June -- 2011

They do say laughter is the best medicine.

Jordan passed gas and he looked at me and asked "Why am I doing that? Am I sick?" No baby, your not sick.

Jordan bit his cheek -- next thing I know he comes in with a band aid in hand and wants me to put in on it. I had a hard time trying to get him to understand why the band aid wouldn't stick on the inside of his mouth.

Dominic dropped his gum on the floor in church. I wrapped it in paper and told him it was "yucky". He then tried to figure out why the pencils that dropped on the floor weren't "yucky" too.

While wrestling with his Uncle and being stuck, I hear Jordan yell "Oh Toodle". Evidently he always come when Mickey calls him and helps Mickey out so why wouldn't he come to Jordan's aid too?

Jordan tried to look down Grandma's shirt. When she told him no she was trying to be modest, He informed her that he didn't have any of those, only big girls do. (this from a 4 year old).


Other times all you can do is just shake your head:

Dominic licking me and when I tell him we don't lick people, he tells me he is a dog.

For whatever reason Jordan decided to pee in the tub instead of using the toilet that was just a foot away.

My boys decided to decorate their bathroom with baby powder -- all over.

One Sunday Morning Jordan informed us "I'm sick. I need to stay home from church."

One day I go to the bathroom because I hear Jordan yelling for me and find him with his pants and big boys around his ankles and poop on the floor.

Another day Dominic had taken his diaper off and then pulled his pants up before I could get another diaper on -- I find this out after he peed his pants.

Jordan managed to get himself stuck between the closet doors and couldn't get out.

The boys had a big Fire Truck they broke in half -- they just couldn't understand why it couldn't be fixed.

Dominic has decided it would be a good idea to try and step on bees. So far no stings. Thankfully he has missed them and they have missed him.

On a shopping trip to Publix I had to carry both my boys out after Dominic (who was holding his sister's hand) decided to lay in the middle of the floor. Jordan then decided he would load anything and everything in the cart. On the way out, Jordan started yelling for grandma. I informed him that "grandma can't help you." and took them to the van.

Our house has gone through extremes this month. One day I was freezing and discovered the thermostat was set on 50. Another day our house was really warm and I found the bathroom stool by the thermostat and the temperature was set on 90. Thank you Jordan.

I needed to get some shopping done and wasn't wanting to fight the boys to do it. My mom said I could bring them over. Jordan told me "But Mommy, you will miss me." I told him "yes baby I will, but I am going grocery shopping without you and I will be back to get you."

Then there are times that make you so proud:
We made a day trip to Alabama to takes cousins home. My brother, Leif was working on things outside and Jordan decided he was going to help. He grabbed a shovel, rake, or a broom, whatever was available and went to work. His little head was sweating. I asked him why he had water on his head. He told me "Because I'm working Mom." I attempted to have him go inside once for a break and to cool off. He threw the biggest fit because he wanted to work.

Mike's truck engine blew. Evidently there's a problem with 2004-2007 Dodge Hemis. The engines blow between 120-140k miles. Mike's truck is at 135k. Initially it was going to cost $4500 to fix it, but they came back with $3000 for everything. When Constance heard us talking about it, she handed us her wallet and told us we could have her money to put towards fixing the truck.

Lesson Learned -- by me!

Back in June:
We switched the boys door lock around earlier to keep them from locking us and each other out. Evidently I need to make sure there is a way to unlock the door from the inside. This was a lesson learned the hard way.

My nephew had spent the night and we were trying to get everyone dressed and ready so I could take him to my mother's house. Both Constance and Noah were ready and waiting on me to get the boys dressed, so they came in the boys room to wait. I was trying to get Dominic's shoes on when Jordan decided to be funny, lock the door and then shut it. Yep, all of us were locked in the boys room.

Mike was at the Fire Department -- he had just gone in that morning. Constance told me I should call Daddy -- that would have been a great idea except my cell phone was in the kitchen on the table. I looked out the window to see if I could get my neighbors attention to have them call Mike -- but no one was home. I was hoping my mom would get tired of waiting for us and come and get Noah (she has a house key) -- of course I found out later that my dad actually had our house key with him out at their farm.

The entire time we are trying to figure out what we are going to do -- Jordan is smiling and thinking he is pretty clever. I pointed out to him that we would see how clever he still thought he was if we were still stuck at lunch time when I couldn't get him anything to eat and when he had to go to the bathroom.

I learned real quick how utterly useless plastic toys are on hinges as well as flip flops and tennis shoes. Thankfully we had a can in the boys room under the bed and were able to use it to pop the hinges off the boys door and make our escape.
Needless to say, we now make sure there is a "key" inside the boys bedroom so we can unlock the door if this ever happens again.

There's No Place Like Home

Halloween 2011

The boys didn't think it was right that only sissy had a sword. They decided rather quick they wanted to be pirates as well.

Some Cereal.

Dominic and Jordan wanted some cereal this morning. At first Dominic wanted Shredded Wheat, at least until Jordan asked for Kix. I gave them both Kix.
It was all good until a little while ago.
Dominic came to me and asked me "where's my shredded wheat?" When I told him he didn't have any shredded wheat he had kix, He got very upset. He asked again "where is my shredded wheat". When I told him he had Kix, he got very upset and said "I don't want Kix" and proceeded to dump his bowl of Kix (no milk) all over the floor. I looked at him and told him he was more then welcome to go get the vacuum and clean his mess up. He looked at me and said "Fine, I will get the vacuum and clean the mess up." He stomped his little feet all the way to get it. He cleaned the Kix up -- yelling anytime Jordan got one and ate it (which was hilarious since he didn't want them). When he was all done, he comes to me with his empty bowl in hand and says: "Mommy, can I please have some shredded wheat please?"

A Penny

About 2-3 weeks ago the radio on my van decided to stop working. It didn't go silent, it was loud static and just out of one speaker. When I turned the radio off the static was louder, so we pulled the fuse. No problem. The kids at first weren't too happy with the no music thing but they have gotten used to it.

Last week we started having issues with the car alarm going off. It was hit or miss at first. Once in the middle of the night. Then as we were walking into the store to do some shopping for school supplies, the alarm went off. We reset it and didn't think anything of it. Once we got in the store and the doors opened again, we heard the alarm going off again. Mike went out to see what was up. While he was out, the alarm went off several more times. He finally just left it unlocked. We didn't have any more problems from it that day.

The next morning the alarm went off at 6 AM (Good morning!) -- it continued to go off through out the day. Mike left work for a little bit to take to our mechanic to see if they could tell us what was wrong. They told us we would have to take it to the Dealership. We finally pulled the relay for the horn. At least we wouldn't have the noise.

Yesterday when I went to get in the van to take Mike and the boys dinner, my van wouldn't start. I called a friend to come and give me a jump. Thankfully it started for me so I could take Constance to school this morning. When Mike got home this morning he took it to the dealership to see what we could find out.

He called me and told me they found a penny welded to the circuit board. I asked Jordan if he put a penny in where we put music. He told me "yes mommy and I can't get it out". I told him that was why we didn't have music in the van. He looked at me and told me "sorry".

I just have to shake my head and laugh. Who knew a penny could cause so many problems.

We are still waiting to see if the alarm is linked to the same issue.

Where do they come up with this?

Sometimes I have to hide my laughter from the boys. I don't want to encourage them in some areas.

To Share or Not to Share
I gave Dominic a couple marshmallows for him and a couple to give to Jordan. You have to understand. Dominic always looks out for Jordan. I can't give him anything without him asking for Jordan to have some too. Anyway, I gave him the marshmallows and He went in the other room. A few minutes later here comes Jordan asking for some marshmallows. I asked Dominic where the marshmallows were. He opens his mouth to show me. I guess even he has his limits. I personally gave Jordan a few marshmallows.

One morning I told the boys they needed to get of our bed. Jordan just lays there. I ask Jordan to please get off our bed. He tells me "I'm not Jordan." OK, then who are you?. His response: "I'm Daddy."

No Fear
I about had a heart attack one morning when I walked into the living room and found my 2 year old standing on the arm of the couch.

I love the thoughtfulness of my boys. I was making bread sticks. Jordan kept sneaking dough. He then told me he was "helping me" by eating it. I guess in a round about way that is true. It is that much less I have to make into bread sticks.

Not Quite There
Dominic and his idea of potty training -- coming in after he has filled his diaper (maybe with it still on -- if you are lucky) and then stands by the potty for 2 seconds and says he is done and flushes the toilet.

Some things just aren't worth the fight!
I was trying to get the kids ready for church (Mike wasn't home). Dominic decided to help me by putting on his beautiful green rain boots and his hat. When I tried to change his shoes, he started to throw a massive fit. I decided that it just wasn't worth the fight and let him wear the boots (at least he didn't fight me on the pants and shirt). I did make him leave his hat in the car.

Who Knew?
Jordan informed me one day that he wasn't feeling well and asked me for some popcorn. He then told me "it will make me feel better." I never knew popcorn had medicinal purposes.

It is pretty sad when you have a King size bed and you end up sleeping on the foot of your own bed. My boys have been having a hard time sleeping. One night they both climbed in bed with me and they both had to be right next to me. I finally ended up moving to the foot of the bed so I could hopefully get a least a little sleep.

Sometimes I Wonder
I loaded the kids in the van one day to come home. Next thing I know I hear Constance tell Jordan to give her her seat belt. I look back and see that Jordan has taken her seat belt and pulled it back to buckle in his buckle.


Jordan informed me one morning he doesn't have hair -- he has fuzz. It told him he does have hair it is just really short. He then informed me he has a ponytail -- it's just hiding.

I ended up having my exercise cut short one morning because a fire truck showed up at the Y to do Pre-plans. Jordan was so sure there was a fire -- they had to come and get me from my class.

We have had fun with doors lately too. The boys take turns trying to lock the other in their room. We had turned the locks around so the boys couldn't lock us out of their room anymore (was becoming a common occurrence).

Jordan decided he was going to help me get clean. Never mind that I was fully dressed. He proceeded to use a washcloth full of water. I was a little wet when he was done and he only had one chance.

Dominic likes to use his head as a weapon. He likes to headbutt me and while he is doing this he says: "I got you"

One day, while we were running errands, Jordan saw the yellow light and told me "go faster, yellow means we go faster." I don't know where he is getting his information.

The boys were playing with Grandpa Sandstrom and some balloons. Jordan took Grandpa's balloon from him to tease him. On seeing this, Dominic gave Grandpa his balloon and grabbed the one no one was playing with.