Drawings

Isaiah's assignment the other day was to divide a piece of paper into four sections, then draw something that makes him happy, mad, scared, and sad.

For happy, he drew a lollypop.
For mad, he drew himself kicking and flailing around, throwing a tantrun while he's in time out.
For scared, he drew the squirrel coming out of the fireplace.
For sad, he drew his favorite train, Victor, with batteries beside him, because he needs new batteries.

Baking with boys

Today was snow day #6 of the school year. I certainly didn't anticipate being home today, but it was a nice surprise. I was flipping through March's edition of FamilyFun magazine and found these St. Patrick's day rainbow cupcakes. Unfortunately, I didn't have a white cake mix, so we just made it from scratch. Isaiah loves the mixer. He said, "Your mixer is on hyper-speed!" The things boys say! Then I had to make sour milk because I didn't have any buttermilk. While I was mixing the milk and lemon juice, the boys were drinking the lemon juice, straight. They were having a contest to see who could drink more. This is how boys like to cook. =) So we divided the batter into six bowls and used the amount of food coloring the recipe said in order to make the right colors. Here's the picture from the magazine.

Mixing the green...

And the red...

All the colors finished... then we layered the batter in the muffin tins, starting with purple and working our way up. (The little one started saying "purple" while were were making these.) We were careful with the layering so the colors wouldn't mix, but...

This is is how they turned out. A little... psychedelic?

You can see the colors in the middle... a little mixed up! Both boys thought the rainbow cupcakes tasted good.

Bathroom adventures

Tonight I had a moment like Eddie Murphy in Daddy Day Care. Watch this trailer... the bathroom part is at the end.

I don't know what Isaiah was doing or thinking, but it was pretty much like that clip!

Close call

Today I was heading west on 910 to school. As I headed down the hill toward Pierce Mill Rd a red pick up truck was riding my tail. As we approached the light, he backed off. The light turned yellow in enough time for me to stop, so I did. I looked in my rear view mirror and the red pick up driver did an very evasive move to avoid my rear end and ended up in a snowbank. Since I was stopped at the red light anyway, I put the mini-van in park, got out and yelled a few choice words at a rattled mid-twenties guy. I mean, for real. It's time to grow up. There are people in those vehicles in front of you! Isaiah sits in the farthest seat back and I hate to think what would have happened if Isaiah was in the car and that guy barreled his truck into the back seat. So today I'm thanking God for his angels who shoved someone's truck into a snowbank.

Bold move (Ha!)

So yesterday on facebook I saw that a Catholic friend of mine is giving up facebook for lent. Do you know how long lent is?! Forty days! She is so hard-core. I started thinking about whether or not I could do it. I've never given anything up for lent before. I'm not saying that I'm giving up facebook for lent, but I did take it off of my homepage, and I haven't checked it since Tuesday night or Wednesday morning (I can't remember which). I figured that if anyone tries to contact me through facebook, it will come to my email. I've been feeling pretty overwhelmed by some issues lately, and I'm looking for any clutter I can cut out of my life.

On an unrelated side note, this is just a crummy time of the year in the north. Everyone is strung out because of how much snow we've had. Tempers are short and sunshine is greatly lacking. I caught a glimpse of the sun yesterday, and almost recoiled in shock. Then it went right back behind a cloud. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm looking forward to May.

Today's moments

This morning when Isaiah was getting dressed, he said, "Mommy, if our washer wasn't working, we could just use oxyclean." In a related side story, our dryer still hasn't been fixed. The back ordered part was supposed to have shipped on Feb 11. Our dryer was still under warranty when the heating element stopped working three weeks ago, so we have to use their repair company if we want the replacement part to be under warranty. So we wait... and make many trips to the laundromat. We were there today, and an older gentlemen felt bad for Isaiah who was sitting at the video games playing around with the joysticks. He gave Isaiah a quarter so he could play. So sweet.

Then later in the day, I heard him singing, "More music, KLOVE." It's amazing what kids absorb. All the more reason I'm glad we finally have KLOVE in our area. When we're riding in the car, it's just nice to know that every song is appropriate. I don't have to worry about which song is coming next or what a dj might say.

Sam started saying "cheek" today. Of course when I wanted him to say it, he wouldn't. When I point to his cheek and ask him, "What's this?" he'll say, "Eye!" and laugh hysterically. He's such a little goofball.

Some pics

Lounging on the snow

Checking out his sesame street wall stickers

He just loves his Sesame Street room!

Eating squid dogs (idea from FamilyFun magazine). You stick several raw spaghetti noodles through hot dog pieces, put the whole thing in boiling water until the noodles are cooked, then serve. He said, "Mommy, these are SOOOOO good!" Great boy food. (Yes, the crib in the background has become a fixture in our dining room... Maybe it will find its way out of here one of these days...)

Another squid dog lover.

Valentines box monster, made out of a tissue box. (You put valentines in through the mouth.)

Both boys with their vday box monsters.

Isaiah-isms

• The other day Isaiah was working on his schoolwork book. There was a picture of an old-time village. He had to find the items in the picture that did not belong in the time period, like the tv, digital clock, etc. Then, there was a question, "Before people had cars, how could they get from place to place?" He said, "Well, you could walk, or ride a cow, (pausing) or a friendly reindeer." I don't think he understood why I was laughing so hard.
• Last night Sam didn't want to take a bath. He was just standing there in the tub fussing. Finally, Isaiah had had enough, and said (exactly in the tone and matter-of-factness he hears when I say it), "That's life, kid. It's not the end of the world." Surprisingly, Sam sat right down.
• Today, Isaiah was filling out his Cars valentines. When it came time to choose one for Sam, he said, "Which one says, like, I love you or something?" He really does love his brother.

Fascinating list

I came across this list in an article today: Six personality traits to admire and acquire.

1. Selflessness
2. Tolerance
3. Genuineness
4. Sensitivity
5. Integrity
6. Humility

I thought the list was so interesting, coming from a secular article. The explanation of each characteristic is almost as good as the list itself and worth reading, so click on the link above.

Healthy kids

My boys have been healthy for a long time. Out of curiosity (and I must have been really bored!) I called the pharmacy the other day to see when they last had antibiotics. Sam had his in mid-May 2009 and Isaiah had his at the end of May 2009. That makes eight solid months of healthy kids! During that time, each one of us did have a stomach virus, but I don't really count that because medical intervention wasn't necessary. So today I'm thankful for a nice long stretch of healthy (and energetic!!) boys.

Bouncing

The boys were literally bouncing off the walls today.. especially the big one. This morning, allegedly, both boys were jumping on Isaiah's bed and it broke. It's an old wood frame bed and the one support just snapped. We'll probably try to fix it, because it's been in Dan's family for decades. But for now, we just moved Isaiah's matress to the floor.

I thought that running errands for about 2.5 hours would have cured their cabin fever. They even got to run around the laundromat for a while. But they were just going nuts all day. I've noticed an alarming tendency to play with a toy (small stuffed animals and koosh balls are perfect for this), roll it around, toss it around, and before I know it, it's being flung in every direction. Repeat pattern 53 times today.


Then Sam has decided he's on the seafood diet, you know, see food and eat it. His little belly never seems satisfied for more than a few minutes. And he broke the child safety lock off the snack cabinet for about the 6th time yesterday. He actually usually doesn't break it on purpose. He tries to shut the door with too much force and the one piece just breaks off. But my life is a lot easier when he doesn't have constant access to the snacks.


I'm hoping to get to bed early tonight so I'm ready to entertain the little cuties tomorrow. Must come up with some ideas...

Priorities

I'm reading this year's MOPS book, Life on Planet Mom. It's an entertaining, easy read that is all about how your relationships change once you become a mom. An underlying theme I've noticed in the book is priorities. I've always been very indecisive, and I think it's because I didn't understand or have the confidence to order my priorities. Now that I know my first two priorities are God and family, it's a lot easier to make big decisions regarding my career and other activities I'm involved in. I've already started to cut back on some things, and rather than feeling guilty like I would have in the past, I just feel freed up, knowing I am doing the right thing for my family right now.

Storm photos... and some others

I haven't uploaded any photos in a while... so here's a few to catch up. I made crab bisque with gourmet grilled cheeses. The bisque looks good but wasn't. But we didn't go wrong with four different kinds of cheese on Panera cheese bread. Unforgettable. Rock on!Just chillaxin...Elmo blanket... made by Nana. He loves it and is really careful not to sit on Elmo's eyes or nose. And some snow storm photos... from this morning. The big one was very intent on digging out his ruler that Dan had left on the table to measure the snow. He still hasn't found it. What was he laughing at? Throwing snow at Mommy. Then he came in and "helped" make hot chocolate. As you can see, most of it ended up on the counter. They had a blast and can't wait until they can go out in it again. The ten day forecast doesn't include any temps over freezing, so I'm guessing this snow will be with us for awhile.

Five Question Friday

1. What are you most afraid of?
Oh, where do I start? Lol! Flying would be at the top of the list, which is really unfortunate. I've flown lots of times, but only once since 9/11. I only flew when I was young and naive. =) I just don't trust people enough to put my life in their hands... pilots who are too busy playing on their laptops to pay attention to where they are flying, or fellow passengers who may have bad intentions. Also at the top of the list, I'm afraid of losing someone I love. I have no idea how/if I could cope with something like that. I'm afraid (afraid maybe isn't the right word) of not doing my best for God, for not doing exactly what He wants me to do.

2. Do you use a flat iron or a curling iron?
I've tried just about everything on my hair, once. And all with the same results: straight, flat hair. I realize that some people want their like that, so I try to be happy with it. =)

3. Hands-free or phone to the ear?
Phone to the ear. The hands-free headphones I tried a few years ago had a really intolerable echo.

4. Do you have a matching bedroom set?
Well, we don't have a headboard. The window/bed placement doesn't allow for one. We have an overall bedroom theme colors of black, red, and gray.

5. Do you believe in the paranormal?
I absolutely don't believe in ghosts, if this is what the question is asking. I've noticed that ghosts etc are so prevalent in children's books and shows. I'm amazed at how many library books I pass over because of references to ghosts. So many Scooby-do episodes have ghosts in them, and even a few of the Thomas episodes show the trains either telling ghost stories or the trains hear strange sounds and assume it's a ghost. It's tough to teach your children the truth when they're practically surrounded by untruth. On Curious George the other day, George was obsessed with wearing his "lucky" hat. Sheesh. Just what I want my kid to start believing. It's amazing how much of our American culture has been infiltrated by lore and superstition.