Lost on purpose...

How can something this cute drive me so crazy?!?

I ran to Wal-mart with the boys to pick up two things. Water bottles and paper plates. I figured that this trip would be easy because it would be quick. I WAS WRONG! Jayden had to sit in the cart, Tanner had to ride underneath the basket and Ethan had to be the one to push the cart. This was quickly becoming a catastrophe, so I took control of the cart and The Incredibly Short Hulk surfaced. He yelled at me, threw himself onto the floor, curled up into a ball and refused to follow me. I calmly walked back to him, picked him up, put him in the cart and proceeded to pick up the needed water bottles. After turning my back for a few seconds, Ethan was out of the cart, out of the water/liquor isle and had completely disappeared. I went to the checkout to pay for my purchases and then walked to the exit. I had Jayden make sure Ethan didn't go to the car and spoke to the greeter by the door about Ethan. He used his walkie-talkie to ask store associates if they had seen my son. They had. I called for Jayden to come back and we headed off in the direction of the paint department, where the greeter said he was. He wasn't. So, the boys and I started at the Tire department and looked down every isle until we reached the video game section. Just ahead was the infant/toddler clothing section, which ironically was very close the water/liquor isle of the grocery department. I noticed four or five associates standing near a display of cute Christmas toddler dresses. I knew my son was with them. After giving a brief description of what Ethan was wearing, I explained to the associates that he was mad at me. One of the ladies laughed and said was he was angry. Apparently, he had growled at them when they tried to coax him out of the dresses. He picked out a very good hiding spot, too. The wide skirts of the dresses were crammed next to each other and the arms of the fixtures were low enough that they almost touched the floor. I couldn't see him at all, not even his feet. I parted the dresses like Moses parted the Red Sea and dragged Ethan out. He was still grumpy at me as I carried him out. The nice man at the exit watched my purchases for me, so placed Ethan back in the cart and rolled out to the car. While we drove away, Ethan told me that the ladies tried to tickle his feet. I can only imagine what it was like for the four women and their male supervisor as they tried to coax him out. It must have been like a tea party with Grumpy Bear. That kid really knows how to make me sweat bullets. He did pretty much the same thing to me on Saturday. It was at another Wal-mart, but time it was because Tanner had to go to the bathroom while we were already on the road. After Tanner was done, we picked up a copy of GI Joe and headed for the checkout. Ethan picked up a Ring Pop and demanded that I buy it. I told him "No!" and he ran off with it. I had Jayden go after him, but Jayden wasn't quick enough and lost him. I freaked out and dragged the boys with me to search the toy and video game departments. On our way back around the store, I heard a page on the intercom "We have a lost mommy of a four-year-old boy..." We headed straight for the checkout isles. I found him hanging out with three ladies in one of the isles. He was acting all sweet and happy around them. One remarked that he was a good little boy because after he went to look for me at the care, he came back in the store and let them know he had lost me. Right after she said that, Ethan and Tanner took off like wild rabbits for the exit. I heard her say, "Well, maybe he's not as good as I thought" and I laughed at her as I took off like a lioness after my prey. I didn't even see my brother-in-law and nephew by the hair salon as I raced past them toward the exit. After I caught Tanner and Ethan by the backs of their shirts, Jayden told me about Steve and Hunter. We all turned back around and said "Hi" before we left. I was initially impressed that Ethan thought to check the car and then asked for help from the blue-vested people, but I was also freaked out that crossed he parking lot by himself. I'd like to say that that was the first time he has purposely lost me, too, but it isn't. Both he and Tanner have done it to me at Costco, where it's very easy to hide in between isles and boxes. It's been while, but I guess Ethan decided it's time to pick up on old bad habits. I did have a nice talk with him this evening about how I get scared when he runs off. I told him that I didn't want any crazy strangers to find him and hurt him. I agreed to not do it again, but somehow I have a feeling I haven't seen the last of this bad behavior. I wish someone would invent a child leash that isn't so easy to escape from and that will propel the child's feet/bum forward when they try to play the "I'm-Heavier-Than-A-Boulder-When-I-Throw-Myself-To-The-Floor-And-Press-All-My-Weight-Down-So-No-One-Can-Easily-Pick-Me-Up" game. Come on all you mad scientists out there! Invent something I really need. ;-)

Last soccer game for the fall...

Jayden played his last soccer game of the season at eight this morning. Watching him progress as a player over the past weeks has been amazing. He started from being the worst player, due to lack of experience/skills, to being a valued member of the team. He has been pulled aside many times during practices to be given extra instruction by the coach, and I've noticed he follows the instruction. He "gets on a man" when instructed and can be found, for the most part, where he needs to be on the field. He's been practicing the forward position the past three weeks, after playing mostly defense. He learned how to shift positions when another forward is in control of the ball, so that he is ready to make a goal kick, should the ball be passed to him. He never made a goal during practice, whether because he was too slow to catch/kick the ball or because the ball was passed too late. This morning he made his first goal! He will now have four achievement patches on his soccer jersey. He earned one from passing one of the many skills tests, one for playing awesome defense, one for hustling during a game where they swept their opponent and his newest for making a goal. I'm so proud that Jayden has come this far. When we started the season, the coach scheduled two-hour practices that were clinics to help develop players soccer skills. After the first five minutes of practice, Jayden ran to me in tears and told me he wanted to quit. He had never done the exercises that he was introduced to and he freaked out because he couldn't get it right. For the entire two hours, he and I went back and forth about how he needed to get out on the field and not give up. The coach tried to give him encouragement, too. He was in complete meltdown mode and it caused me to have my own meltdown. It was a bad day for both of us. The second practice came, and I dropped him off and left. I knew that if he didn't have me to cry on, he wouldn't be able to have a meltdown. I was right. He went out there and gave it a shot. Jayden still lacked confidence in that first month of the season. He believed that he would never earn an achievement patch. He eventually figured out that if he wanted it bad enough, he had to work for it. Four patches later, I can tell he's glad his mother didn't let him quit. I love my Bubba!

Hulk smash!

What do you get when you put a bossy eight-year-old in the same room as his four-year-old brother, add two Nintendo DS systems and one copy of Super Mario Brothers? This...



Jayden took Ethan's game away from him, being parental, because Ethan wasn't putting on his socks and shoes like Daddy asked. Ethan turned into the Incredible Mini Hulk and broke his DS in two. He has now graduated from the old nickname of "Eebee" and is now to be referred to as "Hulk". My personal variation of the name will be "Hulk-ie", but that's just because I like two-syllable words. The sad thing is that we just bought the used DS a little over two weeks ago, for his birthday present. It's such a waste. Ethan has been banned from all video games until we can figure out a way to cure that gamma radiation problem of his. The Wii, XBox 360 and the surviving DS game systems will be locked up in Fort Knox, unless needed for a special occasion. Jayden and Tanner will have to have special security clearance as well as pass a lie-detector test in order to be granted access to the prized game systems. I'm sure Tanner will go all "Mission Impossible" on us and make it hard for us to enforce the lock down, but that's when will have to break out the padded walls and child-sized straight jackets. I'll need some of those "Silence of the Lambs" masks, too. Anyone know where I can purchase these items for real cheap?

Halloween Inventory

Mother Nature's Farm 10/31/2008--When I get current pics, I'll post them, but this represents rather well.

This year was extremely different. This year, Bryan was at work and I took the kids on my own. It ended up not being a real big deal, but I was still annoyed. The boys had fun, as usual, and they accumulated far too much candy to be healthy. A few funny things happened while we toured the streets of the neighborhood. Ethan would tell the neighbors he was "Incredible" and not the Incredible Hulk. I guess he didn't like the Hulk part, so he left it out. Jayden, Tanner and Ethan all braved the extremely scary house one street north of us. This guy had Jason, Freddie, skulls, an animated skeleton in an electric chair and a table covered in blood and body parts. The neighbor (I don't know who he was) wore a hockey mask and wielded a fake butcher's knife and a fake-noisy chainsaw. He was acting pretty mellow around the boys, but when Tanner loudly said "That wasn't scary", he revved up the chainsaw and started to come after him (but in a not mean way). I was laughing, but Tanner was a little scared after that. He commented twice "That house was scary, Mom." Jayden played traffic control when we melded into a group of kids a couple of times. If no one would answer the door, he loudly announced "Oh, there's nobody home here. Time to try another house." All in all, we made it around the six streets in our immediate neighborhood. Not a whole lot of houses were "open", but the boys managed to load their buckets near to the brim. I of course did inventory after they were in bed, and excluding what was eaten on the road and the candy I stashed for myself, the lot includes the following:

17 Reeses Peanut Butter Cups
7 Butterfingers
8 Kit Kats
3 Mr. Goodbars
10 Crunch bars
8 Hershey's Milk Chocolate bars
8 Plain M&M bags
6 Peanut M&M bags
6 Whoppers
4 Babe Ruths
4 Snickers
28 Dum-dums
11 Tootsie Pops
15 fat Tootsie Rolls (Oddly enough, these are the only kind of Tootsie Roll I like to eat. I know they look like cat turds, but they are yummy if they are still soft.)
18 long & skinny Tootsie Rolls
25 small Tootsie Rolls
15 fruit flavored Tootsie Rolls--5 lime, 3 lemon, 3 orange, 2 cherry and 2 vanilla
23 Smarties
2 Starburst
6 banana Laffy Taffy
1 strawberry Laffy Taffy
5 Lifesaver Gummies in cute Halloween shapes (spiders, mummies, etc)
1 Swedish Fish (really?)
5 Jolly Rancher round and two flavored hard candy's (half green apple, half orange--surprisingly good)
6 Twizzlers
4 Tootsie Dots-I keep trying these to remember why I don't like them. Every year I'm reminded why...they taste terrible! What flavors are they anyway. Ugh!
4 Sugar Babies (no Daddy's--I know, I know...I'm sad too. Maybe someday I'll find my Sugar Daddy)
3 Skittles
9 Nerds-4 orange, 3 grape and 2 fruit punch
9 Sponge Bob candies--I almost threw these out because they are made in China, but the are distributed from PA, so if there's something wrong, I'll go after them. ;-)
and 1 Misc box of grape flavored candy

There were a few fruit chews made in Brazil that didn't feel so soft, bubble gum, jawbreakers and a few other misc candies that were distributed to the dumpster. I kept the New Moon Forbidden Fruit Sweethearts. I thought they were cool because they said things like "Bite Me" and were sparkly like Edward. Unfortunately, they are nothing like normal Sweethearts. I was expecting a tart and somewhat tooth- jarring candy. I got a soft and funky-sweet flavored candy. They reminded me of those nasty chalk flavored valentine hearts. I don't know what flavors they used, but one of them tasted like papaya. It was gross.

Well, I've got to go hide the stash from the boys. Wish me luck!

Too Easy

When Tanner and Ethan play a video game or do some sort of activity, they become extremely excited if they are doing well and extremely distraught if they do poorly. One phrase that they commonly use to describe their emotions is "I'm easy at this". Similarly, if they are doing poorly or are frustrated with the activity, they will say "I am not so easy at this". I understand what they are trying to say, but I've never bothered to correct their speech. Tanner started using these phrases first, months and months ago. Ethan has learned them from him and he used them three or four times tonight while we were driving home. He was so excited that he was beating a level on his DS game that he kept exclaiming, "I'm easy at this!" One time he did say "I'm good at this game", but I felt impressed to correct him and his brother. I told them not to say "I'm easy at this" and to start to say "This is easy for me". Tanner practiced it right away and said it correctly. Ethan was so engrossed in his game, that he didn't respond when I called his name. After he was done with his level, I had him repeat the phrase. I don't know if it will stick, but with enough reminders, I know it will. Even though it's so cute to hear them say it the wrong way, I figure it's probably time to teach them the right way now. They are growing up so fast.

Life with Boyz

Movie night in my room a few weeks ago. Of course they had to bring half of the stuff on their beds with them.

On Tuesday, I was drooling over an add for a six-meat covered pizza from Papa John's. I read off the list of meats to my boys and asked "Doesn't that sound yummy, boys?" Jayden replied, "No Mom, we'd better skip it this time. I'm borderline overweight. You know, on Wii Fit. I need to stop eating ice cream, too." This from the boy who ate ice cream after dinner the night before and was okay with the idea of pizza as long as it was only pepperoni.

Yesterday, Tanner threw one of his magnificent temper tantrums and was so angry, he left his Grandma's house and started to go for a walk. I would normally encourage a walk when angry, but he's only five and this was a neighborhood he didn't know very well. I followed him outside. When he saw me coming closer, he took off like a gazelle. Like a lioness, I took off after him wearing my nice dressy high heels (I didn't go home after work to change). I managed to catch up to him, when he slowed down. He realized that I was not going to stop. Or so that's what I think he thought. My lungs would have given out at any moment. Even though I "won the race" I had to shepherd him back to my mom's house because he wouldn't walk on his own. Pushing him forward every few steps was so annoying!

Today, Tanner came home from school while I was taking a nap. He marched up the stairs calling "Mom!" multiple times. When he reached me, he asked me to help him untie the drawstring on his pants. I did so with my back turned to him. I was still half asleep and wrapped around my body pillow. I made it past what I thought was the knot, only to find another one underneath it. I made it past this knot, and once again found another. I managed to undo the third knot, without turning around, but I came up on the last and really nasty knot. It was extremely tight I had little room to work with between the pants and Tanner's tummy. I got up, turned around and with much effort, managed to untie it. As soon as I was done, Tanner rushed to the bathroom. It amazes me that he managed to tie that many knots, but he still hasn't figured out how to tie his shoe laces. Maybe it's time to give them a try...

Yesterday, I took the boys to my mom's house for the fall carnival in her neighborhood. Once inside, the boys had to change into their Halloween costumes. When I asked Ethan to put his socks and shoes back on, I discovered that he only had one sock, one right tennis shoe and one right sandal shoe. Bryan let Ethan dress himself and didn't make sure that he had matching set of shoes on. It was hilarious! Ethan wore the sock with the sandal shoe on the right foot and the tennis shoe without a sock on the left foot. He had two right feet. I wonder if that would make him an excellent dancer since having two left feet makes you a horrible dancer.

Today, as I mentioned earlier, I took a nap to help combat a head cold. As I was sleeping, I felt something fuzzy being placed to my wrist, but it didn't bother me enough to wake me up. Later, I opened my eyes and found a little teddy bear sitting comfortably in the palm of my hand. One of my sweet boys had put the bear in my hand to comfort me. It was Tanner's bear, but I thought Ethan had done it because he came into my room around the same time. He played his DS while I slept. I guess he thought he needed to keep an eye on me. When asked about the teddy bear later on, Tanner admitted that he gave me the bear so that I could feel better.

I love my crazy/sweet boys!

A doubly grateful Ethan...

Birthday boy's "Sprinkle cake"-Red velvet cake w/cake batter ice cream. Yummy!

Birthday boy with good friends Ben & Misty.

Birthday Boy with brothers and new DS case (from Ben & Misty).

Ethan turned four almost a week ago. We took him out to pick a birthday present a couple of days prior to his birthday so that his dad could be there with us (otherwise he works nights). He picked out a white Nintendo DS Lite (just like he told me he had to have earlier that day; don't know why white) and a copy of Club Penguin for DS, which his his older brother's convinced him to pick out. Later that week, my mom asked me what to buy Ethan for his birthday. I told her to find another DS game. On Sunday, my parents gave him his birthday present. It was another copy of Club Penguin. Ethan's brothers were ecstatic, thinking that now they could have their own copy. Yeah, like that's how it works. Bryan and I have decided to exchange the extra copy for another game, but in the meantime, Ethan still has two copies. Tonight, Ethan gave the prayer for our Family Home Evening lesson. He said, "Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for my birthday present and thank you for my second birthday present. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." Bryan and I busted up. We knew he was thinking of his two copies of Club Penguin. Silly kid!