To the Mailman in West Lebanon... Thank You!

Katie

Now Wes is a challenge when he takes a 3 hour nap, but because we are a little busier than normal Wes has had to skip his nap the past two days and like second children everywhere had to just had to deal with it.  So, where did I take the grumpiest kid on earth? Of course, Walmart.   

So we're leaving said Walmart and I'm not in the best mood, because I just spent 30 minutes in Walmart, and Wes is dragging.  We walk by the mailman in his truck and the mailman waves at Wes.  Wes waves but doesn't say hello and then we take a few steps forward and I say "Buddy, you better say hello, he's getting ready to leave."  

Wes stops in his tracks and hangs his head.  I was just about to turn him around when I hear "Hey little guy I have an important letter for you."  We turn around and the mailman is getting out of his truck and walking over to Wes.  He hands Wes the important letter and Wes is grinning from ear to ear and says to the mailman "Thank you so much.  Have a nice day."

I am sure that the mailman in West Lebanon will never read this but if by chance in this small town we live in you see this thank you, thank you, thank you.  You made his day. Everyone in the next 3 stores was told about his very important letter and couldn't wait to show daddy when he got home.  It's now hanging in a place of honor...our fridge.

And I have to admit, it made my day a bit brighter too.

His very important letter.  He asked me to take a photo.

Size 12

As we head into the warmer seasons I finally managed to sort through the shoe basket.  I'm finally comfortable saying it won't snow anytime soon so it's time to toss and store away the winter boots and to figure out what shoes still fit the boys.  This morning I had the boys try on all their shoes. The short answer is, no, they (at first) were not willing participants in this activity.  But a little imagination goes along way.  I know that I love going to a shoe store and trying shoes on so I recruited the help of Colby to organize and display all of the shoes. 

He really took ownership of it and even positioned the shoes the way they are displayed in stores.  He has my retail eye in him. It's amazing what a little imagination will do because the boys loved playing shoe store, I was able to weed out the shoes and it was done quickly and painlessly. I can't imagine going through their wardrobes will be as easy.  Oh well....

Who is the gray haired lady driving all over the road...oh wait it's me

Katie R.

So a couple weeks ago I had a birthday and it honestly did not bother me a second that I was a year older.  In fact, I thought I had it it totally together, I even was talking to someone and said "I don't feel old because I'm really content with my life because I like my job, my house, my kids"  (ok I may have been a little drunk when I said this, but at the time I meant it).

Then it happened.  I was visiting my parents in Ohio and took the boys, in my mom's car, to pick up their cousin.  They were so excited to spend the day with him that I took a quick shower and didn't bother drying my hair.  It was a beautiful morning and the kids asked to have the windows down.  Because I'm such a fun mom I put all the windows down and opened the sunroof to take in all the fresh air.

My boys, who have lived in the northeast their entire lives, where talking about how flat it was and we were looking views like this:

So a sunny, beautiful spring day what could go wrong?  I looked in the rear view mirror. With my hair being wet it was several shades darker and with the sun shining through the roof I noticed a few gray hairs and then I noticed a few more.  I suddenly realized as I was driving my mom's car from one ditch to the other that over 1/2 my hair was grey.  I immediately drove back at record-breaking speeds and checked in the bathroom mirror only to find the car mirror was not lying. So I did what anyone would do, texted my friend to see if we could color my hair as soon as I got home and started drinking about noon.  I was finally feeling like maybe it wasn't so bad when my husband leans over me when we are sitting on the patio and starts nodding.  I gave him a questioning look and he says "you do have a lot of gray hair".  Wow.  Another beer please.

So now I'm officially old.  I will have my every 6-8 week appointment to get my hair colored, I noticed my hands are becoming more wrinkled and don't even get me started on my teeth.

Oh well... I had 3 good weeks after my birthday.

Pretty Please

Colby: Mom, may I please move the kitchen chairs in the living room?

Me: Ummm...okay.

Colby: Mom, may I please use all the blankets in the basket?

Me: Sure.

I wasn't quite sure what his game plan was but as the chairs started moving the big picture came together. And when he asks so nicely its hard to say no.

It did make moving from the dining room to the living room a bit problematic but it was worth it. They played in that tent all morning long.

Yoga

Usually right before bed the boys are bat-shit crazy.  They always seem to rage right before they pass out.  They run up and down the hallway, spin until the get too dizzy to stand and anything else that could create havoc in the house.  While Colby was trying to recreate the Karate Kid move it looked like a yoga move and it gave me an idea.

I went and grabbed the yoga mat, turned on the TV and found a 10 minute kids yoga routine and boom...

 

 

I got 10 minutes of glorious quiet (pre-bed) time while the boys stretched and followed the directions of the slightly crazy yoga lady.  It was wonderful.  I'll put this in my back pocket and pull it out again when the boys need it before bedtime again.  (My guess is I'll do it tonight too)