It's Not Flogging Molly, but 'Oh Mr Sun' is Fun Too!

Yesterday was Ares' Spring concert.  Again, they put all 4 boys together.  This time, it was a good thing.  They (well, all but Lukas, he's not a group activity type) all participated, danced, sang, and had a good time.  Ares decided before the show that he wanted to wear that hat.  We had to change his pants to match. 

Ares, Davis, Colt, Lukas

 This is their favorite song.  'Oh Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun, Please come out to play" it's a fun song.   It's my favorite song too.  I'm glad Ares decided he would actually sing, as he told me before the concert that he was only going to sing "Rebels of the Sacred Heart" and nothing else.







After the concert they got cookies.

 

Grandma Venus and Papa Keith came to watch him and take videos. 
He wanted nothing to do with me or Adam once he saw them.

 

I did get a picture with him before he ran off though. 

He did think one song was boring, (and everyone in the audience agreed), but he showed it by sitting on the step while everyone else stood and sang.  It was quite funny.  He told me before (and after) the show that he didn't like that song, that it was boring.  

We Did It!

Ares, that is.  Ares has made it through an entire soccer practice without pouting or crying.  We even did the 'shark' game.  He put his hands above his head (to look like a shark), gave me the biggest smile, told me that he was going to 'let me win' (the game is that he's supposed to try and get the ball from me as I dribble away from him) and we.had.fun!  After the 30 seconds ended, I gave him a giant hug and let him have the ball back, and all was good in the world.   He also got an Andes chocolate/mint an hour later.  He said 'thank you' about a hundred times when I gave it to him, but I was more thankful that he behaved and participated like a big boy. No pictures - we were playing!

- Oh, and we finally cut our lawn.  It was getting so high that Ballpark didn't want to go into it!  Yikes!



He finally knows how to write an "S" without tracing!!



Some Day Laundry Room

I found this picture on a blog I follow - House*Tweaking.  I like the blog, although, typically the styling is not my type.  This laundry nook, however, is about the same size as ours - the width of a washer and a dryer - and no more.  One day, we'll have front loader washer/dryers, and I really like this layout. Can't do it now, as our washer is a top loader.  I'd put a bar up high in between the two cabinets though, to hang laundry. Then I can remove the hangers and it would still look nice behind it for when I have people over. 

Source House*Tweaking

In other completely related news, Adam can't wait until this baby comes out, because all I do is come up with projects, hehehe. 

A Little Bundle of Mud

Boys and their toys mud. I'm sure everyone who reads this has seen the Facebook pictures and knows the story.  Adam, his sister Leah, Devin, Darrah, and two of Leah's friends ran the Tough Mudder race this year.  It was the second time for Darrah and Adam, (Justice, my brother was supposed to race this year for the second time too, but a last minute hardware installation in his shoulder required him to sit out this weekend.  Although, I'm beyond grateful that he came to watch with us.  We don't spend enough time together.)  The weather was 30* warmer than last year, and it was dry the entire day as well (unlike last year).  One thing didn't change, my kid likes to play with trucks in the mud.  The only thing different this time is that Ares didn't mind getting his hands muddy - and neither did Davis.  Success!!!


See, the mud was up to his elbows and he didn't care!   =)


The run was slow this year, as there were a couple of non-runners in the group, but since the 4 year olds got along beautifully, and the weather cooperated, aside from my feet hurting and being a little tired, it was MUCH more enjoyable than I was anticipating, so all in all, the event was great.

At one point, Ares lost his shoe (ok, he lost his shoe 6 times) but one of the times, he lost his shoe and the mud caved in around it.  I had to fish through the mud hole to find it, and eventually did, along with 3 other shoes ("and a yucky sock"- Ares would add in).  He didn't care, just stuck his foot in, and all the gook came out the sides.  Crazy kid. 

Live electrical wires.

A long jump into cold water.

Everyone finished



Some with more hubris than others.  =p 



Kick Start Soccer - Take 2

As promised, photos from Ares' Monday soccer practice.  I was the only preggo mama out there running with her child.  I felt a little silly doing so, but it was nice to be able to participate.   I must say, while Ares still didn't like the "shark" game (where I have the ball and keep it away from him), he did very well at practice.  No temper tantrums, just a few minutes of pouting, and he was a good enough listener to do everything the coach said, which usually meant he was the first in line or the first at the other side of the field.  He did very well, and I was so proud of him.  I'm really glad we did this again this year.  His shooting skills leave a bit to be desired, but he sure can dribble and stop/trap a ball pretty well. 

Ares dribbling the ball with big mama running beside him.
(More like trying to keep up with him!!)

I'm not quite sure what he's doing here. He was VERY good
about not using his hands, and even yelled at me a few times. 

Dose of Reality

I got caught behind a multiple fatality car accident today.  A pretty major one.  It happened when a truck southbound on 77 came across the median and into oncoming traffic (77 is a major highway in Cleveland).  Instantly, all 4 lanes (at the time entrance lane hasn't merged yet) were blocked.  I had to slam on my brakes.  There were semi trucks in front of me, so I was fortunate as to not witness the crash, but it happened three (3!!) lamp posts in front of me AND we were in the left lane, the lane where the truck entered the wrong side of the highway  (which is 50-100 yards - probably 100).  Moving at a clip of about 80 MPH, I was, what? 10 seconds, if that, away from that 5 car 2 semi truck accident.  We were gridlocked for hours, because we had just passed the exit ramp to get off, and the accident happened right around where the people on the entrance ramp get on. 

This picture is actually after most of us had gotten off of the highway. 
The arrow is where we were.   The cars in the median right by the arrow were by us and got
into a small fender bender when we were all stopped.
You can see the entrance ramp (on the left) actually has cars driving the wrong way
 on it. That's how we got off the highway.  It's still closed 4 hours later. 

After 20 minutes or so, a good majority of us were out of our cars standing around on the sunny but crisp Tuesday morning.  Ares and I got out fairly early to watch Life Flight land on the highway.  It was too late.  I believe that there are only three ways for a non medical person to say what the 'cause of death' was, and one of those happened - a friend witnessed the torso being pulled out.  We saw 4 ambulances leave the scene, but the life flight was still there by the time we got off the highway.  Again, I'm grateful there were trucks and fire trucks in front of me and Ares. 

Maybe because I had my son with me, but when people started complaining about missing appointments or being late for work, my only thought was - deal with it: we were 10 seconds away from being hit, seriously injured or even dead - with my child (and unborn child) in the car.   I still have a hard time believing that something so quickly can end a life.   Explosions at work, bombs at celebratory events, car accidents that are completely out of your control.  

Hug your loved ones next time you see them. 

A Horrible and a Great Weekend

THIS IS GOING TO BE SUPER_LONG.  IT'S BEEN ONE HELL OF A WEEKEND, GOOD AND BAD.

We had a rough start this weekend. Friday started out like this picture below:  He woke up slowly walking to the room "Mommy!  I can't open my eyes! Help, I can't open my eyes up!"  Poor kid had his eyes seized closed with all the crusties from overnight.  To me, that means Pink Eye.  Fortunately, after calling off, taking Adam his work phone that he left at home to work, and to the doctor's office we learned that it was just allergies.  That's somewhat crazy though, as I've never seen eyes crusted like that from allergies, but whatever, at least we could still do things that day!  So after going to my office to pick up my laptop, we went to Steak and Shake and then I worked while he took a nice long nap.  Daddy came home at the normal time and we went out for pizza. Yum! It's been forever since we've gone out to eat pizza. 



Mommy - my eyes are sick.  I don't like allergies.

Friday ended up being pretty good.  Ares and I enjoyed our time together and I still got a lot of work completed.  Saturday is somewhat different.  First grandma came over and surprised us with donuts before we all went to look at Justice and Katie's new house.  It's REALLY nice, and Ares got a chocolate donut with cream inside that had a frosting crocodile on top. He was in heaven. 

See that green stuff?  That's all additional frosting.  Crazy!

I watched Eve and Davis (and Ares) Saturday morning while everyone but me ran the Tough Towner 4mile run that was being held in Streetsboro.  Ares threw so many temper tantrums, and cried for 20 or 25 straight minutes when at McDonald's, that I was starting to hate his name, and hate my voice.  He.Was.Terrible.  I am wondering if it is the Benedryl or the other allergy medicine we give him, because for one of the first times ever, I did not like my kid, and if we weren't in public (I say this, although, it's likely not true), I don't think he'd be able to sit down for a year.  I was so frustrated.  I'll leave it at that. NOT a good time. 

The other kids were awesome, although, Connor took the nun chuck to our  Hot Wheels Wall Track and not only pulled the ENTIRE thing off the wall, but took some drywall with it too.  =(  We're not sure that's going to go up again, we'll see.  Ares has never once disconnected any of it, but his friends, they don't seem to get it, even when we tell them (Lukas did it at the birthday party - although, only two sections were taken down along with the stickies with him - and no dry wall.  No easier to put up though, but at least we didn't have to mud and paint like we will with Connors episode.)

Before Ares was acting up, the kids all got a long great.  
Here, Ares and Eve were playing 'house' and it was naptime for the babies.

Adam must have realized what a horrific day it was for me, because he let me take a nice long nap and then came with me to run errands to get new tennis shoes and chocolate for book club - and then took me to Chipotle for dinner.  I love Chipotle - he doesn't.   Off to book club I went, off to Ben's house went Adam to see Devon and Ben and for Davis, Eve and Ares to get together again - until 11:45! hehe.  I got a text like this:  "Two dresses and a box of crayons." was the caption.  Apparently, Ares has no idea how to put a dress on - although, once it was on, he kept it on for a while.  He and Davis also paraded around in some (costume) dress shoes too.   I guess this is what happens when you leave the kids with their fathers - your sons wear dresses and a midnight bedtime.  At least the kids were all good and got along great - and book club was a ton of fun - as usual.

Sunday was a whole new day.  Ares woke up around 9:15 in a great mood, we had breakfast at Grandma Venus' house and he got to play and talk and do whatever he wanted all morning.  After 'naptime' in which he read 30 books ("all but these two, please don't put these two away, because I didn't read them yet") and we were off to Davis' birthday party at Kent Lanes.  We had a ton of fun, and aside from Ares'  nose bleeds and Kenny's 3 stitches from falling on a step, it was an awesome party.  I'm surprised with as much as Ares had seen Davis in the last day that they got along great!  All of the kids did.  So well, that we went to the 'after party' at Davis' house.    Insert Ares not having a nap and still being fun.  This never happens.  He is usually a bear by now.  But he got along with his friends great.  He did manage to squish his fingers in a door, and let go of a swing while it was moving, but he got a Popsicle, so after about 5 (justified) minutes of crying, all was good in the world and he played for another hour or two.  Enjoy some pictures:

Picture was (obviously) taken post-popsicle, pre-shower.

Here, he told me he looked like a zombie and asked me if zombies had brains. 

Pre shower again, after we cleaned his face, we noticed it's slightly worse than we first thought.

Post shower pictures - no more blue-zombie looking kid.  He didn't complain much at all about the shower, aside from the cut on his eyelid burned for a few seconds when he first got water in it.  He's still smiling though.  He said he had the  BEST time today.  Although he came home beat up, he loved everything about Davis' birthday party.

 Annnd.... here's what he looked like this morning after waking up.  For some reason, he likes to see pictures of himself more than he likes to just look in the mirror.   Works for me, now I have documentation of his silly-ness boy antics. He didn't complain once this AM about his cuts, and we noticed extra scrapes on his cheek, nose and lip that we didn't notice yesterday (or noticed, but thought it was just dry skin or dry blood from his constant (even in the shower) bloody nose). 


Mom, I JUST want to see what I look
like in the camera, no more pictures!



Then he looked at the camera and said "haha, I still look silly!"



JUST woke up, he still might be dreaming. 



This picture shows nothing, really, except the nose/lip scrapes
 but I thought it was so cute.  I love this guy!

We got none of the staining we wanted to done, because it was freezing (literally) outside, but I hope in two weeks we can get it done!   Soccer starts tonight, more pictures (hopefully) tomorow!

Weekends

We almost got the one thing we needed to do done this weekend, haha.  A birthday party mid-day one of the days kind of threw a wrench in any big projects, and it was just too cold on Saturday to do anything.  (Note to self - try to always have morning birthday parties.)  We did manage to get outside for an hour or so on Sunday though.  Adam started staining the table (got 1.5% done) and I spray painted some new junk (brown metal-primed and painted) to put in the living room while Ares enjoyed his new knee and elbow pads on his bicycle.

He fell on purpose. For the record "It didn't hurt".

Tuesday

Apparently Ares was perfect at Aunt Cindy's - and pretty darn good at our house too yesterday.

Ares: Daddy, what are you making?
Adam: Chicken Kiev.
Ares: What's that?
Adam: Chicken and Broccoli.
Ares: Ooooh, I love that! It smells so good!

It was actually pretty good, but I won't lie when I say that I was dreading it.  Not a huge chicken fan at this moment for some odd reason, and I'm broccoli'd out.  

Two days ago Ares asked for some candy, about 10 minutes before bed.  I told him no, but he can have some broccoli.  He walked over to his dinner plate (which he did not finish about an hour before hand), grabbed a few pieces of cold broccoli (steamed, with nothing on them - yuck!) and chowed down. 

This morning: 3:43 AM:
Ares: *fairly quietly* Mooommmmy, please can I get a kiss?  Please, please please please can I have another kiss? 
-- of course!!!!   I love giving and getting kisses and a satisfied smile from my little boy, so long as he goes back to sleep right afterwards. (He did!)

The Negotiator

A conversation between Ares and my father last night:

Ares: Papa, do you like my car?
Papa: Yes, I really do.  I'll buy it for $5 from you.
Ares: No, $8.
Papa:  How about $7?
Ares: Then you're not buying this car, it's $8.

There's many times that it just hits me, that my baby is growing up SOO fast.  The first time, I think, was when he was finally able to sit at his picnic table and eat a bowl of cereal without any assistance.  Wow, does that make mornings so much easier.  Here's a conversation we had just this morning, that had me scratching my head...

Me: *calling up the stairs while he's dressing himself*  Ares, do you want raisin bread for breakfast?
Ares: *calling from his bedroom*  Sure mom, that's fine!
Me: One piece or two? (He usually has two, but I always ask.)
Ares:  Uhm, I'll just have one. (Still calling down from his bedroom.)
Me: Do you want yogurt as well?
Ares: Yes, yogurt, can I have strawberry please?

Such a simple conversation, but it was so adult like.  He didn't need to see me to talk to me or answer my questions, he answered them clearly, and very adult like (Sure mom, that's fine) hehehe.  He  came down, grabbed the yogurt and raisin bread, sat at his picnic table, and then Ballpark came down the stairs, and he asked us if we can put the collar on so he can let him outside.   Such a big boy!