What's that noise?

After church today, it was time for Sunday school.  Let me first just say that Grant does not enjoy going to his own class.  He used to be in my class but we have separated the age groups and now he is supposed to go to his own preschool class.  We tried a few weeks ago and it started out well,  no crying at drop off.  Soon after, several other crying preschoolers were dropped off and Grant's teacher discovered him crying in the corner so she brought him to my room. So today he was not happy to 'try' again.  I dropped him off kicking and screaming, no, I mean SCREAMING!  I waited outside the door and listened to what sounded like a caged animal?!  After a few minutes, I went to the door to get him and both the teachers were trying to calm him while he was screaming at them to 'MOVE' and 'OPEN THAT DOOR'!  Totally OUT OF CONTROL!  I took him to my room and got him settled down.  He did great with us, he raised his hand for every question and did all of the activities and was able to repeat what he learned.  I advised him after church that we would 'try his class again' to which he replied, "I'm not going back to that toopid (stupid) class, mom."  Who calls their Sunday school class "toopid"?  My son, that's who :o(  What have I done?

Spring Soccer

Spring soccer, need I say more?!

Correction

Way back in the winter I wrote a post about how much I love snow, which I do, in winter.  I do not, however, love or even like snow in spring!  Yesterday morning, Grant was outside playing baseball without a coat, today he had to don his 'fat coat' and I had to dig out the gloves and hats for the boys this morning.  Grant asked if Santa was coming? No honey, but the Easter bunny might be wearing a red suit!

Baseball, bright and early!

Grant got a new baseball tee last night and was very anxious to try it out this early morning, I mean 8:30 am early.

He got everything set up and was ready to play some baseball!

 The bases lined up perfectly :o)

Batter ready,

Swing,

And run!

Boobies

Get ready to laugh!
Today Grant was getting dressed all by himself and I was just watching him wrestle with his clothes, it's quite comical.  First the underpants, then the pants, the socks- oops got one on the wrong foot?, then he decided to take a look at his boobies.
Grant:  (with his fingers on his boobies)  Do my bruders have boobies?
Me:  Yea, boys have boobies, but just little ones.
Grant:  (in a squeaky voice) Oh, boys have wittle, tiny boobies?
Me: Yep.  Girls have bigger boobies.
Grant:  Girls have bigger boobies?  Like you mom?  You have big ginormous boobies, right mom?
Me:  Yep, big ginormous boobies?????????????????
It was the one and only time in my life that anyone will say that about my chest :o)!!!!!

Friends from far away

Matt came home Friday night late with a visitor from the Netherlands, Andre.  He works with Matt and had been in Mexico with him last week.  He wanted to meet our family and get a glimpse into life in America.  Well, he came to the right place, he got a whole lot more than a glimpse.  Saturday morning, everyone got up and had a yummy coffee cake from a bakery in Mansfield.  The boys were introduced and drug Andre down to the basement to watch a little bit of Transformers II on the big screen.  Upstairs and out to play with the neighbor's grandkids in the backyard.  We cut our playtime short as we had to head to the cubscout pinewood derby.  Andre had never seen anything like this and soon joined us in cheering Dylan on to win 2nd place!  Afterwards the boys dropped me off at home and headed out to Target, then White Castle (poor guy), and on up to the farm.  I went to an open house for my cousin and his family who are missionaries and are leaving for Africa this Wednesday.  From what I hear they had a great day at the farm, they built fence, rode ponies, and of course, had Chinese food from our favorite restaurant. Evidently, Grant led Andre around by the hand the whole time. On the way home, Matt drove Andre through downtown Columbus.  Sunday everyone up and I made pancakes to have with our real maple syrup they brought back from the farm, yum!  Dylan and I went to church and Sunday school and then I dropped him off at a friend's birthday party.  When I got home, Matt and Andre were sitting on the back porch enjoying the sunshine and 2 grumpy boys were taking naps :o(  We ordered some pizza for lunch picked up Dylan and a couple people came over to watch the Buckeyes play basketball. We lent Andre an OSU shirt and he enjoyed watching the game, GO BUCKS!  A little more time outback and it was time, much to Grant's dismay, to take our visitor to the airport.  It was nice to meet someone who Matt has worked with for several years.  It was a busy weekend, I hope we set a good example of a typical (?) American family doing typical (?) things on the weekend.  Those of you who know us, wipe that smirk off your face :o)

This is the only picture I have of the weekend, Dylan and his buddies with their cars.

A gift and a cupcake

I made this apron for my Mom for her birthday.  Well, I actually bought the apron and then added the pocket and initials.  It turned out real cute.

I also made these rainbow cupcakes for my Mom's birthday and for St. Patrick's Day tomorrow:

The boys thought they were so cool (so did I).

Happy Belated Birthday Mom

Happy belated birthday to my Mom!  She came over today for a visit.  Nicole and the kids came over and we waited until Jack came home and then headed to California Pizza Kitchen for lunch (mom loves the Greek pizza).  The kids were good and the weather was absolutely beautiful.  After a little shopping we came back home to play out in the backyard and have a rainbow cupcake.  I cherish days like today, sitting on the back porch steps in the sunshine with Mom and Nicole, watching the kids drive around the yard, kick balls and swing.  Thanks for coming over Mom, glad you got home safely...go easy on the antihistamines next time :o)

 

It started out and ended ok, but the middle.....

Tonight I sat down at the table with the boys for dinner.  I had good intentions, but it went downhill fast.  Jack had this little discussion starter card from Sunday school and I thought we could talk about it while we ate.  The topic:  discuss a time when you sinned and talk about how it made you feel.  Jack spoke up first to volunteer not one of his sins, but his brother Dylan's which sparked quite a battle.  Battle quieted.  First Dylan, he thought of one quickly-swearing.  Grant was next.  Let me just paint a picture of him.  He came to dinner dressed in red cowboy boots, cowboy hat, belt, holster, and pistol.  He decided he needed to stand to be heard for what became quite a long confession!  It started out about him not sharing, then crying, then hitting, and falling down, and on and on............when I suggested it was my turn, he said, "mom, I'm not finished yet!"   And on it went until we just moved on during a long pause.  I went next- judging others.  Jack's sin was 'stealing' his brother's DS without asking.  That didn't go over very well.  Then the bickering and picking and looking and staring and sticking out of tongues and rolling of the eyes and the name-calling.  It ended with Dylan in his room.   We finished up and Grant was running around shooting.  I put Jack in my room so he could start the long process of putting on his shoes because we needed to leave for open house in 45 minutes.  It took all of 45 minutes!  After about 30 minutes and "reminding" him 2,000 times to put his shoes on, I checked on him.  He had Grant's cowboy hat on, one shoe on, laying down looking at a star wars book?!  Grant was corralled out, Jack was reminded one more time very loudly to PUT HIS SHOES ON,  kitchen was cleaned, Dylan came down to apologize, coats were put on and we were out the door for Jack's open house at school.  After chasing 3 boys around a very warm and crowded school, we were on the way home.  Grant ran ahead and got a little "pat" on the bottom because he was running towards the road and while he was screaming my phone rang in my purse and it was Matt...."Hi honey, we're fine, can I call you back?"  When we got home, the boys took the trash out for me and went to get their jammies on.  Grant had a total meltdown because he could not find his "pirates of the carribean" jammie bottoms :o(  He was standing at the top of the stairs 1/2 naked (can you guess which half) and his head and arm stuck in the neck hole of his shirt and tears streaming down his face.  Everyone finally settled down.  I gave each boy a big hug and Dylan sat down and read us all a book that we just got at the book fair.  And finally-bedtime.

 The pics are from Jack's open house.

Lions and elephants and lynxes, oh my!

What to do on a warm sunny day? Go to the zoo of course!  We met the Coles there and had a really nice day.  We were able to see the baby elephant following his mom around and the 3 new lion cubs wrestling with each other and their mother. Grant was thrilled to see the "wions".

These 3 seem to be on the wrong side of that fence :o)

Fun at the farm

We went up to the farm last Friday for a quick trip.  Matt wanted to take the boys to a friend's farm to gather sap.  The boys went over Saturday morning to help out and then we had to head back to Gahanna for a basketball tournament game.  Dylan invited his best buddy, Seth, to go along.  Here are a few pictures of their adventures:

The zip line was a great hit.  Dylan rushed out after homework Monday afternoon and built one in our back yard. 

Let's take a walk!

Grant, Jack and I took a long walk today after lunch.  It was so nice to be outside in the fresh air.  The boys sped away on their scooters waiting for directions from me on where to stop and wait until I could catch up.  These boys are singers, so along the way you could hear songs from Sound of Music, Frosty the Snowman, and the Lion King :o)

 

  

  

  

Have a great day!

A lesson in bathing

After suspecting that some certain boys in our home weren't really using soap and shampoo when 'bathing', Matt had this conversation with them.

Matt: "Boys look at your mom, do you think she is pretty?" (oh, Lord help me)

Boys (looking at me, the mom):  "Yea."  (thank you Lord)

Matt:  "If you don't keep yourselves clean, then you won't get a pretty girl like mommy to marry you." (thanks, Honey)

Boys: "Oh."

Spring, is that you?

 

Bleeding Heart peeking out ,

 

  

Sap dripping from our Maple,

 

Mud,

 

Feathers,

 

Disgusting dog toys unearthed,

 

Boys able to play outside without snow pants.

Spring, we see you!

Early Bird

I've decided lately to wake up at 6 a.m. to read my Bible (I've never read the whole Bible) and do some exercises.   If I'm efficient, I can get that done and get myself ready before the boys wake up at 7.  I'm liking it.  It's quiet and calm and I feel really good afterwards.  Alas, it seems that the boys are on to me...here they are in the living room at 6:30 am.

 

How's about 5:30 am? :o(

The Adventures of Jet Pack Boy

Dylan has been watching this boy on you-tube who makes all sorts of things out of junk.  So......a jet pack for Grant it was:

 

We spray painted it yesterday and added stickers (even some glow in the dark).
Grant absolutely loves it!  He wants to wear it everywhere, the grocery, the library.
Dylan made himself a gun and Jack made himself a mini gun.

 

The last pic is Jack's instructions to himself for painting (bloo and yealo) :o)