Re-Entry

Daddy-O wisely knows that “If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy” and so to counteract that domino affect, once a year, he whisks me away to the beach for a couple’s get away trip - just the two of us. (Good boy, huh?!)  

Typically in the dead of winter, when you feel like you can’t take another day of gray skies or bitter cold temperatures, we hop on a jet plane headed to the Caribbean to defrost, see the sun and enjoy a week-long, uninterrupted date night.  It’s paradise - in more ways than one!

This year, I’m spoiled enough to report that we escaped to Aruba for a week on the beach, some SCUBA diving, and a week of dining out and not having to do the dishes! Our only worry was in regards to our tan lines and how frequently to re-apply sunscreen.

We touched base, via FaceTime, with the boyz each night who were left in the care of my mother-in-law, who bravely volunteers for Grandma duty each year allowing us to escape,as she remembers what it was like raising four children of her own. The video chats are usually brief and always hilarious! Seeing their world for a few moments- MY WORLD - through a 10 inch screen is comical from 4,000 miles away!  Fletcher’s hair was standing up on both his cowlicks last night, and Griffin’s loose tooth is hanging by a thread, Kiefer showed us his new boo-boo and Carter made faces and nods to report that school went well.  Life as usual.

We chatted the last night of our trip right at bedtime and we hit the hay shortly thereafter. (Holding down a beach chair all day can really wear you out!)  I woke with a start the next morning - the dawn of our last day of Island living - to report to Daddy-O that I’d had a nightmare!

I’d dreamt that it was snowy and freezing at home and they boyz had just come in from sledding and playing in the snow and I was walking around our family room and kitchen area and I kept tripping over snowpants, coats, hats, gloves and four pairs of boots. I made a huge pile of all their gear and was gently telling them (ok, I admit, I was yelling - even in my dream!) “Why can’t you guys hang up your stuff on the way in the door?!” Right then, the doorbell rang to the garage door and they took off running before I could stop them, the door was open, letting in the arctic winds, then the garage door opened where I saw my mother-in-law in her car returning something or telling us something (this is where the details get a little hazy) but before I could stop them all four of the little men raced out the door in their socks and they were running around the back yard in the snow in their socked feet without any coats on....!

That’s when I woke up! Half frightened, half laughing - because it’s so typical of our daily lives!  Not one detail is an exaggeration!

When I re-told the story to Daddy-O, that’s when he said, “This sounds like re-entry!”  

As I type, I’m sitting in the airport in Aruba, depressed to be leaving, feeling my tan fade already... I’m gearing up.  Ladies and gentleman, fasten your seat belts! Re-entry commences at 0600.

AMENDMENT:

Upon our return and once the boyz awoke, and, as Jim said, after we water-boarded the boyz to get the full report from them, we came to understand that my dream was just the beginning of the nightmare!   Basically, they had their A-game on for Nana! (And I’m pretty sure they ran circles around her all week!)

Let’s see, what counterintelligence we’ve gathered thus far:

• Carter wore his new John Deere T-shirt and sweatshirt that he got for his birthday EVERY day to school and REFUSED to let Nana wash it.

• When Carter wanted “Alone Time” he crawled up on top of the refrigerator in the basement to be ‘alone’ - not once, but TWICE! 

• Nana “ran the boyz” on the treadmill everyday after school because it was such frigid temperatures they couldn’t be outside. Only problem was Kiefer didn’t wear the safety clip and he fell and was thrown into the cement wall and then burned his arm on the treadmill... YIKES!

• Judging on the items I found put up high - they were juggling my weighted exercise balls, they climbed up in the locker room to get down swords I’d already hidden and they had been playing the Saxoflute.

• Carter and Kiefer either got the key down or talked Nana into letting them into the craft room where they painted. Sounds innocent enough except Carter used some of my spare wood from an old fence that I had and he constructed and painted John Deere sign. (I had other intentions for the wood) Then he painted it with Acrylic paint getting the permanent paint on his clothes and the surrounding area. Kiefer at least used paper, however, he also used the acrylic paint and painted on top of my white roll top wooden desk so it’s now got blue outlines where he painted our welcome home sign and got out of the lines onto the desk. Oh, and all the brushes they used were left in the paint. 

• Kiefer climbed up to the highest shelf in Daddy-O’s closet to get down some other items intentionally put away

• They found an old coin collection of mine and I keep finding my old silver dollars from my grandfather around the house. I'm not sure where they found it or how high they had to climb to get it down.

• Kiefer was having a hard time sleeping each night and we heard he woke up Nana about 3 times a night each night due to his “nightmares”

• We heard a report from Nana that by Thursday, sleep deprived, worn out and nearly pushed to the edge - she had a moment where she actually raised her voice because the boyz weren’t helping straighten up the house. And we heard maybe another time after they’d been beating up on each other. (!)  She apologized later and joked they were at “Grandma Boot Camp”... I felt validated that it happens to the best of us.

• I’m sure there was more that transpired, but this is all we’ve been able to ascertain thus far.

BUT... on a good note, we were welcomed home with several sweet welcome home signs and notes and even a collage of sea shells on the front hall table and even given the risks and infractions, our vacation was still worth it and at least Nana didn’t have to take anyone to the ER! (perspective, right?!?)

A bit of a rough re-entry. Oh, and did I neglect to mention we got a fresh 8” of new snowfall? Maybe my dream was more providential than I realized?!

Sunset in Aruba

Another day in paradise!

Proof I stepped foot in Aruba and actually put my feet up for awhile!

Our last sunset

The welcome home sign and collage from Kiefer

The hand painted picture of the blue sky and sun from Kiefer, photo taken before I figured out where he painted it! 

A welcome sign from our tractor-loving Carter, too!

Dog Daze of Winter

It seems that boredom is the invention of creativity.  I once heard a wise mother of four boys, each in high school, tell me that the key to raising boys is to keep them bored. So they'll want to get lost in a book or build something or be imaginative. Not allow them to play video games or detach from reality too much or too early. This has long been my philosophy. Why turn on the TV when we could instead put on a show of our own or have a dance party or bake something?  Sometimes, in the dead of winter though, when it's too cold to go outside for days on end, this says easier than it is to do.  But it also helps that my boyz are in the habit of no TV (or at least little TV) so they don't ask to watch it and they entertain themselves creatively most the time. Sometimes, TOO creatively.

One evening last week the younger boyz were playing in the basement while I was helping the older boyz with homework.  In between fraction flash cards and spelling words I had barely noticed that Griffin was getting dressed up as a puppy dog in Carter's last year's Halloween costume - complete with fluffy ears, gloves with paw prints and collar with a bell.  I vaguely remember zipping and velcro-ing and straightening his tail and then he was off to play in the basement with Fletcher.  A few moments later I heard a horrendous cry escalating up the stairs.  After strict instructions to play downstairs while we completed homework I asked, "Is someone bleeding?!" And the cry back returned "YES!"

"Oh no, what now!?" I thought to myself.  Griffin, still dressed as a puppy dog, has had a wiggly front tooth for the past several months and as he turned the corner there was a lot of blood and a loose tooth hanging from his muzzle and a worried look on his brow.  He had been playing tug of war as a puppy with Fletcher's blankie and the winner had pulled his tooth out with it!  (Actually, both front teeth, but the other one's not quite ready to come out yet - and Griffin wants to lose it at school because you get a commemorative tooth-shaped necklace from the school nurse when you lose a tooth at school!)  (Who can blame him!?)

Then the dog's master rounds the corner, blankie in hand, saying, "Yea, it was time for that tooth to come out so I helped him!"

Isn't that brotherly love in action?!

Woof Woof!

Here's the tooth! I told him that happens to real puppies too!

For the Tooth Fairy!

For the memory books!

Fletcher "helped" 

Brotherly love!

Sweet on Saint Louis

Daddy-O and I went to an event in St. Louis last weekend where we didn't know a soul when we arrived, but by the end of the evening I'd made a new friend and discovered a Soul Sister!  We were sitting diagonally across the table from each other and as we talked I learned that she had started a new business - a do-it-yourself custom cupcake shop.  We exchanged cards and were each grateful for the other at a crowded dinner party.  The next day was Valentine's day and she was going to be working in her store - as it was a busy bakery day.  On our way out of town, we GPS'ed her shop and stopped in for a visit.  It was absolutely ADORABLE!  The center store in a 1950's retro strip mall, each building with it's own awning and unique fascade.  Sweetology is her business and she likens it to a build a bear shop or a pottery by you painting shop except instead of having another bear or hand painted ceramic creation to dust, you get to eat your creation! What a novel concept! It's the only thing like it in the country and, in my opinion, it's going to be in a town near you soon! There was a traditional bakery counter with dreamy confections chilling behind the glass, there was also a pot of chocolate swirling behind the counter in a magical centrifugal force that drew me in. She called it "Drinking Chocolate"  "You had me at chocolate," I thought to myself as she poured me an expresso sized cup to savor.  The darling pink and green walls and old fashioned soda fountain decor was delightful, but the wall of decorative candies to top your cake, cupcakes or cookies were what made me feel like a kid in a candy store! (Sorry, couldn't resist!)  I felt like Carter when he couldn't decide which jibit to get for his crocs! There were candy footballs, helmets, crayons, balloons, bears - even a tiny hammer and nail set. You name it! Each made of sugar.  Absolutely darling! For the locals, you could stop in and decorate your cake and make an outing out of it. They had a rainbow of icing colors and even a photo booth to pose with your creation before you indulged. We chose the "to-go" route and got enough for the boyz to decorate at home. We took pictures too.  Then we indulged.  They tasted even better than they looked! Here's a glimpse of our fun.  To savor your own, you'll have to experience Sweetology for yourself! ENJOY!

Holding up our "Naked" Cupcakes… the "before" stage

Fletcher adding the first of many colors of icing upon his cupcake 

Too cute!

Carter posing with his creation

We're sweet on Sweetology!

Many hands in the mix!

Griffin's creation

Not easy to eat with just one front tooth!

This says it all!

Fletcher was getting his foot into it!

An artist!

Kiefer can't believe how good they taste!

WOW! 

His teeth are blue!!

Carter ate most of his… he never really eats the icing

Then there's Griffin who took a different approach! 

Fletcher's weighed a ton by the time he was done!

So good you could eat it!