Dadad Dada Elmo's World!

Okay so I'll only try to torture you all for a bit. Try being the operative word here. So here we go:

Dru fell asleep before he even left with his dad, it was very funny. In honor of Elmo he wore his Elmo pants. Funny kid!They are ready to go and they are taking the truck! Woohoo! Dru wanted to go to McDonald's to eat so they did. Dru in his seat. Where he ate cotton candy and an apple juice...red letter day! Their seats were pretty close and not half bad.View from their seats...not bad. What a 'happy' stage.You know these guys...Bert and Ernie.And they added Cookie Monster (secretly Grover is my most fave monster, what's yours?)Some more characters. I believe there is Big Bird, The Count, Grover, and Oscar the GrouchI believe Abby Cadabby was a huge hit with the crowd, and by all accounts with Dru also. And just so you know I have no idea if I spelled her name right.And there is Elmo...don't need to really need to say more.Abby, Elmo and Zoe.I know this is a kid show but why does Elmo look like he just did something naughty? Or shocked? I don' t know it just doesn't look right, looks silly and I'm laughing.Just another pic, which it happens to be the last one I'm going to bother you with. But if you scroll down further you can see a video.

So, Frank had a good time with Dru I think. Although he got really annoyed at some women there when he walked in. Apparently this happens all the time...well the situation not so much with women. What happened or what was said was this. The women saw Frank and Dru and of course everyone googled at my bright and handsome young boy and then saw he came with his dad. So the women thought it was so nice that his ex allowed him to have his son during the week to take his boy out. That at least he got to do something with his kid at all outside of his day. Frank says this happens to him a lot. How sad! There need to be more dad's out there taking their kids to something together...not just moms! I KNOW with out a shadow of doubt Frank enjoyed his time with just Dru. As a matter of fact I was a bit jealous of that, but would never dream of taking that from him. I asked Frank if he ever says something to those people and he said no. I think he needs to start saying something...but for as witty as I am (hahahahahahahaha) nothing comes to mind. Comments?

Thanks for spending the time and looking at these photos and being tortured...or not...Just a day in the life right?

What's in a day?

Not too much going today. Frank came home early and we just putzed around for the day. He was able to take Ian to the bus stop so I didn't have to...I even got a really long nap! That was WONDERFUL! Eli went down for a nap this morning at like 9 and we didn't get up until 11:30...DIVINE!!

Then we went to a store and looked around for a GPS system and/or a portable DVD player. We are looking around for when/if we go on our trip. We found one and just aren't sure if it was a good deal so we didn't buy it. I think it was a good deal my only hang up was what if something breaks there is now warranty...it's one of those stores that sells stuff that got all dinged up. It, the portable DVD player, was only $70...but it's a brand I am not familiar with...I just know us. We'd buy it and it would break the same day and then we'd be out a lot of money.

So after that we left and got some lunch and then came home and watched Mrs. Doubtfire. I love Robin Williams and that movie is just hysterical. But Lee nor Dru were not enjoying the movie as much as I thought...so I'm going to wait and watch it with Ian...he'll properly appreciate it. I can count on Ian.

I feel quite accomplished, I also started laundry and folded it...twas a sight to see. I also gave all 3 of the boys hair cuts...I think I'm starting to enjoy doing that. Outside of saving myself about $40 a month, I think I give a darn good buzz. And if we are being honest...I do love rubbing my boys' head after I buzz their hair that short...it's almost addicting. Every time they walk by my hand constantly is giving their head a rub, sometimes I don't even notice myself doing it. I'm not sure they enjoy it, I think they more or less put up with me. I think after giving birth to them it's the least they can do right? I thought so to.

Tomorrow is a big day for Dru and Frank. Dru gets to have a special day with Dad. And he is so excited! He's constantly talking to Frank about what they are going to do. They are going to see Elmo, mom is going to stay home with his brothers, AND they are taking daddy's white truck. At this point, cause he doesn't know what to expect for the Elmo bit, he's more excited about taking daddy's white truck than anything else. All the fellas like the truck...I used to have a white truck...then Frank took it and got another car. He was such a whiner about my truck..big baby! But I know they will have so much fun, I'm so excited for them...I'm making Frank take the camera...he had better take pictures! I'll threaten him with in an inch of his life (I'll let you know how that works out for me).

Anyway, that was my day. I hope to be able to accomplish more tomorrow...possibly do some planting of things in some of my planters...gotta do something with the fish my boys caught with their Uncle Carmen. Take care and have a good Tuesday people!

Pop a Top Again

*Guess what song that the title is from...no prize..just the satisfaction of knowing you know and the rest of know you know.

So on Saturday I FINALLY got to do something I have been waiting a LONG time to do! I learned how to make jam/jelly ( I have a hard time remembering which one is which...). Anyway, last fall, before Eli was born, I cut and pitted a lot of Italian Prunes (which are a fancy way of saying plum) and froze them. Now I do make Plum bread with those plums and it's good. It's a dense bread so you can't eat much but it's a nice treat. But you can only eat so much bread you know? Anyway, a friend said I should freeze them and she would show me how to make jam. And that someday was on Saturday. And it's so easy!! I have many ambitions now that I know how. And it was so gratifying to hear those jars pop when they were done. Like it was saying 'Job well done'. So there they are, the product of our labor...2 double batches of Plum jelly and one batch of Blackberry. And I tasted them both and they are yummy!

We had a late night doing our jam and eating and all the things the kids did with Uncle Carmen. This guy, Dru, had a ROUGH day at Auntie's house! He went potty in his pants several times, and he's just been whiny ever since he started training. Almost like doing this is too much but he won't go back to diapers or anything. Which is fine, but it's like he's stressed out or something. Who knows but I'm pretty sure my ears were gonna bleed yesterday from all the whining that kid did. But he finally crashed...and when he went...he went! Thank goodness! All the boys actually fell asleep for the drive home...it was nice just singing alone and not have to sing over the boys yapping at me or each other or crying over something.I forgot to take a picture of Eli in his shirt he got from the Dinosaur show we saw. We spent his money for him and bought something that will last a little longer than some crappy $15 light up toy. Which of course is what the other 3 bought with their money. I hate spending that kind of money on crappy toys...they've not played with them since the day we bought them. You know why? Because they keep hitting each other with them and someone always gets hurt. Probably for the same reason Lee's light saber toy he got for his birthday is in one of my drawers. He's since forgotten he even has it. But seriously!?! Who buys just ONE saber in a house full of boys..that's a weapon with no defense from it...NO THANK YOU! Sometimes I think people hate me with the toys they buy, but that's just a personal opinion, not the general opinion.


Front of the t-shirt Eli got.The back of his shirt...those are all the places the show had gone in 3 years.
Mother's Day was nice. Ian and Lee have been so excited about the day cause they made things at school. Lee has such a hard time keeping secrets and surprises. He wants you to enjoy them NOW and tell you everything now. He did good though and managed to wait until today to give me my gifts. In preschool they made plates and so I got plate to eat off of. Which I used today. He was so proud of himself. I also got a purple Pansie (I think that's the flower). Ian made a cute little bag at school that had 'breakfast' in bed...it had a fruit bar and a bag of tea in it with a cute poem. He also made a card and wrote in it. Here's what it said:

Okay never mind I won't tell you what it said cause for some reason people can't stop touching my stuff. I can't find it right now. Sorry! Well either way it was all very sweet and nice. And I LOVED hearing Dru tell me Happy Mother's Day over and over again. It was so sweet. Ian, Lee, and I went to church today and then after that we all went to visit Frank's mother for Mother's Day for a bit. After that we came home and cooked some pizza and I made some brownies (like I needed that but it was a special day right?). The boys watched a movie in the back room (BIG MISTAKE!) and Frank and I watched some of our shows. All in all it was an OK day...just another day.

Tomorrow is Monday and so the week begins. We are hoping to buy our tickets for our trip this week so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it all works out. We'll know by Wed the soonest. It will be fun and with us all going it will be LOTS of fun. OK, have a good Monday people...as much of one as you can on a Monday.

Big Brother

Today had me giggling a bit while I was cooking dinner. Lately I have been letting Ian make his own lunch which he has been relishing. He LOVES making his own lunch and it is like a promotion of sorts for him and me I guess. It says that I think he's big enough and responsible enough to start making his own lunch (with a small amount of supervision of course). And he's been loving it! So today was not any different. While I was cooking dinner I had Ian make his lunch. He decided to make it a 'teaching' moment for showing his brothers the steps it took to make your own lunch. He cracked Frank and I up cause he said they needed to remember and study this. And Ian's brothers were EATING this up! Anything to help Ian out...it was a moment and I RELISHED it! These are the moments I live for...they are getting along, being helpful, they are brothers and friends...a glimmer of what the future looks like. It was a beautiful thang! They were making us ill though, all of them kept sneaking tastes of the Mayo when they thought we weren't looking. I finally had to put a stop to that. I like mayo and all but not by itself. This is one of my other favorite things to see. Ian reading to his little brothers. I don't know why I like this but I do. And the more confident that Ian gets in reading the more he's willing to read to his brothers. I can't wait for the world of books to open up to him cause when it does I don't think he'll look back. I want him to know that books are good friends that you can go to time and again...you keep returning to them.
Take care everyone! Have a good Friday! It's suppose to be nice and I think we are going to try and make a t-ball game tomorrow! It should be fun.

Sick

Sadly my little red phone is TERRIBLY sick. It is ill from drinking too much toilet water for way too long. It's very sad. Would you like to know how my phone happen to drink too much toilet water? Well here it goes...it was the culmination of many things to make it to the Perfect Storm.

So here it goes. I needed to take a shower before my dentist appointment so I hopped in the shower while Lee 'helped' with Eli. Anyway, before all that I have a medicine cabinet above my toilet and it's got a cupboard and some cubby holes below the cupboards. Any who, I put my phone in there and hopped in the shower (well not really hopped cause we all know I could hurt myself). Well while I was showering the alarm I have to pick up Ian went off (don't worry Frank was there to pick up Ian). Well I have it on vibrate and it started going off and vibrating...so the phone vibrated its self right out of the cubby hole. Before the phone went off Dru had come in to use the toilet and sure enough being the typical boy/man (they learn this SO early) he left the toilet seat up. Can you see where this is going? My phone vibrated right out of the cubby hole and into the toilet. I had no idea...well I had an idea that it had come out of the hole, I just assumed that it had fallen on the floor and the battery had come out. It's conceivable. But alas, that is not my luck. It fell right into the stinkin' toilet. YUK! Thankfully Dru had flushed after he went potty so it was just toilet water...and yet it was TOILET water!

So as you can tell my phone is sick from drinking toilet water...I hope to remedy the situation here tomorrow until I can get the phone that I really want. And for the record I have no idea what phone I want and I hate shopping for a phone. I want them to ship all the phones to me and let me try them out until I find one that works for me. Thank you very much!!

So on to the dentist part of my day. I had 3 teeth filled in today and I don't think I have EVER been so incredibly numbed up before. I'm pretty sure I was numb from my ears down to the bottom of my chin and my bottom lip was all numb. I felt like such a dork, I kept asking if my face was all swollen and huge. Frank kept saying no...he was kind. I think he just knew better. They had to numb me up twice and I'm still numb...I was done at 5:30, it's now 10:30...tomorrow morning could be interesting.

Yesterday was such a fun day. I took Dru and Eli to see their Great Grandparents for a visit. We go there from time to time for visits and yesterday was no different. Lee was off at a friends house and so off we went. Dru was so excited, he remembered the last time he was there and what he did with Great Grandpa. He played catch with Great Grandpa. He talked all the way to their house about playing catch with him. And that's what they did. Pretty sure for 2 hours that's what he did with Grand Grandpa and when he wasn't there he played with Great Grandma...until he came back. It was very funny. I don't know many kids who get to play with their Great Grandparents, let alone having Great Grandparents. It really blows my mind to be honest with you and it's something that is very special. Here are some of my favorite pictures.

(p.s. Nikki I found the pictures we were looking for...on the computer they are in the August album, shutterfly it was Frank's 32ND birthday album...found it RIGHT after you went offline...go figure!!!)

These are the boys walking a trail with me and their Great Grandpa.I think we might have given Great Grandpa a work out.It was a mile long walk (I think) all the way around.This is everyone, Eli was only hours old here. Ian looks grumpy doesn't he?

He is a very proud Great Grandpa.

And this is a proud Great Grandma! My kids love to sit with her and have her hold them while she reads them stories.

Reptile Guy

So these are photos from Lee's field trip (sorta...like 5 minutes from school) to see The Reptile Guy. Lee had a great time and so did Dru for the most part. When he wasn't busy checking out the girls bathroom every 10 minutes or so. These are in no particular order, just how they were
uploaded.

These are a few animals that the guy brought, a Iguana who was very cool! He ate so many dandelions it was funny. Like watching a kid stuff his mouth with kids. He also brought an alligator...which is always my fave.

The kids got to have a Python slither on their legs. Most were not very sure about this. As you can tell Lee is in the middle and he's about as far back as his Uncle's chair will allow him to go. I thought it was very cool. The Reptile Guy thought he was pretty funny and kinda swung the snake towards a mom who wasn't paying attention (it wasn't me before you jump to conclusions) and she screamed and about jumped 10 ft in the air. She didn't think he was so funny (the rest of us of course did).

This is an African Toad, this guys is HUGE! It was fun cause he put the toad on the ground and let him hop where ever...the kids were funny cause they all jumped back.

The Reptile Guy's assistant has a Scorpion on his stomach...your eyes are seeing this clearly...no need to readjust your computer folks. I love the lizard on the leash. Reminded me of the movie Rescuers Down Under, one of the 'bad' pets was one of these lizards.

Anyway... take care folks and enjoy the rest of your day. I'm off to make dinner for the restless natives...pretty sure dinner is gonna have some turned up noses but stranger things have happened.

Strange Things Are afoot at the Circle K...

or something like that (Guess what movie that's from?). Sheesh, it's been awhile since I posted last! Good Gravy we have been busy! We had a show we went to on Friday, it was called The Walking of the Dinosaurs. A very good show and well worth the money spent. Ian and Lee LOVED it and Dru did pretty well except for the last 20 minutes I'd say. But then again I wasn't sitting next to him Frank was. So my view was a bit distorted...oh well.

So that was Friday and then on Saturday we (and I mean me and the boys) went to Olympia and spent some time up there for a family birthday party. It was fun...the boys did good. Next time though I need to remember to bring them toys...I forget my kids are the littlest now and there aren't always toys for them to play with. But now I know. Course my kids were there for the cake and ice cream...guess we know where their priorities are..lol. So that was an almost all day venture...the best was though that the kids got to ride in Oma and Grandpa's car AND we got to meet their new dog, Coco. She's a cute little thing.

Then Sunday, well Sunday wasn't so much busy as it was more of relaxing and getting some sleep and going grocery shopping. Why does going shopping for groceries always take WAY longer than what I think it should? I'll never get figure that one out.

So look at Eli sitting up all by himself!!! He really is starting to look like Dru when Dru was little...crazy how he does.

Lee, Dru and Eli READY for the Walking of the Dinosaur show! (Ian hadn't shown up from school yet and we left pretty much after he got home).

Eli's dinosaur sock.Dru was more than ready with his T-Rex shirt! See he says...

In case you were wondering the Reptile Guy was a HIT! I'll have to post about that next. Hopefully we won't get blown away or drown by this storm...Should be fun!