Wrestle Mania

I grew up with a sister. Never ONCE did we do this! But apparently this is acceptable behavior for brothers. Who knew? 

Gus Hits the Jackpot

This is Gus' report from preschool yesterday.  It is my favorite one yet because he excelled in all the important areas. I would call it "the trifecta," except our overachiever did FOUR awesome things and I don't know the word for that. I'm just calling it the jackpot. 

1. Behavior--Happy 

It actually always says happy so that was no surprise  :) 

2. Lunch--All 

I've maybe seen "All" circled two times. It's often "most" and sometimes just "some." 

3. Made-- Pee pee and "dry all day!" 

This is a first! Gus wears his Pull-up to school and often uses it, even though he KNOWS how to use the potty. This was the first time he used the potty at school for the teachers. Hooray! 

4. Nap-time--Slept 

He does this most of the time but a good nap just rounds out his perfect preschool score! 

Go, Gus. You are ready for college! 

Leo says--can you believe it?--even MORE darndest things

UPDATE: If you have already read this blog, read it again. Well, at least the first part. I realized I left out a good darndest thing so I am adding it here at the beginning: 

While en route to Houston a couple of weeks ago we stopped at a McDonald's, temporarily forgetting that Leo is not a fan of the restaurant's mascot. "But Ronald McDonald does lots of wonderful things, Leo," I  said after Leo refused to eat because of his dislike for the clown. "He has this charity called The Ronald McDonald House and it helps families of children who are sick…" This went on for a few minutes, almost bringing me to tears as I thought of all these poor families. When I was done with my monologue, Leo said in a low, gruff voice:

"Look, some people just don't like clowns. You got it?"




That Leo. He is a big fan of Jesus. So here he is retelling the story of Jesus' crucifixion. It drags a little but stay with it, he gets to the point eventually. I was impressed with all the details he remembered from his faith formation class:

My other two examples are more your usually "darndest" style Leo comment:

So I call Leo "The King of the Boo boos" because he always has some injury or ailment to complain about. I often try to tell him the story of the boy who cried wolf and sometimes change it to "the boy who cried boo boo." I did this the other day when he was SCREAMING about an injury and I really had no idea if it was serious or minor (but I suspected the latter).

"Leo, I see you're upset but I can't tell if this is actually a big boo boo or if you're just overreacting. See, you act like this over EVERY boo boo. So it would be better if, when it's just a little boo boo, you just said 'ow' instead of whining and screaming about it. Then, when you DO have a big boo boo, I'll give you lots of attention. Does that make sense? Can you not make a big deal unless it's a big boo boo?"

And then he said something smart:
"Well, maybe all my boo boos are big boo boos."

Darn. Stumped me again.


And lastly, while shopping at CostCo with both boys Leo was riding in the main part of the basket and I kept telling him to sit down.

"Mommy, life is not all about sitting down!"

Don't Give up on Giving up

It's Lent, so a common topic in my Catholic circles is, "How are you celebrating Lent?" or "How are you teaching your children about Lent?" When I respond with, "My husband gave up soda; I gave up TV; Leo gave up cookies and Gus gave up diapers," I'm pretty sure I see the hint of an eye roll.

See, it's not cool to give up things anymore. 

You gotta DO something. They'll come back with, "Well, in my family we're not really 'giving up' anything. We're…"

• Praying the rosary every day 
• Giving to a charity
• Doing the stations of the cross every Friday 
• Building houses for Habitat for Humanity 
• Feeding the homeless 
• Sheltering the homeless 
• Clothing the homeless 
• Reading the Bible 
• Meditating 
• Learning about a new saint each morning
• Saving the world 
• Etc. 

They'll say that they feel like DOING something strengthens their relationship with God more than merely 'giving up' something like dessert (insert more obvious eye roll here).  I have also seen lots of blog posts geared towards this topic: "Instead of just giving up something, which has no impact on your walk with God, try DOING something this Lent." This is followed by a list of ideas to replace such a silly idea like giving up Facebook. 

So here's my response--my theoretical response, if I really felt like stirring up a holy debate, which I don't, except here on my blog:  

Hey, that's great. DOING stuff is always a good thing. That's definitely a part of Lent. We're even DOING something at my house by reading a little story every day and opening windows on this Lenten ark, much like an advent calendar.

But let's remember how it all started. Jesus GAVE UP food for 40 days and nights in the desert.

So first, it's a sacrifice. When we give up something we enjoy--no matter how trivial it seems compared to what Jesus did--we too are making a sacrifice. And that sacrifice is a tribute to Jesus. So no, giving up dessert doesn't necessarily mean we're going to spend that dessert time praying more. But I believe everything doesn't have to be so directly correlated. It doesn't have to be so obvious like "No chocolate = more Bible reading." But if it does, that's just a bonus.

Second, it's a tradition. Giving up something is as traditional as exchanging presents on Christmas. You could argue that giving and receiving presents on Christmas doesn't strengthen your relationship with God either.

And last, giving up things helps you to learn how to withstand temptation. During Jesus' 40 days, he was tempted three times by the devil. We are tempted all the time in our daily lives. And trust me, during Lent I have been tempted to turn on the TV. Frank has been tempted to drink soda. Leo has been tempted (probably the most!) to eat cookies. And Gus. Well, there are days where he would probably love to throw in the towel and wear a diaper. But every time we don't give in, we are getting stronger. So when bigger temptations come our way, we will have the strength to withstand them.

So sure, go out and DO, DO, DO but remember, don't let that right hand know what that left is doing (winky face: it's not a competition about who is doing or giving more). And then ask yourself, WWJD?

He would GIVE UP something. So should we.

DFW to ATL

We are getting to be regulars on this route. Just look at Leo here, my seasoned traveler. 

Sierra Mist is his drink of choice on the airplane. 

On this trip it was just Leo and me. We LOVE visiting our old friends in Atlanta, especially our besties, John and Ms. Claire. Here is a sweet moment when Leo greeted John as he was getting off the school bus.

Claire and I took the boys to Chattanooga for a little overnight excursion. They had SO much fun at the Children's Museum.

We played for three hours and would have stayed longer except we were hungry. So we went to Blue Plate, a restaurant we had all been to before and liked in Chattanooga. John snapped this photo of the mommies. (Yes, we needed beers after a morning at the museum with those two.) 

Here are our two almost-six-year-olds running around by the river; Isn't Chattanooga pretty?

Friday night I got to catch up with some of my favorite Atlanta girl friends: Carrey (one day over due when this was taken!), Maress, Chantal, Me, Monica, Claire and Amy. It was so fun to chat and laugh with these ladies.

On Saturday Leo and John were so brave and tough as they climbed Stone Mountain! 

Our last night, John reading Leo a bedtime story :) 

This trip was our last time to stay at John's house in our old neighborhood. They are moving at the end of April to another house in the area. "How will we know where their new house is?" Leo asked. "Hopefully they will give us the address," I told him. I think we are good enough friends for that!

The Question Game + A Questionable Art Project

Leo started asking me questions today and I didn't turn the camera on until it got funny. So we had to go back and redo some of the prior questions. He says it's a game he made up where I have to answer his questions with ten seconds or else…I forgot what happens but he seemed to be keeping score. 

Listen for my favorite question about which type of bread I prefer. That one is a keeper. 

It cuts off at the end because I ran out of storage. But consider yourself lucky. The game started to take a strange turn. 

And speaking of strange things...

Leo had "free art" at school today and he drew a picture of me IN THE SHOWER. I am grateful he--although very talented for a five year old--is not an advanced artist. I'm happy to just be a blob in this case.  If you can't read the words (that Leo had his teacher write for him), here you go:

Mommy is in the shower
Mommy saw a mummy and said, "Ah! A Mummy!"
Mummy said, "Ah! A Mommy!"

Yep, he's a questionable kid alright.

Kissin' Cousins

Leo has been curious about marriage lately. He often has questions like, "Why did you and daddy get married?" and "Can I marry John?" He and Gus play this game called "getting married" where they hold hands, spin around and chant, "We're getting married! We're getting married!" 

So I wanted to document this conversation we had in the car yesterday: 

Leo: Why can't I marry Gus? (He has asked if he could marry Gus before and I told him that was not allowed.) 

Me: Because you can't marry people in your own family. You can't marry your brother. You can't marry cousins either so you can't marry Ellie. 

Leo: But why? 

Me: (Not wanting to get into the whole "birth defects" topic…) Because it's against the law. 

Leo: What would happen if Gus and I did get married? 

Me: Well, you would go down to the courthouse to get your marriage license and they would say that you can't get married because you two are brothers. 

Gus: I can't marry Charlie either! 

I LOVE how Gus put together that if Leo and Ellie can't get married then he and Charlie can't either.

I'm sure Ellie will have many boys fighting for her hand, including her six boy cousins (as weird as that sounds)! 

Here are some pictures of the happy brothers (not happy couple): 

 First, Gus being cute (and only a small nuisance) at Market Street:

This morning I thought they looked older (especially Gus).

But not old enough to get married, thank goodness! 

Sweet Tea Scorecard

I can't help but compare the two states in which I've lived. Obviously Texas has Georgia beat on important matters like Mexican food and state pride. But the other day at one of these said Mexican restaurants, I had this conversation with my waiter:

Me: Could I have sweet tea, please?

Waiter: We only have unsweet tea. But we have Splenda and sugar you can add to it.

Me: Ugh, I miss Georgia!

Waiter: Did you say Georgia? That's where I'm from! I hate how there's no sweet tea in Texas too!

Finally, someone who understood. We went on to discuss the virtues of offering both sweet and unsweet to patrons.

See, this happens everywhere I go in Texas. Rarely does a restaurant offer sweet tea. I think this is their reasoning:

"Should we have sweet and unsweet?"
"Nah, let's just make one batch and let the people who like sweet just make their own. Who are we to know how much sugar they want in their tea?"

Now that makes sense. I can understand how this type of conversation could transpire and end in a MYOST (Make Your Own Sweet Tea) situation. But let me tell you why that is NOT ok:

Have you ever tried to sweeten your own tea? Okay, you probably have. But have you ever sweetened it to the point of good tasting sweet tea? Georgia sweet tea? Probably not.

Because when I try to sweeten my own tea, there is no amount of sugar, Splenda, Equal or the pink stuff that equals good sweet tea. If I were to put the right amount in my tea then I would be so horrified I couldn't drink it. Why do Texas restaurants put us in that position?

In Georgia, at serve-yourself restaurants they have two tea dispensers in the beverage center and they are both labeled "Sweet Tea." That makes me giggle but I don't mind because I heart sweet tea and think the other stuff just tastes like brown water. In Texas, they have the same two dispensers, both labeled "Unsweet Tea." Now that just ain't right.

I explained my theory to the waiter at the Mexican restaurant and he said that's what his dad says too--that people don't want to sweeten it themselves for fear they will know how much is actually in there.
So clearly I'm not alone here.

Texas, you have the best queso, the best rodeos, the best ice cream, the best college, the best trucks (if you're into that sort of thing), the best state fair, the best lack of a state income tax. But when it comes to sweet tea I give you a ZERO.

Thank goodness I still have Chick Fil-a, a Georgia based establishment, when I need a sweet tea fix.

LOL = Lots of Love

It's Valentine's Day and that means lots of parties, candy and projects! Since Leo loves art, he insisted on hand-making all his Valentines.

First, there were the Valentines for the senior citizens in a nursing home. I'm so glad I only signed up to contribute two! But I am proud of Leo for overachieving on these. His Valentines included a counting game, a maze, a recipe and "The love bunny."

In case it's hard to read, it says "You know the Easter Bunny, here is the love bunny."

The day before Valentine's Day, Gus' Bears Class had their party. Here is Gus about to dig into his own Valentines while cute Camille looks on.

They did a craft, exchanged Valentines and decorated cookies.

Gus may have decorated his face more than the cookie!

Leo's next big project was to make all 15 Valentines for his wolf class. This was definitely an exercise in patience for me. And I can't say I always had a lot of it. Once, when he had only done one Valentine in, like, an hour, I may have raised my voice as I said, "YOU committed to doing 15 Valentines for your friends! I would have bought them at the store and you could have just signed your name. But you said you wanted to make each one yourself. So you better get to work!!"

These too included a recipe. Leo wrote it once (which took ten long minutes) and I made copies.

If you look at the finished Valentine in the picture below, you can see that there is a little
bag attached with a rolled up piece of paper. The paper is the recipe and the bag contains Hershey's Kisses (so they can get started on making those Chocolate Surprises)!

Valentine's Day morning!

Leo's Wolf Class party. They drank strawberry milkshakes and ate wafers dipped in strawberry and icing. Then they exchanged Valentines, played a spoon and candy hearts racing game and played Bingo.

Gus even got to join in the fun!

Somehow, between all his busy projects, Leo managed to make me a bajillion Valentines. He actually brought me this one as I was typing this blog. He insisted that I include it in my Vday recap. 

I guess Valentine's Day is really all about the kids now. Good thing Frank isn't one for grand romantic gestures or I would feel like I was missing out.