Winter is here

I have not written in awhile. Swept up by Thanksgiving and all of its craziness. The boys have been enjoying the holidays. Days off of school. Plaza lighting. The first snow of the season. David Cook from American Idol flipped the switch for the Plaza lights. Grayson was thrilled. He loves that show. Loves music. Loves to sing. We only got as close as the jumbo-tron with his face on it due to the crowds. That seemed to be enough. We have gone to the Plaza lighting since the boys were babies. We started going before they were born. What a fun tradition to see their faces light up and the switch is flipped.

How we love fall.....

I took the boys to Johnson's Farms the day before Halloween. We had never been there before and my friend, Pati, recommended it. It was a fantastic place. Mazes, playsets, petting zoo, corn maze, pumpkin patch, hay rides and the piece de resistance....a straw barn. The barn was filled with bales of hay and haystacks. Kids could climb to the top and jump down into the hay. Tons of fun for Grayson and Cooper! They loved it! As for the pumpkins, we need to go earlier in the season as they were picked over but it looked like a great place to find your perfect pumpkin. Cooper really wanted to run through the corn maze and got his wish. Grayson enjoyed seeing the animals--baby pigs, chicks, horses, donkeys. It was a beautiful fall day to be enjoyed with my pumpkin loving son and the one with a jack-o-lantern smile.

Who's counting?

Cooper will receive his 1st reconciliation this Saturday. His teacher, Ms. Rinke, had a funny story during parent-teacher conferences. She told me that she was reviewing the whole confession process--what are sins and how they should tell the priest. She told them not to worry about the number of times they committed a sin because there probably wasn't a way to know exactly how many times you committed that sin. Then she said...Cooper's hand went up in the air.

"I know that I have disobeyed my parents 145 times."

"Really? Can you tell me what each of those 145 times was?"

"No."

"Okay. Then you just need to tell Father Frank or Chris that you disobeyed your parents because if you tell them it was 145 times, they may ask you to list them all off and you would be in there a very long time."

I told Ms. Rinke I think Coop low-balled that number.

And the winner is....

The title should read "And the winners are...Grayson and Cooper Dunst!" Yesterday were the school Halloween parties. I helped organize Cooper's (and will organize Grayson's so they are even). Another mom was in charge of the games. She had a guessing game---"how many m&m's are in the jar. There were 444 and Coop came the closest! He was very pleased to see the prize of all 444 m & m's!

Grayson had to decorate a pumpkin for pumpkin math. He won 2nd place for the "funniest" category! Way to go, boys--you rock!

It's tough to be in 4th grade...

Poor Grayson. He is frustrated because he has homework and it is taking awhile. He has been home over an hour, diligently working on his social studies and he is still not done.
"Mommy, this is taking forever. I have been doing homework since I got home from school." What I want to say is that there is so much more to come and that it will last more than an hour. What I want to tell him is that there is so much knowledge that will come to him---so much more beyond the Northeast region of the United States. More beyond maple syrup production in Vermont or cranberries in Massachusetts. He is a smart kid--not trying to brag--but he is. I know he will soak up tons into that brain of his. I know he will succeed in whatever he sets his mind to.

failure to launch...

I was in the car today with Cooper and he asked me, "Mom, how many years is college?" And I said, "Four." (although I was there five but there is no need to tell him that!) Then he asked, "Well, how long is high school?" And I answered, "Four years." Cooper sighed and said, "Oh no, that means I will be living away from you for 8 years? I don't like that at all!" I laughed and said, "No, Coop, you live with us during high school and then you move away for college." Again---big sigh---"But 4 years is too long to not live with you. I don't want to live away from you ever." I said, "That is sweet but I am sure you will reconsider when you are older." "No, I don't think so. I want to live with you as long as I can." Yes, Coop, I want that too.....unless you are 35 and still living at home.

Something big....

About seven years ago, I was trying to potty train Grayson. He was doing very well between working with Erin at Erniebird's daycare and working at home with Ken and me. I have two stories that go along with Grayson's potty journey. First of all, Erin would reward the kids with fruit snacks--1 fruit snack for #1 and 2 fruit snacks for #2....seemed appropriate. One day when I went to pick Grayson up, Erin informed me that he had peed on the potty but not pooped. She said, "So that means he got one fruit snack each time." Before I had a chance to congratulate him on this accomplishment, he looks up at me and says "Mommy, do you want me to go for two?" I told him to hold on and he could "go for two" at home!

The next story is actually one of my favorites. We had just gotten home from work/daycare and Grayson needed to go potty. He sat down on the potty chair and was working very hard to produce something. He started to grunt and then in a very strained voice he said, "Mommy, there's a castle coming out of my butt." I literally fell on the floor laughing! I don't know where the castle analogy came from but obviously he was expecting something big.

A day at the zoo....

I was reminded tonight by my friends, Pati and Erin, of an infamous trip that we took to the zoo a few years back. It was a lovely Memorial Day at the KC zoo for us---3 mommies and a total of 7 kids. We were strolling around checking out the animals. We had just finished feeding the lorakeets and petting and brushing some goats. It was getting warm and the kids needed some drinks. Cooper had a bottle of water. He was walking down the sidewalk, drinking his water. He took a big swig, squatted down and spit it into a tiny puddle in the sidewalk. He then leaned down and lapped up some of the water out of the puddle like a stray dog! "Cooper William Dunst! What are you doing????" I yelled. I was distraught--what could be in that water? Bacteria? Viruses? Bug poop? Of all the places he could drink from---clean, bottled water, water fountains, concession stands---and he picks a small puddle of stagnant water. I was beside myself. My friends were hysterically laughing. (of course they were---it wasn't their child ;) ) I had visions of Cooper contracting malaria, dysentery, mad cow disease, etc. I pondered having him do a mouth rinse with Purell. And all the while, my friends were laughing. And they still are. And now...since Cooper never did get sick or have a disease.....I can too.

The apples don't fall too far....

We had lunch today at Five Guys Burgers & Fries---delicious food! The conversation strayed to movie quotes. Lots of movie quotes from one movie in particular. The boys had watched Pee Wee's Big Adventure while they were with the babysitter last night. This happens to be Ken's favorite movie. I was surrounded by 3 males that bantered back and forth, laughing non-stop with quotes from that movie!
"Good morning, Mr. Breakfast!" "Good morning, Pee Wee!" "Brush, brush, brush..."
"Tell 'em Large Marge sent you."

Those are just a few! It was endless! And all three of them were laughing so hard that I am surprised food or drink did not shoot out of their noses!

Now this movie was not one of my favorites. I didn't hate it but definitely not on my top ten. And here I was....held captive and amused by my two boys and their dad as they relived every ridiculous moment. Must be a guy thing.....

Great helper....

I must brag a bit about my oldest son, Grayson. Sunday we decided to paint a couple of rooms as the house before they lay the carpet. We were going to paint Cooper's room and the 1/2 bath. Let me first explain why we were not painting Grayson's room. We let the boys decide their paint colors. Grayson wanted orange. Orange. An orange room. Okay, not the end of the world but not on my color palette. After much deliberation we came to a compromise. Ken is going to put up white wainscoting on the lower half of the room and above the chair rail he will have his color. Let me also say that it will not be tangerine or fluorescent orange. Tasteful with maybe some blue or chocolate brown accents. Back to my proud mom moment, Grayson wanted to paint the rooms. He picked up a roller and there was no looking back. No complaints, no comments, just helpful. All I had to do was touch up a few spots but he did a fantastic job. I am very proud. He is growing up to be a considerate, helpful guy.

In the beginning....

.....there were two little boys. Grayson and Cooper who are 9 and 7 years old. For years people have asked if I have written down all of their funny antics and reactions to situations. What better way to preserve these priceless memories than have a blog? I am taking the leap into the 21st century. I have abandoned the idea of a journal and decided to use the blog. Hopefully friends and family that don't live close will be able to check this out and keep up on what these two guys are up to and into.

First I will start with some of their favorite stories about themselves. Grayson loves to hear that his first sentence was "TV on." or in his words "FeeV on." Cooper has always had a heightened sense of smell (asking "what's that smell?" anytime he would enter a room). When he was at Erniebirds' daycare, he tried to convince his other friends to do the same--"Come on, everyone! Let's go smell the vacuum!"

Here's to a blog beginning.....