Bethany Update

With so much going on with Roman and Hope these days I feel like Bethany sometimes gets over looked, especially on this blog. So here's a little bit about our almost 19 month old B-butt! At one and a half years old, Bethany Nicole is still smart as a whip. Her comprehension is amazing. If you tell her to go pick up a piece of paper, take it to the kitchen and throw it in the trashcan, you can bet it'll get done. She's a great little listener, even when it's not what she wants to hear. That generally leads us to a temper tantrum. This girl has one heck of a short fuse with classic throw yourself on the ground kicking and screaming temper-tantrums. But aside from that she is mostly a little sweetheart. She has bossy tendancies and is as demanding as the day she was born. Independant and stubborn to her very core.

Personality aside, Bethany is also talking up a storm. Earlier this month we went to Five Guys and Bethany and Hope fell asleep in the car on the way, so while James and Roman ordered, I stayed in the car while the girls napped. The radio was still tuned to Radio Disney, as it generally is these days and I was concentrating on something else when all of a sudden the song "Who let the dogs out" came on and at the end of the chorus when they start saying "Who let the dogs out" I nearly jumped out of the truck startled by a squeaky "Woof Woof" from the back seat. It was the B. She gets so excited about dogs and is always yelling "Og og Woof Woof" Some other favorite words right now.... yellow, purple, fish, remote, chocolate milk.

Bethany is really starting to play with the older two now. She tries to be the leader, but doesn't usually win that battle, though occasionally she will just deliberately grab and take off running with a favorite toy just to let them know who's really in charge around here! Most of the time she is playing really well with them though. Then there are times, like earlier today when her joining in isn't such a great thing. She picked up Roman's new "LandAmerica" lighted bouncy ball that I brought home from work with me and tried to throw it down the hill like Roman and Hope had been doing. Difference.... Roman and Hope were in the grass and Bethany did it in the driveway, down the hill, into the street, and CRUNCH run over by a car.

In 2 weeks Bethany will be going for her 18 month checkup (a little late) and we will see how much she's grown. Judging by the fact that she is maxing 18m clothes already, wearing a lot of 2T's - her and Hope are already fighting over clothes as Hope can wear some 2T's and Bethany is wearing some 3T shirts - I'd say she's grown a LOT in the last 3 months!

Miss Vanity

Tonight at PetSmart Hope was looking at the rats and hamsters and this little girl of about 9 or 10 with long brown hair was there too. Hopey squatted down next to her to look at a chinchilla - or cat as they thought it was - and she starts stroking her hair and says to the girl "I have beautiful hair, just like you"

Welcome Home Nemo, and our other new family members

Roman has decided his beloved fish, Chig, just couldn't be replaced, so there will be no Chig2. Instead of getting another Chig-fish (black, white, & orange goldfish) he has picked a few different smaller fish to join Rain - Bethany's fish and the sole survivor of the tank. So we now have Red, Sizer, and Sparky. Red is a female swordtail. Sizer is a lyretail molly. Sparkey is a ghostfish. They make quite a crazy family in there.

The awesome, most amazing news is that Nemo was discovered hiding out at PetSmart today! See Hopey's beloved Nemo croaked the day after Chig. Not having the heart to go through all that again, we just told her that Nemo must have missed Chig an aweful lot. Who'd have thunk all we had to do was go to PetSmart? We walked in and Hopey proclaimed "NEMO! There you are, how'd you get in there?" So of course, we immediately rescued him and brought Nemo safely back home.

The Great Escape

Yup, Bethany's done it! She is officially in and out of the portable crib like there's nothing to it and she finds great humor in climbing out and switching beds with her brother and sister at bedtime. Last night after a particularly rowdy evening, James peaked in to find Bethany in Roman's bed, Roman in Hope's bed, and Hope in the port-a-crib! Bethany is becoming such a big girl. Our concern now is that when the princess room is complete, then what? Does she go back into the big crib and take a chance of falling trying to climb out or is it time to seriously look into a big girl bed?

Latest Potty Time with Hope

James called me at work today and while we were chatting he started getting concerned as he realized he hadn't heard a peep out of Hope in awhile. So, wondering if she had gone down for a nap on her own, he sent the boy to find her while we continued to talk. Roman says "Oh, she went potty daddy" -- "Yeah, but that was awhile ago Roman, just go find her, and if she's still in the potty, make sure she's okay for me"

Next thing I hear is Roman giggling, "yup, she's still on the potty come see" Next I hear massive laughter from both James and Roman as they attempted to paint a picture of Hope Elizabeth sitting on the potty asleep. Unfortunately I had the digital camera with me at work, so James had to grab the 35mm and take real pictures. Can't wait to see them, I'm told it's a hysterical site, every bit as funny as the time she climbed into a small rubbermaid box and fell asleep.


UPDATE: I had started writing this awhile back, but didn't get around to posting. The pictures came back this weekend and as soon as I figure out how to post pictures on here I will post one for sure. It's an unbelievable site and I have no idea what that child was thinking! She was just sitting on the potty and fell asleep, she curled up in a little ball on top of the potty seat like a cat and took a nap! It's a HYSTERICAL site!

Spring Fever - Love is in the Air

I must have two of the biggest little lovers in the world. My kids have such big hearts and just lay it right out on their sleeves. If only that pureness could last forever!

A little over a week ago we went to Jon Jones surprise birthday party. The kids knew most of the kids there or had met them before at least. Across the street from the Jones's is a little boy about 2 years older than Roman whom he has played with from time to time. What he didn't know was that this boy has a younger sister. KAYLA. In the 2 hours we were at the party this little girl managed to squirm her way into the heart of my son to the point we're still hearing "when can we move to the lake?" That in itself is hysterical as Roman is the kid that just doesn't handle change well and would do most anything to never move again, yet one afternoon with Kayla and he's ready to move to Lake Shawnee in Powhatan. But what really threw us for a loop and had James and I smiling was the look on his face following her around and the devastation when told him it was time to leave. Anyone who has ever seen the movie Bambi will understand when I say, my son was truly "twitterpatted"! Guess this is the end of Desiree, his first little love whom he's vowed to marry some day.

Now Roman has always been a little lover, but this spring it seems to be contagious... Hope Elizabeth has her first crush! Yup, at just 3 years old, my daughter has the biggest crush on Roman's little soccer buddy, Joe Dombroski, and it's a bad one. And, this should not come as any surprise to anyone who has ever met our theatrical little girl, there is nothing suttle about her crush! LOL It started one day after soccer practice back in April. Joey helped her during a round of tag that she attempted to join in on, and the rest is history! During the following weeks "Joey" popped up into everything in our lives. The picture on a swing set box at Lowes with a little dark haired boy of about 5 "OH, that's Joey, this is the one I HAVE to have" Or in picture books at the book store "Let's read this one, mommy, doesn't he look just like Joey?" Then she started getting really silly with him. He'd show up for soccer practice and she'd run right up to him close enough to kiss the poor boy and bat those long lashes and say "Hello Joey" in her sweetest little voice. One day after soccer practice we went out to dinner with Joey and his dad and of course Hope had to sit right next to Joe and at times we thought she may just climb into his lap, or plant a big one on him. And whenever Joey would say something the slightest bit funny Hope would laugh as if it were the funniest thing she'd ever heard. She was hysterical and his proud daddy sarcastically made the comment "Yeah, that's my boy, I have that effect on the girls too" LOL Since then she has taken to chasing him, literally, everytime she sees him and calling him over and over again "Joey, Joey, Joey" Now soccer is over so we won't see much of Joe, but it hasn't slowed her down any, she's still talking up a storm about the boy. My baby girl - her first big crush!

Awesome End to the Spring 2005 Soccer Season

This spring Roman, once again, played soccer at the Manchester YMCA. James had not wanted to coach but I signed him up anyway, but to his dismay over half the team had requested him for coach. Overall they've had a really good season. Before this final game they were 3-3 (though we're not supposed to keep score).

At the final game there were 9 of the 11 players present. We started off strong scoring almost immediately by David (the team's most assertive player). Following shortly after that came a goal from Cordell (our most energetic player). Jamal - one of our youngest players, a laid back little boy who loves practices and hates games as he has zero aggression by nature and won't go after the ball when another child has it - got more ball time on the field than he has in the entire 2 seasons he's played soccer. Joey (our highest scorer) scored 3 goals, Roman (best all around) scored 2 - one with the assist of Andrew Dixon (most powerful with the force). I have been so proud of Roman all season, but his decisive stand on teamwork and telling everyone how Andrew set him up to score that goal, so that it was his and Andrew's goal and shouldn't be counted for just him, was too precious! Andrew also scored a goal on his own. Now Andrew has been the kid all season practicing his jedi moves on the field. He's a 4 year old player with decent attention span, but can often become distracted - what 4 year old doesn't? - anyway, from over halfway across the field Andrew, who had just been practicing his jedi force pushes again, kicked the ball and scored an unbelievable goal! Keegan (most improved player) who wouldn't even play at last week's game scored his first goal of the season... and then another! Sam (best defensive player) also scored a few goals. Sam and Roman were on fire with defensive plays throughout the whole game. Owen got in a few assists, and came so close to scoring a goal too. At the 5 minute warning, James attempted a crazy setup to get Jamal to score. He lined up 4 of the strongest players, 2 on each side, to pave the way straight down the field in tunnel formation, but when the whistle blew, Jamal kicked the ball and just stayed put jumping up and down ecstatic to have gotten some more ball time. It was too cute! What an awesome game to end on 7 of 9 players scoring!

After that we headed to AppleBee's for lunch where James came up with awards for each of the players on his own. I was quite impressed by that! I ran to Office Depot and found some perfect sports certificates, complete with soccer ball stickers and all, then printed out the awards certificates when I got home. Finally, it was off to the banquet. It was supposed to have started raining at 4 throughout the entire evening, but at 5 when we arrived back at the Y the sun was shining bright and we had perfect weather conditions the entire evening. Hotdogs and Hamburgers on the grill, adult conversations while the kids had full run of the playground and soccer fields made for a great evening! Last came the awards and trophy ceremony. James told a brief story or memory of each child as he explained their given award. It was wonderful!

Now what? Teeball! It starts in 2 weeks (6/6) and James has been asked to coach. At least 3 of this seasons soccer team will be joining his team too. I know Greg Kemp's final words as he presented James with his coaches gifts, really made for one happy Coach James, so I'll end with those.... "A sign of a good coach is when the season is over, the kids still want to play. Not only do these Tigers want to play, they are on fire for more soccer! Coach James - one great coach!"

Roman's Date

My little man is one smooth talker! We took him to see the Star Wars episode 3 movie at a pre-screening 2 weeks before opening night. Then decided opening night that mommy and daddy would have a date night and leave him home this time. Not to be swayed, my smooth talking son propositioned his grandmother....

"May I escort you on a date?"

Where would you like to go

"I'll take you to see the new Star Wars movie!"

So sure enough... the grandmother that hasn't been the movies probably since the original Star Wars was released, is out on a date with her beloved grandson.

Mom, Gail.... watch out, he's liable to sweet talk you gals into dates as well, anything to see this movie again!

Shacking up the Kids

Well, since Roman's room is now empty, we decided to take the opportunity to paint the girls room, something that's been on hold for over a year now. It will be a long and grueling process, as just finding the time away from the hoodlums is hard enough, let alone enough time to actually accomplish anything. But we've started the process at least...

Hope's toddler bed was moved into Roman's room and the pack 'n play was setup for Bethany in there. So now, not only does Roman have no toys, but 2 sisters shacking up with him. Right now it's still a big party, but we'll see how long that lasts!

All the other furniture was moved into the middle of the girls' room and tarped as we begin transforming it into the ultimate Princess room. A princess pink venetian plaster on the walls, pale purple on the ceiling, ultra white trim with the addition of some fancy crown molding around the ceiling. And of course plenty of Princess decorations to make it complete. If I ever learn to post pics and if we ever manage to actually complete this room, I'll try and put some pictures up for all to see. Wish us luck!

Roman Loses His Toys

May 11th, that was the deadline for Roman to get his room cleaned once and for all. James and I had just finished trying to give him his space not say too much about the mess in his room, but as the toys piled high and the floor could no longer be seen, and as it began to spill out into the hallway, we had to say enough is enough. One week he was given to clean it up. A deadline of May 11th at noon was given to him. Judging by the title of this blog, you can easily guess, he failed to meet that deadline.

This had to be the hardest thing I've done as a parent. With him standing by, over my lunch break, James and I removed every toy in his room, including his beloved race cars and star wars boys. His train table was disassembled and removed as well. All that was left behind was his bed and golf clubs - I was not about to threaten to throw away/sell his good sporting equipment. The noises from him during that process were heartwrenching and I cried through much of it too. I honestly don't know how James and I made it through, but following through with threats is something we're working hard on, so it had to be done.

Once the room was cleared he began to calm down. I returned to work and before my whopping 5 minute commute had ended, he was on the phone.... "Thank you mommy, we should have thrown all those toys out a long time ago. Now my room is so big and I can even practice my golfing in it!"

Okay.... not quite the response we were looking for, but a welcome change to the hysterics we faced the previous hour. That night I went through everything and sorted a lot of the small stuff into baggies ready for yard saling. Other stuff was sorted by type, some of which he will be able to earn back, but most of it will be thinned out as it is obviously too much and way too overwhelming for the little guy.

We will see how well he takes care of his toys and actually plays with them as he finds stragglers around the house that weren't confiscated and as he begins to earn back some of his favorites. We're hoping this was not all done in vain and that he will have learned a big lesson here, but only time will tell!

Playground Bullies Continued

Back at the beginning of soccer Roman had gotten into a fight with one of the green team boys. Now that same little bully is picking on my girls. Today before practice Hopey was playing with a ball and kicked it all the way down to the far soccer field. From there I heard her screaming and crying and looked up to see the obvious conclusion of what occurred... that little bully was heading away as fast as he could with her bright pink soccer ball. James got there first, retrieved the ball and returned to it to Hope bringing her back to our little corner section for practice. Not 5 minutes later Bethany was throwing the ball into the big goal next to where our team practices and the same little bully attempted to take her ball away. Not being easily swayed by bigger kids having to always battle for her territory against Hope and Roman, Bethany threw herself down and tackled the ball, standing back up triumphantly with her ball in arms. That's when the bully grabbed the ball from her, pried it out of her hands, then put his hand on her head and pushed her to the ground as he took off with the ball, laughing. Most of the parents on our team saw it and James again beat me to the kid and this time marched him over to his coach. Practice began at that time and we didn't have any more incidents. I'm torn on what to do from here. I tried being civil when Roman was busted fighting the kid, and now there's little doubt in anyone's mind that it was much deserved, even if I didn't like it. The mom was less than helpful last time and I honestly think she'd be proud of him, despite the fact that it was two young girls. I'm hoping to steer clear of the kid and praying for no more incidents in the next few weeks, but if so, I guess it's time to talk to Tyree - the Y's sports coordinator and see if he will intervene. Hopefully it won't come to that.

Star Wars PreScreening

Today, thanks to my amazing friend, Lynn Fox, Roman, James, Rob, and I got to experience the final episode to Star Wars 2 weeks before it is to be released to the public. We arrived early so did a little shopping. Then headed over to meet Rob in front of the theatre. There was a group forming around the entrance, but we weren't sure if this was our group or not, so not knowing where to go or what to do, James walked up to the ticket counter and asked. "Where do we need to go for the pre-screening of Star Wars?" Ticket lady "Star Wars doesn't start for another 2 weeks" James, "I know, we're hear for the critics screening of it today" Ticket lady, "They're doing that here? Today? They don't tell us stuff like that, go ask the Service counter inside, that's where all the promotional, group, and special showings are handle" I found it amazing that the people who work there don't even know what's going on. They kept the movie that hush-hush. So finally we are pointed out to join the group in front, about 50 people or so and shortly after are shuffled through to a staircase and told to form a line. Someone is standing by checking names off the list as you walked by to the guards at the bottom of the staircase. When our turn came, he asked for name, I told him "Trettel" and he looked at me funny, obviously knowing everyone else there except us, and so he asked what group we were with. I just grinned and politely said "Lucas Films" He had this funny shocked look on his face, and rushed us through thanking us for coming and whispering to others that representatives fromLucas Films was in the house. I had made Roman, James, and Rob all wear kakis and nice shirts, and although they were griping about it when the critics arrived in cut off jeans and dirty teeshirts, I was glad we dressed up a bit. Before proceeding upstairs everyone was searched with a metal detector and purses and bags were thoroughly checked. It was crazy! Finally we made it through and headed up stairs to a private theatre used for screenings. Everyone was very excited and emotional. Roman was the only child in attendance. When the head guy came around next it was to ask if everyone was ready to begin and shortly after started the movie. From that point on there wasn't a peep in the place. I could literally hear myself chewing at times everyone was so into it and quiet. Roman did great, covering his eyes for a few scenes when the music would change insinuating a battle scene approaching. But overall he loved it and when we left they were all talking a mile a minute like 3 little boys in a candy store! The movie was awesome, we all thoroughly enjoyed it. THANK YOU, LYNN!!!