And They Keep Growing...........

Halloween Sharing

2010-11-01T16:24:00.002-05:00

Lukas didn't feel well by the time we got home from trick or treating last night. At 7PM he announced as we came in the house that he was gonna lay down. Since all our neighbors were in the cul-de-sac we decided that we would get our chairs and sit with them for awhile. Lukas therefore ended up asleep in my arms at about 7:05PM outside. He stayed asleep even when we came inside an hour later, changed out of his costume and into pj's, brushed teeth, etc.

Fast forward to Nov 1st. Afternoon. "Mommy, can I look at all my candy?"
"Sure, but you have to look at it on the table or counter so the dogs don't get any of your candy.", I reply.
Thirty minutes later Lukas wants to show me his loot. He has his candy all spread on the kitchen counter. Surprisingly we didn't get too much "junk candy". When I asked him which candy was for me he kindly grabbed a green wrapped tootsie roll and handed it to me. That's it? After all I do for you? After knowing everything you like and dislike? After washing your clothes? After preparing all your meals? After loving you even when you're not lovable? After keeping the running list of all the toys you want for your birthday and Christmas and making sure you get some of those toys? After turning on the heat or air or both in one day if needed to keep you from freezing or burning up? After giving you your bath? After taking you to the doctor and comforting you when you have to have shots? A TOOTSIE ROLL???

Oh well. I guess I should just take the tootsie roll and be grateful that he didn't say it was ALL HIS! I did hide all the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups from the bag of candy we bought for the trick or treaters!!! Now I've got to go dig the tootsie roll out of my teeth.

Junkie

2009-06-24T11:04:00.006-05:00

So our Lukas is a junkie. He is a carbohydrate junkie. Lunch just about everyday is peanut butter and jelly(poor Mommy has peanut butter elbow). Try to serve something different and the shakes start (plus screaming). His favorite word has become snack. Snack has become a bigger listening/teaching tool than punishment (should be noted a lot of snacks for him consist of fruit as they are mostly carbs).

“Lukas pick up your toys or we are going to take them away......”
"NO!"
“Lukas pick up these toys or you won't get a snack....”
"OK daddy, I be back"

Mommy is working with Lukas on potty training. Whenever he goes on potty he gets an M&M (figured this as a reward may cause a cold quit of diapers). When he goes in his underwear mommy gets an M&M for having to change his underwear. She put a bunch of M&M's in the bathroom in a jar but had to make sure to put the M&M's in the medicine cabinet out of reach as he would find the jar and wipe out in one sitting and end up obese rather than potty trained.

Then there is the medicine and toothpaste. When he gets sick he enjoys the medicine, so being sick comes with benefits for him. But the toothpaste is the real worry. Training toothpaste for a two year old sorta tastes like candy. We have had to made sure not to leave the toothpaste container on the counter as we will find him quietly in the bathroom slurping the tube down. He has downed several tubes in single sittings. The good and bad of this is he like to brush his teeth, but his teeth may rot out do to too much toothpaste. How embarrassing will that be to explain.

Do they have 12 step programs for 2 year olds?

NJ Trip 2009

2009-04-30T17:56:00.010-05:00

Last weekend we decided to take a trip to Noo Joisy (New Jersey for laymen) to visit family. This trip is much easier now that we are in VA as opposed to Tenn (5 hours vs. 18). Over the course of the 3.5 days we were there the boys got enough spoilin' to last them a while. We spent one day at the beach which included, pizza, ice cream, feet in 50 degree water, playing games in arcade for enough game tickets to buy a million toys (REALLY), and rides, the favorite of which was called the crazy bus (appropriate). The boys also ate the obligatory pile-o-cookies at my grandmothers and got a water gun fight in. All in all it was a great weekend.
We managed to forget the camera on beach day (pictures yet to come from relatives) but here are the rest of the pics:

LINK TO PICTURES

Taking Uncomfortable to a New Level

2009-04-07T19:52:00.003-05:00

Soooooo Mommy instant messages me at work the other day and says she has had one of those horrifying questions posed from our four year old. My stomach sinks as I can only imagine what is to follow (NOTE - It is times like these I am happy I get to go to work so mommy has to field "most" of these incidents as I would most likely 1)Freeze and fall in a coma. or 2)Die, literally die from embarrassment). This isn't one of those "Where is that man's arm?" or "Is that lady pregnant?" situations, no it's WORSE....

Mommy is minding her own business folding laundry when a voice comes from the bathroom....."Mommy what are these SLIPPERY BALLS in my pee pee?". The first thing I can think is UGH! ARGHH! BLAT! CRINGE! OH MY BLEEPING BLEEPING $%&*^%@#!!!!!! (Sorry momentary case of involuntary turrets)

DID I MENTION HE IS FOUR????????????

Mommy calmly says, "Those are your testicles" as he is rolling them between his fingers. Mommy cringing but trying not to completely freak out.
Boy child then wants to know what are they for.
Mommy calmly says, "Those are your boy parts."
Four year old then wonders aloud, "What happens if I touch them?"
Still kinda calm Mommy says, "Probably nothing. I don't have boy parts, so I'm not sure."
The four year old raises the ante. "Will it hurt if I touch them?"
Mommy thinks of telling him that if he touches the slippery balls that his penis or testicles will fall off or he'll go blind but instead she answers in her new Mommy calm voice, "No, but it is best you leave them alone for now."

DID I MENTION HE IS FOUR????????????

If this is just the tip of the iceberg pleeeeease put me down now, OLE YELLER style.

Funny Graph

2009-03-12T10:59:00.002-05:00

A friend sent me this graph. Oh how appropriate it is to our life. (Fits for our 2 year old too!

Coconut the SNOWMAN.....

2009-03-05T10:39:00.007-06:00

The boys and I(MOMMY) went to Memphis the last week of February 2009. They enjoyed seeing family and friends while we were there. I enjoyed my time there too, and I had a chance to do some more work around the house in Memphis that's for sale. The highlight of the trip was SNOW!! It began snowing Saturday afternoon and continued all night into Sunday morning. By Sunday afternoon the streets were fine for driving, but the snow was still in the yards on Tuesday morning when we were leaving. The craziest part was that on Friday I was wearing capris and a short sleeve tshirt without a jacket. The joke has always been that if you don't like the weather in Memphis then stay 5 minutes because it will change. I read lots of those lists of "You know you're from Memphis if..." and switching from heat to air in the same day always make the list.

We went out in the snow on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. The boys and I built a little snowman on Sunday. By Monday the snow was great for building snowmen. We built the bigger snowman on Monday. Cade even gave him a nose and ears. Cade kept saying that he needed arms. With the entire yard still covered in snow I didn't know where we were gonna find sticks for arms. Cade had a great idea. "Get some sticks off those trees, Mom." So I broke a couple branches off the bushes in the backyard. Cade and Lukas each took one stick and put it on the snowman. Cade put his stick in the arm spot, but Lukas put his in the snowman's "ear". Cade and I quickly noticed the mistake. Lukas moved the stick to the correct anatomical position on the snowman. Cade named our Monday snowman. Ready for this??? He named him Coconut. When questioned later that day by Laurel (my friend) as to why he named the snowman Coconut he informed her matter of factly that he named him Coconut because he likes to eat coconut. So Coconut was left in Memphis when we left the next morning for our 14 hour drive back to Richmond. Wonder if Coconut is still alive???

Brotherly Love

2009-02-17T12:32:00.004-06:00

Siblings drive each other crazy. It is what they exist for. I could be wrong (feel free to correct me), but I think that brothers dish out the worst form of tormenting on each other. I never experienced this first hand (although I now do as a father) as I only had a sister to torment growing up, but I have forever been very close friends with a guy, that has two younger brothers. I watched their daily battles that were sure to at times end in bloodshed. I even joined in at times out of "torture envy".

As our boys get older and more independent they are starting to fit into these roles appropriately. Yesterday we were driving to the mall to let them play (DISPERSE ENERGY). Cade starts to ask Lukas a question and before the question can be completed Lukas screams out "GREEN!" Cade in frustration whines "no Lukas that's not one of the choices".....Lukas screams "GREEN" again. Cade then quickly asks "Lukas, do you like good pirates or bad pirates?" Lukas responds "GREEN" with a grin. Cade cries in frustration and nears the breaking point. Lukas then responds "Bad pirates". Had they not been strapped to their cars seats they would have likely ended up fighting.

And so the dance goes..........

Happy V-DAY

2009-02-14T07:21:00.002-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone out there.

While it it is only the 3rd most important day in the month of February in our household(proceeded by my birthday and our anniversary of course) this date holds significance for us, that which only parents who count in months can appreciate.

Our Lukas is two and a half today. Or as we would say in Geekdom he is LUKAS 2.5!

Will it be a stronger, faster, more behaved Lukas? Not likely but we will keep you posted.

Pillow Head

2009-01-28T07:46:00.005-06:00

Self esteem is a tricky thing. Who knows when the permanent damage starts. It appears it starts as early as two years old per our conversation on the way to the store the other day shows.

We were driving to Walmart the other day and Mommy looks back at Lukas and says, "You sure are cute". Cade asks why she said that, and she said, “Because he is cute. Look at him. Don't you think so?” Cade responds with, "No, he looks silly. His hair is sticking up".

Cade is always worried about his hair. First thing every morning when he gets up, he has us fix his hair. Part of being type-A I guess. Lukas not so much. He can go a whole day with pillow head.

After Cade's comment about his little brother, Mommy looks back at Lukas and says "Don't you think you are cute?" Lukas responds with, "No, I silly hair".

Looks like we will be fixing hair for two boys in the morning now......

Heart "Germs"

2009-01-16T09:20:00.005-06:00

Our "little" dog Nina has heartworms. Luckily we seem to have caught it early enough, so she should be fine as long as she can weather the treatment. We took her to the vet on Monday for treatment. The unfortunate part of the treatment is she cannot be hyperactive for 6 MONTHS!!!!. No running! Not even jogging! We have to keep her on a short leash when outside. She is our active dog, so this will be a challenge. We will now have to make sure to avert her attention from birds, squirrels, bugs, other dogs, people, well...anything because she will "run" to greet/attack anything.

While there is not anything funny about our Nina-Bug having heartworms, we did have an amusing conversation about it at the vet. The entire family (minus Jackson) went to pick her up from her treatment Tuesday afternoon. As we are sitting in the vet's office waiting for them to bring our stoned dog out a conversation with our oldest ensues:

BUC#1: Daddy, how did Nina get germs?
ME: It's not germs, son, it is worms.
BUC#1: Daddy, how did she get worms?
ME: She uh.., I don't.., go ask your mommy.
BUC#1: Mommy, how did Nina get worms?
MOMMY: A bad mosquito bit her.
BUC#1: hmmm
ME: Yeah a mosquito that's it! Hey why doesn't she get more questions?

”Note to those dog owners and future owners. Even though Nina had always tested negative, one horrible mosquito changed her world and ours for half a year at least. It is not worth the trouble to not spend the money on the preventative heartworm medicine. Do the right thing and make sure your dog has the heartworm prevention that the vet recommends”.----MommyDeer

Happy 8th B-DAY JACKSON!!!!

2009-01-12T13:36:00.007-06:00

Yesterday(January 11th) was the 8th birthday of our first son. He is our 170 lb Great Dane named Stonewall Jackson. I decided I should pay homage to him because he is the best dog a owner could ask for. Recently the wife and I saw the movie Marley & Me and were dumbfounded at how much our life resembled the couple in the movie. While our Jackson is no where near as bad as Marley, he has dramatically altered our life (no barefoot walking around Jackson, no more sports cars, praying that nobody knocks on the door during boys' nap time). We would not change a moment though. Since our human boys have been born we have not payed him the same amount of attention as before, but he remains grateful for every bit he gets. He has now lived half his life with the two "monsters" climbing on him as if he actually was a horse. He never complains. He is just happy to be near his family.
And we are happy to have him near.

Happy New Year!!!!!

2009-01-02T10:01:00.006-06:00

So on New Years eve my wonderful wife and I had a moment only a parent can relate to. We let the bucs stay up pretty late watching cartoons (mental image of brain rotting). My oldest did not want to go to bed (9:30ish PM) because the end of every cartoon ends with:

COMING UP NEXT ON JETIX ANOTHER SPIDERMAN!!!!!!

So he says he wants to watch more Spiderman. I tell him no he has to go to bed, but no fret SUPERDADDY will TIVO Spiderman, and he agrees to go to bed. Not a big deal since we have dual satellite cable runs (allows 1 program to record while watching something else). I set the TIVO to record like seven consecutive episodes (from 9:30 to 1AM). The problem is I had forgotten I had set another movie to record at midnight. This is not an issue but if you are recording 2 programs at the same time, BUT you have to watch one of them.

Fast forward to 11:59...

Mommy and I are watching Dick Clark's countdown together so we can welcome in the New Year together. We start the countdown with the people at Times square:
10
9
8
7
6
5
4

THEN...
The TV changes channels on it's own to the cartoon network (TIVO starts recording a few seconds prior to program start) because of the 2 programs recording and we get SPIDERMAN theme music..........

Fast Forward to New Years morning. I wake up, and Mommy again wished me a Happy New Year. I respond with SPIDERMAN SPIDERMAN DOES WHATEVER A SPIDER CAN............

Traveling Home

2008-12-19T08:01:00.008-06:00

We leave on Wednesday morning to head for Memphis for XMAS. While we are excited about seeing friends and family there are a few issues we will have to iron out. We have to figure out how to fit Mommy, daddy, the bucs, the dogs, dog beds, the Xmas presents, clothes, diaper bags, and toys for the trip into our Chrysler Town and Country Minivan. To add to that we need to leave room to bring "stuff" back(Presents, more necessities from our house). I told mommy that we should buy that space bag thing and vacuum seal everything but the boys. I told her everything would "come out as fresh and clean as day you put in" including the dogs! She isn't going for that. I then suggested we strap the boys to the top of the van, it would be a little cool but I think they would like it(roller coaster-esq). I almost had her on that idea but she had some concerns about them being on top of the van for 13 hours and cops. So now we are challenged with the greatest packing job of all time.

OR we could buy a bus, I think I know where I can get one CHEAP:

The Santa Gauntlet

2008-12-17T15:34:00.004-06:00

Tuesday night we decided to take the bucs to the Mall to see Santa. This trip works as a great mood changer for whiny kids. "Stop crying/whining. If Santa see's you like that he may not bring you anything." Too bad Santa is only at the Mall for a couple of weeks, otherwise we would have perfectly behaved children. We challenged both boys beforehand to have the item/items in mind they would be asking Santa for. This is so they would not draw a blank(aka a Ralphie). Our oldest guy looks at me with confidence and says, "I want a Power Ranger video game." I glance at Mommy as I believe this is going to be a curve ball for Santa. Most of the last month the list has been something like this: transformers, power ranger figures, superhero outfits, Memphis Tigers shirt, transformers, superhero outfits, etc, etc.

The problem, you see, is TV. How is Santa to keep an updated list since everyday the bucs see something new to entice them. What is worse is our oldest with his ULTRA imagination is likely to see something he likes and combo it. "I want a power ranger transformer outfit with a Memphis Tiger on it!" We are interested to see how Santa rises to this challenge.

Our little guy made it quite easier for Santa. When quizzed by the white bearded old coot his response was.......TOYS. So it appears the Santa gig is only difficult 50% of the time. Maybe a little worse than that. There is that living in the North Pole thing.................

New Challenges

2008-12-17T12:00:00.009-06:00

As I have pointed out previously the Buc family now resides in Richmond. While the move has so far proved to be a good move for us, there are a few challenges that we have had to tackle:

(1)In an effort to not totally whack out the boys Mommy is staying home with them full time. We did not want to move them to a strange city with no family/friends then toss them into daycare full time. The downside is the boys are used to going to daycare two days a week to get their peer interaction. No biggie. Mommy has managed to already find ways to keep weekdays action packed for the them (MOMMY ROCKS!). She has located every park nearby along with every story time available. She has also found every restaurant with a play area. This gives the heathens a chance to get out of the house, interact with other kids, and save mommy's sanity.

(2)Moving into a apartment was a good way to allow us to explore the area to find what part of town we may want to live in long term. It has also pointed out that we do not need as much space as we thought. We are making it fine in 950 sq feet. The hangup...having to leash the dogs and go outside with them for every bathroom trip. Gone are the days of tossing them in the fenced backyard. Our beloved dogs that only had to go to bathroom 2 to 3 times in Memphis now require ten trips outside daily, twenty if it is unbearably cold.
*It should be noted that somehow 25 degrees in Richmond is not the same as 25 degrees in Memphis. Cannot explain. Some kind of quantum physics thingy.....

(3)Richmond is cursed with a horrible plague we have never come in contact with before. It is the great public school epidemic. This makes the choosing of a area to live in very difficult. More to come on this one.....

(4)We absolutely loved our church in Memphis. It was very difficult to leave. We had done research on Richmond and could not seem to find one similar. This was a big dilemma. We set about solving this problem by visiting 2 churches every Sunday(gas is cheap right now). We managed to find a winner last weekend and have a lead on another good possibility.

As I stated before it has been a very good move. The only negative is everyone in Richmond seems to smoke (or at least at my work) and restaurants are not smoke free, might have something to do with Phillip Morris being here. Other than that, the area is beautiful, there is a ton of stuff to do nearby. The people in Richmond are really nice so we didn't really lose the southern hospitality thing.

A New Adventure

2008-11-28T15:09:00.010-06:00

Well it has been a busy week in the Buc household. We moved into our apartment in Richmond Monday, got settled Tuesday, shopped Wednesday and celebrated Turkeyday Thursday. As if that wasn't enough we decided to take another trip today.

We set out at 8:15 this morning headed for the beach(Va Beach). On our drive we passed signs for ideas for new upcoming adventures. There were exits for Richmond Motor Speedway, several wineries, a Busch Gardens, Water Country USA, and America's Historic Triangle (Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown)all this just on the highway to Virginia Beach. Less than two hours later we were at the Oceanfront. We let the boys run and play in the sand(our little guy's first time seeing the ocean) then we ate some New York Style Pizza for lunch. All and all it was the perfect end cap to our "Work Week".
We took a bunch of pictures:
CLICK HERE TO SEE!!!!
and took a little video:

Sleepy NOW!

2008-11-16T19:57:00.002-06:00

My mother likes to call our youngest child strong spirited. I have another word for it. He is headlong in that "testing phase". He is testing how far he can push us until we shoot him to the moon. He also has another strong personality characteristic that has earned him the nickname MADDOG. That characteristic is that he is fearless. He ain't skeered of anything.

Earlier this week Mommy was talking to her uncle outside as he is working on our house as we prep for our big move. She noticed things were a little too quiet. She went inside to check on the boys. She found Superman content playing by himself. When she went to search for the MADDOG she found him asleep in his bed. This was a little puzzling as he is still in a crib and there is no easy navigation for a two foot tall mite. She then noticed that the side rail was down and there was a stool at the side of the bed. When I got home from work Mommy decided to have him demonstrate his new trick:

Wasting a VOTE

2008-10-21T14:44:00.003-05:00

Well now thanks to ACORN we have managed to get our two and four year old registered to vote. The biggest problem we are having is they do not want to vote among the same lines as their mommy and daddy. They want to be independent free thinkers. SHEESH! I told them it is going to be difficult on their first vote to figure out how to do a write in candidate.

2 votes for IRON MAN in 08!

Imagination

2008-10-07T08:22:00.006-05:00

What amazes me sometimes is all the money we spend giving our boys the things they "want" but at the end of the day the best toys seem to be sticks, rocks, boxes, etc. I think it is because of their amazing imagination. A transformer is just a transformer. But a stick can be a rake, a sword, a gun, a missile. A rock can be a myriad of food items(gotta watch for the eating of rocks!), a grenade, or a compass. A box has unlimited possibilities. It really depends on the size of the box. Big boxes make good forts, airplanes, bases. My favorite use of little boxes so far are as helmets:
Carl Sagan said "Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere." My oldest son has the most incredible imagination you have ever seen. Every day he is someone different. Usually those people are superhero's sometimes there not. We the rest of the family also get relabeled daily. We usually get to be the bad guys or sidekicks. At least he allows us to play along.

There is a interesting short article on the importance of children's imagination growth that I would encourage any parent to read:
http://primaryschool.suite101.com/article.cfm/imagination_in_kids_is_important

Yard Sale

2008-09-25T08:42:00.006-05:00

Our neighborhood has a HUGE yard sale every year. It creates a impassable bottleneck on our streets for two consecutive days. Mommy and I participated last year for the first time (we made like 2 million dollars), but had no desire to this year. Usually we leave to get away from the fray or just stay indoors like hermits. We have a lot a friends that will come use our driveway as a place to park (finding parking is impossible) so they can go peruse. This year some friends wanted to come use our driveway to try to get rid of some minor items (movies and such). So we spend most of our Saturday hanging out in our front yard with them. This proved to be a fun all of us. Throw football, mock professional yard sell shoppers, scream at cars speeding through our street, shoot the breeze......

On the 7th pass of the Creepy Ice Cream Man(who had to making a killing) Uncle Ben as the boys know him (not the Rice Man) decided it was time for Ice Cream. So both boys got Spiderman Popsicles.
This proved to be a complete mess. I cannot hold Uncle Ben responsible for the mess as I chose the Spiderman popsicles. As you can imagine a four and two year old cannot possibly eat popsicles fast enough outside on a hot day to keep a mess from ensuing. The really bad part was not that they had popsicle drippings everywhere, it was the Spidey pops were so saturated with red and blue food coloring that every dripping left marks that seemed never to be washed away. Shrapnelesq.

At this point here only seemed one logical thing to do. You would be thinking bath, or even better bath outside. Nope....

We put stickers on the boys and put them next to the yard sale table. Don't worry....even though we were willing to include the wagon as part of the package deal, we had no takers. So mommy and I had to get out the power sander to get the boys clean Saturday night. Dang yard sale.

Attitude Adjustment

2008-09-22T13:42:00.002-05:00

Both Mommy and I are learning the fine art of reflex distraction to avoid tantrums. This may sound a little confusing, let me clarify.

When the boys start a tantrum the flow of the tears and corresponding crankiness seems never ending (Could last remainder of day if not nipped in bud). This is avoidable if we strike fast.

Trying to wake the boys up from their nap that is running a little too long and they don't want to get up? We strike with the "How about we go outside and swing(Swinging is something they NEVER tire from)?" Happiness ensues. If our oldest is tired and we tell him it is dinnertime he will start crying saying "I don't want to go to bed"(he associates dinner with bed since that logically follows), we strike with "if you eat all your dinner you can pick your dessert tonight!" Happiness ensues.

I explained all this to point out the funny episode from this weekend. The boys spend Saturday night with their Granny. Whenever the boys spend any time with either Grandmother the separation becomes a ordeal. We go over Sunday to pick up the boys from Granny's. We decided to take our dogs with us since they never get to go anywhere much anymore (Doggy neglect is a sad sad condition and must be ended in our lifetime). So when Mommy and I show up at Granny's our oldest runs out and says "Daddy will you take me on the motorcycle(4 wheeler)?" Granny has 2 ATV's at her house and woods with trails. So I decide what the heck, and take him (lucky our little guy wanted no part of riding Sunday) out riding for about a hour or two. So I decide it is about time we leave so I tell my boy we need to head back to Granny's so we can....

Before I can get the word leave out of my mouth, my 4 year old who is sitting in front of me on a 4 wheeler at about 20 miles per hours starts BOO HOO'ING. "I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE GRANNY'S!!!!!!!!!!"

It becomes time for reflex distraction! I tell him we have to take the doggy's home because they are tired. This is not untrue since our NINA-BUG spent half of the time chasing us around on the ATV trails
(probably more running than she has had in the last two years - don't worry she is OK). I tell him he needs to help me get the tired doggies back in the Minivan. He stops crying, and says "OK daddy". We get back to Granny's, he proceeds to find his dog (Jackson) and grabs him by the neck to lead him to the van. A 38lb four year old leading the 178lb seven year old Great Dane by the neck. What a picture it would have been. So now my oldest is happy and completely forgets the fact that we are leaving granny's.

We have this parenting thing mastered.........this week.

What I Know is That I Don't Know

2008-09-15T13:35:00.003-05:00

The things that our boys pay attention to floors me sometimes. Obviously anything on TV is #1, so we try to severely limit TV. Even with the limitation of TV they pickup EVERYTHING on it. I realize they probably do a lot of talking with their friends but what makes them remember what their friends have say when they can barely remember their names?

We are at Walmart the other day and while Mommy is shopping I decide to go over to the backpack section to see if the "heros" on the backpacks will keep them busy for 5 minutes. I am quizzing them both on the characters on the backpacks to which they say in unison "THE HULK!, SPIDERMAN!, IRONMAN!" when suddenly my older guy looks to his left and says look daddy Speed Racer! I have NO IDEA how he knows who speed racer is, I realize there was recently a speed racer movie but we have not seen it or talked about it. I asked him how do you know who that is? His response "I don't know"

Then on Sat night I am reading a Bible story to the soon to be 4 year old buc about Jesus and the Disciples when I paused to ask, do you know how many Disciples there are?, "yes daddy". I look at my son with surprise. How many? "Two daddy see the picture???" I look at the page where 2 Disciples are shown in a boat(I try to correct him and explain that there are 12 but I was not being taken very seriously since the picture obviously shows 2). Talk about attention to detail. Earlier that day I asked him what they taught him about at the Church nursery he said "I don't know"...........

The other night we are driving home and the big guy keeps using the words hear and heared. We explain heared is not a word. Then we spend the next 5 minutes trying to explain the correct usage of hear/heard. After we finish he says "Daddy did you heared that?" to which we hear our little guy say "heard".....................................

The Fort

2008-09-01T09:40:00.015-05:00

So for the last few weeks we have had a picture on the refrigerator that we printed off of Walmart's site of the new play set that Mimi and Papa Lyman (boy's Paternal Grandmother/Grandfather) ordered for both boys birthdays (Aug/Oct) . They were nice enough to not only buy it but also have shipped (The 2 boxes weighed in at a total of 285 lbs) to the house. Since the boxes had been sitting on our back patio (9 days) the boys have been eagerly anticipating the construction. But being the good boys they are (keeping straight face) they have not complained but chose instead to play on the boxes until we (Mommy and I) decide to do something about them.

On Saturday morning we decided to tackle the great building of the playset. Mommy being the organized person that she is layed out every piece symmectrically and labelled which made the process immesurably easier. A couple of sunburns and banged up hands later (10 hours) we had successfully built the playset. Or Fort or house depending on which little one you ask. Unfortunately because of the length of time it took us to finish the boys were fast asleep by the time we were done. So the next morning we get them up for church and we we open the blinds in the kitchen to let a little light in. Both their eyes get real big at the immediate recognition the playset was DONE! They as you can imagine, they want to go outside and PLAY!!!!!!!!!!! We told them the wait will have to last just a little longer. So we go to church and the minute we get home (usually nap time) they both want to go outside and play (XMAS esque). So we finally let them go and play. So as you can imagine Sunday was a good day.
THANKS MIMI AND PAPA LYMAN!!!!

More pics of THE FORT and the boys playing on it can be found here.

A New Old Dog

2008-08-21T10:48:00.007-05:00

So our oldest comes home from daycare(school) the other day talking about Scooby Doo and "the man in the green shirt"(Shaggy). I asked him where he had seen Scooby? He explained they saw at school. He then tells me he now likes Scooby Doo. So I ask him if he knows what kind of dog Scooby is, he says a brown dog......

I go about explaining Scooby is a Great Dane just like our Jackson dog! His eyes brighten as he connects that Jackson=Scooby. So now he has a whole new interest in the 7 year old dog that before appeared to him merely as furniture. He then spent the next hour or so talking to and petting Jackson, who is now "his dog". So our oldest who goes by Superman,Batman, Ironman, Buzz Lightyear,Spiderman,TheHulk(depending on day) may now also add Shaggy to his Psuedonames.

"Five, five, five, five, five."

2008-08-19T18:34:00.002-05:00

We're sitting at a red light. Superman is in his car seat and starts saying, "Five, five, five, five, five." When I inquire about this he points to the crosswalk sign and says again, "Five, five, what happened to the five, Mommy?" Now there is the walk picture on the crosswalk sign. Once I realized what he was talking about I almost peed my pants, but I was also proud of Superman for noticing things in this world that I never notice anymore.

This has happened several times now. In recent days he wants to know where the white man is. Of course he doesn't explain to me what white man he is talking about. I have to be all knowing and realize that we're at a red light, the red don't walk hand is displayed on a crosswalk sign that he can see from his car seat in the backseat, and that he isn't talking about the Silver Surfer right now.

For those of you who don't know what the five and the white man are yet, please strap yourself into the backseat and have someone drive you around. Look out the window when you're at a red light and look for the crosswalk sign. You may see what Superman has seen from his window.

YEAH CAKE!

2008-08-19T17:52:00.003-05:00

So the Maddog had his 2nd birthday last Thursday and his "official" birthday party this last weekend. This means we have LOTS of leftover cake. Since we try to keep the boys sweets intake to a minimum,(USUALLY) the weeklong cakefest has become a big hit. Rather than throwing away the leftover cake we are using it to our advantage. Don't want to finish your chicken, well then you don't get cake...CHICKEN GONE! Don't want to eat your veggies, well then no cake...VEGGIES GONE!

While this may seem like a bad form of bartering, I find solace in the immortal words of Bill Cosby "eggs! Eggs are in chocolate cake! And milk! Oh GOODY! And WHEAT! THAT'S nutrition!(LET SINGING OF -DAD IS GREAT, GIVE US CHOCOLATE CAKE- COMMENCE)" SOO what we are really doing is getting our lovely children to eat completely heathy!!!

What are we to do when the cake is gone and zee chidren will no longer eat their "nasty" veggies you ask??? That is indeed a good question to which I would answer we have a 4th birthday coming up in OCTOBER!!!!

Terrific Twos?

2008-08-15T09:33:00.002-05:00

So our little Maddog had his 2nd birthday yesterday. It is hard to believe he is already two. When our oldest found out yesterday was the "little brother's" 2nd birthday a concern came across his face. He asked(several times), "Daddy am I still the older brother?", to which we assured him he will ALWAYS be the big brother. This allowed him to enjoy Maddog's birthday.

The party is this weekend, but since I am on vacation this week and Mommy was off we decided to make a day of it. We took them to the Zoo, had lunch at McDonalds, had a little cake last night, and gave him one of his gifts(choo choo).

Pictures from our busy day can be seen at:
BDAY PICS(ENJOY!)

No Shame

2008-07-30T08:01:00.003-05:00

One of the rites of passage for a little boy(and some girls?) is peeing outside. Recently while outside with Buc#1 he said he had to go(PP dance ensued). We were all outside having a good time playing and running in water sprinkler, I decided I did not want to go through all the trouble of drying him and me off (laziness) so I told him to Pee outside. He looked at me funny. I reiterated, "go over to the fence and pee". So he goes over pulls his pants down and started his business. He decides to give us commentary "DADDY I AM PEEING ON THE FENCE!, DADDY I AM PEEING ON THE LEAF!"

Turns out peeing outside accomplishes several things:
(1)Target practice, (2) No extra work for daddy, (3) Fun, Fun, Fun(I can vouch for this)

There are a couple of downfalls that should be noted:
(1)Little brother who is was not really potty training yet wants to join in on the fun. (2)If he cannot join in he wants to go check out the pee on fence and leaf.(3)Proper outside peeing etiquette which we forgot to explain. The other day when Mommy was with both the boys at a neighbor's house. Buc#1 has made a friends with a little girl about 4 houses down. She is 1 year older than him. He always asks if they can go to Abby's house. To which Buc#2 starts chanting "BABBY BABBY BABBY". So mommy usually goes down to see if they are home. So she and the boys are in Abby's very cool back yard (pool, huge swing set, lots of space) and while Mommy is talking to her father a call comes from Abby, "Daddy he is peeing", to which mommy turns around to find Buc#1 with his pants pulled all the way down peeing in our neighbors back yard. Mommy was eternally embarrassed.

THAT'S MY BOY! Tee Hee hee......

Movie ReEnactment

2008-07-08T15:55:00.006-05:00

So Mommydeer emailed me these pics of the Maddog acting out scene from Toy Story 2 where Woody rides Buster to rescue Squeaky from yard sale. Our Maddog decides he would take Woody doll and have Nina-bug play the part of Buster to perform scene. Reason number 8500 to always have a digital camera handy:

What a good sport the Nina-bug was:

GO WOODY GO!

Never a dull moment with the Bucs!

Children Unite!

2008-07-07T10:19:00.000-05:00

How is it that children JUST KNOW certain things that annoy the snot out of parents? Not just the simple things like "why" or "but I wanna", I mean the things that make you wonder how they just know about them(can they really be that smart to figure it out on their own?). The things you never recall saying in front of them. Like the phrase "are we there yet" or "but Mommy said"....

The only plausible way I can come up with that they learn these key phrases is they are being strategically planted. By who you ask? I figure there is child union(CUTE - CHILDREN UNITE TO EXASPERATE)that parents don't know about. After we fall fast asleep our children dial in to the weekly conference call(turns out your child punching in 111111111111111111111 on the phone actually is a number!) for new bits of information. I can see it:
(buc)This is young buc#1 dialing in.
(union boss)Ok young buc our new phrase this week is "are we there yet".
(buc) how do I use it?
(union boss) anytime you are headed anywhere you must say "are we there yet"
(buc) when should I use it?
(union boss) anytime after immediately leaving for said destination.
(buc)why?
(union boss)because
(buc)why?
(union boss)because
(buc) OK....got it, will pass it on to sibling. Talk to you next week.
(union boss) anyone else got any questions about this weeks phrase?

Why is it we do not remember these conference calls and updates you ask? ever seen Hook?

Just another reason not to pay the phone bill.

Babysitting????????????

2008-07-01T18:09:00.007-05:00

I(Mommadeer) play Bunko once a month. This is the time I get away from all the "boys" at home. I get to talk to other women about work, kids, housework, church, and how tired I am from being Mommy all month. The dilemma with getting eight women together once a month for 4 hours is "who will babysit the children?"

I am a firm believer that if a man was involved in bringing children into this world, which we all know is true, then he is the one responsible for those sweet angel children for those 4 precious hours. I do not believe that the man in question is "babysitting" his own children. I repeat, THIS IS NOT BABYSITTING!! I know lots of women who ask their husbands if they can babysit the children while she goes out alone. What in the world are these women thinking???

These women are asking the wrong question. Instead of asking if the father can babysit his children, she should ask if she can bring home a Sonic Blast for him later when she gets hers. The man is responsible then for the food intake of his children (snacks, dinner, drinks). He is responsible for bathing the children so that they are nice and clean for church or school the next day. He is responsible for getting the angels to brush their teeth and go to bed at the normal time. He is responsible for the bedtime story. He is responsible for putting away the dishes, feeding the dogs, folding the laundry in the dryer, and having his wife come home to a palace that looks better than when she left.

How often do you hear a mom say that she is babysitting while she is getting groceries, walking around at the zoo and explaining what each animal is, listening to Curious George books at the bookstore while keeping her angels quiet, preparing dinner, watching The Incredibles again? No, moms do not seem to be babysitters. And in my opinion, neither are dads. So fathers, man up, and stop "babysitting" your own flesh and blood.

Broccoli Anyone?

2008-07-01T17:58:00.003-05:00

Our Maddog is getting to be a little chunky guy. Budda-ish. We're not quite sure how this is possible considering he doesn't really eat much. And when he does eat it is not usually meat. A pop tart for breakfast, a side of fruit for lunch, "I'll skip the accompanying hotdog thanks" (will eat the ketchup with a spoon, condiments make for a good meal altogether). For dinner, pasta shells/meatballs and will also skip the meatballs("don't worry mom, they will be neatly piled on corner of plate for easy cleaning"). Actually the chunkyness does make a little sense now that I think about it, what little he does eat is all carbs.....

On the rare occasion we do get him to eat meat it is usually via trickery. Meat wrapped in carbs, also know as Ravioli's. Or sometimes chicken stirred around in ketchup until it has lost it chickenness look. The one protein he will eat is Peanut Butter. Ahhh the magic of PB&J.

How can a boy nicknamed Maddog not be a meat eater you ask? We're not sure either, but if you have met the little booger you know HE IS THE MADDOG!

I know children have finicky eating habits and are likely to change. But it is just a funny picture of the possible future. The maddog stands in the lunch line and threatens the life of child in front of him. "Give me your lunch money or die, so I can buy one of those tasty veggie burgers and some soy milk."

EDUMACATED?

2008-06-23T11:22:00.008-05:00

It is sad commentary that so much effort has to be put in to where you children will go to school. Well there is a lot of effort involved if you live in/around Memphis. The National average for ACT scores among high school graduates nationwide last year was 21.2 The Tennessee state average was 20.7, the Memphis city school average was 17.7(should be noted the county schools avg was 21.8, but we now live near City's schools thanks to annex). So a common discussion ensues among parents whether to move near the good schools which seem to become fewer and fewer, to home school, or pay for private.

I have had this very discussion with 2 people in the last week on what we are going to do with our boys. So far my answer has remained consistent. I don't want to move to be near a good school that could become bad in a few years(not going to get into the many reasons why this inevitably happens) as did the school where my wonderful bride and I went. As far as home schooling goes, we had enough trouble getting ourselves through school and lack the incredible patience needed for homeschooling(kudos to the parents that are successful with this), so that leaves the last option pay for private. While this can and will be a great expense I am left with a few nuggets of solace.

(1) The schools we are looking at mention God in their core value mission statement. This is very important us. If you disagree I do not need to hear about it.

(2) Both of the schools we are looking at have average of 24.5 or better from their graduating students on the ACT(top 25% at both is greater 28). That is the AVERAGE. Let that sink in for a moment.

(3) I realize I am looking at a great expense to put my children through school, possibly more than I will pay for college but I look at it like this, at least they will be able to get into college and hopefully via scholarship.

(4) They are worth it.

And if they can't get into college we don't have to worry about any further expenses because as Bill Cosby says""You know, I brought you in this world, and I can take you out."

Boys ye be warned!

-If any part of this commentary is grammatically incorrect it should be noted I was educated at a public schools. -

Morning People

2008-06-17T10:27:00.014-05:00

My neighbor came over last night as I was about to head out for a jog and asked how I could run at night (8PM). I explained it is the only time I have to run. He said he is not a "night person". I explained I am not a night person anymore, I was before kids. It is amazing how this transformation happens. Prior to children I could stay up soopa late and still get up and make it to work. No more. I have been reprogrammed into a morning person.

We have been blessed that both of our boys are and have always been good sleepers. Both of them from about 3 months old started going to bed about 8PM and sleeping all night until about 6:30AM. But that 6:30AM number is hard coded. Like clockwork. We could stop setting our alarm and they would have us up every morning at 6:30. The problem with this is you have to be up prior to 6:30 to get ready for work and get their stuff (breakfast, stuff for daycare) ready prior to them waking up if we are to have any chance (no time for running). So now we wake up every week morning by 5:45(sometimes earlier). I didn't used to know there was a 5:45 am unless I had not made it home by that time from being out all night.

After 3 years or so of 5:45 wakeup's you "become" a morning person. Everyone who has older kids tell me once they become teenagers you will be lucky to get them up before 8. I say oooooh no. That will be prime PAYBACK time for me. Tee Hee Hee.

I was talking to a guy at church the other day about yard work. I explained how I would like to do it early but I don't feel comfortable waking the neighbors up with my lawnmower before 8am(used to be 10am). He said heck with that, he does his yard at 6 if his neighbors aren't up by then they should be. It is no surprise that he has children. Although I am starting to kind of agree with him----> full transition to darkside of "morning person"

Our oldest has gotten to the age where he sleep's in a "bigboy bed (no jail rails)". So he can merrily wake up at 6:30 come out of his bedroom and greet us with the "I'm ready to get up and eat!" On Saturday/Sunday mornings when we still happen to be in bed he may not say anything, he just uses his Superman eye laser beams to burn holes into the side of our heads to wake us up to his smiling face.

When Mommy and I actually get a full night out where we can do whatever we want we will usually go out to eat then look at out watches 8:30ish and look excitedly at each other and go...We can go home now go to sleep get a full night of sleep AND sleep past 6:30!!!!!!! WHOO HOOOO! This has become a MAJOR deal for us. It is funny that sleeping in has become such a big deal. Although when we do this it never fails we go home go to sleep and wake up the next morning to see the alarm say 6:29.

What can we say? We're morning people......

Ain't Skeered

2008-06-14T10:03:00.009-05:00

While "Superman"(this is who our oldest has decided to be today, it is someone or somehero different everyday, we are hoping this will not result in *identity complex) has been jumping off of stuff for a while, the Maddog has not been brave enough to jump from objects over two feet tall. This is kind of shocking considering the Maddog is usually scared of nothing, hence the *nickname This morning Superman decided it would be fun to take all the pillows off the couch and jump off the ottoman onto them. The Maddog decided to join him for a change:

No injuries so far.......

*more to follow on subject

What's So Funny?

2008-06-12T09:26:00.016-05:00

There is nothing better than the laughter of a child. A loud gurgling belly laugh. It seems to wash away all the issues of the day.

Their laughter always makes us laugh. The other night we are eating dinner and buc#1 starts laughing hysterically at something, not sure what was so funny to him(could have been strange sound, his brothers face, gas<---Good Possibility)but we also starting laughing at his laughter. Children's laughter is highly contagious. It is always most awesome.

Rough day at work? Go home unleash THE CLAW and tickle. Boys in a foul mood and fussy? Unleash THE CLAW and tickle. (I got the claw idea from Jim Carrey's movie Liar Lia r. It is highly effective. See Movie for instructions.) Just the mere mention of THE CLAW(must shout when saying THE CLAW) sends the boys running for shelter and giggling. For they know tickle torture is inevitable. After hearing them laugh like madmen for 5 minutes or so I always feel better. I think the privilege of making a child laugh is reason enough to have them.

I have tried to use the same trick on mom.

Mad that I didn't do the dishes, laundry, yard? UNLEASH THE CLAW!!!!!!.............Frown...........Guilt...............

Oh well, where are the boys?

We're Learning Manners

2008-06-11T08:41:00.018-05:00

When raising two rambunctious boys the need for discipline and manners becomes pretty apparent. Thus we have been diligently trying to teach our oldest manners. Yes Sir, no Sir, yes Ma'am, no Ma'am, and don't forget PLEASE, in response to a adult(big person). After about a month or so of hammering it home he seems to really have it.

(ME) You want a snack? (HIM) Yes sir please.
(MOMMY)You want to go to Granny's?(HIM) YEEEAAYYYY, I mean Yes Ma'am!
(ME) Are you sleepy? (HIM) No ma'am, I mean no sir.

AWESOME!

Except for one little hangup. In his unbelievable ability to correlate and my trying to set a good example:

(HIM) Daddy can I go outside. (ME) Yessir you can......
(HIM) Daddy you called me sir. AM I BIG??????? <---{LARGE Happy Face on 3 year old}
(ME) Errr, Not exactly son, (HIM) But Daddy you called me sir....
(ME) Yes but I was trying to set a good example son...
(HIM) hmmmm <------{SAD FACE}
(ME)UGH <-----{MOMMY LAUGHS}

(HIM)When will I be big? (ME) Hopefully not for a long time.
(HIM) Will you call me sir then? (ME) Sure
(HIM) Ok dad. I'm going to go outside.

GREAT!!!!

"And the teaching continues...................."

End of a ERA

2008-06-10T12:22:00.014-05:00

The MADDOG is learning to speak. He should have been speaking quite a bit by now(21 Months) but with the older sibling communicating everything on his behalf "Maddog wants chocolate","Maddog is sleepy and wants to take a nap", "Maddog wants to give me his chocolate", etc. he had no need for spoken communication. But in the mindset of his brother not always having his best interest at heart the little guy decided it was time to be heard.

So now instead of pointing and UUUGGGGRRRRR, we get I WA PA TAR!, or I WA GA GINN! along with the pointing.

CONVERSION CHART:
aayse = ice
da = Dad
dink = Drink
ginn = granny
ga = go, go to
bu = Blue, as in Blues Clues
bbrrrmm = motorcycle, car, etc
byeee = bye
kiz = kiss
ma e = Mommy
ou si = outside
pa tar = poptart
pese = Please
wa = want, want to go

The Mommadeer and myself have mixed emotions about this. (1)Sadness because our little guy is shedding one of the last qualities that make him our baby. (2)Happiness because it is a big step to self sufficiency WHOOO HOOOO! (3)Weariness because......after all he is the MADDOG, what possible vocabulary can be next?????

Yet another reason to watch the language around the "little angels", foulmouthed aunts and uncles YE BE WARNED!

So now the last glimmer of hope for a quiet moment for momma and poppadeer is crushed via MA E/DA PESE WA OU SI!

Oh well c'est la vie..............

Discovery of a Waterslide

2008-06-09T10:54:00.001-05:00

So we go to a friends house yesterday(noonish) with the "Bucs(21month old and 3 year old)" to go swimming. Said friend breaks out the inflatable waterslide. After the waterslide becomes fully functional operation "Toss a child" begins.

To set the stage. Momma Deer is in pool at the bottom of slide. Poppa Deer is feeder at top of slide. Both bucs are shouting to be put on slide (they cannot climb on themselves due to size and slipperyness) I take Child #1 toss on slide, Mommadeer catches after total water submersion escorts to pool steps where child#1 can run back to me. I then take child#2 and follow same procedure. The conveyor belt of feeding the Bucs into pool continues for what seems to be a eternity.

We found out two important items yesterday. (1)that neither nonswimming child minds being totally submerged in water, and (2)waterslides never get boring.

At some point Momma and Poppa deer switch places. I(Poppa deer) decide to raise fun level to OVERLOAD by catching the Bucs and throwing them back on slide(I throw them back on, backwards, upside down,etc) to come back down again several times before guiding them to the stairs.

The bucs heads explode........

Just kidding.

Needless to say this does not become old either. We finally convince the bucs that the fun must stop(We are ready for the Olympics), that Daddy deers back muscles will be unusable for the next decade.

We take young bucs home bathed them and we able to put them into bed at a record(EARLY) time. They both fall into fun induced comas.....