My DH is out of town and I stayed up til 3am watching a movie: "JOHN Q". Oh yes, I had already seen this movie, but I was sucked in deep! I woke up to Anderson around 7am-ish...that was fun. Then it all snowballed after that!

1. Parker wouldn't stop crying from 8:30 - 11:30-ish. He would have 5 min of silent and then he would go at it again. It was horrible! The poor guy really wanted to go outside but it was raining. He just didn't get it. I was just sitting around waiting for him to throw up, since that is what he does when he doesn't get his way! I think his 2 years molar are coming in, but maybe that is my excuse to give him some drugs, ah I mean tylenol. Hey, my grandma said that Tylenol fixed everything! Even if you were bleeding from your eyeball she would tell you to take some Tylenol...

2. Jeff was faxing and emailing me some paperwork that I needed to fill out, and then it happened...

3. My computer's hard drive crashed b/c it got corrupted, why? oh b/c Parker decided to power down my computer while I was on it. Thankfully my dad is a retired IBM'er and he was able to help me out. Phew!

4. I moved up to the bonus/play room where Parker continued to scream. I needed to fax and scan some items...and then the cherry on top happened...

ANDERSON PEED ON THE FLOOR! Ah! on the carpet. But did he run to the nearest bathroom, NO! He just proceeded to stand there on the carpet and keep pee-ing! poor guy. He never never has accidents. So here I was, with the big one crying b/c he peed on the carpet and then on the bathroom, and the little screaming and crying b/c I wouldn't sit next to him and play and do whatever he wanted to do!

What a fun morning? How was yours?

CALGON TAKE ME AWAY!

Nothing more needs to be said....

EXCUSES, EXCUSES

Anderson is the king of excuses when it comes to bedtime.

*"I have to go poopy (or pee)"
*"I forgot something"
*"I need some water"
*"I found this" (microscopic piece of lint)
*"You forgot to ... (fill in the blank)"
*"Sleeping is not my favorite thing" to which I reply "Its mommy's favorite"

Tonight we received the best though...

"My bed is not strong enough to hold me" so Jeff told him to sleep on the floor...

Crazy!...

A few months ago, we took the baby gate off of the top of our stairs. Parker has really gotten good at going down the stairs so we figured we could take it off and put it away. Well, we had this piece of wood that was helping keep the gate in position. Anderson decided to make some kind of 'threshold' for himself. Everyday, he makes sure it is in the correct position. The funniest thing is this, in chinese culture the higher the threshold, the more important and influential you were. So many of the emperors had a very high threshold. When Anderson was first born, we would call him "little emperor" So all that talk really got to his head. If Parker knocks it down or picks it up, Anderson will make sure it gets put back in its correct position. "bow to the emporer!"

DID YOU VOTE?

Our polling place is a block away. So this afternoon, I put the boys in the stroller and off we went. Anderson loves to go vote with me. His job is to put the ballot in the "sucker" thing. Don't know the technical name for it. And of course the sticker is the big hit. Its just a 5-10 min walk, so in theory its a good idea, but by the time I got home, I was hot and sweaty...ugh! (btw, this pic is not to endorse Hillary, but I didn't recognize a lot of the other names that had signs up)

So go out and vote! Every vote counts. This morning I sat at my computer with my coffee and did all my research on who I wanted to vote for, in regards to governor, lt. governor, and judges.

Parker is showing me his "I VOTED" sticker...

STRAWBERRY FIELDS

Parker LOVES LOVES strawberries so I thought a fun outing for strawberry picking would be a blast. I got the boys and myself all dressed for grubby-ness. I had all these great hopes of really funny pictures of Parker covered in strawberries and goo! He was all excited about it. We brought along some buckets, I applied sunscreen and was ready for the adventure. Parker could not wait to get started! As soon as we stepped into our designated row, the fun STOPPED!

He sat there and cried and cried and cried the rest of the time. I had to hold him the whole time. He just was a miserable creature. He had snot running all down his face. I thought he might throw up, due to the fact that he throws up when he doesn't get his way. He did not, phew! Anderson enjoyed it a little bit, but I think it was too dirty for him. I am too anal when it comes to picking. The berries have to be PERFECT in every way. No bruising, no yellow or white or green. So thus, it takes me a long time to pick.

Playset building - The adventure continues....

Day 2 of the Playset-ology

We got home around 11:00 from church this morning and began working on the playset. It was crazy! We got it all organized and started the process. The sun was blazing and there was no breeze like yesterday. After today we all got some nice sunburns... We worked til 8pm today. So after 9 hours working on this monstrosity we are 80% done. All that is left is the swing bar and the swings and the rope ladder. But for now, the boys can play on it. We do have to add the finishing touches to it, like the steering wheel and the telescope. Overall it can be played on, which was the goal of it today. I'm not thrilled with the thought of it being covered in spiders, but I will probably spray it down before we leave for vacation. Poor Parker was getting so mad all day. He didn't nap super well, and I'm sure its because he knew what was going on. He kept wanting to climb up the ladder, and then when we got the rock wall in, he was going after that. He was freaking my mom out b/c he would get inside the playhouse part of it and she would think he was going to fall out! My dad came over around 1:30 and stayed til 8ish and worked like a champ.

Well, due to the playhouse construction, my house is a pit. We had friends over for dinner on Friday night and the clean dishes (thankfully) are still out and my dishwasher is still loaded with clean dishes. My laundry is very behind and who knows what else I have failed to do. Oh yes, I was just reminded in an email that I have to bring a meal to 2 families. I like to sign up for meals for several families (if needed) on the same day. Its not that much more work and I just have to deliver it. I told my friend who organizes the meals for our Sunday School class that she better remind me tomorrow too! I know I will forget. Good thing I always make the same meal for everyone...

To see more pics of this playset go to my flickr.

PH.D in Playset-ology

Did you know you needed a PH.D to put together a playset? And more than likely, one to put together the instructions? This is serious work!

So I have been bugging my DH to get a playset for the boys. Parker begs and begs in his own 'non verbal' way. He grabs my hand and pulls me to any door that leads outside. He is whining and crying and pretty much begging me to take him outside. When we come back home, I have to park the car in the garage, turn off the car, and then close the garage door before getting Parker out of the car. If not, he will make a bee line to the driveway and I have to pick him up in the football hold to get him back inside. Now before you all think I am a horrible mother, I only do this, if it is close to his nap time. Anderson is starting to be a couch potato at the good 'ol ripe age of 4.5 and he loves to be outside also, not as much as his little brother, but he loves to ride his bike and draw with chalk.

There is this rockin playset at Costco (one of my top 3 places that I L-O-V-E to shop at! I get the best deals there and they have the BEST STUFF, but that is a whole other blog) that I have been eye-ing for several years. It comes out in January and is for sale through the summer. It is awesome! After soccer (which was another terrible session, the ball actually landed on top of Anderson's feet and he did nothing) we went to Costco and purchased this monstrous beast! This is when the fun began.

A note to add on all this, DH has a good ole sinus infection. Oh yes, I have been listening to what I call "snarfling" for a few days - GROSS! He claims he is trying to get all the congestion out of his throat/sinuses! STILL GROSS ...but I don't want to complain since he purchased and slaved over getting this playset.... but I digress (as usual)

The first thing you need to do, is open all the boxes (6 total, and large boxes they are) and organize all the wood and nuts and bolts. This took over an hour. There were like a thousand pieces to this thing. Our entire driveway was lined with wood and of course they aren't all labeled. My wonderful dad came over to help and our good friend Tim. Our other friend Mike, conveniently went out of town. He is the one we could of really used! He is a master carpenter. As you can tell by the pictures, it is a huge undertaking! You seriously need a PH.D to do this project. There is a very detailed direction sheet. Thankfully, we had great help and great weather.

Of course, the boys needed to help, so here are our big helpers...

So, after 5 hours, the men finished Steps 1-4...only 31 left to go! woohoo.... There was a lot of leveling and re-doing, mainly because of the fact that our backyard is not level, so that made it even more exciting! You get 2 engineers and a master accountant, you get a lot of precision! (that sounded like the intro to a bad joke...

Stay tuned, for more updates on the process of the playset. For now, my garage smells like cedar...hhmmm so good!

My Little Baby

My little baby! Last night was a milestone. Parker slept in a 'big boy' bed for the first time! Look how cute he is! This is a toddler bed that my friend let me borrow. We didn't use one for Anderson. We were forced to transition him, very, very quickly. He was doing front flips out of his crib by the time he was 21months old! Anderson went from a crib mattress on the floor, then a twin mattress on the floor, then eventually a twin bed. The other morning, Jeff found Parker with one leg over his crib, we figured it was time!

My fantastic husband got the crib put away and cleaned up Parker's room, put away anything unsafe and got him to sleep in his bed. (I was out with some girlfriends last night). So when I came home, this is how I found Parker. So cute and peaceful. What a precious little guy.

This morning, we heard the door open and then we found him downstairs. Jeff went down and saw him and he gave Jeff this little sheepish green. What a cutie! And then he had a 45 minute tantrum when he couldn't have the granola bar. Welcome to the wonderful world of being (almost) 2 years old.

MOM OF THE YEAR! :)

You know it! :) This morning Anderson asked if we could have pancakes this morning for breakfast and I was feeling lazy and tired and didn't really feel like laboring over pancakes of love. So I told him that if he ate a banana he could have the rest of the finger jello (our friends brought over the other night for dessert). I did add the "its just a special treat" thing, so he ate the banana, (Parker had already eaten a banana and 2 tangelos by now) and then we ate Finger Jello! BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS
(Anderson wouldn't get in the picture)

Another funny thing that happened to me this morning...

I went into Parker's room this morning and he was undressed! He had unzipped his jammies (he was wearing footies, its cold here!) halfway and gotten out of them. He is a magician!

Yes, I love "HELLO KITTY"

I updated my drab layout.....

All my friends tell me that I am really 13yrs old. Not just b/c I look close to 15 or 16 (although my hairdresser told me yesterday that I'm starting to turn grey! ah!) but b/c I love all the things that 13 yr old girls love!

1. Hello Kitty! love it!
2. HSM - or High School Musical to all you 'grownups'. I have both of the CD's and even had a party at my house for other friends who like it (not fanatics like me) when the sequel came out on TV. Their soundtracks are great driving music. Anderson even likes to listen to it too! Never too young to brainwash.
3. Hannah Montana! I watch her show almost everynight at 11:30 (preceded by "the Suite Life of Zach & Cody)
4. Jonas Brothers - I was soooo excited when they were on Oprah last week! woohoo! I love the Jonas Brothers, I even have their CD. They love Jesus....

In fact, since i am of the smaller size I am able to wear 'tween' shirts of High School Musical! woohoo! And I even have the music playing right now. One of my friends got me a custom shirt a couple Christmas' ago. I love it!

Its clean and cheesy and its better than some of the other stuff on TV (with the exception of Grey's Anatomy!)