Yosemite May 2011

We decided on a little long weekend in Yosemite. It was quick, but much fun was had by all.

There was still snow on the ground and we had a small snowball fight, and a bit of "skiing on my shoes" (Ryan)



It appears one practice and one game a week have improved Evan's throwing form. Look at that follow through!



This is at Mirror Lake, just seconds before Evan fell face first into said Lake. A few more seconds later, there were tears. Icy cold snow melt tears.

Playing "Pooh Sticks".


Can boys walk through the woods with out balancing on fallen trees? I don't think so!


Lower Yosemite Falls, Evan and his ever present Red Umbrella.


Discussing hydrology. The boys don't yet really swim, or kayak, but they know how to read the water!!!


A moment of pure brotherly love. (or something, either way, at least they are both laughing)


Below Bridalveil Falls, it was wet, wet, wet! The trail up was full of water and we had some wet toes.


Off on an adventure.


Bridalveil Falls, amazingly big this time of year!!!!

We also managed to get to Vernal Falls, not all the way to the top, but to the steps, it was just too hazardous to take two five year old squirmy boys up those steep wet steps!!! Maybe next year.

It was a lovely vacation, our cabin was cute and quiet, aside from Ryan's snoring, and the deer came feet away from us. The South Fork of the Merced was a short walk from our front door, and every night the boys went down to the "creek" to look for rocks.

I just love being in nature with the boys, watching them, seeing amazing things through their eyes. Good times, Good times.

_____________________________________________

Evan: I am working on some serious art work here.

Pillow Talk

At bedtime

Evan: Mommy, I will ALWAYS love you.
Me: I will ALWAYS love you Evan.
Evan: I will NEVER, NOT love you.

Sigh...

Ryan-isms

Just a couple of things that Ryan has said in the last couple of days that have made me laugh.

Ryan: (to Evan) WHAT? por favor?

Ryan: Mommy?!? I tripped over my boot and went KER-SPLAT! and my hand got covered in chalk.

Evan-isms

Evan: (in the car on the way home from Phil's BBQ) Look Jack in the Box!!!! I *LOVE* Jack in the Box.

Me: You have never had Jack in the Box.

Evan: Yes I have!

Me: WHEN have you had Jack in the Box?!?!?

Evan: I haven't, but I've been DREAMING about it!


________________________________________________


Evan: (In the middle of the night to Nannie) I need to blow my nose.

Evan: Where is Daddy?

Nannie: In bed.

Evan: You should be in bed too.

Huh????

All day long I hear,

"Butchie, Butchie, Latimer, B" (the B is short for bug, because you know, after saying Butchie, Butchie Latimer, saying Bug is much too much.)

If anyone knows where my children picked this up, please let me know.

Before I forget

I have to jot this down before the black hole that is my mind looses this gem from the holidays.

While in Lakeport with Scott's family, the boys were playing tennis with their cousin Madison. Each kid took turns hitting a ball.

First Madison, and George cheered, "Great Job, Madison"

Then Ryan, "Nice hit, Ryan"

Then Evan. (George was looking the other way)
Evan looks and him and says "Poppa, you have to give me words of encouragement."

I wasn't present, but after hearing George tell this story, and knowing my child, I feel like I was there.

George was at first dumbfounded by the remark, he has now recovered and has quite an anecdote to tell.

The funny papers

Me: I'm noting that in my brain
Evan: you cant note it in your brain because you don't have any paper
Ryan: or a pen

Scott: (after looking at a particularly high credit card bill, and totally joking) That's it, no Christmas presents for anyone this year.
Evan: (running in from the other room, hands on hips) WHAT!!!! NO CHRISTMAS PRESENTS!!!!!

Ryan: (Holding up his arm between his chair and the wall) I'm impeding Grandma.

A collection of stuff

So, this is just a collection of miscellany.

We go to the zoo often, but some days it strikes me just how lucky we are.





Seriously, how lucky can we be to see these amazing creatures any time we want. SO. COOL.


And, we can learn all about things like rattlesnakes, from a safe distance.


Apparently, we've also been paying attention to all of the things we talk about at the zoo and at home.



When asked, they told me that they were in their chrysalises.


This is one of the many outfits Ryan has picked out for himself. I love his unique sense of style!

This kid was sleeping so hard and looked so peaceful, I couldn't resist, and the flas

Ryan created this catcher's mask out of paper and flexible train tracks. Clever!


Evan decided that this Knight's costume looked more like catcher's gear. He was kind of right.


Ryan was really proud of his Stanford Football field. Note the S in the middle, and Hoover Tower in the bottom left corner.


Evan practiced making an S for his football field...

...and then made this drawing of Ben Roethlisberger. (that's a 7 on his chest.)

Ryan has been full of it in the last few days.

This morning Evan walked into our room with his guitar, Ryan said "Are you going to play us a little tune?"

Evan was whining a little bit, okay, a lot, and Ryan said to him "Why are you always so dramatic in the mornings?"

In the car the boys were hysterically laughing over some inappropriate potty talk, barely able to get the words out of his mouth Ryan says "My belly hurts from laughing so hard!!!!!"

Epic Fail

So I just had one of those Mommy Dearest moments. I've never had one before. I feel like a real shit. I just want to cry I feel so, so, bad. ARGH.

I was in the Ryan's bedroom for no more than, 3 minutes. I was looking for some 4T pants for Evan and switching out which drawers they belong in. (I still can't find the jeans I was looking for and I have no idea where they are.) Again, super short time, boys were getting ready for bed, something they are perfectly capable of doing unsupervised.

I return to the living room to hear something about lotion not coming off, and find Ryan and Evan in the bathroom, COVERED, in Ryan's $18 a jar lotion. It was a full jar, it is now about half empty. Ryan had almost an inch thick of lotion on his legs and feet, his foot was in the sink as he was trying to wash it off. Yeah, this stuff does not just wash off, that's the point of it.

Evan's hands were, well, totally white, as he had done the majority of the application on Ryan's legs, and he had gobs of lotion on his hands and in between his fingers.

There was lotion on the tile, on the carpet, and on the couch. Have I mentioned that this stuff is super thick, oily, greasy, staining thick, stuff.

I LOST IT. I yelled. I admit it. I yelled. I made Evan cry because I yelled.

And then I cried, because, I made my baby cry, and I didn't know where to begin cleaning the mess up. I'm still shaking I'm so upset.

I gave them their snacks an put them straight to bed, partly so I could clean it all up, and partly for their own protection.

I can sit here an justify my actions, the end of a long and very difficult day that had multiple timeouts, and bodily injuries to each other. Lots of boy fights and just bad behavior. Scott gone all weekend so I had no respite, and will have none until Saturday, and knowing this is going to be a long week for him at work, which means a lot of long nights alone for me and the boys, after a weekend of no respite. But I know people have it much, much worse than me, husbands that are gone on tours, or consistently work late, or are just not in the picture. I know that one weekend is and shouldn't be a big deal and I REALLY shouldn't complain or use it as an excuse for MY bad behavior, but it's all I have.

I was a bad mom tonight. I yelled at my precious boys. I fell like a shit.

I was also a good mom, and I apologized for over reacting. I explained that what they did was not acceptable, but neither was my reaction, and I was going to go sit in timeout until I felt like being nice. (or stopped beating myself up about it, whichever comes first.)

Sigh.


______________________________________________

On a lighter note, which I think we totally need to end on...here are a few things that have been said around here that have made me laugh.

Evan: when I fart in bed, I cover it up with a blanket so I don't smell it.

Evan: Ryan do you love me
Evan: Yes, I love you but I don't like your behavior.

Evan: My last name is Babe Ruth Ostrem
Ryan: My last name is Joltin' Joe

Evan: I love you mama
Me: I love you too sweetie.
Evan: Thank you for loving me.
Me: (on the floor in a puddle)

Everyone is a comedian

The Scene:

At the car, after a morning at the beach.

Mother: Oh this towel is nice and toasty.

Ryan: No it's not...It's not a breakfast bread.

Mother: (Shakes head, and giggles uncontrollably, while hugging Ryan)

Just a few of the words that have come out of my kids mouths, TODAY.

Evan: I'm Jack Johnson and I am going to the Hockey Hall of Fame. You, Ryan, are Drew Doughty, do you want to meet me there?

(If Evan could only know just how much every Kings fan love for Drew Doughty to meet Jack Johnson in the Hockey Hall of Fame someday!)


Me: Ryan, I am very disappointed in you, why did you not nap?
Ryan: Well, My puppies they keep waking me up.
Me: Well, I guess I will have to take them out of your room so you can sleep
Ryan: But, they are just stuffed animals (with an up turned hand in a position like duh, don't you know that!) Mom and they can't really do anything, see, they don't really have ears. It's all just stuffing. They are not real, not real ears and mouths.
Me: So are you trying to tell me that your stuffed animals are not responsible for your poor sleeping?
Ryan: No, just me.

Ryan's stories:
(Apparently these are the stories he is telling his buddies, instead of sleeping. He dictated, I typed. I made no edits, as you will see.)

There is a Monster Under the Nest

One day the monster went out to find a nest. He found one and he decided to bring it to the valley beyond the volcano. He loved it so much he decided it was his own, but it wasn't. It was a dinosaur's nest so he quickly hided under it and when the momma dinosaur came home it began to shake and shake some more so she decided to look under it to see if it was a monster and it was a monster. Then she started home and her nest followed her and the monster kept sleeping and sleeping in it's own nest. The monster went out to play hockey and the monster saw another monster and then they both ran off to play. That is the end of my book.

Gummies before breakfast

Gummies before breakfast went out to play, on a summer day. And they loved it so much they wanted to play for every day. Their dad said no come back you to get your sweaters because it is cold outside, they went back outside to play hockey like the monsters did. The monsters went out to play hide and seek, they came to find the great whole of grizzlies and all they could do was play and play.

The Sink got Fouled
(Fouled is when a sink gets out of water. I had to ask since I had no idea what he was talking about. I'm not sure Ryan knows either!)

The fouled sink stayed up for 20 years and it came down and then it came down and then it came up again. Then it came up again. Then it stayed down and then it came up again and again until it stopped and didn't come up again, Amen it didn't come up again.

What is Rainbow Baseball?

Evan: Look Mommy, it is such a beautiful day today!
Ryan: I wish there was a rainbow in our sky
Evan: Yes, and we could play rainbow baseball

There are worse things

Before I get into the heavy stuff, there are a couple of things that are so cute I have to share:

This morning while we were having our morning cuddle, Ryan starts smothering Evan with kisses. Evan began to protest and Ryan replies: "But I love you so much I just can't stop kissing you!"

While playing superheros Evan says: "Ryan is my brother, he is the awesome-ist super hero EVER!"

Now, this one, I don't know where it came from, I do know he has used this word properly before, so he learned it somewhere, but not from me. I was in the other room and I couldn't see what exactly prompted Evan to make this statement: "My pubis is sticking out of my footsie."
I still haven't stopped laughing.

________________________________________


So I sit here on the evening of our fourth annual VCUG, and I have to admit I am worried.

I'm not fretting about the procedure, although not fun, I've been through it so many times, sadly, I'm comfortable with it. Last year we were able to take the edge off by using Nitrous. (for the boys not me) We plan to do so this year, however, Ryan has a cough, so it may be a no-go on the sedation. Which means 15 or so minutes of screaming and crying while holding my 39 pound child pinned to the table as people attempt to catheterize him. Super fun stuff for 9 in the morning.

Really what I am worried about is that Ryan's kidney reflux has not resolved on its own, and sometime in the next few months we will be forced to schedule surgery for him. With all that my boys have been through, I know they will never remember it. The surgeries, the tests, the hospitalization, it will all be family lore to them. Stories that Mom and Dad told us. But a major surgery now? It may not be a memory that lasts a lifetime, but at four, they are remembering everything. Just how much of this possible terrifying thing will he remember?

If his reflux hasn't resolved, I will wonder if I should have done the surgery last year, he would have been younger, and the likelihood of him remembering would have been a little less. But last year, I knew I had one more year to stall. To hope he would not have to endure. (Success rate in children under five is something like eighty percent, over five it goes down exponentially) Last year I knew he only had one UTI, only one in two and a half years. I knew I wasn't doing any damage to his kidneys if I waited. As long as he stayed infection free...which he did.

I won't know the the results until next week, but I will be taking Ryan in, and letting Scott take in Evan, because after all this time, I'm getting pretty good at reading the images during the procedure, which in itself is most definitely NOT a good thing.

I feel silly worrying so much. All of the what ifs will be resolved in a little less than a week. We will move on from there. We will make decisions. We will do whatever it takes. Still this is my baby.

I know there are worse things. I know people who REALLY have worries. When I think of it rationally, and I take MY child out of the equation, this is nothing. In fact, when I think of those other people, I get a lump in my throat, there are far worse things.

Words of love and wisdom, by Evan

I read to the kids at school today, and it was such a joy. The boys were so excited to have me in their classroom! The kids play outside before they have their story time. Because Ryan and Evan were so excited for me to be there, they asked to come inside early (can you believe that? thank goodness I was on time), they set up the chairs for us to sit in and were anxiously awaiting my arrival. When all of their classmates came in from playing outside, both boys started shouting "My Mommy is here, My Mom is here! She is going to read!" I'm not sure anything can make you feel more loved than that kind of excitement.

"A friendly cacti said, I love my boy." Evan said hugging his stuffed cactus. "Thank you so much for getting me Cacti from Arizona."

"You can't knock mine down, it is more appropriate for Ryan to knock mine down if I knocked his down." Evan discussing "turn about is fair play" with me, as it applies to blocks.

We had some fun with leftover Livestrong chalk this weekend. I had some fun doing some extra laundry.




Evan asked me the other day, "Mommy, why do you love me?" Oh, Evan, why do I love you? Let me count the ways! (I listed off a bunch of things that nearly had my Mom in tears.) "I love you because you are kind, and sweet, because you are thoughtful, because you make my heart full, because you make me smile, and you make me happy, and because you love so passionately..."

And he does, everything is "Do you know what I love?" "I love...(whatever he is doing, holding, or thinking about at the moment"

For the record, Evan is no longer "assessed" as he now tells me. "I'm not assessed with Black Speakers any more Mom, because I like guitars too." "I'm not assessed with Red any more, because I love pur-pul" "I'm not assessed with..." Oh you get the picture...according to him, he's no longer obsessed.

Me, however? still very "assessed" with my boys.

What we've been up to lately

Going. Constantly.

We've been going to this great park almost every week. The boys love this open field and I mean love it. They run, kick, and throw balls of every type for hours. They tackle, wrestle, and dribble...oh and laugh as they tumble to the ground in a heap.

They also take naps.




We have been celebrating Theodore Geisel's birthday all month at school. They made these "Cat in the Hat" Hats and loved wearing them around the house. We've been working on rhyming a lot because well, it's Dr. Seuss. This morning Ryan came up with this:

One little puppy sitting in the bed
He turned to mama pup and said
"Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof"
what was in his head?


I wonder if that is how Dr. Seuss got started?

The other week we went to the lake with our friend Tobin and Mr. Philip. We decided that we should let the boys ride their bikes around the lake. Philip and I overestimated had no clue pushed our kids too far. For the record. 5 miles is too far. Anything over 3 miles not so much fun for anyone involved.

But it was seriously cute. Three little ones speeding down the path, stopping to look at cacti. What could be better?


On Monday we met my Mom in San Juan Capistrano for a little birthday lunch for me. We did this last year and it was so amazing to me how much the boys remembered about our trip. They told me all about how they were afraid on the train, but then cried because they didn't want to get off. They told me all about feeding the bunnies and guinea pigs, and they told me all about the red jeep they got to ride on.

We got there early, and the boys got some good quality time feeding lettuce, carrots, and broccoli to the animals. We rode the train, with no tears. And, as a total shock to me the boys both wanted to ride the horses. Just recently they had the opportunity to ride little tiny ponies at a friend's house and they both objected, LOUDLY. I was dumbfounded to see them both happy as little jockeys.


Yes, the whole place heard Evan's squeals of delight as he passed in front of this huge cactus.



Ryan's take: "look Evan a Cacti!"

Yesterday, Evan woke up from his nap to go pee pee. Which by the way is the only time they will tell me they have to go to the bathroom, when they are supposed to be sleeping. But a potty training update is well over due and this post is already kind of long. I was watching hockey and heard the call from Evan's room, I paused the game to take him to the potty. He took one look at the TV and said to me in his most stern voice, "What on Earth are you doing?" "No Watching TV!" "NO!" His little finger pointed at my nose. He followed up with, "will you pause it so I can see someone shoot a goal?" I was laughing so hard I'm not sure where the pee went.

Today, and I do not have pictures of this event...Evan lost his glasses.
He and Ryan were running down this big hill at the park and he fell, and off his glasses came. I guess. He got up and got to the bottom and turned around to me and said, "and I ran even when my glasses were off" What? Shoot, where did he fall, where was he exactly on this hill. They are glasses I should be able to find them pretty easily. Right? WRONG?

I LOVE the Amazing Race, and I have to admit I make fun of them when they are doing the "needle in a haystack" challenges and they get all frustrated because they can't find the needle. I always think or say. Calm down, take on the challenge methodically and it is no problem!

About a half an hour into looking for Evan's $250 glasses, I got a little panicky. GRANTED, it was time to go home and have lunch to keep the kids on schedule. But I have to admit, I got a bit frustrated. And heck it's only $250 bucks, not a million. So, I apologize to all I have ridiculed on the Amazing Race. It is hard to find something when you REALLY want to find it, and it is difficult. BUT, I also had two kids to watch WHILE I was searching every inch of that damn hillside for one pair of glasses.

I walked up and down the hill maybe 20 times. I crawled on my hands and knees. Moved almost every single blade of grass. Searched. Methodically walked over every inch. They were no where. And now, it was almost noon. I had resigned myself to calling off the search for now, we'd have to come back after naps, post signs and look some more. I walked almost to the top of the hill where the boys were playing so nicely, to collect them, and lo and behold, right there, almost at the summit, THE GLASSES!

Yeah, I was so sure that he'd lost them when he fell, I'd been concentrating on the bottom section of the hill, um, where he fell! Especially since he told me they fell off when he fell down. I guess they fell off his face before that.

lesson one: Don't take a almost 4 year old's word for anything.
lesson two: Give up sooner and walk up the hill farther to go home.
lesson three: I am VERY allergic to grass, who knew?
lesson four: Don't make fun of racers on the Amazing Race, or now I am better prepared for that road block!

Funny People

Ryan has been cracking me up lately, well, actually, both boys are hysterical.

Today I was singing a few lines from the Animals' song "We've Gotta Get Out of This Place" I think it came to mind because Ryan said something about needing to get outta his chair. So I started singing, and as I am apt to do, I started changing lyrics around to fit our situation.

I sang:
We've gotta get out of this place,
if it's the last thing we ever do.
Evan finish all of your lunch,
then we can all go to bed.

And then Ryan added:

We are so tired we can't
stand on our head.

Wow! Really? He sang it in the same tune as the previous lines, and he made a rhyme?


The other night I asked Scott if he had brushed Evan's teeth, and he replied no. I sighed.
Evan quickly responded with:
"Scott! Come here and brush my teeth!"

If I remembered everything these two say that have me laughing my behind off, I'd never be at a loss for post materials!

Conversations on the way home from school

Evan: I sang the National Anthem today at school for Mrs. Finch
Me: Really? Did you sing any other songs?
Ryan: Yes
Me: What did you sing Ryan?
Ryan: The apple song.
Me: How does the apple song go Ryan?
Ryan: (in a sing song voice) Three little pups sitting on apples. The first one said oops I have a boo boo. The second pup said, I do not. The first pup said look there is a cacti. The third pup rolled off, pup, pup, pup.

At lunch-
Evan: I sang the National Anthem for Mrs. Finch today.
Me: You did?
Ryan: and I sang too!
Me: Oh, you sang too?
Evan: Yes, and everyone crowded around me.
Ryan: And I sat on a chair.
Evan: When I finished singing everyone clapped!
Ryan: I clapped too.

The Whys have it

As much as I understand the need for this phase, developmentally appropriate behavior, yada, yada, yada. I KNOW this is a wonderful phase, they are interested in everything around them, and that is a good, good thing. They have questions, and I have answers, and they know that and they trust that. (I hope they will always feel as such)

But.

Seriously.

If I here "Why Momma?" ONE. MORE. FREAKING. TIME. today, my head is going to explode.

Here's an example of just one fraction of my morning. And that would be the fraction of time it takes me to drive the 3 blocks from my house to Henry's.

E: where are we going Momma?
M: we are going to the store.
E: Why Momma? (without pause for an answer)
E: Why are we going to the store?
M: To get bread.
E: Why do we need bread? Why Momma?
M: To make sandwiches for lunch. We are going to take sandwiches with us to Sea World today.
E: Why Momma?
M: For lunch.
R: Why are we having sandwiches for lunch?
M: Because they are easy to eat while we are watching the Shamu show.
R: Why Momma?
M: Because they are easy to hold and we can sit in our seats and eat them.
R: Why are we going to the Shamu show.
M: I thought you liked the Shamu show.
R: I do, but why are we going?
M: Because I like to do things that you enjoy.
R: Why Momma?
E: Why Momma?
M: (pulling out my hair) Can we talk about something else?
E: Are we going to see Cacti Momma?
E: Where are the cacti Momma?
E: Are we going to drive by the cacti Momma?
E: Are we? Are we? Are we?
M: (unloads car walks in the store)
E: Why are we at the store Momma?
R: For bread
E: Why Ryan?

SERIOUSLY.

(did I honestly worry these kids would never talk?)

And so it begins...

a lifetime of learning.
Today was it. The day I left my kids for their first day of school. Big day for us. The first time I've ever left my kids with someone other than family, (or nearly family) EVER. EVER. Let me make that clear. EVER!

I was very excited. It is time. It is time for them to learn from someone other than me. For them to have to follow directions from someone other than me. For them to learn to work things out with out me there to help. BUT...I've also been very worried about how this would go over. These boys haven't exactly been eager to be separated from me.

I prepared myself for the worst. Lots of tears, shrieking, hysterics.



We wandered off to our classroom, buckets (we decorated them ourselves) full of a change of clothes, including shoes (the extra pair of shoes threw me, I had to go buy them more shoes!) a bottle of water, and our special friends (Snoopy and Ringo).



We walked into their classroom where they were greeted by their awesome teacher, they learned how to put their buckets on the shelf and we washed their hands. By this time they were chomping at the bit to get to the stuff laid out to play with today. I saw shaving cream and trucks, but I didn't really look too closely. By the time they had their hands washed they were ready to play. I gave them each a kiss, and told them I would see them later. I got a "where are you going?" from Ryan, and a little look of worry, but I told him I would see him later, and off I went...to wait in the church courtyard...to wait for all hell to break loose...for the tears and hysterics.

I waited for an hour.

And then I went home and waited with my cell phone close at hand for two more hours.

And then I went to pick them up.


All of the parents waited anxiously at the door waiting for it to open. We signed up for snack days, and looked at pictures from the days activities. Then in turn we each stepped into the classroom while Mrs. F asked the class "who does this Mommy belong to?" and we each got to watch as our kids eyes lit up and smiles came across their faces. Ryan couldn't wait until I got to his seat, he came running over to give me a hug and knocked me to the floor. We went over to where they were sitting and Ryan let Evan in to hug me too. Evan was so excited, SO EXCITED. His feet were dancing and he was hugging and kissing me, and he was making this noise he makes when he is really happy. It's hard to describe, kind of a high pitched moan, or a mew? He was so, so happy to see me.

It was this moment that almost made me lose it. I was really happy to see them too.

We got home and during lunch we talked about what they did in school.

This is some of what they had to say:

Ryan: My water spilled two times, I said oops.
Ryan: We had cereal for snack.
Ryan: We didn't dance with bean bags. (Me: Mrs. F said that you did) No, (shakes head) We DIDn't
Ryan: I didn't want to do it. (the bean bag dance) I picked a chair and sat down in it.
Evan: I writed (Me: You wrote?) Yes, I writed. (Me: what did you write?) 17.
Ryan: Sometimes we color at school
Evan: I danced with bean bags and I stood up.
Evan: We pretended our buddies were bean bags. (Me: Ah ha! You didn't use bean bags with the bean bag dance, you used your buddies! Is that right Ryan?)
Evan: YES! and we POPPED them into the air!

This evening I gave them their Schultuete. I read about these "first day of school cones" in a blog a couple of years ago and filed it away as a neat tradition to start with the kids. I was going to give them to the boys before school, and then one of the mom's I know suggested that they might not want to leave to go to school after they got all of their treats, so I adapted.





Scott also thought to get the boys a special treat!!!! Look at how excited Evan is to get his "American Flag" hackey sack. He promptly asked if he could take it to bed. I said yes, and he replied, "Now I'll have two hackey sacks in bed!"


I love how simple things make these kids so darn happy. I wish you could bottle that joy. I guess the next best thing is to have your kids share their happiness with you each and every day.

Just one more thing from our Staycation.

Grammie and Poppa got some great one on one time with the boys at the very end of our Staycation. Much of it was spent reading, because, well, we are happiest when we have a book in our hands.

If you know Evan, you know that he has a 'thing' for speakers. If you've ever been anywhere with us where a speaker might be, you know Evan will point it out to you. We can trace the origins of his infatuation back to the Tour of California and a BMX bike show put on in the parking lot before the race started. There was a guy, with a microphone, and a black speaker, talking about the kids performing tricks. Evan, was in awe of the "Big Black Speaker", and ever since if there's a speaker, ANYWHERE int the room, Evan WILL point it out.

In the last day or so, Evan looked at George and said to him...

"You are a big black speaker"

Take a close look at George...Well, the kid is nothing if not accurate. I'm actually still laughing. (and working on our political correctness)

________________________

Ryan created this masterpiece seriously all on his own. He was shouting at me while I was finishing up with Evan and his breakfast.

"LOOK MOMMY!!!!! I made a train. LOOK!!!!"




I think this kid is going to be an engineer, or at the very least a train conductor.