Mommy McMe

Pouting & recovering

My poor nephew was not happy when Mommy left this morning. He wouldn't talk to me so I took his pouty picture.

My niece Shelby was released from Children's Mercy Sunday night. She, Melanie & Noah have been hanging out with us this week while Mark has been in KU. Mark gets released today so everyone is excited to go home.

Shelby has hairline fractures all through her head as well as a concussion. She is slow going but doing well. Mark had to have 3 surgeries that I know of: 1 to relocate his hip, 1 to reconstruct the hip socket and 1 to repair all the bones in his face. He cannot put any pressure on his hip for 8-12 weeks I think so he will be in an assisted living home for his recouperation and part of his physical rehab. Fortunately the home is minutes away from their house.

Things are not great, but they could be much worse. Thank you all for your prayers and good thoughts. Please let me know if you are wanting more updates on Mel's brood.

Back To School Night

Last night was Back To School Night. John and I had the opportunity to meet Jack's teacher and say hello to Wyatt's teacher (she taught Jack as a Kinder so we already know her.) Then we had cookies! I say a night that ends in cookies is a great night.

All the kinders have their 'headshots' hanging up outside the kinder room. Mrs. G asks them a few questions about themselves and writes in their answers for them. Wyatt is very into the word "awkward" right now. He is trying to figure out how and when to use the word. My favorite times are when he uses the word awkward in his falsetto. "Um, Mommy, that was AWKWARD!"

 Sharing time.

 Praying time.

This is Wyatt's little friend, Garth. My friend Julie brought Garth to us last summer when Wy was home recovering from being hit by a car. Garth has become a dear friend and he was the lucky one selected to go to school with Wyatt. I took a peek in Wy's desk last night and this is what I found.

 Here we are outside the 2nd grade room. I know, I know - I only got one shot of Jack's stuff, but there wasn't anything else up to snap a photo of and I didn't think to take a picture of his desk. The leaves on his flower are hard to read but he says "I have sissrs" "I have a glue sick" "I have it" "I will do it" "I can do it" I like pizze"

 After BTS night John and I swung by the Subway with another set of parents for a quick bite to eat and some parental chit-chat. We got in at 10:00 and the boys were still up. When Jack saw me he started to cry. He told me they were worried because they didn't knwo where we were and they were worried we had been hurt. We had a cuddle up and I promised to make sure we let them know where we were going and if we would be home by bedtime or not. I told them to hop in my bed while I bushed my teeth and when I came back they were cuddled up in a little bro-fest. I love these boys.

First week of homework

I have tried to turn this picture and I cannot get it to budge so you will just have to tilt your head to the side. Jack's 2nd grade teacher was obsessed witht he Olympics this summer and has decided to make it a theme for the school year. The kids learned about the Olympics starting in Greece and a lot of cool facts about the Olympics. Jack's teacher is using positive reinforcement ideas for classroom behavior. She awards little fuzzies (pom-poms) when she or another teacher catches a student practicing good behavior, getting your daily homework signed by mom & dad, study skills - you get the idea. Large fuzzies are handed out for a week's worth of homework, so many book reports and so on.

 Here is Wyatt's Friday Folder. It was jam packed full of work he had done last week. John and I had a hard time picking out one example for you, but we sort of really love the crazy monkey. Wyatt is very proud of what he has learned already. He can spell "go". He learned about the words "Live", "Love" and "Laugh". And he got a Smarty Pants ticket. Don't worry - being a Smarty Pants in Mrs. G's class is actually a good thing.

First day of school 2012

Jack is in 2nd grade and Wy is a Kinder.

I have taken Jack's picture here on the first day of school each year, so here it is again!

And this time Wy gets to start join the tradition!

Here we are at our desk, ready for Mom to LEAVE ME ALONE ALREADY

And here is Wyatt at his desk, ready to get started!

I am not too sure how their day went. We dropped them off at school and the John took me to the dentist. I ahd a deep cleaning and a tooth pulled. When the boys got home from school I was hopped up on hydrocodone.

A birthday displaced.

I believe you all know my brither-in-law and my niece were in a terrible car accident and have been in the hospital since late Friday night. My little nephew was to have his 5th birthday party on Saturday but that didn't happen because his family was - in the hospital. John, the boys and I took this little trooper out to Red Robin for dinner.

The boys all seem to think that you give yourself rabbit ears in photos. I didn't burst their bubbles.

You may have noticed in the Red Robin photo that the boys had ice cream at the restaraunt. Gammy & Poppie picked up cupcakes and ice cream to have at home so the boys were good and sugared up when we put them to bed that night. My sister makes really great cakes for the kids' birthday parties so Gammy & Poppie were inspired to get something fun versus your plain old cake fromt he grocery. It wasn't a Melanie cake, but it has personality!

"Cool!"

Noah has been hanging out at our house while his Mama has been jetting back and forth between two hospitals taking care of husband and teenager. Noah has really been a trooper the past few days.

The faces of Amy

The boys love to play the Wii. The boys love to play car racing games on the Wii. Wyatt loves to race cars but he is not very good at racing cars. I think the best way to show you how terribly he races cars is to show you what I look like while watching Wyatt race cars.

The Kid Cave

During the run of a show I usually bring one of the boys with me to the theatre every Saturday and Sunday. The boys help me check props, boot up lights and sound etc. Sometimes Jack gets a little bored sitting through the show so many times - sooo I recently put together a kid cave under my desk in the box office. We have a few pilllows, a blanket, a cd player and lunch. I think that covers it for someone under 21. Both Jack and Wyatt seemed to like it. What do you think?

Tropical Sno

A friend of mine runs a little Tropical Sno shop. The boys and I made a few trips out this summer to try and cool off. Now anytime we head out the door for "a surprise" the boys ask if I am taking them to Tropical Sno. I tell you what, those sno cones are rather yummy treats!

Gatsby

So I know this is supposed to be about the boys, but John and I went to a Great Gatsby party a few weeks ago and I loved my get-up so I thought I would share. Notice the upper AND lower lashes! Thanks, Mama!

Cuddle Bug

Wyatt curled up on top of me this morning as my "wake up hug".

Legoland

Two of the actors in the Spring Awakening have been itching to go to Legoland. They recently discovered that you cannot go in without children and so they asked to borrow my kids for an extended afternoon play date. Though the boys only know one of these actors they were both dying to go to Legoland and quickly said yes to the deal. Jack and Will spent a good portion of the afternoon building lego cars for various races. Wyatt spent his time racing around the play area ignoring Carline (Wy calls her Carolon) while she build a big pink leggo house. Both boys agree that the best part of the afternoon was shooting trolls' rocks with silver guns. (I didn't know shooting trolls or their rocks was a lego activity...). When Will & Carolon brought the boys home my guys barely had time to say "Thank you" but they sure were quick to say "We'll see you tomorrow when you come back to take us to SeaLife!" You should have seen the look of surprise on their faces - no one had discussed SeaLife.

I am a proud Mama because Will & Caroline said both the boys behaved and were very well mannered! I'm doing something right!

Super Hero names

I started rehearsals for Spring Awakening today which means I will only see the boys for a brief spot in the mornings over the next three weeks. As yesterday was our last day together (school starts next Monday) I took them to Kaleidoscope for a bit of creative fun. They were not interested in anything Kaleidoscope had to offer until I found the paper masks and then it was on.

  

The fellas were having so much fun making masks that I decided to join the band. We decided we looked like super heroes and spent the car ride home deciding on our super hero names. Jack landed on Captain Falcon. Wyatt decided he wanted to be called Captain Thuder. Then Jack decided they couldn't both be Captains. This was very upsetting to poor Wyatt who just wanted to be a Captain. Jack finally gave in and decided he would be called Lacario. I have no idea what that means or where it came from but there it is. They both have super powers relating to lightning, thunder and electricity.

I have decided that I am the Masked Mommy. My powers are the eyes in the back of my head, the super sonic ears for hearing when children are suspiciously too quiet or when they are fighting. I'm also gifted with the super hero power of whipping up some good dinners!

Fidget McGee

Jack has a certain stillness to him. Not Wyatt. He is a fidgeter. It is nearly impossible for him to be still. He is in constant motion. I do not think he has ADD or ADHD, he is just a mover. This attribute is compounded when he needs to visit the facilities. I am amazed that John never picked up on it but Wy will start a little squirmy wiggle when he has to go to the bathroom. Like most kids, he often needs to be told to go to the restroom. I think that HE thinks something incredibly fun is going to happen the minute he closes the door and he doesn't want to be the kid who missed all the cool stuff.


My little Fidget McGee also has a hard go of it at bed time. Trying to settle down enough to allow his body and mind to drift off to sleep is a long hard process for this boy. There are times I wonder what is going on in his head or his muscles that keeps him fidgeting so. I don't say that he tosses and turns...it is more like shifting or adjusting: like there is something in his brain that says if he is awake he must be moving. I have recently taken to whispering to him "Tell your mind to slow down." He whispers "Slow down, mind." Then I tell him "Tell your body to settle down." And he tells his body to settle down. I think this is helping him as I have noticed him start to down shift into a lower fidget gear. Though he continues to fidget until the moment he drifts off to sleep. I think I should say 'drops off' because that is basically what happens. I know the second that child has fallen asleep - it is like someone has turned his power off and he literally becomes motionless mid-fidget.