Catching up on odds and ends:

Our sport of the summer is --- baseball. R.C. has been teaching the boys how to play catch and it seems Russell is a natural (so long as he keeps focused on the ball and not on something in the sky that he is certain is a UFO.). Maxwell was interested the first couple of times playing, but has lost interest. Most evenings we head to the park so R.C. and Russell can play catch and Max and I play at the playground. Russell received his first black eye a few weeks ago due to not watching the ball. Since that episode he has done a much better job watching the ball. His throw is fantastic though!! The boys are enjoying watching some games with R.C. in the evening and listening to the games in the car. We are hoping to get to a Paw Sox game before summer is over and R.C. and I were able to play a game of catch the other night as the boys played at the park. I was pleased to show R.C. my hidden talent of baseball after all these years. I had the disadvantage of using a kids glove, but was still able to out throw and out catch my dear husband. I'm not one to brag, but come on, when you're good, you're good.... (hahaha)As Russell is working on his ball skills, Max and I enjoy the playground where he has finally mastered the "fireman's pole". He was so proud of himself when he was finally able to go down without me holding him and he proceeded to go down the pole at least 20 times until he was invited into a game of tag with a little girl playing on the playground also.

We received a package from Korea a few weeks ago (I know, I'm really behind in blogging...) that had little things for the boys, along with some Korean chocolate and treats. One of the favorite items (aside from the elephant watering can you can see in beach pictures in previous postings) was a pair of soft gloves that we assume you are supposed to use in the shower/bath. Max, however, felt they work best on his feet. He loves wearing them on his feet so he looks like a frog and was taking a picture of them himself when I took a picture of him.

This morning Maxwell brought me the dry erase board and said he "did something".
That's right!! Max wrote PET all by himself and when I asked him what he wrote, he told me, "pet". Yippee!! He wrote it and he knew what he wrote!! Preschool here we come!!

The 4th of July. The day that Americans celebrate their independence. People get excited to wear a flag shirt, hat, shorts or even in some cases a flag bikini (why people do this I may never know). All kids get excited to see fireworks, hold a sparkler, and sing some American anthems. All kids that is, except my 2 little boys. All they cared about was seeing Spiderman. We woke up early to go to the Bristol, RI 4th of July parade. This particular parade has been held since 1785 and is the oldest continuous Independence Day celebration in the United States. We walked a little over a mile to find the perfect (only) standing spot to watch the parade go by. The boys stood in their matching Spiderman shirts unimpressed with much of the parade. The only time Russell felt the urge to wave/clap/look alive was when a cute girl waved at him from a float. Tell me that time is not here already!!? Soon our long wait was over and the man of the hour (or 3 hours) walked past. That was it. He walked past, the boys watched with their mouths hanging open, gave a little giggle, and then it was over.

They stood like this through almost the entire parade. Their shirts are the same, their hands are the same, their hair is the same, their stance is the same. They are such great boys!!

The reason we went to the parade...

Pirates!

Later that evening the Anderson family came to town and we headed down to WaterFire on the canal. It was a beautiful evening and we stayed downtown until 11:00ish. With 5 kids, that's really pushing our luck, but attitudes were good and I'm sure it felt nice to stretch their legs after such a long car ride.
The rest of their visit was spent doing the normal "visitor" activities (you will see, if you come, that we do the same thing with everyone! Next week we have a visitor coming who has already been here once, so we will have to come up with something new....stay tuned.)
We enjoyed a walk to the park and a couple of laps around the track. We had a picnic at the RISD beach (could not swim due to contamination from all the storms) and ran around the field for a few hours. The next day we went to the beach and relaxed in the sun and played in the water all afternoon. Our day at the beach was followed by strawberry picking and a lobster dinner. A good visit from the Andersons. It was great to be able to see Christopher before he is deployed and see how all the girls are growing.

Christopher and Quinn after a run around the track with Alannah and Alyssa bringing up the rear. Yes, little Quinn was trying to (and doing a good job) keep up with the big kids on the track.

Stacia and Russell coming around the last turn...

Chris bouncing the kids on the bridge.

Maxwell and R.C...

Alyssa and Alannah playing in the sand.

Russell trying to bury himself.

It was hard to get a picture of all 5 kids at the same time, but this one is pretty good...

As we all know, kids say that darnedest things. Let me share with you just a few quotes that were said during the past week.

"Sometimes life goes wrong" -- Maxwell

"I smell fruit snacks. Wait, mom, I think it's you. You smell like fruit snacks, but don't worry I don't eat human fruit snacks." -- Russell

(looking up at a bird house mounted to a tree out back) "Is that a pencil sharpener?" -- little neighbor boy

Neighbor kid:"What are you grilling?"
Me: "chicken"
Neighbor kid: "what kind of chicken?"
R.C.: "grilled chicken" (duh)
Neighbor kid: "yeah, I know, but it smells like chicken."
HUH!!???

neighbor boys: " You grew up in Illinois?"
R.C.: "Yes"
Me: "I grew up in Wisconsin"
neighbor boys: " So you guys were in different states? Aren't Illinois and Wisconsin close to each other?"
R.C.: "Yes, they are close to one another."
neighbor boys: "So is that how you met? You were just driving down the road and saw each other and were like, hi, let's get married."
Other neighbor boy: "dating sounds easy".

The weather has finally warmed up and the rain clouds have gone away. Last week we went to the RISD beach twice.

The first day was cloudy and we ended up leaving earlier than we would have liked due to thunder and rain moving in. We decided to head back to the beach the next day also and what a great idea that was!! It was a beautiful day. We could not have asked for a more perfect beach day! It was not windy, the water was warm and the boys were ready to swim. During the 2 days we spent on the beach we found several horseshoe crabs and a jelly fish which made the boys very excited. Of course you know that horseshoe crabs were around during the time of the dinosaurs so Russell was just beyond happy to find these. He was very sad when I told him he could not take one home with him. Sorry, but I wasn't too thrilled with the idea of riding home with a huge, dead, stinky, crab in the back of my car!

Max trying to swim

Russell and the horseshoe crab he wanted to take home.

Wading through the water to get to another part of the beach...

These boys are like little fish! They haven't caught on to actual swimming strokes yet (we're working on that), but they are not afraid of the water or any of the muck that floats up now and then. Each time that we go to the beach Maxwell tells us, "I am not afraid of the deep sea!" as he runs up and down the sand as fast as his little legs can go. We look forward to others coming to visit so you can join us on a beach outing.

For the past week we have been spending non-stop family time (aside from 1 day when R.C. went to the studio for the afternoon) together. We have been doing very normal things (grocery shopping, the library, the kids gym, etc.), but things that are fun now that R.C. is able to do them with us.

Today we spent our day at Mystic Seaport (again). It was a beautiful day! Perfect for walking around, having a picnic, and smelling the salty sea air. We saw many new things today that we did not see when we were there a few months ago. One of the most exciting things we saw was a jelly fish. As we were peering over the side of a large ship we had boarded, R.C. spotted this great jelly fish swimming between the ship and the dock. After watching it for several minutes we moved on and had a good (yet discrete) laugh at a man eating a fancy sandwich, dressed up as a pirate, sitting on a boat tied to the shore. We enjoyed playing some "sea games" in the discovery center and got our free coffee and lemonade in the members lounge.

Once again, I give you too many pictures....

Russell looks very confident steering the ship, but too bad he can't see where he's going...

On board one of the ships

Every little boat we would come across Max would climb in and try to row.

They had great sound effects for the canon.

All of us as we were taking a snack break on a dock.

If you can enlarge this one, please do. Max's face is priceless.

Playing at the "park"

Our sailors

The seas were rough this day!

And of course...we finished the day with an ice cream cone.

After such a great day we were sad to come home and find out that Michael Jackson had passed away today. Sure, he made some pretty bad choices on certain things during his life, but you can't say he wasn't a wonderful musician and dancer. I know in this house he was a favorite. I can not count the times that the boys have requested Thriller or PYT or Black or White for our "clean up music" or (yes I will mention it again) our daily dancing. In fact, I have a video of Russell dancing to a Michael Jackson song, Max dancing to a Michael Jackson song, and even R.C. dancing to a Michael Jackson song (oh how I would LOVE to post this for all to see, but I have been kindly told that it is not in my best interest to do so). Yes, even I dance to Michael Jackson, although there is no video to prove it. He was also my first celebrity crush that I can remember. I know that my sister (Carrie) had a bigger crush on him than I did, but oh how I loved looking at a sticker we had of him where he was posing with a llama and his face was painted with clown makeup. I mean, come on! If that doesn't scream pre-teen heartthrob I don't know what does! (ha ah ha)

Here is just a sample of pictures from our trip. This is only a few of the fun times we had. I did not get my camera out soon enough to capture much of our Greenville part of the trip, and then my camera battery died shortly after we arrived in Wisconsin so I did not get all the pictures I wanted.

A special picture for Aunt Jenny. Guess were we ate Jenny?

The boys helped Grandma Sayler make a special cake. The idea was taken from a famous family who also made this cake, but Grandma Sayler did not yell once when the boys snitched the fruit. Unlike the mother on this certain TV show. :)

Maxwell making cookies with Grandma Polka. Once again, lots of snitching was going on...

Climbing the "M"

Max trying to look tough at the children's museum

Chasing calves. Also meeting Carrie, John, and Grace's new puppy, Hershey.

At the zoo. Aunt Chrissy was more afraid of walking under the bird than the boys.

Cuties

We also got to see Grace take her first steps on her own, and I assure you, she is much cuter than the creepy man on the building downtown!

This weekend we have been unpacking and just relaxing. Tomorrow we are back to the real world. Back to the grocery store. Back to the gym. Back to timeouts (if necessary). Back to the studio for R.C.. Back to blogging.

We are home.

The trip was a great success.

There are too many stories to tell/remember. (I know I will forget something and offend someone if I try to tell stories. So I will not even try. Just know we had a great time!)

We are so happy we got to see everyone that we did, and sorry if we missed seeing you this time around.

The boys loved their plane ride home. This was their first flying trip and they got complements on both flights from the people sitting around us. They were told that they were such well behaved boys that people didn't even know their were kids sitting there. GREAT JOB BOYS! The most eventful part of the trip was sprinting through the Chicago airport as we only had 20 min. to switch planes (I swear they dropped us off as far from the gate we needed to get to as possible! Ugh!!). I was impressed at how quick the boys were and how they didn't complain about the speed at which we had to move. They did stop dead in their tracks for just a split second when we came upon a HUGE brontosaurus skeleton. After correctly identifying and yelling out the name of it we were off and running again. The second we got to our gate, they announced it was running 20 minutes late (which ended up being much later than that!). All that rushing for nothing, but we now had time to rest and have a granola bar before boarding. Flying was a breeze with these 2. Even the turbulence we hit was enjoyable. The boys put their hands in the air and pretended they were on a roller coaster.
It's great to see R.C. again! After 2+ weeks away from him, the boys were more than happy to see dad. R.C. was kind enough to go to the grocery store the day before we arrived (he got home a day before us) and got the necessities so we could just go home and relax together.
The kids on the block are happy we (mainly R.C.) are back. As we took the boys out to ride scooters this evening one of the boys came over to "chat". Soon he yelled down the street to his friends that, "R.C. is home!!" and we were swarmed by a group of about 7 boys showing skateboard tricks they have been working on while other little kids came and rode scooters with the boys.
Let the summer noise (I mean fun) begin...

(pictures to come later)

If you have a floor to sweep, this is your man. He does a great job!! Be prepared though, to see him sweeping fully clothed one second, and stripped to his undies the next...

And, likewise, If you have a toilet that needs cleaning call Max. He has been cleaning toilets since he was 1 1/2 years old, so he has years (almost 2 years!!) of experience. He also cleans in his undies.

This is the kind of silly crowd I run with.

Ok, so I lied. I wasn't going to blog today or tomorrow but I just had to blog about this today.

Allow me to introduce you to little Gracie. (this picture is quite outdated)

Today is Gracie's birthday! One year old! Happy birthday Grace Ann! Isn't she a cutie!?

But, her birthday is not the reason for my bringing her up, I'll get to that in a moment.

My sweet little boys like to point out things/people that remind them of certain family members or friends. On any given day we will be walking down the street and the boys will see someone who reminds them of Grandma Sayler or Mrs. Larson (or any other family/friend), and declare this so loudly that the entire city could probably hear them. Or they will see an advertisement for Mama Mia and talk about their friend Mia for a good 20 minutes. Most of the time they are quite accurate and I would agree that the people they see do have a resemblance to our friends and family. They do the same thing with cars. They see a car that is similar to one they recognize and they yell out, "it's Uncle Shane's car, but he painted it blue." "It's Chrissy's car, but she painted it yellow and a man is driving it." Like I said, usually I can see why they are reminded of the person they mention.

There is one that really makes me wonder. As we drive or walk downtown we always see this scary man on a building:

The second they see it, both boys start yelling, "ahhhh, it's Gracie!!" and laugh hysterically all while acting like "Gracie" is going to get them if we don't run or drive faster. I don't quite see the resemblance, but it makes me laugh none the less.

It's hard to believe that R.C. is 3 days away from completing his first year of grad school. A difficult year for all of us, but also some very enjoyable moments.

Russell has completed 180 days of kindergarten, but we are going a bit above and beyond and still doing daily work.

We are going on vacation in just a few days and will see most of you at some point. The boys are having a hard time controlling their excitement for this trip. Each and every time it is brought up, they scream with delight and talk about all the great things/people they get to do/see again in the good 'ol Midwest.

So, once again I will probably not be blogging for awhile. Too much packing to do and too much family time to soak in during the next few weeks to take time out to blog. But we'll see...

I know my kids love me, and I know I love my kids. I know they think I'm somewhat of a fun/cool mom. We have a good time together. Of course there are the days when we clash and argue about everything, but we definitely do more smiling and laughing than yelling and screaming.

This is what I though/believed until recently. In just the last few days I have been wondering how my boys (mainly Russell) actually see me. There are a few reasons why I have been thinking about this.

Reason 1:
We stopped in Kohls to look around the other day. As we walked by the shoe section I saw a pair of red heels that I felt the need to try on. I had no intention of buying them, but I thought I would try them on none the less. As I slipped my foot into this beautiful red shoe Russell decided to give me his opinion. "Those look nice. But maybe people will think you are the devil." Hmmm. Maybe.

Reason 2:
We were playing in the boys room last night and Russell had a fake phone he was talking on. Out of no where he blurts out, "hey mom, you just got a text message. It's from Santa and he says you've been a bad girl."

Shoot. I just can't win.

*I do still believe my kids love me and I still love them. These are merely an example of funny things my kids say. Please, there is no need for concern. I am certain they do not see me as the devil and I am in no fear of being on Santa's naughty list.

A professor, who R.C. is an assistant to, was very kind and gave us 2 scooters that were no longer being used at her house. They have been a huge hit with the boys! This morning after going to the YMCA (where I finally ran 5 miles in a decent amount of time...without feeling like I was going to die!! OK, so I'm the only one that finds the excitement in this.) the boys felt they had not had enough physical activity for the morning so we took the scooters out. Russell was whizzing up and down the sidewalk while Max decided he was more interested in the ants that were crawling around. Each time Russell would pass Max (who was practically laying on the ground), he would yell, "run little buddies, the big Russell is coming!"
Yes, Max is once again wearing his Peter Pan costume. It's getting small and soon he will out grow it. That is going to be a very sad day for Max!

If I haven't said it before (but I know I have), I have the best 2 boys anyone could ever have! Today was Mother's Day and I was awoken with breakfast in bed (actually I was already awake and out of bed, but R.C. sent me back before the boys saw me so they could surprise me with breakfast in bed).

As I sat reading in bed, (as I do every morning, right?) the door opened slowly and in walked 2 little boys smiling from ear to ear yelling "Happy Mother's Day" while carrying a plate of breakfast. Russell had lovingly made me 2 pieces of toast with a generous amount of butter and Maxwell had taken time to peel a banana for me and get a cup of yogurt and spoon for me. R.C. helped by making the coffee. As R.C. said, sure he could have made a great breakfast and had them carry it in to me, but he thought it would be better if they actually made it all by themselves. He was right! It was wonderful! So wonderful in fact, that neither of the boys could keep their hands off my plate. They jumped in bed, made themselves comfy and helped themselves to all my yogurt, half the banana and half the toast while we looked at Pokemon cards together. Perfect!
Later we headed to one of my favorite places on earth...the beach! It was a beautiful day, a bit windy though. We walked along the beach further than we have ever walked before, were able to take our flip flops off to get our feet wet and watch people surf. Along the way R.C. found something that made me scream out loud. No, it wasn't a crab, a shark or a snake. He presented me with the most beautiful piece of sea glass I have ever seen/found. A deep cobalt blue piece of sea glass that is better than anything you could buy in a store for Mother's Day. We finished our day by getting ice cream at our favorite ice cream place and dropping R.C. off at school so he could work. Thanks for a wonderful Mother's Day boys. And thank you, R.C., for helping make it wonderful, and for these special boys!

Wading across a stream

Surfers

Us...Running
A new piece to add to my collection.Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there!

I thought I had a few years to go before one of my children came to me, telling me that they had a long day and needed a drink. I figured this would happen when they were in their 30's, CEO of some large company doing good for mankind, and had 2.4 children, a wife and a dog. I never would have expected my 3 year old to utter the words, "it's been a long day. I need a drink." When I asked what he had in mind he said, "nice cold milk, in a blue cup" (followed by a very large 3 year old sigh). As I looked down at Max it was obvious he was feeling exhausted. We had a busy day at the YMCA and then filled our brains with kindergarten/preschool knowledge, and Max was feeling drained today. He got his drink of milk, and, if you give a Max a milk, he's going to ask for a cookie. It was just what this little guy needed to make it through the rest of his "stressful" day.
*In case you are concerned, no, we do not say, "it's been a long day, I need a drink" often in this house. No need to worry folks.
*Russell was not interested in a cookie or having his picture taken. He is alive and well though.

I came across this article on cnn.com and found it oh so true. Everyone has these "guilty pleasures" and it's about time we (ladies) stop feeling guilty about them and just enjoy them like men do. I know I, for one, am tired of hiding my love for Keeping up with the Kardashians and Operation Repo. I am also no longer going to pretend that I don't enjoy celebrity gossip magazines or dancing to classic rock with the boys (ok, so I have admitted my dancing before, but maybe now I will not feel like I need to close the blinds before I start the music). I will also enjoy my Chinese food/pizza/burger without thinking about how I will have to workout extra long and hard the next day. These are wonderful little things that let you escape "the real world" for a few moments during the day and everyone needs that from time to time.

Ok, so I fessed up to some of my "guilty pleasures" and now it's time to hear some of yours...
I know I'm not the only one who has them.

What would you do if you had a sweet little 3 year old boy look at you and tell you that his kitty, Tipper (a toy cat), was having a birthday and he wanted to plan a party for her? What if a, just as sweet, 6 year old joined in on the planning? Would you allow a toy cat to have a birthday party in your home?

If you were looking at the same boys I was and saw the same happy faces I did as they planned a party for a "pet", then you would not have thought twice.

Yesterday Max informed me that he thought Tipper's birthday was coming up. Russell immediately chimed in and said he was sure Max was right, that Tipper's birthday was, in fact, tomorrow (today). Together the 2 of them spent a good part of the afternoon planning out Tipper's party. I thought it was cute that they were putting so much thought into it, but figured it would be much like the plans they have for building a roller coaster in the backyard; they would plan, plan, plan, and then ask to go outside to play and forget all about the plans they had made.

Last night when I tucked Maxwell into bed and placed Tipper under his chin, like always, Max whispered to Tipper, "tomorrow is your birfday" (yes, I intended to spell birthday this way...it's how Max talks). I knew then that this was not something he was going to forget about. Sure enough he woke this morning carrying "the birfday Tipper" and began the planning once again. We did our normal daily activities like we do everyday, but after school work was complete and the house was (some-what) cleaned we started celebrating the birthday.

Luckily I had a pizza in the freezer (and luckily R.C. was not home for supper or we wouldn't have had enough. Russell is a true boy now and can put away pizza like crazy!) and ingredients in the cupboard to make a cake....from scratch!! WHAT!! For a stuffed cat!!?? Oh yes, my friend!! Only the best for our furry friend. The boys were both very helpful and in no time we had a cake cooling and frosting made, waiting to be put onto our cake. Birthday plates were dug out from the back of the cupboard and candles were arranged on the top of the cake. We were fortunate enough to be able to skype my sister, Chris, and her cat, Sammy, and let them see the great time we were having and join in singing "happy birthday" to Tipper.

This is Tipper next to Max. She sure did get pushed aside even though it was her birthday.You might be thinking:

1. This lady is crazy! A cake for a stuffed cat!!
2. Boy, she sure does love her kids to do this for one of their toys.
3. If you really wanted cake that bad Melissa, just make one! No need to say it is for "the boys pretend pet cat".

What can I say. They all sum me up pretty well. I am a bit crazy when it comes to my kids (in a good way!), I do love them very much and would do (just about) anything to make them happy, and I did feel the need for cake...really bad, so of course I was not going to kibosh their plans!! "Tipper" (a.k.a mommy) might devour most of it tonight as the boys sleep. Shhhh.

We didn't have the balloons, clowns or Spiderman, like they were planning, but I think we gave Tipper a birthday that most stuffed cats don't get.