Friday, June 29, 2012

Touch A Truck

Debbie and Pam took the boys to an event called Touch A Truck a couple of weeks ago.   Usually held at parks, it is a free event where kids can explore all kinds of trucks up close and personal.  There were cement mixers, firetrucks, dump trucks, ATVs and more.  There were also numerous vendors giving away tons of freebies. 


When searching online for details about the event for this post, I stumbled across this photo.
Event Gallery - Lockport, IL 6.8.12
 At least I know I'm not the only one that can't get the kids to look and smile at the same time.  

The first stop at Touch A Truck was the hair painting booth.  The boys thought it was cool.
 Gus looks a tad nervous.


They had a good time decorating Anders' hair.

Then the boys got their face painted.  By a clown.
 John went first, which I expect was planned.  Unless Gus knows what is going to happen, he will not be the first to try something when other people are involved.

 John showing his tiger face, doing the tiger growl.

 Gus decided it was worth a try.  I am very surprised by this.  I'm not only surprised he tried it, I'm also surprised he actually let the clown continue to paint his whole face.

 Anders was a little more hesitant.

Here is a good shot of his snake.

 I sometimes wonder what Anders is thinking.

I'm pretty sure these boys are on the wrong side of the gate.

Now for the actual truck touching part...
 Does Gus look happy to you?  I wonder if he screamed after taking this picture.

 There was a UPS truck there with boxes in the back.  The kids could organize and pretend to deliver boxes.  John thought this was a hoot.  The boys were also given UPS hot wheels with flames painted on the side just like this truck.

 Hopefully these trucks were adequately prepared for little hands to touch every little button.  


 There was some kind of jump rope contest.  The boys also got jump ropes to take home.  I wasn't there, but I can already tell you we need to work on our jump roping skills.

 This would have been Hans's favorite truck.  This is the Oberweis truck.  I'm sure Hans would have scoured the truck for ice cream.

  The kids got to blow the horn on this truck.  I asked John of it was cool and he just told me it was loud.



 The Illinois State Police were there with this truck the turned upside down to show what would happen to someone who wasn't wearing his seat belt.  John was fascinated by this and asked to be shown a couple of times.


 I'm sure Anders wouldn't mind one of these at home.  


 By the time I got home from work the boys were pooped.  I had to beg them to roar for this picture.  Gus is giving me a meow.


My sweet big boys.

The boys had a great time and were totally wiped at the end of the day.  I'd call it a big success!

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

The Arboretum

Debbie and Pam took the boys and Sophie on another trip to the Morton Arboretum.  I know you are all thinking that these ladies are nuts after reading my post about Debbie's week with the boys.  While there is always an adventure to be had with the Fiene boys, at least most of the other outings aren't quite as action packed as that week was.

 There is a koi pond there and the kids love walking on the big rocks.

 Anders decided he wanted to swim with the fish.  I believe he ended up being soaked head to toe.  This is funny because this kid won't go near the kiddie pool we have at home.

 John and Gus thought Anders had the right idea and decided to wade in the pond as well.


 John is a goofball.  I'm not sure what he was doing here.  Maybe he was trying to lay out and dry off.

 There are tree houses or play centers of sorts at the Arboretum and the kids loved the slides.

 Sophie is always a big help with the boys

 John is just showing us all how NOT to go down the slide.


 In the middle of it all is Gus.

Gus really wants to be king.  He feels he already has this position.  It is just getting others to recognize his authority.

 This is just a sweet picture.  The boys love Debbie and Pam.

Sweet John.  Always ready for an adventure.

Friday, June 22, 2012

A Mascara Goatee

Hans and Gus found a way to use my make-up in a manly way.

Gus was proud to look just like his daddy.


Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Debbie's Days

I tell you, Debbie and Pam must really love these boys.  There are times I fear Debbie is going to show up at the library with my kids in tow and just say 'I give up.  Here you go.'  But she won't do that.  I'm not sure why.  A couple of weeks ago Debbie had a very interesting week.  The kind of week where I cringed when I heard what happened.

It all started on Monday when Debbie watched the boys so I could work and Hans and Pam could attend a church council meeting.  This was a bit of an unusual week because Debbie was going to be watching the boys three days in a row. Debbie decided to take the boys out to eat at Cracker Barrel.  She loaded the boys in the car and headed down the road.  I'm not sure how far she got before John told her that Gus didn't have any pants on.  Gus was wearing a pair of boxer briefs that, at a glance, look like shorts.  She did, however, turn around to get the kid an actual pair of shorts.  That was the only mishap that night.  Which was good because more awaited her the rest of the week.

Tuesday was the real kicker.  My wonderful yet scheduling inept husband had put on our calendar that he had a pastors conference on Wednesday and Thursday of this particular week.  So I did my part and had childcare lined up for those days for the few hours I was at work.  When a last minute meeting came up at work for Wednesday, I made my case for scheduling it on Tuesday, so as not to have someone watch the kids another time that week.  After all of my scheduling and planning Hans informed me that his conference was really Tuesday and Wednesday.  I tried, right?  So I took the boys over to the Checca's house and Debbie picked them up when she got out of work.  Mrs. Checca is very sweet, a lot sweeter than me.  She gets excited to watch the boys and tends to have all kinds of sweets for them.  Chocolate pudding was consumed before Debbie got there.  A lot of chocolate pudding.  The boys were a ball full of spastic energy.

After Debbie picked up the boys, she took them to John's soccer practice.  All was well until John's coach gave each player a fruit roll-up and a sucker.  This led Anders to believe he should have one as well.  How does Anders tell you he needs one?  Or tell you he feels it is a great injustice when he doesn't get what he wants?  He screams.  His screams are never ending and they are for everyone to hear.  As Debbie made her way to the car with Anders throwing a big fit, Gus started in on the fun and wanted a sucker too.  Since they were going out to eat, Debbie told John he shouldn't eat the sucker right then either.  Then she proceeded to drive away with three boys crying.  She had to take a deep breath.  I had to take a deep breath just listening to the recount of the days events.

She was able to calm them down before going into the restaurant.  The beginning of their meal was pretty uneventful.  Then Gus needed to go to the bathroom.  Debbie asked John to go with Gus and help him with the door.  So Gus went to the bathroom and John held the door open.  This all sounds nice, except this was a single bathroom and because the door was held open everyone got a show of Gus's little tushy.  As they were getting ready to go, Debbie asked Gus to eat one bite of the pizza he had been telling her all afternoon he wanted.  He obliged and then, when she turned around to put the highchair back, he threw up.  Everywhere.  After Debbie cleaned up the mess she ushered the kids out to the car.  Gus screamed the whole way home because he had some throw-up on his shoe.  Debbie kept telling herself it would be alright.  I'm sure she was glad she was finally taking the boys home.

Unfortunately for Debbie the night was not over.  Because Fritz was being a little too feisty with everyone on Monday night, I put his shock collar on him and set the remote on the island.  I specifically set it there so Anders couldn't reach it.  When Debbie and the boys got home Fritz was his usual crazy self and John felt he needed a warning beep.  So, while Debbie was unloading the car John proceeded to 'beep' Fritz.  But John was actually pushing the shock button and not the beep button.  Debbie came in from the car and saw Fritz sitting very, very still on the living room carpet.  He did not greet her at the door.  He did not come when he was called.  Something was not right.  That is when she saw John pushing the button, over and over again.  As soon as the collar was off, that poor dog headed for the door and curled up outside for a good long while.  When John found out what he had done, he was very upset.  Needless to say, the boys went to bed a little early that night.  Probably not as early as I would have put them to bed.  Debbie has more patience than I do.

Despite the eventful day, she still came back the next day.  Wednesday was pretty calm.  Which was a very good thing.

Who wants to watch my kids?  It's sure to give you a good story or two.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

A Zoo Day

Last year, we (meaning the 5 Fienes) went to the zoo with Debbie and Pam on Debbie's birthday.  I guess we are just going to make it a tradition because we (meaning 4 Fienes, one was lame and had to work) went to the zoo again.  We had a wonderful time.

 John and Sophie were ready to get going.  You can't keep these two still for too long.

The zoo has a new, cool bug exhibit.  The area is filled with huge bugs.  Gus was a little frightened by these big creatures. 


 If you read the sign, you'll see that this area had big stink bugs.  And that little red bottle is filled with the aroma of a stink bug.

 Gus was feeling adventurous...

He won't do that again anytime soon.

 The bug magnets were a hit.

 The four kids loved "catching" butterflies.


A trip to the zoo would not be complete without petting the stingrays.
 Gus was done in about 2.5 seconds, but I had to peel Sophie and John away after a good 20 minutes.

 Stingrays feel slimy...just in case you wanted to know.


There was also a new buffalo to check out.  I think this little guy was only 11 days old when we saw him.

It was a fun filled day.  After the zoo, Debbie and Pam took the boys back to their house and had dinner, cake, and ice cream.  You just can't beat that.