Old Friends

We had a delightful day on Monday visiting with old friends. It is just so good to reconnect with good friends and I'm glad to be passing that tradition to the boys.

We went to Macon to see my friend Julia and her two children - Joseph and Bethany. They have been living overseas for two years and have just returned home. The dad - Wayne - has a few more weeks in France before also returning.

Joseph is 17 days older than Scott and Bethany is two months younger than Andrew, so the kids played great together. The best part was the anticipation from Scott. The whole way down, he was so excited to talk about the toys he would play with with Joseph and the things they would do. Once we arrived, they played as if they just saw each other last week. The little ones just followed each other around the house. Bethany gave Andrew a tour of all her stuff - her new "big girl" bed, all her toys, etc.

The kids played in the creek, and fought dragons and dinosaurs together. I forgot to take my camera, but will remember it just next weekend when we head down there again for Joseph's birthday party. The best part of the day was saying "Goodbye, see you next week"... not "Goodbye, see you next year."

Which reminds me...March, the month of birthdays, is just around the corner. We are celebrating Andrew's second birthday this Sunday, heading down to Macon to celebrate Joseph's birthday on the 8th, celebrating my birthday on the 15th, celebrating Easter - sort of a form of a birthday...birthday of the Christian faith?- on the 22nd, and ending the month on a grand note with Scott's 4th birthday party on the 28th and my niece's 3rd birthday party on the 29th. Sometime in there, we are also celebrating my Mom's birthday - I think it will just be combined with mine. I'm tired just typing all this.

Be on the lookout for some great pictures!

Random Conversations

Yesterday at lunch, just after a discussion on the importance of eating sandwich crusts, Scott suddenly turned to me and asked, "Are giants as large as the ceiling at Sam's Club?" You may think this is odd, but we have these kind of random discussions all the time these days. Later in the meal, he asked, "How many birthdays does a person have?" I started talking about all the people we know and how many birthdays each of them has had. At the end, he summed it up by saying, "So Grandad has the most birthdays and then Daddy." My answer - "No, Grandad, then Grandma, then Nana and Pop, then all of Daddy's older brothers and sisters, then Daddy."

The previous night, our little questioner asked "Why do some dungeons have doors on them and some have gates?" I don't even know where he learned about dungeons. When my response is "I don't know," his response to me is "Mommy, you just don't know very much do you." Sure does reassure me about that Master's degree that I worked so hard to get!

"Why?" pipes in Andrew. That's his new discovery this week -- the word "why." He asks it about everything. The cutest part is that it isn't a defiant why, just an innocent word. I'm still trying to decide if "because Mommy says so" is a reasonable response.

a new kitchenaid

I didn't mention it in my last post, because the hurt was still too great. We had a major disaster while making Farley's cake. But, before I tell the story, you have to understand how much I love my kitchenaid mixer. It is the only appliance that holds a permanent spot on my counter (besides the microwave and Derrick's coffee pot). I use it all the time and don't know what I would do without it. As a matter of fact, Derrick often jokingly tells me that he "married me for my kitchenaid."

Well, I was mixing Farley's cake and walked to the other side of the kitchen to spray the pan. All of a sudden, I head a great loud "thump". It didn't sound good. Then, the mixer stopped. The little metal thing at the top that is removable to add attachments fell off into the bowl and jammed the mixer.

Several phone calls later, I got in touch with the closest Kitchenaid repair man (in Greenville, SC -- a 2 hour drive). He said that it was likely that the "worm gear" was stripped, although the motor runs just fine. The saddest part about it is that it will cost more to get it fixed than to buy a new one.

We searched Ebay and found one yesterday that we liked and it should arrive any time between 1 and 6 days. The funny thing is that I've been craving cookies, cakes and just about anything else that I can't have because I don't have a mixer.

(Even more irony is that just days after this happened, my mom gave me a beautiful cover for the mixer that matches my kitchen curtains. She had it since Christmas, but kept forgetting to give it to me. It is now sitting on a broken mixer, but will be transferred to the new mixer when it arrives.)

I just hope that Derrick loves this mixer as much as he did the old one!

Farley's Birthday

We celebrated Farley's first birthday on Wednesday night. I made a doggie birthday cake, which was actually edible for the entire family. We made the peanut butter delight recipe. Farley must have known it was his from the time I was making it, because he was under my feet more than usual the entire time I was mixing and baking.



Here are some pictures of the birthday dog. Scott was so excited and thought it was all great fun. Here he is presenting Farley with his piece of cake. I was quite pleased that Farley consented to wear the hat. It made for such a good picture!



This is my favorite picture because it has such a funny story behind it. Look at that sad face that Andrew has (and, of course, I'm laughing.) After Farley finished his cake, we gave pieces to Scott and Andrew. Andrew was so deliberate to put his plate on the floor and reach up to get a fork. Before I could stop him, Farley grabbed the piece and scarfed it down in one bite. The worst part was that Farley managed to get not one, but TWO pieces from Andrew in that same manner. They say that third time's a charm. The bottom picture shows our solution. Andrew ate the cake on my lap and I monitered the dog's movements.

my littlest helper

Now that Scott (I might as well use their real names, because I think that everyone who reads this knows who they are; plus I almost slip up all the time) is almost four, we think it is time for him to start having some responsibilities around the house. So, beginning this fall, we slowly introduced "jobs" for him to do. These aren't so formal that we have a "chore chart", but they are expectations before we can begin another activity.

For instance, he is expected to clear the table after meals and put his remaining milk back in the refridgerator. Also, he is expected to take his clean clothes back to his room and put them in the correct drawers.

Wouldn't you know...Scott started doing these things at age 3 1/2. When did Andrew start? At the same time! He now wants to put away his clothes and also clear his spot at the table after a meal. He has a fit if I try to take his milk from him and put it away -- he must be the one to place it on the shelf. These are activities that I never expect a toddler to do, but he is so desparate to be as big as his older brother, he wants to do everything that Scott is doing.

Of course, that desire to be just as big also poses some problems. One of the most common phrases directed to him throughout the day is "you are a little young for that." For instance - "you are a little young to use scissors" (as he threw a fit yesterday when we were cutting out Valentines) and today I said "you are a little young to ride the tricycle." I was encouraging him to use the big wheel - lower to the ground and less apt to tip over.

I guess it is true what they say about the second child doing things at an earlier age.

Daddy is in Charge

I'm writing this blog from Sunny Florida and Derrick is at home with the boys. I have a new job that allows me to work 10 hours from home. Most of the work I do is during nap time or after bedtime, so it works out really well. But, this week, they asked me to go to a conference in Florida for a few days. It is a conference that we went to as a family last year when I worked for UGA, but Derrick decided that it was easier to keep the boys at home this year instead of driving 9 hours and having them by himself in a hotel room. It is not really "Sunny Florida" today, so it's probably best that they aren't here.

I checked in this morning and all is well on the home front. They were preparing to go to a consignment sale to get some summer clothes and then head to "castle park," a really cool park on the other side of town that we never get to go to because it is so far away. I think the boys really like "daddy time".

While I'm away, I'm also missing Farley's First Birthday -- TODAY! Don't worry - I'm not feeling the guilt that I would feel if I missed a child's birthday. But, when you have a son who thinks that every birthday needs to be celebrated with cake and ice cream, they are all lots of fun. So, I have a recipe for a doggie birthday cake (with carrots and beef jerky) and we will celebrate as a family next week. I'm eager to see if I can get a picture of Farley eating his cake and wearing a birthday hat. I think that will be my challenge for next week.

Learning to Swing

One of the things that I love the most about staying home with the kids is that I get to witness and watch little milestones in their lives. The first week that I was at home full-time, I sat on the driveway and watched Roo try about 50 times and finally master sliding down our little slide. What a thrill!

Well, today, I had a similar thrill. Scooter learned to swing by himself! We talked about "up, down, up, down" for a while, but that didn't work. Then, I encouraged him to lean back and forward. I continued to push Roo on his swing. I gave Scooter little pushes every once in a while, but mostly just sat back and watched him figure out the rhythm of swinging.

He was so excited about his new skill and I was thankful that I was able to experience the joy with him. I'm sure we will be outside again when Daddy gets home, so we can show him.

friends to visit

We had the delight this morning of watching a friend's children. They are both a little older than my children - almost 5 and 2 and a half. I absoultely loved watching my boys play at a slightly older level. B's imaginary play is more advanced than Scooter (as he is a year older). He organized everyone into a "fire company". He played the role of the chief and driver of the truck. Scooter played with the remote control and made the siren go. The little boys just enjoyed wearing the hats and being around the older children.

At the little kid level, Roo absolutely insisted on going potty on the "big boy" potty after he saw McCance going. He has been reluctant recently and seeing another child going really made him want to do that. It's funny to see peer pressure come into play even at such a young age.