Halloween (Or As Davis says Palloween)

We began our day by driving up to Ben's 1st Birthday party. The boys had a blast and got to play in the big blow-up jumping castle. Granny dressed up like a pirate, and Katie was a vampire. Ben was sick that day, but we are glad he is all better now...even tho Sam and Davis still do not let us finish prayers without making sure God helps baby Ben to feel better.

It was then time to Trick or Treat, where we first began at Nanny's house. They received some treats but also some presents in a little brown box that they both make sure are with them all of the time. We then went on a whirlwind trick or treat voyage through my old neighborhood (which apparently is no longer the place to trick or treat...only two houses with lights on), then to MaMaw/MaMyrts neighborhood (We thought they would be home, but then realized they were at a church function, so we did not get to trick or treat them), then back to Granny's house for some treats and more presents.

As you can see, they were Buzz and Woody, and this is Davis smiling as big as he can. On our way home we had another fun experience...

Davis is a big eater and we have few problems getting him to eat...but Sam he eats enough to get him by...but on Halloween, Candy was his lunch and supper. So after leaving Granny's to go home, we asked him if he wanted some chicken nuggets from McDonalds. But he said no...then about 5 miles down the road, he started squirming saying he needed to poop/puke. Pulling over on the side of the road, he had his first puking spell. But back in the car, he seemed OK, but wanted some chicken nuggets. So...we stopped in Warrior to get some food.

The line was horrible and we waited forever to get our order in the drive thru, and as we were about to get our food, Davis said "I need to pee", so Magan got out and took him in to pee. I picked up our food and pulled forward to wait for Magan. About this time it got interesting, because Sam again starting squirming and saying he needed to puke/poop RIGHT NOW! So I whipped the van over into a parking spot and pulled Sam out.

It was a race to the bathrooms...and in this race, there was no clear neon signs pointing the way to the restrooms, so after running in the gas station (connected to the McDs) I started trying to find the bathrooms, and halfway there heard the dreaded burp/cough/gurgle that made my feet move a little faster. Into the restroom we ran, opening the stall door, and still thinking he needed to poop...I stared at a nasty toilet with the toilet seat lying on the floor beside the toilet. Panicking because I knew that I would be required to wipe the seat and apparently try to install the seat prior to the eruption that would surely come soon, I switched sam to the arm farther away from the toilet preparing for the toilet seat wipe...It was then I found out that he needed to puke not poop, and it was then round one came forth covering my shirt and some of my pants as I twisted him and pointed his head towards the toilet aiming this eruption towards the john.

After Round two and three Sam was fine, and other than my clothes, Sam was fairly clean and went right to sleep after getting back in the van. So we finally made it home. We will need to hold back on the candy next year I guess.

A Little Piece of Heaven

The other night I wanted to read to the boys before bed time. I wish I could say this is something we do every single night, but then reality sets in.

Up until this point, sitting down with the boys to read meant that I read to Sam and Davis climbed on my shoulders or came by for an occasional glance at the pictures.
Finally, Davis has gotten more interested in listening and SITTING with us.
We read 4 books with both boys listening and laughing and loving it. My little piece of heaven came when I felt both boys' little heads lying on each of my shoulders completely involved in the book and loving on their mom. Davis had his little hand resting on my arm. I had all three of my babies resting on me and it was truly a blessing from God.
Speaking of that third baby girl. I am now going to the DR. every two weeks which means the end is near : )
I am about 1 and 1/2 months away from holding this soft sweet little bundle in my arms!
Please pray for us and for a safe and healthy delivery when the time arrives.

I do have to note that she is rolling all over the place! One of my favorite things to do is sit things like the remote on my belly and watch her kick at it and sometimes knock it off : )

Prayer List

Each night before Sam goes to bed, he says his prayers which always end with a growing list of people we need to pray for. We have been remembering his new teacher who has a broke foot, Mrs. Marquita, and many from our church congregation.

But tonight, he got a little frustrated when he could not remember someone’s name. He was trying to get me to help him remember by saying “You know, that lady”. This did not help, so I asked him what about that lady in an effort to figure out who he was praying for. Then he said “You know…like in the fire”. Now I was really confused…I asked him if someone he knew from school or church had been in a fire. Clearly frustrated, he repeated again “No Dad, it’s like a fire”…

Running through the list of names on our church prayer list…it finally dawned on me. Then I remembered an elderly lady of our congregation that had recently fallen and broken her arm, and finally understanding his logic I laughed and asked Sam, “Are you talking about Mrs. Virginia BURNES (pronounced the same as burns)?”

He smiled and said “Yeah”, then continued to ask God to help Mrs. BURNES…

Discipline

Sometimes those boys have a little too much fun during bathtime. They have recently been “accidentally” spilling lots of water out of the tub and onto the floor. I have tried various things to make them stop this liking shortening the bath playtime, taking away toys, and one swat apiece…but they just have so much fun playing together laughing that it is hard for me to really be sincere in their punishment.

Well last night, they ended up with a lot more water than they usually have, and I was busy in the dining room on the computer. I heard them laughing and carrying along, then I heard lots of splashing. Busy at the computer I yelled in to them that they would get in trouble if they were spilling water. “We’re not” they both said.

Finally going in to check on them I found water everywhere…and a little upset at them I decided a new approach. I let the water out and went back to our bedroom to speak with Magan. I usually dry them off and help them get ready for bed, but tonight I was just going to leave them in an empty tub with no towel to stay warm. I let Magan know about this decision and as we spoke about our days, we began to hear laughing and cackling and loud noises coming from the bathroom.

I looked down the hallway to the bathroom to see two shiny red bottoms that had gotten out of the tub, and were now leaned over the tub rolling a ping pong ball all over the tub. They seemed to think this was hilarious, and apparently had no problems with any chills as they started chasing each other around the living room naked. Oh well…you choose your battles, and those kids are just too funny for me to win that one.

2 Success Stories in 2 Days!

Today was Sam's first day of School (he will be going 3 days a week from 8:30-12:30)
We went yesterday to get his backpack at Wal-mart. As soon as he saw the Ironman bag (which he thinks is a power ranger) he knew without a doubt that was the one he wanted. He has pretty much been wearing it since we picked it up off the shelf.

My morning started at 5:30 this morning......I will explain all of that in a minute....

7:00 I heard the school bus slam on its breaks to pick up our neighbor. Sam apparently also heard the same thing.

7:04 I feel a soft tapping on my back and roll over to see a big smile on a 4 yr old boy's face who is dressed from head to toe with backpack, shoes, and all.
I hug him and told him HAPPY SCHOOL DAY!

7:15 Sit down for breakfast and see that Sam is thinking. He says "Mom, I don't know my friends at school..."
I quickly assure him that he will know them soon and that they will have lots of fun together, then CHANGE THE SUBJECT before he starts to think about it too much.

7:25 He has eaten breakfast and is dancing around the house asking when we could wake Davis up to get him ready.

7:30 Davis calling from his room to get out, ( I think a dancing little boy in shoes woke him up)

7:35 Both boys on the front stairs to take a first day of school picture.

8:00 In the car driving to school (I didn't get lost this time, like I did for open house. That's a whole story by itself, lol)

8:21 Pull into school, take the boys in, take pic with teacher, kiss Sam's cheek, Davis and Sam give hugs and sugar, and I leave with a 2 year old who wants to see his teacher too.
(notice that his little finger is pointing at his backpack, he loves it) : )
That's it, my little boy is in school....I am so thankful he didn't cry....but I want to cry myself.....I pray that we are making the best decision for him and that he will be a good influence on his friends as he grows.....that God will shield him from all the bad things and influences that will be around him as he goes to school through the years......that his teachers are good, honest, and kind.......and I know he is only in pre-school but there are many years ahead. I trust that God will take care of him and I hope he is the light he needs to be.
It is hard not to think of those little baby rolls he had and his little shy grin without crying. I know people say this all of the time, but how did it all go by so fast! I love you Sam Jonas Earl Junkin!


......Now back to 5:30 this morning. Davis has been potty training for the past few weeks. He started to tell me when he needed to tee tee so I would run him to the potty. Since he told me he had to go every time he felt an urge, we were in the potty VERY often. I have watched a naked little bottom jiggle it's way to the potty and dance around the bathroom so many times I can't count. I never get tired of it though : ) Most of the time it is followed by him saying "Need wash my hands, and I need a piece of candy"
(On a side note, we had a lot of tee tee in the grass stops on our way to the beach)
The pooping in the potty has been a different story up until yesterday!!!! He told me he needed to poop and he made it to the potty with no trouble. The second time he told me but had went a little bit in his underwear, but he finished in the potty!

......5:30 this morning I hear him on the monitor, "mooooom I want to wear my spider man underwear"
I go in his room to see him laying down, I really think he was dreaming about it. I told him it was still night night time and we would get his underwear in the morning. I asked if he needed to go tee tee in the potty and he sat up and said sleepily "yeah" He went and I laid him back in bed and he went BACK TO SLEEP! I couldn't believe it! He woke up to go tee tee.
Then we ran by a store after we dropped Sam off at school. He told me when he needed to tee tee and about 2 minutes later he told me he needed to go poops. SO, no real accidents in almost 2 days and he has also woke up dry at nap time the past 2 days. It seems too good to be true, but hopefully he will keep it up! Then we will only have one in diapers in a few months instead of two, yay!!!!!
I will have to add some pics of Davis in his big boy spider man underwear soon : )

Chicago

I really am just tired of writing right now, so I will just share some pictures. In Chicago this week on business, and was able to make it to the top of the Sears Tower, and to Wrigley Field to watch the Cubs. I had a blast at both of these outings, but the Cubs game was just great…my seats were about 12 rows up from the Cubs dugout, and Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam threw out the first pitch and sung “Take me out to the Ball Game”. The Cubs were blasted by the Nationals, but lots of scoring and lots of fun.

Yes...this is me sitting and standing on the floor number 103 of the Sears Tower. Over 1000 feet above the ground below sitting on this glass floor. And let me tell you, that first step over the edge onto the glass is very scary for an acrophobiac.
Even tho it looks like I was photoshopped in...I did make it and it was great.

OK OK...so I don't have a good zoom...but the scruffy guy in the middle is Eddie Vedder.

And as you can see...the Cubbies were blasted. But I stayed to the very end, sporting my new ball cap and rooting for the home team to make a comeback. I guess it was a shame.

Guys Day at the Zoo

Magan was up all night last Friday doing the “Kids Market crazy lady sleeping all night in a parking lot so she gets in early to the sale” thing. So I woke up with the Boys last Saturday and decided to take them to the zoo.

It happened to be the Birmingham Fire Department day, so Sam and Davis were excited to see 6 firetrucks, 2 ambulances, and the fire dog (Dalmatian). We planned to have a quick day at the zoo, and the boys were excited to play in the water part.

We began by going to the children’s zoo area where we were able to pet the large snake. Well, Sam and I pet the large snake…Davis wanted no part in the slithery devil. But the boys did enjoy getting to pet the goats and sheep. We then walked through the Alabama section…and there is a little tunnel area that you can look up into a glass dome and it feels like you are actually in the snake’s area. Pretty cool display. Sam and I looked around for the snake and found it staring at us from just across the glass. Davis, being brave asked to see it, …and as soon as he saw how close it was…immediately kicked his legs and said he wanted down.

The boys then played for awhile in the water, and as they were shivering after playing for about 30 minutes, I realized that I forgot the towels. No problem tho…I just used my shirt to dry them off, and then the boys wanted to go see more animals. I love seeing the animals, and it makes me very happy that they also like to walk around to see them too.

Luckily, we were able to get to the Rhino encounter as the two new rhinos were being brushed. Sam and Davis had no fear…we walked in and they got to brush the 4000 lb animals. Pretty neat. Per the zoo helper, the Rhinos roll around in the mud and dirt which acts as a sunscreen for their skin, but then they enjoy the keepers and volunteers, such as Sam and Davis, brushing the dirt off because it feels so good. Sam sported the backwards shirt look for the remainder of the day after playing in the water...see below...Yes, I told him it was backwards, but that is they way he liked it, and who knows...maybe that will be the fashion one day.

Lunch at Chappy’s and back home…