Sunday-Comedy at the Millers

Ares came into my bedroom at 8:20 this morning because I guess it was time to wake up.  He crawled into bed with me and told me he loved me (I will miss those days when he gets older, and big enough to turn his cartoons on by himself).   I noticed that his pajama pants don't match so I asked him why.  He said "Uhm, well, I accidentally peed in my pants." I asked him 'When?' and he responded "When I was sleeping, but it's OK, I changed my pants by myself because I didn't want to wake you up."   Of course, I gave him the biggest hug EVER!  Then I told him he could wake me up if he needed help.  My so thoughtful kid who also doesn't flush the toilet at night because he doesn't want to wake us up. (The bathroom is down the hall, near his bedroom, and nowhere near our room.)

We went to lunch at Applebees, just for a couple of appetizers, as we were eating dinner in a few hours.
Ares : dad, can I have the last chip? 
Adam : sure, but it's gonna cost you.
Ares : what?!? Five dollars?!? I'm just a kid!!
The funny thing was that no one said 'five dollars', he came up with that himself.   His inflections and tones are just hilarious.  He also kept looking out the window near our booth to tell me that our car hasn't been stolen yet.   Crazy 3 year olds!

Lastly - Yesterday I went to Osh Kosh (one of my favorite children's stores) to buy Ares some jeans, ($16!! $12 each with my 25% off coupon, but still!!).  We left with two pair, but I hated spending that much, so I kept the receipt and the tags on and we went to Once Upon a Child this afternoon.   Ares saw a toy box that opened and closed, so naturally, he climbed in and shut the door.  Adam sat on top of it, and Ares (laughing the whole time) "Daddy! *hahaha* Oh no!  Get me out of here! *hahaha* I'm stuck! Eeeek!"  Needless to say, while this 'acting' is an everyday thing in our household, the ladies at the checkout thought he was hilarious.   Which, he is!
****Update****
I forgot this one.

Ares:  I'm going to be a GIANT when I grow up!
Me: Oh no, but giants are dangerous.
Ares:  *thinking*.  Well, then I'm going to be DANGEROUS when I grow up!

Patterson's Fruit Farm Family Fun Fest

Patterson's Fruit Farm Family Fun Fest, quite an alliteration.  It would be better if it were called "Fatterson's Fruit Farm Family Fun Fest" as they have the LARGEST apple fritters ever!  AND they're only $2.35.  We bought one to eat there, and one for breakfast tomorrow.  One, for all 3 of us for breakfast.  YUM!

We met Adam's coworker, Mike, and his daughters Cassie and Anna at the fun fest again this weekend.  We did this last year, too, and the kids all had a great time, no different this year.  It was a little nicer because Ares was older and could enjoy more activities, it was a little worse because he would run from one activity to another, sometimes without us knowing.  NOTE:  This place was so much fun, that the matchbox car in each hand only lasted the first 20 minutes - and we were there for nearly 3 hours.  Un.heard.of - a matchbox free event!

Last year, my favorite picture of the entire year looked just like this.  I begged Adam to take one just like it, but none of his came out.  I found this one on my camera, I don't even remember taking it! =)  Awesome! 

Cassie, Ares and Anna (ah-nah)

Fun action pic! 

Just a little break, please!?!

I think this is a little boy's HEAVEN.  We had to drag him away from here. 

A really long slide, with a really long line.  It didn't matter to any of them. 

Anna is such a good big sister. 

I think everyone had a good time.

Hmmm,

Ares: Mom, did you know that horses wear horseshoes?
Me:  Yes, I did know that.
Ares: Hmm, it's interesting.

Listening to a song on the radio.  It's some sort of Pop song, which we don't typically listen to.
Ares: Mom, this is a song from the water park!
Me: Mmm, is it?
Ares:  Oh yes, defiately, deftly, uhm... definitely. Yes, definitely.

"Pallet Knife" Painting

I got the idea from Katie's blog that I absolutely love.  When I Googled the technique to get more ideas, I found some really nice ones done by this artist , Susana Shap.  If I can't do a colorful one on my own, I'd buy hers in a heart beat, especially this one.  I thought I'd try this myself while I watch the Browns game.  (I'm a glutton for punishment, I know.)    (While Googling Pallet Knife Painting, I also fell in love with artist Leonid Afremov.  If I  had tons of money to spare, I'd probably buy one of his paintings for every city that I've been to.  Check out Leonid's art here.  My favorites are the ones that look like it's raining, this guy is amazing!)  None of these people give me money, I just thought I'd show you the style I like. 

It's still wet here, but you get the idea. 

Now, back to the artwork that I've done.  It's not perfect, but that's what I love.  I'm not an artist, I can't draw a straight line with a ruler or a circle with a compass.  In fact, I'm a code-monkey-number-cruncher for a large insurance company, haha.  Unless either SAS or Excel is considered an art, then I've got nothin'.

canvas (this is a 12x12 from Michaels, not sure of price, as I took it from my moms house.  Thanks Mom!! )

acrylic paint ($0.35/each on sale at Pat Catans)

pallet knife (or something similar)

glossy paper plate

George Forman scraper as my knife. Sorry for the sideways
picture,  Blogspot isn't that 'me' friendly, haha.  

I want to do a larger size, but I thought I'd practice with a single color and a small canvas from  Michaels.     I don't have a pallet knife, so I used that little scraper thing that came with a George Forman grill I had back in undergrad.  Adam cut off the ridges on the bottom and sanded it down for me.  Katie, (blog linked above) used a drywall/mud knife.

Cheap acrylic paint

Paper Plate to mix paint

I started with the white, and put a small drop of purple in it. Dipped it in the pain, and dragged it on the canvas.  I used that for the center of the canvas and slowly added more purple as I went out.  Then I went to using only the purple paint to slowly adding black into the purple as I got to the edges.  The sides of the canvas are painted straight black.  Probably not necessary, but I thought it would be easier, and I like how it turned out.  I ended up adding a few pieces of metallic paint to accent the white/purple/black.

Hopefully, I can do a larger piece in colors that match my house.  Mom, thanks for the canvas, I'll bring it back to your house for your bedroom or bathroom =)  I'll post again once I save up the money for a larger canvas and another paint sale!

**update, I think I might add a few flowers using this method and the green paint from my mom's bathroom to use as the stems, it'll add some fun to the piece and tie the room together better.  This looks pretty easy to do!  Yay!

Source?  

Grandma Jean and Papa Jim

Who's the worst at taking pictures?  *hand raised* That would be me.  Adam's grandmother and Jim stayed with us for a few days on their way to see Khirstin and Braeden, and I managed to get two pictures.  The first was Grandma with Ballpark, as he was sitting on her lap so content, and the second one was while she was helping Ares make cookies.

The visit was fabulous.  They got to the house on Friday, but before dinner, so Ares was able to enjoy their company (Read: go completely crazy and over-active-hyper-any other word you can think of.)  Adam and I already had plans for Saturday (our 30 mile Bicycle Bender, that was not kid friendly) so instead of waking up extra early to take Ares to my mom's house, Grandma and Jim watched him for us.  Ares had a great time, I think he was bummed when we got back, but we went to dinner and an early bedtime. 

Sunday was nice as well, the weather was terrible all weekend -  perfect football watching weather, so the men watched football, Grandma napped and I got a second coat on our dining room chairs.  It was an awesome Sunday, and by far the most relaxing one we've had since last winter.  Adam made Paella, and my parents came over too.  We have paella leftovers for the rest of the week - score!!

They left on Monday morning, which was entirely too soon, but we had to go to work, and they had to go see their other grand kids.   We don't get to see them too often, as they live 6 hours away, but it's been twice in two months, which has been FABULOUS!  Now, only if Adam and I could get vacation time lined up to go visit them for a weekend... *sigh*

Snot & Buffalo

"MOM!!! THE BUFFALO SNOT ON YOUR CAR!"  is the first thing out of my son's mouth when I walked into my mom's house to pick him up on Thursday.

Rewind.  Mom has a new car.  It has 600 miles on it.  Insert "I'm taking your son on a Safari on Thursday, can we borrow your car?"      My first thought: I guess, since it has 155,000 miles on it (almost), if it gets a couple of extra scratches it's not a problem.  If a Buffalo charges into it, bonus, insurance money for a new car (of course, I'd hate that, since then I'd have a new car payment and this one is paid off.   But I digress.)

My vehicle, did, in fact, have buffalo snot on/in it.   See for yourself: 

Large Buffalo, with lots of snot leaving capabilities.

My mother pointed out that I should be grateful she vacuumed out the car before I got there, as there was a LOT of carrot crumbs on the *everything*.    Oh, but not just Buffalo snot, there's more!

Like. Giraffe slobber!  Hooray!

You can actually see where my window is half open here. 
That's as they were closing it, the head (above) was inside my car. 
Go ahead!  Clean those windows!  Please, don't forget the Windex!

On the plus side, mom washed my windows (and the side of my car  - errr, both sides of my car) to get said SNOT off - but only after I was able to see the fun sloppy goodness. 


I'm sure if I were driving a Honda Fit, they would have put this llama in the trunk.
(Only funny if you remember the old ads for the Honda Fit.)



Source



Wahhhhh, llama faaace!   (Only one of my favorite sayings,
and it's totally appropriate for this post!  For the win!)src

Janice and Gina went along on the Safari too.

A nice picture of Ares and Grandma at Marble Head after the Safari

Foods Kids Hate to Eat

I know today is talk like a pirate day, but while I'd tried to make this sound all Piratey (yes, that's a word - today, at least), it didn't really work out. So on to a normal blog.  Foxnews had a nice article today on foods that kids hate to eat.  Just last night, I was wondering how my kid compares to others in the foods that they eat, I know better than some of his friends.  Ares had steak, corn and potatoes at Aunt Cindy's house for dinner. Adam and I ate late, but Ares was still awake and he still wanted to share our meal with us.  What did we have.....?


Birds Eye Chicken Florentine

 I didn't give him any of the squash (although, I wish I would have), but he ate up the spinach.  I guess it's pretty exciting to hear "BOING!" each time a spoonful is ingested (the sound of muscles growing, just like Popeye's - who Ares has never heard of - doesn't matter). 

The article goes on talking about eggs (kid won't touch - any kind of egg), brussels sprouts (we've never tried), broccoli (his favorite), spinach, (check), asparagus (as long as it's not too soggy), fish (no problem), avocado (his first food, and he's a fan of guac), cottage cheese (loved it as a baby, haven't tried recently).   I can add one thing to the list, that my kid won't eat, and that's Chinese.  He used to, but on Monday, he wouldn't touch it. 
Alrighty, I realize I am a lucky mommy.  One of my friends has a kid who will eat a whopping 10 things.  If we have a #2, who bets that's the case? 

We're excited for our bicycle bender this weekend - AND to have Grandma Jean and Papa Jim come stay with us for a few nights!   Happy Hump Day everyone!  Aaarrrgh!

A Nice 50k

Not 50k as in $50k (although, an extra $50k would be nice to have), or 50k as a typical daily bicycle ride for Adam, this is a 50k as in an ULTRA marathon - 31 miles.  Why would someone want to do something like this?  They're crazy.  Never saying no to a challenge, they all admit they are not right in the head.  At least they realize it. 

Aaron wanted to organize a 50k to celebrate his 30th birthday.   He put the route together to look like a flower or clover, with many legs of the race all starting and stopping in one central location.  This was to minimize the number of water places needing to be set up.  (Genius!)

The morning started off cold.  Around 45*, maybe a little warmer, not much.  Everyone started off with hats, gloves, long sleeves and some running headlamps, as it was a trail run and still dark out.  Ares and I got everyone ready, and then drove to the first water spot to set up the food, water, Gatorade, Kleenex/wipes station.  They  hit that station at mile 4 and at mile 9.   After the last person (of 6) hit that station, I drove to the central start/stop place to set up again.  There, the group got all of their food and water.

After the first 13 miles. The runners started taking off their
hats/jackets/pants as the weather was warming up.

Each time they made it to the end of the route, they'd wait for the others before they'd start the next portion.  Some parts of the run, people would join them for a leg or two - not doing the entire 50k, but portions of it.   This is why the "Nice" was added to the title.  Adam said it was a nice leisurely pace, and an all around "FUN" run. He really enjoyed himself.  I wouldn't say that his legs didn't tighten while waiting for others to finish, or that his body didn't hurt the rest of the evening, but he got lucky in he didn't get any blisters, there were no injuries, no running until he was sick - or anything.   Darah (Davis' mom) ran the entire thing too, along with one of Aaron's friends James. 


The four 50k finishers Adam, James, Darah and Aaron, the birthday boy (sitting).

Ares stayed with me from 5 AM until about 10:30, when my mom picked him up. I feel bad for complaining after all these guys did, but I had stood for 9 hours, a lot of that organizing, cleaning and playing with Ares, that my body hurt after the day was over too! I can only imagine what these guys felt like.

I did get a second away from playing with my designated
matchbox car to take a picture of him before he left.

I'm so happy that Adam was able to not only finish (yes, he was worried, no, I never was) and that he enjoyed himself.  Not so happy that Adam now has two more friends who are crazy and want to do lots more of these crazy stunts (not necessarily 50k's).  Ah well, to each their own. 

Brent & Em's Wedding

You know, sometimes there are weddings that kids are invited to?  This one, there had to have been 20 kids under the age of 6.  And some weddings there's always the little boy who is in the center of attention and is a ham?  Yep, that was my kid this past Saturday.   Random Ares things:

• He followed the bride and groom around while they were talking to each table. Cute, right? Oh yeah, he had a glass and a fork to bang together to make sure they kissed - often.
• After a few minute, he got bored because they stopped kissing so much.  He treks back to our table with a '*humph* they don't kiss anymore'.
• He was one of the first on the dance floor - running, spinning, sliding, and falling like a maniac.
• He followed the bride around like a lost puppy. He had SUCH a big crush. 
• He called the bride "Miss Emily" or "That pretty girl" all night.
• During the conga, my son was immediately behind the bride, followed by the Groom. 
• During a dance where the bride and groom were in the center of a circle (of 40 people or so):  My son jumped in front of the groom to dance with the bride, totally pushing him away to dance with her. 
• He patiently waited in line for the dollar dance - to pay and get a dance, not like he hadn't danced with her 25 times already (not bad for a wedding of 300). 
• He ate about a lb of candy from the candy bar provided,  plus 3 pieces of broccoli for dinner.  Parents. Of. The. Year.

Yes, I wish I were kidding.  I am not.  See for yourself.

Do you see the glass in his right hand?  See, not exaggerating.

Adam actually caught him mid-spin.  One of my fav. pictures of the night.

SOO many kids.  I think Ares said it was the best night in his entire life.

Maniac!

Sorry Brent, this is my girl tonight!

Of course, mommy and daddy had some fun too =)