Are Boys Strong?

I am dressing a small child for a wedding, but have only gotten as far as drying him off after his bath and getting his clothes from the closet......

Small child: Mom, is my pee pee stwong?

Me: Yes, well, I'm not sure, I mean, I don't know, well, its just that, hey do you want to try this shirt on?

Small child: Mom, do you think I have stwong pee pee?

Me: I don't really know what you mean...

Small child: Let me see here......

Small child taking the small white plastic hanger from me and trying to hang it -- with his shirt still on the hanger -- ONTO his little pee pee. It is unsuccessful

Small child: Awww man, it just fell off!

Me not sure what to do

Small child thinking.....

Small child looking for something else that can be hung, and successfully spotting a flashlight with a circular handle

Small child: Lets try this one.... (trying to hang the flashlight handle from his pee pee) Awww maaaaan!! That one didn't work either!!!

Me hoping this creative experiment is drawing to a close

Small child: Mom, can I make my pee pee stronger? Like.... exercise?

Me thanking God no one else is in the room to give him any ideas

Reading Time with Tate

After practicing the "better late than early" reading philosophy with Tate, he has gone from letter-recognition only to third grade reading and comprehension in about 16 months (not that I am counting, right?). Tate can't go anywhere without a stack of books. He is still focused on about 90% WWII aviation history, but he has branched out to armored vehicles, just a bit. There is a little conversation I have with him about once a day, but when I heard Chris incredulously describe having the same interaction this afternoon, I laughed so hard I had to share it with you.

It goes like this:
Tate is curled up alone on the sofa with a pile of WWII Western Front photo history books, softly talking to himself. Sam is busy at the lego table, and Dog Dana is asleep under the dining/kitchen table. Chris approaches Tate after a long night of working at the fire station, holding a cup of coffee and just wanting to spend time with his little buddy. As he moves books out of his way, sinks onto mom's old couch (thanks Mom) and sighs deeply, Tate cuts his eyes and looks a little annoyed.

Chris: "What are you reading there, big guy? What are you learning about this morning?"
Tate: "................."
Chris, trying again: "So, Tate, Daddy missed you soooooooo much. Do you want to hear about the fire we had last night?"
Tate: ............ LOUD SIGH with a mumble "i'm having private reading time"
Chris: "That is great! Let's see what you are reading!"
Tate: "ummmm, dad? I really need to have privacy right now. I can't make up war stories if you are sitting here."
Dana, the 60 lb dog, wanders over and lays at Tate's feet.
Tate: "Well HI Dana! Thats a good girl! Are you going to sit by me?!"
Chris: ????? "So, the dog gets to sit by you... but I can't?"
Tate: "Yep. She doesn't keep trying to talk to me."

Puppy Potty Training

Remember our puppy? The dog-lover who decided to buy a EXTRA LARGE BREED DOG the last week of July promptly revealed that he actually had no idea how to do anything with a puppy, so I could just handle all that. (Yes, I am speaking of my handsome hubby) "After all, Katie, you have trained two of your own puppies before. And you do like to read and research, so this would be like a fun little new project for you. You aren't even working this August!" So fifteen library books and three videos later, I had a plan.

We named her "Dana" for Mt. Dana in Yosemite. It is the largest mountain around that area (over 14K) and Chris and I hiked it over Labor Day 1998, when we fell in love and decided to get married (yes, all in the same weekend, ten days after we met). We've never been back and so just thinking about Mt Dana makes us sigh... Good dog name. While I was floating in the fuzzy bliss of intoxicating puppy breath and memories of hiking/ planning a wedding, Chris decided that he needed to "take a vacation" to Dallas with his college buddies for a long weekend. Of course, Dear. No problem, Dear. You should go to Dallas, I would be happy to handle the puppy. (Never mind I did change my mind within 24 hours - before he left even - but it was too late. "Let your yes be yes.....") Do you have any idea how much a 43 lb dog can pee? It is truly amazing.

By the time Chris arrived home from his "vacation," I had used over two bottles of carpet cleaner, scraped up about 45 pounds of dog poo, washed four loads of towels used to dry the puppy after her baths, scrubbed and disinfected the crate multiple times, called and left several nasty messages on Chris' cell phone, threatened to take the dog to the pound, cried a river, and called to scream at my sister (former vet assistant) to come and PICK UP CHRIS' DOG!! and keep her - for $25 a day - until further notice. Why in the world did I think this would be fun?

The dog did eventually get the hang of relieving herself outdoors, just like everyone said she would. My sister picked up some extra cash for her boarding services, and Chris and I are still married. But I did say NO!! when he suggested that Dana would be much happier if one of her siblings came to live with us.

Now the current debate: to fix or not to fix the female pure bred? Tate has conducted a street survey, and the vote (according to Tate), is 67 for NOT fixing so we can have puppies next year, 1 for controlling the pet population (yours truly), and 1 abstaining (Grandma Faye refused to cast a vote after I gave her a stern glare).

Stay tuned!

Sammy and Dana goin' fishin' in our koi pond.

Person Place or Thing

This is Tate's favorite game to play with me lately. Sometimes I make him stick to a subject (Old Testament, Persian period, things found in Florida, etc..) but usually he just randomnly thinks of something and I have to guess what it is in 20 questions with yes/no answers. Last night I could NOT get the person he was thinking of. He was a famous American, involved in music, but not rock-n-roll. He might have been on TV, well, maybe not. He was not in the Civil War or Revolutionary War. It wasn't Elvis, any jazz musician, or Steven Curtis Chapman (my favorite). He wasn't alive right now, well, maybe he is still alive.... Hmmmmmmm.....

After I got extra guesses and even some hints (you love him, Tate says). I had to give up. Which I hate.

"Oh! You are going to kick yourself! It's......(snicker and smile).... Handel!"

......... "Who?"

"...... Mom, are you kidding? You know Handel, right? You know, from The Messiah?"

....... "Yes, yes, I know Handel,.....but......"

"How come you didn't even guess Handel? You listen to him all the time and you didn't even think of him!" Then Tate rolled his eyes, snorted and walked off.

me: ......."but......"

(For those of you who might not know who Handel is, he wrote The Messiah, but he wrote it from HIS HOME IN LONDON in 1741!) Details details

My Mom Got Married!

We are so exhausted after the eventful week, I'll have to post pictures later after I have time to look at all 5 million of them. But Mom did get married in a fabulous (and short!) ceremony! We had a great party afterwards. Here is one quick picture from the rehersal dinner of Sam (3) and his cousin (Becky's 5 year old), Mike. (I know, I am such a mom posting pictures of my kid even though it was someone else's wedding) Some people like to label Sam's signature ears "Elf Ears," but as long as you know they are from CHRIS' side of the family!! The kids had such a great time celebrating!

Sammy Lovins

Sammy has always been a demonstrative sweetie, but he is really going through a romantic phase recently. Tate had a period when he was "in love" with Grandma and planned to marry her, then it was on to Isabella. But Sam has only had eyes for Mama lately! He spent all day yesterday singing love songs to me ("I am in wuv with my Mama"... "she is so booootiful" etc...) and came over at least a couple of times an hour and said "I really need some hugs and kisses from you!" He told Tate and Chris, while stroking my "soft face" that he was my boyfriend and that I was his girlfriend. He asked me if I could not marry Dad but marry him instead. I thoroughly enjoyed all this romance!

Then last night, he was in my room, still singing to me while I was getting ready for bed. I was only half-listening to the lyrics to yet another future top-ten billboard chart hit when I distinctly heard "We are in wuv and we'll get together and make a baby...." I was a bit alarmed, but just figured that he wasn't paying attention and was just rambling. But then after the next chorus he repeated the rated R words again, and again. I was wondering what kind of smut TV he had been watching at Mother's Day Out (they did have a sub one day!), when I decided to ask him about what he was singing. I walked to where he was playing on the bathroom counter. He had two big flosses, and one little floss. He proudly said, "Look Mom. Here is my little floss family! They are so in wuv!"

A Great Day!

We had the BEST day yesterday!

For starters, yes, Sam is still puzzle King! Here he is dancing after an "advanced" puzzle. With no help!
We had a yummy lazy summer breakfast. The boys have taken to scooting their chairs all the way around the table so they can both sit right next to Daddy and talk.
Now, here is where it starts getting really good! Yesterday was the last day of my college summer class, the last day of the boys' once-a-week-during-the-summer-day-camp, AND the final day of Tate's week-long super intense competitive soccer camp! Whew! Lots going on! Chris picked me up for a romantic celebration lunch while the boys were bowling/painting at camp, and told me that we were getting a dog! Yeah! We've talked about it for nearly 11 years, but we finally did it! We picked the boys up from camp together and told them we had a great surprise!

We wanted a female Burnese Mountain Dog, and there was a litter Chris has been following only a couple of hours from our house!
Can you tell which one we picked?
Here is the proud papa, with his 11 week, 20 pound girl, on the way to show her off out our first outing...

Tate's final night of soccer camp! Unfortunately, she didn't feel like walking a half-mile to the fields in 100 degree heat. She laid down and wouldn't be moved. So......

Chris got to carry his big "baby" all the way, while Sam, unhappy at losing his free ride, complained.

Once I got the soccer fans set up, I tried to get as many pictures as I could of my little soccer star.
However, he is far too serious to pose for me!
He is in the white jersey with the blue socks and purple shorts on the right side of the huddle. This was during a drill.

Look at his cute "team" uniforms! His team was "Spain."
Mom, please. We are trying to get ready for the tournament.

To make a very exciting night a little shorter, Tate's team (which was co-ed mixed ages, with Tate being hands-down the smallest and least experienced) made it through the first round of the "World Cup," barely. The team never complained when Tate got the only foul (hands on a punt) or missed tackles or kicked the ball away from his own player. He cheered for everyone and never even understood the tournament brackets, even at the end. He was having the time of his life. I just prayed he wouldn't loose it for them, and not cry when they got kicked out. (There is lots of intensity in competitive soccer with kids, as we are finding out). Well, they made it through round two, beating the second placed team. Then round three! Then they were in the final World Cup! Tate was so excited! It came down to the last 45 seconds, still no score, when the big girls scored one against Brazil, for the win! It was pandemonium folks! We were jumping and screaming! Sam was so excited for 'brudder,' and I was excited for Tate to have such a great experience! I missed all the great team photos, since I was so enthusiastic, but here is one of the kids dumping water on the student "coach."

We went home exhausted, and slept hard (of course after Tate called everyone he could think of to tell them he won the world cup in soccer!).

Today... we spent all day loving on puppy. Aunt Miranda and Uncle Matt came to meet their new "niece" and kept saying how big she is... (Look at those paws!)

So Sam laid down next to her and they both stretched out.. turns out, Sam is right! He is the biggest!

This is living!!