My Baby No More

Our sweet, sweet Deacon turned 2 on Friday. I know, I know, how does this keep happening? It seems like only last week he was 1. Hehe. Anyhoo, we had a lot of fun celebrating his special day. Well, once Daddy got home from work. Before that it was just a day like any other day.

But fun abounded as we opened presents (and I do mean "we" as Zeke insisted on helping, and I joined in when things were moving at an incredibly slow pace)...

I like that last one. Zeke's all smiley as he "helps", while Deacon is all, "Dude. Get your mitts offa my present or I will eat you."

Zeke's smiles quickly faded as he realized that all of the toys were for Deacon and he wasn't allowed to play with them right away...

Reminds me of Zeke's last birthday when the same realization hit Deacon...


Okay, enough sad faces. After opening presents we had pizza for dinner, followed with cupcakes. Mmm. Sadly, we didn't have any candles, so it was just singing as we placed cupcakes on each of the boys plates. I don't think Deacon minded any....


After we cleaned up the boys, well boy, Zeke managed to devour his two cupcakes in 30 seconds without making any sort of mess at all, we put on Deacon's favorite movie, "WALL-E"...

After the movie it was off to bed, where they burned off the sugar from the cupcakes for a bit (and of course, by a bit I mean 2 1/2 hours). Saturday more presents came in the mail, and there were left over cupcakes. All in all, I think Deacon had a pretty good day.

Well, Then.

So, apparently, being quiet isn't the only indication that the boys are up to something they shouldn't be. Before I get into the story at hand, let me back up a little bit.

One night last week, Josh went into the boys' room to check on them and tell them to settle down. As he went to tuck Deacon in he saw little pieces of foam, like from a stuffed animal, all over Deacon's bed. He turned on the light, I entered and together we cleaned up the mess, but could not, for the life of us, figure out where it had all come from. None of their stuffed animals were missing, or super skinny, or anything. Very perplexing.

Now, Sunday night, I was in the kitchen making a little snack, and I was listening to the boys playing and thought, "It's almost 9:00. I should really go in there and tell them to go to sleep, but they almost sound like they're winding down themselves, so maybe I shouldn't." For whatever reason, I decided to go in anway. Sigh. We now know where the foam came from.

Apparently, Zeke thought it would be a good idea to flip over his mattress (there's a crack or two on the bottom, which is really the top, but became the bottom when we thought the cracks were bothering him while he was trying to sleep) and pull out the foam padding inside of it. Then, because why should he have all the fun, he would give the pieces of foam to Deacon, who would then rip them into little pieces. Oh yeah. There was foam and little pieces of plastic all over their room.

After bare-bottom spankings, and much stern-talkings, we clean up and put them back in bed. I do not have pictures of the mess because I did not want to encourage a repeat performance. They hadn't done that much damage, so we just put his bed back together as was, and that was all for the night.

So Monday night, we put them in bed, not thinking anything of it, and went about our evening. After awhile they were getting a bit rowdy so I went in to tell them to quiet down, only to find the room exactly as it was the night before. The mattress propped up against the wall, foam and plastic everywhere. It's a good thing Zeke likes to sleep on the floor, because that's exactly where he slept as I took the mattress out of the room after this since now it looks like this:

Now, this picture doesn't really show the extent of the damage since Zeke apparently had to reach behind/under/whatever that purple layer to get to the foam, and he managed to leave the purple layer intact. Yeah. So the boys and I went to Wal-mart yesterday and got Zeke a new mattress. I knew he'd been needing one anyway because of the cracks, but I had no idea he'd ever do something like this.

As if two nights in a row of discipline wasn't enough, Zeke decided last night, to flip up his new mattress, I guess, to see if he could have a go at it like he had at the last mattress. I have to admit, it was somewhat funny being in the living room and hearing Josh yell, "Have you done lost your mind?!" Oh, those Walter boys.

As Promised

If you remember, I ended my last post with a promise of tales from our trip to the Renaissance Faire last weekend. Never having been to one, or at least not remembering having ever been to one, I didn't have any sort of expectations. Josh, on the other hand, was a little disappointed. We still had a good time though.

We parked, we walked, we paid to get in, then walked around the one side of the fair. At the end of the grounds was a pony ride/petting zoo set-up. Thinking it would be great fun to put Zeke on a horse (or at the very least let him pet a pig) I paid the lady the money and this was what immediately followed...

Notice the red eyes? Yeah, he cried and wanted nothing to do with the horse. Sigh. With assurances that I would get back the money for the pony ride if it didn't work out later on, we moved on to the petting zoo. I guess petting farm would be a better term since there were sheep, goats, pigs, and cows to pet, and then ducks to chase around. Clearly, Zeke had a much better time with this...Notice the big, goofy smile? Zeke had such a good time being in there with the animals. He walked around and around and would pet one as it walked past him. He called everything by the wrong name repeatedly, then showed off by getting them all right repeatedly. Silly boy.

As we spent time petting the farm animals, I would point out other kids on the horses as they circled around the area outside the petting farm. Zeke would humor me and look over, then turn back to the pigs and sheep and ducks, seemingly not interested. When I was well past bored (I tried to stay for an amount of time that would seem to make it worth the money we paid) I told Zeke it was time to go and asked him if he would like to get on the horse now? Boy were we all surprised when he climbed right up the steps and tried to hop on by himself.
Look at him go! It was very exciting. Of course, he tried so hard to be cool about the whole thing. As we were going around (and his helmet kept sliding over the left side of his face), I asked him if he was having fun, and he just looked ahead trying his absolute hardest not to smile. It was precious. And in case you're wondering, this is what sweet Deacon did while all of this animal shenaniganary was going on (and yes, I did just say shenaniganary as if it were a real word)...Isn't he the cutest? And here is what Deacon did the rest of the time we were at the faire...

Isn't he fabulous? After Zeke got off the horse, we walked around the rest of the place looking for dinner and eating what we found along the way. As we were finishing up our food, it started to rain a little so we took that as our cue to leave. All in all, a good time.




Now, if you have a weak stomach, or aren't at all interested in this next part, I am finally going to post the pictures of my wisdom teeth that I promised to post way back whenever I said I would (most likely the beginning of May sometime). So, if you want to see them, keep reading. If you don't want to see them, then I bid you adieu.





Okay, those of you still with me, here are my teeth...

Mmmm...aren't they lovely? Notice the giant hole in the one? Yeah, I had good times picking solid chunks of food out of that one. Apparently my wisdom teeth (I think all my teeth acutally) are a bit longer than other people's wisdom teeth normally are. They are also a bit more "hooky" at the bottom then they're "supposed to be". So there you have it. I think I am all caught up on promises now. Now to just get better at blogging a little more often again.

That's a Lot of Orange

When we got here, all the windows in the house had Venetian blinds. I decided shortly after moving in that I don't like Venetian blinds very much. The strings get stuck, they flop all over the place, they aren't very attractive, and Zeke has figured out how to rip chucks out of the individual slats. Thus, the "Good Idea Fairy" struck me in the head with her wand, causing Josh to cry, as I decided that I wanted the blinds to come down and curtains to go up. (Josh is not a fan of the "Good Idea Fairy" since the good ideas she places in my head usually mean some sor of work for him.)

So I asked Josh's mom if she would make us some curtains for our house. I told her I would measure the windows, pick out fabric, and all that she needed to make the curtains once school let out for her. As I was shopping online for fabrics (which I really have NO idea how to do, but I got it done) I decided I didn't want to wait a month or two for curtains. Also, I figured, how hard could it be to make curtains? After all, they're just rectangles. Thus, I had the fabrics mailed to me and I got out the sewing maching Karen got me for Christmas so many years ago, and I made some curtains for our house.

I got the curtains for the boys room finished first since they needed blackout curtains more than any other room needed anything. I think the curtains help a little at night, but it seems that even darkness can't stop the two of them from having a three hour fun-fest every night. But here is what they got...

Next project was the living room since that fabric actually came first, and I was so tired of looking at this...

They are, of course, beautiful windows and I love them, but they were just so, I don't know, boring or something. Plain. Just kind of "meh". Plus, the blinds on these windows were particularly fickle and obnoxious, so on days when it gets warm, it's a pain to close them to keep some of the heat out. (This upper floor REALLY heats up on a warm afternoon - the thermometer can read up to 90 degrees sometimes.) So I made some curtains, and wow what a difference. Not only do I think they look nice, but they really do help keep the room no warmer than 80 on hot days. Behold...

Sorry these pictures are kind of dark, the windows just let in so much light.

Now, with the boys room done (yes, I know I'm missing an apostrophe there, but I just don't know where to put it boy's? boys'? boys''? so I'm leaving it out) and the living room finished, I moved on to our bedroom. And basically we just wanted some blackout curtains for our room because it's way too bright in there all. night. long. Plus, I wanted it to look a little bit prettier. There's nothing wrong with that, right? Anyhoo, Josh solely picked out the fabric for our room, and I must say that he did well. Sure, it's a lot of orange when they're all closed, but they make it nice and dark, you almost don't notice...

Now I am finished, for the time being. I want to put up curtains in the guest room and the play room/Josh's "man cave", but I have to go shopping for fabric first. Plus, I need a little time off. While they weren't hard, they were somewhat time consuming. Not that I have anything else to do, but I just want a little break.

Also, as if sewing curtains weren't enough, I also finished the two blankets I've been working on (seemingly forever) for Project Linus. They both are done in the same pattern, a pattern I rather like, but a pattern that I don't want to do again any time soon.

And that is all for my "show and tell" time. Especially since Deacon is crying to be released from his naptime prison. I promise to be back soon though because we went to the Renaissance Faire this weekend and Zeke went on his first pony ride, so I have to share those pictures.

It's Almost Like I'm Living With Teenage Girls

First, we have this guy, who will give you the stink eye (or the "Dee Dee glare" as it's more affectionately known as here -I'm trying to get a good picture of it for you) when you go to get him up if he's still sleeping. Following "the look of death", Deacon sort of moans, then rolls over and pulls his blanket over his head, like so...

hoping, without much success, that you will take the hint and go away. And go away now, thank you. While I'm usually tempted to leave him alone and let him wake up on his own (if only because he is an absolute bear if he doesn't get enough sleep) Zeke usually isn't down with that plan and stands there saying, "Hi Dee Dee! Hi Dee Dee! Time to get up Dee Dee!" until Deacon gives in and gets up.

Then there's this guy. While he is all sorts of smiles and cuteness and happiness in this picture (and most pictures recently, hence my lack of picture to illustrate my point)...

you should NOT let that smile fool you. Happy Man here, can go from looking like this to a full blown meltdown in half a second if the slightest (Zeke perceived) whiff of injustice looks like it might be coming his way, never mind should I actually tell him that "no, he may not have a third cookie before dinner." I can just hear him in my mind now, "But Mo-om! That's not fair! Deacon still has a cookie in his hand so I should still have a cookie in my hand! That's it isn't it? You love Deacon more than me! Waaaaaaa!" When in reality Deacon still has a cookie in his hand because it takes him forever to eat a cookie/lollypop/cracker/anysnackfoodofanykind whereas Zeke devours his. Actually, Zeke can eat three of anything in the time it takes Deacon to eat one. But moving on.

Finally, there's this guy who somehow managed to lock himself in the bathroom the other day. He then proceeded to just lay there in that laundry basket and completely ignore my attempts (and eventual success) at opening the locked bathroom door from the hallway.

I'm still not sure how he did it. I suspect Zeke had a hand in it, but he's never played with door locks before, so I'm not totally buying it. But I guess that does make more sense than Peavey going over to the door, closing it and locking it on purpose. Can a cat get some privacy please? Geez people.

Speaking of the cat and his privacy, or lack there of now, Peavey seems to be adjusting quite well. The boys, of course, are thrilled he's here and announce it every time he comes into view. Deacon lets out a "Chat!" followed by a squeal and he bounds toward the poor animal, as Zeke says, "Peavey Cat!" and tries to bestow hugs and kisses on the black beast. Peavey, for his part, gives out a little cry, gets up and gets away as quickly but as nonchalantly as possible. The boys are then a little bit heartbroken, but they've gotten better at accepting Peavey's mostly unfriendly-when-it-comes-to-wee-ones ways. When he first got here (you know, last week) and he would go downstairs if the boys started giving him too much attention, Zeke would stand at the top of the steps and call down, "Peavey Cat, come here. Come here cat, come here." Which, Peavey would never do. Now when he runs away, the boys follow as far as they can, then go back about their business.

Oh, and Peavey made his first confirmed kill Saturday night. He caught and ate some sort of bird. And since he ate but two feathers (I think he left those to show Josh the good job he did [Josh was fishing this past weekend, so he was not around for the kill]) Peavey then spent the night outside because no way was I going to clean up after him should he have decided that the bird did not sit so well in his tummy. Now if we could just get him to get after those squirrels...

Pictures

First, I want to show you what a good job Josh did picking out a house for us to live in. I posted the pictures on Flickr. Click HERE to get to the set page. Once there, click on the slideshow option in the upper right corner and a slideshow of the pictures will start. Somehow the picture of the front of the house ended up towards the back of the slideshow and I can't fix it. Oh well.

Also. In case you didn't notice the different pictures cycling through the box on the left of this page, I put up May's pictures. You can see them by clicking HERE if you'd like. And that's all I have for you today. Enjoy the pics!

He Arrives On Thursday

I'm not sure how excited he's going to be about it though. Who is it that I am speaking of? Why, this guy right here:

That's right. Peavey Cat Walter is making his way from the garden state (NJ - for those of you uncultured enough to only think of...not...gardening things...when you think...okay, I don't know where I was going with that...my apologies) to the last frontier (AK). While Eric and Elyse are sad to see him go, we are pretty excited to see him come. Thanks again guys for taking such good care of him while we were in Oklahoma!

Now, how excited Peavey will be to get out here is anybody's guess. We think he'll be somewhat relieved to be away from the other dogs and cats that E&E have, so he'll probably be happy to be the lone pet, getting ALL the pet love here. However, his elation may be short lived when he sees the boys again. I guess I should say, when the boys see him again, as Zeke has starting hugging every dog he is allowed to pet, and I'm sure the same is going to go for the cat. While it is incredibly sweet to see Zeke wrap his arms around the neck of a great dane and just hang out making that "mmm" sound you make when you get/give a good hug, I'm not sure Peavey will find it sweet. At all. And Deacon's just a beast, so there's that too.

As if that weren't enough to make Peavey Cat wish he were back in the lower 48 (as they are called out here), we live in dogland. Here is a "dog count" for you (the orange numbers are how many dogs live in that particular house):

this picture requires an update. the 1? is actually 1, and the
2 from crazy lady's house should be 1 now.
one of her dogs died last week.very sad.

In case you can't count past ten without taking your socks and shoes off, and taking your socks and shoes off isn't something you feel like doing at the moment, I'll add that up for you. Twelve. There are 12 dogs living on this street. Yeah, Peavey's going to love that. I tell you who does love it though. Zeke. Every. single. time. dogs anywhere on the street are out, he runs to the window, announces the fact that a dog (or dogs) is (are) out and then proceeds to bark like the yappy ones across the street. So, it goes like this: "Dog! Dog! Woof! Woof! Woof! panting sounds Dog! Woof! Woof! Dog! Dog!" and so forth. He has gotten better about it, but before our stuff came, it was the excitement of the morning, afternoon, evening, etc.

All of this is just a long winded way of saying that Peavey is coming on Thursday! Maybe he'll help out with the squirrels.