The OllieBlog

Nanny Nanny Boo Boo

2011-04-24T16:25:00.000-07:00

So, Oliver has picked up the sing song-y "Nanny Nanny Boo Boo" thing...from school, I'm sure...but he doesn't use it right, so it's totally awesome! We get "Nanny Nanny Boo Boo, I found your phoooonne" or my favorite thus far "Nanny Nanny Boo Boo, I meeda go poo poo".
Three. Is. Greatness.

Growing Like a Weed...or Tomato Plant.

2011-04-16T06:06:00.000-07:00

Oliver just had a birthday. He's three. If you ask him how old he is he'll tell you, in good '0l April Fool's Day style, that he's four. We didn't prompt him to do that, he really thinks he's four. We're working on it.

We wrestled with what to do for his birthday. Do we find some great place, like Jump Zone or Boingo Bounce, to invite all his little preschool friends or do we have them all over or go to a park.....basically, do we make our afternoon miserable paying for a headache that would be fun for the kids, but won't be remembered by anyone who will think of it fondly. It would probably be one of those "What on Earth were we thinking?!" memories.

When Ben turned three, we took him to the Tulsa Zoo. We decided, with little hesitation, to make that a three year old birthday tradition. Granted, the tradition started with Ben and stops with Oliver, but it's a tradition none the less.

We were immediately greeted by our guide, Sir Ladybug. This kind critter accompanied us all the way to the gate.

The zoo charges admission, of course. Nothing drastic, very reasonable. But let me just tell you how the zoo feeds the animals and pays the bills.

Sunscreen.

As soon as we stepped out of the car, I realized that we left our sunscreen at home. I HAD to get some for "the fairest of them all". Fine, first stop: gift shop.

For a no name, piece of crap can of spray sunscreen...$13.99. Shall I put that in perspective? After tax, I paid more than half of the admission price for a shady (pun kind of intened) can of sunscreen. I'm over it, won't make that mistake again.

On to the fun.

Ollie was crazy cool in his Wayfarers....thank you VERY MUCH Dr. Mertins!

Angry Birds. Ha!

ALL DAY LONG, Oliver asked to ride the train. I think he wouldn't have cared at all if we didn't even see one animal as long as we rode the train. It was a little loud in the tunnel,but Oliver LOVED it!

It was perfectly perfect outside and a really great time was had by all....

....especially the birthday boy.

The Esty boys aren't the only things growing around our house. Yes, we have planted our garden! Wahooo!!

Ben and Oliver were great help.

They planted.

Oliver did some victory laps.

They watered everything in.

And then Wade watered them in.

Can't wait to watch our garden grow!!!

Kids like Roller Skating!

2010-09-12T12:56:00.000-07:00

When we were trying to figure out what kind of birthday party Ben wanted, he commented about how it seems like it's been the longest year ever. I remember that feeling, you probably do, too. How time seemed to crawl in between Christmas and birthdays.

I'm gonna go on and say that we made the wait worth it.

Ben had a skating party!!

I haven't been skating since the mid 80's at Thunderbird Roller Rink in Plano...seriously.

I gottat tell ya, it smelled the same, it looked the same, there was a snack bar and a disco ball....I don't remember it being so loud, though. Hmmmm.

Anyway, it was great!

Ben and his buds seemed to have a pretty good time, too. There were many spills, but only on the skating floor. There were presents, candy, wicked cool cupcakes. We had it all.

Below is my favorite picture. It might not look like anything special, but I can't tell you how many times I have seen this exact scene. I've known these guys since they were Kindergarteners and have seen them gather just like this for years. Good stuff!

Oliver even got to try skating. They had skates for the wee ones that fit over their little shoes. We knew that it was going to either be super awesome or an epic fail. HE LOVED IT!!!!

That's enough pics for him! Let's GO!

I'm not sure that I have ever seen Oliver have that much fun. Really. We were going around the rink, I was holding his little hand, and he said, "I so happy." Melted my soul...in a good way.

Oliver asked morning and evening for the following 3-4 days, if we could go skating. That is not an exaggeration. Bless him, he asked every way his big 'ol 2 1/2 yr old brain could come up with, too.

"You wan go skating?"
"We go skating?"
"I like skating. You like skating?"
"We GO skating?"
"We go SKATING?"
"WE GO SKATING!"

This party was big fun for everyone. Ben and his friends skated. The parents of Ben and his friends skated. The people at the roller rink took care of all the details so that all you had to worry about was making it around the skate floor and back to the table for some cupcakes without falling. Not bad.

Top Of The Food Chain

2010-08-29T09:19:00.000-07:00

I guess when you hit "The Big Time", a.k.a. 4th grade, it's just no big deal. No sweat. Same 'ol same 'ol.

You get up, put on your shorts and t-shirt, grab your perfectly worn in backpack ("NO WAY" was the response I got when I asked if it was time for a new backpack) and walk through the doors of the school like you own the place.

Gone are the days of ripping the tag off the brand new crinkly backpack the night before school. Gone are the days of checking your bag of school supplies 3 and 4 times just to daydream about what kind of things you will be doing with them. And what happened to the anxiety over that first morning in the classroom with your brand new teacher?

Maybe he just felt a calm cool about where he stands in the ranks of the elementary school.

See, this year, the 4th graders are in the 5th grade pod. The 4th graders are the ones with the lockers. This year, the 4th graders like Ben are the top of the elementary food chain.

Ben goes to a school that has both an elementary and a middle school. His school is part of a pilot program that has moved the 5th graders to the middle school side.

What this all means for Ben is that now his is elementary royalty...with a locker!!

He's already playing it pretty cool. When I asked him: how his first day was, does he like his teacher, is it awesome to be in the 5th grade pod and have a locker, the response I got to ALL questions was something like, "meh".

I suddently had to fight back my visual of Ben walking down the hall with his leather jacketed T-Birds in tow, combing back his slick hair to keep his duck tail in check.

He shouldn't play it too cool at home, though, because I have this on him...

Tell ya what...I feel bad for the poor 4th graders last year who have waited since Kindergarten to be a big 'ol 5th grader and are now sitting at the bottom of the middle school totem pole just waiting to be scalped. ouch

Wish You Were Here!

2010-07-15T14:22:00.001-07:00

Welcome to Belize! White sands, crystal blue water, schools of fish tickling your legs as they scoot by. The beautiful coral, the cocktails on the beach. The sunsets, oh the sunsets...amazing.

Ok, we're not in Belize, we're at.....

....the Prairie Grove Aquatic Park. Whah whah whaaaaaaah.

It doesn't sound as good as Belize...but it IS fun.

They have corndogs!

And water slides!! I'm not talking about those sad slides we had when I was growing up, either. You remember, they had about 7 steps on the ladder and spit a tiny stream of water on half the slide so that you would burn off one thigh and buttock on your way down, and then bang your heel on the side of the pool once you hit the water b/c it was so close to the side of the pool.

No, these slides are the real deal and Ben LOVED them! (I enjoyed them, too.)

So, we didn't escape to some tropical getaway, but we did escape the house and beat the heat. That's close to the same thing, right?

And the bike was happy.....

2010-07-11T09:55:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time there was a little boy that got a GREAT bike for his 6th birthday. [Seriously, folks, this was no Walmart special]

The little boy loved his bike and admired his bike...from a safe distance.

And the bike was happy.

A year passed and the bike, feeling sad and taking up needed space in the garage, moved to the attic where he could watch the boy from above. He loved the boy, so he would wait.

And the bike was happy.

Two more years passed. The bike had a nice life in the attic. There was extreme heat and extreme cold...but he was an "extreme" kind of vehicle. He had watched the boy grow and was now watching another little boy that reminded him very much of his blonde owner.

And the bike was happy.

A month and a half away from the boy's 9th birthday, the boys parents cleaned out the attic. The boy, being reminded that the bike was in the attic, wanted the bike to come down.

And that made the bike happy.

The bike was cleaned and shined and had its inhibiting training wheels removed. The bike heard the little boy say that he wanted to learn to ride the bike.

And the bike was happy!

The boy, the bike and the boy's daddy went to a nearby parking lot to learn to ride the bike. Tensions were high.

Team Ben was ready to support the boy and his bike. See, check out his shirt.

Balance was tested, but the bike was very gentle with the boy.

And the bike was happy.

Team Ben cheered for the boy and the bike. There was a sense of community. The crowd ran with them!

And the bike was happy.

And as the bike supported its rider and the rider trusted its bike, there was....

SUCCESS!

And the bike and the boy were so happy.

And they lived happily ever after.

E.T., "POW" and the Blueberry Bandit

2010-07-06T16:39:00.000-07:00

So far this summer, we have been pretty busy. In fact, I was shocked when I counted how many weeks were left of summer and realized that four weeks have gone by. Man!

E.T.

The first week, we went to East Texas (E.T.). Let me back up just a smidge.......

I was the fifth to last person on the planet to join Facebook. When I did finally join (at the prodding by my dear Missy), I found my 5th grade teacher, the fabulous Cindy Best! I contacted her to say "hello" and tell her who I was, sure that she wouldn't remember me......I wasn't *ahem* "memorable" until my high school years.....but she DID remember me. She even had an Annie Oakley postcard that I sent her from our summer vaca to the Grand Canyon. AND, she came to see us last October. See, fabulous!

So, the first weekend of Ben's summer vacation, we went to East Texas to spend the weekend with her. It was the 3rd time that I've seen her and her sweet hubby, Shane, since we reconnected.

We did the normal things that you would expect to do with your former teacher.

We climbed in their treehouse.

Went to an AMAZING park.

Played Rock Band, Beatles.

And Just Dance.

She even made me chocolate covered bacon.

Look, people, her name isn't "Best" for nothing.

It was a LOT of fun and I'm looking forward to the next visit. Planning will commence soon.

Then we went to Henderson to see Wade's grandmother and my grandmother.

This is Wade's Mammaw.

And Wade's Aunt Diane. Toward the end of the trip, Oliver was DONE with pictures.

Nope, there's no picture of my grandmother. Please, you didn't think Dixie was willing to pose for a picture?! Something about "permanents". I don't know. But it was soooooooo good to see her!!!

It's so crazy because my grandmother has lived her whole life in Henderson. When I was a kid and went to see my grandparents, I went to Henderson. I had no idea who Wade was way out there in West Texas...where all his family was. But about a year ago, Wade's grandmother moved from West Texas to Henderson. CRAZY! Of all places!

"POW"

I have no amazing news to share about the 4th of July, other than everytime Oliver heard a firecracker or pop or dog park he said: *gasp* "POW".

There's almost no point in taking pictures on the 4th because a lot of them are aimed blindly in the dark and turn out like this:

We had some kiddie fun in the kiddie pool. Here's our cabana boy/pool maintenance man.

The rest of the pics are of the after-dark crowd and will be found on the non-kid blog.

The Blueberry Bandit

I do have photos of our 5th of July adventures. We went blueberry picking! It was pretty cool...and hot.

Most of my pictures of Oliver are him with his hand to his mouth. He would pick one, show it to me and say, "I eat?" or he would pick one for the bucket, put it in there, and then take one out and eat it.

Eating....

Eating....

Oh, hey, he's picking one....

Oh, he ate it....

We were all in on the pickin' (and snacking)...

What surprised me is that Ben really liked the blueberries. He's not a huge fan of the ones that I get at the store. I guess that's a testiment to how good the fresh stuff is. He would find a big fat juicy one on the plant, pluck it and eat it. He ate a ton of them that evening, too.

They gave us a gallon bucket and we filled it to the top. It doesn't look like as many as it is when it's in the bucket. When you put them in a plastic bag to take them home, it looks like a trillion blueberries.

I have made blueberry jam and blueberry muffins so far. I think I'm going to try to make a blueberry poppyseed salad dressing and who knows what else.

Very soon, we will look like Violet Beauregarde!

Wanna know how our three day weekend ended?

A little homeade icecream....

...and this.....

No lie.

Warms the Heart

2010-06-30T15:41:00.000-07:00

Ben went into his room and shut the door, so Oliver went into his room and shut the door.

Then this.....

Muffled, through one door: "Bennnnnn, I love you Bennnnn."

Muffled, but ever so clear through the other door: "I love you, too, Oliver."

Sweeter than candy.

Riddle Me This

2010-06-22T15:47:00.001-07:00

Let me give you the "need to know" background information, first.

Thing one: Ben is taking a week long mosaics art class in the mornings this week.

Thing two: I'm trying to keep frogs away from the pool.

Ok, here are the two conversations Ben and I had this morning during the same 10 minute car ride.

Conversation #1:

Me: Did you start the mosaic or are you still planning it?
Ben: Uh, I don't remember.
Me: But it was, like, 10 minutes ago.

Silence for about 3 minutes, and then......

Conversation #2:

Me: Hey, do you remember where that big rubber snake is?
Ben: The one I got from the Tulsa zoo the first time we went?
Me: Ben! That was six years ago!!

We've been here, where have you been?

2010-06-15T09:02:00.000-07:00

What do you even say after being absent from the blogosphere for 9 months? Sorry?

Look, it's not my fault. It's these kids, these CRAZY Esty kids! They kick me, scream at me, take my car for joy rides. What? I'm not making this up. If I take one step away from the carton of goldfish crackers, they put me in timeout. If I don't serve juice on demand, Ben does his best Karate Kid (original, if you please) crane kick stance and it scares me back in the kitchen. So, I do what they say. Can you blame me? Now how am I supposed to update a blog whilst (like that?) dealing with that?!

Ok, MAYBE I'm stretching the truth JUST a little here. Maybe it's not so much their fault that I haven't been posting on the blog.

Ya know, you ought to be ashamed of yourself, really, for buying into that lie I was trying to feed you about how bad my kids are...sheesh.

Let me do my best to catch you up.........

Oliver looked like this last fall.....

He was finally getting some hair, which was good because we thought it would never grow!! Super cute little chubby bubby.

Almost a year later, he looks like this....

And sometimes, this....

Oliver started preschool last September. He absolutely LOVES it! He was about to be too old to stay with his previous sitter, Ms. Jan....I was heartbroken. Ms. Jan is the BEST. The preschool we wanted him to go to had a waiting list...much like the iPad waiting list except completely different. Anyway, the next person on the list didn't want the spot and BAM, we were in. It all came together. And look who his teacher is!!

Just kidding.

You always worry that you are going to have the kid that doesn't sleep at nap time (he was that one at Ms. Jan's) and doesn't want to play with the other kids (he was that one at Ms. Jan's) or bites and throws poo...wait, that's monkeys...anyway, he jumped right in to their routine. He has taken his naps from day one. He even fell asleep in his spaghetti one day at lunch. Hmmm, maybe there's something in the lunch.

Oliver is also talking A LOT and you can understand him most of the time. He can count to ten, sorta. He can say his ABC's, kinda. He calls them the ABCDEFG's. He can also sing the Itsy Bitsy Spider, almost. What I'm saying is that he can sorta do a lot of stuff and he's kind of a genius!!

My Ben.

Man, this kid is smart. A little too smart, but in a good way.....I think.

He ended his 3rd grade year with a bang and got on the Principal's Honor Roll. Not his first appearance in that club, either. He did great on his Benchmarks and did really well in his GT class, too! More importantly, he has successfully beaten Super Mario Bros, Super Mario Galaxy, Mario Kart, Legos Batman (Wii) and is on world 10 in Scribblenauts. A lot of blood, sweat and tears has gone into that stuff. It doesn't just happen, ya know!!

Ben is also a green belt. HIYA!

Sorry, the pic is from a couple of belts ago. Yep, he's been taking taekwondo since last September and he's pretty good. Of course I'm going to say that, I don't want to get throat chopped!

He really is good, though. He can "paint the fence" and "wax on, wax off". I kid, I kid. I couldn't resist one more Karate Kid (origianl, please) reference, grasshoppah. Ooooh, I'm good. I even slipped the old Kung Fu in there.

He has a belt testing later on this week, so I'll keep ya posted on how he does.

Ben and Ollie are pretty crazy about each other most of the time...MOST of the time.

Usually, it's Oliver doing whatever Ben is doing. If Ben runs screaming through the backyard, so does Oliver.

If Ben is rolling down the hill....

Oliver is too...

If Ben kicks his shoes off and gets on his bed, Oliver kicks his shoes off and is right behind him.

Oliver will drive Ben a little batty from time to time, but Ben can do the same to him. There have been many times when I hear Ben yell, "no, OLIVER!" and just as many that I have heard a little voice very seriously saying, "no. ben. stop."

Most of the time, though, they are really pretty sweet to each other.

Ben is usually with me when we drop Oliver off at preschool and Oliver turns back to Ben and waves and says, "Bye, Ben, see you later". Ben always asks for a hug from Oliver before Oliver goes to bed. They do different things, but they are both very aware that the other is there...or not there. It's really cool to watch. They are total opposites that are exactly the same. That's the best way I know to put it.

Alright, look. Now that I have you all smiling and saying "awwwwww" at my cute kids, maybe you've THOUGHT about forgiving me for my absence from the blogosphere? I'm not promising daily, weekly or monthly, but I will do this blog. For us and for you. This world needs a little more cute, and I intend to provide it.

There is one other little thing I've done to make sure that I'm keeping our public updated on the daily doings of my guys. My guys now have their own [tada] Twitter page. Before you roll your eyes, hear me out.

Look in the right hand column of this page. You will see a section that says "Twitter Updates". When I update their Twitter account (which is @crazyestykids, btw), it automatically feeds to the blog. So, maybe one day you're checking to see if there is an updated blog post and you see that there isn't [insert joke here], so you look at the Twitter feed instead to see what we've been up to. Then you check back later...please check back later.

There's also an option to click under the Twitter posting to follow them on Twitter. This not only links them to your own Twitter page, it officially kicks off the campaign to see if I can get 'ol Sharon to tweet. I'm not holding my breath on the ladder.

Thanks for coming back. We'll be here.

School House ROCK!!!

2009-08-30T08:10:00.000-07:00

Well, the first day of school has come and gone.

Ben was very excited. I could hardly get this picture before he was running away to wait for the bus....

It it was MUCH easier to get him to pose for a picture at the end of the day after he got off the bus...

There's not much to tell about his first day b/c I still don't know much about it. He didn't really tell me much.

Ben is just like me.

I get it.

I mean, where do you begin answering the question, "what did you do today?"

Seriously? I just did 8 hours worth of stuff and there was something new every 15 minutes. Too much. Too much.

His first day and week, as far as I know, were uneventful.

I'm glad, really.

It's stressful on a little person to start a new school year. New teacher, new people to get to know, new schedules. So, I'm very happy that he didn't come home with a look of terror on his face and that he wanted to go back the next day.

I'm glad that he likes his teacher and being a third grader.

I'm glad that there was no drama.

I'm looking forward to hearing about what he's doing this year.....or not.

We'll see how much he tells me.

I will be finding out soon about the pilot program that his class is participating in this year, though. There's a lot more science involved.....that's right up his alley.

I'll keep ya posted.

I will, however, tell you everything you want to know about the little adventure that Erin, Laura and I had in Tulsa. What was this adventure, you ask?

Why, it was a DEF LEPPARD, POISON AND CHEAP TRICK concert!!!

Yep, that's right. It was time to re-acid the acid wash and de-gunk the spray nozzle on the aqua net bottle.

We had some 80's moments to re-live.

I was so excited about this concert. It's been a long time since these bands were at the front of my cassette tape collection.

We loaded up Erin's Jetta, wished it was a t-top Camaro, and set the GPS for the BOK Center.

Now, by the time we realized that these guys were going to be in Tulsa, tickets had already been on sale for two months, so we knew going in that we were going to be in the nosebleed section. We had no idea that we would literally be four rows down from the spot light guys and eye level with the flag hanging from the ceiling.

No matter. Takes much more than that to keep these rocker chicks from having a great time!

First up, CHEAP TRICK!!!

Check out how long his shoes are!!

Finally, a place where it's acceptable to do "rock fingers"!

Next was POISON!

(see how far away we are?!)

It's all good, I've got zoom!!!

I see you and your hair, C.C.

Laura with her lighter.

And then, it was REALLY showtime!

Ladies and gentlemen (really didn't see many of those, btw), put your hands together for DEF LEPPARD!!!!!

Now all this is fine, but I know what you really want to know.....

You want to know what kind of people were there, don't you? I was curious about that, too.

There were a lot of people just like us, excited to re-live some of the glory days. Some of them even had their kids with them...not my choice, but ok.

There were MANY people who had been living those glory days for a looooong time. Maybe time to let go?

And then, there was this guy.

This cat was having a GOOD TIME.

He was more than happy to pose with his coozy when I pointed my camera at him and said, "hey"!

We also had a couple of really nice guys behind us that came down from Wichita, KS. They were fun. I think that were probably my age when these bands were at their peak.

I believe I sent a picture of these two to my Facebook page from my phone.

Not important.

Nice guys.

Let me sum up this evening for you:

IT WAS AWESOME!!!!

I'm not going to lie, I was extremely excited about these shows. I LOVED all these bands....still love 'em!! But I expected it to be more funny than what it actually turned out to be.

I mean, think about it: these guys are, what, 20 years past their prime?

But listen, it rocked. It was a blast! Each of these bands put on a killer show and I LOVED IT!!

They sound just as good now as they did back then, maybe better.

We had a KILLER time. It was WICKED (and all that other stuff we used to say).

My hair is a lot less, well, permed now and I don't have bangs that stand 6 inches off my forehead like I did when I listened to all these guys the first go 'round. My acid wash jean skirt....excuse me, PLEATED acid wash jean skirt is no longer a staple of my wardrobe (although acid wash is DEFINITELY out there. If you don't believe me, go to a Def Leppard concert).

I have moved on, but it sure was fun to visit.

This guy......

...not so much.

For now, for me, the 80's have left the building.

Jump, Jump

2009-08-18T17:14:00.000-07:00

Q: What completely wears your kids out, costs $7 and insists that you run around in socks?

A: A little slice of Heaven called...

Jump Zone!

I'm behind on this discovery, so I have to thank Elyse and her tiny tot, Jackson, for the invitation. For those of you not familiar, although I think I'm the only one, this is Mecca for the bounce house. Nothing but HUGE, floor to very high ceiling bounce houses.

Ben's eyes just about bugged out of his head when he first got a glimpse of this bouncy playground and he could hardly stand the 90 seconds it took to pay to get in. But once we were in, I gave the thumbs up and he was off, leaving a smoke trail behind him.......

They were massive! There was a giant Tonka truck and a Batman (I think this one had an obstacle course inside), a Spongebob house, a roller coaster and a giant gumball machine.

The biggest was a really tall pirate ship:

You can't really tell by my pictures, but this was probably 25 feet tall. This one was a little intimidating to Ben at first, but he did it. Then he did it again and again and again and again. In fact, that's where I found him when it was time to go.

He was so SWEATY!!

Oliver and I hung out in the little toddler area.

There was a smaller toddler bouncy area that we crawled into, but he didn't like it very much. It was like being on a trampoline in that there was never a solid step under your feet. Nope, he didn't care for that much at all.

Oliver just ended up playing with the little baby games on the wall and riding the little rocking horses.

There was a little competition at the wall, but nothing ever got out of hand.

"Dude, you don't want any of this. I easily have 14 ounces on you."

Yes, this is a great place to take your kids. It's safe, it's cheap, it's clean, it's fun...four things that go together rather nicely!

tomato, tomahto

2009-08-13T07:53:00.001-07:00

I looked out the window into the backyard yesterday afternoon and Wade and Oliver were picking tomatoes, so I blew the dust off the camera and started snappin......

Oh, and Oliver had just gotten up from a nap, so that's why he's in his diaper. I don't want you walking around thinking that I dress him in a diaper, t-shirt and crocs.

The funny thing is that not one of them likes tomatoes.

R.I.P. P.Y.T.

2009-06-26T07:37:00.000-07:00

My friend Laura called me yesterday and said, "Did the 80's just die today?"

I sighed and said, "I guess so, Farrah's gone."

Laura said, "and Michael Jackson."

WHAT?!!!

As much as I Twitter and Facebook, I had completely missed this newsflash. They don't typically break in on Yo Gabba Gabba to report breaking news. Note to Wade: THIS is why I'm on the computer so much.

TMZ was reporting he was dead, but please, they'll report any rumor on the hope it's true so they can be the "first" to break it.

I got on CNN.com, NYTimes.com, EOnline.com, People.com....most were only confirming cardiac arrest and/or coma.

Then, it was true. My pop icon was gone. A huge piece of my history....gone.

You know, I didn't get it when Elvis died. I remember that I was sitting on Amy Teufel's bed when I found out and I understood that he was HUGE and there was shock. But I didn't get it. To this day when I think of Elvis I think of a fat, sweaty guy w/lamb chop sideburns that wore elaborate jumpsuits (JUMPSUITS) in Vegas and lived at Graceland. We even visited Graceland when I was young. It was closed for renovation (bummer), but we toured the property. I still didn't get it. I remember thinking "why on Earth would you want a swimming pool that was that shallow?"

I understand that when Elvis first arrived on the scene he was this new controversial pelvis shaker (c'mon, I saw Forrest Gump) and that he made his mark on rock n roll, but I will never truly get it, because I wasn't there. I didn't experience the buzz of Elvis. I didn't experience him only being shown from the waist up on T.V. and how even THAT outraged people.

They were talking about this on the radio this morning: if you are in your early 20's or younger, Michael Jackson was probably to you like Elvis was to me. A weirdo. A freak. Some musician that got a lot of (well deserved) bad press. To you, Michael was just this plastic-surgeried, baby dangling, alleged child molesting, mask wearing weirdo who named his kid blanket. Jacko the Wacko. I get it. He became all those things to me, too! And you probably realize that a huge pop star is gone.

But let me tell you something, if you didn't grow up listening to Thriller on vinyl or cassette tape in the height of the hype, I'm sad to say, like me with Elvis, you will probably never really get it. Jacko the Wacko is just not how I will remember him.

I have so many memories tied to Michael Jackson.

I remember Tracy Haas and I went to Willow Bend Country Club in Plano to be a part of one of the worldwide recordings of We Are The World. I felt really close to Michael that day.

Julie Hairston Livingston and I watched the premier of Thriller on the floor in her living room. NOTHING could have pulled our attention away from that T.V. unless MJ himself walked in. Then we watched the making of the video immediately following thinking how cute Michael was in his Mickey Mouse sweatshirt and feeling so sorry for him when he was telling about how those yellow contacts he wore for the video stung his eyes. Poor baby.

Not long after that, I became really close friends with a girl that liked MJ as much as I did. We'd known each other since kindergarten, but it was Michael Jackson that sealed the bond between me and my lifelong friend Amy Fry Gorman. I will never forget her telling me that her Alabama gradma couldn't stand that she had him on her wall.

Years later, my amazingly talented dance friend, Katy McDermott Eggleton took a dance class from a well known dancer who had been one of the zombies in the Thriller video. WICKED COOL!

I remember when his hair caught on fire shooting that commercial....was it Pepsi?....and I remember how silly my dad thought I was being about it, but I was SO worried.

I remember the jackets with all the zippers and the sequined glove.

I remember how badly I wanted some of those sunglasses that he wore. Remember? They were aviator style and they folded in half. When I finally got some, I thought I was the BOMB!

Michael Jackson's death deserved the breaking news and show interruptions it got, but let's be honest, this news story will have a fly's life. Next week, it won't be dominating headlines anymore (which is good, there's really only so much you can say). But, as cliche as it is to say, his legacy will live on. He was definitely weird and I didn't get why he did most of what he did, but he was a musical genius and a true entertainer and he paved the way for so many.

And now, I moonwalk.

R.I.P. P.Y.T.

Monkey

2009-06-19T17:22:00.000-07:00

For dinner tonight I made Oliver some beef ravioli and some sweet potatoes and corn. Here's what he ate:

11 cherries

1 banana

300 nilla wafers

approx 6 bites of sweet potatoes and corn and

1 ravioli

Hot Summer Days and Home Runs

2009-05-31T12:41:00.000-07:00

I'm not usually a summer person. I like the mild seasons like Fall and Spring. I have to admit, though, that I have welcomed the last few days of sunshine and temperatures in the upper 80's.

This past Sunday we filled up the baby pool and slathered on sunscreen for some outdoor fun.

Around 6:30 that night, Ben asked if he could get back in the pool. Usually at 6:30pm on on school night, we are headed full speed without brakes into our evening. Dinner, bath for Tiny, shower for Ben, bottle for Tiny, bed for Tiny by 7:00 or 7:30, bed for Ben by 8:00 or 8:30. BUT, this is the last week of school for Ben and I KNOW they aren't doing a darn thing. On Monday and Tuesday of this week at school, Ben has watched Shark Tale, Dumbo and Little House on the Prairie, he's had a popcorn party and ice cream party. When asked what else they did at school, he tells me they had "free time". hmmm

So I told Ben he could get back in the pool. Oliver, who was bathed and dressed for bed (yes, he can still wear his Christmas jammies) was not at ALL happy about this.

Monday night, Rodney (one of Wade's parts reps) gave us tickets to the Naturals baseball game.

These games are so much fun! If you haven't been to one, you MUST go. It's a great ballpark and there's lots of entertainment!

We were going to be in the stands this time, so Oliver stayed at home with Auntie Erin.

Ben spotted the misters first thing.

Rodney is just a super guy. So nice!

When we got there, Rodney handed Wade thirty ball park bucks.

Those pay for anything and everything at the ballpark.

SWEET!

Our menu that evening was hot dogs, cotton candy, regular candy, nachos (w/jalapenos of course), ice cream, Dr. Pepper and ice cold beer.

Well, Rodney just kept handing Wade ball park bucks. We'd spend some and then, BLAM, they would be replaced.

By the 9th inning, we had $50 in unspent ball park bucks. Ben wanted some more cotton candy and I said "YOU'RE OUTTA THERE"! That was my baseball equivalent to "no, b/c I don't want you to vomit in the car".

The bucks are only good for that game so.....Ben and I hit the gift shop.

In the gift shop they sell all things Naturals, including baseball bats that the players have used in previous games. Well, Ben thought that was the coolest thing EVER, so he picked out a bat and a baseball cap and we used our ball park bucks to pay for them. Pretty slick!

Yep, this is the kind of summer that I can handle!

Bedside Chats with Ben: Monday - Memorial Day

2009-05-25T19:06:00.000-07:00

Ben said:

"Have you ever tried to whistle with raisins in our mouth? It's really hard and, most of the time, they just go shooting out...patooey."

This concludes Bedside Chats with Ben.

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii......and walking.

2009-05-05T14:37:00.000-07:00

Ben has been saving all his pennies for a Wii. We told him that if he would save enough to pay for his share that we would match him. I thought it would take forever b/c he says this about six times a day:

"Please, I'll use my own money."

This is why he didn't start out with much money in his "piggy bank".

We give him a small allowance every week and he can always make extra money for doing some things around the house, being "green" and keeping his fab grades.

There were MANY times that he asked for something and was told it would have to come out of his own money. Most of the time he would pass. Sometimes it was a pretty tough decision, too, but 9 times out of 10 he would not pull money from his bank. Then there would be times that he would really want something that we felt he really deserved and we would give him the choice of having that thing or having the money for that thing to add to the fund. Sometimes he would choose to add the money to the fund, but sometimes (and I think this is so cool about Ben) he would choose the thing. I think that's awesome b/c he recognizes that sometimes you just have to reward yourself.

Love this kid.

We got the Wii. Here's Ben boxing. I get tired just watching.

And here's Ben showing Grandmother how to bowl.

And she takes her shot...

How much do you love to see that? A Wii playing Grandmother!!!!!!!

Wade and I have some serious Wii competitions, too...it gets ugly.

Oliver is walking. Everywhere. It just happened over the course of a week. One Monday, he was 90% crawling and 10% walking/holding on to furniture and then by the end of the week he was 10/90. It's so funny to see him wobble around up on two feet. Here's a video of his wandering.

I should also tell you that this video, along with all other future videos, will have Wii sounds in the background. You will be listening to Super Mario Galaxy in this video....and Ben singing along.

I'm already working on the next blog.....see you soon!

Sneak Attack!

2009-05-02T14:17:00.000-07:00

It's no secret that Ben is a HAM! Maybe "ham" is a poor choice of words these days with Snoutbreak '09 being the top media story.

But he's a funny kid, anyway.

I'll let the pictures make my point.

SNEAK ATTACK!!

And, no, I'm not trying to take credit for "Snoutbreak '09". Jon Stewart said it.

But I did come up with Baconfluenza.

Others I like are Aporkalypse Now and Hamthrax.

But Baconfluenza is mine. I said it!

Bedside Chats with Ben: Tuesday - April 28th

2009-04-28T20:37:00.000-07:00

Ben

Is it wrong to stand on top of a building with a water balloon and throw it down in front of somebody walking by?

Well, it wouldn't be very nice.

(big pause)

Ben

But is it wrong?

He got me.

I'm gonna get you, sucker!

2009-04-28T05:45:00.000-07:00

Wade works with a girl named Lilia who decided that Oliver needed a Tootsie Pop.

He loved it!

The reason that you don't see the sucker anymore is because it is stuck to the back of his head.

Eventually, he just flung the lollipop across the kitchen, it smashed to bits and that was that.

He was sticky from head to toe....literally. He likes to grab his toes from across his high chair tray, so his toes were sticky, too. His hair felt like straw it had so much sugar in it.

I could have thrown Oliver in the air and he would have stuck to the ceiling.

Sticky mess, but big fun!

Thanks, Lilia!

Bugs and Bunnies

2009-04-21T06:03:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a nice Easter!

We did....sort of.

We had planned to go to Little Rock for Easter and weren't sure if we were going down on Friday or Saturday. It just depended on Wade's work schedule. Well, we made a last minute call to go on Saturday morning.....THANK GOODNESS!

Please enjoy our Easter timeline:

Friday 6:50 pm Since we decided to wait until Saturday morning to go to Little Rock, I went with a couple of friends to see Slumdog Millionaire. This is not at all important, I just want to mention it b/c if you haven't seen it, YOU MUST!

Friday 9:30 pm I'm sick. I mean yucky thought-I-had-food-poisoning sick. I saw every hour between 9:30pm and 4:00am . I'm so glad we waited to leave for Little Rock!

Saturday 1:00 am Ben is trashcan-by-the-bed sick. Seriously, soooooo glad that we waited to go to Little Rock.

Ben and I had the exact same thing for dinner, by the way.

And no, it wasn't my cooking....it was Zaxby's chicken.

Saturday 11:30 am We were puny but better. It was out of our system, so around lunchtime we set out for Little Rock.

Saturday 3:30 pm Easter eggs hunt at my aunt's house. She does this every year and it's GREAT! SO CUTE!! Ben feels great and is excited to hunt eggs. Oliver is just taking it all in. I'm still feeling like I have been up all night, but I'm getting better all the time. I'm actually getting a little hungry at this point which is great b/c there are LOADS of chocolate treats in that Easter basket. Sweet!!

Saturday 6:00 pm Dinner with Auntie and Bob. The sickies are hungry, the healthy are hungry. All is well. The Easter Bunny even showed up!!

Saturday 8:00 pm We dyed our Easter eggs.

Don't ask. We're a little nutty at the Blackwood house.

Easter Sunday 2:00 am Ben gets sick again.

Hmmmmm. Maybe this isn't food poisoning.

Nothing like cleaning up after a sick kid in the middle of the night.

Easter Sunday 8:00 am Ben is up and feeling good again. Hooray! It's over!!

Time to hunt eggs again!

Easter Sunday 9:00 am Breakfast. Hot Cross Buns. I feel great and I was STARVING!!! Wade says that he doesn't really have an appetite. Uh oh.

Easter Sunday 10:00 am Wade decides to go upstairs and rest a while.

Ok, he never feels bad enough to go rest.

Yeah, we're not going home today and Wade's not going to work tomorrow and Ben's going to miss school.

At least Mom and Dad are feeling ok.

Easter Sunday 15 minutes later Dad mentions that he doesn't fell well.

What have I done? We're like the rats that spread the Plague.

Easter Sunday 1:15 pm or so We eat the wonderful Easter dinner that Mom made....minus Wade who is still sleeping upstairs. He feels AWFUL! I was still STARVING!!

Easter Sunday 6:00 pm-ish Dad still feels yucky. Mom is good. Wade finally comes downstairs and sits wrapped in a blanket in an armchair. He looks pitiful.

Easter Sunday 8:00 pm Ben goes to bed, but he's worried that he's going to get sick again in the middle of the night. I tell him that he shouldn't worry and that he's done with that. He was convinced....I wasn't. I left the trashcan by his bed and crossed my fingers that he didn't puke in bed again!

Monday 7:30 am Ben walks downstairs and announces, "No barfy!" Wade is puny, Dad still feels gross and, now, so does Mom. Super.

Monday 9:00 am Time for the rats to head home. I drive so that puny Wade can sleep.

I think that Mom slept through Monday. I know Dad said that they didn't eat that day. I felt SOOOO BAD!! We brought a stomach bug with us and spread it around.

Ben missed school on Monday, Wade went in to work that afternoon and had a big dinner that night. We were all glad to be better, except.....

Tuesday 6:00 am Ben says his throat hurts. I take a peek and it's not good. Ben stays home again and I take him and Oliver (who has a pretty nasty cough at this point) to the doctor.

Ben has strep and Oliver has bronchitis.

GOOD GRIEF!

Save the Date and Whoopee Cushions

2009-04-09T07:30:00.000-07:00

Time FLIES!!! Everyone is growing up. Oliver is a year old and Ben, well, Ben......

Save the Date

Ben came home from school one day recently and said, "something very exciting is happening at 4:30".

I thought that we were in for something very cool on the NASA channel or maybe the President would be speaking to the youth of our nation on all the major networks.

Then he said, "Me and Olivia are getting married."

Screeeeeeeeeech. Huh, what?

So, there's this website that they use at school during free time called Poptropica. He can play it at home, too. He and his friends can meet at certain hotspots on the website (movie theater, sewer, whatever) and, apparently, make life-long commitments.

This particular day (his wedding day) he and his fiancee were meeting at the Soda Shop. See the above invitation.

So, he does his homework (homework before vows), he goes to the Soda Shop, meets up with his soon-to-be wife and off they go to be betrothed.

The only problem (besides the obvious) is that they couldn't figure it out. They knew it was possible to get married in Poptropica land, they had seen it done, but they couldn't get anyone to marry them. I suggested that maybe parental consent or counseling was required before they could get married, but Ben just shot me daggers. Here he was trying to marry the cyber girl of his dreams and the mother of the groom is cracking jokes.

Where we stand today is that Ben is still available. They never quite figured it out. He was crushed at the time. I was surprised that it took him so long to bounce back. Let me tell you, that was a rough 10 minutes! I guess it just wasn't meant to be. I'm glad, really, I still haven't met Olivia and I had nothing to wear.

Whoopee Cushions

Oliver turned a year old on April Fool's Day. It's still hard to believe. We had a cupcake with a #2 on it (April Fools) that evening. Notice his Christmas jammies (AF).

Here's the birthday boy "opening" his card from Grandma and Grandad.

We officially toasted the King of April Fool's with a party on Saturday, April 4th at "the castle". It was an April Fool's Day theme, so we had whoopee cushions, disguises, Laughy Taffy and a cake that was a riddle. See if you can figure it out. I'll put the answer at the bottom.

Audra and Oliver with Pam and Jonathan (Audra's parents)

This is Audra trying to kiss Oliver.

Babies racing to the ball.

Erin helping Oliver open one of his presents.

Oliver is trying to keep Audra from the Little People Farm. That's not polite, Ollie.

Pam helping Oliver to a little cake.

He's done.

We had a lot of fun and I again want to thank everyone for coming and celebrating Ollie's birthday. Good times.

Miss Jan gave Oliver this Elmo balloon at the little party she had at her house. He loved it!

Here are some more pics from the weekend....

Thanks for tuning in!! xoxo

**did you get the riddle?

there's a crown, an olive and an "r"

King Olive-R.

GET IT!

Bedside Chats with Ben - Wednesday, February 24

2009-02-26T05:07:00.000-08:00

There has been talk that our new president will be using FDR's "Fireside Chat" style in addressing the country and it's legislators.

So, in the spirit of the "Fireside Chat", I would like to introduce

"Bedside Chats with Ben".

Many times these chats are just a stall..."can I have some water?", for example.

But sometimes he's calling me to discuss something that he's been thinking about in the quiet and comfort of his bed. Most of the time you leave his room wondering how on earth his mind "got there" and, usually, it's pretty funny.

Last night's chat was just one question:

"What did Yankee Doodle stick on his head and call macaroni?"

And that concludes this Bedside Chat with Ben. Sweet dreams.

Did you miss us?

2009-02-17T10:00:00.000-08:00

That was the longest blog break, EVER!!

Here's what's going on with the Esty's:

(Don't you think that should be Esties?)

We got through the Great Ice Storm of '09.

This family actually weathered that storm quite well. We did lose power twice, but it was nothing like most of the people that I know. One afternoon we lost power for about 4 hours and then the next day we lost power again for about 2 hours. No biggie.

AND our trees did really well, too!! Thank you, Wade!

This was Monday.

This was Tuesday.

It looks like a pretty dusting of snow, but it's not. It's ice.

There are a lot of trees around our house and going outside at night was so creepy because you could hear all the trees cracking and snapping. No one was on the roads so it was a really eerie kind of quiet, except for the trees.

Ollie is up on two feet, just not walking. He'll stand up, decide he wants to go somewhere else, plop down on the floor and take off! That kid can MOVE! You can't look away either b/c he won't be there when you look back.

He loves to "chase" the dogs. Once he catches up to Lucy (and he only catches up because she goes to the door and stands there waiting to get out), he tries to grab her feet or her tags, which she hates. She is the sweetest most tolerant dog on the planet.

That look...

Oliver is also getting his first tooth.

See it in there?

He's learning a couple of words, too!

He says, "mama", "hi", "dada" and "weeeeee".

Ok, while it's tempting to let you think that he is a genius and starting to speak at 10 1/2 months old, I have to be honest here and let you know that he doesn't really use any of them correctly.

Sometimes, in the early morning hours, you'll here this sweet little "hi" on the monitor.

When he is being playful, he says (screams) "da da da da".

When he is getting cranky and hungry, he says "ma ma ma ma".

Actually, maybe he is using them correctly. Ha!

One is getting teeth while the other is losing them.

Here's Wade tying a string to Ben's tooth so that he could work on loosening it up....shudder.

Ben was just sitting on the couch, reading his book and tugging on that string.

As of the writing of this, the tooth is still hanging on.

Ben has also started riding the bus to and from school. It seems to be a good thing. And he made a little bus friend. Awwwwww.

The bus picks him up a block away from the house at 6:55 am. Yes, you read that right. I can see him from the porch and I usually stand there until I physically see him get on the bus and head off to school.

Then, about 3:05 in the afternoon, the bus comes screaming down the street...I'll get to this in a sec...and I watch him LEAP out of the bus and run all the way to the house. He comes flying out of that bus like he is being thrown out.

"I just like to jump out"

That's what he tells me.

He's just a little dude getting himself to and from school.

Ok, supersonic speed demon afternoon bus "O".

I don't know if it's because the bus driver assumes that he has all the neighborhood children with him and therefore it is ok break the sound barrier as he barrels down the street, but I do know that by the time I hear the bus, it has already flown by the window and made me spill my hot coffee all over me. That last part was a lie. I was just re-living that scene in Top Gun when Mav and Goose buzz the tower.

I guess I just feel I have to question how safe a driver this guy is if he thinks that Mach 10 is an appropriate speed for a residential street. I was thinking more like 20 mph.

We were in Kansas City recently, too. We had a short, but fun visit!

LOTS of Wii.

I feel that I should tell you that, unless you are six year old Anastasia, I cannot be defeated at Wii tennis. I'm not trying to brag or anything, I just wanted you to know.

I will take you down.

It is becoming a little more difficult to take pictures of Oliver right now. I will explain with a visual.

I flash the camera hunting for the perfect moment to capture....

He spotted me, the hunter becomes the hunted.....

it's over

I'll see you next week...yes, I mean it.

Love,

The Esties

Elf Yourself

2008-12-23T20:50:00.000-08:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

"The Big Chill"

2008-12-19T13:50:00.000-08:00

We went to Ben's Christmas program at Owl Creek School recently. The program was called, "The Big Chill", and it was pretty cute!! My pictures, however, not so much....

The picture at the top is really the only cute one I got.

I don't think that the school cafeteria lights helped the photo quality, but I'm pretty sure they had nothing to do with my bad timing. I have so many pictures of Ben with his eyes closed!

We had our Luxe Christmas party this past week, too. It was very nice! We had dinner at the Springdale Country club...Wade and I both had a yummy steak....and exchanged our Secret Santa gifts. I was Ryan's S.S. and got him a wool scarf....that kid walks in to work half frozen some days after walking from class.

Betina was my S.S. and got me the BEST scarf and an awesome NARS makeup brush that I REALLY wanted! So sweet!!!

It was a lot of fun! Such a nice thank you from Juliette and Dr. Miller and so much better than the Christmas party I attended last year!!! The photos are on my Facebook page, but I will post them on here eventually....sorry I'm not prepared for that today.

Danny Spungen, whose grandfather in 1941 launched Peer Bearing Co., a ball bearing manufacturer in suburban Chicago that was sold earlier this year, said his family unanimously decided to thank the company's 230 employees with year-end bonuses of $10,000 and more, with the amount based on years of service.

How cool is that?

Look, it should never be about the amount. That's not the point. The point is that the gift has to mean something. Ten thousand dollars to every employee when times are tough is AMAZING, but what's more amazing is that the family decided unanimously....did you catch that part?

Or, really putting thought into how you can creatively stretch $10 into a meaningful gift for someone is, well, thoughtful.

Enjoy your family this season, enjoy Christmas for what it celebrates.

Bummer

2008-12-08T07:24:00.001-08:00

Mom's Log 12052008

2008-12-06T06:52:00.001-08:00

I'm constantly looking for signs that Ben hasn't grown up too much.

I love this one!

Last night Ben called me in to his room after he went to bed. When I got in there he said, kind of pitifully, "I think I pulled a muscle".

Please keep in mind that he is in bed not moving around much but trying to go to sleep.

When I asked what (could have possibly) happened, he said that his stuffed fish fell out of bed and when he reached for it, he pulled a muscle in his arm.

Trying to ease the situation, I said that he probably didn't pull a muscle but just stretched a little too far.

He was a little annoyed that I wasn't taking this injury a little more seriously and shot his arm straight out and snapped, "I KNOW. Look how long it is now!"

Sweet Baby.

It's a Recession Christmas, Charlie Brown!!!

2008-11-28T20:30:00.000-08:00

Well, it's official, It's a Recession Christmas, Charlie Brown!

Here are the rules of Recession Christmas (with me and mine) :

1. There is a $10 maximum per individual on gifts.

2. If you exceed $10, even by a penny, you are disqualified from Christmas. An unthinkable punishment!!!! There are no exceptions to this rule, so shop with your calculators!!

3. Those under the age of 15 and over 90 are exempt. In other words, kiddos and the 90+ crowd deserve to still get what they want (within reason).

4. If you have never given me a Christmas gift before, this is not the year to start. First time gift giving in 2008 is not allowed and will result in automatic disqualification from Christmas. There is so much that I would rather you do with your money than get me a gift. Here's one example:

Go to www.soldiersangels.org and see a list of the top items that the troops overseas request the most. Top on the list is a letter from people like us.

That's FREE!

5. Sales tax, stockings and gift wrap do not count against you.

6. Price tags must be left on when possible and you must be able to provide proof of price if requested.

And now, what you really want:

Ben mailing his letter to Santa...

Ollie looking at his first Christmas tree and wishing he could put it in his mouth...

Happy Holidays!!

We're back!!

2008-11-25T18:20:00.000-08:00

Here's what's been going on in Estyland? Here ya go (and I'll sprinkle in some photos, too):

We decided we were going to have a garage sale. It's really nice to clean out and remove the cluttler, but how much do you HATE to prepare for a garage sale? Gross!

When we got up on that morning, it was brrrrrrrrrr chilllllyyyyy. We decided to start the garage sale at 7:30 b/c both kiddos are up and fed by then.

We all worked really hard and we each had our own job and responsibility to make sure that the sale was a success!

Wade was stock and merchandising, I was in charge of visuals and then we had.....

Marketing

and Security

Ben, when he actually came outside, was pretty helpful. One man gave him a dollar for being so polite. He wanted to spend it immediately buying back some of his toys.

Oliver is sitting up all by himself. You've already seen him crawling and now he's sitting and trying to pull up. Here's where my previous Mommy experience is doing me no good b/c Ben never crawled...I feel it's a sign of genius. Ben sat up and stayed there and when he was ready to walk he did. In fact, he walked on his first birthday and was running by that afternoon.

ANYWAY, Oliver is trying to pull up so does this mean that he is [a genius, too] going to walk in 10 minutes or is he on schedule?

Sorry, crummy pic.

These kids are kinda throwing me b/c....get this....tonight Ben was in the shower and I heard him call me. I went in there thinking that maybe I had forgotten to leave the baby shampoo where he could reach, but when I got there he said, "I think I'm going to start calling you guys 'Mom' and 'Dad', okay?".

Are you kidding me?!!! They STOP calling you "Mommy" and "Daddy"?! What's next, they get cars, girlfriends and move out?!!!! Ugh, my heart!

Let's see, what else? Wade is really good about letting me sleep in on Saturdays. I soooooo love sleeping in on Saturdays! I don't know if it's b/c for a million years, Saturdays were just another work day or what, but one Saturday morning I came out of the bedroom to three dudes on the couch. It was pretty cute.

Just dudes chillin.

Ben and Oliver together are pretty fun to watch.

You may have noticed that I have used the fancy brackets in this posting. You know, the [ &] keys. That's because my smarty pants son asked what the difference is between brackets and parentheses and should he use them in the book he is writing. His second book. This one is called Energy and Gasses. In case you would like to know the proper way to use these doo dads: brackets are supposed to include text to your reader only. Anything that you put in parentheses is supposed to read like it's part of the sentence or like the parentheses are not there.

I know Oliver, it's very confusing!! But, I'm trying it [just for you].

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving!!!

i'm sorry

2008-11-23T10:35:00.001-08:00

I am so sorry, people! I have been no good and good for nothing when it comes to this blog. I have been busy, not lazy, I promise. I have been working a few more hours lately and the blog has fallen to the side.

BUT NO MORE!

Within 48 hours you will have BLOG GOLD!!!!

Boo!

2008-11-02T05:19:00.000-08:00

Spoooooooooky!

Friday was a big day for little ghosts and goblins (and dentists) everywhere.

I don't guess I even have to tell you how exited Ben was.

For those of you that don't know, Ben was a bunch of grapes. There was a lot of relief with that decision b/c Wade and I have been scratching our heads for months trying to figure out how we were going to make a wearable lightbulb!

Ben has always been VERY creative in his Halloween costume ideas......

When he originally told us that he wanted to be a lightbulb, we were not at all surprised. I don't know what changed his mind...don't care either! All I know is a trip or two to Hobby Lobby for safety pins, purple balloons and some fake vines and leaves and we had all the ingredients to craft our own couture fruit. No "off the rack" costumes for this family!! One or two fainting spells later, the balloons were all blown up and he and his daddy were ready to pound the pavement!!

I stayed home to catch my breath and hand out the candy (and when I say "hand out" I mean eat as many Twix from the candy bowl as I possibly could before falling into a sugar coma).

Where is baby Oliver during all of this?

I got Ollie some glow-in-the-dark skeleton jammies that I thought were so cute!

BTW, very freaky to walk in your baby's room at night and find a glowing skeleton in the crib. Very Freaky.

ANYWAY, I thought, "Perfect, PJ's AND a costume! Way to be economical!" It was going to be a nice night, not too chilly, so we thought we might bundle Mr. Bones up and let him haunt the neighborhood w/ B. Bro.

Unfortunately, 7:30 is just too late for this little guy. He just couldn't make it.

Wade and Ben made the rounds, collected their treats w/o any serious tricks and came home. Nothing left to do but load up on sugar and go to bed.

Ben had a GREAT time!

I'll let him tell all about his adventures this weekend on his blog. Those things are so much better from a kid's point of view!!

But wait, there's so much more to talk about!!!!

I would like to direct your eyes to line 7 below!!!

Hit 'em Wreck 'em Texas Tech!!!! I think it was THE BEST game that I have ever seen.

AND, Check this out!!!!

There's not much to hear, but you can pause the music player on the bottom if you want.

Finally, since Oliver is so big and crawling now, we thought it was about time that we discuss his future. He has decided he would like to be a plumber.

Have a good week!

Mommy's log, 10192008

2008-10-19T13:52:00.001-07:00

Ben didn't need me to put on his Spongebob bandaid today....sigh.

The Wiz

2008-10-16T04:26:00.000-07:00

Hi.

You all know my big brother/FAVORITE person, Ben.

Well, I'd like to introduce his blog, The Wiz Kid!

The link is at the right of my blog under "other blogs". He came up with the idea, the title and content. Cool, huh?

He wants me to tell you that he will be updating it weekly on Saturdays and that maybe he can get my Mommy to do the same!

Enjoy it!

If you'll excuse me, I have to take my bath.

Baby sounds

2008-10-10T05:27:00.001-07:00

We're officially making our You Tube debut today.

Here a a few clips of some Ollie noises. Just so you get the first one, Oliver is teething and has been chewing on everything, including our fingers. Wade stuck his finger in his mouth and started "scratchin" like a dj. You'll see. Oliver LOVED it. The other thing you need to know is that Oliver talks when he eats....you'll see what I mean. The other two are just fun.

Enjoy!!

We pause for a brief, non-partisan, political message...

2008-10-07T06:34:00.000-07:00

Some of my friends and I have had differences in our political views. I embrace that...even though you are all wrong.

JUST KIDDING!!!
Seriously, what I want to say is that I will always respect that difference b/c you actually care enough to form an opinion. You listen, you research, you do your homework and you VOTE!! What I have a harder time with is those who can vote, but don't...espeacially if you think that you are making a point by not voting!!!! Pahleeeze!!!

Please pass this along to those that you think should see it. The deadline to register to vote has come and gone, but I am still shocked at how many people are registered to vote....and DON'T!!!

Tell 'em Leo's in it if they're leary. I'll watch anything with Leonardo de Caprio!!!!

*******WARNING*******

There is language in this video, so no viewing with little ears around or if you are offended by that type of thing. Be brave. I think that the "state of the union" is a little more offensive than a couple of "F" bombs, yes?

Bookworms

2008-09-23T06:09:00.001-07:00

Ben wanted to read Oliver some books, so we went into Ollie's room and got out the cute little books that "Mermif" gave Oliver.

Oliver is doing this thing where he rests his little head on his hand. It's funny to see such a little guy do that...sign of genius, I'm sure.

These two are pretty crazy about each other!!

He'll learn....

2008-09-20T05:48:00.000-07:00

cheese whiskers

Happy 7th Birthday, Captain Ben!!!

2008-09-07T09:21:00.000-07:00

PIRATES!!

Ahoy thar, Matey!!

Saturday was the big birthday treasure hunt, so we put on our eyepatches and pirate skull caps and set sail for Wilson Park!!

Captain Ben was presented with the map, they read the first clue and they were off!! It was kinda hard for the landlubbers (photographer/me) to keep up!

It's at the Castle!!

A HA!! A blindfold for your one good "aye".

Clue #2 sent them after a "peg leg" on the bridge at Scull Creek (really, the creek is called Scull Creek. It couldn't have been more perfect!!).

And they're off again!

"They got me peg leg"...and the next clue!!!

TREASURE!!!!!!

What's inside?

A PIRATE PINATA!!!!!!

It was too much fun!

After the pirate pinata massacre, we had cake....

...and presents.

"What do you do with a drunken sailor?" Bury him in the sand by the swings, duh!

Yeah, that kid won't be coming back to any more Esty birthdays. His mom will probably still be trying to get sand out of her car this time next year. Whoops!

Here are some more pics:

Erin, Laura and Arrrrrliver

Chad and Ollie

Kenton and Ben

Yo ho ho and a bottle of....formula!

Time to load up the pooped pirates and head for the open seas.

This party was so much fun!!

The best park EVER!

2008-09-01T13:07:00.000-07:00

I LOVE Wilson Park!! It's my very favorite park around here.

On Sunday, we decided to get outside and walk around the park a while.

We dusted off Ben's old baby backpack and hit the trail.

But before we could go anywhere, we had to decide which hat Ollie would wear.

Bucket hat?

Oh. Maybe baseball cap.

Here we go!!

This park has everything!

Pool (which was already drained), basketball courts, tennis courts, baseball field....

castle.....

...with moat.

We were walking along the trail and Ben (and no one else) heard the ice cream truck.

He took off!

See ya, Ben!

Last thing that we did was hang out at the playground for a little bit.

What a way to spend the afternoon!!

Four month check up

2008-08-21T16:50:00.000-07:00

Ollie had his 4 month appointment this past week. It went great!

The pediatrician, Dr. Mayhan, said that we better start childproofing the house b/c this youngster is going to be "on the move" pretty soon.

She said that he was pulling his knees under him and lifting his belly off of the floor and that she sees 6 month olds that aren't doing that yet (Ben).

He's up to 17 lbs and is in the 85% percentile for his height...just like brother!

We're not going to know what to do with a crawling baby.

Ben never crawled, he just started walking (on his first birthday) and then running that same afternoon.

Back to School!

2008-08-18T06:08:00.000-07:00

SECOND GRADE!!! I can't believe it!

He has been very excited to start school and has been counting down to the first day. VERY excited....until about 6:02 am this morning.

I shouldn't say that he wasn't excited anymore, he got out of bed without much hassle, but when it came time to eat his breakfast:

"But I'm so tired!"

And maybe a little annoyed that I was snapping pics!

Once we started packing up his backpack, though, the excitement came back.

Then, when I picked him up from school, I saw a little Kindergartner run out to his mommy's car. He was SO tiny.

Kinda like this:

Juice?

2008-08-15T13:16:00.000-07:00

So, my super cuties were sitting together in the big checkered chair.

Just two brothers.

So sweet!!!

Ollie was fresh from a nap!

Ben asked for some juice. Ollie was VERY interested in it!!!

And wondered why he didn't get any!

So funny!

GO APRIL STEINER-BENNETT!!!!!! WE'RE CHEERING FOR YOU!

Peach Fuzz

2008-08-12T04:28:00.000-07:00

Squash is soooo last week! Our new fave is PEACHES!!

Ice, Ice Baby

2008-08-11T07:18:00.001-07:00

Ben and I went ice skating last Thursday. I was a little worried that Ben would get frustrated and the whole thing would last about 2.2 seconds, BUT....we had SO MUCH FUN!

He did GREAT!

At first, he was attached to the wall. Then, he held on to me with one hand and the wall with the other. Slowly, but surely, we were able to move away from the wall completely and skate in the middle. He fell about 600 times, but laughed (almost) every time. I went down with him once, which wasn't bad except that we were both laughing so hard that we couldn't get up....no sound coming out can't breath kind of laughing.

All was well until:

...they told us the skating session was over.

He didn't want to stop skating. I didn't either, to be honest.

So much fun!

Happy Birthday, Auntie Erin!

2008-08-04T06:08:00.000-07:00

Happy 37th Birthday, Erin!

We love you, love you, love you!

You always add flavor (and entertainment) to the party, you make the best corn casserole (have we moved on from the spinach dip, yet?) and.......

You're the only one who'll get in the pool with the kids!!!!

Love:

Your Boyfriend (Wade) and his wife, Ben and Oliver

Uh Oh...Number 2 in the pool!

2008-08-01T14:58:00.000-07:00

Not THAT kind of number two....ew.

The baby pool has come a long way. Remember those small, round plastic "pools" that were about six inches deep? All you could do was sit. You could make small little splashes, but every time you kicked your feet, your heels would hit the hard bottom and if you had a friend in with you (if you had the deluxe size pool), you had to sit facing each other and your legs were touching.

You certainly couldn't do this:

Or this:

It was awfully hot, so Ben made sure to keep those of us out of the pool pretty cool:

Oliver watched Ben pretty closely (maybe he's going to be a lifeguard).

He thought those big splashes were pretty funny!

He even put on his sun hat and dipped his baby toes in the pool.

That's the number three that he is munching on.

It was a great way to beat the heat!

Ollie was a little shocked to learn that it was a 100+ degree day!

I know, Ollie, I don't like it either. Fall will be here soon!

Once we went inside, Oliver watched a little bit of his Baby Einstein video....Baby Mozart.

It was a nail biter!

See you soon!!

Where does the time go?

2008-07-28T11:38:00.001-07:00

I was looking through some pictures and I just can't believe how quick Ben has grown up!! Three years ago, he was this teeny tiny little 3 year old Slippery When Wet sign (totally cleaned up at the Halloween Costume Contest) and the next thing you know, he's six , almost seven, sittin in the bathtub with his goggles on.

Where does the time go?

Funny story: Today at lunch, out of the blue, he says to me, "Ya know those people that eat fire at the circus? Do you know how they do that? They're really fire-proof robots." And he was serious. I guess he's not too grown up, yet. Whew!!

carrots and green beans

2008-07-27T19:14:00.000-07:00

You had to know that once we started baby food that there would be messy face pictures, right? Here you go:

Carrots (big yum!):

Green Beans (not a fan):

Mommy:

squash

2008-07-21T19:48:00.000-07:00

Brittney's appearance in a previous blog was so popular that I have invited her back to blog on Ollie for a sec: "This kid is hungry, y'all."

Well put, Brit.

So, we cracked open a jar of baby food tonight. Squash. He isn't quite four months old yet and that is when you are technically supposed to give them their first taste, BUT...bottles only hold 8 oz and that just ain't cuttin it!!

Let me walk you through the baby food experience tonight.

"What's this? Ok, I'll try it."

"Huh. Not bad."

"WHERE'S THE REST OF IT?!!!!!!"

We couldn't get it to him fast enough. He LOVED it! LOVED IT!

Let's see...what else to tell.

Well, Ben's got the Parvo. Don't worry, we don't have him quarantined at the vet under close observation. Apparently, there is a human strain of Parvovirus that is very common for kids over 4 years old to get. He got splotchy all of a sudden last Sunday....it's not contagious by the time you get the rash. Crazy, huh? The Vet, I mean Pediatrician, said it's no big deal.

I guess the last bit of info is that Wade's brother Justin and family are moving to Kansas City this week. We are looking forward to having them closer to us and wish them luck in their move.

Here's a couple more baby pics:

There's a mirror above him...he likes to look at himself in the mirror.

Tummy time!

Have a good weekend!

Yankee Doodle Dandee

2008-07-10T06:38:00.000-07:00

I am sooooo sorry that I have taken such a long break on the blog. Two whole weeks have passed. I hope that everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July.

We did!

We spent the long weekend in Hot Springs....and it was HOT! It may have been the hottest place on earth. We went downtown so that Ben could see the bathhouses and hot water coming out of the springs and we had a little picnic in the shade (where it was still hot).

Ahhh, the healing (and cooling) effects of spring water. :)

AND we saw one of Al Capone's cars in the lobby of the Arlington hotel. So Neat!

Ben really enjoyed the giant bathtub at the condo.

Oliver is doing great!! Weighing in at 15.6 lbs, he is definitely a chunky monkey. He will drink an 8 ounce bottle and cry for more....no kidding. We've started adding a little rice cereal to a bottle a day and even tried giving him some with a spoon.

He pushed most of it out of his mouth,

and then looked at us like we were crazy.

It was pretty funny. He smiles all the time and has started to laugh a little. That has got to be one of the funniest things to hear. I've tried to capture both on film (a smile and a laugh), but when you break out the camera, this is what you get:

That picture is actually a still shot from video of about 3 minutes of him looking at the camera with that same frozen look. I guess it's stage fright? Maybe it's the light on the camera. Anyway, he may not show off for the camera, but he lights up every time he looks at his big brother. It's the sweetest!!

He has been sleeping through the night for a few weeks now. He usually gets kinda fussy around 7:30pm b/c he wants a bath. He LOVES his bath! Then he has a bottle, goes to bed and sleeps until about 6:30 or 7:00 in the morning. Can't beat that, huh?

Ben is being a little inventor this week at Camp Invention. He loves it. He is taking apart a DVD player and turning it into something else...we'll see exactly what on Friday....and everyday has a different theme. Yesterday was wacky hair day.

First was cooky hat day, then hair, and today was crazy outfit day. He wore boxers on the outside of his shorts, a shirt on backwards and two different socks. Basically, we go straight home from Camp Invention. It reminds me of when you see a little kid out in public with his parents and he is wearing a Batman costume or a tutu or ruby slippers or something? You KNOW that his parents just couldn't fight him any longer and they let him wear it. I don't want to look like that person, so we get home!

I will take some more pics this week. Hope all is well with everyone.

OH!!!! Congrats to my friend Katy McDermott and her hubby, Matthew, who just had a beautiful bouncing baby boy. Edward Gordon Eggleton, born Tuesday, July 15th at 9:30am. He was 8 lbs and 12 ounces. Can't wait to see him!!!

Out of Office Reply

2008-07-03T15:21:00.000-07:00

Due to the Fourth of July holiday weekend (and the fact that my mommy did not do so good with the picture taking this week), the blog will return next week. See ya when I get back from vaca....I need the rest!

You shouldn't fall asleep at the dinner table

2008-06-20T05:57:00.001-07:00

Last week was a pretty uneventful week. Nothing significant or life changing to report here.

Oliver did a little dancing with his mobile.

Then he fell asleep at the dinner table. Mistake.

Ben made this REALLY COOL mask at an art class at the Walton Art Center!!! They have great art classes for kids!

The boys played Frogger together....well, Oliver watched.

We opened the Esty Patio for the season on Saturday and enjoyed good friends and good food. Sorry, those pics went to Us Weekly, they were the highest bidder. Ok, I forgot to get out the camera.

Ben and Ruby still need haircuts.

Posted some stuff on EBay.

Let me think...anything else important happen last week? I feel like I'm forgetting something. Huh, must not have been anything big. :)

Father's Day and The Death Coaster

2008-06-16T17:28:00.000-07:00

11 weeks old

Wade's brother, Justin (or Uncle Junkin, as Ben used to call him) and his family were bringing their youth group to Silver Dollar City on their way to Kansas City. We had never been to Silver Dollar City and were so excited to meet in Branson and spend the weekend with them.

The very first thing that we did was ride some frogs. Good stuff! This was Ben's FIRST official ride at an amusement park. Not scary, not fast, not put your stomach in the tippy top of your throat. Good stuff!

We decided to split up because Quinton, Ben's 8 year old cousin, and Ben wanted to go ride some more stuff.

Ashley (Justin's wife), Charlotte (her mother), precious Anastasia (Quinton's sister), Ollie and me went other places.

When we met back up with the boys they were playing in this SUPER cool treehouse thing that was about three stories tall and had lots of netting and stuff to crawl in and on.

I asked Wade what they had ridden so far and he got a look on his face like he was going to cry. Apparently, Wade and his brother had a little misunderstanding.

Enter The Death Coaster.

Quinton loves roller coasters. Wade thought that Justin knew that Ben hadn't been on a roller coaster before and when Justin suggested the D.C., Wade thought it was because Quinton had been on it.

So Wade, Ben, Uncle Junkin and Quinton hop in the coaster car on The Powder Keg, a.k.a. Death Coaster. Like it was in a movie script, Ben, now bolted into his seat, says to the lady in the car in front of them, "this is my first roller coaster ride". The woman says, "This is your first roller coaster ride?!" Then, before this beast takes off, she is frantically giving him instruction...."keep your head on the back of seat all the time", "it goes really fast so don't get scared", "it'll be over really soon", etc.

Are you familiar with ski slope ratings? Green slopes for the bunnies, blue slopes for the intermediates and black diamonds for the crazies. Well, we didn't know until later, but Silver Dollar City rates their rides the same way. Do I really need to tell you what this ride was? Do you see where I am going with this?

Ok, for those who haven't read the script...it's a black diamond.

Poor Ben is scared to death and wants this thing to stop. Wade is trying to calm a 6 year old child at 90 something miles per hour. It was awful. Ollie was sad for Ben!

I like roller coasters and I hadn't been on one in a long time, so Wade and I went back and rode it a little later. Ready for my Brittney Spear imitation? It was bad, y'all! The whole time I am thinking, with all of my organs at the back of my spine, "my poor baby, my poor baby".

The good news and really cool thing about Ben is that he gets over stuff quickly. He was perfectly fine when I saw him and I would have never known if Wade hadn't told me. He wanted some frozen lemonade and to go play at the water park....Ben could have asked for a pony and I would have gotten it at that moment.

The next day was Father's Day and we came home. Ben gave his daddy the wind chime that he made in art class.

Ollie gave him drool. He's teething.

I did ask Ollie if it was ok that I tell Ben's story on his blog and he said that he was happy to share and would love to continue to make this a family blog. What a guy!!

SPAaaaaaaah

2008-06-10T19:37:00.000-07:00

The kid loves his baths. He fell asleep!!!

And big brother made the front page of the paper!

Slippery When Wet

2008-06-09T16:58:00.000-07:00

Ah, the slip 'n slide!

So, the fam was at a birthday party Saturday night. The birthday girl (Molly, 23) had a kiddie pool and slip 'n slide for the kids (yeah, right). That was too much fun for Ben and he wanted to get out his slip 'n slide that had been held captive in its box since last September. So we did! I think that we all laughed so hard our sides hurt. He launched himself down that thing so fast he would catch air at the end.

And don't think that Ruby didn't want in on the action!

Young Ollie, not yet the slip 'n slide type, kicked back on a blanket in the shade.

After that, we spent the rest of the evening on the back patio w/the telescope. Ben, our young astronomer, gazed at close ups of the moon while Oliver, our youngest astronomer, gazed at shiny things...that's what babies do.

Look at my guys!!

Oliver would like all to know that he has decided to do without his 2:00 a.m. bottle. So thanks, but no thanks! He is much happier sleeping straight through until 5:00. THANK U, OLIVER!!!

Oh, and Ben learned how to cross his eyes.

My Scenery Has Changed

2008-06-03T19:30:00.001-07:00

Now, instead of looking at a beautiful baby boy all day long, I look at Erin. Yes, I am back at work.

My last few days before work were great! Lunch with Kara on Friday followed by an evening with my other girls....Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda and Samantha. Saturday and Sunday with the boys. And then, duh duh duh, Monday morning.

Oliver did GREAT on his first day at Miss Jan's house. I did good, too. Thank God for Miss Jan!!!!!!

Not much in the way of pics today. I'll hook you up big time next blog...promise.