did someone say push?

space number one

back to it

Despite working too many long hours this weekend, we still managed to have a pretty good time. On Saturday, Max and I took a break from the work to go watch cousins Cole and Brady win their last football game of the season in convincing fashion. Liam would have gone with us, but he was busy throwing a giant temper tantrum, so he stayed home and napped instead.

Sunday, I took another break from the becuter so Mike and I could carve pumpkins with the boys. It was kind of exciting for all of us. We sat around the table and dreamed up what we wanted our jack o' lanterns to look like, then drew their faces on paper and transferred them to the pumpkins. Then the fun began. Liam was totally willing to dig into his pumpkin and remove the innards. Max tried it tentatively, but proclaimed it "yucky" and "sticky" and decided he waned nothing more to do with it. Liam did pretty well with the carving, too, but after his pumpkin was done, he lost interest. The boys went off to play with their toys, but Mike stayed behind to carve his own masterpiece.

The other big news around here is Legos. Mike has a ton of Legos from when he was a boy, and we've saved them in a box in the basement all this time, just waiting for Liam to be old enough to play with them. On Friday, Mike brought up the box and they put together some spaceships. Liam has taken to the Legos like crazy. He loves making new things. Max likes them too, but mostly for their ability to scatter all over the floor, causing pain to anyone who walks in the area.

Max has something to celebrate, too: potty training! He's just getting started, and for right now, I'm just taking him first thing in the morning, but he's used the toilet every morning this week. We're very proud of him, and he's very proud of himself. He gets a sticker on his calendar every time he goes, and this morning, he earned enough stickers (5) to pick out a prize (a new jet).

watch this space

I've got a very big deadline early next week, so no blog posts until then (unless Mike decides that he wants to step up to the posting plate). Since we last talked, we celebrated Mike's birthday with dueling cakes, an electronic pepper mill, and a really nice visit to Chicagoland. Max has moved from the "little kids" room at daycare to the "big kids" room, and is really doing well. (Today, their teacher told Mike that Max is very smart, just like his big brother, and that we must be doing something right, which is really nice to hear.) The boys are gearing up for Halloween and can't wait to be pirates. They're practicing their pirate-speak every day. Saturday night, Mike and I had the rare opportunity to go out sans children. So, sorry for the blog interruption, but next week's posts will hopefully be good enough to make up for it.

return of the [redacted] chipmunk!

Liam shows off his chipmunk-hunting prowess.

The boys and I were upstairs putting away laundry. We started in Max's room, put all his laundry away and made his bed with fresh sheets. So far, so good. Then I noticed that the vacuum cleaner was still out. I say "still" because Mike got it out over the weekend, intending to vacuum the boys' rooms and the stairs. I was feeling ambitious, so I enlisted the boys to help me move chairs and stuffed animals around so I could vacuum. Looking back, I can see that that's where we went wrong.

Not to be outdone, Max shows us what a tough guy he is too.

We were innocently going along, vacuuming toward Max's rocking chair, when a [redacted] chipmunk ran across the floor! It hid under Max's dresser, but then I kicked the dresser and the little [redacted] popped out, only to run and hide beneath Max's (freshly made) bed. [Redacted!] I looked around for something to trap it with, and came up with two options: a small pink grocery basket, and a slightly larger white wicker basket with a fabric lining. I chose the wicker basket.

Thus began the Great Chipmunk Chase of 2008. For 45 minutes (literally!) the boys and I chased that [redacted] critter around the room, leaving chaos in our wake. We pulled up the mattress and box spring and used them to block the doorway so it couldn't leave the room. We moved the dresser out, built book blockades around the bookcase, and generally ran around like some (even more) madcap version of the Three Stooges. Every time I turned around to pounce on the thing, one of the boys would suddenly be twisted around my ankles. Finally, the [redacted] thing stopped to catch its breath, so I waited at one end of the bed and had Liam kick the other end of the bedframe. Aha! I caught it! We were so excited. But then I tried to take off the liner and turn it inside out to have the chipmunk truly, well, in the bag. And it jumped out (but not before crapping all over the box).

By this point, we had somehow moved the box spring, so there was a gap in the doorway. And though we searched high and low, we couldn't find it. Great! It managed to get out of the room. So we took a flashlight and started looking under the furniture in Liam's room. I thought we would find it under his bed, but no. We did, however, manage to find a couple of other useless critters under there:

Dora

Greta

Eventually, I gave up. I was totally creeped out by the thought of the boys sleeping up there with a wild chipmunk running around, so I went back to Max's closet to get their sleeping bags to have them camp out downstairs...and the [redacted] [redacted] chipmunk raced out at me! I chased the damned thing down the stairs, boys in hot pursuit, through the dining room, through the kitchen, and finally I cornered it under the dresser in the bathroom. I had the boys searching frantically for a box in which to trap it, and finally I got a bright idea and had Liam get the cake carrier. Then we began a delicate operation. I held the top dome, while Liam thrust the bottom tray under the dresser to get the chipmunk to come out. Success, again! And this time I wasn't going to lose it, so I used a lifeline and phoned my dad. On his advice, we shoved a cookie sheet under the dome, then turned it over and pulled a quick switcheroo with the cake carrier tray. Then I took the whole mess out to the porch and weighted it down with a potted plant just to be on the safe side. Mike will have a nice surprise when he gets home, and I can sense a new cookie sheet and cake carrier in my future.

Yuck!

Oh, and might I add that Liam knows a few redacted words of his own? To be fair, I called the chipmunk a bastard during the heat of the chase ("Come here, you little bastard!"). "Mama, he's a bastard!" Liam repeated. He then added, "You know what, Mama? He's a frickin' douchebag." I definitely DID NOT say that, though young Liam had a point.

politics part 2: endorsement time

my editor noted that my previous political post did not include an endorsement of a presidential candidate. so let me just say, for the record, i enthusiastically endorse:


here's something i found a while ago. somebody made it after mccain misspoke during a speech, stating that he would "veto any beer." i am strongly pro-beer, and anyone standing on an anti-beer platform will not get my vote.


Editor's Note: Despite the somewhat humorous mention of beer, you know that Mike is serious about this. Nothing else has ever prompted him to post twice in a row, particularly without any "encouragement" from me. --Holli

we interrupt this family blog to get political

yes, i know, we don't do politics here. but this is perfect:


if you don't get the reference (on multiple levels), you should look it up. c'mon, everyone, this stuff is IMPORTANT.

other thoughts: people are all atwitter about tina fey's impersonation of sarah palin on snl (the mock-up of the katie couric interview), but most don't realize that fey spoke (word for word) large sections of palin's ACTUAL INTERVIEW RESPONSES during the skit. as you may have heard, sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.

the pumpkin hunters

Hensler's, the place we go to get our Christmas trees, started a new Fall Festival this year, so we decided to check it out, along with Yami, Bethany, and Klaudia. The week before, they had held a large pumpkin contest, and the second-place winner was on display. Don't worry, we asked before we let the kids climb up on it for pictures. The structural integrity of a pumpkin that size is truly amazing.



The neat thing about this pumpkin patch was that we all bought tickets, then went on a horse-drawn wagon ride (which was quite long!) out to the pumpkin patch, where we were each allowed to pick one pumpkin to take home. The catch was that all of the pumpkins were growing in thick weeds and plants, so we did some stumbling around trying to find them. But once we did, we all headed back to the wagon and rode back to the main area. The boys got to play on the wooden train and tractor (a treat they loved last winter too), see the reindeer and wild birds, and check out all of the pumpkins. It was pretty warm, so it didn't exactly feel like it was close to Halloween, but the temperature is supposed to drop considerably this week, so maybe this weekend we'll do something else Halloweeny. Or maybe we'll just hang out around the house, like we did for the rest of this past weekend...

what it's all about

Last night, just before bed, Liam told me he had a secret (he's been very big on secrets lately). He gave me a hug and whispered in my ear, "I will love you forever."

kids weekend adventure

We dropped Liam and Max off at Aunt Bethany's house on Saturday morning. Bethany and Klaudia gave the boys a special treat to start off the weekend: a trip to the Build-a-Bear Workshop. Liam chose a cat, and dressed it in a firefighter costume. He named the cat Dino (this is at least the second, possibly the third, cat named Dino that Liam has owned). Max chose a bear and dressed it in a police costume; he did not give it a name. Both boys also got miniature cats.



But the real treat was Saturday night. The boys got to go on their very first camping trip! They didn't have to go far -- just to a tent in Bethany's field. But still, they spent the whole night outdoors. Uncle J stayed outside with them all night, and in the morning, Papaw came and made them pancakes and bacon for breakfast. All that fresh air must have really wiped Max out, because it looks like he was the last one up in the morning.



On Sunday, the boys spent the day going for go-kart rides, playing with the new kittens, and watching Yami do some quilting. Liam also had the pleasure of spending a couple of hours with Papaw, learning how to mix and pour cement. He now knows all of the steps involved, including how to wash out the wheelbarrow afterward to remove all traces of cement. (In case you were wondering, they were working on construction of a new and larger dog pen for Ben and Jerry.) By the time bedtime rolled around, the boys (and, I would venture to guess, my parents) were worn out and got a good night's sleep.


Monday morning, my mom took the boys in to daycare, and my sisters picked them up that evening. Then it was back to Bethany's house to play, then back to Yami's house for dinner and playtime with J and his friend Steve until we (finally) arrived to pick them up that night. What a happy reunion, on both sides!

grown-up weekend adventure

Last weekend, Mike and I took a little trip to celebrate our fifth anniversary. Believe it or not, this was the first vacation-type trip we've been on since our honeymoon. I guess that's what you sign up for when you plan to start having babies as soon as possible following the wedding. Anyway, Saturday morning, we bid farewell to the boys (who spent the weekend at the family "compound" -- more on that in a following post)and hit the road for scenic Canton, Ohio.

If Canton seems like a random choice to you, it wasn't. It was something worse: a completely nerdy choice. We picked Canton because of its proximity to an attraction for each of us. (We picked our hotel because the room boasted a giant bathtub, but that's neither here nor there.) When we arrived, we discovered that our hotel was in the middle of a chain-restaurant paradise. All the major chains were represented; too bad we're more into one-off kinds of places. Still, we managed to enjoy a delicious dinner Saturday night at the seafood emporium (you know the one).

Mike, in the middle of telling me, "I was at this game!"

After sleeping in Sunday morning (oh, so that's what that feels like!), we headed to our first destination: The Pro Football Hall of Fame. It turned out to be smaller and less impressive than Mike thought it would be, but it did have a large, creepy hall of heads that featured busts of all HOF players. It also had a nice gift shop (of course) so we were able to get the promised souvenirs for the boys (Chicago Bears semis).

Mike channels Da Coach.

Monday morning, we got up too early and set out for Newell, West Virginia, the home of Fiestaware. The fog was low in the mountains, and we drove through lots of small, desolate towns where we got no cell phone reception. I'll admit, the whole drive sort of gave me the creeps. But then we arrived, and the trip was instantly forgotten. We took a tour of the factory and watched the Fiesta being born, which was really interesting for me. Mike was more focused on the "poor bastards" who had worked there for 30+ years, moving clay molds from place to place monotonously the whole time. Apparently, it made making tires not seem like such a bad thing to be doing.

Mecca

After the tour, we hit the Fiesta outlet store. The highlight was the second quality room. Stacks upon stacks of Fiestaware, some obviously cracked and damaged, others with just slightly "off" colors or tiny white spots. Paradise, I'm telling you. We spent a happy and dusty hour in there collecting my souvenirs, then we packed up the car and embarked on the long drive back home. It was really good to get away by ourselves, but by Sunday night/Monday morning, we were definitely missing the boys and just wanting to get back to them. Those little devils have us wrapped around their fingers.

40-16!

Not to be left out, Max decided to show off his own counting skills...

110!

stealth mission: plant a tree

Saturday was our fifth anniversary (which just so happens to be the wood anniversary), so Friday night the boys and I put our stealth plan into action. The plan was to buy an oak tree (Mike's favorite) and plant it Friday night while Mike was at work. After calling all of the nurseries and garden centers in the area only to discover that they were all sold out of oak trees, it became clear that the plan would need to be tweaked. Luckily, my parents have many acres of woods, so we went over there, and headed down the trail with J and Klaudia. Eventually, we found the tree we were looking for, and the boys helped J dig it up. Then we headed back to the house for dinner.





After dinner, J was kind enough to bring the tree to our house in his truck and plant it for us (again with some help from the boys, who this time added to the fun by making a huge mess with their chocolate ice cream cones). By this time, it was pretty late and getting dark. Happily, Mike didn't notice the tree when he came home from work later that night.




Saturday morning, in the midst of getting ready for our trip, the boys and I took Mike outside to see his anniversary gift. The boys were literally hopping with excitement, and Mike was pretty pleased too. It was a good way to kick off an adventurous weekend for all of us.

gram: house detective

We've been wondering about our house for a while now. We heard from some neighbors who have lived in their house since 1926 (!) that there used to be a pond where the oasis is now. We heard from another neighbor that her house used to be the town stable; she even showed us the stone mounting blocks that are still in place (and, yes, in case you were wondering, she actually remembers this; she didn't just hear it from someone). At the messy party, one of the parents told us that she could remember playing in our house as a kid. Then she dropped a real bombshell: our house, she said, used to be a barn. She told us that a family bought the place in the 1980s and converted it into a house.


But how can that be? we asked ourselves. Our house was built in 1915, and the way the rooms are set up, there's no way that it could have been a barn. I thought maybe my grandpa would be a good resource. He's lived here all his life, and his sister used to live just one street over from where we are now. We thought surely he would remember something about this place. Sadly, he didn't. He did tell us that the house wasn't a barn -- the barn was down the road a couple of houses, where there is a school now, so I'm not sure what the parent at the messy party was talking about.


Enter Gram. She ran into my neighbor one day (the one who has lived around the corner since 1926) and they got to talking about it. The neighbor remembered the name of the boy who lived here during her childhood in the 1930s. And, in the beautiful way of small towns, it turns out that Gram goes to exercise classes with the wife of that man.


Amazing, right? But it gets better. Gram's exercise buddy brought her a surprise last week: pictures of our house from the 1930s! We're so excited to have these, and to be able to trace some of the history of the place. There were even pictures of the pond (conveniently, all of the pictures had been marked a very long time ago with the name of the man and with the address). It turns out that one of the neighbor kids may or may not have nearly drowned in the pond; regardless, the neighbor kid's father threatened to sue the family who lived here if they didn't fill in the pond, so the pond was filled in. Somewhere along the line, the rock wall disappeared too, although Mike keeps finding remnants of it every time he digs a hole. We like the oasis as it is now, but maybe someday we'll have our own stone wall.