Did I puke last night?

Our neighbors Kim and John Dewall had a Thanksgiving Eve party.  Great idea as no one has to work the next day and we got to walk to the party!!  The boys went with us and Evan was so excited that there was Buffalo Chicken Dip.  After helping himself to it all night he told me that his stomach was upset before he went to bed.  I gave him some Tums and off to bed he went......

At 12:30ish he came and woke me up 'Mom, I just puked.'  My response, 'ok, go back to bed.'   No mom, I just puked downstairs.  Oh ok, so I get out of bed.  I walked downstairs and as soon as I got into the kitchen I could SMELL it.  It took everything in me not to puke myself, but I would have made it to the sink, unlike Evan.  He had puked in front of the sink.  On the carpet and hardwoods.  REALLY?  He was apologizing and I asked him if he was going to get sick again, he said no so I sent him back to bed and told him I would be up after I was done cleaning it up.

Well and hour later I didn't puke and everything was cleaned up, well kind of.  I took the carpet outside and the hose had already been put away for the winter so I walked cups of hot water out to dump on the carpet and scrubbed it with a brush as best I could.  I couldn't get to close because of the SMELL!  I just wanted to make sure that the carpet got wet enough to stay wet until the next day.  I also had to wipe down all of the cabinets and mop the floor.  I needed a shower.

I finally get back upstairs and Evan is sound asleep.  Chris hasn't moved.  The next morning Chris wakes up and I told him 'Evan puked last night, we need the hose'. Well I stayed in bed long enough because Chris had throughly cleaned the carpet by the time I came downstairs and Evan said 'Did I puke last night or was that a dream?'  No, it wasn't a dream it was a nightmare, HIT THE TOILET/SINK/TRASH/TUB/SOMETHING next time!

E Mom E

I recently took Evan and his friend Ethan to a Butler Basketball game.  Evan was getting all pouty and when I asked him what was wrong he told me that he would talk to me later.  After dropping Ethan off Evan confessed that I was 'embarrassing' him.  Great.  This is starting all ready.  I can't remember what I did but it was embarrassing and he got upset.  We have now established a code.  E mom E means that I am embarrassing him.  He can say this as I am doing something and no one else will know (unless you read this blog).

Statement to live by.

As I indicated in my last post Evan has struggled in his 'new' school.  There appears to be many students that don't make the best decisions and don't really care what adults and or teachers think.  If they are like this at 10 what will they be like at 16?  Anyway, Evan needed to talk to me this evening.  His classroom has now been assigned 'jobs' where they earn 'money' and can also lose money for inappropriate behavior.  Evan's teacher has assigned him as hall monitor.  He is to walk in the back of the line and if anyone is talking (halls are a quiet zone) or messing around he is responsible for notifying them that they owe a $1 to the teacher.  If they back talk him, he has been given the 'authority' to take another $1.

Well, Evan says that he has had to fine almost everyone in the class at one point or another (and I believe him because of the stories that he tells and the teacher has agreed with).  So now the student's are bad mouthing him and indicating that they are going to get him back because he is telling on them.

I told him that he was given a job to do and he has to complete the task doing what he believes is right and not to worry about what everyone else is saying.  So after a little more discussion he said, 'Doing what is right is not always popular and doing what is popular is not always right.'

Profound words for a 10 year old.  I hope he remembers them forever.

Friends.

Evan struggled last year at his 'new' school  (due to redistricting) and told us he didn't have any friends. We somewhat dismissed it and just told him that it would take a while to find them.  Well we are in year 2 at the 'new' school and I don't like what I hear.  Evan continually talks about how 'bad' the kids are in his class, how no one 'understands him', how people think he is 'weird'.  This is hard for a parent to hear.  Evan's class has so many behavior issues that they had to write the substitute teacher apology letters, and we got to deliver them because she lives in our neighborhood.  At our parent teacher conference his teacher alluded to problems in the class with behavior but she thought she was finally getting them under control.  Evan comes home daily with stories.  But there is a bright spot in this dismal year, Ethan.    The first or second day of school Evan came home so excited that he had met a boy that liked all of the same things that he did.  Ethan took school seriously.  Ethan was respectful to his teacher and adults.  Ethan had just moved into the school from West Virginia.  All I can say is THANK GOODNESS.  Just tonight we had a message from their teacher Mrs. Singleton and it said that she hadn't gotten the spelling test graded before the end of the day so she was calling to let Evan know that he scored 20 out of 20 and that he and his buddy were the only ones that scored 20, again.  If they score 20 out of 20 on their pre-test on Wednesday they don't have to take the test on Friday.

Evan has play dates at Ethan's house many Friday afternoons.  They sing in choir together and we are in a carpool with his parents.  He has gone to a Butler Basketball game with me.  They are now on the same basketball team.  And I have asked their teach Mrs. Singleton NOT to separate them in their class 'pods'.

I can only hope that Evan has found that lifelong friend that will stick with him through thick and thin and they will guide each other to responsible decisions and behavior for many many years.

 

Evan is Suite

So Evan decided to join the choir at Carmel Elementary this year.  I have no idea if he can even carry a tune, but he is doing it.  They have practice at 7:30 in the morning every Tuesday which can be challenging, but we are making it work as we are carpooling with another family.  So last evening they sang the National Anthem at the Pacer game.  The choir was going to stay for most of the game and then be home around 9:45.  Well Evan's friend Ethan (our carpool family) had his dad go and he surprised the boys with getting his office's suite.  Evan and Ethan hung out in style and Evan said 'It was EPIC!'.  I guess this is the only way he will watch a sporting event.

Flu Shots, ugh.

I took both boys to get flu shots on Wednesday.  Evan was 'acting' like it was no big deal and Hayden was freaking out!  We had a family of 6 in front of us with 4 kids ages 8-2 and we did not hear a peep out of any of them.....

Well it is finally our turn and Evan volunteered to go first to show Hayden that it isn't that bad.  The nurse is completing the paperwork and Evan gets very serious and next thing I know he is crying.  She immediately gives him the shot and he nervously laughs and says 'Oh that tickled' and then whispered in my ear 'no it didn't but I wanted to say that for Hayden'.

It is Hayden's turn and he is crying before he even sits in the chair.  Nurse doesn't even start paperwork just sticks him and he CRIES and bleeds.

Both survived except this is what Hayden's arm looks like now.

Just had John Howard (pediatric Doc) and Lori Faulk (RN) comment on Facebook that it is cellulitus and we need to have it treated.  Already tried as we went to the Dr last evening and she drew the lines on him to see if it expands, it has.  It is still hot to the touch too.  Chris and I were talking last night that we think this happened last year too.  I am documenting this for future reference!!

1st Grade Boy Humor

This evening Evan asked Hayden to bring him the remote.  His response, 'only if you spell icup'.  Go ahead, spell it out loud.  This is what I live with folks.

Hayden is 7!

Time is something that just keeps ticking on and I think it speeds up as the boys get older.  It is hard for me to believe that 'my baby' is now 7.  We celebrated all weekend by starting his actual birthday on Friday with a 'special' breakfast of hot chocolate with whipped cream and sprinkles.

On Saturday Hayden had his football game and then we hung out at home.  Dinner of his choice was steak and baked potato.  It was the 3 of us as Evan was at a friends house.

Sunday was church and then getting the house ready for the PARTY!!!  Hayden gamed it up with Game Guru then cake and ice cream.  As soon as the party was over we had to head out to Evan's baseball game then grabbed dinner and when we finally got home at 8pm Hayden asked 'can I open my presents now?'.

More Home Improvements??

Well the floors are still not done and everything is in a disarray upstairs.  We decided to have someone come in and install the rest of the floors as Chris and I knew we would NEVER get it done.  I saw the light at the end of the tunnel as the installer was to be at our house next week to finish up.  This was until we discovered we needed to replace our siding outside before putting the floor down due to water.    Earliest this can get done is the end of September so at least another 6 weeks of chaos and walking on sub floor upstairs.  We now call our humble home - THE MONEY PIT!

Hayden

Hayden is in the bathroom taking a bath with the door closed and I walked in.  He jumped and grabbed his chest and said 'Mommy you scared me to death!'  'Show some respect and knock before you come in.'

Where does he get this stuff?

Friendly Competition

Our neighbors the Nix's and the Niccum's have been talking smack for several weeks now on who was the better badminton team.  It started with talk, lead to notes in mailboxes until the date was set for tonight.  Team Nix presented Team Niccum with a box of Wheaties and a note 'hope you ate your wheaties this morning'.  Team Nix came with team headbands and tube socks.  Game on, except Chris took Rachel's place somehow.  No I know how, it was a competition and he couldn't turn it down!

Rachel sporting the Nix uniform of headband and tube socks.

Do Gabe and Chris hit the deck?

Home Improvenot....

The joys of home ownership are the continued 'projects' that seem to be going on.  We are in the process of having some windows replaced and thought it was a brilliant idea to go ahead and start changing the trim out...  Well we stained and polyurethaned trim and more trim and this was just for the Master bedroom and around 3 windows in the boys rooms and office!  I can't even think of how much more we have to go.  Just take it in phases to make it manageable.!

One of 4 sawhorses with trim.

The work space.  Forget parking our cars in the garage for a while.

 On to flooring.  We have need to replace our carpeting upstairs since we moved in 5 years ago.  We finally made the plunge and we are replacing the carpet with hardwood floors.  This is 10 boxes of the 46 that we have.  I joke and say that our marriage is going to be put to a test as we have decided to install the flooring ourself.  What have we done??

Here is less than 1/3 of the flooring that is in our house ready to install.  10 out of 46 boxes.

Random Thoughts from my children.

Evan is now wearing a 'cup' for baseball.  Hayden says it is to protect his 'ding ding'.

Hayden has figured out that he likes fried shrimp while we were in Hilton Head.  So we were driving to Chicago and stopped at Cracker Barrel and I told Hayden that they had a fried shrimp kids meal.  He looked at me and said 'Mommy, I only eat shrimp when we are by the sea.'

The boys are having a conversation, this is all 3 boys.  Evan makes a comment that boys don't care about clothes.  Hayden interjects with yes we do they have to be cool clothes.  Daddy looks at Hayden and says cool as in keeping you cool in the heat.  Hayden, 'no daddy, like sexy cool.'

Ok then.

Happy 10th Birthday Evan

Evan recently turned 10 years old.  I was giving him a hug on his birthday and said 'Happy Birthday buddy, I can't believe you are 10.  When did that happen?'  He looked at me and said 'TODAY.'

Thanks genius!  We did celebrate with a gaming party and 14 boys.  The party was wonderful as none of the boys stepped foot in my house!  They all stayed outside in the gaming truck and then the garage was for cake and ice cream.

Summer Travel

Our summer travel is done.

We spent a week in Hilton Head with Tara, Jackson, mom, dad, Mollie (the dog) and Sadie (the dog).  We had an awesome time.  We rented a 4 bedroom house so everyone had their own 'space' and took both of the dogs down with us.  We stopped near Asheville NC on the way down as we wanted to go and see the Biltmore Mansion on Saturday as we couldn't check in until 4pm.  We got to the Biltmore and the tickets were $65 each!  The boys just wanted to see the outside and aren't really at the age to appreciate the true beauty of the mansion so we took a pass.  We went to the McDonalds right outside the gates as we saw this on the travel channel as one of the top 10 McDonalds in the country to visit (whatever that is about, be we watched it didn't we??)

Biltmore Mansion McDonalds

We finished the drive to Hilton Head and got stuck in traffic trying to get on the island.  It took us an hour to go 5 miles!  This is where Sadie was most of the drive.

Evan's riding partner

Our first night there we rode bikes to dinner and Hayden tried to scratch his face and bit the dust.  He had a road rash on his face, elbow and knee.  His head bounced off of the pavement, thank goodness for the helmet.  We are really lucky he didn't injure himself.

Showing off his 'road rash'

After a great week of fun on the beach, in the pool and riding bikes we headed home.  We drove straight through on the way back and go home about 9 pm on Saturday June 30th.

Is Hayden really drinking beer?

After a quick day at home on Sunday the boys were off to grandma and grandpas on Monday and Tuesday as the sitter was off the week of July 4th.  We spent the 4th of July with friends, watching the parade, eating at their house, going to see fireworks, etc. 

Ready for bed

Thursday July 5th we were off again.  This time we drove to Chicago to visit the Howard family.  We got to their house around 9 pm and all of us stayed in their son Connor's room or aka 'The Bat Cave' because it is decorated in Batman stuff.  The next morning John fixed breakfast for everyone and we just hung out and talked and laughed.  Around noon we were off to our next adventure of going to Key Lime Cove in Guernee IL.  This is an indoor waterpark.  We were supposed to go to Six Flags but it was going to be 105 that day so we bagged it.  All 5 boys (Evan - 10, Hayden  - 6, Connor - 5, Graham - 3 and Ian - 1) swam for about 6 hours!!!  We grabbed dinner as the Howard boys, well mainly Graham, was in breakdown mode, and off they went.  The next morning Hayden said the bottom of his feet hurt soooooo bad.  No more pool, we were headed north to Wisconsin. 

We were staying in Sturgeon Bay, WI.  Daddy had a work meeting on Monday so we all tagged along.  Saturday evening we just grabbed dinner and hung out at the pool.   Sunday we ate breakfast at a place called Al Johnson's in Sister's Bay Wisconsin.  We had heard we must go to this restuarant if not to eat then just to see the goats on the roof.  Yes you read that right, the roof is made of grass and the goats keeps it 'mowed'. 

'Best hot chocolate EVER'

Yes these are goats on the roof of the restaurant

After breakfast we took a schooner ride around the bay  that lasted for about 2 hours.  Wasn't the best 'kid' activity but they managed.

Hayden helped bring the sails in

Evan napped

View from the Eagle Tower in Peninsula Park

We then drove to the Peninsula State Park and went to the top of Eagle Watch to look out over the bay and then hiked a trail. The following day was daddy's work meeting so we dropped him off and then went exploring on our own.  We ended up at a beach after eating more ice cream than 3 people should consume for lunch at a place called Wilson's.

Wisconsin was BEAUTIFUL and we can't wait to return!

Bike Parade

Every year I wonder where time goes as our neighborhood gathers for the annual bike parade.  The kids continue to get bigger and the parents stay the same - how is that possible :).   This year we had a special guest and Jackson joined us.  A fire truck comes down and the kids can crawl all over it and then it leads the kids in a lap through the neighborhood and the kids follow on their bikes.  This year was special as well because Hayden has been trying very hard to learn how to ride his bike without training wheels.  Well I guess it just takes some peer pressure as he would never start for us but once he got to the parade off he went on his own!

Jackson getting ready.

About 1/3 of the parade!

Hayden RODE BY HIMSELF (no training wheels)

Zoo Concert

Not to be out done by the 3rd grade pioneer day concert the kindergarten classes gave a stellar performance of their own.  They sang animal songs from A-Z and dressed as animals too!  I found it funny that the information that was sent home to parents explaining the program said 'please remind your children that spiderman and sponge Bob squarepants are not animals.'  Hayden had a very moooooving performance.

Pioneer Days.

Evan just completed a field trip to Conner Prairie today which ended their studying about the pioneers.  This has involved reading Little House on the Prairie, which Evan has enjoyed and is amazed that it was a TV show.  Singing 'pioneer songs' at the 3rd grade concert and participating in pioneer day at school.  This involved candle making, rag doll making, tin pressing, making corn bread, making butter, peeling potatoes, square dancing, listening to a fiddle player and dressing up as pioneers!  He said it was a blast and he wished he lived in the pioneer days.... whatever.

Kindy 500 Part 2

Hayden participated in Kindy 500.  This is an event where you build/create a car out of a card board box. Well lets just say that Hayden's car was so similiar to Evan's car it was scary.

Evan May 2009

Hayden May 2012

I know we are bad parents.  I just call it recycling.

Just got this picture from another parent that was looking out for us in trying to get pictures of Hayden at the Kindy 500.  She said he is a little 'pre-occupied'.

Good bye old friend.

Evan developed an attachment to a pair of his old pajama's when he was about 12 months old.  They were red and we named them 'fleecy'.  We had a pair an identical pair of green pj's too and those went to Mamaw Linda's house so we didn't have to remember to take the coveted item home every night so Evan could go to sleep.  Fast forward to Sunday.  Evan has decided he no longer needs fleecy.  (insert sigh and my little boy is growing up here).  Now Chris and I have asked Evan several times over the last two years when he was going to give up fleecy and he said 'never', 'when I go to college' or 'someday'.  Ok, we didn't push the subject knowing that he wouldn't really take fleecy to college (or we really HOPED he wouldn't!).  What did it take for fleecy to be tossed aside?  A comment from his brother.   'Evan why do you still have fleecy you are almost 10.  I don't have taggy any more.'  That was it.  Fleecy was cast aside.  When he told me this I said OK and took them.  He did say 'don't throw them (both green and red) away, daddy says they are a mento'.  A memento?  'Yes a mento'.  Ok I won't throw them away.  So in they went to the 'retired' baby stuff that I will one day get out (can anyone say High School Graduation) and wonder where time went.

Farewell to Fleecy and part of his childhood, sniff, sniff.

Pregnancy to Baptism

While eating dinner Evan asked, 'How does a man have kids if he isn't married?'  After picking my jaw up off of the table and giving Chris 'the look'.  Chris answered with 'when a man gets a women pregnant and they aren't married.'  Wow, didn't expect him to be so straight forward and then my thought was here come more questions.  Nope, conversation done, well so we thought.  Then Hayden asked 'am I Baptised?'  We asked Hayden why do you ask?  His response 'because I want to part of this family forever'.  Ok good answer.  Dinner conversation from pregnancy out of wedlock to baptism in the span of 90 seconds.  Awesome.

Spring Break

Spring Break is kind of a buzz kill (one of Chris's favorite sayings) around here.  I can't get off work, it is my busiest time of year.  We did go to the Abe Martin lodge in Brown County for one night and played in their water park but we weren't able to hike because it rained.  We did make it into Nashville and parked at one end and walked to the other end for dinner.  We saw the Lorax at the movie theatre and then hung out at home.  Morgan (the nanny) took them to the zoo on Tuesday, they spent the entire day there and saw everything.  Then Grandma and Grandpa camp started.  Phil picked them up on Wednesday and kept them until Friday afternoon and then JoJo and Terry picked them up and they are hanging with them until Sunday when we pick them up.  I hope they are having fun.  Chris and I have gone to dinner and saw a couple of movies.  I get to clean the house now (yeah, not) but then head to a massage this afternoon so a real yeah!  

Growing Up.

While watching TV with the boys the other evening an Easter commercial came on and Hayden asked me is the Easter Bunny real?  At a loss for words I said 'what do you think?' and Evan pipes up and says 'no the Easter Bunny is not real just like Santa Claus isn't real'.  What?  What did you say?  Hayden jumps in and says Santa is real because they watched him on the Santa tracker on Christmas Eve.  Then Evan in all of his wisdom says 'What if that is all just a trick the adults are playing on us?'.  Ok Evan we need to talk.

Chris and I pulled him in the other room away from his brother and just told him that he is NOT to discuss this in front of Hayden nor anyone else.  But if he doesn't believe, he doesn't receive.  I think he got it, only time will tell.

Ugh Duh.

Going through old pictures and one picture explains Hayden perfectly.