One Trick Pony - Spin Cycle

I'm working my way back to the Spin Cycle after getting derailed by Halloween and life in general. Jen requested a spin about Tricks before the holiday, and here's my take:
Mommy Tricks:

It's true that as they age I've feel less of a need for 'tricks' to get us thru the days....all the scheduling and buying of things non-adult that happened during those first days were anxiety-producing. Now I occasionally lament the quieter and more defined days, but it's nice to be able to get out of the van (Heather, can I steal your 'van of awesomeness' title because we would have had more kids if we'd gotten THAT sooner) with only a few things to carry rather than having to devise a 10-minute plan of attack to get everyone out of both sides, loaded into whatever carrying device suited, bags checked and double-checked for all the baby and toddler 'essentials.'

as Paul Simon said in the song:
He makes me think about
All these extra moves I make
And all this herky-jerky motion
And the bag of tricks it takes
To get me through my working day

All that said, here are a few tricks that still work at our house (and I bet there are some thru that 'tricks' label link as well):

Somehow the lid of milk bottles became their favorite ketchup receptacle

They made these Fall wreaths at the library today, but the 'trick' portion is that around Halloween there was a witch hanging from that hook and they somehow came to believe that she would ward off any frights....things have been a little dicey since she came down, today they said 'these will keep all the happy and thankful things inside our house'

Man and Boy Tricks: Dean is all about the lame, worn-out joke (I love you, honey, but it's true!) and gotcha to look and 'too slow' low fives. He's teaching the boys a few, as noted in The Joker (link back to old post)

Paul Simon

Buddy Bear

We went to the story hour at the library today, and it was all about bears. The boys picked this book to bring home, and it's a good one that I thought I'd recommend. It is a lot like Doctor Ted, and the boys were both able to read almost the entire book - yay! This real-life conversation mode is easy for them to sound out and anticipate. The main character is a girl who second-guesses her decision to not buy the broken bear at a yard sale, takes him home and makes a friend...sweet tale of friendship and daily youngster things - they both liked the illustrations which include Scrabble, books, popcorn and some other HJ family favorites ;-)

from JB's God's Own Drunk

Happy Birthday, Dear Aunt Libby!

Yesterday was my Dear Aunt Libby's birthday, and though she's been gone for 7 years now, her spirit lives on in our lives in so many good ways. It was hard to write about it yesterday because some days I just miss her so, but I did don a SB shirt and head to the gym in her honor (Say HEY, HASAYers!)

She was funny and feisty and I never visited her without someone coming up to her to tell her a story about how they watched her play ball, how their life was turned around by her counseling or teaching them, or some such inspiring thing. In my memory, she was always the person in our family who first went to college and really embodied a love of education. She made me laugh, she made me try to be a better person, and she loved my darling husband. My beloved Aunt Libby died in September of 2001 and was buried on September 11th, so that's where I was 'when the world stopped turning.' I always like to think of the ways that it HASN'T for so many of us whose lives she helped to shape.

Mmm, Mmm, Good! Mmm, Mmm, Good!

This is a shameless request for help - our kids' preschool started collecting Campbell's labels to earn cool stuff. Look at these adorable kids (not ours) and see if you can possibly resist them ;-)

These are all the scrumpdillyicious things that have Labels for Education - you can even register your grocery keychain thingy in some stores so that you don't have to cut. But if you have kids who need to practice cutting, it's a great ploy - I'll even do all the heavy lifting by filling out the collection sheets if you'll just send your labels to me.

End plea :-)

Campbell's jingle

Pinball Wizard

I have a confession to make - I spend WAY too much time playing games online. It helps me veg is about the only saving grace, despite what I try to convince myself about it's mental benefits ;-) So the boys have played a few games, and I was feeling generous when Jack asked to play a game this morning....there's a cute little game I thought would be manageable - you group three matching pumpkins to clear the board. He's been playing card games like Crazy 8's and it seemed to be along the same lines to him.

I went into the other room to discuss something with Dean, and Jack comes in a few minutes later saying that he 'ruined the game' with a big sad face. He describes what I recognize as the score page, so I assume the game timed out and walk in the room to fix it for him....

The following is a reenactment:

Here he is intently concentrating

and here he is realizing he WON A TROPHY- top three on a board where this game has been played A LOT (especially by his mother, who never came near his score :pout:).

It was a good game day for boys - Dean won them each a Batman toy using The Claw at the movie theater. We saw Madagascar - if you liked the first one, you'll like this one a lot. It was cute but not enough singing "I like to move it, move it" for my guys ;-)

Happy Week!

The Who

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things - Spin Cycle

Jen at Sprite's Keeper does a weekly Spin Cycle that I've slacked on for a while. I'm going to catch up at some point, but thought I'd try to get back into the cycle this week with "Favorites" and you can read all the laundry here.

Although the main idea is to search your blog archives and post one of your favorites, I always have to spin it somewhat differently, ornery that I am...since this blog is about the boys, I polled them on their Five Favorites Right Now - I think I may do this on a more regular basis, so thanx, as always, for a wonderful idea, Jen!

Jack's Five Favorites Right Now:

These are Jack's favoite socks because they are "so comfy" -

I wish I could remember where I bought them to get him some more ;-)
This is his soccer trophy

This is his favorite prize from school, Osito

(thank you to the kind mom who donated 30+ beanie babies to school!)

This is his favorite piggy bank - I think I got them at Target's Dollar Spot with the goal of painting them....not yet. He broke it the other day but thankfully it broke evenly and yay for SuperGlue!

"This because I LOVE the world!"

Harry's Five Favorites Right Now:

This is his Ocracoke sweatshirt, and he's pointing it out for you all :-)

This is his favorite episode of Sid The Science Kid Too Much Noise :-)

This is his favorite Cash Register -

this thing was full of awesome information about nutrition

This is his favorite stuffed animal, Greenie,

which he won at the State Fair (cool pic at the end of that post)

The boy LOVES a dish, what can you do?!?

I tried to look thru the almost 300 posts and couldn't pick a favorite, so I thought I'd pick the one with the most appropriate title song ;-) I love that jigzone site, and that was a fun picture from the earliest days of this blog.

Now I'm off to read some favorites of my bloggy friends - Happy Week!

It Always Comes As A Surprise...

....when I wake up to see their early morning endeavors. Today I heard the doors opening and shutting and them giggling and then starting serious discussions about animals' feeding and sleep preferences. Well, apparently they set up a Pet Store (another of Harry's favorite movie lines) in the bathroom.

Here they are trying out their silly poses

and trying to give me a better view of the animals' happy new habitat (these are just the ones they sleep with :eek:)

and here's jack working to get their food ready

(aka a bear sorting game)

I don't really know this song, but I was looking up Pet Shop Boys and noticed this had the word "relax" in it, so Jen can I use this as the relax spin? No, I guess I better get motivated ;-)

Also, Heather, maybe the Ugly Shirt is from the same theory that 'all blues match' which led to our 14-shades of blue bathroom ;-)

Pet Shop Boys

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Here are our two Little Drummer Boys playing around at Costco today - neighbor payback?! We have a neighbor whose teen son has band practice most Saturdays during naptime....lovely. Thankfully, there is a 2-hour limit, but still ;-)

We Are Family (Grandparents' Day aftermath)

Yesterday was Grandparents' Day at the boys' school. We parents weren't invited :sniff: but my mom did get some great pix and video that I hope to copy soon. The boys were surprised to see TWO sets of grandparents in the audience, and it looked completely sweet as they sang, danced, pledged and basically were adorable. The preschool staff did an awesome job, but I still hope we parents will get to be the audience soon ;-)

My parents had to get back home early, but Dean's got to stay and play with the boys.

Harry making his wishlist with Grammy

Jack decided to get in on the actionJack and Papa sharing a little chat

....then the pirates came out! Harry practicing his menacing argh with Papa

and Jack trying to mutiny and take the loot!

Sister Sledge

Youngblood

Today was my day to donate blood, and here's my usual plea: if you can, please donate blood as often as you can - it's quick, less than 30 minutes, and pretty much painless. They usually give you some sort of present, a shirt, insulated bags, etc. For all you commit-me types who have to think of good work things, drives are so easy. For all you HASAYers out there, they say a pint of blood weighs about a pound, so if you're looking for a little push toward that goal ;-)

I've been going for a while and the people are so wonderful - they always ask about the boys, who used to go in their stroller and actually waited in the lobby chairs the last few times (big testament to how wonderful the people are and how much the boys like the process).

Stepping off the soapbox and getting to the real reason you're here:

Nothing like friends in Fall

Not much going on today, just packing up all the Boo stuff and getting ready for the grandparents' visit on Friday - can't wait to see you guys!

Grateful Dead

Chuck E's In Love

We talked about veterans a bit today and noted so many beautiful flags, but mostly we took advantage of the wonderfully FREE life we lead and built some more precious memories...thank you to all who make it all possible!

I will admit that I used to go to Chuck E. Cheese's when I had no excuse other than good pizza and beer; my grown-up friends and I would go there to play games. I still love it, call me crazy, but it's been MY birthday destination of choice twice since the boys have been a good excuse ;-)

A local school was doing a fundraiser tonite, so I jumped on the chance....and these faces are only icing on the cake

It may not show in the pix, but Jack was wishing Harry a fun trip :wub:

Jack threw himself, literally, into a tight air hockey game with Daddy

and took a turn at some sort of space pod game

Video game trances

and driving joy :wubwub:

Ricki Lee Jones

These days

Today is Sesame Street's 39th birthday! Did you grow up with SSt? What's your favorite character or memory or lesson? It has definitely occupied a place of honor at our house, mostly because of Elmo at first, but now they love it all.

Tomorrow is Veteran's Day - please do what you can to honor those who honor us with their service. I really don't have the words to thank all of you military families enough, but please know your sacrifices do not go unappreciated.


In honor of their service, Applebee's is giving veterans and active duty military free food tomorrow. I'm sure there are other treats out there, but I just saw the commercial and wanted to pass it along - if anyone has other info, please post in the comments section :-)

10,000 Maniacs

Don't Leave(s) Me This Way

The leaves this year are the most amazingly beautifully vibrant I can remember in a long time. The other day I was a little early for meeting a friend for lunch and found myself looking up out of the sunroof to this:

and these gorgeous ones didn't look as great in the picture but were just lovely

The after-preschool crowd had a blast in the leaves today

And here is one of the adorable projects they are doing for their grandparents - those are their handprints=leaves on 'family trees'

and every feather on this cute turkey lists the things the kids are thankful for in their lives - it's growing but Jack already showed up on one of his friend's lists :wub:

Absolutey not leaf-related, but it was getting a little too cheesy so heeeeere's Jack to give you a scare - thank you Miss Sharon for the wonderfully thoughtful gifts!
They both loved them all :-)

Thelma Houston

Here's health to you and to our Corps

Today is the 233rd birthday of the United States Marine Corps - thank you to all who have served and been protected by the USMC. Oorah!

A special thank you to my favorite Marine, Jimmy (the father of my heart), and to my favorite civilian Marine and wonderful husband, Dean!

Photos and medals of Jimmy's service in Vietnam

a little bit of history from marines.com:

1775: Founding of the Marine Corps
A legacy is bornDuring the American Revolution, many important political discussions took place in the inns and taverns of Philadelphia, including the founding of the Marine Corps.

A committee of the Continental Congress met at Tun Tavern to draft a resolution calling for two battalions of Marines able to fight for independence at sea and on shore.

The resolution was approved on November 10, 1775, officially forming the Continental Marines.

As the first order of business, Samuel Nicholas became Commandant of the newly formed Marines. Tun Tavern’s owner and popular patriot, Robert Mullan, became his first captain and recruiter. They began gathering support and were ready for action by early 1776.

Each year, the Marine Corps marks November 10th with a celebration of the brave spirit which compelled these men and thousands since to defend our country as United States Marines.

USMC's Halls of Montezuma

Hey, hey, hey!

Here's some silliness from our weekend:

Jack is singing a familiar tune:

Flamajunka, flamajunka,
coo dee true, coo dee true....

can you guess what it was?

Dean asking about breakfast around 10 this morning:
D: Harry, what do you want for breakfast?
H: BRUNCH!
D:OK, what do you want for brunch?
H: Um, SUGAR!
D: No sugar.
D: Jack, what do you want for brunch?
J: sugar ;-)
J: Um, bugs! LOL

And does Harry remind you of anyone??

Here's a hint:

Can you remember his name?

Fat Albert Theme Song

The Bird(house)

Yesterday was all about gender stereotypes at our house - the boys did "Man things" while I went to a craft festival with my friend. This is what it looked like when I left - setting up their equipment....

....and this is what it looked like when I got home - Birdhouses to be painted is next on our art project list :-)

Morris Day and The Time