Weekend of Sun!

I really think that we had that terrible tantrum last month to remind me to really enjoy the good times. This has been an amazing week. Ares still doesn't love sitting on the potty, but he's getting pretty good about it.

Sitting on Grandpa's lap to be read to is probably one of Ares' favorite things.

Another favorite thing we just learned about: Milkshakes. Right after this picture was taken, he came up to me and said "Mommy, I need more in my cup please."
Anything chocolate is his friend. We had breakfast on the patio Saturday morning. A creme filled chocolate donut is what Ares had. He was a BIG FAN...

... as you can see. It was a fun mess to clean up.

Saturday night at 8:20, we took Ares to a party at one of his friends' house. He and little Eli (or "E I" as he calls him) chased after eachother until 10:45PM. I wish I had taken my camera, it was a lot of fun watching them crawl, jump, run and scream around the yard. The fact that the two of them look like brothers is even more fun. Everyone thought they were related. (He spent the earlier part of the day with grandma and grandpa while Adam and I went golfing for the first time in years.)

Sunday, started out a little rough while we were looking for material at Jo-Ann fabrics. Then we went through a McDonalds drive thru. As soon as he saw the Arches, he screams, at the top of his lungs "CHEESEBURGER PEEAAASSE!" Too cute. He ate it in 3 minutes, and then asked for another one. I refuse to buy my 2 year old two cheese burgers. He's a little piggy. Instead, he had his apple dippers.

We went to Christine's to go swimming. The little water baby swam in her (big) pool for 5 hours, with two short breaks. Just him and his two arm swimmies, and he did great. I mostly stayed within two feet of him, but a couple of times he'd swim from me to another person 20' away (while we watched, of course).

-Two funny quotes for the week:

(While standing in front of a jet that's underwater) He shouts "Hey, that tickles my pee pee." He says this, while shaking his tush back and forth, lol.

After asking him if he wants so Cocoa Pebbles, he shakes his head and says, "No, I want the brown cereal". (Which is Cocoa Pebbles.)

9+ Inning Indians Game

I know I complain often about the terrible twos - and I just realized that I don't put enough of the good moments up here, so - here's what happened this weekend.

Friday we went to the Cleveland Indians game (they got killed by the Blue Jays). We got there at 6:45, for the 7:05 game, and stayed the entire time, with a two year old in my lap. He got restless around the 2nd or 3rd inning, and it didn't last long. After the game was an awesome fireworks show. When it got quiet, somewhere in the middle of the show, he LOUDLY exclaimed: "I LIKE THE LOUD ONES!!". People thought he was hilarious, and a VERY good boy. It probably didn't hurt that we were super close to the field. Finally got home around midnight. I cannot even explain how good, and fun he was at this game. He got lots of compliments on his behavior from other fans.

He was mad that some Blue Jay fans were sitting around us singing "Jose, Jose, Jose Joseeeee, Joseeee, Josee" instead of "Ole, Ole Ole Oleeee, Oleeee, Oleee". He kept trying to correct them. Then, he started singing another soccer chant.

"We love you, we love you, we love you, and where you ... (go we'll) follow, (we'll) follow, (we'll) follow .....(cuz we
support) Columbus Columbus Columbus, and that's .... (the way we) like it, like it, like it, whoa whoa whoaaaaa, whoa whoa whoaaaaa".

He was only missing a few words in red there. I was pretty impressed though.

Saturday we went garage sale-ing. Again, early in the morning, the kid was amazing, and got in and out of the stroller as requested - for more than 3 miles of walking. We didn't buy a single toy, my kid is awesome.

Sunday - back to Progressive Field to see another Indians game. It was kids day, so he played with a giant snake, a turtle, loved looking at the alligator, and threw a few baseballs. Seeing as it was 90* out, and we were all in the sun, Adam and I only lasted about 3 innings. The Indians were getting crushed (7-0) and we decided it was miserable out. Luckily, we walked to the bar across the street just in time to peer through the windows to see the final kick of the Women's soccer game. We had been keeping up with it on our phones, but to see them win was awesome. We later watched the game, because we DVR'd it.

Jeep Skool 4th of July

This year wasn't as good as the past ones. My mom is sick with pneumonia and my brother just got back in town from AZ, so no one came out with us. The weather was warm (90*+) and the mud was plentiful. I do not enjoy getting bounced around, so I do not partake in the Jeep things, but Ares and Adam love it.

Unfortunately, Adam dropped Ares off with me (while I was reading) and tried to get him to sleep in the tent. Epic Fail. I was forced to try and entertain Ares with a ball, a truck and bubbles for over 4 hours. It. was. awful. Halfway through, Ares wanted to go back in the Jeep, but Adam never checked his phone, nor did he call to see how things were going.

It was cold at night - and Ares and I were 'sharing' sleeping bags. (A big fluffy one on the bottom, and a tiny little one on top) because we realized (and by "we", I mean "I", Adam was already sleeping) that Ares is too young to get the concept of a sleeping bag. So essentially, Ares got to cover up, I got the rut under my body (and froze) and everyone else was fine. I'm pretty sure that I'll never go camping at Jeep Skool again. It's fun to camp, but not when I'm alone most of the time. Bleh!

Swimming this weekend was fun. Ares is afraid of NOTHING - and it's VERY scary. I have no pictures from the party though, but everyone had a GREAT time.

Cara's wedding was much more fun than I had thought as well. It's always a good time when you have our group of friends together though.

Fireworks - Aurora, OH

Fireworks with Ares was a success. After every single firework, he'd say "that was my favorite one". Even after 50 times, it didn't get old.

We sat on top of the Jeep (newly cleaned) and watched from the Walgreen's parking lot. A place we will definitely stake out next year as well. What a great show Aurora put on. (Solon's was occurring behind us at the same time. Ares turned himself so he could look left, and then right, and left and...)

Feast or Famine - Mother of Temper Tantrum

Temper Tantrum: Proper Noun? Some days, I feel as if I am the mother of a temper tantrum, rather than the mother of a child. There are days where he wakes up with the horns already poking through his scalp, and other days, they seem to find their way through the skin between the door of his school and the door of my car. This past Wednesday was the worst - EVER. He cried for 2.5 hours straight. He really wanted mommy - bad! It was too bad that he was sitting on mommy's lap when he was screaming for her!

Then, we have some amazing days, where we literally enjoy every single minute and can't get enough of him.

Friday night, we drove to Cincinnati. The kid was very good, the entire way. He stayed awake the entire time and didn't even get into bed until after 1AM. (And for the record - my kid went potty in the big boy potty FIVE times that day!!) Next day - he did very well, even through the CARS2 movie - took a nap on the way home -and woke up with horns. Fortunately, they were retractable that afternoon/evening and he was a good boy for Grandma and Papa.

Sunday was a pretty good day. He didn't get a nap until late in the afternoon, but slept as we drove home, about half way, and then watched Lilo and Stitch in the car.

Monday was amazing. He was good in school, I took him grocery shopping after school, where he was AMAZINGLY good, (for once. He doesn't like grocery shopping), and even held my hand without complaining in the parking lot. We played outside, picked rocks out of the grass (there are a lot of rocks in our yard, which makes it hard for Adam to mow), ate dinner, took a shower, read a book etc etc - and he was SUCH a GOOD listener.

Today he's at Auntie Cindy's house, let's hope that he can be a good listener again! I have lots of pictures from the movie this weekend. I hope I can remember to post them when I get home!!

Lots of Pictures I've Forgotton to Post

My little athlete. He loves to play with the beanbags. He actually has a pretty good shot.

He LOVES to play in water. No matter how shallow or deep it is.

Day Out with Thomas. Grandma took him to see Thomas when they were in town.

He got to ride the train, play with toy trains, eat a cheeseburger and have fun! Grandma bought him tons of fun stuff!

My work had a carnival/summer patio party for us. They had a petting zoo for the kids, as well as a bounce house (he wasn't so sure about that).

He was a big fan of the animals though.










He really liked all of the turtles that were there. There were three crates of them. Plus ducks, llamas, alpacas, goats, geese, a big pig, lots of birds, bunnies, sheep etc.












The boys ended the day with a few barrel rolls down the grassy hill. I think Ares enjoyed himself.

Happy Father's Day

Today was an extremely relaxing day. Adam took Ares on a bike ride, we went to a picnic in the early afternoon, and slept the rest of the day away. It ended while watching The Incredibles and Cars (surprise surprise) on TV.

This is one of my new favorite pics of my two guys. Taken a couple of weeks ago. I don't think I've posted it yet.

Toddler for sale?

"This kid might not make it to three". That was my post on Facebook on Wednesday night. Dear - Lord! If any of you recall, for the first 25.5 months of his life, (aside from the reflux issues) I had the perfect kid. The one who slept from the day he was born, the one who never cried in public, the one who would go to anyone.

Now, I think my 'perfect' child has been switched with the spawn of Satan. If he doesn't get what he wants, he cries, if he gets what he wants, he cries. He just stands there and cries. and cries. and cries. I'm not even sure he knows why he's crying sometimes. The worst part of it all is the fact that you cannot reason with a two year old. He was in the pool and wanted to go swimming, he was holding a ball and wanted to play catch, he wanted to sit at his picnic table and eat dinner (when he was standing at the picnic table with the food and a sippy cup already on the table!). Yet, he. just. cried. 30 minutes later, he was in his crib crying, while we ate a semi-peaceful dinner for 15 minutes, got him up, spoon fed him his fettucini alfredo, read a book and put him right back into the crib where he (thankfully) fell asleep.

It was nice of everyone on Facebook to offer to take him. Of course, they were all either in Columbus or Cincinnati, (2 and 4 hours away, respectively). I know that I should probably just put him to bed earlier, but with dinner, brushing teeth, sitting on the potty, bath, book, PJ's - it's nearly impossible to get him down before 8:20. Especially since we don't usually finish dinner until around 7:30-7:45. The picture below shows last night, me reading him a book. This is a part of our nightly routine. The earlier we get to bed, the more books we read. It's a terrible picture of me, but the actual reason for me putting that picture down is what book we're actually reading.

A funny thing happened last night. Ares was getting his diaper changed, and he was whining, fussing, crying and rolling all over the place. It was only tantrum #3 for the 45 minutes I was home, but I was still overly frustrated, and I wanted him to settle down so we could change him and get his PJ's on...

... so I slapped his tush. Not hard. He didn't cry, but he did let me finish changing him. I asked him to pick a book out to read, and after searching his bookshelf for 5 minutes, he comes out with this book, and says "Mommy, hitting is bad." - What a little shit. This kid is SMART! Too smart for his own good, that's for sure. Well, perhaps he's just too smart for MY own good!

The VP of my department told me that 3 is bad too, 4 is worse, and that they coined the 5 year old stage the "Fucking Fives". Yay.

Warrior Dash 2011

This year was brutal - and better than last year. I must say, if we do the dash in Logan, OH again next year, I may not participate. It was all up hill, and completely killer. I did not enjoy any of it, except for the obstacles. Those was pretty cool.

The best part of Warrior Dash weekend was staying with Adam's family (22 of them!) in a cabin. The food was great, company was awesome, and we even had a cool light display (read:Massive storm) to watch one evening. Ares behaved himself for the most part, and we were all wet and muddy from dash.

My mother in law was pretty sick and weak, so we had to leave the dash right after racing, which kind of sucked, but we needed to get her back to the cabin so she could rest. (She's doing much better now, and hopefully will be feeling 100% in a couple of weeks.)

I have about 300 pictures - here's a few.

My kid will be a left handed batter. He loves the "beeseball field".

I love this outfit. Fireman boots from 'mama' she bought, and a rainjacket from GG found at a garage sale. Too cute. NO, he's not peeing here. =P

Fun playing with the water.
This shot here, was taken just before he fell in.

Another day in his raincoat. He loves this car, too bad it's my mom's neighbors.

We've had some terrible storms lately. One day we lost our patio furniture to the backyard and the neighbor's yards. Last night, we had a lot of hail. It sounded so bad that I thought our windows broke and it was hailing on our tile floors in the kitchen. Not the case, just loud-ass hail. We've spent more time in our basement this week than we ever have before.

Ares LOVES the thunder and lightening. He actually had us turn the lights off in the basement so he could play with his flashlight and watch the lightening through the tiny little block window. He slept through the midnight storms - I'm not entirely sure how.