Friday Follow Ups: A Rambling Post

An interesting week. We played around with a lot of the routines in our household this week, most of which have made life much better.

This is one of those posts where I am just trying to sort through the events of the week. It has felt REALLY long. Thanks for coming along for the ride.

As I mentioned on Monday, Aaron was having accidents pretty much constantly last week and into the weekend. I started reminding him to use the bathroom pretty much every hour on the hour, if not more frequently, and he has been accident free all week. I was worried that maybe he was sick but I think he was just too busy to stop and use the facilities.

The issue we were dealing with Noah with staying up way too late because of his sniffling was another one we tackled this week. At my SIL's suggestion, we changed him from Claritin to Zyrtec. I was a little worried because instead of $3 a month, it will be $13, but it has made such a difference, that it may be the best $13 I spend each month.

Another change I am making is moving Aaron away from taking naps during the day. We had been having a lot of trouble keeping him in bed at night and had even confiscated the bed from him for awhile. For no other reason than pure selfishness, I was putting off quitting naps. I loved that time to myself. But in the interest of what Aaron needed, I instead have allowed him to sit on his bed and look at books instead of going to sleep. It has served the purpose of falling asleep quicker at night, and not fighting with him every day to settle down at quiet time.










After 10 days of being diet cola free, I am falling asleep way better than I ever was before, and staying asleep in the night. I still crave it every day, but I know it is a good change that I am already seeing the benefits from.

I spent the latter half of the week sorting clothes and toys and getting ready for next week's garage sale. It has been a challenge since we have no space to put the stuff we're planning to sell, even after it's sorted. I hope we can make enough to get Noah a bike. Both of them have grown out of their current ones and bike rides are not comfortable for either of them.






Steve spent most of the week trying to find a missing piece to Noah's old training wheels to put back on the bike when we give it to Aaron. I think we're going to have to bite the bullet and shell out $15 for a new set of training wheels for that bike. He also was dealing with the loss of a co-worker who suffered a massive heart attack in his sleep this week. Kind of freaky that someone our age, with two young daughters, can just be gone like that. Makes you appreciate how precious, and short, life can be.

After three practices, Noah actually STILL likes baseball. I am hopeful. He is worried about when they start games next week, but as long as he keeps having fun, I think it will be okay.









An elementary school a mile from our church closed this week because of suspected swine flu. The kindergartner had had relatives visit from Mexico over spring break, and a number of other kids from the Spanish immersion school traveled there for spring break as well. It should be interesting to see where it goes from here. I'm not going into a worry mode, but I am double checking the kids that they wash their hands a little more often than usual.

Wow, lots to report. Sounds like Aaron is done with his "quiet time" and it's time to start some more toy sorting. Have a great weekend. We have a superhero birthday party to go to on Sunday. Should be right up the boys' alley.

Thursday Thirteen: The Castle

I wish I could take credit for today's T13, but alas I cannot. My dad is the true photographer in our family. While we were there this weekend, he gave me a CD he had made of the pictures he took while we were on vacation. I struggled with the settings of my camera and never could capture the beauty of the lights changing against the castle, and the fireworks as well. He did an awesome job so I had to share.

Here are 13 of my favoprites that my dad took. I love some of the angles.

Begging For Your Vote...Shameless Plug

Want to see a nasty picture? These are the nicotine spots that constantly return to our bathroom ceiling each week AFTER I wash it. We are non smokers who have lived in our home for seven years (to the day next week). This is all remnant of the previous owners. I have tried everything to try to clean them, but the keep coming back. We have been told that the only way is to scrape all of the paint and start over again.




On top of this, all of the paint in the bathroom has chipped and peeled off all the way to the plaster.

Needless to say, like everyone else these days, we do not have the funds to fix our bathroom. Then I came across a "stinky room" contest. It istright up our alley. I have entered the contest but I need your help. The winner revceives a special odor reducing paint as well as money to fix the room in need of repair.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE got to the website and vote for me. If you go into "view all rooms" and then select bathroom from the list, I am listed as "Kristina" from Wyoming, Michigan. When you vote, you get entered into a drawing to win four gallons of paint of your own. It's a win win situation (I hope)

Thank you. I would be glad to return the favor someday if you let me know. And wish me luck!

The Big Shirt

After a string of accidents last week, Aaron had yet another one of my parents house on Saturday. As upset with him as I was, I HAD to take a picture of how cute he looked in Grandma's sweatshirt while he was waiting for his clothes to be washed.

He got upset when it was time to put his own clothes back on because he was so cozy.

I was thankful that he didn't have another accident all over the sweatshirt.








Have a great Wednesday!

Tackle It Tuesday: The Animal Zoo

I haven't actually posted a REAL Tackle It Tuesday in awhile, probably because most of my tackles lately have been personal, not house related. But I tackled several real projects around the house last week.

I have tried so many different ideas to try to corral the growing stuffed animal population in our household.

I have tried to sell them in garage sales, but most of them seem to find their way back into our house before the three day sale is over.

I have tried hanging them, but it doesn't work because the kids love to actually play with the animals, not just look at them.


I also tried a huge hamper. THAT didn't work because they were just overflowing the bin and I still needed another spot.

















Then I saw an article in the family fun magazine last month. I usually see these great ideas in that magazine, but never get around to actually following through on the ideas.

Then I went upstairs to try to start sorting Aaron's room, preparing for our garage sale in a few weeks. Want to know what the first thing I saw was?



















I am thrilled that my boys love to sit and look at books for a long time, but they NEVER seem to make it back on the shelf.

So I wondered if it might be time to try that idea I saw to corral the stuffed animal in one spot and figure out a new solution for the books.

Aaron was fascinated when I headed upstairs with a hammer, nails, and the glue gun (of course).

I started by nailing piece of elastic to make "bars" for the cage.




Here is Aaron "helping" with the nailing process














Then I used the glue gun to cover the nails with beads that I got out of our craft cabinet.














Next came time to start piling the animals into their new home.














And I even sent a picture of the finished product to the magazine.



















I still need to figure out a solution to the book problem. For now, they are in baskets on the floor, making them accessible to the kids, but easily picked up off the floor.














I am quite proud of this tackle. I would love to hear any suggestions you have for the book dilemma. What a great problem to have, huh?

Have a great Tuesday.

Weekend Top Five

Interesting weekend weather wise. 85 degrees and beautiful on Friday, cold and rainy the rest of the weekend, until Sunday nigh. Bell practice on Sunday was awesome and Peace Sunday in church helped me to remember to pray for peace when I am feeling personally overwhelmed in any aspect of my life.


Here are the Top Five from the weekend.

5. Noah's School carnival

I volunteered to run a game for Noah's carnival so we went Friday night, planning to stay for the entire hour and half that it was open. It was actually a very fun night.

When they bought the tickets for the games, each kid got a plastic bag to put all of their prizes in, which I thought was a great idea. The boys had fun playing a a lot of the games and made their tickets last ALMOST a half hour.



Noah







Aaron











I was worried that they would wander around complaining about wanting more tickets for the hour that was left. I needn't have worried. Noah hooked up with his friends from school














and also went over and asked to help with the fishing pole game, and they let him.



















Aaron, always the charmer, has made friends with these two 7th grade girls in Noah's school over the last few months, and managed to spend the ENTIRE night going from game to game with them, even using their tickets. I offered the girls money to cover their cost but they were actually having fun and loved it.



















So while I was running around taking pictures, guess who ended up running the game the entire time? Yup, that's my hubby!














Of course, he found other ways to keep himself entertained while there were no players for the game.



















I had the mothers of three different girl come up to meet me since their girls all wanted play dates with Noah, my OTHER little charmer. How nerds like my hubby and myself ended up with Mr. Popular for a son, I will never know.

4. Night Out With Deb

We hadn't been out for quite a few weeks so we decided to head out on Friday night after I got the kids in bed. Usually we got out to buy things that one or the other of us need. This time, we both needed to got to the mall to pay cell phone bills, so we went and actually spent the time walking two full laps of the mall only briefly stopping into one or two stores. It was nice to be active while we were talking and then we both could feel it when we got to the car to go for yummy Wendy's ice cream treats (so much for actual exercise...oh well). I enjoyed the time walking and talking with my friend who is struggling with a few big stresses in her life, and I hope I will be a comfort to her in the weeks to come.

3. Fun Day with Grandma and Grandpa
Since my parents just back from their trip down south, we headed over for a few hours on Saturday. The popular activity of course again was the Wii (Aaron says "weed"). The boys had a good time boxing against each other and even Steve and I took a turn to battle it out. I was shocked at how much of a workout the boxing was and Steve was remarking about his arm being sore seven hours later.

We also got to see some slide shows of their trip, which I really enjoyed, and I even got my dad a Facebook account started. We came away with some more stuff for the garage sale too.

A very fun day.

2. A Little Bit of Yard work

An on going battle with our yard continued this weekend. I have done so many things to try to make the front of our yard attractive, and have arrived on lilac bushes for the most part. We had received a cherry tree last year as a gift and had planted it in the front, but it just didn't look right to me.















So we have an open area in our backyard that doesn't seem to want to grow grass no matter how many times I try, so Steve was willing to pull the tree and replant it in the back just as the Saturday morning storms rolled in.















I also had time to drop some left over fertilizer I found in the garage from last year. The rain lasted about 36 hours, so poor Steve will likely be pulling out the lawnmower for the first time next weekend :(



















Now I just have to find something to fill the hole














1. Evening Downtown Grand Rapids

I received a gift card to a popular restaurant building downtown Grand Rapids as a gift from a friend at church as a thank you for all the work I did with bells this year. We decided to make an afternoon/evening out of it on Sunday after church.

We started out, as usual, at the children's museum



Aaron "catching" a bubble















followed by dinner at the BOB. I enjoyed walking through downtown back to our car, because we passed Rosa Parks Circle. It was fun to watch the boys run around in the downtown in the amphitheater, knowing that in a couple of months, my bell choir will be performing here. Pretty exciting.














The Week Ahead
The biggest tackle I will face this week is dealing with a little situation that has arisen with Aaron. For the last week or so, he has started wetting his pants every day. He has been potty trained for two years now, and he is now going in his pants every day. I will be concentrating on this heavily this week. Other than that, a field trip for Noah and two baseball games as well.

Have a great week.

Saturday Review: Kaboom website

I love it when I am asked to do reviews for products that really seem to be beneficial to me. And this one was cool. It's a website designed to list play spaces throughout the country for kids.

They are trying to build a database of 100.000 playspaces in 100 days. At the time I write this, they are at 12,299 playspaces listed with 68 days to go. They need a lot of help.

Here is what I know:
KaBOOM!, a non-profit organization dedicated to finding and creating play spaces within walking distance for every child, has embarked on a nationwide mission to help communities build playspaces. This proves critical for those many children living in neighborhoods without playgrounds or playspaces, or unable to use existing ones because of rundown conditions or dangerous neighborhoods.

For every play space entered into the KaBOOM! database on behalf of the Mom Central team, $1 will be donated to Jumpstart, a non-profit that brings at-risk preschool children and caring adults together to improve literacy. It's something to feel doubly good about!

I had fun looking at which parks around us were listed and even added several myself. I think it's cool that it is nationwide so if we go on vacation somewhere, we could look on the website and find a fun place to play. I strongly encourage you to visit the Kaboom website and check it out

. I actually discovered a few around our home that I didn't know about, and we have been in this house for seven years.

And if you add another one, you can know that you also made a donation to a worthy cause.

This review was written on behalf of Mom Central

Friday Photo Story: First Baseball Practce

We have been through many extra curricular activities with Noah, trying to find his niche. There always seems to be something that just doesn't click to make it an activity that he wants to continue.

We tried soccer



2007











We tried self defense





2008













We've tried gymnastics


2009










We don't want to force anything on him, but we also want to give him a chance to try different things to find something that he might enjoy and possibly excel.

So Wednesday night we tried another...Little League.

I was worried that it would be like all the rest....novelty wearing off and seeming like too much work for him to want to see it through.

I was also worried that he would be behind the rest of the kids in his age group since it was his first year. I thought maybe he would be the only kid using a tee while the rest of the kids used the pitch machine and I feared that he would be out playing the sand way more than he actually paid attention to what was going on.

I MAY have been worrying for nothing. We may have found one that is going to stick with.

We got there late since I had gone to the wrong field for practice. But it was okay and he jumped right into playing catch with the other kids on his little team.

Then it was time to start batting. He was a little confused when it was time to put on a helmet



















but once he got up to the plate, he was open to stance help from the coach.



















And after watching a few of the pitches go past him,



















he made amazing contact with ball and got it out toward third base.



















I like how the coach had the practice structured. The each got two turns to bat and then rotated around the infield waiting for the ball to be hit to them.

I was so surprised at Noah in the "outfield" as well. I expected him to spend his entire time doing this:



















But surprisingly enough, each time a kid hit the ball, he hustled to be the first one to pick it up and throw it to first base.



















It was so much fun to watch him. I will miss his Monday night practices since I'll be teaching, but you can bet I'll be one of the loudest cheering on Wednesdays, and I am looking forward to when the games start (even though I have no idea when that will be yet).

The coach ended practice by letting the kids "run a home run" around the field twice, which other moms have told me ends up being the kids' favorite part of practices.














So of course, after a great first practice, there was only one way to celebrate...



















I have no idea if this will be "his thing" or not, but right now he is eager to go back on Monday and that's about all I can ask. I was so proud watching him tonight and you can be sure that I will be subjecting you to MANY baseball pictures in the weeks to come.

Have a great weekend.

Imitation and Introspection

So many times, our kids give us a glimpse into our own parenting. I remember when Noah was little he put one of his stuffed animals in a time out. It gave me a view into how he looked upon my job as disciplinarian.

But even that didn't prepare me for Aaron, the thinker that he is.

I was getting out of the shower Tuesday morning, and I saw him stomping off into Noah's bedroom with Man Bear (the name of his stuffed bear) in tow.


The first thing he did was close the blinds on both windows






















and then tucked Man Bear into the covers








I asked him why he was putting man Bear to bed, and he said,

"Man Bear needs to go to bed because he was whining"

Then he insisted that I go give him a hug and kiss good night, which I did.

For the next ten minutes or so, I was required to speak softly to allow Man Bear to fall asleep.

I also wonder if this is a way of trying to gain some control when they feel like have none. Aaron is really struggling with listening to authority right now, fighting back in any way he can, using very unpleasant words and making the meanest faces, and even reaching out and slugging me at times when he is really overwhelmed and frustrated. I have been trying to hard to keep calm about it, but I don't believe I have always been successful. I know it's a phase and it will surely pass, as it did for his brother.

I wonder if I can find more ways like this little episode above to provide him with more opportunities to feel in control of his world, then he won't feel the need to challenge everything he is asked to do.

Or maybe not...he is four after all.

Have a great Thursday.

Wordless Wednesday

Who says Easter baskets are for kids?

Tackle It Tuesday: A Necessary Change

I know Tackle It Tuesday is supposed to be about housework. But I feel like I need to make an important change so I am going to blog about it, simply to try to keep myself honest. If I truly make it three months, I will be shocked, but I want to make a worthy attempt.

A little background:

Last year at my annual, I had mentioned several problems I was having. As a result and after many expensive tests, a diagnosis came down and I went on hormones. My life improved drastically, other than about a ten pound weight gain pretty much immediately.

Three weeks ago I went to fill my last month and found out that the hormone prescription ran out. I decided to see what a month without them would be like before getting back to the doctor, for many reasons. It has been an interesting experiment.

I am also trying to make the decision about finding a new doctor or sticking with the same. Either way, I will be facing many more expensive tests that I can't afford, which is one of the many reasons I have been putting it off. I also have gained quite a bit of weight this year, which another thing that I haven't wanted to face, but I know it is time to deal with it.

I am not a good eater. At one point I was a lifetime member at Weight Watchers, but that was before Noah was born and I can guarantee I will never see that weight again.

Nor am I a good exerciser. SO many excuse, but the truth is that I am just a bit too lazy to find the time...yup, I admit it.

But I need to start making some changes. After being up all night in misery from the cramps I am suffering, I know I need to make some changes, but haven't been sure where to start.

I have thought of one. All of you "good" people who are being conscious of diet and exercise out there may not see it as much, but I think it will be a good start for me. Here it is:

I am a habitual diet coke drinker...both with and without caffeine. I have been reading more and more studies that are suggesting that drinkers of diet sodas have a 41 percent higher chance of being overweight. I am not sure if it's true or not, but it is a scary finding nevertheless.

So my first baby step into a world of a healthier me is going to be to try to replace diet soda with water in my day.

I have also read somewhere that it takes 21 days to create a new habit of anything. Will I make it 21 days? I really can't say. I suffer from a serious lack of will power, so I am reaching out the blog world for my support. I have posted a ticker on the side to try to keep myself honest.

Wish me luck my friends. It's going to be a bumpy ride, but I have to believe that it will put on the road to changing other bad habits and eventually becoming a healthy person that I can be proud of when I look in the mirror, rather than ashamed.

Wish me luck!

Have a great Tuesday.

Weekend Top Five: 4/20/09

It was a good weekend. The weather was crazy...beautiful the first day, dreary the second. We logged a lot of driving time, some good, some not so great. Stay tuned for a very funny story in Number One.

Here are the Top Five.



5. Friday at Noah's school
I finally got to do lunch duty for the first time in a long time. I had decided to bring some new chalk for the class for recess. I started to draw a hopscotch on the ground for the kids and they just haphazardly jumped on it. I asked if any of them new how to actually PLAY it, and believe it or not, NO ONE knew. Some other teachers and I were fascinated by the fact that kids don't really play those games anymore like we did when we were little. So I taught them how and when I picked Noah up from school, I found out that all the girls continued to play it at the last recess of the day too.

I think I'll have to bring Chinese jump rope next week and teach them that one.

He also completed his third perfect week in a row AND got to stand up at the all school assembly for showing "good self-discipline".

4. Kalamazoo Nature Center
In celebrating Earth Day, the nature center in Kalamazoo that Steve and I visited regularly when we were dating 14 years ago had free admission so we took the boys down. There were definitely some highs and lows to the experience.


High: Seeing how much more the interactive center has to offer since we used to visit.



The kids loved the indoors rain forest.












Aaron had fun pretending to be a bird sitting on her eggs in this exhibit.












Low: Steve was upset that we never made to to the trail that meant so much to us when we were dating. I won't go into details about why, but I promised him then, as I do again now, that next time we will take the boys to that lookout.


High: The boys got to hike on a bunch of different paths and get down close to some of the swampy area to search for turtles (and there were a ton of them).















Low: I made the mistake of telling Noah to stay on the paths so he wouldn't get any ticks and he spent the rest of our time on the trails PANICKING about bug bites. We REALLY need to get him more exposed to the woods.

3. Sunday Church Triple Duty
In the first service, our quartet had to sing, which is usually not bad. but our CE director had not scheduled a nursery worker and Aaron came waltzing up to the front WHILE the scripture was being read and announced out loud, over and over, that he was going to the computer lab. When he was shushed, he cause a bit of a scene...quite embarrassing.

The second service went better and I ended up helping in Aaron's Sunday School Class as well, playing the piano and letting the kids dance around with some instruments.

Bell rehearsal after church went REALLY well this week. After working so hard this year, it was fun to go back and read some pieces from earlier in the year as we prepare for our two public performances coming up in the near future.

2. A Visit With Friends
After church, we piled the kids back into the car for a drive to see some friends who have only recently moved back to Michigan. We hadn't seen them in quite awhile and only met their younger daughter once or twice since she was born (now 14 months old). Their older daughter is the same age as Aaron.

Noah was nervous when we told him we were going since it would be only "girl stuff" and didn't think there would be anything for him to do. But the kids played well and had a lot of fun.




Noah Actually loves playing with little girls, and it held true with Diva-PJ, as Chris calls the girls on his site Dad of Divas.

She is such a cutie and an absolute delight to sit and watch. Noah loved playing ball with her, chasing her, and playing with her toys too.





We had a very fun afternoon and look forward to another visit soon.

1. Birds and Bees- Preschool Style
We did have one interesting event as a result of our visit with Chris and Jean and their GIRLS.

Throughout the years, we have allowed the boys to take baths with their cousins or friends. We stopped them a few years ago, even though we did allow Aaron and his cousin to play together in the bathtub at Grandma's house recently.

Because of this, the boys know that there is a difference between boys and girls. It is never really talked about, but they just KNOW.
While we there, Aaron left the bathroom door open while he was doing his thing. Diva-J saw him and was FASCINATED by IT.

A little while later, Noah came down and announced that Aaron and Diva-J were upstairs pulling their plants down

DOH!

Up Chris and I ran to put an end to the "doctor" session and after having a discussion about "privates" needing to stay PRIVATE, we went about our evening.

Apparently, the discussion continued in the Diva household after we left. Chris called about a half hour after we got home to announce that Diva-J wanted to know "Why do boys pee out of their belly button?"

(Chris, if you are reading this, I want to hear how the rest of the discussion went.)

I have to admit that it has been giving me a giggle ever since, but it also makes it clear that we have more work to do on Aaron closing the bathroom door when he does his thing.


The week ahead: Not very interesting other than Noah's school carnival on Friday that Steve and I are running a game for. Also, Noah is going for his fourth week in a row of perfect days. It will be a new record. Our other goal would be to get Aaron to stay asleep the entire night. Don't know how to accomplish that one.

Please link up if you posted your weekend. I don't want to miss it.

Free Stuff Opportunity

Hey Everyone,

I don't usually do things like this on my blog, but I saw it advertised on TV and started doing it so I thought I'd share.

It's called WGN Swag Bucks and you just use their site instead of regular google when you're searching for something. Each time you use the search, you can earn "swag bucks" to earn prizes. I have already gotten bonus ones just for using it. I am working toward a target gift card, but there are a ton of prizes you can earn. It's free to sign up and they have a privacy policy posted to avoid spam or information being sold or tracked. The site is:

http://searchwingine.swagbucks.com/?cmd=sb-register&rb=460883

Just thought I'd let you know. It's pretty cool.

Have a great weekend.

Photo Story Friday: The Wheelz Were Rolling Again!

There was never a more perfect name for this blog than this post. As most of you know, my blog name is a play on our last name. Well last weekend, we had another opportunity for fun on wheels; Roller Skating.

I promised you on Monday in my Weekend Top Five that I would share the story, and here it is.

For my friend Deb's daughter's 8th birthday party, we went to a roller rink. Neither of the boys had been on skates before, so I knew it would be a memorable experience, no matter what happened.

The first thing you will notice is that Steve is NOT on skates. Due to a work related injury several years ago, my hubby has an ankle completely made out of steel, and no one wanted to take the chance of another fall.



But he was a great trooper, and stayed out on the rink pretty much the whole time, with Aaron mostly.











Noah started out pretty nervous at the beginning. He was a bit scared and kept a pretty tight hold on to either the wall or someone's hands.















As he got more comfortable though, he started getting a little more brave and started to venture out on his own.











It was so cute though, because every time he would venture off, if he fell down too far away from the wall, he would always crawl back to the wall to stand back up. I thought it was pretty clever of him.









He did take one nasty spill on the floor in the party room however, with the head thunk being heard from the other side of the room. That spill took some Mommy TLC and begging Daddy to take his skates off. I was worried that he was done for the rest of the time, but after a cupcake and piece of pizza, he was ready for action again.








After we had been there about a half hour or so, he noticed a boy from the 2nd grade (he's in first) was there, skating all over like a maniac, and his resolve to skate better became extremely strong. He even started to try skating with style like the other skaters.



By the time we left, he was making the rounds without us with him and I think he would have kept going if we hadn't needed to go.







Aaron had his own progression of the day.

When we started out, we put regular skates on him, just like Noah was wearing. But he was very unsure of himself and even panicked to the point where he refused to go back out skating again.















Steve took him out and took the skates off, and when he went to return them, the employees suggested those plastic kind that connect to the shoes to make it easier to skate.



This worked out WAYYYYYY better. He was able to pretty much walk on the skates with a little gliding once in awhile and he stayed a pretty happy camper the rest of the time.












Unlike Noah, who kind of go a little freaked each time he fell, Goofy Aaron decided that it was fun to PURPOSELY FALL, which he continued to do for the rest of the afternoon.















And then of course, I need to share with the one picture that cracked me up after I got home and started looking at my pictures.


At first glance, this is a sweet picture of a Daddy helping his son learn to skate.


At second glance, you see the second son flat out on the floor while Daddy is helping the one who is actually UPRIGHT at the time.

At third glance, you realize that the Mommy, who could be helping second son to GET UPRIGHT AGAIN is taking pictures instead.


Great parenting, huh? LOL





If course, it had been at least 20 years since I had been on skates, and I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly it came back to me. I took one HUGE spill while skating with Deb's daughter, Hannah though and on Sunday morning I noticed a small ache while I was putting on my nylons. Steve took one look and said, "What is that?!" I looked down and saw this:



No wonder it hurt to put nylons on. At least it was all in the name of fun.











I hope you enjoyed our little learning adventure. Noah has asked to go again so that is now his next reward when he has a perfect week in school again...I just hope it happens soon, for all of our sakes.

Have a great weekend!

Thursday Thirteen: Bulletin Bloopers

I know we have all seen the list of these around, but when my hubby emailed these to me the other day, there were some I had never seen before and I got a giggle.

1. The sermon this morning: "Jesus Walks on the Water."
The sermon tonight: "Searching for Jesus."

2. Announcement in a church bulletin for a national PRAYER & FASTING Conference: "The cost for attending the Fasting and Prayer conference includes meals."

3. Bertha Belch, a missionary from Africa, will be speaking tonight at Calvary Methodist. Come hear Bertha Belch all the way from Africa.

* Favorite * 4. Ladies Bible Study will be held Thursday morning at 10. All ladies are invited to lunch in the Fellowship Hall after the B.S. is done.

5. The pastor would appreciate it if the ladies of the congregation would lend him their electric girdles for the pancake breakfast next Sunday.

6. The Associate Minister unveiled the church's new tithing campaign slogan last Sunday "I Upped My Pledge - Up Yours."

7. Our next song is "Angels We Have Heard Get High."

8. Weight Watchers will meet at 7 PM at the First Presbyterian Church. Please use large double door at the side entrance.

9. This evening at 7 pm there will be a hymn sing in the park across from the Church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin.

10. Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person you want remembered.

11. The Lutheran men's group will meet at 6 pm. Steak, mashed potatoes, green beans, bread and dessert will be served for a nominal feel.

12. "Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Don't forget your husbands."

13. Miss Charlene Mason sang "I will not pass this way again", giving obvious pleasure to the congregation.

Have a great Thursday!

Wordless Wednesday: Lost Britches

Didn't think I could beat last week in the inappropriate pictures department?





Think again!

Second Guessing Myself

The next time I say I want to trade in the mini van and get a nice little car instead, it is the responsibility of everyone I know to remind me of this:

Yesterday afternoon on the way home from picking the boys up from school, I was sitting at a red light by home, talking to the boys about the day and looking at the note from Noah's teacher (usual stuff, nothing bad) when all of a sudden...

BAM!!!

A car slammed right into the back of us. I looked up to find what looked like either a teenage driver sitting in his car with a panicked look on his face. The boys were talking a mile a minute but not really too upset, so I got out to inspect any damage.

The poor kid was apologizing profusely and it turned out that my van didn't have a single scratch and HIS car was pretty cracked up along the front.

At the time, I figured it was his fault, his car had the damage and I had to be at work in a half hour so I just told him to be careful and sent him on his way, without filling out a police report.

Afterwards, while I sat at work teaching, my head POUNDING with a headache, and later when my neck started hurting most of the night, I started re-thinking my actions. Yes, the kid probably would have to answer to his father when he got home.

But didn't I lose a perfect teaching opportunity? The fact that this kid hit me as hard as he did (and it was quite hard) while I was sitting at a stop light means that he had to have been approaching pretty fast, even though it was a red light. I'm thinking that means he was probably texting or some other thing, rather than paying attention to the road. If I had called the police, maybe he would have learned something about proper driving and what NOT to do when behind the wheel. What if he continues bad habits and causes more damage to someone else, perhaps even causing an injury next time?

So now I feel like I was an irresponsible citizen for not tattling on him. While I sit here writing, my ibuprofen has worn off and my neck is sore again. Is that my penance for not doing the right thing? Or DID I do the right thing...letting it go for him to deal with with his parents and hoping that maybe he will learn a lesson this time before he causes problems to someone else.

The least I should have done is break into a mini lecture about responsible driving, but I was so relieved that the boys were okay and not really freaked out, that I just wanted to get home and stop shaking.

So what do you think? What would you have done in the same situation.

Weekend Top Five 4/13/09

What a wonderful Easter day we had yesterday! It's days like that, no matter how few and far between, that make all of the other days worth it. Beautiful weather, agreeable moods, a few new toys to play with outside, and of course, chocolate galore!

So of course, the Weekend Top Five is filled with holiday weekend activity.


5. Easter Service at church
My hand bells only had to play one song, which was with the choir and a brass quartet our church had hired. The performance went great, which everyone was relieved for, since the rehearsal had been pretty rough.

My most exciting thing was that we finally got a really nice family picture while we were all gussied up. We never did one last Christmas because of finances and the church directory one before that was awful, so this was the first good one we got in about two years. Aren't my three guys handsome??


4. Easter Baskets
I found out Sunday afternoon that both boys had apparently "inspected" the baskets before we got up, but they didn't actually touch them, so I let it go in the name of excitement.

I had made up baskets for them with a little bit of candy and several little gifts each.



















Aaron was also pretty excited to see what the "Easter Bunny" had brought Mommy in her basket too.















Noah got a HUGE Bakugan ball and new magnetic cards to play with his bakugans. He spent pretty much the rest of the day taking it everywhere and seeing which magnetic things would pop it open.














3. Easter Egg Hunt Outside
Since it was forcasted to be an absolutely beautiful Easter Sunday (which it was), we had decided to hide the plastic eggs filled with candy outside in the yard this year for the boys to hunt for. After hiding them outside the night before, I started worrying about whether they would still be there in the morning, or would passersby see them and help themselves.

What I hadn't counted on was the fact that our yard is filled with VERY HUNGRY squirrels who were so interested in eating the candy that they would actually EAT THE PLASTIC to get to the candy inside. We found three plastic eggs eaten through.









But the boys still had a great time hunting...


Noah needed a little gentle reminding to slow down enough to make sure Aaron got some eggs

















But Aaron held his own quite well and we needn't have worried.











When they came inside to dump the candy into their baskets, we learned the second thing to remember about hiding eggs with candy outside...DON'T USE REESE'S PEANUT BUTTER BUNNIES. They were the only candy that melted so badly that we needed to throw most of them away.














2. Fun Easter Afternoon Outside
With our families still out of town and since I made meals all week long for Spring Break, we decided to eat lunch out at a restaurant and then come home to hang out for the rest of the afternoon. After a nap for Aaron, and the egg hunt (above) we stayed outside the rest of the afternoon.

One of things I was MOST excited about was teaching Noah how to throw a football.

Aaron had gotten a football as one of his Easter presents and I was able to teach Noah how to use the laces to hold it and throw it. I have been waiting forever to be able to play catch with him, and he was so excited to be able to do it the right way.





While Noah and I were playing catch with the football, Steve and Aaron spent a LONG time with Aaron's other new Easter gift, a bubble rocket.

This is thing is so cool. Usually bubble toys last about ten minutes and then they're forgotten. Not this one! The boys played with it for hours off and on all day, and we went through two full bottles of bubble solution (but well worth it)



It was fun watching Steve come up with new and creative ways to catch the rocket after the boys launched it.












Yes, we did other things this weekend as well. We went to Deb's daughter's birthday party on Saturday, but the pictures are too fun to see so I am waiting until Friday to post the entire story.

5. Visit with my Mother and Grandmother
On Friday, my mother was in town (really, 45 minutes south of here) visiting my grandmother so we went down for our semi-annual visit with her. I will leave details out as to why twice a year is plenty.

Since usually the visits are somewhat awkward, I decided to invite them to come to the Kalamazoo Public Museum with the boys instead of hanging around my grandmother's apartment. It turned out to be a very good idea.

I really enjoyed spending some time walking around the museum with my 93 year old grandmother. I thought it was funny as we were entering the museum to look up and see the street name that we were on was the same as my grandma's name, Eleanor.

Of course, I had to take a picture.












It was so neat to watch her look at the exhibits. Usually, I spend my time chasing the kids and never really get to see anything.

This time, I pretty much left the kids to their own devices, and hung with my grandma through many of the exhibits. Here she is looking at the movable art exhibit.












The most fun was walking through the "old time Kalamazoo" area and hearing stories about so many of the things she saw, which she either has or had replicas of to this day. And then when we got back to her apartment, she had fun showing me her examples of the things we saw at the museum.


So even though we had to put up with my mother saying swear words around the kids and talking to them as if they were babies, it ended up being a neat couple of hours to spend with my grandma. She also had purchased some new books to share with boys, sending home several of them with us. Once a teacher, always a teacher!





Ahead this week: I HAVE to find a new OBGYN. I have been meaning to get a hold of my step-sister-in-law (say that five times fast) who practices north of here to see if she can recommend someone here in GR, but I haven't had a chance yet. It is starting to become more dire every day that I need to get going on this.

Also this week, open applications for Schools Of Choice are Monday morning to try to find a school for Aaron for next year, I am driving for a field trip for Noah on Wednesday, and I am finally back to being Friday room mother this week. Because of circumstances, it has been a long time since I have fulfilled my duty.

I hope you will come link up if you posted about your holiday weekend. The weekend top five has been less active lately and I would love for us to share linky love again. I cant wait to see how all of you shared this wonderful weekend with your families as well.

Have a a great week!

Photo Story Friday: Jesus On The Cross

I shared this picture on the old blog back in October, because Noah had made it in Sunday School. I wanted to share it again today because it is Good Friday, and it displays quite appropriately how a six year old expresses the idea of what happened to Jesus. He not only included the nails, but also caught the expression on His face.



















The boys have both been very interested in discussing the story this year. In years past, I was always scared to approach the topic of "death" with the kids, but this year, they seem to get it. Each time we talk about the death of Jesus, one of them is quick to talk about how happy Easter is because Jesus comes back to life.

Of course, Noah then turned to me and said,

"Mommy, does Easter mean that you're going to have a baby since Easter means New Life?"

This opened quite a lengthy discussion that I will not expand upon at this time. Needless to say, Noah REALLY wants a baby sister. Sorry kid!

Have a wonderful holiday weekend with your family.

Thankful Thursday

I was lying in bed the other night, replaying the day in my head, like I do before going to sleep every night. Kind of like my own little "wind down" ritual. It usually ends with a prayer and then I roll over and go to sleep (most nights). Usually my prayer is thanking God for the things of the day and then praying for each of my family members individually.

While I was doing this, I found myself praying for Noah and Aaron differently than usual. Usually, I am praying for them to have guidance in facing whatever they may be dealing with.

But while I was praying this particular night, I found myself thanking Him for the qualities that I often find myself the most frustrated with. It kind of helped me to see things through a different light, almost as if I had been touched with guidance myself.

This is the line along which the prayers followed:

Thank you God for Aaron. Thank you for his cheerful smile and his ability to find joy in simple things.

Thank you for his questioning nature, as he tries to make sense out of everything in the world around him. Thank for his desire for more knowledge in every situation and please help it to ensure that he will always seek the answers in every problem he faces throughout life.

Thank you God for Noah. Thank you for letting him always wear his heart on his sleeve. Thank you allowing him the freedom to voice his needs, hopes, fears, and even disappointments.

Thank you for letting him always show how he's feeling, not only in words, but also in his body language. May he always feel comfortable expressing his feelings and making his needs known, throughout childhood and beyond..










Have a wonderful Thursday!

How Much Damage Has YOUR Four Year Caused?

I received two calls today.

CALL #1: The first one came as we were leaving a fun play date. Everyone was in a great mood and we were on our way home for naps and then to go outside to play. The call was from an employee at our credit union saying that the wallet I lost last Friday was being held at a bank In Zeeland (about 25 minutes away). I thanked her profusely and told the boys we were going to skip quiet time today and drive to Zeeland to pick up my wallet instead.

Walking into the bank, I went up to the teller counter and identified myself. Meanwhile, Aaron was complaining that he needed to use the bathroom. So the teller told him where to go. About 30 seconds later, he came back, announcing to the entire world that "I NEED TO GO NUMBER TWO, TOO!" The tellers were all smiling at "how cute this little kid is".

So I finished updating my account with the tellers (which is why it took five days to reach me; they didn't have current information in their computer) and went to the bathroom myself. Aaron was still in the little boys room.

After I finished, I checked into the boys room and Aaron was still doing his thing, so Noah and I went to sit out in the lobby. After quite awhile longer, I sent Noah in to check on him and he came back a minute later letting me know that Aaron was fine.

So about anther five minutes later, I figured he'd had long enough so I went to check on him. From what I could see Aaron was at the sink washing his hands and then came bounding out of the bathroom.

We put on our coats and headed on our way. As we were leaving, Aaron was telling a story about making a hot tub out of water in the sink in the bathroom. I just kind of smiled, and so did the tellers because his imagination was cute (or so we thought).

Call #2

About an hour later, the boys had been sent to their rooms for "quiet time" and I heard my phone ring. I didn't get to it in time and I waited for the voice mail to register so I could see who called. Here is the message I heard:


"Hi, Mrs. W, This is H from the bank. I know you were just in here, but I wanted to let you know what your son did. When he was here, he plugged up the sink and left the water running. It has now run out of bathroom and there is water all over our lobby floor. You don't have to do anything but we wanted to let you know so you can talk to your son and so he doesn't do anything like that again to someone else."





OMG! Are you serious? Did my 4 year old son really cause thousands of dollars of damage to a bank? He has always been prone to play in the water in the bathroom, but I can't believe that THIS actually happened. I am extremely ashamed and embarrassed. I guess he really DID make a hot tub in the bathroom. I am very happy that we will never have to set foot in that bank again, and I am still wondering if the bank's insurance company will come after me once they get a damage cost.

My own toilet overflowed Monday morning, flooded the entire bathroom and into our basement and we couldn't afford to bring a plumber out for our own house. The last thing I can do is afford to pay for a company's damages.

So I guess I wait and see if anything else comes of it. But for now, I am shocked and upset that Aaron could have done this and I feel like I can't ever trust him in a bathroom again. I don't really think a punishment is in line because it won't register in his mind since it has been hours since this happened. I really don't know HOW to handle this. On top of it, I am struggling with an issue with Noah that came up the last week of school that is driving Steve and me bonkers and it seems to only be getting worse.

AND ON TOP OF THAT...

The pharmacy wouldn't fill my prescription last Sunday because it was expired so I didn't start my hormones this month, which means that the fact that I am being all nasty could be because I am all whacked out, and have nothing to do with the boys at all.

I am going to stop writing now, since I know when I type faster, I am just getting more and more upset. I think I will go hide now...

Wordless Wednesday: Oblivious Pose

I know it's a naughty picture, but it's funny because I didn't even notice the statue until Steve pointed it out to me after I took it.

Spring Break: Days 1 and 2

I am considering Sunday as Day 1 of Spring Break since we didn't have the rush of trying to get ready for school the next day. It was Palm Sunday and the boys were pretty excited about waving palms in church. Each year, I am reminded on Palm Sunday that I NEVER learned how to make a cross out of my palm...

Anyway, after church, our old babysitter was working at Playworld so we headed over a for a few hours of fun.
The kids did their usual running around, but they also kept coming back to us and being quite silly. They both made friends to run around with, which is always nice to see.

Aaron decided that he needed to be like Mommy and Daddy an check out the newspaper ads.













Noah decided to finally show off that "wonderful" smile that the tooth loss created. The big tooth is coming in way behind his gums and it looks freaky.
















But really they just had a good time seeing how silly they could make their faces for the camera.










Back around Christmas time, I won a box of craft stuff from Shana at My Three Wisemans but for some reason, the company never sent it. Shana was so nice to have gone through her own stores of craft stuff and pack up a box of supplies to send to the boys. We have spent the last three days playing with quite a few of the things and there are several more still to come.

One of the things she sent was frames to be decorated and the boys broke out the paint for them.















Noah made his into a flower on one side and him on the other, and then picked out one of the pictures from vacation to put into it.



















We also ATTEMPTED coloring eggs, but after hard boiling 8 eggs for coloring, they kept dropping them, leaving only THREE to decorate. I am planning to boil more for a second attempt today.



















Noah had fun going through the box of stuff and one of the other things I love about Noah is watching his creative mind take off. He found the pipe cleaners in the box and asked if he could use them. It was almost dinner so I told him he could have them , but he couldn't get out the scissors or glue, since I didn't want to deal with the mess. Instead, he made an imaginary friend, whom he named Jack.




He played with him for hours, including making up a song about him that he sang ad nauseum the rest of the night.














I also took the boys to Tale of Despereaux which was playing as a second run, free for kids, $2.50 for adults. It was a cute movie, even though it ran a little long and was a little scary in a few places. We probably will get it though because it was cute.



I hope you are all all having a fun Spring Break (if you're on it). I don't know what we're going to do today, and the boys keep asking so I guess I will let you know when we're all done eating our bagels.

Happy Tuesday!

Weekend Top Five 2/6/09

This is a strange Weekend Top Five, just because the weekend really isn't ending. Since we are on Spring Break this week, I am trying to think of fun things to keep ourselves busy all week so that Spring Break feels special, even though we're staying home. We were hoping to make a quick trip to spend a day with cousins outside Chicago, but finances always seem to get in the way. I am sure we will find fun things to do around home though.

But boy did we pack a bunch of stuff into the first three days. I loved that Spring Break starts on Friday now instead of Monday, giving us some extra "vacation" time. I think it's because we had so many snow days last year and they were planning for them this year, even though they never came:(

Unfortunately, a large part of the weekend was spent looking for my wallet, which I discovered Friday night has been misplaced. My drivers license was not in it thankfully, but debit cards to both of my accounts as well as quite a few other things are, so I hope it will show up soon. Otherwise, a large part of Spring Break week may be spent on the phone trying to replace everything. UGH!

Aside from that, it was a very event packed, family fun weekend. Here are the first five I can think of:

5. Quick Little Mall Trip
I had to run into the mall quickly in order to pick up some prints I had ordered. The trip was supposed to take all of three minutes. We got a little delayed, however, when Aaron saw the "Easter Bunny' from about ten miles away and HAD to go see him. Noah was adamant that he was NOT going to sit with the Easter Bunny, but after a little coaxing, he was finally willing to stand next to him for a picture. We don't tell the boys that the Easter Bunny brings their basket or anything, but it is a fun symbol for Spring and I don't have a problem with them having fun with it.

4. Chuck E Cheese
Noah had his second perfect week in a row from school and earned a trip to Chuck E Cheese so we went Friday night. It was an interesting event. Usually, the boys and Steve and I all try pretty hard to get tickets so that they can get decent prizes on the way out.

This time was different. Both boys wanted to keep playing video games and rides that didn't reward with tickets and they were a bit disillusioned when it came time to get prizes and they weren't able to get as much.

I toyed with the idea of "contributing" a few cents in order for them to get a bigger prize, but then I decided that it was good lesson in making decisions on how to budget time and money. They really didn't get very upset, but it was definitely different than in visits past.




3. John Ball Zoo
Just in time for "SPRING BREAK"we had snow forecast for Sunday and Monday but a beautiful day forecast for Saturday so we took advantage of it and went to the zoo. It was a little chilly but the kids had a great time and the animals were very active, which was fun to see. Since my parents got us a membership for Christmas, it will be a great place for diversion all summer long.





2. Picnic and the park
Continuing the beautiful weather, we decided to pack the boys up and take them to a local park to play and brought sandwiches for a picnic dinner. Once again, quite chilly but the boys played hard for almost two hours, thanks to not only the playground, but also that we had brought soccer balls, a football, sandbox toys, and went over to throw rocks and sticks into the pond nearby.






1. Feeding the ducks
Because we spent pretty much the entire day Saturday outside, both at the zoo and the park, we had opportunity at both places to feed the ducks. Usually, we don't actually feed them, either because I forget to bring stale bread or because I personally am scared of the things, having seem WAY TOO MANY funniest home videos of ducks and geese attacking people.

But nevertheless, the boys (all THREE of them) had a great time feeding the ducks and geese. Noah had more fun seeing how often he could get bread to land ON the birds' backs.


OOPS! I've listed five and not even gotten to Sunday yet. I guess I'll have to put Sunday into my Spring Break posts instead. I hope you all had a great weekend too and I hope you will share. My Mr. Linky participants seem to be way down so I am hoping we can boost it back up again.

Have a great Monday!

Photo Story Friday: Some Favorite Candid Florida Shots

While re-sorting through the pictures from vacation, I was left with a few that didn't fit into any other categories but that I really liked. I thought I would share them with you, while my kids are chasing each other around the house with yarn...I don't know why but at least they're getting along.




I LOVED this one of Aaron. We were on the people mover going through Space Mountain and his eyes cracked me up.











I have spoken about Aaron and his hearing/speech issues many times. Although he has been given a perfect bill of health in regards to hearing, this was still his pose during anything somewhat loud, whether it be the Lion King Show (shown here), other shows, parades, or rides.














I LOVED this shot. Daddy and both boys jumping into the pool at the same time












Both of my boys love to tickle or otherwise amuse their youngest cousin. Their cousin is happy to oblige.











I love this shot because it was taken on the way out of Animal Kingdom, our least favorite day of the three park days. They were so content to just sit and watch the water and I feel a sense of peace when I look at it.









I like this one of Noah, because on the last day of vacation because it speaks volumes about how tired we were by the end of our marathon day.


















Have a great weekend and come back for Weekend Top Five on Monday.

When Others' Mistakes Hurt

While I have been busy with all of the vacation posts, life at the Wheelz home just kept rolling along.
If you follow me on facebook or twitter, you have been given a glimpse into the mess I have been dealing with the banks.
I was SOOO excited that for the first time in about six months, I was able to pay the mortgage on time for April. It felt so good to finally be back feeling responsible again...

UNTIL

I logged on to my bank website yesterday and found myself overdrawn.

WHAT?!?!

So I looked at the list and found out that my paycheck from last week had been returned insufficient funds. So after a lot of running around yesterday, I found out that the company who does my company's payroll deposited all of the money into the wrong account, causing everyone to have NSF paychecks.

So then I went off to the bank and explained but they were unable to stop the fees so the fees started racking up and my boss says that they will reimburse all of the fees.

So then, I go on the account this morning, and the MORTGAGE company ALSO assessed an NSF fee, even though they took their money out and got the payment.

Shouldn't companies (and banks) understand that if someone is overdrawn, they obviously DON'T have any money and to punish them by taking MORE of their money is a little ridiculous?

Usually, these problems are from some error of my own, but this time I have to sit and watch my account go further and further into the red through no fault of my own.

And to top it all off, our mortgage got sold a year or so ago, and when it did, the DROPPED MY NAME off of the mortgage so now the mortgage company won't even talk to me if I try to call and get that fee reversed.

Sorry for the rant. It just makes me mad that when I finally got everything back in order, someone else's error still makes things go whacky.

In other news: Tomorrow starts Spring Break. I am not quite sure what we will do with the majority of it. There don't seem to be any specially priced events around here. I am planning to take the boys to play with their cousins for an overnight at some point and I have an obligatory visit with my mom I need to subject myself to. I guess we'll see what see the week holds.

Happy Thursday!

Thursday Thirteen: Our Last Night of Vacation T13 Style

After all these vacation posts the last two weeks, was there any doubt that there had to be one about the castle/parade?

I tried for 13 cool pictures of the castle, but I just didn't get good enough shots, so I thought I'd tell a story instead.


1. I didn't know that the castle started changing colors at dusk so I was amazed when we were finding our spot for the parade and found the castle turning pink




I don't know the lady on the cell one out front but my photo editing program was lost when my computer had to be stripped a few months ago.









2. I thought it was even more fun to watch as the colors kept changing, both to deep blue, and then a vibrant purple.

















3. We started lining up early, which was a good thing because the crowd got heavy very quickly.
I mentioned earlier this week that we brought a stroller with us for Noah on our marathon day at Magic Kingdom, which ended up being a very good idea.

Notice how big he is for it, but he was thankful to be able to sit while we were waiting for the parade to start.

I can't believe he was actually surprised when the strap wouldn't fit him!

4. Luckily, my brother and his family were able to find us in the crowd so the kids could all watch together. My youngest nephew loved playing with our balloon stroller identifier during the wait.


Can you see his cute little smile through the balloon?





5. This is one of my favorite "kid" shots from our vacation. The four older cousins lined up ready for the parade. I love how happy all four of them look, even after a VERY crazy week away from home.

This is how I choose to remember the week, even with all of its ups and downs.






6. And yes, the parade did actually start eventually. I had quite a challenging time trying to get good shots of the floats but I will try share some of the ones I did capture.










7.













8.













9. Everyone got excited when Ursula came strolling down the street. The way she spun and moved was really cool and I still would like to know how they did it.










10. During the entire parade, Aaron held his usual pose...hands over his ears












11. My niece, the only girl in the group, got the sweetest smiles when the princesses started coming down the street.


Nope, no clue why Aaron's mouth is wide open.








12. I didn't get any pictures of the fireworks since I was videotaping it, but is was spectacular. Afterward, we waited around for awhile to let the crowds thin out before heading back to the monorail. After about twenty minutes, I looked down at Aaron to head toward the exit, and was surprised to find him completely asleep.



















13. I was even MORE surprised though when I looked at Noah's stroller.

At almost seven year's old, my "grown up" first grader had also FALLEN ASLEEP!

He was hanging completely off the poor stroller, but he didn't really move much at all on the way back to the car.

The people on the monorail were nice enough to allow us one without collapsing the strollers so both boys could continue their snooze.









So, I know this wasn't your typical T13 post, but when have I ever been typical?

Have a great Thursday!

Wordless Wednesday (With a Small Amount of Help): Souvenir or New Best Friend

A special hug for Aaron's new friend


















Funny how the kisses from a pretend dog can be just as special as the real thing













I think Aaron spent as much time pushing Pluto around in the stroller that night in Downtown Disney as he spent in the stroller himself
















Here's Pluto all tucked in and ready for bed













And what a great friend to keep Aaron company for 24 hours on the road


















He even rocks it out at a Go Fish Concert












Happy WW!