nothing's going on

so...nothing exciting is going on in our life directly.... but i had time to kill so here i am blogging.

sawyer's as funny as ever, his latest hilarities can not be blogged about b/c they would cause utmost embarassment to his mother.  

ridge is growing, getting fatter by the day.

we have a garden, it's finally starting to yield some edible somethings..i had a cucumber yesterday. it was good. the tomatoes are finally getting kind of red...the squash is growing at a snail's pace....no visible okra or canteloupe yet...and the corn is yielding, but it's short.  i wish it would hurry up.  summer is about half over, so let's get this party started, garden.

my HS best friend had an adorable baby girl this week, two months (to the day) after ridge was born.  i can't wait to meet her- she is really just beautiful in pictures!  i know her mom will read this, but i'd say it even if she didn't. i'm excited to go see baby kate soon.  i will bring ridge, b/c hopefully, he will marry her.  :)

speaking of marriage, we're off to a rehearsal dinner....and brandon's in a wedding tomorrow...and then sunday is our sixth anniversary.  six years, and two kids. way to go, us.

the Bible...according to Sawyer

Soo....Father's Day morning we wake up and are getting ready, sort of, for church.  Brandon is reading his Bible in the floor of the bedroom and Sawyer gets a Bible from the bookshelf and lays down beside him (I was not in there, this is all a retelling as I was told by Brandon)....Sawyer starts reading out loud, and Brandon isn't really tuned in, but he does pick up on something about a "bad man"...He thinks Sawyer is saying Jesus is a bad man, so he says, "what is this bad man's name, Sawyer?" and Sawyer says "....Butt."  So he is reading some story in his Bible about a bad man named Butt who takes things from other people or something.  yeah....

he also asks Brandon, this morning, why he is reading a book (Bringing Up Boys, Dobson)....and Brandon says, "so i can be a better daddy."  Sawyer says, "you're already a good daddy" (melt my heart)...then he says, "and so mommy can be a better mommy?" (thanks, kid).  then he says, "and i can be a better boy."  that about covers it.

in other news...i think we may have conquered, at least semi-conquered, our fear of swimming...sawyer had a great time @ the lake last week (wading, not swimming, and definitely NOT getting in the boat- he'd have NONE of that)...but he asked yesterday if we could go swimming today.  So we've got a time all set up to head to the neighbor's...we shall see.  between that and fixing my busted cell and spraying the yard for some weird webworms that are overtaking some ivy AND getting the house sprayed for the scary spiders i keep seeing...it will be a busy day.

exciting things are happening in the gross department

So....tell me this...at church, I'm sure it's not incredibly uncommon to hear about trumpets blasting sounding the coming of something spectacular....or to hear about being cleansed...or purging yourself of the dirt inside of you....think i'm getting deep? well, we heard all of these things, in some form, at church Sunday.   As I walked into Sunday School, Ridge, with his nice full belly, sat down on my lap, and just when it got quiet, BLASTED out a sound, but what was coming was NOT spectacular....he definitely purged himself so much he had to be cleansed.  It was an awakening experience for us all.  Completely embarassing, as well, I might add.  But he isn't the king of the land of the gross. His brother conquered THAT territory this morning.  We took Ridge to the dr...i needed to be reassured of some things being "normal."....anyway, while we waited (forever), Sawyer became uber-independent and HAD to get a drink of water w/o brandon even standing NEAR him.  When he was finished, Brandon said, "You did it by yourself. Didn't you?" (he was kind of being and instigator here, you know, b/c Sawyer had been so bratty about not wanting any assistance)...then Brandon added, "You have water on your face."  So, Sawyer does something totally unexpected.  Even as it is happening, I am not putting the pieces together. I keep wondering "What is he doing?"...he lays down, on his stomach, on the waiting room carpet right in front of the check in window....and then....of course this all happens in a split second and i am thinking, "man, he's so weird ,why is he laying down?".... and then and then and then...he wipes his mouth...ON THE CARPET!  of course this is the exact spot where every person who has entered that office has stood to check in.  dis.gus.ting.  i'm sure he will come down with some disgusting disease soon.  so if you want to congratulate me on having some gross kids, feel free to do so.

the third birthday was crazier than the party

Sawyer turned three today.  Let's recap the events.  It all started around 7:20 when I woke him up to tell him happy birthday...we were headed to the zoo, early, to beat the heat.  I told him "Happy Birthday" and he said, "it's MY birthday?" i told him he was three...he said, "no...i don't want to be 3!"  finally I convinced him it was a good idea, and we started getting ready.  the morning at home was fairly uneventful, until it was almost time to go and he said to me, "here's my cup.  (pause)...i can't drink it b/c it's old.  and i don't drink old stuff.  it's old. my cup is old. " this goes on and on and i'm just nodding, okay yeah, b/c he was at his pretend kitchen so I figured he was pretending...so i was kind of ignoring him. I won't lie.  I was.  Until Brandon said, "yes, that is old. disgusting" (or something like that)...apparently, in the pretend refrigerator, a sippy cup of strawberry milk had been placed, who knows when...now..or this morning, it had turned to yogurt or something, and sawyer actually drank some of it. disgusting.  Anyway, we finally made it to the zoo.  The zoo currently has a dinosaur exhibit and Sawyer was so excited to go see it.  So in we go....and he keeps asking "are the dinosaurs little or big?"  i didn't know so I said, "medium sized, but they aren't alive.  they can't hurt you or anything."  We walk in, and there is t-rex growling audio playing non stop....sawyer is okay.  I see the dinosaur around the corner, and as soon as we even begin to round it, Sawyer sees the dinosaur also, and lets out a horrendously loud screech and crawls out of the stroller and as fast as he can up into brandon's arms, locking brandon's neck in a death grip.  so we turned right back around and went out....so I don't know if the exhibit was any good at all.  Some other things happened that were funny, I'm sure, at the zoo, but the real kicker is when we left the zoo...so keep reading.

We wanted to take sawyer to lunch but he didn't want to pick where.  I wanted to go to a grill type restaurant in Edmond, but on the way we passed County Line Bbq and went there instead.  I know a lot of people like the food there; I, however was not impressed.  Possibly b/c I didn't have a chance to enjoy it.  Here's why:  we get there....there's no one there, but they seat us in the middle of the restaurant.  There ARE private areas blocked off with only one table in them, but they seat US, the family with a newborn and a three year old, in the middle.  Then the lunch rush hits and it isn't too busy, but the people that are there get seated right around us.  Sawyer is talking as loudly as possible, dumping all the Sweet N Lows out everywhere, stacking the little butter cube things and dumping them on the floor as well...he bends down to pick them up and busts his face on the corner of the table.  Ridge is already screaming, now Sawyer is, and I forgot to mention I am at the table by myself at this time.  If only I'd known this was only the beginning, we would've left right then.  Sawyer progressively got louder, and usually he was saying un nice things b/c he was usually getting in trouble for throwing things on the floor.  We have this business lady eating lunch all alone beside us and she does not look very kid-friendly, so all I can think about is how annoying we must be.  Ridge won't stop crying, Sawyer is screaming because finally he's gotten so bad Brandon's picked him up to take him to the bathroom and give him a spanking (don't judge- yes, we swat the child). Sawyer's really only this mad b/c I took a bite of his corn on the cob to make sure it wasn't hot and Sawyer doesn't know how to share...  So he's yelling "NO DADDY, I DON'T WANT ONE (a spanking)!" and everyone is looking....Brandon and Sawyer finally come back, Ridge doesn't calm down, I've scarfed down what food I can eat while holding a baby and I get the heck out of there.  Ridge and I hang out outside and he is just fine.  We finally get brave enough to go back in....here's the kicker...Sawyer's acting normal, I sit down, Ridge is fairly calm for just a second, but then Sawyer gets this look on his face...this look I've thought about since yesterday, just fearing it would happen when we were in a restaurant.  It did . He gets this grimace and these huge eyes and he says, "EEEEEEEEEEE." or maybe "AAAAAAAAAA." Idk, but whatever sound it was, it was followed by "My tummy hurts."  This can only mean one thing in our household- he needs to poop.  He usually says this while clenching his backside....So i'm utterly embarassed but Ridge is crying again so I take the child and we sit in the car for the remainder of the lunch session (except we get stopped before we get out the door by some total stranger man who has to ask me all about Ridge and his feeding sessions...yeah...weird.) Anyway, apparently, when I left, things only got worse.  Here's my telling of the remainder, but I wasn't actually there.  The yelling, the "EEEE...my tummy hurts." only got louder and more frequent and worse....Brandon's really sweating it here, and then....what we'd both feared....occurs.  No, sawyer didn't poop his pants- he tries to avoid that- this is much worse than just pooping his pants and saying 'I pooped my pants.'  That, I could handle...no...the worst possible thing....Sawyer clenches up and yells, "POOOOOOOOOOOP!"  

out loud

in the restaurant. 

everyone hears.

people are laughing, quietly.

and the waiter, who has been kind of slow, does not waste time here, he takes the check and the money w/o any haste and brings the change quickly.  

The day has been eventful after that as well, but nothing like the restaurant, which wasn't kid-friendly anyway, but we won't ever go back.  I don't think i'll ever take both children to a restaurant again until Ridge can be content and Sawyer is willing to use a toilet to poop....without yelling in clenched pain.  

After nap, Sawyer opened a few gifts, then we ate dinner....dinner is where Sawyer told his daddy tonight, "I will rip your face off and eat it."  hmmm....what is the deal, kid?

party...crash.

the party...is over.  and we crashed yesterday afternoon.  it was an uneventful event- in the best of ways..no big problems...lots of good presents, none so big that we had to get rid of things to keep them.  i don't have pictures of everything, but i will post a few.  the only big toy i can think of that isn't pictured is this nice wooden fire station my friend crystal got sawyer-- she works for a company that manufactures toys...so she always gets some good stuff.  sawyer's favorite, by a landslide, is the gun set a couple of my students got him....i think he might like it better than the trampoline...or perhaps it's a tie.  he slept with the rifle the night of his party.  he cried when i wouldn't let him take it into church on sunday.  he plays w/ it all the time....shooting bears...and deer...imaginary, of course.  when we told him there was a squirrel (or a squee-uhl as he would say)...on the deck and that he could shoot it...he pretended, ONCE. then he said, "no, we can't shoot THAT squee-uhl.  we can only shoot squee-uhls in the house." so...idk how good of a hunter he will be. :)  perhaps he is too soft-hearted.  we shall see.  so here are the pics...it was a good time. blowing out the candles on our monkey cupcake
the cool gun and hat and handkerchief some of my students got sawyer...this is the pistol..he really loves the rifle...those are my students in the background.
the trampoline in all of its glory
the monkey cake...easy.

the monkey cupcakes...they took FOREVER to frost.

it's about to get CUH-RAZY in he-ah! (it's about to get crazy in here, for all you "normal" people)

PARTAY tomorrow!  today will be spent making 2 double batches of homemade ice cream, and baking a cake as well as 2 dozen cupcakes...decorating a table, will have to decorate the other one tomorrow...stuffing party favor bags....getting the house ready for overnight guests....and trying to get a trampoline put together w/out the child seeing it....at least that's what i can think of off the top of my head. i'm sure there's more-- like regular stuff...laundry, picking up the house, and hopefully taking sawyer swimming for the first time this summer...thank the Lord for the head of the math department who lives up the road and has a GORGEOUS saltwater pool...can NOT wait...but it's like my reward if i finish all of the above, so i better get busy!

on the other hand, anniversary is @ the end of the month.  this will be numero six for us....dinner at the melting pot is on the agenda and definitely NO gifts this year...first the excuse was b/c we had a baby and are poor. now the excuse is i just bought a whopping expensive father's day gift (expensive for a father's day gift, not for a...christmas gift)...so i'm making it count as our anniv. gift too....which is okay b/c it's something i will probably like too....if not, well, i just threw away my own gift, i guess.   but i can hardly keep it a secret!

okay got stuff to do. forgive the boring blog today.

summer

hooray! summer is officially here...i went to work today; was finished by NOON!  terrific!  came home, had a little lunch...the boys took a nap, i went for a walk and discovered that i had something wrong w/ my foot.  all day long i've been so worried about a stupid plantar wart...i knew i had one.  i KNEW it.  finally, this evening, i discovered it was....a blister.  now, to my credit, it was a DEEP blister that didn't look ANYTHING like a blister.  but it is, or was a blister.

sawyer refuses to poop in the potty.  or in his pants. he's like on a poop strike.  instead he just runs around in the squatted position screaming and crying "POOP!" tonight he even asked me to pray that his tummy would feel better (all the while, squatting and screaming....) . The child just holds it. forever. his daddy said he wasn't praying for that b/c it was sawyer's fault he wouldn't poop.  so mommy said a prayer that sawyer would be able to poop.  but he hasn't, and he won't, and it isn't b/c he CAN'T.  he just WON'T.

sawyer will be 3 in a week.  unbelievable.  we are having his party this saturday and i am super excited...we are having a monkey theme.  in the past we've had a cowboy party, and last year we had a race car party.  i LOVE making the cakes, cupcakes, and ice cream. it's so fun to me.  i'd do it for a living if people would hire me.  birthday parties are one of the best parts, so far, of being a mom.  we're getting him a trampoline (well, not just us, family is chipping in)...the turnout will be great- a lot of family and friends, and i even have some  (at least one!) of my college friends coming to see me (okay, ridge).  I'm so excited!  i love getting to see my Ouachita "sisters."  

I thought I'd post a pic or two of the last two year's cakes...not that i'm ace of cakes or whatever, i'm so not. but i think both of my cakes are cute.  this year's is even better.

and i'm proud of my blogging ability so far. i'm going to lose readers if i keep posting every day though, so i will try to BACK OFF.

sawyer's first bday

i didn't make this cake, but he sure did like it.
sawyer's second birthday

life with two children

So...just when you get one child figured out, you decide it's time to have another one.  While that one is getting ready to grace the world with his presence, your firstborn decides to become totally unpredictable, so that when the second baby arrives...all chaos breaks loose.

Actually, Sawyer is really good w/ Ridge.  He likes to hug him and kiss him and say "I love you, brother."  He also likes to throw a lot more fits since brother arrived.  And these fits, or any type of crying in general, usually occur as Ridge is crying....crying from a tummy ache, or to be held, or to be fed, or because he wants to fight his sleep.   One child crying is enough to stress me out, but two at once is enough to send me over the edge some days.  I guess it's just part of life with children as opposed to life with A (as in single) child.  But I love them...both of them...and life was so wonderful when we were a family of three, but I can't even imagine not being a family of four now that Ridge is here.  

I write this low on energy and down in the dumps b/c I go back to work for....ONE DAY...tomorrow.  I just have to get all checked out from school, but somehow I'm just not really looking forward to it.  Five, almost six, weeks off of work will do that to you.  However, this is my second time around w/ motherhood, and both times, those six weeks post-baby are enough to remind me that God's call on my life is most definitely not to be a stay at home mother.  I do not have the patience- not b/c a child is particularly good or bad, but because I feel like I have to constantly cater to either child's need if I choose to stay home-- you know- feeding them, changing them, loving them, reading to them, playing with them... and all the while I am looking at the gajillion dust particles on my candlesticks that I never noticed when I was at work.  Who dusts their candlesticks?  Don't tell me if you do.  It is this type of obsessive behavior that I must avoid at all costs- and a job allows me to ignore the dirt.  My house will always be picked up if you come to visit...but rest assured, it will not be clean.  Well, the bathrooms will be...I will make sure of that if you are coming over...announced, of course.  This obsessive behavior would not stop if I stayed home, I wouldn't "get used" to the dirt. I wouldn't.  I can't. It's not in me.  I can't ignore the 9807879 pounds of laundry growing by the second.  I can't ignore the fuzz off of our rug that is all over the wood laminate in the living room.  I can't ignore it, not if it's staring me in the face all day.  Can't do it.  But let me go to my chaotic, sloppy, messy desk at work (which is also covered in dust...but somehow at work, none of the mess bugs me)....let me go there, and I will not notice the dirt at work NOR will I notice it at home...and we will all be better for it.

So this posting doesn't have a lot of point to it...but I wanted to preface some pictures with some type of story of our boys...but here are some pics of when Ridge joined the crew about a month ago.

shaving cream...

today was the official last day of school.  for students. so, i go pick sawyer up at daycare. we go get a snow-cone. we pull into our neighborhood...and i see shreds of white stuff everywhere on the street.  i look ahead, and i see a massive group of middle school (i think) aged children...covered in....shaving cream. we are talking about like...50 adolescents here.  the shaving cream shrapnel continues all the way up my street...as does the parade of white frothy people.  we haven't lived here but 6 months, but i wonder if this is some kind of "ringing in the summer" ritual.  i didn't know whether to be mad or smile, so i smiled, and prayed none of them were up to any mischief....just glad it's summer.

on another note, yesterday brandon and i drove past this side of the road bar or something that used to say BEER in huge letters on top of it...now it says..and repainted quiet well, i might add...DEER.  all around the sides it used to say beer, chicken, cold beer, chicken.  it now says, Deer, Chicken, Old Deer, Chicken.  whatever. who had time to vandal so extensively? and pointlessly?

and some of you are wondering why on earth nothing about my children is posted so far on this blog. first off, give me a break, it's day one. second off, here's a fun fact of ridiculousness, and you already know it if you are family.  sawyer pooped on the porch at Brandon's mom's house.  straight up pooped.  it wasn't an accident in his pants. it was apparently an emergency situation, and only his uncle garret was out there with him  (props to uncle garret on this nasty supervision job)....and apparently, while sawyer had a second alone, nature called quite urgently, he dropped his drawers, and pooped.  right on the porch.  aunt binet' cleaned HIM up, but daddy Brandon had to clean up the poop, and the porch.  nasty. Thank goodness I had a baby to tend to.

let's see how this goes...

So I'm going to give this a try.  I love reading other people's blogs...but I'm not so sure I will be a success at blogging myself.

so...i was trying to come up with a title for my blog...and crazy day is kind of how it always is here, but really, i was trying to come up with some title to encompass the normal ridiculousness we encounter....like...

yesterday, when i drove past a nursing home that's down the road from a liquor store in our town... (yes).  that isn't the ridiculous part.  the ridiculous part is for months and months (maybe a year or so)...the sign has been peeling and fading, and it was stupid looking anyway. the nursing home, "gran gran's place" had a picture of an old lady in a rocking chair-- cartoon-esque.  i always thought it looked so stupid.  until yesterday.  when i drove past and noticed that the cartoon granny wasn't there anymore.  in her place was a new sign, same purple letters, same font, spelling "gran gran's place"...however, the background of the sign is now....zebra.

wow. some hip old people must live there.  hip is not a pun here, though most surely many of those people have fake hips.

i would like to blog consecutively on these types of ridiculous things, but my mind is blank right now of any more of them, though i do see many of them daily.  so there will be more added.