The World According to Liam

It is crazy to me that I have not posted anything in this blog in two years.  I started this blog as a way to document the crazy that is my life with two little boys.  Apparently I have been so busy living that life with them I have failed to write it down.  I am sad because I know in my heart that there have been many memories that I wish I had, funny things they did or sad and I can't remember a lot of the small day to day things. 

It is my goal to try and take a few moments to write this stuff down.  I may even go back and look at some of our pictures I have taken and do belated posts and maybe even out of order posts. 

This month in our neck of the woods we had beautiful spring weather from last Thursday until Tuesday.  The kiddos and I got a taste of spring and playing outside and even riding our bikes.  Then Wednesday we got a March snow storm.  It has been a long time since we have had a good March snow storm.  While I was taking pictures it dawned on me that the last time we had a March snow storm was March 17, 2007.  It was the day that I went into the hospital to be induced to have my long awaited child and with his 7th birthday on the horizon I have been nostalgic and a bit emotional. 

So by now you are probably wondering how my trip down memory lane and pictures of our snow storm have anything to do with the world according to Liam.  Well because of the crazy weather we have had I HAVE CABIN FEVER!!!  An I have it BAD.  After putting my oldest on the bus this morning I bundled up my daycare kiddos and my youngest and out for a walk we went.  Pushing a double stroller in 3 inches of slushy snow is no easy feat.  It was a little chilly not cold, but that did not stop my Liam from asking if he could have hot cocoa when we got home.  I thought what a great idea this morning.  So I told him absolutely.  A few short minutes later Liam asked "mommie do you know why it is called hot cocoa"  He is a creative child and I always enjoy the "stories" he tells, so I replied "no buddy why is it called hot cocoa"  in a very matter of fact voice he responded " because it is hot".  Happy Friday all.  OH BOY Y ME?

Too Praise or Punish

This seems to be a theme going on in my day to day life right now.  Without citing all of the instances where this theme has been running like a river through I am going to talk about the most obnoxious of all instances.  Many months ago I found this picture at Ballard Designs, but really the price is so not in my budget.  BUT I could make it myself and that is just what I did.  I made it and decided to make one to represent my whole family to decorate the blank wall space over our bed.  They turned out SO AMAZING AND I LOVE THEM!!!  Well My oldest is outgrowing his nap.  A time that has been a sacred and cherished time in my life.  When he does get too tired and cranky,   I  put him down to save us all.  Well one very recent day after putting him down in my room to nap he decided to add to my beautiful pictures.  I later came into my room and looked up and this is the scene I saw.

The addition from my boy, he took a permanent blue Sharpe marker and decided to write every one's name on their picture.  Now he did such a great job spelling names and forming letters. So the dilemma do I punish him or praise the job well done.  I LOVE THESE PICTURES SO I BANISHED HIM TO HIS ROOM FOR A LONG PERIOD OF TIME.  Now I am left with the job of trying to paint over his written word.  OH BOY Y ME 

Coffee Shop Iced Coffee how I .....

I have been away from you all for a very long time and I am sorry.  I would like to say that it is because things here have been so boring I have had nothing to blog about.  However that is really not the case.  I have just been really busy. You see where we live we only have good weather for about 4 months a year and I have really taken advantage of the good weather.  So now it is time to get back to it.

I was surfing the net this fall, OK I confess I was blog stalking this fall and literally stumbled on a post by The Pioneer Woman.  It was the start of a very dangerous love affair.  Iced Coffee like you get at a coffee shop and a little secret she puts sweetened condensed milk in this AMAZING copycat.   I was so looking forward to making this at home.  After dinner I went to the store to pick me up some of this sweet and condensed milk stuff.  Oh the dreams I had of waking up to this (just so you know I LOVE COFFEE).  I opened the can, got out my glass turned to fill it with ice, when my doorbell rang.  After sending the political candidate away, I was really looking forward to my drink, I went back to the kitchen to ........

my youngest was trying to get at something on the counter and spilled the whole can on the floor, and that was the end of my sweet, creamy , iced coffee dream for the day:(  I urge you to try this yummy drink at home. Oh boy why me?

YES ME!

So many of my posts are about the crazy things that happen in my day-to-day life with my crazy boys, today it is about one of the many great things that happen in my day-to-day life.  It was last week and my hubs and I were getting dinner ready in our small kitchen.  My children were both under food with many small toys, way too many people and things in my kitchen.  So I was getting a little frustrated and forced both boys and toys into the family room in front of the TV, with a constant verbal parade of, “get out of my kitchen, both of you and take your toys with you”.   My 4-year-old came into the kitchen asking to go to Cole’s, his little friend’s house, (or so I thought).  When I in my hurried attempt to finish dinner and get it on plates in the dining room, I asked him “where do you want to go” he replied “Cole’s, next time we go shopping can we go to Kohl’s?”  With my back to him as I dished out dinner I asked “why do you want to go to Kohl’s?”  To which he replied, very matter of fact “I want to buy you a new dress.” There was an audible gasp at this point and a deafening silence as I stopped everything I was doing.  I did what all good moms would have done, felt like crap for not taking the time to talk with him as I was getting dinner ready.  Dinner was late and a little cool when we got it on the table, I stopped to smell the roses, or in this moment savor my loving, thoughtful little boy.  The next weekend we were shopping with my parents in the mall when I took Kyan with me to Old Navy to look at dresses.  He looked around for a minute and loudly said “this is not right we need to go to Kohl’s after this” 

We are on the lookout for a blue and green stripped dress for him to buy me.  Today I am signing of with a YES MEJ

GOOD BYE OPOSSUM

Last spring a friend was dropping me off after we ran away to Lowes.  I happened to look up as my motion light went off to see the BIGGEST OPOSSUM I had ever seen (ok the only opossum I have ever seen) in my drive way.  I promptly called my husband from the car to tell him.  He laughed at my fear; it was big enough to take my youngest away.  We never saw the opossum again.  Fast forward to two weeks ago; the hubby and I were sitting in the family room with my parents when my mom shrieked at the site of the opossum looking through our sliding doors.  I fortunately did not get a close up look at him that night.  The following the night I did get a really good look at him as he visited my sliding door again.  HOLY opossum Batman.  He is HUGE!!  The hubs now believes me that this bugger is ginormous.  I later found out that the village we reside in will send a wild life remover, wild life catcher, wild life exterminator (I am too lazy to get up and see what his official title is) over to trap and remove our little uninvited guest.  So after a quick phone call to the village office I received a call from said trapper.  He showed up Friday evening and set traps all around our deck with a promise that he will be back every day to check the traps.  Saturday’s trip did not provide the invader.  Sunday’s trip however has put my fears to rest.  WE GOT HIM and a pesky squirrel, which unfortunately was released back into my yard.  This opossum was gnarly and by the looks of him was not well. 

Now what you can’t see is that his face and head is missing a bunch of fur and has oozing stuff all over his face.  He was also missing his right eye , that I chose not to photograph. 

Of course in my crazy life where truth is stranger than fiction I couldn’t have a garden variety opossum oh no we have to have the biggest, ugliest, gnarly one around.  OH BOY WHY ME :)

Mommie Distracted

My oldest turned four on Friday and I figured it would be a good time to cut his hair.  He asked for a mohawk the last time I cut it.  So we have let it grow so it would be long enough and I figured his birthday would be the perfect day to do it.  I took him upstairs for his bath and figured I would cut his hair first.  I got him all settled and lubricated the clippers.  I spent a considerable amount of time looking at his head and figuring out where the best place to make the line on both sides of his head.  When I was satisfied that I had the right spots I started to buzz his hair.  I didn’t get a full swipe on his head when I started to wonder why SO much hair was coming off.  It was then I realized I NEVER PUT THE BLADE GUARD ON!  So forget the Mohawk I needed to take his hair down a lot shorter then we had planned.

I hope it doesn’t take long to grow out.  OH BOY WHY ME?

Bedtime Stories

Last night we had a totally new experience with my oldest.  At almost four he is still getting into bed with me at night.  It took us a lot of work and many different strategies, including a bedtime bear clock that is supposed to help teach bedtime vs. wake up time.  We had broken this habit after many sleepless nights and then my husband and I left them for 4 days to go on a trip and we have had to start all over again.  I can say after two months we are down to less frequency maybe 1-2 nights a week.  The biggest problem we have with this is that he is really good at the stealth attack.  I am a heavy sleeper and am not always aware that he has crawled into bed with me and he NEVER gets in on his daddy’s side.  Well on Monday night I did become aware of him snuggled up to me so I climbed over him and carried him back to his bed.  We even talked about it on Tuesday and how important it was for him to stay in his own bed till morning.  So last night he found his way to my room before his daddy had gone to bed.  This time he woke me up instead of just climbing in.  I woke up long enough to tell him to go back to bed and I would see him in the morning.  At that point I fell back asleep. It was not until sometime later I became aware that he did not go back to his own room.  I was caught somewhere between sleep and consciousness when I heard rustling papers and my husband getting out of bed fast.  I did not think much of it until I was being wakened to my husband kneeling in front of me.  It took a few seconds for me to be fully aware of what he was telling/asking me. I was unable to understand why he was asking me what he should do.   It seems that instead of going back to his room my son crawled under my bed and fell asleep.  My husband was asking what he should do with him.  In the end we decided to wake him up and put him back in bed.  After which my husband shared his heart was beating out of his chest in fear of what was moving under our bed.  OH BOY WHY ME?