Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Christmas Lists

The boys are starting early (which is good) in writing their Christmas lists. And I have to say that fulfilling them is definitely going to be a challenge this year... for different reasons for each kid!

Tim is really hard right now. We had a discussion last night about how he wants an iPod Nano, not the shuffle. And I told him that Santa only spends $200 on each kid (Ok, maybe a bad mommy move) and that if he got an iPod that he wouldn’t get a ton of other stuff. So he got sad about that. I had to tell him that as you get older you get more expensive gifts, but fewer of them. And I don’t think he liked that much.

My other problem is that I have to get Sam the same thing that I get Tim. sO now I am searching ebay to try and find deals on nanos (or deals on the other stuff that I am getting them!)

And Sam has some crazy stuff on his list, that is not likely to happen. For example, there are these silly necklaces that he gets out of vending machines for 50 cents. His list includes 200 of those. It also includes 120 basketball cards (more doable) and 35 DS games (which run at $20-$40 a piece). He also wants multiple wallets so that he can have one for buying Celtics stuff, one for buying other stuff and one for saving. (creative idea i guess, at least he is thinking about partitioning his money out some).

And Max is just tough because there aren't a ton of toys that I think he'll really play with consistently. We have so many toys in our house that really just cause clutter.

Oh well, I'm sure Santa will figure it out for me, right?

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Weekend recap

Well, the weekend isn't quite over, but I'm procrastinating from doing homework!

Tim's last football game was yesterday!! Yay, we get part of our lives back now. We won't be running around crazy every evening! So this was the Mitey-Mite bowl that they were playing in, sort of like a super-bowl for them. I got there late since we had soccer for Sammy.

When I got there, there was no score, but it seemed like the team was playing well. Tim seemed to always know where the ball was going because whenever it came to his side, he was involved in the tackle that brought the other team down. When they got the ball back, he was blocking all over the place and even had a couple of really good runs.

We scored on a really good run, they also scored when this one really fast kid ran it in, and then we had a 30 yard run to take the lead. The last play of the game, the other team had the ball, they threw the pass and Tim intercepted it. That ended the game and he was so excited that he was nearly in tears. He was amazing and did all the things that we had been telling him he should be doing to be playing like a team. We are very proud of him (and excited that we don't have to take him to practice for a long time... well, at least until basketball starts.)

Now wer are off to Target to buy our Halloween candy! There is a reason I don't buy it until it is almost here!

Friday, October 24, 2008

Just a quick catch up...

Max:
Most of the time my kids don't just do chores without being asked. But recently Max has done a really good job of noticing when Lucy needs food or water. Yesterday morning he was getting water from the cooler and I thought he was just getting a drink... butt then he went and got more. Well, come to find out, Lucy needed water and he just kept filling the bowl all the way to the top. This dog will now have Poland spring water until sometime next week!

Sammy:
For some reason Sammy has been complaining about not being comfortable when he is sleeping. He complains that his back or waist hurts, then crawls into our bed and goes back to sleep. Last night was a particularly restless night (for both of us). We bought him a new mattress and everything, so we aren't sure what is going on here.

Timmy:
Tim has started to become more responsible lately. Rich and I closed the pool this weekend and needed an extra hand, well, Tim came out without complaint, helped us out, and went back to what he was doing (usually Tim isn't up for helping out!) Oh and this is what he brought home from school last night:



Addendum... Just for reference, that is Tim lying on the ground in his football uniform (he is number 13 and has his helmet on) and Rich is taking care of him.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

PumpkinFest and leaves

This weekend was a busy one. Soccer and football practice and then we still made it out to PumpkinFest. But before I get to that, I have to tell one story about soccer. It is coed and one of Sammy's friends is on our team. They were playing together and she shot the ball on him. Well, she shot it right in his private parts. Which he laughed off at first, but then turned to tears. Her response to me was, "You should just put some ice on it." Then told me that her mom tells her to just shake it off when she gets hurt. I told her that he'd shake it off, it might just take a little longer!

So Pumpkinfest... This is Hudson's fall festival with games, prizes, food, Pumpkins and other activities. This is where there is a big jack o'lantern contest, although we never stay late enough to see them lit.

The boys did great in all the games and came home with lots of prizes. There was also some big blow up slides and a lazertag game. They had a ton of fun there!!

On Sunday, we had Tim's football game in the morning and then Sam's friend Jaxon came over for a playdate. While he was here, I decided to go out and rake the leaves, and surprisingly, all the boys were more than happy to help out, as long as they got to jump in the leaves when we were done.

Here is our weekend:

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Open house at the firehouse

This past weekend, as an end to fire safety week, Marlborough had an open house at the fire station. In addition to the giveaways, popcorn and pizza, the kids also had the chance to see the trucks, spray some hoses, see a car being opened with jaws of life, and to experience the smoke house. The smoke house is basically a trailer setup like a home where they can close the doors, pump it with fake smoke (still looks like smoke, but doesn't hurt you) and you can practice getting out the right way.

We didn't get to see the jaws of life since we had to go to football practice, but they had fun spraying the hoses from the little hummer that they use for forest fires.



And I have to say I am so proud of all three of them for how they answered the fire fighters questions when they were learning what to do in case of an emergency. Prior to pumping the smoke house with smoke, the firefighter sat with the kids (my three and 1 other boy) and talked about what to do in an emergency and how to call 911.

Now, at daycare, my provider practices the kids addresses with them every day. And this week, she did an entire theme for fire safety week. When the firefighter asked the kids what number to call in an emergency, you can bet my 3 year old piped up quickly with 9-1-1. And then each kid got to call 911 and give their name, their address, and their emergency (even Max). Although shy, they all did it perfectly.

Then they went upstairs to "be in the bedroom" when the smoke alarms went off and the smoke came in. Well, the smoke alarm scared Max so he came outside before the smoke. But the other 2 learned that they should check the door to be sure it isn't hot and to crawl backwards down the stairs and to crawl out to stay below the smoke. They did great and I think having that experience will be invaluable if something ever happened in our house.



So, Thanks to the Marlborough Fire Department for their open house!

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Coloring

This morning Max said that he wanted to color. I was psyched, it is not often that Max asks to do something quiet. He doesn't sit still!!!

But then he walked into the living...



Thank god that I am smart enough to buy the washable markers. I put him right in the tub and all was well.

So, right now he is at my parents house... which I should remind my parents to watch him... (he is my kid and I carved the word weeds into one of their dining room chairs when I was a kid).

Then we came home and I put the dog out and not only did that child color himself (and my dining room table), but he also drew a line right down the middle of the dog's back!

This kid is definitely a challenge... but he's so darn cute!!!

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Question of the day

Every day at the after school program, they ask a question and have everyone give an answer. Some recent questions have been things like, "What is your favorite number?" or "Who is your favorite athlete?" "what is your favorite sound?"

Yesterday it was, "Who would you be if you could be someone else for 1 day?" My children's answers?

Tim - My dad
Sam, Dave, the guitar teacher

So, now I'm thinking about who I would want to be for 1 day... and I'm not really sure who I would want to be... probably someone on the women's world cup soccer team.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

"Mom, what does gay mean?"

So, I'm in the bathroom this morning when Sam knocks on the door (this is progress, they don't just walk in anymore!) and says, "Mom what does gay mean? Cuz Time keeps calling me gay."

I said, "we'll have this conversation when I get out of the shower."

So while we are all in the kitchen getting ready to walk out the door I ask Tim what he thinks gay means, and as I figured, he didn't know.

So I said, "Well, it has two meanings, first it means, really happy. And second, you know how Mommy loves Daddy and I'm a girl and he's a boy. Well, sometimes, boys can love boys and girls can love girls and sometimes you can't pick who you love. So they use the word gay to describe that."

Then I was telling this story to my daycare provider and another mom, and they both sort of balked at the fact that I told them the truth. They thought I should have just said it meant happy and that we don't call people that.

And I sort of realized that I want to be the kind of parent that is honest and upfront about difficult conversations. So I feel a little bad, but not too bad.