Jack: Daddy, do you HAVE to go to work?
John: Yes, buddy.
Jack: (Sadly) Oh, I wanted to go fishin'...
Who wants to go to work after that?
Just call me Mrs. Haskel
Mom & Dad took the girls to Omaha this weekend to visit Jean & Johanna. They went to a kids museum with lots of activities. Oddly enough, it seems the favorite activity was grocery shopping and play acting as the grocery check out girl. (I must be doing something right on the food end of things - look at Connie & Devlyn's carts!)
Mom tells me she thought there was going to be a fight between Connie and another young lady over the fruit. It seems they were both loading up on healthy choices and had to make some negotiations. I also hear that Connie spent a lot of time checking people out at the register. Think I can put her to work yet?
Dad hurt his arm a little while back and fought off a bout of shingles. His arm has been hurting him since then and he doesn't do 'volcano' pose with us at the dinner table. (We adults enforce volcano pose on the kids when they are completely wound up and can't settle down for dinner. This short series of movement and breath helps the kids settle down and get some focus.) If Dad participates he uses his right arm. Wyatt calls it a "Half Cano" and constantly shows me how he can do a "Half Cano just wike Poppie, see?!" He often has a hard time settling down for bed time and sometimes will employ a Cano pose to shift gears. Last night he did multiple Half Cano's to show me how he can calm down all on his own.
Wy has recently taken to telling me how beautiful I am. Constantly. (This is something I am not getting tired of.) He will walk in the kitchen and tell me "Mommy, you are beautiful." We will be eating dinner and he will say "Mommy, you are beautiful." We will be brushing our teeth and he will tell me I'm beautiful. Getting ready for bed? I'm beautiful. He also tells me my earrings are beautiful. My dress is beautiful. My shirt is beautiful. My shoes are beautiful. My hair is beautiful. Devon and Gammie are occasional recipients of the beautiful comments, but the majority of them are reserved for me. I love all the adoration but I am beginning to wonder if I am raising a little Eddie Haskel. The boys and I were in the grocery store on Monday and Wy was on a loop "Mommy, you are beautiful. Mommy, you are beautiful..." I said "Thank you, Eddie." (Something I have taken to saying when he tells me I am beautiful 20 or more times in the span of 5 minutes.) Jack of course jumped on the 'call Wyatt Eddie train', which upset Wy and I had to apologize to everyone for my sarcasm - a word which here means that Mommies need to watch what they say to their children...
Mom tells me she thought there was going to be a fight between Connie and another young lady over the fruit. It seems they were both loading up on healthy choices and had to make some negotiations. I also hear that Connie spent a lot of time checking people out at the register. Think I can put her to work yet?
Dad hurt his arm a little while back and fought off a bout of shingles. His arm has been hurting him since then and he doesn't do 'volcano' pose with us at the dinner table. (We adults enforce volcano pose on the kids when they are completely wound up and can't settle down for dinner. This short series of movement and breath helps the kids settle down and get some focus.) If Dad participates he uses his right arm. Wyatt calls it a "Half Cano" and constantly shows me how he can do a "Half Cano just wike Poppie, see?!" He often has a hard time settling down for bed time and sometimes will employ a Cano pose to shift gears. Last night he did multiple Half Cano's to show me how he can calm down all on his own.
Wy has recently taken to telling me how beautiful I am. Constantly. (This is something I am not getting tired of.) He will walk in the kitchen and tell me "Mommy, you are beautiful." We will be eating dinner and he will say "Mommy, you are beautiful." We will be brushing our teeth and he will tell me I'm beautiful. Getting ready for bed? I'm beautiful. He also tells me my earrings are beautiful. My dress is beautiful. My shirt is beautiful. My shoes are beautiful. My hair is beautiful. Devon and Gammie are occasional recipients of the beautiful comments, but the majority of them are reserved for me. I love all the adoration but I am beginning to wonder if I am raising a little Eddie Haskel. The boys and I were in the grocery store on Monday and Wy was on a loop "Mommy, you are beautiful. Mommy, you are beautiful..." I said "Thank you, Eddie." (Something I have taken to saying when he tells me I am beautiful 20 or more times in the span of 5 minutes.) Jack of course jumped on the 'call Wyatt Eddie train', which upset Wy and I had to apologize to everyone for my sarcasm - a word which here means that Mommies need to watch what they say to their children...
Boysina Box
My menfolk spent Saturday helping Uncle Doug work on his smoker. At some point they had to take the big metal monster to John's shop for a bit of welding. From what I hear it was a total guy day - The boys had donuts and orange sodas, they played with super balls at the shop while Dad did some welding and then they hung out in the scrap box underneath the radial armsaw...Let the good times roll, people.
Chop Liver
So Jack was sent to his room for not playing nicely with others. Wy slipped up there and they proceeded to have a pillow fight. During this pillow fight, Jack launched himself across the room and smashed his face into his nightstand...Wy has started running after me calling "Wait up swow poke!" or his other favorite "Come on Chop Wiver!" He doesn't get it that he is the one lagging behind...
Mom & Dad are taking the girls to Omaha for a long weekend. The house will be so quiet! Devon has decided to try and do something fun with the boys during the day - it isn't easy to get 6 kids out for something fun.
Hey - look what hubs made for me!!! I picked up this great frame on a serious discount at the Michael's and asked my man to put some mesh into it so I can hang up my ear rings. (This is really my master plan to simply acquire more french hook earrings - I need to fill up that frame!!!!)P.S. - Happy birthday Hubs, Daddy & Jude! We will be going out to eat for John's birthday dinner tonight. If any of you know that man of mine you will only need one guess regarding what he picks for his birthday dinner...
Tangle Pose
Wyatt: Mommy! Mommy! Look what I can do! I can make a tangle pose! (Triangle pose)
Jack: You don't REALLY have to go to work today do you?
Jack: You don't REALLY have to go to work today do you?
Baubles
Here are a few more baubles that hubs has crafted. (They are bothed lathed thin enough that you can see light shine through them...Very clever and crafty that hubs of mine.)
My own little flexitarian.
A few months ago Jess anounced "Starting tomorrow, I am going to be a vegetarian." I asked her what kind of vegetarian and she looked at me like I had lost my mind. I then asked if she was going to be a pescatarian, a vegan, a lacto-ovo vegetarian, a macrobiotic vegetarian, or a flexitarian (this is a real term to describe those who eat a mostly vegetarian diet.) Then she asked for explanations of the differences in the diets/rules and I explained the little bit of what I know. She thought for a second and casually said "I'm going to be a vegan." Then she went on line and printed off a list of very specific brand name foods that I was to start supplying her with. Near the top of her list was bacon bits. Did you know that Betty Crocker's Bac-O's Bacon Flavor Bits are vegan? This baffles me.
I told her to go vegan in steps. First eliminate beef or some other category. Then after making that adjustment eliminate something else. I am pretty proud of her. For the most part she has been following a vegetarian diet - though she is a sucker for some chicken fingers...
I told her to go vegan in steps. First eliminate beef or some other category. Then after making that adjustment eliminate something else. I am pretty proud of her. For the most part she has been following a vegetarian diet - though she is a sucker for some chicken fingers...
I'm really useful! I'm really useful!
Jack spent a day with me at the theatre last week. When we arrived, I had him help me boot up lights and sound and run my dimmer checks etc. We have a sound cue of a fart in the show and this is the one I use each morning for my sound check. I know it is odd, but it makes me giggle every morning. I let Jack run the sound cue and his eyes lit up when he heard that loud noise. He begged me to do it again and so, while I set up my performance for the day, he stood there running the cue over and over and over and over - laughing hysterically.
He was a little bored while waiting for the show to start (and I wouldn't let him lay claim to my computer) so he drew a picture of me. I love that my big blue head has a great big smile.
He went into the booth with me for the 11:00 show and I spent the whole time keeping his hands off the sound board. He kept asking me if he could make the theatre fart...
He has recently discovered Leggo Train Crashes on youtube. He can be heard from across the room muttering things like "OOOH - that's so FAST!" and "OW - that's gotta hurt!"
School is fast approaching. Jack and I are nearly done picking up all of his school supplies. I bought him a Lightning McQueen back pack and he flipped out when I brought it home. He slapped his hand to his head and kept saying "I have a NEW backpack! I have a a new LIGHTNING MCQUEEN backpack. Fank you, Mommy! Fank you!"
I was getting out of the car yesterday and the seatbelt unfurled really fast and hit me in the wrist. I said "OW!" Wyatt said "Oh, Mommy, I will get you a baind-aid tomorrow for vat."
We are back to bribing Wyatt with chocolate to use the potty chair. He insists he doesn't have to go until I offer him a piece of chocolate and what do you know, he magically has to go...I missed my window of opportunity yesterday and wound up having to clean/change a nasty pull up. In the middle of the clean up process Wy looked at me and said "Mommy, You are a really useful mommy." I think this was supposed to be a great compliment as all of the Thomas trains are always striving to be useful engines...
Love and blessings,
Owenland Park
He was a little bored while waiting for the show to start (and I wouldn't let him lay claim to my computer) so he drew a picture of me. I love that my big blue head has a great big smile. He went into the booth with me for the 11:00 show and I spent the whole time keeping his hands off the sound board. He kept asking me if he could make the theatre fart...
He has recently discovered Leggo Train Crashes on youtube. He can be heard from across the room muttering things like "OOOH - that's so FAST!" and "OW - that's gotta hurt!"
School is fast approaching. Jack and I are nearly done picking up all of his school supplies. I bought him a Lightning McQueen back pack and he flipped out when I brought it home. He slapped his hand to his head and kept saying "I have a NEW backpack! I have a a new LIGHTNING MCQUEEN backpack. Fank you, Mommy! Fank you!"
I was getting out of the car yesterday and the seatbelt unfurled really fast and hit me in the wrist. I said "OW!" Wyatt said "Oh, Mommy, I will get you a baind-aid tomorrow for vat."
We are back to bribing Wyatt with chocolate to use the potty chair. He insists he doesn't have to go until I offer him a piece of chocolate and what do you know, he magically has to go...I missed my window of opportunity yesterday and wound up having to clean/change a nasty pull up. In the middle of the clean up process Wy looked at me and said "Mommy, You are a really useful mommy." I think this was supposed to be a great compliment as all of the Thomas trains are always striving to be useful engines...
Love and blessings,
Owenland Park
Kee-Kee-Who-Hoppers
Wyatt helped Gammy and I make muffins for breakfast last weekend. It was hard to convince him to let us bake it up into muffins instead of just eating the whole bowl in batter form...
Mom picked up a copy of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang last weekend. She told the boys the movie was about this amazing car so by the time they got home they were jazzed about watching the movie. Jack sat through the whole thing, but poor Wy pooped out. Even though he crashed half way through the movie he was awake long enough to soak in the title song. Now he and Jack sing "Chitty bang bang! Chitty chitty bang bang we love you!" ALL THE TIME.
We had our bi-annual Gala this past weekend. Lucky Duck is about a bunch of animals (mostly birds) with a fashion show runway segment in the script. We asked a group of ladies (The Rhinestone Cowgirls) to participate in the runway segment during the Gala and we had our costume designer create hats for each of these ladies. I was so pooped and frazzled the day after the Gala that I decided to wear one of these hats during the show to perk me up a bit. The cast got a kick out of it. What do you think?
I was hanging out with Wyatt one afternoon last week when Dad got home. Wy was so excited about seeing his grandpa that he started shouting "Mommy! There's your daddy! His name is Poppie!"
As you know, John's truck was not doing well. John finally came to the conclusion that the truck's computer wasn't working properly. He ordered a refurbished one from the Amazon and got it installed. After adjusting the timing and a handful of other things, we think the truck is fixed. That man of mine can fix anything!
We took the boys to see Toy Story 3 on Father's Day. Wy has been running around since then quoting Buzz Lightyear "To ambividy and beyond!" (Translated into English as "To infinity and beyond!")
For months Wy has been running around calling out "Kee-kee-who-hoppers!" He uses it as an exclamation, an expletive and a curse. We have no idea what it means but it cracks Wy up every single time he utters that phrase.
I gave the boys mohawks this weekend. What do you think?
Much love and blessings,
Owenland Park.
Mom picked up a copy of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang last weekend. She told the boys the movie was about this amazing car so by the time they got home they were jazzed about watching the movie. Jack sat through the whole thing, but poor Wy pooped out. Even though he crashed half way through the movie he was awake long enough to soak in the title song. Now he and Jack sing "Chitty bang bang! Chitty chitty bang bang we love you!" ALL THE TIME.
We had our bi-annual Gala this past weekend. Lucky Duck is about a bunch of animals (mostly birds) with a fashion show runway segment in the script. We asked a group of ladies (The Rhinestone Cowgirls) to participate in the runway segment during the Gala and we had our costume designer create hats for each of these ladies. I was so pooped and frazzled the day after the Gala that I decided to wear one of these hats during the show to perk me up a bit. The cast got a kick out of it. What do you think?
I was hanging out with Wyatt one afternoon last week when Dad got home. Wy was so excited about seeing his grandpa that he started shouting "Mommy! There's your daddy! His name is Poppie!"
As you know, John's truck was not doing well. John finally came to the conclusion that the truck's computer wasn't working properly. He ordered a refurbished one from the Amazon and got it installed. After adjusting the timing and a handful of other things, we think the truck is fixed. That man of mine can fix anything!
We took the boys to see Toy Story 3 on Father's Day. Wy has been running around since then quoting Buzz Lightyear "To ambividy and beyond!" (Translated into English as "To infinity and beyond!")
For months Wy has been running around calling out "Kee-kee-who-hoppers!" He uses it as an exclamation, an expletive and a curse. We have no idea what it means but it cracks Wy up every single time he utters that phrase.
I gave the boys mohawks this weekend. What do you think?
Much love and blessings,
Owenland Park.
John's new hobby
John has a stash of various types of wood that he has been wanting to do SOMETHING with for a long time. He has finally decided to develop his craftsmanship at the lathe. This is a bowl he made and is going to put in the school auction this year.
My sons and moons
Jack's new passion is putting together puzzles on Gammy's laptop. Actually all the kids are big fans of the puzzles so we have to break them up as the boys want to do train puzzles and the girls want to do princess or Barbie puzzles...
Wyatt told me he was going to wink at me and then he did. I tell the boys they are my sons and my moons. (I know they don't get the pun.) Anyway, Wy has taken to telling me I am his sun, moon and TRAIN. He puts such emphasis on the Train part as if to tell me "Mommy, this is the biggest compliment."
John has been teaching Jack how to play Sudoku. They can spend an hour huddled together talking through what numbers can and can't go where.
Wyatt fell asleep at the dinner table the other night.
Tool Time with Daddy
As you know, John has been working on his truck. He got the engine put back together and took the truck out for a short drive. The boys insisted on going with him. As soon as they hopped in the truck, they siezed all tools within reach. Oh that was a happy few minutes for the boys. Poor John, the truck problem was not solved. He took it to a shop that he trusts. After they spent a week and a half on it, they couldn't figure out the problem. So they asked how many folks live at the house and gave him 12 tickets to dirt races this weekend. And they didn't charge him for all the time they spent trying to figure out the problem. Now John is just going to keep reading through manuals and waving his magic wand over that poor old truck. Cross your fingers.
Now, I am ready to dance!
Wy had his 3 year check up a few weeks ago with his new Dr and I think she is fantastic. She was great with both the boys, she brought up a lot of really great points and spent a lot of time talking to Wyatt. She isn't worried about the lisp on his S's - she said a speech therapist won't even touch it until he is 5. She agreed that we don't want to make an issue out of it, or give him a complex but she gave me a few tips on how to call his attention to it and let it go.
Jess decided she wanted to do a facial at home. She looked on line for recipes etc and then started rooting through the kitchen. That child couldn't find an avacado to use on her face, so she just grabbed a bowl of guacamole and slathered up. She then covered the bowl in tin foil and wrote "DO NOT EAT" on it because she was going to do another facial in a week. I was not prepared to look at a week old bowl of nasty brown/black guacamole so I tossed it.
I'm not very ticklish. Jack loves to be tickled. John and Wy hate it.
Wy was tickling me and I told him my tickler was broken. He said "Oh, vat's ok. I will buy you anover one at ve store. Wet's go!" I asked him "Where is your money?" He said "Right here!" and pointed to me.
John was getting Wy dressed for bed a few nights this week and they have established a bit of a pattern; undress, change the underwear, put on PJ pants - at which point Wy turns to John and says "NOW, I am ready to dance!"
Jack loves his new bicycle and is constantly telling us he needs to "practice hills". He let me know a few days ago that he needed to "Practice". I turned around and saw he had on his helmet, a long sleeved shirt, long pants and knee high rain boots. I told him he was going to be too hot with a helmet and rubber boots on. He let me know that he HAS to wear a helmet and he refused to listen to my advice about shirt, pants or shoes.
Jess decided she wanted to do a facial at home. She looked on line for recipes etc and then started rooting through the kitchen. That child couldn't find an avacado to use on her face, so she just grabbed a bowl of guacamole and slathered up. She then covered the bowl in tin foil and wrote "DO NOT EAT" on it because she was going to do another facial in a week. I was not prepared to look at a week old bowl of nasty brown/black guacamole so I tossed it.
I'm not very ticklish. Jack loves to be tickled. John and Wy hate it.
Wy was tickling me and I told him my tickler was broken. He said "Oh, vat's ok. I will buy you anover one at ve store. Wet's go!" I asked him "Where is your money?" He said "Right here!" and pointed to me.
John was getting Wy dressed for bed a few nights this week and they have established a bit of a pattern; undress, change the underwear, put on PJ pants - at which point Wy turns to John and says "NOW, I am ready to dance!"
Jack loves his new bicycle and is constantly telling us he needs to "practice hills". He let me know a few days ago that he needed to "Practice". I turned around and saw he had on his helmet, a long sleeved shirt, long pants and knee high rain boots. I told him he was going to be too hot with a helmet and rubber boots on. He let me know that he HAS to wear a helmet and he refused to listen to my advice about shirt, pants or shoes.
