And the Search is on...

The search is on for eyeball candy!  The ogres is my family don't feel...well...quite ogreish without having some eyeballs to eat.  If you can believe it, the specialty candy store in our neighborhood has nothing in the line of eyeballs!  Are we the only people who want some edible eyeballs?  C'mon!  Anyone know where we can find candy, chocolate, gumballs, anything yummy (besides real eyeballs - I know humans, not just ogres, do actually eat them.  No thanks) that looks like an eyeball?  

We turned the disappointment at our failure to locate an edible eyeball into excitement over finding new candy stores to find and visit.  Let the hunt begin! :)

Our Shadow

The boys were feeling well enough today that I decided to finally get something done and run some errands with them.  One place we went was the craft store.  I needed some things and the boys love it there!  There are aisles and aisles of treasure to be gotten into!  They love just about every aisle - soft things to feel, treasure boxes to fill, strange hooks and large needles to sword fight with, beads to scatter... And at the end, a whole shelf full of candy to beg for!

I have taken them with me before, so I knew what to expect, but I had a little "talk" with them before we went in this time, promising they could pick one kind of candy to share if they followed the rules I gave them.  Well, asking a little boy to behave and not make a mess in an environment like that might not be cruel, but it is, at least, rediculous.  After about 10 minutes there, I started to notice our "shadow" following discreetly behind us.  This poor store employee followed us to every place we went, replacing feather boas, re-sorting colorful beads, re-shelving wooden treasure boxes (after emptying the "treasures" out of them), re-wrapping yarn, and hanging things back up properly (after my attempts to clean up after ourselves.)   Needless to say, they did not receive their candy, but we did enjoy exploring the store.  Sorry, Mr. Shadow for the extra work today!  

Am I the Only One Who Needs a Nap?

 

You would think after all the running around this morning, we would all settle nicely into a nap.  Come on, they are still recovering - they should still be tired, right?  Well, getting a second to myself was more difficult than keeping the craft store tidy today.  Jack would not stay asleep for more than half an hour and the big boys?  Forget about it...No more sleepy, sick boys for me!  There was so much commotion going on in there room, it sounded like a birthday party in there!  I finally heard Ben yell, "Mitchell, put your clothes back on and stop wiping your bum on me!" and decided it was time to give up on 

the whole nap idea.  I snuck upstairs with my camera to catch them in some sort of mischief (or covered in poop) and found them out of their room.  Ben had the decency to look guilty, but Mitchell immediately launched into a full description of everything he was and had been doing, as if that was what he was supposed to be doing and I should want to hear it all!  I snapped a few pics of them anyways.  Cute even when naughty!

Maybe We Could Take a Corvette?

After "quiet time" today, the boys and I sat in the living room talking about the rest of our day and what we should do with it.  Ben suggested we go to the park and Mitchell quickly agreed that that was a good idea.  Just walking to the park wasn't quite enough for him though.  He said to me, "Maybe we could take a Corvette there?"  I asked him where we were going to find a Corvette and he said, "We could look in someone's garage and find one!"  I'm not sure where the idea of a Corvette came from, but when we did finally get outside and Ben was getting on his bike, Mitchell was just standing there.  I asked him why he wasn't getting on his bike, and he said, "I thought we were going to take a Corvette!"  He really thought we were going to go snooping into garages until we found this car, then we were going to somehow get in and drive it to the park.  Where does he get these ideas?

Just a few pics of yet another day spent at home without any friends because we are sick.  Feel like we have the plague or something. 

  Speaking of the plague, I was just talking to a friend about the name of the sickness the boys have - Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease.  We agreed that it sounds like either some crazy plague from Biblical times, or some disease livestock get, rather than a rash in the throat.  Seriously, can't we rename this "disease?"  At least not call it a "disease?"  

One Way to Get Jesus Inside You...

Both Ben and Mitchell have lately been quite curious about God and Jesus and asking me questions all the time.  Nothing like having to explain what you believe to a child to make you actually think about what you believe and why.  It is a lot more difficult to explain the concept of God than I thought it would be.  Ben gets it a bit more than Mitchell does.  For him, the "invisibility" of God is no problem.  The idea of invisibility is magical and, therefore, easy for Ben (maybe children in general?) to understand.  

Mitchell doesn't quite get the concept yet.  He was asking where Jesus lives and I said that he lives inside us if we want him to.  He thought about the idea of someone inside of him as he drank his smoothie and then said, "If I want Jesus inside me, I could put him in my cup and drink him!  Then he'd be inside me!"  Well, not quite what I was getting at, but it was funny and Ben had a good laugh at that one!

Another thing on Mitchell's mind lately is the idea of baby teeth vs. adult teeth.  He is fascinated with Jack's two new teeth coming in and that sparked the conversation with Matt that he will one day get to grow in some more of his own.  I could tell the talk was worrying him, but didn't say anything.  Later in the day, Mitchell came up to me with a worried look on his face, and, holding back tears, told me he didn't want all his teeth to fall out!   He has reminded me a few times since then that he wants to keep his teeth and that he needs them.  I've given up trying to explain "someday" to him and have just started telling him he can just keep the old ones as long as he wants them.  

Mitchell's Magic Potion

Well, my poor Ben is terribly sick, so we were stuck home all day today.  After breakfast with daddy, we decided to just stay in our jammies and watch a movie.  Ben focused on the movie (and not crying over the pain in his mouth) while Jack, Mitchell, and I played silly baby games on the living room floor.  

It turns out Mitchell has quite a tender side.  While I was beginning to loose patience with Ben today, M was nothing but patient with his cranky older brother - inventing games to play (usually Ben's job), telling silly stories (I'll have to share a few of them

 some time.  I wrote them all down), making special "potions" for Ben to drink to feel better, and bringing him his blankie when he'd start crying.  M almost filled his whole sticker chart in one day today!  Way to go, my middle boy!  I'm so proud of you today. 

Here is a pic of Ben warming up to his "potion" that Mitchell and I made him.  

Eyeball-tinis

If you are not a Shrek fan, you might not be familiar with his drink-of-choice, the eyeball-tini, but here in our house, it has become a new favorite!  Ben and Mitchell decided they wanted to make daddy a drink to give him when he got home from work this evening, so we quickly hunted down some eyeballs and concocted up some delicious ogre beverages!  Drink up, boys!

Speaking of Shrek, our favorite of the 4 movies is, by far, Shrek 2.  It's got everything my boys find exciting and funny - dragons, ogres, potions, eyeball-tinis, mud baths, a donkey who says all sorts of funny things they don't really get but constantly repeat, a cat wearing boots... But this movie for them is not just about the action.  Mitchell can't get enough of the soundtrack, especially the song "Changes," originally sung by David Bowie.  He daily asks me to play/sing "ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!"  To a 3-year-old, some things never get old.

Baby Toys and One Sick Boy

Thank goodness for Jack's toys!  Somedays, I think I could put all the "big boy" toys away and all three boys would be satisfied with just the baby toys.  I put Jack in his excersaucer and the big boys immediately gather around him.  Maybe it is all the whistles and buzzers and lights and noises, but whatever it is, I support their interest!  Jack loves the attention and I get a moment to myself to just sit and watch!

Another toy of Jack's that is a hit is his little play mat.  You would not believe how many things that has become for the boys - a dinosaur, a monster, a race car, a trailer, swords, blanket, diaper (yes, a diaper), a cage, a doghouse... I'm sure I am forgetting something, but the point is, the toys meant for babies become something entirely new in the hands of imaginative boys with too much energy!  

Ben had a tough day today.  He is sick, but since it is his last week of preschool and doesn't want to miss a thing, I let him go today.  He was tired when I dropped him off and even more tired when I picked him up again, but he said he had a great time anyways.  I asked him how school went and he said, "well, since I was a little sick, I decided to play dinosaurs instead of dragons - that takes alot less energy!"  Well, his low-energy plan still tuckered him out.  He crashed on the couch as soon as he stumbled into it!  Poor little guy.