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Kaden is on spring break this week (technically Blue is too) but we still haven't seen much of him because he's had horseback riding camp. Long story short, he didn't go on Thursday so we hit Indian Riverside Park going first to the beach and then to the fountain.
He loves horseback riding but he was happy for this break within his break.
Last night, for his birthday, my dad drove from Lehigh Acres to Jensen Beach to meet us at a restaurant and then, after dinner, he drove the 2.5hrs back home. We have a guest room but he just wanted to come in for dinner. He would have paid for his own birthday dinner as well but I slipped my credit card to the server mid dinner, long before it was check time, to make sure mine was the card used.
We ate at the Dolphin Bar and Shrimp House because my dad had been wondering if the old "Francis Langford Restaurant" was still there. I googled it and discovered that parts of it are still there in the much expanded and renamed Dolphin Bar and Shrimp House. Here's Poppy and the boys on the dock after we ate. It's lucky everyone's tummies were full or they may have blown away!
On a Wednesday evening out of season (it's after "snow bird" season because they all go north by Easter and it's before summer tourist season) it was packed. Understandably so - we all enjoyed our meals. So, great find, Dad! And Happy Birthday!
Or another plush lovey for that matter.
Kaden had a favorite Teddy Bear - Gunther. (A German name because Gunther came from Germany.) On a trip after Kaden had just turned 6, Gunther got left behind. Kaden wasn't particularly heart broken about it and that was the end of Gunther.
Blue's first teddy bear of great affection was Lucy. Lucy was a white bear that Blue used to chew on and no matter how often I washed her she looked gray and disgusting. It didn't take long before we announced that Lucy was gone but Charlie had come as her replacement. Blue, less than two years old at the time, accepted this.
Blue promptly began chewing on Charlie but, as a brown bear, he held up better. We accepted that Charlie Bear had leprosy and that's been that. But now Charlie Bear is blind in one eye. As in, I'm pretty sure some day last week Blue chewed off and swallowed Charlie's eye. I've told Blue that should Charlie lose his other eye, then we are saying goodbye to Charlie. He's moving out. Adios.
And because Blue knows that when I say something like that I absolutely mean it, I don't expect him to eat the other eye... But, this is Blue we're talking about. He does what he wants, so if he really wanted to chew off that eye, consequences be damned.
What if he have to get rid of Charlie soon?
Which got me thinking - have any of you retired a bear or a well-loved lovey? How'd that go?
Good Friday we went to my mom's for dinner and painted eggs. I bought some cool neon stuff where you put a few drops of paint in a plastic bag and jostle it around in there. This was great because Toby could do it:
But we also did it the old school way:
Overall, a good effort:
Then we ditched the kids there and didn't pick them back up until Sunday morning before church. BEST. IDEA. EVER.
And here we are reunited again Sunday morning:
I don't know who Blue is trying to fool with this pose. He must not know that I tell all his stories on the internet.
At church we had a breakfast and then an egg hunt. I didn't even have to coach Toby. He went right over to an egg and dropped it in his basket! (He then promptly tossed it out. But that's so not the point.) He liked throwing them in:
My other hunters:
After church it was cleaning and cooking time because we hosted a family from Blue's tee ball team for dinner, but we did take a break from that to do Easter Baskets and a little at-home hunt.
I decided to designate one color for Toby (orange). This meant that Toby could get any kind of egg he wanted but the other boys could not touch the orange eggs. Toby's eggs had mini marshmallows and raisins in them. The majority of the other eggs had dimes and quarters. (They got enough candy at my mom's and church.)
Here they are, supposed to be ready to go, but Toby's already tossed down his basket and is ignoring an orange egg. Oh well.
He did, eventually, with my help, get all his orange eggs, and even, fully on his own, found an egg that Kaden overlooked. He shook it, didn't seem to care for the sound it made (it was a money egg) and promptly tossed it back on the ground for another brother to fetch.
Afterwards, Toby got to snack but the big boys only got to inspect and count:
Yes, we do the baskets and the candy and the bunnies and all the silliness.
(These bunnies are the ones I've kept from my Easter baskets of the past.)
But in the van on the way from church we had a conversation:
I said, "What's more powerful Jesus or an elephant?" (Jesus!)
I said, "What's more powerful Jesus or a big truck?" (Jesus!)
I said, "What's more powerful Jesus or a tornado?" Kaden wavered here and I reminded him about the story of Jesus calming the storm and if he can control weather, he is more powerful than any kind of weather. (Jesus!)
I said, "What's more powerful Jesus or death?" They didn't waver.
We may have sugared and pastelled it up,(because we attach sugar and special colors to any holiday), but they know what the hoopla celebrates: He is risen! The tomb is empty. Jesus is more powerful than death. They get that.
My Monday began at 5am. A little something in the kitchen roused me awake. I did not suspect mice. I bolted out of bed quickly because I KNEW it was Blue.
It was.
Blue was undoubtedly trying to find the cake slices our Easter dinner guests had left behind, but he simply had the sheets of foil that had been over the ham and got left on the counter. I thwarted him early and must have been very convincing and scary when I sent him back to his bed WHERE HE'D BETTER STAY TILL I CAME BACK TO GET HIM because at 6:30am when I went back to get him, he was asleep. So I marched around his room to see where he'd inevitably peed after I'd put him back to bed, but it was dry. Hmmmmm. I'd laid in bed awake from 5 until 6am awake straining to listen for more Blue shenanigans all for naught.
When he did get up about ten minutes later I took him to pee and stepped on a very, very wet bathroom rub. THAT'S where he peed. Little jerk got up and went to the bathroom and peed in front of the sink instead of two feet over in the toilet.
Actually this is progress. Bathroom rubs can be tossed in the washing machine. But he's still a jerk.
Next I bring Kaden to my mom's because it's spring break and he has horseback riding camp and she was bringing him while I was at speech with Toby (with Blue in tow). Toby's speech therapist announced that he identified 27 things for her today. Her reports get more glowing with every appointment. At least if Blue is trying to ruin my life, it's nice that Toby is progressing well.
Speech. No OT today. Stop at Nutrition Smart. Go on our usual bike-ride/walk. Lunch. Read books. The usual...
Put Toby down for a nap. Toby doesn't nap. My mom offers to pick up Kaden and take Blue with her. No complaints from me. Toby should eventually crash and I could get a free hour. Nope. Toby doesn't nap.
Blue enters the house and the first thing he does is throw food from the counter against the wall. My patience with him ended about a month ago so he's officially not allowed to do anything but sit in my sight for the rest of the day. At one point when he was sitting against the wall and Kaden walked past him Blue shot out his legs to trip Kaden. I watched as this happened. Blue is still alive. Plus 1,0000 points for me!
Oh and I forgot to mention that our fridge stopped working last night.
Around 10:30pm Sunday night I noticed a big puddle in front of the fridge and for once, Blue didn't seem the culprit. I checked the temp and the freezer was at 32 and rising. The puddle was melt. The fridge continued to run but not well and the temp readings kept getting higher. So... Monday am I'd brought a bunch of food to my mom's which meant that in the pm when it was time to have dinner, the food had to be fetched. Kevin left to do this meanwhile poor, tired Toby was not happy about a dinner delay. As I tried to do what I could with the food we still had, he screamed at me in the kitchen. I stopped and got down on the floor with him to rub his back.
Next thing I know:
Sound asleep.
When I tried to rouse him at 6:30pm to eat with us, it was near impossible. I finally just eased him into his high chair and that woke him up. I knew we'd have a mega grump at the table (we did) but that was better than completely ruining the night by having him fall asleep so early and without dinner! By mid-dinner we were back on track...
Meanwhile, I think Blue may not pee on any floors tonight/tomorrow. He knows that if he does, ALL his Easter candy will be GONE. He has yet to touch his candy at all (not even the chocolate bunny) because he's been in trouble. On Sunday afternoon, after he peed on the floor, I told him I wasn't storing his candy forever. He had till Tuesday and then we were finding another kid, one who behaves, to give it to. Blue wants a chance at that basket BUT he also wants to be defiant. So far this evening he hasn't peed but he has gotten out of bed and taken every book off his bookshelf and made a disaster of his room.
No pee. But a book disaster.
This, of course, leaves me with the dilemma of how to start our Tuesday...
We're a month out from Toby's 2nd birthday.
Excuse me while I take a moment to pull myself together. I'm not ready to lose my "baby."
Ok. I'm back...
As Toby gets older he likes to do more "big boy" things - like instead of having Mommy hold him and brush his teeth for him (as has been the routine), he wants to stand on the stool and do it himself. Unfortunately Toby's idea of brushing his teeth is standing there and biting the toothbrush, so I have to say, "Mommy's turn!" and then try to brush as fast as I can before he yanks the toothbrush back out of my hand. Pretty much this means that I get in about seven good seconds of teeth brushing per night. Sigh. At least these teeth aren't permanent!
But we're keeping them.
Happy Easter,
Love us.
(Jesus is risen!)
My mom offered to keep the boys for a weekend so Kevin and I could get away, but instead of leaving town and spending money on a hotel, we decided to play tourists in our own part of the world. We started off our day by renting a kayak in Jensen Beach and paddling across the Causeway on the north side of the Jensen Beach bridge. We then lunched in Jupiter, continued south to spend a few hours at The Norton Museum, and then went to City Place for a movie and dinner. It was a 12 hour date! Thank you, Mom!
I didn't enter the I Heart Faces contest this week, but I did notice that the theme was "wind" which caused me to think of this picture of Kaden taken in September 2007. (Yes, my memory for pictures is that good.)
Don't worry, he didn't blow overboard. He was a good holder-oner.
Toby was pretty excited about dinner tonight.
