Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Fall and Halloween 2010

I've got blogger's block. Somehow, I'm not coming up with words very easily, so I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Here's Halloween:


Here's some more fun at Holiday Park:


More to come. As soon as I find some words.

Big Papa's Day Care

My cousin Katie runs a daycare out of my Aunt Patty’s house. His Brother is a student there.

God love that girl. How she takes 5 kids (ranging in age from 4 months to 3 ½ roughly) and entertains them all day without pulling her hair out is a mystery to me, but she does, and she’s good at it. The kids just adore her. Actually, her sister got married recently and Katie was Matron of Honor. We were in the second row at a beautiful outdoor wedding, and as His Brother saw Katie and could NOT stop hollering, “HI KAY-EE! HI PADDDEEE! KAY-EE? KAY-EE!!!” so much to the point that we had to remove ourselves from our perfect seats and enjoy the rest of the wedding standing in the back, trying to prevent His Brother from running up the aisle and jumping in Katie’s arms, as she’s trying to straighten her sister’s bridal gown.

Anyway, poor Katie was down for the count. In the hospital with viral meningitis, and her kids are missing her. So as we prayed for a speedy recovery, we all made other day care arrangements.

Big Papa was on duty for two days this week. As he says, he’s “cockpit qualified” to watch an almost 2-year-old for a few hours. After five younger siblings, three kids of his own and with His Brother being the sixth grandchild, Big Papa knows the deal.


I think the two enjoyed the two days together. And Big Papa even sent me this picture to my phone.

Don’t worry though, Katie... Papa’s not getting his day care license anytime soon. Luckily she’s on the mend, so Papa can get back to doing his crossword puzzles and taking walks around the block. It’s tough to be retired...

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Making good memories

Took the kids to Holiday Park on Kyle’s day off this week. Nothing like pushing a 20 pound kid in a stroller through rough terrain. The Boy had a blast and was so worn out! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

Of course I’m not in the picture.

There was a shallow rocky area where people were wading in the water and letting their dogs play in it. The Boy wanted to partake.




His Brother did this, as he usually does.


The best part? We were sitting down taking a breather and we asked The Boy if he had fun.

And his response?

“We made good memories, kids.”

Yeah. We did.

In other news, His Brother is a walking FOOL. Still doing therapy to strengthen him up, but he walks constantly and is into The Boy’s things, as we predicted. We love watching them argue!! The other day The Boy took something from him, and His Brother slammed the door in retaliation. Great. Let the fun begin. And, looks like His Brother will be pulling out the one-liners just like The Boy.

Just today, we’re in the car and I hear this:

“Urp (fake burp). Suze me.”

Pray for me.

Friday, August 27, 2010

This and That....

More one-liners from our favorite five year old:

-while doing something, told Kyle, "Don't worry dad, I got this."

-Kyle was playing a DS game and couldn't get past one part. The Boy grabs the game and says, "Here. Watch me. Watch the master."

-We were talking about how God makes all kinds of people - some might wear glasses, some have a different skin color than we do, someone might use a wheelchair. He mentioned that his buddy M at school had darker skin and I said, that is because M is Indian. Not like feathers and a teepee, but a different kind of Indian. He got quiet and goes, "Mom, if M is Indian, I'm gonna FREAK."

-Told my cousin Jennifer: "Petsmart is going to start selling tarantulas and scorpions. Everyone is FREAKING out."

-His Brother only recently started walking on his own. The Boy's best pal, Big G, has a sister younger than His Brother who is already walking. Big G asked The Boy why His Brother wasn't walking. The Boy says, "Because he has to get therapy with First Steps, OKAY?"

-If he's not sure of something, will tell me "to Google it."

-On the way to school, we'd always notice telephone lines with birds all lined up on them. We make up stories about how they are having meetings where they talk about bird stuff. Once there weren't a lot of birds and I said, maybe he went to get more coffee and donuts for the meeting. The Boy says, "yeah... coffee, regular and decaf..."

-I sent them to their grandparents for an overnight. Kyle was working so I'd have time to myself (AHHHHH.......) He said, "What are you going to do tonight? You clockin' out?"

-I said, "NATHAN. Come here. NOW." His Brother repeats "NOW." The Boy responds with "SHUT UP DYLAN!"

-I mentioned something to him and he goes, "Yeah... you owe me one."

-We were stuck in traffic on the way to school... under my breath, I said, "this is freaking ridiculous." The Boy say, "I'll tell you what's freaking ridiculous... YOU'RE freaking ridiculous..."

On another note...I've been into reading blogs lately. Hopping around, finding people who have things in common with me and blogs that are much richer in content than simply an online scrapbook of their lives. By doing so, I've realized that it might be very easy to look at this blog and think, "oh look... the Bartlett family went to the Children's Museum... how nice...."

Its not all sunshine and rainbows over here.

And if you know us at all, you know this to be true. We've had our share of ups and downs. And some really bad downs. And we're not the freaking Cleavers. I'm not wearing an apron and baking cookies. We're not all reading scripture at night and singing kumbaya together.

I guess I don't blog about the downers because, well, who wants to read them? Do you want to read about how our Easter eggs caught on fire? How, my third day at my new job in Chicago, I broke my foot? Just by walking? How I ran over something with my car and punctured the gas tank, causing $1,400 in repairs? Hell no you don't. I don't want to relive it, that's for sure.

But I need to start keeping it real.

So please don't read this and think that our lives are just happy and full of sunshine and oh aren't their kids cute and well would you look at that... The Boy started kindergarten...It can be misleading. So this blog, it might start becoming a little more honest. I don't want to use it as a facade to what is really going on in our lives.

And this is MY blog. I created it. It's my little piece of the internet. And how many times do I have to tell you, you're not the boss of me.

I want to remember it all, and I want to read older posts and remember it as it really was.

And here's a picture, just for the hell of it.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

State Fair 2010

The Fair.

Sigh.

Its an Indiana thing. You gotta go to the Fair. In August. And its going to be hot. You will eat junk food, walk through animal barns, spend some money, and leave with an overstuffed and overpriced toy that you didn’t really want, but your kid did, and everyone will then go home and take showers and talk about how much fun the fair was.

And yes, The Spouse looked at quilts. This year, I’ll let the pictures do most of the talking...


Look at The Boy. God love him. He’s trying. He’s trying to like the quilts, dad.




Yep. That’s right. Two pictures with the state’s largest stalk of corn. Because one is not enough.

And the pictures below... they make me laugh. It’s the same building the quilts are in, but I have no idea what this display is, only that it was boring and stupid and Kyle liked it. So here he is, with The Boy, looking at something dumb.




And then this guy, he was GOING to look at the stupid display, then realized it was stupid, and reconsidered:


Now, the animals:





That is a hissing cockroach. I’m sorry, but I have a problem with these two words alone, and then putting them together gives me the heebie jeebies. First, it is a cockroach. Creepy. Not only is it a cockroach, it hisses at you. No thanks. Right now I am doing that noise that Clark Griswold did when they realized Aunt Edna was dead and they had been driving to Wally World with a dead body in the car.

Now, the food...



Kyle was SO mad that the lamb burger tent was no longer. So he went to the place where it is usually located and goes, “where’s the lamb tent?” The guy goes, “Hell if I know, I’m from Florida.” He settled for another lamb entree after shedding a few tears.

This was The Boy’s absolute favorite thing about the fair. A huge ship made out of legos...


His Brother spent most of his time doing this:


I do have to say, The Boy and I enjoyed learning about bees. We found the queen and he asked the guy all kinds of questions. Honey ice cream was had by all.


Ball State University class of 2022 and 2026


And we did spend money and The Boy won a stuffed Spongebob guy wearing a swimsuit and flip flops. He has slept with him ever since, so it was money well spent.

Lastly, SOMEHOW, I was talked into going on this ride. The sign said “no single riders” and Kyle really wanted to go. It was either ride with a stranger or...Yeah. So, we left the kids with a shady looking carnie met a friend there who kindly watched the boys so I could almost die. The best part is that, while we’re sitting there waiting for them to get everyone in, a carnie has a screwdriver in his hand and is trying to fix something. AND WE STILL WENT ON THIS RIDE. It went in a circle, back and forth, then all the way upside down. I went back and forth between thinking I would die, thinking it was the best time of my life, and then thinking, perhaps I need to expand my social horizons if I think that a ride called “Firestorm” is this fun.


So that’s it. The Indiana State Fair once again. Of course, he’s trying to talk me into going AGAIN. I’m sure the quilts have changed since last week, right?

Kindergarten.

Look who started Kindergarten.


As I dropped him off, I surprised myself by getting choked up as I walked down the hall and back to my car. KINDERGARTEN. This is big time. And I was flooded with memories of his babyhood, of the milestones he's conquered and how maybe, just maybe, Kyle and I were a small part of his successes so far.

I couldn't wait to hear about his day, what all he did and how it all went.

"It was fine," he said. "I played with Reed. The work was easy and we had fish sticks for lunch."

That was all I got. That's how it is with boys. Any of my five nieces would have given me every detail, who wore what, what everyone's first and last names were and what kind of pencil box they had. The Boy? "We had fish sticks for lunch."

That's okay. I'll take it. I'm glad he's comfortable and likes school.

Hope it stays that way.

And a little look back on his growing up:

Fun in the snow - 2007


First Birthday... look at us. So clueless on this parenthood thing.


A few months old.


Us in 2005.


First day of school, fall, 2006.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Helping Hand makes Headlines... Again!




AWESOME.

Sorry for the fine print... LINK coming soon!!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Summah Tahm.....

I know. I KNOW. The blog is behind. What else is new. But its summer, and my time behind a computer is limited. We're outside, we're in the pool, we're not hunkered down and hibernating like we do in the winter. See?


And here is His Brother, peeking out the window for The Boy. He doesn't like to be separated from him.




SO until I get my computer back from the kind folks at Net Xcellence (I get 30% off my bill for letting them advertise here....) here are a few one-liners. More to come, I promise, including July Fourth, a weekend getaway to the big city, and a walk in the rain. Exciting stuff, I know.

-He was cold. Asked me to warm up the car. I said I would, and got, “Okay. Go warm that baby up.”

-I said something about His Brother. He goes, “You mean Fatty McGee?”

-I told him I had to take His Brother to the doctor. He goes, “Because he’s such a pig?” No, son. That’s not an official diagnosis.

-On the Fourth of July, fireworks were still going off around 11 p.m. The Boy says, “That has GOT to STOP. Don’t they know we’ve got a BABY trying to sleep?”

-Grandpa was playing legos with him. The Boy says, “Grandpa, JUST SO YOU KNOW, not all of these are legos. Just so you know.”

-He is always curious about the weather. They talk about it at school and have someone is the weather watcher every day. He came in my room to tell me, “Mom, tomorrow its gonna be 94 in Terre Hope.”

-I mentioned something to him and he responded with “Yeah? Good luck with that.”

-And if this one isn’t proof that he’s my son, I don’t know what could prove it. Grandma and I were playing ping pong. He hollers: “Now.... from the east.... over here.... GRANDMAAAAAW BARTLETT!!!!” (Then, pointing to me) “AAAAAND.... over here... from the west....we’ve got.... MOMMMAAAA BARTLETT!!!!”

-He’s been reading to His Brother at night, which is a cool thing to watch. It gives him the time to practice his reading, and His Brother will listen to anything The Boy says. He reads these little books he gets at school and he’s supposed to color each page of the story. One page wasn’t colored and I asked why it wasn’t colored. He goes, “Meh... I don’t know... I was probably jacking around.”

-He’s just getting over strep throat and informed me that he puked. I thought it was current, turns out, he had puked the night before. So I said, wait... you just got up and puked in the night and didn’t tell anyone? He goes, “I got up, puked, and moved on with my life.”

-And this one... yes, this will earn me Mother of the Year: He was telling me about how, when some kids lose their teeth, they have to ask their Dad to help pull them. “But I didn’t have to do that, Mom. I did it myself. I kinda screwed Daddy on that.” Son, don’t say screwed. Just kind of overall... not a nice word to use. Sigh.

News on His Brother - approaching 18 months and still not walking. Through the beauty of First Steps, he’s been evaluated for therapy and will start soon. In the meantime, we’re working with him and he’s made a lot of progress! Really, we’re forcing him to walk and he’s getting much stronger.

So, I’m sure it won’t take much time at all for him to be getting into The Boy’s things. When that happens, I’m expecting this brotherly love I currently see between the two of them to perhaps go south. We’ll see.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Cast AWAY


Two weeks in a fiberglass cast was enough for me.

Well, make that one week. One week for the first cast. See, turns out you’re NOT supposed to stick things down there in the event it itches. The Doc kind of frowns on that. So let’s say your leg is itching and you stick, I don’t know, a mixing spoon down there. Now you got yourself a problem because all of the gauze is bunched up and pulled away from the casting, and then the ortho nurse and cast tech laugh when they take off your cast and see what you have done, creating indentations into your skin and effecting your circulation. So that first cast came off, and a new one went on.

And another week on crutches with the new one, and this week I sweet talked the doctor into putting me back in my walking boot. Really, just out of convenience. It’s too hard for me to take a bath, be with the kids on crutches and generally just live my life. So the boot is back, and I have to say, I am thankful.

Four weeks in this plastic thing and I’m planning to be back to my old self, and auditioning for Dancing with the Stars.

And in the time I’ve been down, I’ve learned to SLOW DOWN. I move to fast and to be incapacitated forces you to take a break, not accomplish 42 things in one minute and ask for help when you need it. But what can I say? I’m a wife/mom/daughter/sister/friend/neighbor et al. That’s how I roll. Too many things to do, and there is no time for broken bones.

So one surgery with one plate, five screws, two casts and one walking boot later, on June 30 I will be doing cartwheels in my front yard, celebrating my good health.

And hopefully, I won’t slip.

Memorial Day 2010

It was hot. We listened to the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, grilled out, swam at the pool (well, I sat by the pool) and took a boat ride.

The Boy had his own private pool and nearby cabana. (Note: the sign says, “no girls allowed.”)




Then later, he made an exception.

("My mom is the only one" complete with a photo of me)
Mimi made snowcones.

His brother experienced the heat of summer with his head full of curls, and I couldn’t help but try out pigtails on my beautiful baby boy.



And he’ll kill me for this one day, but I’m okay with that.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Motherhood

This year's mother's day started out nice. I was invited by the Boy to attend Muffins with Mom at school. Now last year, I was downright giddy for this event. Got all dressed up, had the camera ready to go, let my office know I'd be late coming in because I had an event at school. With my SON. For MOTHER'S DAY. I was about to be honored and this event could not be missed.

So last year we got there and I went to get some juice, and he looked around, saw his buddies playing and said six little words.

"You can go to work now," he announced.

Sigh. So I took a muffin with me, shoved it in my purse next to my camera, which went untouched.

So this year I didn't think much of Muffins with Mom, because obviously The Boy was too cool for me. I'd drop him off and move on with my day. But his teacher, knowing my heartbreak last year, talked it up, and we enjoyed a nice breakfast together and even caught a picture (photo courtesy of Miss Katie, who knew my feelings were at stake here).
Mother's Day, 2010. The Boy, age 5, Momma, age unknown.

So we were off to a good start. We celebrated Mother's Day on Saturday because Kyle had to work on Sunday. We had a chilly baseball game where I saw The Boy make several good hits, a few good catches and run like the wind. (Never mind that at one point, I was watching him at bat, and my mother-in-law says, "OH MY GOD! DYLAN IS ON THE FIELD!" He had escaped to the third baseline. I grabbed him and said, "NOW WHERE IS HIS MOTHER?" and lurked back to my lawn chair). I received two very sweet cards from three very special men in my life, and we decided for Mother's Day I'd go pick out some flowers to plant, but with the weather being chilly, we tabled it for another weekend.

So on Sunday, I was on my own with the two boys. The weather was beautiful and I had a list of things to accomplish, which was fine with me, because putting lines through items on a to do list brings me great happiness. And one of those items is mowing the lawn. The Boy was busy with sidewalk chalk and bubbles, while His Brother sat in his exersaucer in the driveway and played.

Two strips of the lawn mowed.... ah.... immediate gratification.

And then I slipped. Let go of the mower, heard something snap,and fell on my keester.

My dear friends Suzanne and Drew were on their way over anyway and pulled up to me laying in my front yard. It was decided that Drew and I would go to the ER while Suzanne and Max stayed with my boys.

The Boy and Max played while Suzanne put His Brother down and waited on news from us.

Three hours and three x-rays later, a broken ankle, walking boot, grass stains up my back and behind, clipped grass on the hospital bed and in Suzanne's car, and now, after an ortho visit, surgery scheduled for next week.



All in the name of marking things off my to do list.

And while we were at the ER, Drew and I were passing the time. He has a trivia app. on his phone.

Wouldn't you know it.

Shopping

Ahhh... The Boy.

Usually when we shop and I have both monkeys with me, I get one of those enormous carts with the two seats in it, so everyone is strapped in and there is no funny business. I want to get in and out and its hard enough with His Brother seeing all this food and The Boy asking if we can buy this and that...

The thing is like driving a semi through my one car detached garage. Anyway.

So recently we went and they were out of the big carts which meant I had to use a regular one. The Boy complains about not wanting to sit in the "big part" and wants to sit in the little part. No dice... where will I put your brother? "You can just hold him!" Sigh... so finally I said, you're 85 years old, you can walk. I have to put your brother in the small part because he can't walk.

This of course resulted in whining, PA-LEEZE can I ride in the cart... FINALLY I said, no, but do you want to take pictures on my phone?

He went for it. So, I present to you, a trip to the grocery through The Boy's eyes.

A nice shot of my rear.


His Brother in the coveted part of the cart. Note me inspecting something to the right.

How about some bagels?

The aisle.

The parking lot.

Let me know if you'd like an 8x10.