Sledding and Slush

Ben came home from work early one day last week and announced that we were all going sledding. It was the perfect day for it -- 40 degrees, no wind and the snow had melted into ice -- this meant fast sleds and we didn't even need to wear boots. We had an absolute blast! Drew went down the hill several times by himself and a couple times he insisted on lying on his belly in the sled. He has no fear.

On the final "descent," all five of us rode down on three sleds side-by-side. What a perfect family photo -- EXCEPT that my loving, sweetheart of a husband pushed my sled right into a slush puddle at the bottom of the hill. The boys (all FOUR of them) loved it! Even I managed to laugh.

My biggest regret from the sledding outing is that I didn't take pictures. But, as my friend Elizabeth says, "My heart took a picture." (groan!)

World War III

I am going crazy! The boys have been fighting non-stop and I'm ready to send them all to Grandma's house. (Any volunteers, Grandmas? I'll even send them to someone else's Grandma.) The fighting is only bad when all three boys are home. So poor Joel -- he comes home from school and instantly the fighting starts. At first I thought it was his fault, but then I realized it's not him, it's just the fact that all three are home and when you have three, someone is always being left out.

They fight over toys, food, attention from Mom and Dad...they even fight over seats in the living room! Last night I told them I was DONE with it and there was to be no more fighting in MY house; "if you fight again, I'm putting you outside!" Within the hour Evan and Joel were both on the front porch in their stocking feet and no coats. I'm sure the "Gladys Kravitz" of the neighborhood was wondering what I was up to, but I didn't know what else to do. ("Gladys" has also seen my boys running laps around our cul-de-sac when they get too rowdy inside.) At first the boys fought on the porch too (throwing snow at each other), but within three minutes they promised to be nice to each other and were back inside.

(FYI, sister Mindy who works for Children's Services, the boys were only outside for THREE minutes. I promise!) smile

When Ben came home from work, we took all three boys to a "sports center" where they played on gymnastics equipment and jumped on a trampoline. This helped burn off some energy and I got to "vent" to some other moms. One mom, a friend of mine, said her three boys have been doing the same thing and she attributes much of it to being stuck inside all winter. I'm praying she is right and that soon, when the weather warms up, my boys will once again be friends (or at least not try to kill each other!).

Any brilliant (or even not-so-brilliant) suggestions for nixing the fighting are welcome.

Singin' In the Rain

Yesterday afternoon it was cold, windy and raining -- perfect weather to stomp in puddles, right? If you're a boy, ANY weather is perfect for puddle-stomping. So, all three White boys donned their boots, coats and umbrellas and went outside for some wet fun. Evan's quote, "This is AWESOME! Today is a good day!"

For the actual historical record of the day, I will add that 20 seconds after these pictures were taken, Drew fell in the COLD water and began sobbing and, I now have NO working umbrellas.

My Resting Heart Rate

Now, I know you all are thinking, "What in the WORLD is she blogging about NOW?! And why in the heck do we care?!" But I have to share my exercising success story with you people who love and care about me so much.

I want you to know that I have been faithfully exercising FIVE times a week since just before Thanksgiving and I am so proud of myself for that. HOWEVER, I have not lost any weight, nor are my jeans fitting any looser. I was getting depressed about that until just recently when I took my resting heart rate -- it has dropped SEVEN beats/minute! What does this mean? This means even though I don't look any better on the outside, I am getting beautiful on the inside (and everyone knows "it's what's inside that counts"). I may die of obesity, but I surely won't die of a heart attack anytime soon. Wahoo!

Walkie Talkies

I've had walkie talkies for years but just pulled them out yesterday for the boys to play with. Evan hasn't stopped talking since I put batteries in them. Yesterday he was on the toilet talking to me on his walkie talkie. The conversation from the toilet went like this:

Evan (into his walkie talkie): "I hope the poop doesn't get on my hands again."

Me (into my walkie talkie): "Evan, put the walkie talkie down before you wipe your butt."

Evan: "Got it, Mom...(pause)...I did it...bye.....(long pause)....I love you, Mom."

Rambo I and II

Here are my tough little Rambos. I'm so proud. Ugh. Whatever happened to the Cinderella and Snow White I thought I would have? (Make-up and tattoos courtesy of the Valentine costume boxes from Grandma and Grandpa White.)For Valentine's Day, I purchased the boys each a book. Nice idea, right? Not quite! Ben, who didn't know I had aleady bought the boys a gift, walked in from work and presented each boy with his own toy automatic gun with laser lights, and army vests. Guess which gift they liked best?! Next year, I'm buying each kid a pony!

If Batman and Robin had a child together...

OK, I know it's impossible, BUT if Batman and Robin had a child together, this is what he would look like.

Grandma and Grandpa Popcorn (White) sent THREE Valentine boxes FULL of costumes for the boys. Drew immediately picked out the Robin costume, but he wanted the bat wings on it too. So here he is..."Batrob!"

Thank you Grandpa and Grandma!