Ties and Tiny Tot of the Month

Ben wore a tie to church last Sunday. We have a couple of ties... but most of the button-down shirts require ironing and well, I don't iron. So anyway, having found a no-iron button down and a tie at thrift stores recently, I laid them out for Ben for church. He asked a couple of times why he had to wear a tie and I reminded him how much he used to LIKE wearing them to church. When I put it on (it was a clip on), he complained that his neck was "too tight." Nonetheless, he wore it without any further complaint.

(Here's a pic of said tie...)

At church he got LOTS of compliments and after, at lunch time, he was in no hurry to have it removed. We did take it off, to preserve the tie from the cheese dip he was devouring at the Mexican restaurant. Anyway, later that night after nap and having returned to church for Home Fellowship Group, a lady said to Ben "you looked really good in that tie this morning!!" From that point on... "why didn't you put my tie back on tonight?" and "I WANTED to wear my TIE!!"... then "can I ALWAYS wear a tie to church?" He has asked a couple of times this past week if he can wear a tie this week to church. I guess I need to get out the ironing board...

Owen is the "Tiny Tot of the Month" in our church newsletter. I had to provide some info the week we were in Las Vegas.. and the gal that runs the nursery asked for some photos to hang on the bulletin board. Sadly I have had to make some special trips/plans to get those photos.. believe it or not. We HAVE lots of photos of Owen... just none that are PRINTED! Second child I guess. I had BOXES by the time Ben was 1 1/2. Anyway, if you want to see the brief bit in the newsletter, go to http://www.greencastlecc.org/. Click on the "Love Letter" button and then choose the March Love Letter. You will have to have adobe installed to view the pdf.

Oh and here are a couple of pics of Owen on Sunday. I did offer him a tie (we have some "elastic" ones from when Ben was smaller) ... but of course he said (emphatically) "NO!!"

Oh yes, and one PS... if you're reading this, leave a COMMENT. I am not posting again until I know that someone is reading this...

Vacation Week

Jason and I went to Las Vegas this past week. We told the boys that they were going to have their own "vacation"... and boy did they. They didn't even care that we were gone! I usually don't talk to Ben on the phone when we're on this trip b/c he cries when he hears me (in the past, anyway). I tell mom and dad that they can let them call if they ask, but otherwise, I'll just chat w/them (mom and dad) to see what is going on.

On Thursday mom had her heart catherization and when I called after she got home, the boys sounded WILD in the background. I asked to talk to Ben and when I did, he said something like "Hi Mommy. We're playing with a sword from the basement. Do you want to talk to Owen?" Then Owen gets on and says "Mommy? Bye Mommy." ... then he takes off. It is good to be able to leave them and not have to worry about them getting homesick... so I'll just keep that in mind rather than focusing on the fact that my boys didn't even want to talk to me!!

We got home Thursday night to find pretty slushy and slick roads. By the time we got our luggage and made the usually 30-minute-drive home (which took an hour), it was 9:30 PM and mom told me that Owen was already asleep. At the house we found that the furnace had gone out and the grill was blown over AND the cats were out of food... so we decided to stay at home and get the temp up (it was 43 degrees when we got home!) and pick the boys up on Friday.

When we got to mom and dad's on Friday, Ben saw us first. He smiled -- and then Owen saw me and smiled... and THEN Owen saw his DAD!! He ran to Jason who was squatted down and sat on his knee. His lip was out and he looked like he was moments from a teary breakdown. He put his head on his dad's shoulder and just hung on for dear life. Made us wonder what he'd been thinking during the week... hopefully NOT that we had abandoned him!!

Since getting home, Jason has been unable to get out of Owen's sight. He cries "my daddy, my daddy!" It's sweet for now... but drop off at daycare will be hard on Monday if this hasn't passed by then!

Today we played in the snow for a couple of hours. We only had 2-3 inches... but enough to make snowballs and a little snow wall. The boys had fun with their new snow shovels, though there was a lot of fussing about the snow clothes and mittens from both of them. After playing in the snow, we came in and had snow ice cream and hot chocolate... big hits.

Now, as I write at 10:50 PM, both boys are eating Lucky Charms. I know, all good kids are in bed already...

Oh, and about Vegas... it was a really nice trip. We went to 2 shows - Le Reve (actually very odd) and Stomp Out Loud. The latter was at the new Planet Hollywood Resort and we both LOVED it. We also saw a movie out there... that was nice. We don't see many movies anymore!!

This pic is in the stomp theater...

Chuck E Cheese and Valentine's Day...

Well we celebrated Ben's bday AGAIN on his actual bday at Chuck E Cheese in Avon. Wow. I think the bday party with obstacle course, lots of kids and all that food to prepare was EASIER on Jason and I! Ben had a really great time though. They have a slide/tunnel thing that he enjoys. Always before he has been kept away from these things by his fear of "tumbling slides" (a bad experience w/Daddy on one several years ago did him in!). He couldn't get enough of it this time! And on the real upside, it was one of the few FREE things at Chuck E Cheese!

The boys were quite the air hockey players, by the way. Jason and I helped, but they really got the hang of it and did pretty well. Owen even worked up a sweat! He giggled as he pounded the little paddle on the table! Owen liked the rides there, but only if they weren't moving. And I thought he'd be our roller coaster boy one day... Oh and one other funny Owen story... Ben and Owen were dancing in front of the blue screen... the one that puts them ON the video with the Chuck E Cheese characters and a little boy just a little older than Owen came up and started following Owen around. He would look at the boy and scream "NO!".. then run away. The boy would follow him... much to Owen's dismay. It was pretty funny.

Of course yesterday was Valentine's day. Ben and Owen got matching Woody's (from the toy story movie) to go with their Buzz Lightyears. I cooked a good supper.. enchiladas, mexican rice... even fried ice cream! Of course my boys mostly ate just the chips and salsa... oh and Owen had THREE bowls of ice cream!

Today is Ben's party at preschool so we had to address 15 valentine's last night. His job was just to sign the cards ... I do NOT look forward to the days of homework. I'm not very patient and he's not very committed. After yelling at him SEVERAL times to stop chewing on the pen, stop laying on the table, and put down Woody, I finally admitted to Jason that he is probably better cut out for helping with that kind of task than I am!

Today and tomorrow will be busy days.. getting things wrapped up at work and at home and getting everything packed for our Las Vegas trip on Sunday!

The Superhero Party...

Last night was the superhero party. Several of my friends lamented "what will they do for his 16th?" Maybe we got carried away??? It was ALOT of fun though!

Jason made an obstacle course complete with a swinging rope. The kids got to stand on the step and swing onto the baby matress. I doubted the safety and success of this rigged up thing... but it worked quite well. Ben was STILL talking about the "training course" when I was trying to get him to sleep at 11PM.

We had "hero" sandwiches.. Jeanmarie and Beth helped with those. I think we made about 60! And of course there was a superman cake.

The kids played "Pass the Kryptonite," "Pin the Super on Superman," and beat the pinata til it poured out loads of candy and toys. Later, Ben got just what he was needing... more TOYS!! He loved it. Lot of work... but worth it! He'll be talking about this until next year.

Oh and check out the capes. Tammie made the velcro closures. We even had a cape for newborn friend, Cooper. I tried to get all of the kids to wear capes and masks and get in the same photo at the same time... with some limited success. I told them they couldn't bust the pinata until we had a pic!

Today Ben's already talking about his NEXT superhero party. He said "mommy, I don't want capes for my next superhero party." I said okay, what do you want. Ben: "no wait, I DO want capes for my next superhero party!!"

One other funny today... Jason had JUST woke up. As I mentioned before Ben is VERY into "which is stronger" kind of questions. Today it was: Batman, Superman or a Ninja Turtle. Jason said: "Batman - no Superman." Ben said in a mocking voice - pointing, I think - "you said Batman, you said Batman!!" Apparently Batman was SOOO wrong!

Pancake Puffs and other infomercials..

Ben is SO captivated right now by infomercials. He was just watching the pancake puffs commercial and said "Kids LIKE them mom... why don't we have one of those pans? The pancakes are easier to flip than the normal pancakes too!" This is a kids channel! Good thing we're not watching "regular" tv around here very much... hard to tell what he would WANT off of those channels!


He's also sold on the Buxton Organizer! He keeps telling me that I wouldn't lose ANYTHING in it AND it would be impossible for someone to grab and steal! Theft is such an issue here in Greencastle - ha!


I've also uploaded some pics from the last few weeks. I found a bag of jewelry that I had from when I was a kid - most of which my grandmothers and great aunt made. Ben had a great time wearing all of the jewels. Jason was obviously in bed already when I was taking these pics!





Owen has started being funny by putting two "ninies" (pacifiers) in his mouth at a time. Of course the more I laugh the more he does it. It's possible that if your kid is old enough to do pacifier tricks it's time to take it away... but he's so cute w/2 in his mouth!





Lastly, Ben in his superman jammies. Today was "bear hibernation day" at preschool. I woke him up from nap for a haircut.. so we went out in the pjs prompting several questions about WHY he was wearing his pjs at 4:30 PM (I think these were really questions about what kind of MOM I am!!). Anyway, he loved keeping his pjs on all day. Who can blame him?

Taking the plunge...

I went back today and published a couple of posts... though I didn't publish ALL of them. I'm thinking I'm almost committed enough to this now to actually share the link with my family! Just too many false starts on these blogs to actually get their hopes up unless I'm going to post every now and then!

Anyway, tomorrow's the big bday party. I need to figure out how many kids are coming... to be mentally prepared for that number I guess! Aunt Tammie is bringing 26 capes up tomorrow. We cut them out last weekend and she put velcro closures on them this week. We decided that velcro was a good alternative as it should prevent the strangulation that might occur with a tied cape!! Someone asked yesterday why we were having such an event for a 4th bday.. and I guess I never contemplated NOT having a big bday party. IF you are going to have a bday party, shouldn't it be huge? I did try to talk Ben into Chuck E Cheese or a trip to the Children's Museum w/friends before we settled on the Superhero event, but his desire for a pinata trumped my practicality. Oh and I stuffed the pinata last night. I poked about 10 bags of candy thru the little entry hole in the top of the pinata. We're going to have sugared up kids tomorrow night!

I am wondering how Owen is going to respond to Ben's party. I'm not a big fan of him getting gifts on Ben's bday, and vice versa. Ben asked last night if he will have to share his bday toys with Owen and I said he would. He was bummed until I reminded him that in a few months it will be Owen's turn for presents, and he'll want Owen to share those. Two boys with common interests is a blessing AND a challenge!

Speaking of Owen, he's really starting to do sentences now. I forgot how cute that is. "Daddy - turkey" has become "Daddy IS a turkey"... of course phoenetically it's "tukey" when Owen says it. We were talking about Ben's party at dinner last night and I asked Owen who his friends are. He named all of the kids at daycare.. with a big smile. I had to keep stopping Ben b/c he wanted to answer FOR Owen. I guess this is why they say second kids don't talk as much/early as the first child. #1 is always answering for #2.

Well I REALLY have to get on with work, shopping, and bday party prep today. It will be a busy day!

Give a Dog a Home

This week started off with both boys running a fever. Jason was mocking me Sunday night when I called him frantically to hurry home (he was on call - and called out) because both boys were running a fever, Owen had just thrown up and then took off running, and I was expecting MORE vomit from Ben any minute. He was in the McD's drive thru when I said "get home NOW!" He reminded me that single moms do it on their own all the time... I know he's right but I HAVE a husband and I think he should be here to share in the ALL of the joys of parenting!!

We've been in "baby awareness" mode this week. Our neighbors, Brad & Heather have a new baby boy that mine haven't seen yet. Cooper and Heather have been holed up in the house for his first month. Ben & Owen will see him for the first time this coming weekend at Ben's bday party. They've been looking at pictures in preparation...

Then another set of friends, Steve & Heather, had a baby on Friday. Eli was welcomed by his sisters, one of whom (Gracie) is Ben's age. So of course all of this baby talk has Ben asking when we get another baby. I told him to talk to his dad. Ben's response.."but you're the mommy ... the mommy HAS the baby." I said yeh, but your dad has to agree to it first!

Another funny one this week with Ben... Jason and I have been talking about meetings this week. Jason trying to set one up at church and preparing for one at the office. Me lamenting about my daily list of meetings. So now BEN has meetings. His got rained out today. He said the rain was too cold. I'd be curious to know what he thinks a meeting actually is... must not be the kind we have at Lilly. They are definitely rain OR shine!!

We got rid of our dog this week... Dixie. She's the only dog that was officially ours to get rid of. For the last couple of months she and one of the neighbor dogs have been touring the neighborhood. Two times, well-intentioned bleeding hearts picked them up and took them home for the night. Three times the humane society has had them... and apparently they're getting tired of visiting with the twosome. And countless times we've gotten calls from TSC, the bank and the grocery store... or from grocery shoppers that noted our number on the dog collar and gave us a call.

Jason was holding out hope that Dixie would improve her behavior when the weather got nice and he was outside more... but he second-guessed this when Dixie made a run for it Sunday when he was actually working outside. So yesterday morning Dixie took a ride in the truck... Jason dropped off the boys but not before Ben asked about the dog-ride. Jason explained that he was taking her to the vet clinic to see if someone would want her. He said the Ben thought for awhile and then asked... "if no one wants her, can you bring her back home?"

When I picked the boys up and brought them home from daycare, Ben asked about her... I explained that she had a new home with someone from the vet clinic who had Dixie's brother already. I explained that she would have a huge fenced-in yard and her BROTHER to play with. He cried, of course, about this dog that he hardly gave a second glance to when she was here.

Jason, upon seeing Ben's lip puffed out in a pout, told him that if he's still sad in a few days we'll bring her back home. Stay tuned for the continuing saga...