Realistic Lesson Plans

I know that yesterday I shared a bit of Evans' school curriculum with y'all. I have to say that every week I look forward to reading about all the lessons that my son is learning at school. It sure makes it easier to part with the tuition money. While Evans' teachers are putting an emphasis on the advancement of his vocabulary and cognitive skills I figured that I might set some more realistic goals that we can work on at home. Let's save the hard stuff for the qualified professionals, right? It's hard being mostly perfect but after really digging I have found a few flaws that Evans could stand to polish. I also managed to find pictures to demonstrate several of his bad habits. First off, I would appreciate it if E would stop scratching his nose. In this picture you can see a cut on the right side of his nose. This has since healed but now he has one on the other side. I am not really digging the ruffian look as I don't feel it photographs well. Since I'm not exactly sure how he does it, I am at a loss as to how to stop it. Next up is something that I could probably stand to help him with.It might just be me but I feel like this outfit might look a little bit better if it included pants. I REALLY like that he has on shoes and socks without pants. I'm just not sure it is his best look and in the future I might have to be more strict about it. The next issue could actually be a bit of a hazard.We are going to have to work on sitting down in the bathtub. I should have made a bigger deal out of it when he first started standing up but since he was trying to kiss me, what could I possibly do? Now he wants to stand to open and close the glass doors, stick his finger up the faucet to turn the shower on my head, knock the $5 bottles of baby wash into the tub while they are open and therefore ruined and to get the squeegee off the ledge so he can lick it. This sort of needs to be dealt with soon. Maybe tomorrow. Lately Evans has been wanting to do everything that the twins do. The problem? The twins are 6 months old and Evans will be 18 months at the end of the month.Which brings us to age appropriate toys. Not really a lot to say here except that my MOM indulged this and put him in the jumper. I'm not sure what the weight limit is but my guess is that it isn't not for 24 pound giants who SHOULD be walking. A good rule of thumb would be that if the child's knees drag on the ground, he is probably too big for the toy. Now every time Jack or Molly wants to play in the bouncer, Evans wants to physically remove them for his turn. While I'm busy not letting Evans play with baby toys we should probably go ahead and work on this.We are getting MUCH better at walking these days, sometimes even choosing to do it on our own accord. Something about being nekkid and being in the hallway leads Evans to transport himself from one place to the next like this. Cracks me up, yes, but normal? I'm not sure about that. Last, but certainly not least on our lesson plan list has something to do with this.We have somehow forgotten (because I know that at some point he did know) that it is not appropriate to crawl on the kitchen table. Even if we are on vacation at the lake house. No matter how much joy it is bringing you.

I think we will start all these lessons tomorrow since the little mister is still running a fever. I hate that he feels bad but I do not mind all the lap sitting/cuddle time I have gotten today. I do mind the 3am wake up. Time to start feeling better! Happy Wednesday!

I Should Have Listened

On Tuesdays and Fridays I have to set my alarm clock for 15 minutes earlier than usual. Typically having to wake up earlier would really annoy me but since these days of the week are school days for Evans, I don't mind. Instead of lounging around and eating breakfast and getting dressed at our leisure, we have to get ourselves out the door to be on time. Evans has been going through a really bad sleeping stage and has wanted to be up at the crack of dawn (I consider this a real problem) so he was awake in plenty of time this morning for all of our pre-school activities. I didn't realize anything was amiss with him besides clearly not wanting to have his picture taken with me. He had his normal crying spell when we got to school but I left and knew he would be fine. Until I got a call from school to come pick him up because he had a 101.5 degree fever. Seriously? Can we catch anymore illnesses in one month? First the stomach bug, than the cough from hell (which might as well have been the stomach bug) and now a fever. When I got to school to pick him up 15 minutes later, he was asleep on his teachers shoulder waiting for me in the director's office. Pitiful. I could tell he didn't feel good and was like a rag doll when I picked him up. Fast forward 1 hour, a dose of tylenol and a 30 minute nap. Temperature at 97.8, chowing down on everything in sight and playing happily. Huh. I really don't get it but as long as he feels better, I'm happy. Something tells me that I probably haven't dealt with the end of this but at least he was responsive to the tylenol. Could he be psyching me out? I forgot to mention he ate two sausages, an entire hash brown patty and a banana for breakfast. I'm a little suspicious.A wasted outfit for sure! I've been pretty lazy lately about school postings. E has been having a great time and his teacher's love him. I think it was the Tiffany necklaces personally. I had to laugh several weeks ago when I got an email from our class mom regarding the end of the year teacher's presents. Is it really necessary to plan for something taking place at the end of May, in the second week of January? I'm just saying. I can't let it pass without saying either that the gifts are completely over the top again. I can't stress enough how happy we are with school and how much we are enjoying E's teachers so I'm happy to do it.........but I've done the math. With everyone participating in the donation, we are spending $450 on an "Our Favorite Things" basket. The teachers have filled out a questionnaire of all their favorite things and apparently, we are buying every single item on the lists (well, not really but almost). I'm just wondering who is going to be in charge of the hand stitched table linens that have been requested. All kidding aside, I feel happy when I drop Evans off to school there twice a week and know that he is going to have a great time. THAT makes it worth it. The four hour break is just the icing on the cake! I do think I'll pass on being a room mom anytime soon. :)This week in school, according to the curriculum sent out by our room mom, Evans will be working on new vocabulary, his math skills, experiencing "Dada art" (??), and his development of language and cognitive skills. Tomorrow I'll be back with a list of more appropriate personal goals for the week that we have set on our own. Happy Tuesday.

2011 Book List

I always love reading everyone else's "what I am reading now" lists and yet I have never done one myself. I love to read and I'm always on the lookout for a good recommendation. I got a Kindle last February so that makes it fairly easy to keep up with what I have read and I have kept a list the past few years on my computer as well. There is no way that I can give a summary of everything I have read in 2011 but I thought I would share my list starting with the most recent and maybe point out the books I really hated or really loved. I can tell y'all ahead of the list that it practically took me ALL of April to read Fall of the Giants by Ken Follet and I really hated it. So, without further ado, my 2011 book list:

The Submission by Amy Waldman
Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
Room by Emma Donnahoe
Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The Gatehouse by Nelson DeMille
The Gold Coast by Nelson DeMille
The Irresistible Henry House by Lisa Grunwald
Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris
Summer Rental by Mary Kay Andrews
The Summer Garden by Paullina Simon
Tatiana and Alexander by Paullina Simon
The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simon
Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls
Lies Chelsea Handler Told Me by Chelsea Handler
Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang by Chelsea Handler
Are You There Vodka, It’s Me Chelsea by Chelsea Handler
My Horizontal Life by Chelsea Handler
This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathon Troller
A Visit From The Good Squad by Jennifer Egan (hated)
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Fall of the Giants by Ken Follett (hated and should have quit)
The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
Swamplandia! by Karen Russell
Little Bee by Chris Cleave
Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
The Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson
The Girl Who Played With Fire by Steig Larsson
The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest by Steig Larsson
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
Eat, Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

By far, my favorite book of the year was Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese. I would love to hear if anyone else has any must reads for me to add to my 2012 book list.

Weekend + Failure

Can I just tell y'all about our weekend? It was definitely not how I was expecting to spend my two relaxing days. We clearly have not kicked this bug completely or we keep swapping germs with the twins and continue to get sick. While Evans has been okay this week he is still having issues coughing and barfing at night. I've changed more crib sheets and washed the bumper on the crib more than I ever care to do for the rest of my life. By Friday I wasn't feeling good either. But just wait until you hear about our Saturday. It can most effectively be broken down into five main parts.

1. 6:00am -- Evans begins to wail. Noooooooooo, are you kidding me? What happened to the kid that sleeps until 8:45 on the weekends? Well, that would be a little unrealistic to expect considering the second I opened his bedroom door I was overpowered by the smell of vomit. I really don't need to elaborate on this except to say that this sucks. If you are a parent, you probably understand. If I could make one request (besides to actually STOP barfing in the crib) it would be to at least try and contain the barf to one portion of the crib. Preferably not on the bumper too. Enough said.

2. 12:15pm -- Mom and I decided that we HAD to get out of the house. It was pouring rain, Evans was whining and we were climbing the walls. We headed out with E to Five Guys for lunch. Evans was thrilled to be going out and I suspect that he was actually quite hungry as well. We ordered burgers, collected drinks/ketchup/napkins and got all set up. Burgers came and we all dug in. About 2.5 minutes into eating and approximately 3 bites into my cheeseburger, Evans shoved a french fry straight down his throat and started coughing. I knew we were screwed. Projectile vomit. All over every square inch of me, him, the floor, the high chair, the table etc. For a second my mom and I just started at each other before she managed to say "Well, that was great". Commence operation clean up and sneak out. Thankfully we were sitting in a corner and no one else saw it happen. I would have felt very bad about ruining someone elses lunch.

3. 3:30pm -- Climbing walls again. Evans, who is absolutely fine besides being whiny, is clearly ready for another adventure because he decides to run away from home. Umm-hmmm, you read that right. Evans is allowed anywhere on the first floor of this house. I don't follow him around everywhere because there isn't a ton that he can get into. I was quietly reading on the couch and he was playing around me in his pajamas (he had to put on something after the Five Guys incident). A couple minutes later I realized that it had gotten really quiet in the house. This is not abnormal but all the same I called out for him. Nothing. A little louder this time. Nothing. I got up from the couch and asked my dad if he had seen Evans. No. I run to the back of the house calling for him and it is clear that he is not back there. At this point I'm starting to feel a little panicky. My dad is also calling for him in the front of the house. Dad asks me, "have you looked outside"? Uhhh, noooo, why would I look outside? How would he get out there? My dad ran out the back door and low and behold there was Evans sitting in the rain on the wet ground behind my car. This means that he crawled out the back door (and closed it behind himself), through the garage and past my car before realizing that he doesn't actually like having on wet clothes and that he was in over his head. My parents live up a huge hill on a cul-de-sac so I don't think he could have made it far but it freaked me out. I'm thinking of getting an invisible fence? I'm currently taking suggestions (besides actually making sure the door is closed all the way). I was too freaked out to take any pictures.

4. My mom informed me upon her return from the laundry room that I had created a "problem by the washing machine". After further investigation I found that I had left the new 3987 pound tub of Oxyclean on top of the washer while doing a load of laundry. Not a great idea as it was all over the floor. It's amazing how much powder 3978 pounds equals. Thank goodness for the new Dyson slim.

5. After my oxyclean incident I came back upstairs and listened for Evans. Unfortunately all I heard was splashing and I subsequently found him playing in the toilet. Soaking wet. Outfit #4.

That about sums it all up. I didn't feel great on Sunday and did my best just to keep up with Evans. I am proud to report that the crib was vom-free this morning and I think we have made it over the hump. Please god let tomorrow morning be the same, only this time, I'd rather it not be at 5:30am. Evans' behavior this past week has been atrocious and I am really praying that it is because he hasn't felt great. If this is a "phase", I'm not sure I can handle it. Happy Monday!

Not At Our Best

Evans has had a rough week. Just in case you can't tell by the withering looks he has been giving me all week long. After he managed to shake the stomach bug he had on Sunday, he was fine on Monday and went to school on Tuesday. Wednesday was a disaster. Evans cried all morning until I was convinced that something was wrong with him. He didn't want to leave my lap or stop wailing in my ear so I panicked and took him to the pediatrician. He had hardly eaten since the stomach bug but I was mainly concerned that something was wrong that I couldn't see. After hauling him to the doctor's office and discovering that he was FINE, I started to get concerned that it was just an attitude adjustment that we needed. His doctor told me that he was just feeling puny from having a virus, he didn't have to eat if he didn't want to, could have tylenol/motrin every four hours AND could go to school because he wasn't contagious. Thankfully we didn't have school on Wednesday or Thursday because there is no telling how Evans would have acted during this funk. I couldn't even capture all the ugly faces I have received the past few days but they make me chuckle and I like the one above best. He looks so annoyed with me.

Today has been as bad behavior wise as yesterday. Evans is still not wanting to eat much and since the doctor said that it was fine, I haven't minded letting him subsist on goldfish. However, when I came into the kitchen this afternoon and found this....I have to admit I was a little concerned. In case you can't tell, this is a giant plastic tub of DOG FOOD. The top screws on. It takes about 4 complete twists to take it off yet Evans didn't appear to have any problem opening it. It must have been the delicious aroma wafting through the airtight container. I can't comment about whether or not I think he ate any of it. He was not pleased when I informed him that he could not have anymore.

As I was feeding Molly this afternoon Evans decided that his favorite toy on earth was a red plastic wiffle ball. He could not part with his wiffle ball and when it rolled just out of his reach behind the sofa, you might have thought it was the end of the world. I told him I would get it for him as soon as I was done feeding Molly but apparently that was not fast enough for him.I watched as he managed to move this entire end table by himself and attempt to wedge himself between the couch and the wall. When none of this worked I had to listen to sobbing until I could retrieve the wiffle ball. Sigh.

There were three highlights to the day. The first was that tomorrow is Friday and therefore a school day. It might be an early release day but hopefully playing at school will snap Evans out of his mood (and I still have a story about school). Second, I got to see my cousin Thomas's "really long train" this morning before he went off to school.I think that Jennifer might have had some trouble finding her footwear for work but the flats add the "really long" aspect to the train. I also love how it is been led by a tractor driven by a farmer. Lastly, I got to capture this awesome video of Evans walking to me.
I've tried to lay off on my strict walking practice since he hasn't felt good. That is probably the only reason why he feels the need to use his tongue as balance. We are getting there! Thank god tomorrow is Friday and here's to hoping for a happier weekend!

Truly Committed

Remember back in October when I purchased my first pair of Reva flats and was pretty sure that my toes were going to require amputation in order to wear them? At the time, I thought that I was the only one that felt like I would rather saw off my feet at the ankle than wear these shoes. I was appalled that the salesman in the store at Phipps admitted so freely that these were the most uncomfortable shoes on earth and that I had to really commit myself to them if I wanted to be able to wear them. Thankfully, I was able to power through the throbbing pain and break in my cute gold flats but let's be honest, I'm not sure how much more I could have endured. Now, instead of wanting to saw off my feet off when I wear them, I think I could settle for having my big toe removed. It is a vast improvement. In fact, considering how awful they were to begin with, I'd almost say that they are comfortable now. I've been living with this snugness at being one of those committed Tory lovers.......Until I saw Pam. It was then and there that I realized I could never be as committed as she was. Pam is my Uncle Jack's wife and when I saw her over Christmas at a family get together it didn't take long for me to take note of her cute TB flats. Upon closer inspection I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me.The conversation that followed went something like this....

Me: "PAM! Are you okay? Did you hurt your ankle"?
Pam: "Ummm, no"
Me: "Well than why do you have an ace bandage on your foot? And, is it covered in.....TAPE"?
Pam: "Oh that? Remember how you said your Tory Burch flats hurt your week? Mine hurt my feet too".
Me: "WHAT"?
Pam: "Yeah, your Uncle Jack has to wrap my feet/ankles every time I want to wear these shoes".

Hmmmm. Need I say anymore? My commitment has really been put to shame in light of realizing that someone else must tape their feet before sliding into their oh so trendy flats. This also requires wearing something that doesn't make the doctoring so obvious. While I like my flats and considered myself pretty into them, I'm just not sure I would have been able to go to this length. How far would y'all go in order to wear your favorite pair of shoes? Jammed up toes are one thing in my book but shoe induced bleeding is entirely another. Let me know how those work out for you, Pam!

First Hair Cut & First Stomach Bug

I finally let everyone elses opinion on Evans' hair get to me and we took a visit to Pigtails and Crewcuts on Saturday morning. I didn't see a problem with the fact that when wet, parts of Evans' hair reached his chin, but apparently other people did. I have to say that once confronted with the idea of Evans getting a haircut I was fine with it and pretty excited to take him. Evans had a birthday party on Saturday morning so we stopped by the children's haircut place on the way to the party. What a freaking zoo that place is! I've never seen so many kids, so many brightly colored walls, and so many toys. Pretty much your worse nightmare if you are hungover (which I was not) or in a rush (which I was) but they moved super fast and before we knew it Evans was in the shiny fire engine donning a cape.Evans was a little concerned about the little boy next to him that was screaming bloody murder his entire haircut but he managed to keep his composure. Considering he had about 8 hairs to trim up, it didn't take very long. And in case you feel like I shouldn't have succumbed to the pressure, I did take this picture of him in the bathtub last week. It sort of proved to me he was ready.The rest of Saturday was a fun day and tomorrow I will post pictures from the birthday party we went to afterwards. The picture at the top is post-haircut and looking cute.

Unfortunately, sometime during the night on Saturday night/Sunday morning our fun times ran out. When I went to get Evans on Sunday morning when I heard him talking he was covered in vomit. Niiiiiice. Clean up round one. The chance of a stomach bug never even crossed my mind. Had breakfast. Threw up in the highchair. Clean up round two. Ten minutes later, threw up all over me while I was holding my shirt out to catch barf. Clean up round three. And acceptance that Evans had a stomach bug. As you can see, he was pretty much pathetic and pitiful all day long.However he really didn't mind being able to sit with Susie and watch the Kardashians. I told him that if he chose to watch it with her I was going to have to make fun of him. He really didn't seem to mind.After two more clean ups late last night, we made it through the night without incident and seem to be much much better today. We are almost to 24 hours of not throwing up and besides being tired, I think he has felt a lot better today. If we have a good night sleep and appear to be okay in the morning I'm going to let him go to school and chalk it up to a 24 hour bug. God, please let it be over! I always brag about not getting stomach bugs but I'll wait a couple more days to brag this time. So that was our long weekend. Eventful, just not always in a good way! I'm going to pray for a less eventful week. Happy holiday Monday everyone!

He's Got The Groove

I feel like I need to start this post off by making a very direct statement. I do not and cannot dance. It is just that simple. I am so bad at dancing that the thought of it makes my stomach hurt and therefore, I do not do it. Pretty much ever. When Deaner and I got engaged several years ago, my in-laws gave us ballroom dance lessons to take before our weddings. Oh I cannot even tell y'all how much I dreaded those lessons with Julio each week for three whole weeks. Deaner cannot dance at all either but I don't think he feels as self-conscious about it as I do. Which brings me to Evans. I'm not entirely sure where he came from because that kid can break it down. Every time there is music playing in the car, or on the TV, or even, as you will able to see, when I play a xylophone for him, he has to dance. It all started with a shoulder shimmy that I saw him do one day and it has only grown from there. I've added several videos to prove what I am talking about. This first video was taken on Christmas day this year and the music is coming from his new Cars keyboard/drum set.
Our next dancing display is when I show off my musical talent on the xylophone. Evans might be able to dance but his skillz on the musical instruments are a bit lacking.
This push toy is one of Evans favorites now. He really likes to turn the music on here AND on his Cars keyboard at the same time. It doesn't make me feel like I'm going insane at all.

And last but not least here is a video of him dancing with his Aunt Donna. If you are wondering why there is a blank stare on his face it is because it was probably about 11:00pm when I took this and he was still awake. Who can sleep when there is dancing to be done?Now that he can stand up there is no telling what he will be capable of dancing wise next!

It's Official.....

I truly never thought I would live to see the day. I'm not even really sure how it happened because I was not really expecting it. None of these videos are very good because Evans kept getting distracted by my phone or else my stupid video would not open in time. This is still not his preferred method of getting around but it is a start and we are getting there. Plus, it is too cute to watch. The first time he did it he was so proud that it was great. I didn't want to be rude so I didn't remind him of his age.
I can't believe that it has taken me this long to figure out how to post a video on here. I had to ask my friend Meghan over at I Want The Good Chairs how to do it because she seemed like the professional. I have to admit that when I got her step by step instructions I laughed out loud and thought that I would just have to continue in my ignorance because it was so complicated. I sucked it up tonight and tried to figure it and surprisingly, I think I will be able to do it again. Thanks Meghan!

Got to love how he walks away from me but pivots on one foot like a top to come back. I just wish for the video I could have gotten him to go a little farther away.

Here is how we now eat our dinners now. No fork, no eating. He is very civilized. I noticed that he was eating with his left hand but when my mom gave him a spoon as well he just used them both, one in each hand.
This was probably a boring post to most but I had to brag (try and forget Evans is 16.5 months old). Stayed tuned, tomorrow is a school day and I have a pretty outrageous story to tell. It it even better than the Tiffany necklaces. Thank god tomorrow is Friday.

Just Getting Comfy

I think that Evans has been exhausted lately. Or he might be regressing all the way back to the days when he could not crawl. Yesterday this is how I found him watching TV. Yes, his feet are resting flat on the floor. I'm not positive but I'm pretty sure he exceeds the weight limit of the INFANT bouncy seat where he had made himself right at home. It was practically touching the floor and every ten seconds or so he would sit up a little bit and lie back down to give himself a little bounce. I asked him what he was doing in the bouncy seat and he looked at me like I was crazy, "can't you see lady? Can a man not relax a little in his own house"? I found it pretty funny but I was worried about the seat breaking so I had to ask him to vacate his lounging spot. This did not go over well and pretty much was the slippery slope of what became the rest of the afternoon. Temper tantrums over EVERYthing. Fall down on the floor, face in the ground, kick the feet and wail kind of tantrums. Evans is such a happy and laid back child that I have to admit, it sort of makes me laugh when he has a nervous breakdown. I know that is mean but seeing his temper is pretty comical. Especially when yesterday, in the midst of the bouncy seat fiasco, he knocked into something and looked up at me and said "Uh oh" before returning to this theatrics.It probably doesn't help that every time he gets ticked about something, I pull out my camera to try and capture it but I just can't help it. Look how red his face turns! I have really noticed a lot of changes in Evans these past couple weeks. He just seems more grown up to me and is talking so much more. He tells me to "here, hold this" while handing me a binky (which he ONLY gets at night) or "I want that" while he tries to point to something. This can get rather cumbersome as I don't always guess correctly with the first ten things that I present for his approval. Yesterday is took nearly all of dinner for my mom to realize he was requesting his own fork. Once we figured it out he proceeded to eat his dinner using a fork like he had done it his whole life. My child, who will not walk, ate his whole dinner with a fork. If you ask him what you wash your hair with he will respond with "SHAMpoooo". When gets up from a nap or when we go outside he will point upwards and tell me "sky". I mean, who cares if he thinks the ceiling is actually the sky? Brilliant. :)

Today was a school day so we had to take our routine morning picture to capture how cute Evans' outfit was. I have to say, I did think twice about sending him to school wearing anything white.I took my chances and we came home with a huge brown stain on the front from an applesauce incident? Oh well. I can't believe I actually am posting this picture since despite having just showered it looks like my hair is dirty and I clearly haven't wiped E's mouth yet. It also looks like we live in a forest in Transylvania with that fog outside!I think Evans might be getting sick of posing in school morning pictures with me. What do y'all think?I'll give him a break until Friday morning. I was able to actually go inside and pick Evans up in his classroom today instead of just going through the carpool line. His teachers said he had a fantastic day and on two occasions he took three steps. I did not remind them that he is 16 months and this should have happened awhile ago. I could not be happier that he seems to like school now. When he gets home from school he is normally wiped out. He still takes a morning nap and afternoon nap so he misses the morning nap on school days. Typically he will come home and sleep the afternoon away after school. So, you can understand my concern, that at 3:18, approximately one hour after going down for a nap, I can hear him asking politely to get out of his crib. It is now 3:24pm. Can anyone tell me how many minutes that is away from bedtime at 7:00pm? This could potentially be a very long afternoon.

Back In The Swing of Things

Today is our first day back in our "semi-normal" routine. I realize we are a week later than most people but Deaner didn't leave to go back to Germany until Saturday afternoon so Evans pretty much got an extra week of relaxing. I knew this morning that Evans was exhausted since he slept from 7:15 last night until I had to wake him up at 7:45 this morning. He didn't even politely request a snack at 4:00am which I have taken to ignoring anyways. As I was piddling around the kitchen getting breakfast together I glanced over to see this. I suppose that this is how Evans feels about being woken up in the morning instead of being allowed to rise naturally. I have to admit that it made me laugh out loud. I rarely see a moment when he isn't emptying the tupperware cabinet or climbing the stairs without permission but I imagine that most people have had moments where they feel like lying in the middle of the kitchen floor would feel better than any alternative! I know that I feel like this roughly 1-2 times a day!

We had a fairly uneventful weekend and I hate to report that I don't have anything too comical to share. Friday night we took Evans to eat Mexican and he discovered cheese dip.I know that it looks like the cheese dip is actually frightening him here but that did not stop him from devouring it along with some spicy salsa. He also has a little bit of the mad scientist look going on with his hair but that doesn't mean he will be getting a hair cut anytime soon.

Tomorrow is a school day and Mama and Evans are looking forward to it. Deaner got a great report on Friday and the teachers said he didn't cry at all and had a fun day. I wonder if teachers lie sometimes? Also, a funny side note, remember the "missing" white turtleneck that coffee spilled all over? His teacher reported to Deaner that it has been "misplaced" and we should just keep the white turtleneck that he was sent home wearing. Hmmm. I think I'm just going to have to let this one go. I think it is weird that an article of clothing such as the SHIRT you are wearing could be lost but oh well. It's a good thing I bought 5 of the same white turtlenecks. That's all I have today! Hopefully more to report tomorrow!

War Horse.....True Story?

Did any of you think that I was actually being serious about the true story? Now that would have been pretty funny. If you want to see the movie I am warning you now, there WILL be spoilers. Last night Deaner and I went to see this movie and my mother-in-law watched Evans. I love my son to pieces but it is nice to sit down and watch a movie without worrying about what he is destroying. I am not a huge movie fan but every so often I like to go to a theatre and see something new. Last week we saw The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (I read the books so I knew when to close my eyes and plug my ears) and I really enjoyed it so we thought we might give another movie a try. First off, let me preface this post by saying that I really do NOT like horses. I like to go watch them race sometimes but you will never catch me in a barn nuzzling one of them. In fact, I think there is a very good chance I am actually afraid of horses. So, while I knew that this was a movie involving a horse, I somehow thought it was more about the Civil War. When the movie started it was quite clear that it was definitely NOT about the Civil War, as it was taking place in England. It's just so easy to confuse the Civil War with World War II, right? Ha. I might do better to make a list of the things in the movie that I found weird/funny/outrageous/insane.

1. Why was Albie so obsessed with this horse from the second his father brought him home? I'm not an animal person so perhaps I just don't understand but I never see an animal and think "I cannot live without this creature and I would lay down my life for his/hers".

2. Who names a horse "Joey"?

3. Who promises a horse that they will one day be reunited when the war is over?

4. Who promises a horse that they will one day be reunited when the war is over AND THEN DOES IT?

5. It is just not possible that Joey volunteered to pull the big heavy cannon so that the black horse didn't have to. No way.

6. It is not possible for Joey to live through all those bombings, machine guns and grenades. Everyone else died but don't worry, Joey lives.

7. What kind of man who has been mustard gassed, gone blind and ended up in a field hospital can identify his long lost horse by hearing it shake it's head in the distance? The kind that doesn't exist.

The end. I'm really glad that ole Albie got his horse back in the end. Joey sure did go through some precarious situations and still they were reunited, countries from where they started. I know I am being cynical and I really did enjoy seeing the movie there were just many times when I thought to myself, "seriously"? That Joey was really something else! I'd also like to warn you not to see the movie if you are in any way shape or form feeling emotional about anything at all. You will cry. Even if you hate horses.

Good Riddance 2011

Last year at Christmas time Evans was a 4 month old baby who couldn't do anything more than lie on his pallet in front of the fireplace and coo. I can vividly remember it being said multiple times during that Christmas that "at this time next year, he is going to be running around everywhere and be into everything". Hmmmm. I guess that half of this prediction came true! Evans is certainly into everything but the running around part? Not so much. As we opened all our gifts on Christmas morning I was once again struck with the same thought...."next year at this time, Evans will be running around and into everything". Maybe I shouldn't have had such high ambitions for him? I continue to see Facebook status updates on a daily basis about whose child has started walking that day. And I'm talking about kids who are like six months younger than Evans. While we were all extremely impressed and wowed by Evans actually standing up and pushing his push toy this past week, I can hardly brag on Facebook that my 16 month old child is just learning to push a toy around! For goodness sake Evans! Deaner has been in town for the past couple weeks and he CLAIMS that Evans took three steps by himself yesterday. Of course this was when I was not there and did not actually witness it happening. I'm going to chose to believe it didn't happen and hope to actually be there next time (no, I was NOT at Target).

Anyways. Christmas this year was it's usual chaotic event and a great time to see family and friends. Everyone should know by now what a freak I am about Evans' clothes. I plan, I iron and I execute. Imagine my surprise when Deaner produced a "special" outfit that he insisted on Evans wearing.Y'all can rest assured that Evans' German liederhosen were not apart of the holiday wardrobe I had planned.Since I was feeling A LOT of goodwill and Christmas cheer I let him keep them on to please his father. I didn't really understand why Deaner insisted upon wearing these to Christmas since it is the attire that is typically worn to Oktoberfest........in October.I suppose he did look pretty cute even if it was a bit ridiculous. I did absolutely have to put my foot down and refuse to let Deaner give Evans ketchup with his chicken nuggets while in Liederhosen. I was not going to deal with ketchup on suede.

On Christmas Eve Deaner and I took Evans to see Santa Claus. We did this last year too and found that there are practically no lines the day before Christmas and it is a great time to visit. I have to admit that this year the visit was completely anti climatic. I had all these visions of a smiling delighted happy child on Santa's lap and a picture I would treasure for years. I would have even been happy with a picture of him screaming and crying because shouldn't every kid have a picture like that with Santa Claus? I got neither of these. Evans didn't smile and he didn't cry. It was like someone turned him to stone and he was unable to express any sort of emotion at all. My goon of a child. So, I am now the proud owner of 39487 pictures of Evans looking like a deer caught in the headlights because of course, they make you choose which picture package you want BEFORE they show you the picture. Annoyed. You might think my story ends there but unfortunately it does not. Last year I made Deaner stand outside of Santa's little house area so he could take pictures with my own camera. This year I gave him the option of bringing Evans up to Santa's lap and have me take the pictures or vice versa. He chose taking the pictures. I have to add in here that I had to make a special trip back to my parent's house to pick up the camera. After I saw how much I hated the picture of Evans with Santa the conversation went like this......

Me: "That was a terrible picture of Evans and it looks awful"
Deaner: "It's not that bad! I think he looks really cute"!
Me: "How can you think that? He looks like he just witnessed a murder".
Deaner: "I think that the picture is great and it is the only one that we need"!
Me: "At least I will have the pictures you took. Let me see my camera".
Deaner: silence
Me: "The camera please"?
Deaner: 'Uhhh, don't get mad".
Me: Death stare
Deaner: "That old lady over there would not stop talking to me and I couldn't get any pictures taken at all"!
Me: Silence. For a much longer time.

I will have to scan the picture to post on here but trust me, it is nothing special to look at. He was wearing this outfit but didn't look nearly as cute.I'm sure I have a ton left to tell but this is way too long already. Evans is back at school today and I can't wait to hear how the day goes when Deaner picks him up. When we pulled in this morning Evans looked at me like "Seriously lady, haven't we discussed this place scares me"? Hoping for a good report!Welcome 2012! We've been waiting for you!