Month: January 2013

Someone woke up a little too early this morning.

I’m not big on band-aids. (Mostly because then kids want them all the time for every little bump and bruise.) Alex has probably had a total of five in his life. My rule used to be if it wasn’t actively bleeding then you don’t need a band-aid. Wade is much more likely to give him one now that he asks. Alex had one when he got up this morning (courtesy of Wade) covering a three day old scratch but it came off while getting dressed. I finally agreed to put a new one on, but then Teague wanted one too. Well, what’s one more un-needed band-aid?

The funny thing is Alex left his on all of five minutes and Teague left his on the entire day.

Alex was so excited to be “Star Student” at school today. He filled the special purple bag with his favorite toys, book, and pictures.

For those of you who are curious, the items we vetoed taking to school – the large Jake and the Neverland pirate ship, the dancing bunny (which hasn’t been out in years), 10 additional cars for Thomas, blue blankie, and numerous other books.

It was back to story time at Yo Mama today. We had a roarin’ good time.

I have posted a few times about how Alex sticks his tongue out when he is concentrating (see here). I think I finally figured out where he gets it…

Wade and I decided to embrace the small amount of snow and take the boys sledding. It turned out to be perfect. The temperature wasn’t too cold and the snow was just the right consistency. Even better that no one else was out! This is the first year Alex is old enough to carry his own sled back up the hill. Teague wasn’t too sure about the entire experience. He was content to go down a few times and then stay at the top and point out cars as they passed by.

The new semester of tour club is up and running. We started it off with a play at the Sunset Playhouse – Rock and Roll Mole. I didn’t like the play near as much as last time, but both kids sat still through the entire thing – unlike last time. Obviously they know their audience!

We have birthdays coming up and I finally got all my ducks in a row. Teague wouldn’t have a “friend” party this year except that his birthday his 10 days after Alex’s and it is so easy to have a combined party. They both loved Swiss Turner Gymnastics and Teague’s friends are the younger siblings of Alex’s friends. That only left me with the issue of Alex’s friends feeling obligated to get Teague a present too. The solution to that also solved the problem of me being a little late to get invitations printed at most places (and not liking most of the gymnastic themed designs). Wade created birthday invitations for me and we made two – one for Alex and one for Teague. The majority of the invitations went to Alex’s friends and a few went to their younger siblings for Teague.

Wade is out of town so I let the boys entertain themselves in the shower with finger paint.

This pretty much sums up today.

Alex has been big about “plans” lately. He’ll tell me what Daddy has on his list or “the plan” we should do for today. He recently read this Richard Scarry book and realized it had a picture of one of B’s toys he has upstairs. As I was putting him down for his nap, he told me “the plan” after his nap was to follow the directions in the book.

Of course then that is exactly what we did. Alex was a little perturbed that we didn’t get a particular dump truck from outside, but we made do with one we had inside.

The last piece of Alex’s room was added today. The fueling station/bench/toy box is now complete! (Not counting the cushion we need to have made for the top.)

To make things simpler in our house we have named the wacky waving inflatable arm guy “Bobby”. We broke him out today in the front yard and made a party of it.

Imagine my surprise to find not only is there an award out there for bloggers, but I got nominated?!? Awesome! Thanks to Emily for nominating me for a Liebster Award!

You’re wondering what a Liebster award is aren’t you? I had never heard of it before and was very glad the definition was found right below the picture.
What is a Liebster Award? A Liebster award is given to blogs with less than 300 followers as a way of making them more well-known. The rules for the acceptance are:
1) Visit and thank the blogger who nominated you
2) Acknowledge that blogger on your blog and link back
3) Answer the 10 questions posed by the blogger who nominated you
4) Select 3 – 5 bloggers for the award
5) Pose 10 new questions to the new nominees
6) Post the award on your blog
My questions from Emily:
1) Why do you blog? Excellent question. I do not have an excellent answer. My best answer is I do it as a way to document life and amuse myself. I also use my blog to keep grandparents/family/friends caught up on our sons’ lives.
2) Do you have any pets? We have an 8 year old brittany spaniel named Madison. We also have a 2 year old cat named Tabit with only one good eye.
3) Where is your dream vacation destination? The beach – with a good book.
4) What is your favorite blog that you read? Hanna Mac – She is a photographer in Texas and I love her photographs. I’m trying to convince Wade to take a trip just so we can get her to do family pictures.
5) What is the best book you’ve read lately? Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
6) Who is your celebrity crush? The fact that I sat and thought about this for 20 minutes must tell you something….
7) What would be your dream job? I have it right now – staying at home with my kids.
8) What did you do on your last date night? Friday night fish fry at Lake Front Brewery with friends
9) What is your favorite food? Mexican – of any kind
10) What is one of your goals for 2013? I would like to learn to use my camera flash (without having to ask Wade to set it up)
And I nominate….
Baby Babble – My sister documents the life of my niece in this blog. I am constantly amused at the trouble Harper can get into.
Along the Way – Adam and Lyz are good friends from our college days. They have two little ones and Lyz is good about posting pictures of their life in Georgia.
My Stardust Trail – Sarah and Rob are friends from my time in DC. Sarah is always trying out a new project and making me wish I were a little craftier.
Oh boy, Oh boy! – Krista is married to Matt. Matt was Wade’s best friend in high school. You can actually credit Krista with most of my pictures in the last four years. She is a professional photographer and we bought her camera when she upgraded to a new model.
My questions:
1. How long have you been blogging?
2. Morning person or night person?
3. Favorite book?
4. Summer sun or winter wonderland?
5. What do you do in your free time?
6. Do you make New Year’s resolutions?
7. Family’s favorite meal? (Share the recipe)
8. Preferred way to communicate? Email/text/call/facebook/etc
9. How many people/animals live in your house?
10. Favorite snack food?

Alex is starting to figure out time. Right now he understands that he can’t have his birthday till Daddy has his. Thankfully Wade’s birthday finally came and Alex was thrilled! Even better that Wade worked from home today and got to spend extra time with the boys! I had ordered a special treat for dinner (Rendezvous Ribs) and they came packaged in dry ice. Wade saved it for the boys and showed it to them while I was fixing dinner.

Then we moved on to everyone’s favorite part of the evening – present opening! Wade’s list was a little sad this year and my creativity was a little lacking. I got him the last thing on his list and I sincerely hoped he had really wanted it and hadn’t just been “being Wade”. Imagine my surprise when he was so excited he was beating the table and laughing hysterically. Of course you would be to if you got a wacky waving inflatable arm guy, right? (You know the blow up guys in front of car dealerships?)

Both boys had dentist appointments this morning. Alex and I talked about it and I showed him pictures from previous visits. I assumed he would be fine. From our experiences with Teague at the doctor’s office I thought he would at most get a quick exam. Imagine my surprise when Alex had to be convinced (a number of times) to stay in the chair. (He actually did pretty well overall and even allowed an x-ray to be taken of a back tooth). Teague did better than expected and they even managed to do an actual cleaning of his teeth – there were still some tears, but no major issues. Thankfully the prize/treat area had a car for Teague and a pirate set for Alex. The boys left happy and I was glad it was over.

Last January I took my car in for a regular oil change (yes this is at a dealership). The man came out and told me my battery was testing bad (he reiterated that it wasn’t testing low but bad). I thought about it for a second and was pretty sure Wade had replaced the battery within the last 6 months. I told the man that I thought it was under warranty somewhere else and would take care of it. He seemed very concerned that I not stop anywhere on the way home and take care of it immediately. Wade took it in to the auto store he bought it from and it tested fine. For the last year every time I go in for an oil change they tell me my battery is testing bad and get almost mad when I brush them off. The last time I went in I told them before giving them my keys that my battery would test bad and had done so for a year. The man eventually comes out with an odd look on his face. He tells me that they used both battery testers and my battery tests at the equivalent of a lawn mower battery. Then he tells me that my car starts fine – which I know.

I did a double take as I walked down the hallway. I backed up and looked into the bathroom to be sure. Yes, our cat was hanging out in the bathtub. The craziest part is that the boys had just had a bath so I know the tub was still wet. Weird cat.

Alex and I had a date to make sugar cookies. We made the cookies after nap – choosing such shapes as a frog, duck, elephant, drill, hammer, bulldozer, wrench, star, and, heart. (You can see Alex still has somewhat of a black eye. Nobody is quite sure what happened. He just woke up with it yesterday morning.)

After dinner we got down to the business of decorating cookies. Teague was excited to help but had to be coached into eating a cookie. (I don’t blame him – they did look a little funny after we put all the colored icing and sprinkles on them!)