What My Kids Said 2010 - June 2010

June 2010

-James at dinner pointed to his cornbread muffin and said, "it's the Epcot ball!"

-James at dinner asked me, "what was your favorite part of the day?"

-Jack was about to put on a 'play' for us. He began by saying, "no eating or drinking in the theater, and please, no flash photography." (maybe a bit too much Disney World!)

-I picked up the boys from camp and on the way home James said, "Jack, how was your day?" Jack, "it was good." James, "what was your favorite part of the day?" Jack, "playing with the balls.

-Jack to me, "You're the girl I love most. And then Emma is second. But I wouldn't tell that to Emma, because then she might not want to marry me. We're still in love, you know?! When am I going to see Emma next?"

-James came running over to us with a styrofoam peanut in his hand and said with more enthusiasm than EVER, "This is AWESOME!!!" Then he asked, "what is this?" We said, "a styrofoam peanut." He said in an enthusiastic Grover sounding voice, "A PEANUT??"

-Jack has been nervous about swim lessons. His first lesson was today. It was raining though, so class was moved indoors to the gym for water safety talk (no water time). Jack said later to me, "If it rains tomorrow and we have to go to the gym again, that will be my greatest success!"

-Jack said in a very forgiving tone, "Mom, I'm a little embarrassed to were underwear with things like Diego and Cars on it." Me, "oh, you don't like those anymore?" Jack, "well, I'd rather red ones, or ones with stripes...ones without characters." (he's growing up...oh I can't take it!)

-Jack is amazing at checkers. He and I were playing a few games and I was getting tired of playing. He said, "Mom, you wanna play again?" Me, "no." He said, "why not?" Me, "because you're kicking my butt!" Jack, "come on, I'll go easy on you this time!"

-Jack was playing Jason in checkers (and winning). I asked him, "Jack, how are you so good at checkers?" He whispered in my ear, "you know how I do it? You just tell the person, 'you're so good,' then BAM you start to win!"

-Jack asked Jason and I dead seriously, "can I please have an iPhone for my birthday?" About 30 minutes later in an unrelated conversation between Jason and I, Jason used the word 'yearn' when referring to something he wanted. Jack piped in and said, "Yearn means you really want something." Jason said, "yes Jack, good job!" Jack said, "I learned that from Martha Speaks." After a minute of silence, he said, "And I really yearn for an iPhone!"

-Jason was having a conversation with Jack (or, a debate really) on why it's okay to kill the hornworms that are eating our tomato plant. Jason said, "in nature animals kill other animals." Jack said, "yes, but we have people brains and we can just eat plants." Jason, "but we kill the plants when we eat the plants." Jack, "but we can eat just part of the plant and still let it grow...but we can't kill just part of the hornworm." Jason finally relented to Jack's argument to just pull them off rather than kill them.

Great Dads Make Great Husbands

I have to say...my boys have the one of the sweetest, funnest, and most patient and present dads in the world! I honestly feel like they are the luckiest kids in the world to have a dad like Jason. His wish for Father's Day weekend was to spend time with the boys. He requested to take each one of them individually to the Pensacola NAS Air Museum. I love that about Jason! He cares so much about his sons. He puts so much effort into shaping who he hopes they become. He loves teaching them. He loves laughing with them. He honestly can do MY job at any moment, if I have to be away. He's so connected to their daily lives.

This is not only a blessing for my boys, but is an absolute blessing to me. I am so honored to have someone that supports my efforts as a stay-at-home mom, not because he feels like he has to, but because he wants to. I honestly couldn't be half the mother I am without his support and obvious love and commitment to our boys. Sure, I'm proud of Jason for ALL of his achievements in his career. But honestly, I'm most proud of his awesome achievement of being an exceptional dad!

Great dads, TRULY make great husbands!!!

Operation Hair Force

My friend Jessica brought to my attention an organization called Matter Of Trust . Taken from it's website is this:

The mission of Matter of Trust is to Link ideas, spark action and materialize sustainable systems. We like to mimick how Mother Nature integrates enduring cycles and provides access to necessities in abundance. We concentrate on manmade surplus, natural surplus and eco-educational programs. The results are worthwhile, common sensical and often enchanting.

"When my husband and I planned for our kids, we were delighted to be given the responsibility for bringing them into the world; and we were eager to join in taking responsibility for the world we are passing on to everybody's kids." Happily, all of us here get to meet others daily who feel the same way.


Their effort in the Gulf oil spill is to collect hair clippings, stuff them into nylon pantyhose, and use them as a super absorbing booms! Hair naturally attracts/collects oil! And it does a pretty good job of it! See the video below:



Jason and I both felt inspired by this organization and finally less helpless regarding the current oil spill crisis. We found ourselves getting so angry about what's going on that it gave us the ambition to DO SOMETHING! So, we decided that an easy place to start would be the base barber shops. They cut service member's hair ALL day long. And conveniently they collect the hair in a vacuum as they cut. Jason approached the manager at the Pensacola NAS barber shop. He was 100% onboard and excited to participate. He manages four of the barber shops between the two bases here and said that he would love all of them to participate!

We're happy to report, Jason has collected 6 large bags of hair clippings so far! Operation Hair Force is in full affect!



Another volunteer opportunity is to actually help MAKE the booms. This is called a BoomBQ party. This may be our next fun event! :)

Home Sweet Home...

We've made it back from our Disney trip! And a vacation would be nice now! Haha!

One of the syndromes you return with after a Disney trip is the inability to stop singing Disney tunes. We're on day three since the parks and we haven't escaped the songs in our heads! I served dinner tonight singing "Be Our Guest"...and even threw in a few dance moves! :)

Overall our trip was great! I have to be honest, there were times during meltdowns when we felt like we made a big mistake going to Disney. James is going through one of his tantrum phases right now. So, he was on ThreatCon (AKA SnapCon) Delta quite a bit early on. The first day was actually his worst day. So, he set the bar for our expectations right off the bat and we actually had a great time the remaining days. In addition to the occasional toddler meltdown, we experienced some weather meltdowns. Luckily though, it was mostly cloudy on most days. Only one day was full sun. We had a few fast-passing thunderstorms, but were lucky to be inside during those. So, all-in-all, we were quite lucky!

So, here are the highlights. I asked each person in the family what they liked/didn't like.

Jack's favorite rides were Buzz Lightyear in Magic Kingdom and Test Track in Epcot. His least favorite was Tower of Terror (even though it was his 4th time in the last 2.5 years to ride it). As he and Jason exited the ride, he said he'd wait to ride that again when he's 10. Then by the time they got to the area James and I were waiting for them, he said he would wait until he was 20. A few minutes later he changed his mind again and said really he'd wait until he was 50 until the rides it again. Bless his heart. I think he understood the "storyline" more this time and that scared him more than the actual thrill portion of the ride. Some surprising aspects of this trip was the realization that Jack has outgrown some of the younger stuff at WDW. He used to love the Disney's Playhouse show in Disney Hollywood Studios...but this time rolled his eyes at the experience mostly. I'm still trying to grasp the idea that Jack is growing up whether I like it or not!





James' favorite ride was the Brainstormer Roller Coaster in Magic Kingdom...his first roller coaster. He was most frightened by the Kali Rapids in Animal Kingdom...we got DRENCHED even with ponchos on. However, he proudly showed everyone in the park his stamp he got for riding it! Other highlights for James were the transportation rides we took during our stay. The bus, train, monorail, and boat rides were right up his alley. He got a kick out of the simple things like squirting Daddy with the spray bottle. And pressing the button on the elevator. You know, the kind of things you can do for free! :) Some of his cutest moments were when he'd ride each ride absolutely expressionless (because I think he was just trying to be aware incase something jumped out at him), and as we exited each ride or show, with the biggest smile on his face and his fists clenched and thrown to the air, he'd shout, "I DID IT!" Even something as mundane as the Carousel of Progress in Magic Kingdom. It cracked us up! James also got his spotlight moment at the American Idol show in Disney Hollywood Studios. When we were in the theater, the announcer was preparing the audience for the show. He had all the men in the audience shout, then all of the women....then he asked all of the kids to scream real loud! James was a bit late starting his scream and the rest of the kids' screams were dying down just as James was revving up! The announcer took notice to his high pitch squeal and singled James out to "do THAT again!" So, James welcomed the eyes of 1000 audience members and showed off his vocal abilities. The whole audience laughed and James, of course, got a kick out of such attention. The announcer welcomed him to do it again...and James took full advantage and did it again! Problem is, when the announcer was ready to get back to the show, James wasn't ready to stop 'HIS' own show! He got a couple of more shrills in before quieting down. But, that's not nearly as bad as trying to get inside of a fancy sports car in a store at Downtown Disney when there are 6 signs surrounding the vehicle "Do Not Touch." James sure does keep our life interesting! That's for sure!




Jason's favorite part of Disney this time was the American Idol show in Disney Hollywood Studios. Throughout the day, there are auditions for American Idol. Those that make the auditions get to perform in one of several American Idol shows in Disney Hollywood Studios. The top singer (voted on by the audience) of each show then moves on the the finale show at 7pm. We went to the third to last show of the day and really enjoyed hearing the people sing. So, we decided to eat dinner in the park so we could stay for the finale show. The finale show had the best talent of the day (about 7 contestants) and was pretty entertaining. The winner of the finale gets a "fastpass" to the front of the line of any American Idol audition in any city for the actual show. Apparently this is how Aaron Kelly (one of the contestants from this year's American Idol) got his audition. It was fun for us, especially since this was the first year Jack and James were both very much into American Idol.



And my favorite part was seeing the boys take it all in and enjoy the sites and sounds. I loved seeing Jack discover Disney differently from when he went as a young 4 year old. He understood more and asked more questions. It was also so fun to see James see Disney for the first time, really. He's been two other times...but this time he was alert and aware of his surroundings. I loved seeing his pride when accomplishing each ride like a big boy. I also enjoyed being together as a family. I may have preferred a more relaxing setting at times, but all-in-all, just to be together is what makes any vacation perfect.





Of course, there is no place like home...and this week away was a real reminder of that. Even the most magical place in the world can't be as good as home sweet home.

By the way, our plan to reveal Disney as a surprise worked out perfectly. It was only about 2 hours before arriving to our hotel that the boys knew where we were headed! Even though Jack believed we were led to Disney by some magic bottle and notes...he still said to me and Jason almost daily..."thank you for bringing us to Disney World." I'm so proud of him for being so appreciative.

My Kids Said...May 2010

-Jack asked Jason at dinner, "So, Dad, did anything interesting happen at work today?"

-when Jack saw me dressed in a little summer dress to go out to dinner, Jack said, "wow Mom, today is your prettiest day!"

-James asked, "are we going to McDonald's?" Me, "yes, we're going to get chicken biscuits." James, "I need some sweet tea."

-We asked Jack to come inside so we could talk to him. When he came inside, he said, "I was just outside thinking of how to make James an easier child...until you interrupted me."

-we brought James to the movie theater for getting all his stickers on his sticker chart. We were the only ones in the theater. A young couple walked in and James said, "They got their stickers TOO!"

-James, "when I grow up, I want to drive a black truck!"

-Jack, "I can't wait until James turns three. Then he'll be happy and jolly."

-Jack, "Mom, did you have a biscuit yet?" Me, "no, I didn't want one." Jack, "okay, because I saw one left and gave half to James and I ate the other half." Me, "what if I had wanted that biscuit?" Jack, "well, I didn't think about that until after I started eating it, so I gave half to James so that if you came downstairs you'd see him eating it!" Me, "oh, so you were making James get in trouble?" Jack with a big smile, "uh, I was just kidding about that last part...I was just sharing with James."

-we were eating a black bean frozen pizza, James said, "This is delicious! It's good good good!"

-Jason makes Jack's lunch...today Jason asked Jack if he liked his sandwich. Jack said, "yah, I liked it 90%."

-I was calling for Jack. I heard him upstairs. So I went up there to see what he was doing. I found him in James' bathroom using his toilet. I asked him why he came up here to potty, he said, "I just wanted to try it out...and it's pretty nice!"

-Me, "whew James...are you tooting?" James, "Noooooo....I'm just farting!"

-James has a hard time on most Monday mornings when Jason has to go back to work. This Monday he had one of his biggest meltdowns ever when Jason left. I finally calmed him down and explained that daddy doesn't WANT to go to work, he'd rather stay with us...but he has to make money...so we can buy food, etc. He really seemed to understand once I explained it this way to him. So, the next morning, when Jason was about to leave, I said to James, "Daddy is going to work because he needs to make....." I was waiting for him to fill in the blank, and he said with enthusiasm, "PIZZA!!!" He was very proud at how much he made us laugh!

-Grandpa has trained James and Jack on the following. He says, "How much do you love me?" And they respond, "to death!"

-James was pretending to go to work as he drove off in his little Jeep. When he got 'back' I said, "Hi James, I'm so happy to see you!" He said, "Thank you! I'm so glad to be home!" (this is the typical interaction between James and Jason when Jason comes home). By the way, when I asked him what he did at work today, James said, "I flew the Blue Angel and got money!"

-Jack finished his lunch and said, "I...am...wicked full!"