Thursday, October 25, 2012

Boys, Boys, Boys






At our house I'm a wee bit totally outnumbered in the gender category. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE it. But, growing up, it was only my sister and I. We outnumbered by dad at our house! And, although I don't really consider myself a girlie kind of gal (I'm not very talented in hair/make-up department and let's not even get into all the scars I have from scraps and cuts from sports) raising boys has made me think about crazy differences between boys and girls. Now, maybe these differences are just because they are kids and maybe I don't remember everything I did as a child, but, I do have to say I'm finding some comedy in these boys of mine! Here's what I have come up with so far :)

Attributes of a boy:

-Pee can go ANYWHERE and EVERYWHERE! My boys love the fact they can pee standing up. Now, don't get me wrong, this comes in handy outside or on the side of the interstate, but sometimes the aim is a little off. Needless to say, cleaning bathrooms is an everyday chore for me :)

-A gun can be made out of almost any object. Chip clip, stick, hair barrette. You name it and my boys can somehow see how it can be used as a gun.

-Art projects last for about 5 minutes. Mason and Max both love to do artwork. Stickers, coloring, stamps, glue. You name it, they love to do it. But, the attention span for these projects last about 5 minutes. I see all these great coloring papers from my friends with girls and you can see it may have taken them a bit to color the whole page. For my boys, it's a few colors here and there then done. On to something else. It take me longer to get it out and clean it up than they spend coloring. But, I keep reminding myself it's promoting the skill that counts :) And, no (Max!) mommy's make-up brushes are not paint brushes. They are not to be used to paint the mirror, walls, ect. :)

-There are monsters EVERYWHERE. We go monster hunting around our house a few times a day. Swords, guns, shields and all. We got to get these things out of the house!

-Superheroes are the greatest! My boys have never even watched a movie about Batman or Spiderman but they know who they are and that they have GREAT powers. And to be a superhero you MUST have a cape, weapon (see point about guns above!) and fight crime. Do they even know what crime is at this age :) Secretly though, I do love watching them "fly" around the room.

-Pooping seems to only need to happen during dinner time. I've come to realize that this may be the only time they actually sit down for a minute. So, once they finally stop moving, what do you know, they realize they need to go to the bathroom. And for the record, this task seems to need time to complete as well. No in and out, job done for them. There must be some male code that says the task must allow for some time to complete!

-Confined spaces are torturous. Case in point, doctors office visits and stressful for me. Why, because no matter how much stuff I bring to occupy their time they are over it in a few minutes (see art project statement above!). So after about 10 minutes they are ready to climb the walls. I've had mom's of girls say the can bring coloring books, stickers, ect. to bind the time. I've tried it all! These boys just run around, climb on whatever they can!

-Wrestling/Tackling is an everyday sport. I should note, it's not always fighting over toys that this occurs either. Sometimes it's just a general fun game of wrestling (insert superhero powers here!). It is fun to see Mason and Max tackle and wrestle with each other. And they are finally getting the idea of when they need to stop so that the other doesn't get hurt. At least they haven't decided to tackle any of the neighbor kids, yet :)   It seems like football might be in our future after all!

-One can never have too many cars, trucks, fire trucks, planes, boats, tractors. Basically anything with a motor. And they must ALL have sounds. Whether the toy itself makes a sound or the boy makes the sounds they must have engine sounds!!

-A boy must have the proper tools! We have an array of tools. Plus, the boys no longer want to "play" tools they want the real thing. Let's just say a trip to Lowe's is one of their favorite trips!

These are just a few of the things I can think of that make me laugh throughout the day. I'm sure there are more, and you better believe I'll jot them down so I can tease them about them in the future! One thing I can say, I sure do LOVE these boys and they are the best snugglers with their mom. If only it will stay that way!!

Love these guys!


Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Let Fall Begin!



 This past weekend we started fall off right with a visit to the pumpkin patch. It was downright cold a little breezy but we had a great time. So thankful for the Andresen's for inviting us to tag along :) We have an official start to my favorite time of year complete with picking out pumpkins, carving them and setting them out with our mums. It's so much fun to watch the boys enjoy the outside festivities and well, Matthew was just happy being snuggled to keep warm.Yep, sorry buddy, no pictures of you. Kind of hard to get when Mom's taking the pictures and your attached to her :) Happy Fall!!


  Climbing hay stacks with Harper and Hadley


The boys LOVE riding ponies and every time they see an opportunity they always want go for a ride. Almost makes me wish we lived on a farm so that they could have one of their own. I said ALMOST!

 Driving tractors. They are going to be able to drive just as soon as they can reach the pedals.

Thanks "tractor" grandma for hanging out with us that day!



Finished project!
 (Sorry Max, you were so tired from the fun day you were sleeping while pumpkin carving was underway. We'll let you get all sticky next time!)













Wednesday, October 3, 2012

3 months and counting..


 
Matthew is three months old this week. Man, has the time sure flown by. It's going way to fast and although I would love not to be sleep deprived and have a solid routine, I'm sad to see him grow so quickly. He's not a newborn any more it seems. Yes, that's a good thing! As a mom you want your child to hit all those developmental milestones on time. You fret that if he hasn't accomplish something yet could you do something more? Are you doing things right? But, now, after three kiddos I am trying to make myself stop worrying. He'll get there and grow so fast that I'll want him to be a baby again. So, my mission, be in the moment. Let him learn in his due time. Because he has already grown up too much in a short amount of time!

 Case in point! Isn't he so cute!