Camping, camping and more camping...

We've had a busy spring, although I don't really know where we've been. A couple camping trips and I guess loading and unloading from camping. We are heading out this evening to Sugarloaf Lake to camp for the weekend. Highs 70s lows 50s. Sounds pretty good to me - except the very real possibility of rain. Drew will love it, stomping in the puddles.

Last weekend we camped at Hayes State Park near MIS. We decided to go to the track on Friday to watch some practice. Drew LOVED it! Although I'm not really surprised. At first, he covered his ears as the cars raced by at 180 mph. Then dad got him some earplugs and all was good in the world. He amazed us. He'd find the drivers we talk about and point them out every time they went by. A couple times he screamed with such excitement it made me laugh. He, dad and Ryan made the trek up to the top of the bleachers and had a great time seeing the whole track. It was gorge weather but when we shopped around it got a bit hot. We headed back to the campsite for a nap. Perfect timing too as the rain set in. Grandma Julie & Uncle Bill brought his Easter Basket since his horrible parents hadn't gotten him up to visit lately. It was perfect, lots of new bubble toys to keep him occupied.

Saturday we headed home then left again to go to Haley's birthday party. There was a clown making balloon animals - very cool. Drew hung out with the clown (forgive me I've forgotten her cute name) for quite a while watching her craft the animals. It was quite funny listening to him talk to the clown, calling her by name.

Sunday was father's day and it couldn't have worked out better that all dad wanted was to hang out with the family and play some video games. We were all exhausted after the craziness of the weekend.

Latest Drewisms

• Randomly - Mom, I love you. You are gorgeous!
• Playing Lego Star Wars - Mom, you're getting the bad guys, good job, I'm very proud of you!
• Afterschool - What did you do today? Ah, nothing, I just played around.
• Mom, let's see how big I am...checking his height on the door jam. Then he says, mom, when I get bigger, I can use the big knifes!
• What a beautiful day today, there's a nice breeze.
• I want to open up the windows because we need to get some fresh air in here.
• I want to do that, because that's my choice and I can make my own choices! To which I respond, but I'm the mom. To which he says, BUT I'M THE DREW!
• You don't supposed to do that mom!
• What is I'm gonna do?

Big boy post

Drew has been working on a huge milestone for the couple weeks. He's been without pullups for quite a while during the day and naps at school, and he decided he didn't want to wear pull ups for naps at home on the weekends. So we've had a successful couple weekends. One accident, which I figured would be inevitable. After a long couple days, he didn't go down until 3pm and we had to wake him up at 6pm. He was sleeping hard!! He's also doing a really good job of staying dry at night with only a few wet diapers in the last couple weeks when he wakes up. He's very excited to start sleeping in his big boy undees, and I think we're going to give it a try next week. YAY Drew!

I'm not telling you!

I picked Drew up yesterday afterschool. He had spent the morning with G & G so I asked him what they did. He said, I'm not telling you! Then he said, they had to go on a plane to go home but they are coming back, maybe in the summer, maybe July, I think July. Isn't that great, mom! Later on in the evening I could tell he wasn't quite right. From a full house to nobody home but Drew and mom was not exactly his idea of fun. I ask him to come in and help me make dinner, so he does. And out of nowhere he says, mom, I told them lots of times that I didn't want to go to school and I wanted to hang out with them but they wouldn't let me. They said I had to go to school, but I wanted to hang out with them forever and lots of days. I asked them why they said that and in the most pathetic voice he says, cuz they had to go on a plane to go home mom. Trying to make him feel better, I say, but they said they're coming back, right? Yep, they'll be back, mom. He seemed ok with it, and I'm sure it would have been an easier transition if dad was home too, because then he started saying he wanted daddy home. We decided to get our minds off it and pack for our camping trip this weekend. Drew was a big helper as usual. First, we got some snacks from the pantry. A big jar of nuts for dad, honey crackers (graham crackers) for smores, trail mix for everybody, creamer for coffee, and some chips. Then we went to the garage for drinks and put them in the cooler. Some gatorade for dad, diet coke for mom, juice boxes for Drew. Then we decided to go pack Drew's bag. It was quite the assortment. For a two day trip he had 10 pairs of socks, 6 shirts, 3 pants, 2 shorts, winter pjs and two blankets. Needless to say, we changed some of the items.

Look how cute I am!!!!

Last nigtht I was on the blog and Drew popped up on the couch next to me. He sees the pictures of himself and says, Oh, Mom, look at the cutie boy (with a HUGE smile on his face)!!! Then he sees more pictures, points and says, oh, mom, look how cute I am! I want to look at more of these cute pictures! Let me just say, my cheeks hurt after that conversation.

My son the scam artist

Grandma & Grandpa came from California (you know every time I spell that now, I think of Arnold...anyway...) this weekend. Drew had a great time and of course was very in to Grandpa since he's not a girl! He was pretty funny trying to get anyone's attention quickly, HEY! HEY! he'd yell, then finish off generally with, Did you see this!?!
On Monday we went to IHOP then out shopping where Drew got a new water gun and scooter, then to a couple music shops for a tuner for Grandpa's banjo. They didn't have it, but the did have a yukele Grandma & pa bought for Drew. It's red, of course. Then we went out to dinner too. Drew was really quite good all day except it was almost 100 with the head index and Metzger's a/c wasn't keeping up, and I still have my cold so I don't sleep esp. well, and this is day 3 of keeping Drew occupied, so I was a bit short fused.
Today I had to come to work, so Drew hung out with G & G. Grandma called me several times to fill me in on their day. They had a great time going up to EMU. Then they went to McDonalds, played on the play structure, had lunch, and ice cream cones. On the way to school, Drew asked if he could take his toy into school. Grandma said she didn't think so but Drew said, it's ok. So she said, let's see. They walked in the door and Drew quickly moves his hands behind his back so no one could see the toy...except eagle eye grandma who decided it was best to leave the toy in the car for later. He also told her that he never, ever, ever, not for 100 days wanted to go back to school and he wanted to stay with them. I thought it was pretty cute. In the end, he did go, and was fine with it all.

Video games really are addictive!

Our latest game is Lego Star Wars. We first learned about it at Zachary's house. He had played it quite a bit and was an expert compared to Drew, who was trying to figure it out for the first time. I may have already blogged about this, but you could tell Zach was getting frustrated with Drew's dilly dallying around and not doing the "correct moves". He was VERY good about being patient. Now I know what Zach felt like! Poor kid! Drew really does what he wants to do and I have to say several times, when you are ready to help me, I need you to follow me this way. For the most part, it's a very fun game. It has violence in that when you use your light saber it breaks the lego men in to lots of individual legos, so compared to other games I've seen, I think it's pretty good. And it's really neat reliving the moments of the Star Wars trilogy. I must admit I haven't seen all the "new" ones and this is giving me the itch to rent them. Anyway, both players have to work together and go in the same direction. This is where it can get tricky if you have a three year old who likes to get the bad guys going in the opposite direction. Anyway, we've mastered a couple levels and now whenever we get stuck on something, Drew gets frustrated and says exasperatedly, mom, I just really, really want to be done with this level. As if by some magic mom power I can figure out a game meant for the mind of a tween boy and poof, level complete! And occasionally, I hear myself in said three year olds voice - Mom, I really need you to follow me now, we need to go this way, and I need you to work as a team with me. Really, this is a good idea.

I'm feeling a little bit icky

This hasn't been the best of weeks. Mike caught a bug Saturday and I caught it Sunday. I finally started feeling better last night and I hear Drew from his room starting to cough. We knew what was coming next, and yes, the door opened and in comes Drew and his blue blankie. He jumps between us and seems fine, then starts coughing again. I knew he would choke and sure enough he did. Luckily, let's just say I don't keep a bowl next to my bed but I do have my cup of water. While this is happening, Mike's already gotten up to get some cough medicine for him. And I ask Drew, do you want to take some medicine to make you feel better? He looks at me, pathetic, tired and crying because he's thrown up and says, I don't want your horrible medicine mom, I want my good medicine. After that he was fine and crashed back out.
So this morning I asked him how he's feeling. Kinda icky, he says, I frew up last night mom. So I said, after breakfast remind dad to give you some medicine this morning before school. He immediately tells dad he's feeling icky and he needs medicine. I said, no buddy you have to wait until after breakfast. And of course when he did, he said, no dad, I'm not feeling icky anymore, I don't need medicine today.

Blended families are hard to explain!

We've had lots of conversations about who's who in our families but last night it seemed especially confusing. We were talking about Grandma Susan & Grandpa Larry coming on Sunday. Drew asked if they were my grandparents too. I explained who they were and it started a snowball of questions. Who is your brother? who is dad's brother? who is my brother? who is Ryan's brother? Who is Ryan's mom & dad? And with that, it got complicated. Trying to explain that Mike is dad to both but mom was not was a bit tricky. He then thought Ryan just happened to have a dad named Mike too, but not the same Mike as his dad. It was pretty funny. But think about how hard it is to explain to a 3 year old that you can have more than one mom or dad and many sets of grandparents...it's not easy!

Picasa Web Albums - Stacie

Picasa Web Albums - Stacie

I'm a big helper, mom!

Oh, what a big helper we have...truly! We started working on some over due yard work this weekend. It seems the colder weather and helped the bushes go into overdrive and they've gotten huge, as did the weeds in the flower beds. So Sunday, Mike & Drew trimmed the hedges and Mom & Drew picked the weeds and added peat moss to the flower beds. To explain the term flower bed is a whole nother discussion, but you can imagine it, I'm sure. Drew picked up all the trimmings and dumped them in the compost bin, which was also another conversation we had several times. When we came in, Mike gave Drew $2 for all his hard work. Drew was very excited to get it in his bank and to tell me he got the money because he's a good boy. Mike corrected him and let him know it was for his hard work, and he is a good boy but we don't pay for that! :) Then Drew asked dad for more money, to which dad said, if you help me again next weekend you'll get more money for your bank and he seemed happy to know it wasn't the end of his big earnings experience.