The Summer Chronicles, Part I

  This will be known as the summer of the refrigerator.  While we are having beautiful, mild weather outside, the temperature inside our refrigerator is akin to somewhere in the Sahara Desert. I believe that it not only is alive with motives, but that its motives are against me. It is a constant tease. We think it is fixed, I start to feel safe enough to stock a few new fridge items, and it breaks again. The new milk becomes curdled old milk, I even had one container bulge and explode, and I fill a trash can again with items we fear eating and I cringe wasting.  The fridge hates me. But, hey, the feeling is mutual. We are on first name basis with Tony and Marc the repairman and can tell you all about their children, their wives, and even which ring tone on their phone goes to which person in their lives. I would have sent the thing to kitchen appliance heaven weeks ago, but the men in my life (Joey, Marc, and Tony respectively) are convinced they can bring it back from the dead with just one more part or one more procedure. In the meantime, we are drinking Dunkin Donuts coffee every morning because we can't have cream, I run home from yoga with my meal of the day for the kids and the sitter wasting most of my time out of the house deciding what the sitter would like to eat, and there is almost no cooking since I have realized almost everything requires something that was meant to be refrigerated.  The chicken I pulled out of there that smelled like fish has done me in.  Here's hoping that the tiny defrost heater coil that is the newest culprit will pull through.  On the flip side, we do still have a life in between repair calls.

There is nothing like the start of summer than the last day of school.  The last day of school was pajama day and nothing short of a miracle happened. Alden wore short sleeved pajamas. He was determined that his pajamas had to be Spiderman pajamas which were flannel.  It was 85 degrees outside. The night before I tried to get him to wear these I found on sale at Belk, but they didn't have sleeves which was the.end.of.the.world. The meltdown was so massive that I tabled the discussion until morning when I pulled my usual quarterback sneak and dressed him while he was in some sort of television trance sponsored by Nick, Jr. where I could put him in a sundress and he wouldn't know it. Turns out, he must have liked it because he will now wear full-on summer pjs for the first time in his life-shorts and all- and will even wear mismatched tops and bottoms if one or the other has been tragically separated in the laundry.  You have no idea how much easierour lives have become.

Of course, the last day of school was also very sentimental because it was the last day of Preschool.  We are starting the non-optional my mom can't take me out whenever she wants "real school." It is hard to believe that we will have a Kindergartener. People have asked me if I am sad, and I really believe the answer is no. I think he will bloom.

                                                 

This year, I have seen Alden learn the most important thing he has ever learned. He learned how to read. I can still remember back in September when he ran around the house looking for the word "the" because it was the first word he could read on his own. Now, he sits with me and reads entire books. License plates drive his phonics mind crazy because he can't for the life of him figure out what they say.  We keep having to remind him they say nothing, but it just shows how he is always exploring reading on his own. He feels empowered. I am excited for him that this is only the beginning of the things he is going to learn and the questions he will ask and have answered. Some of them I am sure I am not ready for like the other day after swim when I had a forty-five minute discussion on who it is okay and who it is not okay to see naked. Yes, I can't believe that five years have come and gone, but I am so excited to see him become a part of his community and walk to our little Norman Rockwell school at the corner of our neighborhood. As much as I have loved my tiny little boy, I would never want to keep him from growing. With all he has already given us, just think what we have to come!

                                                

                                               

Alden loved Ms. Emily. Mom and Dad loved Ms. Emily. We could not have been more blessed with a Preschool teacher. She was loving and fun and kind but let that boy get away with nothing! Amen sister! I recently sat and organized all the artwork and classwork that is bulging from the folded poster board carrier she sent home. I know from being in those shoes all the work and thought and tears and laughter and sweat she put into those little projects. And hours on Pinterest! She took great care of my little man for me and made a lasting impression on him. 

                                          

The other day he said, "I wish Ms. Emily could come over to play. I miss her." 

                                

                                

And now it is our turn to take care of him for a little while. You forget that change is hard on these little people. He knows he is leaving the school he knows and starting at the bottom of the food chain again. Hence, we are very attached to Mommy and Daddy. He just wants to be with us all of the time. When we leave the house without him, especially Mommy, or try to take him to the gym kid area it is pretty traumatic at the moment. Of course, I completely melt when my little guy is crying and asking me to please stay with him. Although I will admit that I wasn't quite as happy to be pulled out of yoga with a giant chalkboard with my name on it and three fitness workers because Alden missed me. 

                                  

Of course part of the fact that I am not terribly teary-eyed and sentimental is because I don't have time to be sentimental. I have the peanut. Y'all, he has become a mess! He is also mad at me for leaving him behind at home, but as an alternative, has decided to terrorize us all.  Alden gives him strict instructions any time he leaves to not touch his Legos, so of course, he tears them apart. Harrison doesn't even wait for anything to happen to him anymore, because sure as the sun rises it will,  but just starts screaming whenever Spencer talks to him. Spencer then starts screaming "Peek-a-Boo" as loud as he can in his face and is flabbergasted that this does not make him stop crying. His favorite phrase, "It was an accident." When it is obvious it wasn't, and he has to go to time out, he runs and says, "I want to say sorry! I want to say sorry!" Tonight, Joey and I are trying to have our relaxing grown-up Mad Men TV time when we hear horrible screaming from upstairs at 9 pm. Joey runs up and reports it was Alden screaming at Spencer to turn off the light and go to bed. Spencer just looked at Joey and said, "I found my train." Joey then informed me that I had quite a mess to deal with in the morning including putting the rug back down. I haven't the courage to go and look yet.

                                          

The best part is that he emphatically denies that he did anything wrong even when caught red handed. "Nope," is usually his response for questions that start with, "Spencer, did you...?" 

                                         

So, what to do with these boys?  After a graduation/last day of school trip to the ice cream store, we made a list of all the things we wanted to do this summer.  We put it on a poster where we can make check marks by each event that fulfills our summer desires and keeps the energy moving. The goal is to see how much we actually accomplish by the August 13th start of school. An empty house is a clean house, so let the summer chronicles begin!

                                          

Activity 1: Go to the farmer's market. This is our very favorite summer activity on Saturday mornings. All the fresh vegetables in the world and we hit...

                                              

The popsicle stand. 

                                              

                              

Somehow, we left the farmer's market with two popsicles, a t-shirt, cookies, and Joey utopia that he found a nothing-but-pork stand.  This is exactly what I would predict when I let the men in my family do the shopping. 

                               

Summer Activity 2: Go to a splash pad. Now, technically this was a trip to the zoo, but I would say that the more we go to the zoo the less animals we actually see.  There is a playground, we stop for food, we ride the train, and now that it is summer, play in the splash pad.  Our Pal, Ben, seemed just as happy with our choices as my three Y chromosomes. I cannot count the number of times I have now been to a zoo and not seen a single animal.  

                                        

                                  

Alden and Spencer's favorite thing to do at the splash pad is to sit on the jets so that no one else gets water.  They love it, and I cannot believe I haven't let them do this more. I can actually just sit there and watch them do something. This might be the only thing all summer I get to do sitting down.
                                                
The only animal Spencer cares a lick about is a giraffe and he adores them. He asked me buy him giraffe clothes and sleeps with a giraffe, Chugga, every night. We had to make a little stop for a feeding to at least have one interaction with a live animal.

A few brother bonding moments at the zoo. As much as they fight, they are buddies just a little bit more.

I do my best to come up with ideas for home entertainment in the summer. I am finding that if I just open the doors and let them go outside, they are generally happy and end up digging holes somewhere or finding a way to use the water hose. Sort of similar to what we do with the dog come to think of it. Our community pool is shut down for the summer, our yard is too small for fancy play sets, so we are making do. Thanks to Ben again, we stole the idea of a giant plastic tub of water and kitchen containers. Give them a water hose and they are good to go for a long time. The problem is that my particular little sensitive boys dislike their clothes to get wet.  When they are wet, they come off. I turn around and everyone is naked running through the front yard and peeing on trees. A neighbor from up the street rolled down her window and told me it brought back memories of raising her boys.  Humm.
                                       
I have finally found one childhood adventure this little girl has in common with her boys. Roly Poly hunting. I used to love looking for roly polys! Alden gets so excited. In the middle of his birthday, he stopped to pick up a roly poly. In the middle of his swim lesson last day "show" of what they had learned, yep, he stopped to pick up a roly poly.  He took a roly poly in a cup to Daddy's work to show his co-workers. As much as he loves roly polys, he is obsessed with keeping us all away from ants. He wants to drown them, step on them, and gave me a heart attack picking up Harrison and dragging him dramatically across the floor because "he had spotted an ant that might get him!"The good news is that I won't be having to house an ant farm any time soon; I did, however, have to babysit a roly poly in a Powerade bottle with a leaf while he went across the street to play.
                                             
We made Harrison an outdoor ball pit.
                                             
                                             
And just because it is summer and everyone knows that ice cream calories don't count in the summer, we decided to introduce our babies to blizzards and dip cones.  It was not a hard sell. Spencer has caught on to my sugar intake monitoring and asks me all the time if things have sugar in them. Sometimes, he tries to convince me that it doesn't. "Cupcakes don't have sugar, Mommy." I am totally thinking Spencer has a promising career as a dietician.
                                            
Of course, we have to factor in our weekly visit to the car wash for popcorn and to shoot the cars with soap. Spencer checks to see if they are open or closed every time we drive by and has repeatedly asked me to take pictures of the car wash for him.  It remains to be his very favorite thing to do.  If a train full of sweets could go through a car wash that would be his version of heaven. Speaking of heaven, he talks to God all the time. The funny thing is that he looks up in the sky and shouts as loud as he can. The thing we sort of have to sort out though is that he also stopped outside Pottery Barn kids to shout to Santa Claus in the sky what he had found that he wanted for Christmas (yes, already). I am not sure it is good that we are talking to Santa Claus and God the same way.  On the good side, he did tell me that he wanted Jesus to live with him in his heart. Even though he thought that meant he had literally given his heart to Christ and didn't have one anymore, I think it was good that he was willing to let him take it.
                                        
So guess what else happened this summer?! Oh, yeah! We are a whole hand old! Alden woke up to go on the daily Dunkin' Donut breakfast run to find this sign and a bunch of dinosaurs in the yard.  Best thing ever to start his special day. Although it was a surprise from his grandfather, he kept giving me credit and telling his father that I was the best Mom in the world! I cannot tell you how tempting it was to just let him believe that.  I like being the best Mom in the world.
                                         
                                         
Dinosaurs and jammies! We told Alden that he could go to the summer poster and pick out anything that he wanted to do for the day. He asked Daddy to take the day off, and Daddy could not tell him no. We were all set to go to the minor league baseball game and eat hot dogs, but there was a sudden change of heart in our plans.
                                        
I guess we still have a few years left to put sports above bouncy houses and slides. We were instructed to have a pancake breakfast and then headed for a thirty minute drive to to bounce our hearts out.
Activity 3: Pump it Up!
                                       
                                       
                                       
Everything is going along fine. I am hearing "Hey Spence!" and "Hey Aldy" all over the place. We are full of maple syrup and love.  And then someone's Dad gets involved. Why oh why do people not think that the 15 foot bouncy slide is enough fun and room full of hot air and plastic is not enough. Nope, you just had to introduce a toy. We simply do not share toys.
                                     
                                     
First of all, it is ALWAYS physical. I am starting to believe I work for the WWF. It is a toss up of whether I am spending more time refereeing and kissing boo-boos or feeding them food to bulk them up. Alden is always at the for-front of the punching match. Spencer, rolls around and whines a little bit and wanders off for a few minutes to wait and stew. Just when Alden is least expecting it, and probably basking in his superiority, he strikes from behind. In Bounceville, Daddy jumped in an distracted him by taking him outside to watch the train tracks. They never returned.
                                     
It didn't take long for the Powerade vending machine and the quarter toys to distract Alden and the possibility of a passing train to make Spencer the fastest escape artist known to man. Attention span negative zero, not even an hour after arrival with one fist fight, a lot of sweat, and Spencer practicing his modeling talents in front of the giant fan, we were off for Alden's second choice of the day.
                                  
Nothing brings us back together like a trip to the Bass Pro Shop.  The last time we were here is when Alden informed us he was marrying Finley Grace and moving to Texas to work at their Bass Pro Shop.  In a turn of events, Finley Grace gave him a kiss on the cheek at her birthday party for the Lalaloopsy Doll and the marriage is now off. He "did not like that." When Alden had told me about his vision of their marriage, he told me they could spend their off time from work hanging out and watching Netflix on their iPhones. Ironically, that is probably more like marriage than giving each other kisses on the cheek for the gifts of our dreams, but if it made him table the marriage for a while, I won't let him in on that little secret.  Needless to say, this trip was all about fish, boats, and the shooting range and a lot less about girls. (I don't count as a girl by the way).

 We then asked Alden if he wanted to leave and go to lunch. Nope, he says that he wants to have his birthday lunch at the Bass Pro Shop. I help him read the menu and he gets so excited.

 A bologna sandwich!  He has never had bologna at my house, and when I hear him order it with mayo, I am pretty sure that this is one of those things introduced by my mother.  Upon confirmation, we also find out that Alden tells us he gets up in the middle of the night and drinks lemonade when he is at her house and no one knows and then provided us with a list of other things they eat there.  I am waiting on the pineapple sandwich from my childhood, and Pops promises that he makes an awesome marshmallow cheese. That is what grandparents are for. Apparently, he loves bologna and this made his day!
                                                  
 We then gave him a list of about ten cupcake, bakery, cookie places he could go for his "birthday cake." He said that the Mayfield Birthday Cake Ice Cream in a giant waffle cone from Bass Pro Shop would be just fine. In other words, he was not leaving the Bass Pro Shop on his birthday.
                                                   
And, why not?  We tested out some boats.
                                       
And were thrilled to try on some hats.
                                      
In the constant expression of power, Spencer made it ten feet without the hat he was angry we made him try on and became angry that we did not let him get it.  He has worn that hat every day for two straight weeks.
                                     
There are, of course, presents on your birthday. Alden now owns just about every transformer rescue bot, a few more legos, and the biggest best most-requested gift ever.
                                       
                                   
A shaving kit!
                                      
Apparently you become a man when you turn five.  He told everyone and their mother that he was going to shave with his Daddy on the night of his birthday. I don't know where this came from, but off to the toy store I go for a toy shaving kit. It was quite a cute experience watching Daddy take it very seriously in teaching him step by step how to use his little plastic razor.
                                    
 It is a pretty good thing it was not real, however, as Alden would have completely shaven off his lips.
                                      
And all of Spencer's hair.
                                      
And then there was the ninja. Uncle Tommy and Aunt Nicole sent this super awesome toy ninga man. I was not thrilled beyond belief when Alden came home all excited about ninjas and wanting to play ninjas from preschool. This stuffed one is perfect! It is the ninja even a mom can love. Alden clearly agrees. But, here is the hilarious thing. He immediately sits on the end of our sidewalk by the street with him side by side. He tells me that the ninja man is protecting our house. The ninja man sits on our step ALL DAY and Alden periodically goes out to check in with him to see if there was any danger. Alden is fascinated by all things to do with police, robbers, and alarm systems so this is working out just fine.
                                              
Activity 5: A visit with the infamous Chuck E. Cheese.  Speaking of birthdays, our pal Britt had a birthday party which made this a most enjoyable experience. I found myself getting a little too into ski ball and trying to collect tickets. At one point, I think that Joey and I were sort of arguing over who got to feed the tickets into the ticket muncher.  I was also either really starving or found out that ole Chuck makes some pretty good pizza.

I have had the privilege of being visited by several super heros this summer. One day, two neighbors we have never met show up in my yard asking me if I am the owner of the two giant labs.  I am not, but am now roped into helping them find the owners by using the mini van as a giant dog transport, finding leashes, and calling the vet from the dog tags. All of a sudden, out dashes this super hero. Arms are stretched and he flies around the yard. He stops only to tell us two things. One, that he is there to rescue the dogs. Two, that he will have his action figures available by the end of the week. The daughter was completely charmed and offered to babysit. Super Alden told everyone that he saw that he found the dogs owners. Those poor women walked three miles in 90 degree heat to return the dogs. They probably would have appreciated if he had applied a few more super powers.

The twins. Harrison is everyone's favorite toy and kettle bell.  All they want to do is mess with him and try to pick him up. It is the saddest thing in the world. One minute they are giving kisses and bringing him ice for his boo-boo's and warning me of choke hazards and the next he is being pushed and dragged across the floor or "carried" various places. I am usually screaming "No" in that long drawn-out movie slow motion (N-o-o-o-o-) as my feet try to carry me fast enough to his rescue. The poor thing has already suffered a busted upper lip from a bit of rough play, and it never heals because he is a little dare devil that just keeps re-injuiring it. And for some reason, they absolutely love to poke him in the face. Spencer is the police of all things Harrison. "No, Harry," is just about all that comes out of his mouth. He will say, "He is eating it! No, Harry, the train is not lunch!" Spencer is crying hysterically when these statements are made because I cannot convince him that he is chewing on the toy and not literally ingesting it and taking it away forever. I wish is was because he cared for his brother, but it is really because he is pissed off he is playing with his toys.
                                                
Speaking of that precious little angel, he is growing like a little weed. He is long and lean and never stops moving. He "talks" all the time, but his actual words are Mama, Dada, Bye-Bye, Hey, and Uh-Oh.  He loves to play with balls and drinking straws, doesn't care for anything that resembles a stuffed animal, is fascinated by Lucy, and puts everything in his mouth. Every night he stands in his bathtub and hangs over the side of the big tub so he can watch his brothers. He is super tired of baby food and wants to feed himself and he is not afraid of exploring on his own. That being said, he is a Mama's boy and those little arms are always reaching out in my direction as a first choice.  Love. He can spot an electrical outlet a mile away and has still not slept one whole night. He is standing up all on his own, claps up a storm anytime anyone says, "Yea!"  He is a champ at the baby wave.

He loves to drive the car (note swollen upper lip here)

And driving the grocery store car cart (note a car theme here).
                                          
Harrison is a cross between a feisty and joyful little lovebug. He is happy. He is always happy. And that is contagious.
                                     

 Little man prefers to have a bed buddy and has ended up in my bed or being held on more occasions that I will ever admit..

 But clearly, he is not the only one. One night, I woke up from a daze and it took me several seconds to figure out which boy was in my bed. On another occasion, I thought one was in bed with me and it turned out to be the other one when I woke up the next morning. At some point, they switched out. I have gotten so used to it that I am actually kind of disappointed when no one shows up about 3:00 am for a cuddle. I am smart enough to know that this will not last forever, and I am also just plain too tired to deal with getting up to put them back where they belong.

 We are just getting started on summer. Mommy is tired. We have been kicked out of one store where the owner told me to go home and drink.  But, ah, even though some times I want them to, these not-so-lazy summer days are flying by fast....and I have a five year old.  Kindergartner. When did that happen?