Hagen’s Shiner

This past weekend, Hagen and Mason went to have some Grammy and Grampa time.  Grammy called me … Sunday, I think and said, well… we had a little accident. 

Of course I was picturing broken arm?  But, it was a black eye.  The boys were playing in the little pool and Hagen’s eye (really above it, around the eyebrow) collided with Mason’s head. 

They actually have it all on video … Jeremy saw it and said it didn’t look like anything and Hagen didn’t even cry when it happened.

Monday:

One of Grammy’s friends, a nurse, told her that he broke a blood vessel.  Well, Tuesday was definitely more pronounced!  Yep, this is a shiner to remember!!

So funny!!  He even thinks it is kinda ‘cool’ looking!  Of course people that see him point it out, so he is noticing that attention, too. 

I was trying to go back and find the blog post about his last black eye and this is the only one I could find.  Check it out here.

Last Day of School, May 2011

I can’t believe my little 4 year olds will be in Pre-Kindergarten next year… one year until Kindergarten!!!  What??!  How did this happen?  The boys had a program to end the year, and as always they did not sing.  I have small clips of the video --- of the video of them standing there ---- but I have no plans to download it here.  Sorry, but if you want to see video of the boys standing, let me know.

Here the boys are back in August ready for their first day of school.

Their school pictures (not sure I posted these before), these were done in April.

The last day of school, May 2011

Brotherly Love:

Their program – yep, lots of standing.  Ms. Catherine, the director, said they sang in practice… so next year I am bringing my video camera on practice days.

With Ms. Colleen at the end of the year. 

With Ms. Catherine

In front of the sign.

Another Milestone

When I do this blog, like I have said before, I do it for my children.  I want them to see my journal of their lives.  For me, this is so much better than a traditional scrapbook.  I would have loved having my mother’s thoughts with pictures for me to read.  I know this is usually about the boys and then I sprinkle in thoughts about running my household, etc.  Every now and then I add in things about my past.  This is one of those posts.

As another milestone approaches it has me thinking about my life and comparing it to the boys.  My mother died when I was four years old.  I turned four in May, she passed away in July.  The boys turned four in March.  This month, they will be the age I was in my mother died.  It is hard to not look at them and think about myself being their age.  Maybe other people do this with something tragic or huge that happened in their life when they were younger.  I look at it as part of the grieving process.

(Last Christmas together)

I think the grieving process is on-going.  I’ve never thought you ‘grieve’ and move on.  When someone close to you dies, you learn to deal with the pain as time moves on.  In the beginning you think time is standing still and then it dawns on you that time is still moving.  My dad was a Dallas Cowboys fan and after he died, I started watching every game.  He died in 1991 and they won the Super Bowl in 1992, I remember being sad because he wasn’t there to see it. 

When my mother died, my father did not handle his grief well, but I can’t imagine being in his shoes.  He got stuck, I think he didn’t move forward because he had never imagined his life without her and now he was doing that.  Most nights the boys are pretty good about sleeping all night long.  Mason is my only one that seems to wake up around 3ish.  He always calls out for Momma.  One night as I was laying there hoping he would go to bed, it hit me.  Did I do that?  Did I cry out for my mother in the night?  Did my Dad hear that?  I quickly got up and ran in there to comfort him.  Yet again, how hard would that be for him to hear that and then the questions that followed, where is Momma?  When is she going to be home?  The more I thought about it, the more sympathy I had for my father.  The more understanding I gave him.

He might have not have been Father of the Year, but he was my dad and as I get older, I am really able to see how much he was up against and I will be forever grateful for the father that he was.

I can’t imagine leaving my children right now.  I can’t imagine not being around to see their lives and the men that they will become.  Having this milestone pass has made me turn my focus back on my children and the mother I am and want my children to see.

 

Rainy Day

Nothing much to do, but have a popcorn party in the living room …

…while watching our favorite movie.

Ice-Scream, You-Scream…

Our Ice Cream Truck comes every Friday between 5 and 6pm.  I am always cooking dinner when he comes – or I haven’t even started dinner (if he comes closer to 5).  So, one Friday, we woke up late and had a late breakfast/early lunch.  Then we had an early dinner.  After dinner, I told the boys to get their shoes by the door and when they heard the ice cream truck to get their shoes on we would go get him.  THEY. WERE. SO. EXCITED! 

When he finally came – Hagen went running out with his Fireman hat still on (wish I had grabbed the camera – even the ice cream man loved it!

Who was the winner?  Mason!  That boy can put it away, fast!  Hagen likes to savor.

It’s Beginning to Feel a lot like Summer…

This past week, we had a lot of warm days.  On one particularly warm day… we broke out the plastic pool.

I put it at the end of the slide and the boys had so much fun!!!  We are talking, like 3 hours of pure entertainment!

This picture is funny… nothing to see but splash!

When sliding down gets boring, give ‘em cups.

Late Mother’s Day Post

Happy Mother’s Day to each of you.  I hope you had a wonderful day spending it with the ones you love most… which is exactly what I did.

Mason’s Mission of Fun Finish Line

The rest of the weekend was more low key.  It is amazing how much quieter my house is with ONE child instead of TWO.  WoW!! 

Blowing bubbles

Playing leapster without having to argue over who gets what game.

Eating our favorite pizza while watching M’s favorite show!

Taking M’s bike around the block.

And he never lets me get a minute’s rest…

I’m not on the street.

Missing his play buddy.

Working on his ‘M’.  Then just had to draw an ‘H’.

‘Look, Momma, it’s me!’

Learning how to play tic-tac-toe.

Making Smores… Mason was not as impressed as Momma.

Another perk to having Momma to himself, being able to lay on Momma’s bed in the morning and play Angry Birds on Daddy’s ipod touch.  (Mason always corrects me and says, ‘It’s not an ipod, it’s an iPhone!’

Donuts and a train ride to end our last day of Momma and Mason weekend!

Perfect weather for a train ride!

I promise I didn’t help him --- but on Mother’s Day to be exact – here is what Mason wrote:

Cool, huh!  It was really an accident, he is working on his name and he has the ‘M’ and ‘O’ down and they are his favorite letters… accident or not, I still thought it was so neat

Mr. Mason -

Even though it was not our choice to stay home and not go camping, I had so much fun with you!  You are leaving your toddler ways and turning into a ‘big’ boy so fast.  I was so happy to had this weekend to slow down and just enjoy each other’s company.  I love you more than you could ever imagine and I pray that I can always be someone that you enjoy spending time with.

I love you little buddy!

Mommy