Happy Birthday Dewey

On May 19th, Dewey turned three years old. It's amazing to me how fast three years just flew by. He was just this little bundle with chubby cheeks...

... and now look at him.... a big kid who just cracks me up. He works so hard to keep up with big brother, Huey, and does not want to be grouped with Louie and referred to as "the babies"... he hates it when I say that. He gives me fits with the potty training... but then makes me laugh when he says "I so anry... I not wuv you amore". He's very cuddly, and sweet, sweet, sweet! He's also a major booger! I like to call him "Dewey Jekyll and Dewey Hyde". It fits! But I guess that's just how life is when you're three.

Dewey loves "frawbry milk" (or pink milk), "squirt cheese" on crackers (or.. the squirt cheese he licks from the crackers) and "MaDono's humgers". Tonight, while enjoying an Oreo cookie (or.. the frosting from an Oreo cookie) he asked for "more frosting please" and then was stunned that I could not just deliver more frosting. Ah, the mind of a three-year old. Some other things Dewey enjoys are Mickey Mouse, Thomas the Tank Engine and Blues Clues. Most of all, Dewey likes to spend his days playing trains and must have his Thomas train in his bed before he will even consider sleeping.

To celebrate his birthday, we had a quiet little birthday party complete with the "bouncy house" that grandma sent for Christmas. The boys love it when I pull that out! Dewey enjoyed opening gifts from Mom and Dad, Huey, Auntie Kelli (with the black hair) and grandma. He loves his Mickey Mouse t-shirt and movie and is really looking forward to shopping for a special something with the gift card grandma sent.

Such a big boy... it is a joy to be his mama! And I love watching him grow... though part of me really wants him to stay little a long time! Happy Birthday my sweet Dewey! Mommy and Daddy love you so much!

Me Matey Be Somewhat... Odd!

Just a quick update to the pirate pool story.

The boys still love the pirate pool. Mostly, they love to fire the water cannon and run through the water. When Dewey seemed apprehensive about running through the water, I told him it was just like running in the rain. With the word, "rain", I saw a little light bulb click on above Dewey's head. He said... "I be right back!" The child returned wearing his fleece-lined rain jacket and a wool cap because... you know... he might get wet! He then proceeded to play in the water with no worries! I'm just gonna believe that shows brilliant problem solving skills! :o)

Check out Huey in the background! Such focus and determination in manning the cannon!

Me Mateys Be Glad!

I woke up today with this thought... "I must find something for these children to do before I lose my mind". So off we went to Sam's Club. (well... first Walmart, then Target, then Sam's Club!) We had a fun lunch date at Sam's (hot dogs of course) and did a little shopping.

And then we saw it... the mother of all inflatable pools! A super-awesome-triple-waterslide-pool-thingy"! We stood there in awe... all 4 of us! The boys said "COOL" and I thought, "that would totally buy me hours! Oh.. and it's a slide so there is no deep water to worry about." Yeah.. it was "COOL" all the way around! And... it was also $455.00!!! OUCH! I was totally going to pay that! Yes, I'm that desperate to get them outta my kitchen so they'll stop dumping cereal and raisins and crackers and goldfish and chips and popcorn and marshmallows and chocolate chips and yogurt and and and..... all over the floor! But then... Huey saw the $55.00 pirate ship inflatable pool with a water cannon... and decided it was a MUST HAVE! Woo Hooo!... I just saved $400.00! NICE!

So we got home, set up the pirate ship, and the ducklings had a blast the rest of the after noon. They played and hosed each other down and we had a great time. We talked like pirates for hours. Me mateys be glad, indeed! Arrrggggh! (um... a little head's up... don't be offended if Huey calls you a "scurvy dog" next time you talk to him! He means it with love.)

At 6:30pm I finally had to drag them into the house for dinner. After instructions to "take off your wet swim trunks and put on some dry pants", we sat down to dinner. At some point during dinner, I realized Huey and Dewey were butt-naked. NICE! Of course after they finished dinner they were right back outside. This time they be naked pirates... Aarrggg! (sorry... it never gets old) :o)

Anyway... I took a few photos of the best afternoon we've had in a long time. Enjoy!

Captain Dewey at the Helm

Louie was a reluctant pirate.

He's still not quite sure about the idea of playing in really cold water.

Huey mans the cannon!

Nobody was safe... not even his mother.

Cold, heartless pirate he be!

Arrggghhh!

It has a little slide too!

" Yo ho! Yo ho! A piwate's wife for me!"

A Day in the Life of Huey, Dewey, and Louie

.... a photo essay of the Ducklings doing what they do best. Enjoy!


Nothing better than eating raisins off the floor. Oh... and it's also really cool to shove them into toys and various nooks and crannies that won't be discovered for weeks! Ya... that's awesome! Never know when you're gonna need a little snacky....


Here we have mommy's cheap Wal-Mart planner and some very important papers that have been torn up. Oh... and a squirt gun and video tape were also found at the scene of the crime. Could be the birth of CSI SC? I'm just say'n.

Where's Louie? Seriously.... it took me 10 minutes to find him the first time he did this.

Coffee Anyone?

Chocolate chips never tasted so good!

Duckings were seen attempting to cover up an incident involving an entire box of goldfish and gravity. Gotta give 'em an "A" for effort!

Ya... this is AFTER their very thorough clean-up. The bright side is... I'm certain none of my boys have a future as a janitor!

Finger painting with ranch dressing is SUPER fun!

The artist... covered in Ranch Dressing, Resolve Carpet Cleaner as a mousse, and a little pee pee...

Yes... that case of Sierra Mist is really useful as a step stool. "What mom? You thought putting Premium Saltines on the top shelf would be a deterrent? Have you MET us?"

And while I was cleaning up the crackers....... Pancakes are so much better without the egg... oh, and the milk... um, and the oil... and also the griddle. Pancake dust is what he prefers!

And while pancake baby was being cleaned up.... I'm not certain what happened here... but it looks like the bear suffered a horrible "death-by-goldfish". Bring on the CSI guys... we can crack this case.

Look mom... I'm not making a mess!

Though these pictures were not taken on the same day... they COULD HAVE been. Trust me! Every day is pretty much like this! Except...add in a few poop incidents and a wet naked baby playing slip-n-slide in the entry hall. Ya... that's a typical day in our home.

My Trash is Another Man's..... TRASH! (apparently)

I hate garage sales... HATE THEM! Hate the work it takes to put them on... hate that it's always hot and you're stuck outside trying to keep bargain hunters from talking you down from 25 cents to 10 cents. (like it matters... or you even CARE!) Hate that everything you carefully select from "the black hole" (your garage), kiddos suddenly really, really want as soon as they see it on the table priced for 50 cents! So why WHY? WHY?

Well.. for starters I thought the traffic would be awesome since everyone comes to the Community Yard Sale! It's the happening event of the season. (What? You didn't know that?) Ya... well neither did anyone else! Actually I heard there were crowds of people in the neighborhoods closer to the entrance of the master community. But for my neighborhood... in the back of the bus... not so good. I also thought that I had some really, really good stuff to sell! Good quality! Anybody would want this stuff. (well... anyone except ... ME!) But whatever!

So I worked my butt off getting this thing set up. Tiffany came out to help. And when I say "help", I mean... cook breakfast and lunch for my kids and mostly be stuck inside the house with 11 children.... GOOD TIMES! I think Tiffany got robbed! (Sorry Tiff... I love you!).


So at the end of the day... I had $138.00 in my pocket and LOTS and LOTS of crap that had been hauled out of my garage and was NOT going to be put back in. My dear friend, Deb, gave me a brilliant idea. She says she's just gonna put the crap out on her driveway with a sign that says "FREE!" That's awesome! I'd give someone my $138.00 to take this stuff away. Instead my car is loaded with stuff to haul to Good Will. My car, however, now has a dead battery for the 4th time in 6 weeks! OH... I should get a new battery, you say? Ya.. did that 4 weeks ago and it cost me $143.00. Now it's dead for the 2nd time SINCE getting the new battery. So minivan and it's cargo of precious crap are headed back to dealership tomorrow. This time it's the starter.... wait... wasn't I talking about "pointless garage sale"? How did I switch to "stupid, demon mini-van"? Oh yeah... deployment brain! I keep forgetting... mmmm I want PIE!......

"I Want Syrup on My Captain Crunch..."

... and other weird combinations the Ducklings request.

So, this is kind of an update to the gross/not gross list. Only... this is all just plain GROSS! Below are actual requests from Huey, Dewey and Louie in the food department.
Bon Appetit!

Carrot Sticks dipped in Ketchup
this from Huey who almost daily informs me "I am not a Ketchup Guy, Mom". So... Huey refuses Ketchup on fries, hot dogs, burgers... you know the normal stuff. But carrot sticks?... wow that's delicious!

Strawberries dipped in ranch dressing
This very posh appetizer comes from Dewey. The other day, when trying to get out of eating his entire lunch (except for the chips) Dewey informed me "I am not a peanut butter guy", "I am not a strawberry jam guy", "I am not a sandwich guy", and the very popular, "I am not a grape guy". (I see the "I am not a _____ guy" reason to get out of eating is all the rage in preschool world.) The best part is... Dewey says this in his limited 2-year-old vocabulary and seriously mispronounces words. So it's really more like this... "I not frape guy, mom", and "I not frandwich guy, mom", and the best one, "I not frawbry dam guy, mom". Now you tell me, how can I make the child sit there and eat when I'm laughing so hard? Of course, he IS a "frawbry guy" if it's dipped in ranch. So, that's good!

Meatballs and Mash a la Maple Syrup
How this came to be is beyond me. My guess is I hadn't quite all-the-way cleaned up breakfast by the time I was serving dinner.... I dunno... good guess. Anyway, the syrup was on the table, signaling to Louie that it must be a condiment we are using for dinner. Mmmm...delish!

And to answer the question still nagging you... "NO"... I did not let them use syrup on the Captain Crunch. :o)

If at First You Don't Succeed...

... wait a few days (until the blood stops squirting out of your eyes, and you can look at the drill without repeating all the swear words you invented) and try again. Make sure to review the helpful tips Contractor Dad was nice enough to send (after picking himself up off the floor from a major laugh attack). Repeat to yourself over and over... "I am NOT a complete moron, I am NOT a complete moron". Take a deep breath and go!

So I did it. Here is the result of my successful attempt at installing curtain rods. Four windows done including one rod raised three inches. Yay me!



The only casualty was the 3/16 drill bit (because I knocked the drill onto the floor). Ooops! Oh... and there's also the very small, but infuriating, gash the drill bit put into the hardwood floor before it broke into 3 pieces! (sorry babe! More stuff to fix. I'll get you another set of drill bits! You're on your own with the floor. I'm think'n an area rug would look GREAT there!)

There are NO new holes in the wall for Army Guy to fix! Just the original ones from last week. Shocking... I KNOW! And those holes are pretty much hidden by the curtains... so I'm think'n they will get patched when we sell the house in 3 years... or not! I'm still going to wait for Army Guy to paint because, though I am an excellent painter, I can just imagine how that might go with Huey, Dewey, and Louie running around. "Nightmare" is the word that comes to mind (just off the top of my head.)

Lessons Learned
* If you are drilling and you hit a stud... stop drilling, ditch the anchor and get a 1 1/2 inch screw. (props to Army Guy for having those on hand) (and to Contractor Dad for that handy tip.)

* When you measure and mark the wall, be sure the "marks" are lined up exactly and then drill EXACTLY on your marks. If you don't, the result is this.....



... Ya, that's a bracket leaning left. But it's OK because the one next to it leans right. So it all balances out in the end. (that's kinda "Zen" isn't it?) Whatever... I was not shooting for a general contractor's license. So in spite of the "do-it-yourselfer" flaws... I'm calling this a job well done. (or at least, "pretty ok-ish done", anyway).

A round of margaritas for everyone! I have faced the EVIL anchor and have conquered it's wickedness. I have prevailed! Hurrah!

You may now leave the congratulatory comments that I SO DESERVE! (Except for my brother... I deserve payback for the "crown moulding" zinger! Fire away bro!)

Owning a Drill Does Not a Contractor Make

I can actually hear an "amen" from my very talented (general contractor) dad, 3000 miles away. So Dad, this post is for you. Try not to roll your eyes and wonder where you went wrong. You can't blame yourself. Just enjoy a good laugh and then come out here and teach me a few things! :o)

So, as of my last post I had decided to wait until Army Guy gets home in June and have him paint and hang curtains. But then... the drill started calling to me. It made me all empowered after building the storage cubes... it made me THINK I could handle hanging curtain rods. How hard can it be, right? I know how to drill a hole. (I should have known better. This is not my first disastrous attempt at curtain rod hanging!)

Tools
A good contractor will begin by having all the proper tools for the job. So I gather my tools and get to work.

Drill - check
3/16 drill bit - check
pencil - check
hammer - check
Philips screw driver bit for the drill - check
plastic building block toy (to be used as a measuring standard) (what? ... It worked!)

Step One
Measure with the building block (about 3 inches) and mark the wall.

Step Two
Drill holes for the anchors. So far so good.

Step Three
Push the anchors into the wall.
(Uh oh... anchors are stuck half in and half out. I hammer them and the result is anchors that are half in and then smashed flat against the wall. CRAP! So then I think... "well... I suppose I need to remove the anchors and drill the hole deeper." So I rummage through the garage in search of the needle nosed pliers. "Got it!" Ever try to pull an anchor out of the wall? I nearly launched myself across the room with this brilliant move! So then I decide... "well, can't get the anchors out... can't hammer them in... I guess I need to trim them with a pair of scissors and just Spackle over them...then drill new holes." Genius! Ever try to trim an anchor that is half stuck in the wall? Ya... not so much a good idea! So then I decide.. "screw it... Army Guy can fix that when he gets home. I'll just drill more holes and start over." I'm happy with this plan!) Moving on....



Step Four
Start over with step one. Get a bigger building block and mark holes 4 inches away from the window frame. This works for me.

Step Five
Decide that anchors are from Satan himself and ditch them. Instead, I decide a better plan is to just go with screws only. Because that will be so much easier.... and my curtains are not heavy... so they are not necessary.... right?

Step Five (a)
Invent a few new swear words. (It is at this point I realize that I am a little like my Dad. He invented the very useful "Dad Gummit". I'm beginning to understand how that came to be.)

Step Six
Pause for a second to police my children. Discover Louie doing this....




Ya... that's 1/2 dozen eggs on the floor. Toddler juggling?... Just a guess!

Step Seven
Repeat all prior steps (except 6) and attach 2 more brackets to the wall.... sans the anchors.

Step Eight
Hang the curtains.... and voila!
Stand back to admire handiwork.



DAMN! The rod is sagging because the center bracket is too low. Decide "building block as measuring standard" was not such a good idea.

And then upon closer inspection....


realize the entire rod needs to be about 3 inches higher because you can see the window trim. Not such a big deal right NOW... but after I paint the walls beige... this will not be so super good! DAMN! DAMN!

Step NinePonder my dilemma..... Start all over and raise the rod 3 inches (creating another 6-12 holes for Army Guy to patch) ... Or just go with it and make ALL the rods too low? Hmmm.....Decide not to attempt the other 3 windows and just wait for Mr. Man. My line of thinking goes like this.... "I could spend the next 8 hours (and possibly sacrifice another dozen eggs to Louie's juggling fascination) only to have 57 more holes in the wall and 4 rods that are not at the same level ... causing Army Guy 18 hours of work to repair and rehang. OR... I could just stop while I'm very, very behind and let Army Guy hang three rods and fix one in about 90 minutes.

Step Ten
Decide step nine is brilliant and have a Margarita to celebrate the end of my contractor career!

Step Eleven
At Some point during Margarita break, decide it could be worse... I could have hung crown moulding up-side-down. At least I'm not THAT bone-headed! :o) (sorry bro... love ya, mean it!)

I Found Army Guy's Drill and Was a Maniac!

The other day I decided that the play room was OUT OF CONTROL! Seriously... look at this picture! Louie is sitting there, all overwhelmed. He doesn't have a clue what to play with. There is just too much stuff. Sadly, this is just about average for the play room. On occasion it is actually picked up (you know.. when they are asleep), but mostly it's much, much worse than this. Louie likes to dump the bins of tiny little things into a pile in the middle of the room. (yeah... I know... I'm the complete IDIOT that bought them a 300 piece Lincoln Log set for Christmas.) So usually there is a pile which includes 300 pieces of Lincoln Logs, 200 pieces of wooden blocks, various Thomas and Friends engines and cargo cars, wood tracks, plastic tracks, match box cars, stupid Happy Meal toys and about a zillion tiny pieces of plastic food. Oh... and I forgot the pieces to 3 different Thomas the Tank Engine puzzles... all mixed up! Lovely! Sometimes it's so bad that the boys won't play in there for DAYS! (doah... I just ratted myself out! Ya... I'm less than enthusiastic about picking up toys every day). I've decided it's much better to just let it go and then totally stress out every other Wednesday because Awesome Housekeeper is coming and I have to pick up so she can clean. (Army Guy thinks this is insanity at it's finest! "Why should you clean so she can clean?"... Whatever... It makes sense to me!)

Anyway... I went to Target and bought some storage cubes and got all "fix-it-guy-ish" with Army Guy's Drill. I can't believe how easy it was! Took about 20 minutes to assemble each unit. Huey helped by being in charge of placing the little covers on the screws. (which are pointless because Louie picked at them until they flicked off... then I had to pick up tiny screw covers all day... Ya... those are gone!)

So, long story short... here is the result of my efforts.



Now everything is nicely tucked away in little cubes. And the best part is... they can't see the thousands of tiny pieces of plastic food and Lincoln Logs because they are hidden in the cubes. Brilliant! No more dumping just because "that's how they roll." Out of sight... out of mind! Who-ever "thunk up" the cube storage system is genius! The boys have spent three straight days playing and watching movies in the play room. AND... ooh ooh this is the best part... THE PLAY ROOM IS STAYING CLEAN AND ORGANIZED! HOLY COW!

Soon I will actually paint the walls (once Louie is finished drawing all over them with orange crayons) and hang curtains. I'll post a new picture when I'm all done. (translation... waiting for Army Guy to get home in June so he can paint and hang curtains). Bwa ha ha!

*** Update August 17, 2010***

FINALLY got the toy room painted and curtains hung. Here's a photo of the project completely finished! Yay! Props to Army Guy for his excellent painting skills.

4:00am Snack Attack

I appreciate a good snack! Occasionally I even like to sneak a snack in the middle of the night. There is nothing better than a brownie and glass of milk when everyone is asleep and the house is completely quiet. This is my idea of sheer luxury! So I should not be surprised to learn that my children enjoy a little snacky-snacky now and then as well.

This morning I woke to some serious commotion coming from the kitchen. It was 4:00 in the morning. Something went "BANG", and I thought "what the......?" I came flying out of my room and noticed that every light in the house was on. Once I got to the kitchen, I found Louie (20 months old) standing on a chair in the pantry, foraging for a snack. He had knocked over the broom (that was the loud bang) and had managed to spill a large container of raisins and a box of spaghetti. 

Of course, the first thing I said was, "wait... hold that pose... let me grab the camera!" (oh wait... no... that's not exactly what I said! Silly me!) My first reaction was .... "ARE YOU SERIOUS? WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING"? So the following pictures are actually a re-enactment of the crime. (I made the poor child climb the chair and grab the marshmallows about eight times until I got a non-blurry picture). Ya... I'm wicked like that! I'm sure my kids will be in therapy for years over this sort of thing! Serves him right for waking me up at 4:00am! Bwa ha ha!



Re-enactment of the crime.... take 8


Here are a few more photos of Louie doing what Louie does best! He is my mess-maker-in-chief



Um... no that's not a pile of rat droppings! It's actually an entire bag of chocolate chips. I let the boys eat them off the floor... until they were absolutely sick of chocolate! They stopped begging for chocolate for awhile! Brilliant!



Popcorn baby! Louie loves his snack spread out. Plates and bowls are way too refined for my little Lou.