He Knows My Limits....

... and Lordy knows he loves to push them.   He often reminds me of Stewie from Family Guy.  Ironic that is what he was dressed as for his first Halloween. (For those of you that don't know, Stewie often says "Mom mom mom mommy mom mom ma mom mom mom" "What!?!?!" "I love you")

So Ares does this same thing.  "Mom, can I have a drink of water? Mom why are you on the phone? Mom where is my Jake cup?  Mom who are you talking to? Mom what's for dinner? Mom, I'm hungry. Mom, can I watch TV? Mom, where's Ballpark?" *breath* "Mom, when is daddy getting home? Mom, Mom! Mom, Can I give Ballpark a treat?"  and just when I'm about to say something in a loud and irritated voice the next thing out of his mouth is "Mom, I love you. Mom, I love you in the morning and in the afternoon..."  He did this yesterday - twice.  I must have some sort of warning signal that I give off, because both times it was immediately before I was about to yell  say something that he came with the "I love you".

We got our 2012 bonus today at work.  It was a nice little lump of change.  It also happens to be the day that KidsWoot had something that I wanted, was kind of expensive ($65 incl shipping) and I felt guilty for not buying a single thing (in almost 6 months) for the baby yet. 

I also noticed that since this is a summer baby, I'm going to need a light cover for the carrier, if we're in the sun. (The awning doesn't cover the entire kid and believe it or not, Cleveland does actually get sun in July and August, haha.)  and a diaper bag.  I found two I liked, and then after reading reviews and seeing how large they actually are, decided that I need to see some in person before I decide.  I really want(ed) a back pack one, so maybe I'll just find a backpack and put a thermal in it for bottles and stuff.  It'll probably be cheaper.   

Furniture is in!

Well, most of the furniture is in, at least.  We're still waiting on the ottoman, but they called me to tell me it's not in yet, so that's good. It wasn't a surprise when they dropped off the couch.   It's awesome.  It's more comfy, I shock people/things 75% less than I did on the red couch, and IT. IS. HUGE! 
The two negatives I've found: 1) It kind of closes off the room because of the side that the chaise lounge is on, and 2) Ballpark's toys ALL fit underneath it.  So he likes to push them under there, and then bark at them until we get it for him.  It's annoying, and slightly difficult as I really have a belly now. 

A nice and clean room.  I even did the baseboards!! But I didn't notice how
dusty the wall was behind the couch, I still need to dust the wall. 



I've yet to be able to capture the whole couch is one picture, this is most of it though.



The most recent school picture for Ares.  Taken just a couple of weeks shy of his 4th birthday.

 One of my favorite school pictures.  He rocks at the spring time pics, which are the ones around his birthday, so SCORE!  I only wish I would have cut his hair before the picture and not after (I finally gave the boys hair cuts last night. Adam looks bald as he wanted his whole head at a #2, Ares got a #4 on top and #2 on the bottom.)



Future Journalist?

Someone left a Ninja Turtle notepad in Ares' cubby yesterday at school.  He was VERY excited about it, so we brought it home with us.  Yesterday was trash day, but Ares said it was too cold to help bring them in (he normally does it himself).  So I went down to bring them in, and when I walked in to the house, this is what I came in to. 

He was all ready to ask me some questions.  In fact, he had remembered roughly 3/4 of the questions I asked him two days ago.  For each question he asked, he "wrote" my answer on a different page. Crazy kid.  Now, if I can get him to write his name 15 times for thank you cards. 

Ares K.W. Miller - Age 4

Each year I want to ask Ares the same questions and see how his answers change. Hopefully this becomes a trend and I don't forget each year. He doesn't turn four for a couple of days, but I wanted to make sure I didn't forget to do this, so I asked him a few days early. 

Yesterday, I sat down with him to get some very important questions answered.  I asked the question, he repeated it (on his own) and then he answered it. He was funny, he didn't question anything I asked, nor did he hesitate on any of his answers.  It took a whopping 2 minutes to do this whole thing. I wrote them down exactly as he answered, so here goes:

1. What is your favorite color?  Blue and Green 
2. What is your favorite toy?  Racecar
3. What is your favorite fruit? Pineapple
4. What is your favorite TV show? Transformers
5. What is your favorite movie? Ninja Turtles
6. What is your favorite thing to wear? Superman
7. What is your favorite animal? Crocodile
8. What is your favorite song? "Rebels are We" Flogging Molly   (Actually called "Rebels of the Sacred Heart" - but he has the artist right!)
9. What is your favorite book? Bear Hunt!
10. Who is your best friend?  Kenny and Davis
11. What is your favorite food? Apples, fruit snacks, oranges, broccoli, spaghetti (I would like to add cheeseburgers and pizza to that list for him)
12. What is your favorite snack? fruit snacks
13. What is your favorite drink?  Juice (He has still never had pop, although, I'm surprised he didn't say 'milkshakes')
14. What is your favorite game? Hide and Seek (I didn't even know he's played this before)
15. What do you like to do outside?  Run! 
16. What do you sleep with at night? Mousie
17. What do you want to be when you grow up? Captain America
18. What is your favorite sport? Soccer and Football
19. What is your favorite restaurant? Subway eat fresh
20. What do you want for your birthday? Everything
21. What is your favorite thing to do with daddy? Play monster truck
22. What is your favorite thing to do with mommy? Play cars and trucks
23. What is your brothers name going to be?* Hero  (even though we've told him multiple times what it is, he tells everyone it's 'Hero')
24. How do you know we love you? Because I love you!

*next year to be changed to What is your favorite thing to do with your brother?

Super Hero Birthday Food

 I took Friday off of work to work on the cake.  This is only my second cake I've ever made.   Thursday, while Ares was at my mom's house, she made the red top (which will later be Spiderman).  We made the middle and bottom layers Friday morning, and I made the frosting on Friday as well.  Mom came over to help frost and decorate the cake.  She helped me with the monster cake last year (which was awesome) too.  Couldn't do it without her!

My mom was a HUGE help with this cake! 

Spiderman was surprisingly easy to do.  Probably the easiest part.  

 For the cake, I used Betty Crocker chocolate and white cake.  It was the least expensive name brand stuff at the store.  The frosting I made from scratch, it was VERY good, a recipe my friend gave me based off of the Wilton recipe.  2c Crisco, 2lb powder sugar, 2 Tbsp Meringue powder, 1tsp butter flavoring, 1 tsp vanilla, maybe some water, crap, I've already forgotten, but I have the recipe in the kitchen, haha.

Like how I hid the baby bump? Haha.

So for the cake, I ONLY used fondant for the Superman logo and the Batman logo.  You can tell, as it's not as smooth as fondant is, but it's tasty - and easier for an insurance-analyst-professional turned pastry-chef-for-a-day person.  Gotham City was done with sugar paper.  I don't recommend using Sugar paper.  The first one I brought home (Walmart) was already in pieces.   I took it back, and got a new one, carrying it home VERY carefully, and each time I touched it, it shattered.  This city here, took about 40 minutes for me and my mom to do, and it took about a half page of 8.5"x11" sugar paper to get that done.  It kept shattering.  VERY frustrating.

Finished product.  We got the figurines from the Dollar Store.  

I know it looks better if you use fondant frosting, but a) I think fondant tastes TERRIBLE  b) is VERY expensive and 3) (hehe) very difficult to work with.  the "rolls" of fondant I bought were like 2" thick bricks.  It was not in rolls, and did not roll easily at all.  Fail.

I was talking to Adam on the phone Friday evening, while he was on his way home from work, and I told him that the cake looked good, but wasn't great (because the frosting wasn't as smooth as I was hoping to get it. again, it doesn't look like fondant).  Ares overheard that conversation, and he jumps on the couch, 'MOM!  The cake is awesome!  It's so awesome!  I love it!  Best. Cake. EVER!!'.  It put everything in perspective.  The cake wasn't for me, it was for my son, and evidently, my mom and I did a good enough job for him.  That totally made my day - and I stopped worrying about the tiny imperfections I noticed.  The birthday boy was happy, and therefore I am too.  =)

Batman - lemon gummies and raisinettes

Captain America Shield  - Raspberries, Yogurt covered raisins, strawberries, blueberries and more raisins. I wanted to put a fruit dip in the center, but the star wasn't going to hold it properly. 

Superman made with strawberries and pineapples

Tony Stark's arc reactor - apples, marshmallow (cut in half) and caramel

TMNT - Donatello's Bows - pretzel rods with twizzler's pull and peel

Spiderman says "Eat healthy!"  This stuff was gone before the party was halfway through. 

It's a SUPER Hero Birthday! (4)

What a weekend!  Thank GOODNESS I'm not in my first tri-mester anymore!  We celebrated Ares' birthday this weekend.  Ares' grandparents (both sides) Auntie Cindy, Uncle Justice, Aunt Katie, all came to celebrate his birthday party with Ares' friends and their parents.
Colt, Lukas, Eve, Makayla, Matthew, Kenny, Connor, Cassie, Anna and Erin all came to the party.  I had them choose capes and designs and I ironed them on as soon as they walked in the door.

The kids mostly ran around and caused basic destruction around the house.  Nothing I wasn't already expecting.  I think they all had a good time.  I know Ares did.  He asked if everyone can come over again.  See the other post regarding all of the food we provided, but I think (for a party from 10AM-Noon) we had a lot of interesting food and most people left happy.  There were very few tears the entire day.  I don't remember much of the party.  Lots of people, lots of fun, lots of chaotic kids running around, I think I talked to people?  Did I?  My kid had a great time, that's all that counts.   Three successful birthday parties in this house.  Yes!!

The kids showing off their capes.  Not all are in the picture, it was tough rounding them all out at once. 

Colt and Ares.  Colt chose to be Superman because his 'daddy doesn't like Batman' hehe. 

Lukas, Ares and Colt

As many as the kids we could round up. 

Chaotic gift opening.  I almost missed it!! hehe

Easy Lamp

I hope I never forget this simple project to brighten up a room.  Take an ugly lamp, hot glue and fabric.     My mom made Ares a great lamp when he was a baby.  It was an ugly baby blue color when it was in my room in HS and College, but she spray painted it white, and then put the brown circles on it that matched the room.  She also got a white lamp shade and put brown ribbon on the top and bottom.  It looked fabulous. until 4 years later the white lamp shade was VERY dirty.  I was at Joann's the other day buying fabric for Ares' super hero capes, and came upon this small remnant about 18x18" in the EXACT colors the baby's room is going to be.  Even better - it has super hero phrases on it.  Jackpot!

Help Wanted: $100/mo

I'm fairly certain that if someone would volunteer to pick my son up from school for me three times a week and take him to my house (and not even have to watch him) that I would pay $100/month.  It's about 12 times a month, that's nearly $10 for 10 minutes a dollar a minute!

I love the feeling of walking away from my office, getting in my car and driving my 26 miles home, but about 3 miles away from my son's school, I get this horrible sick feeling in my stomach, and I dread walking in to pick him up.  To make things easier this week, I have started to grab his stuff out of his classroom before I get him from the gym.  This way, he gets a couple more minutes in the gym, AND I can carry his ass kicking and screaming straight from the gym to my car with no real detours.  Damned cold weather makes me stop in the atrium to put on his coat while he screams, cries and tells me he hates me before I can get to the car though.  That will change when the weather gets nicer - or, I should just make him deal with the cold outside.  (On the plus side, yesterday, about 3 minutes after he settled down (we were already at home) he did apologize to me.  Not once did I tell him or ask him to apologize, he actually did it on his own - so at least he KNOWS saying 'I hate you' is wrong.)

I hope Adam can find a new job to apply to soon.  I'd LOVE for him to be able to get an earlier schedule to help me out in the evenings, because, hands down, there's nothing I hate more than after school pickup. 

Splinter

... and not the Ninja Turtle's Sen say  - rat guy.  Ares came home from school with a band aid on his finger, and told me he had a splinter in his finger.  (1) Ares REALLY behaved himself well when I picked him up from school and at the supermarket.  It was really nice.  (2) Splinters are Adam's specialty.  I do baths and hair and nails, Adam does splinters (which, while this is only Ares' second in entire life, is far more difficult than baths, hair and finger/toe nails).  At first, Ares was really afraid of the needle (we let him choose - big needle (sewing) or small needle - he chose small.  It took 2 minutes to actually get his finger to Adam, but once Adam started 'digging', all was good.  The 1/4" splinter came out in three different sections, the third one being pretty far in there.

Adam rotated between two different sized tweezers and the needle, back and forth, back and forth, and I bribed Ares with a Thin Mint Girl Scout cookie (which he has never had before) so the excitement was enough for him to sit still for roughly 5 minutes while Adam did this needle work:

Every day this kid amazes me.  He's makes me proud of him for millions of different reasons each day.  (Can you tell, it was a good day for us? haha.)

Batman!

Wow, a lot has happened this past weekend.  FYI, this will be a long post:
Friday night Adam picked up Ares from school (he had it easy, as all his friends had already left, so he was ready to go, however) it was nice to not have to do it myself.  We then met Darah, Devin, Davis, Mario, Renata, Lukas, Chrissy and Colt at a Burrito joint in Kent.  The kids actually got along quite well.  After we ate (and provided some comedic relief/annoyances to other patrons) the men went out to celebrate Devin's birthday at some local bars and the ladies and children went to Darah's house to enjoy cupcakes and for the boys to play with lots of new toys. 

Saturday I got to pick up my car!  Yay!  I missed my car.  It was cleaned! Inside AND outside.  Beautiful job repairing the damage as well.  It got an alignment, but it still veers to the left for some reason.  We then went straight to Lowe's for Ares to build another monster truck.  This time he did most of the building himself, and he did a REALLY-GOOD-JOB being a good listener, aside from one time while waiting in line.

We cleared the two boys' rooms of furniture and I vacumed and steam cleaned while Adam made lunch.  I tried to get Ares to take a nap in the afternoon - that was a bust, but the 'quiet time' gave me time to cut out (with the Silhouette) shapes for the capes for Ares' birthday party.   He had mentioned wanting a Batman cape for him a few weeks ago, (even though he's never seen an episode, cartoon or movie) but he knew the character and logo, so I made one for him.  When he 'woke up' I gave him his cape and we went outside to play in the GORGEOUS sunshine and 50* weather.

"Mom, don't call me 'Ares' anymore - call me BATMAN!!"  I was told this all day Saturday - AND all day Sunday.  In fact, the Batman cape was such a HUGE hit, he wore it both days, and asked for a Batman shirt.  So Sunday morning we went to JoAnne's and bought a $3 black t-shirt. 

We had a picnic snack in the playhouse in the yard.  It was starting to get chilly out at this point, and Adam had returned from his 2 hour bicycle ride.

Saturday night we put all the furniture back into the bedrooms - except we switched it up so Ares would have a big boy bed and the baby stuff went into the baby's room.  I'm not sure why I was so worried about Ares moving to a twin bed, he loves it. So much he brings his toys into the bed during the day to sit on top and play.   Score!  Two nights now and he's done great! =)    (Where's the picture?   Bad mom.)

Sunday we awoke to some more sun sun sun.  Adam went for a run while Ares and I showered and got ready to get a shirt for his Batman shirt.  We then hit up a few other stores for odds and ends for the birthday party and then to my parents' house to celebrate my brother's birthday.  (And apparently Ares' birthday too.)  He slept on the way home and once home we cleaned our our garage and took down the Christmas lights from the roof of the house.  It was the first weekend where it was warm enough to not wear a jacket and to get up on the roof.  I'm glad it's done, but oh boy my feet were hurting so bad and I was exhausted by 7:30.  So tired that I made milkshakes and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese for dinner - and Ares went to bed immediately after he ate.  (Bad mom!)

But I'm the 'best' mom so long as I let him wear his cape for two days straight and remember to call him 'Batman'.  =)    The house is a mess, but what a great weekend.  I think (and I hope) that all of the outdoors and nice weather is worth the catch up cleaning we need to do this week.  Wait until you see this cake I'm going to try and bake.  Eeeks!!