I'm Baaaaack!

I haven't blogged in forever. Seriously, FOREVER. It started off as I was busy. Then I got behind. Then it became a battle of wills. I have finally succumbed to the death threats, perpetrators of which I am not at liberty to disclose (*cough*cough* grandparents *cough*cough*), due to not being able to see new and updated pictures of my munchkins. I have to admit, they are cute. I would probably be upset if I didn't see them everyday myself.

I'm not going to backtrack and update on everything we have been up to. For one, it would be sooooooooo boring. For two, I admit that I may not have taken as many picture as I should have (I know, I know, I know - I am the worst parent in the world when it comes to taking updated pics of just about everything). For three, I just don't feel like it!

Without further adieu, here are some pics from our recent trip to Ohio. *Side note - if you aren't family, you will be bored out of your mind!

Here are the boys all ready for A Day Out With Thomas. They were so excited. Ashton was wearing his Thomas shirt and carrying a Thomas train. I couldn't find any Thomas shirts that fit Dominic that were not extra cruddy, so we went with the next best thing. A Mickey Mouse shirt with a train on it (not that you can see it here - also, it is IMPOSSIBLE to get the kids to cooperate in picture taking while there is Thomas everything everywhere!) and his Thomas train, of course.

And this is Dominic five minutes later.

The boys were giddy and happy when we arrived. We went in the first tent of the Thomas extravaganza, which had Lionel trains with Thomas pulling cars. The boys loved it. They were running around climbing on all the fun kid stuff when Dominic started to cry. And cry. And cry. Did I mention he was crying? The biggest fit he had ever thrown. We could not figure out what the problem was.

Paul decided that distraction was the best method to appease him. So he ran and bought two ginormous Thomas balloons. I forgot to take pictures of them, but these things were seriously huge. It was bigger than Dominic. It looked like if we let go of him, he would go sailing into outer space.

Dominic didn't even look at the balloon. Okay, obviously something is majorly wrong if your Thomas lovin' 2-yr old doesn't even look at the Thomas balloon that is bigger than himself. We tried everything we could think of to appease him: drinks, snacks, different tents. Finally Paul and I took him back to the van. Thankfully Grammie was there so Ashton didn't lose out on all the fun.

Great parents that Paul and I are, we finally figured out that something was wrong with Dom's arm. We ended up having to go to Urgent Care and having x-rays. The kid popped his elbow out of socket! The doctor fixed it in two seconds and Dom was ready to go. He missed out on all the Day out with Thomas fun (which, let me tell you, cost an arm and a leg) but he went back to Grammie's and played with his balloon, which he love love love love loved!

Yeah, we had to bring those balloons all the way back to Indiana with us. Yep, two adults, two kids, two dogs, a bunch of stuff, and two ginormous balloons.

While we were in Ohio, all of the cousins got together. It was really confusing for all of the kids this time. As you may know, my husband's name is Paul. So is my brother's. All of the kids are old enough to pay attention to what everyone calls everyone else. So there were two uncle Pauls. There was much fighting between the kiddos on who was Uncle Paul, Daddy, or just plain Paul.

This is my brother Paul and his son Payton. And yes, Paul does have stitches on his face. I do not think I have ever seen my brother without a head wound of some sort.

Ashton and Payton

All the cousins on my side of the family: Payton, Dominic and Ashton.

The cousins on Paul's side of the family: CJ, Colin, Dom, and Ashton.

A rare picture of Grandpa and Grammie with Ashton

While Mommy is sick, the kids will play...

On Friday I wasn't feeling well. I was all hopped up on cold medicine and Sudafed. Not a good combination for me. So I was laying on the couch, in and out of consciousness, when I hear whoosh, crash, some more whoosh and crash and then "Mess!"

Not a good thing to hear.

I go into the kitchen and this is I find.


Dominic helping himself to the same cereal that if given at breakfast he would throw on the floor.


Ashton looking all innocent, likely story kiddo.

Just in case you were wondering, no I don't normally live with a bunch of stuff strewn about my kitchen floor. Dominic not only knocked everything off of the counter, he climbed up and started throwing things off of the top of the refrigerator. He threw food, paper towels, napkins and oh yeah, knives. Yep, my almost two year old was throwing freaking KNIVES!

We put the knife block on top of the refrigerator so my little climber can't get to them. I guess we will have to buy a safe to store them in before he starts using his brother for target practice. The kid is a monster!

Do you ever have days where you just feel like crying? This was one of those times for me. I was so sick it was almost impossible to pick up the knives. I just wanted to cry. But then I realized that would be too much energy. So instead I grabbed the camera, what can I say - I was hopped up on drugs, snapped a couple of pictures and then sat on the kitchen floor while Ashton snapped some of his own pics while declaring that there is such a big mess he can't walk with so much stuff in his way. Thanks kiddo, I didn't realize.

To top things off, while I was suffering in great misery, Paul was having a grand ole time not working. He went out for Korean BBQ for lunch and then headed over to Nine Irish Brothers for a beer with the rest of his lab. Then they went back to the actual lab and continued to party it up. Thanks hon, I love you too.

Later that night Paul walked in the door with a pizza in hand and told me to go take a hot bath and go to bed. He didn't have to tell me twice. A couple of hours later I woke up to the sound of the vacuum running. What a wonderful sound it was. It took Paul more than two hours to put the house back to normal. It just shows you what damage two little ones can inflict when they realize that short of a fire or knife throwing, mommy isn't getting off of the couch!

Battle of the Best Weezer Song

My boys have taken after my own heart. They both love music. Not kid music, but my music. They both always have. It's so weird, but they both have the same two favorite bands. They both love Weezer and Green Day. Which is strange because they are not necessarily my two favorite bands or the ones I play the most.

I try not to let them listen to too much Green Day, since most of it is completely inappropriate for their young ears, but they love it. If a Green Day song happens to come on the radio, Dom cranks up the radio all the way and then looks at me like what mom, what'd you expect me to do?

The first songs that each of the boys danced to and we were able to tell that the loved were Weezer songs. When Ashton was just a baby, Beverly Hills was a popular song. Everywhere we went it was playing and he would just shake his little shoulders and bounce. It was sooooo cute.

Weezer will always hold a special place in my heart. They were the first cd I ever purchased. They were the first concert I went to-for my twelfth birthday. Rivers Cuomo (the lead singer) was my first crush. I was soooo not a New Kids on the Block kind of girl. It makes a mom proud to have her boys following in her steps.

Today, the boys have been having a down and out fight over their favorite Weezer song. Dominic loves Troublemaker. Big surprise there. Like the title doesn't describe every aspect of his being. Anytime the song comes on, he MUST dance. If I don't dance with him, he screams like someone is stabbing him with a sharp knife, repeatedly. He even had his arms up in the air, waving to the beat. It is hilarious.

Ashton, however, lays claim to Pork and Beans. I know the reason why isn't so much the song as the video. It is filled with many of the youtube phenoms from the past year. Now I don't think the kid youtubes, but you never know what he's up to when he says he is on the Hotwheels website. His favorite part is any scene with diet Coke and Mentos. He studies it like he is devising a plan of his own. I am so glad he can't make it to the store on his own yet!

So for now, the battle wages on and I still listen to Weezer. I still buy cds from both bands. Not that it makes me feel old or anything. Especially when I hear things like I never even heard that song until Rock Band or I found this cd of my dad's and it's actually cool.

Halloween Going Ons

Halloween has been a month long holiday in our house. It started with us picking out pumpkins. Then the boys made a gingerbread haunted house.

I'm suprised that is lasted as long as it did. It took the boys a whole week before they figured out they could take candy off of it to eat.

Then we had Halloween parties, carving pumpkins, and trick or treating. The kids have so much candy they aren't even that interested in it. Infact, on Halloween night we went trick or treating with the Madsens. When we were finished, I told the boys they could each have one piece of candy and then we were heading home. Ashton could have cared less about the candy. This is all he cared about:

Throwing balloons, crazy kid!

Here are snaps of the happy skeleton and Batman.

Ashton picked out his own costume and loved it!

Dom didn't even know he was in a costume!

The kiddos had lots of fun and I'm sure they can't wait until next year.

Paul is Officially a Phd Candidate

We have been really busy the past month. Paul was preparing for his prelim and the kids have been the same crazy monsters as usual. I am happy to announce that Paul passed! We are so proud of him. He is now officially a Phd candidate - whatever that means. I just hope we are outta here in another 2 1/2 years!

Even though it's been crazy around here, we have still managed to get a bit of family time. Fall back home was always beautiful, and we were missing it, so we took the kids to Celery Bog yet once again. It is the closest thing we have to a Metroparks around here.

Ashton loved picking up all the leaves. He was very proud he mangaed to keep the same one the entire time we were there.

Dominic had a ball plowing through the deepest recesses of leaves. No fear. That kid has no fear. It doesn't matter if he was trying to plow through a pile as tall as him. No fear.

The boys were trying to count frogs, even though I kept telling them there weren't any out. They just didn't believe me. I'm only Mommy, what would I know.

Pumpkin Love

This past weekend Paul's parents came to visit. Even though it was still pretty early in the month, we decided to go pumpkin picking. The kids had a blast. Ashton loved bouncing with the other kids.



Because we were there right before closing, it was pretty much cleared out and Dominic was able to bounce himself.



He loved it. Ashton was begging for more kids to join in, but there weren't any left. He just wanted to lay down and have the big kids bounce him around. He finds that hysterical.

Both of the boys loved the hayride. They loved picking their own pumkins even more. Dominic kept trying to pick up the pumpkins that were bigger than him. Ashton was on the hunt for a small pumpkin that he could carry. That was not an easy task. They were all huge!


Nothing slowed this kid down. He ran from one big pumpkin to the next.


Ashton finally settled on the perfect pumpkin for himself.

The kiddos loved the corn maze. Actually, Dom just loved running around screaming at the top of his lungs.

The boys also went on the pony ride, but neither of them seemed that interested. Ashton would not stop talking about his pumpkin the whole ride home. He wanted to take it to bed with him. He has major pumpkin love pumping through his veins.

Labor Day

I know this is really late, but I thought I'd let the family see what we were up to for Labor Day. And since I cannot snap a decent picture lately, I ripped some of these pics off of others' blogs. Thanks Gigi and Liz!

For the week of Labor Day, the Webers came to visit! Yay! We love you guys. I wish we had had more time to hang out. We miss you! You better come back next year, I am holding you to it! I didn't get a lot of pics. I don't know why, but here is a cute one of Emily and Ashton.


Aren't they cuties!

They just love each other so much. Ashton has asked to see Emily like a zillion times since they left. Ashton just discovered web cams, I'm just waiting for him to ask to talk to her on the computer!

For Labor Day, we got together with the Webers, Madsens, Reams, and Holdaways for a picnic at the park. It was lots of fun. The kids had a ball and wore themselves out.

The Souths vs. The Madsens - Dominic was just a little confused. He thought the object of the game was to catch the birdie - not hit it.

Maren was busy pushing four kiddos at once.

All the women and some of the kiddos.

We had fun. We'll have to do it again. I love having get togethers where nobody has a mess left to clean up!