So I think the wear and tear of Dustin working two jobs, neither of us getting much sleep and me trying to run a household by myself and hold down a job finally caught up to us. Saying that we were "touchy" would be putting it lightly.
Dustin and I have been together long enough that we know exactly how far we can push the other person before we've gone too far. That is both a good and a bad thing. It didn't help that pretty much everything we did or touched this weekend seemed to go down the crapper. It started with an irritating family grocery shopping trip on Saturday morning and ended with a disastrous bathroom remodel on Sunday afternoon.
By Sunday evening we were in a much better mood (thanks to the paint fumes) and I can laugh about it all now.
Saturday night was a function at church for all of the preschool families. There was a dinner and church service in which the children sang. I just have to say that after that experience I have come to appreciate how blessed I am to have well behaved children. In addition, I have to *toot* my own horn because Dustin and I have been able to teach our children what is appropriate behavior in a church.
Josh, of course, refused to go up and sing. So Dustin sat by the communion rail and Josh sat on his lap. Oy vey.
Sunday night, after we abandoned the bathroom project, we decided to carve pumpkins. WE HAD SO MUCH FUN!!! It was exactly what we needed to end our weekend.
Josh did NOT want to participate whatsoever. He merely wanted to play a supervisory role. Well, Dustin was not having that...so torture ensued.
Dustin helped Josh carve his pumpkin. He wanted scary teeth and mean eyes. And I made a "baby Lauren" pumpkin complete with a bow and curl.
All that hard work deserved some halloween candy!!!
Thursday was Little Lambs Preschool's field trip to the pumpkin farm. It was so nice outside and the kids all had so much fun. This particular farm is amazing and has just about anything you could possibly want to do at a pumpkin farm.
However, the kids got to do everything except pick out a pumpkin. Josh and Harrison loved the corn bin (basically a huge sand box filled with corn) until Josh realized he had corn kernels in his socks, shoes and underwear. It took him once down the tube slide until he figured that one out!
But the biggest hit of the day was the pig race.
There is just something about seeing pigs run that makes me laugh. It reminded me of the time my parents let me wear my brand new sneakers out to a church choir picnic at one of the member's farm (I don't know what they were thinking). Well, all the kids thought it was funny to run and scream at the pig pen. Then all the pigs would take off squealing and kick up a bunch of flying mud (and you know what else). Well, it was my turn to run towards the fence and I slipped and couldn't stop. Yeah, my new shoes were ruined because I got them stuck in a nice huge pile of pig manure. Not only did I get to hear, "I told you so."; but I had to ride home with them hanging out the window due to the stench. How my parents didn't smack me is far beyond me.
Anyway, as you can see...it was a great day!
Since we didn't actually get a pumpkin on Thursday, we all decided to head to another farm closer to home on Saturday. It was windy and hectic but well worth it!!!
Josh's favorite part was the corn maze. We had to do it twice and run away from all the "booby traps"! Josh lead us through and Dustin kept saying, "Are you going to get us out of here, Josh?" It was cute the first 10 times, but after he asked it for the eleventh time Josh sort of snapped. "Dad, enough. I'll get us out of here. Geez." It was taking forever and I was ready to leave...but that was hysterical.
We walked over by the cows and realized that they were all eating. So Dustin reached out his hand to have one of the cows lick him. Dustin tried to convince Josh to come get his hand licked but as soon as Josh got a whiff of "cow" he started to gag and said, "Oh my Gosh. This place stinks." Then he immediately ran off. Guess he's not going to be a farmer.
We got our pumpkins and got to eat our lunch in the van on the way home. Josh said it was "the perfect day".
Lauren has her first official illness. Actually, the kids have the same thing; a stuffy nose and cough. And now, thanks to them, Dustin and I are coming down with it as well. Thankfully, though, theirs started right away on Thursday night so the worst of it was during my three days off.
The Brickers never let a little cough keep them down for long and Papa Adam was in town so it would have taken duct tape to keep Josh in bed and resting anyway. He's pretty good about going to bed when he's tired but one night he just didn't quite make it up the stairs before falling asleep.
Usually when Dad comes to town him and I end up demolishing part of my house because we got inspired (which is how the foyer ended up with ceramic tile). But this weekend was pretty laid back. Him and I went shopping for new hardware, light fixture, paint and shower curtain for the kids' bathroom. Josh was very excited with all the purchases and was convinced that we were going to finish the entire project before sundown. Any other time he probably would have been right but we just couldn't bring ourselves to even change the curtain.
We were watching a movie after the kids had gone to bed when all of a sudden I hear the toilet flush upstairs and Josh yell down, "Uh....guys. My bathroom isn't done yet." Demanding little lad, huh? I can't imagine where he gets it.
Lauren got yet another pair of shoes. I swear that girl is like my little American Girl doll. I have so much fun putting her in little outfits and taking pictures. These ones have little flowers at the strap!!!
She also has ballerina socks. They are too cute!! I have to tell you, though, every time I see her in them without any pants on her thighs remind me of that scene in Disney's Fantasia where the elephants are ballerinas. It is SO funny!
Sunday was the Safe Halloween at Usher's Ferry. Josh is so shy anymore and his biggest concern about Halloween is having people laugh at him. So I started talking about dressing up in his costume at breakfast. It did not go well. He refused.
A few hours later I reminded him that if he didn't dress up he wouldn't get any candy. And I explained to him that if he DIDN'T dress up he'd be the only kid without a costume. Yeah, that didn't work either.
Finally, Dustin said that he'd dress up as a doctor as well. That worked! So we get everyone in their scrubs and headed out there. With the nice weather on Sunday, the place was packed. We sat in the car almost 30 minutes before we even got up to gate. But it was all worth it! As soon as we got out of the van Josh looked around and saw all the other kids in costumes and said, "Mom...I guess you were right." I know that I won't get to hear that phrase too many times in my life so I relished in the glory for a good 10 minutes.
Josh was happy because he got lots of candy. Dustin and I were happy to see Josh enjoy himself. And I was happy I didn't get stuck wearing a pair of scrubs like Dustin! :-)
Lauren has started to "caterpiller" across the floor. I tried to get her on video tonight but she was just too tuckered out to perform. She's still adorable, though.
Last week was a bit crazy. Josh had school pictures on Thursday. He swears he had a nice smile but every time he shows me how he smiled I get a little nervous. No matter how he smiled in his actual school picture I know he was dressed to kill!!!
Lauren obviously didn't have school pictures...but she was sure ready to pose!! Larry had surgery this past week. Things didn't go exactly as planned and he was hospitalized a few days longer than expected. However, we are all praying that his pain and suffering will be relieved by the medical device. The week ended up flying by due to the fact that every night was either spent over at their house or the hospital. Either way, we would all appreciate continued prayers for him.
So, I got up bright and early on Saturday and went to a 7:30 hair appointment. There are few things as sweet as leaving the house while everyone is still sleeping. No one screaming at me for a bottle, no one yelling that they can't find their shoes and no one barking that they have to go outside. I had looked forward to the appointment for weeks and it fulfilled every one of my expectations. I didn't even balk at the $100 bill because I was going to get to enjoy a salon styled hair-do for an entire day.
I'm sure some of you can see where this is going.
By the time I got home everyone was up. And hungry. We ate breakfast and finished just in time for the Hawks to take the field. So I let Dustin watch his game by himself and took Lauren and Josh upstairs. On a side note, the person who thought of solitary confinement as a punishment obviously did not have children. Lauren and I started to play "Flying Baby"--which is basically a game where I lift her over my head and say "Fly..ing...Ba...by!"
So, just about when I said "Ba" I got an eyeful of puke. It was one of those rare moments when wearing glasses pays off. However, what didn't make it to my eye shot off my glasses and into my freshly coiffed hair. Go figure.
I've always said the reason we don't have anything nice is because we have children (and a very naughty dog). Apparently this also applies to our hair.
The Hawks actually pulled off a win for us on Saturday and since our weekend seems to teeter on the success of the Hawks we were all happy to see the scoreboard in our favor for once this season.
After church on Saturday night Lauren discovered a new position with her foot. She held the position for about 20 minutes leaving Dustin and I in awe. Ironically, the last time I could touch my foot like that was when I was her age.
Sunday I got up even earlier than the day before and got all ready for the Breast Cancer Walk. Toni, Gretchen and I trekked down in the rain only to have the walk cancelled about 5 minutes after our arrival. So we turned around and headed back home.
After the rain died down Josh and Dustin decided to "harvest" our pumpkins from the surprise pumpkin patch. You didn't believe me...but check these things out!!! Josh was so proud of his 11 "beautiful" pumpkins and I was proud to save the whole $3.50 it would have cost to buy the things.
All in all, it was a pleasant, relaxing weekend.
Then this morning...Miss Crabby Pants woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Josh just wouldn't wake up. Mattie wouldn't come in from outside. And I couldn't find a decent outfit. These circumstances ended with us running late only to have Lauren puke on my outfit thereby requiring me to change at the last minute. It was at that point I decided that no matter how late we were, Mommy needed to stop for a coffee. Then the nice people at Starbucks finished right on cue and messed up my order. Oh....what else is new?
Thursday night I was working on a project with my laptop and attempting to concentrate on my work. I just so happened to look up from my paper for a moment and realized smoke was coming up from behind my laptop screen. That was sign #1 that something was not right. Then sign #2 was the overwhelming smell of burnt electronics. And finally sign #3 (like I needed another one) was smoke billowing out of the power source. I quickly unplugged the poor thing and succumbed to the fact that my laptop had used its last life. The thing didn't owe me anything. I've had it since I was studying for the CPA exam...in 2000.
So, I waited the customary 24 hours to mourn my loss and promptly went out to buy a new one on Saturday morning. I am still getting used to the new laptop...like I don't have to jiggle the plug every five minutes in order to get power, the top row of keys work all the time making it possible to type entire sentences without using the on-screen keyboard and the screen doesn't dim for no apparent reason. Like I said, it didn't owe me anything anymore but handing out over a thousand clams on a 7 pound piece of metal and wires was a little tough to swallow.
Nonetheless, everyone at the Bricker household is thrilled to get the chance to try out all of its bells and whistles. Ironically, the first person to get time at the keyboard was Josh. And he was playing Max & Ruby games at nickjr.com. Pretty much sums up the order of things at our house anymore.
Lauren's four month check up was on Friday. Miss Thing is 17 pounds, 7 ounces and 26.5 inches tall. That puts her in the 97th percentile for both height and weight!! Basically, she's perfectly proportioned and the doctor said she looks great! She got another three shots and Josh even got one (his flu shot). We kind of blind sided him with it but he did great. As soon as she got him with the needle that look of disbelief and terror came over him. I just had to laugh. He didn't really have a chance to cry because by the time he was done we were all laughing at Lauren's reaction.
But as soon as he got on Dustin's lap he said, "Uh, Dad. That hurt."
Speaking of Lauren, she officially has a favorite toy.
She just loves that thing!
She also had another first this weekend. We tried giving her a little rice cereal. It was hysterical! She looked like an old man without his dentures!
I kept trying to feed her...until she got upset. I guess she got tired of us all laughing at her. Geez!
Not much else is new, though. I got some cute pics of Josh making Lauren laugh this morning after breakfast. Those two just have the most amazing bond. He watches over her and is so gentle with her and she's fascinated by his every move.
As you can see the Internet is finally up and running at our house once again. I was honestly having fits of withdrawl for three days straight. It was bad enough I couldn't keep up on the blog but I even missed out on a few days of celebrity gossip!
Anyway, here we are...back again.
So, football is kaput. I tried to convince Josh that we could do it. He said, "Mom, let those big boys play. They want to and I don't." Enough said. I was not about to fight him over something that can wait another year.
School is going very well for Josh. I am working with him in the evenings on reading and other Kindergarten material I had picked up at the educational store. Josh learns so quickly and he is so bright. The things he knows already amazes me.
We have all been in a bit of a slump lately. Nothing too exciting to report around here except that Dustin and I went on our first "date" in probably 2+ years!!! We had SO much fun!! I totally had a moment, though, when we were in the truck and I looked at him and thought, "What do I have to talk to him about?" Sort of made me think about us in 20 years, when the kids are all gone. Anyways, it made me smile.
The kids have invaded our bedroom and I now understand how my mother felt when she would wake up to get out of bed and almost stand on me. She had not realized that I had made a bed on her floor during the night. The other night I woke to find this... And even though Lauren cannot walk she mysteriously found her way to my side of the bed.
Lauren is changing so much every day. She is grabbing things now and laughing at just about anything. She is quickly moving into a more interactive stage and we have so much fun playing with her. And as you can see, much like her mother's, her thighs seem to be growing larger each day. As far as I'm concerned, it's just more of her for me to love!
So yesterday morning I allowed Dustin to dress our daughter without any input from me. That was my first mistake. He brought her in our bedroom looking like this. Seriously. Can you see Josh looking on in dismay? He was actually shaking his head! A four year-old!!
On a side note, this is the last photo of one of those socks. The dog ate one shortly after I ripped them off her feet. I'm certain it was merely Mattie's attempt of difusing the situation and just her way of making sure Lauren would never be dressed in that combination again.
If you don't see anything wrong with the pairing of stripes and polka dots...you should be shot.
Ironically, Lauren was throwing up more than usual on Sunday. I honestly attributed it to seeing her own reflection and realizing what her father made her wear. However, today Dustin has the flu as well. So I'm sure that her catching the flu on the same day as wearing that outfit was merely a coincidence.
Either way, Dustin should beware. Someday she may have to dress him and she just might remember what he did to her. She'll put him in a clown's costume and parade him around the nursing home screaming, "HOW DO YOU LIKE WEARING POLKA DOTS AND STRIPES, DAD!!"
For those of you who don't believe that Lauren actually says, "Hi" all the time...here is proof!
I drive a mini-van. I have a love/hate relationship with tax season. I adore anything kate spade. I am a mother to three children: Josh the second grader, Lauren the preschooler and Ella the toddler. This is my blog. I am Elizabeth Bricker.
