Funny answers

My new favorite past time is to ask Jack questions.
He has the best answers for things.

Before bed last night he said "We need a baby. I want a little baby."
I asked him, "Where are you going to get a baby?"
He said, "I dunno, at the store!"
"Oh? What kind of baby you're going to get?" (expecting boy or girl...)
"A brown one!" he said.

He always makes me laugh.

The boys' Christmas list for Santa

For Christmas Charlie wishes for:

-A ladder (repeat from last year as Santa didn't think it was safe to give a child a ladder)
-A skateboard and pads
-A super suit (like a super hero costume)
-A TV on his bedroom ceiling (new today)
-An airplane (new today)

Jack wishes for:
-A Christmas Tree
-A Candy Cane
(How cute is that????)
-An airplane that flies high in the sky! (new tonight)

If you ask Jack what he's going to get someone for Christmas.. Grandma.. his friends... anyone... he always answers, "A CANDY CANE!" I asked him what he was going to get me for Christmas and he said, "I dunno, ask Daddy!"

The Dominican Republic

Greg had the fantastic opportunity earlier this month to go to the Dominican Republic for 10 days with an organization that provides free basic medical and dental care for the children there. Here is an article about his trip. He went as a translator and to help organize some of the logistics. He wasn't in the same area as where he served his mission but he worked with and met some amazing people. He said it was like serving another mission.



He took a lot of great pictures. I think it's something that he will definitely do again and I'm so going with him. The organization goes down every few months. Además, me dará una buena oportunidad de practicar mi español. Cuál nunca realmente he tenido la ocasión de hacer. (Gracias, Dictonary.com)

On the mend...

Jack had his stitches removed today!
Greg had his nose packing (aka - nostral waxing) done yesterday...
We're on our road to recovery.

KNOCK ON WOOD!!!

Tape and scissors is all he needs...

Charlie was busy turning the recycling into a triangle house on Friday evening (before our ER field trip). Give the kid some tape and scissors and he's set for hours.

(When we took the picture of Charlie, Jack was sitting next to him at the table imitating him.)

The ER - yet another fun way to spend a Friday night

I'm not even kidding you. Back to the ER for us tonight!

Just before bed Charlie and Jack were racing across the living room. They were actually wearing those silly hospital caps! And.. just like the picture below.. Jack had his pulled down over his face.
I was rinsing dishes in the sink and just about to tell them to cut it out.. it was time for bed.
BAM! Jack fell face first into the coffee table.
He bit clear through the side of his lip. Clear through. It was pretty much the grossest thing I've ever seen. He calmed down rather quickly and was happy to just suck on a towel. We strapped him in his car seat, and I drove us all to the ER (Greg is super doped up from his surgery yesterday). I was on the verge of hysterics.. I wanted to cry and laugh hysterically at the same time. Seriously, you've got to be kidding me. WHAT NEXT?

So, what a sight we were - Greg with his bruised and swollen face and Jack bleeding all over. Jack at the same nurses as Greg did the other day. They put 5 stitches on the outside of his mouth and one on the inside. It was the worst. Poor charlie just knelt on his knees in the corner. He was so sad for Jack and felt so helpless. I started to cry every time I looked at Charlie. Not a fun night at all. Jack was a trooper though and recovered quickly from having the stitches put in. He was even sweet enough to say "Thank you, Dr. Rowley" when we left.

I have pictures too. But I don't know if I'm even ready to look at them again. Maybe tomorrow.

So much for Christmas pictures this week.
Faces are fragile.

Jack before -

Jack after -

Surgery and other fun ways to spend a Thursday

After a visit to the Otolaryngologist this morning (yes, I googled that). We found out we had to pop right over to the hospital for surgery (if we waited until next week, they would have had to re-break his nose). Oh goody. First-- after my 11 day stay there a year and a half ago- the hospital is right near the top of list of places I HATE (Why does it smell like that?). And number one on my list of places I hate to be all day long with a four year old and two year old. What they don't tell you is that a 30 minute surgery streaches out to 5 1/2 hours with the waiting, pre-op, surgery, post-op, and recovery. BLAH! I'm glad today is done.

Greg looks TERRIBLE! And was in ton of pain when he woke up from his surgery. I'm convinced. I'll keep my crooked nose, thank you very much. I'm not ever electing to do anything even close to that. He has been miserable today. Luckily though, I think that after this weekend he will be doing much better. Like he said, at least it wasn't an arm or a leg (just his face).

Charlie is thrilled with the new hat he got out of it though (Jiffy pop anyone?). He wore it all day long. Even throughout our trip to Walmart. He would have worn it to bed, but I put the kibosh on that one.

Really, the best part of the day was going about my little shopping trip and thinking to myself.... apple sauce... yogurt... I can't believe I'm walking through the store with this silly little kid! Every time I looked at him I'd laugh out loud. He asked me once while we were at the hospital why people smiled and laughed at him when he wore the hat and I told him it made people happy to see how cute he was. It was cute.

Just in time for Christmas card pictures....

A nose broken in two places courtesy of the turkey bowl (just a friendly game of flag football... it really was an accident... the kid that collided with him was on his own team).

Thanks, you big turkeys!

A specialist will so kindly reset it for him tomorrow morning.

Sorry, Greg, no scuba for you! (*Note---- we found out today that actually, he will be fine to scuba just as soon as all of his sinus swelling goes down and he can breathe well again. He will be a master diver yet!)

New kick boxing class for me....

So, one of my neighbors told me about a kickboxing class she's been going to for about a year... with her kids. It's awesome! On Tuesday and Thursday mornings I've been going with the boys. I have no idea why more people don't do this. Basically, they turn the music up and kick box while the kids run around the gym and play with each other. The kids are having fun, and I'm getting a whole hour to work out.

Granted... you have to keep an eye out for the occasional toddler running by while you're kicking or a stray gold fish cracker, ball, or toy car under your feet (it's part of the excitement). And on TH the kids (about 7 of them) decided to run laps around me while I was on the floor doing some leg work (it actually created a delightful breeze). Jack always helps me with my abs workout too by sitting on me. But.. it's really been a blast.

I ♥ weekends!

Just hangin' around this weekend after a crazy busy week! Would someone mind telling my kids I'll be sleeping in until 8? They don't seem to get the time-change thing and have been bright eyed and ready to go at 6:30. (Didn't she used to get up at 6:30 to work out? You're saying to yourself... Well, that was before Heidi's baby decided to start waking up at night. But it was a dang good run of nearly a month! My longest work out habit in history.. so sad!).

ANYWAY! I thought I'd post some fun pictures of the boys since I haven't in awhile...

Here is Jack trying to convince me that he IS dressed and ready to go outside and Charlie proving to me that the scrubs still fit him too...

Here, Jack just found a fun way to play with really big balloons...

And Charlie with his first food invention... a Doritos,ham, and swiss sandwich.

What every chronic list maker needs....

A website where you can keep all your lists!!!! Gubb.net - how have I been living without such a wonderful thing.. and WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT???

I love shopping.

This weekend I found this shoe (but in BROWN!) on sale for $20. BUT I had a 25% off coupon and a $5 rewards certificate-- my price... $10!

All of our Halloweeney-ness...

We started the festivities off with a delicious neighborhood soup and chili potluck dinner and trunk-or-treat and carnival. The boys were excited to finally wear their costumes. Charlie was a cowboy (Or a CHARLIE HORSE!). Jack was a puppy (complete with cowboy boots too). At the last minute Greg pulled Sponge Bob out of the costume box and I of course then had to grab my devil horns.

(Note: the boys take turns wearing Sponge Bob - it is a child's costume after all - and calling him "French Bob" - no idea why - and then turning it inside out and running around yelling "I'm the cheese, I'm the cheese!")

On Monday night for Family Home Evening (a brand new tradition at our house) we decided to carve our pumpkins. I had NO IDEA how much fun it was going to be with the boys. I guess all the other years Charlie was just too little to even pay attention to what we were doing.. oh no, not this year.

While Greg was meticulously working on his pumpkin - it's more of an art form for him. I let charlie draw the face on his then explained that before we started carving - he couldn't wait to get his hands on those little knives - that we had to remove all of the pumpkin guts, the brains.

I couldn't have enjoyed his reaction more:



And to further demonstrate my entertainment, a video clip:


Charlie decided that his pumpkin actually need to have 4 nostrils. He showed me where to drill and he started cutting. I realized that he was actually doing a really good job! I also realized that Jack was not enjoying the activity as much.. he tried to help, but it was a little frustrating. And I realized that I was hovering over charlie too much. I decided that he probably wasn't going to amputate his arm with the tiny pumpkin carving saw and left him with Greg while I put Jack in the bath (which even at 2, he can't get enough of-- baths are the highlight of his day, nearly equivalent to the value of candy).


Anyway, Charlie carved his pumpkin all by himself. Then, Greg drew a face on the little one and Charlie completely cut it out. Charlie carved yet another pumpkin on Halloween night. It featured a sad face, and a bum. Yeah, he cut out a bum on the back because he heard his dad comment about an interesting groove on the back of the pumpkin.



We've been really consistent at going to story time every week and we couldn't miss the costume parade on Tuesday. Jack chose to be a doctor since it was nearly 70 degrees and his dog costume was full fur.

On Wednesday we had a special playgroup brunch (see below) where the kids decorated little gourds with markers, stickers, and googly eyes.

Jacks was honestly my very favorite. It was SO CUTE! I honestly don't know if he meant to make the stem work as a nose of if that's just how it turned out, but I was very impressed.

Finally, it was time for trick-or-treating. We picked up Avalon, who usually comes over and plays on Wednesday afternoons and headed to Greg's office for an enormously huge load of candy. The kids couldn't even carry their buckets by the end and we didn't even make it to my old department.

It was so fun to borrow Avalon and have a little princess. Jack grabbed 2 pieces for everyone the others got then would says "Come on! Let's go find more candy!" Jack also thinks that Shrek has his own office at daddy's work and reminded me so the next day.

When we got home it was time for the REAL trick or treating but after only visiting a couple of our neighbors Charlie wanted to get back to his job of passing out the candy. (Which was great, because we already have more candy than we'll ever know what to do with.)

Overheard....

I overheard this conversation between Charlie and Jack while they were playing in the living room. They'd taken the middle cushion off of the couch and were pretending it was car.

Jack - "Okay, I'll drive!"

Charlie - "No, I'm going to drive.. I'm the daddy.. you be the mommy."

Jack - "But I wanna drive!"

Charlie - "Why don't you just stay home with the baby?"

Jack - "I wanna be the daddy..."

Charlie - "No, I'm the biggest, you're small. Daddies are bigger than mommies."