Monsters

When I was putting Caleb to bed tonight he mentioned that there was a monster in my room.  So I asked him what its' name was.  He asked the monster "what your name?"  -- He not Nice.  Okay, so what is his name?  - Daddy.  Oh... What does he look like?  He nice, he not mean.  That's good.  He is a nice monster, what does he look like?  Robot.

Oh my.

Funnies

I had to outline my ideas before I wrote or I knew I would forget to write about something.  That is the reason behind my subtitles.

Monsters
For the past coupld weeks Caleb has been really nervous about monsters.  If he starts to go into a dark room he freaks out.  When we get home at night and it is dark he makes me shut the garage door before he will get out of the van.  Last night I was talking to him in the kitchen and he looks down the hall into his room- make the observation that his room is dark then says there is a monster.  I asked him what his monster's name was... he said "I dunno".  I asked him what his monster looked like- "like incredibles with no shirt".  (No clue where that came from!)  So I asked him if his monster was nice or mean, have you talked to him?  No...  He turns his head to lok toward his room- "You nice, OK."  "He not nice".   HAHAHAHA!  What an imagination.  I asked his tonight if the outside monster was the same as the one in his room and he said it wasn't.  Hmmmm?!?!?

Outdated
I was chatting with my assistant on Tuesday when she told me that she is working on her Social Studies week long project and needed a topic.  I told her that I did one in college and I could let her look at it since the projects seemed really similar.  I then got to thinking...  Where is this project stored?  Oh yeah, on a 3 1/2" floppy disk!!!  So, um, nope not gonna be able to share that after all!  Wow do I feel old!  All of the seniors I know (High school that is and it is like 3) are getting their Senior Pictures in...  One of the boys asked me if I wanted one so as I was looking through my options I mentioned, Oooo, I want you to write on mine, I can't take it right now... His mom says- they don't do that anymore.  What!?!?!? Seniors do not write on their pictures anymore to personalize it to the person they are giving it to!  We used to write a novel on the back of each picture we would give out!  Again, feeling very dated!

Milk
We ran out of formula this week!  Which means Carter is a cows milk baby!  Yay! No more formula!  Now for potty training!  Ha!

Party
Carter's 1st birthday party is this Saturday!  Wow did time fly by!  I can't beleive it was a year ago that I was pregnant with this child!  he has grown up so much...  he loves driving cars on the floor and hitting his brother on the head!  He is walking pretty well now- still a little wobbly, but getting more confident everyday.  He has a great sense of humor already- Which leads me to my next Subtitle.
milk cup
Carter was drinking his milk tonight at supper and to be silly he put it on his shoulder and behind his back when he was done.  He was pretty proud of himself when he got a laugh out of both Mommy and Caleb! 

Up- ow
We have borrowed the movie Up from my parents this week.  We have officially watched it at least once a day since Sunday.  Caleb loves to repeat lines from the movie.  He really likes when the little boy says "Ow."  When his foot is shut in the door.  I asked him why the little boys was saying Ow, to see what he recollected from the scene and he went into great detail pretending to read a book and saying "I Russell, Ow."  Haha!

poor baby
Carter was playing in the kitchen after supper tonight and he tripped over my feet and fell hitting his head on the drawer.  He was crying and Caleb asked what happened.  After I told him Caleb replied "Poor Baby, it's okay". 

Unfortunatley I know I am forgetting a funny.  I remember leaving Caleb's room saying I need to do some blogging!  and now I cannot seem to remember that funny.  =(  Tomorrow is a pretty busy day.  I have Parents As Teachers (Miss Shannon) coming at 9:00, then my supervisor/co-worker is coming over to work on a presentation about lunch time, then it is off to work then to my Make Parenting a Pleasure class after work.  -*   <---  That is Carter's contribution to my blog post! Anyway, busy day tomorrow.  But at least Chris is FINALLY done with harvest tomorrow!!!!!!!  YAY!  No more being a single mother!  Well, until January when the stink-butt goes to Hawaii, hopefully this time it is only a couple weeks rather than a month like 2 years ago!  

Well, better get the kids to bed... long day tomorrow!

Mommy gets a Girl's Night!

Yes, it is true.  I am officially going out.  No husband.  No kids.  Just me and the girls!  Wow!  I don't know when that has ever happened! 

I took the kids to my parents house tonight to stay the weekend.  I have an all-day training tomorrow, then out with the girls.  We will pick up the kids Sunday morning.  It will be a fun weekend for Grandma and Pop!  Haha!  :)

My presentation went well today.  Who knows how the "potential funders" viewed my presentation, but I felt it went well since I got through it with a pretty steady voice and remembered all the points I wanted to make.  I guess for right now that is all that matters.  We will soon learn the fate of the Coordinator position soon.  Hopefully someone who already works there will get it.  I think it would be akward trying to accept an "outsider".  I hope to hear soon! 

:)

Carter learned to clap and kiss this week!  He was sitting on Caleb's bed and I leaned over to him and asked him for a kiss and he leaned over and gave me baby open mouth kisses on my cheek...  :)  How sweet.  Then when we were at Wal Mart this week he started clapping when he was sitting in the cart.  He is getting to be such a big boy!  I can't believe in 2 weeks he will be 1 year old!!!!  Where did the time go? 

The Weekend

This weekend went pretty fast! Friday night Chris was still on the road, but I got off work early since we had a no school day. I picked up the kids and since it was sooo nice out we played outside until it was super dark (it was only 6:30, unfortunately). The neighbors came over to play which wore the kids out. Caleb and Nolan played "football" which consisted of them running around and tackling each other. When we got inside I fed the kids and put them to bed! Aaaaah, relax. I hopped on the computer to check my email and found an email from my bosses boss. It said: Thank you for taking the opportunity to interview for the Coordinator position. We have narrowed our search to 4 professionals.... this is where I started to trail away from reading as I figured it was a thanks, but no thanks letter. I started reading it again after checking my other email and realized it said... ...and as one of them you will need to..... Write a 500 word paper... and present an idea that you would want to implement within the next 6 months.... to a panel of potential funders! AAAH! So much for a relaxing night! My stomach was in knots! I am starting to feel a little more comfortable now that I have my paper written and I am comfortable with my ideas I want to present.


Saturday we hung out at the house most of the day. I let Caleb go outside by himself a couple times. We had the windows open so I could easily yell out for him or hear him playing the entire time. We ran to Ames to shop for a new outfit for me. Played at the Mall for a little while then were on our way to Ankeny when the Dammen family called to see if we wanted to meet in Ankeny for supper! Good timing! We ate at Okoboji Grill where the kids were creating a ruckus. They were so funny, giggling and being silly. Caleb was very well behaved, as far as I was concerned. He stayed in his seat and ate all of his food. He was better behaved while being silly with Emma than when he is alone with us. It was kind of refreshing! After we ate we didn't really want to part ways yet, since the kids don't get to play very often so we went to McDonald's to play at their play place. It was Grimy, but fun! Caleb and Emma barely even looked at us and the Carter's were having a blast running around. Carter was actually walking quite a bit there! I think he does better when he is walking in his shoes, plus it helps that there wasn't thick carpet, blankets or toys in his way. When we left there we got groceries, then headed home.

Sunday we hung around the house again. Cleaned, did laundry and worked on my presentation a ton. Caleb got to play outside a lot and Carter took a GREAT nap! We went for a family walk around town late afternoon. Got home when it was super dark again- I hate how dark it gets sooo early. :( Not fun. Makes for short nights.


Today, I took the kids to Ames with me to run errands for work. I went to work and then came home to a 3 year old who needed a nap and didn't get one! Wow was he sensitive and naughty. I sent him to bed early. Tomorrow I will be going to another training. I will be attending different sessions of this training once a month until May. Wednesday will actually be pretty normal, then Thursday I have my parenting class that evening and Friday is P-Day (presentation) hehe. I took Friday afternoon off so I can bring the kids to my parents house so they can babysit on Saturday when I have another training. Busy, Busy.

Well, I need to get to bed. Long day ahead!

I remembered

So we were in Wal-Mart today and Caleb started singing "The Button Factory" song.  You know, Hello, My name is Joe- I gotta wife, 3 kids and I work in a button factory.  One day, my boss said to me, "Are you busy?" I said no....

This is Caleb's rendition.

Hi, I Joe.  I gotta wipe and a kid and I work.  One day "are you working?"  Nope.

Hehe!  Made me laugh so I wanted to get it written before I forgot!  :O)

There were several things Caleb said or did this week that made me laugh, but unfortunately I can't remember a lot of them.  :(  I should jump on here whenever I hear something, but I am always so sure that I wouldn't forget it, it's too funny! 

Well, to start... We got new shirts for work this week and when i wore my new bright pink one on Monday Caleb said- "You got a new dress Mommy? Yet me see your shirt, oh, you yook goood."  Haha!  Can't be that! 

Caleb has become really weary of monsters this week.  He gets very nercous when walking in a dark room or when he is looking outside and it is dark.  I keep reminding him that monsters aren't real, but he still gets pretty freaked. 

We finally have found Caleb's "Runaway Pancake" book!  He loves this book!  We listened to the CD in the car at least 10 times since Monday but, when I read the book the other night before bed he freaked out when the Fox ate the Pancake.   AAAAAAAAAAARUM! the fox says when he eats the pancake in one enormous gulp.  Caleb said "No AAAAARUM!"  Then when he went to bed he was very scared the Fox was in his room. 

No, No

No, No, No

I'm too fast,

You're too slow.

Pan, Pan, Patty Cake Pan

I can get away from you, I can!

Marsupial Sue Presents- The Runaway Pancake   By: John Lithgow

I highly suggest this book and Marsupial Sue, too! 

I am really sad I can't remember more things from Caleb, but when I do, I will write them down!!!! 

Teething

Well, Carter is defnitely teething again.  Starting about Sunday he started getting progressively crabbier.  He woke up almost every hour Sunday and Monday night.  Last night he only woke up a couple times and it wasn't nearly as hard to sooth him when he did.  I had been giving him Tylenol, I knew that you could alternate Motrin and Tylenol, so I bought some Motrin at the DG Tuesday morning.  I gave him his first dose of that about lunch time yesterday and it seemed to work really well.  When I called first nurse to find out timing on the doses, she said that our Doctor doesn't recommend mixing, so I stuck with Motrin every 6 hours and it seems like it has been working a lot better than Tylenol.  It looks like he is for sure getting a tooth next to the bottom one's he has already.  When I feel his top gums they are hard and bumpy, so I think he is getting some up there, too.  It looks like he almost has canker sores on his gums.  :O(  Poor baby.  He is drooling like a leaky faucet.  I have to change his bib every few hours!  And he isn't normally a bib wearing outside of his high chair. 

More updates on Carter- He is trying to walk more and more!  We went to the play area at the mall Friday night and he was walking like crazy there!  I swear the other day he said Mama, and then lifted his arms and said abab...  Could be a stretch, but who knows!  He loves playing on his own.  He really gets excited when he picks up something from a stand and stands with it.  Carter has been getting quite the funny bone.  He will laugh at just about anything, but it also seems like he has such a good sense of humor.  I think he will be quite the comidian/ornery child like his father and brother.

Last night when I was changing the boys into their jammies I stripped Carter down adn he scurried off, very fast, and was so excited to be crawling around his room naked.  He was up on Caleb's bed and just flopping himself down and giggling.  It was too funny.  Caleb gets all silly when he's naked too...  must be a boy thing.  haha!

That is all for now... Carter wants some attention!

More Trick or Treating

Here are some more pictures from trick or treating that our neighbor sent me.

Nolan and Caleb- Best Buds!

(We try to overlook the whole 'Cyclone' thing.)  :O)

Walking up to Diane's house. 

The whole gang!

Back row: Morgan 7 months, Ryan 13 months, Carter 11 months

Front Row: Isaac (Ryan), Nolan (Morgan), and Caleb.

Take 2.

Halloween

Here are some pictures of Caleb and Carter from day care and trick or treating.

Carter as a Skeleton!

He obviously was scared of himself!  HAHA!  Okay, so he didn't like his costume.

Caleb getting his mask painted on.  Chris had to pin him to get him to sit still.  He didn't really like getting this drawn on him.

Mr. Incredible and the Skeleton.  Look at that chunky monkey!  (or should I say chunky skeleton?)

Hehe.  That boy is definitely from his Mommy's side of the family!

Awww.  Brotherly love.

:O) Love them!

Caleb and Nolan trick or treating.  What big boys!

"Trick or Treat!"

Trick or treating.

Carter chillin'

Punkin' Patch

We visited the pumpkin patch a couple weeks ago.  Enjoy the pics!

Caleb riding the horse!

Caleb petting a goat.

Riding in the Cow Train

Jumpy House

Caterpillar bouncy thing...

Carter just chillin'

Chris at the hay maze

Caleb in the hay maze- he was in this for almost 1/2 an hour!  Whenever we would try to take his picture he would run the other way.

Peeking up at Mommy!  "Where's Waldo?"  Can you spot him?

Caleb and Carter- Good pic of Caleb

Caleb and Carter- good pic of Carter.  I am not entirely sure what Caleb is doing... dork.

Carter attempting to walk.

Big Boy!

Mommy and the boys!