Patrick with his favorite baby, Brendan. He likes Bren so much, he said it made him wish he had a baby brother. Go figure that one out...
Patrick, Matthew and Brendan. M and B looking presh, Patrick making eyes at the camera.
More cuteness, Matthew style.
Ben works that right dimple--love it!
Silly boys! Brendan's all "What the..."
Finally, a nice pose. Or...the best we could do.
One of Baby B without the paci.
Sooo...I have really been trying to keep the blog updated recently, but I just realized that it's been ten days (ten very busy days), so I thought I'd at least drop a quick line for all the fans. David and Sandi are here this weekend with their two boys, so between the four kiddies I wouldn't exactly say it's been a quiet day...
Sandi and I took the three older boys to the craft fair while Luke and David stayed home with baby Brendan and watched football. Then we all went to church and I seriously thought it would be not unlike the apocalypse with four boys under the age of six, but they were actually incredibly good. So we're tired tonight, but still very much alive. I'll try to post pictures of all four boys tomorrow. :)
1. Paint. Let's just not discuss this one, okay? Moving on...
2. The Sno-cone lady. Who in their right mind drives around all day with gas costing $3-4/gallon to sell ice and sugar? She's not right in the head, I tell you. And her music, for crying out loud! The insane little jingle that she blasts at nine gazillion decibles to announce her arrival! It's quite possibly a key element in extreme torture.
3. My neighbor shooting fireworks out of his mailbox. It freaks my dogs out and makes them jump all over the windows and doors, tearing up the screens. I would have forgotten that one if he hadn't conveniently done so as I typed this. Bless him, we wouldn't want to forget about him.
4. Headache-induced vision loss. Had my first experience with that one today. That was fun. Here's what Dr. Joshua says about that:
Blurred vision, cloudy vision, colorful shapes, shimmering light, sensitivity to light, zig-zag or saw-edge shapes, blind spots commonly occur in migraine just before the headache begins. Even if you don’t have a history of migraine, you can still have a migraine attack.
Yep, sounds about right. Thanks for clearing that up, Dr. Joshua. And yes, I did see an actual live doctor and he said the same thing.
5. Full moons. Anyone that has been in contact with a small child--especially a boy one (or two)--knows what I'm talking about.
6. Migraines and full moons together. That's extra-special fun.
7. I'm sure there are lots more, but my head hurts.
Holy Mackeral! Or...rainbow trout or whatever. We have just returned from our camping trip to NC and Luke caught these two monster fish, along with a host of smaller ones that were still fairly large but not quite good enough for a photo op.
So we'll be eating trout for a while, which is fine with me. The problem lies in what to do with these suckers. I'd rather eat them...Luke would like to hang them on my walls (!!!). Which--besides being a *little* off-putting to me--is quite expensive. So that's our dilemna right now.
More pics from the trip later.
I knew that lizard was severly hydrated after being stuck in our spare room for at least a week. I knew the first thing he'd do once I set him free was go looking for water. And I was afraid he'd find it in the bucket we use to catch the excess water from the heating/cooling system.
Sometimes I hate being right. R.I.P. little lizard.
It's been that kind of week, you know?
I remember back when Luke graduated from the Fire Academy, the chief told all of the families "There will be times when you'll need them at home, and they won't be there for you." And I thought at the time that he was talking about serious things, like tornados and exploding hot-water heaters and things that go bump in the night. But so far it's been more like not being able to find my mixer because he put it away, and needing to go to Wal-Mart for children's tylenol at 11:00 p.m., and most recently--catching lizards...
It all started last week on a day that--of course--Luke wasn't here. I went upstairs to run on the treadmill and was greeted by a little green anole hanging out on the wall. After some inspection, I saw that the window--the only one in the house with no screen on it--was open ever so slightly, just raised about an inch. Well, I figured the little guy (and I know it was a guy because he didn't have that tell-tale stripe running down the length of his body) had just come in, so I opened the window all the way and started running. Ben sat down on the floor and watched him for a little while before losing interest and going back into the playroom. I kept half an eye on him as he wound his way around the wall and eventully disappeared on he other side of the window trim. When I finished running, I checked and he was nowhere to be found. Satisfied that he had gotten back out, I closed the window and went on my merry way.
I've been upstairs running almost every day since then and haven't seen my little friend, until today--a week later, Luke at work again--when I went up and was greeted by the same lizard, in almost the exact same place on the wall, but this time when I checked the window it was closed. I knew it was the same one because a little piece of his tail was missing. I opened the window again and started cleaning the playroom, checking on his progress every once in a while. I got really excited once because he got about four inches from the open window, but then he turned around and went back, and it was at that point that I knew I'd have to intervene. So I spent the next thirty minutes chasing that thing all around the window--which is not really my thing, because even though I really enjoy nature, not so much in my house--until he finally hid behind the bookcase, which I was not about to move. I gave up and figured we'd find his skeleton when we moved and wondered just how bad a four-inch lizard stinks when it starts to decompose.
Then we had two birthday parties to go to today, and one of them was Mary Kate's and we had gotten her a new play-doh set. So of course, when we got home, the boys wanted to play with their play-doh. I got them all set up in the playroom and then looked up and saw the saddest sight in the world. The lizard was sitting on my shutterblinds, staring out the window. If there was ever an animal that had given up hope, this was it. He didn't even bother to look at me when I approached him this time. He just gazed outside. It was pathetic. I felt so bad I knew I had to do something. He wasn't going to die miserable on my watch, and certainly not in my house! So I decided to get down to business with this lizard. First things first--I called all my neighbors to see if there was any kind of man available to come get this thing out of my house. Unfortunately I live amidst a bunch of good Southern Baptists, and being Sunday night, they were all at church. Shoot! Time for the tough to get going. Long story short--there was running, there was squealing, there was a lot of wiggling (by him, not me), but in the end, I got him trapped in a tupperware and took him outside, where he hopped out and ran away, with nary a glance of thanks, the little ingrate!
Ugh--lizards in my house--so not my thing. I'm so glad it's out. Now I just have to wait for the next diaster to strike while Luke's gone, like not being able to get the lid off the pickle jar...
So last spring Patrick played soccer, as we all know. And it was fine, but he didn't love it. Then we got on a real casual baseball team this summer that was kind of over before it even started, and I never got pictures. But it was enough for Patrick to know that he really likes baseball. So we signed up for fall ball and now it is underway. The first game was Tuesday and it went fine. Here are a few pics...
They play two innings total...meaning each team gets to bat a full rotation twice. Outs and runs aren't kept track of, but they do try to move the ball the right way so the kids can learn what they're actually supposed to be doing.
Each kid gets three pitches from the coach, and if they don't get a hit, they use the tee. Patrick hit the first pitch both times. He's a pretty good hitter. In the summer league he only had to use the tee once in four games. But I suppose it all depends on the pitch too. There aren't any strikes or anything. Just hit what's coming at you. But he does it well.
How cool is my kid??? Yes, he did catch it!
In what's shaping up to be an annual family tradition, we went to the air show for the third straight year this weekend. Well, Patrick went for the third straight year, Luke went for the second straight year, and Ben and I went for the first time. You might wonder why we keep going back? Truth be told, I'm not sure--three years from now I may be completely sick of it--but this time I thought it was fun. HOT. Very hot...but fun.
Patrick came home today with his third yellow light note of the year. It seems like his teacher this year is a little more strict than last year's. Which is fine, but he better watch his step a little more closely. Anyway, we had the obligitory talk about what was going to happen the next time he got a yellow light note, then had this subsequent conversation:
Luke: You should also remember that Santa is watching you.
Me: And he doesn't bring presents to bad boys.
Patrick: He doesn't????
Me: No, he brings a lump of coal instead. Is that what you want?
Patrick: What's coal?
Me: It's a rock. He brings the bad boys a rock for Christmas.
Patrick: To smash them over the head with?
Like I said, it's his imagination, and that's all.
This weekend we were supposed to go to Gigi and Grandpa's house, but we won't get into that because if you are reading this blog, chances are good that you actually are Gigi or Grandpa, so you already know how that turned out. Anyway, we changed plans and the boys spent some of the long weekend with Ma and Pa. On Sunday they went to an American Indian festival and I don't know much of what happened except that they ate somethig blue that made them poop Grover-colored and they also got these headresses:
Cute, huh? Patrick looks like he took a few too many puffs on the peace pipe while he was there...
Anyway, while they were off saying "how" and hopefully learning some effective rain dances, I was busy completely destroying my house. On purpose, no less! Luke and I decided it was time to re-paint the downstairs and hallway (I'm not going to get into our reasons, but we had them and they were good), so we skipped off to get some paint and came home and proceeded to uglify the house in ways I had not thought possible. What is it with paint, for crying out loud? How does soft warm yellow turn into something that can only bring to mind a giant can of CORN smeared all over the walls??? I kept repeating the phrase from the IKEA commercial, "Be brave, not beige." And this is what I get for listening to the Scandinavian folk. Now I have corn walls. And I didn't get much sleep last night because of them. You know, if I am very very bad in this lifetime and I end up going to hell, I am pretty sure I know what's in store for me down there. I will be faced with an eternity of potty-training toddlers and picking out paint colors. Yeah...I think I'll go to confession tomorrow.
Okay, but back to the paint--it's not the end of the world. I just paint it again. It's what I do. I paint, cry and then re-paint, and I usually get it right the second time. So today I went and got a quart of a more conservative yellow and got to work on my test wall (yes, I realize I should have done this to begin with, shut up please) and I am liking it much better. I'm still not sure it's exactly what I am looking for, so I will wait until morning when I can see it with some natural light and then decide whether it's good enough or if I want to try one more shade. I'll do a little each night so by the end of the week the corn should be nothing but a horrible memory and then we'll never speak of this again.
Today we went to Ma and Pa's house to join the kids in swimming one last time this summer. It wasn't great swimming weather (thanks Gustav), but it was a relaxing day and we had a great meal, topped off by an insanely good homemade peach pie that I whipped up at 5:30 this morning in the corn kitchen. Everyone liked it and that made me happy because I was reminded that, even if I am a complete loser at picking out paint colors, there are still some things that I can do really well.
If you ask Luke, I've been glued to the TV for the past two weeks, drinking in that spectacular event that is the Summer Olympics. It's true, I love the summer games. I'm not quite sure what the draw is, all I know is that every four years, I can't get enough of swimming and gymnastics, among other things. But of course, those were my two main draws this year. I was ALL ABOUT the swimming...and not because of Michael Phelps. We've had too much of a good thing with him and I feel like if he disappeared for a little while it wouldn't be such a bad thing. But aside from Phelps Mania, the swimming was great entertainment, I thought. Lots of action, lots of records broken, and I could watch Ryan Lochte paddle around a kiddie pool and it would still be acceptable programming for me! I was all over the gymnastics as well, but now that I am older and undeniably wiser than I was in 1992 when I first started watching those little pixie chicks, I actually felt more sorry for them than glad about their awesome performance.
So here in the second week, I have been less occupied with watching every single second of primetime NBC, but my thoughts did wander to the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta 12 years ago, and I had to get out my scrapbook and reminisce. That summer, I had the extreme good fortune of NOT being picked to dance at the Opening Ceremonies. I had submitted my resume and tried out, but was not chosen to be a performer for one of the many dance numbers. But on my resume, I had noted that I was a high school cheerleader and got a call back to audition to be an "audience leader". I had no idea what that meant, but I was game for anything that would make me a part of it. Little did I know what a great part it would be! It turned out the audience leaders were just that...people assigned to a section of the audience at the Opening Ceremonies who would guide the spectators during a few key parts of the show in which the audience was to play a part of the program. I was especially grateful for my part when I learned that the dancers and other performers would be holed up at the Georgia Dome and would only be shuttled in for their numbers. Meanwhile, I had relatively easy work--there were just a few short moments where I had an actual job to do--and the rest of the time I was free to sit and watch. It was great! I had a field-level seat and met lots of people from all over the world. I remember sitting next to this one guy who kept saying he had to use the bathroom, but I kept telling him to stay and watch the next number, having seen them all numerous times at rehearsals. I didn't want him to miss out. Finally he couldn't hold it any longer and went anyway--even though I told him not to...BUT when he came back, he was like "I just met Carl Lewis waiting in line for the bathroom!!!!" I couldn't believe it! One other memory I have was when the United States athletes came out during the Parade of Nations, I couldn't believe how many there were. It took forever to get them into their spot on the field, which just happened to be right in front of my section. I kept trying to spot famous athletes in the crowd, but it was just a massive sea of faces, too dense to see anyone...except one. Way out in the middle, standing head and shoulders above everyone else, was Shaquille O'Neal. That was pretty cool. It was a great night in general, but I didn't get pictures during the show...
However, two weeks later at the Closing Ceremonies, I had even less to do and was able to get LOTS of pictures. That night was where I really hit the jackpot! My section was one of the ones designated to seat the athletes during the show, and I got unbelievably lucky and had the USA team sitting with me! On top of that, the ones who were sitting there were...wait for it...the swimmers!!!! They were super-nice and I hung out the whole night with Tripp Schwenk and John Hargis, who were both SEC swimmers and gold and silver medalists at the games.
I also hung out with Ray, who's last name I can't remember at all, but he was nice also. He introduced me to Jenny Thompson, a major factor on the team that year, and also four years before in Barcelona. That was cool because in '92 my mom and I traveled to Connecticut together and I remember watching Jenny's race from our hotel room. Anyway, here she is in a random 7-Eleven hat, with Ray and me.
Also in my section was Kerri Strug, who--in case you were living under a rock and don't know--was the hero of the games. She was nice to take a picture with me, but I was really kinda freaked out by her size and her super-squeaky voice.
At one point in the show, the athletes got tired of sitting and stormed the field--and I think that moment kind of set the precedent for all future closing ceremonies. Now they actually start out on the field instead of in the stands. Anyway, I stayed back because I thought it was kind of a moment for the athletes, but Tripp and John came back to get me, so I was able to join the party after all. It was mayhem on the field, but in such a great way. Tripp introduced me to Beth Botsford, another swimming gold-medalist.
Me with Tripp and John...we were all out on the field for the rest of the show...
I also met Amanda Beard, who was at her first Olympics, only 14 years old. She made headlines by winning a silver-medal with her teddy bear waiting for her on the blocks. Now she makes headlines in a different way...ahem...
I have so many pictures from being on the field, I could never include them all. Everyone was in such high spirits, all you had to do was smile and they were ready to jump in front of the camera. One rower from Britain asked me to marry him. His name was Ivan. Then he signed the back of my dorky uniform vest "To my wife, Love Ivan". We got pictures with Brazilians, Russians, and these blokes from Down Under. The girls in the pictures are my pals Greer and Amy, whom I hung with during all the practices and rehearsals.
The next day it was back to reality. My moment of rubbing elbows with greatness was over, but the pictures and souvenirs from that night are kept close. I hadn't looked at this stuff in a long time, but the past two weeks inspired me to dig it all out again. I had forgotten that Tripp and John both signed my vest and John left his phone number as well. No point in putting it here--I'm sure it's not right anymore--but I can't say I'm not curious to give it a try... ;)
So thanks for two great weeks of competition and for dredging up some long-forgotten memories. Hope to see all the athletes again in London 2012!!!
As we came home from the ball game tonight...
Me: Let me just start recording the Olympics before we put the kids to bed, so I don't miss the swimming.
Luke: Is it on? Did you miss it?
Me: No, it's still the marathon. Some Romanian chick is about to win it, see?
Luke: What, does she run around the stadium a hundred and four times???
Me: No, I think they run through the streets of Beijing and come into the stadium for the last bit.
Luke: Good, 'cause that would be incredibly boring to watch them just circle the track over and over again!
Me: Yeah, it would be like watching Nascar.
Technically, not. I mean, there are 23 days until the "official" end of summer and 42 days until the actual official end of summer, but our summer vacation is over since Patrick and I are back to the old grind tomorrow. Since it was gorgeous out today, we decided not to take it sitting down and we packed up the kiddies and took them to a nearby state park for a hike and a picnic.
This particular trails ends in a "breathtaking" waterfall--which, although we've had a decent amount of rain this summer, was missing a key element! The boys were disappointed, understandably, because you can actulay go behind the falls, which is where we are sitting here...except no falls. We'll go back next spring.
After the hike we went creekside for a picnic and the boys played in the stream. I did too. I warned them that the rocks can be very slippery and then I showed them exactly what I meant by faceplanting myself in the water. Just call me grace! I have a picture. It's not going up.
We had a great time, though. Good last day of summer! Tomorrow we start a new year..Kindergarten! Woohoo!
Me: Just do it Ben...just go poop. It'll be fine!
Ben: No, I can't!
Me: I'll give you candy!
Ben: No.
Me: I'll give you toys!
Ben: No.
Me: You want a new airplane?!?
Ben: No.
Me: You want some new Pokemons?!!!?
Ben: No.
Me: I'll give you anything you want! What do you want?
Ben: I just want to get out of here!!!
It's been a while, and I wasn't sure I was going to be revisiting the blog anytime soon...but I've had a few requests for pictures of the kiddies, and how can I deny anyone that kind of cuteness? We've had a busy, fun summer so far. Patrick is playing baseball on an awesome team with a bunch of his buddies. He loves it because well, it's baseball...and I love it because I know all the other moms and it's fun to catch up while we watch them play. He's also swimming like a fish--first year without water wings!!! Ben is doing all the same things, just two years behind. When Patrick has baseball practice, he gets out there on the field with him...and when Patrick jumps in the pool, Ben is two steps behind. It's been all day, every day since school got out so you'll have to forgive me for not stopping to blog. ;) Here's a few cute pictures to keep the fans happy until the next time I get a chance to post...
Me: Patrick, we're going to do all sorts of fun stuff this summer.
Patrick: Like what?
Me: We'll go to the children's museum and baseball games and on the Fourth of July, we'll go see the fireworks show. Then a few days later we'll go to the beach and we'll get to see another fireworks show!
Patrick: What else will we do at the beach?
Me: Well, I'm sure Gigi will want to take you to see Shannon Tanner.
Patrick: Hannah Montana!?!?!!
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