Father's Day Collages

The idea:
[Cue dream lighting and angels singing]
To take pictures of the kids (all dressed up of course) holding the letters D-A-D.  Let the kids pick their favorite pictures to make a card for father's day.  And then to use a 3 mat frame (3 5x7's) to create a collage for Kevin to take to work.

Reality check:
D-A-D is 3 letters, and there are 2 kids.  And let's be honest here - posing is not the boys' forte - unless of course it's their idea... Which in dress clothes it never is.   Not to mention that whole me finding the time to procure, and PAINT the letters in between eye infections, car thieves, stomach bugs, swim lessons, and oh, yeah, work.  Funny, huh?

What actually happened:
I picked up chipboard letters, but didn't get around to getting them painted made an executive design decision to go with a more natural rustic look.

The boys wore their Father's Day Shirts ("Like Father, Like Son") instead of their dress shirts because they violently object to polo shirts, anything that has buttons, or anything that isn't cotton I made an executive design decision to go with a more natural rustic look.

Connor cooperated and had several cute pictures to choose from.

Ryan chose several creative ways to hold the letter D (on top of his head, sideways, hanging off his nose, upside down and backwards). 

Ryan also fervently objected to holding the letter A recommended that I use a picture of him with Daddy as his "A" picture.

To be "fair" (3 letters, 2 kids) I decided the best thing to do for the framed art piece was to have BOTH boys hold the letter A.   Let's just say sharing and cooperating is not their forte either.  And some children approached this task with more excitement and vigor than others.

Despite everything we did eventually end up with an "A" picture we could use.

And I thought the whole thing turned out pretty darn cute!

With the pictures in hand it was time to start on the card(s).  The design was originally intended to be a bit more upscale blue and green.  When I didn't get around to painting the letters made the executive design decision to make it more natural and rustic I had to scramble to come up with a corresponding card design.

I think I succeeded.

So then it was time for the framed art...

At which time I discovered that the 3 picture vertical 5x7 frames were no longer anywhere to be found (and I do mean anywhere!) I looked. 

So I finally came up with a glass 3 picture (3x3) frame that I already had.  So I had to recrop & reprint the pictures as 3x3's.  Which is far more difficult than it should be.  Only to discover that the frames weren't exactly the 3x3 that they advertised.  More like 3 1/4 x 3 1/8.  Great.  Just Great.

I did eventually manage to get pictures in the frame.  And the boys and I excitedly admired our handiwork.  So much so that we totally scrapped the plan to wrap the frame (which is semi circular) in a brown paper bag (rustic theme carried though, see??) tied with brown twine and instead decided to just put it on the mantle and drag him in to admire it the second he came downstairs on Saturday.  :)   And yes, I meant Saturday... :)  Since school was hosting a Father's Day lunch on Friday we had already broken out the kids shirts and the shirts the kids and I picked out for Kevin.  So we figured why wait!?  :)

In our excitement we also forgot to take a picture of the finished product for everyone to admire.  An oversight I am sure we will have to rectify soon.  As soon as I remember.  Right after I finally remember to count my teaspoons, and look for the check I got at Christmas that hasn't been cashed.  :)

Update: And here's a picture.  :)

Happy Father's Day

A day full of silver linings

You know those days when you just shouldn't have gotten out of bed?  It was one of those days for me...

Woke up. Ryan had goup in his eyes. Another infection – wonderful.

Kid can’t go to school.  I can't go to work.
Went to the doctor. Waited forever. Confirmed Ryan has uber contagious cooties going around. Needs toxic eye drops. Can’t go to school for TWO days.
Dr.’s office says payment is overdue on 4 year well checks. Insurance didn’t pay. 361 days since last appt. Must be 365. Have to write appeal. Insurance sucks.
Dr.s’ office wants payment now or is threatening to send to collections. Did I mention that iinsurance sucks?
Went to lunch – discovered phone was toast.
Got kids meal free despite not being able to show coupon on phone. Bonus.
Discovered Ryan has diarrhea.
Finally left the restaurant after visiting the bathroom no fewer than 5 times.
Remote started my car to get the AC going. Surprised thieves trying to break-in.
Unlocked car doors to let Ryan in – freaked thieves out and scared them away.
Got a good look at the passenger (the one doing the actual breaking-in). Got the license number. Called the police.
Waited forever. With Ryan. Joy.
Police ran plates – didn’t match car description – stolen plates.
Thankful we weren’t two minutes slower. Had radar detector, GPS, [broken] phone, my computer, my passport and other important documents in the car.
Stopped by Verizon hoping they could fix my phone - especially since it was the number I gave the police. Confirmed phone is toast. Phone was surprisingly under warranty.  And only took 10 minutes.
I already knew that because I remembered when I got the phone – the day after my car got broken into in my driveway and my phone was stolen. Ironic.
Ordered new phone. It will be here sometime next year.  Had to pay shipping.  And it has to be signed for. Yea.
Picked up RX.   Drove home. 
Got key stuck in door. Door doesn’t unlock. Key doesn’t come out.
Finally got in the house. Gave Ryan eye drops. Kid freaked out. Will require straight jacket for future application.
Put Ryan down for a nap. He refused to go to sleep.
Had to use pliers to wrench the key out of the door.  Lock’s broken (thankfully locked.)
Finally logged into work email. Million and one messages. Missed a meeting I scheduled.  Fabulous.

It was just that kind of day... And despite everything that happened, it could have been so much worse.

School Lunch

Boys… I hope you love the school cafeteria because if this morning was any indication you are going to be eating there. A lot.
With school hosting special mother’s day lunches in the formal dining room this week they asked that the kids bring their lunches for the days their class wasn’t celebrating. Luckily that left me with just 2 lunches. The first lunch, a fish themed lunch with tuna fish sandwiches cut into the shape of a fish complete with eyes and fins, a fish shaped boiled egg (awesome!), fish shaped jello, goldfish, coral (carrots), and fish eggs (grapes) went off mostly without a hitch. Other than discovering that Ryan’s lunch box is adorable, but doesn’t fit any food container except the lego bento box.
I decided on a Mexican theme for day 2. I thought I had this lunch all thought out. Burritos to be kept warm in the thermos. Tortilla chips. Salsa. Fruit. Dessert. Sounds easy enough right?

Only try finding a thermos that is tall and skinny instead of short and fat. Or one that the lip at the top doesn’t curve in so that you can get your burrito out. Thermos people are you listening!?!? Because I didn’t find it anywhere. And I looked. Everywhere. Twice.

Luckily I had picked up some novelty thermoses (designed to look like crayola crayons) a while back. They are tall, and don’t have the lip issue all the others do. They also don’t keep the food very hot – they claim to keep it “warm” ~100 degrees for 5 hours. So we will keep our fingers crossed… and hope the foil helps. Sigh…

At least there are the chips. You can’t go wrong with chips. Unless your husband polishes off the whole big bag. And a giant jar of salsa. Without telling anyone. Luckily we had a little bit left of another bag that got hidden behind other things. And by little I mean the last 1/6 of the bag. So the boys got chips. I got crumbs…

And Salsa? The kids seems to vacillate on what’s hot and what’s not so you never know. Decided to play it safe and picked up a guacamole dip. Only this morning I couldn’t get the lid off. No matter what or how hard I tried. Where’s Kevin when you need him!?! So, mom, you can add a jar opener to my Birthday/Christmas/holiday of the day/just because you love me wish list.

And the perfect salsa dipper Tupperware I got out and put on the table to have it all out and ready? Kevin lost one while “cleaning up the table” this morning. Clearly they were not meant to have guacamole dip. Or salsa.

At least the fruit part was pretty painless. I picked up some strawberries last night. Cut them up, put them in a container. And the dessert – two of our favorite Mexican places serve ice cream for dessert – one for everyone, and the other as part of the kids meal. So the ice cream shaped marshmallow treats seemed like a good idea, too. Dropped a couple in a little container.

And then I started packing the boxes. Connor’s mystery machine easily handled the thermos, chips, ice pack, Gatorade, strawberry container, and dessert container. With room to spare actually. My favorite Rachel Ray fared even better – The front outer pocket boasting enough room for the thermos, chips, and dessert, leaving the cool compartment for the ice pack, drink, salsa, and strawberries. Ryan’s on the other hand…. No matter how I attempted to rearrange everything just would not fit. I eventually gave up and pulled his thermos out to carry separately. I tried talking him into a different lunchbox this week. Anything you want. Just pick one. His response? “But I don’t’ want a new one. I like my Lightning better.”

They polished off every.last.bite of their fish themed lunch earlier this week. And asked if they could have it again, and again. Hopefully they will be as enthusiastic about today’s Mexican themed cuisine.

Why I don't leave Kevin alone with the kids

Because I later find things on his camera like this... 

Clearly they require more supervision.

Personalized Kids Water Bottles

Every day the boys have to take a water bottle to school.  For the first few weeks we took our insulated Thermos water bottles.  However, one morning when I was dropping the kids off I noticed that there were 5 Cars 2 thermos bottles just like the boys' and despite the fact that they all had their names written on them they are bound to get mixed up from time to time - as evidenced by the fact that that was also the day that Connor's water bottle went missing.  And two weeks later is STILL missing.

So in the hopes of not losing any more water bottles I thought it would be a good idea to for the boys to have unique water bottles.  :)  So the next morning we grabbed our old Design your Own Sippy Cups, changed out the sippy cup top for straw tops and sent the kids off to school with the dinosaur designs that I had made for the sippy cups when we first got them probably 3 years ago.  Luckily the boys like dinosaurs as much now if not moreso.  But I still made a mental note to work on some new designs when I had the chance.  Unfortunately before I got around to it, Ryan managed to get water inside the part with the design and while the cardstock held up fine I was a little worried that with all our humidity it might mold so I swapped out Ryan's dinosaur for the only other one I could still find - a barnyard design I made as part of the favors for the boys' 2nd birthday party.  So of course Connor wanted his swapped out, too.

After dinner tonight while the boys played outside I spent a few minutes and knocked out a few new designs that the kids can rotate through of some of their favorite characters - Scooby Doo for Connor, and of course Cars for Ryan.

They were both thrilled with their new designs and can't wait to take them to school tomorrow.  :)

Potty Humor

Continuing in the tradition of the Potty Talk: Comments from the Stall Next Door Series... Something I know the boys are going to thank me for sharing someday...

Me: Connor you need to poop.
C: But I don't know how.
Me: Yes, you do.  Just let it out.
C: But how?
M: You just have to tell it that's it's okay to come out.
C: [leans down towards the potty] "It's okay to come out."
C: [Pause]
C: [looking at me accusatorily] "It didn't work."

"One ty one"

In the car on the way home last night Ryan told me that "8 and 8 was eighty-eight."  And "9&9 was ninety-nine."  So of course I asked him about 77, 66, 56, etc.  His newfound knowledge even applied to 45, 41, 43, 47, etc.  I was super proud of him.  The only time he was stumped was with 4&0.  And of course 1&1 which he prounounced "one ty one."  :)

Of course Connor didn't want to be left out of the high praise either.  After a while he picked up on the concept and was doing just as well as Ryan at naming the various number combinations.

Way to go boys!

[Nearly] Wordless Wednesday

The puzzle master has been at it again.  This time with a 200 piece fish puzzle. 

He just couldn't stand that it was sitting in the box unworked.  He couldn't wait to get it open and get it together all by himself.  Because helping me with it just didn't count.

Not when he could do it all by himself.  :)

Family Easter Celebration 2012

Despite being just 15 minutes away we managed to be late to the Easter party.  :)  But that's okay.  There was still plenty of food left.  And the band was still playing.  :)

So we visited.

And took a ride down to the creek (thanks to Uncle Bobby!)

And before too long it was time for the Easter Egg Hunt. 

They set up a separate area for the little kids which turned out to just be Ryan & Connor this year.  So they went to town picking up eggs. 

They made quite a haul.

Then they helped the big kids scour the area just in case they missed anything, too.  :)

Then of course they had to open all the eggs to check out all the loot.

Once that was done they volunteered to drive people around in the golf cart.

Thank goodness the battery was dead by that point from all the joyriding.  :)

So instead they decorated their own cookies.

And attacked people with the balloon alligators Aunt Debbie made them.  :)   Until finally hyped up on enough sugar to send a diabetic into a coma we packed them back up in the car.  And fed them some more juice for good measure.  To keep them hydrated and all.  :)  Luckily they crashed in the car on the drive back to the park.  And when they woke up, or we woke them up as the case might be, we loaded them into the canoe and set off to explore the alligator infested swamp.  :)