Headed to Hollywood

Do you think they have a future as a stuntman and stuntwoman?




They probably need to work on making those falls look just slightly more natural, though.

Grandma is always good for a cookie

And Sam informed me, "We're having a cookie. And we're being careful." (In response to the look I must have given him when I asked what they were doing eating on the steps.)

Too cool

And then it was back to real life....

Here's Sam when he realized all of his company was gone and he was going to have to be satisfied with just Sadie and me for a while....
...not even pizza could cheer him up.

Fun with Landon and Brynn

The next weekend more friends from Muscatine came to visit. The weather was not the greatest, so we spent a good chunk of time inside.

Watching TV
We did get in a little bit of swinging between raindrops.
And, of course, shared our love for small spaces with out friends. I couldn't quite believe all 4 of them managed to fit in this cupboard, but they had a great time!

Fun with Caleb and Hannah

The last week of July our friends Caleb and Hannah from our playgroup in Muscatine came for a visit.

The kids had a blast playing - dividing their time between the "tree house" of couch cushions and the backyard.

Here are Caleb and Hannah (because I couldn't get all four of them to peek out at the same time without someone getting trampled).
The four kids outside of the "tree house" - the trampling danger was less out in the open. (And yes, Sam's mohawk is now gone and his hair is really short. Let's just say that when I went to cut off the mohawk I kind of neglected to notice that there wasn't a guard on the clippers....oops.)
The boys enjoying the sprinkler.
The girls enjoying....I'm not exactly sure what...watering the wagon?
The pirates on their ship.
Good friends!

Wipeout! (The play-at-home version)

One night what I was not home, Sam and Joe discovered the show Wipeout! It's what I would call an adult version of the show Double Dare that used to be on when I was younger - an "obstacle course" that has some quite outrageous stunts and lots of mud and water to fall into.

Ever since then, Sam has been into creating his own obstacle courses in the backyard for himself, his friends, and even his mother. And since Carl and Alissa were in town, there was someone to take pictures of Mama doing the course too - lovely.

Sam heading through the picnic table. (Not so bad for a 3-year-old....)
The kids walking the balance beam. Notice the floaties on Sadie's arm. I guess she thought she was is danger of falling in. Into what I am not sure.....
The 32-year-old going through the picnic table....not as simple as it was for the little guy.
But I could do the balance beam - with only one shoe on, no less!
And I also did alright riding the Barbie Big Wheel to the finish.

Fun with Carl and LaLa

Carl and Alissa came to visit at the end of July. Here are a few pictures of their fun outside with the kids.

Alissa and the kids decorating the patio. (This was back when Sam was the Mohawk Man.)
I love the look on Sam's face in this picutre.
Sadie was just a little into the chalk....
Bubble gun fun
Swinging with Carl

The great blog catch up begins....

Working seriously gets in the way of my blogging.....

However, my book is turned in - a day early even - and the kids and I are enjoying one last trip to visit family before Sam starts preschool and I have to be a responsible parent and actually be somewhere consistently two days a week. It's hard, I know. Hopefully, I can handle it. :)

So - it's my mission to get a bunch of pictures posted from the last month or so. Not that many of you will really care what we did three weeks ago, but I need to preserve it for my own sake. I have finally admitted that I am not ever going to get around to scrapbooking baby books, or even printing pictures off my computer to have in any sort of tangible form, so the blog is what what my kids will have for memories.

So here we go.

This first batch is from our last trip to Cedar Falls at the beginning of July. I am warning you, they are very random.

Granddaddy with the kiddos. Sadie is actually saying "cheese," you just would never know it by looking at her.
The 3 cousins. I have about 8 shots of this on my camera - most of them with Molly looking at my kids (who were quite boisterous at the time - so unusual, I know...) seemingly thinking something along the lines of "Who are these two and how did I get stuck on a step with them!?"
Auntie Stacy and the kids: They had an awesome time with her running up and (rolling) down the hill, playing ring around the rosie, and throwing a ball, among other fun. She is so good with all of them!
My mom and the kids having a squirt gun fight while they are taking a bath. And I wonder why my walls at home are full of splashes.....
Sadie and LaLa hanging out on the porch.
And this last one requires a bit more of a story....

Once upon a time I wrote about "the things aunts are good for..." in respect to Alissa painting Sadie's nails.
Well, this trip to Cedar Falls I got a pedicure.
Sam looked at my feet and said "Mom, what did you do to your toes?"
I told him I had them painted.
"Why?" he asked.
"So they would be pretty," I told him.
"I want mine to be pretty too."
And with his aunt around, and his daddy back in Illinois, he got to have pretty toes too.

The stalling has begun...

My last post was about Sam finally going to sleep all by himself.

And let me just say, the past week has been blissful at bedtime. Books, kisses, prayers, goodnights, and goodbye - see you in the morning. There have been no whines, no tears, no meltdowns - all of which I had feared would set in after the first night. I've left each night and not heard a peep until morning.

Until tonight.

Sam discovered the art of stalling.

I tucked him in and went down the hall to work on my computer in our spare bedroom/office.

His first ventured out of his room to go into Sadie's room to tell her it was time to go to sleep. Twice. Even though she was already laying (or lying) in her crib, babbling herself to sleep.

Then he decided I needed a little company.

Sam: Mom, how's your work going?
Mom: Fine, thanks for asking, now go back to bed.

And the next visit....
Sam: Why aren't you sleeping yet? Why are you working? Where are you going to sleep tonight? I think you should sleep in the office.
Mom: I have work to do, and I am not sleeping in my office. I am sleeping in my bed.
Sam: But I want you to sleep in the office.
Mom: Why?
Sam: I just like for you to sleep different places.
Mom: I am not sleeping in here. Go back to bed.

And the next visit.....
Sam: Umm...I have to tell you something.
Mom: What?
Sam: I found a shirt on my floor, so I put it in my drawer for you.
Mom: Thanks.
Sam: OK?
Mom: Yep - go back to bed.

And the next visit....
Sam: Can you please sleep in the office?
Mom: No.
Sam: But I want you to.
Mom: Go back to bed.
Sam: But will you sleep in the office?
Mom. No. Go back to bed.
Sam: Please will you sleep in the office?
Mom: Fine. Whatever. Go back to bed.

And the next visit....
Sam: I found this toy on my floor. It belongs in the basement. I think you should bring it to the basement.
Mom. Thanks. I'll do that later.
Sam: You're sleeping in here, right?
Mom: Good-bye.

And the next visit....
Mom: If you don't go back to your room, you are in trouble.
Sam: (After thinking a bit) But where will I be in trouble?
(He gets sent to his room when he is in trouble, so I am sure he was trying to figure out that since he was already supposed to be in his room, if being in trouble would somehow get him out of his room.)
Mom: Do you want to be in trouble?
Sam: No, but where will I be in trouble?
Mom: If you don't want to be in trouble, then you don't need to know where trouble is. Go get in bed.

And, finally, with a very dejected look on his face (and me trying to contain my laughter) he slunk back down the hall and climbed into bed. (Well, I shouldn't say climbed, since he is still sleeping on the floor. Which explains why the shirt and the toy were among his distractions tonight....)

Wow.

***Grammar disclaimer: I have never understood the rule about using laying vs. lying in the English language. And I don't really care. So, if you do, don't read this post.***

I am sitting at the computer (obviously). Sam is in his room. Going to sleep. Without my laying next to him. Alone. (Well, not really alone. He does have somewhere around 37 stuffed animals within arms reach.)

Needless to say, it's a big day at our house.

A little background for those of you not up to speed on the sleeping situation around here....

At 18 months old, Sam climbed out of his crib. I called Joe at work and told him to buy a bed on the way home for the boy, because in the 10 minutes since he had figured out how to scale the sides, he had climbed in and out about 7 times just for fun.

We had such a good thing going until then. I'd feed him a bottle, he'd fall asleep near the end, I'd place him in his crib asleep, and bedtime was done. (I know, it wasn't really a good thing since the pre-bed bottle was rotting his teeth, but at least it was a good thing in the sleep department.)

But after the crib left the room, so did my ability to put him to sleep with a bottle. Self-weaned in one night. (Much to my mother's delight!)

However, being the active, mischievious toddler he was, we didn't feel comfortable leaving him alone in his room to fall asleep. There was a dresser to climb, a chair to "surf" on, and a bed to launch himself off of. And so we started sitting in there until he fell asleep. (Actually, sitting...then putting him back in bed...then sitting...then putting him back in bed....etc...)

Joe seemed to be able to put him to bed with the least number of attempts to get out, so for the next six months, bedtime was a wonderful time of night for me. Kiss. Hug. See ya when he falls asleep, Joe.

And then we moved. Or rather, Joe moved and Sam and I stayed until the house closed.

And I was one weak Mama.

I much preferred laying listening to Sam babble off to dreamland to sitting in the chair feeling my blood pressure rise as I replaced the kid in bed no less than 17 times before he would cry himself to sleep.

And so I have been laying there for the last 18 months. Not that it's all bad - I actually enjoy some of our conversations as we lay there - but it does get a bit tedious from time to time. And it gets a bit complicated if I am not there to do it.

A few months ago, I broached the subject with Sam. I had set a goal of independence by his 4th birthday and thought I'd better get started priming the pump.

"You know, someday you are going to go to bed all by yourself."
"Someday?"
"Yeah - when you are 4 you won't need me anymore."
"I need you."
"Yeah - but you'll be ready when you are 4. Maybe even before then. If you think you're ready, you can just tell me."
"I won't tell you. "

So I dropped it. We had just managed to break him of thinking he needed me to lay with him if he happened to wake up in the middle of the night, too, and I didn't want to push it. We were in a nice routine of sleeping from 8pm-6am in his bed and then joining me in my bed for the last couple hours after Joe went to work, and I wasn't going to mess that that.

Then a couple nights ago he meandered into our room at 3:30 and wanted to climb in with us.

No way. Back to your bed, kiddo.

And we were awakened again 20 minutes later.

See ya.

And 20 minutes later.

At which point I told him he could come in our room, but he had to sleep on the floor.

I thought he'd turn me down. What person would choose a hard floor over a nice comfy bed?

Sam.

Then last night I reminded him that if he slept all night in his own room by himself he could have a piece of candy in the morning. (Visit this post to see how that got started.)

His response: "I'm full. I don't need candy. I like the floor. It's fun!"

And he made his grand entrance for his spot in our room on the floor around 11.

Now I had visions of not only having to lay with him to get him to sleep, but having him end up on our floor every night as well.

But then tonight Joe had the brilliant idea (and I am not being sarcastic) of suggesting that since he liked the floor so much, he could sleep on the floor in his own room.

Sam actually said yes.

And then my handsome, wonderful, smart, amazing husband threw in "...and you could go to sleep all by yourself."

I waited for the "I need Mommy" or "No thank you," but they never came.

So we went with it.

Here he is, all excited about sleeping on the floor, all by himself. I was a bit skeptical about how long it would last. Or if tears would be involved.

I read him books, we said our prayers, I kissed him goodnight......

...and left the room.

This is what I found when I went back upstairs 30 minutes later.

I.
CAN.
NOT.
BELIEVE.
IT.

Fun with the Masons

Sam sucking another family member in to his world of computer games with his current favorite, Sushi Pack.
Reading books with Grandmommie and Granddaddy
Sadie serving tea
Having a good time playing games
Who's going to win? I wonder.....
You steal my can, I steal your bubbles little girl....
The kids and Hillary with painted toes, compliments of Hillary. Sam was very excited about the color.

So I am a little behind

We've been having tons of fun with lots of visitors the past couple weeks. In addition, I went back to work writing math books (not exactly tons of fun like the visitors are....but it is profitable), so the blog has been a bit neglected lately. Hope to get a few pictures up tonight and get caught up on documenting all the fun later this week.

This is why I still lay with him at night until he falls asleep

Because if I didn't, I'd miss conversations like this.

Sam: Mom, I'm not scared anymore [of the dark].
Me: Really?
Sam: Nope. 'Cuz God is always with me.
Me: Wow. That's right.
Sam: I though he wasn't - but HE IS!

More Millennium Park

The day we went to Millenium Park there was a "family fun tent" set up with Chinese cultural activities. Here we are enjoying some of them.
Building, building, building - my little boy can never get enough. (And knocking down, knocking down, knocking down - his sister can never get enough of that!)
The art project of the day....
Sadie was most enthralled with squirting glue out of the bottle.
Grandma taught Sam how to do the glue neatly. Why is it he learns all his neat habits from her?
Maybe she'll teach him to write his name, too.....something I have been failing miserably at lately.
Enjoying the exercise area

We also stumbled upon a display of modern Chinese sculptures.