Toy OVERLOAD!

Oh! We had a wonderful Christmas this year. Once again, everyone was way too generous. Between the Wii, the backyard roller coaster, the bouncy house, the car games, and the robots (that's not even mentioning half of the gifts from family and friends and not even all of the gifts from Santa) we are literally needing to either buy a new house or do some serious toy downsizing! I don't even know where to start... I've been going through things and I feel like I'm just making a bigger mess. The problem is, the boys are so good with their toys that nothing is broken or torn up so I can't throw anything away and I don't know how to give away stuff that I know they love. Parker can see a toy from when he was 2 and say, "Remember when I got this on that rainy day from my great random Uncle Bob? Oh, I love this toy!" How do they remember? The best I can do for now is take out the baby baby toys and put them away for the next one. :)

We got to do so much and see so many family and friends. The boys are so blessed and they have no idea! Uncle Toby and Aunt Katrina flew all the way from Oman just to see them! :) And did they ever get an earfull from Parker. It was like he was trying to squeeze 6 months of conversations that he had missed out on with them into 2 days. I hope it didn't make them too nuts but he just really loves them.

The Hoffman Christmas is such a neat get-together where drinking is encouraged, home-cooked food is a must and caroling is the cutest tradition ever and every year brings tears to my eyes for whatever reason. The Moore Christmas is just plain goofy with our lack of traditions that always makes for new and fun memories. We pack and unpack and pack and unpack and drive ourselves silly but every year, it is worth it.

Santa must have seen how good the boys are (deep down... way deep down) because he made 2 trips. We put the boys to bed around 8:00 on Christmas Eve and they were both restless. Garrett kept saying, "Oh Santa!" in the most pathetic voice you can imagine and Parker was talking up a storm in his room for at least 30 minutes. I went in to tell him that we forgot to put out the milk and cookies and he was SO SO SO upset. How could we forget such an important thing?! When he got back in bed, he told me,"Mommy, I am SO GLAD you got me up to put Santa's food out. He would be so sad without cookies."

Once Parker was back in bed, Santa rode past in his sleigh. Garrett heard the sleigh bells and started singing Jingle Bells in his bed and then went back to the "Oh Santa" business. The next morning, when we asked Parker if he heard Santa he said he did hear his sleigh but he didn't look out the window because he was scared Santa would see him. Such a good boy!

It seems like the holidays make everyone a little crazy. By December 24th, I feel like the 900 times I told the boys, "If you two don't stop fighting, Santa isn't going to come" doesn't matter anymore. I am still the first one awake at 3 AM coughing and banging doors to get someone else to wake up with me. All to see the kids FREAK OUT that Santa amazingly did come and did get down the chimney and did eat the cookies. "I knew we were good this year" is what Parker said when he realized he got everything he wanted. "Of course you were, honey. Deep down... you were the best kids ever this year."

Karma

Why is Karma so crazy??? I have 2 of the sweetest, most kind-hearted little boys in the universe (and by saying that, I don't mean that they are always the best behaved... they are still crazy little boys) but there is no doubt that they are sweethearts. You know, just by saying that, I am 100 % sure that they will be awful tomorrow, that is just how karma works at my house. You would think I would learn.

No matter what I say or threaten, Karma gets the better of me. For example, I had some girlfriends over the other night and we were discussing potty training and the kids wetting the bed. I had to open my big mouth, not bragging really, more so just realizing for the first time in a while, that Parker hasn't wet the bed very often at all, and not once in the past 6 months or so. Who do I get a visit from at 5am that next morning? Parker... with everything on his bed sopping wet. AND Garrett had his diaper OFF inside of his footy pj's so his whole bed was wet that morning too. I hadn't even been worried about him- he's not potty-trained. Which is a whole other karma story.

Garrett had been going on the potty for about 3 months and what do I do... start bragging (and I was bragging this time, mostly because Parker wasn't interested at all at 22 months and Garrett was being such a rock star about it.) Almost immediately following my diarrhea mouth, Garrett lost interest and hasn't gone on the potty since.

The weirdest thing is threatening the boys... I think it works in reverse on them. The "Elf" that comes to watch them everyday and then reports back to Santa has NOT ONCE, in the 2 weeks that he has been watching the boys, had a good report for Santa. I finally had it with their constant bickering so I told them both that the Elf was leaving and not coming back and guess what? They have been angels (for the most part) every day since. TOO WEIRD!

I deeply believe in Karma, not just because of the boys or because I have a big mouth that I tend to open too often. Karma has proved itself to me time and time again... for good and for bad. It is rearing it's ugly head with Parker right now and I actually think it's pretty hilarious. We told Parker the day would come when Garrett would be smart enough to make his life as miserable as he made Garrett's first 2 years and those days are here. He has successfully taught Garrett how to manipulate and get what he wants which includes acting innocent and getting Parker sent to his room repeatedly. This especially works on daddy who isn't home all day long and who isn't aware that Parker is innocent a lot of the time, he's just being framed by his 2 year old protege.

Well... I'll just end this by challenging Karma one last time... this one's for Kevin. I NEVER want another baby. ESPECIALLY a girl. How awful would that be? Yuck. Bows and tutu's and prom and a wedding... that is my worst nightmare. Gross. (Does sarcasm work on Karma or is that the whole point? I think I'll just shut up now!)

Birthday Pains

Garrett's big 2nd birthday was today and we (meaning Garrett and myself) have had a great day. Parker, on the other hand, has not handled being out of the spotlight very well. Parker was in bed with me bright and early at 6 am and when we heard Garrett making noise around 7:00, I said we should go upstairs and sing him Happy Birthday. Well, that was the first of the water works for the longest day of Parker's young life. He sat at the bottom of the stairs and pouted for 10 minutes and then promptly tried changing the subject of Garrett's big day as soon as we came down.
Garrett isn't getting a big fussy party and tons of gifts this year and I would say poor Garrett but what I really am thinking is poor me. I can hardly stand not spoiling him rotten but when I look around my house and see the baskets and buckets and drawers and closets full of toys and junk, I know presents don't matter. And I know his awesome water pirate table that Grandma and PoPo gave him and Buzz Lightyear 4 wheeler from Uncle Toby and Aunt Katrina are probably way more than any 2 year old needs besides the rest of the fun stuff he will soon get. I just can't resist the face I knew he was going to give us when we asked him, "Are you ready for your surprise?" He lit up and screamed, "Surprise!" over and over. He got trains and a carrying case which goes with his present from Gamma and GDad but I couldn't wait until Saturday... it just seemed too cruel to have those big shiny presents sitting over there for 2 more days.
If only Parker let him play with the new trains he got. We had to put Parker to bed without a book (which is extremely painful as you can imagine) and, 30 minutes later he is still in there talking and probably calling us butt heads (his new favorite word that I can't beat out of him) and yapping about how mean we are and how Garrett wouldn't share his new trains with him.
Any time we try to explain "how things work" to Parker, he blows it way out of proportion lately. If I ask him, "Do you want Garrett to take your new things away and not let you play with them on your birthday, would you like that...?" He breaks down again and says (or screams rather), "Why would you let him do that to me? He is going to ruin my birthday!, He can't take my new birthday toys!" Whoever said boys are less dramatic than girls hasn't met Parker! Good thing Garrett is so easy going and gets over drama quickly.
So, for myself, I sang Garrett Happy Birthday all day long (while Parker was at school) and got to see him shy away and giggle and laugh which made his birthday for me. I know he had fun and he went to sleep saying night-night to Gamma with a big smile on his face. As for Parker...lesson of the day... tomorrow is a new day, we are going to show Garrett how we share so that by his birthday, he will be a big boy and not spoil Parker's day. We'll see how that goes! No school on Friday so we might have another long and painful day of sharing!

Happy Birthday Garrett!!!!

Best Halloween EVER!

I just have to tell about our Halloween this year. The week started off extra spooky this year, literally! Garrett got a stomach bug and was so nice to share it with Parker and myself. We had such big plans for the week. Parker was going to wear his shark costume to school and had his carnival and pizza party on Thursday. I had been planning for a month to host a big Halloween party for my moms club with 20+ kids and 14 or so moms. It was my first Halloween kids party and I went all out. I downloaded scary music to play, had pumpkin cupcakes, treat bags, games, decorations and had been cleaning and getting set up for a week... it was going to be so much fun. Parker and Garrett were all prepared and now know all of the words to Monster Mash and Mr. Roboto... lucky for me, that is all they want to listen to now! Have you ever listenened to Mr. Roboto? Do it sometime. It's awful! Every time we get into the car. It's like 5 minutes long. Really scary!
Anyway, with the curse of the evil stomach bug, all of those plans were cancelled. I'm not sure who was more upset, me or Parker. Luckily, I had plans to take the boys to Six Flags Fright Fest so I just made a big deal about that and Parker moved on from his pouting. I knew he would totally FREAK OUT when he saw the roller coasters. He kept saying we were going to a carnival, I couldn't wait for him to get there! We had planned to go with Gamma and Gdad but the ghost of the stomach bug followed us and cursed Gamma. Gdad was a trooper and took us to Six Flags by himself which wouldn't have been that bad except Garrett gave him such a hard time. He didn't want to sit and wait for Parker and me to ride the rides and he probably felt left out that he couldn't go on them too. The few he got to do, he couldn't get enough of! I have some dare devil kiddos!
Parker wanted to start on the Shock Wave (or Shark Wave as he calls it) which is a double loop rollercoaster that even gives me chills. I told him we would work up to it- no need to scare him the second we get in the gates. But, he never slowed down, not that he ever does! He went from the Bobsled to the pirate ship to the Tony Hawk ride (with 2 adorable 11 yr olds that he flirted with) until we finally made it to the Shock Wave. Gdad went with him and when he got off- he wanted more. I seriously cannot wait until they are both tall enough to do the big rides with me.. eh hem.. for them of course. To watch them have fun...
After I totally drained the life out of them on Saturday, we made it home in time for trick or treating. Garrett wore his Bot costume, long enough to take pictures anyway. In the future... can everyone please remind me to purchase cheap costumes the week before Halloween so I don't make myself crazy and they don't change their minds??? I spent how much time and money on Team Umi Zoomi and Garrett wore his for about 30 seconds. Parker and I had fun as Millie and Geo at least. Yes, Kevin was present... I don't mention him much because Halloween isn't his favorite holiday but he did take us door to door for the candy and took pictures of Garrett's first real trick or treating. Garrett did say trick or treat, at least 5 times at each door actually, it was just before they would get there. Oh well, he was so adorable, no one cared! Everyone thought the boys were aliens and they didn't know what I was, but they thought it was cute. It was the best Halloween yet...so much fun. If you would have told me when Parker was just an infant that it would get more and more fun the older they got, I wouldn't have believed you. But that was before I had willing roller coaster buddies!
Parker was so upset that Halloween is over and was even more upset when he got home from school and saw all of the spiders and ghosts were taken down. He doesn't quite get the concept of "we have to wait an entire year for Halloween" yet. At least Christmas is close. I wonder if Kevin would be mad if I start decorating now???

End of the Season

2010 Fall Soccer
We have come to the end of Parker's first season of soccer. He had a lot of fun and met some really fun kids. He met a new friend, Gavin, who he had a lot of fun with that also introduced him to Iron Man. We are now obessessed with Iron Man and, lucky for mommy, she likes it too because we watch it over and over! And Benjamin from his Dinosaurs class was also on the team. They had too much fun picking on each other. Seems it is more fun to fall on the ball and chase the other kids around than actually try to score a goal. It was unanimous at the trophy ceremony that the kids favorite part of soccer is playing goalie. That is where Parker did the best, mostly I think because he got to be the star of the show and didn't really have many kids around to pick on!

I really can't believe how much Parker improved from the beginning of the season. We were worried after the first practice. I was glad daddy stayed home with Garrett. Especially because daddy says he remembers being 4 and focusing and wanting to be the best on the team. He would have been very dissapointed to see Parker falling on the ball (which made everyone else do it, which is also the first and most important "don't do" of soccer), climbing the fence, bouncing the ball on the other kids heads... I was ready to never go to another practice or game ever again!

But he really started enjoying it and trying harder as the season went on. The only times he had a really hard time were when he saw Garrett on the sideline watching the IPOD, then he was super jealous and wanted to sit out. I don't know if soccer is his calling but we will probably give it another try next year. We are going to take a break from sports until after the holidays and then we are going to try TBall!

Suckers

No, by titling this "Suckers", I am not talking about the Yankees... how bout those Rangers though eh??? I am talking about Garrett's pulmonologist appointment, or should I say, the longest day of our lives in the medical district. It was a gruesome day and, poor little guy, all he wanted was a sucker. Of the 6 nurses, 2 doctors, and 3 lab techs, not to mention the 4 "registration" people who provided us with hours of waiting around, he turned down about 30 different stickers. He would say, "NO... SUCKER!" They all told him, "We don't give suckers, they are bad for your teeth." And then they would look at me like I was crazy for allowing him to have horrible 10 calorie dum dums. For sure, his baby teeth (that he is going to lose anyway) are all going to fall out! Well, he at least got to ride the train from the zoo over to the hospital, so maybe that makes up for the missing suckers.

He was a trooper... getting shots, giving blood and doing xrays for 4 hours, all to find out that he has asthma, which we pretty much already knew. The doc says he is a healthy growing boy and that the asthma will probably go away in time, just like mine did. Yeah!

I have to give myself some credit too for the overall success of this day. I walked with a 1 yr old 10 miles through downtown buildings all of which I had less than no idea of where I was... you know... lugging a 19 lb diaper bag, loads of papers with directions and drawings and a toddler that sometimes wants to run, sometimes wants to be carried, or sometimes wants to sit down right in the middle of the street with that ominous hand blinking at you as the time counts down.

We also got to dine with stars of the hospital at a lovely cafeteria-style bistro that, wouldn't have been so bad had it not had trays to carry and the slowest sandwich makers in the world. Ever try to eat out alone in a busy restaurant with a tired and hungry toddler who won't sit or stand still, carrying that now 22 lb diaper bag full of prescriptions and more paper work and a tray of food, stay in line (behind the slowest sandwich makers in the world) oh- and get money out at the end of it and pay the lady??? Everyone there seemed to love children, and I could tell that they all felt lucky for being in line behind us... ha ha ha. Garrett was actually starving and ate, I don't know, 4 bites and I got to put the rest of his $8 sandwich into my now 23 lb diaper bag!

I'm sure it sounds like I'm complaining but we both actually had a great attitude all day. Garrett was in a super mood and charmed the pants off of everyone there. I am grateful it is over and the initial diagnosis is good. Hopefully the test results will come back clear and we won't have to deal with that mess again. Oh what we do for our children and peace of mind. In the mean time, we will stick to seeing Dr. Herman... he gives suckers!

The Flying IPOD

So... this is my first true blog and I feel like I have great material. Last night, at 3:15 am, Parker comes to our room and says he has to potty but he acts like he is stalling for some other reason. He goes to the bathroom, plays around for a bit and then slowly comes back and spills the beans. Well, there is a flying IPOD in his room and it is really scary and he needs to sleep with us. As I am walking him back to his room, I am trying to get him to explain to me what can be so scary about a flying IPOD. Don't they play your favorites songs and shows? "Well, yes", he says, "but this one has arms and legs and it just flies over my head."
He goes back to sleep but informs me this morning that he did not rest well last night. As we are going to bed tonight, he is still afraid of his room (the same room that in the past has had ghosts that I am not 100% sure don't exist in it). I told him the best thing I know to do is ask God for help with this. He was a little shy so I said I would say the prayer for him. "God, will you please keep the flying IPOD away from my room and give me sweet dreams tonight." (And I threw in an extra prayer to keep Parker in his bed all night.) He rolled right over and went to sleep. See? God does answer prayers!!!

1" Too Short To Vroom

Garrett has been a busy guy lately too... although I don't think he has been dreaming of flying IPODs. At least he's not telling me if he is! He is literally 1 inch too short to make his tricycle go- Parker never cared about bikes and 4-wheelers and here is poor Garrett, dying to go fast and furious and he is too short!
I probably shouldn't jinx it but he hasn't had so much as a sniffle in 5 days which is a record for him. Maybe Singulair will cure the kid! I will send out an update after we meet with the pulmonologist on Thursday.
For having been so sick lately, he is the happiest little guy I know. Everyone that sees him constantly comments on his smile and his happy cute face. It breaks my heart to see him get any bigger than he is right now. Baby #3 will be around shortly!
My most recent happy memory of his was about a month ago, we were outside in the little pool and he had his diaper off... I think that is when he realized that diapers are for the birds... anywho... he came over to me with the biggest smile on his face and hugged my neck and said, "I'm happy!" It took him less than 2 years of life to discover that true happiness is playing outside with no pants on. He would be naked all day long if I would let him. Maybe that is why he is trying to potty-train himself...
His newest favorite thing is to squeeze. He comes up and hugs your neck so tight... it is the best thing in the world. (And contagious because Parker has to do it too which only makes it that much better.) I just think to myself, "please please please don't grow up into stinky teenagers!!!"