Memories

I was looking through some old emails and found pictures of Ned's 4th birthday almost 3 years ago. He had a jungle safari birthday party. It was so much fun. He and Dusty are so cute and little! I figure it is something I would have put on my blog if I had been a blogger back then, so why not add it now!

I've been caught!

I was on my blog getting ready to edit a post and Ned sat next to me and said, "That's a cute picture of Lucky. Where is he?"
I had been caught! "Um, the zoo." I said, worried about the reaction.
"Was I there?" Ned asked.
"No, we went on Monday.” I said.
Ned then glared at me and said, "That's it! Someday Daddy and I are going to go someplace without any of you guys. We are going to go in the summer so it will be nice and warm!"

Shhh, don't tell Ned...

We went to the zoo the other day. Ned still has no idea that we went while he was at school. I could not resist the 75 degree weather on a free admission day.

When Ned first started school two years ago (he is only in first grade but this is his third year because they have a free preschool program here, it is basically like going to kindergarten, before kindergarten. It is in the elementary schools, half-day, five days a week). He loved it, but every morning before school he would say he did not want to go to school. I know that he was worried that he would miss something fun at home while he was away. Once we were in the car he was fine, and he always had a great day. He loves school and now he only gets sad if he sees a McDonalds bag lying around when he gets home, or Dusty tells him about his fun day at a friend's house. Somehow we were able to get away with going to the zoo this time. That is until he wants me to read him my blog which he has been enjoying lately.

It was a beautiful day. I wore a very light sweater and wished that I had worn short sleeves by the end of the trip to the zoo. We did not get many great pictures because most of them are of the back of the boys' heads.

Apparently Lucky thinks that all animals bark because he barked at most of them. He had a great time, even though he was in his stroller most of the time. He was so excited about the gorillas that he wanted to play with them.

I let him get out of the stroller to look at the fish. He looked at me for a picture just long enough for me go get the smile. He was about to whip his head back toward the fish when I took the picture.

This snake was Lucky's favorite thing, by far. None of the pictures I took did this moment justice. He was jumping around in his stroller and trying to grab the snake, he wanted to hold it so bad! Dusty lead it around the case with his finger.

Dusty also loved the gorillas. He didn't mind all of the other visitors; he made his way through the crowds to see everything he wanted to see.

They both liked playing on the Lion statue.

Dusty, Lucky and Mommy with a baby elephant.

It is sometimes annoying to have such unpredictable weather, but it definitely pays to have a day like this to enjoy in the middle of the winter!

Lucky Devil

Acting like a devil before bed...

Looking like a devil the next morning...

Hello there, saggy pants!

So, I was getting Lucky down from dinner tonight and realized I had not changed his diaper all day -- and I mean ALL day. Daddy got him dressed this morning so I didn't even put the first one on.

This is not the first time this has happened. There have been many days in my six and half years with at least one child in diapers (ugh, that is horrible to think about) that I have not changed a diaper until there was a stench in the house that was screaming, "YOUR BABY NEEDS CHANGING!!!"

Just a couple of weeks ago I was putting Lucky in the car and noticed that he was a little soggy. I totally forgot about it until later when he kind of whimpered and walked up to me and I noticed he had wet himself. He looked like my 3 year old after an accident. I thought that his diaper had been on so long that it had leaked. Daddy got ready to change the diaper and as he started to pull off Lucky's pants he said, "What in the world?" I looked over and saw Lucky's diaper was hanging out of his pant leg! Oops! Poor baby was probably wondering what was going on when he started to pee and there was nothing there to catch it.

You would think I would have learned from that and he would never have saggy pants again. Yeah, well...

Tell me I am not the only one that does this. I am looking for some reassurance here, so if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all!

ring...ring...

Me: Hello?
Some Guy: I had a couple of guys wake me up in the middle of the night last night, just thought I would return the favor.
Me: What was that?
Some Guy: mm hm!
CLICK!

That was the conversation I had at 3:30 this morning. I was awake until almost 5:00 wondering what that phone call was all about. I kept thinking of a way that one of my kids could have accidentally called someone the night before? Why would Some Guy be calling me? Why was he so vengeful anyway? It was just so weird, and unsettling.
So, maybe I am supposed to pay it forward, too. Hm, who will I call tonight? Maybe you better sleep with your phone close to your bed, or better yet, turn off your ringer!

From the Mouths of Babes

While searching for something on my favorite scrapbooking site I came across some fun questions to ask your kids. I printed it off and have been meaning to do it since then. (the paper was printed 9/30/2006, I think I have waited long enough) So, with that list and another list I found at the website Family Education, I made my own list of questions I thought would be fun to ask Ned. Dusty is a little young for most of the questions so I will make a different list for him later.

I know it is long, but keep reading, it is worth it!

*How many teeth have you lost? 2
*What is your favorite thing at school lunch? Apple. Lots and lots of fruit, and sometimes this yummy kind of pineapple.
*What is your favorite sport? basketball
*What are you best at in sports? dribbling the ball
*When you come home from school what do you like to do? rest
*What do you do best? At school-Math
*How old is Mommy? 30
*How tall is Mommy? How do you want me to say it? Do you know how many feet? Like 3... of your feet, wait, like 6. Because it's like 1,2...6 (he lifted his foot and measured me with his feet)
*What time does Mommy wake up on the morning? 7:30
*What does Mommy do when you are at school? Teach Dusty's school. (It was my turn to teach Alphabet club this past week)
*What do you love about your mommy? When you give me back scratches
*How old is Daddy? 34
*What is your daddy's favorite sport to play? basketball
*How strong is your daddy? pretty strong. (said with a big smile!) Remember that time he lifted those big metal things (some weights Daddy got a few years ago and has used a few times) they are really heavy, I could barely even pick it up.
*What is Daddy's favorite TV show? basketball, and football, any kind of sport, really.
*How tall is your dad? Um, like 20 feet tall, wait, like 10 feet tall. Well, actually no, because that is how tall a weed can grow.
*What do you like best about your dad? When he plays with me.
*What is our favorite movie to watch as a family? I don't know, because I haven't asked anyone.
*What do you do when you are really silly? You mean when I am laughing? Yes. Pee my pants. No, I mean what do you do that makes you laugh. Act like a monkey.
*What is your room decorated with? Um, names and 2 beds. (It is true. Sadly there are really no decorations, just the boys names on the wall and their beds.)
*What is the best thing about you? that I can read
*What is your favorite cartoon? transformers
*What is your favorite color? brown, pretty much every color
*What is your favorite dessert? raspberry cake
*What is your favorite drink? What is that drink with root beer with ice cream in it? Root beer float. Root beer float!
*What is your favorite food? roman noodles, stir fry
*What is your favorite holiday? Christmas, when you get all the presents AND my birthday. Those are my most favoritest ones.
*What is your favorite ice cream? the green, mint kind
*What is your favorite movie? Simpsons
*What is your favorite place to go? Sears, to see Daddy.
*What is your favorite restaurant? McDonalds
*What is your favorite sit-down restaurant? McDonalds
*What is your favorite song? I'm not really interested in songs. OH! The first song in High School Musical 2. The one about school's out. They say Summer, Summer, and then everyone starts to say it. And then they start to act all crazy and they throw up all of their papers! Aaaahhh! (apparently I need to get this movie, this was his best response the entire time!)
*What is your favorite store? Sears
*What is your favorite time of day? School time
*Where would you like to go on vacation? maybe somewhere like the beach now that I know how to swim
*What is your favorite snack? ice cream in an ice cream cone
*What is your favorite toy? transformers
*What are your favorite bed time stories? Linky-Link stories
*What is your favorite book? Green Eggs and Ham. That's easy to read. It only has 63 pages and I do it in like 20 minutes.
*What is your favorite subject in school? Math
*Who is your favorite teacher? Mrs. Irvin, pretty much all of them.
*What do you want to be when you grow up? a firefighter or a painter
*Who are your friends? CJ, Mason, Ryan, Adam, Kason, Taylor
*What awards have you received? M&M's for doing that word search in 3rd place. (he has actually won awards, but this was obviously the best reward!)
*How tall are you? 1,2,3...7. 7 and a half! (measuring himself with his own feet)
*How old are you? 6 and a half
*How heavy are you? in between 40 and 80 on your thing (scale). Maybe in between 20 and 40.
*How much does Daddy weigh? 100
*How much does Mommy weigh? like 100, too. You guys are pretty close ages, so you have to weigh pretty much the same.
*What time do you wake up? I don't know, sometimes I sleep in, sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night. I wake up like every time in the night.
*What do you eat for breakfast? marshmallow cereal
*Which of these do you think would be best:
a. Dinner with everyone at the table and the TV on your favorite show.
b. Dinner that everyone chose what they wanted from the fridge and no one ate the same thing.
c. Dinner with the whole family together and no TV on.
the 3rd one
*If you could have your room any way you wanted how would it be? like this (he jumped up and started acting like a monkey) No, what would it look like, not how would you act? like have transformers all over the place. Would it be clean or dirty? clean. And who would clean it? Dusty, because he makes all of the messes in my bedroom.
*Are you a good friend? mm hm (nodding)
*If you are afraid or sad what do you say to yourself to help yourself feel better? I can't really even do that.
*If you could redecorate our house how would you decorate? like a party
*What is the most fun thing our family has done lately? made stuff with noodles. You know, like that project thing. Noodle art? yes
*What is beyond the stars? maybe more planets. One that is called uga bulla
*What is the nicest thing a friend has done for you? helped me
*What are two things we should do next time Daddy has a day off? go to Jump Zone and get ice cream
*Do you believe in heaven? yes What do you think it is like? I don't know, it's a pretty fun place.
*If you could have a weird, unusual pet, what would it be? a twenty-thousand-eyed rabbit. Why would you want that? Because I would poke all of it's eyes out, and only leave two of them. And smash them all up and give them to an ogre. (Gross, at this point I just said that that was enough and moved on. I am sure he could have kept going with that one!)
*What have you done in school, or sports, or anywhere, that you were especially proud of? Almost making a goal in the last play, in the last game of soccer.
*Do you think girls are better with, or without make-up on? without
*How much TV do you think kids should watch each day? Like only two shows. At least 2.
*What is the grossest thing you can think of? throwing up
*Tell me something you remember from Kindergarten. I don't really remember anything. You can't think of one thing? there is so much stuff stuffed in my mind that some of it is way back there. Like right there. (he points to the back of his head)
*What would you do if you were invisible for a day? pretend that I was a ghost and scare people at school, because of all the mean things that they've done to me. I'll just scare them away. What mean things? They called me names.
*Who do you think you are most like in our family? Daddy and Lucky. Why? Because they have the same colored hair and the same colored eyes.
*Why did God make moms? So that more people could be born. Then more moms would be there. But there's only one mom at our house.
*What are moms made of? skin, blood
*Who is the boss at your house? you and Daddy
*What is the difference between moms and dads? That the dad is pretty much the craziest one and moms not.
*What does your mom do in her spare time? SCRAPBOOKING! And I am mad at you! Why? Because I want you to stop, I don't want you to do the scrapbooking. Why? Because I want you to play with me, ALL OF THE TIME! (gee, kid, why don't you tell me how you really feel?!) :)
*If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be? (Like I even have to ask after that last answer) That you would stop scrapbooking. That there was no scrapbooking in the world. If I figured it out, you wouldn't know, I'd keep it a secret.