Halloween Party and Fall Harvest Party

Drew had a Halloween party at school yesterday. We borrowed my friend's zoo keeper costume. Thanks K! Before the party, my mom, my friend Jessica and I waited in the observation room. We were relieved that Drew was finally letting people up in the loft/play area. Usually, he gets up there with his friend Colton and they play "keys." To play this game, you get the box of keys, and don't let any other kid up in the loft. Drew and Colton talk about "playing keys" all the time. They plan it on the way to school and list all of the kids who can't come up there. It looked like all my talks had gotten through to Drew because he was collecting imaginary tickets and letting other children up.
I also saw Drew finally playing with a girl. She does have really short blond hair, but Drew knows she is a girl, so this is a victory. Come to think of it, I have only ever seen Drew play with kids with yellow hair and blue eyes. I hope his teachers don't think we are teaching him Nazi beliefs.

David didn't get a Halloween party. He got a Fall Harvest Party. Which is exactly like a Halloween party in every way except the name. We took the kids outside and I did games with our parachute and the other homeroom mom did a tic tac toe bean bag toss thing. It was successful. I like David's teachers and I definitely saw which friends I want to steer him towards hanging out with. Here was my high point of David's party. The other homeroom mom (and can I just mention again that no one else signed up) is a riot. She has four kids, two high schoolers and two younger children, and I knew she was a kindred spirit from the start. We had been e-mailing this morning and her last e-mail said, "Are you dressing up? Holly wants me to." Well, I didn't reply and I hadn't even thought up dressing up. So I show up in jeans and she is wearing, kid you not, a full on Peter Pan costume. Green pantyhose and everything. Only the pre-k and kindergarten students dressed up. The rest of the school was in OU/OSU gear for red ribbon week. It was hysterical. I adore people who don't take themselves too seriously. She just laughed and said she felt very foolish and had been getting weird looks all morning. She had wrongly assumed the entire school would be dressed up. I am considering wearing an elf costume to the Christmas, oops, I mean holiday party to make her feel better.

Today's Show conversation

I usually don't turn the t.v. on before school. My kids turn into zombies and move even slower. However, I had to see the weather so I turned the news on. I didn't think David was watching until, he said, "Mom, what are those men doing to that lady?" The lady was the infamous Ms. Lohan. And she was being escorted to jail.
Me: Um, they are taking her to jail.
David: Oh no, 'ell? What did she do? (We think jail and hell may be the same place in his head.)
Me: I'm not really sure, I think it's drunk driving this time (see, I never have the news on)
David: Oh no! What did she drink?
Me: Too much beer and wine. It's dangerous to drive like that.
David: Mom, will you write down that rule for me? On a piece of paper? So I don't forget and drink a lot of line? And so my husband remembers too?
Me: Sure. And it's wife. You'll have a wife one day. Daddy really wants you to remember that as well, stop saying husband.
Who wouldn't want to start their day with that conversation? It's a million laughs around here!

Not about David and Drew

Last January I posted about Body and Soul and how much I love the workout and the people and how when I started almost three years ago it helped me through a postpartum/winter/two kids under two slump. Then, I tried to move things around on my blog and that post got lost. Lucky for me my friend Lisa read it, started coming last year and has invited two or three more girls.
The classes we go to have gotten so big that a new class is starting this January at my church. It's a funny thing. My high school was small, and everyone was divided and classified by what they did (cheer, basketball, etc.) I didn't do those and so somehow I earned a reputation as klutzy- they called me "Betty Crocker" because I liked to bake cookies after school and I got teased. Stupid things to make fun of someone for, and I have no idea why I let it hurt my feelings so much. But it did, to the point of when I got to college, I would not sign up or participate in any intramurals no matter how much my friends tried to talk me into it. Oh, I knew there was "D" league and everyone had lots of fun, but I wouldn't do it. I couldn't. I wasn't athletic. I didn't like to exercise. I would look like an idiot. What was the point?
Voices that make you feel bad and hold you back are voices you shouldn't listen to.
I am glad I workout with people who uplift and encourage and who share the goal of glorifying the Lord in all they do.
Because you never now what you are capable of until you try-http://www.okiepower.com/

Sports, germs, and things I like

I need to post about a lot of things. All of David's t-ball pictures are in Keith's phone. I don't think I will wait until I figure out how to get his phone and put them on the computer. David begged us to play and I think sports are great for active kids. I am not down with the "everyone wins" philosophy. My competitive sons need to lose early and often and learn how to deal with it now. Also, t-ball/baseball is kinda complicated, but I think it's safer than football and I would rather David get the basics down now. All that being said, I think seven o'clock games on school nights are completely ridiculous and I have spent the last few weeks belly aching about them. David did grin from ear to ear in the dugout with his buddies and loved hitting the ball. He came a long way on fielding and enjoyed the entire season. We'll think about spring ball later. He definitely wants to keep playing.
I think Keith should get a medal for coaching Drew's soccer games on Saturdays. Yup, big brother chose a sport and little brother wanted to play one too. So we dove in and signed Keith up to coach. Here is all I will say on this matter: Keith has one kid still in diapers and another kid who runs off the field, rolls around in the middle of the game like a dog, and sometimes just chooses to lie down among the kicking cleats. He does all this while his parents chat to each other from lawn chairs. We are pretty sure they signed him up for the free babysitting. Keith spends a lot of time carrying this kid to sit by me until he is ready to follow the rules. It's a bummer that Drew's asthma has been bad, because when he feels like playing he does fantastic.
As flu/cold season approaches, I am trying to think of a good answer to, "We are all sick." That's the comment I got from a mom at our neighborhood park the other day. She has a three year old who is also a close talker and loves David and Drew. I just about died. It came out that he was recovering from pink eye and she and her husband just felt terrible in general and had stomach issues, but, "They had to get out of the house." And apparently spread their germs. What do you say to that?
Things I am loving right now are-
1) Banana Babies from Target. They are frozen, chocolate covered bananas. Delicious.
2) Getting picture books on CD from the library. It's so nice just to snuggle up and listen to books with the boys after a long day of talking at/to them.
3) Setting the boys alarms to come on with music when quiet time is over.
And the music should be coming on soon. Over and out.

David is five!

Keith texted me yesterday. Saying he will forever remember getting to the hospital early on October 7th. We were induced that morning. David wasn't born until after midnight.
We really can't believe five years have flown by so quickly. And when we look at David, we know, that it's possible to get exactly what you prayed for. He's everything we want in a little boy. Yes, he's really capable. He's strong and we are enjoying watching him play t-ball, master the monkey bars, etc . But David's heart and his friendly disposition are what makes us the proudest.
Yesterday afternoon we took Drew to get his picture made at David's school. The boys and I bumped into one of David's teachers. She grabbed him and hugged him really hard. "Oh David," she exclaimed and then looked at me and said, "I just adore him."
We do too.
Here's to a really great day celebrating five years with David!
(I had a really great picture to post with this. Keith blew up balloons last night and tied them in a sheet to dump on David's head this morning. Unfortunately the boys aren't the only ones who are scantily clad in this house and one of our family members wasn't wearing much in the background.)

Pumpkin Pie Playdough

Wow, now that I have posted this picture, it actually looks kinda nasty. That's play dough sitting on my kitchen counter, I swear.
Anyway, David's teacher asked me to make a batch of this for this week's centers. It turned out really, really well. So well that I ended up making a turquoise batch for us to play with on Saturday. Since OU/TX was playing and I was trying to keep the boys from bugging Keith and their uncle, we made a whole project out of it. After we had played with it for not kidding, an entire hour, we divided the turquoise batch up in plastic bags, hitched the wagon to David's jeep and distributed our gifts to our neighborhood buddies. It was priceless. David and Drew would take turns knocking on doors and surprising the kids (every house in our neighborhood has one or more kids under the age of six) with their bags of dough. David would shout, "This is for you!!!" And Drew would chime in, "Enjoy." Then they would run back to their car and drive to the next house. They were so serious about their mission.

In case you want to make a batch-

Pumpkin Playdough

This smells GREAT! So if your kid is little or kinda weird remind them not to eat it.

5 1/2 cups flour
2 cups salt
8 teaspoons cream of tartar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 ( 1 and 1/2 ounce) container of pumpkin pie spice
Orange food coloring (2 parts yellow, 1 part red)
4 cups water

Mix all the ingredients together. Cook and stir over medium heat until all lumps disappear. Knead the dough on a floured surface until it is smooth. Store in an airtight container.