A Laughing Matter

(You can scroll down to the bottom of the page and press pause on the music player to hear the video better :-)

Good Morning, Sunshine!

My greeting from Evan this morning:

"Mom, the sun is almost up. There is light right there in my window (around the edge of the blackout shade) and that light is from the sun. That is because the sun is almost up. When the sun is up it is daytime. Daytime means it is time to get up. So, can I go downstairs or what?"

Yes, you may. And good morning to you, too, sunshine! Did you sleep well?

My greeting from Chloe:

You are my sunshine!

Evan-isms

Evan has been saying some of the funniest things lately! Here are few of his latest:

When Matthew and I have a "spirited" conversation over something he says "You guys are acting like a bunch of teenagers!" and sometimes he will just say, "Gu-ys, teenagers!".

This weekend in the car, Matthew and I were talking about something really unimportant and Evan was being nosy and asking about what we were talking about over and over. He kept saying "Who's that?". So Matthew said, "Oh it's just a girl we knew back in Nam." (If you know him, you know that he uses this line frequently). Evan said, "Da-ad, that is not a real word. If you don't want to tell me, that's fine. Just say you don't want to tell me."

Tonight at my mom's while we were waiting on Matthew to pick up dinner, Evan was digging around looking for something to eat. I told him to wait for dinner. He said, "Mom, I need to eat something not healthy right now." (As if the Krystals Matthew were bringing were really healthy).

Evan was with his granddaddy feeding the horse, when my aunt pulled into the driveway. He asked who it was and Lynn told him it was Mary. He said, "Does she like Evans?"

Evan crawled up in the bed with me while I was feeding Chloe and getting ready to put her to bed. He didn't want to go take a bath with Matthew, but he kept insisting. Finally Evan said, "That's it! I am not happy about this!" (got down off the bed) "Is it bathtime or not?!"

When I went up to read his bedtime stories and tuck him into bed we have a routine where he hides under the covers and I pretend to lay down and go to sleep on top of him. I laid down tonight and said, "What are all these lumps in this bed?". He jumped up and said, "It's me, Evan, your punkin' pie!" Then, he and Matthew were kind of playing around and Evan said, "Dad, settle down, 'member (remember) it's bedtime."

Another one he does a lot lately is if he is doing something he knows he is not supposed to he will say, "Mom, don't look at me!" or he will say "Mom, don't say no about this."

I was talking to Chloe and said something about "her" daddy. Evan said it was "his" daddy. I said he is your daddy and Chloe's daddy. He said "Woopsy, I forgot"

He is also really into "terrorizing bad-guys" and he is "terrified" of snakes.

A few more... "Yikes!", "Double Yikes", "Holy Guacamole", "My Gracious!", "Jumpin' Junebugs", "Goodness Gracious", "Silly me!", "Somebody's Cranky"(usually Matthew).

The list could go on and one, but I'll stop there. Kids are so funny!

So... Sorry!

Ugh! This has been Evan's phrase today and believe me when I say, he is not the least bit sorry. This would be the defiant, practically yelling at me, slightly sarcastic sorry, not the remorseful one. You know, like when you say sorry, but what you really mean is "So, get over it!" As in... "Mo-om, I TOLD you I NEEDED this water to water the flowers (as he dips water out of our fountain with his bucket after I just finished telling him he could not turn the water hose on b/c it was too cool to get wet, and of course gets himself all wet) so, Sorry!" or "I SAID I'm not hungry. No, I'm NOT eating my peas, so, Sorry! Now get my chocolate chips!" or "I TOLD you that I'm not tired, I'm not taking a nap, so, Sorry!" or how about, "Nope, there are too many toys, I'm NOT picking them up. So.. sorry!"The list could go on. Out right defiance, mingled with whining and crying... yeah, fun day. At least right now it's naptime! Whoot! I feel like doing a little jig. The bad thing is I do believe he has learned that phrase from me as in "No chocolate chips until the peas are gone, so, sorry!" or "I'm throwing whatever toys you don't pick up in the trash... so... sorry!"


And just so you know, it's not all been bad. Here we are swinging on our playground. Chloe is wedged in there with a million towels, LOL, and Evan just started pumping his legs today. He's still a little too stiff to really get himself going (won't lean back and shift his weight enough), but it's definitely a start.

Yes, I know. Aren't they sweet? Isn't life just perfect? Could anything possibly be better than spending a gorgeous fall morning pushing your kids on the swings? Nope, not much. But, I do believe if you look really closely at the one of Evan by himself I believe you might see the snot left over from the humongous fit he threw when he saw me put Chloe in HIS swing! :-)

Ahh, yeah, there it is... wiping the snot away after I finally broke his spirit and convinced him to get on the big boy swing... because "Chloe is swinging in this swing, you have to share, so sorry!"

And I wonder why I seem to be losing brain cells at an alarming rate. I mean honestly, I just typed and retyped closely three times and I'm still gonna have to spell check it! I was once an AWESOME speller. Matthew says it is because I'm almost 30. He swears that's when it started for him. I think it's the kids.

(Note: I have not totally lost it, I did get closely right, but I misspelled humongous, apparently in TN it sounds more like humungous. Yikes, but now I have to check again, does misspelled have a double s in there?)

Yep, misspelled has a double s, and now Evan is awake.... so, SORRY! And, Matthew, it looks like the house is not getting cleaned today.. so, SORRY!"

Dollywood and a Visit from Poppy and Moppy

Matthew played hooky from school last Friday and we went to Dollywood. It was a great day and we had a lot of fun. Evan rode some new rides... Thunder Road which was a big hit, and the swings.

On Saturday Poppy and Moppy arrived for a visit. They brought Rocky and Casey (their dogs) as well. One of the most exciting parts of the visit was when Poppy gave Evan a new Turtle Ninja costume and "knighted" him "Leonardo, Protector of the Innocent". The costume came complete with an assortment of ninja weapons. FYI- the foam rubber nunchakus (I had to look that word up, for those not versed in martial arts weaponry, you might recognize the word like I first tried to spell it: numchucks) are actually quite painful :-).

Thanks for traveling to see us, Moppy and Poppy. We had a great time and Evan (I mean Leo) can't wait to see you again!

My Personal Trainer

This morning I told Evan I was going to exercise in the garage while he watched his cartoons. He followed me out to the garage a little while later and found me on the phone with Matthew instead. He said, "Mo-om, I thought you were going to go exercising!". When I got off the phone, he said, "Are you ready now?" I said yes and he said "Well, get to it, missy!". He wanted to exercise too so I got him some 1 pound weights to exercise with. He got bored very quickly. So, I said, why don't you go back in and watch Mickey Mouse and then I'll be done. He said, "No, I need to keep an eye on you or you'll get hurt with that exercising."







And when we are all done exercising around here, this is how we spend the rest of our day:

Panther Fans

Evan is having so much fun attending the middle school football games that Matthew is coaching at. This last Thursday it had FINALLY cooled down a little, too, so it really felt like football weather. This the first year for a football team for our school and it is a combination team with players from our school (a county school) and the middle school from the city. The community is really supporting the team and the games are crowded and so fun. It is fun to see lots of my students from last year. They are all begging me to bring Chloe, but she stays with her grandmother and granddaddy instead. Every week we have gone, we've had to get Evan some new Panthers merchandise so he now looks like quite a fan. Last week he had his "beatin sticks" and we bought him a shaker (or pom pom as he calls it), but he kept looking around at all of the other people. As we were walking to the concession stand holding hands, he looked up at me and asked in the sweetest voice, "Mom, can I have a Panthers shirt?". Well, of course we had to get him one. It's a little big, but his dad is having one his size made for him. Here a few pictures of all of us from Thursday's game. They played wonderfully and beat the other team 40 to zero! They are doing really well this season. They've had a couple of losses, but overall they are doing great for such a new team. I'm always nervous on game night, not because I really care if they win or lose (of course I hope they'll win, but I'm not that competitive by nature), but because if they lose Matthew does not sleep for like a week afterwards. He obsesses over the loss. He worries and replays the game in his head over and over. That is something I don't understand. I will be one of those mothers who is always telling our children it's ok, you tried your best and Matthew will have Evan out in the yard practicing! LOL.

Evan and I have some interesting conversations on our way to the games as well. Here is one of our latest ones:

Evan: Mom, what does "butt-kicking injuns (ninjas)" mean?
Me: Evan, I'd rather you not say that word.
Evan: But Michael Angelo says it. (Curse those darn TMNT)
Me: I know, but I don't like it when you say "butt", it sounds ugly and other people don't like it either, so let's not say it ok?
Evan: But what does it mean?
Me: Well, I think it means that they fight really hard, but I'd really rather you not say it, ok?
Evan:Well..... ok, but when nobody's looking at me, I'm going to say "butt-kicking injuns!"
Me: Ok, I guess I can live with that.

Of course, he has since explained to the people we were sitting beside at the game, his grandmother and granddaddy, and his Poppy and Moppy that "butt-kicking injuns" are ninjas that fight really hard.

3 Months Old

Belated Birthdays

Saturday, September 13th was my neice, Taylor's, birthday. She was born on Friday the 13th twelve years ago. I was there for it and I've tried to be there for her ever since. I've watched her grow into this beautiful young woman and I'm proud of her. I love you, Taylor! We celebrated at my mom's house with cake and ice cream Saturday.

And Sunday, September 14th, Chloe turned 3 months old. I can't believe she is already 3 months old. I did a black and white photo shoot with her here at home just like I did with Evan. I love how most of them turned out. She'll have professional pictures made tomorrow. Here are a few of my happy girl.

The Gas Finger 3000

Evan was riding one of his battery powered trucks around the yard the other day and the power was running low. He told his dad that it was out of gas. Matthew said, "What should we do about it?" Evan said, "I know! We can use my newest invention: The Gas Finger 3000 (holding his pointer finger up). It can put gas in anything!"

With the price of gas right now and the threat of running out, wouldn't you love to have a Gas Finger 3000? We're thinking of selling them on e-bay.

Where Were You...

When the World Stopped Turning?
Today being September 11, it has reminded me of that horrible day in our country. Just like most Americans I will never forget where I was that day. It was my first year teaching. I was teaching kindergarten at Fairmount Elementary in Bristol, TN. I didn't even realize what was happening until we came into the hallway for a bathroom break around 10:15. As I walked my class down the hallway I saw several teachers huddled in the hallway crying. I asked someone what was wrong, they said, "A plane has just hit the World Trade Center." I am so naive that I thought it was some sort of plane crash. An accident. Maybe someone flying a small plane who had lost control. It was unfathomable to me that this would be an intentional attack on our country. But, unfortunately I found out all too soon that it was. The school allowed parents to take their kids home if they wanted to. Of course we were not in any danger, but I think everyone just wanted to be with their loved ones and hold them tight. We took the kids we had left outside after lunch. I remember clearly looking up at the sky. It was a beautiful day, much clearer than today. The sky was a brilliant blue. Possibly one of the bluest skies I have ever seen, with fluffy white clouds in stark contrast to the blue. It was calm with just a slight breeze, a little cool, perfect weather. It was the type of day you just feel happy to be alive. I looked up at that sky and then looked back at the innoncent five year olds running around the playground. Playing, laughing, as if they didn't have a care in the world and I began to cry.
A few days later Alan Jackson released this song and it seems I heard it every day on the way to work. I arrived at work with a tear stained face for months. "Teaching a class full of innoncent children"... that's where I was. My own children were just a glimmer of a dream in my heart. Evan would not be born for almost four more years. But now, as I think back to that day and think of the children who lost their parents and of the parents who knew they would never see their children again, my heart breaks all over again. I cannot imagine such agony. I hope that we as Americans never forget that day, the souls that were lost, and what it meant for our country.

The Man Purse

I think it might have been an episode of Seinfeld or maybe even Friends when one of the male characters carries a bag that looks like a purse and dubs it the "man purse" and of course catches a lot of grief for it from all of his buddies. Well this is Evan's version of the man purse:

It is a blue sparkly purse that used to belong to my neice, Taylor. Whenever we go somewhere Evan packs it all up (with boy toys) and takes it with us. This is him getting ready to leave for Matthew's ballgame last week. I did convince him to leave it in the car when got to the football game.

When we were out at dinner with all of our friends this weekend, Evan looked over at his friend Alysse who had her purse with her and sadly said, "I wish I had remembered to bring my purse."

His daddy had never been prouder, ha!

Labor Day Fun!

We went on a mini-vacation this weekend with some friends. Five couples and 8 children, yes that's 18 people, met at Dollywood Sat. morning. We had a great time with all of our friends. It's always so much fun to see everyone and to get the kids together. We did have one kind of trying moment when the wheel on our giant double stroller broke around 4:00 pm. Everyone was already tired and very very hot. We had to unload the two diaper bags and cooler and the two tired kids in order to get the stroller back out of Dollywood. That was not the best moment of the day. Have you seen the show Yes, Dear? We looked like the scene in the opening song where they are trying to get to the beach.

After Dollywood three families went on to a nearby resort for more fun. We ordered pizza that night and spent the next day at the pool. We went out to dinner that night and then to the Nascar Speedway for some rides and fun. We ended the night with a stop at Marble Slab Creamery for some ice cream. The kids (age 5, 3, 2 3/4, 2, and 10 weeks) all did really well together. It was a great weekend. We had some camera trouble but I did get a few pictures, not as many as I would have liked though.

Here is a little clip of Evan driving the Go-Karts... it took him a little while to figure it out, but he was passing Alysse before it was over!

And unfortunately by the time we made it home our van looked like this. Yes, that's right we had a minor car accident while sitting in the bumper to bumper traffic heading out of Pigeon Forge. Don't worry, everyone was fine. In fact, Chloe slept right through it. But it was kind of a rotten end to a nice weekend.