Birthday Boy

We had Bubba's birthday party yesterday. This was the first time I had to get the party ready all by myself. My mom is out of the country and my MIL had foot surgery a few weeks ago. Usually one or both of them show up a little early and lend a hand, but this time I was on my own. Luckily, the house was already clean because someone had come to see it Friday afternoon, so that was already done. I made the cake Friday afternoon/night. I had to send Scott out for more butter because I melted it with the chocolate the first time; wasn't supposed to do that. Whoops! Scott wanted a toolbox cake and planned to make some tools out of Rice Crispies, but I kept telling him you can't make little things out of crispies. After wracking my brain for several days I remembered seeing marzipan at the grocery store a long, long time ago so I went with that. Here's how it turned out...

When Scott was making the tools he asked me what marzipan is. I told him he's had it before and he doesn't like it. He didn't believe me (as usual) and tried it anyway. Surprise - he didn't like it. Bubba seemed to like it. I think just about all the kids tried some. One little boy took three big bites out of the tape measure, so I guess he liked it.



He did try to blow his candles out, and he smiled when he saw his cake.



 It turned out to be a really nice day outside (you never know around here; we've had 70s and 30s in the last week, and it was snowing when Bubba was born). The kids played outside until present time. Bubba was so cute when I asked him if he wanted to open his presents. He went running inside and climbed right into the chair.

He picked out this baby last week. He really likes babies right now and he's been wheeling this little one all over the house ever since his party. He gives his baby lots of kisses.

Silly was equally excited about Bubba's presents. I had to remind him many times yesterday that they're Bubba's toys.

Eventually he got bored/tired and just started shoving presents off the chair instead of opening them. Oh well.
And I would just like to say that I have great friends (plus a sister) who just jump right in and help out with things; watching the kids outside, cutting up kiwi, scooping ice cream, passing out cake and whatever else they see that needs to be taken care of. Thanks ladies!

How We Eat Spaghetti

Silly has been complaining about his tummy all day and hardly ate anything so I made spaghetti for him to see if he'd actually eat something. He and Bubba got new church shirts from Gummy yesterday, and even in old shirts eating spaghetti requires some adaptation. Bubba refuses to wear bibs (or drink from cups with lids) so it's off with their shirts. Works for me!

 

 













I had a funny, but maybe a little disturbing, thought Friday when Bubba once again ended up with a bloody nose (something else we have in common, although mine weren't trauma induced) and Silly was once again the only witness. According to Silly he jumped out of the rocking chair and slid across the floor. He always has a perfectly reasonable explanation. Scott was saying earlier this week that Bubba is about 20seconds behind Silly. You can watch Silly do something and Bubba is sure to copy him.

So here's the thought - I think I'm reliving my grandma's parenting experience in some ways, only I had my girl first instead of last. My dad had a little brother, and I think they have about the same age gap as my two boys. Dad and Bill were pretty much the neighborhood terrors. My grandma used to tell us all sorts of stories about the trouble they got into together, but she also said (to other moms who said her boys were out of control), "They never do anything I tell them not to do, I just never know what they'll come up with next." And lots of times, it turned out to be my dad's idea at Bill's expense. My siblings and I thought most of these stories were surely exaggerated, but when we all went out to Washington for my sister's wedding, we saw that cliff they used to jump off of, and it's really a cliff. And that hill they used to sled down really is really long and steep, and ends in a creek. They weren't naughty boys, just imaginative and adventurous; but it sure was hard on their mom sometimes, and on the little brother. Hopefully this little brother makes it through life with fewer injuries than my uncle.

And speaking of imaginative and adventurous, I had another thought sitting in the lobby with these two boys during Cakes's gymnastics class. I was wishing they would just stay in one place and not be so noisy. Then I looked around at the other kids waiting with their parents, playing their handheld video games or sitting there doing nothing, and I realized I was wishing my kids had  no imaginations. They think the lobby is thrilling. They can think of twenty different things to do with just a few little cars. They have all sorts of sound effects. I would definitely rather have that kind of kid than one that just sits.

Silly Talk

Silly has all sorts of expressions to let me know just how hot and or thirsty he is. Driving home from school the other day I heard his latest - "Mom, I'm hot...hot as a gas fire!"

Today while we were driving home he started talking about Grandaddy.

S - Grandaddy stays downstairs a lot.
Me - Yep, that's because he doesn't have to leave to go to work like Daddy does, he does all his work downstairs.
S - Yeah, that's cuz Grandaddy has homework.

Valentine's Day

I was in charge of the Valentine's Day party for Silly's preschool class. He has been asking every preschool day for at least two weeks if it's time for his party yet. Today was finally the day! My plan was to have everything ready when we left to drop him off at school, load up the car, drop him off, take Bubba to story time and then back across the road to Silly's school to set up for the party.

I did get everything ready in time, but Bubbs put a bit of a kink in my plans. The only food I brought (three other moms were my helpers) were heart shaped peanut butter sandwiches. I had everything ready in time to leave for school, but Bubbs took the car keys like he usually does and climbed in. I completely forgot that he always tries to put the keys in the ignition and that the peanut butter sandwiches were on the center console, thus I ended up with a plate of smashed sandwiches. Grrr!

So, change of plans, drop Silly off at school, swing by the library to drop off our books that are due, listen to Bubba wail as we drive away from the library because he wants a book, stop for gas because the warning light is on (which worked out just fine since I would have lost those few minutes waiting for the drawbridge opening anyway), back home to make a few more PB, PBJ and PBH sandwiches, then back to school to set up.

The party was pretty fun. The kids listened to a cute Valentine story (Love, Ruby Valentine) ate their little lunch, played a game and had lots of fun decorating their little mailboxes.

eating super cute cookies

getting the game started; apparently Bubba and Silly would rather pretend to eat than play

decorating time



evidence I exist; Silly took a few pictures while I was busy

 We had a good time. On the way home Silly asked me the same question he asks me every preschool day, "Is it piano day?" He knows piano day for Cakes means no nap time for him. Not today!

After dinner and after taking pictures of everyone's new shoes, I gave the kids their little treat boxes.

Bubbs opened just about every piece of candy, took one bite or licked it, then put it down

Silly's "pugs and kisses" card, it barks. I had to get it for him since he seems to be the only one who misses our pug.

Bubbs showing off his new shades, and his chocolate face.

 Then Scott gave me my present, picked out by him and Cakes.

He gave it to me in the shopping bag, and wrote a note inside. Typical.

This year he gave Audrey some flowers. Her response was, "Last year Mommy got flowers from Daddy, but this year I get them."

Happy Valentine's Day!

A Sometime Tradition

Growing up, we occasionally went shoe shopping for Valentine's Day. I think this is probably only true for the younger half of my family, and most likely my parents decided to take us all shoe shopping one Valentine's, and the following few years we just expected it. All but Bubba needed some new sneakers anyway, so Saturday we went shopping.

Silly has this foot issue. I don't know what the deal is, but his measured shoe size has changed only a very tiny bit in the last 1 1/2 years, yet that measured shoe size does not fit him in any way shape or form, he has to get shoes several sizes bigger. He picked these flashy ones:

I tried these Sketchers on and Scott told me they look just like the shoes I already have. I told him he was nuts (or something along those lines) and bought them anyhow. When we got home Silly put my new shoes in my closet for me. When I looked in my closet later that night I just laughed...

New shoes

New shoe next to old shoe.

OK, so there's not a ton of difference, but I've come a long way from refusing to wear any sneakers other than plain white Nikes.

But then, tonight before we gave the kids their little treats, I told everyone to go put their new shoes on. I hadn't even seen Scott's pick because he and Cakes hadn't had any luck at the first store so they kept shopping while I took some sleepy boys home. When he took his new ones out of the box I laughed and pointed out that his new shoes are just the update of his old shoes, which were the updated version of his old, old shoes, all of which are still in his closet.

New shoes

New shoes, old shoes and old, old shoes.

Seriously, these three pairs of shoes have made me laugh so many times tonight.

This boy is mine

From the moment Cakes was born all I ever hear about my kids is how much they look like their Daddy. The only people who ever say Cakes or Silly look like me are people who have never seen my husband. Silly is just the blonde haired version of Scott, plus dimples. Cakes is the girl version of Scott plus gorgeous brown eyes and eyelashes some women would pay lots of money for. And then along came Bubbs. He is my snuggliest, smoochiest baby and a complete and total mama's boy and I love it! He even likes to eat all the same things I like, but no one else in my family does; cucumbers, avocados, and black olives.



He had black olives, cottage cheese and apples for lunch today. Silly is over there calling out the numbers on our leftover New Year's Eve napkins.



Stuffing his face; I should dig out the toddler pictures of me making a cottage cheese mess.

Silly wanted to get in on the action, but he doesn't eat olives, he just likes to wear them then give them back.

And he looks like me. Just look at my uncle's wedding photo -

See that little girl, front and center, with the green dress on? That's me. And who else does that little girl look like? The long-haired version of Bubba. (Hey mom, why am I not in pink and yellow like everyone else?)
I'm just so glad to have a baby I can claim as my own and people will actually believe me!

Post edit: He's said a few funny things this week. I was making toast the other day and when he heard the timer ding he yelled, "What was that!?!"

A day or two ago Silly swatted Bubba's bum, Bubba turned around and yelled at him, "Soffee!"

And since my friend was here celebrating New Years, her kids were all calling me Shauna, including her two-days-younger-than-Bubba daughter, after they left he started calling me Shauna too. And I can't say for sure that it's because of her kids, but they all have blankies and now Bubba is really in love with his blankies. He insists on having three on him at night and occassionally drags his "lankie" around in public.

Sea Life and Presidents

One of my sisters moved to Baltimore this summer and she had a housewarming/President's Day party Saturday afternoon. We hadn't ever been to Baltimore before so we decided to make a little weekend of it. Our plans almost fell apart when my sister reminded me that they have a cat, and Scott is highly allergic. He went back and forth about staying home, going with me but sleeping in the car if he couldn't breathe, going for just one night instead of two...eventually we stuck with our original plan which was for him to take the bus to work, the kids and I picked him up at 3:30 and then set off for Maryland.

Friday was one crazy day for me with packing, not just for a weekend, but costumes for the party, and leaving the house spotless since we had a showing scheduled for Saturday. I barely got everything done by the time Cakes got off the bus, loaded up the car and set off to get Scott. I had one brief episode of panic driving to one of the many tunnels around here when suddenly the warning lights said "All traffic stop." That is never a good sign and could potentially have left me sitting there for HOURS if there's been an accident in the tunnel. Thankfully, it was a very brief stop. A semi was pulled aside and then traffic resumed, truck must've been to tall for the tunnel or something.

I drove all but the last hour and a half or so to my sister's house, and it turns out I did the easy part because after we stopped for dinner Scott drove and traffic was a mess, plus you pretty much go through a maze in downtown Baltimore to get to my sister's house. Note to self: it would be best to call and confirm one's travel plans, especially when they have changed many times in the previous 24-hours. At about 7:00 my sister called to ask when we were arriving, I told her about an hour and a half, last she'd heard we weren't coming until Saturday. Oops! But even if I'd thought to call her, I hadn't thought to put her number in my phone anyway. Sorry! It all worked out. After figuring out where to park, we were safely at our destination. It only took about 4 1/2 hours of driving; we were expecting closer to 6.

My kids were thrilled to be with their favorite cousin again. It took me a while to get used to seeing all my sister's stuff in different places. Her house is pretty cool. We all slept upstairs in their finished attic, after blocking the stairs with our suitcases to keep Bubba safe. We slept pretty good, but I should apologize for my early-morning children stomping all around about sleeping people, and for my 4yo who woke up several times both nights to use the potty. I can't wait for some of my other siblings to have kids to I'm not the only one feeling like a nuisance!

Saturday morning we hit the National Aquarium which was pretty darn cool, waaaaay better than the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago which had the cheesiest, most ridiculous show EVER. This dolphin show was pretty fun. We sat in the splash zone, but didn't get wet. If you want to get wet, you chances are better off to one side or the other, we were right in the middle.

 

While the kids waited for the show to start Scott bought two soft pretzels for all of us to share, Bubbs ate about 3/4 of mine.

 



The coolest part of the Aquarium was "tank" full of all sorts of rays, small sharks and one giant sea turtle; it's essentially their entire basement and you can see down into it from just about anywhere in the aquarium. They have feeding time too where quite a few divers go in and swim around feeding all the rays. I never knew rays could be so gigantic. We were watching the feeding from the observation windows down below and there was a volunteer down there telling us this one weighs 180, that one weighs about 250, and these rays liked swimming right on top of the divers' heads. Yikes!



View from down below



Ray swimming across diver's head

  


Giant ray




Lots of divers and the three-armed sea turtle (he's missing a front flipper)




View from up top

 They have a whole jellyfish section too, which all the kids really liked. I didn't know there were jellyfish in such dark colors.

After the Aquarium we ate at the Hard Rock Cafe (where I left my credit card!) then went to the Barnes and Noble next door which was built in an old power plant. They had a whole table of books on the presidents, and my sister had said the night before that they had nothing with Obama, so I found a cool book by National Geographic with Obama on the cover and inside, plus a whole section on First Ladies. I thought that was quite appropriate for the party.

We hurried back to my sister's house (after going to pay for the book and realizing I'd left my credit card next door and going back to get it) and got dressed up for the party. Scott and I were President and Mrs. Hoover. My mom took a picture of me, but I don't think anyone took pictures of Scott.

Cakes and Silly were Ike and Mamie Eisenhower.



Silly in his camo and great-granpa's WWII hat



Cakes as Mamie, with her cute hair done by her Mamie

And Bubbs as George Washington, but he refused to wear his wig. He almost refused to wear his little ruffle too, but some Ronald Reagan jelly beans cured that.

This picture cracks me up; George Washington scooting around with his tongue out while Ike marches by

Apparently this was Scott's first exposure to my mom's magical costume closet. He kept asking where we all got our dresses from (my mom and two other sisters were at the party) and I kept trying to explain that mom just has all sorts of clothes from all different eras and you can find something to wear for anything. That was just a normal part of my life. Just among my relatives at the party we had Dolly Madison, Abigail Adams, Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge, Bill Clinton, Jackie Kennedy and Eleanor Roosevelt.

Lots of the party guests really got into the theme too. One guy was introducing himself as Ben Franklin (with the appropriate wig), second president of the United States. Another one of her friends already had lamb chops, so he was Van Buren. One couple came a Secret Service, we had some Rough Riders, Ronald Reagan, a couple other Jackies, Teddy Roosevelt, Nixon, and some others I'm forgetting. There were some presidential party games; one was guess how many Lincoln's on the jar. Cakes wouldn't guess but at the last second she guessed a number and turned out to be the closest, so she brought home a jar with 811 pennies in it. We ate lots of presidential favorite foods and drinks. My sister an her husband have this camera collection to my mom did a little research and made some labels for each one saying who used it to take pictures of which pres. Everyone thought that was pretty sweet, and I don't think my sister will take those down. It was a great party and we all vegged out in front of the TV together after everyone left.

I got Bubba jammied up and he passed out while I was making lots of racket getting all out stuff packed up. I went back to check on him at least an hour later and I"m pretty sure he hadn't moved at single bit.

Yes, he sleeps with a naked mole rat.

While I was vegging out, Scott took Cakes and Silly to Medieval Times for dinner and a show. Silly thought it was real at first and was a little freaked out that he was seeing people get stabbed and slashed with swords until Scott explained. Cakes came home with a fancy ring and Silly got a sword and shield.

Sunday morning we headed for home. We weren't even entirely out of the city before Cakes and Scott (who was driving) started to feel sick. We stopped to eat breakfast, well, the boys and I ate breakfast while Scott and Cakes went to their respective bathrooms. Cakes felt fine after she threw up and ate something; Scott still didn't feel too hot so I drove the rest of the way home. We had decided to try out the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel route. I'm pretty sure I'd been over it before, but certainly never as the driver. I did not enjoy it. I don't ever need to see the Eastern Shore again. I'll stick to the Outer Banks, thank you. The last twenty minutes before home was pure torture, but we survived.

Overall, it was a pretty good trip and not as long of a drive as we expected. Oh, I forgot one thing. driving on 395 you can see the Washington DC temple all lit up at night for a good long while (especially if you're stuck in traffic). All the kids saw it and oooh'ed and aah'ed. Bubbs was looking at it and I told him it was the temple. He pointed and said "I wike it."

Obedience and Consequences

It hit me the other day that every single thing that bothers me in my life comes down to obedience. And, really, I guess that's what everything that goes wrong boils down to - somebody somewhere was disobedient to something. I never pegged myself as a control freak, but I guess I am, because when other people don't do what they're supposed to do it drives me nuts. It doesn't bother me anywhere near as much when it's just me. For instance, I was supposed to send an email to all the Primary teachers (Sunday School teachers for 3-11yo kids) explaining how to use this 10-minute break we're supposed to have now. And I was supposed to do that before Sunday, but I didn't because I got too busy cleaning my house and packing to leave for the weekend. Am I mad at myself for that? Nope, not mad, but I do feel guilty. Would I be completely annoyed if I'd delegated that and someone else hadn't done it? Probably. If everybody just did what s/he is supposed to do life would be a piece of cake, but I know life isn't meant to be a piece of cake.

Cakes and I have really been struggling for the last month or so. Homework and piano practice are torture. Today I decided that homework is from her 2nd grade teacher and piano practice is an assignment from her piano teacher so she should be suffering consequences from them. I've been trying to make her do things right at home to save her from suffering the consequence somewhere else, knowing that would hurt her way more than me getting on her case at home, making her finish her homework correctly and making her follow her piano practice instructions. Trying to force her to do something doesn't go well for either one of us. She's almost 8, which means she needs to practice making mistakes and suffering the consequences. Earning fewer tickets at school or less music money at piano is not the worst thing she'll ever suffer. And I know I need to back off and let her fail at these little things.

Bigger Bed

Scott put the kids to bed tonight while I was at my dance class. When I got home he told me this story.

Silly kept getting out of bed and telling Scott he needs a bigger bed. He and Cakes have been sharing a trundle bed since Bubba was born. Sometimes Silly fills his bed up with books and other non-cuddly things, so that's where I thought the story was headed. Scott was thinking maybe the trundle bed wasn't pulled out all the way. Anyway, Scott sends Silly back to bed, tells him there's nothing wrong with it, just go to sleep.

A few minutes later Silly is back, near meltdown status, hands on his head, saying he can't sleep, his bed isn't big enough, he needs a bigger bed. So Scott goes to investigate the problem. Turns out the problem was not the size of Silly's bed, but the fact that Bubba had snuck into and Silly's room and was trying to sleep in bed with him. Scott asked Silly why he hadn't mentioned that there was someone else in his bed, not just that it was too small. I guess his brain was too tired to figure that out, all he knew as there wasn't enough room. Scott got Bubbs back to his own bed so Silly could have more space and get some sleep.

Oh, and my friend picked Silly up this morning to take him to Joy School with her daughter so I could keep cleaning the house (we're trying to sell it, someone came at 11:30 today to see it). She told me her car was messy; Silly told her it looked like Gunny Bag threw up in her car! Gunny Bag is a Joy School creation; he's a bag that eats toys that are left out. He cries if there's nothing to eat, the kids love to make him cry and they clean up super fast if you say you hear Gunny Bag crying in the closet and you might let him out to look for toys.