Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Wednesday Shmenesday

Wednesdays and Fridays are usually fairly trying days. I have the boys by myself all day (well Tennyson has been in school for part of those days but by the end of those days in particular I have a hard time remembering I DID just have one child for a few hours). I'm used to having them by myself a good bit because of Oscar's schedule but Wednesdays and Fridays are different because He works all day and most of the night. Today seemed to be an exceptionally trying day. Part of it is that I'm not great at multitasking and often don't plan well, part of it is that one of the boys asks so many questions a day I literally can't make complete sentences at the end of that day and then when I answer each question he can tell me why that was not the right answer and what the correct answer should have been and the other boy is so busy that he can literally empty every cabinet/drawer/closet/counter top/basket of books or book shelf/diaper bag/pocket book, dryer, magnet off the refrigerator, etc in a matter of seconds (i'm telling you if there was a competition to enter I'd enter him and be fully confident he could win). I won't name who is who and I'm sure no one can guess ; ) Anyway, I don't blog often but felt the need to release this day from my brain so that I can get on with putting away the food, making plates for tomorrow, washing the dishes, ironing clothes for tomorrow, picking up this ridiculous mess, pay some bills, come up with a new plan for the sharp objects in the house since boy b has been proudly running up to me with a knife in hand to let me know he can help pick up too and then literally fall into the bed/couch/floor...whatever is closest. maybe kidding/maybe not. For now I'll leave you with this short clip I took when we were on the way to the beach for a mini vacay. For those of you who have never watched 'Best in Show' Oscar is making a reference to this clip.

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Notes to the boys and a few random thoughts

A short note to Tennyson
Tennyson you played outside this afternoon with a boy named Andrew that often stays with his grandparents down the street from us. Ya'll caught bad guys with your swords, played 2 brothers and a pretend sister, and made birthday cakes out of dirt for me (as your grandmother that was also a Queen). Ya'll even sang 'Happy Birthday'. Asher was right in the middle trying to 'help' and attempting to gain status as a big boy. You going outside by yourself to play has been a new layer added fairly recently and I'm striving to allow you independence in doing this while still monitoring what's going on. Watching this new layer develop has been interesting to watch and a little funny too. Today, I opened the window a little to be able to hear ya'll play. I heard you telling Andrew about how Michael Jackson died. This is funny to me because I remember when Michael Jackson died and how because you used to watch the news with ammaw and dododaddy (Oscar's parents for those reading this) you saw when this happened and were very interested in this bit of news....I guess you still are!


Tennyson I mean Spidey was spotted at our house a few nights ago!


A short note to Asher
Asher I sometimes, but always with a smile and much love,  call you my little bull in a china shop. When you do something you do it with full speed and never look back. Today we were at ammaw and dododaddy's house and ammaw was showing dododaddy how you can jump in her recliner. She walked off for just a minute and you dove headfirst on the hardwood floor because you wanted down and proceeded without caution. You cried for a little bit but Tennyson cried longer and harder because he thought he should have been able to catch you and you walked over and put your hand and head on him to comfort him. I'm so thankful that God gave you two to each other!


You unlocked the dishwasher, pulled it down, climbed up on it
and grabbed the first thing you could find before
I even knew what you were doing! 


Super Random Thoughts of the day
I often read a blog that references the no longer existing Domino magazine. I LOVED this magazine and still own every single one that came out. If so many women loved Domino why could they not make it?




I bought this pair of shoes at a thrift store years ago. I'm still wearing them and am very fond of them. I was thinking today about how much ground they've covered with me and wondering how much ground they covered with someone else? They've had an entire life before the one they started with me!




My brother put some winter rye out several months ago in the back yard and it's done pretty well but can you see the difference in greenness in this picture? The greener the grass the closer the grass was to the chicken coop. I guess poop really is the best form of fertilizer ; )



Sunday, February 12, 2012

Weekends

The boys and I popped in to a thrift store a couple of weeks ago to look for some children's books...and hit the jackpot! One of our finds was a beautiful hardback copy of 'The Secret Garden'. This was one of my all time favorite books to read growing up so I was sooooo excited for Tennyson and I to read it. He has really gotten in to the storyline and we read a little each day/night.


Asher has proven to be quite a little lover. He loves to love on people....especially his big brother. This is a snapshot I caught while heading somewhere this weekend. I love that he grabbed Tennyson's hand on his own and just held it there. I also love that you can see one of Tennyson's dimples. 
 
 
Love, Love, Love seeing the boys with Oscar. He comes up with so many fun games and they love their daddy like no other.  I took this pic today while they were getting some lovin'. On a side note I have been cutting Oscar and Tennyson's hair for a while now. I was cutting Oscar's on Saturday and was pretty much done when I noticed a few stray hairs in the front so I was going to go over it one more time with the clippers but I forgot that I had just been shaving the back of his neck and didn't have a guard on! I felt so bad!! The only thing to do was to use the lowest guard and shave the rest of his head. He was super gracious about the mishap. Thank goodness it's just hair! 



Sunday, January 29, 2012

Been A While?

I'm not sure 'Been a While' is sufficient language when my last post was the first quarter of last year! I think of posts all the time, but always find something else to occupy my time. Because I was hoping this blog would serve as a family diary, marking the days that make up the journey God has us on,  this post could become a little on the ridiculously long side ; )


Asher, or Little Dooks as we call him,  has more than caught up since he was born premature. At his 15 month appointment he weighed in at 23 lbs so we signed him for lightweight boxing. He is B-U-S-Y all day long unless he is sleeping and has gotten really good at emptying every cabinet and every drawer within seconds of being put down. Seriously, our house looks like many small tornadoes came through on a daily basis. He loves Tennyson so much....They share a room and we typically put Asher to bed before Tennyson but Asher patiently waits for Tennyson to come to bed. He will stay up an hour to an hour and a half playing in his bed and then Tennyson will come to bed and Asher is out like a light within minutes. I love that they have each other. He's super close to walking and I think the fact that he hardly ever wears shoes may be one of the reasons he hasn't yet, but I can't find shoes to fit his fat little foot. He says Dada, ma (mama), tin tin, ut (light), no and although I know for sure he says more than this....we can't interpret it yet.  He loves music...especially the piano and his body starts moving almost every time any sort of beat occurs. I call him my little love bug because he loves to love on people (kissing, leaning his head on, squeezing tight, etc), however, his quick temper is certainly emerging and last but not least I've noticed he does most everything with gusto (crawling, loving, playing, coming down stairs, squealing, playing with the big kids, etc)



Tennyson, or Mr. Chlazy as we call him, just turned 5 and is in his 2nd semester of his first year of school. He has done super with school....Mrs. James is his teacher and he frequently talks about playing with Jason, Michael Robert Black and Isaiah. We have gotten 2 progress reports that have both talked about how well he listens, how he often offers to pray, how much he cares and looks out for his classmates and how well he's progressing academically. The things to work on have been: tattle telling often, questioning the teachers decisions and taking a really long time to accomplish certain things like bathroom and snacks. He does like to do things leisurely so I chuckled inside when the teacher told us this because I knew exactly what she was talking about. The boys and I always seems to be 'running' somewhere which has not proven conducive to his leisurely lifestyle ; ) He went through a Tom and Jerry phase and now he loves to watch superhero clips from the 1960's. He loves to play with his men (batman, spiderman, green lantern, the riddler, penguin, two face, captain america, joker, army men, transformers, etc) and the true initiation of a new toy is taking a bath with Tennyson and the others.  Speaking of baths, Tennyson loves a good bath and will often spend 2 hours in the bathtub playing. He also loves writing, playing with his batman house or samurai castle, reading or looking at scientific books (bugs and sharks in particular) and playing with legos. I've always said Tennyson was an old soul in a little body and it's proven to be true. He understands a lot about life, recognizes maybe too much, and knows how to articulate emotions. He often asks for the definition of a word and can accurately use bigger words in a sentence. He's also getting into politics often using the phrase, "Hi, I'm Mitt Romney and I approve this message."




Other highlights since my last post: We moved out of my in-laws home (the highlight was gaining a space of our own...not moving out of my in-laws : )), Tennyson took swimming lessons and participated in Soccer Shots, Oscar and I celebrated 10 years of marriage, Oscar started working at a new company (he's still leading worship at Columbia Crossroads Downtown and waiting tables at Ruth's Chris on Friday and Saturday nights), my brother moved out into a house of his own (again...him moving out was not the highlight but that he was able to get a place of his own ; )) and became engaged to Allison (such a great gain for our family), our nephew Gresham was born, I participated in my first precept course (Isaiah), we got some egg-laying hens, we purchased a couple of hermit crabs as the boys very first pets and then decided to release them back into the ocean a few months later, and the boys and I started volunteering at The Hope Project on Tuesdays. This list is definitely not inclusive but the ridiculousness that I referenced at the beginning of the post has begun so until next time,