Zoo

Yesterday, we went to the Brookfield Zoo. Just the 3 of us. It was a beautiful day and summer camp was done for the day, so why not!! Instead of the traditional lions and tigers and bears, we accidentally focused on the sightly more obscure animals the zoo has. Such as:

Skink

Sea Horses

Sting Rays

Chuckwalla (this one cracks me up, as the boys when they are acting 'silly' say made up words all the time, and one of their favorite 'made-up' words is 'Chic-walla-walla-walla'!).


On top of those, we also spent lots of time:
waving to/chasing squirrels...
looking at the empty fountain =(

climbing in a statue of a fish head!

enjoying our first push ups of the year-YUM!

It was a HUGELY successful day! And we did it all without the stroller (I wasn't planning to go anywhere besides camp when we left in the morning!)....but we did fine!!

Make your own...

water slide!!! (I could write a detailed account about this with my perceptions. But I think for once I'll shut up and let the pictures do the talking!!)

1. Fill bucket with water....

2. Climb up swing set....

3. Pour on the water....

4. And slide!!!

Their laughs were the best part!

Monkeys!

When I was pregnant with Trevor (4+ years ago-yikes!), we wanted to be surprised and didn't find out if we were having a boy or a girl. Many, many people asked us during the pregnancy, and initially the answer was a generic, "We don't know." or "We're not going to find out until the delivery." Some people are okay with this answer, others not so much (as if it's any one's right to choose/decide but the parents!).

(If you know my husband, this next part won't surprise you.) By about 6 months pregnant, we were both tired of the generic question and answer, and one day upon being asked "Oh, so what are you having?" by some curious by-stander, my hubby answered, "Oh, the Doctor said it might be a monkey!". And that became the new 'standard' response. We got laughs, strange looks, worried concern that we should consult a new doctor, the whole works. Eventually, we had both boys, and didn't know the gender of either until they arrived. I don't think we'll find out the gender of any future children either. We like the surprise!!

Since then, I have called both boys monkeys for ages, watching them get up to all kinds of tricks. But today, 4+ years after DH first labeled our children monkeys, it was proven to me, yet again, that they are, MOST DEFINITELY, monkeys!

Jealousy

I'm jealous. Terrible but true.

I'm jealous of every pregnant woman out there. I so desperately want baby #3, but so far it's not (apparently) 'meant to be'. According to who I might ask!?!?!?

Is it wrong to be jealous of all the loving couples out there who tried to get pregnant, wanted a baby, and got it? Probably.... but I am (even though I try not to be).

Is it wrong to be jealous of all the random teenagers/adults who get pregnant by accident? Maybe....especially when they terminate the pregnancy (as an adoptee, don't even get me started on that topic), or when they just ruin the kids life.....a la Britney Spears and all the stunts she's pulled!!! Okay, maybe not wrong to be jealous in this case!!

I don't know how not to be jealous, and it's making me cranky and crabby and downright bitchy! I owe all my friends who see me regularly huge apologies, because I'm CONSTANTLY bitching about it. CONSTANTLY. So, to those I see regularly (especially those who are preggo or just had a baby), I'm sorry. Truly sorry. You deserve your happiness and to be able to enjoy it and even wallow in it.

I'm really trying to work through these emotions. My kids are taking the brunt of my bad attitude cause I'm around them all day. Bad mommy! My friends are probably really sick of my crabbing and probably run from my presence when the topic, or a pregnant woman, is in my vicinity. It's like I need a restraining order....on myself and my mouth and my bad attitude.

And then I get an email from one of my best friends, I've known her for 22 years, and find out that she has been trying to have a baby for more than 2 years. Then I read blogs of people who tried to have babies, one way or another, for 4 or 8 or more years.

Then I feel guilty.

How dare I, mother of two gorgeous, wonderful, loving, perfect little boys, be cranky that I can't have ANOTHER! How greedy. Especially when such a good friend can't have one. Yes, I had, and am having, my share of 'issues' getting preggo, but still.....when it comes down to it, I have 2 and she can't seem to have 1.

Good luck tomorrow, dear friend. I hope you find some answers! *hug*

Photo Mosaic...

I saw this on a blog I've been checking out lately and since it:
a) seemed like fun,
b) meant i'd finally check out flickr that i've been meaning to do forever;
c) gave me something to do in the rain, and
d) meant i could avoid posting about this weekend, which would exhaust me,

I did it.

So....

The rules:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

The questions that inspired the photos:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.

The photos:

It's raining, It's pouring....

The weather in Chi-town today, "Goofy!". That's not the weatherman's term for it, but Trevor's description.

It was SO dark this morning that they slept in until 7:45!! Woo-hoo!!! Just dark and overcast and rainy.....maybe it should do that more often, so they sleep in!! ;) As the morning went on, it lightened up, but was still slightly overcast, with threats of rain, and heated up fast....by noon it was about 85 and 90% humidity. Icky!

Since it was icky, we spent the morning at the gym. Great place for them to burn off energy, and they had a great time as always. We left close to lunch time and I realized how grossly sweaty Blake was. He's a little furnace (like his Dad) at the best of times, but put him in a gym running around like a maniac for 2+ hours and he's just GROSS!!! I didn't even want him in my car (but yes, I put him in!). Home we went, windows open, and had lunch. Grandma came to babysit, and I went to work. The weather still icky, scattered thunderstorms hitting here and there.

Upon returning from work at about 4 pm, both boys were hot(er), sticky, and stinky(er)! They wanted to play outside (why? it's 90% humidity....I don't wanna go out there!), and so we did. 5 minutes after getting out there, another scattered thunderstorm hit. And we.....stayed out in it! Yup, I just decided, what the heck! They needed a bath badly anyway, so why not stay out, play in the warm summer rain, and have a blast!!!

They adored it!! They splashed in every puddle they could find, walked in the gutters all the way to the drain at the corner and watched the water FOREVER! And when the rain stopped, they were sad! It stopped and started over and over, and each time it started was like opening a birthday present....both boys had such smiles on their faces (you'll have to imagine, as my camera was dry inside the house!!). It brought back memories of standing in the gutters on a warm summer night, when I was about 8, and just loving the feeling of that water rushing down the street to the drain. Such a nice thought.

Steve came home early from work, and wondered what they heck was wrong with all of us, but who cares!! Blake had a few interesting moments, where splashing wasn't enough and he wanted to drink the rain water, by licking it off the patio stones!! EWWWW!!! But we got past that soon enough! The whole time Trevor sang "It's raining, It's raining....." I kept trying to sing the next part (i.e. "the old man is snoring") but he wanted nothing to do with that!!!

I think, if it was only based on the hours of 4-5:30 pm today, I could win the "Coolest Mom of the Year" award. Well, maybe!!!

Meltdown...

What a busy day!!! The title is only relevant to part of the day, but there's too many other things that happened to list them all in the title!!

We started off this morning going to playgroup. This consists of 5 mom's and 10 kids, 7 boys between 1.5 and 4 and 3 girls under 18 months! What fun!! One of the little girls loves me and loves to sit in my lap.... today that wasn't okay with Blake. So he kicked her!!! Yup, my sweet little monster kicked her right out of my lap! So that resulted in a timeout, which he never recovered from. He refused to apologize, so I refused to coddle him, so he spent the rest of playgroup lying on the floor being pouty. I made him give her a hug before we left, but he was a PITA!!! Oh well, Trevor and I had a great time....and I got a lot of mom-talk/gossip in!!!

This afternoon, we were visited by one of my favorite people.... Stanley Steemer!! Yay, clean carpets. The main family room, along with the guest room (that is a hide-away for my older cat Pfister) REALLY needed it! The SS guys were a little disgusted by the state of the carpet in the cat room, but oh well! The rooms look (and smell) much better than they did this morning, and the boys loved watching the action!!




After nap, we made a quick trip to the grocery store. Nothing major, no issues. So upon returning home, the boys were granted the right to play outside. They were good, so I rewarded them. A request was made to take a walk around the block, and so we started. We got sidetracked down the street at a friends house. The friends' Grandpa was digging out old trees and putting in new ones. We HAD to stay and watch for a while. Warnings that we were about to leave were given and no problems were encountered....until we left.

Trevor hopped back on his bike, and Blake opted to pull the wagon instead of ride. When we got to the corner - left to go around the block, straight to go home - Trevor turned left, no problem. Blake went straight....problem!! Blake REFUSED to go around the block. And when I say refused, I truly mean it. This kid is pure 2 1/2 and STRONG!!!

I put him in the wagon, he got out. I carried him, he screamed. I put him down, he ran for home. It was a no-win situation. Eventually, we just went around the block. Blake followed me down the street screaming and howling like a madman. Nothing made him happy. He didn't want to be in the wagon, didn't want to walk, and didn't want to be carried!!! And as we made our way around the block, about 3/4 of a mile all in all, he got louder and louder. Neighbor's started opening doors and looking out windows. Kids of all ages stopped and stared. Only one dared comment.... at least to me!

So, now I wonder what they think of me..... Hopefully, some of the other parents out there understand that sometimes a kid just screams and nothing will make them happy!! Hopefully, no one thinks I deserve to be reported!!! I just make sure I appreciated Trevor being good the whole time, and ignored Blake. What else can you do!

Bubbles.....

At some point during the past weekend, (I can't remember when, it was busy and beautiful...so sue me!) the boys had a grand old time blowing bubbles. You know, the old standby bubbles! But they love it and can't get enough of it.

I will give big kudos to the person who invented the "bubble pipe" type thing (see below).....that lets you dip the end in a tray of bubble solution and blow into the other end creating TONS of bubbles. Not only can Blake do this on his own (and can't do the single 'wand'), but he loves the results of TONS of bubbles and doesn't get nearly as messy!!! Yay!!!

The bonus while bubble blowing this weekend....the cat was outside! She loves bubbles and loves to chase them, so the boys had an audience (besides me!) and I was off the hook to go do some yard work!!!






So here are some pics of my lovely garden. I finally got it all weeded, all the new mulch in, and everything pretty darn perfect for the moment! I've got a few more plants coming by mail that need to be planted, but that's about it..... now I just have to keep up on the weeds!




So, Mr Plant Bio-Chemistry professor that is my father, what do you think about your daughter's green (maybe only light- or pale-green) thumb?? I'm trying to keep things (besides weeds) growing here!!!

Barbeque

Saturday night was our monthly pot-luck night with a group of friends we've known for about 10 years now. We all met post-college, but many pairs/trios within the group met in college or high school. This group is how I met Steve too!

We now have a monthly gathering at someone's house that is a pot-luck night with a theme. We've done "food on a stick" night, halloween, italian night etc. It's become great fun and with all of us getting busier, an easy way to keep in touch still.

Anyway, Saturday night was 'Carnival' theme at M&S's house. They have an almost 6-year-old son, and there were also another 2-year-old, 16 month old, and 5 month old there. Lots of fun for the kiddos!!! Most of the time was spent outside enjoying the wonderful summer weather that is FINALLY here (but probably not for good!).

T&B on the Bronco rider on their swing set.
Steve and friends making Cotton Candy (the dad's liked it more than the kids!)
T&B with their fancy animal cups. Trev has a lion, Blake has a dog (or mouse he says!).
Blake decided to carry the hiking backpack that we use to carry him, to carry Elmo!
T&B back to the Bronco rider, it was a HUGE favorite!

T-ball Week 3

T-ball week 3 was much like weeks 1 and 2. However it was also picture day. While this played havoc with the schedule, that's about all it did. Not really interesting for the average reader.

During practice, Trevor again took great pride in his throwing ability, throwing it way past all the other kids he was supposed to throw too. So, the coach decided it was time for Trev to practice batting. As much as he wants to hit a homer, he's just not quite there, so coach was happy to have him practicing that!



We did play a game, versus the Blue team (we are the Light Blue team....don't get confused!). On the Blue team is a friend of Trevor's from pre-school (who I jokingly refer to as his 'girlfriend'). They'll go to all 15 years of school together (pre-k thru 12) as long as neither family moves, so I doubt she'll ever be his actual girlfriend as they'll know each other too well for that!!!

But at this age, it's funny to watch them. Trevor was in the field first, and as she ran from 1st to 2nd base, she waved, stopped and said hi! Then coach yelled, so she ran to second. After running home, she stopped and talked to me about how she talked to Trevor, again until a coach told her to go sit down. When Trevor was running the bases, after batting, they chatted and waved again. And after the game they had fun checking things out while her mom and I talked.

You can't see it in the glare, but she's #1 and he's #2, and it made me think of Thing 1 and Thing 2 from Dr. Seuss.