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

Parent/Teacher conference

I was a little nervous going into the Parent/Teacher conference. This was our FIRST ever parent/teacher conference and the first real feedback we've gotten since the nightmare of Kindergarten registration testing where we were told Roman "failed", even though it was not supposed to be a pass-fail test. We had been so strongly encouraged, felt more like pressured, into sending him to pre-K summer school, and our decision not to do so, of course, it hard not to question if that was the best course of action for him. All of the papers Roman has brought up have been positive, he is always on "green", and the brief interactions we've had with his teacher have been positive, but to hear that he is doing amazingly well in Kindergarten was sheer relief! We were thrilled with his progress thus far. And so incredibly proud of our little man. We thank God daily for his wonderful teacher knowing many of our friend's children have not been so lucky. She seems so loving and kind, always smiling and in high spirits and appears to genuinely care of the children in her class. Plus, the changes we've seen educationally in Roman over the last few months has been astronomical! He's always been a smart kid, but seems to really be 'getting it' and putting things together now. Ms. Neal even recommended he try a reading class. Of course we're thrilled to hear this and I know once Roman starts reading, he'll just love it. We couldn't have asked for a more positive first Parent/Teacher conference and look forward to working with Ms. Neal, and of course Roman, for the remainder of the year. Go Roman!!!

btw... Ms. Neal did not say "SO" when we addressed his eating issues from last week!

Hopey's first Campaign

We have always made a point of bringing the kids with us to the polls while explaining and letting them be a part of the process. This year I did some campaigning for the Kilgore for Governor campaign. Today I volunteered to take the morning shift to hand out Republican sample ballots and was told they were short staffed to cover the evening shift, so of course I volunteered to pitch in again. Hopey wasn't so thrilled with that ideal and was very clingy since I had disappeared the evening before to attend a campaign rally with President Bush - which was AWESOME! So, instead of fighting my beloved 3 year old, I loaded her up and headed to the polls. She was so excited to be getting some 1 on 1 time with mommy and was too cute handing out sample ballots. I always said since she has inherited my love of gab that she would someday go into politics. Just grooming her at an early age!

Humpback Rocks

As gorgeous as this weather has been how could we not spend a day enjoying the great outdoors? James has been excessively whiney and not feeling well. Not up to really going out or doing much of anything right now. Poor guy! So I got in touch with Angie Sammon, the mom of a little girl, Madison, in Roman's class. Madison has an older brother, Josh who is 7. So we loaded up in the van and with all 5 kids in tow... a 2 year old, 3 year old, 5, 6 (well, close enough), and 7 year old we headed to the mountains. Humpback Rocks has always been a favorite hiking spot of mine and it has been years since I've really been in the mountains. We have been talking of going for the last 3 years, but had yet to make it. The kids had the best time! They claimed cabins at the foot of the hill as their personal clubhouse and I think would have played for days if we'd have let them. They wrestled in the leaves and attempted to climb a tree. They ran, they laughed, everyone just had a really great time. We did attempt the hike up to humpback rocks, but not much past the first stretch we bailed. Bethany was determined to hike it herself and was becoming quite crabby from all the hard playing they had already done. We let them run around for awhile in the big field then came back down to play in their "clubhouse" some more. The kids were just great together and we had no incidences. I can't even begin to say how pleased and relaxing this was, especially with Angie's great company!

Ms. Neal says "SO!"

Roman did not eat his lunch, nor his snack this past week. He came home everyday with a full lunch box, and an empty stomach as he devours everything in sight. We assumed the first few days he just really wasn't hungry and still feeling bad from the flu-bug he's been battling, but by Friday it was just getting a bit ridiculous! When discussing this with him he really wouldn't talk about it, so I told him I would be asking his teacher about it at parent/teacher conferences next week. He says, "Go ahead, Ms. Neal will just say 'So!'" LOL We'll just see if that's what Ms. Neal has to say on Tuesday!