Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Glorified Online Picture Album

I realize this is what my blog has become, but I'm okay with that. My energies are going to other places right now. At any rate:

One of the fun things about having boys is getting spectacularly goofy shirts like this one that remind me of stuff my brothers would have worn.

I know he's only two, but I swear he's never going to grow out of using his ice-cream bowl as a hat. Maybe I should stop taking pictures of it. It perpetuates the myth that it's amusing.

Huh. I guess it is amusing. And cute. Until I have to clean it up. You should have seen his booster seat. Maybe he does it for the afternoon bath that inevitably follows.

We never found the third white kitty that disappeared. I really am completely flummoxed as to what could have happened. Here are the two white survivors. They have markings like a Siamese. One of them will have a permanent home with us. Probably the boy.

Yeah, enjoy it now, Mama Kitty. The vet is calling your name.

Mary Ann has staked her claim on this little guy. He is quite cute. Wait, it's a girl. I think.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

They're killin' me!

Just what I need is to be crying over my Frosted Mini-Wheats first thing in the morning.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Hodgepodge

Saturday, we wanted to get out of the house, and since the Wisteria are blooming everywhere, I really wanted to go to the Botanical Gardens. My grandmother had Wisteria growing all over her back fence, and in the spring, you could smell it the second you pulled up in her driveway, and the backyard would just be a wonderland of purple. She's been gone for nearly twelve years now, and whenever I see Wisteria, I think of her. (I think of her with many flowers, actually.) I have some growing in my yard, but they don't bloom yet because it's a young vine. Watch - the first year we are out of this house, they will explode. We were looking for them at the Gardens on one of the paths, when Ewan and I both said, "I smell grapes!" We turned a corner, and BAM! there they were. It was gorgeous. They are right next to the roses, and the combination of the two scents made me feel like I was sitting RIGHT THERE in Grandma's backyard, talking about flowers and babies. She lived only a few blocks away, and when I was babysitting my nephew Chandler, Amy and I would put him in the stroller and walk over there. He'd play by her little fish pond while we all talked.

From a distance - look how high they climb.

Strolling

I wrote a poem years ago about sunbathing with turtles. I would post it here, but I'm sure it's not as good as I thought at the time.

A reluctant pose from Ewan. His favorite part of the excursion was sitting and being able to play with his new Transformers.

Another reluctant pose.

I didn't even ask him to sit for this. He just wandered over to this tree like it was a professional shoot, and he was a model. Then he started ripping daffodils out of the ground.

My attempt at photography.

Mommy and a 5-month-old Corgan. Let this serve as his 5 month post.

I could not resist posting this, with Fynn's arm around Corgan like real chums. I love these boys so much. Continuing on the 5-month-post vein, Corgan is growing so much. He "talks" all day and shouts out to hear himself. He's rolling from stomach to back, and almost from back to stomach. He usually ends up turning a 180 in the attempt.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

What do you do...

... if your cat had four kittens, and now there are only three? And a thorough search was unfruitful?

Friday, March 20, 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EWAN!!!

Today my little Ewan turns five years old! I'm seriously about to cry (the fact that I literally have not eaten a meal yet today is probably making everything feel a little more dramatic) that he is such a big boy. He's so wonderful, and we love him so much. He got to go to the store this morning and pick out a Transformer. He picked a two pack - and has been quite occupied learning the ins and outs of their transformations. Now we are about to take him, just Mommy, Daddy and Ewan, out to eat. He picked Bravo, a newish Italian restaurant. We aren't sure why he chose it, but who am I to argue with Italian?! I really have to stop now, I'm getting verklempt. (About him turning five, not the Italian food. Although that would make me verklempt, too.)

Hanging out together while Mommy folds laundry and Fynn naps.

Showing Corgan how to transform the new toys.

Rebelling against Bob Barker

We're great grand-parents. Ruby is the proud mother of four wee babies. And they are cute. So cute. There really aren't words to describe brand-new baby kittens. Cute isn't enough - but what else to say? The pics aren't the best because I really just want to leave her alone with them and I was trying to hurry. There are three whitish ones and one gray one with a white chin. I wonder which one we'll keep? Side note: this is a big day for an even better reason than new kittens. Check back later today...

Cute, proud mama, telling me to get the h*** away from her spawn. Just kidding. She seems to like me there.

One of the white ones. I'm hoping it will end up with Siamese markings.

Very blurry shot of the gray one and another white one. So stinking cute!
I really want to squeeze their little pink noses.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Corgan

On Friday night, we had the Saunders and the Bowers over for a little Wii tournament and pizza. When you combine Ewan, Fynn, Ben, Brady and Natalie together, the chaos that ensues is far worse than any accounts you'll hear of the L.A. riots. It's loud, and I mean LOUD. We laid Corgan down for the night, and we were all amazed at how well he stayed asleep through all of it. Our house is quite small, so the chaos was basically right outside the bedroom door. But he slept right through it. I may know why - I stepped in to check on him at one point and found him covering his ear.

Friday, March 13, 2009

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

I thought this was a girl thing...

Needless to say, Ewan is now sporting an incredibly short buzz cut. We couldn't do it as short as he cut it, or he would have been bald. How he cut that close to the scalp without cutting himself, I'll never know.

And just because they are so cute, pictures of the other boys for fun.
If he's not wearing his Superman cape, he's wearing his backpack, usually with a baseball hat.

Growing up.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

CHOPPED!

I REALLY needed a change.


Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Inventions

As mentioned in this previous post, Ewan has always been into "inventions" and he also does little experiments around the house all day. He has become even more interested in these things since he started watching "Sid the Science Kid." Not one day goes by without some sort of new invention from Ewan, which is usually some toys held together in various incarnations with some Scotch tape. And they involve a very long explanation as to what they do. Today, I found him trying to execute the following, something he thought up on his own.

This one actually has a real-life function. That's a toy golf club Scotch-taped to the fan chain. Now he can reach it. He was quite proud. He needed a little bit of my help, but he deserves all the credit.

And this is his other invention. It's a "super-fighter stick." No doubt used to fight off Decepticons or monsters. This is made up of a baby toy - a ball that splits in half to house other, smaller balls, and the rods are from a ring-toss set Shannon gave Fynn for his birthday. I wonder if Ewan will be a scientist.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Sillyhearts

Have you ever seen the movie Uncle Buck? John Candy is in charge of his nieces and nephew while his brother and wife are away visiting sick family. He is called into the principal's office of his niece, who is five years old. The principal proceeds to tell him everything that is wrong with his niece. Here is the gist of the scene:

Principal: "I've been an educator for years... and in that time, I've seen a lot of bad eggs... I see a bad egg when I look at your niece. She is a twiddler, a dreamer... a silly heart and she is a jabberbox. And, frankly, I don't think she takes a thing in her life or her career as a student seriously."

Uncle Buck: "She's only six."

Principal: "That is not a valid excuse! I hear that every day and I dismiss it."

Uncle Buck: "I don't want to know a six-year-old who isn't a dreamer or a silly heart. I sure don't want to know one who takes their student career seriously..."

(The scene then gets quite funny - if you haven't seen this movie, I have one word for you: Netflix.)

That scene is the first thing that popped in my head when I saw just the headline for this article. What kindergartner isn't distracted or impulsive? I had a good chuckle, then became slightly disturbed that this was a study in the first place. It's still quite funny, and conjures up some priceless mental images of a bunch of short kids placing bets behind the portables. Now why don't they study something that matters?