Pockets

Evan's laundry is always an adventure. As smart and well-behaved and good-mannered as he is, there is a downfall...he is the class klepto. I'm pretty sure this is stamped on his daycare chart somewhere and will follow him all the way to elementary school. We've gone through periods of time where we actually have to search his pockets before leaving daycare to make sure he hasn't stuffed his pockets with some small toy (or toys...had to quit buying him cargo pants/shorts). One day, I noticed one pocket was suspiciously large and asked him to check for toys, and said to his teacher: "sometimes he forgets about toys in his pockets." The teacher's response: "yeah, we know, the pre-school teacher told us." And there you have it, my son the klepto.

Anywho, as I'm doing 10 pounds of laundry tonight (Eric's about to change clothing sizes which requires all sorts of washing, sorting, and packing), I notice a lumpy pocket in the shorts Evan wore today. Expecting a car, plastic animal, doll hairbrush, ball, or one of the other usual suspects, imagine my surprise to pull out a rubber glove. ??? I hope the teachers were practicing good hygiene at lunch, because I don't want to think about what careers they might have been discussing during circle time :-)

Where are my pants?

I love the fact that my husband takes care of the dry cleaning, I really do. I remind myself how much I love it when I see the bag of clothes bulging at the seams and 2 lone pairs of work pants hanging in my closet. Thankfully, the place he uses turns clothes around pretty quick and Ethan brought a closetful of clothes home yesterday. I was pulling all the plastic off the hangers and flipping through to check for my clothes...still no pants. Hmmm...how do you coincidentally lose 4 pairs of women's pants?? Then I look on the bottom rod in Ethan's closet and neatly lined up in a row, still on the dry cleaner's hangers are--you guessed it--my pants.

Me: Did you take these out of the plastic already?
Him: Nope, I just put everything the closet.
Me: So these weren't in the dry cleaning you just brought home?
Him: No.
Me: So they've been hanging here since the last time you got dry cleaning?
Him: I guess so.
Me: Let me get this straight. I've been complaining about having to wear the same 2 pairs of pants for 2 weeks, thinking the rest of my pants were in the dry cleaning bag, and all this time they've been hanging in your closet?
Him: Ummm...

Evan's new joke

"Do you like pickles? I think they stink."

I don't understand it, but it cracks me up every time :-)

How to hug

ATTENTION ALL DOGS!!! THE FOLLOWING ARE IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS FOR EVERY DOG TO KNOW.

Instructions for properly hugging a baby.

1. First, spy a baby.

2. Second, be sure that the object you spied was indeed a baby by employing classic sniffing techniques. If you smell baby powder and the wonderful aroma of wet diapers this is indeed a baby.



3. Next you will need to flatten the baby before actually beginning the hugging process.

**Note: The added slobber should help in future steps by making the 'paw slide' easier.

4. The 'paw slide'. Simply slide paws around baby and prepare for possible close-up.


5. Finally, if a camera is present, you will need to execute the difficult and patented 'hug, smile, and lean' so as to achieve the best photo quality.


Dogs, if this is properly done, it will secure you a warm, dry, climate-controlled environment for the rest of your life.

The world's longest birthday party

Seems like 4 is the age when we're supposed to start inviting all the daycare buddies to birthday parties, so that's what we're planning for Evan in October. Thankfully, there have been several parties this summer to give us ideas of the do's and don'ts. Many many valuable lessons out of today's party:

1. If you have to publish an itinerary on the invitation, there's too much going on.

2. A dinosaur show and princess/magician/balloon maker/storyteller in one party is waaaay too much for one party.

3. I'm so glad I have boys and do not have to worry about hosting a princess-themed party.

4. When the party starts at 11:30 AM, cake should be served well before 2:30 PM (I'm not even sure it was served by this time, because Evan and I left before then).

5. When hosting a party for a group of kids that are used to nap/quiet time from 1-3 PM, the party should not still be going on at 2:30 PM.

6. If more dads than moms show up at the party, remember to send dad next year.

7. As long as the kids have fun, nothing else really matters ;-)

Peach or watermelon?

After one of the world's longest work weeks, followed by the dreaded daycare phone call where Evan BIT 'a friend'...I appreciate keeping things anonymous but 1. who bites 'a friend'? and 2. he's going to tell me anyway!! But since it was a first time offense, we kept the lecture short (if Nicole Richie can get away with an 82 minute jail sentence, I think a 90 second lecture for biting is sufficient) and headed to On The Border. After trying to enter through a monthly parking entrance and then resisting the urge to back into the jacka$$ who wouldn't back up far enough to let me turn around, then helping Ethan resist the urge to tell the guy off after he had the same problem and ended up following us through the regular entrance...where is this sentence going? Anyway, we made it to dinner and I got a good laugh out of Ethan ordering a peach margarita and then being disappointed because he didn't notice the watermelon margarita until after he had placed his order. My husband and his girly drinks :-)

Tomorrow is football draft day and a kids birthday party in the stifling heat. At least it's not for the 'friend' from earlier today :-)

That's gotta be a typo

Yesterday afternoon, the Texas Rangers beat the Baltimore Orioles with a score of 30-3. THIRTY. 3.0. Un-freaking-believable. And then the Rangers lost the 2nd game of the doubleheader 9-7. Understandable, I'd be tired too!

"Thank you" goes to new levels

So we were out to dinner with my mom (Cheesecake Factory--yum!), and Evan was on his best behavior to earn the full eating out privileges of chocolate milk, pizza, and ice cream. "Please" and "thank you" was all over the place and he even got to place his own order. Somewhere near the end of the meal (I think after the waitress brought out the chocolate ice cream with whipped cream on top--double bonus!), he turns to her and says what sounds like "shieh shieh." That would actually be xie_xie, which is Chinese for "thank you." Yes, the waitress looked to have some Asian heritage to her, so I don't if that's what prompted him to change languages, or if he just felt like saying it this time. His daycare class has been learning about different countries based on the ethnicity of the kids in the class, and for some reason, the lessons related to China stuck with him! In any case, the waitress didn't seem to notice what he said, so the story stops there. Like they say, kids says the darndest things!

Hitched without a hitch

Petra and Chris are officially Mr. and Mrs. Garosi and, as far as I can tell, it was a perfect weekend. Saturday was a looooooong day, with wedding-related events kicking off at 1 PM at Gecko's for lunch (the crabcake is still fantastic, margaritas aren't too shabby either!!), followed by hair appointments and the introduction of Dave the photographer (also fantastic, and considering he was taking pictures of everyone while hair was flying every which direction, you know he was good), and of course the wedding itself. Pictures speak more than words, so here are a few to enjoy...

The bride...

I love this picture...too bad they wouldn't let the bridesmaids pick Chris up...
oh wait, there were only 2 of us :-)

Something about guys in tuxes...

Lovely ladies, if I do say so myself (and I do!)

Pretty in Pink

Apparently, as I get older, I do NOT get wiser...then again, who would have thought that one tiny piece of pink fabric that has been washed at least a dozen times could dye the only 2 white shirts in the load a lovely shade of pink. I never separate colors anymore! That's what the cold water cycle is for!!

And the one shirt was practically brand new. Damn!

Out damn spot!!

The leak in the ceiling appears to be back. We've had all the tub drains re-done, toilets re-seated, toilets REPLACED, and the ceiling is wet again. WHY?!?!?!

Kickboxing observations

After 3 weeks of illnesses/vacations, I re-entered the kickboxing world tonight and proceeded to have my butt kicked by my 52 year old instructor who I would be happy to have half his energy when I get to that age. Don't you dare try to take a break during the sumo squats, because he'll come do 20 of them nose-to-nose with you if you do. Very intimidating. I probably won't be able to walk tomorrow because of it :-)

Anyway, observations from today's class:

It's the first time I've had a thought in my head that motivated me to pound the crap out of my reflection in the mirror. Not even my old boss (who caused the 1st of my gray hairs to appear) gave me that kind of motivation.

Why does the girl at the front of the class who re-does her hair 6 times during the class not care about the mascara running down her face? You're all ready sweaty and gross, why not take a quick swipe with the back of your hand?

How does someone who appears to be wearing 4 shirts and long pants not break a sweat? I sweat just walking up to the room...

I thought I had more, but the adrenaline rush has gone :-(

Weekend zzzz's

We are one tired household...even I was taking naps this weekend, and that never happens.

Saturday Ethan left us to go get battered and bruised in a game of paintball, so I took the boys to go see Evan's "best girlfriend Caitlyn." That's really what he calls her, it is the cutest thing to hear. Eric likes her too, so hopefully that doesn't cause problems later in life ;-)

Saturday night Evan and I had a date night with Aimee, Toni, and Toni's little boy Riley. Both boys managed to fall out of their booster seats (no injuries, no more booster seat for Evan either), and kudos to Aimee for bringing Color Wonder markers/books for the boys. How did she know that Rio Grande wasn't going to have coloring books and crayons???

Sunday we enjoyed the outdoors before it got too hot (although it never got too bad), then Eric went for a haircut (#2!) while Evan played in the sprinkler. After lunch, EVERYONE took a long nap...over an hour for Mom/Evan and over 3 hours for Dad/Eric. I guess not being on vacation finally caught up with us :-)

Not much else to report...rotisserie chickens on the grill for dinner, followed by bath night for the boys and an early night to bed (as if all that napping wasn't enough!).

First lasagna, THEN corn

Good to know the dinner routine didn't skip a beat despite all the vacation meals and chaos. Put together a nice dinner of lasagna and corn on the cob and Evan immediately announced "I don't like lasagna" (he announces this at the start of almost every meal, yet scarfs it down like he hasn't eaten in a week). So as I sit at the table prompting him to eat lasagna so he can have corn on the cob (yes, I bribe my child with vegetables), Eric sucks down his entire portion of lasagna, plus half of mine. More prompting to Evan as I cut the corn off the cob for Eric. Ethan comes in, bypasses the lasagna, and goes straight to the corn on the cob. Sigh.

In the end, everyone ate lasagna and then corn. But I'm not sure it was worth the effort :-)

There's no place like home!

Arrived safe and sound last night, almost exactly 12 hours after leaving the hotel. Not bad, since it included a stop at Cuppy's (Ethan's new favorite coffee), various pit stops, and a somewhat relaxed dinner in Fredericksburg. Tough to stop so close to home, but trying to convince 2 of the world's hungriest children to wait just one more hour for dinner would have been even worse!!

I know I was happy to be home, and I think Ethan was too...Evan seemed a little disappointed to have to sleep in a twin size bed in a room all by himself and Eric, well, who knows what had him screaming his head off a little before midnight. You think the kid would be happy to stretch out in a big crib after a week of being scrunched into a pack-n-play like a butterfly trying to get out of its cocoon, but I guess not!

Today is laundry and email day, as there is lots of both to catch up on. Thanks to all our hosts, hostesses, and anyone in general who provided good company along the trip. If we recover from this one, we'll have to do it again sometime ;-)

But I'll keep blogging, because there's still stories to tell!

Fast Food Blunders

I know, it's bad for you and this trip is clearly a sign that I should not go to fast food restautants anymore. But it tastes so good :-)

On the trip down I had not 1, but 2 episodes where I ordered a drink, and the cashier didn't hear me, so I had to re-order.

Last night I spent 10 minutes in the McD's drive thru...thinking the debit card was just going to be too complex, I paid cash. Well, cash requires change which requires a little bit of a brain, and this girl didn't even have that. As I finally made it to the food window, I received something noy even close to my order and spent 5 more minute waiting for another brainless person to figure that out. For the record, I don't think a cheeseburger and fries is all that tough to put into a bag!

And today we got fries where there should have been yogurt, no fries where there should have been fries (imagine trying to get that one straightened out!) and mayo where there shouldn't have been.

Less than 7 hours to go...

Kids table comes full circle

We get into the wedding last night to find all the 'kids' have been seated with their parents for dinner (our kids were seated in a house far far away, so Ethan and I could REALLY have a good time without hovering over a stroller the whole night). After some negotiating and bargaining, we managed to get all the adults at one table and kids at another...thank you to my cousins and siblings for still letting me be a kid for the night. It was a blast!! But why is it that, when you're younger, the kids table is your worst nightmare, but when you're a little older, it's exactly where you want to be?

I won't say what goes on at the kids table--I'd like to be invited back :-)

Ok, enough with the pictures

Since blogging pictures is turning into a pain in the you-know-what, check out the albums on http://sanderson.snapfish.com for all the photos. There's a lot, but I know some of you don't have anything better to do at work during the day anyway ;-)

Friday Night Lights

A little behind on blogging, but just been having too much fun to sit down at a computer for too long!!

After a busy morning on the beach and some splashing in the pool in the afternoon, it was time to get the party started...I love little boys in matching outfits...I love it even more when they magically sit down next to each other and you just happen to have a camera in your hand :-)


Friday night was the 'welcome dinner' to kick off Dan & Lisa's wedding festivities, and it was a great start...everything about the food, music, and atmosphere made for a great time. Weather was a little threatening, but they had planned ahead with huge tents and hundreds (thousands?) of lights everyone could enjoy the outdoor party. I think the favorite part (for all the parents) was the section devoted to kid's activities--decorating crafts, a magic show, balloon animals, having caricatures drawn. They even had their own menu (although some adults enjoyed that as much as the grown-up food).

Evan & Margaret, showing off their new hats

Ben with his octopus (the coolest balloon animal I've ever seen). Ben is also Evan's hero of the evening, for generously sharing his 'watermelon pop' with Evan,

Plenty of fun for the adults too, mostly in the form of tasty drinks, good company, and a live band (they even gave lessons on the 'Electric Slide' for the groom-t0-be!)

Some pictures of the older 'kids'...




And the grown-ups (well, they're older than the kids, at least)...






Hats off to the host and hostess...I'm especially impressed how relaxed they look with everything going on this weekend!

Different day, different beach

Made it to Florida yesterday afternoon after an almost too-quiet car ride. Seven hours in the car with 2 kids and only 1 stop? I'm sure we'll pay on the drive home :-) Abandoned the boys when we got here to have some girl time (i.e. manicures and pedicures) with some of the other ladies around here. Enjoyed some relaxing visiting time last night (forgot the camera, oops) and got the boyz prepared for a weekend of late nights by keeping them up until 10. Got a little reprieve this morning (not Ethan, but when you're going to play golf, you have to get up early!), and then headed to an overcast Neptune Beach with the boyz.

Evan continues to work on his wave jumping skills:


Eric just can't get enough of the sand...especially after he dumped his bag of Teddy Grahams onto the ground and, in an effort to keep him from eating them, I buried them. Silly Mommy. After that, it was time to call it a day (morning).


Looking forward to some pool time this afternoon (love the pool...2 waterfalls and a bar...what's not to love?) and then visiting with more relatives today. Hopefully all the rain has passed over, because it's supposed to be one heck of a (outdoor) party!

On the road again

After a somewhat pleasant ride yesterday, we stopped in Smithfield, NC for the night. Boys were on their best behavior (calm before the storm?) for dinner and shopping at the outlets. Just to set the record straight, I was not the one who caused a re-pack of the van with all the extra stuff!!

Anyway, we've re-started the drive south and estimated to arrive in Jax Beach around 4 PM.

Miscellaneous thoughts:

Cost of renting a minivan for a week - cheaper than 4 plane tickets

Cargo space in the minivan - less than the Avalanche

Having a rear seat that reclines so BOTH kids take a nap - priceless!

Should've stuck to Uncle Ed's advice

'Stay behind the wheel, because no matter what's going on outside the car, it won't be as bad as what's going on inside the car'

What he failed to mention is that (some) drivers require at least as much attention/help as the children.

My Hubby, My Hero

Trying to catch up on blogs as we make our way down 95.

Ethan was out on the deck, talking on the phone to his buddy Dan about their new baby girl (Sage Augustine) and suddenly came running inside, down the steps and across the street. An older couple were staying there and the chair broke right out from under the guy...when he fell, he was blocking the door, but Ethan and Ted were able to pop the screen out to get him back on his feet. Everything worked out okay, but I doubt that couple spent any more time on the deck :-) Good save hubby!