Thursday, January 27, 2011

The Adventures of August

August is almost 22 months old now and acting every bit like a two year old.  It was just a couple of months ago that I was telling Hans that Gus had hit my favorite age and then overnight he seemed to hit the age that comes with many unsavory moments.  He's at the right age where I can't threaten to take things away because he doesn't fully get what I'm saying and he simply doesn't care.  He is now utterly and completely unreasonable. I can't blame him too much as we have been without a home for 47 days.  We are all ready to get back to normal.  Whatever that is.

The other day I went to Target.  I had been driving around with the boys looking for houses and we needed to get out and stretch.  But it is cold here.  Really, really cold.  And wet.  And just plain gross.  So playing outside just wasn't an option.  I needed to pick up a few things and for some reason it sounded like a good idea to bring the three boys into Target.  Sorry, Target employees and customers.  I don't let my children run around and touch everything, but they are loud and try to hold conversations with every person that walks by.  They also ask for everything they see.  "Mom, can we have that paint brush.  Painting is my favorite.  Please Mom, PLEASE."  "Mom, can I have that?  I don't know what it is, but it is my favorite.  Can I have it?  Please, Please, Please!".  I have to admit that John does most of the talking and Gus just repeats "Pease, Pease."  Or he just screams.  Like that is ever going to get him what he wants.  On this particular shopping trip I decided to look at the clearance clothes for kids.  We were all doing pretty well.  Anders was sleeping, the two older boys were singing made up songs about the things they were seeing on t-shirts and I was finding some great deals for all three boys.  I found a Mickey Mouse shirt in Gus' size and added it to the pile. Gus, who had not been paying attention to me, zeroed in on the shirt and wanted to put it on.  I told him that we had to buy it first and reminded him that he was wearing the cool new Spiderman shirt that his dad just bought him the day before.  I thought that had worked.  Less than a minute later Gus is standing next to the cart, shirtless, screaming because he couldn't put the Mickey Mouse shirt on by himself.  I reminded him that we had to buy it and tried to put his Spiderman shirt back on.  He took the shirt off again, threw it down and stood there crying.  There are some fights that just aren't worth it.  As frustrated as I was at this kid who was creating a bigger scene than normal I just had to make it stop.  Since I was already going to buy the shirt I decided to quickly go through the line and buy it right then so that everyone...and I mean everyone, could resume  normal activity.  As soon as the shirt was purchased, tags cut and it was put on, Gus returned to normal.  Like nothing ever happened.  What a stinker.  As I write this post, he is still wearing the shirt...two days later.  Boys are so gross!

 As much fun as that outing was, I don't think I'll try that again for a good long while.  I have friends with more kids than I do who go shopping with them in tow all the time.  I think I'll let them be the supermoms and enjoy my time at the store. Alone.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Train Exhibit

We can't be in the vicinity of a train exhibit and not actually go to the train exhibit.  Anders' godmother Kathy told me about the exhibit benefiting the Ronald McDonald house at the Northpark Mall so we all took a trip to Dallas to see what it was all about.  While we were walking through the mall trying to find the trains we saw some school choirs and bands performing various Christmas carols.  The boys had a great time walking through the mall and of course looking at trains.

 This is how we go places these days.

 They actually had some Thomas trains in the exhibit so John was very excited.

 Kathy gave John a lift to see the carnival trains.


 The exhibit was full of miniature replications of various places in the U.S.


 After the trains we had ice cream.  We thought if we gave Gus a cool little spoon he wouldn't eat the bottom of the cone first.

We had John all hyped up to see Santa and then we found out that this particular Santa had a 6 hour waiting list.  Hans felt pretty bad so we decided to buy the boys their favorite Disney characters...Donald and Mickey.  Now Gus does not leave the house without Mickey.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Art Class with the First Graders

While we were in Texas, John got to attend the first grade art class.  This was right before Christmas so they were decorating ornaments with markers.  Permanent markers.  I'm still not sure John is ready to sit still in a Kindergarten class, but he did well on this day.  John just loves school, even if it isn't his class.  I guess I should continue my search of a preschool here.


 I'm not sure what this girl was saying, but I LOVE the fact that it looks like John is deciding whether or not to care.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Decorating Cookies

Since we moved on December 6th I didn't get a chance to do any baking this year.  I was glad we stayed at my parents house for a week before Christmas so the boys could have some fun decorating cookies.  This is always a fun thing to do and usually a big mess.

 The first thing these boys do is take off their shirts.  I should probably stop letting them do this, as they will get really confused when they have to keep clothed while doing this.




 The mess wasn't that bad.  I was pleasantly surprised.

Now we get to eat them!  I don't think they lasted very long.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Sleeping Boys

I love when it gets quiet in my house.  It is a rare event.

 I love my boys

Gus fell asleep sitting up.

 One evening John fell asleep while holding Anders.

Anders wasn't sure about all of this.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Painting with Grandma

It was time for Gus' first painting experience.  John remembered painting in Grandma's classroom and couldn't wait to do it again.  Gus had a marvelous time.  I'm sure he was wondering why I wasn't yelling at him for making such a mess.  I really should get things like paint, play dough, and scissors out more often.  However, those fun things require two adults in my household...one to watch the child(ren) who are too young to participate and one to make sure the child(ren) participating doesn't paint walls, smash play dough into carpet, or make once hole-less things now full of holes.  It is with shame I say that I will send my oldest to Kindergarten next year with less than stellar scissor capabilities.  But, let's get back to the painting festivities.

We had to start the project off with the right attitude.  No one takes themselves seriously in our house.
Picking out paint.  Look at Gus waiting so patiently.  This was a proud moment for me.

So proud in fact that I had to take another picture.

And we are off!  Gus couldn't wait to start painting.

It all started with one yellow line.

And then we added more colors.

John is starting to separate out his colors.  I'm not sure when they start to paint actual objects, but he doesn't seem to be interested in doing that just yet.



Gus got tired of painting on paper so he decided to paint his hand.

After painting pictures, my Mom had a surprise for them....she found trains they could paint!



Of course, Gus got bored again.

I'm not sure why he decided to stick his tongue out...

...but he didn't like the way it tasted.

And his immediate reaction was to wipe off the nasty stuff on his tongue.  I had to focus really hard on keeping the camera steady because I was laughing so hard.

However, this did not stop him from continuing to paint his face...or sticking out his tongue.

We had a great time painting and the boys look forward to doing it again.  Thanks Grandma!

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Installation

On December 18, 2010, Hans was installed as the pastor of River of Life Lutheran Church in Channahon, IL.  It was a great service with a wonderful sermon from my father in-law, John.  Since the installation was on such sort notice and so close to Christmas, we were very surprised at the amount of people that were able to attend.

Hans' family came in the night before and we all hung out at the hotel then had dinner.  It was fun going out to eat, late at night, with 8 adults and 5 kids.
  Hanging out at the hotel.


The boys had a great time.  There is NO WAY I would let them have pillow fights or jump on the bed.  Grandpa and Uncle Christian prompted lots of rule breaking.


 My niece, Eva.  I love that cheesy smile.

 Cousins giving each other a high five.


Waiting to go the the installation.  The kids loved playing in the lobby at the hotel.

 Uncle Christian was having a great time holding Anders.  Until Anders spit up all over his suit.

Anders felt pretty comfortable with Uncle Mike.

All the pastor folk.