JustJessie

A change of pace

The boys and I were having one of those days.  You know the kind I mean.  We were all ill and biting each others heads off.  There was a lot of me yelling at the kids to stop yelling in the house, or at each other.  So when my dad called to ask if we wanted to come by, I thought the change of scenery (and company) might do us good.  And as usual, an afternoon at GaGa and Dado's was just what the doctor ordered. 

Dad taught Grayson two guitar chords (a momentous occasion in my family).  He learned A and D, so technically he could play a song.  I actually know one that is basically A and D the whole way through.  Grayson was pretty proud of himself, let me tell ya'!

Then Grant got to help cook dinner.  We tried to get the boys to help us shuck the corn, but we did it outside, and there are just way too many distractions out there.   Grant always wants to know what's going on in the kitchen, though, so he was more than happy to help when we got to that part.  We let him "wash" the corn (it was more like splashing it around under the faucet).

Then he got to put it in the pot, and fill the pot up with water.  You could just tell how big he felt, getting to help out like that. 

We ended up having a great afternoon after a very rocky morning.  Thank God for grandparents who care enough to brighten our day.

Rainmakers

Grayson has been playing Indians for two days now, and last night he was so bummed because he wanted to have a pow-wow and we were too tired.  So this evening, I looked out the window and noticed it was getting really overcast and the wind was starting to blow, so I got the "Indian drum" and started playing. 

Grayson came running into the room, "What are we doing Mom?!"  So I told him, "Hiawatha (that's how I was told to address Grayson today) do raindance. Bring heap big storm.  Hiawatha help Mommy?"  So we got our rainstick and started "chanting" and dancing all over the house.  Grant didn't know what was going on, but he was imitating every single thing we did, and loving it!

Every once in a while we would go look out the window, and I'd point out how much harder the wind was blowing and how dark the sky was becoming.  Then we started to hear the thunder, and I wish you could have see Grayson's face!  His eyes lit up and filled with awe.  He was so totally convinced that he had MADE RAIN!  From that point on, there was no stopping him.  He got sooo into his Hiawatha character, I wasn't sure how we were going to get him out!

Right when Daddy got home it started to really rain, and Grayson got to tell him that we were responsible for it.

Ingenuity

Two boys + one air pump = endless assisted armpit farts

Workin' Nine to Five...

I have to blog quickly because my laptop hates me and is refusing to charge it's batteries.  That's okay though, because I had the most boring day EVER!!  Somehow last week my house went from reasonably clean to... unreasonably unclean.  or something.  I spent the whole entire day cleaning.  I'm  talking nine to five people.  I even cleaned my room.  And let me tell you, if you haven't cleaned your room in a year or so, my advice is to convert it into a storage room and sell your house as quickly as possible.  By no means should you try to clean it.  There will be vicious dust bunnies attacking from under the bed where they've been hiding and feeding on lego shaped waffle pieces and goldfish crackers.  Oh, I wish I were exaggerating.  But I'm not.  Not even when I tell you there were more toys in my room than in the playroom and boys' room combined.  Or when I tell you my hardwood floor felt more like a sandbox than, well, our sandbox.

You know what's even worse?  My house doesn't even look clean.  I didn't concentrate on following the boys around picking up toys all day, or folding their blankies, etc, so the house still looks messy.  I keep finding dust bunny carcasses peeping out of corners that I know I already cleaned.  They're multiplying behind my back, naughty little bunnies.

Now my brain hurts, and I'm going to bed.

Swimming in ... something

Grant has been a mess since the day he was born, but lately he's just been making messes everywhere he goes.  If I leave the room for two minutes, and I come back in, there is invariably a new blob, puddle, or smear for me to clean up.  And usually a sticky, blobby, wet boy to be changed and washed as well.  As soon as I try to fuss at him for it, he looks at me with big, blue, smiley, mischeivous eyes, and I just can't deliver on the stern mommy thing.  But speaking of MESSES, there was one the other day that topped them all.

I had the boys in the tub Friday night before Grayson's VBS closing ceremony and had just finished bathing them, when I noticed little smelly bubbles floating up from Grant's hiney.  I'm all, "Grant, don't go poopy in the tub, okay?" tee hee, jokey jokey.  Or maybe not so jokey.  About that time I see a half eaten grape float to the top of the water.  Eeeeeew!  I jumped up, and was like "GRAYSON!  GRAYSON!  GET OUT OF THE TUB!  HE'S POOPING IN THE WATER!!"  I swear that was the fastest I have ever seen that boy get out of the bathtub.  There was no begging for five more minutes in the water that time!  So I jerked Grant out of the water, and stood him on a towel because our bath mat was in the washer. 

THEN I was turned around combing Grayson's hair, when I heard a most disturbing noise and plop coming from behind me.  You guessed it!  A nice little present waiting for me on the towel under the baby.  AND BOY WAS HE PROUD!!  "Mommeeee!  Dent do poopy in da POTTY!!  YAY DENT!"

Yay "Dent" indeed.

Poems of love

Ode to Coffee

How do I love thee, my nectar of life?

You awaken my senses.  You open my eyes.

Without you I'm nothing. Without you I fall

Back into bed, on my pillow to drool.

Ode to My Fat Jeans

When all others fail me, I know you'll be there

To cover my granny-panty underwear.

Your buttons don't hurt me, or beg for release.

You don't ever judge me or call me obese.

You snuggle up to me in all the right places.

You never restrict me or crawl up my aces.

Ode to Netflix

My dear, do you love me the way I love you?

Am I number one on your Favorites too?

You have saved me from checkouts and trips to the store.

You bring me cool movies, so I never get bored.

You have saved me so much in other ways, too,

For my late fees at Blockbuster are 182!

A change of heart

"Mommy, if you wanted to give a present to a girl who is your friend, what would you give her?"

"Umm, most girls like flowers.  Flowers are nice."

"How about PAPER FLOWERS?  Can we make some paper flowers?"

Who might these lovely paper flowers be for, you might ask?  Jamie, the long time pre-k girlfriend?  Nope.  For his NEW girlfriend.  The one with the long blonde hair who ran up and gave him a hug after VBS and then shyly ran away yesterday. 

As his mom I can't tell you how happy I am.  Not because I have the most handsome boy in the whole VBS; not because he is so sweet he wants to make gifts for little girls who like him;  BECAUSE he got himself a new girlfriend before the (sometimes fickle) old one "dumped" him.  Don't get me wrong.  I don't want her to get her feelings hurt either, and there was no "dumpage" either way.  He just has two girlfriends now.  Yup.  That's right!  M'boy has two ladies.  And they are the prettiest ones in their two classes.  Um, not that that matters.  Because, after all, it's what's on the inside that counts, right?  Riiiiigghht.  And the best part?  After this week he won't be seeing either one anymore, so there is no danger of getting dumped and hurting his little ego.  They can just quietly fade away into the past as he moves on with his life. 

For a little dose of cuteness on the side, when my dad asked Grayson if the new girlfriend was pretty, his reply was, "She's blonde, Dado, she has to be pretty!"

Crack Attack!

River rats

We had ourselves a little adventure today with our buds.  My best friend found this little public mudhole beach where she wanted to take her dog, and we decided it would be fun to take the whole crew.  She and I grew up in the river, but the boys have never been in it as far as I know, so they were soo excited to go.  It was great.  They loved being in the water and playing in the sand.  We even brought our pirate gear, thinking they could hunt for some buried treasure (that lasted all of five minutes, but the doo-rags stayed).

It's nice to have a bestie with a good sense of direction who can take us along on her adventures.  If I tried to go by myself, I would very likely end up at the real beach.  five hours away.  Oh yeah, I'm that bad.  I once got lost in Memphis for two hours on a major highway ( I still say that one was the map's fault.  Who knew you couldn't rely on the map on the back of a zoo brochure for accuracy?)  Grayson was only six months old and cried for most of the two hours, while I frantically checked and rechecked my zoo brochure for directions to my hotel.  Ugh.  Umm... What was I talking about?  Oh yeah!  The river.

We were all ready to crash when we got home.  I hope we can do it again sometime soon, maybe even find a different spot to check out.  We are within miles of a river, a national forest, and a wildlife refuge, and somehow we almost never take advantage of it.  I know why I don't do it by myself (remember Memphis, anyone?), but I don't know why we don't go more with our friends.  I guess now's a good time to start, huh?

A matched set

Grant now has a magic cape to match his brother's.  It only took about a third of the time of Grayson's, and he wore it for all of ten minutes before he wanted it off. Grayson was playing pirates at the time, though and I know Grant will want to wear his when Grayson does.  When he gets to be like big bubba is when he will love his magic cape.