"And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street"

To the average person, this picture would seem odd. There is nothing artistic about it and all it contains is a seemingly random collection of rocks. However, there is much more to it than what meets the eye. What if I told you that the flat, round rocks on the bottom were actually fossilized dinosaur poop? Or what if I told you that the odd shaped rock on the far left was, in reality, a fossilized dinosaur teething toy, belonging to a larger dinosaur species? And the green and white one in the middle? It was the favorite toy of a small, baby dinosaur a very long time ago and now it has become a fossil. You might say that I'm crazy or delusional at best but that would be if you heard it strictly from me. However, I have it on good authority, in fact from a particular 3 year old little scientist, that it is 100% undeniably true.

Want to hear some more? Because, as many of you can attest, I could go on for days with stories that my little monkey has told me. For instance, there was the time that he came home from preschool at the age of 2 years, 2 months and informed me that he and Tristan (his best friend in TX) were going to steal the school's pumpkin patch, load it on the Boy Scout bus, drive the bus to a helicopter, load the pumpkin patch onto the chopper and then fly off with it. Tell me, where would a child of that age come up with that and be able to clearly verbalize it?

There was also the time that Jesse, Drew and I were headed to Billings. All of the sudden, Drew started screaming from the back that we had to turn around and go home; we had forgotten Carter. After arguing for a few minutes that Carter would be fine at home for a while (and getting absolutely nowhere), Jesse had the brilliant idea to tell Drew to call him. Suddenly Drew was all smiles, "Oh good Carter! You caught up with us...its a good thing you're a dinosaur and you can run fast and you climbed in the window. I missed you!"

I was thinking about these things tonight as I was reading Drew a bedtime story. Before he was born and while he was still a baby, I had all of these preconceived notions about what our favorite stories would be. I was going to read him "I'll Love You Forever" and "Guess How Much I Love You" and "I Love You Through and Through" (which, incidentally I did read to him for a long time and have been quoting it for about 3 years now). Since he's been old enough to have an opinion though, he has always loved Dr. Seuss. The wild and outlandish tales about unidentifiable creatures and far fetched adventures just appeal to his zealous little imagination and best of all is "And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street".

This tale about Marko, a little boy with a wild imagination attempting to concoct "a tale that no one can beat" makes me smile. Every time I read it, I glance down at my sleepy eyed but enraptured little man and wonder what his next tale will be. The stories I thought I would be reading are sweet and certainly have their place but when it comes to the perfect bedtime story for Drew we have one that simply can't be beat..."And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street".

Amidst the Noise

Normally, I go about my days with my wild little monkey running around and leaving chaos as he goes. So, when we got our new kitty a couple of weeks ago, I thought that it couldn't possibly be much different. Besides, my heart that has been aching for a baby for so long was just thrilled at the idea of having a kitten to love and nurture. Fast forward a couple of weeks and I'm still thrilled at having gotten a kitten...I just thought there was never a dull moment before...

In the past couple of weeks, Drew has reached several big milestones. Milestone #1 is that he now sleeps through the night!!!! Of course, since he doesn't get up 3 times, he makes up for it by waking up at 6:00 am, proceeding to wake the kitty up and then the two of them unleash all kinds of terror on Mommy and Daddy's peacefully sleeping selves. Its not much like having a baby...more like a preschooler (Drew) teaching his toddler sister (Lady Grey) what fun it is to climb furniture, throw toys around, pounce on Mommy and Daddy repeatedly in bed and screech at the top of your lungs. Milestone #2 is that he is completely out of diapers!! There is really isn't much to say about the cat in regards to this except that she appears to have a freakish interest in watching him pee.

So, the noise level has reached an all time high in recent days. I fight the urge to stay on top of Drew about not chasing the kitty because it turns out that she quite enjoys it and takes it rather personally when I make him play on his own. They even played football the other night. It went something like this: Drew would stand in one end of the room, he would chuck the soft, mini football (hey, I'm not completely retarded) into the other and then he and Lady raced to see who got there first. It was quite amusing to watch but even more amusing was Drew's prayer that evening. "Dear Jesus" he said, "Thank you for my new kitty! And Jesus? Please teach Lady Grey to know how to play football the right way so that she knows to catch it with her paws...Amen!"

At the moment, Drew is at preschool and the roofers are tearing apart our damaged roof. What is normally a quiet time, is not. Judging from Lady's literal attempt to climb the walls, I'm anticipating that between the roofers, the 3 year old monkey and a wild child of a kitten, I'm in for a rambunctious, loud, and quite possibly FANTASTIC day!

Drew-isms

It strikes me as funny that some of my friends check my status on Facebook just to see if there is something new that Drew has said. I guess that shouldn't really surprise me...he tends to draw a crowd wherever he goes (by force, if necessary). So, for those of you who are waiting to hear what my incredibly verbose child has said recently, I thought I would do another round of Drew-isms.

Recently, he's taken a liking to a minivan that belongs to a friend of ours. He informed us the other night at dinner that he was planning on borrowing it the next day. I calmly responded that it probably wasn't a good idea since he wasn't really old enough to drive...especially other people's cars. To which he responded, "Fine...I'll just buy it then." Jesse decided to humor him and ask him how much he was offering. Drew, quick as always, said, "26,500." After that we were able to dissuade him by explaining that was a little pricey for a used van.

We've had some concerns recently about his faith in God. A while back, he was laying in bed with me at naptime. "Mommy," he asked, "Does Jesus live in the sunshine?" I told him that Jesus was everywhere. "Well Mommy, what is He doing? Is he making me a baby sister yet?" I told him that when it was the right time, He would bless us with a baby sister. "Well, is He making me a puppy?" I explained that someday we might get a dog but it had to be the right dog at the right time. Clearly exasperated, he let out a big sigh and exclaimed, "Well is He at least making me a kitty!?!?" Once again, I told him that if it was the right kitty, at the right time then we would get one.

This conversation led to some serious discussion between Jesse and I, which eventually led to us deciding that next week, we are getting that child a kitten. When we told him this, he was super excited and started squealing, "Yay!!! Jesus finally made me a kitten!" Last night he prayed, "Thank you Jesus for Amy and Alan (our landlords) saying yes and thank you for my kitty and thank you and please let me bring her home soon!" Unfortunately, it appears that he has fallen in love with a kitten that won't be ready for a few weeks (give or take, in the words of the lady at the shelter)...something they neglected to make clear initially. So, at this point I'm praying that the kitten grows at an enormous speed in the next week so that she's big enough to be adopted. My little monkey is in a fragile place right now.

His preschool teacher told me a story about him last week. Apparently, each child has a job to do for the week. Last week it was one of the little girl's turn to be the greeter but she didn't want to do it. Mrs. Sandy asked Drew if he would like to be the greeter for her. Of course, he jumped up and announced, "I would LOVE to be the greeter!" and then proceeded to run up and down and give every one high fives. They gave him greeter duty again this week.

I guess his enthusiasm, as well as some other attributes definitely come from his Daddy. Before he even started preschool he told me that I was going to need to pack his Bible for him so that he could preach to all the other kids and at church on Sunday, he walked up to the preacher and said, "I'm going to preach the children in the nursery this morning...maybe soon I'll preach for you."

He apparently is determined to continue to act older than he is. Today at the library, a lady with a little girl with her asked Drew how old he was. He glanced over at the little girl who appeared to be around 3 or 4 and calmly said, "6."

That little monkey is funny, charming, quick on his feet and by some amazing miracle, mine.

10 Things I Never Imagined Saying

As amazed as I am at the things that my little monkey says, I'm always equally amazed at what I find myself saying. So here it is, my very own top 10. The top 10 things that I never imagined myself saying:

10. No, Baby, Jesus doesn't really live IN the sunshine.

9. Yes, I kissed your imaginary dinosaur goodnight too.

8. Yes, that is a very cute baby but it has its own family so no, you cannot take it home.

7. Whats that squishing sound? Oh, wait...its the 2 year old boy pee that soaked into my flip flop.

6. Uh, that's a mommy thing. Please put it back in my purse and STOP BENDING IT THAT WAY!

5. Do not eat the dirt out of the windowsill!

4. Its not nice to just go around licking people. Why? Because its just gross.

3. Its kind of important to be sure you have pants on before you run out of the house.

2. Daddy only cries more than Mommy because he thinks its funny.

1. Fine! Pick your nose so you can fall asleep...just don't let me see it!

Excusable Neglect

So, my deepest apologies for the long neglected blog. I really did not realize it had been so long but it has been a very busy month, so I'm excusing myself...this time.

I thought that instead of regaling you with entertaining tales of the little monkey, I might share a little bit of what I've been up to. The last few months, I've discovered some new interests and I have to tell you, I'm so excited about the possibilities. In between planning and hosting parties, refinishing furniture, making invitations and baking cakes (not to mention an awesome visit from my parents), I've been having a blast! So, I have a few pictures of what I've been up to...let me know what you think. Oh, and I should probably warm you that I'm really only interested in positive opinions...if you absolutely hate it then go about your merry way and let me continue in my delusions...I'm more content that way...haha!!!

As most of you know, Drew turned 3 on the 9th. It is so hard for me to even believe that we're already here but I'm forcing myself to accept it. Anyway, I thought it was probably about time for him to have his first "real" party so we celebrated with 4 of his friends (and a couple of little sisters). He wanted a pool cake...so, of course that's what he got!


When I haven't been throwing parties (I've done three so far this summer), I've been decorating our little house. After discovering an old coffee can in the basement, I whipped up some whimsical decor for Drew's bathroom. He loves it (and so do I)!

So, back to Drew's birthday. These were the favors for his little bash. We went with an overall pool/beach theme so each boy got a personalized bucket and shovel, sunglasses to wear (never mind that a huge storm blew in and we ended up with an indoor party), a personalized cup to drink their slushes out of and they were supposed to each make an ocean in a bottle. It turns out though, that getting little boys ages 2-4 that have never been to preschool to do certain things together greatly resembles herding cats so I let that part go. Anyway, they all fit in together for an easy transport home.

And, since my computer is nuts and won't let me organize the pictures the way I want on here, we're bouncing back to home decorations. I recently experimented with making a garden sign for the front of our house. I mixed the paint to match our siding, front door and trim...the end result was pretty cute, I think.

One of the biggest projects this summer was refinishing our dining room table and chairs (that are older than I am). After 3 years of struggling to keep furniture clean and unscathed, I've decided that I'm really into the distressed style...it turns out that there is a lot of satisfaction in banging up the furniture yourself and the dated look suits our arts and crafts style home.

I've also discovered that I absolutely LOVE making custom invitations. It is a complete escape and for some odd reason, one of the only things I can do without Drew constantly needing my attention. Somehow he gets that its just Mommy's thing.

I made these for our Open House party that we had a few weeks ago. It was super fun! I also made a Almond Berry 3 Layer Cake for this party that was a huge hit...somehow, I forgot to get a picture of it though....grrrrr.

This was the invitation to the previously mentioned 3 year old birthday bash:

I even had matching envelopes!

These are a couple of shower invitations from my friend Ashlee's baby shower in May. It was my first experience in planning and throwing a shower and was so incredibly fun! Once again though, I failed to get pictures of everything, like my super cute cupcake tower and bunny topped diaper cake. Oh well, live and learn.

Some of you are probably wondering where I'm going with all of this. Do I find it necessary to have everyone affirm that I'm doing a good job? Did I find it necessary to toot my own horn? Do I want everyone to know that I don't just sit around my house in pjs all day playing tonka trucks? No, not really. It seems though that my wonderful husband (and a few other well meaning friends) think that I should shift some of these interests into a little home based business. While I'm not entirely opposed to the idea, I'm just not sure what it would look like exactly. So, I thought that maybe if I got everything down that I had been working on, something might stand out to me or click in my head and I would realize, "Oh that's what I'm supposed to do!" We'll see. If nothing else, this is proof that I'm not always in my pajamas racing trucks, putting on rock concerts and finger painting...although if I'm completely honest, that's where you'll find me about 90% of the time!

The World's Cutest Boy!

Today, the world is a cuter place. Drew got to fulfill one of his dreams. For weeks now, he's talked about riding to the IGA, his pockets stashed full of change and buying an ice cream treat, all by himself. We attempted it a couple of weeks ago but a call from Daddy waylaid us, something that Drew was careful to take into account today.

He came bounding down the stairs after naptime, reminding me that he pooped in the potty today AND he had taken a nap. "I could ride my bicycle to the IGA and get some ice cream but sometimes I try that and Daddy calls us and we have to go back home and see him but I want to go to the store today so I should call Daddy and then I could tell him not to come home and see me right now because I'm busy!!!!" After this mouthful, I willingly handed over the phone for him to make the very important call.

After Jesse and I both got done laughing at the amount of animation in that one little face and voice, Drew and I set out for our trip. (I have to throw this in there, he is getting soooo good at his bike...he's even learned how to stand up on the pedals to push himself over a bump! ) The ride to the store was without incident, except for a near collision with a brick wall when he saw another little boy on a bike...it was, however, thankfully averted.

He carefully parked his bike and took his helmet off and then very business like headed into the store, "Thank you" he said as he nodded to the automatically opening doors. Once inside he drug me to the ice cream cooler and informed me that as a special treat, he was going to let me pick out something too. After deciding that we should get fudge bars, he carried them up to the counter to pay for them.

This is where things went slightly awry. You see, in order for a little boy to get the full pleasure out of an experience like this, you have to have a cashier who will play along. Our mistake was in choosing one who was too busy talking to the checker across from her. Her loss, because apparently she failed to realize that the world's cutest boy was standing in front of her, digging in his pockets for the right amount of change (carefully counted out by Mommy ahead of time) and chatting to her about how her day was going. I'm pretty sure she also missed his parting call as we walked past her counter, "Thanks so much for youwr help! Have a good day!"

Fortunately, he didn't seem to be too concerned by the cashier's lack of involvement because he quickly got back on his bike and we started our trip back. We took a break at the park, where, as my monkey would say, we "enjoyed" our "tasty treats" enormously! It was there though that I realized I didn't have my camera with me to document this new level of cuteness...something that I'm still kicking myself for. Self satisfaction was painted all over that adorable face (along with quite a bit of melted fudge bar) and to top it off we had to pull off his shirt and use it to wipe him down with. It was a very content little man that rode the rest of the way home, sticking his bare little chest out and waving happily to the neighbors as we passed.

Yes, my friends, I'm a very blessed woman...I have the world's cutest boy for a son!

What Did You Say?!?!

Its time to write down a few more Drew funnies...the boy never ceases to amaze me with his intelligence, sense of humor and verbal antics.

As you may be able to see from the picture, he recently had a haircut. The conversation that followed was certainly something for the books. The entire time I was cutting it, I kept having to dodge small hands that suddenly shot up and grabbed it. This was inevitably followed by, "Mommy! What are you doing?? Where is it going? Are you going to cut it ALL off!?!?" When I finished, he sat there with a sad look on his face, "Oh Mommy!" he cried, "am I still handsome?" Of course, I told him he was very handsome but when he still seemed upset, I told him if he wanted to he could grow it back out again when the weather cooled off. To which he replied, "Oh good! I like it better longer." Is this a normal conversation to have with someone who isn't even 3 yet? I'm thinking its probably not...

Speaking of his age, he told me a couple of weeks ago that he is going to be 3 in August (which is true) and then proceeded to tell me who I was to invite and what exactly he wanted to have happen at his party. I thought I still had a couple more years before he dictated birthday parties?

He is very focused on his approaching birthday; at the park this morning, he started playing with some 5-6 year old girls. Finally, they asked him, "How old are you anyway?" To which he responded (in a very condescending manner, I might add), "I'm going to be 3 in August." As if this fact makes him quite a man.

Bedtime prayers continue to be an exercise in restraining from hysterical laughter on my part. After overhearing my friend Ashlee and I discussing that Baby Gracey probably needed a change of clothes since hers were wet, Drew began to pray every night, "Deawr God, thank you for Baby Gracey but please get hewr a new outfit." Trust me, the girl has plenty of outfits!

He still prays for a baby sister of his own every night too. A few nights ago, we were talking after he prayed and he said, "If I have a baby sister then when she gets scared at night, I can go to her crib and sing 'I'll take care of you, don't be sad, don't be blue!'" Talk about adorable...by the way, he's learned the whole song and now he sings it with me when I tuck him in.

I have to constantly remind myself that he picks up on everything. A couple of weeks ago, he heard a cricket and wanted to know what it was. I explained that it was a bug and that it made that sound by scratching its legs together. Earlier this week, he heard some again. "What's that Mom?" he asked. "What is that?" I responded (a game I plan with him often to teach him to answer things for himself). "Its a cricket," he answered. "And its rubbing it's legs together to make music," I continued. "Oh no," he said, "its SCRATCHING it's legs together." Of course, what was I thinking...

As we walked by a truck with some sort of machine in the back, he wanted to know what it was, I responded that I wasn't really sure. To which he answered, "Oh that is a pulley. You can use it to lift heavy objects." ?!?!?!?!?! Suddenly, I remembered that there had been an episode of Sid, the Science Kid a couple of months ago that was on pulleys. Is there anything he doesn't remember?

I think I'll stop here for now...the truth is, I could probably go on all day. Besides, this afternoon we're going to play on the slip n slide and tomorrow is the Freedom Festival in town so I'm certain there will be much, much more tell by the end of the weekend!