High Waters

Today, I was starting to leave the house to bring Jackson to school.  Because you can't just leave the house with a toddler and almost toddler in tow without it being a process.  Jackson was actually being helpful with Cullen by giving him his milk and leading him toward the door.  As he said, "Jackson's being nice."  Ah, my ever 'helpful' boy.

I'm headed toward the door when I look down at the boys.  That's when I notice it.  I couldn't notice it early while dressing him or even when I put his shoes and socks on.  Nope, I had to find it when we are walking out the door to preschool.  Jackson is wearing high water pants.  You can clearly see some sock and the top of his shoes.  Did he grow 2 inches over night or something?  Guess I need to get him some new pants!

Battle Scars

Cullen took a nasty tumble last night.  He decided to try something he shouldn't have while my back was turned for a second.  It was a real shocker Cullen tried this while I wasn't looking (insert a copious amount of sarcasm).

Cullen was a trooper and only cried for a few minutes, then wanted back outside to run around play with his brother.  Here he is proudly showing off his battle scars today.

Fishing for Hidden Treasure

Yesterday, Jackson was on the potty doing his business.  I always close the door until there is a sliver of a crack to give him privacy and say, "Call for me when you're done."  Jackson's call came, and I answered (what a diligent mom I am!).

He kept pointing to the toilet water saying, "Look!"  What I expected to see in the toilet water was not there.  Upon further pointing and inspection, I found what Jackson was pointing to.  A Matchbox car.  Yes, he had dropped a Matchbox car into the potty.  "Okay, I can get this out", I thought.

As I'm gearing up to stick my hand in the toilet, Jackson decided to pee.  Great!  Before I only had to think and imagine the water was clean.  Now, I saw the reality of sticking my hand into dirty toilet water to get his Matchbox car out before it accidentally got flushed and clogged the toilet.

"I got this," I said to myself.  I plunged my hand in and successfully retrieved the car!  Whoop!  Next thing on the agenda, sterilizing my hand and the car.

Later that night, I'm recounting this story to Andrew when we hear a thud followed by crying.  Andrew and I turn around to find Cullen (who was sitting in the container holding the wooden blocks) had fallen over and gotten stuck within the container.  Being the good parents we are, we start laughing.  After a few seconds, I compose myself enough to go retrieve Cullen out from under the blocks.  He was fine, but we got a good laugh out of it.

Today's Lesson: When life gives you a car in a toilet, go fishing!

What's that Mommy?

Yesterday morning, I woke up early to shower and get dressed.  Jackson had preschool, and I had errands to run.  I wanted to start functioning earlier than the boys to get things running smoothly.

I was standing at my sink getting ready when Jackson walked into my bathroom with a warm smile saying, "Morning Mommy!"  I was turning around to see him when my towel fell off.  No big deal.

I was right until Jackson got this look of confusion on his face pointed to a specific area of my body and said, "What's that Mommy?  Where's your Jackson? What's that?!"

Trying not to laugh and covering up, I took the Kindergarten Cop approach to answering the question.  Love that movie!  I figured honesty was the best policy.  I looked at him and said, "Boys have a penis, and girls have a vagina.  Mommy's a girl, and you are a boy."  Of course I went through a little explanation of this as best as I could for a two year old.  Jackson just continued with his confused look.  Eventually, he decided he was bored with his twenty question game and took off to play.

I knew this day was coming.  I knew one day he would walk in on me and be mortified or start with the questions.  I just assumed I had a little more time.  Apparently, I was wrong.

Albeit during this whole conversation, Andrew was hanging out just outside the bathroom door, eating his breakfast, and trying not to laugh.  When I saw him, all I could thing was, "Isn't this his job to explain?"

Welcome to the wonderful world of parenting where awkward questions are all abound!

Spring Break Week

It was Spring Break this week in our household which meant no preschool for Jackson.  The weekend started off with bang with a visit from Grandpa (my Dad).  Grandpa happened to travel for business relatively close to us, so he decided to drop by for a weekend visit.  Too bad a monsoon moved through the area, it rained heavily the entire time he was here.  It only cleared up a few hours before Grandpa's flight left.  The boys loved playing and wrestling with their Grandpa.  Although, Grandpa had to invest in pain reliever after his rough housing with the boys.



Jackson painting an egg.

The week started off well.  We ran our normal errands to ensure we had food in the house.  That's always important.  We did a couple of crafts, coloring, playing, and even cooking.

After all of this, the boys got sick.  It started off with runny noses and progressed to low grade fevers.  It's a virus that needs to move through.  Cullen got it first, then graciously gave it to Jackson.  Everyone was getting better, but it seems to have hit Jackson for a second time.  We are playing it low key at the house to give everyone rest.


Making Ricee Krispie Treats

Overall, it was an enjoyable week.  I liked having the boys home and playing together.  I wish we could have done more, but we did well with the cards we were dealt.

Get back here!

Yesterday, we had lawn guys come to aerate the lawn.  After the scorcher last summer and two kids trampling the lawn, our lawn needed a little TLC.

It was later in the afternoon when they arrived.  The guys needed to mark our sprinklers so they wouldn't be damaged.  I brought the dogs and kids inside.  I was in the backyard picking up the few toys left.  I had just finished and come inside.  I realized I had left my and the boys' water on the back porch.  I opened the back door to grab them, and Thibie darted out at a full run.

I immediately start running after her down the back porch stairs.  I see one of the guys in the backyard, and it strikes me the back gate is open.  Thibie is running, turns the corner, and races through the gate into the front yard.  I'm hauling ass after her praying she doesn't run in the street.  All the while I'm screaming, "Thibie get back here now!"

As I'm getting ready to turn the corner to run through the gate, I hear the sprinklers coming on.  I get sprayed dead center in the chest and legs by the sprinkler right by the back gate.  Of course they turn on that specific zone as I'm running through it to get the dog!  Damn dog is the only thought going through my mind.

Thibie runs into the front yard, then takes a hard left in front of the house.  I'm still running after her, but she decides to stop and smell the mulch Andrew just put down in the front garden.  I stop and yell, "Thibie get inside now!"  Luckily, Thibie has the fear of god in her when in comes to me.  She runs to the front door which I open.

One of the lawn guy is in my garage operating the sprinkler system.  He says with a huge grin on his face while chuckling, "Got away from you?"

"Yep," is about all I process at the time.

I was too pissed at the dog to be embarrassed.  Not only did I have a marathon sprint, but I probably looked like a fool.  I'm sure I gave the guys a nice story to bring back and tell their coworkers.

Nothing like running after a dog while getting sprayed by your own sprinkler system to start my week off right!

Cheerios, Cheerios!

A few days ago, Jackson wanted a snack after we ran an errand.  I told him to go pick out something in the pantry while I throw a load of laundry in the dryer.  While in the laundry room, I hear a loud crash.  I come out to find Jackson standing on top of the dog food in the pantry and the Cheerios container empty with Cheerios everywhere on the floor.

He must have wanted Cheerios pretty badly.  As upset as I was, I couldn't help but laugh and grab the camera when he started eating Cheerios off the ground.

Tree Planting

Andrew and I have been wanting to plant a fourth tree in the backyard for awhile now.  We can't exactly remember the reason why we didn't go ahead and plant one when we planted the other three.  Finally 4 years later, a fourth tree was planted yesterday in the backyard.

Yesterday, Andrew, Jackson, Cullen and I loaded up into both cars and went to Home Depot.  The Home Depot trip was adventurous in itself.  I was chasing Jackson around the Garden Center while Andrew (with Cullen's help) loaded up 8 bags of topsoil and compost and the 10 gallon Crepe Myrtle on a cart.  After capturing Jackson and steering him back, Andrew asked me to grab another cart and start loading bags of mulch.  I loaded up 14 bags of mulch with Jackson 'supervising.'  Cullen was a big help to Andrew as well when he ran in between pallets of bags in which Andrew could't fit between.  While I'm loading the mulch, I hear Andrew coaxing Cullen out of his 'hiding space.'

After getting our carts loaded, we head to check out, but neither one of us can push the load of mulch.  It's just too heavy.  I'm dying laughing at the ridiculousness of this because we look like a comedy routine.  We finally checkout.  Two wonderful Home Depot employees help us load up our 2 sedan cars.  Yes, we were low riding all the way home.

Andrew and I brought everything into the backyard to start planting the tree.  Cullen, Jackson and both dogs decided to help.  Instead of helping to dig, my job became keeps the kids away from the shovel, till, and pick ax.  Cullen was definitely easier to manage.  Jackson kept jumping over the hole the entire time Andrew was digging.  I had to physically pull him away when the pick ax was being used.  The dogs barked, started digging in the dirt, dug in the dirt already shoveled out, and tried attacking the shovel and pick ax when being used.  It looked like a circus.

After about an hour, I cleaned the kids off the best I could and gave them lunch.  Andrew was able to finish up planting the tree while I had Jackson and Cullen inside.

Poor Andrew was outside for two hours and came in crazy sunburned on his arms and neck.  I told him there is this crazy thing called sunblock.  It's not new, but amazingly helpful for pale as sin people like him.  I don't think he found my comment quite as amusing as I did.

After all of that, the tree was successfully planted!  Thank you Andrew for your manual labor so I could have another tree in the backyard!

Sewing Skillz

Growing up, my Mom made me learn how to sew.  I took a sewing class, watched/helped her sew, learned how to stitch correctly and thread a sewing machine, needlepoint, and cross stitch.  I say made me (although I was going to use the word force but that just seemed a bit harsh) because I never had any interest in it.  I wanted to learn a few things, but never had any real ambition to continue the sewing legacy my Mom received from Grandma.

I remember one time I was doing needle point, and I kept having to rip out stitches because it was wrong.  I was told, "You have to do it right," handed the ripper and told to correct it.  I'm pretty sure I loathed needle point and anything related from that point on.

I may not quilt or sew my own clothing but I have put my sewing skills to use.  I was the inevitable 'bean bag maker' at my previous job.  I think I made at last a dozen.  I've fixed Andrew's pants loops, buttons, and various other clothing issues he's had. 

McQueen successfully sewed back together.

But my sewing skills were of the up most importance last night when Lightening McQueen was losing his fender.  I got my needle and thread out and began to fix McQueen on the insistence of Jackson because he had to play with him.  After 20 minutes, McQueen's fender was back on, and I had a very happy 2 year old.

I have since learned sewing is a skill not many people know, and I'm glad I learned how to do it.  Although I'm not putting my stamp on the sewing legacy of Grandma and I loathed learning how to sew, my skills have come in handy.  Thanks for putting up with my grumpiness about learning Mom!  I may not be saving the world, but at least I can keep my family hole free!