Baby or big boy?

My "all boy" two year old, who loves baseball and trains, might be having a regression. He now hates the vacuum and thunderstorms. You should see the tears. His new favorite game is "night-night with Mama". This entails us laying down immediately and cuddling and pretending to sleep. (this can happen anywhere, including a museum) This game is nice if you are tired, but a distraction if you are trying to do anything that requires standing, ie most things. Like all things, I'm sure it is a phase, and I do like the hugs!

Thanks McDonalds

Life is full of simple pleasures. The closest one I know of is the McDonalds one mile up the road. I was thrilled to see that they have the old fashioned apple pies. (the ones that are deep fried, not baked) I know when the last time I had one was (before the one I ate an hour ago). I was in Marietta, OH. I was in the ninth grade. I was wearing blue shorts and a sweatshirt. Maybe now you see why this is significant. I love those apple pies and it has been a long time. Let me know if they sell these anywhere else in the nation if you can. Otherwise I may stay in Tampa, in this house....forever, eating apple pies!

Dads are special, moms are chopped liver

Patrick has been out town on a business trip. I've been very busy keeping the kids busy. Today on a walk Sean was very concerned at how far ahead his siblings had gotten. I noted out loud how much he loves them. Sean emphatically stated, "no!" I asked if he loved me.....to which he said, "NO!" I asked if he loved his Daddy..."oh yes!" was the reply.

Official mom of a boy

Well it has taken nearly 7 years, but I've entered the realm of "mom of crazy boys". Who would believe it was my little schnoodle Sean that did this to his mother.........How? The kid broke a window with a baseball bat. From the inside of the house! Don't ask what a bat was doing inside, but yes, at least it was plastic. Sean took that bat and "chopped" (using his word) the window. It shattered. We taped it. We called in a glass repair guy. And $125 dollars later, I am officially a mom to boys.

Questions of the Day

Here are the stumpers for me lately......

1. Luke: "Mom when do we get to break out of this family?" (Does he feel like he's in jail?)
Mom: "What do you mean Luke?"
Luke: "You know, when do we get out of this family? When are we old enough to have our
own?"

2. Luke just bought his first pack of baseball cards and admired them all day. He attempted to "play" baseball cards with Sarah. Later that day while holding my hand, Sarah looked at me and asked, "Do you think they make princess cards?"

You ate what????

So this is how you know they are growing. Naps get a bit longer for a few days (yeah!!!) And, they eat....alot. For instance a two year old can eat 4 big bowls of cereal for breakfast. Lunch can be a whole pb&j sandwich and grapes and a rice crispy treat. It can be eaten in silence...eating is an important job some days. Talking is done after the plate is clean on "growing days". Dinner is green beans, strawberries and pasta. Make that 2 helpings of pasta. Then a popsicle. My little one then says, "I eat Sarah's plate all gone...okay?" Yes, he then ate off his sisters plate. Then he asked for more...twice. This kid better get a day job, because he ate more then the rest of us all day long.

Stupid is as Stupid does

Today, I am stupid. I nearly killed myself during a mess clean-up. It involved a whole LARGE container of laundry detergent, a "quick" cleanup involving a hose (my laundry room is outside), and me electrocuting myself on the 220 dryer outlet. Note to all you readers: turn off the breaker before unplugging the cord (with the pluggy things exposed). Also, do not have wet hands, and don't stand in water. I will tell you, the movies are true. One really can't let go when one is being shocked. It is a horribly scary, surreal feeling. Your heart does skip some beats.

And the children....when you tell them you were stupid, and did something incredibly stupid, and that you could have gotten very hurt or even have died.....they will look at you wide-eyed and say....."We never say the S word Mommy!"

But stupid is as stupid does. And this stupid can't sleep due to her chronically tingly arm...so I blog.

MOSI days

We are enjoying Tampa and the new adventures a new city offers. God has blessed us with many places to explore and nice people to meet along the way. After the beach, our next adventure was this weekend. We went to MOSI which is the Museum of Science and Industry. Better than that...it has the biggest hands-on Kids Musuem in the country. They offer lots of homeschooling programs, which I intend to look into. Right now we are content to play and watch some IMAX movies. Here are some photos of the kids. It is neat to see that Sarah loves the microscope---a future microbiologist perhaps , Sean liked the Bernouli's principal exhibit--an engineer or future pilot maybe, and Luke liked the special exhibit on Grossology. Need I say anymore, he is a typical 6 year-old boy. Here he is climbing the wall of "skin". (Better than the vomit, booger, or urine stations in my opinion) The exhibit was very cool, and we all learned about the "neat" things our body can do!

He loves his Grandma's

Today, while putting Sean down for a nap I heard his say, "Love you Grandma Army Tic-Tac".
He is soooo sweet....when not crabby and frustrated. But that is life for a 2 year old. He lumps both Grandma's together now...all the time. It is so nice because he never forgets to include either. Did I mention the boy hasn't ever said, "Love you Mama" without prodding.

Top 10 things heard poolside

#10: Jessica: "We REALLY need a vacuum"
#9: Jessica: "Has anyone checked the chemicals?"
#8: Jessica: "Did anyone bother to skim the top?"
#7: Kids: "Can we get in yet?" (Mom is attending to #9 & #8)
#6: Patrick: "I don't care how gross the house is, the pool makes this the best thing ever!"
#5: Sarah: "Watch this...Watch this!!!"
#4: Sean : "1, 2, 3 RIVERDOGS!" (explanation, anything athletic requires Sean to scream something about the Riverdogs....Charleston's minor leaugue baseball team....perhaps Sean thinks he plays for them....while running, throwing, playing tennis, and swimming)
#3: Jessica and Patrick: "Walk please!"
#2: Jessica and Patrick: "Walk means don't run....go slowly!"
#1: Luke: "I can get that ball, I must be smarter than the dog!" (Bosco likes to take the basketball when they play in the pool....and yes Luke is confident he is more intelligent than a dog)

Siblings are a blessing

Sure they fight, whine, and loudly disagree (at times)...but they are also a blessing to one another. Like today, when after a long...hot....walk outside we had another battle with Kelty Family Foe #1....the fire ants. As always, Sean was our first into battle. While I was cleaning up the stroller and walk accessories, I heard Luke yell..."Mom, Sean has ants..."and then the cries from the baby began. I now know the drill well....I run. I strip off his shoes, clothes, diaper, and I swat, shoe, wipe, the ants off as fast as possible. I looked for Luke and saw him crying to my side. He is very empathetic to his "baby's" pains. I ran the baby inside only to call over my shoulder, "Sarah, please grab Sean's clothes and shoes....bang them off if you are brave". I plopped the baby in the sink, and by then, Sarah was at my side and said, "I already did Mama, here they are". That girl is brave! I calmed the baby and had him play in the cool sink water. Then I sat him on the couch with an ice pack on the bites I could see. Sarah then played Mama to Sean as she surrounded him with toys and books and played with him while I hunted down the Benedryl (I'm nearly out.....I hate those ants!) Needless to say the boy is fine, and quite tough. He only cried until the ants were off. After ice, benedryl, and his sister, he was quite happy. However, 10 ant blisters later, Mama was not. Therefore, Daddy went outside to begin the Kelty assault. The man raked, pulled weeds, and is now resetting all the brick that surrounds the pool slab...many, many ants around those parts. He has laid fire ant killer under all the brick before resetting it. We may be half-way done???? But sooner or later the ants will get the hint and move off our property. If we are nothing, we are a team that fights and plays together. They are all my little blessings.

Mission Impossible

Who blogs at midnight? Only tired people who can't sleep due to strange noises from strange critters. So I will now venture into the darkness of my backyard...in pj's, with a flashlight, and kitchen utensils....to find this annoying beast. He sounds like a cross between Fran Drescher speaking yiddish and a squeaky door hinge. Can't take it much longer......my hubby is off saving sight at midnight...and I'm killing critters....ain't life grand?!

Ribbit.....ribbit....

Apparently, we live on Animal Planet. We've become friends with the "bug guy" who has helped us with our ant problem. He has also relieved my fears about the spiders I was finding. We have very tiny frogs in the yard, which Luke loves to catch. I don't mind those, but do feel bad when it is mowing day. It is bizarre to see them hopping out of the way. I suppose they don't all make it though. Then there was the 4 inch grasshopper, tree frogs that serenade us to sleep.....and today Mr. Frog greeted me at the door step....to the screened in pool....on the inside.....how did he get in? Anyhow, I have him cornered, and added my shoe to illustrate his size. Now I have to figure out how to get him outside before he decideds to take a swim. Did I mention I plan to do this without actually touching the frog...they kind of creep me out. I think it is the whole jump when you least expect it thing.

Life is a beach!

Here we are in Tampa. Just about all settled in. Kudos to my hubby who, due to my mother's illness, moved here a week before I did. He walked into a disaster, and make it quite nice before I arrived. The man has spent the last 2 weeks refinishing floors, dealing with bugs, caulking everything, trimming trees, bushes, grass, buying a car, purchasing things for the house.....all without complaining. Needless to say, our first big rest involved the beach. And for a short time the man got to rest. Please note the blue-green water. You can see through the clear water to the critters and shells below. It was amazing. I hope I have now encouraged everyone to come visit!!!

A return to the blog

Well folks....it's been awhile. A ton has happened in the past 2 months. Sean turned two. Patrick graduated from residency. We moved to Tampa. My mom got seriously ill while in Charleston right before we moved. Perhaps you will cut me some slack for the lack of posts. However, I will strive to stay more current and speaking of current, I now have cable internet...whoa!