Happy Father's Day!

I just want to take a moment to say, happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there!

We're having brunch with my husband, the boy's Daddy. I just thought I'd be clear because there's my Dad, Grandpa Spiehs and Dadddy's Dad, Grandpa Apel as well. We're going to a place called Dario's Brasserie where he wanted to go for Mother's Day. They were all booked then. I made reservations to go for brunch tomorrow.

Then I'm going to go after lunch to my own Father's house, Grandpa Spiehs. I'm making a June Berry Pie for him. He loves pie! We're going to celebrate Father's Day and my Birthday later this month, after Emerson's first birthday party on the 23rd.

Daddy usually calls his Dad, Grandpa Apel because he lives hours away.

What are you doing for your husband or Dad on Father's Day?

Day Out With Mom

Today I was bound and determined to stay out of the house. Yesterday I was cooped up in the house all day. Balance is good, right? Not only that, but Daddy sort of kicked us out. He worked LATE last night and LATE tonight just so he could cast some sculptures today.

I took the boys to an unfamilar park. They ran and ran. Each one pretended they were the Gingerbread Man.

Then we went shopping. Trying to get boys to try on clothes is interesting. Especially when it's trying clothes behind a small curtain, like in Gymboree. For some reason they wouldn't stop laughing and dancing mostly in the buff behind the curtain.

I wanted to get their pictures taken at Picture People, but I called and cancelled. Mica has a front tooth that is so loose, it looks like a wooden peg hanging out of this mouth. Isaak has a cold sore or something similar below his bottom lip in the corner. I was sick yesterday, so I wasn't in the mood for picking out what they were going to wear. Another day, another time for pictures.

We ate lunch at Wendy's.

We went over to Aunt Terra's house to A) Deliver Emerson his new sunglasses! I did a review of Baby BanZ here.

B) The boys wanted to play with 2 of their other cousin's Elijah and Evan. So they did for a good while.

Then we went to a cheaper movie Hugo. Both boys got into it, but it was way too long for them. It was also way over Isaak's head. He kept asking me questions all the way through it. They must of liked it though. They wouldn't stop talking about it at dinner. They were both trying to tell Daddy what the movie was about; it was funny. Isaak was all over the place with his explanation of the movie. They were over talking one another. Then Isaak would get mad because Mica wouldn't let him talk.

I wore the boys out. They were in bed by 7:30.

Today I Ran in Circles

This morning was nuts. Mica wouldn't listen and follow much of what we asked. He was excited to go back to school; after having Monday and Tuesday off.  He also couldn't wait to give his teacher copies of his president drawings.

I took the day off. I had to have Daddy write down the times of all the dropping off and picking up each kid. I'm horrible with remembering things like that! Daddy's better than I with time, dates and directions. Daddy usually drops and picks up Mica, while I drop and pick up Isaak at Grandma and Grandpa Spiehs' house. I hardly deal with dropping and picking the kids up from school.

When I took Mica to school I said, "Remember to give your president drawings to your teacher!" He said, "I know Mom." Well he got out of the car, grabbed his lunch box and forgot his backpack. His backpack is blue, our car is blue. Later Daddy said to me, "You didn't check? You didn't get out of the car to give him a hug?" I gave him a hug before he got in the car to begin with. I felt horrible. I felt even worse when I went back to give it to him and he told me he cried about forgetting his backpack!

I dropped Isaak off at preschool and left my purse there. His teachers called me on my cell phone while I was driving back to Mica's school to give him his backpack. Then I felt like crap because I was driving without a license. The crazy thing is, is that I hardly forget things. I'm one of those moms that for a long time had to remember a breast pump, a diaper bag, fresh milk, my laptop, my lunch, Mica's sippy cup and a change of clothes for both boys. Those were the days. It looked like we were packed up to go out of town every morning for many mornings. 

I went back to the preschool to pick up my purse and decided to go shopping by myself. That was so nice! This time of year I shop for next years fall/winter things. I had coupons for Crazy Eight and Kohls. I got Mica many shirts all on the clearance rack; plus the coupon.

Then all afternoon I had Isaak. He's so different by himself. He's really helpful and there is no arguing between two boys. Isaak helped me make banana bread and granola bars.

It was so nice outside that we were able to walk to get Mica from school.

The boys had our homemade granola bars for a snack, while I made dinner. We had Beef Stroganoff. I use plain yogurt and lemon juice in replace of the sour cream Daddy thinks it's different. I don't think so at all! I've been trying to make two veggies for dinner time.

We ended the night with swimming.

Christmas Morning

I woke up then Mica woke up shortly after. He so wanted to dig into his stocking. I wouldn't let him. Not until Isaak and Daddy got out of bed. I wanted Isaak to sleep as long as possible considering that around the holidays, naps are non existent.

Mica thought it was funny that Santa left our fireplace open AGAIN. He laughed at the soot on the ground. He looked up the chimney and asked, "I wonder how Santa gets down and up the chimney?" I just said, "His belly probably shrinks. I really don't know all of Santa's secrets Mica."

I said, "Mica you better go check and see if the tooth fairy left any money in your tooth fairy box!" Sure enough she did. Mica didn't even bother to count the money. He quickly put it in his bank.

Mica helped me get breakfast. Grandma Spiehs always makes cinnamon rolls for us. I added a protein and drink and we were good to go.

Isaak and Daddy got out of bed. It was stocking time. Then it was present time. Mrs. Claus wrapped all of Mica's presents in graphic red and white Santa paper and Isaak's in classical Santa wrapping paper. Mrs. Claus cut out an "M" in Mica's wrapping paper and an "I" in Isaak's wrapping paper. Then Santa left the letters on the coffee table. Mica understood Santa's code. Mica was a speedy unwrapper. Isaak was slow to unwrap things.

Before too long Mica disappeared. He was off to build with Lego's. Between yesterday and Christmas Mica built a Cars 2 Lego set Grandma and Grandpa Spiehs got him, a Rocket Lego set Santa got him, a small Indiana Jones Lego set we got him and he started a Kreo Tranformer set that Aunt Terra got him. I think it's fair to say that he likes to build!

Isaak played a bit with the Automoblox cars Santa brought and the "MikerDonalds" set that Grandma and Grandpa Apel got him. He's kind of unpredictable. Gifts I thought he'd get into that I bought him, he played little attention to. He did really like the cash register that Grandma and Grandpa Spiehs got him. It was a little delayed because it needed batteries that we didn't have until yesterday. It's pretty cool because it actually counts money, adds and subtracts.

Mom's favorite that the boys got from Santa were these sweet lunch boxes that came with a plate, a mug, a bowl, placemat and silverware! I considered it to be a steel! The sets from The Piggy Story were originally $36; Santa got them for $14.99 at the discount store Zulily. They have really cute crayon holders, aprons and other stuff on their site. I love that all the dishes are ceramic, the plates are a perfect size, the mugs are 2 handled and each set comes with a story!

The dragon one is Mica's.

The puppy one is Isaak's.

At 1 pm we went to Great Aunt Sam's for yet another party. There were 2 pregnant ladies, 2 boy babies, 4 boys, 1 girl, 1 6th grade boy and 2 high school girls. Boy's pretty much rule in that generation! Add on all the adults, and we had a very full house.

We ate, talked and the younger kids got to pull out gifts out of a BIG HUGE box. They had to answer a question Great Aunt Becky asked first. Some of the answers weren't what she expected. They were accepted though. Becky, "How does Santa get into your house Evan?" Evan, "With a magic key." Becky, "Well of course! Go get your gift!" I think she was expecting, "Through the chimney."

You can see how big the box is. It has a lot of little gifts inside.

A heartwarming Christmas story:

It's Been a Bad Day

I don't mean to get you down, but it's been a bad day at the Apel household. Nothing major happened, and everyone is ok.


My Day:

• I had class today. It was for my senior college art students. It's finals week. 
• There is about 5 students that have low grade point averages. They can not pass if they don't pull their grades up. Some of those students said, "How can I get a B?" They were sitting at a C. It's really impossible to bring a grade up that much on the last day! 
• I was pretty annoyed that they were taking their problem and trying to make it mine! I'm not going to just hand over grades. In fact I'd rather not know that they need a certain grade to pass because I don't want it to reflect my true judgement of what I'd give them. Especially this late in the game. 
• I've noticed this kind of a trend with some of my students. They want things handed to them. I wonder if Bush's No Child Left Behind Act has anything to do with it, if it's just because I'm getting older and they're getting younger, if it's just the Millennial generation thing, or a combination of all the above?
• I want to note that I have way more good students then bad! It's just that the bad apples are the ones that stand out.

Daddy's Day:

• Daddy calls 10 minutes before my class is about to start, at lunch time. He was all flustered! 
• Mica's preschool class went to one of the kid's house to have a picnic lunch and fun. All good, except they had the address wrong to this kid's house on the school letter. This is where Daddy had to pick up Mica! 
• Here's Daddy in the car with Isaak and Elijah {3 year old's} and no correct address to pick up our 5 year old! They had no cell number on the sheet. Panic set in that he couldn't find or pick up Mica!
• Daddy went back to the church. The parking lot was jam packed. Once he hauled out the two 3 year old's, the church secretary couldn't find where this kid lives. Daddy left his cell phone number with her. He proceeded to drive around looking for our kid. 
• He was pissed, and rightfully so. I would have been too! 
• Then the church calls him to give him the right address. 
• He gets there. Everyone's having a grand time. Don't you HATE when everyone is having a grand time, and you are the only one NOT! I do!
• He talked to the teachers right off the bat. He told them, "This can not happen!"pointing to the wrong address the whole time! He tried talking to them calm, but if anyone knows my husband that's hard for him. They crumpled up the paper.  As if to cover up their mistake.
• We like the preschool. Mica's learned a lot there. But every once in awhile they get dates wrong. Like they on a whim moved Grandparents Day after I had already told my parents and grandparents when it was. If they worked full time, and asked for it off that would have really sucked. Things like this we don't like! It's not a big deal to some people. Daddy and I like things planed. We really hate when our plans get messed up! That's just how we both are.  
• He didn't want to get too pissed because Isaak is going there next year. But...GEE WIZZ it's Mica's safety that he was thinking about!
• No one else had the problem because everyone else knew where this kid lives. I guess we're out of the preschool loop. Then Daddy was so mad and distracted; he left Mica's backpack and jacket behind.
• Daddy got called into work tonight. We have our in-laws coming into town and all kinds of stuff needs to get done. We can't do much of anything tomorrow night because of Mica's preschool graduation shindig. 

Anyway we both want to scream! Mommy and Daddy both need a timeout. Double, triple our timeout and we'd be perfectly fine with that! 

Finding a light in the situation- Isn't it funny that kid's hate timeouts and we'd love one? Kid's sometimes hate going down for a nap and we hardly ever get the chance, but when we do it's nice! It's like their punishment is our blessing.