Tuesday, October 30, 2007

spooky story time


Tonight the boys got their first real taste of their costumes for Story Time: Halloween Edition. Liam's been resisting the idea for a few weeks now, saying he doesn't want to wear the costume (though he does want the candy, surprisingly enough) but once he saw himself in the mirror all dressed up, he changed his tune. By the end of the evening, he said that he didn't ever want to take his dinosaur (or dragon, take your pick) costume off. Max, on the other hand, wasn't quite as happy with his second-ever Halloween costume and kept trying to take it off. He makes quite a cute monkey, though, doesn't he?



The actual story portion of story time was limited to only one book tonight, so the kids could enjoy a Halloween party complete with all kinds of food, stickers, and even books for them to keep. It was very exciting. Who knew that dinosaurs and monkeys were such fans of string cheese?





After the party, all the costumed kids formed a parade and walked all through the library (quite a big place, takes up the whole block) so that all the librarians and patrons could see them in all their glory. We had quite a time, and it was nice to have the chance to get them used to their costumes a little bit before tomorrow's big outing.

in other news...

I know two little boys who are ready for Halloween.


Monday, October 29, 2007

cold

...in both ways. Suddenly it's late fall, without any warning, and we've been sick. The coughing and aching seems to be passing slowly, but it was rough last week. Max got it first, followed by Liam, then me. Mike, as always, seems to escape everything with his iron constitution. Both boys were super-cranky and acted out all week, and the weekend featured some truly spectacular fits, the likes of which we hadn't before seen. On Sunday, the boys were up at 4:30 a.m., and by 9, they were so tired and crabby that nothing would make them stop screaming/whining/hitting/fighting. Finally we put on their warm winter coats, buckled them into their carseats, and drove around aimlessly until the warmth and enforced stillness did their jobs and the boys slept. That may have been a turning point, I'm not sure, but today they were in much better spirits and we finally achieved our goal of "having a nice night." (This has become very important to Liam.)

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

max is the cat's meow


Tonight we had a lovely dinner at my mom and dad's house. Homemade chicken and noodles -- just the thing for a cold (!) fall night. Liam was in a crabby mood all evening (and most of the day too, according to his teacher) and refused to let me take any pictures of him, but Max was more obliging. Plus, he was too busy focusing on his new friend to pay much attention to the camera (just the way I like it!). There are new kittens at the farm -- aren't there always new kittens at the farm? -- and Loni was nice enough to bring one inside. I envision this series of pictures in my mind as kind of a flip book: Max Meets the Kitten. And check out Lon -- what a modern girl, texting happily away, yet cuddling her kitten in her pouch like a kangaroo. Aww.




Tuesday, October 23, 2007

i amuse myself


We live at the end of a water main (we think) and occasionally our water turns a little yellow. Nothing to worry about, according to the water department, and it usually clears up in a couple of minutes. Well, today was a different story. Right after Mike left for work, all water promptly turned brown. Very dark brown. I could make the obvious comparison, but we'll suffice it to say that it freaked poor Liam out so much that I fear his potty training will be set back.

On the way home from story time, we saw a hydrant spewing forth about a block from our house, with a crew from the water department on hand. Though it's not something I would normally do, I pulled over, left the boys in the car for a minute, and went over to talk to them. Apparently they're doing some sort of flushing of the lines, and the water will be brown at least until tomorrow. The guys were really nice, and gave me three bottles of some sort of toxic substance that can be used to clean the toilets and fixtures, and put in with the laundry so that it doesn't get discolored. They had vast quantities of this stuff in their truck. Probably they hand these little bottles out like candy at a parade. A sick brown water parade. There's an obvious "float" joke to be had there too, but I'm just too classy for that.

In a way it's nice -- no laundry, no dishes. In another way it's horrifying -- no bathing, no brushing teeth, no drinking or cooking water. They didn't expressly prohibit using the water, but I've gotta tell ya, water that instantly stains porcelain and discolors laundry is not water that I want anywhere near my family's bodies. So just in case I fall asleep before Mike gets home tonight, I made some warning signs and placed them strategically around the house. My Mr. Yuck portraits in particular make me giggle -- who says I didn't inherit any of my mom's artistic talent?

more story time


It's starting to feel like story time is the most exciting thing I have to report about ... guess that's what happens when you don't really go anywhere except to story time. Anyway, today's theme was "red," and as you can see the boys got into the spirit. Well, maybe if you look a little closer you'll see that Max was totally not into the spirit, but hey, that's a fine distinction. Maybe that explains why he spent most of story time rolling around on the floor. He was really happy, and he participated in the little butterfly exercises and dances and stuff, but when it came down to the actual reading of books, well, he wasn't into it. Liam, on the other hand, paid close attention to everything.

Oh! And I figured out the trick to keeping them well-behaved as I gathered my own library books in my weekly mad rush. I discovered that they have small carts, about half the size of a grocery cart. So I let Liam push the cart down the aisles, and I held Max on my hip the whole time. Maybe not the most comfortable thing, but they were so quiet you'd hardly notice that there were rowdy toddlers on the premises.

As we came out of the library, the air and sky were an ominous yellow color. I'm not sure I fully captured it, but I tried. So far, nothing's come of it, but after last week's tornadoes pretty much completely destroyed a town 15 miles from here, it's best to keep an eye out.


Monday, October 22, 2007

lazy fall weekend


We didn't do much this weekend beyond the usual errands and chores. It was nice to just stick close to home for a change. Sunday afternoon, while Mike was inside watching the Bears game, the boys and I decided to give him a little peace and quiet, so we went out to rake some leaves.




Liam and Max haven't quite gotten the concept of leaf raking yet, so they spent most of the time either raking the leaves out of the piles I'd just raked them into, or playing on the deck and in the flowerbeds. They perked right up when the pile was done though! Mike came out and taught the boys how to frolic in the leaf pile, and all three ended up laughing like loons.





All in all, it was kind of a pointless exercise because it was so windy yesterday (check out Max!) that all my leaves ended up blowing down the street. (Which makes them somebody else's leaves now!) And this morning, there's a fresh carpet of fallen leaves all over the yard. But the city leaf-sucker machine came by this morning, so at least we have a head start. It's an awful lot of yard to rake!


Thursday, October 18, 2007

your questions answered

Ever wonder how Liam really feels about things? Well, he's here to tell you. With what are clearly his own words. Some of his feelings are understandable, some mysterious (I don't remember stepping on his table), and some are downright contrary (he tells us all the time that he loves thunderstorms). Go here to find Liam's book of feelings, page by page.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

mwah hah hah!

At story time tonight, one of the little girls had a meltdown upon reaching the doorway, and didn't end up coming in at all. Another had a full-on freak out 5 minutes into the session and left too. Meanwhile, my boys? Were fluttering their little hands, pretending to be butterflies for all they were worth. It was adorable. I'm torn between a feeling of "there but for the grace of god..." and pure selfish glee that the boys were so well-behaved, interested, and involved. I have to expect that I'll get my comeuppance one of the remaining three story times, but not tonight, my friends. Not tonight.

Monday, October 15, 2007

halloween decorating


Every year, my mom and sister decorate for Halloween. And I do mean decorate. Cute Halloween things adorn their houses and yards. It's very festive. As I got out my single meager box of Halloween decorations this weekend, I realized that the decorating gene must have passed me by. These pictures are the sum total of my Halloween kit: a few pieces of Fiestaware, some pumpkins, and a few dried-up ears of corn. On the plus side, it takes me a lot less time to both decorate and put things away. Oh, and my mom is making me a great Halloween table runner, so I guess the house won't be quite so bereft of seasonal decor.


Sunday, October 14, 2007

pumpkin patch


Saturday afternoon we went to the pumpkin patch with my mom, sisters, and Klaudia. We went to this same place two years ago, and meant to go last year but the house-hunting got in the way. The place, Matthys, has a petting zoo and a big playground in addition to pumpkins. Liam was not so interested in the petting zoo as he was in 2005 -- he told us before we even left that he wouldn't be touching any animals. This year, the playground was the place to be. They ran, they climbed, slid, got dirty, and didn't want to leave. Liam "drove" a big wooden car and Mike kept jumping out in front of it and getting "hit," much to my mom's amusement.







At Matthys, they have a giant pumpkin with a height rule on one side. The pumpkin reads, "How Tall this Fall?" The boys were gracious enough to pose for me ... but who's that monkey in the middle? Why, it's Liam, two years ago. Look how much he's grown (and how like him Max is)!



Thursday, October 11, 2007

yard sale adventure


This afternoon I picked the boys up from daycare, and on the way home a yard sale caught my eye -- I thought I saw a big four-drawer wooden file cabinet as we whizzed by. So I pulled a U-turn, left the boys in the car, and went to check it out. Sadly, it turned out to be a chest of drawers instead of a file cabinet, but then I spotted a great wooden bench/toy box for $12. I checked my wallet to discover that I had $12 in cash exactly, 10 singles and a bunch of change. So it was meant to be mine, right?

I told the lady that I would take it as long as I could fit it into my trunk. We tried to load it in, but nothing doing. (Note to self: When funds permit, get a jalopy of some sort to haul yard-sale finds with!) But apparently the boys caught the woman's fancy, and she wanted them to have the chest, so we struck a deal. She hauled the chest back to my house in her PT Cruiser, and in return I helped her carry all her stuff back into her garage as it started to storm. And now I'm the proud new owner of a nice chest/bench combo. Where we'll put it is another story, but I've got some ideas on that.

In other news, it was summer just days ago, and now we're all freezing. What a change! Poor Max gets a cold and earaches every time the temperature changes, so it's probably a good thing that he's fallen in love with this Oscar hat. I don't know how they got it away from him at school today, because every time I've tried to remove it, I've been met with wails. "My hat! Mommy, I want my hat! My hat! My haaaaaaaat!"

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

happy birthday, mike!

Mike got to open presents with the boys this morning and have a fairly relaxing day before he had to trudge back off to the salt mine tonight. Since we have a daily window of approximately 15 minutes of family time, we decided to let the cake we enjoyed this weekend stand as the cake of record this year. The boys and I did produce a cake, of course, but who wants to eat cake at 7 a.m. (when we're all together)? Blech.


Tuesday, October 09, 2007

story time update

No mortification tonight! The boys were very well behaved at story hour. They did only a minimal amount of running around. Even better, one of the little girls busted out of her shell and SHE spent the whole time running wild. Meanwhile, my boys listened with interest to the stories, participated in most of the little exercise things, and even did a nice beanbag dance. (The beanbag dance is done to a song that instructs you where to place the beanbag -- head, elbow, toes, etc. -- and when to shake it.)

One funny moment: We were asked to sign up to bring healthy treats for the Halloween week story time. There was a list of suggested treats like fruit, granola bars, jello, etc. First I asked Liam, "Should we bring cheese or raisins?" "Cheese!" was his enthusiastic response. Then I figured we should sign up to bring two treats, since there are two of them, so I said, "Okay, Max can bring the cheese. What kind of healthy treat would you like to bring?" The other moms stared expectantly as Liam thought about it for a while then, jumping up and down with excitement, yelled, "Sausage!" He is his father's son. Needless to say, I signed up for the jello.

more work, but in a sweet way

Liam and Max have sort of drifted into sharing a room, and now we're going to make it official. For at least the past month, Liam has found some excuse (spiders/monsters/bugs/unspecified ailments) to sleep in Max's room, which is incredibly sweet. At night when I put them down, if they're not having a two-hour screaming contest, I can hear them over the monitor talking to each other. Liam will tell Max stories and sing him songs, and it's clear how much they like spending time together.

So the new plan is to leave them in Max's room together, and turn Liam's room into their own private play space/studio. We'll consolidate most of their toys up there, which will give us more adult space downstairs (added bonus). And I think they'll really like having their own place up there, especially as they grow. Later on, they may decide they need separate rooms again, and that's just fine too, but right now this seems to be working.

Sunday, October 07, 2007

boys help with gardening


Have I mentioned that our yard needs a lot of work? Probably I haven't, but that's because we decided that we have to focus on making the indoors livable before we set our sights on the massive outdoor projects awaiting us. Suffice it to say that the shade-loving plants have been planted in full sun, and the sun-loving plants in the shade. On top of that, many of the shade-loving plants are also in beds covered in rocks (instead of mulch) that heat up in the sun and fry the poor things where they stand.

This afternoon I had some work to do, so Mike gave me a break and indulged himself and the boys in the process by taking them outside to do a little transplanting. The first target: hostas. In the spring, they were so lush and full and healthy, but in the summer heat, the leaves have browned and withered. So Mike and his little helpers dug some holes in the shade of the house and a big maple tree, and transplanted a couple of them. There are only about a dozen more hostas to go before we can begin to contemplate the other mis-locations. We should be finished say ... by 2010.



liam is sad that loni's costume doesn't fit


Liam wants to be a dinosaur for Halloween this year, which I thought would work out perfectly. My mom made a great dinosaur costume for my sister Loni when she was six, then Klaudia wore it when she got big enough, so we thought we'd carry on the tradition. Keep in mind that Loni was SIX when she wore the costume. I was worried that the thing would be too big for him ... but no, when we tried it on, it was too small! He's THREE! His body fit inside just fine, with plenty of room, but the sleeves ended at his elbows and the legs ended at his knees. So it was back to the dinosaur drawing board. My sister Bethany happened to be on her way to Old Navy, and was lucky enough to find one in his size today, so sometime this week we'll go get it from her and try it on. Keep your fingers crossed!

seriously, what's with the brooms?


This morning, the boys and I went to a pancake breakfast fund-raiser at my dad and brother's firehouse. Afterward, we went back to visit with Mom for a while, and what did the boys want to do? Play with brooms, of course. I really don't understand this obsession, but clearly I'm going to be scouring the internets to find a couple of toddler-size brooms to go under the Christmas tree this year. If you know of any good sources, please let us know! (We've tried all the big-box stores and hardware stores already.)

Update: Brooms found!

is it your birthday yet?

Liam knows Mike's birthday is coming up soon, so every day he asks if today's the day. To make matters even more confusing, we packed up the boys and drove off to Grandma and Grandpa's on Saturday afternoon for an early birthday dinner. The boys love being there: they tried on new rain boots, turned the hall rug into a racetrack for matchbox cars, played catch (with an empty water bottle!) in the yard with Uncle Johnny, ran around with their favorite toys of all time (brooms), and ate a great dinner before completely melting down. It was fun while it lasted. As expected, two exhausted little fellas crashed out as soon as the car started heading for home.





P.S. Yesterday wasn't Mike's birthday, but it was the blog's. I've been chronicling our life and times for a year and a day now!