In 20 years I see ...

There is a little girl in Evan's class who always makes a point of talking to me when she sees me. We'll call her "H". I was joking to my one of my friends about how she seems to be trying to "butter me up" and how she could be my future daughter-in-law. Well, lo and behold, Evan comes home from school with this picture! I knew that he hadn't drawn it, so I asked him about it. He smiled a cute, kind-of-goofy smile, and told me that it was from H. I asked what the heart meant and he said, "Love". I asked what holding hands meant, and he said, "Friends!" He apparently gave her a painting to take home that day, too, but it was just a bunch of colors on a paper plate. He told us that he "forgot to put a heart on it."

I know 20 years is a long time from now, but this could be the beginning of something. I think her mom and I need to talk a little more. Better safe, than sorry, I say! ;)

Ahhh ... a beautiful breather

Tonight Steve and I took the boys to Chuck E. Cheese to have a family celebration. We were celebrating two things:
1. Joel giving up his paci (because he lost it - but it still qualifies!)
2. Evan wearing underwear to sleep (no more night-time training pants!)

It was nice to have a fun family night together. We have been having issues with both of the boys (Joel's defiance and destruction; Evan's attitude and actions toward his brother), but they were actually very well-behaved tonight. They had a lot of fun eating, playing and picking out toys with their tickets. They also each got a present from us for this big milestones. (Joel had picked his out as in incentive, but Evan's was a surprise.) They were very excited about the "party", and told us thanks for it afterwards. When we got home they had fun playing with all of the "loot" from the party. They even shared pretty well! All in all, the whole evening was one of those shining moments in parenthood when you have fun with your kids and see how much they are really growing and learning what you are teaching them. I hope that you enjoy some of the pictures from this evening.

Stop the insanity, please!!

So, is everyone ready for today's "Joel destruction" update? I hope so, because I need to vent!

The kid was exhausted. I put him to bed. Did he stay there and sleep? No. He went into my bedroom and bathroom again. This time I found:
1. an empty bottle of fingernail polish remover (with contents presumably under his bed)
2. a concoction of blue toothpaste and foot lotion under the bed (presumably with the fingernail polish remover mixed in) - with the containers and lids also under the bed
3. Mary Kay facial cleanser squirted out on his play table (at least not all of it) - probably what he was working on when he got interrupted
4. a concoction of night-blooming jasmine body cream from Bath & Body Works and Dove lotion with self-tanners underneath the play table - He didn't empty the containers, but he used a lot.

So, I am waiting for Steve to get home and help Joel clean up his mess. (I am still recovering from bronchitis and just don't have it in me to tackle this right now. I will help when Steve gets home.)

Also, I am wondering if carpet tans.

What happens when Mom is sick

When I woke up from my afternoon "sick" nap, Joel came up to me to tell me that he ate the candy from the jar in my room. And he did - all of it! The jar wasn't full by any means, but that's a lot of cheesecake filled and raspberry flavored kisses, or "kissy bars" as Joel called them. At least he didn't try to hide it this time. Okay, he did "hide" the wrappers under his bed, but he told me about it. I'm trying to focus on the positive!

As I was telling Steve about it, it came out that Evan knew about this while I was sleeping. He apparently did not have any himself, but didn't bother to tell me, either. We have been working on not tattling, so again I will choose to focus on the positive. When I asked what Evan said, Joel replied, "that he was dis-pointed". Wonder where he's heard that before?

Happy Valentines … Presidents … Tuesday!

Sorry for the delay in posting, but I was sick over the weekend. I went to the doctor yesterday and got medicine, and I do believe that it is beginning to work. Steve was wonderful over the weekend and let me get plenty of rest. I am sure that helped, too! Here is a recap of our past few days.Thursday was the day for Evan's Valentine's party at school. He made this neat "lovebug" box to hold his valentine's. He received the "most original" award for his hard work.Friday night Steve took the kids to McDonald's so I could get some much-needed rest. When they got home, Joel didn't want to bring his cup in the house. He thought I would get on to him because they "weren't supposed to go there". Steve had to tell him that it was okay that they went there two or three times before Joel believed him. Not sure where he got that from, but I am not excited about the sneaky behavior that it demonstrates. (Notice he didn't have a problem with going there, just bringing the evidence into the house where I could see it.)

Saturday was the big day, but I was sick so we didn't do much celebrating. I had already given Steve his present. He took the kids shopping and got the last ingredients I needed to make a special cake for the boys (and Steve). Unfortunately, the boys didn't obey on this trip, so they didn't get cake until the next day. I got a beautiful miniature rose bush and some flavored coffee beans as my gift. Evan has been drawing me beautiful pictures, too.

Another interesting thing happened with Joel on Saturday, too. Steve found an empty KitKat wrapper beside Joel and asked him if he ate it. He said no and Steve asked again. Joel said, "No, see there's no candy in there." Hmmm ... we need to work on logic with this one!

Sunday saw the boys going to church while I stayed home and rested. I wanted to rest yesterday, too, but Evan was off from school and I needed to go to the doctor. Things went pretty well until we had to go to Target to get my medicine. It's better to just forget about that part of the day.

Things are mostly back to normal today. Evan is at school and Joel and I are still in our jammies. Today will hopefully continue to be restful. Scratch that. Joel is trying to climb on me now. Maybe tomorrow will be restful. ;)

The Inventor

Evan was very excited about this invention of his. He calls it a "smoosher". Here he is smooshing the pile of dirt with it. Later though it seemed to fall down and he exclaimed, "The smoosher smooshed itself!" That's pretty powerful!