The Boys Room Makeover

It was about time for Nick to get a real bed, so we started shopping for beds.  If you're going to ask for a new bed for one boy, chances are you'll ask for a new bed for both boys.  If you're getting new beds, you'll need some new sheets.  And if you're getting new sheets, you'll need a blanket to go with them.... Well, you know how that story goes...

So, here's the surprise room redo.  We managed to buy all the stuff for this, and have it hidden around the house (or in plain sight) this week, without the boys catching on.  They "tent camped" in their room after we took out the old beds on Monday to clean the carpets and paint the baseboards.  Today, they were gone at Nana's, and we surprised them tonight when they got home with the fully made over room.

Daddy must love us an awful lot to do all this work for us!

But he's not crazy about the picture part...

Starting to take shape.

One down, one more to go...

Time to make the beds...

Tent canopy up, and bed made.

Mama must really love us too...she even ironed the curtains!

New beds, new curtains...

Ethan's bed is ready now too...

Ta...DA!!!!!

There's a tv watching area...

There's a reading area....

There's even an 'overflow' stuffed animal bin...

And here's the "Big Reveal"...
oops...couldn't get that video clip to work. 
I'll try to figure it out and add it later.  They were soooo surprised!

I love this book!

Checkin' out the tv area...

His comment? "It looks like where worms live!"  Unique as ever.

Time to check out the sleeping area.

I love it!

Have to get everything 'just so'.

Ahhh...perfect!

I'm a 'Murner', Are You?

Yesterday, on the way to the park after school, we stopped in at the Sonic Drive In to get some 1/2 price happy hour slushies.  This particular Sonic only has one driveway going in, and I always seem to forget that and head for what I think is the 2nd driveway, but is really the place next door.  And, of course, they don't connect.  This has happened often enough that I realize it as soon as I'm just past the correct turn in spot.  So, I muttered, "Shoot.  I missed the turn again!" to myself.   In the backseat, Ethan says, "Mom!!  You're a MURNER!"

Now, I'm trying to turn left across three lanes of traffic, and I'm really not paying attention to him, but as soon as I cross over in the parking lot, I hear an echo in my head of what he had said.  Somewhat horrified, I wonder what would make my son call me a murderer.  I don't even squish spiders in the house, thanks to 15 years of brainwashing from my hubby, who can't stand to kill any living thing.  If I can't scoop it up and take it outside, (read: it's too big and scary for me to deal with...) then it gets covered by a large glass, with a book on top  to make sure it can't escape, until he gets home to deal with it.  (Spiders  are strong, you know.  It might just pick up that cup that's 100 times bigger than it's own body size, and crawl on out...LOL.  I know, I know, I'm a wuss.)  But back to the point.  Why did he just tell me I'm a murderer?


Me: What?  I'm a murderer?
E: No.  You're a MUR-ner.
Me: (Okay, well that's better, but what on earth is a murner?)  I don't know what that is... What's a MUR-ner?
E: You missed the turn.  You're a murner.  Get it?  You're a 'missed turner'.  Missed + turner = murner!
Me: Laughing.  Oh.  You're right, I guess I am a murner.  And you're pretty clever for coming up with that!
E: I know.  Are you going to tell Mrs. D. at the park about 'murner'?
Me: Yep, I'll definitely tell her about that one.

Later that night, on the way home from a Love & Logic class,  we had this conversation:
E: What class did you have to go to?
Me: It was a Love & Logic class.
E: Why did you need to go there?
Me: So I can learn to be a better mom, and teach you how to be a better kid, so you can have a better life.
E: And be a better dad when I have kids?
Me: Yes, that too, I guess.
E: (Who is only just 8...) I don't know who I'm going to marry.
Me: Well, you probably haven't even met the person  you're going to marry yet...
Nicholas: (who is 4...) I'm going to marry a TABLE!! 
That was the end of that conversation.  We were all laughing too much!

I am surely blessed with these two guys who are always making me laugh.

Dear Ethan & Nick: 

I LOVE you, 

and you're driving me 

CRAZY....  

with laughter! 

Nick's 4th Birthday

Nick turned 4 on May 5th.  Here are a few pictures from our celebration day.

First things first, wake up and open a present!

Next, grab some donut holes and head over to Jump for Fun to celebrate with friends.

 Later, have Grandma deliver your custom order "BLUE EYEBALL" birthday cake.

Open more presents, and wear your special 4 Year Old birthday hat.

 Last but not least, family dinner at Hibachi Sushi (Samauri Bistro) with Grandma & Papa, Nana, Aunt Barbara, and Mom, Dad & Ethan.

 It's always a surprise when they light the table on fire!

Nick's favorite part?  Catching shrimp tossed through the air.  When the chef went around for a second toss, Nick was already waiting for him....

Finally, special birthday treat and a song.  Nick made one of his trademark crazy faces, and the waitress was laughing too hard to finish the song!

Menu Planning

Nick wanted chocolate milk, so after paying me in kisses, we were in the kitchen fixing some for him.

Me: Hey, Nick.  What should we make for dinner tonight?
Nick: (very seriously)  Eyeballs.  Walks off with his milk...

Priceless.

That's Weird

We were just driving home from Mom & Dad's in this huge downpour.  Flash flood type rainstorm, so loud that you couldn't hear anything but the rain thundering on the roof of the car. 
Nick says, "What's a sjdsofgi?"
Me: What?  Talk louder, I can't hear you over the rain.
Nick:  What's a SJDSOFGI?
Me: I still couldn't understand you.
Nick: What's a SHIRT?
Me: What's a shirt? (Really, that's what you need to know right this second?)
Nick: Yeah.
Me: (Umm....how do you answer that?) It's just a shirt.
Nick: Well, now that's weird!

Things they don't tell you...

There are just some things that no one tells you about when you're going to be a mom.  Like some of the conversations you will have with your three year old.   Today's moment about learning how to put on your own underwear, for example.


Me:  Put your underwear and shorts on, so we can go to the park.
Nick:  Cool!  It has a wiener pocket!!
Me:  Yes, it has a weiner pocket...  laughing....
Nick: It's a weiner pocket!!!  It's a weiner pocket!!
Me: Still laughing...  Yes, but the weiner pocket goes in the front...
Nick: OOOOOooooohhhhh!!!!

They say the funniest things...

Nick came in with one of his favorite Nerf guns just now. I was sitting on my bed, and when he pointed the gun to "shoot" me,  I played along, squealed, and fell over "dead".  I lay there to wait and see what he would do.  He didn't say a word, and I didn't move.  After about 30 seconds, he climbed up on the bed with me.  He put one hand on top of the other, and starting pushing on my ribs, CPR style, yelling "Breathe, baby, breathe!  Breathe, baby, breathe!". 

If I wasn't already laying down, I'd have fallen over laughing! 

Spelling and Star Wars

Ethan is doing very well at reading and spelling these days.  He is fascinated by playing Scrabble, and can't get enough of it. It's fun to play with him.  He actually gives us a run for our money, and is very good with both the spelling and strategy parts of it.

We are also starting to read harder books together.  Chapter books! Hooray!  His favorites so far are the Magic Tree House books and Encyclopedia Brown mysteries.  I'm so glad he (and Nick) have a love of reading!

Nick wants to be just like his big brother, so he is learning how to spell, too. Nick, however,  is just learning that the letters make words.  He doesn't really understand, yet, that they have to be certain letters in a certain order.  He's three.  That's a very good start!  For him, everything is spelled E-O-I-N.  Every word, every time, week after week. 
Mom, I can spell phone.... E-O-I-N. 
Mom, I can spell door...... E-O-I-N. 
Mom, I can spell your com-pooter...... E-O-I-N.  
And on and on.  Of course, he gets a laugh for it, which just encourages him to keep doing it.  I have learned that this kid will do anything for a laugh! 

He used to spell everything E-O-I until he heard me explaining to Ethan (who was very frustrated that Nick wasn't spelling things right) that Nick is just learning that the letters make words, and he doesn't know yet which letters, or that some words have more letters than others.  Ever since that day, he's added the 'N' onto the end of E-O-I.  Kind of funny to realize that he was listening to our conversation about it and actually understood it a little bit. I love those tiny learning milestones!  The other day I asked him to spell a bunch of words, and he answered E-O-I-N every time.  Then, I asked if he knew how to spell Nicholas.  He started to say E-O-I-N, but then he paused and said, "No no no, that's not it.  It starts with an N. "  Yea!  I love when you see the moment they realize or learn something new.  It's so incredible.

Tonight after getting in bed, out of the blue, he said, "Mom, how do you spell that round robot guy?  You know that robot guy? The robot that's round?  How do you spell him? That round guy, R2D2?
Me: R-2-D-2.
Nick:  Yeah, him!  How do you spell him?
Me: Just like it sounds...R-2-D-2.
Nick:  How do you spell R-2-D-2?
Me:  R......2.......D........2
Nick: Oh.   What about that goldie guy?   How do you spell him?
Me:  C-3-P-O?
Nick:  Yeah.  How do you spell C3PO?
Me:  C......3.......P......O.....
Nick:  Oh.  What about those guys with arms and legs?
Me:  Luke Skywalker and Han Solo?
Nick: Yeah, those guys.  and the other one with the big gun.
Me: Chewbacca?
Nick: Yeah. Chewbacca.  (Then he lost interest and rolled over to go to sleep).
I have a feeling I'll be spelling everything under the sun for him pretty soon!  And I'll love every minute of it.

The mind of a child works in such mysterious ways.  I love being there to hear the random questions that they just have to have answered before they can finally let go and fall asleep.  It's the most wonder-FULL  time of the day.

Oh no!!

On Wednesday we walked over to the school to pick up Ethan.  Well, we parked in the neighborhood and walked over, anyway, which is so much faster than the parent pickup line.  It was finally a warm, sunny day. 

As we got out of the car and started down the path, Nick said:
"Oh no!!  My eyeballs are on fire!  My eyeballs are burning!"
He was right, after endless days of cold and cloudy gray skies, it did feel like the sun is burning up your eyeballs.

SUCCESS!

This is an old post that I had started, but never posted,  for some reason.  

It's from November '08, but here it is anyway... Better late than never!  

The picture is from October 2008...they've grown so much!!

S-U-C-C-E-S-S!!!!!!!!!

Tonight, instead of Nicholas yelling at me MOMMY, MOMMY, MOMMY!!!!!
when he wanted more drink, he yelled,
PWEASE, PWEASE, PWEASE!!!!

It's the little things....

Oh, and before I forget...
The six-year-old question of the day:
(on the walk to school this morning)
Mom, why do birds poop?

Priceless.

Looking to the Future

Ethan: I'm going to build a house when I grow up!
Me: What kind?
E: Darn it.  I won't be able to show you when I get out of college because you'll be dead!
Me: (laughing) I won't be dead then.
E: Oh, well, I'll show you tomorrow.  And I'm going to grow lots of crops too.
Me: What kind of crops?
E: Like vegetable crops.
Me: What kind of vegetables?
E:  You know, tomatoes....and lettuce.... and cabbage...
Me:   (What!?  CABBAGE???? Where did that come from? We don't eat or do anything with cabbage.) 
Then Nick says:  CABBAGE?????  In  exactly the same 'what-the-heck?' tone as I'm thinking in my head.... It was priceless.

When we were done laughing, Ethan continued telling us about his future house:
And I'm going to have 'birfday' rooms.  Actually I'm going to have fourteen.  I'm going to have four birftday rooms for my children when they get born, and then the other ten rooms for the family.
And I'm going to have a moving roof that goes back.  So we can go to that room when the nights are nice and warm and just hangout.  And we'll have a front row seat for fireworks!!

Nicholas chimed in about his own future house too:   I'm going to have a rocket house!

I love to hear about their ideas of the future... It's so fun!

Green Eggs & Ham...It's What's For Dinner!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

  

 We love Dr. Seuss at our house.  We have a whole tub full of books devoted to him on our bookshelf.  Even this blog is partly inspired by him.  (The other part of inspiration was my awesome blogging Sis-in-law!) See that quote over there on the right?  Yep...Those of the words of the man himself.  It's amazing what wonderful advice for both children and parents are in those fun little books.  Apparently, I'm not the only one who thinks so either!  Zen Mama's blog today was about Dr. Seuss and all his wonderful goodness.  Check it out for some really great book quotes, and a little background on the man who would have been 106 today!

I pulled out our box of Dr. Seuss books while the boys were at school today.  We have several, and usually read at least one at bedtime every night.  I found a previously-very-grumpy Nick happily reading them on Ethan's bed.

Ethan soon joined him and was happy exploring some of the ones that don't usually get picked for bedtime stories.

 

Then, it was dinnertime, and the boys decided to be brave and put "Green Eggs & Ham" on the menu.  Yes, we really had that for dinner!

They are always so happy to get to cook something together in the kitchen!

 

Nick declared, "I'm going to kill the eggs!" 

Teamwork!

They worked together and took turns whisking the eggs.

 

Next, Ethan added the green food coloring.  He's holding it in the picture, but it doesn't show up much against his green shirt!

  

They whisked some more....

The finished eggs turned out a nice and somewhat pretty green.  Kind of a "Grinchy" green.  Appropriate, right?  The picture doesn't do the color justice at all.

They wanted their picture with the Grinchy Green Eggs

Nick also wanted green ham, so I smooshed some around in a baggie with the food coloring.  The result was beyond disgusting, but Nick loved it.  The green still isn't showing up enough, even in this picture!

Nick with his Green Eggs & Ham dinner

And again, about to take the first taste...

Ethan didn't want the ham.  Can you tell he's less excited about actually having to try them now?  I'm sure he's thinking, "I do not like them Sam-I-am!".  

 Nick LOVED that nasty green ham.  Go figure.

Totally fake "I'm going to try this" pose....

I'm having second thoughts about this.....

Okay, it's official.  I tried them, and I do not like Green Eggs & Ham!

Still gobbling up the green ham!  I DO so like green eggs & ham!  I like them, Sam-I-am!!

I think I might just need to search out and get the rest of the Dr. Seuss books to complete our collection!