For Sale!

I'm having a yard sale tomorrow. Any and all are welcome to come sell stuff or rummage through mine (I've got baby stuff, a bedroom set, bikes, books...)

I will post all of my wonderful birthday gifts later. I made quite the haul :)

Also, the Pinewood Derby is tomorrow. Ian, I mean the boys, did an awesome job.

*I know the picture has nothing to do with anything but I have to keep posting the pictures because Tricia & Kim did such a stellar job. I am so lucky. And no, Evan is not for sale.

My Guys

"Boys are found everywhere on top of, underneath, inside of, climbing on, swinging from, running around or jumping to. Mothers love them, little girls hate them, older brothers tolerate them, adults ignore them and Heaven protects them."

It's all about me!

Today is my 29th birthday (ha, ha). Check me and my celebrity crush out on Kim's (you're supposed to click on Kim's name) blog. Thanks for taking me down memory lane Kim :).

Evan Update

First off, good news! Evan can play with toys! He is still in his "destroy everything expensive within a mile radius" phase, but last night he demonstrated that he could actually play with toys. What a milestone! And Max played with him! Without fighting! Or choking! Or screaming! YAY!!!!

WARNING: PG-13

Evan hates to wear a diaper. Or rather he loves to remove his diaper and run frantically away while I chase him down before he pees or something much worse. Yesterday after nap time this is how I found him. Mind you I NEVER leave him without pants on over his diaper but this time he managed to take off his pants and diaper in the 5 minutes it took me to go in and get him. I hope this isn't a sign of a future profession. This kid is wearing me out.

P.S. the blurriness of these pictures is really bugging me. Time for a new camera.

Time to Change

In my church people from the congregation are assigned talks to give. Yesterday the talks were about using your time wisely. Usually I hear about 2 minutes of each talk but for some reason yesterday my kids were a little calmer (although the people behind us might disagree) so I got to hear a lot of what the speakers had to say. The first woman talked about over-scheduling her kids and family and taking a step back to see what was helping her family and what was hurting it. How it's not all black and white, good and bad. Some choices for your time are good, others better and yet others best. And even when you feel like you're making the best choices, you still might struggle.

Her talk was good but it was the man who spoke after her who really grabbed my attention. He talked about his busy work schedule. How sometimes when he came home he was tired and would nod absently as his son spoke to him. Then his son would grab his cheeks and force him to listen. One night, as he layed by his son in bed and asked about his day, his son said, "Dad, it was the luckiest day ever! I got to be line leader at school!" When the man discussed this with his wife, his wife said that the son never told her that - he must have been holding it in all day to tell his dad first. Ian and I are listening to this and tears are streaming down our faces.

It got me thinking - am I using my time wisely? Am I putting my husband and children first? Do I listen to them when they talk to me? There isn't any thing more important to me than God and my family. I think I have some re-evaluating to do.

Read My Mind

Sometimes I feel like I'm socially inept. I have no idea what to say to certain people then can't shut up around other people. To top it off sometimes my mouth shoots off and later my brain will catch up. Apparently my son has inherited this quality (or shall I say "vice"?). Yesterday afterschool Xander told me he broke up with his "girlfriend". I use that term loosely. The definition of girlfriend/boyfriend in the 4th grade is note passing and shy smiles (no physical contact - thank goodness). I have let Xander know countless times that he is way too young to have a girlfriend - he should just be friends with everyone. So when he reveals this information to me yesterday I am secretly pleased. I nonchalantly ask, "How did you do it?" He replies, "I wrote her a note that said, 'Consider yourself dumped!'" "WHAT?!?!!" (that's me). We then have a talk about treating people with respect - there were other ways he could've broken up with her without hurting her feelings.

This got me thinking. When Alexander was in kindergarten he had a playdate with a great family. When I went to get him he announced, "I'm hungry" and proceeded to start rummaging through these people's pantry. HELLO! I was mortified! I quickly made apologies, excuses and left with Xander. When we got in the car I started to lay into him and he interrupted, "Mom, you never told me I couldn't do that! I didn't know!" It then occurred to me that the other places he played at (grandmas, Tiffany's, Kim's) would've been totally fine for him to go through their pantry. It was a teaching moment for us both (who knew I had to explain things like that to my kid?).

Xander's second grade teacher told me that sometimes smarter kids have a little bit of trouble socially. O.k., then what's my excuse? Sometimes I feel like a kid who just made a social faux pas but there isn't anyone to correct me (unless Ian's there). I totally have foot-in-the-mouth disease. Relationships and people are a funny, tricky thing. Sometimes you just click. And then you go home and wonder if that person thought the same thing. Other times it's like trying to shove a size 9 foot into a size 6 shoe. It ain't happenin'. As I get older and my time becomes more and more precious, sometimes I don't even want to make the effort. Other times I yearn for friendship with a certain person, yet because of my insecurities I'm too shy or embarrased to put forth the effort.

I guess what I'm saying is I feel ill-equipped. How can I teach my son(s) how to deal with these situations when I tend to make a mess of them myself? Sheez, they really should make a handbook.

The best day

My Valentine's Day ROCKED! The kid part of it was a little crummy (Evan stepped in oil and the toliet all in the course of an hour and Max had multiple "naughty" moments followed by MAJOR meltdowns - plus he's made it his personal mission to torment Evan as much as possible) but I digress. I woke up to chocolates and a card from Ian. I am almost embarrassed to admit that I was a little irritated that none of the chocolates were ones I wanted. Then I read the card which said "more surprises to come". You can't imagine how much those words meant to me. I would actually have something to look forward to besides shuttling kids, changing poopy diapers and reasoning with the unreasonable! Yeah!

My first surprise was flowers. I'm not much for roses, I really like gerber daisies and tulips. Ian remembered that and got me a mixed bouquet. It made me happier than you can imagine - and happy that my husband took the time to request certain flowers and not just pick anything out. Ian stopped home for a little bit to give me the flowers and to tell me to be ready by 7:00. I was most excited by the prospect of spending some alone time with my husband. Sometimes I feel like we are two people living the same life - separately. Does that make sense?

Well, I was NOT ready by 7:00. I was still making dinner and attempting to quickly feed and bathe Evan. Ian took care of the bathing so I could get ready. Then Tricia, my super fabulous sister-in-law came - ready to babysit! Thank you, thank you, thank you Tricia! Btw, she not only babysat, she got all the kids in bed on time and cleaned up - I LOVE YOU TRICIA!!!

Ian and I decided to go to Macaroni Grill for dinner. Yeah, the wait was 75 minutes, but I can honestly say that there was never a lull in the conversation. And while we did talk about the kids, we talked about other things too. It was perfect. It was the best Valentines Day I've had in ages.

P.S. Thanks also to mom for the chocolates that I really wanted ;)

Happy Hearts Day!

Evan's new favorite hide-out. He's so proud of himself :)

There was a party at my house last night at 3:30 a.m. - how come none of you came? Evan was the life of the party but Max came in a close second. Yeah, I'm a little tired this morning. I wanted to get up early and make my kids pink waffles and bacon but it didn't happen. They were already downing bowls of cereal by the time I got back from my run (I think Alexander is happier with cereal any way).

Today I am loving:

1. My husband's sense of humor

2. Ben's giggle

3. Max's imagination

4. Alexander's logic

5. Evan's cheeks

6. The Killers

7. Chocolate

8. Lost

What do you love on Valentine's Day?