Summer Vacation 2009

I kinda feel like a dork because I can't figure out how to put pictures in with text in between them....probably really simple BUT since I'm not sure how to do it, I will write a bit about our fun trip, then post some random pictures that are my favorites...We started almost a month ago on our journey to the other side of the world (Georgia) and made the DRIVE there in two long days. The boys were FANTASTIC and had a blast with thier various small toys and movies. We had to eat at the Cracker Barrell of course, don't ask me why but my children (like I have said before) BEG me to take them there! We arrived in GA a few days earlier then we originally planned (which was nice) and so had time to relax and enjoy the family before the 6 hour drive to FL for a week on the beach! During these few days we went to the GA Aquarium which is supposed to be the biggest in the states...and it was a ton of fun, the boys thoroughly enjoyed it, about as much as Matt, Teej, Elora, and I did! The drive to FL was one filled with anticipation for us adults and Hewson who know what the beach is and what it means to relax on it for a week, and Tillman was just, well, sick of being in the car!! He did great though and before we knew it, we were there. The first day was AWESOME, both the boys just sat and played in the "giant sandbox" while we sun bathed....Hewson got to jump a few waves and Tillman was still frightened of the ocean at this point. By the third day Hewson was body surfing, and you couldn't keep Tillman OUT of the ocean!! Elora and I got to go parasailing, which was AMAZING!! We were both a bit nervous but really enjoyed it, it was a breathtaking experience...they don't look so high when you see them from the beach, but get on one and it's scary! Needless to say, the week flew by WAY too fast and before we knew it we were back in GA packing and loading up a Penske truck to drive back LOADED with furniture and goodies from my late Mommom. The drive home took 3 days because at this point the boys knew what they were in for and weren't going to agree to it :) We are so grateful to have been able to make the trip, to be able to spend time with the family, and to make such a long journey without injury...it was a wonderful vacation that I hope to take again soon!!

Update....

Well, for some reason my computer is not allowing me to put pictures on to post them so I will just give a little update...and a little story...first, the story:
Matt was home with the boys when Hewson asked him if it was still Mother's Day (he asked this two weeks AFTER Mother's Day). Matt said "Heck no, dude, but Father's Day is coming up real soon." He just kinda looked at his dad then walked off....A few hours later Hewson returned to his dad and said, "After Father's Day it's Kid's Day and you have to buy me lots of presents..." I love how it "clicked" that these days were days of appreciation for the said person, and maybe he's right, maybe we do need a Kid's Day....but like his dad replied, "Dude, EVERYDAY is Kid's Day!"

And now for a teeny, tiny update...I am working way too hard with two jobs, and so is Matt with one (three income household here and STILL barely making ends meet!!) We are tag teaming the boys and I must say how proud I am of these monsters just going with the flow and being happy as usual...well, when they aren't fighting each other :) We are at the stage of the game where we have to have the exact same THING and they have to be the exact same COLOR and even then they still choose to fight over everything....it's such a test on patience teaching children how to react properly to new frustrating situations to them. BUT I must say it gets quite funny...they come crying to me after a scrap and all I can do is laugh just hearing the things they say to each other....Tillman is currently putting his finger to his lips, or head, or face and saying "Dink, Dink" (translation: "Think, Think") And he does it at the most appropriate times....like when he is looking for his blanket, or any other numerous thing! It's the best...Hewson is just cracking us up the his translation of the world, and money and trying to learn and understand all these new things....LIKE Mother's Day and Father's Day :) He LOVES Nascar--we were getting in the car one day and an old man was riding slowly by on his bike when Hewson said "Hi, we're Nascar fans..." What!?!? He had a great first season of T-Ball where of course he was the champion (they still fight over that trophy to this day) and they both BEG me EVERY day to go to Cracker Barrell....I know, strange little children....Anyway, I tell them they will be sick of it before the summer is over because we are preparing for a cross country drive to GA in about three weeks, and we usually eat at Cracker Barrell's all the way across :) So, a vacation is well overdue (for all of us) and SO close coming that we can't stand it!!!

Yep....it happened....on Easter :)

So, before I tell my story of our wonderful Easter Sunday, I just want everyone reading this to go and buy a fire extinguisher NOW if you do not have one currently.....with that said, here is my story: Easter morning was a beautiful one...Hewson was the first to wake (as always) and came in my bedroom with a little easter treat sack (with nothing in it) SO excited that the easter bunny came!! At that point I thought to myself, 'With everything out there, the only thing he liked was the empty sack?' Huh...so a few min. go by and he comes in with the string that holds the empty sack together and is so excited, he wants to hang it on the wall in his bedroom! Wondering what is wrong with my child I ask "Did the Easter Bunny come?" He replies, sadly "yeah, but there aren't any eggs...." Ok....."Did you look on the table, babe?" Thinking for a second he says "I can try that..." Whattyaknow!?!? The easter bunny came!! Running in he says..."The easter bunny really did come!!" Poor guy thought he got an empty easter sack from the easter bunny! :)

Now it's time for breakfast...I made a scrumptuous french toast casserole and Hewson took one bite, then ran to the bathroom and threw up....oh man....so the rest of the day involved a fever, throwing up, breathing treatments and coughing so much he could barely talk....poor guy. SO, to the fun part....while heating the oven to make some fish sticks for the boys I notice a little tiny fire in the corner of my oven....I quickly turn the oven off, open the oven door, and grab a tupperware full of water....I then think to myself, we have a fire extinguisher....I will get that and stand here while that little fire burns off whatever food is on fire, then go on with my day....I grab the extinguisher, read the directions ( I had never used one before) and make sure it is ready to go....I stand there for a min, my little fire still buring, holding the extinguisher and think....this is going to take all day, that is quite a bit of food or whatever that it is trying to burn off, I am going to throw some water on it, let it sizzle and then go on with my day....WARNING....YOU CAN HAVE A GREASE FIRE IN YOUR OVEN AS WELL AS ON YOUR STOVE!!!! Oh yeah, that little bit of water caused an explosion....I grabbed my extinguisher and used it....the dust was too thick at that point to know if I had even put it out so I grabbed my boys (my youngest naked at the time) grabbed my cell phone and ran outside....my children were FREAKING out (understandably) and I had to explain that I had taken care of the fire, I just needed 'back-up'. The fire department arrived very quickly, checked it out and said that I had put the fire out successfully!! Yeah!! They said usually they put a huge fan in the house to blow out the extinguisher chemical dust but I would have to mop it up because they saw the SVN machine and medicine and didn't want to cause more breathing problems for the kids....mop?!? WHO has a mop these days?? Uh, swiffer? That work? Nope....had to get a mop, and it surprisingly it came up rather easily....I still have yet to clean the oven...ugh.

BUT my story is not over yet...the cool part...Matt was at work at Sports Authority that afternoon when he saw a bunch of firemen come in....he asked them where they were located, and then if they had happened to respond to an oven fire that day....whattyaknow....they had!! He said that was HIS family and they were VERY impressed with me, said I had done a great job, did everything right (especially getting out of the house, I guess not a lot of people run as soon as they can....). They talked a little bit longer and as it turns out, they were at the Fireman Picnic with us the other night!!! It is SO great to know that I live somewhere where I know they will respond quickly, AND that they know my family!!! So, we ended up ordering easter pizza instead of easter ham, but were so happy to be safe and now we have an easter to remember!!

Journaling...again....

I have gone back and read my blog back to myself and am so glad I blogged about Hewson's comments because I really had forgotten, and I really don't want to forget these moments....so here again I have two moments that struck me as precious that I never want to forget (and always want to be able to bribe him with as he gets girlfriends).
The other night after getting in trouble a few times for not staying in bed and closing his eyes to sleep, I am in the kitchen doing dishes and hear little footsteps...as I am about to turn and punish my child he whispers to me "Mom, I have some great news...the Easter Bunny is going to uh, Walgreens to get easter eggs!!!" Now let me explain...my children fall asleep listening to the radio...they both love it and can't fall asleep without it and at first it was Christmas CD's and then started listening to christmas music on 99.9 since the CD player broke....well, after christmas we continued listening to 99.9 and he must have heard a commercial concerning the Easter Bunny going to Walgreens :) I told him that was great news and he just might get some of those eggs on Easter if he obeys his mother and goes to bed like he is supposed to!! I am so glad he is at the age to use this leverage :)

Another thing just a MOMENT ago, as he is painting Easter pictures in between Conference sessions he says out of the blue "Mom, girls do ballet, huh?" I responded the best way I know how with "Yes, babe, they do...but some boys do ballet as well". His response "But that doesn't make any sense cause boys aren't girls and girls aren't boys" So...where do I go from here?!?! I tried this one..."Well, some boys have a hard time playing t-ball and so they go do ballet..." Before I could even finish trying to explain, he goes "But THAT doesn't make any sense either cause t-ball isn't that hard, is it mom?" Ok, I'm done....I have nothing else to say....maybe we will try this conversation again some other time...is every four year old surprised to find out that not all other kids are just like them???

The season has begun...

Well, T-ball season has started and I have to say, it's as much fun as I always imagined it would be...our oldest is FINALLY old enough to join a sports team and go to school...it's SO much fun to be part of a team and to be able to go watch games...we are laughing the whole time these boys are playing because, well, it's t-ball! For his first game Hewson had to be taken to the out, out field with his coach every time the other team was up to bat because he was ALWAYS the first to get the ball, and in his mind, that made him the best....I guess if he were older, he'd be right, but for now we have to share the ball with everyone :) It's a busy time of year, but it's the best time of year....the boys have something to look forward to, they get to run around and play with friends and we could not ask for better weather right now...and we have the cutest t-ball player around...life is good, really good.

WARNING....MAY CONTAIN GRAPHIC CONTEXT

So...we were at Aunt Emily's yesterday making strawberry jam (so easy and fun) while the kids were playing outside and jumping on the trampolines...she has two tramps outside set side by side and the springs of the tramps are uncovered...I step outside to see how they are doing and hear my Hewson SCREAMING and CRYING and WHINING like I have never heard him before...I look over and he is stuck in the springs in between both tramps (he was trying to jump from one to the other). I thought for sure he had just broken his ankle by the way he looked tangled up in there and I just went into "get my child to the hospital" mode...I jump on, lift him up and all he can muster is "Ahhhh...I broke my penis!!" (the ahhhh is crying and the other part is whining/crying). You would think that with two boys we would have gone through this earlier (one of them crunching thier things) but we have not....I asked if his tummy hurt and he screamed out a yes...I felt so bad and had NO idea what to do to make it better...I can make a fever/head bump/cut/broken bone/sore throat/head ache/etc. feel better but I couldn't help him with THAT....Matt was at work but I tried to call him anyway to no avail so I went second best and called KC....he talked us through it, and before we were off the phone Hewson was walking around and laughing...I don't think he realized how badly he could hurt himself, and I realized I can't fix everything...it's sad but true.

Just Journaling...

Hewson is so funny...he gets to play T-ball this year with his cousin Kyler so we went to dad's work and bought him his first pair of cleats ever...he was really excited. Of course as soon as we got home he wanted to put them on and try them out in the back yard...he put his socks and cleats on, and had nothing else on except a pair of sweat shorts....he checked the cleats out on his feet for a few seconds then put his hands in his pockets then asked me "Mom, how do I look?" I told him he looked great and that he looked like the best T-ball player I had ever seen...he loved that one...grinning he happily said "Yeah, cause I am." I have heard stories of how it goes in T-ball games and during practice, but it was the funniest thing to see for the first time!! Hewson quickly began bossing people around, telling them to get the ball, go hit, etc. (I have NO idea where he got that from...) He took it pretty seriously and didn't understand why Kyler wasn't too interested...but they all had a blast and it was so much fun to see all those boys run around, bumping into each other...I have a couple pictures...I will have to post them later.