Friday, July 31, 2009

Flying Solo

Lucas got to spend last weekend at Amy's house. It was just him and Eli--no Josh or Henry or me!

It's the first time he has gotten to stay away from home by himself.

I really think that he would have been happy to just hang out while he was up there--it's a treat just getting to be solo for awhile--but she kept him really busy throughout his whole weekend.

He got to go to a Royals game, and he went the Moon Marble Company. That was apparently really neat! They show you how they make marbles and have all sorts of old toys for sell. He also got to go to Uncle Dave's company picnic, and made the rounds at Dave's parents, grandparents and brothers house. Each house was fabulous--he got to see cows, calves, a baby puppy, ride super fast on a golf cart and even play some old school Mario Brothers. That is just some of the big activities--there was also lots of "events" at her house as well. I can't believe how much stuff she packed into 4 days.

Every time I would talk to him on the phone he would sound like he was just having the very best time. I missed him so, so much, but I was glad he was having an amazing time.

Before he left I was really worried about Lucas getting really homesick--he reminds me a lot of myself in a lot of ways--but he didn't at all. In fact Amy said that the first night he slept in their bed, but the other nights he sleep in another bedroom all by himself and watched T.V. until he fell asleep. Before he went up there, that is what he said he wanted to do, but I thought there was no way! Good for him for being so independent!

He had a ton of fun at Amy's. There was a time or two when he said that he wished Henry could have come up there too, which I think is so nice of him, but I think he liked getting to do so many things on his own. He did bring his brothers back lots of presents that he had picked out. They were excited about that!

The day after he got home he slept in until almost 2:00 in the afternoon--a sixteen hour night which is absolutely unheard of around here. Amy obviously wore him out completely. Now we'll just have to see if she can do the same next month when Henry comes up for a weekend!

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Blinks

(sept. '08)

One time when Lucas was 3, I was sitting on a stool in the bathroom while he was trying to go. We were just waiting. Not saying anything.

I did a squinty blink at him and he did it back. We did it another two or three times and then he quietly whispered to me, "Could we not do that anymore?"

After that, I would just randomly do it to him--just because! He always did it back to me.

Before long it became something that we did to each other to say "I love you" or when we were excited or just because. Sometimes I see him do it to other people. They don't ever seem to notice, but I always pick up on it. I love that!

The last few months I have noticed Joshua doing the "blinks" at me. I'm sure it started off with him mimicking me--I find myself doing it a lot even to kids who aren't my own--but now he's the one that starts it. It's great!

Henry's special "I love you's" usually come with numbers. He will say, "I love you 98!" Then I will say, "I love you 152!" It's a fun game!

I don't really know when the boys started talking with numbers, but it sort of came from out of nowhere. It was confusing, at first, because when we would tell the boys it was time to take a nap, they would say things like, "Do we only have to take 3 naps?"--or 5 or 2 or whatever. I think that it was their way of asking if they only had to sleep for an hour or two. Either way Ben and I just agreed and they seemed to be happy with that!

Before long their number game, turned into what the "I love you #" has turned into now--a competition of who says the highest number. Lucas does it some, but mostly it's Henry's thing.

I love having special things with the boys. It's even better when the special things just sort of start!

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Camping (for real this time)

Ben, Luke, and Henry J went camping on Sunday night.

I took Josh Oliver out there for a little bit so he wouldn't feel too left out. By the time we got there the boys were already fishing on the dock. Henry had already caught one--the first of many for both boys!

They excitedly gave me a tour of their campgrounds. Lucas was especially excited to show me the "pee hole" that he had dug. Strange and gross, I know! When I pointed out that it was right in the middle of the path from the tent to the dock, he said that it was okay because he had also made a drain with his finger! Good thinking!

The boys fished a little more and played in the dirt. By the time the hot dogs were cooked all three boys were absolutely disgusting with dirt. When I went to get baby wipes to at least clean their hands, Lucas informed me that it was camping and that they were suppose to be dirty. That's just not really my idea of fun!

Before too long, Josh and I headed back home to real bathrooms and comfy beds. I am so grateful that Ben looks at camping as a boys outing. I did it when I was a teenager, but I just don't think I could now!

Unfortunately, a storm popped up around 4 in the morning. Ben set the tent up with only a net roof and with all the lightening he decided it was better to pack up and come home. So everything got thrown quickly in the truck and they headed home.

The boys were sad, but they did get to spend almost the whole night there and they caught a ton of fish. I think they are hoping to get to do it again soon! Seeing as I get a night with myself and only one boy, I'm sort of hoping for that too!

Nintendo DS--or something like it

Lucas has been wanting a Nintendo DS for awhile now.

I want him to be older before he starts getting things like that. I have my reasons.

Every once in awhile he will bring it up to me. This last time I told him that maybe when he is 8 he can have one. I thought about it for a minute and then I added that if he wanted to save up his own money, I would let him get one at 6.

We discussed how much they cost. He was hoping for $10 so that he could have a little extra. Unfortunately when we looked it up it was way more.

When I was at Target this past weekend I found one of those old school water games--the ones with buttons that make bubbles to move the things around. I bought it for him to be funny!

When I got home, I told Lucas that although I didn't get him a DS, I did get him something to hold him over until he did get one. I really thought that when he saw it I would get an eye roll and an "Oh, come on, Momma!" Instead, he was so excited about it!

He thought it was the greatest thing! I was surprised and so, so proud. What a great kid he is. Of all the reasons why I don't want him to have things like that, he gave me the very best reason. I want him to really enjoy the simple things in life and be really appreciative--even if it's only a $.99 present.

Someday he will get those fancy kind of presents, but not right now.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Words

About the time that Josh Oliver turned 2 he started really saying a lot of words.

I noticed in May that he was starting to say sentences—broken up with long pauses between words, but they were still good sentences.

Now he is starting to speak a lot more clearly, his sentences are coming together a lot better, and he now can repeat any word that you say--that is still a fun game for the boys to play with him!

One of his new things is to tell us how sorry he is when he gets into trouble. He will be sitting in time out and give us the most pathetic look and say, "I sorry, Momma. I so sorry." over and over again. It's a good technique because it is super cute, but I usually hold strong and make him do his time! I have been through my fair share of "get out of time out early" techniques, after all!

He has also started saying, "Oh fine!" as in "I give up!" The first time he did it was last week when he was throwing a fit in my grandma's yard. I just walked off and sat on the porch where he couldn't see me. A few minutes later he came walking up the steps, defeated, and saying "Oh fine! Oh fine!" It has since become a common phrase to hear from him. I'm glad that he is realizing that it works out better if he just gives up the fight!

Josh has also started saying "I love you". That has got to be one of the very best things to hear come out of his mouth!

Another is "Thank you" and "Your welcome". I've always said it for him in order to teach him manners--as in I would hand him a cracker and say "Thank you" for him and then say "Your welcome" from me. He has now started saying his part and my part the way I use to. I love hearing good manners coming from my boys.

Not everything that comes out of his mouth is super cute, he's definitely got some sass in there, and there are times when I long for the quietness of babies, but it really is so fun once kids start to really talk.

I love getting a peek inside their heads!

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Soccer

Ben has been playing soccer this summer.

The police, and one firemen, formed a team and are making their rounds through the high school teams.

The high schoolers definitely have age on their side, but the police have been holding their own. They're undefeated!

The boys love going with Ben to practice. They get to be ball runners and practice their "mad skills"! Lucas really wants to play in the fall.

They don't actually watch the games, although Henry is awesome at cheering them on when he does sort of pay attention. He also likes to proudly show off who his dad is--he apperently doesn't realize that all of the kids out there have dads who are cops and play soccer!

Today, when the kids were playing behind the bleachers I suddenly heared Lucas yell really loud, "Hey guys, look! He's peeing!" Do you know who I turned around and saw?

I just don't get what goes through his head.

He was deeply confused and offended when I pulled him away from his toilet/playground, and he just kept telling me that he didn't see a bathroom. He didn't even walk away from where everyone was playing.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Summer Holiday

We spent four days at Table Rock with Ben’s family. It was fabulous!

Some of the highlights:

The kids got to go fishing on the dock. Everyone caught something except Henry who wouldn’t sit still. It actually surprises me that it didn’t hold his attention better. He’s really an outdoor kind of kid. I thought catching a fish would be worth the wait for him.

We also did lots of paddle boating and kayaking. Lucas put forth a lot of effort trying to help me pedal the paddle boats. Henry just crossed his legs, put his hands behind his head, and told me that it was alright if I just wanted to do the pedaling. He's generous like that!

Lucas and Gillian did awesome at kayaking! They got the hang of it pretty quickly. There were times when they made it pretty far out--especially Gillian! Henry did good, but not really at going in a specific direction—Gretchen had to guide him back to shore! Josh just kept trying to steal the paddle from me. I had to keep dodging it when I was with him.

. .
We took a boat out one day. I used to do fine on boats, but now they sort of scare me. They scare Linda, too. We were okay as long as we were in the cove, but once we hit wakes from other boats, I would just hold on for dear life! Everyone else had a really good time.

We took a tube with us. Brad showed off by standing up on it. Henry, who's always up for a challenge, wanted to show us that he could do it, too! That made me a bit nervous, but secretly I thought he should get bounced off because that just part of the fun! He didn’t!

Lucas preferred to just help drive the boat. There was no way he was getting on that tube!


One of my favorite parts of family vacations is sitting around at night and playing cards with all of the adults. I just love doing that! We sat on the sun porch and laughed and had really good time every night! The kids ran around like crazy, doing everything they could to not have to go to bed. It was still really nice!

I do love vacations, but I'm really a home body. It was really nice to be back home.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

8 years

Today, Ben and I have been married for eight years.

We spent our day swimming and hanging out with everyone. We did get to sneak away for a little bit to get some pizza! It was nice!

Unfortunately the boys are also sleeping in the bed beside ours.

It's not really ideal!

Monday, July 6, 2009

Roadtrip

On Sunday we all headed to Table Rock for a couple of days.

Usually on our trips to Kansas City the boys start getting stir crazy about 2 1/2 hours in. I was a bit concerned about our six hour trip that we had ahead of us.

We had about 45 minutes where things turned into a traveling zoo, but Ben and I just turned the music up even louder and tuned the wild kids out--I'm pretty sure it was about as loud as it would go. Otherwise, things went pretty good.

I did get some nice quality time with my favorite fella--it was one of our creative dates--and we all made it with our sanity. Henry did come close to losing his foot, though.

I'm just praying the trip home goes just as good!

Sunday, July 5, 2009

The 4th


The boys got to be in their first ever parade--a children's 4th of July Parade in the Park. They waited a long time for it!

We got their pedal cars all decked out. Lucas' had a pinwheel theme and Henry's was flags (he affectionately nicknamed it "The Flag Mobile".) Gigi also made up two Uncle Sam's costumes. Lucas wore one and Olivia wore the other. Lucas looked sort of like an Elton John version of Uncle Sam!

Lucas and Olivia did awesome going along the parade route. Henry started whining right away that he didn't want to pedal. Gillian was nice enough to push him most of the way. Ben and I were both thankful! Josh just sort of wandered along his own parade route!

They had drawings for prizes afterwards. Gillian won a neat notebook and some zoo passes. Luke and Henry eagerly waited at the front of the table, but they didn't win. After it was all over, the lady doing the drawing chased the boys down and told them that since they were such patient and good sports she wanted to give them a special Sheriffs coin. They were excited and I was proud!

Ben had to work and I needed to get ready to leave for vacation the next morning, so we didn't have much in the way of fireworks.

Gigi and Grandpa J came over and the boys seemed happy with what fireworks we did have. They also got to sit out and watch the neighbors do their fancier fireworks.

It was a really nice way to spend the 4th. Next year, though, we are going to have fancy dresses for the girls to wear and hopefully Ben won't have to work!