The olympics aren't over yet

Mother/Son Activity at Corbin's school:

As a pair, we really excelled at hockey and some kind of luge race.

Not an official olympic event, but I'm sure Corbin could win something for this feat . . .

 

We also indulged in some nachos and some cookies to celebrate our greatness. 

And though I am always skeptical about school events that I learn about less than a week before, we had fun speed skating (sliding on dish towels), curling (broom and balloons), three legged racing ( not sure which olympic event that was supposed to be) and many other activities.  He had fun, I had fun - it was worth it. 

I have to say though, I think the best part of the night was finishing earlier than I had told the babysitter and sneaking out for fries and shakes.  Corbin is seriously a great date.  We talked and talked.  He made me laugh - like really laugh, not just a mom laughing at kid jokes that have no punchline - like everyone's staring at me because I am almost crying laughing.  He also recounted word for word a story they had read at school and I knew he was a good reader, but he is a great storyteller too!  We had SO much fun.  And I think Corbin liked it because he got "the best shake in the world" (bubblegum and pina colada) on "the best night in the world." 

 

 

I am one lucky mom.

Just teasing

I am REALLY wanting Spring to come. . . for real.  We keep having these beautiful, almost warm days and then a freezing cold, windy day.  What's with that??  I want the sun and I want to play outside with no shoes and I want to plant my garden.  So COME ON ALREADY!

Last Saturday was one of the teasers - sort of warm, yet with a slight chilly breeze, but we took advantage of it anyway.  I can't wait till we can really enjoy warm weather again. 

Corbin: "Take a picture of my bum."

Can you dig it?

Dinosaurs were discovered on Cody's 4th Birthday . . .

Entrance to the Dino cave:

Doing Cave Drawings:

Dino Egg Relay:

Pin the horn on the triceratops:

Dino toss (throw the dino beanbags into the volcano):

LunchTime!

(This is his dinosaur face, don't worry, he really did have a good time)

And of course, opening presents:

And finally the cake!

Thanks to all who joined in the fun! Happy Birthday, Cody!

What we learned at the "Safety Fair"

You may or may not remember what happened at the Safe Kids Fair last year.  If not, you can click here.  So, of course, we were not about to miss it this year.  Here's what we learned:

• Don't go on Saturday.  I think last year we went on Friday and there were no crowds, no lines, we actually got to participate in stuff.
• People will wait in long lines to see something we take for granted (a firetruck).
• If you want to get a child ID card made, you cannot visit the face painting booth first.  (This turned out to be good for us, as we would not have stood in line for the face painting, but the people in front of us had.)  Child ID cards are important, face painting not so much.
• My husband actually tipped the clown that was giving out "free" balloon animals.  I never fall for that ploy - free is free.  Plus those clowns are seriously weird.

• Policeman have to coax kids into liking them by giving them free stickers and letting them try out their motorcycles.

• 
  
  Most free stuff is just junk, and I really hope people recycle all those pamphlets. Seriously, why do they let salespeople come to these things. They don't care about keeping my kids safe.
• 
  
  Firetrucks really can be fun.

Damage Control

That's all I ever do!   Does anyone else feel that way?  I go to bed, the house is totally clean.  By 10am the next morning there are scrambled eggs on the floor, little boy underwear in my living room, toothpaste on the counter AND the lightswitch, cream of wheat dumped in the pantry, clean clothes pulled out of the drawers, papers from yesterday's take home folder tossed in the entry, an entire basket of toys dumped out and of course, dishes and mess from breakfast.  And since I live with four males, I won't even mention what the toilet can look like after just one day.  And that's just the normal stuff.  Then there's this:

And this is fairly common:

And the other day I stumbled upon this:

One day I made the mistake of thinking I could sneak in a quick shower, by myself , while the kids were awake.  Yeah.  I should have known when they weren't banging on my bathroom door.  When I came down my kitchen looked like this:

(yeah, flooded by way of 2 yr old and kitchen sink sprayer.  At least an inch across the entire floor.  You would think I would have noticed the decrease in water pressure in my shower.  So, sorry, no pictures.  This one needed immediate attention - especially the tax documents that were drowning on the kitchen counter.)

And recently, though less detrimental but infinitely more frustrating, my almost 4-yr joined his little brother in SEVERAL instances of this:

I finally figured out that extended time outs and evil looks were not going to fix this habit that had formed, but finally, after hand washing and drying several buckets of toys myself, I figured it out:

(Yes, I'm a mean mom, after throwing away the blocks with now chipping paint, I made him hand dry every single last one.  Problem solved. At least for now.)

Needless to say "Cinderfella" has been very busy lately.