It Starts With A "B" And Is Growing Every Day!

The basement is moving along.  Painting has been done, except for the boys playroom mural.  Carpet goes in tomorrow.  We would be done this week if it weren't for the bar counter tops.  They couldn't put them in this week, so that will have to wait until next week, when he get back from VA.  We spent the weekend furniture shopping for our family room, since we will be moving our current sofas to the basement.

The boys and I made brownies this weekend.  I don't know if letting them eat the batter out of the bowl makes me a good Mom or a bad Mom, but it does make for happy kids and some days that is all that matters.

Today we asked Evan what he did at school and he said, "A girl tooted really loud, the teachers laughed!"  Dennis asked him if the kids laughed too and he said, "Just me."  That boy is something else.

We heard from his T-ball coach over the weekend and were surprised to realize his coaches are both Dads in our neighborhood, who Dennis has hung out with a few times.  This was a complete coincidence, but I'm happy to know Evan will meet more kids his age in the neighborhood and we will get to know some of these neighbors better.

Now that I have joined this century and bought an iPhone, Dennis and I have been playing "words with friends".  The other day Colin was looking over my shoulder as I was playing and when I put a word in he said, "Well, that wasn't very clever."

Well, Dennis had planned on telling everyone in VA that he had big news.  It starts with a "B" and it's growing everyday.....any guesses????  This picture is a hint...

Yep, Dennis grew a beard!  We thought it would be hilarious to do this joke, but Dennis decided against the beard and shaved it off today.  So, I had to record it for memories sake anyway.

Carnival, Bike Rides and Kite Flying

70-80 degree weather in March.  In Indiana.  We are loving it.  We spent Saturday morning at Colin's school Carnival.  Each classroom had a game for the kids to do and then there was pizza and sweets in the cafeteria and a bunch of raffle items.  After a couple hours of fun, I volunteered a shift in Colin's classroom, while Dennis took the kids home for rest.

Later, Dennis pulled out his bike that he hasn't ridden in 15 years and went on a bike ride with Colin and Evan.  While they were out, he got a call that we had won a raffle item (a basket full of books), so he rode over to pick that up and then came back to continue a longer bike ride with Colin.  I'm thinking I need to put a bike on my wish list.  It is very bike friendly around here and everyone seems to have a bike.

Saturday evening a neighbor invited us over to a St. Patrick's Day dinner at their house.  Seven families were there with a bunch of kids so we had a ton of fun.   The men watched basketball, the women talked and the kids played outside the entire time.

Sunday we ran some errands, had lunch out and then enjoyed a great day outside.  Colin and I went on a long walk while the younger ones were napping.  Now that he is getting older we have some great conversation.  I enjoy hearing what he chooses to talk about and his thoughts on things.

Then, Dennis helped the boys to fly kites with some neighbors.  Usually, we only fly kite's once a year, during our annual beach trip to NC.  However, it is pretty windy here and we have such a large open space behind our house, that I think we should be able to do it more often now.

Colin and his buddies...

It was just a great weekend overall and this weather can put anyone in a good mood.

Tonight, it is back to work.  We are picking paint colors, so the painter can get started later this week.  The basement is coming along great so far!  Drywall is up and walls are primed.  Trim has started to go up and bar cabinets are being built.  All the guys in the neighborhood are waiting for it to be done so Dennis can host a poker game as he promised!

Great Weather!!!

 It has been gorgeous here in Indiana and we are spending every day outside.

Travel Anxiety

We have been busy making our plans to go to Northern VA for Colin's Spring Break.  It has been a busy last few days between stress at Dennis' work, me trying to plan my sister in law's shower, and having to make a bunch of decisions for the basement.  Put all that on top of the day to day activity of 3 little boys and you can imagine its been a little stressful around here.

As if all that weren't enough, we are dealing with the stress of trying to make so many different people happy during our quick trip to Northern VA.  We started planning out of trip early so that we can see everyone we want to see  and those who want to see us.  But, 4 days to try to see two large families and a bunch a friends is not easy.  I told Dennis that we are going to have to limit friends to those we didn't see at Christmas, because there is just too many people to see.  We also have to have time for me to host a baby shower Saturday, which means prepping the food the night before, getting the games ready, etc...  The shower being the main reason we are coming to town.

It is frustrating for me because nobody else in either of our families is really in our situation, where we have a family (3 little boys at that), and live far away.  Every time we come to town we have to take off work (which is part of the reason I can't work full or part time, I wouldn't get that much time off in health care), we have to spend a lot of money, and we have to deal with going to a bunch of different places with 3 little boys in tow.  Boys who aren't sleeping in their own beds, so they go to bed late and wake up early and sometimes don't get a nap.  It is frustrating for me that most people don't realize how hard it is for us to be in VA for every holiday and never get to have our kids be rested and waking up in their own house for the holidays.  Our holidays are never relaxing, it always involves travel.  I am willing to go out of our way to get back to VA, because I want my kids to have relationships with their cousins and other extended family members, but it isn't easy and it makes it even harder when not everyone gets what we go through.

Dennis didn't even want to go back for Spring Break.  For him he can look in black and white, "it is inconvenient so therefore I don't want to go" or "if someone doesn't act like they want to see us, then screw them why should we go out of our way".  The plan was for me to go by myself, but I didn't think that was fair to the kids to not see some family until Thanksgiving or maybe even Christmas.  And I don't think I could handle 3 kids in the car by myself for 10 1/2 hours or on a plane.  I don't want to raise my kids where they only see family once a year or less.  But, sometimes I  wish I had Dennis' attitude of if someone can't understand then too bad for them, maybe we will catch them next time.  I try too hard to accommodate everyone and make everyone happy and it causes me a lot of anxiety when someone gets their feelings hurt or thinks we aren't being flexible enough or gets mad at us for some other silly reason.  It is hard to be the only ones who are ever inconvenienced or having to go out of our way for others.  Others who don't even seem to appreciate our efforts and aren't willing to bend a little themselves.

Many of the people here that live far from family have similar attitudes as Dennis, they chose to just stay in Indiana and if someone wants to see them they can come visit.  I am smart enough to know that if we did that, we would spend every holiday and vacation alone and nobody would visit.  After all, who would want to be away from home for the holidays?  It is expensive to travel and if you have a little kids it is also pretty inconvenient to get a whole family to Indiana from VA.  Believe me, we get it.  I get that it was our choice to move away and therefor it falls on us to make the flight or drive, but I wish others would realize what we go through and be more understanding and appreciative of us visiting.  Otherwise, it puts a huge damper on what should be a fun trip.

I could go on and on, but with two kids turning my house upside down as I write and the basement people causing a bunch of dust, I better go clean up or I will just have to add to all the things on my list that need to be done and that are causing me anxiety these days.  Dennis jokes with me all the time that he is going to out live me, and I have no doubt that he is right.  I am no good at handling all this stress and he is able to shrug it all off.  Right now, I'm really wishing I was more like my husband.

And that's all I've got for today.  As Evan told his swim class and lifeguard today..."Peace Out Colorado Swimmers"!  Next time I promise a happier blog post...

Jazz Hands!

It has been a stressful week (or really month) for Dennis at work.  Being a child of a former government employee, I don't think I will ever get used to corporate America and the lack of job security.  Hopefully, things will start looking up around here.

Friday, Evan came home from school and said "Mommy I made you something special, it is a card and it doesn't say Mom.Is.Fat., it says "Mommy loves Evan"".   Thanks Evan, I appreciate that.

Colin was told last Friday right before getting on the bus that his 1st grade teacher was resigning immediately for "personal reasons", that was a sudden shock to all of us and really unexpected.  So, he has had a sub all week while they try and find a good replacement.  Luckily, they found one and she starts on Monday.

Friday night Dennis lost his next round of the dodgeball tournament in a " heartbreaker" as he calls it. The boys enjoyed another movie night and then when they went to bed I watched a movie myself. I'm going to actually miss these Friday nights by myself now that dodgeball is over.

Saturday, was pretty much how I like to spend my perfect day in Indiana.  First we took the kids to the children's museum to see the new Lego exhibit.   I think that was probably my favorite exhibit we have seen!  Then that evening we went out for burgers at Bub's, which is so yummy!

Saturday started off with me walking upstairs to find Colin had changed Logan into his clothes for the day and even had changed is diaper, all without being asked!  I was blown away!  He can be such a thoughtful and nurturing old brother!

Sunday was beautiful so after Sunday school and a couple errands and naps, we took a nice family walk to the playground.  Much to Dennis' embarrassment Evan spent the whole time doing and talking about jazz hands!  Like " I love jazz hands, can you do jazz hands".  Despite the jazz hands, we had a great time.

Quick note on Logan...he is talking more and more which is so cute.  His favorite thing these days is Elmo.  He loves playing with his little Elmo stuffed toy and watching Sesame Street.  My other boys weren't into it as much as he is.  But, every time he sees Elmo he says "Elmo, Elmo!".  I can't believe my baby is turning 2 in just a few weeks, makes me sad!

I Remember Evan...

There wasn't much to talk about regarding our weekend.  It was pretty much more running around to get stuff for the basement, hanging out at home together, and a couple meals out as a family.  I also took Colin and Evan to the movies Sunday to go see Dr. Seuss' The Lorax.  I love getting to take my boys out on a "date" to the movies.

Today, Evan had his first swim lesson in a few months.  I was nervous that he would have forgotten a lot of what he learned back in the fall, but I was happy to see that he did great and remembered it all.  When we first got to the pool the swim coach said, "I remember Evan, he is a lot of fun, and he looks very mischievous!"  Yep, that's our Evan.

It was so beautiful this afternoon so we spent a lot of time outside.  We went for a long walk (the older boys were on their bike) and then they played outside with some neighbors.  Tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer and I can't wait!  Pretty much the only time this afternoon the kids played inside the 15 minutes before dinner was ready.  Colin played battleship with our neighbor...s

Tornado Warning

Well, it took 7 months, but today we heard the tornado sirens go off for the first time.  I had just pulled in to our garage at 2:30 this afternoon when they went off.  I had to go down to our basement to wait it out.  I felt a little silly because the guy who is finishing our basement was down there working.  I told him that he probably thinks I am a rookie, but this our first experience with tornadoes.

The boys also had to seek shelter at school.  Evan said they were woken up from nap time and had to go in to the bathroom.  Colin had to go to the center of their pod where they have cubby's and get down on the floor and cover their heads.  He complained when he got home that his neck hurt.  School buses were delayed and Colin got home a half hour late, but no tornadoes touched down near us, so we were very lucky.  The southern part of Indiana was not as lucky and there was lots of serious damage and deaths as a result of some pretty bad tornadoes, so I'm glad we took it seriously.

When my husband, Dennis, was growing up he wasn't allowed to own a video game system.  Of course once he left home he was fascinated with all video games and would play whenever he got a chance.  He swore he would let his own kids play video games.  Well, Colin and Evan seem to share his love of video games.  In fact, we have to limit their "screen time" to 30 minutes a day, because if we didn't they would play nonstop.  So, we were very surprised when Colin got home from Sunday school last week and said he was giving up Wii for Lent.  We asked him if he realizes that is a long time without it and he said yes.  Well, so far he has done a great job not playing, though I am sure it is killing him, especially when Evan gets to play...

Dennis will be upset if I didn't mention that his dodgeball team won their first game in the playoffs tonight and get to play again next Friday.