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.