THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BOYS AND GIRLS

Okay, I guess I should start this by saying that I don't mean to stereotype here so maybe I should say the difference between my boy and girl.

Scenario One

A few weeks ago, I happened to be in Target with Colson looking at Halloween costumes and within 15 minutes he had his heart set on being a TRANSFORMER (more than meets the eye...It's so hard to say it without that tag line). I tried to lure him to others but he would say "Nah, I like this one". So, of course Calli wasn't with us on that trip and as soon as she got in the car, Colson had to rub it in that he got his Halloween costume already. Later that week when she was free of activities, we set out to Target. Colson was in tow and frankly I was worried he'd change his mind and/or want another one. But nope, he just pointed out the Transformer and went on his way to helping Calli. 30 minutes later we are deciding between two (phew!) a flapper 50's girl and a little tiger dress costume. Another 10 minutes was spent debating between the two determining what she liked and disliked about each one until finally she settled on the flapper girl. "Are you sure Calli" "Yes Mom" "Really are you sure?" "Yes" Okay great! Now the flapper girl need a little altering but nothing a safety pin couldn't do but overall it was good. UNTIL this morning when she woke up earlier than usual, comes into my vanity area and very sweetly asks if I have fixed her costume yet. Yep, you know what's coming....she wants to wear the tiger dress costume. So, I as nicely as I could told her I wasn't buying her a new costume and she couldn't change her mind this late in the game. Of course she's fighting off bad tears and I made her leave the room to go cry her own river. TRAMATIC!

Scenario Two

Wes left this afternoon to go on a hunting trip to Nebraska and for several weeks he has been hyping up his trip to Calli saying that he would get her an Indian necklace. She is VERY excited about this. So, this morning as Wes is getting dressed, Colson comes in and he says "Colson, I'm going to get Calli an Indian necklace on my trip but you know what I'm going to bring you back?" "What?" Colson says. "A new knife". Colson had kind of a blank stare and says "Oh. That's it?" We both died laughing. Calli will be counting the days until her daddy comes home with that Indian necklace and Colson will forget that he was going to bring him home a knife.

So, Wes is gone and I let the kids sleep with me tonight. If you call getting kicked in both sides most of the night a good sleep than I should be set!

BASEBALL STUD

I was reflecting last week on the season in my life when Calli was about 2 or 2 1/2 and remembering how I just couldn't wait to take her to the first movie, we went way before she was really ready and I couldn't wait to sign her up for her first dance class. She was barely even 3 when she entered her first dance class. Then the second child comes around, Colson, and I think would it be bad if I didn't let him enroll in anything extra until he's in the 7th grade? I KNOW, I KNOW...not what a supermom should say and/or think...but then again, I'm not supermom! But their schedule can really run a gal crazy.

So, Colson started baseball a couple of weeks ago. We've played t ball for two seasons with the Y and this year we stepped it up and joined the Willis Youth Baseball League. Fall Ball they call it. 'Way too many games ball' is what I think it should be called. We had our first game last Monday and tonight we just played our 5th. Throw that into Calli's crazy schedule and you have an underpaid taxi driver driving around a gas guzzling machine everywhere but home. One day I'll post my schedule NOT for you all to see (because I KNOW all of you do the same thing without complaining and for those with more than two kids or are a single parent....WELL GOD BLESS YOU REALLY!) but to document for my kids. I know my mom used to do the same thing for Christina and I.

So, his pal Jake is on his team and so really it's just a play time for him and Jake. The coaches often separate them on the field which is very smart of them. It's very cute though. And tonight I really think Colson was much more into the game and what he should be doing. The kids were cheering each other on from the dugout with their chants and it was quite cute for a group of 5 year olds.

Here's a few pics from his first game

Colson is #3 just like his daddy was growing up

This is baseball ready isn't it?

STATUE FOR SALE

Yesterday I stopped in Kirkland's with both kids to see if anything jumped out at me as a have to have before taking Calli to tumble. As I was walking around the kids were being.....kids and acting silly playing little games and including me at times. Whatever we were playing, I just pretended that I was playing and somehow convinced them. It's amazing what some appropriately placed yes' and ooohhh's and uh huh's will do in converstations with young kids. I am sure at some point over the years I have agreed or admitted to some really horrible/crazy/inappropriate things. Anyways, after several minutes Calli came and found me and told me there was a statue that she wanted to buy that looked just like Colson. I played her off but my responses obviously didn't make sense and the pressure became too much. I gave in and admit I was a little annoyed. I walked across the floor prepared to turn the corner, see Colson standing there say "Oh cute" in a not so excited voice and be on my way. Instead I turned the corner and saw this

I couldn't help but giggle and of course get out my phone to take a picture. Nothing better than a little silliness to wrap up a VERY long day!

BOYS AND THEIR TOYS

Wow! It's been a while since I blogged and it feels like it was just yesterday. I am not sure what has happened over the last 2 weeks except life in general. I went on two short trips for work which usually does put me behind with home things which is why I probably haven't stopped long enough to give an update. Regardless...here I type. I drove up this afternoon after my workout at Gold's to find Colson and Wes making rounds on the tractor. This is Wes' new toy (one of 3 new toys he's recently added to his long list of toys). Someone asked me the other day what I got out of the deal since Wes got a new truck, new tractor and new ATV? He then extended his help in helping me find something that I could purchase. I told him there were many things I needed help with but spending money was really one of my areas of expertise :) Anyways, this is Wes' third tractor and with each one he buys and sells, another bigger and better one is purchased in it's place.

What made me smile were the images that immediatly went through my head of my childhood days. I remember going to my grandpa Murdock's farm for 1 week every summer. He lived on and owned an apple orchard so he had LOTS of land in Washington State. EVERY day that I spent there every summer, I would at least get 2 rides on his tractor every day. We'd do it once in the morning and once in the evening. Of course he had a John Deer and I would ride it down the VERY LONG dirt rode that led out of the orchards and would turn around at the "circle" before you got to the main road. I would sit on his lap and do all of the steering while he controlled the speed (if he could see me now, he'd say I knew there was a reason I worked the peddle) and smoked his pipe. Fun times and fond memories of my grandpa. Maybe I'll get a picture from my mom and post it at a later date.