Ramblings by Hank...

I wanted to jot down more conversations I had with Henry yesterday before I forget them.  I am hoping to print this blog whenever I stop writing it and save it for the boys to read one day.  I hope they love reading about their childhood as much as we enjoy living it with them.

Normally the boys wake up around 7am.  For whatever reason, Henry slept in yesterday.  When I went to wake him for school around 8:00, he groggily turned over to me and said, "Oh... I was just in the middle of my tea party."  

I don't know why I find that so amusing, but I do.  That kid dreams about hosting tea parties??!  Oh... that's funny.

And then as we were getting ready for bed, Henry turned to me and said, "If the sun is a star, why can't I see it at night?!"  

I had to consult my sister to find out the answer.  Pitiful on my part... but an interesting question of his nonetheless.  He definitely keeps me on my toes!  (Which is a relief since surely I'd be on the couch eating Bon-Bons, watching "Toddlers & Tiaras" otherwise.  Oh wait, I'd still have Peter.  Nevermind...)

This is Henry getting ready for bed.  He's wearing a Pull-Up
on his head and his shirt is through his legs.
The *actual* direction was "Get ready for bed...NOW!"

Peter...

Sweet, sweet, TERRIBLE Peter.  Oh my goodness.  This child.  The other boys are naughty at times as well, don't get me wrong, but Pete.  Pete is non stop.  

Every morning when we drop Henry and Gabby off at preschool, Pete insists on sitting at the vanity at the back of the classroom...

He makes a bee-line for it and immediately starts brushing his hair with the nail polish wand... Meanwhile he "microwaves" Bunny in the pretend kitchen on the other side of the room.  The teachers and I just watch him go through his routine every morning and smile.

And lately he's taken to chewing holes in his pacifiers.  I'm really not sure what all that is about and while I'm sure you're thinking, "Oh he should be done with those anyway..." they provide a small respite in his otherwise constant babble and I'm not ready to lose those precious quiet minutes just yet!

One minute alone.  500 Q-tips...

While at Target to replace said pacifiers and Q-tips, I turned my back for ten seconds.  Ten... and this is what I found...

Opportunities to build "choo-choos" are everywhere, even out in public...

And let's not forget his insatiable desire for candy.  Pete was insistent that the black rubber circles, holding the flip flop in place, were "can-can." 

Here Peter is chewing the buttons on my shirt.  Now I assume (??) he was just being silly but I think he was really hoping the buttons were "can-can" since that's what he kept saying...

James and Henry were never climbers.  Heh heh heh.  Not so with Pete.  We find him on top of the counters ALL of the time.  He pushes chairs and stools around in order to climb up to get whatever he thinks he needs.  This has become a favorite resting spot...

For as crazy as my little guy is (and clearly he is!) there is always some time in the day that he finally stops.  Stops climbing.  Stops running.  Stops eating.  Stops talking.  And snuggles...

And that's when I breathe a big sigh of relief and say THANK GOD... because my fingertips were on the phone about to call an adoption agency!

Saturday...

Chris flew to Maryland early this morning for a special evening at his father's American Legion post.  Details and pictures to come, I'm sure.  :)

Because of a smattering of ice, James's basketball game was cancelled this morning.  No complaints from me of course, although James was disappointed by the news.  Instead we all went grocery shopping since my girlfriend, Heather, and her sons came over for dinner this evening.

While we were grocery shopping we found a special treat to celebrate the fact that James is the only 2nd grader in his school to pass the Math Masters subtraction exam!  He took the test on Friday afternoon and we are so very proud of him.  (Same drill as the addition test-- students have to answer 100 questions correctly in 5 minutes.)  He definitely enjoys working on math and I hope it's something he continues to excel in.

I took this picture on Friday before James
took the subtraction exam.

Hard to read but it spells
Math Master.  :) 

My sweet boy

James went to an ice skating birthday party while Henry, Peter, and I got ready for our friends to come over.

As a "helper," Peter might be considered...
worthless.

We had a great evening playing with our friends-- the boys played Legos, Heather and I drank wine and talked, and we all participated in a make-your-own-pizza bar with lots of toppings.  Here are the boys being silly after dinner.  We "gained" one extra boy, William, who came over after he and James went to the birthday party.

Peter, James, Hayden
William (squished in middle), Hank, John

Heather and her boys just left and William is going to spend the night.  Everyone is in their jammies and the house is finally quiet.  Fingers crossed the boys (and puppy!) sleep until 7am tomorrow...

#notachanceinhellbutonecandream

A busy afternoon...

I'm not sure why some afternoons become crazier than others, but yesterday was a prime example of crazytown.

I offered to bring dinner to one of my girlfriends at Henry's preschool last night.  Her 6-month old son, Luke, had brain surgery one week ago.  His scar runs the entire length of his head, from one ear to the other.  Thank GOD he is healing remarkably well (and the surgery was 100% corrective).

I had just finished making the meal for Brooke and her family so I was trying to round up the kids and usher everyone out to the car to deliver it.  My sweet friend, Brittany, said I could drop the big boys off to play while I took the meal over.  I walked outside with the hot food in my hands and was startled to see Gabby, Cortney's daughter, talking to a man in our driveway.  The man could tell how concerned and upset I was about a strange man in our yard, talking to her, when he said, "Oh... I was just asking her where her mother is and she pointed up the street."  Of course he thought Gabby was mine since she came out of the house with us.  He quickly introduced himself as Roger Hobbs, the man who owns this house we're living in.  Sigh... I do not have time to do an unannounced walk-through of the house I was thinking!  Fortunately he was very friendly, didn't ask to do a walk-through, but stayed for at least 10 minutes chit-chatting.  After he left I scrambled to buckle Pete (that's become a fun chore lately... wrestling a 35 pound baby into his car seat!) and drop the big boys off at Brittany's for a little bit.

Unfortunately Brooke's address didn't pop up in our GPS so it took a bit longer than expected to find her house.  But I finally arrived, dropped the meal off, got to see baby Luke (what a doll!), and remind myself how fragile and precious life is.

Peter and I drove back to Brittany's house to pick up the big boys.  But not two minutes after Peter and I arrived, THIS happened...

Honestly!  Although I missed the actual fall, I think he was trying to ride on Clayton's scooter.  Poor baby.  :(  All of a sudden he started crying and blood was EVERYWHERE.  All over him.  All over me.  Pouring out of his mouth.  I thought for sure he was going to need stitches.  Fortunately Brittany is a nurse and calmly suggested we go inside for a bit.  She gave him a popsicle (which he refused initially then came to his senses) and he started to calm down.  The bleeding slowed and he seemed a little better.  I gave him some Tylenol when we got home and he went to bed easily.  He's still asleep this morning so I'm not sure what his mouth will look like today.

Boys.  Sweet, crazy baby boys.  Sometimes I don't think my heart can handle all of it.

Weekend Project...

So this weekend one of the things on our "to do" list included hanging curtains in our bedroom.   One year into living here and we still don't have curtains in there.  Installing curtain rods is Chris's idea of a great time.  But only if the other option is carving his eye out with a spoon.

Which is why it's taken a year.  I dragged our rods out of our storage house this weekend only to realize we were missing four of the wall brackets.   We set off to find replacement ones which is trickier than you might think.  After a failed attempt this morning at Home Depot and Target, Henry and I went looking for some this afternoon.

On the way there, he and I were making small talk...

Me:  Henry, how many children do you think you're going to have when you grow up?

Henry:  None.  I'm not a girl.  

Me:  Right you are.

We walked into Hobby Lobby and Henry immediately found a Venus Fly Trap create-at-home kit.  We have been looking for a Venus Fly Trap plant since last summer for him.  Apparently they're endangered (and therefore illegal to sell) in the state of North Carolina.  The woman who owns the nursery in town told us to look online.  Which we did (a few times) but have never made the plunge to purchase.  Today was Henry's lucky day.  We scooped up the fly trap kit and went to find wall brackets.

Unfortunately Hobby Lobby doesn't sell individual wall mounting brackets but their complete curtain rod kits were on sale so we "splurged" and bought two new ones.

Leaving the store Henry turns to me and says, "I cannot believe we spent ALL that time in that store and all you got were two telescopes."

I looked at him and started laughing.  "Me either," I said.

But what I really can't believe is that he accidentally spilled all of the venus fly trap seedlings in the car.  (Well, come on.  Of course I believe that could happen.  I'm just always surprised at kids' tenacity and ability to spill everysinglethingtheycomeincontactwith!).  It'll come as no surprise that we can't find them.  Because seedlings happen to look like all of the other little droppings my little lovies leave on our car floor.  Poor Henry.

And "poor Mommy" since Chris noticed one of the rods was broken when we got home.  Womp womp.

Project success rate:  0:2.

Laser Tag Party!

James decided on a "laser tag" birthday party with his friends to celebrate turning 8.  (Incidentally, does anyone feel like his birthday has been a month-long affair?  We started celebrating it on Christmas with the relatives, then celebrated his actual birthday on Jan. 11, and just now had his friend party and sleep-over.  Reminds me of the month-long birthday celebrations we had growing up.  Ha ha... NOT!)

At any rate, for anyone who has ever met met me, you can probably imagine my reaction when walking into that pit of a place, otherwise known as Laser FX.  It literally took my breath away.  Dark walls, neon spray paint, oddly patterned floors with way more filth than I would care to have Peter's pacifier fall on (which it did!), 50 arcade games screaming and making noise at once, wall-to-wall boys running around, having the time of their lives.  If I never step foot in that place again it'll be too soon.  But James loved it.  His friends loved it.  I did lots of deep breathing exercises.

The kids got to play two rounds of 20-minute laser tag, eat pizza and cake and ice cream, and then play the arcades.  More.deep.breathing.and.sanitizing.

Here's the scoop...

James and Tramad,
his best buddy in class. 

Patrick Crispino (friend from WP), James, and Nico

Henry, James, Waylon, Patrick, Peter
Kenton, Ross, Nico, Tramad, Christian & Jonathon

The gang!

Getting ready to go into laser tag room...

Waiting for gear...

The black lights made their
clothes glow in the dark which they loved!

Henry seems as happy as James.  :) 

They had a great afternoon!

We were afraid Henry might not want to join the big kids (since it's dark and loud in the laser tag rooms) but he loved it too!

Next year I gotta think of something less stress-inducing for me though.  :)

The Week in Review...

Henry continues to enjoy putting puzzles together.  

He dragged this 500-piece puzzle out 30 minutes before bedtime... natch.  

Peter continues to enjoy eating his toenails.  Seriously!?  Chris says it's clearly a mutant gene of mine (since I was a former nail bitter.  Oh!  You didn't know?  I gave that up this year.  Eating your nails is so 2012!)

No explanation necessary.  Nothing sweeter than a baby and his bunny snuggling.

My main man.  ;)  In one of my bracelets.  But he wears it well, no?

The little boys (at 7am) making popsicles.  Heaven help us... these two want Zoku pops all damn day long.  In their defense, it's super cool (and healthy) but tiring for mama nonetheless.  E....NOUGH.

Petey being a good Bunny Daddy.  He offers Bun-Bun his food, drinks, beloved popsicles, and even his suckie...

Henry is in love with Charlie and I'm quite certain the feeling is mutual...

James and a spelling assignment.  Each week he has to do several homework assignments with his spelling words and we've finally figured out a way to make (one) part of it less painful.  Hooray for us!

And, seriously?  This dog drags his bedding out of his crate, out of our bedroom, and into the kitchen to nap.   Funny, isn't it?

So there you have it... our week in review in pictures.  :)

Dadisms...

Dadism:  "Have I ever told you girls about the time..."

I can't tell you how many times my dad started a story like that.  And it always involved some trouble  he and his buddies got into growing up.  Since dad was an Army brat, he and his family traveled and lived all over the world... to include Germany, Hawaii, and Japan.  They'd just moved to Japan when a little girl accidentally dropped a metal bar on top of my father's right hand, permanently severing the tips of each finger off on that hand.  He said he was so disoriented, in pain, and in shock (not to mention brand-new to the country and post), it took forever for him to find the right house.  When he finally found his mother, the doctors were afraid he was going to die because he'd lost that much blood.  Then there was the time he broke his collar bone.  And the time he broke his arm.  And his nose... a couple of times.  He was always climbing, falling, or getting into something.  Dad said as soon as he woke up in the morning, he left the house and returned only when he had to.

Although the quality of these pictures is poor (they're photographs of photographs), there is no mistaking how much James and Peter look like my father I think!

Tell me that doesn't look like
Peter sitting on those steps!

Diane, Grandma Billie, Great-Grandma Henrietta,
Great-Grandpa Eugene, Dolores, and James...
I mean, my dad.  ;)

My father and his sisters...
again, the resemblance to James is uncanny I think!

Diane, Dad (Randy), and Dolores

I could definitely do without any bodily harm, of course, but I love the energy and spunk my dad passed along to our boys!

Like a WEED!

Yesterday I took James in for his 8 year-old physical.  He stands 4 feet, 8 inches tall and is exactly 75 lbs, which places him off the growth chart again for height and in the 95% for weight for his age group.  He's only a foot shorter than I am at this point!  Which may explain how I spent $500 in groceries in only SIX days last week!  Can you believe that??  Neither could I.  :( Except when I see how much my children eat... and apparently grow!  It's a great thing of course... just less so on the wallet.

Peter love, love, loves his "Bames"....

So do we!

James is 8!

Yesterday was James's 8th birthday.  There really isn't a way for me to explain how very much I love him except to say he is exactly who I would've picked for a son if I could have. 

James got to pick anywhere he wanted to go for his birthday dinner (Chick-fil-a!) and afterwards, he opened lots of cool gifts from his grandparents, his brothers, Mommy and Daddy, Aunt Megan, and Cousin Laura.  It was like a mini-Christmas over here again!

James asked for a "football and soccer" cake.... so Henry and I improvised by making these cupcakes for him, with soccer plates and napkins on the side.  (And what are the odds that I had BOTH on hand, neither of which James knew about?  Man, sometimes you actually win one as a mother.)

We're having his "friend party" at a Laser Tag spot in town next Saturday which he's super excited about too.  All in all, I think he had a fantastic day!  

Rain Man...

Peter is talking more and more lately.  Almost every day he says a new word which has been really fun to listen to... except when he gets on "Rain Man mode" of repeating himself.

His absolute favorite request (asked at least 100 times a day) is, "I wan' can-can" which means, "I want candy."  Of course you do.

And here you can hear him asking over and over again to ride Henry's bike.  "I wan' bike.  I wan' bike.  Mommy....I wan' bike.  Mom.  I wan' bike.  Mommy..."  

I love how he bribes Charlie to come to him with a "treat and candy cane."

And... we're back on candy.

More Hank ramblings...

Henry:  Mom, can we build James's new Lego kit?

Me:  No.  I've already told you this at least ten times.  I don't know how to build them.  We have to wait until Daddy can help us.

Henry:  Or James.

Me:  Hmm... right.  Or James but preferably James and Daddy since there are so many pieces.  

Henry:  Yeah, 'cause they can build anything.  Well.... except houses.  [Pause]  And puppies.

Me:  Right.

[Another pause]

Henry:  Or sweatshirts.

Me:  Right again.

Sweet Jesus, he is always talking!

The last 24 hours...

Mommy woke up with a stomach bug and Peter woke up with the worst case of bed head anyone has ever seen....

Seriously.  On a boy??  How is that possible?!

 We did lots of looking out the window and playing with trains...

And apparently chilling in the dog crate...

But then today, Mommy felt better and we got our nails did!

My shadow wanted to join me...
and picked "glittery gold."
(Making Daddy proud...)

Everyone's feeling back to normal again over here, thank goodness!