Baby Talk: Wii Be Mad

Reed: Hallelujah! Today is the last day of May which means it's the official end of JR's birthday celebrations.

Kyle: I'm not sure how that big brother of ours swings all these birthday activities, but he does.

R: I know! All we got was some homemade cake after Christmas Dinner, and JR gets anything he wants!

K: Guess where we had to go eat dinner on his birthday? Yep, Chinese. Same thing he picked for us when it was our birthday.

Just look at him...Yes, Happy Birthday, Gene Simmons.

R: I showed him though. I ate two whole dumplings myself, I was doing everything I could to take the attention away from him.

K: And Mommy brought cupcakes for dessert. Can you believe JR made us sing to him in the restaurant? I was so embarrassed, I walked off. But I ran back quick for the cupcakes!

R: When we got home it was all about JR some more, he got to open his presents.

K: He wouldn't let us help at all!

R: He's so mean, he kept saying, "No Baby!" every time we even got near him.

K: How long before you think he hurts himself on that skateboard?

R: Oh Dude, He'll really put on the dramatics then won't he?

K: And look what else he got, a Wii!

R: And do you think he lets us play? Not one bit.

K: So unfair.

R: Thank goodness Maw-Maw sent us some presents of our own to unwrap.

K: I know, finally somebody noticed us! And as you can tell by my tired and sleepy eyes, I've had just about all I can take of His Royal Birthday Highness, JR!

No Way!

It's birthday number 6 for JR today. Where did the time go? Well, I guess most of it was spent moving around. So here's a little trip down memory lane of birthdays past. Your welcome, Grandmothers.

May 29, 2003- "Little" JR and me, just a young teen mother (I'm only 25, remember?)


First Birthday-Happy Birthday in Chinese and English


Second Birthday-JR still hadn't said a word, but he liked to watch Blue's Clues, so that's what I picked out for him.


Third Birthday-Last one in Beijing

4th Birthday-this time in Houston...and I thought he was so grown up then!

Fifth Birthday-sunburned and half naked from birthday water balloons

And now he's six! New state, missing some teeth, and growing up fast!

Duckey and Bourke

You might remember I recently posted about Kyle and his "favorite toy", his purse. Jason has been quite unhappy about the situation, and even told me I was not allowed to talk about and/or post pictures of Kyle and his purse here on the blog. Not even a Seinfeld reference, "it's a small men's carryall...It's not a purse, it's European." could make Jason okay with the idea. But I think I've found something that will make everybody happy. Obviously Kyle has no idea what a purse is, I think he just likes carrying something around with him. So lately he's been traveling about the house with his duck, which while not completely masculine, is a lot more butch than the purple, Disney princess purse.

So while the duck might not hold his Chapstick, it's versatile enough for:

Pushing stuffed animals in a dump truck one minute


and TV watching the next!

Play It Again

The weather here in Perfect Weather Land has been anything but. It's been overcast, cold, and drizzly for what seems like a week. But in our search for indoor entertainment (in a town that prides itself on all things outdoors) we found that the babies are masters at the McDonald's playground. I couldn't believe it! I thought they'd be too small to navigate their way around, but they acted like they'd been doing it all their lives. Another mom asked me how old they were then said, "Wow. My son is two and he's too scared." I reassured her saying, "I don't think it's that they're brave, they're just worried one might get to do something the other isn't." We've been back twice now, and both times they've thrown and absolute fit when it's time leave. Reed was so mad he struggled to get out of the stroller, pointed, and said his new favorite words to me,
"No! No! No! No! No!"

Too Young For Ambien?

No matter what time our kids go to sleep, everybody in this house is up by 7:15. So it was quite a shock this morning when JR slept until 9:20 (latest he's ever slept in his whole life). And Reed slept until 8:25 (latest he's ever slept in his whole life). So why was I still having to watch Handy Manny bright and early? Oh that's right, because Kyle was up before 6:00! Wouldn't you know it. So I was trying to make myself feel better about the sleeping in I missed, by assuring myself that Kyle would have a great morning nap (being that he'd been up since the crack of dawn). Um...not so much. Here's Kyle and Reed at nap time.

Reed


Kyle

Happy Memorial Day

I Pitty Da Fool

JR got his summer haircut yesterday. It really surprised me that Jason was the one saying to cut it short for summer. It's the shortest it's ever been; first time for the clippers. This morning we were telling him how cute he looked with his new haircut and he says to me, "I want a mohawk." A mohawk? How does he even know what one is? Not really wanting to give my almost 6 year old a mohawk (for church!), I kind of gave him a combo faux-hawk/spiky do. And you should see him struttin' around. I really didn't think any of the Ingersoll men could be more proud of themselves, but apparently, more posing, more mirror time, and more "does my hair still look like a mohawk?" is possible. Sigh.

Done

Yesterday was the last day of school. So here's Mr. JR on the first and last day. Typical for us, JR had quite an eventful school year. He started out at a new school in Houston in the Bridge class. He 'rode-out' Hurricane Ike and it's aftermath. We moved to Colorado where he traded in his shorts and flip-flops for snow pants and snow boots. He started Kindergarten in January, missing the whole first semester. And he now spends more time outside than he did the whole time he lived in Houston (time spent in the swimming pool excluded, of course). And here's his picture of what he thinks he looks like as he's leaving Kindergarten. (Of course they did this at the beginning of the year so you can see how much they've grown, but since we weren't here...) Anyway, JR's picture is of him "going up a ramp that's on a tree wearing his Wheelies."

Popsicles and Problems

I meant to get this up yesterday, but I've been having technical difficulties. I took popsicles to JR's class to celebrate his "unbirthday" (as they call it when it's not your actual birthday). I was about half way to his school when I realized I had forgotten my camera. In the hullabaloo that was loading the stroller and babies in the car, keeping Hunter out of the car, and filling up a cooler with ice so the popsicles didn't melt by the time I got there, it somehow slipped my mind to grab the camera. So I took pictures with my camera phone, but for some reason they won't email. I was able to upload them to Facebook and then copy them from there, but now the quality is pitiful (not that you care unless you're a grandmother). But what I am excited about: check out the two kids in the background of the picture. Looks like they're both picking their nose! So glad it's not just my child. Anyway, I felt like a total rock star in JR's class yesterday. I guess when I need my ego stroked I should just go hang out with the K's. Half the class ran up and gave me a big hug. I guess they were thinking, "Dude, here's the lady that had the bouncy castle and pinata, let's be nice to her!" Then they started begging me to stay and watch them do Show-and-Tell. Yeah for JR's mom! But yes, JR's popsicles were a big hit, and hopefully I can get a better copy of this picture of the class, cause it's actually really cute.

DWTS, or at least Reed

I love it when I see my children taking after me. Little Reed just couldn't help but dance when Britney's Womanizer came on the radio. And when watching the video, please excuse my singing. I got carried away for a minute, then remembered I was videoing...so I quickly stop!

More Excitement

What's almost as exciting as a 6th birthday party? Answer: Loosing your first tooth. I heard quite the commotion coming from the bathroom as JR brushed his teeth tonight. I've been telling Jason to leave JR's tooth alone and let it fall out, but Jason insists the tooth was sticking straight out. In actuality, it probably was. There was little to no dramatics on JR's part, so I'm guessing it wasn't much of a pull on Jason's part. JR is super excited about the situation, but poor thing can't even enjoy having a space in his mouth. As you can see, his adult tooth is already growing in (which was quite a sight with the baby tooth in front of it).
I guess today is teeth loss day. Hunter went to the vet this morning to get his teeth cleaned and they called me this afternoon to tell me they had to pull 10 of them. My response: "Oh my goodness! Does he have any left?!" Now, I'm not the mathematician in the family, but by my calculations that's 11 Ingy teeth in one day...Whew! And with that said, I guess I better go do my Tooth Fairy duties....Humm, I wonder if I have a costume for that?

Party, Party!

We had JR's 6th birthday party today and it was quite a success. Being that JR's still the new kid, I was a bit worried that he wouldn't have much of a turnout, but with 14 kids at his party, I'd say that's a turnout! We rented the clubhouse in our neighborhood, which is some of the best money we ever spent. Other well spent money: the bouncy castle. In Houston the bouncy castles don't get much of a work-out. It's just so hot that the kids bounce 2 minutes and then their done. Well, here in "perfect weather now that it's finally spring land" that's not the case. The kids would have been happy to bounce for the whole 2 hours. I had plenty of games planned that we never played (limbo and musical chairs need not apply when there's a bouncy castle) and I actually had to go get 3 boys out of it AFTER they'd been told it was time for cake and ice cream. I said, "He guys, It's time for cake and ice cream!" And they said, "That's okay, we don't want any, we want to stay here." Um, who turns down cake and ice cream? Not this Texan! I made a deal with them that if they'd come sing Happy Birthday they could go right back and bounce. We wrapped up the party with a pinata, which will get kids out of a bouncy castle and was a really big hit (literally). I had to laugh when one of JR's friends told me he was "so good at pinatas because [he's] a German Mexican". Maybe he should meet my mom the German Jew!

JR's 6th Birthday Party

Walkin' with the K

Here's JR's little Colorado Kindergarten class. I really don't love this picture of JR, but when I started looking at the other little boys I noticed that they all look about the same too. What is it with boys this age that they don't know how to take a picture? Look how all those little girls pose so cute. (And for those of you that know the "day 21" story, his teacher is the blonde; teacher's aid the brunette.) Poor JR, he didn't even start the year in Kindergarten, but here he is finishing it. It seems like a million years ago he was going to school in Houston. I guess Houston seems so far away because life here is so completely different. Perfect example: Friday JR had a field trip at school. They were going to the public library and the Durango Fish Hatchery. Now it's not the actual field trip that's so different than Houston, but the way they got there. They walked. And this isn't a short walk either, I'd say it's about 2 miles. Jason and I started laughing the minute we heard they were walking. We were saying, "Can you imagine telling school kids in Houston they had to walk for a field trip? They'd have so many complaints from parents...'My baby can't walk in this heat, my child has asthma, my kid has a hurt toe'...it'd be never ending. You know they'd have to wind up getting a bus for them." Jason asked, "Did the teacher send home a note saying they needed to wear tennis shoes?" I said, "No, the note just said they'd be walking, and JR said she told the girls not to 'wear their high heels that day'."
Here it's just the complete opposite than in Houston. I think the Durango parents would have been outraged if the kids hadn't walked. But I do have to admit, if I was the teacher, I certainly wouldn't want to have to walk 2 miles in the Houston heat for a field trip...Bring on the bus, Um, my toe hurts!

Cakegate '09

If you're one of my Facebook friends then you've been privy to, what I've dubbed, Cakegate '09. JR's birthday party is coming up on Sunday, and he's been insistent on wanting a Monsters V Aliens party. A few weeks back, I checked at our WalMart and saw they had a MvA cake in their cake book and went ahead and ordered everything else online. On Tuesday I stoped by the Walmart bakery to order JR's cake, and according to the girl at the counter they "don't have that kit". Great. So the picture is in the book to show me things they may or may not be able to make? I asked where else in town I could get a cake and she told me that City Market had a bakery. I stoped in at City Market and they too "don't have the kit". And although City Market didn't have 'a kit', the girl behind the counter did have an attitude. I then called Baskin Robins and their excuse was they couldn't make the cake because "it's copyrighted". Oh, and all those Sponge Bob and Spiderman cakes aren't? So today after lamenting on Facebook about the nonexistence of a MvA cake in all of Durango, my friends were quick to point out all the ways to make my own MvA cake...all of which were labor intensive, required talent, and cake decorating ability.

Now at this point Jason would jump in and say, "So why did I pay for cake decorating lessons?" Yes, it's true, I have taken a cake decorating class. My friend, Katie, and I took one in Beijing and I spent more time eating the icing we were practicing with than I did decorating. And it was the memories of that cake decorating class that made me all the more fearful of having to do this cake. After those lessons I wanted to show off my new found "skills", and decided that I'd make JR's 3rd birthday cake. I thought it would be super easy. It wasn't. I don't know how many people I made come over and help me that night, but I do know that if it wasn't for Katie's husband, Andy, who worked as a pastry chef in college, I'd have never gotten JR's cake finished. So here's what we came up with. I never could get the engine to look right, so I just gave up and stuck one of JR's own trains on there.

And I'm actually so embarrassed to show this next picture I could almost die. Here's the other cake I did for that day. See, I told you I was too busy eating the icing to learn anything! And in my own defense, I think we only had 4 lessons.

So after all my Facebook advice and thinking back to the train cakes, I was all the more determined to not have to make a MvA cake. I picked up the phone and called the Walmart bakery. I explained my problem and how they could solve it for me. And thankfully, Cakegate '09 has a resolution. Walmart will decorate the cake for me just like they would if they actually had the kit. Then I will stick JR's MvA Happy Meal toys on the cake myself. Woo-Hoo Happy Meal Toys and Woo-Hoo minimal cake decorating!

Behold The Miracle

So I told you about the miracle that happened here on Sunday, JR actually touched both fruit and vegetables. I knew it was something so unbelievable, so shocking that it required proof. So for the first time anywhere.....JR Ingersoll touches a fruit and multiple vegetables....Behold The Miracle!

touching a strawberry...hallelujah!


Lettuce, carrots, cauliflower...all at the same time! Are those Angels I hear singing?

Tiny Vacay

Granny Sherry came in for a visit last week, which gave Jason and me a chance to get out of the house on Saturday and head over to Ouray. I've posted excerpts from our adventures in the next two posts, so keep reading. We really enjoyed our little break, and isn't this a fabulous picture of Sherry with some of the boys? Thanks again, Sherry!

You're Such a Sasquatch!

We made a quick stop in Silverton where we couldn't help but visit Bigfoot Central. Oh yes, Silverton is home to a Bigfoot Museum. Jason, being the consummate 'prove it to me' guy, was busy trying to justify the non-existence of Bigfoot by saying "if they exist, then why hasn't anybody found a dead one, or a skeleton?" Where as I'm perfectly happy to just laugh and not believe...I need no scientific proof one way or another. So here we are "learning" all about Bigfoot.

Bigfoot is bigger than Jason.


And apparently Yetis have great abs.

Box Canyon

It's absolutely amazing how fast we were able to site-see in Ouray without 3 kids in tow. Everyone in Jason's office was telling him we needed to go see Box Canyon Waterfall. And wouldn't you know it, we just happened to show up on opening day. We weren't really dressed for waterfalling (we were both wearing flipflops) but I did my best and avoided any major slippage. The park ranger/gift shop clerk was quick to tell us to be careful on the slippery rocks. As he put it, "You slip in, and you're gone." Um, gotcha. Not to worry, Dude, not really interested in falling in slightly above freezing water only to be washed away and "gone". And due to the "slippage and gone" situation, we really didn't get a good picture of us with the waterfall, but I did get a quick video so you could hear how loud it is...Jason and I had to yell to hear each other...and you know how loud we are just on a normal basis!

That's just the bottom of the waterfall. So being the oh-so-adventurous-ones we are, we then hiked up the trail that led to a better view from the top. (Yes, hike. We live in Colorado now, so hiking is kind of a prerequist to them letting us live here...flipflops or not.)

See, we were way up high! That's the town in the background of Jason's picture.

Mother's Day!

So guess what the boys in my life got me for Mother's Day? (Hint, Check out my feet.) And if you're looking at the picture...Yes, my face is sunburned. Um, seems I've learned another "great" thing about high altitude: you're closer to the sun, so you burn easier. Great, just what my milk-toast skin needs. But on with my present...these aren't just any old Nike's. My husband had them customized for me. He got on the Internet and picked out the type, colors (pink, hot pink, and purple), and even had my "name" put on the sides. He said it took the shoes about 6 weeks to get here (which means a lot of thought went into this)! Here they are close up so you can check them out (in the picture the purple looks blueish).

But the presents didn't end there. JR wanted to cook dinner for me, and with Granny Sherry's help, "he" made a very nice and yummy dinner. He even touched both fruits and vegetables in his food preparations. I know! It's a miracle! And for dessert we had a Blizzard cake. Delish! Here I am with all my boys on Mother's Day. (As you can see the babies were quite upset because they thought I was taking them away from the cake. You can see Kyle is even trying to reach for it!) And a big Happy Mother's Day to my own mama! I learned the art of being fun and fabulous from the absolute best!

Golf Dancin'

We took JR to play mini golf last night, and as you can see, he was pretty excited about the situation. Every hole he won required a mini golf victory dance (as seen in the picture). JR takes his mini golf pretty seriously...you'd think he was waiting for somebody to present him with a green jacket the way he carries on. But, what do you expect? I, myself, screamed so loud when I got a hole-in-one that everybody at the place looked at me. Yep, golf in miniature. Pretty exciting stuff around here.

Just Like Us

I just got back from JR's school where we had "student led conferences". Here he is showing me how to build a block pattern. The conference I had with him was cute, but that's not today's story. Today's story happened just before our conference started. Now, Jason and I are both pretty good at thinking on our feet. We can pretty much talk ourselves into or out-of any situation, and if we need to make up a quick story that "may or may not" have actually happened, we're both pretty good at that too. So today, I was happy to see that JR has also picked up on that personality trait. When I got to JR's classroom he had just finished writing in his journal and was waiting for his teacher to give it the okay. After she looked at his journal she said, "And how do you recycle, JR?" I started thinking to myself, "Poor thing, what's he going to say? He'll probably say he recycles his Sunny D bottle." Without skipping a beat JR says, "I compost." It was everything I could do not to bust out laughing and blow his whole story. Ingersolls composting?! Jason probably doesn't even know what the word 'compost' means. Ahhh, JR, I love it; he's so our child

Goal #1

So lately I've been thinking about the people you see on TV or read about in magazines that were ridiculously overweight and now they're super skinny, fit, and running marathons. And they'll say something like, 'Oh, when I started I couldn't even walk to the mailbox, and just last week I completed my 6th marathon.' Well, I've been in Durango for 4 months now, and I still can't walk to my mailbox. I'm not exaggerating. I'm completely out of breath, and my calves are not just burning, but on fire, by the time I get there. Of course I have to walk up two hills (Texans, they're really mountains by our standards.) at 7,500 ft elevation to actually get to my mailbox. But I thought after 4 months I'd be able to do it without needing to stop and catch my breath. Nope. Oh, how I love those stop signs...I make sure to check for traffic a couple of times...just to be on the safe side. So I'm guessing my fitness goals aren't ever going to make it to 'running a maration' while living here. So here are my fitness goals so far:
Goal #1- Walk to mailbox without getting winded.
I thought those of you that know me might think I was being a bit dramatic about the actual height location of my mailbox, so I took some pictures yesterday. Let's take a look at the proof, shall we?
So this is the first "hill" we have to climb. And as I was trying to take a picture, Hunter decided that he, too, is having problems in this altitude and felt that riding to the mailbox was a much better idea than walking. The babies thought it was funny at first, but quickly found out that having a dog sit on you that weights as much as you do, isn't too comfy.


Okay, so as you can see, I have our house labeled. Now, remember, we live in a split-level house so what you're seeing is our top story. Hence, more hilly walking for me around that curve in the road.


Now here we are at the stop sign. I've labeled the mailboxes for you. See, not exaggerating.

So when you're checking your mail, be sure and think of me huffing and puffing. And I'll be sure and let you know when I accomplish Goal #1!