But maybe we were on the road to mood recovery?

No.

Sunday came, still crabby. Crabby ALL through tree decorating at Nanee and Pap's. At one point he heaved an ornament divider at his cousin's head because he was angry about something or other... I can't even remember specifically what it was now because he has been angry at practically EVERYTHING now for four solid days.

I have felt around for the top molars that are due to come in, (and gotten bitten in the process) but haven't felt anything. I would suspect ear infection because of the lost eartube, but he doesn't have any snot. (he doesn't always run a fever with those) He hasn't complained of any pain ANYWHERE either.

Aside from the constant anger and throwing things, it's the whining that is really killing me. UUuuuuuugh. Every time he asks for something I have to go through the "That's not how you ask, I haven't heard you ask the right way." for ten minutes.

He goes to the ENT this week for a checkup and seriously, I am actually HOPING the doctor finds a quiet ear infection... because my normally sweet and affectionate boy has done a 180 and it's grating on my last nerve.

Both my kids have had phases like this over the years. (Ben's most notable one lasted basically from age 3-4... shudder) So maybe it's just that... another growth phase... I know sweet Simon is still in there... but it's SO hard in the middle of one of these phases to remember that it won't last forever.

Decorating Trees and Cookies....

Yesterday, we headed to Nanee and Pap's for brunch and to decorate their two trees (a regular one and a child-friendly one they keep in the basement where the kids play), and a bunch of cookies. The broken ornament tally was three.

Here's is Ben holding up an early gift from Aunt Sarah and Uncle Taylor. Aunt Krystyna and I are keeping score of these types of gifts and plan on giving back just as generously when Aunt Sarah and Uncle Taylor have children. In addition to lots of sugary goodness, we're also going to pool our money to buy their future children a state-of-the-art drum set. (The kids were thrilled with their Reese Cups though, so thanks A.S. and U.T.!) ;)


Some of the crew decorating


Uncle Marc being manhandled by the boys


Pap cleaning up one of the casualties. Thankfully, this one was Nanee's fault.


Ben and Anastasia get to work on the child-friendly tree


Simon gets in on the action


Ben singing into a clothespin nutcracker, crazy kid.


One of those accidental, just-happened-to-push-the-button-at-the-right-moment pictures that makes me laugh out loud every time I see it.


Pap doing his best Wall-E impersonation


I wish ANY pictures from this set had come out not blurry... Ben and Anastasia were being SO cute together


Altogether now.... "Awwwww!"



Silly kids


Almost a decent cousins picture... stupid backlight, but I wasn't going to risk moving them because they were being so agreeable to standing together and looking at me!!


And then things started to go downhill...


I especially like the chokehold Ben has on Simon in this one...


Halls sufficiently decked, we moved on to cookies... here's Uncle Taylor helping Simon layer his cookies with an inch-and-a-half of sprinkles


"And I will put this sprinkle right HERE.... and this sprinkle right HERE.... and this sprinkle...."


Ben was very methodical about his decorating this year... mental note that age five is a much neater age for this activity than age 2


...and I will put this sprinkle right HERE...


... and this one goes here...


...and one for me.


Arial view of the action


Ben keeping an eye on daddy's work...


So there you go, our Sunday in pictures. Later, I'll post pics of our tree we decorated on Saturday, although they are very few because that quickly deteriorated into an ornament smash-fest (all accidents, but still a smash-fest none-the-less.) Next year, the kids can drink hot chocolate and watch Rudolph while I decorate the tree myself... LOL.