Sleep Walking

It's 9:15 and Scott and I are watching TV. Silly suddenly appears in the family room, clearly not really awake. We asked him what he needed and he just walks to the love seat, lays back on one pillow and pulls the other one over his legs. Scott and I are looking at him, silently laughing our heads off as his head bobs around for a bit, then he's sound asleep again. I have never tried so hard not to laugh before. Scott and I were both trying really hard to be quiet, yet laughing so hard we had tears running down our faces.

Scott managed to pull himself together and put Silly back in bed.

Not Such Good Times

The continuation of my spring break stories has been delayed by sickness. Not mine. Skip down to the spring break pictures if you don't want to hear about puke.

Yesterday Bubba suddenly threw up in the family room, on the carpet. And then in the kitchen. All over my feet. Scott kept asking me why I didn't take him into the bathroom. Uh, because there's puke on my feet? We put him in the bath and he slept just fine and was just fine all day today.

Then last night Cakes started complaining about her stomach, but she hadn't eaten much, so I didn't think much of it. She got home from school today and told me she didn't eat any lunch. And she went to the nurse, but the nurse said she didn't have a fever. Funny enough, her school nurse is a den leader for our Cub Scouts and at the last pack meeting we were chatting about how she knows if a kid is really sick or not. She lets them lay down and ignores them. If the kid is really sick, she'll either fall asleep or get worse. If the kid isn't sick she gets bored of laying in the clinic and goes back to class. Makes sense to me. She tried that with Cakes and she went back to class after a few minutes.

Then we took Silly to his gymnastics class. Cakes wanted to stay in the car, and she did for a little bit, but then came into the lobby to sit with me and Bubba. We were about halfway home, which isn't very far, and suddenly she was throwing up in the car. I had to open all the windows so the rest of us didn't get sick too. We got home and I put her in the shower while I cleaned up the mess. I seriously almost puked myself. Blech. I hope my car will smell normal again. And while I was out there cleaning up with the wet/dry vacuum it started to rain. My neighbors must've thought I was weird cleaning out my car in the rain. Oh well.

And I just have to say that I think of my MIL whenever I say "puke" because she can't stand that word. It was always my word of choice before, but I try not to say it too much anymore.

Alright, moving on to the rest of Spring Break.

The in-laws brought the kids back Wednesday morning just before someone was coming to see our house, so we just moved all the kids' stuff from their car to my car and headed back over to the park for a bit. Then we had Chick-fil-a for lunch. Bubba was so exhausted when we got home that he went straight to his room and got in bed. Cakes was pretty much just disappointed that I didn't have the day crammed full of activities from sunrise to sunset like Gummy does.

Thursday was a little on the chilly side and windy, but we went to Norfolk Botanical Garden anyway. We ended up not riding the tram around, which made Silly pretty mad (I forgot that during the week in only comes around once an hour). We walked along the the children's garden with a stop to see the eagles' nest along the way. One of the adults was flying around for a good long while, but I think I was the only one who cared. They did care about all the turtles in the pond though.

 















The turtles kept coming closer and so did the boys. It was making me a little nervous. I have a paranoia when it comes to non-swimmers in water situations, not just paranoia, actual nightmares. So we moved on quickly.



A new miniature barn



And the playhouse. See the blue and white thing on the right? That's the yurt, it's a changing room for the kids who've played in the fountains.

And then, since it was too chilly to play in the water, we played on the hill instead. It was tons of fun. It took Bubba a while to figure out how to roll the right way. He kept trying to roll across the hill instead of down.



 

 

Trying  to get these pictures laid out in any decent manor is a real pain! But - I love, love, love how Silly's shoe is flying off. It is just so Silly! He's such a kook of a kid.

Then we crossed the big bridge to Coronation Court (they crown an azalea queen sometime during the azalea festival) This is also a good viewing area for the eagles' nest, but I only had my little camera with me so I didn't bother trying to take what was sure to be a really lame picture of some trees, one a which contains a nest full of eaglets. While we were there an eaglet feather floated down from the nest. I really wanted to catch it, but I was too far away. One of the photographers who was hanging out there (in camouflage I must add, really? you're not in the wilderness man, and even with your camo camera, I'm pretty sure the eagles know you and all the rest of us are here) caught it and stuck it in his pocket. That was lame. The kids would've taken it home and treasured it but he just stuck it in his pocket. The kids were oblivious to all of that because they were checking out the fountains.

 

We went through the Japanese garden on our way back and saw this cool wind chime I don't remember seeing before, and surely I would've remembered it because the weight at the end of the chime is a big ginkgo leaf. I love ginkgoes.

See? Isn't it cool?

And no visit to NBG is complete without a stop at the airport overlook. I bet your botanical garden doesn't have one of those. Next time we should go there first instead of last and then I wouldn't have to listen to Silly ask me over and over if we're going to look at the airport before we leave. I don't think he even care about the planes, he just wants to see the trucks. You can listen to the air traffic controllers and pilots talk to each other too which is pretty cool.

 

We didn't do anything fun and exciting Friday. I was going to take them to the aquarium, but they said they didn't want to go. They hadn't had a day to just chill out all week. Saturday we colored some eggs. We tried a new method - coloring hard boiled eggs with crayons while the eggs are still hot. Silly chose not to participate, but Cakes thought it was pretty cool and Bubba spent a good long while working on his egg.

 

 Bubba initially refused to hunt for eggs because all he wanted to do was eat the peanut butter egg and mini M&Ms that were already in his basket. When he was done with that he finally collected all the eggs that we'd told Cakes and Silly to leave on the floor.

Spring Break

The fun started with an Easter party at Silly's preschool. I was smart enough to send in some eggs for Bubba to so he wouldn't have a fit watching everyone else, or steal from his brother. They were supposed to find the eggs with their name on it. They all had to search pretty hard for at least one of their twelve.

 














Friday afternoon was the official reopening of Fun Forest, our local playground. A section of it was burned down by arsonists a year ago. Scott and I participated in a meeting with the city to let them know what we'd like to see and all of us completed a fundraiser walk over the summer. It was cool for the kids to see what they "helped" build. The mayor, most of the city council and school board and our state representative were there for the festivities. It has that new, awesome, playground surface and it was pretty funny to watch all the dignitaries step onto it and react to the unexpected squishiness. The mayor was jumping up and down on it.

The green hat and red hat just about in the middle belong to Silly and Cakes. As people kept talking the kids kept getting closer and closer to the ribbon.



Bubba was funny on the slide. He likes to sit a minute at the top and he doesn't like it other kids start getting too close. The closer they get, the longer he waits.



I think this "boat" was the coolest part. Cakes and Silly sure spent a lot of time on it.



And Bubba really liked this little porthole at the bottom of the boat. He was sticking his head out saying hello, bringing me imaginary food and taking my imaginary money.

Silly's favorite part? The parking lot on the way out -

He wanted his picture with the truck, but the truck's engine was running and he was afraid of getting run over.

Then Saturday morning my in-laws came and stole the kids away for a few days. Scott and I spent all day Saturday house hunting. Have I mentioned that we're just about over it? Well, we are. Sunday we actually drove to and from church together. I couldn't even tell you the last time that happened. My husband is one of those perpetual ward financial clerks. Monday it was back to regular life for Scott, so while he was at work I got to work myself and tackled this:

You know your toys have been this messy before. All that stuff on the bed is the stuff I'd already picked up off the floor.

I don't even know how many hours I spent up there, but it was a lot. I also cleaned out the closets while they were gone. I really know how to live it up without kids, right?

The "office" side of the room

And, tada! It is finally clean. It has lasted longer than I expected.

 

 















It is way past time to put Bubba to bed so I'll finish up Spring Break another time. But speaking of putting him to bed, a few nights ago he rejected me for the first time ever. I always put him to bed at night. Just recently he started to care if I sing him a song or give him (and his baby doll) a hug and kiss. And rarely he asks for a hug from Daddy too, but the other day he didn't even want me to sing to him, he wanted Daddy to do everything. :-(

She survived!

Today was the big day! Cakes had her piano recital this morning. She was required to introduce herself and her piece, play a solo piece and a duet. I was her duet partner, so this was my first recital too. Her solo piece was Yankee Doodle, and both her pieces were "traditional" so she had to give some background on her song rather than composer info like all the other students. After many weeks of emails between me and her teacher, conversations between me and Scott and several tearful practice sessions with Cakes, we made it to the recital. We got there about 30 minutes early and all the kids got situated, most of them played at least a few notes on the piano to familiarize themselves with a different instrument. Cakes did not, and neither did I. I tried to take her picture, and then my MIL took a few, but I could tell any little bit of attention was making her more nervous, so I didn't dare try to convince her to give the piano a try beforehand.



There she is trying to ignore everyone, but she was very excited to be wearing her new dress, shoes and headband (she made it with a neighborhood friend last week).

 She was the third kid on the program, which was good, because that didn't give her too much time to get nervous, plus she was sandwiched between all the other first-time recitalers. She got up, said her part very fast and was mostly understandable (or maybe I just understood her because I've heard her say it so many times) at any rate, she sat down and played Yankee Doodle, with only one tiny mistake. Then she bowed and I went up to play out Russian Sailor Dance duet. I messed up my first chord. Why? Because I didn't try out the piano like the teacher told us to. But, Cakes played perfectly. We finished and went back to our seats and before I knew it she was smiling and later mouthing to me that she was bored.

I should mention that the boys were an excellent audience. They sat very quietly through most of it; Silly eventually fell asleep and after about an hour and a half I went and stood in the back with Bubba because he was getting squirmy.

Soon enough it was all over. Gummy gave her a wrist corsage that matches her dress. I talked her into letting me get one picture (I was holding her candy bar for ransom).

She wouldn't smile so I told her she owes me a bite of her Twix. She wore the corsage for about 20 seconds. On our drive home (several hours later, but I'll get to that) she brought up her performance. Scott and I both told her she'd done a great job. She pointed out her one little mistake, saying she only messed up one little time. I pointed out that all the other students made mistakes, most of them big or multiple times, so to be able to say she made only one tiny mistake at her first recital is pretty awesome. She has seemed pretty content all day; I think it's a mix of proud of herself but glad it's over. I haven't dared mention (to her or Scott) that there's a year end recital too...

Between the recital and home we went to lunch at Red Lobster to celebrate Gummy's birthday. She brought everyone's favorite chocolate cake to eat after lunch. Bubba was pretty entertaining, insisting on using his utensils to cut up his biscuit and his chicken. Usually he likes to dip things, but this time he even used his fork to spread ketchup on his chicken.

Silly's word of the day was "lunatic." Not sure where that came from.

After lunch we went to a nearby park to play with Gramma and Gramma as Bubba calls them. It was a little chilly, and I thought to have Cakes bring herself a change of clothes, but I should have brought some for myself too. Oh well.

At some point Silly wandered over to the picnic table area and Scott went over to talk to him. Silly said he was going to stay there forever. Then he asked Scott, "Daddy, will you bring me some food next week?"

Bubba's Life

Just a few minutes ago I was sitting here at my computer and Bubba came over wanting me to take the clothes off of his babydoll. Then I hear him marching back and forth, sounding very serious. I finally decided to turn my head and see this:

He completely emptied his dresser and made this nice little pile, all of maybe 8ft away from me. I asked him what he was doing and he said they were for his baby. I asked him where his baby was and he dug through all his clothes to find him burried at the bottom.

He's quite proud of himself. And he needs a haircut. Scott says I should just buzz his head again, but I don't think I want to do that. I think Bubba has actually passed the fuzz-head stage. His hair doesn't stick up like it used to, but maybe that's just because it's too long and not because his hair is becoming more normal. Guess I'll have to cut it and find out.

 


Also, he really likes to do the dishes. The other night he did a surprisingly good job; he rinsed off each piece and put it in the other sink. I finally wised up and put the apron on him so he doesn't end up completely soaked. Who do these picture remind you of, siblings of mine?

And here is how Bubba gets ready for family prayer:

He was helping Cakes color and didn't want to put the pencils down. Usually when we pray he puts his head down on whatever is closest; me, floor, couch, table, whatever. He takes the bowing you head part very seriously.

A note about the socks on his hands - if he manages to get one sock on each hand, he pinches other people. If he only gets one sock on, he pinches himself, usually his other hand, most often in the car. It turns into a whole conversation with himself with the sock saying things like "pinch" and "I bite you" and his other hand saying, "Ouch" and crying.

He's also started this funny baby talk. It's funny because really, he is a baby, and therefore talks like one, but now he talks baby-baby talk. It is very amusing, but also a little, well, odd.

Bears

Apparently there's a bear walking around the oceanfront. We were watching the news this morning and of course they were telling people to back away slowly if they encounter the bear. Then it turned into this conversation between Cakes and Silly:

S: But what if I had a gun?
C: Mommy would never let you have a gun.
S: But it's just a dream!
C: Besides, Jesus would be sad if you killed his animals.
S: But that's how you get meat, you have to kill something to get meat.
C: No, people kill animals just for fun.
This is where I jumped in and said some people do kill animals just for fun, but they shouldn't. Real hunters kill for the meat, and they don't kill more than they need.

There are quite a few hunters in my family, so my kids are somewhat familiar with the concept. I was listening to this whole conversation wondering what my little brother would have said.

And whenever I hear anything about bears I think about this:

We saw this sign when we went to Alaska for our tenth anniversary a few years ago. My favorite part is where it says, "If the bear continues to bite you long after you have assumed a defensive posture, it is likely a predatory attack. Fight back vigorously." I always wonder how long that means I ought to wait. I mean, how many times should I let a bear bite me before I assume he's trying to kill me and not just having fun?

March Wrap-up

There was a sci-fi convention at a local library last weekend so we went to check it out just for the fun of it, only it wasn't very fun and not because I'm not much of a sci-fi person, but because it was lame. Even Scott thought so.

This was about as exciting as it got:

R2D2 was pretty much the only thing that anyone stopped to look at. He talked R2-talk.



See, she looks like she's having fun, right? (Notice the black)

Then we went to the nearest mall to get the kids some good sandals. Why is it necessary to buy sandals so far in advance of summer? Does anyone else have this issue? If I wait until it's actually hot around here, I can't find anything.
We went out to dinner Tuesday night having no idea it was "kid's night" there. This guy was making so very fascinating balloon creations of things we'd never seen before, like sharks and orkas. Cakes said she wanted a monkey holding a flower; he told her his monkey climbs palm trees and she was fine with that. Silly just wanted a sword, but his swords come with shields, so he got both. Bubba didn't have a preference, so he got a bear riding a motorcycle.

All Bubba wanted was Silly's sword once we got home, which led to lots of wailing. One of us should have thought of that during the balloon-making. We've noticed that if Cakes has something Bubba couldn't care less. If Silly has something, Bubba wants it.

We've been dealing with some sickness around here. Bubba had his regular 2yo checkup several weeks ago and the dr saw that his left ear was infected, so 10 days of the pink stuff. That crossed over the ward reunion, so we took he medicine with us, but then left it at the in-laws, so I had to bother Dr. L on a Sunday afternoon to call in a new Rx for us, which he did.

Last Friday he was scheduled for a recheck and woke up with a fever and threw up a couple times. Get to the dr and now his right ear is infected. I've never made it to round 2 before, but apparently that means the kid gets to take the really nasty medicine. And it is nasty. I think most of it came right back out the first few times. The doctor said to mix it with something, but I don't know what in the world he thinks I could mix that stuff with that any kid would gobble up. After maybe 3 doses, Bubba would cover his mouth and cry when he saw the medicine, but then take it anyway. Now he wants to give it to himself. I give hims something to drink right after he takes it because I know he needs to get that nasty taste out of his mouth. On top of all that he is finally cutting his canines. Poor kid.

And finally, this is what I come home to if I'm ever out past bedtime:

Scott usually puts him in bed, or I put him in bed before I leave, but as soon as I'm gone he comes out and sets up his pillow and blankets on the floor next to Daddy where he eventually passes out.