Been Over a Year Slacker

 

 

Yesterday, as I was reading my e-mails, I had read an e-mail stating that it had been over a year since I had posted anything on my blog and that it would be inactivated, if I didn't post anything soon.

 

This past year has been a roller coaster of activities, emotions, and changes.  I am waist deep in the daily obligations of wife, mother, and trying to stay-a-float of the craziness that involves living with all boys!

 

The thought of my blog, being no-more, tugged at my heart.  Many times, I have sat down in front of my lap top, ready to share my joys, frustrations, ocd tendencies, cleaning tips, and crafting, but then found myself at a loss of words.  Or, just.plain.tired. 

 

So for my first blog post, I thought it would be fitting to share recent pictures of my boys.  As much as I demand time to stand still... it won't!

 

Cody turned 16 in August.  I have been told on many occasions of how handsome he is.  And he is!  He is very smart, loves to long board, and "hang with his friends".  I would like to say that the teenage years have been kind and fun to us... but they have, instead, been a challenge.  I am positive that the moment Cody's voice begun to change and pit hairs begun to sprout, aliens invaded his once, bright, and reasonable, brain.  We are looking forward to the day when the aliens return his brain to us!

Conner turned 6 in September.  SIX!  He started kindergarten and is doing very well.  Many witnessed me joyfully, frolicking through the tulips, on the first day of school!  Oh what a joyous day, it was! 

If you have followed my blog, or know me, you will know of the treacherous moments this boy has put us through!  He is famous through out our neighborhood and ward!  He continues to be my most destructive, emotional, and messy boy.  But along with his "crazy side" comes his funny and adorable side.  He has definitely created many, forever memories for our family!

 

 

 

Beckham turned one in June.  Time has flown by and I don't want him to grown up!  I want him to always have that little extra layer of baby fat on him.  I want him to never give up his pacifier!  If I have it my way, he will always wander our home with his baby blanket, in tow. 

Beckham is proving to be just as an active toddler as his big brother, Conner.  Lord have mercy!  I have a feeling, he will not be as quite and destructive, but time will tell.  So far, he loves standing on his tippy toes, reaching for whatever object or objects are with in reach, pulling them down then running away, as fast as he can, as if he is a running back, running for the goal.  He's a climber and is very resourceful in using objects to climb to reach things.  Baskets, books, toys, diaper boxes, loaf of bread... you name it, he has used it to climb on.  My favorite time of the day is when I rock him to sleep every night.  Steve is at work, Conner is in bed (usually not asleep yet) and Cody is downstairs, playing his guitar.  I know I should be strong and just let him fall asleep on his own, but my heart is just not ready to let go of our precious "alone time"!

 

Despite my chaotic, crazy, life, right now, my goal is to write on my blog at least once a month, or even more.  I have missed my lil 'ol blog-universe and hope to become re-acquainted again.



Happy Birthday Homeboy!



Believe it or not, while I was suffering from the blow of turning 40 and episodes of sobbing uncontrollably, we also celebrated Homeboy's 5th birthday!  Turns out, we share a birthday! 

 

Homeboy continues to amaze us with his mischievious ways.  It's like he will never out grow the terrible two's or something!

 

Infact, just this week he made a growth chart on his bedroom wall!  With crayon.  Purple crayon.  There are many lines to measure his growing milestones.  He is quite the budding artist and likes to display his talent on our couch, walls, floors, car, clothing and even bedding.  Despite where he chooses to display his artwork, he is good!  Never did I imagine that I would still be hiding markers and scissors from Homeboy still! 

 

Homeboy is quite witty and says some funny things, quite often!  Yesterday he told me, "Mom!  Tomorrow I must look handsome!  Not cool, handsome!"  He loves rock and pop music and knows most of the words to the song Moves Like Jagger from Maroon 5.  If he likes a song on the radio, he forces us to stay in the car until it is finished playing.

 

 

Homeboy's new thing, when having his picture taken, is to do the head-tilt-smile exercise.

 

Here's one to the left...



...and to the right.

 



... and to the left, again.

 

Homeboy is constant entertainment for our family.  I'm excited to see what wonderful things he will think of and the things he will accomplish in the future.  He's such a silly, smart, and curious little boy!  We love you Conner!



First Day of Preschool - It's going to be a glorious school year!

(Look at the innocence!  My Lil Love Lump!)

Today was Conner's first day of pre-school!  There was much rejoicing throughout the land and in our humble abode.

I (oops), I mean Conner, is especially thrilled for pre-school!  It's three days a week and I (oops), I mean Conner, has begun planning the fun and exciting things we will be doing during pre-school.

He loved his first day and I'm loving seeing him so happy and learning!  He is one lucky kid because his teacher for pre-school is also his teacher for Primary!  (I already pre-apologized to Misty.)  There is a special place in heaven for his teacher because she is so patient, kind, humble, and talented.

Have I told you that it's going to be a glorious school year?



Conner and the camera

There comes a time of the day when I hit a wall. It's usually right at the time when kids need to go to bed and I'm too tired to deal with anything.

Homeboy had gotten a hold of my cell phone and entertained himself by taking a hundred, or so, pics of everything. Like I said before, I was too tired to take the phone away.

I now have over three hundred pictures on my phone.

There are at least twenty pictures of his fingers.

A picture of his piggies... his stuffed piggy and the ones attached to his foot.

Several pictures of the oven. Notice the extreme shine... I just cleaned my oven!

Makes my OCD tendencies, feel soooo good.

And then there was this blurry image of me. Thank the heavens above, it is blurry. Cause momma was not wearing her brazier, at the time.

As I was scrolling through the many pictures, that Homeboy took with my phone, I realized that the blurry image of me resembled very closely to an image I had seen before...

Sasquatch.
It's uncanny, ain't it?

Soopa-hewo!

I'm a week late at posting pics from Halloween, but you know...

Homeboy is really into Superheros right now, so naturally he chose to be one for Halloween.

I could have easily purchased a Batman or Spiderman costume from the store, but instead I insisted on waiting to the last minute to sew a costume for 2 days straight. I like to live on the edge.

I totally dig that I still have total control over what Homeboy will wear for Halloween. I predict my reign of power will last until he is 10 years old.

Here is our Soopa-hewo flexing his muscles. Apparently he was flexing his neck muscles, also. Gomer!

Check out C-Man's emblem! While Trick or Treating, Homeboy would yell at every passing Trick or Treater, "I'm a soopa-hewo! I'm a soopa-hewo!" Then he would demonstrate his flying technique.

It was a quiet Halloween with just me and Homeboy, but one that I will always remember!

Stuff

*warning - pictures taken with camera phone. quality of pics kinda yucky.

The picture on the left was taken on my birthday (9/16/2010), the day that our backyard was hydro-seeded. The picture on the right was taken yesterday (10/31/2010) Behold! A sea of green grass to frolic in!

A year ago I threatened my husband's life. Why would I do such a thing? What could possibly drive me to this level of hysteria?

The answer: my backyard.

Or should I say my bird refuge. My backyard was a refuge to pheasants, and ducks. It was a natural habitat for the birds, due to the tall weeds and mounds of dirt.

I tried to be patient. I tried not to nag, excessively. Believe me, I tried. But after 8 years of not having a backyard to host backyard barbecues, play groups, or even a safe refuge for my wandering 2 year old to frolic, I had enough. Therefore, I threatened bodily harm on my husband if I did not receive my backyard by the following summer.

It worked and for my birthday this year, he gifted me with the gift of grass. Glorious grass!

Next summer - barbecue at my house!

Meanwhile...

I'm still dealing with this kid.

Just because I haven't posted any recent disasters produced by Homeboy, doesn't mean he hasn't stopped.

Serenity now!

Summer Fun

Awwwww, summer!

Summer is, vegetable gardens.

Summer is, family and friend barbecues!

Summer is, flowers blooming.

Summer is, flip flops in all kinds of colors and designs.

Summer is, the 4th of July and parades!

Summer is, sprinklers and kids running through them.

...and summer is, your kid stripping naked on your front lawn so that all of the neighbors, ward members, innocent children, and dogs, passing by, could see ALL of his business.

Painful lessons for Homeboy

Some of life's lessons can be a bit painful to learn. Especially if you happen to be a certain two and half year old little boy.

(press play to view Homeboy's confession)

That's right folks... Homeboy decided to jam a key into the plug. Are you shocked? I'm not! It was bound to happen. It was only a matter of time. Heck, I'm pretty sure jamming a key into a plug was on his "to do" list, for the day.

Dumping a jar of parsley, and flushing ANOTHER pair of his socks down the toilet, was also on his "to do" list.

I'm being punished. I don't know why - but I am.

Observe the evidence from the above, video, taped, confession...

Notice the black, charred, markings on the key ring and caribeaner thingy.

The "shocking incident" occurred between the hours of 2pm and 3pm. I was busy caring for my home and family, (ahem. I was eating a cookie in the kitchen) when suddenly a loud "POP" infiltrated our residence. It was quickly followed by the whalings of pain, from Homeboy. I knew immediately what had transpired in the living room.

Homeboy then proceeded to tell me that he was shot. I observed his fingers and noticed the same black, charred, markings that were left on the keys. He then continued to tell me that he was shot in the head, his arm, his fingers, his leg and finally, his toes. It is apparent that the electrical current traveled through his arm and made an electrifying path down through his toes. He repeatedly told me, "the keys went pop! The keys went pop!"

After Homeboy received the necessary first aid (kisses on the booboos), I went to the living room to survey the damage. Luckily there were no burn marks on the wall, but the keys were still jammed into the plug. It required an emergency call to my cop-husband to come and risk his own life and limbs to dislodge the keys. Subsequently, everything is fine and the hubs is still able to man handle, law-breaking scum bags. This is due to the fact that we no longer have ANY electricity in the living room.

Homeboy (the defendant) was immediately scolded for sticking sharp, metal, objects into plugs and was then comforted and hugged, by his mommy.

This is when things got ugly

I know it has been a couple of weeks since my last post and they have been sparse, lately. I blame it on the new calling. And Homeboy, who has decided to NOT sleep at night. And the weather. And PMS. In fact, I blame EVERYTHING on PMS. It's my divine right to, being a woman and all.

When I was set apart with my new calling, a part of me was hoping that our dear Bishop would feel inspired to tell me that my worries would be over. My worries with Homeboy, that is! For some odd reason I believed that as soon as I accepted this church calling, Homeboy would magically stop climbing the counter tops and dumping whole containers of paprika into my new purse (paprika even got into my hand lotion. it was that bad). That he would leave his diaper on and discontinue his practice of "handling" himself (i write this just as i have looked up and see him in the buff, waist down. again.) That he would become my angel child and sit quietly and perfectly still during sacrament meeting, with no escapes to the other ward's nursery. Their nursery leader knows us by name now. Yup, this was my dream as I was being set apart... in between Homey trying to control Homeboy from climbing on to the Bishop's desk (flashback - tithing settlement) and Homeboy yelling at the top of his lungs, "goway! goway!", and hitting his older brother. Good times, people. Good times.

Well, needless to say, I have one word for you... NOT! Oh, how I have such foolish dreams! (insert sarcastic chuckle)

A little over a week ago, our fam dared to venture out, into the public, and enjoy a pizza dinner and movie. These kind of excursions can be a little risky for our fam. Especially if you happen to be sitting in the next booth by us. Flying chicken nuggets have been known to hit an innocent bystander, or two, in the head. I wish I could have video taped such past events and I would share them with all of you... in slow mo. Even better.

Things usually start out nice, whenever our fam dares to eat out.

Homeboy was even in the "giving" mood.

"I sare! I sare!", he says.

Awwww! Brotherly love!

Warms the chambers of my heart.

Peaceful times don't last long before things begin to happen. Things such as a Lego guy stranded by a small mess of - well, something. It doesn't take much for this kid of mine, to notice such things and to all of the sudden do something insane, such as...

...THIS!

Homeboy decided to LICK the mess clean. LICK - the mess on the well established, hundreds of people have consumed their food on, little kids picking their noses then placing their hands on, table, clean. And it wasn't a quick swipe of the tongue. Oh no! It was a full on, cat-like tongue, action.

I would've captured the dreadful moment on digitized film, but I was in too much shock and wondering how much the hospital bill would be when Homeboy was hospitalized for contracting Malaria or some other awful infection.

Oh, wait... here is an example of above mentioned scenario.

Nice.

Awwww, I have such motherly pride for this boy.

The licking of the table was just the beginning.

WWF Wrestling-like beatdown of older brother ensues.

Then impalement by breadstick.

Observe, Homeboy's cat-like reflexes.

Observe, how many times I've used the hyphen and the word like (ie: cat-like, wrestling-like) through out this post. Well, it wasn't that much. But it seemed like it. I have nonsense-like, thoughts running through my head all of the time.

Sometime, in the near future, I hope to be able to attend church, a dinner out with the fam, or any public area, for that matter, without having to hide my head in shame. But then again, life would just seem a bit boring compared to what I'm dealing with now. And you would miss out on my amusing posts about Homeboy!

Just another day, and another mess

"Stick a fork in me. I'm done."

This is what I was thinking to myself when my husband entered our bedroom and found me laying amongst neatly, stacked, piles of folded laundry on our bed. I was laying in the fetal position, sucking my thumb, and pretty sure, speaking in tongues.

"What happened to you?", he asked me with deep concern in his voice.

I mustered all of the strength that I could, from deep with in my innards, and answered in my tired, raspy, voice...

"Conner."

And with that, my head collapsed with a heavy thud onto my pillow and then I waved some sort of folded, "white undergarment" in the air, in a feeble attempt to surrender.

I feel as though I am loosing the battle. The Battle of Conner.

While cleaning up one disaster, caused by Conner the Conqueror, he is quickly in the process of creating another one. And I Am NOT Kidding.

Today was one of those days. It will go down in history and shall be known as... The Battle of Kitchen Island. (Dun! Dun! Dun!)

Everyone, within close vicinity to Conner the Conqueror's tirade of mass weapons of powdered sugar, was bound to come into contact with the powdery shrapnel.

Even my freckly, hairy, moley, arm (gotta love those genetics!) fell victim to his destruction.

Here he is pulling out the "big guns". A medicine syringe containing residue of Children's Tylenol.

Does he have no shame?!?!?!

"Oh the humanity!"

I can't help but wonder when the "bulk" of the battle will be over. Have I not suffered long enough?

Often, when I encounter these circumstances, I remember a talk that President Monson gave at a General Conference. He talked about how someday we (parents) will miss the dirty hand prints on the walls. Sometimes my response is, "Um, yeah...I don't think so," and at times my heart aches knowing that my babies are no longer babies. And before I know it, I will be spending my days alone with way too much free time on my hands.

Until then, I hope to remember to not fret over the battles too much. To lace up my boots, gird up my loins and to remember that days like today, is just another day, and another mess.

And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Conversations with Conner

After weeks of neglecting my blog, I am back! Did you miss me? Were you longing for a blog update from moi?

Well I am back to redeem myself!

Unless, I become preoccupied with my many projects again. It happens.

Being a parent can be arduous, at times. Especially to a toddler, such as mine. But I have to tell ya, there are memorable moments sprinkled here and there, each day, that makes me smile. And even snort out loud! Especially with the dialog that Conner shares with us (and everyone else, within hearing radius).

The majority of our days, me and Conner's conversations consist of me yelling, "Conner, no! No, Conner! No! No, no! Conner!"

If you insert Conner's name in place of the name of David, I could quote the children's story No David!, verbatim.

Homeboy keeps me on my toes.

I have found that disciplining Conner with verbal threats or phrases are useless. Conner is not one to back down from such idol threats. Oh no! His response usually consists of a scowl on his face, pointing his finger at me (or anyone else, for that matter) and yelling, "No! Go way!"

It's these moments when he feels my heart full of pride! Especially when he displays this attitude during church. Not.

Conner got into the Desitin. Again. Shocker, I know.

This was his reaction, right after I voiced my disappointment and told him he had to help clean up the mess.

He may not show it, but I'm sure under that devil-ish smile, he is feeling remorse and pity for his poor mother, that suffer-eths so.

If anyone tries to force hugs and kisses on him, he will wriggle and squirm and say over and over, "Goff me! Goff me!"

And then there are the moments when he means business. Just the other day, my dad tried to tickle him and give him a hug.

Whoa to all, who attempts to snuggle the toddler, Conner, when he is grumpy! (this should be a commandment)

Poor Grandpa didn't know the wrath that was about to hit him. Conner started with his usual threats of, "Goff me! Goff me!", but Grandpa is hard of hearing and did not relent. Well that did it and Conner shook his fist up at the heavens and yelled, "I se-we-ious! I se-we-ious!"

I'm sorry, but that's just funny.

Having a conversation with Conner can also be an emotional roller coaster.

It can start off with a point of the finger and a scowl on his face...

...to being deep in thought

... to bursts of laughter when dad tickles him in just the right spot.

Every day Conner's little brain is absorbing more and more and I'm amazed at how he is growing and how he views the world around him.

I can't help but smile every time I hear, "I did it!" from some corner of our home or "Welcome!" whenever this little character is told thank you or good job!

I love him. And I'm SE-WE-IOUS!

Quiz

A quiz of sorts...

What do the, above, two images have in common?

Here's a hint - the substance smeared on the TV ain't chocolate!

Just when I thought my day was going so smoothly and "incident free", Homeboy commits the above heinous act.

Please share a heinous act or two that you or your children have done in the past.

Sharing is caring.