Everyday is a vacation

Sheesh, it's been over a month and I've neglected to post any pics of our spa-worthy new master bath! It took TWO MONTHS, but I stripped the old wallpaper (it was fab!), put up a ventian plaster finish (mind you, there's a vaulted ceiling!), installed new fixtures (my man did install the lights), put in new blinds, and REGROUTED the tile!!!! Shoutout to Titi Mari! YOU know what I'm talking about.. what a PAIN!
.. and it didn't take.. we have someone coming over soon to REgrout. Anyhoo, it still looks great, and here's the finished product.


Sterling said, "wow, I keep thinking we're in someone else's bathroom, like we're on vacation somewhere".... awww.. makes it all worthwhile! AND, the grout sliding out of the cracks is like having a built-in exfoliating scrub dispenser.. silver lining!

Fill in the blanks

Grrrr... my little man drives me bananas sometimes. He is going through that whole "let's see how far I can push it" phase. His latest rebellion is that he doesn't want to wash his hands after he goes potty (ick, can you stand it!!???). Now, that is not something I am willing to negotiate, and lord knows why this is the topic he's chosen to make a stand on, but whatever. So yesterday, I ask him to wash his hands, he refuses, I threaten removal of something from his room that he likes, get frustrated, and say VERY sternly (some might call it yelling, I prefer to call it "speaking with authority"), "James Sterling Woodruff, WASH YOUR......" and at this point, I want to say "stupid hands" or "friggin' hands" or something that gets my point across, but we try very hard not to say things like that, because we don't want to hear it repeated by his teacher when she tells us what he said that day at school.
... So I'm struggling with what to say when James fills it in for me... "wash my dadgum hands?" he says helpfully. "Yes, James, wash your dadgum hands". That was about the point where I just had to walk out laughing.

Wet, wild weekend at the lake

THANK YOU to Scott's sister, Lisa and her beau John for giving us a faboo weekend at the lake! We spent last Saturday up at Lake Gaston, and spent the night with Uncle Scott and the Moores. James, Emily, and Aiden had soooo much fun! They played in the water, Uncle Shawn took them for rides on the jet ski, and we went out on the party barge a few times. The funniest of all was Sunday afternoon, when Shawn and Scott forgot their age long enough to ride the tube behind the barge, and gave us all a very big laugh! There are a TON of photos posted to the collection, and here are some funny videos for you to enjoy! Be sure to pause as you go through them... the expressions on their faces are priceless!
Here's the first day out on the p.b.

... and here are the fools on their tubes...

The power of imagination

James is a creative little bugger. He can entertain himself for hours, carrying on conversations with his toys, turning pillows into forts, rockets, and race cars, he's just amazing. We were hanging out on the bed, watching "How it's Made", when a commercial came on, requiring extensive movement (he can barely sit still during a show, let alone a crummy commercial!). So, he turned one of my pillows into a lemonade (or as he says it, "Lemodade") stand. Here's how the conversation went:
J: You want some lemodade, Mommy?
M: I would love some, thank you
J: It doesn't have ice
M: would you please put some ice in mine?
J: Sure!
M: Thanks! Is there sugar in it?
J: No, you want some sugar?
M: Yes, pls (James "puts sugar in my lemodade")
J: You like it?
M: It's delicious! What's your secret? What's in your lemonade?
J: It's a secret greedant.
M: Oh? What IS your secret ingredient?
J: Mmm... lemon.. and sugar... and ice.. and yellow... and honey... and... lip stuff
M: Mmmm... is it Burt's Bees? That must be why it's so tasty.. world's best lip balm!
J: Yes!

Slackin' yet again!

Yes, it's been eons since I updated the blog, I'm sorry! Between redoing our master bathroom (2 mths of weekend work, mind you!) and migrating from our old PC to the new one, it's kinda slipped away from me. Plus there's all that summer jazz that eats up every free slice of time you have. What's a girl to do?

So first off, news bite: Sterling has a new car. The gas crunch has finally hit home for us, and he bought a car PURELY for its fuel efficiency... and the fact that it's smokin' fast and a convertible (that is ALSO good on gas!!!). He bought a Miata Speed (ask him about it, I don't know / care about the whole "it's a limited edition supah-fast sumpin'er'other"). Anyhoo, we told James that Daddy was getting a Miata, and he replied, "A Boomiata?" Hehhehe... so that's what we call it! Sterling looks like he's driving one of James' toys around town, but it fits James quite nicely, and he REALLY enjoys the convertible.

That's all for now, I'll post some pics later, by my typin' muscles are cramping up from lack of use.

A few more pics

Just a quick byte to you know that there are some pics in the photo album of James and Samantha, and of the finished Kids' Room at my Mom and Dad's house. Ta ta!

It does exist!

It appears, in spite of critics' observations, that it IS possible to capture both James AND Samantha on film, at the same time, with both of them smiling nicely. Past efforts have been severely hampered by the subjects' tendencies to smile psychotically, stick out tongues, roll around like chimps, or open their mouths wide enough to put passers-by in danger of falling in. On the off-chance that both subjects were captured smiling, the results were still diminished by either a lack of clothing on the part of one or both subjects, or a serious lack of any fashion sense.
At last, we have overcome those obstacles... I give you here, for the first time since either set foot outside the womb...
JAMES AND SAMANTHA IN A NICE PICTURE TOGETHER!!!! (actually, 2! only took a dozen shots to get 'em, too!)


This last one is an example of what it took to get the good pics. There's actually another one with both of their captain's quarters facing the camera, but since little miss is wearing a dress, I didn't think that would be appropriate to post! .. and yes, that bow in her hair IS a bit much with the polka dots, but she wasn't interested in the plain white one I'd selected... at least the color matches, and you can see that cute little face!

Buy me some peanuts and crackerjacks, and a hot dog, and ice cream...

Last night we were lucky enough to take in a Durham Bulls game! James was so excited he was ready to explode! He wore his little Bulls cap, brought his little glove, and was ready to catch some balls! If you haven't been, the Bulls are just awesome! The park is beautiful, it's never too crowded, and it's just so family-friendly. Even the players chat with the fans during the game, give kids balls and gum, it's just so much fun, I don't know why we don't go more often. It might have something to do with the $6 beers and $3 hotdogs... but who knows!
During one of the innings, we went down to the souvenier shop to meet Wool E. Bull, the mascot (or as James refers to him, "That Moose Thing"). There was no line, and he was just sitting in a chair in the store for kids to go meet or get their pics taken with.. he even signs autographs! Well, James pretty nearly pooped himself he was so scared! He REFUSED to go within 10 feet of him. Wool E., trying to be funny, actually started to crawl under the clothing rack to the other side where we were standing to surprise James and/or make him laugh... you can imagine how that went over! (as Shawn would say, that went over like a fart in church!). So, no Wool E. Bull pics this year.
It was a great night, though, and when James had enough, he told us he was ready to go and that was that.

Happy Mother's Day!

What a nice Mother's Day we had! James crawled into bed for his morning snuggle, and after a relatively wiggleless one, announced that he was going back to his bed (might have had something to do with the fact that Newkie also joined the dogpile, pardon the pun). Sterling said, "James, come here for a sec", so little James bee bopped around the bed to Daddy's side, where Daddy whispered something to him. He then beebopped around the bed to my side, where he held up his arms for a biiiig hug and kiss! Then he whispered "Wake up". Sterling said, "James! That's not what I told you to tell her, come back here!", so James bopped around the bed again to Daddy's side where there was more whispering, followed by little pitterpatters back around to my side of the bed. More arms, more hugs and kisses, and a big "Happy Mother's Day!", followed by, "now wake up!".

Also, we took family pics about a week ago. I waited to post them because we actually sent some to our moms for mother's day.. here they are!

"Obnoxious", a synonym for "4-yr old"

My very good friend Jamye told me once that it wasn't the Terrible Twos that would getcha, it was the F-in' Fours. Wow. Truer words were never spoken. I believe my son has gone out and lost his mind in the last few months. I don't know if he's just better able to communicate and having fun with his newfound vocabulary, or if he's pushing the limits, or is just friggin' obnoxious... hard to say. I vote for the latter. Case in point, this is what I used to take pictures of...
Now they all come out like this.....

Occasionally, we still do get smiles, but they have a tendency to be a bit overdone, resulting in pictures that look somewhat psychotic. Years from now, after many many therapy sessions, someone will find these and say, "oh yeah, they so shouldn't known back then..."

Girl, DAMN!

You ever have one of those days where you get up, and you think, "sure, I can skip washing my hair today!". Yeah... then you catch a glimpse in the mirror and you're too embarassed to go outside and walk to dog? Winter hair <> Spring/Summer hair. Methinks the oil content is a *smidge* higher this time of year...

...gotta go wash this mess now...

Boomdiada

So this is my hands-down favorite commercial right now. How can you possibly beat catchy music and the Discovery channel?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=V5BxymuiAxQ
This came on last night while James and I were watching TV, and he, too, was absolutely transfixed throughout the whole ad. Then we both hummed it all night! It's so darned catchy!

Somedays, it doesn't pay to get out of bed

... not that it matters, because staying in bed was NOT an option this morning. I have to admit that in hindsight, I'm a bit embarassed by my outburst, but DAMN! James crawled his little bottom into our bed at about 5:30 this morning. Then he groused about the ceiling fan, at which point he was told in no uncertain terms that he was welcome to leave if he didn't like it. He settled down, and he's very sweet and snuggly, he truly is... but he never. holds. still. ever.
So for about the next hour, I'd just start to drift back off, and James would move. Or his hand would brush my face. Or he'd pluck at my waistband with his toes... stupid crap like that! You know how it feels when aaahh.. you start to drift off and you're half-asleep and you keep getting woken up? It's like a sleep hangover.. you're tired and wound down but can't do anything about it!
Finally after about an hour, I threw back the covers and said, "THAT'S IT!!" and stormed off to HIS bed (he takes mine, I'll friggin' take his!). HE said, "Mommy, what?", and I said "stay there, I'm tired of this, stay in my bed!", and this set him off BIG TIME. He sat up in bed next to Sterling and just wailed! I laid in James' bed for about 2 mins before I realized that this was just not going to happen, so I got back up, stormed into my room, and told him that he was done. No more crying. I'm still not sure why it worked, but it did, we all got up, and that was (mostly) the end of that. Son of a ...
What a wonderful way to start the day!

Just in case you haven't already read....

So Elizabeth (James' Auntie E) has started her own blog, the Gellin' McMellons, which I read quite regularly. She's quite the blogger, and there's a new entry like every other day! Granted, little Virginia Grace isn't yet mobile, so Blogging Moms of Mobile Munckins, don't let this get you down too much.. you remember was it was like to still have a few free moments here and there! Wow, in fact, not to get off on too much of a tangent, but looking back.. MAN! I *thought* I was busy then, but that was just the tip o' the iceberg. Criminey!

Anyhoo... she posted an especially funny entry this past week re: James...
http://thegellinmcmellons.blogspot.com/2008/04/never-dull-moment-with-james-woodruff.html

Everyone's a critic

Whew! I'm back home after a LOOOONG few days of travel (more on that later). Happy to see my men, especially the little one who's been breaking my heart with his little "I miss you"s over the last 2 days! Of course he wanted mommy to lay down with him at bedtime, and the stall tactics were even worse than normal, since he's been in withdrawal. He asked for a story, and I finally said,"ok, I'll sing you a song, but that's it". He requested "Girl", which is hard enough to sing along with when it's playing, let alone a capella! So, I warbled my way through as much of the lyrics as I could recall, dum-dah-dumming the rest. Sterling walked in, looked at James and asked in disbelief, "you ASKED for that!??!". We all cracked up, and when I could catch a breath, I asked James, "was that bad?", to which he replied, "no, GOOD!". Love is not only blind, it's apparently deaf, too.

Don't go breakin' my heart...

Man! Kids are just masters of manipulation! I told James I had to go to Minnesota tomorrow, and he looked up at me with the biggest hangdog expression and said in this sad little voice, "I'm going to miss you so much.", and then threw himself at me with a big hug! He honestly sounded like he was going to cry, it was so pitiful!
He was also very sleepy tonight, and downright crabby as bedtime neared... we had a meltdown. So, I read him a silly book, and snuggled for a few mins with him. I asked him, "would you like me to bring you something from Minnesota?", and he said, "yes, I'd like some special candy!", and I said, "oh really? what kind of special candy?", and he said, "the kinds that's spinny.. it's spins and it goes around and around... you can get it at Target!". Well, how helpful of him to let me know where I can pick this up for him! He said, "I'm going to dream about spinny candy".

I'm actually quite sad about having to go. Normally, I try to fit in my business trips during the early part of the week when Sterling's off anyway, and I really try to limit the away-from-home time when possible, but doggone if the only flights I could get where in the morning! So I'm heading out tomorrow, staying over for an all-day meeting with my team on Thurs (which I'm actually quite excited about!), and then ANOTHER night in Minnie because I couldn't get a flight out that evening! Good thing, though, I'll have time to find a Target!

The dickens you say?

Just popped downstairs to get a drink, and James and Dadoo were making themselves some lunch. Daddy informed me that James could not have any of the chips that were on the counter. I said, "oh no?", and James said, "no, they make me fall down". I said, "What? They make you fall down?", and he replied with a sigh "yeah.".
????

Buggy Birthday!

Hooray! James is the big 4! What a great / insane day we had! Of course, we were out of town for most of the week, and then I had to work like crazy to get caught up, so there was little or no prep time left! I cranked about about 2 dozen or so mini bug cakes (which were awesome, thank you!), finished up the goody bags, and cleaned like a fiend! Daddy helped with that part. James got in the way and asked when he could eat the cake. LOL
We'd been watching the weather with a wary eye (say that fast) all week, and it was supposed to be rainy and cold. I'd actually made an emergency trip to Michael's to stock up on craft stuff in case we were all stuck inside. But LO! the clouds parted, the sun came out, and we blew up the Bouncey Castle (with slide!). Not sure who had more fun, but I think their initials are Sterling Woodruff and Jim McMellon.
We had a wonderful time, the kids were great, we got to spend some fun times with our friends, and the weather hung in just long enough. You don't get much luckier than that! Pics in the photo gallery, well worth the look!
Also, here's a video of James opening his "ditar"

Who says you can't go home?

Because when my family does, it's like they never left. What a week! Several days of serious highs and lows while we remembered funny family stories and grieved for the loss of my Grammy. In spite of the fact that it's been years since the entire family has been together, of course my mom and her siblings revert to being something like 12 yrs old again.. pinching, poking, teasing, and the like. Buncha silly Polocks is what they are.
Anyhoo, it was exhausting and sad, but so nice to see my family again, albeit under less-than-ideal circumstances. Posted some pics to the photo album so you can see for yourself, and understand more about why I am the way that I am ;-)

We'll miss you, Grammy

Well, yesterday I found out that my Grammy Pyne (my mom's mom) passed away. She was the Grammy who kept a whole fridge full of ice cream, cakes and snacks down in the basement for when we visited every summer. The pool was always clean, there were always toys and stuff for us to play with, and she spoiled us rotten (in between yelling at us for doing stupid stuff!). She didn't throw out much, and all of her kids stashed their stuff in her basement, so that my cousin Mike and I always had the best hide and seek down there when we were little. I remember so many wonderful summers spent at her house. It's already sad that we can't recapture those kinds of summers, but sadder still that the lady who made them possible is no longer with us. She was a spunky (and sometimes overly candid!) lady who loved us so much, and we're all going to miss her alot. Here's a kiss for you, Grammy! Give Poppa a hug for us.

And when he was bad, he was VERY VERY BAD

It wasn't his first temper tantrum, but it got my goat in a way that none prior to this have gotten. Mommy's little nuclear reactor was dying to go outside all weekend. And ya know, I don't mind that, I really don't, but I had a ton of stuff to get done inside, and it was that kind of weather where it wasn't really bad, but wasn't really nice and quite frankly, just wasn't offering me the kind of outdoor experience I was interested in (ie: I didn't feel like it). We popped out a few times, and then eventually I said it was time to go in, and grab something to eat.
James didn't want to. And he let me know that. And when I stepped out to the garage to grab something from the fridge out there, he SLAMMED the door shut, and that was followed by "click".
The little stinker locked me out. On purpose!
I tried my stern voice, but seriously.. did I really have alot of leverage at that point? No, I did not. And when I told him, "James. Sterling. Woodruff. You open this door right now", the response was "I don't want to". What a cheeky little.... So I sweet-talked my way in with a ,"oh, may I come in please?" That did it. And once I was in, I did not continue to sweet-talk.
We had a time-out, and a pretty firm talking-to, all following a complete melt-down when I informed him of the time-out. I don't think he'll be doing it again anytime soon, but then, I didn't really think he'd do it in the first place.

My little "helper"

It's easy to see how helpful James is when we're backing. Those spatulas don't lick themselves clean, ya know!

Better late than never

Ok, so these pics are like a month old.. it's been a busy month! But I thought about funny they are, and wanted to share.

The first is just funny, and I laugh every time I look at it! The rest are in one of our photo albums, and it's a series of pics of James dancing! Man, does he have a good time!

Flattery will get you everywhere..

Who knew that this was a lesson learned at such a tender age? James stood on his cooking chair this weekend while I doctored up some oatmeal for him. We added butter, at which point he naturally asked, "may I have a little butter, please?" (he loves to eat butter!). Then we broke out the brown sugar, and he asked, "may I have some of that? ... please? ... pretty please? You have pretty eyes.". Yes, the boy laid down some heartfelt please, followed by FLATTERY! Of course he got some sugar.
Man, the ladies of the world are in trouble when this boy grows up.

Let it snow! (unless you live in the Triangle...)

Once again, the magic snow-repellant force field has deflected another snow event around the triangle. People to the south east and north west got some.. we got Hoovnah (that's Polish for nothing). Well, ok, to be fair, we got a dusting, and it was cold enough that it actually stuck around for more than a day. For James, of course, this is more than he can remember seeing in his brief years, so he thought it was the coolest thing ever! To quote him, "holy smokes!". Here's a pic or two of our little Nanook of the Not-so-North.

Clean out your ears!

It's nearing bedtime so we've gone through the daily evening ritual of wrastling a boy into his jammies. While stripped down to his skivvies, James typically gets kinda silly. I don't know if he just sheds his inhibitions along with his clothes or what, but that's punchy time. So while nearly nekkid, he tells me, "mommy, roll over, I want to push your back", which is what he thinks is like a massage.
Once while he was crawling on me, he popped my back and I said "oh, that feels good", so he thinks he's doing something nice by "pushing my back" (typically the reason I actually NEED someone professional to push my back!).
Sooo, he's being silly, crawling on me, and then he hitches up my shirt in the back for what I presume will be a zrbrt (raspberry), when it's more like a really yucky zrbrt. He then pulls my shirt back down and glues it to my back with whatever drool he left behind. I said, "ew, what did you just do, stick my shirt to my back with your slobber? To which he replied, "no, boogies". BOOGIES!!! HE BLEW HIS NOSE ON MY BACK!
I jump up and say, "oh my GOSH, that is so GROSS!!! How'd you like me to blow my nose in your ear?!?!", to which HE replies gleefully, "DO IT!!!". So now I kinda have to laugh.. so I blow air in his ear with my nose, which cracks him up, and he chases me around begging me to blow more boogies in his ear. Seriously. Do mommies with girls deal with this? Maybe this is the trade-off for NOT having to deal with Polly Pockets and Bratz?

Gak!

Gak is this gross stuff you can make with household products, which provides your child with hours of entertainment.. as shown in this video:

Visit with the Davises

John, GC, and little Moyer popped into Raleigh for a visit, and we just had such a nice time! Moyer and James REALLY hit it off! After lunch, James asked if Moyer could come back to his house.. aww! Apparently, Moyer had a good time, too, and John and GC are using this to their advantage ("you know, big boys like James do "), and I can't say that I blame them! To be sure we've done the same!
They also brought along a nice gift for James... Crayola stuff that only works on Crayola paper, which we love! ... the boys apparently liked it, too...

Cooley Christmas (Christmas, Act III)

And for the final act, we spent Christmas Day with my family. We really had an awesome time! The food was great (thanks, Mom!), and everyone was just in such a great mood. James and Samantha are ALWAYS thrilled to see one another. James fell asleep on the way down, as he is wont to do, and we had to wake him up when we got there.. he was sleeping HARD! He saw Samantha, though, and it was like a half a pot of coffee for him.. BOING! He was wide awake and ready to roll! They immediately went to tearing around the house like banshees.
Mom took a turn for the mushy by getting Dad a "Love Is..." book. They used to clip these comic strips for each other when they were dating and when we were little kids.. I remember seeing them on the dresser mirror in their room. Awwww.
Mark threw out the first pitch for the annual Wrapping Paper Battle (wherein, everyone takes their discarded paper, wads it up as tightly as they can, and tried to peg each other in the head when they're not paying attention.. very Christmasy, eh?). Subsequently, we all took turns trying to ambush him for the remainder of the afternoon. As is HIS wont, Mark mouthed off to Sterling again (I have no idea why he always thinks he'll get away with this!), and they started wrestling in the kitchen.
As a sweet ending to the day, James FINALLY got to dig into the gingerbread house he'd been eyeing all week, as did Samantha. This mainly involved scraping off icing with their fingers and eating that.. much to the chagrin of anyone who wanted some after them!
All-in-all, a pretty great way to cap off Christmas! Photos of this are posted under "Cooley Christmas".

Merry Christmas, ya'll!

Oh yeah.. almost forgot about the funniest gift of all. We gave Mark and Dominic a 3-piece grill brush set.. but we ripped one out of the package before we wrapped it. If you understand the significance of this, I guarantee you're rolling on the floor right now.

Christmas, Act II (our little family)

Christmas morning arrived, along with a crabby little boy. Who can be crabby on Christmas morning? James was... he was sOOOOO bummed because, because "I wanted to SEE Santa Claus! I thought I was going to see Santa!?". Poor little pumpkin, we had to explain that Santa only comes if you're asleep! We finally got him over his disappointment using diversion... "Let's go see what Santa LEFT!!!". So we went downstairs, and he walked right past the presents, up to Becky and said, "Merry Christmas, Becky!" and gave her a big hug! We showed him that the eggnog and cookies were gone, and asked if he wanted to open some presents (of course!). When he finally got to the big one, instead of tearing into it, he rubbed his little cheek on it and said in this voice filled with awe, "wow... this is the biggest present I ever saw!". He was even happier when he opened it!

Woodruff Christmas

We spent Christmas Eve with the Woodruffs / McMellons, at E and Jim's new house (newest baby = host). It was so nice! Little Miss Virginia is just the most well-behaved baby ever, and mostly slept through her first Christmas. The food was great, everyone had a wonderful time, and as always, did way more than they should have! Auntie E and Uncle Jimmy got James his first go-cart, which... careful, this may be shocking.. he LOVED!!! We all piled outside and hung out for about 30 mins while James drove around the cul-de-sac with the biggest grin plastered across his cute little cheeks. It was a wonderful Christmas, act I. Pics are posted in the photo album under "07-12 W. Xmas".

The ones that look like they were taken from waist-height were taken by James. He's become fascinated with the camera as of late, and always wants to take some pics himself. I think there's even a self-portrait!

It's beginning to feel alot like Christmas...

What a fun time of year! Two big things to share today (okay, 3.. and the third is either funny or scary):

1. James officially wrote his entire name last night! He was so excited he nearly fell over! We pasted it to some cardstock and proudly posted it on the fridge! Does he look proud or what?
2. We made our first gingerbread house today. Homemade gingerbread is yummy! James loved decorating and EATING the decorations the most. ... and licking frosting off of the house. Not too shabby, eh?


3. Ok, this is probably funny for you, a little scary for me. This morning, James came up to me and said, "Mommy, may I have a towel?", and of course my first question was "what did you spill?". He told me nothing, that he just wanted to throw it on the ceiling fan. I informed him that it was not acceptable to throw towels on the fan, and he asked, "may I throw Newkie on the fan?". (I know, everyone reading this is saying, "YES!!!!"). I told him no, we don't throw our animals on the fan, either! He paused, then asked, "Mommy, do you think peanut butter would melt on the fan?". WTF is this kid thinking??? I'm afraid to leave him in any room now with a fan, which is pretty much every room in the house! I guess it won't be long before I find something inappropriate circling my ceiling...

Digiscrapper!

I have gone digital, baby! For my birthday, Karey bought me some already much-enjoyed scrapbooking magazines, including one all about digital scrapbooking. WOW. I had no idea you could buy and download stuff online like backgrounds, brads, ribbons, embelishments, chipboard... all the cool stuff (and expensive!) you'd buy in the store, but in digital form! And it looks sooo cool! Here's my first attempt. Man, if I'd known about this 2 wks ago, you can be darned sure you'd have gotten an even better looking card than the ones we sent! Click on the image to see it larger, and to truly enjoy my masterpiece!

So what's new?

Not much... things are starting to settle down... finally! We had our first official Beer Wed Now Appearing on Sunday this week, and it was pretty fab! A smattering of Christmas gifts were exchanged, including a super-cool game that the Smiths got for James. It's like Jenga, but with little safari animals (AND, not made in China!... Lead-free!). We played it last night... family game night, if you will. It was oodles of fun, and here are some pics. BTW, Jim McMellon, our brother-in-law and a DOT engineer, believed that you could not stack all pieces, especially not as shown on the box.... typically DOT, right? We did it, here are the pics.


Also, we had our first Parent/Teacher conference today, and get this: they find him very active. Can you believe it? LOL! We kinda knew THAT adjective would work its way into the conversation! Semi-related, he can nearly write his entire name, too.. we assumed he'd learned at school, but they said they found him writing his name on the whiteboard the other day and were surprised.. they hadn't taught him that, either!

Finally, just some funny stuff: we were riding home from the conf when James said "I'm a mad boy". We asked why, and he said, "I'm mad at Daddy. Sometimes little boys just get mad at big boys", to which our big boy replied, "well, sometimes big boys send little boys to their rooms if they're going to be grouchy"... and that, as they say, was that.

Look who's been Elfed

So this is apparently all the rage this season.. it's going around work, and around our friends.. here's our elfing:

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1487079004

enjoy!

Reindeer Games

Just a quick post for two things:
First: Congrats Liz, Jim, and baby Virginia! Our new niece was born 1amish Dec 1, and she's just as cute as can be. We couldn't be happier for the new family!

Second, just a few pics from an impromptu photo shoot from this weekend when James and I were putting up Christmas decorations... what a ham! (albeit a very cute one!).

Status (no, we're not dead) and quick blurb

... not dead, but somedays I feel close! We have fought through 3 separate rotten colds in the last two months, the latest of which resulted in antibiotics for me and James (tonsillitus and sinusitus!). Crud. I figured I'd fought mine off with the antibiotics, but now it seems that the virus has said, "ahHA.. that infection isn't using the body anymore, now *I* can finish up!"... and now I have a head cold. GEEEEZ!!! One more this year and I'm ripping my sinuses right out of my head.

So plenty has been happening. James is (I know, I say this every other month) getting so well-spoken, and I just love to chit chat with him.. he's such a cool little dude! He's getting SUPER excited about Christmas, and if you ask him what Santa is bringing, he'll tell you "lots of stuff!". Greeeaaat. I'm pushing really hard to get across the finer points of Christmas by having him pick out and drop off the Toys for Tots, but I'm just not sure he gets it yet. *sigh*... all in time, I guess.

Completely unrelated, this morning he was sitting at the table and he picked up a picture of me. He said, "mommy, is that cute?", and I said, "oh, honey, not really... mommy's not cute". He said, "yes you are! you're cute! You're a nice, pretty mommy, and you're nice and warm!". Awwww... what woman wouldn't like to hear that?

Craft girl

Also, if I may take a moment to write about ME vs. the Center of the Universe, aka "James"...

I am featured this month on Inkadinkadoo.com! If you look down on the left and click on "Have you tried Stamping and Decoupage?", it's a link to their feature project. It has one of my projects pictured, and credits me with the idea! I sent it in about 2 mths ago (back when I was on Decopatch.com), and they scheduled me in for the Nov project. YAY!

Rewarding the rewards

Last night it was time for the nightly Agonizing Over Dinner (ie: WTF to make?). I finally settled on a chicken sandwich for James and salad for Mommy. James insisted that he wanted a sandwich AND a poptart (his new ABSOLUTE favorite). I told him, "sandwich first, THEN poptart if you finish it". The Negotiator tried again to convince me that he needed them at the same time, but Mommy held firm. So, he picked at his sandwich, at least ate all of the filling (he likes to dissect his food.. just like Auntie E), and then announced that he was ready for his poptart. So, I gave it to him, he wolfed it down, and THEN announced that now he gets candy! "Mommy, I ate all my poptart, now I get some candy?". Seriously! I reminded him that candy was for going potty by yourself (and announcing that you need to go vs. being told), NOT as a reward for eating a freakin' POPTART (which was already the reward for finishing the sandwich)! *sigh*

Why do I love thee?

As we rode home from school today, I had a little sniffle. Normally, I keep a box of tissues in the backseat to counteract the accursed sinuses that my mom's side of the family is blessed with. I asked James for one, and typically he reaches over and passes one up to me. Today he said, "I don't see them". I glanced back and noticed that neither did I! I asked, "did Daddy move my tissues?" and James confirmed. So I said (not thinking), "oh that bad Daddy, he makes me so made moving my stuff!". James said, "me too, Daddy makes me so mad, too". I immediately realized the error of having said that out loud, and corrected myself. "Honey, Daddy doesn't really make me mad, I was just teasing". James said, "I like Daddy", and I replied, "Me, too.. in fact, when he comes home today, I'm going to give him a biiiiig kiss!". And James asked, "because he moves stuff?".

Hoooookay, then!

I FINALLY have like 5 mins to sit down and put fingers to keyboard. GRACIOUS, where to begin? James has been soooo excited about Halloween Time! He practiced his Twick o Tweat for days on end, and told anyone who would listen that he was going to be a Fireman, just like Unca Thawn. On a semi-related note, getting him to take potty breaks has actually been a smidge easier, as we've told him "it's time to put out the fire", and he's more than happy to do that!
Well, Misfortune tried to throw us a curveball this week! Sterling was taking James to his Dr's appt with him on Monday (1 hr away, mind you) when James decided to redecorate the interior of Daddy's truck... with lunch. Poor little man yacked twice in the truck, and Sterling had to drive an HOUR home with a sick and messy little boy. Fortunately, he shook that off, and we thought we'd seen the worst (although WE were both petrified that we were going to get it, too. Man, once bitten, a million times shy.. we don't EVER want a stomach bug again!). He started with sniffles the next day, and into Wed. Although he stayed home from school, we did make it over there briefly for their costume parade. We heard that his bug was going around, so par for the course, I guess. Anyway, he had an awesome time, got to see his best girl, Ally (who grabbed his hand and led him around during their parade! Those two are smitten!), and his other buddies, too. We came home to rest, and then made it for Trick or Treating that night. LOTS of pics to be posted. We hit pretty much the whole block, and the handle on his plastic pumpkin snapped off twice from the weight of his loot! Sufficed to say, a good time was had by all, in spite of pesky viruses, bacteria, or whatever the heck it is.

Gotta love a man in uniform!

Just a quick post to show off some pics from this morning's Halloween parade at school... the little lady in the pics is Ally... James' girlfriend! ;-)

New pics!

No real time for chit chat, just wanted to let you know that we posted the pics from our trip up North. Enjoy!

Aren't we proud?

Ya know, we've been having such a great go of the whole potty training thing, but then every now and again I guess you have to expect a little slip. Last night there were 2 slips. We got home from school, and James told me "Mommy, I need to go potty!". So in he went, and about 5 seconds later I heard "oh no, Mommy, I had an accident". So I poke my head in, and he's standing in a puddle about 1 ft in diameter. I asked what happened, did he just not get his pants down in time? He said no, so I told him it was ok and cleaned it up. About THIRTY MINUTES LATER... he told me again, "Mommy, I need to go potty!". I said, "great, let's go right now!" and I turned on the light, turned my back for a sec while I heard the toilet lid get opened, and then... "Mommy... I did it again". Seriously! And he was wearing pajama pants, so how hard was it to just yank 'em down!?!?
So we cleaned up again.
Not 20 mins later, I hear the bathroom door shut. I walk over and ask what he's doing, and he says, "I'm going poop". Didn't even have to ask / tell! It totally made up for the two accidents (or WERE they?). Anyhoo, I tell James to let me know when he's done, and I go back to the kitchen. A minute or two later I hear, "Mommy! Come look at THIS!". He wants me to see the volume of his production. Niiiiiice. Then when he's done, he says, "I need some air". I asked if he wanted to open the bathroom door, and he said, "no, I want to turn on the fan". THANK GOD!!! He's been anti-fan for a little while now, and when he's taking care of business, he does NOT need to be anti-fan... we need to be very pro-fan! Because... look at what he did!

Just too funny

There is a fundamental difference between the child-rearing techniques of a Mommy vs. a Daddy. This was glaringly evident when I read one of the comments on Linda Loveland's Babyology blog (one of my favs, btw.. it all sounds so familiar!)...

The topic was the little grab bag you get when you pick up your kid from daycare.. and you know WHY the clothes are sealed up...

"

Kids get dirty at daycare? To be sure?

I got one suggestion - CONSIGNMENT CLOTHING ONLY WORN TO DAYCARE! Then, when you get the "Surprise Sack" you drop it in daycare's trash can on the way out with no guilt!

HELLO! Come on ladies - this is coming from a Dad!

Mr. Keeping It Real"

nice, eh?

Little Mister Contrary

James is mastering the use of the word "but" (not "butt"... I'm sure he'll master THAT in about another year, as he IS a boy!). He likes to use it ALOT. I'll ask him to do something or not to, and he'll ask, "but, WHY?". Or, "I can't do this, but I can do THAT?". He's too much. This morning we were getting dressed and I loosened up his sandals for him, and he told me, "You're a good mommy, but you don't have to do that. See, I can just push my feet in.". Nice try, Mom, but you're not needed here.. move on!

Clearing some hurdles

Sorry for the long hiatus, but one of said hurdles was a wicked cold that James and I have been trying to shake for about 2 weeks now. Criminey, I'm still coughing and clearing my throat.. can't wait for this to be completely gone!
The more important hurdle, however, is POTTY TRAINING!!!! As you know, we've been fighting this uphill battle for about the last year, and little mister man has simply not been interested. It just goes to show you, they really do just have to be ready.. you can't make them do it if they don't want to. When I think about how much we stressed ourselves out over this at the beach when it was CLEAR he did not care.... argh.
Yet I digress. The fact is, we're there. He comes home from school in the same little undies I send him in, and with the exception of the occasional accident, he is gung ho! He's so excited when he lets you know, "Mommy, I need to go POTTY", like he's reporting on a very big event (which he is!). He's excited about his M uh Ms, and I am just to elated. I feel like this huge weight has been lifted off of my chest!
Why in the world do moms stress out about this so much? I'll tell you why, I kept thinking that I must be doing something wrong. Other kids his age were potty trained, so it much be us, we weren't doing it right, or we were slackers, and I just knew that everyone was looking at that pull up peeking out of his waistband and thinking "wow, what's his problem?". Well ya know what? NOTHING, that's what his problem was, and ours too. There's no problem, he's smart, fun, he's not a picky eater, he's social, that was just last on his priority list. We all have different priorities, and I guess you just need to learn to accept that yours and those of your kiddo might be very different! Another lesson learned for Mommy.

Yet another preview of the teenage years (or, "a continuation of 3 going on 13")

Man, is little Mister Man getting sassy these days! First there was the whole "whatever" comment in the Teeter, but now we have two more instances to add:

We were picking out jammies tonight, and James grabbed a pair of his winter jammy bottoms, with which we normally pair a plain white t-shirt (the undershirt kind). He didn't want that. Put his little foot down. So I said, "fine, pick out a different pair of jammies". So he reached in, grabbed another set, and said, "fine... I guess I'll wear these" in this snotty little whatevery-kind of voice!

Then Sterling came home, and caught us in the middle of The Lorax, at which point my voice was giving out (I'd forgotten how long that book is!). I should also mention that my throat has actually started to hurt within the last hour, I think I've caught a cold. Anyhoo, Sterling tags in, ready to read, and James tells him, "no, I want Mommy". Daddy says, "James, Daddy likes books, too", to which James sasses back, "Yes, Daddy, you like books, but I still want Mommy". And Daddy tried very hard to hide his smirk!

3 going on 13

While in the Teeter last night, James pointed out that he wanted some soda while we were on that aisle. I said, no, that's yucky, we're not buying that. To which he replied "pshhh. whatever". He even did it in that mumbly-teenagerey voice! I almost fell on the floor! I asked him, "where did you hear that?!?!". To which he replied, "Daddy". How do we feel about watching what we say in front our little mawcaw? Pshhh... whatever.

Boys are nasty

I guess it's just a fact. I've confirmed this with fellow mom Jamye, who didn't even bat an audible eye over this when I shared it with her (over the phone).
First, before we leave school, we've been making it routine to make a potty pitstop. Typically, the kids are all running around on the playground like wild animals when I pick him up, so we stop off in the empty classroom to grab his stuff, deposit any output, then go on our way. Well, I asked him to try a poop before we left, and he forgot to tuck things down while sitting and ended up peeing on the floor, and saturating his shorts. So, we changed shorts, Mommy cleaned the floor, and on we went.
Don't keep reading if you're eating or have a weak stomach.
Back at home, I noticed the telltale sign of needing to make another pitstop, so I directed him into the bathroom. I went back to putting away groceries and told him to let me know when he was ready. He let me know by opening the door himself, which told me he was no longer ON the potty... which is cause for concern. "Why?", you may ask? Because he doesn't always LIFT off of the seat, he sliiiides off of the seat. You know where this is going, don't you? Not only was there a huge skidmark. AND, he'd apparently tried to clean this himself, as evidenced by the toilet paper stuck in various places around the seat. Then he pointed out that he had poop on his hands. I told him not to touch ANYTHING, and he bent over to let me wipe. Then he realized that bent over, his hands were really close to the rug, which made a great place to wipe off his hands. ARGGGH!!!! Did I mention this was in our smalled bathroom, the one downstairs? And the CAT was in there, too? And it was HOT? And I'm a smidge claustrophobic? Good times.
Finally I got him cleaned up, we washed our hands twice, and I shooed him out to deal with the mess. Then I realized the stool he'd been resting his feet on was wet. And I realized that he'd tried to dunk the toilet paper into the toilet to CLEAN the seat... which I immediately bleached.

WOW that's some funny stuff

I no sooner hit "publish" than James came out of his room and told Sterling, "Daddy, 1 minute over". He's clearly a man of his word.

10 minutes!

I guess James is wrapping his little brain around the concept of time, to include days of the week, minutes, and today vs. tomorrow. Lately he likes to tell you when or for how long he'll do something. We were walking to the playground today, and he said "first I'm going to slide for 10 minutes, then I"m going to swing for 10 minutes". While we were at the beach, we asked him if he wanted to go potty before we went into a museum, and he said, "I'll poop on Sunday". His estimations are just so random that it's pretty funny.

Tonight Sterling was putting him to bed (mainly because he kneed mommy in the gut and daddy wisely thought it would be good to give mommy a moment). So they're hanging out in James' room, and the conversation goes like this:
J: Daddy, want to go in your room?
D: You don't want me in here?
J: No
D: That makes me sad (this is James' big catch phrase these days... he normally uses it with this pitiful little puppy dog tone in his voice!)
J: You can come back in 10 minutes
D: You'll be asleep
J: It's OK.

And that was that.

Just kinda funny

I've set our screensaver at home to slideshow, and it flips through a handful of pics that I really like, mainly those of main little man. Totally at random, these are the two that happen to come up one after another... somewhat of a contrast. It gives me a chuckle. The latter is our new favorite.. it's just so funny.

Beach photos!

Man! I think this was the busiest beach trip yet. So busy, that I'm still too tired to write it all up yet, but I did scrounge up the energy to post the pics...
http://woodruffblog.shutterfly.com/action/?a=8AZN2LNs4bNmPK&notag=1

Hittin' the ol' nail on the head!

Each morning, I spend about 5 mins perusing WRAL.com to check out the daily news. There's a blog that one of the reporters, Linda Loveland, maintains, which I've added to my links down below. I saw today that Amanda Lamb also has a blog, but it's not typically baby-centric (which is why I probably haven't noticed it much before). Today, however, she announced her new book, "Smotherhood", which you can read more about here. I read a few pages of the excerpt (it's a very generious excerpt! Several pages!), and realized that a) I would quickly spend way more time here than I wanted to if I kept reading, and b) I really wanted to keep reading! It's supposed to be available in local bookstores, and I am totally going on the hunt for this. I loved what I read, and can't wait to read the whole thing. Check it out, and support a local author!

Feeeeeellliiiingggs! Whoawhoawhoa Feelings...

You sure know where you stand these days with James, and he will make sure he knows where he stands, too. We're all about the feelings these days. James is constantly probing, "are you happy? are you sad? are you angry?". In addition to getting the lowdown on everyone else, he likes to inform you of your impact on HIS emotions. He often asks during the day when I take a break, "Mommy, and you finished with work?" and if I tell him no, he says, "that makes me sad". Wow.. rip out my heart and throw it on the floor whydon'tcha?

He's also started to employ The BooBoo Lip. If something has ticked him off, he shoves that bottom lip out so far I'm surprised it doesn't throw off his center of gravity. The funny thing about this, though, is if you call him out on it, it makes him giggle, and it's hard to maintain a BBL when you're smiling.

Speaking of feelings, Mommy was feeling ANGRY yesterday morning. I have not been sleeping worth a pickle these days, and the night before last was no exception. At 6am, my little sunshine bounded into the room to climb into bed with us, and proceeded to pull his normal routine of shoving, prodding, rolling, squirming, etc. I threatened him several times with expulsion from the bed, and informed my little wiggle worm that he'd better settle down or get out. FINALLY, he started to settle down a bit, I started to drift off, when Sterling (who left bed the minute James climbed in.. smart man!) walked in, pulled Lion's arm out of James' mouth and said, "no chewing!". Well, that set James off in a deluge of tears, and I was just so pissed at being woken up AGAIN that I threw my pillow across the room and stomped out of bed screaming "I GIVE UP!!!". Sterling pointed out that he was going to grab James and take him WITH him, but ya know, once you've had a siren go off in your ear, your morning is pretty much shot. What do you think my answer was when James asked me shortly after if I was happy?

This ain't the South of France

You always know you're in for a chuckle when a sentence starts with "look what I found"... in this case, it was what Sterling discovered in the front year.. a little boy, in a state of undress!

Sterling was edging and doing yard work, and James was hanging out, riding his trike, just keeping busy as he is wont to do. Sterling had his back turned to James when he started asking, "ready to go to the beach, Daddy?", a pause, and then again, "ready to go to the beach? Daddy, I'm ready for the beach". Apparently, after each query, he'd shed an article of clothing! He had dragged his little playmat down onto the lawn, pulled off his sandals, pants, pull-up, and was riding that mat bare-back. What kind of beach does he think he's going to?

Doh!

So here's what I would look like if I were on the Simpsons! One of my coworkers has his Simpsonized image in our company directory.. too funny! For a chuckle, check out Simpsonizeme.com.

The interweb... is there anything it can't do?

Goooooood looookin'!

Just wanted to share my new favorite pic of my perpetually favorite subject. It's my new PC background, and it just makes me smile.

Oh yeah....

I nearly forgot about "The Butter Incident". James is an admitted butterholic. He LOVES butter (and has gone so far as to tell Sterling "butter makes me so happy"). So we shouldn't have been surprised when the Butter Bandit struck while we were at the lake. It was Sunday morning, and we were all enjoying breakfast on the porch (pancakes..mmm). James had finished and excused himself, and the rest of us were still sitting at the table.. when he STRUCK.
I think Bethany was the one who first noticed James standing just inside the house, holding an entire stick of butter and licking it like a Push-Up pop. I jumped up to chase, he took off, and ran down the hallway. He stopped at the end for half a second, took one more lick (as if to taunt me), giggled like a maniac and kept going into the bedroom where I finally caught him. I like butter, too, but really?

The Lake House

Ah, I've been quite remiss in posting entries, but we've soo busy, and I really wanted to do this one justice! A few weeks ago, we were invited to the Smiths' family lake house up on Lake Gaston. Those of you who know them, know that they have a little 'un themselves, so it promised to be a nice quiet relaxing weekend... until destiny played it's hand!!!
Hahaha.. doesn't that sound like the lead-in to a preview for a Summer Blockbuster? All too appropriate, I think you'll soon agree!
So we start with the drive up, which while uneventful, was also un-cruise-controley. Many of us *don't* use cruise control, it's just not that big a deal.. unless you are my husband. Sterling believes quite firmly that not only should every vehicle come equipped with this, but failure to use it should be punishable by law. It drives him INSANE! So the Smiths are like the other 90% of the population who doesn't bother to use it, and Sterling could not maintain the perfect cruise. When we finally got to hwy 85 where he could scootch in front, his relaxing weekend *really* begn (I know, seriously!).
So not far down this stretch, we took the exit for the lake and began winding our way through many country roads (gorgeous day, btw!). It seems that there's a certain combination of roads one must follow to get to the house, and any deviation throws a wrench in the works.... like the detour! At the point Brent intended to turn left, there was a huge sign indicating "road closed to thru traffic".. so we went right, following the detour. We got about a mile down the road when we pulled over and agreed that this really seemed to be going out of the way, and maybe we should try to go down that road.. maybe we'd have to turn off before we got to the part that was closed? So we did... and about another mile down the road there was some orange barrels. Brent was in front, and started to ease through them (there was just about a Highlander's worth of space between the two on our side), when for some reason he sped up, hit the barrels at FULL FREAKIN' SPEED, and Sterling and nearly ran off the road laughing so hard. To be fair, at first we just kinda sat there with out mouths hanging open, then lost it. It was like watching "Die Hard", and if Bethany had just hung out the window with an Uzi, that would have completed the picture. The best part is that when he hit them, they went "Phhoooooomp!" (only really loud), and one of them actually SMUSHED! I did not know how fragile these things are, but he CRUSHED IT. It was one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time.
Oh yeah, bridge was really missing, detour really did work, and the rest of the weekend was very uneventful.

Two peas in a pod

We have some new pics of James (yes, family, you'll get some!!), and he looks soooo grown up! But that's not the funny part. The funny part is that I stuck in on the bulletin board on my desk so that I could see it, and I realized as I tucked it up there what the pic next to it looked like....

The little things...

While James and I sat eating at the table last night, Newkie came over to post watch, and decided to sit on James school bag while he hung out. James said, "Newkie! Get. off. my. SchoolBAG!". I told him that it wasn't a big deal, but he wouldn't eat! He threatened a hunger strike if Newkie didn't get off that bag! So I pulled the bag out from under him, and James said, "Thank you, Monny, that makes me so happy". It really is the little victories, I guess.

work/life imbalance

These are the days that drive us to drink. So it's 7 o'clock, I'm finishing up a conference call, and I'm so beat. No time for laundry (need DESPERATELY to wash both lions.. James has taken to chewing them alot.. ew), haven't had dinner (hellloooo, cheeseburgers!), barely managed to pop away for 2 mins to situate son on the potty, after bribing him with a handful of M&Ms to play in his room rather than talking over my conference call. This is not healthy, is it? bad mommy.

The darnedest things... (sp?)

James just cracks me up. He's actually funnier than alot of grown-ups I know. Mainly, because he just says exactly what he's thinking, and he had such an imagination that what he's thinking is typically off the wall. I submit for your consideration:

"Monny, I found the treasure!" ("digging" for buried treasure in the hallway). I say," oh wow, what kind of treasure is it?", to which he replies excitedly, "BLUE!"

We decided today to have dinner on the back porch ala picnic. He grabbed the juice boxes while I made grilled cheese sandwiches. While he was waiting, he chewed the straw from his juicebox until it was pretty much flat. So I gave him mine, and just slurped mine out of the hole. He asked, "Monny, where your straw go?", and I said, "somebody chewed his up, so I gave him mine.. do you know who that somebody was?".. he answered, honestly, "a bumblebee?"

Zoo Review Part Two (isn't that fun to say? try it!)

Pics are posted! Wow, there were alot! Rather than any more blogging, I'll just tell you that there are comments under each pic and that's just going to have to be good enough fer now! Click on "Woodruff Photo Collection" on the left.

Zoo review

Right now I'm too tired and too busy to give you a huge rundown, but I will say this... the Zoo was AAWWEEESOOMMMMMEEE! We had fabulous weather, got to see a great selection of the park, had a faboo picnic lunch, and got some amazing pics. My camera battery died towards the end so I can't even show you my pics until it recharges, but Brent was kind enough to send over a few samples of his shots this morning. This'll have to placate for the time being! It was James hands-down FAVORITE animal.

All aboard for a dirty afternoon!

James got to see his first real train yesterday at the New Hope Valley Railway. This is a very cool old railway that's maintained by a group of volunteers, and runs about once a month. There are two locomotives, one on each end (they don't have a turntable so one pulls one way, the other pulls back home!), and a buncha cars in between. It was a beautiful day, and we thought we'd enjoy sitting in the open car next to the oil-burning steam locomotive.
If you know anything about trains, you're already laughing your ass off. If you don't, let me tell you why that other group is laughing so hard. When a locomotive is building up steam, you can see the steam pouring out of the top... and some of it falls down in little sprinkles like when you point the hose up on a hot day and feel that fine mist fall down. ... except that *this* mist is mixing with the carbon-y smoke being thrown up from the burnt oil... and it's pulling it down with it. So it's like taking a carbon shower! If you look closely at the last few pictures in the photo album, you'll notice that we all have black freckles... EVERYWHERE! *cough* *cough*.. I think I got the black lung, pop!
The other thing that was kinda funny was how many kids around James' age were there, and how many kids, just like James, had never seen a real train in person before... and were freaked the f- out!. When that thing started up, it was LOUD! The steam itself was pretty loud, but whenever we crossed a road, that whistle would blow, and MAN. Every kid in our car was holding their ears, or holding onto their moms.. we had a few that cried for a while! Poor little things. I think they all got used to it, though (just in time to hit the first hill and get a carbon shower). And of course, on the ride back, the locomotive was at the other end of the train, so it was relatively quiet... like ending on a high note!
They also had a G-scale train out there, completely with - yes, you guessed it: Thomas. James told us this was his favorite part. Forget the real train, forget that we got to check out a real caboose, the toy that he couldn't even touch was his favorite part. No accounting for taste, I guess!

The testing of the patience

Gracious, that boy sure does test a mom's patience. The day started off (as they all do) nice. We hung out, ran some errands, made muffins.... all baseball and apple pie Mom and her Little Man. Then the afternoon rolled around, and Mr. Hyde made a call. Naps are totally hit or miss, but the days he doesn't take them, you can sure tell! He's going through this VERY whiney phase, where he just... gaw! I can't even describe it, but it's the most obnoxious, whiney bratty little noise and it makes you want to jam ice picks into your ears to make it stop. He likes to accessorize this cacophonous sound with flailing arms, that typically hit something (because he's not paying attention), which hurts, which sets off another round.

Bathroom visits kinda suck. I'm a tad on the claustrophobic side to begin with, and when you're maneuvering a 3yr old and yourself, there's not always a ton of room. Sadly (for me), James does not share this aversion, and actually likes being in close quarters with me, and finds this an opportune time for games and general chicanery. This includes grabbing my face (in spite of numerous lectures regarding touching other people's faces with "pee pee hands" prior to washing!), screeching in my face, wiggling around when we're trying to get cleaned up... just anything you can think of. If we're in a public restroom, there's also a lot of hootin' an' hollerin', because he likes the echo (the other bathroom patrons.. not so much!). So today he was screaming in face, and I'd just had it, I screeched right back in his face with loudest, shrillest noise I could stand in such a small space. He just looked absolutely stunned and scrambled to cover his ears! Then he said, "monny, like this? aaaaahhhh!" and did little whisper/yells. I said, "yes, like that.. that's fine". And ya know, he hasn't done that since!

Farewell, Friends! (or should we say, "see you later"?)

Well, with heavy hearts, we bade farewell to the Kleys last night. They've packed up house, and should be on the road right now, enroute to Colorado. James and Keatey played like the always do, ran around like maniacs, wrestled, got mad, and then went back to hugging and running. I'm about to cry again just thinking about it... I sobbed all the way home. How fortunate we've been to have such good friends, and for our little boys to have such a buddy. We wish them a safe trip, good luck in their house hunt, and a speedy return so that we don't have to miss them for too long!

What a miserable kid...

...nothing makes him happy. He's just such a downer.

Awesome day at the museum

Yesterday we went to the Museum of Natural Science... other than the giant mutant bees, it was pretty good...

What not to wear

Today was hot, AND I need to do laundry... so I wore a skirt. Mind you, a simple linen casual skirt, along with a t-shirt and flip flops (so 2/3 of my usual wardrobe). I guess I wear skirts much less frequently than I realized, because when James saw me, he rubbed my leg like he wasn't sure what it was, and said "Monny, what's THAT? Why are you wearing a costume?". I explained that it wasn't a costume, it was a skirt. He said, "you don't need a skirt". So then I explained that I did need a skirt because I wasn't wearing pants, and he asked, "where's your pants? You need pants". Sheesh.. forget it, I just won't wear the skirt again!

A bit of privacy, please?

Without going into too much detail, I'm happy to report that potty training is going really great! I don't know if it's being in school with so many other kids, or just his time. I guess you really do have to just wait until they're ready! Well, my little trooper is ready like nobody's business. He is excited about using the potty! He doesn't even want to use his little seat anymore, he wants to sit on the normal seat like a big boy. AND, he doesn't want help. AND, he doesn't want company! Once I make sure he's situated, he'll say, "Monny, wanna leave me alone?", and I have to leave and shut the door all the way. This happened in a restaurant the other day, and I had to put my foot down there (way too much stuff to get into / dirty stuff I don't want him touching), so I said, "I'll pretend to leave" and turned around. Apparently, this was fine. Sometimes he must be in the mood for company, because he'll suggest, "Monny, wanna pretend to leave?". A few times he's even gone off into the bathroom, taken care of business, and washed his hands by himself and everything. It's such a drastic improvement in such a short period of time, that I really am now a firm believer that you just have to wait it out. And we did. And it's here... yay!

Slip'n and Slidin'

James has been introduced to the time-tested.. holy crap! I just went to the website for Wham-O to grab the link to the Slip 'n' Slide, but there's no longer a simple Slip 'n' Slide. Now there are character variations (Superman, Spiderman, Batman...), there are tandem slides, those huge inflatable jammies, you name it! Anyhoo, we got the slight-ritzier than the original one with sprinklers along it and a little pillow at the end to stop your slide (hehehe.. remember when you used to shoot off the end into the grass and it HURT?!?! LOL). So Sterling and Shawn, who were having a Daddy playdate, laid it out and Shawn hurled the kids down it. It was hilarious, and we got some awesome pics!