It's what I am made to do

Evan has been in drum lessons for about 5 months. He goes once a week for half an hour. He really really enjoys it. This fall, when I asked him what sport he wanted to play he simply answered, "All I want to do it drum."

A little back story. I love music. I love musicians. Someone with that gift really inspires me. The way someone can manipulate an instrument (voice included) has always put me under some sort of spell. The expection to this rule was drumming. Not that I don't appreciate people who play the drums...I DO! It is just that if you are a drummer you are always drumming. Drumming fingers, pens, notebooks...it drives me batty. I even remember having conversations with my girlfriends about never dating/marrying a drummer for that reason.

Fast forward to my mid (cough cough) thirties. I am thrilled Evan wants to start music. Music isn't a contact sport. You can't blow out a knee or get a concussion drumming. Plus, I am very excited his daddy's music gene was passed down. While I love and appreciate music...I, myself, am not musical. I have sung in choirs where my voice will blend nicely with others and I might have spit into the played the flute for a couple of minutes (there is no photographic evidence of this) but I am not musical. I was even happy he wanted to drum...until he started drumming.

He drums on the table. He drums in the car. He drums on the water in the bath. He drums on his body. He drums on MY body. He drums on the couch. He drums in bed. He drums on his brother's head. He drums in his sleep. He. Does. NOT. Stop. Drumming and I literally might lose my mind.

So today, while I was making dinner, Evan was drawing, a new hobby he's picked up. About every 45 seconds he'd stop, step back, evaluate his picture, wait for it...while he drummed. I have told him about 50 times today to stop drumming. So I sharply yelled said, "Evan!!! The drumming HAS to stop!" He froze and melodramatically put his head on the table. When he looked up at me he said, "But moooooommmm, it is was I am MADE to do."

So without further ado, here is what Evan as "made to do".

Luke is 4!!

Last month was Luke's birthday month. I call it that because we seemed to celebrate all. month. long. But there is a reason for that.

I had to work the night of Luke's birthday, but it was more than that. July and August are very busy for me. This year didn't even hold a candle to any other year. There was so much going on at work that Luke's birthday slipped up on me. Mommy guilt hit me full force and there might have been some ugly cries in the shower. My amazing and calm husband reassured me that Luke prefers a smaller quieter affair. A big birthday party with a ton of people just isn't his bag. The guilt was hitting hard because 4 was when Evan had his first 'friend' birthday party. Through some major counseling sessions with my husband and friends, I did come to terms with Luke having a family birthday party.

John and the boys celebrated the night of his birthday with some cupcakes and presents. Luke really was only interested in the cupcakes (note to self for next year). The 15 minutes I was home before bed I got some sweet birthday snuggles. He went to sleep a happy boy that night.

A couple weeks after that we celebrated with the family. Fun, family, friends and BBQ! Luke opened presents with the insistent help of his brother. I am not 100% sure who was more excited about presents, Evan or Luke.

 

Luke chose to have cupcakes instead of cake. When it came to sing to him, he said, "Oh no! It will be too wowd!!" (That's too loud for you non-toddler speaking folk) and immediately covered his ears. I promised him we'd sing quietly. We sang quietly while he grinned with his hands over his ears. He blew out the candle (while still holding his ears) and gobbled up the cupcake.

 

We also got to have a silly string war. Sadly, the silly string was bought at the dollar store and the war only lasted a hot minute. But there was still some belly laughing and fun. PS. Luke wanted nothing to do with the silly string war. I don't think Pop did either.

 

 

Later that month Luke received a birthday book from Mommy, Daddy and Evan to be put in the St. George's library collection in his honor.

Poor guy has really been confused by the month long celebration. He keeps asking me if he's still four.

Swimmy Wave Corner: Part 2

This is part two of the fish saga. To find out the how we came to own a fish, read here. To back up even further, you can read my feelings on fish here...or here. So for us to have a fish in the house, let alone as a pet, means you know I love my kids.

Evan, Andrew, and Andrew's sister, Caroline, each won a fish. Caroline actually left the fair with two fish, one which died before they even got home which didn't give me high hopes for this fish. Thankfully our good friends, Terry and Angela, are fish experts. They have had a fish tank with many different types of fish for a while. They know what kind of fish need what kind of water/food/temperature/etc. All the things I have never wanted to know. I texted Angela for help and she has an entire goldfish habitat set up in a margarita pitcher in less than 5 minutes! I may have even texted her "I'll make sure to give you the pitcher back as soon as he dies." Again, not high hopes for this little thing.

As soon as we got home, I start prepping the water while Evan literally walks room to room with the fish bag giving Swimmy a tour...of our house. I can see attachment issues already. As we are discussing Swimmy's new home, John and I make sure to say over and over, fish don't live forever. Fish sometimes die after a couple minutes days. We are going to love and care for Swimmy as long as we have him.

Evan fed him his first meal that night and all went to bed happy.  Naturally, Swimmy was housed in Evan's room. Evan, being the most tender hearted little guy there is, asked me if Luke could have a turn feeding him in the morning. I told him that was fine as long as Evan was the one who got the food out of the container. He could put it in Luke's hand before Luke put it in the alcoholic beverage container bowl. The next morning all went according to plan and Luke got a turn to feed the fish. Evan brought an iPad to my bed that morning and asked me to go to a goldfish website so he could learn how to take care of Swimmy. Thinking this was absolutely adorable, I conceded and we read about goldfish for about half an hour. We read about how to care for their water, how to not over feed them, how to change their water (because there is a multi-step process to changing water...), what they like to eat, etc. I felt like we could teach a goldfish 101 class after all of that.

Fast forward to 9:45. I am doing yoga downstairs. John and Evan are playing Skylanders and Luke is playing with toys in different parts of the house. As I am doing yoga this is the conversation I hear.

Luke: I feed him all da seeds!!
John: What, Luke?
Luke: He have a lot of dem.
John: What do you mean sweetie?
Luke: He has all da seeds!
John: Can you show me what you mean?

They walk down the hall and about 15 seconds later I hear, "OH NO!!!! It's EVERYWHERE!! OH NO!" Followed by Evan shrieking at the top of his lungs. Of course from the first "OH NO", I unpretzel myself out of whatever yoga pose I was in and start sprinting up the stairs. When I hear "It's everywhere!" my first thought is the water. In my head I pictured the pitcher on its side, water spilling everywhere and Swimmy flopping around on the floor. Thankfully I made it up the stairs in about 2 seconds to see that wasn't the case. Luke had decided feeding Swimmy was so much fun that he wanted to do it again. But this time he gave him "all da seeds". To Luke's defense, no rules had been explained. We had had this fish for less 14 hours. He had no clue what he was doing. As soon as he saw/heard us freaking out, he went into hiding. I still have no idea where he went.

Now remember, not 3 hours before, Evan and I read about overfeeding being the number one killer of goldfish. So Evan is convinced Luke killed Swimmy. John grabs the pitcher, I sprint back downstairs to start prepping new water. I grab a bowl and the water conditioner and try to get the faucet to a decent temp. The good news is Swimmy seems unfazed. I am not sure if he even ate any of the food Luke so generously gave him. Once we deem the water ready we have to figure out how to get Swimmy from bad water to good water without getting any of the floating food into the new clean water. John knows without even looking at me, I ain't touching that thing. Being the amazing husband and father he is, he scoops Swimmy out with his hands and drops him in the bowl.

Keep in mind, Evan is still hyperventilating about his fish dying and Luke is in still hiding. Once Swimmy is placed in the clean water, I sit with Evan and calm him down enough to explain, he might die, but we've done all we can. I swear it was like a version of Fishie ER. We sat by his makeshift bowl watching him kind of gasp every 3 seconds of so. Anytime Swimmy would start floating on his side, Evan would plead and beg, "pllleeeease don't die, please don't die Swimmy!!!" I told him Swimmy was probably freaking out from all of this so we had to stay calm for him. He sat with Swimmy and talked to him for at least 10 minutes. And if I am being honest, I sent a prayer up to the big guy to keep Swimmy alive....but don't tell anyone that.

Thankfully Swimmy survived the dramatic event. Since there was nothing we could really do about Evan's co-dependent attachment to the fish, we decided we needed to upgrade Swimmy's habitat to something a little more permanent. More hours of research and one hundred and twenty dollars later, Swimmy has a permanent home in the Asbell house. Good news - if Swimmy does pass on soon, Petco has goldfish for 15 cents. Anyone see the irony here?? anyone??

Swimmy Wave Corner Asbell: Part 1

Evan has been begging us for a pet for about a year. John and I had dogs for 12 and 13 years. We were kind of enjoying the pet free home. Not that we don’t love animals, but we also love our pee-free carpet, no-vet bill budget, and dog hairless couch. Let’s just say I have had more success potty training two boys than house training animals.

Evan was in the right place at the right time this summer. There was one day…just one day, he had to come to work with me due to lack of childcare. He did great. Read books, played on the playground, enjoyed his time. Sometime mid afternoon, Mrs. Gano came to visit the lab to ask a question. She immediately grabs Evan to go get some toys. He comes back with legos and building items. He’s in heaven for a while. When he takes them back he looks around her room and notices her class pets, the frogs. Mrs. Gano realizes she hasn’t fed them (it had been a month, don’t call PETA just yet), and enlists Evan’s help. She sees how enamored Evan is with the frogs and asks him to take care of him the rest of the summer. All this takes place AWAY from me. All I know is when he comes back, he has a small frog tank with two frogs that we are taking home.

He names the frogs; Rocky and Crystal. Guess what two things were in the frogs’ tank besides the frogs themselves. Rocks and a crystal. It’s a black and white world, people. The frogs live on his nightstand. He prays for the frogs. He brings every single person that enters our house up to his room to ‘meet’ the frogs. The boy loved having a pet. We cried quite a bit when we had to give them back to the class.

Fast forward to Labor Day – We were discussing over dinner Sunday before Labor Day that we didn’t have to go to school because it was a holiday called Labor Day. Daddy and Mommy didn’t have to go to work and the boys got to stay home. Evan interrupted me and said, “And I get to go to the Delta Fair!!!” I did a double take to make sure I heard him right. I glance at John, who is looking at me just as confused as I am looking at him. I then say, “wait, what?” He proceeds to tell me he has a ticket and he is going to the fair on Labor Day. I am still looking at him like he has 4 heads.  I explain that we aren’t going to the fair because none of this was passed through me. He proceeds to melt down, say, “but I have a tiiiickeeeet!” and question why I am ‘in charge of the house’. (his words…not mine…but he’s not wrong).

The more time that passes, the more I think of what a horrible mom I am for not taking him AND Evan doesn’t let things go easily. So we decided if he could control his talking at school (something he comes by naturally...have you met his mom??) he could ‘earn’ the fair. I know, I know. He broke me. But really, have you seen those dimples. Jeez.

 On Thursday, the day we planned to go to the fair, a mom emailed me and invited him to go with their family. After talking it through we he made the decision to wait until the weekend and go with his friend. Despite a rain delay, the boys had a blast! And the mom sent me tons of pictures and videos. This was the last picture I received with the caption of “ummm….well….”

Part 2 coming....

Luke's First Days of School

We have entered brand new territory with these two munchkins. Two little boys in the same school! Luke started PK this year and it's been a huge blessing. I will be forever grateful for Little Georgie's preparing my little guy for PK.

There is an 'ease' into school for our youngest learners. First comes JumpStart, which is a 3 half day program two weeks before school starts. Then the kids have one half day at school, one day at home, and two more half days before the full class comes for the entire day. It's not designed to be easy on the parents (trust me....I've lived it twice) but it IS designed to be easier on the kids. Since I work at the school, Luke had to attend 'faculty/staff childcare' those days he didn't have camp or school. Poor guy was always confused about where he was going each day.

Even now, he'll ask me two or three times on the way to school, "Hey mom. Where we going??" I'll have to tell him two or three times we are going to school. That first week he said, "I don't wannnnna go to school!! I wanna go to Miss Wowa (Mrs. Lawo)and Miss Wuffin's (Mrs. Ruffin's) room!" It was just adorable how much he loved being in that room.

The transformation we have seen in Luke has been astronomical. Luke has gone from a child who trantrummed daily to a little guy who can express how he feels. I am not saying it was a light switch effect and the trantrums are gone (he is still three for heavens sake), but his first reaction isn't to scream or hit. He is also happy. He's happy at school. He's happy at home. He's the little guy I knew he was trying so hard to be.

This is my little man who doesn't give out hugs freely. Evan will literally hug a stranger in Kroger. Luke doesn't really have time for all that mess. When he does give you a hug without prompting, you better take it. Those don't come around often. Every day he runs to his teacher Mrs. Lawo (or Miss Wowa) or Mrs. Ruffin (Wuffin) and gives them a hug. The first time I witnessed that, I almost cried.

You see, it shows the bond that Luke has with them. Like I mentioned, this bond doesn't happen very often with Luke. So to know he trusts them, he loves them and he wants to be with them is huge. Mrs. Lawo and Mrs. Ruffin have truly help my little guy become the boy I knew he had in him.

PK is EXHAUSTING!

Evan's first days of school

As most of you know (unless you are really new to my life and my blog) I work at the school in which my children attend. I am blessed beyond belief to work there and even more blessed my kids attend this amazing school.

Evan started 1st grade this year. In PK-SK, they placed Evan with the teacher who had the classroom farthest away from my office (those who work there...think about it). Now, I know that was not on purpose because St. George's spends hours, days, months placing children in the perfect class with the teacher and class make up that is needed for each child to thrive. But still, I have to giggle. I hardly saw Evan during the day for three years.

This year Evan is placed in the classroom right next door to me. :) I see him multiple times a day. Every single time, he stops, says "hi momma!", waves, blows me a kiss or will come give me a kiss if he's allowed. I am going to take every single one of those greetings because in blink of an eye he's going to be in the elementary building, or in middle school, or off at college.

Evan's teacher, Mrs. Field, has been teaching over 30 years. She is one of the sweetest, most calm, gentlest teachers I've had the privilege with working. The way she knows each and every student and what they need is just...well...the St. George's way. If she's ever been stressed or upset, I've never seen it. I just can't say enough about this amazing lady. Again, I am blessed not only to be her colleague, but blessed to turn my child over to her for a year.

Evan has been with these friends since PK. He loves all the guys and girls in his class, probably a little too much. I've already had the "your teacher mentioned you are talking too much" talk with him. :) He can't help it....he comes by it naturally.

Sorry Lila and Evan...I'll probably be following you to middle school to take this yearly picture. :)

 

Evan - I am so proud of you. Your infection joy and amazing heart for others is going to help you make this year one to remember. Enjoy this time with your friends and your teacher in this amazing place. I promise you will look back with fond memories.

The Beach Series: Final Chapter - Everything else I want to remember

A big ole hodge podge of photos and other things we did while in Orange Beach.

More beachy pictures! Because it didn't really happen unless you take a picture of your feet in the sand or a selfie on the beach.

  

Naval Aviation Museum
One drizzly morning we took a quick jaunt over to Pensacola to visit the Naval Aviation museum. It was a hit for our family both kids and adults. Evan allowed John to walk him around and actually discuss the different planes and exhibits. I just ran with Luke. Luke kept saying, "Dis plas iz amazing!" and "It's so bootyful mommy!" His little words make my heart smile.

 

We spent a lot of time either on the beach or at the pool. We did venture on to the 'mainland' one day with the intent of mini golf. When Evan saw the large shark entrance of a gift store, we decided to stop there. The guys had a blast playing around in the store! Added bonus, they got snocones for being so good!

I am not sure why I took so many pictures of snocones. Maybe because it was the only time all week they were actually still and next to each other.