Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Woah!

The boys got the Othello game out of the basement. You know Othello, right? It has eleventy billion and one pieces. True story.

I just put all the discs in the holder and ZERO are missing.

I wonder what it could all mean. Should I play the lottery today? This just never happens. Let's all prepare ourselves for something big.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

eruption

Conversations in the car...

"Hey mom!" Trevor said to start the conversation.

"Hey, what?"

"Wanna do a pop quiz?"

"Sure!"

"When was the last time Mt. Vesuvius erupted?"

"Uh... can we make it multiple choice?

"Sure! You can make any choice you want. Any month, any day, any year. Multiple choice is great!"

At this point, parents in the front seat dissolve into laughter.

At that point, the tone in the back seat changed from light and fun to terse and annoyed.

"No. I really want to know when Mt. Vesuvius erupted last time."

I didn't turn around to look, but I bet he was frowning!

I'll go tell him now that the last time it erupted was March 18, 1944. The type of explosion was effusive and explosive, and a lava flow invaded Massa and S. Sebastiano.


For more information, check here

Friday, July 25, 2008

Picture of the day



I remember decorating my bike to ride in the 4th of July parade in Wynona.

Fond, crepe paper memories, those.

Thus, we couldn't pass up an opportunity to decorate the kids' bikes and send them riding down a road with a bunch of other kids on decorated bikes on the Fourth of July.

Trip to the ER

Trauma is a good word to describe Wednesday night. We suggested the boys clean their rooms. It was too much to ask. It was too much to ask for Trevor to pick up 25 legos. Traumatic. He cried and cried at the idea of picking up his toys.

Finally, the cry turned. No longer was it a cry of "I DON'T WANNA!" to a cry of "I'M HURT AND SCARED!"

We ran upstairs to a crying, bleeding-from-the-mouth Trevor.

He had put a stick in his mouth, a plastic pvc pipe for a toy tent. Then he fell.

He punctured his soft palette. I didn't know all that at the time. I just knew I had a crying, bleeding, couldn't-talk-to-me-because-he-was-crying-so-hard, Trevor.

The computer guy looked in his mouth, and saw the hole at the back of this mouth. When his nose started to bleed, too, we decided to take him to the ER.

Before we left, he was able to tell us that he had fallen with a stick in his mouth, but we didn't pick up the stick, and didn't know how far it had gone in. Not knowing how the skull really works, we weren't sure if he had poked himself in the brain or not. I'm still not sure if that's even possible.

5 hours later, after the PA, doctor, and radiologist had reviewed the CT scan, we were assured that he didn't poke his brain.

He's feeling pretty good today. His regular doctor took a look at the injury, and now, it's apparent that the stick went in to and came out of his soft palette. He has two injuries in his mouth. He's having trouble swallowing. Such a bad time to have a hard time swallowing, too. We went to a parade yesterday. Officially, I think it was a Fireman's parade. Unofficially, it was a candy parade. The boys gathered 3 (THREE!) pounds of candy. I wonder if cut up tootsie rolls would make a good cookie? So much candy and so much difficulty swallowing.

Monday, July 21, 2008

The new thing

Trevor and I joined a Family Karate Club. It's pretty cool because we both participate. It's like Mommy and Me Karate, and my arms and legs are both sore to prove it! It's pretty neat-o. Trevor sat out maybe 1/4 of the class yesterday, but two of the other moms assured me that's to be expected at 5 years old. The class is 90 minutes long, so sitting out 20 or 30 minutes without complaining seems reasonable to me.

One of the things we do is repetitive punches, kicks or block, and we count in Japanese (or maybe Okinawan) when we do those repetitive exercises. I actually count in English because I can only get to 4 in Japanese. Yesterday when it was Trevor's turn, he shunned both Japanese and English and counted to 10 in French. I can't wait to tell his French teacher about that.

I'm hopeful that we can stay with this. With his memory and his enthusiasm, this may just be the sport for him. He was able to remember many of the Japanese words they use in the class, and he really liked to do face punches.

At the end of the class, Trevor told our instructor "I know a 3 year old who would really like to join this class!" I thought that was pretty cool he was thinking of his brother.

So, it's not t-ball, though he does have those moments at the beginning when he is shy and un-engaged. But, when he gets engaged, he sees to really enjoy it. My hopes are high.

Family Karate Club

Saturday, July 19, 2008

New Picture



I just recently took a close look at this lovely little pic.

Doesn't he look sad? Don't you wanna know why? I can tell you why. You might be surprised given the amount of sadness you see on his face. He was sad because he didn't want his Daddy to take his picture.

We love Devin.

He went to a birthday party today. The mom of the birthday boy told me this when Daddy and I returned from our 1 hour vacation from parenthood.

"Devin kept us laughing. He kept asking 'how does everyone know my name??'"

He was wearing a name tag. Classic Devin.

The Results

Sorry for taking so long. I was hoping for slightly more participation!

First View:

Memaw Said, "Maybe a Dinosaur."
Jack Said, "A Smily Face"
Granpa said (in person), "A Dragon Eating a Chicken"

Second View:

Memaw said, "Maybe Memaw trying to hug a little boy?"
Jack Said, "Some kind of forest."
Granpa said (in person), "A Dragon Eating a Chicken"

Third View:

Memaw Said, "Maybe Socks the cat?"
Jack said, "An Entrance to a cave."
Granpa said (in person), "A Dragon Eating a Chicken"

Fourth View:

Memaw said, "I just do not know, you will have to tell us what Trevor thinks it is."
Jack said, "Upsidedown!"
Granpa said (in person), "A Dragon Eating a Chicken"

And the winners are:
Memaw for the greatest number of question marks!
Jack for seeing the forest for its trees!
Granpa for actually coming to close to what Trevor says it is...

A DRAGON! (The two circle-ish things in the first view on the left-ish side of the page are its eyes.)

Interestingly enough, I thought it was a chicken.

Saturday, July 05, 2008

Name it!

First View:


Second View:


Third View:


Fourth View:


The rules are
1. There are no rules! Just tell me what you think this might be. Each view shows something just a little different, so name them all or just name the picture and tell me how it should be oriented. Tell me in the comments section.

Winners (aka anyone who participates)get:
MENTIONED in my blog. You'll be famous. :)

(Trevor drew this in school this week.)

Thursday, July 03, 2008

Kids are funny

I put on a silk shirt on Tuesday. It was sorta frilly and girly. The computer guy wore an almost too small Penn State shirt. When we picked the boys up from school, BOTH of them wanted to know why we were all dressed up. They thought dadddy was more dressed up than me in my frilly, girly top.

I dropped them off at school today with wet hair. Devin asked why it was wet. One of the other students asked why it was wet (someday I'll drop them off in my pajamas...you just wait). I guess they notice things that aren't normal, everyday. This student, I'll call her A, is very nice. And, I like A a lot. I always say hello to her and she has a very nice smile. I told Trevor how much I liked A. He doesn't like her. Know why? She's always trying to fall in love with him. Those are his exact words.

Trevor is afraid of being kidnapped at night (does that sound familiar, Mom? because it "feels" really familiar) and thinks we should get a security system. He's thinking the one they advertise on Cartoon Network would work just fine. You ever wonder why they advertise things like that on Cartoon Network? Now you know! Next thing, he'll be asking for a medic-alert bracelet, just in case he falls and can't get up...

I'm thinking of having a little contest tomorrow called Name that Picture. I think it will be great fun. You just MUST participate. Get your friends to join, too. K? Thanks!