We spent the day in Boston today. It was a very quickly planned trip, but very fun none the less. I will tell all about it tomorrow.

I feel I need to prepare an acceptance speech. Do I thank the academy? Do I thank my friends and family? Do I thank all my fans? Who do I dedicate this award to?

What award, you ask?

Well, It has come to my attention that I win the "best mom ever" award. Whoa! What?! I know, I didn't see that one coming either! But, it seems to Russell that I am all that, and a bag of chips. For the last week he has been saying, "Mom, you are the best mom ever" followed with a very sweet hug.

Nice, huh? Well, it is, but (oh yes, there is a but) it's funny how this phrase has come out now that he sees more toys in stores, on T.V., and in magazines. You see, what I didn't mention before, is how the rest of the conversation goes between Russell and I. Let me fill you in:

Russell, "Mom, you're the best mom ever."

Me, "Awww, thanks Russell."

Russell, "You know, I've been thinking about my Christmas list...."

Do you see why I say it is nice, but....?

He is beginning the "buttering" process for Christmas. I refuse to talk with him about presents yet, but he's a smart guy and is working his charm until he gets the go ahead to discuss presents. Until that day I pretend I don't hear anything after I am told I am the best mom ever. He is obviously hoping that I remember all the hugs and kind words when I am walking the Lego aisle in Target.

I think the fact that I ignore him during this time means that I automatically get my award taken away. My reign as "best" was very short lived.

We had company for supper last night and I kid you not, this was a conversation that took place between the boys:

Russell: "We are going to be neighbors when we get older Max."
Max: "No, I'm going to live far far away from you." (evil laughing from Max, but in good fun.)
Russell: "What about our plan, Max?" (said with great concern)
Max: "No."
Adult: "What plan is that?"
Russell: "We are going to live next door to each other and work at Toys-r-us."
Max: "I don't want to anymore."
Russell: "Who am I going to sit by at lunch?"

Russell is kind of panicking that his life dream of working at Toys-r-us with Max is not going to work out. I guess he has fears of eating lunch alone. I have a fear that these conversations will be leaked and no one will come for supper anymore. (Although I did just leak it myself...)

The boys and I spent our morning in Firestone getting our oil changed and getting a squeaky belt changed. I assumed it would take 45 minutes, maybe an hour. Well, it took much longer than expected. MUCH LONGER! The boys were great during the wait (obviously, right?! haha) and made all the men working get a good laugh.

How?

Well, as we sat in the waiting area we saw them drive our little "birdman" car into the stall and begin lifting it into the air. As soon as the tires left the floor Max yelled out, "OUR CAR IS FLYING!!!" Both boys burst into laughter and kept talking about how Harry Potter was in the car making it fly. As I said in a previous post, Max has a VERY contagious laugh and soon everyone was laughing and Max and Russell were crying they were laughing so hard. All because a car was up on a jack. One man later told me that he was thrilled that the boys found the car in the air so funny. He said that as a child he too thought that cars in "the shop" were flying. He told me that seeing the boys laugh so hard took him back to his younger years and often forgets that such little things make kids laugh.

The best part of this...
They gave me a quote for the work they were going to do and it was $____. When they were finished and I went to the counter to pay the total was $20 less than I was earlier told. Could it have been because my boys made all these men laugh and put them in a good mood? I'm not sure, but I am going to instruct the boys to bust up laughing in the grocery store, at the eye doctor, dentist, and Target. I'm going to be saving some serious cash now, I can feel it.

Today in our history/geography lesson we are moving on from Egypt into Mesopotamia. Our first lesson is learning about what Mesopotamia means. If you didn't know, Mesopotamia means "the land between the rivers". The 2 rivers Mesopotamia lays between are the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

After discussing this topic for 30 minutes I gave the boys a verbal quiz on what we had just read/discussed. Max was asked the question, "what are the names of the 2 rivers we have been talking about?" This was an easy question just so I could see if he had absorbed any information that we had just gone over.

His answer:

"The Tigris and the Alfredo rivers."

After this answer it was hard to keep the boys from thinking about food. Russell answered his questions properly, but it was obvious he was dreaming about floating down a river of alfredo.

Also, as I was putting away the cleaning supplies after giving the bathroom a good scrubbing, Russell approached me with some good information. He told me, "I know you just cleaned the bathroom so I didn't pee on the seat this time."

This makes me wonder what he does on the days when he knows that I didn't just clean the bathroom. Oh, little boys are wonderful.

I truly cannot believe that my little Maxwell Graham is 4.

4!

Four!

Last year at this time he was refusing to turn 3. He hated the idea of being 3. We could not utter the word 3 or he would get very angry and cry. This year he is accepting of the fact that he is getting older, although he is moving a bit faster than I would like. He wants to be 41. Yes, 41 years old is the preferred age this year. I don't know where he came up with this, but he even wanted me to check and make sure I have 41 candles for his cake (Which I do not.).

Well, once again, enjoy this slide show. This time of Maxwell. The song playing is his favorite at the moment, but his favorite changes often so by the time you see this, he might not like the song anymore...although I think he will.

R.C. is home from NYC, everyone is feeling better and we rearranged the living room. We hung out together all day which was very nice after having a long/tiring few days here at home with the boys while R.C. was gone.

We all piled into our tiny kitchen for a before bed snack of cheese and crackers and now R.C. and I are finishing our night watching some of our favorite Seinfeld episodes.

I almost forgot to post tonight (Thanks for the reminder Chris) so my mind is not thinking about blogging, it's thinking about bed. Tomorrows post will be much better, and much earlier.... :)

A favorite quote from today:

"Mom, if we were having a race, running in place, I'm pretty sure I could beat you." Russell

I'm not sure if he is thinking that I am so stinking athletic that he could only beat me if I was running in place, or if he thinks that running in place is all I could handle. I'm not sure if this is going to be a challenge of stamina or speed, but either way I plan on taking him up on this challenge just to see who the better runner in place is. I'm not going to let him win just because he's a child, I'm going to give running in place all I have and hopefully kick his little running in place butt.

As a child I hated to be sick. I hated to admit I was sick. I would try everything to hide that I was not feeling well. My mother is smart though and always knew when I was not feeling well. She would call me out on it and I would be so angry/sad that I had been found out. I still do it today. I don't know why I have such a hard time admitting that I might have caught a sick bug. A few years back I went months knowing that I had a hernia, but didn't go to the doctor to have them confirm this. I did eventually go and had to have surgery. I guess I think that if I ignore feelings of sickness/pain then whatever I may have will just go away. Sometimes I think this works, but sometimes it doesn't and I have to admit defeat.

It seems I have passes this "trait" onto Maxwell. He awoke this morning obviously not feeling well. When I asked him if he was feeling ok he would answer with "I'm fine". Eventually though he admitted (after crying for over an hour) that he had a soar throat and tummy. After getting a confirmation from the good old thermometer that he has a fever, he was tucked into the couch and will remain there for the day. When I check on him he quietly says, "I feel good", but he's not fooling anyone. This boy is sick...I just hope he gets over it by Monday so he can enjoy his birthday.

I don't want to blog today.
Really I don't.
R.C. leaves early tomorrow morning for NYC until late Saturday night. (for class) Ugh.
We are going to a show opening tonight and maybe stick around for some "open studios". Maybe not.
I'm tired.
Not one day this week have I been able to stay awake to greet R.C. in the evening (early morning) when we gets home. Oops.
My "baby boy" turns 4 in 4 days. Sigh. (Double sigh!!)
I'm determined to not miss a day. Yes, this counts.

This week we are studying Egypt. The boys love it, mainly because we talk about taking organs out of bodies and wrapping mummies. We have studied hieroglyphics, Cairo, and the Nile. Pharaohs and pyramids are the favorite topic though. After our lessons yesterday I asked Russell to build a pyramid out of Legos. He did an awesome job! This pyramid not only looks great, but inside there is a "pharaoh" and gold coins for his afterlife. This base was picked specifically because the Nile is running through it.
Since the taking of this picture another pyramid was added to the other side of the Nile. Both boys think we need to take a field trip to Egypt to see the pyramids and the Great Sphinx.

When I was in grade school there were several boys in my class who would read Goosebumps books. I never liked them. In fact, I hated them. I hated them so much that even in grade school I told myself that when I had kids (someday) they would never read these horrible books. I loved to read as a child (and still do) and hoped that my kids would loathe these books as much as I did and instead begin reading on Emerson, Steinbeck, and Shakespeare (only kidding! Stan and Jane Bernstein would do (and has done) just fine.).

Well, things have changed. Yesterday Russell was eying the Goosebumps section at the library and I found myself telling him that he could get one. WHAT!? He was so excited! He carried it home and immediately planted himself on the couch and began reading it to Max.

There is nothing better than seeing your 2 kids cuddled under a blanket enjoying a book together. Whether that book is by Tolstoy, Bernstein, or R.L. Stine, reading anything is better than watching mindless T.V., in my book. But, that's just me...

Yesterday afternoon I told Maxwell that I thought he looked nice. He picked out his own clothes and actually matched, didn't have on sweatpants, and didn't have 5 layers of t-shirts on, so I thought a compliment would do him some good.

"I've looked better other days."

That's the response I got from him. I guess he felt he could have done better.

It's nice having a husband who can fix anything.

A few weeks ago I was driving around doing some errands when I hit something. I have no idea what it was that I hit. I didn't see anything in the road, but whatever it was put a hole in the side of my car. Not a huge hole and not horribly noticeable, but it is a hole none the less and it also tore off some molding on the side of the door. R.C. told me it looks like I was in a battle on the high seas and a canon ball hit the side of the car. Luckily there was no damage to the car other than this cosmetic blemish. Performance wise it is still driving like a great little car with 100,000+ miles on it.

But, as I said, my husband can fix anything. Today he was kind enough to do his work from home so that he can take periodic breaks to go outside and "Bondo" and "Epoxy" our car back to it's beautiful self.

The bathroom door was also a big fix that R.C. completed recently. I'm usually not one to close doors in the house unless it is to keep smoke, due to cooking, from reaching the smoke detectors; but now I like to close the bathroom door just because it closes so nicely.

Thank R.C.

(I'm really running low on blog-able material)

We took advantage of "free day" at the zoo today. It was a beautiful autumn morning and most of the animals were still out for viewing, but some had already been moved for the winter months.

It was a good zoo. They had all the normal zoo animals, zebras, elephants, monkeys, etc. They also had "the farmyard". Many zoos have areas like this where they have cows, sheep, pigs, donkeys, etc. on display. I always thought they were kind of funny. Coming from a farming community I saw cows, sheep, pigs, etc. everyday. I assumed the rest of the world knew what these animals were and knew that they really were not that interesting. Why would people go to a zoo with exotic animals all around them and choose to stare at a beef cow instead? Today as we walked into "the farmyard" I thought I had figured it out. It made me feel at home. For ten minutes I felt like I was back in Wisconsin looking at John and Carrie's cows. I was just waiting for the puppy to run up behind me and start biting my pant legs and freaking the boys out. People like me who sometimes miss the smell of cows can be comforted for just a few minutes. How nice of the zoo people to think of others and want to comfort them in this way. That's what this area was made for, right?

Wrong. I was so very very wrong. They have these "farmland" areas in zoos because people really are clueless about simple, everyday farm animals. As we were standing at a fence looking at a pig, a woman came and stood beside us. She had a question she wanted answered and it went a little something like this:

"Is that a rabbit?"

REALLY lady (A grown woman in her 40's, and very serious. This was not a joke to her)? You are staring at an animal with a snout, curly tail, and covered in mud and you think it is a rabbit? The farmland area is important for people like this. I never realized that some people don't know what a pig is. Obviously she also does not know what a rabbit looks like. Maybe she doesn't know what a squirrel or a dog looks like either. What is this world coming to??

I'm trying to be more tolerant of Christmas before Thanksgiving this year. I am not accepting it, but I am trying my hardest to tolerate it. I've already seen a Christmas countdown, listened to my lovely husband hum Christmas carols, watched a family purchase a tree, heard a Christmas song on the radio and listened as people talked about the "Black Friday" deals that were going to be in stores this year. Christmas items have been in stores since September. Yes, September. As I was looking for school supplies the boys were ogling candy canes and stockings. I think the fact that I made it to November 6th without writing a huge rant about it is a good sign that I am tolerating it just fine.

I promise you this though...if I get Merry Christmas-ed before November 27th, I'm going to lose it. I'm hanging on by a thread as it is and that would push me over the edge.

My boys have put on some serious muscle mass in the last few days.

I can still pin them on the floor though. Even muscular Spiderman can't get away from fingers that know just were all the tickle spots are.

Today was an uneventful day.

• We went to the gym.

• The boys and I did lessons. Max is working on penmanship and can write letters A-G (capital and lower case) very nicely. Russell is plugging away at 1st grade. He is reading at a 3rd grade level and blows my mind with how well he reads.

• I got the boys snow pants and spent a whopping $5.50 total. On two pairs! That is a fraction of what 1 pair would normally cost. Now we just need snow.

• The boys and I spent 3 hours at the park today with some good friends, and made some new ones while we were at it.

• We had a delicious supper of roasted chicken and beet/goat cheese salad. If I had to choose one dish to eat for the rest of my life it would be beets and goat cheese. Hands down the best food combination I have ever had.
  

• R.C. has been working busily in his studio all day, and had an appointment with the eye doctor. His eyes have improved in the last year. (That is how uneventful our day was...things like this get a bullet on the list.)
  

• It is now 9:00 pm and I am just finishing a cup of coffee. Nice.
  

What would you do if you were at the gym, minding your own business, working out to your own music, when you notice a seemingly "crazy gym person" right beside you?

You all know the type. Flailing arms. Crazy "I'm going to beat my best time" smile. Feet moving so fast they are a blur and you are just waiting for them to trip. Eyes bulging and nostrils flaring as they concentrate as hard as they can so as not to fall. After this wild spectacle that you just witness, you watch as this person gets off the machine and casually looks around and does a little stretch as if there was nothing to see there. They then pretend to not be winded (which we all know is a lie) as they walk to get a towel to wipe down the machine.

You try not to stare. You try not to snicker. It's hard though because these people put on such a show.

What would you do if you knew all along that this "crazy gym person" was your husband on the machine right beside you?

You do what any loving, supportive wife would do and you laugh. You laugh until you almost fall off your machine. I am so happy that R.C. goes to the gym with me now and I hope that there are many more days of him trying to beat his personal best. These days are great for him because he feels "tough" and "fit", and these are great days for me because I get my fill of laughter in before I hit the showers.

Guess what this month is?
National blog posting month! That's right, for the month of November bloggers are encouraged to blog a little something each and everyday. Some days will be full of great information, other days you might need to listen to me ramble about absolutely nothing (there may be more of these days than you would like). Nonetheless I am determined to make it through the entire month, even though I am off to a bad start with missing the first day.
So, lets get started....
Last weekend my mom and dad came from Wisconsin for a visit. We had a beautiful weekend and kept quite busy. Here's a run down of what we did:

• I took mom and dad and the boys to Mystic Seaport on Friday. R.C. had to teach so he was unable to join us. We spent the day in the fresh air exploring boats and all the other shipping history. We have been there at least 6 times now, but each time we find something new to explore and always have a great time.
• Friday night mom and dad stayed with the boys and R.C. and I went out for supper and coffee. We had a great time out and the boys still have not stopped talking about the fun they had that night with Grandpa and Grandma.
  
• Saturday we spent a few hours roaming the RISD art museum, and gorging on free pickles at a little sandwich place.
  
• After lunch we walked down to R.C.'s studio so mom and dad could see his new space. They were very surprised with what they found. That's all I can say here. R.C. will reveal his latest piece to everyone in his own time.
• Mom, dad and I took the boys to a Halloween party at the park later that afternoon. The boys had a great time decorating trick or treat bags, playing some games, and listening to a band play music. They were most interested in seeing their friends dressed up also and getting to play at the park.
• Later that evening the boys got to go trick or treating. Max knew exactly what he wanted (candy) and he was not going to let scary decorations slow him down. He marched right up to each door and yelled trick or treat and took seconds and thirds from some of the treat bowls, while Russell was timid and hung back if there was something he found scary near the door.
  
• We ended the night with WaterFire downtown. It was a beautiful night and very few people were out for WaterFire so we had no trouble finding a place to sit for awhile or a standing place to watch the origami man. We walked from the very last brazier almost to the first and were looking forward to a good nights sleep.
  
• Sunday morning we had to head to the airport and say goodbye. I set alarm clocks the night before, but for some reason (I have since figured out the problem, but will keep it a secret since it was a very very stupid mistake on my part.) none of the alarms went off. Luckily, Russell truly is a human alarm clock. We were wanting to wake up at 6:30 am, and at 6:34 Russell climbed down from his bed and made just enough noise to wake me (I was sleeping on his floor) and realize that we had almost slept in. Russell saved the day! :)

Helping Grandma put the finishing touches on a Halloween costume.

Nate the Great (a detective from children's books. Although everyone thought he was Sherlock Holmes. At least they knew he was a detective.) and a skeleton who didn't want to wear his mask the right way.