Flashlights Under The Table

Grandma Toni thought of a really fun game for the boys today. She bought them Halloween flashlights to play with the other day, and they absolutely loved them. Nick and Henry have been looking for excuses to go in the dark ever since.

Today, they put blankets over our cocktail table, and then the boys hid underneath it with their Halloween flashlights.

They loved hiding and having me count and then jump out from under the table. I think they would've let me do this all night if I would've let them.

Nick, especially, loves it when I videotape him and play it back. Henry, on the other hand, just liked surprising me with is flashlight and jumping from under the table. I pretended to be really shocked each time he jumped out. 

After a really stressful day at work, it is nice to just play for a little while. I might not fit under the table, but I still got to participate. 

Oh, the layers upon layers of dirt. . .

Henry's shirt is very ironic today. It reads, "Slugs, Snails, and Puppy Dog Tails." I took the boys to the park, and they got more dirty than they've been in quite awhile.

There is a sand pit at this park. My boys love sand, but I hate cleaning it out of their orifices, so I usually don't pick parks with sand. Today, I tried to head them off at the pass by making them take off their shoes beforehand.

Neither one of my children has a super-long attention span, though, so after three separate times of helping them get shoes and socks on and off, I just gave up. I wonder if all boys attract dirt this easily or if mine are somehow gifted at dirtying themselves.

Climbing excitement was the order of the day at this park. Nick was rather proud of climbing to this summit.

Henry tried really hard, but couldn't make it up. I think he gave a valiant effort, though.

Pretty good for a two-year-old, IMHO. After park time, I took them to Panera for dinner. I had them wash their hands before eating, but their arms and necks were still covered with a mix of sand, wood chips, dirt, tortellini sauce, and grilled cheese.

Henry was the messiest. He also ate over 2,000 calories, by my estimation. I started out by ordering a small tortellini dish with a salad and a "big kid" grilled cheese (with bacon) sandwich. Henry ate all but three of the tortellini, more than half of the sandwich, an entire piece of bread, half a bag of potato chips, and several handfuls of corn and beans from my salad. Then they split a pumpkin cookie. I do not understand where the boy puts it. To top it all off, Henry dumped a whole cup of water on his pants during the car ride home.

Needless to say, a bath was in the cards tonight. They had sand in their ears, down their diapers, between their toes, and even in their armpits. My boys were happy, though.

Scrubbing the sand out of their crevices became Greg's job, though. I was so glad to see him home early from work. Thankfully, both boys were washed well and sent to bed clean and sand-free. For tonight, anyway.

An Oil Painting Lesson From Daddy

Over the weekend, Greg was painting and the boys wanted to try. I went upstairs to see him getting them set up with a canvas. I gently suggested that perhaps oil wasn't the best medium for very young children, but they were adamant. They were also extremely excited.

While the technique left something to be desired, their enthusiasm was evident. Greg was able to teach them how to hold the brush and blend the paint, though they used quit a bit more paint than was necessary.

They were going for an abstract piece.

Henry was grinning as he globbed as much paint as possible onto the canvas. 

Greg is very interested in art of all kinds, so its kind of neat to see the boys taking such an interest in this hobby.

Needless to say, bathtime was a must after this oil painting experience. I suggested tempera paint for next time, since the kids won't know the difference and oil paint is so difficult to clean.

Story Time and a Poorly Written Lullaby

No matter how busy or tired I am, my boys almost never miss story time. I read between 1 and 5 books to them each night. I've been known to skip sections or even pages, and once in awhile I fall asleep in the middle of a book. But always, we read.

Note: I take off makeup as soon as I get home. I am not sick. This is simply what I look like without makeup. 

Tonight it was a book about astronauts. I had originally bought this book as part of a set for my classroom, but Nick has commandeered the books for his own personal reading pleasure. I'm going to have to steal them back before I get to the space unit in my lesson plans.

I asked them to make a silly face for this picture, and this is what I got. Henry had fun pointing out the moon and the Earth in the picture, while Nick wanted me to explain gravity and eating in space in more detail than the text. Then he wanted to know (I'm not sure how this connects) whether a spaceship would go back in time like Doc Brown in Back to the Future III if it were struck by lightning.

Tonight, due to a skipped nap and some nasty diaper rash, Henry screamed on and off for roughly three hours. By the time I put him to bed, I was exhausted. I snuggled up with him on the futon and stroked his back while making up a lullaby that wasn't strictly complimentary to my beautiful son. It went something like this:

Go to sleep, go to sleep, would you please just pass out now
Mommy's tired, no more screaming, please just rest your little voice.

Had no nap, butt is sore, Mommy gets that you're angry,
No more screaming, please be calm, please, oh please just go to sleep.

Mommy's got, a headache, even worse than your butt ache,
No more screaming, please be quiet, Mommy loves you go to sleep.

Crabby boy, sore buttocks, but yelling won't help you,
What will help, your sore ass, is to just go to sleep. . .

I sang and rubbed his back for probably 30 minutes before he finally settled down. Now? I'm ready for a glass of wine. Thank goodness I can sleep in tomorrow. I think my eardrums were damaged this evening by little Henry.

Picking the Pears

One of my all-time favorite books to read with kids is Mr. Putter and Tabby Pick the Pears, by Cynthia Rylant. I love the characters and the story line, plus the fact that no actual pears are picked.

Nick and Henry got to have their own pear-picking adventure last weekend. Grandpa Ray has asked the fire department across the street from their house if its okay to pick pears from their trees. The fireman do not mind in the least. So we went on a quest to pick pears. I was worried that the boys wouldn't be able to reach any pears (like poor Mr. Putter in the story) but these pear trees were perfectly sized.

Nick and Henry went crazy picking the nicest, ripest pears. The hardest part was preventing Henry from taking a bite from each one. Grandpa Ray had lots of helpful pear picking advice.

They really did fill a whole wagon!

I wish we'd gotten more--I'm now dreaming of pear butter and pear cake and pear muffins. My kids have eaten at least 3 pears each per day since last Saturday.

Now if only we'd had a slingshot. . .  (Sorry, this reference only makes sense if you've read the story.)

Arboretum Antics

I love the Children's Garden at the Morton Arboretum. I think it is beautiful, and I love how there is a guard so that my children cannot just leave. Henry loves the climbing parts the best.

Last week, I had three doctor's appointments, and several hours to kill in between them. So I met the boys for some outside time.

I hadn't been back to the Arboretum in awhile, so it was fun to check out all of the children's exhibits.

They had a stack of hay and some pumpkins for exploration, and the boys loved moving the pumpkins back and forth between the haystacks. . . .

. . . not to mention climbing on the haystacks. Hey, this is a hands-on place, remember.  ;)

Henry did not want to let go of this gourd.

After the haystacks, we went to walk on the rocks. I rolled up their jeans and made both Nick and Henry take off their socks and shoes. I was thinking they'd wade a bit, and the rocks were a definite hit.

Wading, however, soon devolved into belly-flopping and splashing. It was only in the low 70s that day, but my guys didn't seem chilled in the slightest. We ended up having to change both boys from the skin out.

Henry adored the flowers and kept trying to pick them. In this picture he was pointing at the flowers and saying his version of "Look at the flowers!"

We spent a decent amount of time on the playground as well. I think if I mimicked their movements on the playground, I'd burn thousands of calories.

Nick can move with incredible speed. Agility? Not so much. But he's got the energy factor down pat.

"Man, have you got your hands full!"

That's what I'm often told when people see me with my two very energetic children. My response is that yes, my hands are definitely full. But my heart is full, too. How could it not be with a smile like this one?

Or a grin like this one?

We had fun at the Cafe N' Play today, and I watched my kids run around being silly and dressing up in different costumes. What a nice way to end the week.

Although Nick did freak me out a little bit in this costume he made up. . .

Doesn't he look like something out of a post-apocalyptic nightmare?

So are my hands full? Yup. But we sure had fun! The boys even microwaved me some plastic fruit for me. Before having children, I had no idea how much fun little boys can be. They drive me absolutely bonkers. However, they also make me laugh and enjoy my time with them more than I ever thought I could. (Even while pretending to eat plastic fruit.)