Patrick's Thanksgiving Program

Today was Patrick's Thanksgiving program at school and he all of a sudden decided to get stage fright. He cried all through the two-year-olds' performance and the only way his teacher could get him on stage was to promise to let him hold one of the flags while everyone pledged their allegiance. Here he is unhappily holding the flag for her.

After the pledges, he managed to forlornly stand on stage for one song about eating the turkey, then burst into tears. As everyone watched sympathetically (and we're talking about 100 parents here), his teacher asked him what was wrong and he wailed "That SCARED me!!!!"...so then he had to get down and watch his class do the rest. He was fine afterwards.

At the time I just thought he was being a pill, but having reflected on it, I think he may actually not like to perform for large groups of strangers (imagine that!). I think for the Christmas program I will plan to have him sit on my lap and we will watch together.

Priorities

I guess today at preschool Patrick's activity was to sort through magazines and find pictures of things that he is thankful for. Of all the things in the world, here is what Patrick chooses to give thanks for:
1. Fire boots
2. Puppy dogs

The funny thing is, I am 100% positive that he did not just find two random pictures and slap them in the page. Oh no...he saw those boots and thought "THAT'S what I am thankful for!" I have no idea where I fall in the pecking order, but at least the dogs made the cut...

Happy Birthday to My Baby!

It was a year ago today that I first met my baby boy, and I have to admit that I was very unprepared for the whole experince, even though it was my second child. I had trouble from the very start with him...even in the hospital I let the nurses keep him so I could get some sleep. Then when I came home, the thought of taking care of two needy little boys was completely overwhelming to me.

It's ironic that these two pictures are of him sleeping, because he didn't do a whole lot of that in the beginning. It was really hard for me to squeeze in the "me" time that I had gotten used to with one child. The memories that these pictures conjure up are more stressful than anything. But I could never resist smiling at that precious face!

Playtime with Katie (who kept things in perspective for me)
and starting to bond with big brother.

The arrival of warm weather and sitting up changed a lot for me. Now that he wasn't a helpless, tireless little baby any more, Ben was really becoming fun. I loved it when he started getting responsive and playful.

Hugs for Benjamin!

Turning into such a big boy...and finally buddies with Patrick!

Growing up is tiring work!

At the end of the first year, I wouldn't have traded one tough minute for the adorable little mommy's boy that I have now. Once we got into our groove, he brought me so much joy and cuddliness that I can't image my life without him. His smile is the sight that warms my heart each day and his laugh is the sound that feeds my tired soul. Happy birthday, my sweet baby Ben. I love you sooooo much!

Ben's Birthday Party

We had Ben's 1st birthday party tonight and I can safely say it was not a disaster. I tried to keep it low-key and I think that helped a lot, but I am still too tired for witty play-by-plays, so I'll let the pictures do the talking. Here we have Ben opening presents...

...and of course, the big cake moment (well, cupcakes). Ben looked genuinely confused as everyone sang to him. The look on his face was priceless. Patrick did the candle honors again...

...and then Ben polished off that cupcake in no time!

After we ate the kids went outside and toasted marshmallows in our chiminea. I got this for Luke over three years ago as an anniversary gift, and this is the first time he's used it. Before this it was primarily a way to catch rainwater. I think he was sorry that he waited so long, though, because he was really enjoying it tonight. He was so proud of his HOT fire that he made me take a picture and promise to put it on the blog. Well, it did keep us toasty warm, so we all enjoyed it.

Anyway, as of 1:45 tonight Ben will be a year old (thank God!), so look for a very special birthday post tomorrow! A year ago at this moment, my stomach was really hurting!!!! :)

Fun at the Festival

Today my parents came up and took the kids to our Annual School Bazaar. This has become a tradition over the past three years. While I work at it, my parents get to spend an enjoyable time with the kids. They had a great time. Patrick spent lots of time jumping on the inflatables and both boys won a cake at the cake walk!

Luke's mom and grandma were also there. Here's Ben enjoying a chocolate covered pretzel stick with his Ma and hitching a ride on Great-Grandma's walker!

Later when we got home, we celebrated Ben's birthday with my parents since they aren't going to be here for his party tomorrow. My dad's birthday was a couple weeks ago, so it was a double party. And since we had two cakes to choose from, I didn't even have to bake! Sweet! Ben was clueless to the whole birthday thing. Patrick did the candle honors for him and he barely even noticed his presents. Oh well...next year will surely be different! By the way, I know that Ben is only one and there are two candles on the cake...one was for Ben and the other for my dad.

Ho Hum

Being sick for weeks upon weeks doesn't make for great blogging material, but here are a couple shots of the boys to take up space. Thankfully, we are all feeling much better now.

Sweet Picture of Ben

Last week, due to the onset of my never-ending illness, I got some rare free playtime with Ben. As you may know, both the boys go to church preschool programs on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, and that's when I go to work. Patrick also goes Wednesday mornings, and I normally use that time when I just have Ben to do my weekly grocery shopping. But last week I felt too yucky to navigate the aisles of Wal-mart, so Ben and I just stayed home and played. I was pushing him in his swing when I noticed what a pretty shade of gold all the leaves were behind him...snapshot moment!

And just in case any of you need an update on my health and that of those around me, it's not good. This virus will not go away!!! My stomach (and a part of me six inches below) gave me a nice little wake-up call at 5:45 this morning. Also, Patrick has taken a turn for the much, much worse. He spent most of the day yesterday running to the bathroom, poor thing, and it has really taken a lot out of him. I put him on the couch at 8:00 this morning and he has not moved an inch. If any of you know my son (or your own son for that matter), then you know he is SICK. Now Ben...the jury's still out on him. He threw up yesterday during lunch, so we thought he'd caught it too, but I am starting to think that he had just gagged on a goldfish cracker, because he seems fine today. Anyway, still waiting for someone to come over and take care of us all, but for some reason, there aren't many takers...

The Year in Review

Well, girls, it all started a year ago today, when Jennifer talked me into starting up the old blog. I didn't have much to say back then, but that has sure changed! But I am glad, because it has been fun to make so many "cyber-friends" along the way. And so, on this 5th day of November, 2006, I give you...the most memorable moments of of Becky's blog:

There was not too much time for blogging in December...just one quick update with a family picture.

My true feelings about having a newborn in the house find their way onto the blog.

My first comment! Thanks, Brian and Jenny!

Patrick starts acting like a 3-year-old a month too early...

I find out just how deceitful the world of household cleaning products is.

Mandy switches to Blogger, and Katie contemplates it.

Katie finally (and somewhat disastrously) makes her blogging debut.

The dogs get introduced.

My life finally starts getting easier.

The first-ever BLOG PARTY!

The original blogging gals get togther.

Celebrating my favorite holiday.

Patrick will say anything...

Or do anything....

Or do my blogging for me!

Lenny makes a guest appearance on my blog.

And finally, there's the infamous Sob Story, which I don't need to link because it's just below this post. It kinda brings us full circle, don't you think? Anyway, it's been a good year, folks. Here's to many more blogging memories, now with our bigger and better group! Cheers!

My Sob Story

Let's recap: Tuesday I got achy and feverish. Wednesday, I felt a lot better, but still achy and feverish. Thursday the "sick" part of my sickness hit. And today I felt a lot better, but still have no appetite. And it's good that I felt a lot better because Luke worked from 7:30 am to 10 pm today and will be working from 9:30 am to 5 pm tomorrow, so at least I can be civil to my kids since I have to spend two days alone in the house with them. Ben has been sick for a week. He has a runny nose that just won't quit and has started to have nasty poop. It's not the big D, but well, let's just refer to it as "pea soup poop"--green and mushy and stinky (well, I actually like pea soup a lot, but maybe not anymore) . I knew I should have taken him to the doctor today, because I know darn well that the Dimetapp's not helping and that it's moved beyond a cold and into sinus infection territory, but I stupidly thought "let's just wait two more days and if he's not better by Monday, I'll take him in then". Besides, I had to go to the post office and mail invitations to all of Luke's family for Ben's upcoming b-day party, so we all know there'd be no time for the doctor anyway (and there wasn't...we were in that d#&% post office for 45 min!). So, the stage is set for a not-so-fabulous weekend anyway.

Fast-forward to 7:15 this evening...I'm checking the blog, Patrick is upstairs playing and Ben is happily watching Baby Einstein. Patrick urgently yells to me that he has to go poop, but this is nothing extraordinary--he always says it urgently. I holler at him to go and I will be right up to help him wipe (how long does this last, by the way?). A minute later he comes down and says he pooped in his pants, then pulls them down to show me a big wet fart. I put him on the toilet and start rinsing his underpants while he does some naaaaasty stuff in the toilet. When he's done, I tell him to go upstairs and put a pull-up on, just in case. So he heads back upstairs, but not quickly enough, apparently, because a minute later he is running back down the stairs, poop (oh yes, it's the big D) streaming down his legs and into his socks screaming "MOOOOOOOMMYYYYYYYYYYYY! I POOPED ON MY FLOOOOOOOOR! Great. Just great. So I plop him back on the toilet, add the socks to the ever-growing pile of clothes in the sink, threaten him within an inch of his life if he moves, and go upstairs to survey the damage. OH. MY. HEAVENS. There is not enough cleaning product in the world to take care of this mess. My first thought was "I'm going to have to get new carpet...tomorrow." An hour later, and lots of dishwasher detergent (which works surprisingly well) later, the room no longer smells like a sewage treatment center, although it does smell strange and not entirely pleasant. I may have to take Mandy's suggestion and saturate the carpet with vinegar. I don't care if it burns holes in the carpet...that's just less carpet to smell.

So my story ends with me being sick one more time (nice) and then calling Dr. P.J., who is my boss' husband, and pleading with him to call a prescription in for Ben and give me free advice on what to do with Patrick besides keep him in pull-ups until I see a regular poop again. And for once, I don't feel sorry about hitting up P.J. for free medical service while he's eating dinner on a Friday night. This time, I just feel sorry for myself.

Happy Birthday to David

Happy Birthday--one day late--to my brother David, whom as you all know is pretty unbeatable as a brother in my opinion. It's very befitting that he entered this world on All Saints' Day, because he has been a saint to me my whole life. How many girls can say that their big brother treated them like royalty? He's practically perfect, except that he doesn't like mushrooms, which I think is wierd. Thanks, David, for teaching me how to throw a baseball, shoot a basketball, taking care of me when I had my wisdom teeth taken out, dancing with me at weddings, and telling me all those stories about Charles (who was dark and dank, and all mouth). Hope your birthday was the best, and we can't wait to see you guys at Thanksgiving!

Anyway, here he is with his 22-month-old son Matthew, who is so cute I want to squeeze him until he POPS! And I had to throw this one in of Matthew and David doing their part for the cure for breast cancer, because it's just so darn precious!

Come As You Are...

Okay, here's the thing...today is my brother's birthday. I was getting on the blog to post my happy birthday wishes to him, and it turns out I got tagged to play "Come As You Are", which involves taking your-self portrait and posting it right this very second! A dilemna: which to blog about? I have decided to play along with the game, for two reasons:

1. I already have my Halloween post up today, and I don't want David's birthday to have to share with two other posts, I want him to have his own post on his own day. So even though it's going to be a day late, tomorrow's going to be all about him. So make sure you check back and wish him a Happy Birthday!

2. David has always been a stickler for the rules. If the rules say I have to play the "Come As You Are" thing right now, then he understands. He would rather wait a day than have his little sis break the rules. ;)

So here I am, at my computer, and I am still sick, sick, sick. I do not feel good. The 24-hour bug is turning out to actually be the flu, I think. I took the picture with the flash off so that you wouldn't see my icky-toned, greasy complexion. The only good thing is that I am losing pounds by the minute since I have had nothing to eat for two days. Now, how to keep those pounds off once I get better...????

The second part of this game is to talk about the person who tagged you...in my case, Mandy. Ahhh, good old Mandy. My bestest bud since college, and the world's TOP roomate. She is the greatest roomate, seriously. You don't even realize she's there, except for all the fun you're having together. Since Mandy and I sadly don't get to spend a whole lot of time together due to completely different lives, I probably can't say anthing current about her that you don't already know, so I'll go back to those old roomate days and relay the memories.

The best thing is that we were both totally obsessed with a game called "Double Solitaire". I'm not going to get into how it's played, but I will tell you that we both often got ready for class really quickly so that we could play before we had to leave. Then there was the rat in our apartment. He became our third tenant for a few days. We declared an all-out war on that rat, and won. Word to the wise: use dental floss to tie an apple piece onto a rat trap and the little sucker doesn't have a chance. There was also the war that Mandy so bravely declared on our landlord over the status of our rent checks, and also won. YOU GO MANDY! Finally, I shall reminisce about our Christmas tree. We were SO cheap! We spent the money on the tree and the lights (maybe two strands), and then we decided that we would make our ornaments. So we bought some sort of Crayola putty stuff and cut them out with cookie cutters and hung them on the tree with paper clips! We didn't buy a star or an angel, we just made a big red bow out of cheap ribbon. And we didn't want to buy the tree stand, so we filled a bucket with rocks and stuck it in there. Then I decided I wanted to sleep in the living room so I could look at the tree lit up, so we undid the pull-out couch. Unfortunately, the next moring, we could not push it back in, so we went for a while with a bed in our living room instead of a couch. Ahhhh...good times, Mandy...care to add anything?

The last part of this game is to tag someone else, so here are mine:

1. Jennifer
2. Jenny
3. Pamela (who is officially Shannon's turf, but since Shannon seems to have gotten lost in Spain, I'm going to go ahead and get Pammie in the game).

Trick-or-treating and the 24-hour bug

As luck would have it, I came down with a mild stomach bug yesterday morning. I get these things about twice a year, and yet they always take me by surprise. You may remember the last time I had one. This time wasn't so bad. Anyway, thank God my kids nap well, because I brought them home from school, threw them into bed and fell into my own bed with a bottle of 800 mg ibuprofen. I really wanted to feel better so I could take Patrick trick-or-treating since this is the first year he really "gets" it. Miracle of all miracles, I actually did rally and was able to go with the boys. But I must have really pushed myself because as soon as I got home I relapsed and fell back into bed. It was worth it though...we had a great time.

We went to my boss' neighborhood to go with her crowd since for some reason our neighborhood doesn't do T-or-T. Patrick loved it, although he kept saying "that's enough" because he wanted to go back to her house and eat the candy! The two greatest moments were when we went to Stephanie's (my boss) mom's house (whom Patrick knows) and when no one was looking, he started grabbing as much candy as he could and stuffing it into his bag. I cannot imagine where he gets these tendencies...anyway, the other great one was towards the end, when he got he hang of it all, so I started letting him walk across those big yards and go to the door by himself. Most of the time, kids were already at the door and the resident was still standing there. However, at one house, the lady had gone back inside and so I yelled for him to ring the doorbell. But he must not have heard me, because he just stood at the door yelling "TICK OR TREAT!" until she finally heard him and came out. I just about wet my pants.

Weekend Fun

We went to the arts fair on Sunday to shop around, eat lunch, enjoy the beautiful day outside, and support Luke's mom, who has a booth where she shows her famous handmade t-shirt quilts. We had a good time, except Patrick was in a rough mood, as you can see by the way he's sulking in his Ma's booth. Obviously he was tired, since both he and Ben zonked out on the drive home.

After a very short nap, both boys felt a little better, so we carved our jack-o-lantern for Halloween. Patrick looks on as Daddy guts it and then as Mommy carves it. And voila...the finished product!
Not half bad, if I do say so myself!

Happy Birthday Dear Dad!

Happy Birthday to my Dad today! Good ol' Dad, who has always been much more than a dad in fact, but also a superb tennis coach when I was a little girl, a stand-in British Lit teacher when I had to suffer through the fatuous rants of Ms. Klister as a teenager, a financial advisor when I first stepped out into the world on my own as a young adult, a deep-pocketed supporter when Luke and I got married and of course, now a champion grandfather to my two little tykes. Have a wonderful and restful day, Dad--you deserve it!

Elbow Room

I have to show off my latest purchase--a new kitchen table! We have been eating off a little round pedestal table for like, years now. It was great when Luke and I first got married and it was just the two of us, but now that we're a family of four, we were feeling a little cramped at mealtime. So I bought my beautiful new Pottery Barn table off of eBay and I'm soooooooo delighted with it! And now Luke's grandma is the proud owner of our old round table, which is perfect for her since she has a small aprtment and you can drop a leaf and it fits snugly against the wall. Everybody wins! So I know this is not the most entertaining of posts, but get over it. I love my table and I wanted to show it off. Oh yeah, also in the picture are those two pesky boys who won't go away...

It's tough being a kid...

...you gotta try and make it any way you can.

Poor Ben was so tired yesterday. It has been ages since he fell asleep in the car, but he has not been feeling well and the nice warm fleece was too much to resist, so he succumbed to la-la land.

Sweet dreams!

My philosophy on early childhood development...

Fed up with your kids? Lock them outside with a household object and eventually they will do something useful...

Watch and learn, young Benjamin...your day is coming.

The Air Show

Sorry it's been so long--I had nothing to say for a while and then Blogger went wiggy the past couple days, so anyway...

Anyway, Luke's parents (Ma and Pa--christened by Patrick--none of us asked to sound like the Clampets) took Patrick to the air show on Saturday morning. Obviously he had a blast. Ma put these pics on a disk for me. Don't you just love technology? I am trying to imagine what it would have taken five years ago to show pictures off of her camera to all of my friends and relatives. Anyway, you can see he had a ball climbing around in the cool airplanes and helicopters...and tractors of course.

He also got to talk to A FIREMAN--who I am estimating to be five or six years older than Patrick--they're hiring 'em young these days! I jest...I appreciate the nice young man letting Patrick wear his hat and giving him a sticker that says "We're Best Friends". How cute. It totally made Patrick's day. When I was looking at the pictures I asked Patrick what his name was and he said "the fireman." Duh!

How cute is that face? Yes, I mean Patrick's...

Okay, so my mothering skills could use some work...

...case in point (three points actually):

Today at preschool, Patrick bit another kid (collective gasp)--point #1.

He also told the teacher he didn't do it--point #2--but confessed to me in the car.

We talked about it and I learned that while the kids were sitting in the hallway, he leaned over and bit Justin's leg--HARD. Justin had not bothered him in any way; I'm still not sure what possesed him to do it. I don't think he even knows why he did it. Anyway, he lost his dessert priviledge for the day and we talked about how he would have to go to school tomorrow and apologize to Justin and Mrs. Cindy for his offenses. I coached him on what he will say to Justin:

Me: Patrick, you will tell Justin that you are sorry you bit him and will he forgive you? Got that?

Patrick: Yes, Mommy.

So tonight as I was putting him to bed, I asked him one more time:

Me: What are you going to tell Justin tomorrow?

Patrick: Sorry I bitched you!

And there's point #3...

Patrick's Pre-school Art

Patrick brought this home today. Remind you of anyone we know????

Wow, I feel like a jerk...

I was just reading over some of my old posts (in preparation for an upcoming project) and I noticed that Katie's sis-in-law, Lisa (who I know from high school) left me a comment to which I never responded! I guess I had moved past that post and I never saw it! I'm so sorry Lisa, please don't think I was ignoring you--thanks so much for your comment back in April and feel free to comment whenever and I will always acknowledge it! Long live the 1991-1992 JV Squad!!!!

Yes, I realize I have entered into total blogger loserdom, begging a person who probably doesn't even read my blog to comment. Get over it. I'm going to bed.

The Pumpkin Patch

Today is turning out to be a much better day than Friday the 13th, starting off with the fact that Patrick actually listened to the long talk that I had with him at bedtime last night and let us sleep until 8:45!!!!!!!!! I cannot convey to you how monumental this is. Anyway, despite the fact that I paid for this snooze time in the form of Patrick getting hold of my checkbook and a pen and now I have to void ten checks, I was so grateful that I got up and made him homemade pancakes (not the freezer kind!) and then, seeing as how this is the first Saturday in a month that Luke has gotten to spend with us, we took off for family fun at the pumpkin patch.

I don't think I was lucky enough to get a shot as good as Katie's but here some cute ones of the hay ride and Patrick picking out our spectacular $6 pumpkin. We also visited the little petting zoo. Check out Ben's new friend, Butter Bean the Shetland pony. Patrick fed the goats while I marveled at this "Top Hat" hen, which confused me for a while in that I thought the head was actually the tail and vice versa. The head is on the right side of the picture. Who knew???

Happy Saturday! I ain't postin' tomorrow, hear?...see you Monday, maybe.

BOO!

Here we have the kiddies wearing their matching jack-o-lantern shirts and looking adorable as always. Can you tell that Ben's jeans are the same ones Patrick learned to crawl in? Anyway, it's Friday the 13th and my day has certainly been reflecting that, so being a grouch and having nothing nice to say, I''l just wrap it up with one more "Aren't they cute?" and sign off until tomorrow. Of course, I'll be visiting the other blogs and I'll try as hard as I can to be cheerful there (rolls eyes).

It's true what they say...

Same old, same old...

I have not been blogging as much lately, not because I am entertaining the thought of ending my blog, but just to save you all from the monotony of endless pictures of Patrick with his trucks and Ben looking cute. I thought I might slow it down to blogging only when something unusual happens or when we go out and do something special. However, today I got the call from the Blog Nazi and was told to get something new up PRONTO, so even though I have nothing new and different to say, here's yet another cute picture of Ben.

This picture was taken this weekend at a little fall festival at my mom's church. I like it because it's a profile shot of Ben, which can be hard to get. Usually kids are staring right at the camera and hamming it up or running away from you at warp speed. But when I took this, Ben was momentarily hypnotized by a group of Polynesian dancers shaking their groove thang, and therefore did not even notice the camera.

Rip Van Patrick

I am at a loss for what to do about Patrick's naps lately. He is not tired until about 2 or 2:30 and then he is TIRED. Of course, after a 2-3 hour nap, he is well-rested and pumped for a long evening with mommy and daddy. I have tried to let him skip the nap, but this is a child who has never stayed up a full day in his life. He simply cannot do it. He just ends up falling asleep later, then napping longer and as a result, staying up later at night. And no, that doesn't cause him to sleep later than 7 a.m. the next morning, so don't ask. The only thing I can think of is to wrestle him to sleep at one-ish and then wake him up in an hour, but c'mon, get serious...what mom wakes her three-year-old from a sound sleep? Not this one!!! Anyway, at one o'clock it will take him a full hour to get to sleep. Any ideas?

Here's my grand plan to let him play through naptime backfiring today. This is how I f0und him at ten till three. He does have underwear on, and as much as I would love to let my friends and loved ones see how cute Patrick is with Spidey blazoned across his butt, I felt a little wierd displaying said butt on a public forum where any random pedophile could ogle it. Hence the sunburst. This is also a good time to point out the spectacular carpet that my boss Stephanie recycled from her growing kiddies to Patrick. He loves going zoom zoom with his cars all over it. And as you can see, it makes a great bed, too. Thanks Steph!

A Day at the Fair

We went to the good old county fair last night and had a kickin' time. Brian, Jenny and Mary Kate joined us, but you'll have to visit their blog to see any pictures of them because we weren't smart enough to get an obvious keepsake like a picture of us all together (even though we did run into someone who could have taken it for us--*wink, wink*). Anyway, we all had fun together watching Patrick ride the kiddie rides and eating cotton candy. Here we have a family portrait, Patrick going solo on the caterpillar ride and Luke helping Patrick fish for a prize.

I know you can't see Luke's head in the top picture, but that's the way he would rather have it anyway. I have to use Picasa picture piles for multiple photos because it's so much faster than uploading three pictures with my slow dial-up, so get over it.

It's been a while...

...but I'm back to blogging. I honestly don't know what the deal was, but I needed a little vacation, so I took it. I wasn't the only one MIA though...I am starting to wonder if Virenda has died. Hope not. Anyway, here are some pics from the aquarium on Friday. We had a great time and it was not at all crowded, so that was good. Luke and I both agreed that the sea lions were the best attraction, but the way they were laying in the shade just out of the sunlight made for a bad picture. And forget about snapping one in action!!!! So here are a few of the pics I took, the ones that I thought came out pretty. We have a group of stingrays, a group of jellies and me looking like a deer in headlights in front of a beautiful school of African reef fish.

Happy Anniversary to Me!

Today is our 5-year anniversary and Luke and I have dropped the kiddies off with his parents and are headed out for a day of fun! It's a beautiful day, just as it was on my wedding day, and I'm taking the camera, so I'll post about all the fun later.

For now, I'll just say that my wedding day was the best day I ever had and all the days since have been great. Here's to Luke and me and many more years! Love you Luke!

Best ten bucks I ever spent.....

Patrick modeling his new "fire boots"...and boy am I loving them! They cost ten bucks and I bought them a size too big so they will fit next year too. They slip on and off easily (good for the hundred times a day we take our shoes off--and by "we" I mean "Patrick") and as long as he's in them, he's happy. Plus, I have to admit, he looks totally cool in them!

Happy Birthday Mom

Well, it's my turn to have problems with blogger, so no pictures, but I want to wish a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my mom, who today turns...ha! Like I would say!

Seriously, aren't we all so lucky to have such wonderful moms who raised us to be smart, kindhearted and (sometimes) gracious women? And for those of us currently experiencing mommyhood ourselves, isn't it true that our moms could not have been a better example in raising us, and when oh when are we going to be able to put a decent dinner on the table every night like they did? I'll tell you what, my mom sure set the bar high. My kids will be lucky if I turn out to be half the mom that she is.

Okay, this is starting to sound like Mother's Day instead of her birthday, so I'll just wrap it up with Happy Birthday Mom! Sorry you had to work, but hope you enjoy your cake with yogurt but NO peanuts!!!

JC Penney, here he comes...

This morning, we took a short little family outing to good old Berry College. When we got there, we decided to take the boys on a walk starting at the Old Mill and heading up towards the reservoir lake. Patrick was pretty impressed with the mill, so we walked around it for a while, checking out its size and sounds and noticing all the little fishies swimming in the pond below. I asked Patrick if a picture would be good and he said yes, but then when I got out my camera, he refused to look at me. Apparently he decided it would be more natural looking if he completely ignored me and gazed out over the lake into the distance like some sort of JC Penney model.
So voila...the boys and the mill.

I'm loving...

My new Picasa software...I could play with it all day!!!!

And I am TOTALLY loving fall...even though it has arrived a few days early, it is a welcome change from the sweltering summer heat. I love how the sky becomes blue again instead of hazy white and how all the "harvest" recipes suddenly sound so appealing. I love a warm day followed by a cool evening and a cold night. I love that there's an outdoor activity available to my family every weekend and that the park is virtually empty on weekdays (unlike spring, when you have to wait at least 20 min. to get a swing). I love hearing a high school band playing at halftime in the distance, although I have no interest in being there. I love putting on my favorite pair of jeans again, especially when I can still wear them with a short-sleeve shirt and flip-flops.

The thing is, I really love any change of season, because I am usually so sick of the last one that has really worn out its welcome. However, the past few years have been the first that I've really embraced fall. Before, when I was teaching, fall meant nothing but three straight months of working with little to no break until Thanksgiving. I was so wrapped up in that mindset that I forgot to notice all the wonderful things fall has to offer. But now that my job is my kiddies and there is no vacation to look forward to at all, I can embrace this season. And so I will. I will be a happy Becky, a cheerful Becky, an enthusiastic Becky, a Becky who decorates according to season...at least until January and February roll around. I hate those months.

M.I.A.

Anyone know what has happened to Katie??????

More on Matthew

Well, as you can see, my kids are rivaled in cuteness only by their cutie-patootie cousin Matthew. We made an impromptu visit to my parents' house this weekend, and David, Sandi and Matthew were there. It was so great to see them for a few hours. Katie and Joe came over for a little while too, but you'll have to check out her blog for any other pictures, since I had forgotten my camera (thanks for these, Katie!). Anyway, Matthew is such a sweet kid--he's at my favorite age--and he is all cheeks and cuddles and smiles. Love him!

 

The Stairmaster

Ben's new trick: crawling up the stairs at a very fast clip. Unfortunately, he has no clue whatsoever about how to get back down (other than falling--he's mastered that). Nor does he have any interest in learning how to go down. So this presents a dilemna. I can't put a gate at the bottom, the bannister is too narrow and the engineering just doesn't work. He's so fast and sneaky that sometimes he's at the top step before I catch him. So instead of bringing him back down, which will inevitably inspire him to go right back up as soon as I turn my back, I just lock him up there and let him play in his room. Eventually I have to go retrieve him, but by then he's gotten over the stairs for the next twenty minutes or so. Then the whole cycle starts again and well, this is my day in a nutshell.

My new image...

Hiya girls...like my new profile image? It's part of my new program to try and be a better person. No--haha!! How could I get any better than I already am? Seriously, I was getting tired of the "maxipad flip-flop" as Katie called it and I thought I'd try just doing a picture that matched the season, instead of one that matches me. So I did a search for acorn (since they are falling out of my trees 24 hours a day) and I found this one, which made me laugh. Hope it makes you smile, too! If not, don't despair, you only have to look at it for a month or so...

School Days

Well, I haven't had too much to blog about lately, as you know, but I'm gonna try and break the dry spell with a picture I took a few weeks ago. This is Patrick's teacher this year, Mrs. Cindy. I love her because she is very laid-back and casual (she wears shorts and flip-flops to work! My kinda gal!) and she is not so sugary-sweet that boys can't relate (which is good--she has 13 students and 11 of them are boys!). So here's to Mrs. Cindy! Good luck this year!

Ben Earns His Keep

Finally, Ben learns a useful skill!
Here's a task that Mommy is only too happy to give up.

That's right sweetie-pie, the bills go in the first folder, then the receipts, and after that the insurance forms...

All done? Okay, let's tie some Swiffer pads to your hands and knees and have a go at the kitchen floor...

Amateur Photog

Patrick came downstairs after his nap today and since I hadn't napped like I sometimes do, we got under my covers together and snuggled while I rubbed his back. Evenetually I dozed off and he got up and started playing around on my desk. I remember telling him he could play with the tape measure, but after that, he pretty much had the house to himself. So he decided to get my camera down and I guess he figured out how to use it, because when I woke back up, he showed me the FORTY pictures he had taken ALL OVER THE HOUSE while I was blissfully sleeping!!!! I'm telling you, they are hilarious! You could tell, looking at the sequence, that he got better at aiming his shots as he went along. I wish I could share them all with you, but we all know how Blogger is about photos lately and my computer's slow as all get out anyway. But here's a little sampling for you...

Ben's prescriptions on the kitchen counter.

The entertaiment center.

Savannah's forehead.

What can I say--he had a vision...he's an artist!!!

Ben Pulls Up

Oh yes, my friends, he is mere days from walking!!! Ben is pulling up and loving every minute of it. So many new things to explore 24 inches off the ground! And so many different ways to come crashing down to the ground...nope, he's not going to come out of this without battle scars!

Winnie the Snooze

Today I took Patrick to see the play "Winnie the Pooh" at the local theater and let's just say he was right in the demographic. However, I loved it because the theater was dark and quiet and the seats were super-comfy. Patrick wanted to leave at intermission, and I was almost game for that, but then I thought about forty-five more minutes of dark comfiness and persuaded him to stay with "But Piglet's going to fly in the air!!!" Which he did.

I didn't bring my camera, but it wasn't really worth a picture anyway. Besides, the real highlight of our day came before the play, when we went to the mall to kill some time. We walked in through JC Funny (that's JC Penney for those of you that don't speak the 3-year-old dialect) and Patrick's internal radar went off. Minutes later, he was the delighted owner of two new shirts--one covered in fire trucks and the other in construction vehicles.. The only downer was that they are long-sleeved and I wouldn't let him wear them today, which was unfortunate, because after the show he really wanted Tigger to see them. Alas, they were in the car and Tigger will be forever left wondering what the cute earnest kid was trying to say...