it's all my fault

 

 

20 years from now ... when ben and alex are both seeing someone wondering why they are not normal ...

i accept full responsibility.

today they had to follow me to:

*anchor paper (a paper supply store)
*archivers (a scrapbook store)
*3 different michaels stores (a craft store)
and
*pretty in ink (another scrapbook store)

i think they'll be glad once i have our christmas card figured out :)

copy cat

 

 

alex's favorite game right now involves copying us.

if i put up my arms ... he does the same.
if i pat my head ... he pats his.
if i blow a kiss ... i get one back :)

even more entertaining (for him) .. is when we repeat his actions.

it's become the perfect distraction ...
in the car ...
in line at target ...

while waiting for our turn at the bowling alley :)

mind powering turkeys

our family has a tradition of going bowling on thanksgiving night.

this year was no different.

HOWEVER... there were two things that were new and different.

1. alex got to try bowling. (this gave me a good reason to use bumpers ... te he he)

2. drew and ben suddenly discovered they had "mind powers". drew could control anybody's ball and make it do whatever he wanted. thankfully he helped me out and allowed me to get a few strikes :) ben, on the other hand, was a bit selfish and only used his powers to better his own score. anytime you'd look out at ben he'd have his arms outstretched, pointing his ball in the direction he had mind powered it to go.

everyone did really well, and had a lot of fun.

while there, i discovered that the kids lane is a great place for me. even with the bumpers, my score was barely what the loser had in the lanes next to us ;)

for now i think i'm going to stick to bowling on the wii :)

T-E-A-S-E

in case there is any question -
it is possible to be a tease when you're only 16 months old :)
and alex has it figured out ;)

on each of the car trips we've taken lately, drew has tried to lay his head in the middle to sleep, only to have alex pull his hair.

because of this, drew formulated a plan. on the way to wausau, he thought he had outsmarted alex by wrapping his head with his blanket.

as you can see, it didn't take alex long to figure it out.

time to start formulating your back up plan little drew. and until then ... just know that you are a great big brother - AND that alex won't always be so annoying.

whew!

wow ... the end of a busy weekend has come.

we had a GREAT thanksgiving. i have SO much to be thankful for.

topping my list -- the three crazies in the picture above - and the crazy guy behind the camera as well :)

this weekend we got the opportunity to be surrounded by a lot of the others on my list - and for that i am even more grateful!!

our time in wisconsin was a blast - but we are all ready for a good night's sleep :)

so ... more details later ;)

why is it?

why is it that when i'm driving around the cities, i can do everything possible to try to keep alex awake, but he still ALWAYS falls asleep.

BUT ... when we're driving somewhere further away and all i want is for him to sleep - he insists on staying awake and whining.

i just don't get it.

things i learned today

1. when going on a field trip to the city hall - getting to see the jail cell is the #1 priority with 1st graders.

2. for the city of blaine (60,000 people) today there were only 8 police officers on duty - but that's normal.

3. taking 50 kids to mcdonalds at one time is doable and actually can be very organized and controlled!!!! (this one is probably the most surprising)

4. that a little girl in drew's class has a hold on my heart strings and was pulling them today! - last year this little girl's mom died of cancer. although i worked with her last year, this year has been different. every day that i volunteer in that classroom i can't help but think about her life - without a mom. and her dad's life - without a wife. maybe they're doing just fine. maybe life has basically returned to normal. but, while at the police station today, this little girl took a hold of my hand and in doing so, tugged on my heart as well. everywhere i would go after this she would just get as close as she possibly could to me and just stand there - almost snuggled into my hip. on the bus she wanted to sit by me. at lunch she "saved me a spot". it just made me want to cry. although she is probably just doing all of this because most 1st graders still think adults are cool ... i couldn't help but just wonder if she really longs for a relationship like drew has with me - or kayla has with robin. it made me want to just take her in my arms and give her a big hug. a hug that said ... i can't even imagine what you've gone through in the past 6 months. you are only 6 and you're going through something i can't even fathom at 30. a hug that said ... you've got a hold of my heart little ashley ... you may not know it - but you most definitely do.

5. and finally, i learned that alex still finds delight in the oddest of things - and that most of these things can be made into a hat.

our holidazzle enrollees

a few weeks ago i was shopping at lands end and came across some cute coats. (i realize alex is not in a coat .. but if you read the last post you know that he likes to pose for pictures now .. so removing him from this picture was not worth the fight :) ) i didn't spend much time looking at them - just knew that i liked the way they looked and decided to buy them.

when i got up to the counter the lady asked me if i knew how to work them. well ... silly question ... you put them on and zip them up, right?!

OH NO ... these are SPECIAL coats ... they have remotes in their pockets that control some light strips.

oh brother!!
to know me is to know that i'm not a fan of light up shoes. so, to hear that these coats i loved were going to light up was not what i wanted to hear.
but, after the lady showed me how they worked, i realized that the lights weren't so bad. and when they weren't lit, i was still in love with them.
so i bought them.

the boys obviously LOVE them.

the sales lady told me that her kids have them and that they use them to play hide and seek in the dark. upon hearing this, drew and ben wanted to try. so, this weekend we sent them out in the dark backyard to play with their new coats. it didn't take them long to realize that in the dark the trampoline was WAY more fun than hide and go seek!!

we sat inside and just laughed at how funny it looked to have these little lights jumping and flipping around outside our window!

naturally, i decided to get the camera and get the best video i could :)



i wonder what the neighbors were thinking ;)

CHEEEEESE!

well .. it's about time!
alex has FINALLY figured out how to look at the camera and say cheese!!
so tonight he kept wanting his picture taken ... we figured we might as well take them while he was letting us!!

now if he could just teach his brothers.

another according to drew

according to drew:

in hawaii the teachers are not allowed to give out homework because all of the students have hula school after real school so they don't have time for it.

based on this "fact" he would like to move to hawaii.

on a cold day like today ... that sounds quite appealing!

so loved

how lucky am i. drew just informed me that he and i are very lucky.
he says that:

"freckles are actually kisses from angels."

those angels sure love me ;)

good taste!

have i mentioned how much alex likes chipotle?

you take your right shoe off

everytime we go somewhere - in the car or when in the stroller - alex does the same thing -

takes off his shoe.

not shoes.
just SHOE.
his RIGHT shoe to be precise.

if i put it back on, he just takes it back off. it doesn't matter which pair of shoes. and he doesn't take off the sock.

during the summer it wasn't the worst thing in the world because he wore shoes that were quick to put back on.
but now that we're getting into winter, and keen sandals don't cut it, his shoes take longer to put on.

AND ... the longer it takes to put on his shoes, the longer i stand outside in the cold next to the car.

this is one of his quirks that i'm hoping he grows out of -- quickly.

a weekend of the urban life

we just got back from a fun weekend in chicago.
my sister and stacey's brother live within a few miles of each other. so, we were able to spend lots of time with each of them. plus, the boys got to spend lots of time playing with their cousins - ellie and will - and their "dog cousins" - marley and moose :)
i put pictures up on our shutterfly page :)
it was really fun - but exhausting :) it's good to be home.

as for alex and the car ride - well ... i'm thinking i'm going to need something more than benedryl for the plane trip to hawaii :) ha ha :)!

win a free shirt!!

help my friend elizabeth design her newest (and coolest) t-shirt!


go to her site, giant giraffe, and vote and win :)

GIANT GIRAFFE VOTING PAGE:)

you can also access it from her blog - ELIZABETH'S BLOG

c is for ...

ben loves letters. ben is really wanting to learn to read and spends a great deal of time figuring out words, letters, and the sounds the make.

drew loves that he knows how to read. he is becoming very fluent and naturally wants to share his skills with the world.

SO ... naturally, drew is trying to be the one to teach ben how to read.

the other day they were having a conversation. drew was trying to help ben come up with a word that started with each letter of the alphabet. he said "c" and ben was obviously taking too long. so drew jumped in and said "ben, it's really not that hard. there are so many words that start with C. like, you could say 'catastrophic'. can you say that word?"

nothing like starting with the easy ones, drew.

a is for apple. b is for ball. and c is for catastrophic. i wonder what that looks like on a flashcard.

another reason to visit NYC again soon

last night we sat down to watch CSI: NY and it happened to be the episode that we saw them taping when we were in NYC a month ago.

it was so fun to watch!

we know what we saw - and have the picures to remind us.

but to see how they actually made different scenes out of it - and to make sense of it all - was a lot of fun!

now i have one more thing to add to my list of why i'd like to spend more time in nyc :)

*to follow the CSI:NY crew around.

(maybe i'd even end up as an extra:))

target keeps halloween alive

alex and i are very predictible.
just about every morning after we drop off ben at preschool we head to target.
this morning was no different.
EXCEPT ... we were able to spend 13 dollars and get HOURS of entertainment in return!!
the halloween stuff had just been marked down to 90% off!!
and we have 2 boys that LOVE to dress up as super heroes. so, i filled my cart.

by dinnertime, each costume had been tried on and modeled. here are my favorites - the highlights from our show:

we have drew modeling the adult size optimus prime. it was the costume that he really wanted for halloween. however, we couldn't find it in kid size for under 40 dollars at the time. so ... for 3 dollars ... it was worth it to buy the adult version for some post-halloween fun:)

NEXT ... we have our energetic, SUPER FAST, never stop second child modeling the flash costume. this costume is SO fitting on ben that i wish he would've been flash instead of spiderman this year :) of all of the costumes i bought, this one is by far my favorite!!

finally - not wanting to let a 6 year old's dare out do him ... we have daddy barnett modeling optimus prime with his "innocent" sidekick flash by his side.

it's been less than 12 hours and these costumes have already proved to be worth the $13 investment :)

target has come through yet again!

truth

drew was asking/telling stacey about christmas and how not everybody celebrates it.
this led to a small discussion on how people believe different things.

stacey said "but drew, you know there is only one truth, right?"

drew said "daddy, everything can be the truth - you just have to say it right."

my initial thought was - scary that this is coming out of the mouth of a 6 year old.

my follow up thought - a future politician?

even scarier.

honesty in bulk

we went to sams club with all 3 boys.

the lady that was checking us out asked the boys if they had eaten all of their halloween candy yet.

drew quickly responded "NO!"

the lady was teasing a bit and asked him why not.

his response - "because then we would TOTALLY drive our parents nuts!"

is he smart or what?!

silence is golden

1 bottle of 3 buck chuck - $3 (duh)
1 pair of "earmuffs" - $15

Discovering a new revelation in parenting... PRICELESS

the story of a trick or treating novice

this was alex's first year of being a "real" trick or treater.

as soon as i handed him a bucket, he was off - trying SO hard to keep up with the big guys.

however, it didn't take long for him to realize that going up to the houses isn't the exciting part of trick or treating.

they had given him candy!!!

and he was not about to wait until we got home to try it out.

SO ... our little chicken took in the rest of the neighborhood trick or treating from the stroller. he still received MANY goodies. but was able to eat and travel at the same time.

after finishing up the neighborhood, we decided to make one last stop at our old church.

our little chicken soon realized that eating as you go catches up with you quickly when you're only one.

random thankfulness

each year in november i have the boys do a thankful tree.
basically they start with a bare trunk and add a leaf everyday that has something they are thankful for written on it.

(here's a picture of ben's from last year to give you an idea of what they look like)

 

of course we have fun looking back at the things they've said on trees from the past.
but ... it's also fun to hear the random answers they come up with when we're creating them.
i was thinking this year might be a bit more predictible. last year ben was still pretty young, so his answers were really funny and VERY random.

in this train of thought, however, i forgot that drew's mind has taken a HUGE jump this year.

today drew is thankful for the pilgrims and that they decided to come and create a new world for us.

now how do i fit that on a leaf???