Coloring and Dragging...

Weird title, I know. I'm not feeling very creative today. We are stuck inside today (despite the beautiful weather) because I tripped going up the stairs and really hurt my leg. I can barely walk. So the boys have been coloring a lot. Josh is really working on staying in the lines so he can be ready for preschool in the fall. It's so cute. He is so proud and takes so long working on his pages.

Here's his "spiderman" which is actually his first drawing that's ever resembled anything... Here he is showing off his Winnie the Pooh coloring...What was Jackson doing? Well, he says he doesn't want to learn to color in the lines because he doesn't want to go to preschool because "it takes for too long." So he's been playing with Tyce. He loves to drag Tyce all around the house. He can't carry him so this is how he moves Tyce to where he wants him...

It cracks me up. Tyce loves it, he loves any interaction with his brothers!

Daddy, Chopsticks, and Flowers...

Parker is home!!! YAY!!! I hate being away from him, we just love time together and have such a hard time being apart. The boys are super excited to have him back as well. Tonight we got Panda because I was exhausted (4 hours of sleep last night, thank you Tyce). Joshy learned how to use chop sticks! I was so proud of him. It didn't take him long at all and he was SO determined! Eventually he goes, "Mommy I am just SO hungry I think I'll just poke my chicken with my fork." Haha.

Here he is first trying... Success!Jack says, "take a picture of me with my cookie!" Haha, blurry but cute...In Sunbeams Jackson made Daddy and flower that he has been SO excited to give to him...
Well the boys are down now it's time for 24 with my honey!!! Yay!!!

Jackson My Drama Queen...

Josh said something funny the other day that got me thinking, I really should post about how incredibly dramatic and OCD Jackson is. We were leaving to go on a walk and Jackson's shoelace was starting to come untied. He asked me to tie it tighter. Josh goes..."Ya mommy, you better tie it or Jack will GO TO PIECES!" Hahahaha, if you know Jackson and me, that is exactly what I say to him about a hundred times a day.

Jackson is so so so dramatic and OCD about so many small simple things. As a mom, it is very hard to deal with. I never know what little things will set him off on his fits. And by fit I mean literally rolling on the ground crying. Here are some things that set him off...

*His blanket that he puts his TV tray on for breakfast must be perfectly lined up with the squares on the rug.

*His drink must be filled all the way to the top of the cup.

*His spoon for his cereal MUST be orange.

*He cannot STAND having a booger in his nose and will *go to pieces* until it's out.

*He must be perfectly lined up with his place mat at the dinner table.

*His shoes have to be tied a certain way, a way that Parker and I still haven't been able to figure out.

*Pretty much every day he cries on the way to the gym because he can't get his seat belt buckled right away.

*If he is having trouble getting his food on his spoon or fork, watch out.

*His muffins/rolls have to be cut and buttered a certain way (Parker's family can attest to this one, for the 3 weeks we lived with them they probably saw Jackson cry about this issue 10 times).

*If he is building something and it falls down, oh gosh, end of the world.

*If I accidentally flush the toilet after wiping his bum, he will go to pieces, he loves to flush the toilet.

*If he has even a DROP of water somewhere on his clothes he has to change everything immediately.

*You have to wrap his towel around him a certain way after his tubs.

*Every day when we get the mail he asks for some for "his friend Gobby." That's his imaginary friend. He likes a certain type of coupon pages and if I give him anything different...he'll cry for about 15 minutes.

I'm sure there's many more, but this will give us plenty to blackmail Jackson with when he gets older. =) I love him so much and he can be so sweet and sensitive. I guess along with the good emotion comes the difficult emotion.

The poor guy is still so sick with the stomach flu, he's asleep on the couch right now and Josh is so bored because he's used to always having Jackson to play with! I better go play with him and get off the computer!

Camp Out with Daddy...in the Basement!

The boys have been begging lately to go camping, I think they're having withdrawls from living in Neola last summer(which was little boy heaven!). Parker had the great idea of having a campout downstairs in the basement tonight! We borrowed a tent from our good friends and now they are all down there having fun! I was in charge of dinner, dishes, and Tyceroo but now that all that is done...I'm a free woman tonight! But I keep popping my head down there to take pictures and hear the cute things they say.

Earlier this afternoon I was in the other room and I hear the boys getting grocery sacks out of the cupboard and putting stuff in them. I was annoyed, more messes for me to clean up, but just ignored them. A little bit later I walk into the kitchen to see this.... They had gone "grocery shopping" all over the house to get things for their campout. It was so cute. It's funny because whenever Parker would take them camping over the summer they would always go to the grocery store first and get hot dogs, drinks, etc so they were totally copying that. It was also funny how they put their "groceries" exactly where I put mine when I go to the store, haha. They collected movies, toys, stuffed animals, treats, you name it. They were also really excited to eat their valentine's marshmallows my parents gave them in the tent.

Ok so I can't get these pictures to move to the bottom SO, you'll have to look at a few pics of Tyce before the camping story can continue, sorry!

Tyce is teething and is very very fussy. But, I did manage to get some smiles out of him (why his nose is orange is beyond me)...
Roasting marshmallows, Jack was bummed they didn't actually roast-dang gas fireplaces! Haha... Here they are "helping" daddy set up the tent...Here they all are in their tent, watching Ice Age...The camping crew, with their marshmallows and strawberry milk (Dr. Pepper for Parker)...Joshy and his flashlight, he told me this elaborate story about how he saw a bear, and "grrrr'd" at it and it "grrr'd" back so he ran inside, got his red bat, and HIT him with it, then he left...Jack and his marshmallows...
The boys are so lucky to have such a fun daddy. He leaves next week for the "Manly Man Retreat" (aka my dad and two brothers in law). They are going to Idaho to go snow skiing for 5 days. We'll miss him so much but know that he will have lots of fun!

Sometimes I Just Want to Feel Sorry for Myself...

I try to keep my blog happy, upbeat, and positive but...let's face it, that's not always reality. Today I just want to wallow (spelling?) in my sorrow. I am frustrated with being exhausted all the time, it is neverending and I hate it. First off, Tyce is up about five times a night crying for his binky. Parker and I take turns getting up but, still, I'm awake each time. Now he is waking up about 6:30am and not going back to sleep. Secondly, I found out that I'm very anemic which also explains the fatigue. I am on iron pills now but those will take months before I notice anything. Lastly, I haven't been very good on my celiac diet which also contributes to my being so tired because my body is not absorbing the nutrients that I eat. SO...long story short, I feel like I have no prayer of a chance of feeling better anytime soon. I go to the gym and grocery shopping and I'm literally beat for the rest of the day and night. I feel lazy as a mom and a wife and I hate that. I want to do more, and I can't. I want to feel better, and I can't. I want to be better, and I can't.