Merry Go Round Inflation

With Josh working graveyard now - it means our weekends have to be a little more creative.  I try to keep the boys out of the house most of the day so he can sleep in some peace...but that means finding things to do with them that don't cost a lot of money.   Sometimes I succeed on that and other times I fail.

After church this past Sunday, the boys and I drove out to the North Bend Outlet Mall - there was a specific store out there I wanted to go to...I didn't even up going there - fail.  Instead I went to a few kids stores and bought Zane some new clothes...he was/is in desperate need of clothes that fit him - as much as I think capris or "man-pris" are cute in the summer...they aren't so cute in the fall and winter and I think half-shirts went out in the early 90's if I'm not mistaken!  Anyway, I found some great sales - success!  I really wanted to find Landon a new pair of shoes too, but couldn't find any within in my budget for kids-that-grow-out-of-their-shoes-in-a-few-weeks!

Ok...the point of this post (there really isn't one to be honest) - there are so many quarter riding toys around that mall and every time we walked past one Zane asked to go on it.  I told him that once we were done shopping he could pick the one he wanted to go on and we'd walk back to it.  These so-called quarter machines are $.50 now; times that by two kids and that's a whole dollar - fail!   Just kidding...the smiles on my kid's faces is worth at least a dollar!!!

Pumpkin Painting

We I decided to take the easy way out on carving pumpkins this year and suggested to Zane that we paint them instead!  He wasn't sure about it at first, but then I informed him that if he wanted to carve it, he would have to help clean out the guts (something he despises) - he was sold on the idea to paint it at that point!!!  Haha!  Not sure if that will work every year.

Anyway, thanks to Pinterest I decided to do Chevron stripes (I'm a little obsessed with them right now) on my pumpkin...stinkin' tape (even though I used painters tape) pealed off a lot of my paint after it dried :(  It took a long time to figure out how to do the stripes on a round subject.  Oh well, definitely a Pinterest fail!

Zane on the other hand got much more creative and went to town on his pumpkin.  After giving it a face, he decided to paint "jingle bells" all over the back - they look like a break out of measles to me, but hey, if he says they are jingle bells, than who am I to say different...sometimes beauty is in the eye of the beholder right?!!

Regardless, we had a great time!!

Notice the slab of yellow paint in his hair...I bet you thought it was mustard huh?!!!

 

The battle of putting on a new pod...

Zane has been on the Omnipod insulin pump for almost a month and many parts of this process are getting a lot easier (there was a time I wasn't sure I'd ever say that), but some are still tough.  The toughest part for him is the process of putting on a new pod - he just can't stand it.  He's doing a lot better with it for the most part...we've been able to do the last 2 in a row without him crying, but its quite the process to get him to cooperate and usually becomes a pretty big battle between him and I.  It breaks my heart because I never want to do anything to hurt him or upset him, but I also know that once its on, he loves it...so we just have to get past the battle and there will be victory!

I attempted to take a video of him getting his newest Pod on last night (not the best video, but gives you an idea) - I did this for a couple of reasons.  One, I wanted everyone who reads this blog to see what he has to go through emotionally and mentally every 2-3 days (albeit better than shots all day long for sure).  Two, I wanted to remember what he was like when we first started this because I know a day will come (oh God, please let this day be soon) that he won't have a problem with it and I want to remember how far we've come.  And Three, I wanted to show off just how brave my little almost 5 year old is - this kid melts my heart everyday with his bravery.

Pumpkin Patch Photo Dump

We headed to the pumpkin patch after work tonight trying to dodge the rain...we got a few rain drops on us while on the hay ride, but for the most part stayed dry.  Landon's little legs go faster than the rest of his body can catch up, so within the first 5 minutes of being there he face planted into the mud and then continued to do it a few more times before we left - poor kid!  He just shrugged it off for the most part, but wasn't happy about his muddy hands and of course we had no wipes or anything with us.  He survived!  He is also going through a little phase now of trying to avoid the camera every time I try to take a picture of him (I remember Zane going through this phase too) and I can tell you it is driving this obsessive photo taking mama nuts!!!!

Because Diabetes doesn't give a crap where you are...here Zane is treating a low blood sugar the minute we get there...thank God for Smarties :)

Face plant #1

Not too thrilled with his new muddy hands :(

Still a little perplexed by the muddy hands...

Of course both kids cannot look at the camera at the same time...seriously, what is so hard about that?!!!

I am not going to look at the camera mom....not gonna do it....

But I will point and look at the airplane flying over!

Nope, still not going to look at you....

Ok fine, you can have one picture of me looking at you...

Sorta looking my way...

Cutie pie!!!

Love!

Thank you Zane for cooperating - now can you teach your brother a thing or two?!

Yay, a decent pic of me and my baby!!

Checking out the tractor!

Sound Effects

Landon may not have many words yet (which may or may not be a little concerning to me), but he does have a couple things down pretty good...

37 Things About Zane

37 Things You May or May Not Know About Zane

- takes everything handed to him in stride with VERY LITTLE complaining ever
- will pull out every trick in the book to extend bedtime by just a minute if he can
- not.a.morning.person.AT.ALL - unless its on his own accord
- has an uncanny way to make his brother stop crying and laugh at any moment
- has the biggest heart out of anyone I know
- still loves to be carried whenever possible (especially down the stairs every morning)
- getting more and more bossy and I actually kind of like it (he's always been such a "follower" and not much of a "leader" - its nice to see him as more of a "leader" even if it is sort of bossy)
- loves soccer and anything to do with soccer
- still not a big TV watcher and I really like that
- won't even sit through an entire movie - would rather be playing
- wants to ride his bike the minute we get home every.night...actually even the minutes before we get home (rain or shine)
- does not like to be anywhere without Landon there too
- still asks "why" for almost everything and it still drives me nuts most of the time :)
- still believes in Santa Claus
- still turns his attitude around instantly if I threaten to call Santa for mis-behaving (no matter what time of  year it is)
- has started to voice on more than one occasion that he HATES diabetes and I tell him that it is ok and its the only thing in life (right now anyway) that I will allow him to say he hates (not normally a word I tolerate)
- has been caught using the words "suck" and "friggin" (thank you fellow preschoolers for that one) and gets in trouble every time
- started Sunday School this year and absolutely loves it - I need to get better about learning how to answer all of the questions he has regarding God and Jesus...
- is very much a giver with a side of selfish
- can write all of his letters upper and lower case
- getting better at sounding out all of the letters and even a word here and there
- loves doing any kind of art
- favorite foods consist of: pancakes, waffles, pepperoni pizza (must be pepperoni), mac & cheese, cheeseburgers (especially if they come in a Happy Meal), grilled cheese and chicken nuggets - probably your typical 5 year old diet.
- loves to help in the kitchen - getting good at cracking eggs
- really starting to form his own opinions about things and doesn't have a problem voicing them
- LOVES school (preschool) and cannot wait for Kindergarten (although, I can)
- plays by himself very well, but definitely prefers to have someone play with him whenever possible
- having trouble understanding that he is a teacher to Landon and hitting/pushing Landon is not the way to get Landon to understand that that isn't what we do
- best.big.brother ever
- loves playing board games and has really worked on being "ok" with not winning everytime
- very sensitive little boy
- loves to put puzzles together and is really good at it
- still kisses and hugs his mommy and daddy in public
- says I love you all of the time to us all of the time (and I LOVE IT)
- we are still able to spell around him things we don't want to "talk" about in front of him, but I can tell that is slowly coming to an end
- wants to be a part of every conversation - getting harder for Josh and I to have "grown-up" conversations with him around
-37 forever and always the absolute love of my life

Saying Good-bye

You may remember reading late last month about the passing of Hans a sweet little 9 year old boy who fought harder than any child should, but in the end cancer just seemed to win.  Tonight was the celebration of his life.  I went back and forth on whether to take the boys or not and in the end decided on taking them since Grandma and Grandpa Arizona would be there and we had heard that it was going to be "kid friendly".

The kids did pretty well, but at times they were in rare form:

This was such a sad evening and I know it was more sad because we were mourning a child and children aren't supposed to die.  The celebration was done very well and was a great tribute to little Hans - just wish I could've met him in person.

Although not the reason we wanted to see our favorite relatives from Arizona, it was a nice treat - maybe a silver lining to a very dark cloud?

After the celebration a handful of people played a couple games of kickball - since as Hans's mom said "that's what 9 year old boys should be doing" - Zane liked that the most ;)

Of course the piles of leaves were a must-do as well...

Hans Weberling - Gone, but not forgotten - may Jesus wrap his arms around you tight little boy.