Where's my blogging groove?

I've lost my blogging groove. I don't know where it went. I don't know why it left. Well, okay, I know some reasons - namely stress in many different areas of my life lately. Since blogging has been my outlet, my de-stressing device, my fun, it just quite frankly sucks that it's been missing.

I have stories to tell, photos to share (though not Thanksgiving - I completely forgot!), celebrations to talk about, all kinds of things. But where oh where is my blogging groove? Come out, come out wherever you are!

Look, up in the sky! It's a bird...

It's a plane... It's Superm... uh wait... um... is that a turkey?

Ethan's artwork from school.

In case you can't read it, the description Ethan gave his artwork of turkey feet (which his teachers wrote, I assume while giggling to themselves) is: "Tom Turkey is walking to Gotham City."

Everyone is a super hero here folks.

Is that even a game?

During bath time, as Collin was in the tub and Ethan and Oliver were running around the upstairs in a craze, I asked Ethan to please be careful. Ethan said "but mom, we're playing 'drive you crazy'". Oh... um... uh oh.

The things meltdowns are made of...

... may surprise you.

Today, while grocery shopping, Ethan had a mini meltdown. He was very upset that I told him I wasn't going to buy something that he requested. Upset to the point that he was wiggling around in the cart and doing his whine crying really loud. Uncharacteristically, I gave into him and bought the item. What was the item?

Drum roll please: prunes.

Yea, prunes. Not a toy, not sugar cereal (by the way, he still has NO clue about that stuff), not candy or sweets, not any of the normal stuff childhood meltdowns of this nature are made of... it was over prunes. Who knew? Hmmm... I think I have a new leverage item...

BTW, the reason I originally said no was because all three boys love prunes and regulating becomes something of its own drama... yet regulation is a must. Again, prunes... enough said.

The voice was wrong...

Last night at 10:15 pm, when I went to make Ethan's lunch for school, I made the unfortunate discovery that we were out of bread. We didn’t even have a mini bagel or a wheat tortilla wrap left in the house (as I also discovered during my mini panicked search). This is a big issue since Ethan insists on pretty much the same lunch for school: peanut butter and honey on wheat bread, baby carrots, an apple and granola or cereal mix (specifically Bare Naked Apple Cinnamon Granola or the Bare Naked Cranberry Raisin Cereal).

As I contemplated going to the store (okay, mommy guilt contemplated it), I saw a ray of light appear in the form of a box of the kid's Kashi seven grain crackers. It spoke to me and said, ‘put peanut butter and pumpkin butter (the coveted treat with peanut butter) on me and he will think I’m a special treat.’ I was tired, so I believed the voice, hoping he would be excited by the change. That was my hope at least.

As told by Ethan’s teacher (because they rolled around the room in laughter), here is how it went:

Teacher, upon walking by and seeing Ethan's lunch: "Ethan, how cool! You have peanut butter cracker sandwiches for lunch!"

Ethan, responding flatly: "Yea, apparently we're out of bread."

Sigh… mental note... don't listen to the voice from the pantry at 10:15 pm...

He's making us screwy

Collin, our ornery child, has a new favorite past time: unscrewing everything. The knobs on our kitchen and bathroom cabinets, the ends of the downstairs bathroom's facet handles (yes, I didn't even know they unscrewed either!), bottle lids (soda, water, etc - most of these have been empty and on the counter to be taken to recycling fortunately), lids to his straw cups, shampoo containers, my mascara (not going there...) and really anything and everything that he discovers can be unscrewed.

Today, for the second time in a week, he dumped a full container of seasoning. On Saturday it was the brand new jar of onion powder (which I buy maybe once every couple years!). And today, it was the entire brand new jar of garlic powder (that I bought when I bought the replacement onion powder). And both times, he did it so quick and so sneaky that we didn't even know he had snagged the bottle. How you say? Well, from the evidence, he uses his beloved spiderman ride-on toy (which he drives around the house all day long) to stand on and snatch things at what appears to be lightening speed. Actually, he's smart enough to wait for his brothers to create a diversion... oh, who am I kidding... the kids are in a constant state of creating diversion at our house... we are out numbered and out smarted.

Today when I was washing my hands at the kitchen sink (during dinner prep) and Steve was in the family room with the other two boys, Collin apparently did one of his drive-by crimes. He moved in swiftly on his spidee mobile, powered only by his nimble feet. Set up his positioning and as I turned to wash my hands he hopped off and quickly climbed the seat and grabbed the jar of garlic powder that had been purposely pushed far back on the counter. Quickly and joyfully he unscrewed the bottle and dumped the entire contents on the floor in one large heap. After the deed was done and the thrill had passed, he put the lid back on and gingerly put the now empty bottle back on the counter as if nothing had happened (though not in the original spot). Having fulfilled his unscrew/screw fix for the moment, he hopped on his spidee get away vehicle and disappeared down the hall. At this point the unsuspecting me who was drying off my hands (but still clearly with my back to the scene of the crime), got a whiff of something strong. *Sniff* What's that? *SNIFF, SNIFF* It's really strong. That's weird it smells like garlic. Turning around, *SNIFF*, see source of smell in pile on my floor, "COLLIN GEOFFREY MOORE!!!!"

Seriously, he is making us screwy!

Ornery, yet sweet

Lauren took this photo of her and Collin with her cell phone while she was outside with the boys and Erin. Look at Collin's ornery face (they wrinkly nose smile is kind of lost in the low resolution here, but it's there). Yet, ornery face and all, it is just about the sweetest photo of the two of them. Don't you think?

Twins in repose

The Letter Factory is apparently very captivating.

Another successful trick

I mentioned briefly in the Halloween post that Steve had 'tricked' another ride for the kids. The beneficiary this time was Oliver who received a custom Robin mobile, that started out as his cousin's Dora the Explorer ride (thanks Victoria!!). Steve really seems to have a knack for doing this sort of thing... and maybe a little passion born out of some very cute faces with big smiles.

Here are some photos of the transformation:

Before shot: The Dora mobile less the seat which had just been painted Robin green. Steve took this photo, but forgot to take a real before shot prior to painting the seat, which was originally orange. So, use your imagination, but I am sure you get the idea of what it looked like.

After shots: the tricked ride.

The very satisfied customer:

Customer testimonial: "I went trick or treating. I was Robin. I had Robin mobile. I love daddy."

There you have it folks, another happy customer.

It's here...

The holiday season is upon us. The stores are decked out in holiday decorations, the TV commercials are in full swing, holiday music is starting to play, one of our neighbors has already put up their holiday lights and the countless holiday catalogs have started to pour upon us weekly... to the fascination and joy of Ethan and Oliver...

who love looking through all of them, over and over and over again... day after day after day. Even Andy, Ethan's friend, who came over to play yesterday had his Toys R Us Big Book in hand. They sat and compared notes and ooo'ed and aww'ed over the pages.

Ho, ho, ho... those marketing people really know what they are doing...

This just can’t be good sign

This weekend, as we were in the other room trying to get Oliver dressed for trick or treat (yes, it took two of us), Collin tip toed to the computer and apparently bought something*??! When I noticed he was missing and very quiet, I knew he was at the computer in some form. Though this is not an uncommon occurrence (finding Collin in front of the computer in whatever ingenious way he fashioned to get his hands on the mouse and/or keyboard), this is the first time that I have seen a "Thank you for your purchase!" message on the screen in front of Collin... where he sat... with mouse in hand... the mouse that he KNOWS how to use to click with his finger and even how to scroll with the roll thingy (he probably even knows what the actual term for the roll thingy is). And no, unfortunately, that was not a left over message from something Steve or I purchased. For as much as you have to credit him for his command of the computer at such a young age, it frightens us for the future… and our bank account.

Note to self: do not ever save credit card information in accounts on this computer again.

*As it turned out it was just an update/upgrade... but still... I have no idea how he got there and how he managed to click okay. He is, after all, only 26 months old.

Halloween

Okay, I am seriously behind on posting this to the point that even Steve is on my case. Sunday I was just feeling blah (still getting over a cold) and yesterday I was in Cleveland all day for a meeting, then made a couple stops on the way home to see a very cute baby boy and also run an errand and didn't make it home until after 10 pm! Went to bed with a splitting headache. Okay, enough of my moaning... onto the good stuff - Halloween!

Saturday was both Halloween and trick or treat for us. We had a great day of carving pumpkins, watching The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown (the twins' first time and they loved it), no napping (despite our attempts), dressing up and trick or treating.

We took the twins last year, but just around our court and in the stroller. This year they wanted to run... run free and fast. And that they did. The twins were Batman and Robin, as selected by Ethan. And what Batman and Robin would be complete without wheels? Yes, the twins now have their own motorized rides now, which was a last minute surprise to both me and them. The Robin mobile was even tricked out by dad himself - it was previously Dora the Explorer. Now, they didn't actually ride these around for trick or treat, that would have been crazy with all the kids. But they did get to ride in the house (since daddy had them cleaned for inside use).

The masks did not last long on the twins.

Ethan, as you know, was The Flash. Not to be confused with Flash Gordon, which people kept doing. He was the superhero fast as lighting The Flash, Wally West, as he informed me several times. He loved this costume. It's the first time that he didn't take off any piece of it during the night and it was a long night. Side note: in all the chaos of getting everyone ready and the MANY attempts to get decent photos, we lost all our extra time and I didn't get any single photos of Ethan. So, he will get a solo photo shoot this week... I'm NOT doing the twins again... those little buggers will not stay still!

We went with many of the neighbor children, which worked out well as the older kids were running from house to house and the younger ones were not. Therefore we had parents spaced out among the kids so everyone could go at their own pace and never be unsupervised. Oliver kept saying "we are trick or treating" in his cute little voice which cracked everyone up. The twins had a blast running down the sidewalk. We honestly didn't care if they went to the houses to get candy since they weren't going to get to eat it and all they cared about was being out with the other kids and running. That said, if anyone handing out candy said "do you want to come get some candy?" to Collin as we were walking by, he would stop with a screech (no kidding) and ran up to them with a huge smile as if to say "candy? did you say candy?!" (mind you he has had very little of it ever). It was hilarious! Oliver on the other hand would go up and then give the candy to whichever of his friends was standing there, rather than putting it in his bag.

Some of the trick or treat group

Collin loves babies! Poor Ben, who is actually 18 months old, had Collin touching and hugging him whenever we were standing still. BTW, isn't Ben the cutest in that Yoda costume?! And when he toddles along - the walk made him look all the more like him!

They got slower (read: exhausted) as the night went on, so we hitched a ride in Ben's wagon since Ben wanted to walk. They both enjoyed it (Oliver is only getting up because I stopped to take the photo). Check out Collin stretched back with candy (unopened) in hand. The life!

Ethan had a blast with his friends both trick or treating and at the party afterwards. Party you say? Yes, party. As in neighborhood party. Our neighbors at the end of the street hosted a during and after party - with big outdoor heaters, a fire pit table, lots of good food and adult beverages - sorry Christine! The adults passing out candy on our street could go gather in their driveway to pass out their candy and the ones walking with the kids could join afterwards. So we did. Well, Ethan and I did. Steve had taken Collin and Oliver home for bed.

The neighborhood kids all thought it was a blast being out in the dark, which they rarely are. They ran around playing various made-on-the-fly versions of tag, told scary (not really) stories with flashlights under their chins (they are too young to know how spooky that can be), roasted hot dogs and marshmallow (for s'mores) at the fire pit table and generally had a blast. We adults had fun too, especially since there were two teenagers there to help watch and entertain the kids.

Suffice to say, a good time was had by all. Happy (belated) Halloween!