Ho Ho Holy Moly!

This Christmas season is speeding by! The boys are full of energy and love the decorations throughout the neighborhood. Today, we finally put up our tree, which was...well, an adventure, we'll say. They helped put a couple of ornaments and garland on the tree, but they preferred to play with the wrapping paper rolls like "lipe savers."

Kieran's Christmas program was Friday, and he got to play Santa! I had a hard time finding a Santa costume in his size, so I made one out of a woman's thermal shirt and the cuffs off some $1 stockings. I was proud of how it turned out, and both boys have gotten use out of it, since Connery wore it Saturday night, too. Here's a video from the Christmas program. Prepare yourself for cuteness.





Friday night, we went to Sandy's company dinner, which was nice. He works with some guys we've known since they were in grad school together, but we never get to catch up with them. Now that we're married and have kids, it's a treat to dress up and have dinner together.

Saturday night was exciting, as we bundled up to ride on the Rotary Club float at the Christmas parade. Connery dressed as Santa, and Kieran dressed as a pirate, which is unusually appropriate since the theme of the float was "Parrots of the Caribbean," Rotary Club's annual fundraiser. We froze but really had fun waving at everyone while another little boy on the float did the hula dance. ;)


Lucky for us, the parade ended downtown, right next to Bandito Burrito, one of our favorite haunts. Always yummy, and more impor-tantly WARM! And apparent- ly, St. Nick loves Bandito, too, because he and Mrs. Claus showed up!! Sandy and I were excited that the boys got to see him...and we didn't have to wait in line at the mall ;) It was a little surreal watching Santa order nachos, though--like running into your elementary school teacher wearing blue jeans at the grocery store. Connery was in awe and neither one of the boys recognized that Mrs. Claus was our dear, dear friend Sabrina, the one who gave Connery his first haircut nearly a year ago!

Then Sandy and I celebrated the season at a very irreverent (but HySTeriCAL!) play "The 8: Reindeer Monologues" which featured three of my former students. At one point in the play, as we watched one of my "babies," Sandy said, "You did that." I can't describe how proud I was to see Robert, Adam and Jeremy on that stage. I'm humbled to take the blame ;) Then we danced to great reggae music at a local Kush gig. My friend Nichelle sings in the band, and we are never disappointed when we hear them play. I laughed when they played "I Shot the Sheriff"...the boys sing that song, too ;)

We've got several Christmas parties and LOTS of wrapping still ahead before the threat of "Are you being good? Or is Santa going to put you on the Naughty list?" is no longer in effect. In the meantime, we'll enjoy the Christmas lights, watch White Christmas a few more times, and try not to let the holiday rush take us over.

The Lone Ranger's on speed dial!

Connery walked into the bathroom this morning as I put on my makeup and told me that he needed to use the potty. I got a little excited but didn't want to scare him. He sat on the little plastic seat, and I helped him take off his diaper. Then his pants. Then his socks. Then his shirt. (Who knows why he wanted to be naked?) He got up a minute later, said he was finished, and I thought it must have been a false alarm. Then he sat BACK down...and drum roll please...he peed!

Kieran ran in, we all gave high fives and proceeded to call Daddy, and of course, THE LONE RANGER!!



Now I know this process could take a LONG time, but it's the beginning of the end of diapers, and that is always a wonderful thing!

Here are a couple more "boy moments" from the past couple of weeks.

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We drive into the sun each morning, and again each evening on the way home. So we hear plenty of complaining about the sun being in the boys' eyes. They both yell for us to "make the sun go away." And of course, their sunglasses are never handy on the sunniest days.

But Sandy's come up with the perfect trick for getting the boys just to live with it.

He explained to the boys that the sun gives them "power." So now they just close their eyes and get their power from the sun! Brilliant!!

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Kieran's class made a list of the things they are thankful for and hung them outside the classroom door. It warmed my heart to see Kieran's entry:
I am thankful for my Mommy and my Daddy and Gryphon and my lipe saver. I am not thankful that Connery keeps trying to bite me.

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Kieran told me that he found a parking spot while we drove through the parking lot at the mall. I figured that it was across the parking lot, so I said, Good job, and parked in a nearby spot. Kieran was SO upset! He started crying so hard that I figured something else had happened. He explained through LOTS of tears, "I found a spot for you, and you didn't park in it." I apologized and told him that he would definitely pick the spot the next time. That satisfied him, and when we got out of the car, he walked me to the spot he had chosen...just two spots away. When we walked into the mall, Momma made a comment that it broke his heart, and he said, "You broke my heart, Mommy" and started crying again. It was so innocent that I started crying, too. Now before I pull into a space, I ask, "Is this spot okay?" He always says, "That's a good one, Mommy."

Another day at the mall, he got really upset when I didn't buy him anything at the toy store. In the car, I explained, "Kieran, you don't always get what you want." And--his words of wisdom--"But I want to get what I want." Don't we all, honey, don't we all?

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Connery LOVES to aggravate Kieran, and his latest tactic is saying "Onee ME" when Kieran wants something.
Kieran asks where we're going. I say, "The Mall." He says, "Yay, the Mall!" and Connery says, "Onee ME, Thih-thih."
Kieran asks for juice. I say, "Sure." He says, "Thank you, Mommy." Connery says, "Onee ME juice."
You get the idea. And it KILLS Kieran every time. He starts crying, "Mommy, Connery says I don't get to go to the mall!" Or "Mommy, Connery says you're not my mommy, you're only his mommy." And the entire time I'm telling him not to let it bother him, that Connery only says it to aggravate him, Connery's saying "Onee ME! Onee ME!"

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He has learned all the great nursery rhyme songs.
Ba ba black sheep
Humpty dumpty
But we've noticed that a lot of the tunes are the same, so sometimes he gets the songs mixed up like this:
Patty-cake patty-cake baker's man, no more monkeys jumping on the bed!

Some new "speak"
Connery says a lot of things with an F sound. So cracker becomes facker, breakfast bar becomes veffeh far, treasure becomes fezzer, and fire truck...well, that's a tricky one.

I counted a 9 word sentence the other day--"I want Daddy get me 'racaroni' and cheese, ThihThih."

Oh, and he's sitting beside me now and just lifted his finger to announce, "I got bugger on it! Put back in my nose?" Yuck! And, yes, that's bugger, not booger. Blech.

Random Momma

It's the random things about a person that tell you all about them, so I thought it was fun when my sweet friend BookMamma tagged me to play a little "blog game."

Rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog (this is what you are now reading).
3. Write 6 random things about yourself (see below).
4. Tag 3 people at the end of your post and link to them. (why not…)
5. Let each person know they have been tagged and leave a comment on their blog. (I’ll try)
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

SIX RANDOM THINGS ABOUT "MOI"-

1. I am fascinated by middle names. Names in general, actually. I love to hear how they were chosen and what they mean. And my students freak a little when I "three-name" call them.

2. I love little known bands. My new favorites are the Airborne Toxic Event and The Gaslight Anthem. I found them on accident online.
3. Underwater scenes in movies or tv (heck, even on cartoons) freak me out. I have a completely involuntary response. Makes me jump and turn my head before I even realize it.
4. When I was little, I LOVED the feel of my grandpa's whiskers. He would let me rub his cheek right before he shaved in the morning.
5. My favorite board game is Parcheesi.
6. If you put all my favorite foods together, I'd have chili, a rare steak, steamed broccoli (with just a little crunch left), pasta, smoked salmon, dried mango, and my Granny's biscuits, with a spoonful of peanut butter on the side and creme brulee for dessert.

TAG - you're it! (So, yeah, I know I'm only supposed to tag 3 people, but I'm tagging 5. What are you gonna do about it? Huh? Huh? Yeah, that's what I thought.)
Shep
JennBeth
Amy W
Olivia
Angela

Ticker Feet!

That's Connery's newest phrase, Trick or Treat! Fortunately, the "Dark Vader" and Yoda got lots of treats this year, and Kieran's only "trick" is that he wouldn't wear his mask. I even added a longer piece of elastic so it could hang around his neck and lie on his chest, but he wouldn't do that either. Oh, well, right? They still looked cute.

We started the week by visiting Tate Farms, which was a blast, as usual. This year, Ba went with us, and Baby Ellie and her fan club joined us later (Auntie JennBeth, Joan and John, aka Mimi and Oppa). Kieran loved all the animals, but again we saw that Connery's tough talk stops when it comes to mingling with critters. I didn't think we'd ever pull the boys out of the corn "pool," and I can't blame them--it really does feel good. We all loved the hayride out to the pumpkin patch, and Kieran kept pointing to the pumpkins he was going to pick...and was the FIRST person off the truck! He passed right by people once the truck stopped--I think he would have climbed over them if they weren't already standing up. Connery tried to pick up the biggest pumpkins, of course, and we got some cute pics of the kids sitting among them. It was a lot of excitement and knocked both boys out once we started driving home. Connery took a FOUR hour nap!

The next night, we went Trunk or Treating at Nana and Papa's church, which was so much fun! The boys got a kick out of seeing Papa and Nana dressed up, and I've never seen the boys laugh so hard jumping on the inflatables. It was a little bizarre watching "Yoda" inside them. Meagan was a great host (she's always in charge ;), and Kieran won a cake in the cake walk. By landing on the number 3, of course.

On Halloween day, the boys' school had a Fall Fest, so they got to celebrate with their friends, work on their skills at the ring toss, and load up with spider rings and press-on tattoos. That night, they put on their Star Wars garb and "ticker feet"-ed at Ba's house first...only to discover a pregnant hillbilly bride at the door! Connery didn't know what to think and stared at her for a long time. She looked hysterical! Then we drove home so the big Darth Vader (Daddy-o) could greet the boys at the door. We hit up 5 houses in the neighborhood before the bags got so heavy the boys passed them off on us, so we came home and dumped the candy in a pile on the floor of course. All good candy this year. I think it was the first year ever that we didn't get any old Tootsie Rolls... ;)

The next night, Sandy and I planned to drive to Chattanooga for my friend Jay's wedding. Looking forward to a weekend away, we dropped the boys off at Ba's, started driving... and realized the wedding was at 3 EASTERN time. Somehow it just never occured to us. ugh! We were going to be late, so we decided to stay in town, had a nice lunch at Connor's steakhouse, and went to see a local school's production of Urinetown (one of our favorite shows--and it was absolutely adorable!!) and Jeff and Christine's Halloween party. We brainstormed costume ideas, and Sandy suggested the Graduate and Mrs. Robinson. My gut response was, "Are you saying I'm old??" He quickly recovered and said, "No, I thought you could do some theatre makeup to give yourself some lines." Close one, buddy. Congrats to Steph and Caleb for their Most Original Juno costumes. Steph got to be pregnant on Halloween again ;)

Hard to believe it's November, because the weather's been so pretty. Now we're gearing up for my heavy week of rehearsals before our one-act In the Blood, which is going to be amazing, I think. Then Thanksgiving and Christmas will be right here! Halloween opens the floodgate of holidays. Maybe that's why load up on candy. To get a sugar high to get us through! (See some October pics at http://picasaweb.google.com/amysandy/October08#...but give me a couple of weeks to put the entire month up.)

Working out 24/7

Like I've been working out 24/7...that's how I feel most days. I rarely get a moment just to SIT at school (no Solitaire, funny YouTube videos or fun-reading for me, unfortunately), because I've always got students asking me questions, or meetings to go to, or parents to call, or handouts to copy, or emails to answer...I could go on. And if that's not enough, there's always that HUGE pile of files that I need to sort through on my desk. (And it gets larger every day.)

I've often thought that it would be interesting to keep a log of what I am doing at 5 minute intervals throughout a single day. IF I had the time to stop and write it down every 5 minutes. But I don't.

Time flies when you're having fun, and it runs right over you when you're rushing. Rush out to pick up the boys. Rush home to feed their bellies. Rush through my dinner so I can rush to the sink to wash dishes while they eat. Rush upstairs to give them baths. Rush to get Connery's diaper on before he pees in the floor. Rush to hang their clothes up while they play and pick out a bedtime book to read. ...Slow down a little to read a book and sing a song. Okay, maybe two songs. ... Then, rush downstairs so I can get some school stuff done before I crash around midnight. Rush through 6 and a half hours of sleep, so I can rush through a shower, get the boys ready, rush to get them to school, then rush to get myself to school. And we're back to that pile on my desk and students asking me something every minute.

Thank GOD Sandy takes care of the rushing some nights. We usually trade off getting the boys to and from school, as well as laundry, dishes and regular housework, just depending on who's home and how high the piles are. And MommaBa is a Godsend...she keeps the boys at least one night a week when Sandy and I both have something going on. Because we always have something to do, whether we like it or not.

So when the 24/7 gym opened a couple of streets over, do you think I wanted to add THAT to my list of Things To Do? .... Well. Actually. YES. I was AMAZED at myself. I REALLY wanted to join! I haven't worked out in years. I took a Jazzercise class right before Sandy and I got married 8 years ago, and that's it. I might have tried to walk around the neighborhood a few times since then, but never got on a regular schedule. And I've never believed people when they said they feel better after a workout. That just never made sense to me. In my mind, you'll feel better after getting a massage once a week, not getting sweaty on a treadmill.

Yet, somehow, I was truly excited about joining this gym and working out three times a week. Not because I'd get that massage for an hour (which of course does sound pretty nice), but because once I actually made it through the doors of the gym, I simply wouldn't have to RUSH. I could plug in my iPod, hop on the treadmill and just zone out. Nobody asking questions. Nothing to clean. Nothing to write down. No one to call. Just me.

So now that stack of sports bras and spandex shorts that have been waiting in the corner of my closet for 8 years is getting to see daylight again. And I was so excited when Sandy sent me a link for a sports bra. (I'm a simple girl.) This one has a pocket for a key or iPod. (Genius!) So I don't even have to worry about where to put those. And that's what I think the gym does for me. I have to rush around to get there, but once I'm there...no rush, and ah, no worries.

I entered the Gracie Gear Giveaway!

Check out Roni’s Weight Loss Blog for more information.

Paying Attention Tuesday

"And when you realize that anything and everything could be gone by Wednesday, all you can do, I've decided, is to really try to pay attention Tuesday."--Paul Reiser

It's such an important lesson, and I've been trying to slow down lately and do just that. I spend time with the boys, but so often it's while I'm doing dishes, or working on the computer, or watching tv, or doing laundry... I hate to think that at the end of the day I've only spent a half hour playing or talking with them. So here's to turning the tv OFF and noticing the little things like this...

The little boy...
Connery had a doctor's check-up yesterday, and I'm on Fall Break, so we spent the day together. Before his appt. we hung out at Kenny Mango's. While I ordered, he handed me wet coins...and I realized he had taken them from the fountain! As we lounged on the sofa, he talked non-stop about the monkeys hanging from the ceiling and I held his hand. Once he asked, "Doing, Mommy?" "Just sitting here, holding my baby's hand." "K." He then pretended to fall off the sofa repeatedly, telling me "bagguy pooth me off adang" (Bad guys pushed me off again.) A few minutes later, he said, "Hold Baby hand?" and reached for mine. That's when a mother's heart melts...

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For a while, Connery had a series of questions he asked:
Ba? (My answer) At work.
PaGaga? (My answer)Playing golf.
Daddy? (My answer) At work.
Bob? (And the only Bob I know is Bob the Builder...) Bob's building.
Doctor? (Where does he get this stuff??) At the doctor's office.
For a few weeks, he would ask us these questions--always in this order--AT LEAST every fifteen minutes. And by the end of the sequence, I would always laugh, so he reached the point that he would laugh afterwards too. He knows he's funny.

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One day as we pulled up at his school, he didn't want to put his shoes on. I said, "You have to wear your shoes, baby." And he said, "No Tew, Baby." Of course, I laughed, so he said it over and over again, laughing each time. He doesn't know why it's funny, but he knows it is!

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Quiet afternoons are a thing of the past now that both boys can say just about anything they want! Connery repeats everything Kieran says, and when we can't understand him, Kieran can usually translate.

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Connery-speak:
hamango--flamingo
dince--dance
Uh-no--I don't know
Yayo--yellow
reem--Green
focks--Crocs, his favorite shoes
oo--you or your, as in "I wear oo shoes, Mommy!"
Yaya Booboo, no det me!--Nanny nanny boo boo, you can't get me!

And the best!!!
Dah-do-dee--Connery

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The big boy...
Kieran has been so good at school lately. One day only three "friends" in his class got a ribbon in Spanish class because they were listening. And Kieran was one of them. Another day, I walked in and saw that he had about 6 stickers AND a car from the treasure box! His teacher said that he was an example to everyone that day, because he was the ONLY "friend" who put his finger over his mouth and sat on the circle for reading time!

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He notices skin color now, which scares me just a little. Of course, I want the boys to have a respectful appreciation of diversity...but how do I explain that to them?? (Heck, it's hard to explain to some ADULTS!) Well, he's noticed that a couple of classmates, his cousins and his Ba are brown--not sure if he's noticed that Daddy is, too. He's crazy about his cousin Meagan, but I don't think he quite catches on that she's his cousin. He thinks she's his girlfriend half the time. In fact, one day when I said, "your cousin Meagan," he explained, "Meagan is not my cousin. She's not brown. I already have some cousins, and they're brown."

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Did Connery behave? "He was being a little have"

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Mommy, do you know who I'm going to marry today? Meagan.

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Gryphon and Sweets are boyfriend and girlfriend. When one of them is not at home, the other is sad.

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Kieran: Mommy, I have a broken leg. See this red stuff? (Points to scab on his knee) That's where my leg is broken.
Connery: Gryphon broke The-The's leg, Mommy.
Kieran: No, Gryphon didn't break it. I broke 'my-thaylves' leg.

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Kieran-speak
primming--pretending
ablieve--As in "Can you ablieve that??"

And "out of the mouths of babes..."

If only it were that easy.

A month of Sundays...

I haven't posted in "a month of Sundays!" as the Southern saying goes. (For those of you from across the Mason-Dixon, that means that it's been 30 Sundays, or 30 weeks, since my last post.) We've been crazy busy and one or all of us has been out of town almost every weekend. I went to an Indigo Girls concert in Atlanta with some of my best friends and Masi mid-September, and at the end of the month, I flew to Chicago for a theatre conference. (Man, I had really missed that city. It was hard to leave it again at the end of the weekend.)

We all drove up to Tennessee for our Carr family reunion, which is always a major event. Many people dread their reunions, but we look forward to ours every year! It's a three day event with golfing on Friday, lunch, the horseshoe tournament and late-night karaoke at Aunt Bonnie's on Saturday, then breakfast, the big family photo and long goodbyes at Granny's on Sunday. Click here to see the photos and other pics from September. And here for August photos.

And here's a video from K's recent BIG BOY trip with Papa, Nana and M to Lake Winnie up in Chattanooga. It was the first time that Papa and Nana had taken the two oldest grandkids on a special trip just for them, and they had a blast, as you can see. K is not very descriptive about things, so we didn't hear much of the details out of him, but he did volunteer that "Every just kept trying to dump me out. Papa and Nana had to buckle me in so everything couldn't dump me out."