Catching up...

So I'm sitting here listening to The Tonight Show - Jay Leno has Will Smith on and there are so many things wrong with it. First, I hear he's going to be turning 40, which means I'm getting closer to 40 and that's not my reality. It also reminds me of the time I was with my mom and Larry in Dave's Laser Disk shop - if that tells you anything - and I see Will Smith and an unknown Jada Pinket and intentionally run into his arm in the isle. "IT'S WILL SMITH, IT'S WILL SMITH", I say quietly, but crazily as I grab my mom's arms. And my mom pulls out some Will Smith movie and asks me if I've seen it and I pull out some girlie movie and ask her if she's seen it (and he actually turned around to see what I was talking about - and talk about feeling like a heal cuz it was so girlie). And at the time, I'm "like" how'd she get this guy? and I'm with my mom and step-dad - I'm an early 20 something at the time. Granted they seem like they have a great relationship and awesome kids so good luck to them, but dang, it's Will Smith. I digress...
The real reason for my post - Christmas! I want to remember all the things Drew got this year that he's in love with. He got several things "from the list" and a few that were not. His faves - the Nerf Guns with protective glasses and vests, Hulabaloo - which is an awesome game for preschoolers if you're interested, Thomas Bingo - which we need to call Great Grandma Campbell and say thanks to, and Curious George, which he got from both the neighbor and Great Grandma and he loves cuz he can share with friends. He's also thrilled with the digital camera he got from Grandma, but has been to excited in the moment to use. We really haven't been home for any of the other presents, including an awesome Playmobil airplane from Grandma that I really can't wait to play with after putting it's 60+ pieces together! He's also gotten some pretty darn cool pj's from Aunt Janice that are Batman and light up - he wore those over a sweater for most of Christmas and this is the kid who gets HOT most of the time. And Uncle Scott gave him a 6ft air hockey table which I'm still not sure where I'm going to put, but Drew can't wait to put up. It was a pretty darn good Christmas! I'm still waiting for vacation in California, but enjoying the time off in freezing Illinois this week. The low tomorrow (including wind chill) is about negative 10 - not so woohoo!

Next?

Holy moly, it's been a fast few days off. We had Christmas at our house, then went to Aunt Janice's and had an awesome meal and some great fam time, then off to friends for a little party. Friday we went out to Grass Lake to do some snowmobiling with friends - it didn't last long as the temperature kept going up. Saturday was a balmy 62 degrees and all 10+ inches of snow are gone. Today (Monday) we packed up and headed to Illinois. It was a nice sunny day but very windy. I mention this because Drew started getting feverish, but also threw up twice on the way. I'm not sure if he's sick and that's why he threw up, or maybe carsickness, or maybe both. He was pretty lathargic when we got here, but now he seems to be perking up a bit. He's been playing with his 1 yr old cousin Jada and I'm just crossing my fingers that she doesn't get what he's got. We'll be here for several days, and head back on Friday.

Christmas Eve

First thing this morning, Drew wakes up and says "Is Santa's sleigh full?" Yep, it is! And why? Because the list is officially closed and we have already bought all the presents and Santa has made everything he can and has loaded up his sleigh to get ready to roll. This all comes from another request for something to be added to "the list" :) I have to say, I'm so glad I don't have to hear about the list anymore, although I'm sure I still will. This morning Drew and I made 3 pies and 5 loaves of banana bread while Mike went to the store to pick up all the last minute ingredients we didn't have. I love having a shopper husband! He also went out and picked up a tripod for the camcorder. So our goal tonight is to put the presents under the tree, finish up a few presents that haven't been wrapped yet, charge up the batteries for the camera, toys and camcorder and we've decided not to do a nap today so we can get a certain little man to bed early so we aren't up until midnight.
Tomorrow we are heading over to Aunt Janice's for dinner with the family. Hopefully the weather will allow us to leave the house. It's been a crazy winter and we are on day 3! We've gotten lots of snow and last night it started raining.

It's almost here!

Friday was a snow day! Yippee! Perfect day to get all the presents that were hidden in the garage and get them wrapped. I wasn't really sure what all we had gotten, so it was a good time to do some inventory on any last minute items we had to pick up.

Drew did some peeking under the tree and found a package mom had sent for him. I was glad we took all the wrapped presents back out in the garage or he would have been over the top! He must have asked about it 20 times over the weekend. And I told him maybe he could open it on Sunday since it's Hanukkah. He whined, "I don't want to go anywhere, I want to open it here!" Last night I finally let him open it since it was the first day of Hanukkah and came from Grandma & Grandpa. I told him the sun was down and it was officially the beginning on Hanukkah so he could open the blue box. "Oh, awesome, the sun went down!" Not oh, cool it's Hanukkah, of course I'm sure he really doesn't know what that means, so it was just as easy to talk about the sun.

TGIF

The week is finally coming to the fun part...the weekend! Mike is on his way home from OH and we are heading right back down there to go to the Toledo Zoo to see the Christmas lights. Hopefully I can get some good shots. Drew didn't think it sounded like fun but thanks to YouTube he's changed his mind...may have already posted that. Anyway, he's excited to go down and dance to the music and the lights. It's supposed to be about 16 degrees so wish us luck. Also, I've posted a few new photos, in my web album, of Drew shaving and some of him on the phone with dad eating his fav - fish sticks and mac n cheese...woohoo!

My son, the singer!

I really need to get the video camera charging so I can grab it any time. I know, I know, I say it all the time, but really I do. The reason - my son the singer. Lately, Drew tries to sing any song on TV or the radio. It's pretty funny since 1/2 the time he has never heard the song before, but he'll get the last syllable of the last word of just about every sentence.

Along those lines, we've been watching the Grinch a lot this week and this morning we were singing Mr Grinch as we were putting on our coats.
Me: You're a mean one, Mr Grinch. You're a nasty, wasty soulllll
Drew: And - You've got garlic in your soul!!!!!
Me (no longer singing): Wha? He's got a garlic soul?
Drew: NO MOM - You've got garlic IN YOUR soul?
Me: Really, is that what they say in the song?
Drew: Yep!
Me: Huh! I didn't know that!
So of course, I think, like lots of other songs, he's making up the words and figured it sounded right. I come to work and google it and...what do ya know? He's right. Of course. he's right. why would I think any different? CUZ HE'S 3 and I'M 35, and he figured it out before I did!

Another good one - Smashing Pumpkins, The World is a Vampire. It's the theme song for WhaleWars on Animal Planet, and Drew LOVES the song. I can't really figure out what he's saying for Vampire something like, "the world is a manpar". Of course now that show is over, so I'm going to have to download the song or something so I can try to figure out what he's saying.

Great parent idea...

I found this great little tidbit from parenthacks.com. I hope they don't mind me pilfering it. The short of it - what to tell your kids if they find presents.

Here's the Christmas "story" she told her daughter to explain the presence of...the presents:
So, if your husband decided to go looking for shoe polish and pulls a bin off the way-high shelf and your kid spots the EXACT TOY she asked Santa for, here is what you say: "That's for charity. When you put that on your list I though some other little girl would want one."
If your kid is smart they will counter with "Doesn't Santa bring ALL kids presents?" And you counter with, "Of course, but you also get presents for Mom and Dad and all your grandparents, aunts and uncles and poor families can't afford extra presents for kids." If your kid is already suspicious this won't help but it saved the day at my house.

Since I don't have a basement, and have very limited room in closets since they are some of Drew's fravrit (pronounced FRAY-VER-IT) hiding spots, and not much space in the garage, I can see this happening - hopefully not this year!

You're a baby nagger mom

There's been the long standing joke in the Jackson family - ask Drew who daddy is and he'll happily reply, "Dad's the king!" Ask him who mom is and it's "Mom's a nag!" So this weekend Drew wasn't thrilled with something I said and announced he's the boss. I told him I'm the boss and he comes back with, "Actually, daddy is the boss. I'm the little boss and you are the nagger...the little nagger...no actually you are the baby nagger!" Then this morning Mike dropped Drew off at school and heard a conversation between Drew and his "future wife" Jillian. Apparently they talk about getting married a lot. And now Drew's been talking about it at home too. He's going to marry Jillian and then he's going to be a dad. Anyway, Jilli and Drew were talking about getting married and something to the affect that Mike is the king. And Jilli said her mom is the queen and told Drew that his mom is the queen too. To which Drew replies, "no Jilli, my mom is the nag!" Ahhh, it's so nice to see daddy's influence on our young man...

He's not a nice guy!

We're sitting here watching The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and Drew is giving us a play by play of all the bad things he's doing. "look what he's doing! He's taking all the candy, and all the decorations. Look it mama...I'm taking all your Christmas stuff" Oh, I forgot to mention, just about everything we watch these days we each have to take a character. He's Mr Grinch and I'm Cindy Lou Hoo. Now he's trying to sing the Grinch song. "why is he whipping the dog??!!" Oy vey! "He's not a nice guy, mama!" "Mom, is he going to be nice?" It just amazes me how much faster this show is when you are older. I remember this being a very long movie when I was a child. In reality, it's a quick 20 minutes and a "what's next" from Drew. Ahh, Christmas!!!!

You just finished decorating for Christmas, what are you going to do next? We're going to Disneyland!

That's right - with some help from Grandma & Grandpa, Northwest Frequent Flyer miles, Priority Club points and some early snow in SE Michigan we've decided to go to Disneyland for Drew's 4th birthday!!! We're really excited and are doing some research for some other activities, like the San Diego Zoo and some sightseeing in SoCal. Don't have much else to report other than it's officially booked...more to follow!

It's going to look so pretty...so pretty!

This weekend was spent decorating, cooking, lighting and relaxing. I made my first Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday for leftovers and made an AMAZING pumpkin chiffon pie. If you're looking for a twist to the traditional go to oprah.com and and give 'er a whirl...it's really, really good and pretty easy. On Sunday we put up the tree and indoor decorations and Drew was really excited to finish off the tree. He just kept saying how much Santa was going to love the tree, and love how pretty we made it. Precious!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

We had a great Thanksgiving! Dinner was supposed to be at 1 but was close to 3, which was fine cuz we all enjoyed it that much more. Turkey was perfect as was the rest of the meal. Drew had a great time playing with his cousins and showing everyone his uber tricks. Of course I got in trouble for laughing but it was too funny. I'm bummed I didn't get my video camera out to get some great footage but I'm hoping to do it this weekend sometime before he decides it's no longer fun. He also played some great piano and sang some Star Wars...dun, dun dun, dun ta dun, dun ta dun!!!!! Drew played all day and was exhausted. He fell asleep shortly after we left and woke up as we were getting in to Ann Arbor. He finally decided he was hungry (after eating a few bites of turkey today) and dove into some leftover chicken nuggets and fries...lets give thanks to nuggets! Now we're relaxing on the couch, watching Survivor and getting ready for bed. Hope everyone had a wonderful, relaxing day with the fam and friends.

So typical!

My mom read my post yesterday and called to see what Drew wants for Christmas/Hanukkah. She gets on the phone with him and all he kept saying is, "I don't know." Finally I talk to her and she asks me and I tell her to ask him and she says, "what do you think I've been TRYING to do!" Ahh, I wasn't really listening to what was going on but after she said that I realized she had been asking him and he couldn't tell her. I think the reason is two-fold...1. He/we finally figured out how to play pool on the Wii (and he was kicking my butt) and 2. He doesn't really know any of the names of the toys. He sees it in a picture or on TV and just wants it added to the list. So I start giving mom some ideas on what he'd like. I pull out the Target toys catalogue and give her the real names of the toys so she's got a fighting chance on getting what I'm trying to describe and we're having fun talking about all the cool stuff they have. She found a pony she wants to buy for herself and a pony and dinosaur she wants to buy for Drew. Only a couple hundred each! She was serious about the dinosaur and asks sheepishly, "you probably don't want a dinosaur in your house, right?" Now let me just tell you it's a pretty cool dinosaur you can ride on that makes sounds and moves, but NO, I do not want money wasted on a toy that will be used for 6 months and tell mom I'd rather have the money put away for college than a dinosaur Drew will remember after seeing pictures 20 years from now. She agreed. Then Drew comes in the kitchen and starts looking at the catalogue and, yep, you guessed it, the list is alive and well again...mom, can we put this on this list, and this, and this. At first he would point at one toy at a time, then he starts waving his hand over the page and in a delicate, circular fashion says, "Can we put THESE on the list?" And for the next several pages, he would wave his hand over the page asking if these too could be added. I just laughed.
Later in the evening we had to do open enrollment for 2009 benefits. Drew had to sit next to us on the love seat as we clicked through all the choices. Finally, Mike went to the other couch and Drew wanted to play with the mouse. After a couple stern warnings that this is dad's work laptop and mom is doing really important work on it, and don't click on the mouse, and don't do anything with the mouse he finally puts it down. Little stinker then starts ever so slightly moving it with his foot, and then gives me a big hug and says, I love you mom. I ignore him trying to finish up the selections and it happens a few more times. Finally I save the changes and give him a look out of the corner of my eye, like, what are you doing you little turkey? He says, "I love you mom!", I look at him again, he says it again, and this happens about 20 times before he says, "Mom! Why aren't you talking to me!? I said I love you!!" I burst out laughing and tell him I love him too and now it's become a game. "OK, mom, I'm going to say I love you a lot of times and when I stop talking you tell me you love me, k?" He thought it was hilarious and I thought it was pretty darn cute. Ahh, let the good times roll!

Is anyone else totally stressed out about Christmas?

I don't know what it is this year - maybe the economy, maybe that I've been stuck at work more than usual and feel like I don't have enough time to shop, maybe that I know my little man is SOOOOO looking forward to Christmas cuz we've been talking about it for over a month already and I want it to be perfect for him and MAYBE because I really haven't a clue as to what to buy anyone! Drew should be easy - every commercial he sees he asks, "can we put that on the list?" but maybe that's part of the stress. I keep telling him that just because it's on the list does not mean he's going to get it. And he really isn't processing that part of the discussion. I guess he probably is, but won't fess to it. He always comes back with, "yes I will!". And it's already starting with more and more expensive toys. He seems much more in to toys this year, but everything is major mula. Especially Legos - I can't believe how much they cost! And then there's trying to explain to an almost 4 year old that just because the Lego ship does cool stuff on TV doesn't mean it really does that. I think he thinks I'm a downer when I try to explain it. He looks at me like - why are you telling me the toy is already broken and I haven't even gotten it yet!? Then there's the Wii. They have some great stuff coming out, like Wii Music, but I kind of afraid that, like other games, they will be a bit too hard for him and just turn in to frustration! For the love of Pete, some of the game he wants me to help with are too hard for me!
Oh, and right now I'm looking out the window to a pretty good blizzard in November and there's a mosquito flying around my desk, you can imagine my state of mind! Tomorrow, 5pm, can't come fast enough!

Barack Obama, Barack Obama!!!!!!

We are sitting here on the couch trying to set up 60 Minutes interview of our new President-Elect Barack Obama, when Drew starts shouting Barack Obama, Barack Obama - Hey, Mom, did you know Barack Obama won and he's going to be our new President in January!? Mike and I just looked at each other like, what the...? Then he says, when is January? I say well this month is November and get interrupted by Drew - and next month is January!!! How can someone be so darn cute and smart and not so smart all at the same time. Once again my Mensa dreams for Drew are so close yet so far!

Today was a great day. We got to sleep in until 8:30, then Miles called for a play date with Drew around 11. We finished blowing the leaves (and snow) and went to pick up Drew. We decided to forgo his nap so he'd get to bed fairly early and we decided to make some goodies in the kitchen. First we made banana bread, then we made cupcakes. I thought for sure I'd loose him in the bread, but he hung in for the chocolate beaters. Then we made some tuna for lunch. I'd say we were in the kitchen for a good couple hours and he was right there with me, having a blast. Played some hide 'n seek, a few games, finished up the laundry and now sitting watching Sponge Bob...the reason why the Obama interview was recorded. I have to say, for the most part I'm not especially fond of Sundays knowing that Monday is looming around the corner, but this was a good one. Hope you all had as good a Sunday as we did - even though it's snowing in the middle of November.

I'm back

Not that you've probably noticed I haven't blogged in a week, but I've been down with a cold the last few days. Started Saturday night, I could feel it coming on. Isn't that the worst? You know it's about to happen but yet there's not much you can do. I took a couple days off work in hopes of kicking it before it kicked me, and it seems to have worked. I woke up this morning remembering what it feels like to wake up and not feel like poo. Obviously you can tell I'm still a bit clogged from the way my sentences are flowing.

Couple funny things from the week. Mike said his mom called and said she heard my dad is coming to live with us. As he had not mentioned this to anyone, he was perplexed. As he's telling me the story, I immediately think, ah, Nic has been reading the blog and passing along info to mom. Perfect, the blog works! Well, except for the fact that I haven't heard from my dad since the one time he called, but at the time that was reality, so it's all good.

Last Saturday Scott babysat and kept Drew over night. We had bowling and were supposed to be going to a party (that got cancelled) and like I said, I wasn't feeling the best, so it was kind of a waste, but also a nice break. They went to see a movie and who knows what else, because Drew is keeping a tight lip on what other fun things they did. Since it gets dark at 5ish, I don't think they had time to do too much outside after a 3ish movie. And speaking of Scott, Drew left his favorite blanket over there and has been asking when we can get it. I told him this weekend, maybe Scott would come over and bring it, or we'd go pick it up. He immediately says, "but he's not babysitting, right, mama?" No buddy, he's not. "Well good" he says, "he's not my friend anyway, cuz he spits in my face, and has bad breath contests with me, and throws poop on me, and throws rockets on me, and throws people on me, and throws dogs on me." Oh, really?!!!! "Yep, and he throws girls at me, and boys at me, and balls at me, and paper at me, and....well, I guess that's it!" he says with a smirk. Ah, I see why he's not your friend, it sounds like you never have any fun with Uncle Scott. "Oh yeah, and sometimes, he pretends to burp on me, and fart on me, and...I guess that's it." Oh, now I really see why he's not your friend, cuz you don't think that's funny at all, right? And he says with even more of a smirk, "no, mama, it's not funny." Good thing you don't do that to me, right Drew? "ummm, yep!" And with that, the conversation about how much Scott is not "a friend" is over! :) If you could see them play, you would pee yourself at how funny it is. Drew is always playing pretend with Uncle Scott and some of the "boy stuff" they come up with is pretty darn funny.

What else...oh, last night we cleaned out Drew's closet, finally. I mean it's not perfect, but it's almost ready for Christmas! When it was just about bedtime Drew asks me, "why do we call it my old room and my new room?" I asked him what we should call it. He thought about it for a minute, "well, how 'bout my two new rooms?" I said, but you don't sleep in there. "That's ok, mama, I can just say it's my new other room." I guess he's not quite ready to give up the room, although he hasn't been in it in weeks.

And lastly, you may have noticed Drew has been saying "mama" lately instead of "mom". I'm not really sure why this is, but it's kinda funny the way he says it. It's like a definite, quick - mama!

Pictures uploaded...finally

Well I finally had a minute (and remembered) to upload our Halloween camping photos from a month ago. Don't feel too bad since it's just a week after the actual holiday, but yes, I'm not sure where the time has gone. In any case, you can take the link from this website over to the Picasa website to see them and download as you'd like. Also, when I saw there were about 400 photos, I decided to just dump them instead of trying to make them perfect, or they would never be up. Also, hate to say it, but the girls are much more photogenic then the boys in this set. Can you say, TOO CUTE!!!!

Enjoy!!!

Mom, did you know...

There was a commercial on Wednesday with a picture of Barack. They hadn't even said his name, but Drew starts yelling at me, "Hey, mom it's Barack on TV." I say, "yes, bud, I'm sure it is" to which he says, "Hey, mom, did you know Barack Obama won last night?" "Yes, Drew I did know, how do you know?" "Miss Keri told me today, isn't that cool?" "More than you know, Drew, more than you know!"
My mom and I had that conversation this week. Would Drew understand what this election means, and how it is so special? Probably not - he's too young. Although with some of the things that come out of his mouth, I wonder. It's such a different generation already. Drew's preschool class is a diverse group of kids. He explained to me that people have different color skin the other day, but he was confused when he saw a boy with lots of moles. I told him we all have moles, just some more than others. Anyway, all over the map on this one, but basically it's just a great time for change.

Isn't it Awesome, Mom?!

We watched a new segment of Planet Earth this week - Fresh Water. Pretty amazing footage, and some great shots of the Colorado River. Drew was in awe by the amazing views and says to me, "mom, isn't it awwweeessooommmmeeeeeee! I wish I could live there, it's BEAUTIFUL! But I want my family to live with me too. But we might get smooched." "Smooched, what do you mean, Drew?" "With all the houses" I'm thinking, what in the heck is this kid talking about, there aren't any houses. Then I realize he must mean putting houses up in the canyon between the canyon wall and the river and I ask him if this is what he means. "Yep, we'd get smooched!" LOL - who thinks of this stuff?

No, it's him...

Yesterday was my mom's birthday. Of course, I didn't send her anything, awful daughter I am, but I also figured what better a birthday present than Obama being the President elect. Anyway, we did call her, but Grandpa Larry answered the phone. As I'm telling Drew to start singing (not knowing it was Larry) he hands me the phone and says, No, Mom, it's him! Guess he couldn't process all of that information that fast - getting ready to sing then abruptly changing gears. So when he did finally talk to grandma he starts singing and as it gets to the high point - "HAPP - oh, mom, here you finish it" he says. Oh well, he tried!

Happy Halloween!

I can't believe it's already Halloween! Not complaining really - it's going to be a fun filled weekend. Trick or treating tonight and a Halloween Party tomorrow. I'm tired just thinking of it! Actually, it's a beautiful day which is why I thought to blog about it. We've actually been really lucky for each of Drew's Halloweens.

The first one, well honestly I don't really remember the first one now, oh yeah, we didn't do much cuz Drew was just 8 months old. And Ryan handed out the candy.

The second one, my Aunt Cindy was here. We both took Drew, in his stroller, around to a few houses in the neighborhood. It was fun, but a bit cold. I remember Cindy had on her favorite pair of earrings and she lost one of them. She had a turtleneck sweater on and we figured it helped push the earring up and fell out. So, a determined Cindy took the flashlight out in the complete darkness and much colder night, trying to retrace her steps in finding the earring. Yep, that's what I said too, "OK, good luck with that. It's worth a shot - I guess?" Anyway, she came back empty handed and was kinda bummed about it. In her normal positive energy fashion she decided to keep wearing the other one, just in case the first found it's way back to us. A couple days later, somehow the second one decided to join the first, and as Cindy saw it - it was fate they both be lost together. It actually put her mind at ease that both were now gone.

Drew's third one (last year) we met up with Miles & John and went through the neighborhood together. It was nice having an older kid with us kept Drew going and not whining too much about getting tired.

This year we are headed over to a friends house. I guess they really go all out in their neighborhood and since it's Friday, we figured what the heck. The party tomorrow is hosted by one of the daycare families. We heard from several other parents last year, it was a great time, so we're going to make an attempt at it. Hopefully Drew won't be too tuckered out from T or T's tonight.

Happy Halloween & TGIF!!

Happy Birthday Aunt Betty!

Today is my Great Aunt Betty's 75th birthday...Happy Birthday Betty! She's not only my Great Aunt, she's just Great! Having family spread all over the country, we don't make many regular plans for holidays. The two we do - Easter & Thanksgiving - are always at Aunt Betty's house in Clarkston. It always seemed like it took forever to get there but of course, as you grow up, it's a quick hour trip and awesome to get to the country and look out her big windows to see nature. We've seen deer on several occasions taking a stroll through the front yard. Drew's had Easter egg hunts and nature walks. It's just a great place. Anyway, a shout out to Aunt Betty - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

We are offically adding to the family

Did I get your attention with that one? It's not what you think...my dad called last night and is planning on coming down to Ann Arbor to find a job and live with us for awhile. Funny - I had to tell him he had to behave while he is here and he has a 3 yr old to think about. Funny - because the tide has changed, it's my turn to make the rules and stick to them. He agreed and said he'll be down in the next few days. So wish us luck. It's not a permanent situation, but that's what it's about, right? Helping family in need. I don't think it's going to be the easiest situation, but I have faith it will all work out. I mean in all honesty, we'd do it for a friend, so why not for dad? He's got his baggage, but I'm hoping he can pull it together and find something quickly. And, maybe, just maybe, do a few things we need done around the house too. If anything, it's made me clean out the den, so that's a positive. And it will give Drew a good chance to hang with grandpa and have fun while he's here.

Holy Addictive Batman!

It was a Batman filled weekend. Seems like forever that we haven't had plans to do something on a Saturday night. So we sat around and played Legos Batman longer than I'd like to admit, but it was a good lazy weekend. We did go out to dinner at the Macaroni Grill on Saturday and Drew was EXTREMELY good. We had a twenty minute wait just to get to the table, but he enjoyed watching the chefs prepare the food and put it under the warmers. Of course they give you awesome bread and olive oil, which Drew liked - Mike & I were quite surprised. Then our appetizer came out and Drew thought that was dinner. By the time we got dinner, he was full.
Sunday we worked on blowing some leaves and cutting down the hostas. Drew had a blast hiding in the pile of leaves and was a big helper with the pruning too. Uncle Scott came over Sunday night just in time to exhaust him for bedtime. We watched Dirty Jobs and Drew passed out about a minute later at 8:30! woo hoo!!!

TGIF

Well it's finally here...Friday! Oh how I love Fridays. Now if we could just get to 5pm, I'd be THRILLED!!! Not really anything new to report. Mike comes home from Ohio today. As Drew put it last night, "Isn't that exciting!!!!"
My dad may be coming to stay with us for awhile. That was quite the conversation with Drew. It's been a while since Drew's seen my dad and when I said grandpa may be coming he said - grandpa who? - as if to say which one? I said Grandpa Santa cuz that's what we call him, to which he replied - "is he bringing presents?" Ahh, kids! Anyway, apparently there's no work on the west side of the state, so hopefully something will work out here. We'll see how it goes - cross your fingers for us!
Tomorrow is the last day of soccer. I haven't checked in to the follow up classes so I think we'll give it a rest for now. Don't want the poor kid to hate it if he's doing it every Saturday morning for months. He also has expressed interest in Hockey - cha ching. And since we are not exactly smooth on the ice, we've enlisted our buddy Aaron to teach Drew how to skate. I'm sure we'll be able to "help" the first few times, but I'd rather him see how to do it correctly vs what NOT to do. Actually, Drew mentioned last weekend that he wanted to call Aaron and get together. I told him we'd wait a bit, at least until college football is over, which I guess at this point for Michigan, was last week. Go STATE!
Yes, this post is all over the map. I'm scatter brained and desperately awaiting 5pm! TGIF!!!!

I just love my little man!!!!!

As previously mentioned, I was worried about how this week would go. It's been awesome. Last night we had to pick up a friend from school because his parents had a function and his babysitter couldn't come until 6:30 or 7. Of course I have to work until 5 this week and was concerned about timing. So I raced from work and picked up Drew, then went to Mitchell to pick up his buddy, then went to McDonalds for dinner. Figured it was a treat for the boys and and I wouldn't have time to make dinner and feed them before Crystal came for Miles, but if not, Miles wouldn't be eating until after 7 and that wouldn't be great either. On the way back Miles asks if they can watch a movie in the car, I say no since we are so close to home. He asked how we put the movie on and I show him where the buttons are. Drew interjects that there is also a remote for the movie player too. I tell him I'm not really sure where it is, "it's floating around somewhere in the car." Well let me just tell you that led in to a whole conversation about how I was wrong, because the car isn't water and you can't float without water and...and...and...needless to say, I promptly agreed I was wrong with my figure of speech and let it go - sorry, I digress. So we had dinner and Miles got picked up. We played some games, worked on some puzzles and got pjs on and went in mom's bed so we could watch Planet Earth, Shallow Seas. It was a good one, but as usual, my smart and curious Drew was either asking questions about what was what, or telling me what he knew about what was on. Mom, mom, I just have to tell you one more thing...about 20 times. He'd get up and act like a whale so he could show me how they blow out of their hole or tell me what animals we can touch and which we couldn't, and that we can touch fish but only for a minute, "like this", showing me, then telling me we have to let them go cuz they can't breath out of the water. Some animals can breath out of the water, and some animals eat other animals, and well, you get the idea. I can't believe how much is in that brain already. So at the end of the show he gets upset because he couldn't hear some of it. I said, "why not?" "Um, because I was talking mom! that's why I didn't get to hear it all" he says, with the most pathetic voice. After telling him we'll watch it again another day he seems ok with it and goes to sleep.
Oh, and before bed Drew talked to dad to tell him good night. He's really quite funny when he's on the phone because he paces back and forth. Like that's what you're supposed to do when you are on the phone. I haven't noticed if we do it, but I assume one of us must. In the conversation, dad tells Drew how much he appreciates Drew being such a good boy while mom is gone and Drew responds, "well I told you I would dad" as if, you fool, duh!!!!
This morning went well too. Drew didn't wake up on his own so I woke him up at 7. A little slow moving but in a good mood. On the way to school he reminds me, yet again, we need to get the blower out and move the leaves. And that Bill needs to and Willie needs to...yes, all the neighbors need to. Then he asks me when it's going to snow. I tell him in a few months. Then he says, dad put me on a red thing. I have no idea what he's talking about. He says, a long time ago. Which is the equivalent of yesterday or 2 years ago. So I say, oh, that's silly. He said, no it's not mom! I said, What are you talking about? My red thing...in the snow! OHHHH, your sled!? YES MOM! Again, I can't believe the things in that brain!

And then there were two

Mike's hiatus from traveling is officially over. He's back in Ohio this week and will be gone more in the weeks to follow as it seems for now. I was a bit concerned since it's been since May and Drew is so much more aware of things, but he took it in stride last night. We flew through the evening without any whining about dad being gone. He even he was going to be a really good boy while dad was gone.
We got home to a package at the front door. It was a new game from Grandma...perfect timing. A cute Noodleboro game about manners. The rules are simple, ask politely for a token from the picnic basket and match it to the game board. "please, can I please have a token from the token bucket, please? Thank you" It was pretty darn cute. After several rounds, we moved on to dinner, then Drew cleaned the dishes before I loaded them in the dishwasher, then on to Legos Batman for a bit, on to a 40 minute bath giving me time to call my mom and check in on the horrible fires happening in L.A. (they are fine so far, about 7 miles from the house), then watch a little tv and finally bedtime.
Bath time has gotten pretty comical lately, I've been letting Drew play in the tub while I go get laundry, etc as long as he sings to me or yells out "hello mom" every few minutes so I know he he's fine. So after he's finished getting washed up, he wants the curtain closed and he goes nuts with the toys. What a racket - a wonderful, funny racket, but racket none the less. Anyway, as I'm on the phone, I hear him talking about how fast Elmo is going in the tub, then he loudly sings, "good job, thanks for keeping my occupied!!!!" over and over to Elmo. I couldn't help but laugh out loud and hold the phone up for my mom to hear. Just what I needed after a long couple of days...elmo keeping him occupied.
This morning Drew woke himself up and came out to find me..."Is it a stay at home day, mom?" I tell him no, and he seems fine with it. Again, a bit surprised. He sat down, watched some toons...Flintstones & Jetsons to be exact, ate breakfast, got dressed, and brushed his teeth. All of this with only few reminders from mom. Ahhhh, I love my little man!

What a week!

Last weekend was our Halloween camping trip. It was awesome. Cold but sunny, nice during the day and snuggle weather at night. We had a great time and Drew loved getting all that candy. We seemed better organized this year. 9 families came and we set up the crockpots in the middle of our circle of campers. The kids had a blast playing with each other and were even more independent so it was a nice trip. We took a nature walk through the forest, painted pumpkins, walked in the parade...fun, fun, fun. This year we were smart. Since Drew was Jango Fett (Star Wars), we knew it was fairly pointless to go down to the judging so when we got near our area, we headed away from the festivities to give Drew a rest before trick or treating. He was pretty pooped by the end as his costume started hanging off the shoulders and dragging on the ground, making it more difficult to walk his tired little legs.
It took us forever to get out of the campground on Sunday. Not only was everything frosty and wet, the decorations had to come down and the camper winterized. We were glad we decided to do it all while it was up, but we were all ready to be home. Drew & I fell asleep almost immediately, and Mike watched the Bears & Nascar.
The rest of the week has been crazy...viruses at work have taken up most of the week. If I have to reboot a computer one more time this week I may snap!
Tomorrow we go to our second to last soccer lesson. It's supposed to be a great weekend...70s and sun. UM plays Toledo, so maybe we can pull out a win and Saturday night bowling. Maybe we'll even get some yard work done although after this week, some sitting on the couch mindlessly watching tv sounds much better.
TGIF!

Wow what a great morning!

I guess Drew must have remembered this is his last day of school this week. Tomorrow we are heading out for our last camping trip of the season...HALLOWEEN CAMPING! We look forward to this trip the most every year. Then we wake up freezing and wonder why! :>

Sometime in the middle of the night Drew came into our room. He didn't wake me up, so I'm not exactly sure when. As a matter of fact, I don't think he remembered it either because the first thing he said this morning..."mom, did I sleeped in my new big boy bed all night?" I said, nope buddy, but you started out there, so that's a good thing. He closed his eyes again and I walked out. A few minutes later he comes out..."mom, feel my diaper." Oh, pretty dry Drew good job. "I have to pee mom." Oh great dude, go pee. After the pee break, he finds me again, "mom, can you get me dressed this morning?" Sure bud, let me go get your clothes. Clothes in hand, I go searching for him and find him...BRUSHING HIS TEETH!!! Without being prompted, asked, begged etc. Wow! Then breakfast...Mike asks him what he wants..."ummmm, the cereal with the little marshmallows." Of course dad comes back with, "how 'bout donuts?" "YAY, yeah, I want donuts and I want to get them myself" Off the couch he comes running in the kitchen to make his breakfast. I had to leave at that point to go to work, but can someone tell me - What have you done with my child?! Not that he's not just the most wonderful thing ever, but independence in the morning is not always his strong suit. We usually have to make things a game or race to have things go well, so certainly we were proud when it was all spontaneous! Woo hoo!!!

Not everyday is a good day.

Generally speaking the last few weeks have been awesome. Great behavior, great manners, great listening and great communication. Well lets just say that came to a screeching halt on Sunday. Started with not such great listening in the morning, followed by the same at Target, followed by tantrums and fits at home. Yes, we are not used to tantrums and fits and you could tell. Anyway, Sunday afternoon was much better. We packed up the camper, Drew helped dad clean up the back yard. Everything was getting better. At dinner, Drew said cheers and we clinked glasses to a great afternoon. Then it started going back down hill. Around pj time, Drew wanted to watch some tv. We were trying to work the pj angle and he was working the tv angle. Mike and I walked out on a whining little boy insistent on not doing what he needed to do but what he wanted to do. So as we are walking away, Drew says, "Why can't you guys just listen when I'm talking to you!!!!!!" Oh boy! So after a brief conversation about listening and frustration, Drew gives dad a big hug and says, "I'm sorry dad. I'm sorry I didn't do a good job listening today." Now how can you be mad at that!

Dad, We got yogurt!!!!

A couple funny things about my little man...as usual, but this time I go from ice cream to politics so watch out!
Mike was in the mood for sundaes the other day so we all went to the store for "supplies". We grabbed a few other things and Drew helped me pick up some vanilla yogurt for smoothies. As dad is scoping out the ice cream selection, Drew comes running down the isle with the yogurt, yelling, "Dad, we got yogurt!!!!!!" I had to laugh, I mean really, what kid gets more excited about yogurt than ice cream? Probably the same kid who asked for grapes, yogurt and chocolate milk for a snack before bed last night. Yes, that's right! Drew had a play date with a buddy last night. They went to the park and ran for over an hour. So when we got him home, he wanted a snack. I asked him if he wanted a chocolate chip cookie bar that we made the other day. Nope, just yogurt and fruit mom! Ahhh, life is good!
Speaking of the play date, Drew was so excited about going (which he told me at least 5 times), he must have been in a giving mood. He decided to offer me his money from the money bank. As we were walking out the door he says, "Mom, you can have my money from the money bank if you want." I ask him what he's talking about and he says, "well you said you have zero money, so if you need my money that's ok!" Ah jeez! I told him we were fine, and he could keep his money right where it was in the bank. Who knows, maybe he knows something I don't with all this economic craziness. Will the FDIC have his money in a few months or will WaMu suck it dry?
And speaking of economic craziness and all it brings - we were eating dinner last night and Drew heard a commercial about Barack Obama, to which he looked at dad and said, "we want Barack Obama to win, right dad?" Again I repeat - ahh, life is good!

Dad, would you just be quiet!

Last night we had to make up bowling we missed from the previous weekend. We figured it wouldn't be too busy so we brought Drew. It was a long day and about 9p.m. as we were driving home. I couldn't tell you what we were talking about but Mike was razzing Drew and Drew blurts out, "Dad, would you just be quiet!" I still laugh about it now. Mike wasn't quite as amused and asked Drew if that was a nice thing to say, to which he replied, "no" and after a quick pause..."dad, you are really mean!" As if that was the better thing to say! LOL...still cracks me up! I really wish I could remember what spawned the conversation, but it was nothing to warrant such irritation by Drew other than we had a busy weekend, no nap and it was 9pm.

First official soccer practice - check

Well we've officially joined the land of sports. The weather cooperated nicely, although the grass was pretty wet from the morning dew. It was pretty funny watching all these kids listening to a couple of guys from Scotland(?) teach them how to play soccer. We went over just a couple skills.
1. dribble the ball with "little touches"
2. grandmom and granddad speed = SLOW
3. mom and dad speed = fast
4. super soccer ball speed = really fast
5. playing soccer is like driving, so drive your soccer ball all over soccer city - use up all the space within the cones and try not to crash into anyone. i.e. - DON'T BUNCH UP GUYS!

There were a few kids I felt sorry for - well more like the parents really. They were screaming and crying about how they didn't want to be there. I think I would have picked up Drew and taken him to the car if that's what I got. He did come up to us a couple times saying he was done, but we just kept telling him he only had a few more minutes and he lasted until the end. Whenever they would huddle in, he was sure to get a good spot sitting right next to the coach. It was a methodical scan every time...hmmmmm, where is the best spot????

It's amazing what can happen in a weekend!

Last weekend Mike & I went up to Torch Lake to a friends cabin. It was, in the truest sense of the meaning, a Northern Michigan cabin...and we loved it. Small two bedroom with a beautiful, old furnace centrally located and a small attached garage filled with bunk beds for the kids. We left Drew with uncle Scott for the weekend - which of course, turned on the mommy guilt. I wrestled with it all weekend, knowing that he was having a great time but still worrying about bedtime and missing mom and dad. We left Thursday after work and came home on Monday. Four nights away...wow!
The weather didn't really cooperate as we were getting the remnants of Hurricane Ike. It was low 60s and rainy. But we made the best of it and had a really nice time. Coming home was a shocker. In those 4 days - A Hurricane hit Texas, the commuter train wreck in CA, the stock market plunging, Wall Street bankruptcies, a tornado in Plymouth and flooding throughout Michigan. I felt like we had been away for a month.
On a good note, Drew seemed to have a great time with Scott. We found remnants of Chuck e Cheese in the garbage and he has asked to "play wrestling" every day since. I'm guessing they must have wrestled a lot. It amazed us both how much Drew seemed to have changed in such a short time. He's speaking even more clear, being very polite and just seems bigger. I'm sure some of it will where off as the days go on, but it was a nice welcome home. After a long, big hug, Drew says, "Mom, we came home and one of the dogs threw up...it was this huge" with his arms out wide. "Then, we found more throw up (pronounced frow up) and it was this huge" with his arms a bit closer together. "And mom, I frew up on Thursday at night time." Poor uncle Scott had a lot of frow up to deal with. Boy, it's good to be home!

Back to old school legos

Last night we ran to Meijer to get a few things and I decided to buy a special toy for Drew since he is staying home with uncle Scott all weekend. So we picked out a new set of Legos. He was very excited and so was I. The only other set we have is a barn set that we haven't pulled out in a while cuz honestly how many times can you make a barn?! When we got home Drew was very excited to open them up and get started. They are still pretty hard to get apart (even for me) but we had fun making a crane, ship and high-low. Mainly, I made them and Drew played with them and we both really enjoyed it. I was glad we could still play with an "old school" toy and the draw of ps3 legos is dwindling.

Weekend Updates

This weekend had nothing scheduled for a change, which was really nice. Of course, it ended up being a fun filled weekend so all is not lost on a great September weekend in Michigan. On Saturday, we met some friends tailgating. The first stop was with friends who had left their kids with grandma. Drew wasn't too phased by it since he knew we were moving on to another group, Aaron's tailgate which is right behind the Produce Station which butts up to the railroad tracks. We stayed for about an hour then left to help a friend pick up some new couches she bought and needed help getting in to her condo. After, we headed home for a quick nap then back to tailgating after the game. This time, Chloe was there. She's 2 1/2 and had fun building houses with Drew out of some scrap wood. When we got home, Mike got the pruning shears out to cut some overgrown trees and bushes. Drew had a blast. Mike would cut them in small pieces so Drew could put them in the compost bin. One tree was a good 15 ft Cigar tree volunteer which looks like a Jack and the Beanstalk tree. After Mike cut it, Drew dragged it over to show me. It was hilarious - the tree size overwhelmed his little bod but it didn't bother him a bit.

On Sunday we did a little shopping at Target. On the way home we remembered we wanted to go to the raspberry farm since it was the beginning of the season. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera. When we got there, the farmer asked us how many buckets we wanted. Mike said 2 and a half with a smile. Drew and I were waiting in the car, and Drew says, NO I'm 3 and a 1/2 dad!! In about 45 minutes we picked almost 7 qts of berries - good pickins'! Drew would pick some, eat some, then come over to one of us and ask to see in our bucket. He'd then grab some from ours to put in his and then "brag" about how many he had picked. It was really cute. Mike would say JACKPOT! when he'd find a good bush. Of course that led to Drew running around saying JACKPOT! too. I'm sure that some of the people around us heard because I noticed people getting closer and closer to where we were.

Sunday evening Mike & Drew watched the Bears game. When Drew came in our room (as usual) in the early a.m. he said, Mom, we got a touchdown during the game and... I said Drew, go back to sleep. Down flopped his head and he was out like a light.

Can I go in my bedroom?

Last night we finally put together Drew's new bed in his new bedroom. It was quite exciting and Drew told me several times the room looked really nice. After the bed was done, Drew started taking stuff from his old room and moving it to his new room. I can't believe how much that kid can carry! After a few trips, I started grabbing stuff too and he decided it was easier to help me carry something than to do it alone. We moved just about everything, although it's not really organized. The best part - it doesn't have to be! The closet is awesome for all his toys. Since he doesn't have the need for any hanging space we put just about everything in the closet which left lots of floorspace to play. We also asked him where he was going to sleep. His response - in your bed! So first thing this morning he says, mom, can I go in my room? (Of course because he slept with us last night). We said, SURE...IT'S YOUR ROOM! I think this is going to be a good change and an awesome space to play. Keep your fingers crossed we can get through a whole night in his new bed too!

TGIF!

First Tigers Game

Uncle Scott took Drew to his first Tigers game on Tuesday. He had a great time and told me yesterday, "I went to my first Tigers game, am I so exciting?" When they got home it was pretty late, but he was sure to tell me that he yelled to Magglio but he wouldn't throw him the ball. They didn't make it through the whole game, which didn't surprise me, but Scott did say he did a really good job and enjoyed himself.

Really, it's Labor Day Weekend already!?

Well I started to post this last week and you see how far I got. Anyway, we went camping Labor day weekend and here's the post...

I can not believe it's Labor Day weekend! Last weekend we went camping - probably our last trip of the summer. We spent the weekend with Rick, Mindy and the girls. On Monday, our friend Paul and his two boys came out for a few days. By Tuesday, I had had enough camping and came home (which was planned) and the boys stayed until Wednesday. It was very strange to be home by myself Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning. There were a couple cute stories. Paul's oldest, Maximus is 5. Drew kept calling him Maxin. At one point he told me he didn't love me anymore, he liked the guys cuz Maxin (who he'd met once before) is his best friend.
We also got Drew some swimming wings so he could work on his floating. He did really well with them. Much better than the life jacket which is too confining for learning how to swim. He'd float to where his chin would be in the water, then kick a few times and jump back up. Pretty good I thought. Looking forward to next year where I hope we can get the swimming mastered.
We also went 'sploring on a one mile loop through the woods. Since Michigan has gotten blasted by the EAB there were hundreds of dead trees and plenty near the path. Paul introduced us to tree tipping and the boys had a blast. They would walk up to the dead trees and tip them away from the path to give the squirrels ramps and fun things to do and keep them from falling on the path. We were amazed at how many more trees were in such bad shape after just having done the same path in June. Massive piles of bark were on the path. Some of the trees were so bad you could touch them and they would disintegrate.
We also learned that camping during the week is the way to go. Every weekend we've been at Sugarloaf it is packed. They may have one site open. But come Sunday when we stayed and everyone left, it felt like a ghost town. Drew also went to Haley's for the night so Mike & I were alone camping and felt very strange to be sitting in a large area with no one around and no munchkins asking when we can go exploring, swimming, to the park, for a bike ride etc. We had a nice relaxing evening but it was strange.

It's mooky mom, I was about to cry!

There are a few words Drew has problems with. Waps = wasp, girections = directions and mooky= spooky. So the other day we are playing Lego Star Wars and there's some dramatic music playing as you battle the dark side. Drew started growing concerned and asked - what is that, mom? several times. I finally realized he was talking about the music and I brushed it off as no big deal. He says, OHHH! I thought it was mooky and I was about to cry! I'm a silly goose!
When we were out at the lake he saw the shadows from the floats in the water and thought those were mooky too. oy vey!

Na na na na hey hey hey

I'm not exactly sure where he learned it, but he says it was at school...Drew's latest song...na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye! over and over and over. Well except I'm pretty sure he's leaving out one of the hey's but you get the idea. He's been doing it for the last week or so but this morning had to be the funniest. Drew & Mike were in the shower singing away but Mike was substituting Hello for Goodbye and Drew kept correcting him. Finally Mike said it right and Drew said loudly, That's it! Now you've got it! I knew you could do it dad!! I burst out laughing in the kitchen but I don't think they heard me since they were still singing in the shower.
So to wrap up the songs Drew likes to sing with dad in the shower....
Singin' in the shower...la ti da ti da....
Come on in, baby take your clothes off
The na na na na song - I have no clue what the title really is!

Happy Wednesday Ya'll!

Peewee soccer here we come...

Yesterday I actually remembered to look through the Ann Arbor Rec & Ed guide to see what they offer for Preschoolers. It was pretty limited - Art, Dance & Soccer. I was hoping for some kind of fall ball (baseball that is) but it wasn't offered. So when I got home last night I asked Drew if he knew what soccer was. His answer - no, with a perplexed face. So I told him he has a soccer ball and little yellow net and that is soccer. A light bulb seemed to turn on. Then I asked him if he'd like to play soccer and sign up for a class. YAY! Yes, I want to play. Can we go right now? Then the hard part...explaining to a 3 1/2 yr old (official age yesterday) that I had to sign him up on the computer but it doesn't start for another month. He insisted I sign him up last night even though registration wasn't opened. He also insisted we leave to go play. After much conversation, he finally agreed to "let" me wait to sign him up today and wait a month to play. First thing this morning he asks again, can we go to soccer? At least I know I made the right decision to ask. $69 for 5 weeks of class and the scary thing is I'm sure this is the cheapest of what's to come in sports for my little man who is always full of energy! Can't wait to take some pics at the first class.

Weekend updates

I don't have a clue where the weekend went, well I guess I do but it sure did go quickly. On Friday we had a picnic at the park with the families from daycare. It was a really nice evening. The kids played and we took a walk through the woods to a bog - pictures to follow sometime in the next few weeks. Saturday we did some shopping and had our first bowling meeting. I'm not quite ready for bowling to start but I guess it's not going to wait for me. On Sunday we finally finished Drew's new bedroom. Painting is done and border is up, now we just need to put in the furniture. I had planned to do it last night but we were just plain tuckered out. I'm guessing we probably won't move him until Labor Day weekend. We are camping next weekend so this week will be filled with all the preps of 5 days of camping. I'm tired just thinking about it. He's really excited about it. It's a sports theme of course. We bought some removable stickers for the walls too. Drew had a blast putting them up. The whole time he kept saying, this is looking really good mom. I'll post some of those pics too, of course assuming I remember to take them.
Happy Monday, ya'll.

Oh are we testing these days...

So my cute little man has been testing quite a bit these days. We went for a walk on Sunday and Drew & Mike found walking sticks which made it back to the house. Now when Drew goes outside he picks up the stick to use it like a light saber or see what he can touch with it. Of course we told him not to do it by the car, which was met with resistance. And of course, next thing you know he accidentally hits the car with it and looks up with huge eyes and remorse and a blurt, Sorry, Mom, it was an accident! And of course, I say with great exasperation - that's why we told you not to hold the stick to close to the car!
Also, Ryan has also been here for almost two weeks, so Drew's been getting an ear full of teenspeak and it's starting to show. Also testing and irritating us to no end! 'nuff said.
The best/worst one this week (so far) was last night. I'm trying to get pj's on and it's been talked about for a good 3 minutes at this point. Yep, I'm tired and frustrated and just wishing that pj's didn't have to be a production and maybe just once he would do what I asked at nightime and put on the stinkin' pjs without help, which I KNOW he's more than capable of doing. (I know he's done it at least a handful of times in the past year :) ) And yes, I can hear you now - why don't you make him do it? My reason, I was tired and didn't feel like a struggle. bad parent 101 = real parent 101. Not a perfect person and not trying to be. I digress - back to the story. So- we're to the pull-up and Drew says, now all we have left is the frickin' diaper mom! What??!?? All we have is this frickin' diaper! No, Drew you don't say frickin'. (even tho mom says frickin' a lot). What mom, frickin' diaper? Yes, don't say that. Why can't I say frickin' diaper? Because I said...but mom it's just a fric...DREW! If you say that one more time, I WILL NOT TURN ON CALLIOU! Do you understand me? OK mom, I won't say fr...um, that word.

Finally uploaded lake pics

Well I finally uploaded the lake pics. You can view them through the Picasa web link on the right. And we finally got the wireless working at home too. All it took was 40 minutes of websurfing, 1 attempt by me to call AT&T - which was a ridiculous maze of voice commands - and 1 quick call by Mike using the same voice commands Yep, Mike fixed our wireless problem, hard to believe! Also, speaking of technology - if anyone is looking to switch to AT&T Uverse and you have a problem with the tv freezing up, call for a tech to come back out. Both ours and our neighbors house were wired backward at the box and causing problems. My brother also had freezing problems with his cable and switched back to Comcast, but I bet anything he had the same problem with the wiring. Now that it's switched, we've had great pics and no problems.

Mom, Jilli can whistle!

Last week, after mastering the art of snapping, I must have been whistling because out of nowhere he tells me Jillian from school can whistle. Wow, that's cool. But mom, I can't whistle yet. I tell him he'll get it one of these days, maybe when he's older. So he's been practicing, and practicing but it sounds pretty much like blowing. Then finally last night we hear what sounds to be a little whistling between the blowing. Of course he was so excited he had to do it again and again. It's only a matter of time now before he gets the whistling and snapping combo!

Olympic Style

We were watching the Olympics a few nights ago and it was Women's Gymnastics. We were all in awe of the jumps and stunts and a few times a gasp with the girls coming so close to the white line. I think that helped Drew get even more in to it because next thing you know he jumps down on the floor and starts a somersault. He stops and thinks for a minute, we could see he was thinking, no, that's not a big enough trick, I need to do something bigger. Then he starts jumping around, swirling, kicking out his legs, throwing out his arms, it was hilarious! I really wished we had the camcorder out but it was almost 9pm and I didn't want it to draw out bedtime any more than it already had. He was very proud of his tricks and talents.

I'm sorry mom

It's just amazing how talking can make such a difference. I realize that quite a bit when Mike & Drew get frustrated with each other, esp. playing a game, but neither knows what the others strategy is and end up working against each other. That seems to have gotten better lately. Anyway, last night I was trying to get Drew's pj's on and he's jumping all over the bed, running in to me, hanging on my shirt trying to jump in to his shorts and I kept saying Drew, Drew blah blah whatever. Then I said, dude I'm really getting frustrated and upset because you are not listening to me and I'm tired of this. Literally mid jump he stops, looks at me and says, Sorry, Mom! And WALKS up to me and gives me a big hug. ahhhh! Just when I think I'm talking to myself the best little boy comes out and shows me otherwise. I have to say this has been the best week of the third year yet! Somebody find some wood to knock on for me, 'k?

What a weekend!

What a great weekend we had! We took work off Friday to go out to our friend Aaron's parents lake house for the weekend. The weather was perfect, sunny, 80s and a nice breeze. I've attempted to post this 4 times but keep getting interrupted. So I'll make it brief and and in the cute things when I can actually think of them.

1. Drew went tubing for the first time. The first time was with Aaron's 11 yr old cousin Rachel. The second time was with our friends 6 yr old daughter Katelyn. See a trend...yep, older girls!
2. Went on two speed boat trips.
3. Went on two pontoon boat trips.
4. Took a ride with dad around the lake on the Sea Doo. (Drew called it a Wee Doo).
5. Had a blast on a new float we bought that holds 4 adults with a mesh bottom so the kids can be in the water without sitting in muck and rocks. That was the big hit of the weekend with the kids. They all loved to jump around from seat to seat. Pics will (hopefully) be posted later this week.

It was one of the best weekends we've had in a long time. Lots of kids in and out at the lake kept Drew occupied and self sufficient. He loved the water and all the action. Hardly needed us other than making him eat and sleep. Didn't nap for all three days and went to sleep within minutes of putting his head on the pillow. He was so tired he fell asleep in the car within 5 minutes of leaving the lake. It was a good weekend!

One of those not so proud moments

Mike had to work early, like 2am early, and Drew woke up to find no dad. He went on about how he wanted to give dad a kiss and hug and started to cry this morning. I told him daddy gave him lots of kisses and hugs before he left, but he couldn't feel them because he was sleeping. "But I wanted to...can I play Lego Star Wars, Mom?" I think hmmm, good night sleep, got up early. "Yes you can play for 20 minutes but only if you don't whine when it's time to turn it off". OK, no problem, he agrees. Well let's just say, I should have known better. He does make the effort to go back to the main page but then plays some more when he gets there. Then dad calls to say good morning. It's now about 7:15 and I still have to finish getting Drew dressed (yes, one of the bad parts about having a boy...he has no desire to get himself dressed unlike some cute little 3 yr old girls I know), brush his teeth and get out the door. Needless to say, and argument and frustration ensue and the great morning turns bad quickly, and yes, I start yelling which of course makes Drew cry and we are moving nowhere quickly. I stop, regroup, tell him we are going to start the morning over. We did and it all worked out, but not one of my brightest moments!

Can we buy a new toy tonight?

I made a deal with Drew last week. He was doing really well on keeping his only diaper, pull-up actually, dry at night. I think I blogged about this. Of course whenever I think I've blogged I don't bother to go check because I may not get back to the one I'm trying to write - I digress. Anyway, for a few weeks maybe one a week was wet and the rest were dry. I thought we were on to something. Then he got constipated, we went on vacation and voila, back to wet night time diapers. So, like I said, I made a deal with Drew that if we could keep his pull up dry for a whole week, we would go to the store and buy a new toy. I think that was last weekend. We still haven't had a dry pull up but at least I have him thinking about it again because the other morning he woke up and half asleep he says, mom, can we go buy a new toy tonight after school? I said, is you pull up dry? Yep! I check it, which it is not and say with a goofy voice, I don't think so!!!!! He gives me a smirk and says, I know, but can we get one anyway?! Ah, not so much, buddy! But we are still trying.

Dad, did you have growing pains when you were little?

Our poor little man has been struggling with growing pains the last few weeks. Last week he babied the right one quite a bit. At school the other boys were running around and he'd yell at them, "wait up guys, I can't run that fast". His teacher told him to give it a try since he had rested it at nap. The pains seemed to go away for awhile. At night, he'd want someone to rub his legs. Last night he came in our room in the middle of the night, kind of whimpering and complaining about his leg again - this time the left one. It was still bothering him this morning so I told him after breakfast dad would give him some medicine. Mike put him in the car and Drew said, "dad, did you have growing pains when you were little?" Mike said yep. Then Drew asked "did mom have growing pains when she was little?" Mike reassured him that he was pretty sure I did too. Actually, I still vividly remember how bad they were. Just about as bad as labor. Actually probably worse than that at the time. LOL. Off to search the web to see if there are any other remedies besides Motrin.

Next up - August!

Wow, where has the time gone? I know that seems to be a theme, at least in my head it is. We had another pretty quiet weekend and it felt pretty darn good. Drew learned how to snap his fingers and spent most of the weekend snapping at me saying, "mom, focus on what you are doing!". He's obviously quite proud of his latest accomplishment. We also played some "poker" while Mike was painting the bedroom. He decided he had his own version of the game and said, "lemme show you what I'm talkin' about mom. You have to twist the dice like this, then you make noises, then you put them down. If I get good numbers, I get to go again. That's what I'm talkin' 'bout." I bet you can't guess who won the game...twice! LOL. Drew had his buddy Miles come over on Saturday. The boys played ps3 and wii for about an hour until I got fed up listening to them whine about not listening to each other. So we turned off the tv and did some old fashioned playing with toys. But it did get me thinking about having another child. Not that I am, but both boys are "only children" (taking Ryan out of the mix since he doesn't live with us) and you could tell. I'd say Miles had more issue with it than Drew but I'd say some of that has to do with the fact that it wasn't his house too. Just not the same comfort level. We had planned on going to German Park but Miles didn't get picked up until after 8 so it too late to go. It was fine, since it was pretty hot and humid, I'm sure the mosquitoes would have been fierce. Drew also caught a couple fire flies and put them in his bug catcher to bring in the house. They weren't looking so good Sunday morning so he let them out and put one to rest in the grass.

A couple funnies from the weekend - Out of the blue a few times Drew would blurt out - "What in the heck in the world? What's that all about?" and "Wow, I didn't know it did that. Isn't that so cool mom?"

Did you set the timer, mom?

The timer idea is working quite well these days. When we start to play Wii, Drew asks if someone has set the timer. If we say you can watch tv for 5 more minutes, he asks if someone has set the timer. To the point where I'm wondering if all of life is revolving around a timer for Drew! :) I did order one from Pampered Chef, so it will be nice not to have to go to the kitchen everytime it goes off.

The weekend

We had a nice relaxing weekend, finally. Friday night Mike & I went out. Saturday, I played with Drew and Mike fixed the dishwasher. Luckily it was more time consuming than cash consuming. We took a nice nap and got up to go to a friend's Pampered Chef party. Oh, and on the way out there we realized the hoods that stole Mike's cell phone also stole the two headsets for the van's dvd player...bummer since we just started using them over July 4th. Drew was really upset that the bad guys who broke the window took his stuff. Anyway, the party was pretty funny. It started with all the ladies in the house at the cooking show with all the dads outside with the kids. I said, this is the best party ever! Then someone said something about one of the kids coming in. I said, don't do it, it will lead to all the kids coming in, and it did. It was still great. Drew would play in the back and occasionally come up and sit on my lap for the cooking demo. I was the DD so after the show everyone headed out to the garage to play poker and some of the moms stayed inside with the kids. And actually, I think I had the better end of that stick. There were 10 people surrounding a poker table meant for 5 or 6, with some people not knowing the games, so they took a while. I, on the other hand, sat in the a/c with the girls while the kids watched a movie. Yep, I won!
On Sunday, we got up and went to IHOP, per Drew's request. Then went to Lowe's and found a new border and paint colors for Drew's new room. Did it in less than an hour. Mike and I were both proud we were so quick. Ran to the grocery store and didn't pile the cart with a bunch of junk, came home and put it all away. I played Lego Indiana Jones with Drew while Mike started our crock pot chicken and cleaned up the mess from fixing the dishwasher. Then emptied it and re-loaded. WOW, life is good! We all laid down for a nap. I waited for Drew to fall asleep then got up. Didn't really do too much. After Drew woke up we decided to start painting the bedroom. He really wanted to help so we thought we'd wait. He did a great job helping. Lots of paint on the walls, some on the tarp, some on the trim and hardwoods. Not enough to do any damage. He had his own special roller, but then chose mine, then dad's. He got bored after he did a great job and decided to do something else. After washing his hands and playing for 10 minutes, he was back to "get painty again". Mike finished dinner, we ate, then he cleaned up too! Seriously!! We played some Hi Ho Cherrio, watched some tv and went to bed.
Other funnies from the weekend: Drew played with some Moon Sand in the living room and we left it there. He says, mom, we gotta clean up this mess, and I will even help you.
Before dinner: Drew come help me set the table. No, I don't want to. Ok, do you want to vacuum then? YAY, yeah mom, I want to vacuum!!!!
Before nap: Mom, can I poke you're eye with this? No, we don't poke eyes silly! But Haley did that to me before...when we were camping!
At the grocery store: Mom, I can carry this juice. Are you sure? Yep, cuz I have strong muscles cuz I ate all my breakfast at IHOP. This even made a woman in the isle chuckle.

Uncle Scott, I never want to see you again, poopy!

Uncle Scott showed up for a surpise visit yesterday. It was quite funny. He was waiting at the house for Drew to get home from school. So I head to school where Drew does his norm - hide from mom until I find him then dilly dally around until he decides it's time to leave. As soon as I mention Scott is at the house waiting, he screams, grabs his lunch box and yells GOODBYE FRIENDS! and runs to the door. As soon as we get to the car he decides he has to pee, so back in to school we go. Then run back to the car to get home. We pull up and Drew says he's gonna sneak and scare Uncle Scott. So he jumps behind the tree then pops out...BOO!!! They played around outside for a few minutes then inside to play Lego Indiana Jones (or as Drew says it, Lego Jones or Lego Indie Jones). It was a riot. Scott doesn't really know how to play and Drew's too busy playing to help him. Finally, Scott's stuck on something and Drew blurts out, Let me help you. I'll show you how to do it! When something would come out to attack them, Drew would say, See, I told you that would happen (even tho he didn't). By the end of the night they were doing their best Zoolander impressions - yes, take a minute to imagine Drew's moves, Ben Stiller in the making. Around 8pm Scott decided to head home. Drew had to play in the (con)vertible for a few minutes which led Scott to say he was taking him home forever and they'd come back sometimes to visit. Drew, of course, came running back to me. As Scott's pulling out of the driveway Drew runs toward his car and with a shit eaten grin says, Uncle Scottttttttt, I never want to see you again, Poopy!!!!!! Boy does he love Uncle Scott!

Pain in the ...

Now I know why I've had my email address for 8 years - changing it is a pain in the butt. You think, ah, most email software has a notify section where you can send everyone your new address...yes this is true. What you don't think about is that every company, service provider, interest etc all has some kind of login requiring your email. That's the pain. I think I must have updated 30 websites today and I'm sure there are many more at home that I haven't thought of.

Also, a little note about software. When I purchased my laptop they asked me if I wanted antivirus software, I said no. I knew on Comcast they gave you free McAfee. And when we started talking about switching services, I thought I'd just wait. Anyway, as I'm sure you all know, but worth mentioning, AT&T also gives you free software. So before you go buy something, check with your provider.

What a weekend!

We had a great time camping. Really nice weather with the exception of a monsoon Saturday morning. The sky was looking pretty dark and we decided to put up the gazebo/tent, whatever it is that goes over the picnic table. Anyway, we are just about done and BAM downpour. Luckily, the kids were inside the camper with Mindy cuz out of nowhere this HUGE wind came up and took their awning (of a 30+ foot hard sided camper) over and twisted the metal arms holding it in place. It was crazy and a total loss for them. Cross your fingers on insurance! I didn't get any pictures since the weather would have destroyed the camera, but Mindy got some great shots of the kids playing in what looked like a huge pond through the middle of the camp sites. So much so that we could fill up large water guns by dipping them in the "pond". Then the rain turned into a drizzle and the kids came out to use the "pond" as a slip 'n slide. I was thrilled they were taking it so well.
Later that day (actually twice) we headed down to the lake to cool off. Drew was showing me his new "let's see how deep I can go" skills and had no fear to head out into the "deep part" up to his shoulders. He also dunked himself under several times and "swam" around with me from shallow to deep more times than I can count.
We also took Drew's Jeep with us on this trip. We had really big sites so we figured it would be a good time for him to use it. He and Haley had a blast driving around the sites. She sat in the passenger seat softly screaming woo hoo, woo hoo. You could tell they thought they were IT!
I also noticed a change with Drew. I'm not sure if he was just exhausted, but both for nap and bed, he really didn't make a stink and fell asleep within 15 minutes of laying down. I was pleasantly surprised.
On Sunday we got packed up and headed back home. Mike's boss and director came in to town and wanted to go to a Tiger's game. So he went to Detroit. They had perfect weather - sun, nice wind and not humid. Unfortunately, Mike got back to the van to find someone threw a rock through the passenger window and stole his cell phone. Note to all who venture down to Detroit - PARK IN A LOT WITH SURVEILLANCE. If you would have looked in the windows of the van, you literally would have seen a car seat and 12 pack of Diet Coke...that's it! (Which is really quite odd for my car) I guess they took a chance on something being in the console...like a cell phone. He called me to ask what he should do. I said, really, you should call the police but who knows how long that will take. I don't think their priorities include smashed windows. So he decided just to come home. The up news...He cancelled his phone which can no longer be used by anyone, ever. Ha! What the heck is the point in stealing a cell phone anyway? I guess they could have called India or something, but I just can see some hoods in Detroit knowing many people outside the city. And any other calls were free since it was Sunday. I'm crossing my fingers on the bill, but I guess we'll see it soon enough. On Monday, I called insurance and got the window fixed for $100 and didn't need a police report. YAY!! The thought of wasting a day going back to Detroit to get something in writing really had me down before I made the call, so it ended up being a pretty good Monday. And luckily we emptied everything we had in there from camping, cuz man, it really could have been bad.

Super Anything

Drew's been using "super" a lot these days. Mom, I'm super thirsty. I'm super hungry. I'm super cold etc. On the drive back from Northern Michigan he'd periodically let us know he was super tired. Then, with about an hour left in the trip he says, Mom, I'm super, super, super, super, super, duper, duper, duper tired! I say - go to sleep. He says, no, I'm going to wait to get home to your bed. oye vey!

Finally getting up to date

While I'm stuck at work, Drew & Mike are off camping at Sugarloaf Lake. I'll be heading out at 5, after work which seems like it will never come. I did think ahead though - decided to bring in my laptop so I could clear out some of the 2000 pictures I've taken in the last month. Whew! I've decided it may be good to be more selective in what I shoot, or I'll spend the rest of my life getting rid of pictures that didn't need to be taken. My cousin Kyle prompted me to do it, although I'm sure he doesn't know it. When we were Up North I asked him if he wanted my memory card before I deleted it. He said, no, I'll wait until you clean them up some. (at that point I had taken 800 pics and I think we were on day 4). It made me think that if I stay on top of them, it may not feel quite so daunting when I do decide to do something with the pics. So today was the perfect day to do it. I've taken the first swipe at it anyway. I'm sure there will be plenty more to get rid of, but enough is enough for one day! With that said, I've added most of the pics to the Picasa Web Albums and linked it to the blog. I'm not sure how long I'll keep them up...probably until I max out the free space and have to purge the oldest. I figure that gives anyone ample time to pilfer any photos they may want. If you don't want to save them to your hard drive, they can be ordered directly from the site by three different print providers.

TGIF

But..that takes a long time

Oh to be 3 again. You've got more energy than you know what to do with. You've got someone scheduling your life. You just tag along to the next great adventure and you think 5 minutes is a long time! Lately we've been hearing lots of...but that takes a long time! Or afterschool is a long time. Tomorrow is a long time. And the word time sounds really good when you whine it too...bet ya didn't know that. If I had a dime everytime I heard it, Drew would have at least enough money for all his college texts!

I think we may be pushing him right over the edge

I'm exhausted from all the fun and excitement we've been having for the last few months so I know Drew is too, but do we stop? Nope! And it's starting to show this week. First, Monday going to school was a big production. Drew did not want to go to school, cried about it at home and clung to me when we got there. Tuesday was better,I had to wake him up and he was still clingy but not as bad. Same for Wednesday. This morning Mike woke him up and he was really showing signs of wear. He wanted someone to come sit with him on the couch. Nothing more, just sit with him. I told him dad was taking him to school which caused some problems too. Rubbing his eyes, laying on the couch, I could tell he could have used about 3 more hours of sleep. We tried to get him excited about going camping tonight with dad, but that just made him more sad that mom isn't coming until Friday night. Ahh, what to do? Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming...gee, we haven't watched Nemo in a long time!

We're back...

I've started this post about 10 times and got distracted with work of all things! I (like a few other mom's I know) feel like we've overbooked ourselves like crazy this summer. I really don't know where the time has gone. Well I guess I do but I don't want to think about it because then I realize it's already mid July!
We had a great time in Indian River last week. So much so we stayed an extra couple days. We had planned to come back on Friday, then changed it to Saturday and finally left Sunday evening around 7pm. And wouldn't you know Drew fell asleep 10 minutes from home at 11:30pm!
There are so many highlights I'm not sure where to begin. We brought up Drew's Jeep so he and cousin Henry could ride around and pick up chics. They had a blast driving down the road, trying to make it through dirt, hills and lawns. Drew also found a new love...Aubree. She's the 12 yr old granddaughter of Dan & Suzy. She's really cute and Drew had a great time flirting with her. He'd drive by in his Jeep, and glance out of the corner of his eye to see if she was looking. At one point he was passing her and stood up while driving by...big time crush at 3 yrs old!
Henry and Drew had a great time playing with water guns. Danny took them down to another neighbors house, who happen to be taxidermists, so they could look at all the animals on the walls. So off they went, the boys in the Jeep and Dan following behind. They were gone quite a while and came back with handfuls of peanuts. Apparently, they got to feed a baby squirrel being nursed back to health. Drew was very excited about it and also realized a love for peanuts in the shell. His Jeep, including the glove box, were full of shells. I think he may have eaten more than the squirrel.
The boys had something else in common...Wii. Henry also has a Wii and had the Lego Star Wars game (we have it for PS3). The controllers are quite a bit different, so Drew didn't get in to it as much as he could have - a small blessing as he could have probably stayed in front of the TV much more than he did. Oh, side note - Kyle and Amy (Henry's parents/my cousins) recently instituted a timer rule. When the timer goes off, so does the Wii. It worked like a charm. I've had other friends tell me about it too, but never saw it in action. Now here's the funny part - Mike was so impressed he said we should do it at home too. I'm totally game so Tuesday night we tell Drew about the timer. He's fine with it. Let me just say it was the fastest 25 minutes of my life. All of the sudden, the timer went off and what do you think happened? Mike said, we're almost done with this level lets just play for a few more minutes. Yep, that's right, sabotage you're own rule! LOL. They play for a few more minutes and finally decide it's time to shut 'er down. Last night we changed it up a bit. If we are playing with him, we won't use the timer, we'll just let him know. So we're playing and get to a tricky part and Drew says, oh, let's just shut this off, ok?! Craziness!
I could go on and on but I'll end on another high point of the week...fireworks! It started with a few Mike picked up at a fireworks tent. The kids (and adults) loved them so much, he went back and bought more. We had SEVERAL fireworks shows that week and by the end, I think we were all a bit fireworksed out, at least our version of fireworks. On the 4th, there must have been at least 8 houses we could see around the lake putting on magnificent shows. It was great. Didn't have to go anywhere but down to the deck to see a great show. The boys loved it and got to stay up extra late to watch. It didn't get dark until after 10 so it was really hard getting them to bed any night so we didn't even really try on the 4th. I've got tons of pictures but haven't gotten them past my laptops hard drive. I'll try to work on that sometime soon.
This weekend we are back to Sugarloaf for another fun filled weekend of camping. And yes, I am tired.