Our little HOE

Saturday evening we went to the Sammon's house for a party they were throwing. The kids had an absolute blast as all the little ones started their own dance party in the family room while the adults socialized elsewhere. They were adorable little dancing fools and everyone had a great time. Hope even got to put on makeup with Madison and Leah and thought she was just something special strutting around in her bright red lipstick. Roman and Josh passed the time wrestling as always. No one brings out the "boy" in my boy like Josh Sammon, they are so rough and crazy when those two get together, but as long as no one gets hurt, we try out best to let go and give them their space to just be rough and tumble boys. Bethany flirted her way through the crowd and I don't think there was a single person there that dance with her. It was just a lot of fun. Well, as with any party, when there's a lot of people around cups and drinks were hard to keep up with. The adults were using markers to right names on cups and to distinguish alcoholic beverages from others should the kids try to grab one. So, naturally, the kids wanted to do this too and began writing their names on their Capri Sun pouches. Madison wrote hers first, then wrote Bethany on hers. Finally came Hope. Madison asks, "How do you spell your name Hope?" Hopey responds, "H-O-E" as one of the adults says, "H-O-E, hoe? You're HOE?" And of course everyone in the area fell over laughing at my little HOE! (for the record, she can spell her name and corrected it after she finished laughing at herself - obviously clueless as to why, other than she misspelled it! - too funny!)

Countdown for Hope

Hope has been soooooooooo excited about turning 4. She doesn't actually turn 4 until the 27th, but we've been hearing about it non-stop since we began planning Bethany's party back in October. So when January FINALLY arrived we started a countdown on the calendar to her birthday and b-day party. Her party is this Saturday and yesterday at lunch she marked off the day and counted to discover only 3 more sleeps! Well, after work I swung by the house and picked up Bethany and Hope and we headed to Bakers Kitchen to get the icing colors and tips I need to make her cake... Dora of course! She was so excited about it that she had to tell the lady working there about her Dora party and how it was only 2 sleeps away.

Hope, there's 3 sleeps, remember, we counted at lunch time.

But I already had a sleep since then.

Hope, naps don't count!

And with a sad little face and a deep sigh she says, "Oh, I guess there's still 3 more sleeps."

Poor thing, Saturday just can not come fast enough, and to her almost 4 year old mind it is still forever away.

The Mud Pile

For some reason Roman is determined to call a mud puddle a mud pile, because it's water with a pile of mud in it. Well yesterday around 2:30 James got a call from the school nurse that Roman had fallen into one of these mud piles and was soaked to the bone. Of course that's right in the middle of the girls' nap, so he called me and I left work and ran home, picked up clothes, and went to rescue my boy at the school. When I arrived I found a little dirt ball covered in mud from his toes to his waist. It looked like he was just sitting in a "mud pile". As I was helping him change I asked him what happend. "I fell in a mud pile" Well, how did you fall, did you trip? "No, I was pushed" Oh, well, who pushed you? "Valery, she pushed me in a mud pile" I smiled, knowing my son's weakness for the girls and asked if she had dared him to do it. "No, she just pushed me right in, she's mean." I don't hink Valery is a mean little girl. Maybe she has a crush on you. "Uh-huh, she just did it on purpose." So we dropped the conversation and he asked if he could go home. I said sure, it was already 3 and they get out at 3:40 anyway. "I don't want to go back to class. She pushed me." I told him I understood, I guess his feelings were a bit hurt, mostly just his pride, and I made sure he knew he'd have to go back tomorrow. He said he understood, so we checked out and the nurse called for his stuff to be brought to the office. Ms. Neal said to send us down for it. It's only 2 doors down and Roman grudgingly followed. I don't think anyone really knew what happened, except I guess, Valery, but he stood by the door not fully acknowledging them, until Ms. Neal told him it was a 10 day... they get a green dot each day they are good at school and after 10 they get a special treat from the treasure chest. Boy, he didn't have any problems going back into that classroom after that! LOL He told everyone bye and sorta had this celebrity strut going on as we walked out. Guess it's exciting for a Kindegartener to get out of school early. By the time we got home he was more interested in the new car he pulled from the treasure chest and seemed to completely forget the "mudpile" incident. Not a single word was mentioned of it again from the moment we left the school.

Another Tooth Missing

Well, fortunately this one didn't actually go missing. :) Instead tooth #4, his first top tooth, fell out at the dinner table. At least he didn't eat it! It had been bothering him for a few days and he ate several apples throughout the day in attempt to pull it out on his own. In the end he just reached up and gave a good yank and out it popped. Took a few minutes to find the tiny thing on the floor, but we did and he is happy as can be. Went right along eating his dinner without another word. He looks too cute with the one sided hole on in his mouth. This one is almost directly above the one the last one he lost which still hasn't produced a permanent tooth, so just a big gap on the left side of his smile. There are at least 3 more loose in there, so they should start dropping out quickly over the next month or so.

Past & Present

It's no big secret that James and I, and especially Roman, adore his teacher, Ms. Neal. Throughout this year he has learned a tremendous amount from her. He is reading and his handwriting gets more clearer with each passing week. He's spelling everything and absorbs everything she teaches. Perhaps the most lasting concept he's brought home with him (aside from the Owls.... which, on a side note, he was quick to point out to everyone at the National Aquarium that a picture they have up on the wall is actually a barn owl, but in the wrong habitat, because barn owls mostly live in barns or rafters, not trees, hence their name. LOL) Anyway, the most lasting concept so far this year has been that of Past versus Present, Old versus New. Of course to a child of only 6, this is often a tough concept to fully understand. In his attempt to understand what truly is old and in the past versus new and in the present he asks many questions.

On Sunday Barbara, Roman, Bethany, and I - Hope was home with Daddy with a stomach bug - headed to Front Royal to visit Great-Grandma. On the way up we saw many old houses and made a game out of distinguishing the old ones from the new ones. Of course this leads to other questions...

"Grandma, I know the dinosaurs are extinct, but really did exist and lived a long time ago. Do you remember them? Were they around when you were my age?"

"Grandma, did they have paved roads when you learned to drive?"

The best of course was after we got to Great-Grandma's house. Bethany and Roman were crawling around the floor and got a little too close to comfort to a 3-legged table with an antique lamp on it. So Great-Grandma told them to be careful and began to tell them about the lamp. She told them it was very old, older than she was. Her daddy had bought it before she was born. Now Great-Grandma is in her 80's and like a lot of people her age, she doesn't hear real well and you have to speak up. Roman must have picked up on this immediately, because he dropped his voice to a low level, but not a whisper like he was trying to obviously be secretive and says, "Mommy, I don't think she's telling the truth. They couldn't possibly have had electricity back then!" LOL I'm not real sure how I didn't fall over in a fit of laughter, but I kept my composure and shh'ed him. To his defense, it was originally an oil lamp that was later converted to electric!

National Aquarium & Orioles Fan Fest

This weekend was spent in Baltimore and what a great weekend we had! The kids had Christmas #3 with the grandparents and aunts/uncles. Boy are they some lucky kids! Normally when we go up there we end up sitting around and visiting and just playing with the kids at the house and catching up with everyone. Not this weekend! Aunt Jennifer piped in Saturday morning with the fact that she had 4 tickets to the Orioles Fan Fest downtown at the Convention Center. So she, James, Roman, Hope, Bethany, and I caught the light rail downtown to go to Fan Fest.

The light rail itself was a lot of fun for the kids. They were so excited and kept yelling "Wheee!" everytime we'd go over the slightest hill, and "Hold on, here we goooooooo" everytime the train would take off from a stop. They loved it! We got off at the convention center and so just walked across the street and we were in. It was a tad crazy in there. Roman HATED the "bird", but Hopey was happy to get her picture taken and meet him. The lines for autographs from the players was insane, so we didn't do that. They kids enjoyed several of the kid stuff there though and we had fun watching them. Bethany got a huge kick out of all the free stuff being handed out. And the kids got hats, balls, and general admission tickets for this season's games.

After that we headed down to the Inner Harbour. It was $1 days weekend at the Aquarium and Train Museum. We have done the train museum in the past and as to them the light rail was train enough and because it was off the beaten path, we opted not to bother, but did head down to the Aquarium. The kids had never been and it was something we've been talking about doing for awhile now. Unfortunately, tickets for Saturday were sold out by the time we got there, but we did make it just in time to hop in the line for advanced Sunday tickets before they closed it off for the day. And maybe it was fortunate this happened this way as the girls were beat from all the walking and it was way past naptime so we started losing them by the time I got through the line. So back on the light rail and home we went.

On Sunday we got up and Grandma, Aunt Jennifer, Uncle Anthony, James, Roman, Hope, Bethany, and I headed back downtown, this time we drove, to go to the Aquarium. They took us right in, no lines to wait in and the kids were just in awe of everything from the second they walked in and saw the "bubble tubes". We covered everything except the new Austrailian exhibit which had a really long line to get in. The sharks, dolphins, birds, frogs, and deep water glowing fish were big hits with them all. After several hours we headed back to the house stopping at Glory Days (yumm!!!) for lunch.

We headed home shortly after that, and all three kids slept the whole way!

Ray Lewis hit on Aunt Jennifer

Today while down at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, we took a little break and sat down in the lobby of one of the hotels. Roman was in hog-heaven being downtown with all the Ravens fans and Ravens flags and novelties everywhere. So Aunt Jennifer strikes up a chat with him and asks who his favorite player is.... "Ray Lewis!" Aunt Jennifer smiles and says, "I know Ray Lewis, we hang out at the same place on Wednesday nights, he likes to hit on me." Expecting an excited, or at least impressed expression, Roman instead returns with a serious look turned scowl as his little hands balled into a fist and I began to laugh. My boy is so literal! He thought she meant Ray Lewis was hitting her, as in beating her up! LOL We clarified and Aunt Jennifer explained in more detail, but I'm not sure poor Ray Lewis will ever look quite the same for his #1 little fan!

Christmas 2005

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Christmas this year was such fun! The kids are 6, almost 4, and 2 and sooooooooooooo into Santa and all things Christmas. The join and excitement on their faces when they saw all Santa brought them was just priceless. They got some really great stuff this year from Santa and others. The moms spent the night with us and I'm not sure who enjoyed Christmas morning more this year, the kids or the moms watching the kids.

Roman was a bit disappointed last night as it was too warm to really start a fire. We've had such a mild winter this year. Last year as he was inspecting the cookies and milk and fireplace he found a small piece of red fabric in the fireplace that was slightly singed. He had warned us that Christmas Eve that if we didn't put the fire out early that Santa might not be able to come down the chimney afterall. His delight over invisioning Santa burning his butt on our fire was priceless and he's still laughing about it this year, so was a tad disappointed that he couldn't reenact it. Sick little boy, yes! No big surprises this year, a few footprints in the soot and some crumbs in the fireplace... that Santa sure is messy! ... otherwise it was a pretty calm, until he went to open his stocking stuffers and discovered a sandwhich box for his lunchbox with a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich. He was so upset and got the funniest look on his face. His conclusion... "Santa accidently wrapped his lunch up and stuck it in my stocking!" "I'm not supposed to get his lunch for Christmas!" The funniest part of all is that about an hour laterly he defiantly sat down and ate it with this devilish little sparkle in his eye cause he wasn't eating Santa's lunch!

After opening presents and everything we all got dressed to head up to Kari and Kermit's for Christmas dinner. I got the kids dressed and was finishing up getting ready myself when I hear a scream from mom in the living room. Ran in to find Barbara holding Bethany, both covered in puke! So they both got cleaned up, changed clothes and I was cuddling with Bethany while everyone was finishing and she threw up all over me. It was so incredibly disgusting! By then we had decided we weren't going to chance the hour drive up with a sick baby. Problem was, mom had taken off with Hope in between incidents so we had to go. James ended up staying behind while Barbara, Roman and I loaded in the van and headed to Fredericksburg. It was a really nice afternoon and dinner. Aside from us, Kari, Kermit, Abby and Megan, Aunt Bonnie, Gloria, Ashley, Joel, Aunt Philly and Uncle Dave all came over. The kids practically had a second Christmas with all the presents!

When we got back home Bethany was feeling much better and we just enjoyed a nice relaxing evening while the kids watched their new movies and played.
Bethany throwing up

What's Santa's Name?

Last night I was cooking dinner and Hopey came in and told me she wanted to write a letter to Santa, but didn't know his name. What? So I inquired further, "but mommy, I don't know his www name to find him!" Welcome to Christmas in the 21st Century!!!

Tanta

Yesterday Bethany awoke to presents under the tree that I had wrapped up the night before. They were for the moms, aunts, uncles and whatnot. They were under the tree before, just not wrapped. Well she thought Santa had come and got so excited that she sat down and started opening them before we could tell her otherwise. It was too cute! She is soooooooo excited about Santa. The other 2 didn't even know who he was at this age, but I guess that's a benefit of having 2 older siblings. She has been running around for days telling everyone that "Tanta's Toming!"

Sibling Protection

James came in and saw someone had unplugged the printer and began to fuss at the kids. "So, who did it?" "Well, if no one's gonna fess up everyone can get punished" Roman speaks up, "Punish Bethany only, she did, I saw her." So James looks at him and says, "Jeez Roman, what happened to protecting your sisters?" Roman's answers, "Well, I gotta protect myself!"

Who Loves Ya?

Today we got our first snow of the year. Roman got up first and we checked together to see the white covered ground outside. Next came in Hope. Roman told her to peek out the window and she was soooooooooo excited at what she saw! Roman asks her, "See, who loves you? Hope just looked around and smiled at everyone then shrugged her shoulders. And Roman says, "God! God loves you very much and sent all this snow down just for you!"

The Tall Tall Tale

Last night we met Angie and Jason and crew for dinner at Don Jose's. Afterwards while the adults talked in the parking lot, the kids played in the back of the van. Somewhere, Josh found Roman's old switchblade comb and asked to borrow it. We were meeting them the next night anyway to see the lights downtown at the James Center, so he said okay, to just bring it back the next evening. Well today, Roman comes home from school with the comb and note from Ms. Neal asking us to please not let him bring it to school again. Here's what Roman had to say:

Well, Josh's teacher caught him with it and got freaked out thinking it was real and called the cops. The cops interrigated him and he ratted me out, telling the cops I gave it to him, so they came and talked to Ms. Neal who talked to me and sent me home with the note and comb. I didn't have to talk to the cops though.

What actually happened, or the closest thing we can piece together from Maddy and Josh's side of the story is that Josh carried it to lunch and gave it back to Roman then. The lunch lady saw Roman with it and told Ms. Neal who just took him in the hallway and had a little talking to on why we don't bring things like that to school.

What are we going to do with this boy?!?

The Farting Deer are Back!

Okay, so the "Farting Deer" is a Roman story from last Christmas that didn't make it on here because I didn't create this blog until February! So in short, everyone has seen the white lighted deer, specifically the buck, that people put on their lawns around Christmas time. Well, last year in the middle of Lowes as we were looking for new outdoor decorations for the holiday season, Roman starts laughing hysterically... that I can't stop, I can't breathe, I'm gonna pee my pants, obnoxious laugh that at home would literally have had him rolling on the floor. Of course, you just have to ask! "What is so funny?" I mean come on, we're in the Christmas decoration section, what could possibly be THAT funny? Roman's response:

"See that deer? He just farted!"

Cute, but not quite following you. "Why would you say that?" Roman's response:

"His tail is sticking up and he's going 'hmrrr'" The part you can't see in that statement is a 4 year old struting across the floor then stopping, sticking his butt out behind him and puffing his chest up with chin up high going 'hmrrr'! Hence, then and forever in the Trettel household we have the "farting deer"!

I had absolutely forbid them to bring that thing home, but after about a week is snuck onto my lawn, much to the sheer joy of my son.

For those of you in the Richmond area you can only imagine just how obnoxious he got when we visited the James Center a few weeks later! There must be 100 "farting deer" there!

So, this year, I caved and as they were on sale, we bought an entire herd of "farting deer". I believe there are 9 total in all sizes and Roman and his sisters could not be any prouder of their holiday cheer!

Express Yourself

Recently we watched the movie "Racing Stripes", one of Roman's newfound favs. In this movie there is a rather crude and disgusting fly character and at one point the fly falls into a guy's espresso and begins to fart to which he tells the other fly "I'm just putting some express in this espresso!" Roman found this to be the highlight of the entire movie! What is it with my kids and bodily noises? So last night he's in the bath and begins laughing so hard that James yells in to find out what's going on to which we are greeted in an ever so sweet voice "I'm just expressing in this espresso, Dad!"

The Christmas Show

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year at grandma & grandaddy's with all the aunts and uncles. The kids were in heaven as it has been quite some time since we were up there. On Friday after Thanksgiving, Roman, Hope and I drove up to Aunt Philly's while James stayed behind with Bethany who got spoiled rotten "I'm rotten, rotten, rotten!" as she would say. At Aunt Philly's we met up with mom, Aunt Peggy, Carlee, and Leia for lunch, then proceded further north to Lancaster, PA to see a Christmas Show. Roman and Hope had never been to anything quite like this before. It wasn't a play, just a live show with different acts of singing, dancing, and silly little skits. They were both in awe, and despite Roman's determination to have a horrible time, he quickly melted and was laughing himself silly in no time. The performers were great! About half way through the first half they asked for volunteers to come up on stage. Mom leaned forward and told Hope and Roman to raise their hands. With great enthusiasm they did. They were sitting on the 5th row and the guy spotted them immediately and told Roman to come on up. Hope latched on to the back of his shirt and followed him up there too. About halfway up the stairs as they realized they were going to be standing in front of hundreds of people, they both looked back, turned white as ghosts, with a momentary panic look. Still, they proceded and much to my surprise when asked their names they each told them without hestitation. The skit they were joining was about this crazy elf named, Stanley, who was in charge of wrapping presents at this gift wrapping stand. Roman was handed a box and they were told to stand in line to have their gift wrapped. Stanley then turned into "rapper" Stanley instead of gift "wrapper" Stanley and broke out into this big rap and dance number on top of the table in front of Roman and Hope. The hysterical part is Roman did not flinch, did not show any sign of emotion or recongnition what-so-ever, just stood there staring at him while Hope would watch, then turn back towards the audience and shrug with this look like "What is this guy on?" LOL After he finished his rap it was time to wrap the present. First he had Roman stand to face the side and hold out the box with both hands. Then he moved Hope to face him and told her to hold the box, which she did... with one hand. He grabbed her other arm and she'd jerk it back. He'd grab it again and she'd jerk it back. Then he said "I think you're hiding something from Stanley, what do you have in that hand?" At this time, with the cheesiest grin ever she proudly held up her hand complete with a smuggled, half-eaten Sugar Daddy! Stanley nearly lost it, then proceded to pretend to lick her lollipop before placing her hand back on the box. Next he began to wrap the box, with the kids hands still attached, then he brought out a bigger piece of paper and completely wrapped up both of them together as one big present. As he was finishing up he cleared Hope's head saying he was scared she couldn't breathe in there and stuck an enormous bow on her instead. Finally, he went to present them to the audience and attempted to turn them. He was behind Hope and leading her shoulders attempted to move her and she'd force him back, and again, until he got so tickled he declared he must have glued her feet to the floor! It was hysterical! Roman said he didn't like being wrapped like a present, but his smile and twinkle in his eyes said otherwise. Hope on the other hand was in all her glory, especially when several people approached her for her autograph after the show!

Another Tooth Missing

Roman lost his 3rd tooth last night. It was very loose and driving him crazy, so James volunteered to pull it. Much to my shock Roman allowed it, and using a baby wipe for a little friction James easily popped it out. It bled like crazy, but Roman was so proud to have another tooth out that he didn't even peep. Not at all like my typical blood-squirmish boy. The first thing out of his mouth after that.... "I can't wait to get to school tomorrow to show Ms. Neal!" He really does love his teacher. Heck, I'd say she ranks above the ToothFairy right now, and for a 5 year old, that's HUGE! He almost forgot to put his tooth under his pillow, but quickly came running out panicked, looking for it shortly after we put him to bed. He got another dollar and some gum. Not quite as excited about the gum as last time, he instead became quite "knowledgeable" and excited about all the American symbols on a dollar bill.

Hair can't be TOO long....

Hope Elizabeth is a total and complete girly-girl. She loves all things "girl". She is infatuated with long hair. Recently we were having a discussion about hair after one of our many battles to rid her of tangles. So I asked her "How long are we going to let this mess get anyway? To you butt? To you feet?" To which she replied, "Just above my 'un-wear-wears'" "Why stop there?" And this is what she had to say, "I don't want my hair all the way down to my butt, cause then I would fart of it, and everyone would know I farted on it cause it would go 'thloop'" as she demonstrated with her hand by flicking it forward. To make matters worse, Bethany got so tickled I think she actually did pee her pants and started running around the house declaring she was going to grow her hair all the way to her butt!

Mommies Know Everything

Ever since Roman could talk and ask"how do you know that" I have told him that "mom's just know everything". Today he concluded that mom's only know everything because they went to school, and now that he's in school he knows everything too!

Owl Madness

Sometime recently Roman apparently learned about owls at school. EVERYTHING you could ever hope to know about owls. ALL types of owls. And of course the noises they make. Roman has it in his head that he can hunt owls by attracting them with *hoots*. Very, very loud, obnoxious hoots! The first day we received a lecture on all the different types of owls, their habitats and various other facts about them. He was especially excited about the burrowing owl. "Did you know there's an owl that lives underground?" He spent the better part of an hour stomping around the yard looking for burrowing owls. Then it was to the trees where he'd stand and *hoot* at the bottom of every tree in the yard. We have a lot of trees in the yard! Over the following days he has frequently stuck his head out of the window of the car and *hooted* into the sky in search of a real owl. We can only hope that Ms. Neal teaches something more quieter next time! LOL