Halloween Art

In the spirit of the holiday, I decided to let the boys decoupage their own pumpkin creations.

This is what the finished products look like:

Mason’s is on the left. I consider it to be a contemporary take on a pumpkin. Jacob’s is on the right. It has ears. Don’t all pumpkins?

Doing the Wave

Camryn spent the afternoon working on her wave. It’s not quite there yet, but we are making progress. And she thought she was pretty hot stuff doing it. Big girl!

Catch Up 6: Play time

Our front foyer has now become a train tack dumping ground. It’s really a genius idea that I wish we had come up with years ago. The foyer is wasted space that the boys now use to construct their tracks. The best part about this is that it doesn’t interfere with our usable floor space, and I don’t make them put their tracks away every night. Everyone wins!

An aerial view of our most current track. Built by Jacob.

Jacob has become quite the engineering genius. He is the brains behind the projects. His plans are extremely complex and completely different every time. His brainpower amazes me!

Close up of what was happening in the background of previous photo. This may have been the first time that Mason was sincerely loving on Camryn. So much cuter than him yelling at her to quit kicking him (obviously unintentionally). We may be revisiting that fight in another couple years…

After Jacob completes the tracks, he generally gets bored and Mason comes in to let his trains ride the rails. And then Jacob comes back to the tracks and yells at Mason for touching his tracks. This is usually closely followed with hands hitting, feet kicking, and trains and tracks being used as weapons. At that point I look at the clock, see it’s only 7:15 in the morning, realize that it is socially unacceptable to start drinking, and laugh. Because if I don’t laugh I will probably cry. Or have a nervous breakdown.

Catch Up 5: Parade

My hometown’s Homecoming Parade happened, and the boys scored enough candy to supply this year’s trick-or-treaters. No joke. And, oh yes we are re-giving. Not cheap. Just practical. But candy collection wasn’t easy. Jacob knew right what to do: Stick out his bag, and loudly ask for candy as people went by. (Note: It’s a city ordinance that candy not be thrown. What’s wrong with the world these days?!) Mason, on the other hand, would very politely ask for candy in a barely audible voice. Ironic that the kid who has never been quiet for a moment in his life chooses a candy-filled parade for volume control. So Jacob stepped up as big brother and would ask the paraders for candy for his little brother. Melt my heart. It is possible for these two to look out for one another. If only for the sake of sugar!

Catch Up 4: Camryn

 
This sweet little thing is a snotty disaster right now, which means fussy days and sleepless nights. She currently reminds me of how Mason was his whole first year. (Sorry, Mace, you were a pistol!) In addition to the crud, I noticed a bony lump just over her left temple last weekend. It’s coincidentally (?) on the same side as her squinty eye. The doctor said she is not overly concerned about it yet—it could be a calcified bruise among other things. At this point we are taking the wait and see approach. It doesn’t seem to bother her and though it’s not getting smaller, it’s not getting bigger. We will give it another week or so, and then look into having an x-ray or ultrasound done. If it’s not one thing, it’s another.

Catch Up 3: Mason

Mason has turned into our TV and video game junkie. It’s great when I need to get things done around the house because I can count on that to keep him occupied. But, really, it’s a problem. I put a lock on my phone so that he can’t get into the games, and I have put away the iPad. I am currently trying to come up with other activities that he will enjoy but I think I first need to get him fully detoxed from media.

When he isn’t trying to sneak a video in, Mason loves to pretend that he is Lightning McQueen. He revs his engine (which sounds like someone clearing their throat for way longer than they need to), and turns his blades on (that is what he is doing in this picture). I don’t think that Lightning has blades, but Mason’s version does. It’s actually quite funny. This kid gets his “blades” going by flapping his arms from the elbows down quite quickly while, simultaneously, prancing on his feet. Mason has happy feet. If you know him, you know what I am talking about. He never walks. He moves in a constant form of freestyle dance. I love his creativity. I also love that he is a little cuddle bug. This boy loves to snuggle with me, and I can’t get enough of it. Except at 5 a.m. when I am trying to cash in on a few more minutes of sleep!

Catch Up 2: Jacob

I have been enlisting Jacob’s help in food preparation. He has done lots of different tasks. Most notably: touching raw meat. He was so excited. Weirdo. I generally put him in charge of fruit cleaning and serving. This is how he divvyed up his favorite fruit: raspberries…

We both laughed about the proportions, and he—without a fight—came up with something more equal. I say “without a fight” because most of the day is spent fighting with Jacob to do this or stop that. He is quite a defiant and stubborn child. He knows exactly how his choices will impact him, yet he continuously pushes the boundaries. I guess this is where I should insert an “I’m sorry, Mom and Dad,” because I see myself as a child in so much that he does. Payback is a bitch!
When he isn’t testing my patience, this kid absolutely cracks me up with some of the stuff that he says:

Jacob: Mom, I cannot stop smelling this apple. It just smells so fresh! [And then later on when I told him that apple cost money and he had to finish it after he said he was done eating it after just a bite] Well, it’s your fault for letting me pick out an apple that cost so much money.

Jacob: [Getting out of the car at Target.} Well I wasn’t expecting this at all.
Me: Expecting what?
Jacob: The wind. When I looked out the window this morning, the leaves on the tree were not blowing at all. And now it’s windy.

Jacob: Mom, please come in the other room and color with me.
Me: I can’t right now because I am feeding Camryn.
Jacob: Well that is your own fault for having that baby.

Jacob: [When coloring with my mom.] You are coloring a little slow there, slick.

And speaking of coloring: Jacob has spent a solid 10 hours of coloring in his new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles coloring book this past few days. Finally, an activity that I really want to be a part of! Hooray! 

Ah, turtles: Jacob is obsessed with Raph. Pre-Halloween photo, post- altering this costume from a third-grader’s size to pre-schooler’s size. It’s a labor of love!

Playing Catch Up: Part 1

And now that I can breathe again without fearing that my boob is going to fall off, it’s time to get back on the blogging ball.

Pumpkin carving happened on Sunday. Papa brought a car full of homegrown pumpkins from his Iowa patch. The boys were very excited to dig in.

And then the guts touched Mason and he checked out of the activity. So Caleb carved Mason’s pumpkin while Papa helped Jacob make a scary pumpkin.

It has hair. And according to Jacob—this morning, when he went out to greet it on the front porch—the pumpkin’s ears are dying.

Mason wanted a happy pumpkin. This is the face he wanted us to model his pumpkin after.

Close enough.

    

Grandma and Papa with all of their pumpkins (and my dead flowers—don’t judge) on our front porch.

Hell Week

I have always hated my boobs, and these past 8 days my boobs decided to hate me. It started with a milk blister last Saturday. Then a blocked milk duct on on Monday, mastitis by Wednesday, and an abscess removal on Friday. Google up any one of those terms if you care to know what my nipples probably looked like. Except for my mother-in-law, Grandma Joan--since she held my hand through every gauze packing change, she is quite familiar with my lovely nips. And yes, I did say gauze packing because when you have an abscess removed, the doctor literally slices open the bottom half of your nipple, drains the ick, and then fills the hole with gauze. No, it hurts way worse than you think.

Misunderstanding.

I made pot roast for dinner last night and told the boys that it's one of my "favorite crummy weather dinners." About five minutes into the meal Mason said: I don't like this crummy meal at all.
Maybe he misunderstood me, but I heard him loud and clear. Laughing!

Best. Day. Ever!

That's what Jacob said about his school's fall festival field trip today. Though the weather was a bit ick, he had a blast on the hay rack ride, playgrounds, and pumpkin patch. Mason's class also went, and from what I gathered, he enjoyed snack time the most. It's pretty awesome to do fun things without your parents. My boys are growing up!

Being a Mom

This is the Mommy I want to be. The kind who enjoys the time she spends with her children. Reading books all cuddled together at bedtime with my freshly washed, soapy smelling babes. Hugs. Kisses. Laughter. Love.
Saturday I was not that Mom. It was a bad day. I woke up tired, not ready to meet the "I want, I want, I want" demands of my children. Not interested in making breakfast for anyone. Not happy to watch the same three annoying cartoons on TV. Irritated that all the boys wanted was a blanket fort, and all I wanted to do was toss every single one of those no-way-in-hell-am-I-going-to-stay-draped-over-a-chair blankets out the window. Excited to help Jacob make a picture book only to become dramatically frustrated when the pictures he was drawing resembled Mason's scribbles. How dare he waste our paper on this crap? Or how dare I tell him what art is? Dammit. It was a bad day.
Maybe I just don't have a mom personality. I don't enjoy every minute with my kids (does anyone?). And I don't pretend to. Raising kids is hard, that much I know. Days like Saturday suck. For everyone. I just hope that the pain of last Saturday will have long since faded the next time a super crummy day slaps me in the face (typically at the same time one of the boys wakes me up with an inadvertent slap in the face)...

A little bit of this. A little bit of that.

 

Jacob said: I need to hurry up and finish eating so I can get outside and enjoy the day. He is right. And sounding so grown up. So what have we been up to?

1. We went for a bike ride tour of the Halloween decorations in our neighborhood. Lots of spooky and creepy things going on in everyone’s yards. Except ours. So… Jacob decorated our driveway for Halloween with sidewalk chalk. He made a replica of the blow up pumpkin down the street. Complete with a drawing of an electrical cord and outlet. Then he asked me why we don’t have any decorations like our neighbors. I gave him a lame answer, and he made mention that maybe for Christmas he would like some Halloween decorations. Seriously. Get this kid some help (or at least a mummy).

2. We have made several trips to the parks. And every bike ride goes something like this: Jacob clips Mason’s bike with his bike, and Jacob crashes. Then Mason’s training wheel veers off the sidewalk causing Mason to perform the world’s slowest fall. Repeat about 10 times in the quarter-mile trip. Ugh. But not complaining. Still way better than freezing cold weather.

3. The boys have been LOVING school. Jacob is the cool cat center of attention that all the other kids seem to flock to. A very welcome change from the crud we left at their old school. I love watching the boys interact with all of their new friends.

4. Jacob wants to be Rafael the Ninja Turtle for Halloween “because Raf has a red bandana, and red is almost like pink, and pink is my favorite color.” Mason would like to be Jessie, Woody, and Bullseye. We will be narrowing down that selection.

5. The boys have been picking apples off my parents’ tree. Mason eats them. Jacob takes bites and spits them out because he doesn’t like the skin (though I think he just likes to spit). And both boys love to find rotten apples to throw in the pond.

6. And Camryn has been perfect, per usual. Munching on Puffs, playing with toys, and babbling constantly. Her new favorite sound: dadadadada.

Comparison

I’m not one to compare my children. But I’m going to go ahead and compare my children…

  

I think that Camryn looks just like Mason’s baby picture (top). And I think Camryn looks just like Jacob’s baby picture (bottom).  Quite the chameleon, since the boys look nothing alike. Adorable, either way.

Puffs!

Ah, solid food. Another milestone. And received with serious hesitation and a few shudders. I do believe that the boys enjoyed those Styrofoam treats more than the guest of honor.

Morton Arboretum

Hot autumn days rock because we get to do stuff like this:

[Check out a trail full of scarecrows, and sneak a picture with the best one!]

[Be bummed that the playground doesn’t have slides, until we realize that it has underground tunnel passages, which are way cooler anyways! *I did not ask Jacob to pose like that. Ham!]

[Put our engineering skills to the test as we devised a route for the water to flow through a series of troughs.]

    

[Get super excited when we finally find a slide! And even more excited when we happen upon a rope bridge.]

[Enjoy a ride through the park while wearing a tutu.]

Fun times in the sunshine. Now if I could just bottle up this weather to have in January…