They just never stop

With my last blog update taking about a day to fully complete, after posting it I found a few post-it notes around my desk with some one-liners. Here we go....

-The Spouse was trying to talk The Boy into going to the Boat, Sport & Travel Show. I rank this one WORSE than the fair. I mean there are aspects to The Fair that I like, a bit of junk food here or there, maybe a ride or two... but The Boat, Sport & Travel Show is one of my biggest enemies. I used to suck it up and go with him every year, and finally, after birthing two boys, feel I can retire. I mean how many times can you visit Tackle Town? Look through RV's that you not only cannot afford, but do not want? No. I put my foot down this year and said, take these boys. So The Spouse was trying to talk The Boy into it and The Boy knew better. The Spouse says, come on... remember we went last year... they have all that fishing stuff.... As a last resort, and trying to let him down gently, The Boy says, "Dad? I'm not really the fishing type."

-He was wrestling around with his aunt and she said, Man! You're brutal! He came back at her with "I'm a brutal kind of guy."

-He got a huge Nerf gun for Christmas (just what our house needed...) and pelted me with it a zillion times and then said, "I think I've made my point."

-(This one might have already been posted)... His Brother said something and I said, did you hear what your brother just said? He goes, "Yeah.... I got that memo."

-When my sister and her family were here over Christmas, he and Sophie were messing with Papa's ipod. They found something and he says, "I'm SO gonna make that my ringtone."

-His Brother was playing with an astronaut toy that had his hand up in the air. His Brother taps his hand to the toy and goes, "high five!"

-His Brother also dances along with the Wii and knows the words to "Funk Soul Brother" and "Tik Tok." As he was being evaluated for therapy, I had to answer a ton of questions about what he is capable of doing. They asked if, for example, I started singing Twinkle Twinkle, would he sing along? Um.... yes... but he prefers Funk Soul Brother....and a few hits by Ke$ha...

-The Boy was putting his shoes on and struggling. He looks at me and says "LORDY this is hard!!"

And as I was going through old pics, I found this little gem:


And I'm seeing a lot of this lately:


Pray for me.

An update

So my last post was in November, and it's February. Ooops. March.

I'm sorry. Lots has happened.

We had Thanksgiving in two different places, early with the Bartletts and on Thanksgiving Day with my group, where Big Papa attempted to play Pictionary, and we all got good laughs at his attempts. See below:

Somehow, The Spouse brought home a dog. The conversation went like this. “So N. is here in the office, and she has her dog with her, and she needs to find a new home for him. He’s six years old, well trained, really, a good dog.”

Me: “He’s still a DOG. We can’t change his genetic make up.”

Him: “So I told her we could bring him home, try him out for a few days.”

Me: “So basically, you’re telling me you’re brining home a dog, and we’ll own him.”

Him: “Yes.”

(Insert expletives here). (Expletives continue every time The Dawg gets into the trash, eats something he shouldn’t or jumps on my bed or the couch. It’s a cycle).




And of course The Boy loves The Dawg. He’s a Husky, so he likes to run and dig. And he’s a bazillion pounds and too big of a dog for us to own, but The Boy loves him. He’s run away (The Dawg, not The Boy) more times than I can count, and The Boy of course was heartbroken. But since I’ve learned not to leave doors open, The Spouse learned to buy The Dawg a collar, and The Boy learned to grab that collar every time the door is open, that problem has begun to correct itself.

The Dawg and I are merely roommates. I leave him alone, and he’s constantly in my face or trying to eat my dinner or wanting to go outside. And of course he’s a MALE dog. Just what I needed in our house. Another MALE who NEEDS something from me. It’s kinda like living in a fraternity house, minus a keg of beer and those red drink cups all over the place. But the dirty undies on the floor, messes that need cleaned up, and men everywhere... yeah. It’s the same.

The Boy turned six. He rocked it out at a bowling party with his cousins and friends, and did sweet dance moves every time a pin went down. He’s decided next year that he wants a dance party, with a dance floor and a disco ball. Son, this is a fantastic idea. I’m thinking we make it big, combine it with his brother’s birthday and charge $2 to get in. We’ll make it like a wedding, but no one has to get married.

My Sister and her family came in December, and it was so good to see them! We saw the Titanic Exhibit at the Indiana State Museum, looked through old pictures and played in the snow. We took five kids with us and Aunt Patt, and had an awesome time. Big Papa and Mimi somehow got separated, so we left Mimi in a parking garage, tossed her a few granola bars and a bottle of water and said, Godspeed. We gotta get these brats home. Luckily they were reunited later and were able to argue in the car on the ride home in peace, without grandchildren in earshot.

Olivia had never seen snow before, so it was so fun to see her outside, trying to catch snowflakes on her tongue. She’s a Florida baby, having moved there when she was nine months old, so the whole snow/winter coat/gloves deal is foreign to her. As I was leaving, I told someone to go get Liv - it had started snowing. Our Florida Baby comes out in jammies and bare feet, but did remember her coat. She’s learning what it’s like here in the Midwest.

We had an early Christmas at Matt’s house and Santa came. As a small gesture of our appreciation for Santa coming, we bought him a bottle of good vodka. As Matt went to wrap it, it crashed on the garage floor. A quick run to CVS (actually, two, as I got there first and realized I didn’t have my purse) and the crisis was averted. Teamwork, Matty... Teamwork.

Christmas came and went. Santa brought too much stuff and was up too late wrapping, but the boys were happy and Santa went broke. The usual. But then....

The Boy left for an entire week to go snow boarding with his grandparents. One week of me at home with only one child, him gone to Colorado, shredding the rockies. He had a blast, wants me to build a half pipe in the backyard and is already making plans for next year. After googling halfpipe, I kindly axed his idea. But he had a great time and I missed him and his one-liners to pieces.

On to January - New Years was uneventful and then His Brother turned TWO. HOW can I have a two year old already?! He’s a walking and talking fool and is starting to become familiar with “being in a corner.” He has spent his share of time there for hitting me, telling me or The Spouse no and arguing with his brother. He’s getting the idea. It’s hard for me to remember what its like to have a two year old in the house. It’s SLOWLY coming back to me. Good times.



February... oh how I’m glad you are in my past. We’ve had our share of snow and ice this winter and were forced to spend a few days in the house - cabin fever set in big time for all of us. I really thought by the third day, if I had to play one more game of Wii I might hang myself with the controller cord. But we survived. By Thursday of “Snowpacylpse 2011" I decided I was coming to work no matter what. So what if I had to take a hair dryer to my car doors and drive 12 miles per hour to get there? With The Boy in tow? It was worth it.



And now March. Spring is in the air and we’re slowly getting outside and dragging out bikes and skateboards and nerf guns.

And a blog update wouldn’t be an update without a few one-liners from not only The Boy, but His Brother.

-His Brother has started to recognize certain places and loves to go to Applebee’s. I asked him if he wanted more applesauce, and he said, “more Applebee’s sauce?” He also points out the window to “Shake and Shake.”

-The boys spent the night with Mimi and Papa and The Boy was playing video games with Papa. Papa said, you know, sometimes I have a really hard time with this level. The Boy says, “Welcome to my world.”

-Also while playing video games, he grabbed the controller from Papa and said, “Here. Watch the professional.”

-His Brother is very good with manners. I handed him part of a bagel and he said, “Fank you Momma.” I said, you’re welcome Buddy... he looks at the bagel and said, “Fank you, bagel.”

-The Boy was driving His Brother crazy by chasing him with a remote control car. His Brother hollers at the car and says, “NO! SIT! STAY!”

I’ll try to be better about updating the blog.... but his workin’ momma has her hands full!

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...

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.

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.

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?