Fun With Our Sons: Already 2011

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Already 2011

Today my kids are back in school and Derek's back at work. I guess I should be back at "work" too. Groceries, bills, cleaning, etc... Instead, I'm pretty much doing nothing. Derek would say with a sarcastic tone, "That's weird." Hey, I think traveling over a thousand miles in the car (with three kids and a large dog) over Christmas break entitles me to a slow morning. :)

Reuniting with my extended family for a week was so great. I love Derek's family, and I'm grateful to be in town with them. But it was SO NICE to be with my family. I've decided 2 years is way too long to go without seeing my brother. Derek reminds me we have Skype and I should use that more often. I remind him that Skype is not the same as being face to face.

Favorite memories from this trip:

Laughing uncontrollably while we played The Game of Things
Playing Clue as a family with Braylen old enough to figure the game out
Watching football and HGTV without wondering if there was anything else I should be doing
Catching up with my cousins, aunts, uncle, and grandma
Meeting Bill and Dawn for supper in downtown Chicago (so thankful we could use my dad's car and his I-Pass)
Watching Braylen learn how to snowboard
Playing with Ginger in the same house/yard I once played in with Sonja and Misty
Shopping with my mom and sister-in-law in a mall that has everything I'd ever want or need
Learning how to knit. My mom and her family are pros...I must take after my dad's family. :)
Watching mom and Aaron bake cookies together in my old Easy Bake Oven
Despicable Me was our movie of the week. The boys sure love those minions! I love hearing them repeat favorite lines from the movie.
Treating Dad to lunch at Tony's Cafe and Mom to lunch at Panda Express
Staying up past midnight talking and ringing in the new year with Eric and Amber
Clinking glasses of bubbly with the kids at supper on New Year's Day

I'm sure I'm forgetting a thing or two, but those are the highlights. Derek would add several trips to Cabela's to that list, but these are my highlights, not his. :) Now that we're back home, I've been thinking about what I'd like to work on in 2011. I'd like to be more organized, but what should I be working on that has an eternal value? I'm thinking on that.

Some pictures of the fun we had at Christmas...turn on your speakers if you want. :)

A free digital slideshow by Smilebox

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What I've Learned While Raising Boys

You know you're a Cub Scout mom when you end up teaching the salesperon which neckerchief slide goes with which age level.

The boys want to be just like dad, but they want to snuggle with mom.

Snuggling and cuddling can quickly turn into a tickling match with daddy, but mommy avoids the tickling to keep snuggling longer.

A carpeted floor always turns into a wrestling mat.

I don't care how old (or how young) you are; if you are male, you will wrestle on the carpeted floor.

I've never heard the words 'belch' and 'fart' more in my life. Nor the sound effects those words represent.

They'll carry toads and eat dog food. Hand them a toilet brush and they think it's gross.

Why mop the boys' bathroom floor when I can wait for them to do it for me? Three showers later, a towel makes a nice mop.

Courtesy flush=an adult walks by the boys' bathroom and flushes the toilet. Courtesy flushes are standard around here.

Hearing me count to 5 changes my child's behavior, if only for a moment.

I get more practice counting to 5 than I did when I was learning how to count.

Pull-ups should never go in the dryer.

Vacuuming the pull-up pieces out of the dryer at midnight is not unheard of.

Rocks, cars, coins, chapstick, crayons, army men, kleenex, and stickers are all washable, but shouldn't be.

If I want a child to be sick, give him clean sheets.

Band-aids really do make it all better.

My camera batteries will die at the worst time. Like they did at my wedding and the birth of my first son.

When I get mad at my son for spilling his drink, I'll spill mine that same day.

Just when I'm ready to sit down with my lunch, my kids need cleaned up from finishing theirs.

The game "I Spy" works great in a restaurant; not in a moving car.

Dandelion bouquets should be checked for ants before gracing my kitchen counter.

I should always accept a dandelion from my son with delight, for someday they will just be weeds in my yard.

I really do have eyes in the back of my head.

The messier the better--living room, kitchen, toy room--for it means my kids are here with me.

I never turn away a hug from my son--soon enough he won't offer them to me.

Things are always better in the morning.

I can never find the scotch tape in my kitchen drawer, but my son has at least 3 rolls in his desk.

My 5 year old can remember attending a funeral when he was 3, but he can't remember to flush the toilet or shut the front door.

I shouldn't be surprised that my 5 year old thinks I was friends with Mary, mother of Jesus, when he thinks 7 year olds are big kids.

Hiding a purchase from an inquisitive child looks like shoplifting.

The number of bathrooms in a home should equal the number of children. All 3 bathrooms have been used at the same time more than I ever would have imagined.

I'm a selfish, self-centered person. God's cure for that? My 3 blessings.

They really are little for just a little while. . .