Man of Steel

I keep thinking about this story and laughing about it, so I need to write it down.

Before Thanksgiving break, Luke had asked me to buy the new Superman movie for the boys for the trip up to Michigan.  On the front of the movie it says "Man of Steel."  On the actual dvd it say "Man of Steel."  I guess I knew it was really Superman, but I always in my head thought of it as "Man of Steel."

I can't remember the exact circumstances of how it all happened, but I put Man of Steel into the dvd player on the drive home.  Will said he knew what movie it was and asked Dane to guess.  It was one of those moments where as a mom I was paying 1/2 attention.  I heard Will say "It starts with an "S".  If I had been paying full attention I would have understood he was thinking Superman, but I wasn't, and I only thought to myself no, that's not right.  So I said "No, it starts with an M" (thinking Man of Steel)  I happened to turn around and look at Will at that exact moment and he got the most genuinely confused and twisted look on his face and replied "MOOPERMAN???"

Christmas 2013

We had a lovely Christmas this year.  We go to my mom's for Christmas Eve dinner.  The last 2 years we've had BBQ ribs and sides and this year was as delicious as ever.  Then we go to the Christmas Eve candlelight service at our church.  This year my mom and Chuck (and family) were asked to light the Christmas advent candle.  Will had been battling a nasty little bug, so he and Luke weren't able to go, but my mom, Chuck, Dane and I went to the service.  My mom and Dane lit the candle while Chuck and I did a reading.  It was really beautiful and quite an honor.  And Dane was a little angel, almost.   Maybe another post on that....

 

My mom and Chuck usually spend the night with us on Christmas Eve, but this year since Will has been sick they decided to sleep at their house and come over early early for the boys to open presents.  My mom has been warned to steer clear of germy places so they decided to play it safe.  So they came over early.  

 

 

 Dane opening his HOOSIER warm up pants :)

Mama and Chuck

We were blessed with this incredible sunrise on Christmas morning.  Unbelievable. 

It's very hard to impress/surprise my husband.  We alternate years on giving presents.  This year was my year to give to Luke.  I surprised him with the Go Pro camera he's been wanting for a long time.  He was excited!  I had to capture the moment :)

 

The boys showing their true stripes!  

 



Did I ever post this?  Oh my goodness.  My loves. 

Caroling

Today at school Wills class went Christmas Caroling.  They bundled up and walked to the local store, post office and church.  I think that's so precious it brings a tear to my eyes. 

Christmas Adventures 2013

Came Home The Other Day To This....

My Sad Little Batman

Did I ever post this?  I love this picture :)

Santa Visit 2013

Visiting Santa went well this year.  Mostly.. We went to the Candy Cane Hunt on Saturday.  Its an event that our good friends put on for kids.  We got there and Will was really excited to go and ice a cookie with Fisher, but Santa was leaving in about 10 minutes, so I said we needed to go and visit him first.  Well apparently he was having a one track mind.  I couldn't really hear their conversation but after they finished up I asked him what he asked Santa for and he said he forgot what was on his list and didn't ask for anything!  Hmmm, where's the Parental Manual I so often wish for?  Does he get a redo? Does Santa just know what he wants? Does he get nothing since he blew his big chance?  Probably not:)  Since he was thinking about asking for a real dirt bike, since they're so expensive and all, I'm guessing Santa gets full approval to not deliver that gift.  Whew for Mama and Daddy!

I went downstairs to get something out of the storage room and found this.  Poor Bear Handcuffed to the door.  I wonder what he did...

Christmas program

Tonight was Will and Danes Christmas programs.  I had them all dressed in their best little outfits.  As I was adjusting Danes last minute tucks and straightenings, I was mentally going over the instructions in my head.  Will was supposed to wear green or red.  Check. Then I thought about Dane's instructions...."wear whatever you like".  It occurred to me that last year the younger class wore costumes: little sheep and angels, etc.  so I asked him if he was wearing a costume.  He thought about it and said yes!  I said "oh you are!? What is your costume?"  He replied: uuuuuuuuum,   Batman. 

post note: there were no Batman costumes at the program. Sorry, Dane.

Discipline, Oh My

Yesterday Will took it upon himself to discipline Dane.  Apparently they were playing "swords", (which I saw them both participating in with my own two eyes).  I guess Dane hit Will on the arm with his sword.  Will figured a spanking was the appropriate consequence for that. 

After I explained the rules to Will, and that he's most certainly not allowed to spank anyone, I sent him to his room for the night.  At the time, I didn't realize that it was actually an hour earlier than I had thought: CURSE DAYLIGHT SAVINGS. So when I thought I was sending him to his room for about 40 minutes, it was actually an hour and 40 minutes.  

Oh my.  He wailed.  He's not one to sulk at his consequences or even let me know that he cares one way or another.  So this was different, I'm not sure what it was about.  But he was upset.  Crying. Sobbing.  Huge alligator tears.  Splotchy face.  Wailing through the monitor.  I got on the phone with my mom to distract myself.  I assumed Dane was going to go into Will's room and play with him - fine with me; I expected him to, and since I misjudged the time that was even better.  Plus the worst part for Will is knowing he can't go out of his room, not that he would want to.  And not that it's ever a great consequence anyway, since he takes them all like they're nothing and couldn't care one way or another.  (see: posts about Difficulties With Discipline as a Mother of an Alpha-Male)

So I'm talking to my mom and here comes Dane.  Into my bathroom upstairs.  Dragging his blanket. I say "What are you doing?  Why aren't you downstairs playing with Will?" 
Dane (3 years old) says, with his palms turned up and a brows furrowed: "I can't listen to that crying!"

Little Orphan Annie Mavis Payton

 

 

 

Will wrote the correct number of feathers on each, and then counted them all together to get 36, which was the impressive part! :)  

My mom and I were recently talking about how cute and funny listening to the boys' conversations is.  Tonight...

Will: Dane, do you like this cornucopia I made at school?
Dane: Yes.  What's a cornucopia?
Will: I'm not really sure. I think it's something you eat at Thanksgiving. 

Here is what I know.  Days when I'm stressed, or tired, or mad, or sad, or just really not in the mood for anything or anyone, these boys bring a smile to my face in an instant, and warm my heart with a love that I can't even put into words.  I am beyond grateful.

Or home computer is a dinosaur. We are trying to keep it going for a long as possible but lately I haven't been able to get it to turn on wireless capability. It's stuck in the off position.  Which might be the last straw.  So for now we are using the iPad, not great for posting on the blog, and our phones, also not great for posting on the blog...  I'm sure we'll have to figure out something soon but that's the main for not many posts. That, and a million other things:)

Well brought this home today I thought it was so cute.

Nana

I haven't posted a lot lately, we've been going through quite a lot.  On Sept. 21, the day of our annual hog roast, I received a call at 1:30 in the afternoon.  My mom had a grand mal seizure and was in the emergency room.  I raced down to Bloomington and she was on a ventilator and was sedated, which was how she stayed for about 36 hours while they tried to figure out what was going on.  They found two spots on her brain, which multiple doctors assured us looked like a benign tumor.  She is retiring on December 31 of this year, so the plan was that she would wait until the first of next year to have the surgery to have it removed.  She had a scheduled follow-up MRI a few weeks after her seizure and while we expected for it to show no change to the spot on her brain, we were shocked to see that there was change.  It needed to come out quickly.  So a few days later she had brain surgery to remove the tumor.  We were then shocked again to find out that it was malignant.  While this has all been surreal, we are confident that if anyone can beat this, my mom can.  She is one of the strongest women I know.  She has a support network full of people behind her. She breezed through her surgery with flying colors.  Not to get into too many details, but after having her skull cut and things removed from her brain, all the woman requested was Tylenol. 

So probably in the next week or so she will begin radiation and chemotherapy.  And begin her journey to kick cancer's ASS.

 

I hooked up my phone to our computer to download some new music tonight, I ran across these cute pictures of my mom and the boys that I don't think I ever posted.

 

Nana and Dane cutting strawberries.

 

 

 

In Michigan Will got this hat with fake hair on the top. After my mom blow dries her hair she has been known to give the boys a laugh with spraying her hair up all big.  This day they matched.  :)

 

 

And then of course these more recent ones. 

After my mom's surgery, the boys were bedazzling her "new hat".

 

 

Will and Nana taking care of business.

 





Will was skipping around downstairs singing "we're off to see the wizard" and Dane was skipping behind him repeating "Rosco sees a lizard".

Cavity Free Club

 

I'm sorry...does it get any CUTER than this!?  Both boys went to the dentist yesterday.  It was Dane's first trip into the Big Kids Room.  He got special shades to wear while she had the bright light on his mouth.  He enjoyed Octonauts during the cleaning.  :)  The hygenist asked him if he brushed his teeth every day.  He said yes.  She said how many times a day?  He said "Saturdays and Sundays" :) 

Will loves going - gets to hang out and watch TV.  They did a full set X-Ray of his mouth and it was really something.  You can see all his teeth (minus the one he lost, and plus the 2 6-year molars that are just coming in on the bottom)  You can also see all of his permanent teeth up in his gums, waiting to come in - including his 12-year molars!  It was pretty wild.  His little jaw is crammed full of teeth, that's for sure.  Very cool to see.   He did great as always. 

 

Our tree looked especially beautiful tonight with the moon coming up over it..

Fall Folaige Festival was this past weekend.  Will rode this ride for the first time - it was always called the Round Up when I was a kid.  I couldn't believe he loved it so much!  I managed to get the top picture right when he was going over the top.  :) 

Wills first sentence. :)

I was looking through Wills September math journal and found this guy hanging out....wearing his IU shirt:). That's my boy!

Making Taffey

Thursday nights are football practice for Will.  Practice is at 6:30 so by the time we get home it's often close to 8...too late to start dinner in my opinion.  So often times we will eat early but then by the time we get home they're hungry again.  So we've gotten in the habit of eating an early dinner and then going to get ice cream or a frosty after.  I The boys love it.

Last night we ate our chocolate ice cream on the way home in the car.  They were both dirty chocolate-y messes when we got home.  They walked in the door and went straight down to the bath.  I went and changed my clothes and washed my face while they played for a few minutes in the bath.  I heard someone crying.  I figured it was over a toy or one of them splashed the other or said I'm not your friend.  I went downstairs to investigate and found my youngest sitting on the floor sobbing a defeated sob and trying to separate his hands, only to have them connected by a ton of strings of gum.  I don't know how the child managed it, but apparently he had gotten a piece of gum when we were getting out of the car and who knows how, but when he tried to throw it away I can only imagine it got stuck on a finger, he tried to unstick it with another finger which got stuck, and so on and so forth.   I couldn't help but laugh at poor little Dane while I said don't move and went to get my phone.  Maybe I should have felt bad that I made him sit there a little longer, crying, while I captured the moment, but I didn't.  I took full advantage of being able to hit home my point of why we keep gum our mouths.  :)

Barista

Daddy has trained him well!

Will's very first attempt at school to spell out words. :)

What Will is doing in school these days.

Dinner Please

Tonight for dinner, Dane requested a "cheese sandwich, with just mustard and burger."

Goodnight, Will

I randomly ran across this treasure tonight.  Here is Will at 1.5 yrs old with his beloved pillow (it was a present to Luke and me from Allison and Will promptly took over it and I then made him pillow covers for it), Blanket (baby present from Cousin Stephanie), Ton-Ton (from Aunt Sandy and Uncle Ton Ton) & Bear-Bear (baby present from Nana) - and "Joo" aka: milk.  He still, 5 years later - every night - sleeps with them....minus the Joo :).  You can see them in the 2nd pic.  Bear-Bear is kind of hidden, but you can see him.  Now added to the staple mix is Bevo (from Allison, who has his own pillow and often holds his water) and his Spiderman pillow (Nana).  He can sleep without them, thank goodness.  But prefers to have them all at home.  :)  Sweet boy!!!

 

 

Dane Soccer Fall 2013

My baby boy's first sport ever - Soccer!  He's on an awesome team and loving it.  It's so funny.  Sometimes he prefers to pick at his nails, or chat with his coach or wave to mom, but when he decides to go for it, he does a pretty good job!  He is almost too cute for words.  I snapped these myself while the real ones were being taken, but I couldn't resist. 

 

Good thing Wills tooth has been loose for about 10 months- bc that's how long its taken me to get his tooth fairy pillow finished!  Alas, its finished. Tooth is hanging on still.  Barely.

My repairmen showed up tonight. :)

Danes first soccer game!

Dane had a great first soccer game. He had so much fun.  He saw a plane, chatted with his coach, was picking at a pesky nail that was not cut straight.  :).
In all seriousness he did great. He had a blast, which is the most important part. And he scored 3 goals!  Two for his team and one for the other team. :)

Little Orphan Annie was watching African Cats and loving it. (Great movie/documentary)

Dane's First Day - Behind the Scenes

I am a planner.  I like to have everything ready, organized and be on time.  It doesn't always happen, but that's always my intention.  I feel like I have to be like that since Luke is gone all week and I do it all myself. He might think I'm a tad crazy when I have a "moment" we'll call it, when I can't find something, but I keep it there for a reason, because I don't have TIME to go looking for things that aren't in their place. 

So with our new schedules and both boys in school (to some degree) I'm definitely feeling the pressure to need to have it all done and done correctly.  No grabbing frozen waffles on our way out the door because we didn't have time to sit down.  No skipping the hair brushing or letting them wear the same shirt they slept in since they're only going to the babysitter's. (yet)

The morning started off all wrong.  I got out of bed and planned to get myself ready first, and then let the dogs out and get the boys up and start breakfast and pack Will's lunch.  Will came in not long after I got up and was carrying Little Orphan Annie I said "Oh! Good morning babe - we need to take her out!"  He said I already did.  I looked at him and strained my ears, because the alarm had been on last night.  I said "The alarm was on"  He said "I know, I turned it off." He does not know the code.  How? I asked.  "I turned it off with the remote."

(We do have a remote, which is hung high up in a closet.  For a reason.  It has a PANIC button that sends the police ASAP.  Unfortunately that panic button is placed right under the OFF button.  I've hit it before on accident myself just trying to turn the alarm off.  Lots of reasons to keep it out of reach of two little boys.  I wasn't positive he even knew it was there.) 

I was speechless.  I asked him how he knew which button to push.  He said he found the "ooooffffff" button and pushed it.  I didn't know whether to say Awesome! Way to go! You read a word!  or give him a consequence for getting something down that was obviously put up for a reason.  I ended up somewhere in the middle....scratching my head and speechless.  And moving on. 

So after all that, we had breakfast - pancakes and bacon and grapes.   They were seriously eating like little turtles.  Those boys can shovel in the food like it's their job.  But not today!  I swear they nibbled on their food for 30 minutes.  I finally had to cut them off as I'm watching the clock and beginning to sweat.  So we get breakfast done and time to get dressed.

The night before I had of course laid out Dane's First Day Outfit.  Had it all picked out.  Cute plaid shorts and a navy V-neck.  I get him dressed, brush their hair and teeth. 

Hmmm, Dane had troubling pulling those shorts up and down by himself, so we did a wardrobe change.  (#1)

I get their backpacks all ready and send them out to wait on the front porch to take First Day pictures!  Exciting!  I'm feeling pretty good too - this might work and we might be on time and ready!

I walk into the garage holding my camera and Dane is screaming.  What's wrong??  I ask as I notice he's DRIPPING WET!!!!!  As my mouth drops to the floor Dane says through his sobs "Will sprayed me with the hose!"

Are. You. Kidding Me!!

I asked (yelled) at Will what was he THINKING spraying his brother with the hose before school.  On his first day!  Just before pictures! 

He said "I was just spraying it and turned around and Dane was standing there".  So I made Will start crying after I expressed my feelings about the situation...and then I sent him to sit on the garage steps. 

Great.  Now both boys are crying. 

I cheer up Dane, change his clothes and get some cutie pie pics.  

But I really wanted pictures of them together.  So I call Will out front and he's still blubbering and snotting.  I told him to cut it out, sit down and smiiile! He was still crying. The clock is ticking... I said "WILL. Smile!!" Tears running down his face. I said "Will, smile right now." He told me he can't smile when he's crying. I said "Listen Mr. You didn't even get a consequense! Smile right now or I'm going to give you one!"

So here is what we got..

Haha!  I could barely hold the camera still because my hands were shaking from my laughter and trying to pretend like I didn't find it funny.  And the whole time Dane was happy as could be, sitting there swinging his legs and smiling.