Vacationing

I am told today is the first day of spring.... The thermometer says it is 36* here at 11 am.  That sure doesn't sound like spring to me!!  And all those spring flowers- pretty sure they are still in hiding.  But, I am sure that come July, I'll be begging for 36*!! :)

We ended the winter with 2 weeks if vacation.  Our family spent a few days at Red River Gorge here in Kentucky.  If you have not been to the Natural Bridge, it is pretty amazing to see!!

The first week of March is the last week of off season so its much more economical to go then.  You do, however, run the risk of inclement weather.  This year, the snow and ice were so thick, they had to move us to a different part of the cabin park.  There were only a few roads that were absolutely harrowing, but it was enough to make me glad we changed cabins!

Our new cabin had a loft with 4 twin beds.  Our children were convinced this was a personal play land.  And surprisingly, only three or four items came sailing over the railing and none of them were human- so momma was happy.

We weren't able to do too much hiking.  Between the snow and my being 6 months pregnant.  We did see a few beautiful sights and the kids got to watch a Smokey the Bear video at the Nature Center (Smokey has changed a little since I was little!).

Later, when Ryan wanted to start a fire and was trying to throw things in just to see if they would burn, I asked if he remembered the fire video.  He said, "Yup, the bear said not to make the fire in the leaves and not to throw things in when a grown up wasn't around.  This fire is in the fire spot & there are lots of grownups here.". I think he missed something.

The second week of March, the kids and I went to Jasper, Alabama to a cabin on Smith Lake for a small Henderson family reunion.  It was great to see my siblings and meet their children!  The house and lake were beautiful!!  I wish it had been a bit warmer so we could enjoy the water a little more, but after taking Zachary to the boat dock and realizing he has absolutely no fear of water, it was probably better this way!! 

The last 2 days we were there, the weather warmed up and we were able to do some hiking in the Bankhead National Forrest.  They found some nice, short trails to accommodate the pregnant lady and preschoolers.  It is definitely a place I would love to do more hiking.

We had a great two weeks of travel, but it is nice to get back to normal...if that is possible around here!! :)

End of September Update

Yup, no fancy title for this one...we ended September on kind of a rough note.

Z was struck with hand, foot, and mouth disease...(which he unfortunately shared with a friend at play group)  I did not have any history with this disease; in fact, short of hearing the name, I didn't know anything about it.  What we learned is that his mouth broke out in tons of raw, yucky blisters.  He spent a few days living on ice cream and cold milk and Tylenol!  I thought a hot dog would be okay, but didn't factor in the acidity of the ketchup.  it wasn't my finest hour, for sure.  I felt very bad for the poor little guy.  Thankfully, those symptoms were only really bothersome for about 4 days.

Then, when we thought we were out of the woods of illness, R decided to spend a day with the stomach flu.  My puny little peanut didn't get off the couch for about 14 hours.  His rapid recovery was pretty miraculous, though.  I went to the grocery store when Tim got home from work and when I came home 30 minutes later, they were all jumping on my bed together.  If there wasn't so much throw up, I'd be convinced he faked the whole thing!  But, I was very thankful that it didn't last into a day 2 of no food or drink considering he is quick to dehydrate and has ended up in the hospital getting fluids on more than one occasion!

One great thing that happened in September was Tim quit his weekend job!!  For the last 5 years, he has worked 7 days a week--sometimes 3 jobs at a time.  With his upcoming tasks for his PhD work, he decided he was going to have to devote some more time to his studies (which I was all for!!).  So, Labor Day weekend were his last days.  While we haven't quite figured out the scheduling of the weekend days, we are all enjoying more Daddy Time!!  I have already noticed an improvement in both boys' general demeanor and attitude--I can only attribute that to having quality time with their strong, male role model!  There are just some things momma can't teach--like a love of the game--any of them!!

In fact, during the middle of the week last week, Z made me look for football on television.  When I didn't find any, he considered that for a minute and then said, "Did you ask Daddy what channel it's on?  I don't think you know."

So, we move into October.  Just three short months until the end of another year.  Ryan is doing well in his schooling (he is actually very dedicated for a K4-er!).  We are reading Ralph S. Mouse out loud and he is really enjoying that.  This week is the week we get to read about the maze.  R is a MAZE-AHOLIC!  So he is already excited and planning to build a maze.  I have been saving cereal boxes and toilet paper tubes for a week or so now, so we'll see how that turns out.  I just hope he doesn't plan to find a mouse to go through it!!!  Maybe we'll take it to the pet store and see if they'll let a feeder mouse go through it....hmmmmmm.

Some of my New Titles: Teacher, Land Officer

August and September have flown by...of course don't all months begin to do that?  The boys have really gotten into imaginative play.  Unfortunately, their imaginary playthings often end up being the object of major fights.  Tim had to settle the fight about who had more pretend, imaginary money.  All were satisfied by a few well placed imaginary bills from his own wallet to even the score.  While I am thrilled they are imagining, sometimes it is difficult not to pull my hair out or laugh hysterically!

Yesterday, we had a land dispute on our hands.  Unbeknownst to me, we have an imaginary apple orchard in our living room.  Z had spent the morning picking apples from the orchard.  (I am not sure when this happened--he must pick VERY fast)  Long about lunchtime, I heard yelling, screaming, and hitting from the kitchen (where the apples were being washed, I can only imagine).  When I came in, I was informed that R was trying to steal Z's apples because it was easier for him to take those apples than go pick his own.  I told him that he had to either pay Z for the apples or give them back.  After thinking about it for a minute, R said it was cheaper to go pick his own apples than to pay Z for his apples.  The apples were returned and our day was able to progress as normally as a day can with an imaginary apple orchard in one's living room!

The first week of September, we started K4 home school with R (and consequently, preschool with Z).  He is primarily working on writing his letters and numbers.  With the help of The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading by Jessie Wise, he has started reading.  He walks into stores and the library with one goal- to find a book in which he can read most of the words.  We found some very simple readers that he can read pretty much the entire book.  He is thrilled.  He asks to do reading lessons every day-even weekends.  Who am I to tell him the school week is typically only 5 days?  He is not nearly as excited about writing lower case letters or numbers.  Z wanders around asking if its time to do his math lessons.  Then, when we sit at the school table, he groans, "Why do we have homework?" (A question he picked up from big brother before the reading lessons started!!!)

Other things have happened in the last two months, but the length of this post is already exceeding normal readability length!!  I'll have to fill in the details of the rest of the family in a later post!

Youth, where hast thou gone?

Last week, I celebrated another birthday.  I like birthdays, really.  Not necessarily the aging that happens between them, but I love birthdays.  This year, my kids made it a great day by making me paper presents all day.  My oldest (age 4 1/2) is getting pretty handy with his safety scissors and made birthday hats and badges for the entire family,  I even wore my hat out to dinner and bowling.  And my husband finally acknowledged my true identity by getting me super hero knee socks--complete with little capes!  It was a great way to greet 31!

I kissed another year goodbye, and looked forward to the one to come.  I wondered where on earth all these years had gone.  I guess reflecting is a normal thing to do on a birthday.  I was awed and amazed to look back and see so clearly the work of God weaving the strands of my life together to form this very spot in time!  Working through circumstances and people to direct and redirect my path that put me here- in Louisville, KY, married to this wonderful, godly man, and mothering these two amazing children.  My successes taught me a little, my mistakes and failures taught me much.  My prayers have gotten stronger and I hope my knees are a little weaker.  So, where has my youth gone?  It hasn't gone anywhere.  It's still here, making up me-and I don't think I'd change a thing. 

A Red, White, and Orange 4th

This Independence Day, my children are celebrating the lack of independence.  When we moved in, the second bedroom of our home had a poorly patched hole in the wall under the window.  As our babies grew into rambunctious preschoolers, they had an obsession for the great outdoors just like every other kid on the planet.  Unfortunately, as they looked out the window standing on the bed, they soon found that it was almost as much fun to kick at the big hole as it was to watch out the window. 

As time passed, the "poorly patched hole" just became a "hole."  That room has also always been the worst insulated room in the house requiring a large heater in the winter and complete abandonment in the summer when it remained in the upper 80's long into the night.  So, we decided since walls were going to be coming down anyway, we may as well redo the insulation (if we found any) and redo the drywall in the whole room.

So, Ryan was moved to a toddler bed in our room (along with us & Z in his crib).  Ryan's bed is mostly in the garage (his headboard has been camping out at his friend's house).  The rest of his furniture and toys had to be dispersed throughout our house.  So, while we felt a little cramped before with 2 kids and 2 cats (who take up a surprising amount of room!), we are downright squished now!!

During nap time, Ryan used to play in his room for a while and then go out to the living room.  He is feeling it being stuck.  I have found him playing in the bathroom floor (an interesting feat considering the floorspace is minimal at best) and under the kitchen table.  Lately he has been doing color, cut, and glue during nap time.  Which is great except for the teensy tiny scraps of paper I keep finding everywhere.

The first few days, we just went outside for most of the day, but soon, the rain and in hi temperatures ran us back into our little slice of construction zone! A very interesting little tidbit of information I have learned is that when you take 2 children who usually run the entirety of a 900 square foot house and take away 100 of those feet, they extra energy they exert goes into tearing up the furniture.  I am sure this Law is in the big book of Law's of the Universe and I just have yet to be informed of it!!  Something like, "Little boys bouncing across the room will continue to bounce even if there is a couch and end table in their path?"

On the up side, my kids are learning valuable skill sets.  I am fairly certain that if we told Z we wanted a wall taken down, he could handle it!  Ryan's job has been to write measurements on the drywall marking the distance to the outlets, etc.  His number writing skills have improved...along with his mural drawing skills.  After Tim told him to write something on the wall, his little eyes got real big and he said, "I can write on it???"  And he proceeded to do a beautiful pencil mural that I will have to be sure to photograph before we paint over it.

So, how long is the process going to last? I have no idea!  Tim works when he can.  There is fresh drywall on 1 1/2 walls and insulation is up on 3.  Then, we will still have to pull out the carpet and rip up the time that is under that....so, I am sure updates will be forthcoming and in, we will have a party when we can move the boys out into their very own new room!!  Then the biggest problem will be deciding how to decorate.  R wants Scooby Doo and Jake & the Neverland Pirates and Z wants sports....this could be a very interesting looking room!!  I wonder if it would be acceptable to make Jake play soccer and Scooby play baseball???

Potty Training Semi-Finals Round II

Well, I thought we would get at least a little bit of a break from all the trials of potty training, but apparently Z has other ideas.  His interest in the bathroom has been steadily increasing since Big Bro mastered (well, mostly) then fine art of using the loo. 

Z's interests started with turning the water on in the sink to see how wet he could get himself & our tiny bathroom before his personal policeman could get down the hall & rat him out.  His vandalism escalated to tossing the family's toothbrushes into the tub along with all his clothes & toys (his supervision obviously left him alone too long!!).  This was followed by his most recent fascination-unrolling the to into the potty.  We went through 3 rolls of toilet paper in 2 days!! 

However, his fascination must have produced potty vibes because he told me he needed to potty after his bath 2 nights ago & sat there straining until he put a few drips into the potty!  As shocked as I was, I still figured it was a fluke.  The surprised look on his face said he was shocked, too! :-)  The next day, he tried several times and managed to go twice.  We are still not to the training pants stage-he is still missing the opportune potty moment too many times.  But, I guess ready or not, potty training we come!!

He is waaay ready & has been telling me what pictures he wants on his big boy underpants.  I wonder how he is going to react to hand-me-down trainers with stars & dinos on them? 

The Stray Shoes

If you were to drive to the on ramp of the highway near my house and glace to your left, you would spy a men's (or abnormally large ladies) tan colored, canvas, slip on shoe.  If you were to go a little further up the ramp and glace to the right, you would spy its partner.  These shoes were abandoned a few months ago and are now faded and one has been run over a few times, but they are still there.  I have the habit of making the story as to how said shoes came to be abandoned along the side of the on ramp and some of them are funnier than others.  Today's story made this sleep deprived girl laugh so I thought I would share.

One day, a man named Ben and his attractive, but not so smart, girlfriend were driving along this same route.  Enjoying a warm spring day, Ben it the top down on his convertible.  While stopped at the light just before the ramp, Ben's girlfriend (who somehow made it through the story nameless) notices a spider crawling up the door.  After her initial scream, she demands for Ben to take of one of his shoes so she can squish the spider.  He looked at her like she was crazy, but then he remembered what "trophy girlfriend" meant and sighing, he slipped off his shoe-his brand new, tan colored, canvas slip on from Old Navy. 

Ben's girlfriend swatted at the spider, but she missed causing him to dart up the door toward the top.  She swatted again and a third time.  Now, the spider was on the edge of the door.  She knew she would get him this time.  She smashed the spider.  In her jubilant celebration, she accidentally tossed the shoe over Ben's head and onto the shoulder.

"Why did you do that????" His exasperation was impossible to mask. 

"Oops.  It was an accident.  I'm really sorry, Benny!  Here, I can fix this.  Give me the other one."

Everything in him told him not to do so, but he handed her the other shoe.  She tossed it out her window, smiled, and said, "See, I told you I would fix it."

Ben stared at her for a second before asking, "And just how did you fix anything?  Now I don't have either shoe!!"

"Well," she replied, "Now when someone finds them, they'll be a pair."

And I just wonder why poor old shoeless Ben didn't stop or at least stop the next time he drove through.  So, yes, these are the strange musings of a tired mama driving down the road.