West Virginia

This past weekend we were in West Virginia with Aunt Philly, Uncle Dave, Steven, Vickie, Leia, Riona, Kari, Kermit, Abby, and Megan. Growing up we would also go up to WV over Memorial Weekend to pay respects to our ancestors and visit with distant relatives and listen to stories of life long ago. I took James many years ago, but this was a first for the kids. We stayed in a log cabin with nice views of the river, and although the cabin wasn't up to everyone's standards, we did have a great time. We visited the cemetaries, threw rocks in the river, hiked 1.5 miles up and back to the observation tower at Seneca Rocks - boy was I impressed with my babies! Roman and Hope both walked with next to 0 complaints all the way up and all the way down. Bethany Nicole walked her little 2 yr old legs off as she hiked all the way to the top on her own and then James and I switched back and forth carrying her down. They all loved it, as did James and I! We also had a great bonfire and let the kids cook their dinner (hotdogs) and dessert (s'mores) over the open fire. And we ended the trip with a tour of Smoke Hole Caverns. It was a really nice weekend and everyone had a great time!

The Broken Recliner

What insanity one little broken recliner can cause! Last week the recliner basically went caput. It's been dieing, leaning to one side and not reclining right for awhile, but last week it began to recline the back all the way backwards as soon as you sat in it, reclined or not. So James and I decided it was time for new furniture! We went out on Thursday evening to look at our options and both fell in love with a dark navy, arguably off black, leather sofa with 2 recliners built in and matching recliner chair. It is soooooooooooooooo comfortable! We went ahead and bought it on the spot and it will be delivered on later this week. Well, that brings us to our next dilema, the walls in the living room are tan, and will not look good with the navy furniture, so I went and picked out paint, a cool "fog" color that's either grey or light blue depending on your perception at any given moment. WEll, that brings us to our next dilema! The floor is nasty, dirty tan berber that we have hated since day 1, and especially with navy furniture and blue/grey walls, so we have shopped around and found a great deal on laminate flooring. The plan now is to paint the walls, pull up the yucky carpet and lay light beech laminate flooring. Originally we going to do carpet in just the living room and hallway, but for less than that cost we are doing the laminate in the living room, hallway, kitchen, and utility room. It should be gorgeous when we're done! All this because one little recliner broke!

I Want My Teeth!

Yesterday evening Roman was sitting on my lap eating an apple when he started to choke, then gag. I got him to the sink and he was able to spit it out and threw up a little bit. This is the 3rd time this has happened recently and it's scary. So out of frustration I ask, to no one in particular, "Why does this keep happening? Why does he keep choking all a sudden?!" to which Roman yells, "Because I can't chew, I don't have any teeth!" Then he sort of went hysterical and started bawling, crying over and over, "I just want my teeth back!" It was really pitiful, but I had to leave the room from laughing so hard!

Come Back and Visit Tomorrow

A miracle happened this weekend. Some sucker (sorry Angie! hehe) willingly volunteered to take ALL THREE of my kids for a sleep over! She was gluten for punishment for sure! Angie had asked it they could come over Saturday evening and they ended up staying the night - ALL of them. This has NEVER happened for us and the kids were thrilled! Of course we called half a dozen times, but tried to refrain from driving her too insane. We missed the little monsters like mad, but knew they were excellent hands. The house was way too quiet, but we did actually accomplish a lot on a huge remodling project we've recently started. At about midnight I sat up and said, "Oh no! Bethany doesn't have a baby to sleep with!" Funny how things just pop into your head like that. Bethany apparently did great without her baby doll and did not sleep with one last night either, though she was asking for it. Angie also worked on potty training her, so I was worried James would never let me pick her back up! LOL Anyway, we finally went to get them around 3 yesterday afternoon after nearly 24 hours. Can you believe it? There was one minor incident where Bethany fell off the steps and conked her head, but we're used to those types of accidents with that child and she was fine.

I must say, the best and worst feeling of all is coming to pick up your children and hearing "Oh no, they're hear, HIDE!" LOL It's great because at that moment you KNOW they had a great time and were well taken care of. There is no doubt what-so-ever. It sad because, we'll it would be a little nice if they were excited to see us! LOL We hung out and let them play a little longer and when it was finally time to go Hope started whining, "but we haven't had enough time to play, it's not fair!" Okay, 24 hours is just not enough time to play with the Sammons. Hmm, wonder if they'll still be that excited to be around each other come July 1st after a week together at the beach! So finally get Roman and Hope heading out the door and Bethany goes running up to hide in their swingset. So, I try the usual, 'we're leaving without you' bit and say, "Okay Bethany we're leaving, bye!" and instead of being greeted with the normal squeal and "No WAIT!" as she runs as fast as she can to catch up, I am instead greeted with "Okay mommy, come back and visit tomorrow!"

Hope and Alex

Last fall there was a little boy named Alex on Hope's soccer team. This year he moved up to Roman's division and his father is coaching his team. Well, on Saturday Roman's team played Alex's team. Hope was soooooooooo excited to see him. They were too cute together. In the middle of the game Alex decided it would be best if he and Hope went to the playground instead of playing/watching the game. Of course I said no, as did his mom, so Alex says, "Come on Hope, you can sit with me then." He then takes her hand and they walk off hand in hand. They looked like a pair teenagers snuggled together lovingly holding hands as they watched the game. Everytime they'd get up they had to hold hands while walking together. It was too sweet, and we definitely have to keep an eye on that kid with our daughter! LOL They did eventually make it to the playground for a few minutes at least.

Belated Easter Update

Okay, my last post for now, but wanted to update on our Easter this year since I've been slacking on here lately. On Friday (4/14) the girls and I headed out to Powhatan to color Easter eggs with Steven and Garrett. Jon was out of town fishing, so James stayed home. We were joined by their neighbor Eric and his two boys. We ate and colored eggs and overall everyone had fun. Last year, you may remember, Garrett - my cutie-pie Godson - ate one of the color tabs during our egg dying party. This year, he tried to eat my kids instead! Garrett is going through a biting phase and bit Steven, then Roman, then finally honked down on Bethany's arm really hard! There is actually still a light mark from it and it's been nearly 2 weeks. That one got him sent to bed early, poor little guy. He's just having trouble getting things out and bites when he gets frustrated. We're all hoping this phase passes soon, especially Bethany!

On Sunday we awoke to a sneaky Easter Bunny who hid all the eggs and baskets. The kids scored with lots of fun goodies, like jump ropes, magna doodles, bubble guns, new crazyons, sunglasses, goggles and of course, candy! Bethany was hysterical with the jump rope. She's hold onto the handles like a pro then turn into a Mexican jumping bean and boing around as fast as she could dragging the rope behind her. She was so incredibly proud of herself and James and I couldn't stop laughing at her!

After they settled down, we all got dressed in our Easter outfits and headed to DC. We picked up mom and Aunt Bonnie and went to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Roman was in awe of everything, especially the dinosaurs. What a great age he's at right now! Bethany became very territorial over mom's chair which she let B ride around with her on. And Hope was happy as can be attempting to say hello to every person in Washington, DC! That's my little social butterfly. :) Mom had forgotten to charge her chair, which died towards the end of our visit and I had to push her back out, across two streets, and back to the car, with Bethany still riding along, of course. It was fun, and I'm sure really funny to watch us. On the way back home we stopped at the pond to feed the fish and one lone goose. The kids had a ball with that. Finally back to mom's house for Easter dinner before heading home. It was a lot of fun and we all enjoyed the wonderful day!

Re-addressing Concepts of Time and Age

I have posted in the past of Roman's concept of time and what is old. Well today is my 30th birthday, which means James just turned 35 three days ago. On James's birthday we went out to dinner at Ghenghis Kahn and Roman and I were discussing age.

How old is daddy? -- 35, he's old and no matter what, he will always be a lot older than mommy.

Well, how old is mommy? -- 29 and I'll be 30 in a few days.

That's not very old, you're still young mommy. You don't even have any grey hair, just all nice and brown! -- (does he know how to suck up or what?)

So, how old does that make grandma? -- She'll be 60 this year, that's twice as old as mommy.

OH man, she's ANCIENT!

Do You Understand Me?

There comes a time in every girls life when they stop and say, "Wow, I sound just like my mother!" For Bethany Nicole this revelation has already hit. Yes at just 2 1/2 years old, my beloved baby girl has already begun sounding just like her mother.

As we were settling in for storytime before bed the other night all the kids crowded around me on the couch. Hope sat just to my right and Roman on the left with Bethany butted up against him trying to see the book. Roman started pushing her away and telling her to move, she was squishing him and he didn't like it. So Bethany says, "Mommy said I could sit here, do you understand me?" Roman just huffed and Bethany says, "Oh no, you look at me when I'm talking to you, do you understand me! Roman? I said, do you understand me! I am not moving!"

Yes I about fell off the couch laughing. I have been using the "do you understand me" and "look at me when I'm talking to you" cards with Bethany frequently these days as she is getting old enough to know better with some of her behaviors, and you have to fully gain her attention to make sure your point is getting across. It was about as revelationational to the "children are like sponges absorbing everything around them" theory as the time Roman, at roughly her age, decided he wanted a drink of my coke and upon telling him no, he defiantly says, "And you said we're a sharing family!" LOL Hope had been just a baby and so the concepts of what it means to be a big brother and sharing were being instilled in him at the time. All three like to play that card even still today, and the ironic part is, the first time I told that to Roman was my "Wow, I sound just like my mother!" moment!

Hope's 4 year Stats

Hope finally had her 4 year check-up on April 17th. She too has grown signicantly and chunked up over the last year. Hope now weighs 39 lbs (75%) and is 40 1/2 inches tall (50%). The check-up went pretty smooth, no issues to report, she looks PERFECT! Then I brought up her speech issue. Hope still has trouble pronouncing certain letters and in a lot of ways Bethany is beginning to speek more clearly than Hope. We will keep an eye on her this summer and have the school evaluate her in the fall - though I'm going to talk to the school today to see what the process is for this and may move sooner on it. At first the doctor was surprised when I brought this up saying she had understood Hope perfectly through the whole meeting. Famous last words! I'm not sure she understood another word out her mouth the rest of the visit! We both agreed it's best to get this resolved or on it's way to being resolved before she starts Kindergarten.

Another Trip to the ER

I can not believe it's been nearly a month since I last updated. That just goes to show how insanely busy I've been this month. The kids are doing well overall. This past Saturday while James and i were working on spring cleaning the kitchen the kids got this brilliant idea! Underneath the girls' bunkbed would make the perfect fort. Once we noticed all was more than a little too quiet, we stopped and started the hunt for where the kids were and what they were doing. We discovered them in their "fort", where they had removed one of the drawers (they have 3 drawers under their bed, but because it's a full size bottom bunk, half of the bed behind the drawers is all open space) and crawled back behind the other drawers. Roman had snagged James droplight and rigged it up so they could see under there and all we heard to tip us off of this secret hide out was tons of giggles. They were so cute and proud of themselves. Roman came out to talk to us, then Bethany while Hope remained "inside". We laughed, told them they were crazy and that it was time to get out now. Of course this in Bethany speech translated to 'get back under there where they can't reach me as fast as I can!' When she did, she cut her wrist on the metal support glider bar that the dresser drawer rests on. It was a big gash about 2 1/2 inches long which is HUGE on a tiny 2 year old. We feared it may need stitches, put a basic bandage on it and told her to keep it up in the air - which she did and was just too adorable, such a little trooper! And off to the ER we headed. She was seen very quickly and Dr. Sang laughed at the fact that this was her 2nd trip in just over a month saying, "With a kid like her, we expect to be on a first name basis with you!" GREAT! Just what I wanted to hear. LOL He said in an older kid he probably would have stitched the deepest part, but in one her age the emotional damage would outway the benefit of the stitches, just not worth it. So he put butterfly closures on it and sent us on our way. They told us that the closures were waterproof and next to impossible to pull off, that they would fall off on their own in about a week. We just needed to keep the area clean and bandaged. On the way home we stopped by WalMart to pick up some gauze and tape and really big bandaids that would help cover the area - after all she IS only 2 and a total dirt magnet and we definitely don't want it to get infected. I also picked up 2 boxes of butterfly closures. Why? They assured us they wouldn't come off for a week. Well, by now anyone reading this blog should understand just how extremely stubborn and strong willed this daughter of mine is. And yes, before bed that same day she had two of them pulled off and by morning she had all but one from the hospital's pulled off. We have been through one of the two boxes replacing pulled off butterfly closures so far!

Oh, and she gained THREE pounds in the month between ER visits according to their scales! I have to remember to check her weight at home. How on earth could my little scrawny girl with the buddha belly full of fluff go from the 25th percentile to the 82nd percentile in 6 months?!?

The Thunder Cake

So, Monday night we headed to Don Jose's after Hope's soccer practice for dinner. During out time there it began to thunder, lightening, pour down rain, hail and all. James volunteered to go get the car and pull it up to the door for us, but I had just recently read an online post about running through the rain and how cleansing, satisfying and refreshing it can be and how all people should take a few seconds to just run through the rain. As adults we forget that simple little joy we all faced as kids. So, the 5 of us held hands, Daddy, Roman, Bethany, Hope, and Mommy, and took off through the pouring rain giggling and hooting the whole way to the car. It was awesome!

But, that's not really what this post is about. LOL See, once in the car on our drive home Roman starts carrying on and on about how we need to go home and bake a thunder cake. A thunder cake? So, I offer up a lightning cake. I can handle cutting a cake into a bolt of lightning and icing it yellow. NO, a THUNDER CAKE. Okay, so what's a thunder cake?

A thunder cake is a really yummy cake you make during thunder storms. You need flour, eggs, milk, and tomatoes. (yes, you read that right). And still, he goes on.... Some icing, any flavor really, lemon would probably be best, and the cake flavor could really be anything, chocolate, vanilla, lemon, strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, or tomatoe. "Tomatoe would be best!"

So, stiffling hysterics, James and I inquire further. "Are you SURE you mean tomatoe? Like the round red vegetable that your sisters fight over all the time?" YUP, tomatoes! You squish them up and pour in some tomatoe juice and that makes a really super yummy Thunder Cake!

James volunteered to help him make it one day... I am not that brave! LOL

Spring Soccer 2006

This year, James is once again coaching Roman and Hope's teams this year. Roman in on the purple Panthers team, and Hope is on the blue Dolphins. Roman's team has had a bit of a rough start with a low turnout at Meet the Coach Day and a rained out first practice, then being thrown into a game having never met each other, and some never having played soccer before, and put up against a team that has played together for 2 seasons now. They struggled with a 0-4 loss, but we see alot of potential with this team and look forward to really getting this season off right at Tuesday's practice. Hope's team, in contrast, is a mighty powerhouse! We had a great turn out of 11 out of 12 players at meet and greet, an amazing 1st practice that had parents from other teams stopping to gawk, and it all came together at their first game as they ran circles around the other team. The team overall is ready to move into team play and scoring practice which is almost unheard of for 3 & 4 year olds this early in the season! We look forward to a lot of fun with both teams!

Bethany on the Phone

Yesterday in the van, Bethany was playing with a toy phone and just blabbing on and on. She was overheard saying, "Hello ME, I'm talking to YOU!" LOL

Bethany's Arm

Wow was this a crazy saga. It's probably a good thing that I was too busy to update during the actual events! Here's the full, as short as possible, unabridged version:

On the morning of Friday, March 17th - St. Patrick's Day, James took the girls to the mall playground after seeing Roman off to school. They played there for awhile. (note: Bethany is very rambunctious, likes to jump off of things and tumble everywhere when at this playground). Afterwards they went to Strictly Soccer to pick up some things for the season which started the following day. Bethany is bad about running around this particular store and usually there's just us in there anyway, but with a major tournament that weekend the place was crowded, so James held her hand tightly so she wouldn't take off. Well, she jerked back to get away while he still had her hand and she immediately dropped the floor hysterical. He snatched her up and loaded the girls in the car as Bethany screamed the worse imaginable scream and he called me in a panick of what to do. They came by the office and I took a quick look at it and she screamed anytime you touched it and wouldn't use it at all. So that afternoon I took her to the pediatrician. I did call Kari in between and she diagnosed her as "Nurse Maid's Elbow" as Abby also has it. It is essentially a dislocated elbow. (in hindsite, guess we should'a just packed up and headed to Aunt Kari's!) Kari had told me what to do to fix it and I tried and it would not pop, not at all, so off to the ped's we went. Dr. Saunders thought the same as Kari but couldn't be 100% positive. She tried to pop it back in place and only got a small little pop and was unconvinced that was the problem or that that fixed the problem. We took her home for 40 minutes of evaluation and she fell asleep, so we let her nap as long as she needed. When she awoke she still wasn't using her left arm. I lifted it up and she again screamed, but this time it popped, and popped, and popped, 6 times at the wrist and elbow, so Barbara came over to watch the girls while James and I took Bethany to the ER. We believe it was dislocated at both the wrist and elbow, because after her wrist popped she began to move her fingers and bend at her wrist whereas before she was not. In the ER she was an absolute doll and everyone fell in love with her. The nurses kept bringing stuff by to try to get her to use that arm.... lights, tongue depressors, stuffed animals, even a popcicle. She wouldn't even attempt to use her left arm, not for all the temptation in the world. She called it her "boo-boo arm" and told everyone how Daddy held her hand and made her arm hurt. Talk about laying on the guilt! They took x-rays and we were finally told she had a hairline fracture just above her elbow and they put a splint cast on, with sling, and referred us to Dr. Kim, a pediactric orthopaedic specialist. Since it was nearing midnight by then, we had to wait until Monday morning to call. Bethany HATED the sling and quickly discovered how to remove it and hid it every time we turned around. A constant battle. She also learned to unravell the ace bandages holding the cast in place and on Monday I came home at lunch to find her napping with both ace bandages completely removed! Boy did that hurt her when mommy had to rewrap her arm up. I had also called Dr. Kim's office and scheduled her appointment for Wednesday morning... another 2 full days of this! We were completely frazzled and ready to beg him for a full hard cast by the time Wednesday arrived. So, we get there, the nurse unwraps her arm while the Doc looks over her xrays. He comes in, says, nope, it's not broken afterall, just... Nurse Maid's Elbow! He took 30 seconds moved her arm in the same manner everyone else had, only this time it worked and she was instantaneously cured! I mean high fiving, hugging, and shaking hands all the way out the door. Unbelievable!!

Hope blew a hole in the floor!

Tonight for some unknown reason Hope Elizabeth was battling some major MAJOR gas. I've never seen a child fart so much in my life. At one point she farted so loud she had my guys cracking up and James says, "Hopey, I think you just blew a hole in the floor." Poor Hope got this momentary panick look on her face and quickly lifted up to peak under her just to make sure that floor was still there!

Trettel Family Update

I can't believe it's been nearly a month since I last posted. That should at least give some testimony to just how insanely busy we've been here. Over all everything is going well. I personally have been stressed and exhausted which is probably the biggest reason why I haven't posted much lately. School, work, kids, just everything snowballing at once. Bethany has been very trying and bring both James and I to the brink of our very last nerve frequently these days. She is worse than a young puppy and chews up EVERYTHING. This is nothing that child won't eat, rip, tear, shred, or chew and spit back out. We are having to re-examine the house for baby proofing and are running out of space to move things up higher and higher on shelves and in cabinets. She is testing every ounce of our patience and it has just been a very tiring battle. The child also doesn't go to sleep anymore without a long, drawn out battle of wills. Just last night she was up till midnight fighting us tooth and nail. Any "normal" kid would have slept in late after that battle, but not B, she was up at 7 ready to go, and grumpy as all get-out all morning long. We didn't battle the "terrible 2's" with Roman or Hope where age 3 seemed to be the hardest, but even that was NOWHERE near as difficult as Bethany at 2! Hope is doing fantastic! We couldn't be more proud of her. She is learning so many new things, writing, drawing, talking up a storm with near 100% clarity now. Literally overnight this child has blossomed and we are doing our best to nurture it. James has started a preschool homeschooling study program for her and Bethany and Hope is just thriving with it. Roman too is doing great! He lost his 5th tooth last month, the never ending tooth that remained wiggly and creating a huge gap in his mouth over the course of an entire month! It FINALLY came out and now he is a snaggle-tooth and cute as a button. His 2nd 9-week report card came back. He did slightly better than last month making straight E's in everything but art and music (which we're convinced only hands out S's). For the most part he is still loving school, though a lot of the excitment of it seems to be wearing off. Guess after day 100 it's all downhill, huh? LOL Everyone is gearing up for soccer season which begins in 2 weeks. James is very excited to be coaching both Roman and Hope's teams again this season.

Like I said at the start of this, life is just busy right now, but we're all doing just fine! :)

Visiting "The Dead People Place"

On the way home from Emily's birthday party today we swung through Leesburg. We haven't been up there in much too long. For those of you who don't know James and I lost our first born. Taylor Marie was stillborn in June of '98. Then between Roman and Hope we lost 2 more little babies to m/c, one of which was confirmed to be a baby girl. Today we stopped by the cemetary to visit Taylor's grave. The kids were interested and this time Roman, of course, asked many questions that James and I answered as honestly as we could. We have mentioned to him in the past that he is not truly the "oldest" as Taylor would have been 18 months older than him, but he never really "got it". James and I were saddened to see so many new graves near our little Taylor. Hers used to stand out as it more or less stood all alone and is now surrounded by many other little babies sent straight to heaven. In explaining who Taylor was to Roman he just sort of soaked it all in. He asked if he had anymore sisters he didn't know about, and James and I both looked at each other before saying "yes". He wanted to know their names and we told him about Isabel who we lost in the second trimester, and that there had been one other that died so young we didn't have a chance to name her (it was an early m/c), so he decided we would just name her "Angel", before taking in a head count and realizing he really has 5 sisters! Then as we were getting back in the truck he says in the saddest little voice, "I miss my big sister. I'm sorry she died and wish I could know her and play with her. I miss all 3 of my other sisters." It was hard not to bust out crying right then and there, but James and I both just smiled and told him how much we missed them too, especially Taylor, and also wished she could be there. It was a very beautiful moment that I will never forget.

True to form with my kids though, the reverence of the moment did not last long. Shortly after that Roman was on the phone with G-ma and so innocently says, "Hey G-ma, we went to the dead people place to visit my big sister. Did you know I have FIVE sisters?" The innocence, the excitment and tone of his voice, and his chosen words for 'cemetary' had James and I laughing so hard I thought I was going to pee my pants!

H-o-p-e

In the car today James was being silly and singing a little Hopey jingle to the tune of Bingo:

H O P E Y
H O P E Y
H O P E Y
and Hopey was her name-o

And Hope tells me through gritted teeth, "He's saying it all wrong, that's just not right! My name is H-o-p-e, there's no Y, he's just saying it all wrong and making me so mad!"

Candy Prayers

Yesterday we were out running errands and decided to stop by Five Guys for dinner. I have put a ban on eating out as our biggest new year's resolution and this is only the second time we've eaten out this year (the first time we were out of town and visiting the National Aquarium- so extinuating circumstances). Anyone who really knows us knows that is, in itself is a MIRACLE! James and I have always been bad about eating out, but our children's manners in public have been attrocious, down right embarrassing, and it was important to us to get back to the basics, eat at home, at the dinner table, in hopes of repairing some of the antics they were becoming much too accustomed too. Much to our shock it appears to be working!!! My kids were the best, most polite, fabulous, little ones in the whole place. There were 2 other families with toddler/preschoolers and they were all running about, out of control acting like complete monsters, while my precious little angels sat at the table, colored quietly while waiting for dinner, even sharing the crayons amicably amongst themselves, and then actually ate their meals while we enjoyed some pleasant conversations about how they spent their day. It was by far the most enjoyable meal we've had out in probably the last 6 years - since before Roman was born! James and I couldn't have been happier or prouder of our fabulous little munchkins!

As a show of our appreciation, instead of the planned last stop where I jump out, run into Kmart to pick up what I need while James waits in the car with the kids, we instead let them come in for a nice little stroll around the store, and as they were still being so well behaved (I know, you're all waiting for me to say we weren't out with Roman, Hope, and Bethany, but 3 total strangers we picked up off the side of the road!) we let them pick out a small toy each. Roman got a new game piece to a Star Wars game he trying to get in to. Hope discovered the hool-a-hoop, while Bethany picked out a giant pink ball. As we were heading to the check out counter, we past right by the candy isle and Bethany quickly dropped the ball and began grabbing as many bags as her little 2 year old arms could hold trying to shove them into the cart "without anyone noticing". James busted her and firmly told her "No candy" and put them back on the shelf. She tried once more and he shook his head saying, "No". Holding breaths, waiting, bracing for the impact of this one little word.... this is where our typical temper tantrum two year old would begin with the one big sob, followed by the ear piercing scream as her little body is glued to the floor with arms and legs flying in every direction and the screaming and tears enough to embarrass even the unrelated stock boy 2 isles over.... but not this time! Nope, instead Bethany solemnly retrieved her ball, kneeled before it facing the candy shelves, laid her elbows on top of the ball, folded her hands together, closed her eyes, bowed her head, and began to pray for candy, right there in the middle of the isle at Kmart.

Yes, she got to pick out one bag of candy after James composed himself trying desperately to hold back the hysterics. They were all told they had to wait until tomorrow (which is today), but once we got home and got the kids to bed, our normal little retched monsters resurfaced as the girls fought us for 2 1/2 hours, losing their candy rights for today in the process, before finally going to sleep within seconds of losing TV priviledges too, so, barring no further instances today, Bethany will have to wait until tomorrow to have her "candy prayers" answered.

Hopey Turns 4!!!

Hope Elizabeth is officially 4 years old. I haven't had a lot of time to update lately, but wanted to get this posted before it becomes a blur. We had her birthday party on the 21st at Grandma and Grandaddy's aka Uncle Anthony's! Grandma, Grandaddy, 'mommy's Grandma', Aunt Jennifer, Uncle Jesse, Uncle Rob, Uncle Dan, Uncle Anthony, Uncle Dave, Aunt Philly, Carla, Carlee, Leia, Brandon, and, of course, our clan, were there to celebrate her big day! Hope has been waiting for this day for nearly 5 months, ever since we began planning Bethany's party back in September. We have been doing a count down and marking days off the calendar since the first of the month, and finally it was here! Her chosen theme was DORA, what else is there? Aunt Bonnie was kind enough to give her a DORA cake pan that she has treasured for over a month impatiently waiting for her party - I have even busted her sleeping with this cake pan! No pressure there! I had already read of the horror stories of this particular cake, and am not the greatest cake decorator to begin with. Cake 1 stuck the pan, was too moist and completely crumbled. This is, of course, at midnight the night before her party as I waited until we got to Baltimore Friday night to make the cake. So, emergency backup - bake another one. This one mostly came out okay, but the entire face and all the details of the top left side of poor Dora stuck and had to be rebuilt. Hopey was very pleased with the finished product, even if the pain-in-the-butt-critic, Roman swore it looked nothing like Dora. You can judge for yourself!



We didn't really have much planned for the party - I know, not like me at all! - but the Uncles had their own little surprise, so it all worked out in the end. We had lunch waiting when everyone arrived - tacos, in honor of Dora. Throughout the first hour the guys kept disappearing. We thought they were upstairs attempting to wrap presents, but they had other things in mind.



Over 100 balloons were blown up and just before opening presents they were dumped all at once over the balcony to the delight of our little birthday princess being showered below. It was beautiful and the kids went crazy!



After that was time for gifts. She is one lucky girl and got all sorts of really cool stuff. Then we had cake and ice cream, cut and served by our very own birthday girl. And finally time for the pinata. My kids LOVE pinatas, but honestly, where in the world do you hang them?? Not my problem this time. I threw it at Uncle Dan and Uncle Anthony and told they were in charge of the pinata. The end result.....



Yup, that's my brother-in-laws lowering a pinata from the rooftop! And people wonder where my kids get their collective creativity!!! The party was a bit hit and the birthday girl was thrilled, so will call it a success! But... that wasn't all for Hopey's birthday as her actual birthday was on the 27th. That night the Sammons - Angie, Jason, Josh, and Hopey's new best friend, Madison - came over for dinner, carryout from Don Jose's, and we celebrated again with a small ice cream cake. She has been in birthday heaven! Saturday (the 28th) when she woke up wanting to know what we were doing for her birthday that day, I had to break the news that her birthday is over. Her response? "Well, how many more days till I turn 5?" LOL It's gonna be a LONG year!



HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRINCESS HOPE!!!!

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

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!

Halloween 2005

Roman's new buddy, Matthew Jennsch, from soccer and his mom, Kary, met us at our house for trick-or-treating this year. The kids had a blast and boy did they rack in some loot this year!

Bethany 2 year Stats

Bethany had her well-baby checkup today. She is 25 lbs (25% - woohoo! First time above the 15% since birth!) and 33 1/2 inches long (50%). She is "perfect" to quote the doctor! She found Bethany to be very well spoken for her age and advanced in nearly all areas. Of course we've always known this! She even commented on how well she can hold a tune as she broke out into her rendition of "Old MacFarmer" in the middle of the checkup. We discussed the hair pulling and she does not feel it is a problem, just a stage, but we will continue to keep close watch over her. She has been eating us out of house and home, so I suspect we're in for, yet another growth spurt this coming month. She has already maxed the 18 and 24 month pants in length and is wearing 2T's now with a few 3T's even. Her foot size is up to a 7 1/2, but quickly approaching 8's. Boy, is she taking after her brother with those feet! Roman also has shot up drastically on us and is maxing length in the size 6's we just bought him at the beginning of the school year - 2 months ago - and will be needing all new clothes again before winter even arrives!

Bethany's Birthday Party

Bethany's party was Saturday and we had a blast! It was so much fun! We went to the pumpkin patch at Chesterfield Berry Farm. Jon, Alicia, Steven and Garrett; Kari, Kermit, Abigail, and Megan; and Barbara all met us there. Hadn't been there in 2 years and boy has it grown! We started off with a barrel tractor pull ride that the kids just loved. Then to the bounce house. It was so cute watching her in the bounce house with all her friends and family. Her chicken legs kept sliding down and she'd just fall over and lay there being bounced around. Such a little goof! Then it was onto the haywagon ride out to the fields to pick out our pumpkins. We got some good pictures in the pumpkin patch. Finally a stop in the corn pit - literally a pit filled with feed corn nearly knee deep on me. The kids LOVED this. And ended with a quick run through "Pirates Cove" a cheesy kid-friendly haunted house. Then it was back to our house for some yummy chili and grub - I made an entire, large crock pot full of chili and I barely had enough left to cover 2 chili dogs, so someone must of have liked it! LOL Jon and Alicia couldn't make it back to the house for dinner as they already had plans, but Mike, Adrienned and Joshua were able to make it over for dinner, so that was fun. A round of pin the tail on the donkey then cake/ice cream and presents. It was a wonderful time! Bethany looked adorable in her chicken costume! Check out all the pics:

Bethany's Birthday Cake

Bethany's Birthday Cake

I saw this cake (okay, similar) on the Wilton website and just loved it. Of course they had icing animals and a silo and everything, I simplified it, but still, the results came out great! My first attempt at cake decorated started with Bethany's 1st birthday last year. Let's just say I've come a long way in the last 12 months!

(in case you can't tell, her party theme for this year was Fisher Price Little People Farm.)

More party details to come....

Roman's 1st Real Play Date

Roman had his first play-date today with Matthew Jennsch. Matthew is a little boy from his Fall soccer team. James and I like his mother, Kary, a lot and felt comfortable enough for Roman to go over to their house for an afternoon of fun. He ended up staying for dinner and I think would have spent the night if we'd let him. Baby steps... mommy's still catching up with this letting go stuff!

Balding B Update 2 - We Chopped it Off!

Bethany's hair is GONE! We took her tonight to chop it off. They actually left more than I had expected, but the hairstylist was one of their best and said it should start filling in fine from there as long as she stays off it. I've busted her twice trying to pull on it since then and it's only been 3 hours! ARGH!!! Hopefully she will not find enough left to really bother and will soon give up. That's the plan at least. Actually it looks so much cuter than I ever imagined!

Balding B Update

Bethany continues to lose hair by the fistful. We correct her when we catch her, but come on, she's a very active toddler, we can not possible keep our eyes glued on her hands 24x7! I also have been sticking a glove on her hand when I notice her getting sleepy-eyed. That seems to be when it's at it's worse. I just don't know what else to do! She sucks on 2 fingers on her left hand, so it's only her right hand causing problems... which makes it all the worse imo. She has always carried a Barbie or My Little Pony, or some other baby doll with realish hair texture and has pulled out several wads of hair there, but I don't mind that, she can have ruin all the toys in the world if she'd just leave her own hair alone! So frustrating!

Multi-Lingual Kids

Roman starts a multi-lingual after school class today. I completely forgot all about it, but fortunately James remembered so I called the school at lunch to confirm it starts today and told them to make sure Roman's teacher knows he's not catching the bus home since we didn't tell him about it - since I completely forgot we even signed him up for it. LOL It's supposed to be casual vocabulary in 4 different languages... Spanish, French, German, and Japanese. He can already count to at least 10 pretty fluently in Spanish and knows some of the numbers in all four and a variety of Spanish and German words and phrases already. I personally hated French, so other than counting have steered clear of that one at home. I don't remember too much Japanese, but after years of karate, just couldn't get the counting out of my head. LOL Hopey is speaking more and more Spanish everyday thanks to Dora and LeapFrog. Fortunately it's Latin-based and similar enough to French for me to keep up with her. I keep telling James we're going to have to find a Spanish class soon or we won't be able to communicate with her. LOL I'm not complaining, I think it's important for all the kids to comfortably speak at least one other language.

A Balding B

My little Bmonster not only sucks her fingers and bites her nails, but has recently tossed her matted hair Barbie's and My Little Ponies for hair twirling. Hair twirling in itself isn't bad, Roman does this too and has since he was a baby, but Bethany twirls her hair then yanks it out by the handful! I noticed Friday she seemed thin on one side and thought it was just a bad hair day. Then we dug 2 hairballs out of the child's mouth wrapped tightly around her fingers and I started paying closer attention. Sure enough she's literally pulling all her hair out! She looks like she has a one-sided mullet! It's really short, spikey and you can see the scalp on the side she's pulling on. She's beginning to look like a shaggy haired dog with mange. It's HORRIBLE!!!

Madison Sammon's Birthday Present

Roman was invited to a birthday party this weekend for a little girl in his class named Madison. This is really the first of the "unknown" friends ever. Meaning, every other birthday party we've been to we've known the birthday child and known what he/she likes and whatnot. This time we have NO IDEA. So, what do you buy a 5 year old girl that you don't even know for her birthday? Roman said he'll take care of it... that was a scary thought! But, I took him to Target and he picked out a Barbie Veternarian that was pretty cute. He tells me "This is IT! Madison likes animals I think, and I've never met a girl yet who didn't love Barbies!"

Chicken Boy

Chicken Boy is Roman's self-chosen nickname post Aunt Jennifer's wedding. At the reception the DJ encouraged participation with props, including a feather "chicken" mask for the chicken dance and blow up guitars for a few rock numbers. Someone appropriated one of each and Jennifer past them on to Roman the following morning. The result... Chicken Boy! Roman puts on the mask and turns into a rock'n roll freak.

Bethany Speaks

Bethany's speech has exploded over night. I am finding it difficult to tell her and Hope apart at times. Her favorite words are "NO" and "MINE". Everything is Bethany's these days. She still babbles, but daily more and more of the babbles are turning into whole sentences, whole conversations. I guess since the other 2 were late talkers, our 22 month old seems absolutely amazing with how well she is talking!

Hopey Serenade

During the 9 hours drive home from the lake we spent the majority without modern technology aka no movies, video games, music or any other sorts of distractions. Instead we spent the hours talking, sleeping, and listening to the kids make up games and songs. Hope, loving to sing as it is, spent a good part of the day serenading us all with her rendition of "Aunt Jennifer" which consists of only 2 lyrics and a variety of tunes. The old standby's of "Old MacFarmer" and "ABCD" of course, but out of the blue came "The Sun Comes Up, The Moon Goes Down" to which she made up an entire song about how fun it is to play all day when the sun comes up and the moon goes down and verses for all the places she loves to play. It was very cute and James and I were quite impressed with this impressive impromtu!

Hopey Starts SOCCER!

Hope Elizabeth had her first soccer practice tonight. Her feet were too small from Roman's first pair of cleats and we could only find 1 of his first pair of shin-guards, so we had to sprint to Strictly Soccer before heading over to practice. Wouldn't you know - PINK soccer cleats, matching PINK shin-guards, and a PINK ball were her products of choice! They are the cutest little pink Diadora's ever and she looked adorable wearing big brother's shorts and shirt (way too big on her) and her new soccer stuff. Her team is called the Magics and there are 10 little boys and girls. Much to our delight there are 5 girls on her team, so she is definitely in Hopey heaven! James is coaching her team through the Manchester YMCA and has a real assistant coach this season, Coach Stephanie. So far she seems great! They just look sooooooo cute out there!

Aunt Jennifer & Uncle Jesse's Wedding

On September 10, 2005 Uncle Jesse officially joined our family. Aunt Jennifer was absolutely gorgeous and looked so happy and relaxed. It was as it should be! Roman was a handsome ring bearer, tux and all, but when the big moment came he froze, freaked, turned and ran for cover! NO WAY was he walking down that aisle with all those people staring at him. I was called back a little too late, so as the most adorable little flower girl - Hope Elizabeth! - began walking down the aisle, Roman and I snuck down the side and joined daddy and Bethany. Hope did AWESOME! She looked like a little princess and smiled and walked all the way down all by herself. We were so proud! After the wedding she told us "My prince ditched me at the door! I didn't know a princess could walk down all by herself, but I did it!" Shortly after the ceremony began I had to bolt with a very restless Bethany. She just wouldn't sit still and was beginning to fuss, so we went down to the church nursery to play. The ceremony was relatively short and when Bethany and I came back up for family pictures and to see the bride and groom off we discovered our adorable little flower girl didn't make it through the wedding. She had fallen asleep sitting up. It was too cute! Bethany was still being restless and wouldn't stand still for anything. Doubt many good pictures of her will come back, but she looked adorable all the same as a little honorary flower girl she wore a matching dress to Hopey's. When they went to make the introductions at the reception, all the men in the wedding party wore sunglasses. Funny how suddenly Roman was willing to strut his stuff hiding behind those shades. Why didn't we think of that earlier? At the reception all 3 kids turned into dancing fools and stole the dance floor! The DJ passed around various blow up toys and masks and silly stuff to get the audience out of the chairs and on the dance floor having fun. Roman quickly fell in love with these blow up guitars, and with his shades on morphed into a rock star, or so he thought. Bethany discovered blow up microphones, but, in true B-monster fashion, chewed holes in everyone that came near her. Hope liked the air vent on the floor as is blew her dress up like a ballerina and she spent quite a bit of time dancing around on top of it. When she wasn't there you were sure to find her dancing it up on the dance floor with anyone and everyone she could find. It was a lot of fun! The kids certainly had a blast and we are all very excited to welcome Jesse into our family!

Who's Day is it?

After putting on her beautiful princess flower girl gown, having her hair done up in a curly bun with a gorgeous tiara, makeup and nails done just like the big girls, upon entering the limo Hope asks, "Who's day is it again? Aunt Jennifer's or mine?"

Bethany's First Haircut

Bethany had her first haircut today! My baby girl is all grown up. She looks so cute! She did really well for the most part, of course she fidgeted as any 22 month old would, but overall she did great and is absolutely adorable! I have, in the past, trimmed her bangs up, but this is her first real haircut and boy, what a difference it makes! We have tons of pics, but as usual, haven't uploaded them yet. One of these days I'll have to go bad and just add pics to all these entries. :)

Roman - School Update

Roman is doing great at school. He just loves his teachers, his fav part of school is recess - 2 times a day!, and has his sites 100% on the treasure chest. This is a program his teacher does. Everyday in his folder he has a chart and gets either a green dot for excellent behaviour, yellow for we had a few issues, but overall good, and red for we didn't do so great today and that one usually comes with a note from the teacher. Well, for every 10 consecutive green dots he gets to go to the treasure chest where she keeps little $1 store toys, character pencils, bubbles, just fun odds and ends that the kids can have as a reward. Apparently they also have corresponding frog charts in class showing their frog jumping to the treasure chest (unless that's just how Roman's imagining it in his head, was hard to tell from his description. LOL) and he is non-stop talking about how good he's gonna be and can't wait to reach that treasure chest. It is too cute! So all good on the school front!

Sheer Determination

James has a bad habit of leaving his Coke lying around the house. Today it was on the fireplace, within easy reach of the Bmonster. Bethany spots it, yells "Coke" in her happiest voice and grabs it up with a grin. James calmly conviscated it and said "Honey, no coke" and put it on the second shelf of the bookcase. Bethany looked at him, reached over grabbed it. So again, he conviscated and this time moved it to the top of the speaker. She looked at him, climbed up onto the arm of the chair, stood up and grabbed it saying "COKE". So this time he said "No", conviscated the can and moved it out of reach on the top of the mantle. Or so he thought.... with an evil laugh, she climbed on the arm of the chair, then to the back of the chair, then proceded to step on the bookcase and climb the shelves until she could reach over and snatch the can off the mantle, took a quick drink before it could be conviscated and began laughing her most evil little laugh.

Only Draw on Paper Given to You by Mommy or Daddy

... This is the rule in our house. So today, being a tough day on everyone with Roman heading to school, James told Hope she could have a special treat outside. Hope got quite excited, "Trweeeet? trweet trweet trweet!" So James brought out the sidewalk chalk which we have had for some time and never actually used. He explained to Hope what it was "... you can draw on the sidewalk with it". And the conversation went something like this.

Hope: OH NO!

James: What?

Hope: I'm not going to draw on the road

James: Why not?

Hope: Because you'll yell at me or spank my butt and make me clean it all up, so I'm not gonna do it and I'm not gonna get in trouble!

Guess her punishment of having to wash down the walls the last time she wrote on them has paid off and committed to memory. Of course she has since washed down nearly every wall in the house. Seems anytime she so much as thinks of writing on the wall, she gets a washcloth and water and washes them instead!

Our KINDERGARTENER!!!

Roman is officially a Kindergartener! This morning he was up and ready to go long before school time. After his excitement over riding the bus at orientation we decided to let him ride the bus afterall. I mean, it's only about 2 blocks away and he is the last one on, first one off. Of course I had already made arrangements to go in to work late. By 8:45 there was no more containing his excitement and we conceded and headed to the bus stop.

Note: his school doesn't start until 9:20 and his bus doesn't even start it's route until 8:55!

Once outside we took a bunch of pictures, then walked to the corner where his bus stop is. Much to our surprise we weren't the first ones there! Turns out there are 2 other little Kindergarteners - Kayla and Katie - who live just around the corner from us. Kayla too was so excited that they came out early and within about 5 minutes Katie arrived as well. They were all too cute jumping around and chatting about the unknown. As the bus arrived, I was bracing to try not to cry and handed the camera to James but before the camera even left my hand, Roman shot off across the street, briefly yelled "bye" over his shoulder and flew onto the bus. No hesitation, no sentimental, emotional good-bye there. He never even looked back!

BUTTering up the Grandma

At Target, Roman ask James for a new toy and he tells him no, to go kiss grandma's butt if he want's something. So he grabs the toy off the shelf and runs over all exicted to her. Proudly displaying the new toy he desires he says:"Grandma Kiss my butt!"

A foot or a foot

Hope has to get a haircut before Aunt Jennifer's wedding next weekend. So we were discussing it, and as I always do when teasing her about her "long, bootiful hair" I told her we should chop it off and admiring how long it has gotten held it up to chin length and jokingly said we would only take a foot off. Hope looked at me with those big eyes now the size of saucers with this disgusted look on her face. "Please don't cut off my foot!" as she grabbed her little foot in her hand and held it tight!

Old Teachers

When discussing last night's orientation with Roman this morning he tells me, "I loved it! But... I thought Miss Neal would be old." LOL Where he came up with that we do not know.

kindergarten orientation

Tonight we had Roman's Kindergarten Orientation. The girls were hoodlums and acted up from the moment Roman was taken back to meet his teacher. I ended up out in the hallway trying to entertain them during the introductions, speeches and whatnot. We saw Roman's friend Kyle from teeball this summer there. We didn't even know he was going to Reams. Desiree was also there, but Roman did not end up in a class with either of them. After awhile James came and relieved me so I could watch some of it too and we continues tag teaming them every 10-15 minutes till it was time to meet up with the kids again. We were told in advance that during our introduction to the school the Kindergarteners would be introduced to their teachers and classmates, see their classroom and ride the bus. Last time Roman rode a bus on the last day of Ready Rams he freaked out! "Mommy, did you know they don't have seats? You just bounce around all over the place!" and he has been soooooooooooo nervous leading up to this day that we weren't quite prepared for the happy smiley boy sitting on his spot on the carpet amongst all his new "friends". His teacher, Ms. Neal, introduced herself and proceded to have the kids read a story. Roman seems to be very comfortable with her and James and I couldn't be happier. We look forward to working with her throughout the year. Best part of all.... no more fears! Roman is so incredibly excited about starting his "second day" of school. (apparently, in his mind, tonight was his 1st day of school).

Pass it down

This weekend we picked up James's guitars and amps from Grandma and Grandaddy's. The kids have never really heard James play and were quite amazed as he cranked it up upon arriving home. As we were settling down for the evening and putting things away Roman grabbed the guitar and attempted to play it. James told him not to touch it again. Roman's response, "but it's mine". After some bit of discussion on the rules of the guitars and establishing the fact they were daddy's guitars, Roman was still insisting, "No, it's mine, you pass it down". WHAT?!? By now frustration aside, James calmly asked him, "Why do you think it's yours? Why would I pass it down?" Roman's response.... "That's just what you do with stuff, pass it down to your kid, just like AJ Foyt passed those craftsman's tools down to his son and down to his son after him, in the commercial. So you pass it down to me. And I just thought then, the guitar was mine." Roman is an advertisers dream child! All this from a 30 second NASCAR Craftman's tool commerical!

Now THIS is an Excuse!

I was talking to James on the phone just before lunch today and I hear

"Roman, go stand in the corner"

Roman's voice in the background could be heard clearly "What did I do this time?"

James snapped "Don't sass me boy, get in the corner and I don't ever want to see you smack Bethany in the head again."

I could hear Roman getting upset and frustrated at that point, his response:

"I didn't hit her, she wouldn't leave me alone and then my hand got stuck to her head!"

I could so clearly visualize this playing out and could see James's anger at his son hitting his sister just fade away into a blinking stare as he tried not to laugh not quite knowing how to respond. Of course, me not actually being there, was totally cracking up through the phone and had to bail the boy the out.

See, Bethany had eaten dirt pudding with gummy bears when we had dinner at 5 Mile Post the night before and since we got home on the late side I didn't give them a bath, just wiped them down before bed last night. As Bethany was laying in my lap for story time I was stroking her hair and it got stuck in the sticky mess called her hair, so I knew what he was talking about, but James was clueless and thought that had to be the most clever excuse ever! Further explanations produced this scenario:

Roman just went to push her away from him as she wouldn't leave him alone and when he put his hand up to move her over, it got stuck in Bethany's sticky mass and as he was attempting to untangle, James caught what, to a normal bystander, looked like he was hitting her in the head!

Family Reunion

Saturday was the Hill family reunion where all my mom's sisters and brothers get together once at year at my Uncle John's. In the past it has been mainly just a sibling thing, but this year the kids & grandkids were invited. We were supposed to go, along with Steven and his family and Kari and her family, but we backed out at the last minute due to extreme hike in gas prices. Then I started feeling bad about it and changed my mind at the last minute and we all piled in the truck and headed to Baltimore. Turns out Kari and Steven both backed out too, but it was still great to see all the aunts and uncles some who have never met the girls, some I haven't seen in years, some I just don't see enough of.

I had called ahead and let Uncle Dave know we were coming and apparently he didn't tell anyone. As James and I were getting everyone shuffled in Hope ran to the back door and just stood there looking in until grandma spotted her. I think grandma loved that especially cute entrance.

Uncle John has a big pool in the backyard and despite the fact that we ran out without bathing suits, it wasn't long before the kids found their way into the pool. I think Aunt Darlene would be the primary instigator here! Next thing I know Hope is knocking on the backdoor completely naked and having to go potty.

"What are you doing? Where are your clothes? Where are your underwear??"

Hope "I'm not riding home with wet 'un-wear-wears'!."

Aside from my little streaker I walked out to discover boxer boy aka Roman, and the soaking wet, I'll just jump in with my clothes on, B. They did have a blast though and eventually I did manage to convince Hope to put her underwear on at least. It took a lot of coaxing from everyone, but Roman soon discovered that he was tall enough to walk around and play in the shallow end. By the end he was even grabbing hold of pool noodles and letting Uncle Roy pull him around in the water. Hope wouldn't leave the steps area and Bethany enjoyed laying on the raft and being pulled around like a little princess. Then, out of the blue, Roman decides he wants to jump off the diving board just like Uncle Roy! Roman - the boy who is petrified of water was entertaining the idea of jumping off the diving board into the deep end. It took him more than 5 minutes to work up his courage, but with a lot of cheering and a dollar bribe from Uncle John, much to my astonishment he did it!!! He jumped off the board onto a raft below and Uncle Roy helped him kick to the edge. He didn't fully go under because he had grabbed the raft on the way down, but still... MY BOY! Jumping off diving boards! Man has he grown up this summer! James and I couldn't be prouder.

Then as if that wasn't big enough, my often shy in front of groups of people, little boy proceded to join in on karyoke. When we would have expected Hope Elizabeth to grab the spotlight, nope, it was totally Roman's day! He sang his heart out for everyone, microphone and all. ABC's, Row Row Row Your Boat and so on. With Row Row Row Your Boat he scored a 97%, or an "A" as Grandma informed him and he was quick to let anyone who would listen know. This means that he kept up with the music and sang the right words through 97% of the song! He is quite the singer.

All and all we all had a fabulous time visiting with everyone and hope to be able to do it again soon!

Mommies Know Everything

The kids are always asking me "how do you know that?" in regards to everything. And I am always telling them "mommy knows everything!" So the other night James and I are sitting in the living room watching TV just after having put the kids to bed and I yell "Turn that light off", to which we hear lots of loud whispering and movement as they struggle to get the light off. A minute later I yell again "Turn that light off" and they do very quietly and turn it right back on, so I yell again "I said turn it off".. "off"... "I said off!" At this point there's a lot of groaning, and "How does she know that?" and I yell, "I heard that, and I told you, mommies know everything!" This pattern continued one more time with me repeatedly yelling "OFF" about a dozen times before they gave up and went to sleep.

At that point, James looked over shaking his head, and says "Come on, how DID you do that?" Because the living room used to be arranged so that the recliner was just off the end of the hallway and it was easy to tell when the back of the hallway would light up, but now it's on the other side of the room and impossible to see down the hallway to tell if the light is on or not. At first I played along and just shrugged and said "I told you, mommy's just know everything". After some groaning and proding I had to admit.... If you look towards the hall, there's a TON of pictures on the wall, so whenever the kids turn on the light it reflects in the glass on the pictures and you can see those from the chair!

Kissing Energy

I had a hard time waking up this morning. One of those oh so comfy days where you just don't want to get out of bed. So James tells Hope "Hopey, give mommy kisses so she has energy to get up.... "

Next thing I know I'm being smothered in Hope-Hope kisses. I reluctantly roll over and start to face the day. Next thing I hear:

Hope: "OH no, now I don't have any "injuries" quick, someone kiss me!"

What's for lunch - 2

When asked today what he would like for lunch, Roman replied, "A mayo sandwhich" Okay, would like anything on your mayo sandwhich? "yes, hmm.... how about turkey, lettuce, and cheese (pause) Just don't forget the mayonoaise!"

Losing Water

In our house there is an 8 o'clock cut off for drinks to help avoid accidents at night. Tonight, right before bed Hope decides she needs a drink and she would not let it go. After begging, sticking out the pouty lip, lots of hugs and kisses, and hitting up both mommy and daddy, she comes to me straight faced ready to get serious.

"But mommy, everyone knows when you sleep you lose water"

Hope, that's EXACTLY what we're trying to avoid!

James lost it and as we both sat there laughing hysterically, she quietly stomped off to bed.

Beans Beans are Good for your Heart....

Tonight for dinner we had taco bake, veggies, pears, and refried beans. Roman picked at his dinner and declared himself full. Once everyone was done, and we were inspecting the plates, we noticed Roman hadn't really eaten anything. So James tells him "Whatever you do, don't eat those beans! You remember how the song goes" Our little music lover piped in questioning what song he was talking about....

Beans beans are good for your heart,
The more you eat the more you fart,
The more you fart the better you feel,
So eat them beans with every meal!

This created great excitement and Roman preceeded to scarf up on some beans when James mentioned that he really shouldn't eat anymore of the taco bake as it will give him really stinky farts. I have never seen that boy clear a plate so quickly.

10 minutes later... "Daddy, when are those farts gonna start?"

1 hour later (in the middle of the grocery store).... BOOM...

Crack in the Sac

This morning, under the assurance he wouldn't get in trouble by his daddy, Roman came into the bedroom to rudely awaken me. "Mommy, you're late, get your crack out of the sac" followed by massive giggles and a quick "daddy said I could say it" So I played along and proceeded to stick my butt up in the air. When he again said "Mommy, get your crack out of the sac" I replied, "My crack IS out of the sac" to which he responded, "Put your crack back down and get all of you up"

6 Peanut Butter & Jellies

Today for lunch we had peanut butter and jelly sandwhichs (a Hope-Hope favorite). I asked her how many pieces she wanted, 1 (no cuts), 2 (cut in half), or 4 (cut in quarters). She said "3" as she does everything these days since that is her age. So I explained I couldn't handle 3, and she chose 4 and went on with her business. Bethany only eats half a sandwhich so I had made her a half and cut that into 2 smaller pieces. So then comes Roman's turn...

"How many pieces do you want today?"

Roman: "Six"

"I can't do 6, either 1, 2, or 4"

Roman: "Well, Hopey has 4, and Bethany only eats half a sandwhich, so she has 2, so if you make me a whole sandwhich cut into 4 then make a half and cut it into 2, 4 + 2 = 6. I want 6 peanut butter and jellies today."

"HUH??"

He's FIVE, how the heck does he know how to add like that?