Sleep is Good

Have I mentioned how challenging it's been to deal with a baby who never slept through the night? Well, after months and months of desperately wishing T3 would sleep through the night, he finally seems to be regularly sleeping until 7:20 each morning. After Matt had a few days of poop marathons (the babies, not him), we cut all fruit from their diet. Now, this is a big deal for us because we're used to buying grapes, blackberries, strawberries, and blueberries in bulk at CostCo. Unfortunately, it seems these purchases were wreaking havoc on my babies' tummies. Since we cut out the fruit, the number of poops has decreased significantly and T3 has been sleeping through the night. It's been wonderful! The food of choice now is macaroni and cheese. You can't go wrong with that!

T1 had a friend stay the night the last two nights and they've had a lot of fun. Matt took all four boys (our three plus the friend) for a hike and they ended up building a fort. They then came home and built a bike ramp in our front yard. T1, his friend, and Matt all launched themselves off the ramp. T1 apparently caught some significant air (awesome!) and Matt surprisingly didn't break the 1/2" thick board they used for the ramp. It's a good thing I wasn't here - I probably would have been terrified watching them! With the exception of T1 getting too bossy, T1 and his friend have had a good time. We had to force them to bed a little early tonight because their level of exhaustion and the amount of time they have spent together is causing them to get on each other's nerves. Our entire crew seems pretty tired though, so I think we'll all go to bed now. Good night!

Superheroes

If you could have a "super" power, what would it be? That's the question T1 posed today. I said I would have super knowledge so I could know everything. T1 said he would be super-stretchy. When describing what he meant, he said that if a girl wanted a drink from Greece, then his super-stretchy arm would quickly extend all the way to Greece to grab the requested drink and bring it back for her. Matt said he would be Superman, after which he and T1 progressed to argue over who would beat the other with their super powers. Typical.

Procrastinating

I'm such a procrastinator. It's after 11:00 p.m. the night before Christmas Eve and I'm supposed to be making deviled eggs, wrapping presents, and cleaning the house (among other things), but I'm procrastinating and have instead decided to post a blog about a whole bunch of nothing. Let's see...where to start?

T2 doesn't appear to be sick anymore - thank goodness! T3 is battling some residual congestion, but seems okay overall. I think my body is trying to get sick, but I'm not going to let that happen!

Matt changed 10 poops today -- ICK! T3 had 6 and T2 had 4. Who poops that often? It's crazy, really. I think Matt deserves a prize!

Matt and Lisa took the boys to the Children's Museum today. Matt says children museums are pretty boring, but T2 and T3 love them. T1 not so much. Oh well, at least they all got out of the house and spent time with Aunt Lisa.

Tomorrow we're having several people over for Christmas Eve dinner. Matt's baking a turkey and I'm heating up a honey-baked ham. Yummy! We're going to partake in some adult beverages and play silly board games. It should be fun! Unfortunately, Adam and Marie won't be in town, so we'll definitely miss them. :(

Matt, the kids, and I will probably go ice-skating on Friday night with my friend Amy and her kids. I expect it will be fun, regardless of how much I suck at ice-skating.

Well, I better focus on deviled eggs, presents, or something. Merry Christmas!

So much to say, so little time...

I only have a minute to write while Matt is trying to prove that I didn't just beat him at Scrabble. Sure, I used the words "gi" and "talkie" in my last play to win the game, but dictionary.com says they are both words. I don't know why Matt's complaining - he used the word "peal" thinking he was using "peel", but I was kind enough to look up "peal" for him and it turns out to be a bonafide word. I'm only writing about this to annoy him when he reads this later. I WON! I WON! And, yes, "chi" is a word! HA!

Okay, now that's out of my system...
Sick. Sick. Sick. That about sums up our life lately. T2 has been sick all week. The tubes in his ears fell out this week (he's had them since he was 11 months old) and he now has infections in both ears. He had fever every day this week and was battling terrible congestion. He completely lost his appetite and personality. I hate seeing him like this. Thankfully, he's on the mend. Unfortunately, T3 is now catching the same bug. I can't wait until we're all healthy again. We've been run down since before Thanksgiving and we're tired of it!

T1 has a new girlfriend. She's like number 5 or 6 this year. I think her name is Taylor, but I can't keep up anymore. I don't know what makes her different, but he said he wanted to buy her a ring for Christmas. Say what?! He's crazy. No way in heck is my 10-year old buying some chick a ring. He ran into an ex-girlfriend the other day (remember the one from church that he never really broke up with?) and she threatened to beat or kill him, I forget which. Such drama!

T1 ran a 5K with his funky unky (Uncle J) last weekend. There were 800+ runners and T1 ranked 226 overall and number 6 in his age division. I was so proud of him! I think Uncle J, T1, Matt, and I are going to run a 4-miler for the rodeo in February and there may also be a half-marathon in my future. We'll see...

On a special note, Matt and I celebrated our 10-year wedding anniversary yesterday! I don't know what I did to deserve this wonderful life with him, but these have been the best years ever. I love you, Matt.

My Little Singer

Despite the trauma of singing in front of a crowd (see post below), T2 really enjoys singing when no one is watching. This video is proof!

T2's Christmas Program

Today was T2's first-ever Christmas program. His class at school was supposed to sing 4-5 songs for their parents, but the teacher ended up flying solo the entire performance. None of the kids sang. One immediately ran to her parents and started crying, a few others stood looking like deer caught in the headlights, and my little T2 stood with a frown on his face the entire time. It was the biggest frown ever! I had no idea his lip could pucker out like that. It was sticking out so far that you probably could have pulled it up over his head, and there was an occasional quivering of the chin as he fought back tears. As soon as the "performance" was over, he ran to Matt and I and burst into tears. It was so sad. We went to his classroom afterwards for for juice and cookies and it took a good 15 minutes for him to get back to normal. Here's a picture of him during the performance and another of him afterwards:

No Energy

Okay, so I admit it, I've been too lazy to blog lately. How sad is that? Too lazy to blog? Pathetic.

In any case, we've had a lot of activity lately and the kids have been quite entertaining. Rather than elaborate on it all, I'm going to bullet some of the more memorable happenings of late and post a couple of pictures to get you caught up:

• Matt ran his first marathon (26.2 miles) in 4:09:06. He did awesome and I am so darn proud of him for accomplishing this goal!
• Thanksgiving was awesome! We trekked all over the state to visit my cousins, my dad, and the other Parker People (Adam, Marie, and their fun crew). We went caving at Palo Duro Canyon, ate too much delicious food, and enjoyed great company. Oh yeah, and I had my first Mango Mojito. Yummy!
• T2 threw up 2 times in the car on our way home from Amarillo after the Thanksgiving holiday. Double yuk! He threw up another 4 or 5 times in the days following our return. Trevor, Matt, and I also fell ill, so we've definitely had our share of sickness.
• T2 rode his first horse and loved it!
• Knowing full well that Matt would never entertain this idea, T1 secretly asked me if we could buy him a Christmas sweater to wear to Grandma Sara's house on Christmas morning. We looked, but all retail outlets know better than to sell Christmas sweaters for 10-year old boys! There is no market for this product (except my son).
• T2 has a new fear of the Big Bad Wolf, although we have no idea how he was introduced to him.
• All 4 of T3's molars are in! Maybe he'll start sleeping better at night.
• Our Christmas tree has ornaments only on the top half. After seeing how relaxed Marie was with her tree, I've attempted to make the Christmas tree more kid-friendly by keeping all breakable ornaments at the top. This is a major change from having a gate around the tree to protect and preserve the tree and its decorations. Unfortunately, the ornaments that are supposed to be at the bottom of the tree have been dispersed all over the house and despite our best effort, 4 breakable ornaments have fallen victim to T3. I suspect the gate will soon come out of hiding!
• Matt and T1 went fishing after church on Sunday and came across a couple having way too much fun in the brush alongside the river. I won't go into details, but Matt classified what they saw as "traumatizing" and said he and T1 had to have a special talk about what they saw. No, it wasn't your normal baby making activity. Use your imagination... If I were Matt, I would have thrown a rock at them to interrupt their activities and physically hurt them for using poor judgment and exposing my child to their behavior -- I was so pissed! The only thing that would make this situation worse is if T1 talks about it at school. Stay tuned...
• T2 got a new Batman face mask that he likes to wear. Despite the slight resemblance to Hannibal Lector, he looks cute when he insists on sleeping with his Batman mask, dinosaur shirt, Noah's Ark animal blanket, and Spider Man pillow case.
• T1 came home with two marks today for poor conduct. What am I going to do with this child? He's sooo grounded.
• We took pictures for our Christmas cards, so be on the lookout!

Well, that's it for now. It's been fun...

Dreamer

T1 has a friend who has decided that, like T1, he also wants to be an architect when he grows up. His friend told T1 that one of the best architect colleges in the country is in New York City, so T1 is now planning on going to school in NYC and sharing an apartment with his friend because he thinks staying in an apartment will be cheaper than staying in a dorm. (I'm wondering what happened to our whole talk on community college? :) Hmmm...) Little does T1 know of the correlation between the demand for prime real estate and the cost of rent. Maybe I'll have him google (yes, google is a verb in my book) apartment costs so he can see he needs to start saving his money now if this is something he wants to pursue. T1 talked about this nonstop today (surprised?), even expressing a desire to show his friend the briefcase he has with all of his designs and floor plans. He has stored all of his "work" in this briefcase, stamped his name on each piece, and has organized them into specific folders. He also carries a calculator, different colored pens, various architectural magazines, and extra graph paper in this briefcase. T1 got his friend's telephone number, so maybe we'll have him over after the Thanksgiving hoopla passes so T1 can obsess about architecture with a kindred spirit. One thing is for sure - I definitely want to help keep this dream alive. To do this, I'd like to find a way for T1 to meet an architect, tour his/her office, get an overview of what they do, and glimpse some of their finished products. Does anyone out there know any architects?

Random Ramblings

T1 has been getting in trouble rather frequently at school lately. Matt and I are torn because we feel the need to support T1's teacher (in principle) but neither of us think anything he's done has been that bad. As a result, we don't know whether to punish him or not. What gets him in trouble? Talking, laughing, making birds with his fingers, and minor stuff like that. Not that bad, right? Matt and I think we probably got in similar trouble just as frequently when we were young, but our teachers didn't send home a daily conduct grade so our parents just didn't know about it. Well, times have changed and now teachers communicate daily so we are apprised of every little thing T1 does. While that is definitely a good thing, Matt and I don't want to react to every single instance of trouble particularly when it's all evidence of a happy child enjoying school. Are we too relaxed? Should we punish T1 every time his teacher gets after him regardless of how severe (or not) the offense?

I've noticed T2 has been licking food a lot lately. He licks the color coating off his M&Ms, he licks the cream out of the middle of oreos, he licks icing off of cookies and cakes, he licks the different pieces in trail mix (and then puts them back in the bowl where they came from), he licks the peanut butter off his PB&J sandwiches, he licks the cheese off his quesadillas, and lately he's been licking the snot out of his nose if we don't wipe it fast enough. This kid is crazy!

T3 has been a turd bird lately! (Have I said this before?)I think he's tired of T2 picking on him, so he's frequently pushing and hitting for no reason. He does it over and over, smiling the whole time. It drives me nuts, as do the temper tantrums he regularly throws. I think this is just a phase, but T2 never acted out like this. The difference, I suppose, is that T2 didn't have an older brother who was constantly messing with him. Regardless, T3 better simmer down or his daddy might go back to work!!!

Matt and I got to go camping alone this weekend and we had a great time! The boys stayed behind with their Aunt Lisa and had a blast. Thank you, Lisa, for taking such wonderful care of them. We greatly appreciate your support!

They're all talk!

T2 talks nonstop these days. He doesn't care if you're in the middle of a conversation with someone else; he'll just calmly repeat your name over and over and over again until you stop your conversation and pay attention to him. This is typical, I suppose. At least for our crew it is... He's talking more clearly all the time and his vocabulary is expanding, but his language is still so new, sweet, and cute. Today at T1's soccer practice, T2 saw some of the other boys' little sisters and kept saying: "I want ta see te goils" (I want to see the girls). He loves the "goils"- he wears a cowboy hat and a red Super Man cape and chases them nonstop (poor things...) It's adorable. Something else he repeatedly said today was "I fotted" (I farted), to which I replied "I know, I felt it on my arm" since I was holding him during his gas attack. Fun. I reminded him to say excuse me after he "fotts", which came out "shoosh me". I love toddler talk!

T3, on the other hand, isn't talking much at all, but he does make tons of "da da da da da da" noises that I am sure actually mean something to him. What he's lacking in words, he makes up for in screaming -- that little guy is LOUD!!!!!

T1 also continues to talk nonstop. At 9:15 this evening as T1 was explaining to me in great detail the lesson on textures he had in Art class today, Matt interrupted and said he thought there was a filibuster going on. Basically, T1 thought he wouldn't have to go to bed as long as he kept talking. Did I catch on? Nope, but T1 smiled as soon as Matt made his remark and I realized I had been had! I should have known that T1 would only talk extensively and enthusiastically about school if doing so kept him from something less boring (i.e. going to bed on time).

On a different note....
Matt and I took the two little guys to Lost Maples yesterday to see the local fall foliage. In addition to being disappointed by T2 puking all over himself while in the car seat (an icky and somewhat common bout of motion sickness for our middle guy), I was disappointed in the 5 maple trees we saw (whoop dee do!). That aside, we really did have a good time hiking and picnicking. Surprisingly, there were TONS of old people on the trails at Lost Maples. I mean OLD people, like old peoples' parents kind of old. It was crazy! The trail was steep and slick in many places - these folks definitely worried me. Lost Maples is in the middle of nowhere, so I'm sort of surprised that EMS wasn't on hand waiting for the next hip to break. Ay yay ya. Old folks aside, our little guys did pretty well. They hiked much of the time on their own. They fell several times, but never got too dramatic about it. They stopped for pictures (yep, I took over 100 pics - ridiculous, I know.). They smiled and waved at old strangers along the trail. It was pretty fun. Here are a couple of pictures from our trip:

(The picture above was not from Lost Maples; it was from a river crossing on our drive home. Pretty, huh?)

Put THIS to Music!

Fellow parents likely know this tune:

Pee pee in the pot-ty,

Pee pee in the pot-ty!

Yes, T2 is finally going pee pee in the potty (when prompted, of course!) -- YIPPEE!!!!!!

It's a jungle out there!

We recently took a trip to our favorite drive-thru zoo and had tons of fun feeding the buffalo, deer, camels, kudu, ostriches, emu, zebras, llamas, etc. The animals are so personable and harmless while you are feeding them. Of course, I could have done with a little less wild animal snot and slobber on my hands, but it didn't seem to bother the boys.

After we were done with the animals we drove to a state park that Matt and I first visited more than 1o years ago. Back then, it was only Matt, Garth, and I, but now we have our 3 little men to help make these trips so much more fun. Hiking, however, is now very short, safe, and slow-going!

Speaking of fun, we had a great Halloween! Both my brother and Matt's sister came over to go trick-or-treating with us. My brother brought his little brother (from the Big Brother program) and his little brother's sister, so there were 5 kids on our little neighborhood excursion. This was the first year T2 enjoyed Halloween and he was so cute! With few exceptions, he said trick-or-treat at every house and even said thank you when he was given candy. He was running so fast from house to house that we had a hard time keeping up. Of course, the bigger kids were moving much faster than us, but Uncle J (or Afro "J") kept up with that crew. T3, for the most part, hung out in the wagon we were using to cart him around the neighborhood and didn't really get into it this year. I bet next year will be fun for all 3 T's.



After we went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood, we went to a Halloween party at a friend's house. We didn't get there until 9:00, so the boys were already on an energy decline, but they hung in there and played until 10:30 or so. My friend had rented a huge Spider Man bouncer and while T1 was playing in there with another boy, the other boy bounced the wrong way and his knee hit his face really hard. Instead of running to tell the little boy's parents that their son was injured, T1 immediately found one of his other friends to tell him to come look at how big this other kid's face was swelling. T1 was all excited like this little boy's injury was a science project or something. I couldn't believe how T1 reacted, particularly since this little boy's face had swollen bigger than any injury I have ever seen. The whole left side of his face was huge and filled with blood. It was awful. I felt so horrible for the little boy and his parents. Needless to say, they left immediately and I haven't heard yet whether or not they went to the hospital. Also needless to say, I need to teach T1 a thing or two about empathy.

On a brighter note, we got T1's first report card and he did great! With the exception of one high B, he received all high A's. I am so proud of him! To celebrate, we cooked his favorite dinner last night - crab legs and shrimp. It was yummy! For some reason, Matt thought he needed to purchase 2 pounds of shrimp, so there was enough for 2 meals easily. Unfortunately, T1 (who had lost $2 earlier in the evening as punishment for drinking directly out of the water spicket of our refrigerator) bet Matt $2 that he could eat all the remaining food. At the time he made this bet, there were probably 2 crab legs and 17 shrimp left, so we didn't think he'd be able to do it. T1 must have really wanted that 2$ back because he sat at that table for an extra half hour while he forced every last bite in his mouth. We didn't think he'd be able to do it, but we must have underestimated how much the love of money can motivate him! In total, T1 probably ate 5 crab legs and 25-30 large shrimp! Surprisingly, he didn't even get a stomach ache....at least, not yet!

Gross!

Matt and T1 found a pellet of owl barf the other day and brought it home so we could dissect it. I found an article online that listed the top 10 reasons an owl shouldn't be kept as a pet. Reason number 4 was: "Feathers and pellets show up in the darndest places." It explained that owls throw up a pellet of undigested fur and bones once a day. So, when we dissected our pile of puke, we found tons of fur, 12 jaw bones, many leg bones, and even a little skull. Check out the pictures below and give thought to how much fun it is to live in a house full of boys!

T1's Safety Patrol Application

T1 brought home an application for safety patrol tonight. In the space that asked "Why I would like to join safety patrol", T1 wrote:

"I would like to join safety patrol because I would like to help the school and so in college they will look back on my report and see that I must be a good kid."

I'm so impressed that he's making connections between the decisions he makes now and the impact those decisions might have on his future. He's more than a good kid in my book! :)

Our Weekend: From "Oh Baby!" to "Opa!'

Let's start with "Oh baby!"... I'm taking a risk and revealing my inner dork here, so take it easy on me after you read this. Guess where I was Friday night? Sitting front and center in the 14th row of the NKOTB concert! Yep, I finally got to see these fantastically scrumptious men after more then 20 years of adoration. Yes, I still remember all of my friends going to the concert when we were little while I sat at home watching MTV because my family didn't have the financial means for such splurges. Now, before you laugh at me, I know many of you also loved them. I even heard that one of you skipped school and tried to stalk them at their hotel when they were here in 1990! (I won't call you out, but you know who you are!) :) Friday was a fun and nostalgic day. Believe it or not, I even wore a NKOTB vintage t-shirt to work. There were plenty of laughs, but it was all worth it!

Now, onto the "Opa!" part of our weekend... Saturday night we went to a Greek Funstival with one of my all-time favorite families. We enjoyed Greek shopping, Greek food, Greek beer, Greek music, and best of all Greek dancing. It was a ton of fun! T1 was spoiled by my BFF and her parents-they bought him a Greek hat and t-shirt and a Greek flag. He wore the hat all day today (check out the picture below with T1 and a friend's son) and he hung the Greek flag on his wall last night before he laid his Greek-wannabe head on his pillow to go to sleep. The food was delicious, although I didn't quite appreciate the red hand print Trevor left on my white shirt (yep, on my boob) after he had stuffed his face with marinara covered green beans (I think that's what they were). True to form T2 didn't eat a darned thing, but he was happy because he found a small patch of grass and a couple of older kids to chase around. All 3 of my kiddos loved the music, but T1 learned two Greek dances and he danced on stage with my friend for quite a while while the rest of us watched and wondered how they had the energy to keep going - it seemed they were up there forever! Matt got brave at one point and let T2 and T3 dance on stage. They had a blast trying to dance in circles and stomp like the adults, but you better believe they were ticked when we had to take them off stage so we could go home. Overall, we had a lot of fun and I hope we make an annual pilgrimage to the Funstival. T1 taught me the Greek dances this afternoon while we were playing in the backyard, so maybe I'll be brave next year and get on stage.

Have you missed us?

Work has been demanding lately, so I've either been too tired or preoccupied to blog. Sorry. So much time has passed since my last blog that I don't even know what to write about now. Drat.

I guess I'll start with T3. He got his first haircut yesterday. He looks different now - older and more like T2. It's sort of sad because my baby doesn't really look like a baby anymore. What do you think?

Although he looks pretty cute with his new hairdo, T3 has been a terror lately! He's been climbing on absolutely everything. Our bar stools are now laying on their sides in the dining room because T3 was scaling them to get on top of the kitchen counter. He's climbing on the kitchen chairs and table, on top of toys, people, and animals. He's also climbing into things, and by "things" I mean the toilet. Yep, T1 found T3 sitting with his body fully immersed in the toilet. He was sitting in it the same way T2 used to sit in the bucket we use to wash the car. Remember this?



Now switch babies and place T3 in a toilet instead of a bucket. Totally gross, right?

T2 has been acting like a normal 2-year old. He only eats macaroni and cheese, cheese crisps, and bread. Any other food you try to give him either gets passed on to the dogs, inconspicuously pitched over his shoulder, or hidden on top of his head under his cowboy hat. When he's not not eating (yes, the double negative was purposeful), he's struggling to decide whether to be nice or feisty to his little brother. It's generally a crap shoot depending on his mood, but I think we're making progress in his understanding of how we expect him to treat T3 (as evidenced by the recent absence of bite marks on T3).

T1 is doing great in school. We had our first parent/teacher conference, but we didn't learn anything we didn't already know. Basically, he's really smart, but he talks too much. Surprised? Didn't think so. Matt and I took T1 and a couple of his friends to Fiesta Texas this weekend (thank you Grandma Sara and Marcus for watching T2 and T3!). We all had a fun time! T1 has had 3 or 4 soccer games since my last blog and he continues to excel. In one game, he even scored 4 goals within the first couple minutes of the game. I guess the coach could see where that was headed, so he quickly pulled the team aside and made them agree to pass to every player before taking a shot on goal. T1's performance aside, his team doesn't seem to perform consistently, but he's enjoying himself so I'm happy. In addition to playing soccer, he wants to try out for swim team soon. I'll keep you posted.

Hmmm...what else? I'm tired, so I think that's it for now. I'll try not to let so much time pass before posting another blog. Take care.

Taco-Nana

This afternoon Matt and I were in a local fast food drive-thru waiting for our food when T2, who was in the back seat said "Taco-Nana?". No, we weren't at Taco Cabana, but is anyone surprised that the first restaurant my child recognizes by name is Taco Cabana? Why couldn't he first recognize a deli, a farmer's market, or an organic grocer? Nope, it had to be Taco Cabana. Too funny!

It seems there were a couple of things I was going to write about T1, but I'm tired and drawing a blank. Hmmmm.... Oh, I remember -- In addition to dreaming of buying land for his family to build homes on (see the blog below), T1 is now also talking about saving enough money for a vacation in Athens, Greece. He'd like to make it to Greece in a couple of years and would like to stay there for about a week or so. He used Travelocity tonight to get an idea of how much it would cost and it's going to run him about $4,000 for airfare and arrangements at a five star hotel. He wants T2 and T3 to stay stateside, so he can enjoy Greece alone with Matt and I. Did I mention that he's insisting on paying for everything? I love how he dreams!

When T1 isn't dreaming, he's being a normal little boy. Matt told me that the other day he and his friend happened upon a dead skunk while they were walking home and they stuck it with a pen. Ick!

My baby is 10 years old!

T1 turned 10 last weekend and all of our local family came over to celebrate. We had ribs, shrimp, sausage, red potatoes, and grilled vegetables. Frozen margaritas, yummy cake, and ice cream topped off a wonderfully scrumptious meal! T1 received mostly money from everyone and he's so excited about saving it. Yes, I said saving it! There was about 5 minutes when he toyed with the idea of spending his money on a PS3 (not that the amount he received would cover a PS3), but he quickly changed his mind and started talking again about saving his money so he can buy a lot of land for us to live on when he grows up. He envisions a family compound kind of setup where his property would be large enough for his entire family to live. If the land was vast enough for us to each have our own space, then I think it's a swell idea!

On another note, my 10 year old has another girlfriend. He broke up with Hannah (he actually had one of his friends break up with Hannah for him -- how weak is that!) and now a girl named Amber is his girlfriend. He seems to be a serial dater... I hope this slows down as he gets older and smarter.

I'm sad to report the Blood Sucking Leeches broke up this week. T1 quit because it wasn't his dream to be in a band (he still wants to be an architect). When he told Matt (a friend in the band) that the band would need to find another base player (uh, I never knew they thought they ever had a base player in T1), one of the other guys dropped out and then the girls quit and everything just crumbled. So sad.

Game Time

T1 had his first soccer game of the season this afternoon and he did AWESOME! He made the first goal of the season and 3 more after that. His team won 6 to 4. He's thrilled and I'm so proud of him. The only problem is that Matt and I didn't get to watch the game closely because our little men required close watching and, as is expected, they weren't too keen on sitting still and watching the game. They roam everywhere so Matt and I do our best to watch both the babies and the game. I'm going to try hard to find a babysitter so Matt and I can better focus on T1. It's going to be a fun season!

Trouble Abounds

T1 has gotten in trouble 4 times in the first 14 days of school. He got in trouble twice for talking (just like me when I was that age), once for showing his friends the word booty in the book of nouns his teacher keeps in their classroom, and another time for drawing a picture of a girl in his class with hairy armpits and antennas. While I'd like to dismiss these antics as normal for a 9-year old boy, I'm concerned at the 4:14 ratio because that suggests he's getting in trouble more frequently than most. This is such a stark contrast from his conduct last year. :( I have a feeling (and fear) that we're going to "pals" with his teacher and principal this year. I'll keep you posted.

BTW, the first official definition of booty is: spoil taken from an enemy in war; plunder; pillage. Who knew?

Blood Sucking Leeches

How do you like the name of T1's rock band? Blood Sucking Leeches. Ignited by talk of the school talent show, T1 and 3 of his friends decided to form a band. T1 is going to be the manager until he learns to play the electric guitar. A few of the girls in his class decided they wanted to be a member of Blood Sucking Leeches, so T1held tryouts during recess and his band of 4 boys quickly assumed 2 girls who sing pretty good. T1 is so excited about this that he came home yesterday and started writing songs. He took 2 of his songs to school today and his friends said they were cheesy. He's talking about buying a tour bus, going on an 18 week tour that takes them as far as France, standing high on a stage and swirling his head at the end of a song, and so on and so on... Yes, he's talking about this nonstop. When I got home today, he was on the phone with one of his band mates talking about their first gig. They want to get everyone together this weekend to practice so they can play in front of a local ice cream shop. T1 has such raw enthusiasm about his future. Whether it's being an architect who designs hotels and homes or being a rock star that plays huge arenas, this boy definitely has dreams!

Rush Hour 2.

That's where T1 got the idea of "stacking 'em up and having a buffet" (see posting below). He watched this movie at a friend's house (thanks, Amy) and cracked up when Jackie Chan interrupted Chris Tucker as he was selecting which woman was going to be his masseuse and referred to his options as a "buffet". Thank goodness there is no real meaning in T1's words, but it's still crazy that he would say something like this!

T2 went to school again on Monday and did well. He came home with his first piece of art work and it's on the fridge, of course. T2's teacher commented again on his aversion to sharing, but everything else seems to be going great.

T3 has an ear infection in both ears. He's in a lot of pain, so we're hoping the antibiotics kick in real soon. My poor baby. :(

I forced my crew to get up early Saturday morning so I could take some photos using my new lens. I took over 150 pictures, of which I have deleted approximately 50. I've decided to print about 30 of those and have posted a few below.

Girl Crazy

T1 promised Matt that he would not ask Bianca out again since she has already told him no so many times. He also said that when he gets to 6th grade he plans to ask out every single girl he likes and that he's going to "stack them up and have a buffet".

WHAT IN THE HECK IS HE SAYING?

Houston, we have a problem!

T2's First Day of School

T2 started pre-pre-preschool today; can you believe it? Apparently, all went well. He didn't cry when Matt left this morning, even though he did seem a little sad. The teacher said he had a hard time sharing a few times, but that he was generally happy throughout the day. Given his age, T2 is a man of few words, but Matt did try and pull some information out of him.

Matt: Did you have fun?

T2: Yes.

Matt: Did you play with Elaine?

T2: Yes.

Matt: Did you color?

T2: Yes.

Matt: Did you play with play-doh?

T2: Yes.

...and that's about it for that engaging dialogue. I'm just thrilled that everything went well and I am so excited about the benefits this program will have for T2. Here are a couple of pictures we took before school this morning:

One more thing... Matt told me that he had to give T2 two baths tonight because T2 somehow managed to get into the vaseline and rub it all over his face and his sheets after Matt had already bathed him. In addition to lathering himself up with the gooey stuff, T2 also did Matt the favor (ha!) of rubbing vaseline all over T3's face. Hearing of these events after the fact is hilarious, but I'm sure Matt would disagree! I'll try to banish the image in my head of Burt Reynolds in the movie Striptease!

"That's when I was young and foolish..."

That's what T1 said to me this evening when he was looking at a picture of himself from summer 2007. Do you think you're old and wise at the ripe age of 9 years old? Come on now, T1, get real! Wasn't it you who two days ago wrote in huge bubble letters the word GREECE and taped it to your bedroom wall? Wasn't it you who was so hyped over your first bottle of cologne that you sprayed it all over your body, your brothers, your blanket, and the bandana that's hanging on your wall? I love you, dear, but rest assured that "young and foolish" is all around you and I recommend you enjoy every moment of it!

Rambling

Two-year olds talk so cute. T2 calls me "mahney", Marcus is "Marsik" and Grandma Sara is "gana sana". I know my description doesn't do it justice, but these names are really adorable. I almost don't even want to correct him.

On a different note, I got a new lens for my camera because the "upgrade" I made a few months back didn't prove worthwhile. I'm not sure I like it yet, but here are a few pictures I took in our backyard earlier today.

Matt killed the wasps in the picture above shortly after we discovered them. There were probably 50+ of them. In addition to the lizards and wasps we came across today, we also found a frog in the house. I'm not quite sure how the little guy got in, but we discovered him just outside our playroom hours after we had come in from outside. T1 scooped him up and threw him back outside before the cat pounced and ate him for dinner.

It's 11:30 and T1 is awake and trying to sneak some more time in with the Disney channel (Hannah Montana, no doubt), so I better go crack the whip (yeah right). It's too late!

More School News

During recess today, T1 had his friend RJ ask Bianca if she would "go out" with him even though he already has a girlfriend (remember Kaitlyn?). Much to his disappointment, Bianca's reply was "no way, no way, no way!". Oh well, he'll probably try again next week and the week after that and the week after that...

Bianca won't ever go out with T1 if he doesn't take care of one small issue. After recess, RJ (T1's closest friend at school) told T1 that he sort of smelled. :( T1's been wearing deodorant since he was 7 (or was it 6?), but maybe he hasn't been applying enough. Tonight we had him show us how he applies "deo" for his "b.o." and it looks like he may have been applying it too sparsely. We showed him how to get more coverage and are hopeful that he will now be able to mask his manliness (smile).

On a different note, someone once told me that if I wanted to get my children to open up and talk more then all I needed to do was get them in the car and drive. Apparently, kids just can't stay quiet if they are locked in a car with you with nothing else competing for their attention. I decided to try this approach since I got little to nothing out of T1 last night about his first day of school. In doing so, I ended up gleaning a bit more about how school is going. Overall, it appears his teachers are nice and have good control over their classrooms. He's already getting a decent amount of homework and the content doesn't seem out of reach for him. Also, he's very excited about the friends he has this year. He has a genuine enthusiasm and I hope it carries through the year.

Not So Fast

I had to laugh. Within hours of posting the blog about how quickly my boys were growing up, I checked on T1 as he was sleeping and found him clutching a stuffed animal. (He'd kill me if he knew I outed him!) I guess he's still a little guy at heart and I suppose he'll always be my baby.

Today was T1's first day of school and everything went well. It was a normal first day, not too much going on other than introductions, rules, etc. Of course, pulling information out of him was like pulling teeth.

Growing Up

So, T1 starts school in 2 days and guess what? His face broke out for the first time! It's not too bad, but he does have three pimples. T1 hasn't said anything, so I hope he's not bothered by this first blush of acne. It's something most of us have to deal with, but the timing couldn't be worse. Maybe breakouts aren't as agonizing for boys like they are for girls (at least this girl)? Let's hope not because there will be a lot of girl "friends" in his class this year - Bianca, Desiree, Kaitlyn, and Elaine to name a few. Pimples aside, this should be a good year for my T-man!

On a related "growing up" note, T2 has a ton of leg hair! What's up with that? I would bet money that he has as much leg hair as T1. Is that odd? (Have I already blogged about this? I feel like I have. Hmmm...)

T3 has been having a blast hanging with his big brothers lately. He follows them around and copies much of what they do. He tried to repeat what others are saying and he's making a lot of noises that sound a lot like words and is definitely saying a couple of words clearly. I can't believe he's approaching the toddler years already!

T2's Trauma

Okay, so I'm identifying a trend in my blogging habits. It seems I blog more frequently when I have school work to complete, something I am guilty of tonight. I'm such the procrastinator!

On my way home from school tonight, I called Matt and listened to him recount his day with the boys and all that I missed out on while at work and school. :( Tonight I learned that Matt locked himself and the boys out of the house when they went on a walk this evening and Lisa had to drive over 40 miles to bring Matt a spare key. (Thank you, Lisa!) While on their walk, T2 was walking ahead of the bunch on a street in our neighborhood where there are no houses built yet. In preparation for future home buiding, the land has been rattled pretty good and all kinds of critters are out and about, particularly after the thunderstorms we've had the last couple of days. While on this trek, T2 started to scream and dropped something. Matt rushed to where he was and discovered that T2 had found and picked up a turtle. Matt asked if the turtle bit him and T2 said yes, although Matt suspects what really happened was that the turtle's legs came out and scratched T2 when he was holding him. Apparently, T2 seriously freaked out, so much so that a stranger pulled over and asked Matt if he needed help. After some distance had been placed between T2 and the turtle and after some coaxing, T2 eventually calmed down enough to look at the turtle and say goodbye to it when they walked away. T2 loves animals so much, so I hope this encounter doesn't create a fear he doesn't overcome.

On another note, when I got home from school this evening, I walked into Matt explaining to T1 how babies are made. I think T1 will be exposed to sex-ed in school this year, so I guess Matt didn't jump the gun too much. This came about because earlier this evening when Lisa came over, T1 mentioned to Matt and Lisa how he thought babies were made and he was very wrong. (How this came up at all, I'm still unsure...) However, his thinking was graphic enough that Matt thought it best he not be left with that false understanding and that it would be better if T1 knew the truth. Overall, T1 thought the whole thing was funny and weird and didn't make too big a deal about it.

Well, I'm off to focus on my paper again. Fun. Not.

Catching Up

Life has been busy, but not necessarily eventful lately. Between work, school, and the kiddos, I've had very little time and energy to blog lately. As a matter of fact, I have a paper I need to write and a final I need to study for, but I'm procrastinating a bit by writing this blog and watching the Olympics.

Can you believe T1's school starts in a week? His district has rezoned the local elementary schools so T1 will be at a new campus this year with new kids. We're excited for school to start so we can see who his teacher will be and what friends he'll have. Gosh, I hope this year is as good as last year. Time will tell... Meet the Teacher is later this week, so we should get a jump start on all that good stuff soon enough. In addition to school starting, T1 will start soccer tomorrow evening. We're sort of surprised that he didn't want to play football or baseball again, but we're looking forward to soccer this season. We ponied up and paid extra money to put him on a higher level team that hires qualified coaches and offers better training than the teams he's been on so far. Hopefully, this step will make major losses a thing of the past.

Although I think he's calming down a little bit, T2 has been up to his usual antics lately. He's voluntarily saying sorry and giving kisses now when he gets too rough with T3 or others. He also seems a little less clingy to Matt. Unfortunately, he's showing no/zero/zilch interest in potty training. Wait, I take that back -- if you count putting the training potty on your head and wearing it like a hat, then yes, he has some interest. He's been eating poorly lately. I don't know why, but his appetite seems to have completely dissipated. We talked to the doctor about it and he said not to worry unless it affects his growth and recommend giving PediaSure instead of milk to assure he gets all of the required minerals and vitamins. We did figure out one way to get him to eat a little.... He loves dinosaurs and CostCo sells chicken nuggets shaped like dinosaurs. After watching him eat the dinosaur nuggets, we tried with some luck convincing him that other foods were also shaped like dinosaurs. So, by trick or trade we hope to keep him eating and growing like a normal 2-year old.

T3 had his 1-year check up the other day and he weighs 24 lbs 12 oz and is bigger than 7 out of 10 boys. Despite this, he's surprisingly the smallest baby we've had. While we were there, he received 3 shots, but handled them relatively well. We asked the doctor about how frequently he has been falling and he said that it was typical of his age and not to worry. On that note, I'm pleased to report that he has fewer bumps and bruises than last weekend. I guess he just had a bad run there for a few days. One of his favorite activities lately is dancing. It is so cute! He sticks his right arm behind him and makes repeated right turns until he's too dizzy to continue. Any song that comes on, whether it be a quick commercial, a nursery rhyme, or one of Matt's country songs, triggers T3 to start shakin' his groove thang! :)

Well, I've written too long and need to go write my paper. Ugh...

Mask

Do you remember the movie Mask from 1985 where Cher portrayed the mother of son with a facial deformity (played by Eric Stoltz)? Well, I thought of that movie and, in particular, the character named Rocky Dennis when I came home from work today. As I came in the house after a long day of work, Matt whisked by me as he was leaving for work, gave me a quick kiss, and handed me a baby that looked like this:







I was thinking "what the ?????!" Well, apparently T3 has fallen 4 times today and he has 3 bumps/bruises on his forehead that resemble the character above. No kidding. Well, I gotta go. My crazy, dizzy, clumsy boys are vying for attention. Have a great weekend!

Tons of Summer Fun

We picked up T1 from camp this past Saturday. It's really hard to have him gone for so long, but he had a blast as expected. Unfortunately for us, he picked up a habit of spitting every 30 seconds and he also acquired an affinity for poker (so he says...). On the bright side, however, he did use soap and brush his teeth this year. Score one for mom! T1 made some good friends that he'll hopefully get to see again next summer. His favorite activity this year was mountain biking, but he also enjoyed horseback riding, Indian lore, nature crafts, swimming, tennis, adventure sports, and several other outdoor activities. Here are a few pictures from his camp experience:

The day after we brought T1 home, we celebrated T3's birthday with pizza, cake, and family. T1 helped open presents and he tore through them like a bull out of a chute, but T2 and T3 were able to get their hands on the goodies and they sure were thrilled with the gifts received. They also ate a ton of cake (okay, so we all did) and, of course, even ended up wearing some of the cake. I can't believe my baby is 1 year old already. Where is the time going?

Resilient or stubborn?

I am forecasting that T3 is either going to be one of the most resilient or one of the most stubborn people I know. Given our family history of stubbornness (has anyone met my husband or my dad? smile...), I would almost guarantee that he'll land on the stubborn side. You can pull him away from the dog food and water bowls 10 times and each and every time he will immediately go right back to those stupid dog bowls. He's also discovered the cat litter box. Super ick, right? Well, you can divert him from the litter box 10 times and each time he'll try to get back to the litter box. He definitely challenges our patience!


On another note, T3 has discovered a love of sunglasses. He's also started wearing T2's cowboy hats and has shown an interest in T2's cowboy boots. Oh yeah, he's also eating crayons. Smells terrific on his breath...not. Check out our cool, stubborn guy below:

T1 Enjoying Camp

Matt and I took T1 to camp today. I totally embarrassed him by telling his counselor that he better brush his teeth and shower (including the use of soap) every day. Recall that last year T1 didn't smell too hot when we picked him up and when we brought it to his attention, he grinned broadly and gushed that he had only used soap and brushed his teeth a handful of times. Repulsive, right? Well, my goal today was to shame him into cleanliness and I think I succeeded! After that embarrassing moment and a few pictures, we left our big baby and came home. :( While we are going to miss T1 like crazy, he's going to have a blast! Here are a couple of pictures from our journey to camp. I've also included a few from our outing to the zoo with Uncle "J" this weekend. Enjoy!

Vacation Reflections

Hello again! I'm sorry I haven't blogged in a while, but we took a family vacation and we've been crazy busy adjusting to normal life again. We took the trailer to Natchez, TN and Daisy, AR. Both places are extremely rural, so much so that we didn't have access to the Internet or cell phones the whole time we were there. It was TERRIFIC and REFRESHING! Surprisingly, we made the 2-day trip with the 3 boys without the use of a DVD player in the truck. We only had music, the world outside our car windows, books, and each others' company to keep us entertained while we drove (and drove and drove...). On day two of our drive, T1 started asking "How much longer?" too often, so Matt and I told him we were going to stop in every town to get out of the car and kiss (T1 hates it when Matt and I kiss, hug, or do anything that hints at PDA). After that, T1 stopped asking. :)

We vacationed with our close friends from Maryland. They had just purchased an RV and we were in adjacent campsites the whole time. It was the first time T1 had seen Jacob and Julia (the children of our close friends and T1's best friends) in over two years, but they instantly meshed well with each other, almost as if no time had passed since they last saw each other. It was wonderful seeing their excitement to get to play together again. Throughout the week, we swam, fished, rode bikes, went on a trail ride with horses, hiked, and rented paddle boats and a party barge. In the evenings, we would all eat dinner together on the picnic tables between our camp sites, make smores, play with sparklers and glow necklaces. The whole week was absolutely a blast, one of the best times of my life.

It seems like T2 and T3 grew up so much on the trip. T2 was talking so much and acting more like a child than a toddler or baby. T3 started walking excellently, almost running. He's pointing, clapping, dancing, and I swear he's trying to talk. They are both growing up so fast!

What were some of the more memorable moments? Hmmm...

• Every time Matt got in the lakes, fish were biting him. The fish wouldn't bite anyone else, but they swarmed Matt and bit him. He was bit in 3 different lakes. Weird, huh?
• We were hanging out in our friends' RV and T3 was able to reach a cup of hot tea that was on the edge of the table and spilled it on his face. Thanks goodness our friend, Beth, drinks her "hot" tea so slowly because it had been out for a long time when this happened and the tea was only luke warm. That was really scary.
• T1 and Jacob were swimming in the lake and a 4-5 foot snake swam by them at one point. Freaky yuk!
• We got to eat blackberries right off the vine when we were on the trail ride (as long as your horse led you close enough to the vine).
• The horses got up to a trot/gallop a couple of times and my hiney was so sore the next day!
• There were little rainstorms everyday and one day a gust of wind surprised us and broke our awning by throwing it backwards over the top of the trailer. It's going to cost $500 to fix it. UGH. Funny the lawn chairs that were 15 feet from the trailer didn't move an inch when the awning blew over.
• Julia read to T2 several times. They really bonded; it was adorable.
• T2 started putting his head under water all by himself for the first time. He does a great job holding his breath, but he refuses to close his eyes.
• T3 choked twice at dinner and I had to do the Heimlich maneuver once. It was terrifying. I never want to be in that position again.
• We celebrated Matt's birthday during the trip and I seriously messed up his birthday cake. The bottom was burnt black and the top was soupy. Oh, the perils of cooking in a travel trailer...

I could go on and on about the trip, but I think you get the gist. It was awesome for us to spend this time together as a family and reconnect with our wonderful friends from Maryland. I can't wait to do it again!

A Moment to Breathe

I'm sorry for not blogging sooner, but things feel extraordinarily crazy lately. Thank goodness for this moment to relax (shhh... don't tell Matt!). T2 and T3 are down for a nap and T1 is at a movie with his funky unky (uncle Jared). It took the little ones over 30 minutes to go down for their naps, but surprisingly it wasn't T2's fault. T3 really fought the nap, crying for over 30 minutes and I only went in there to comfort him every 10 minutes. What was funny is that I could hear T2, the one who usually fights taking naps, saying "shhhh!" to T3 several times.

So, T1 went to church camp for a week recently. Wednesday was family night, so Matt and I packed up the little ones and drove to the camp so we could spend a few hours with our big guy. Surprisingly, not many parents were there, leaving T1's friends "parent-less" and T1 feeling burdened by our presence because he couldn't hang with his friends. He hung out with us for a few minutes, but he was really anxious to be with his friends. At one point we asked T1 to show us his cabin and he almost started crying because his friends were in the cabin and he was scared T2 was going to embarrass him. Weird. He eventually warmed up and showed us around the camp, played a few games of tether ball, shared snacks with us, and played with his little brothers for a little while. We all ended up having a good time.

T2 is up to his usual antics. I mentioned his use of the word 'dinosaur' in a recent post because there were a few days there where every time he was in trouble he would look at you and say "dinosaur!". Why? I don't know, but it went like this:
Me: "T2, stop picking your nose!"
T2: "Dinosaur!"

Me: "T2, don't run your little brother over with the wagon!"
T2: "Dinosaur!"

Me: "T2, stop throwing balls in the house!"
T2: "Dinosaur!"

Me: "T2, don't give your food to the dogs!"
T2: "Dinosaur!"

You get the drift. He later added the following to his response when getting in trouble: "Roar! Grrrr! Shhhh!" He has since dropped the use of "Dinosaur", but he's still saying "Roar! Grrr! Shhh!" regularly. Yesterday, after having already put him in timeout for doing something (I don't even remember what for), I asked him "Do you want to get in trouble again?" to which he gleefully replied "Yes!". I tried not to laugh, but...

So you saw below that T3 took his first steps, right? Well, crawling is still the preferred method of getting around, but he is starting to walk more and more. Up until yesterday, he had really only walked when prompted, but yesterday he started walking on his own as he was chasing a ball, reaching for his toy shopping cart, and following T2. His little chunky legs need to get stronger before he's able to walk proficiently, but he's making great progress and I'm thrilled for him. He's also started waving goodbye and giving kisses. He's a little under the weather right now, so his kisses are flavored with flem, but they are so sweet nonetheless. Open mouth, of course! :)

Before I go, I'd like to share that I'm watching a rerun of an Oprah show that is incredibly moving. The major guest on the show is Randy Pausch, a professor at Carnegie Mellon who only has a few months to live because he's dying of pancreatic cancer. His last lecture was rich in life lessons and inspiration to be a better parent and spouse. It's available on You Tube, so check it out when you get a chance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo -- you won't be disappointed.

Boy, are we going to have our hands full now!

T3 took his first steps yesterday!

Crazy Times

Today is Father's Day, so before I blog, I'd like to recognize the wonderful fathers in my life. Matt, my husband, is such a terrific hands-on father. He is constantly looking to engage our children in learning, teach them how to be respectful, and show them how to have a good time. As a result, he has a strong relationship and wonderful bond with our boys. Matt's influence and values are exhibited in T1's healthy understanding of his responsibility to family, the environment, nature, and society in general. T2 and T3 will likely be just as terrific because of Matt's influence in their lives. My own father is also a joyous and caring man. He's wonderful with my boys and Matt and I thoroughly enjoy spending time with him. He's always been patient, supportive, and proud of our family and we are grateful for his presence in our lives. Happy Father's Day, Matt and Dad! I love you!

Onto the blog.... Well, we've had some good times and bad times lately. On the positive side, Matt's mom got married and, in doing so, expanded our family to include a very nice, fun, and caring man. Here's a picture from the wedding:


Unfortunately, amidst the wedding excitement my grandmother has been in and out of the hospital dealing with some major complications that originated from a relatively minor injury. She is such a loving and vibrant grandmother and great-grandmother (she's also feisty and bullheaded, but don't tell her I said that!), so please pray for a full recovery because we want to create many more memories with her. T1 has visited her a couple of times, but she's in ICU now and he's too young to visit the ICU. When he visited her, he demonstrated a level of maturity I didn't know he had. Despite the severity of the situation, he stood at her side and held her hand, unwavered by the machines and tubes she was hooked up to, and was calm and comforting as he talked to her as if nothing was wrong. She was so happy and I was so proud.

Tonight when Matt and I tucked T1 in for bed, he asked us to stay in the room while he prayed. It was such a sweet prayer. He started out thanking God for his family, Rene, and Lofton's family (his words). He asked God to forgive those who don't believe in Him, and he prayed for MamMa to be out of pain and start feeling better soon. It was such a sweet moment. It made me wonder why I'm so shy to pray in front of him. I pray every night, but I pray silent and alone. I'm thinking that Matt and I would really foster T1's spiritual growth if we would "man up" and pray out loud with each other and with our children. If anyone has any suggestions to help in this regard, I'd love to hear them.

Today I went through all of T1's papers from school and found some pretty funny things. Here's a poem he wrote that I had never seen:

My mom is so sweet

My mom makes the best treat

She fills my heart with joy

And she's not a boy.

Isn't that cute? Here's another one (typed exactly as it was written):

River

fun, Fantastic

Swimming, playing, splashing

rock, fish, mino, water

watting, floating, laughing

fast, slow

Water

On another note, T3 stood alone for about 10 seconds today. I screamed so loud with excitement that I scared him and he started crying. :( I predict he'll take his first steps in the next 3-4 weeks and definitely before his first birthday. Stay tuned... Also, he recently had 4 teeth break through the gums. We are so thrilled because he's not in pain anymore and we're now finally sleeping through the night consistently.

I'm too tired and this blog is too long already, so I'll hold off on sharing the latest on T2, but don't let me forget to tell you about his use of the word 'dinosaur'. The mind of a 2-year old is a weird and funny thing. Until then, here's a picture of him licking the window at Matt's mom's wedding reception. Ick!

WWF, chaos, creeping, girlfriends, and the like...

We're not fans of WWF, but I think T2 must have been exposed to it in a former life. The reason I say this is because this morning he was picking up chairs and throwing them across the toy room. He also picked up his child shopping cart and threw it across the room. He, of course, had the biggest smile on his face as he did this.

A few minutes later, our entire family was in the toy room. Before long, T1 was being loud, T2 was throwing things, and T3 was crying. It was so loud, messy, and crazy that Matt and I could do nothing but laugh. Believe it or not, Matt says this kind of chaos is typical now that T1 is out of school. It's amazing how one extra person in the house can completely alter your sense of normalcy.

T2 and T3 are supposed to be napping right now, but T2 is crawling out of bed repeatedly. Matt, thinking he can control the situation, has taken to lying on their bedroom floor until both boys are asleep. This can last upwards of 45 minutes. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem Matt is too effective in this practice. In my observation, it seems Matt lies down and T2 strategically waits for Matt to doze off and then he creeps out of bed and runs out of the room. A few minutes ago I found T2 in the kitchen when he was supposed to be in bed. I picked him up (he started fake snoring as soon as he was in my arms) and put him back in the bed in his bedroom. Matt was asleep on the floor. I woke Matt up and he laughed at what happened. Not 10 minutes later Matt dozed off again and T2 tried to creep by him again. This time T2 accidentally woke Matt up by hitting his leg and T2's adventure was cut short. Believe it or not, T3 can sleep through all of T2's antics.

Did I tell you T1 has a new girlfriend? Shelby broke up with him again and a day later T1 had asked Kaitlyn, a fellow safety patrol, to be his girlfriend. Kaitlyn took a day to think about it and then agreed to be his girlfriend. She goes to our church, so this has given T1 another reason to be excited to go to church.

Well, I better go now. We just found T2 hiding behind the curtains in the front room. Yes, he is supposed to be in bed. Yes, we're getting frustrated.

Boy With Hair of the Sun

T1 is into Indian stuff again (Native American, not India the country). I'm not quite sure what brought it on, but he's been reading books about Indians and talking about Indians and Indian stuff non-stop today. One of the books he was reading had a story about an Indian named 'Boy With Hair of the Sun'. We then started thinking of potential names for our kiddos if they were Indians. Here are a few:

• T1 could be... Boy of Many Girlfriends, Boy With Head for Big Brains, Boy With a Stank Like a Pig (only when he forgets DO for his BO!)
• T2 could be... Boy With Hair of the Sun (like the Indian in the story Tyler read), Boy That Always Wears Boots, Boy That Bites Like a Bear
• T3 could be... Boy With the Loud Scream, Boy With Eyes of the Sea, Boy With Curiosity Like a Cat

Silly, huh?

Big Time Bragging!

Guess what? T1 got straight A's again! With the exception of one B in the third grading period, T1 had all A's for the entire year. He also got almost all E's (for excellent) in conduct during this grading period (he had one S (for satisfactory)). Overall for the year, he had 21 E's and 3 S's. I'm so darned proud of him for having such an awesome school year!

While I'm bragging on T1, I'll also share something that made me proud of him the other night. He and Matt went to the hardware store and he begged Matt to buy him a trash picker upper (you know, like a long claw). Matt gave in and bought it and T1 was thrilled. He's now begging us to take him to the park so he can pick up trash again. What a great citizen!

Oh yeah, and he wants to be an Oprah Ambassador so he can help build schools and water wells in Africa. He has such a kind and genuine soul!

To celebrate, we're going to visit Rene this weekend and take T1 to Six Flags. Should be a blast!

Whoo hoo!

Carrots and Cheerios

Matt told me something funny about T2 tonight. Apparently, he's taken a liking to sliced canned carrots. Yuk, I know. However, he won't eat all of the carrots. If the carrot slice is broken at all (i.e. if it's not a perfect circle), then T2 sets it aside and refuses to eat it. He's had sliced carrots 3 times this week and he's sorted them and refused to eat the broken ones each time.

On a similar note, he sorts Fruit Cheerios (or Fruit Loops) by color and won't eat the green or blue ones.

He's so weird.

Can someone please tell my children that...

• toilet paper is not food?
• it's not clean to crawl around the toilet?
• smacking your brother isn't funny?
• dog food is not for human consumption?
• the dog water bowl is not a mini swimming pool?
• it is not cool to cry all Memorial Day weekend?
• it is cool to start sleeping at night?
• our dog, Rusty, is not a jungle gym?
• sharing is a good thing?
• putting tree sap in your hair is not temporary?
• biting doesn't solve anything?
• having your diaper changed is a good thing?
• listening to Sexy Back a thousand times is annoying?
• listening to The Armadillo Jackal a thousand times is annoying?
• you can't communicate in grunts?
• making fart noises with your arm pits is not funny? (Well, maybe it is funny the first time.)
• coffee tables are not for carving in?
• walls are not for coloring on?
• food is not for throwing?
• balls, bats, and sticks do not belong in the house?
• shoving any and everything in your mouth serves no purpose other than keeping your parents nervous and up-to-date on the Heimlich maneuver?

Can someone also tell them that...

• their big blue eyes are beautiful?
• their huge grins bring us such joy?
• we love listening to stories about school and friends?
• we love hearing them talk about their dreams and aspirations incessantly?
• we love watching them grow and learn?
• they are surrounded by many fantastic people who adore them?
• their mom and dad are insanely crazy about them and we thank God every night for the happiness they bring us?

Roadkill

Okay, so I'm sort of embarrassed to admit this, but it's kind of funny. I've been playing nursery rhymes for T2 and T3 lately and they really aren't into it. Instead, T2 is showing favor towards Robert Earl Keen. His favorite REK song is about a man who wants to kill and sell roadkill so he can buy belts and boots for a rodeo. As this man is on a roadkill rampage one night, he ends up crashing and burning his car and dying. Well, T2 loves this song! He sings the chorus and portions of the verses. As soon as the song ends, T2 says "more more". So, we listen again... My family is so weird. Read the lyrics to T2's favorite song and then look at a couple of silly pictures of T2 and T3 below.

The Armadillo Jackal

By Robert Earl Keen

The evening sun was sinkin' down, a chill north wind a-blows

The new-plowed ground was coolin' fast, the river rolls and flows

Beneath the two-lane concrete river bridge

between my place and town

On that hot-bed Farm to Market road they call 1291

I'm sayin' son you'll see me searchin'; sizzlin' down that broad highway

Dollar signs in both my eyes, I'm seekin' out my prey.

I'm prayin' "Jesus, will you send me just another three or four?"

They pay two-fifty down in Halletsville, 3 dollars, maybe more.

And more than likely they'll be out tonight a-wanderin' from the farms;

Waddlin' down 1291 to keep their bodies warm.

I'm talking walkin' belts and neckties, and boots for rodeo;

They don't run too fast, don't waste much gas. I'm makin' lots o'dough.

The armadillo....o....o...o

The armadillo....o....o...o

The armadillo never sees me when I hit him with my brights.

His life don't flash before his eyes, he's blinded by my lights

and so I hit him with my bumper doin' sixty, sixty-five;

they take 'em frozen down in Halletsville

They don't take 'em alive.

The jackal cri....i....i...ied

The jackal cri....i....i...ied

The jackal cried, "Look there's two of them a-walkin' down the line.

I can't believe my luck tonight this here makes twenty-nine!"

And so he rolled the first one runnin'. The second was too fast.

His breaks and laughter squealin' as he stomped down on the gas.

Good-God, his car was sideways flyin',

when the bridge wall met his door.

The impact shook the river bed his foot went through the floor

Forevermore....or....or...ore

Forevermore....or....or....ore

Forevermore was his last moment from the bridge wall to the stream;

from the speckled blood around his smile a-spewin' gasoline.

And then he screamed his raspy epitaph, before he turned to flame:

"They pay two-fiftydown in Halletsville.... I ain't the one to blame....."

Ain't it a sha....a....a...ame

The jackal cri....i....i...ied

The armadillo....o....o...o

The armadillo....o....o...o(repeat until fade)

T1 the Trashman

T1 made me so proud tonight. We decided to go to the park tonight and before we left the house T1 asked if he could pick up trash while at the park. Not wanting to deter a good deed, I said that was fine and told him to grab a trash bag and plastic gloves. When we got there he was very serious about picking up the trash, commenting frequently how disgusted he was with people who litter and smokers who through their cigarette (pronounced "cigret") butts on the ground. He filled up his trash bag and emptied it in the trashcan over and over so he could pick up more trash. He used long sticks to bring trash out of the pond and he even waded in the water a few times so he could grab some trash in the water that he couldn't reach with the stick. When we were ready to go, he asked when he could come back and pick up trash again. He's awesome, isn't he? A few times he commented that his friends would call him a dork if they saw him doing this, but I disagreed. I told him they would probably respect him for doing it and may even follow his good example. He doubted me at first, but then this young all-American college couple (people that T1 would look up to on the surface) watched him for a while and made a point to tell me how great it was that he was doing that. I replied that the timing of their comment was perfect because T1 was scared people would think he was weird. They joked that they first thought I was punishing him for something, but then realized he was doing it out of the goodness of his heart and they were very impressed. I, too, was very impressed. What a wonderful soul!