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Wonderful Tonight

Last night, I was putting the boys to bed. They were having a sleepover, so I was cuddled up in Sam's bed with them, singing them some bedtime songs. (This is our routine every night.) The last one I decided to sing was Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton, which Sam really likes. After I finished singing, Sam made me tell them the "story" of the song. (A lot of times, after I sing a song, the boys will ask me what the song was about, what it meant, etc...) So, I told him how the song was about a husband and a wife who are getting ready to go out on a date to a party. The wife is getting ready, brushing her hair, putting on her makeup, etc and asks the husband if she looks alright. Of course, the wife looks so pretty and the husband loves her so much that he just has to say, "You look wonderful tonight!" Then they go to the party and everyone is admiring how pretty the wife looks, which makes the husband feel great since he knows she is his very own wife. A little while later, though, he has a headache and doesn't feel so good, so the wife drives him home, helps him get into the bed, and tucks him in. Then, as she is turning out the light, he is just so filled with love and appreciation for her that he tells her, "My darling, you were wonderful tonight." And then they go to sleep.

After I finished telling this lovely story, Sam asked me to tell it again and this time to make it about Mommy and Daddy. So I retold the entire story, replacing "the man and his wife" with "Mommy and Daddy." After I finished the second telling of the story, he sat up in bed, looked at me and said, "Mommy, you look wonderful tonight." My heart just about melted....

Get ready! Get ready!

The other day, Josh and I were in Stride Rite at the outlet mall, shopping for shoes. I was having a hard time figuring out which size to get for him, so I went and asked the sales clerk to assist me in measuring his foot with their device. So, she came over and asked Josh to stand up and put his foot on the foot measuring thingie. He stood up and then backed away from her a little bit and said, "Get ready! Get ready! (I'm sorry about this, but I have to do it.)" And then he tooted. Loudly. Right in front of the sales clerk. I was MORTIFIED but at the same time, I had to try really hard not to laugh hysterically. I apologized profusely to the sales girl and chided Josh strongly as any decent mother would do. The sales clerk responded, "It's okay. He's a boy." Seriously?!?

Sam's Preschool Graduation

Sam with some of his friends from the Bears class. Don't you love how he looks like a little businessman?

Ah, Sam and Cate. Inseperable this year, but she still didn't really want to hold his hand!

She REALLY didn't want to hold hands, and he REALLY did!

This was the second half of his processional walk. During the first half, he was as stiff as a board and held his finger over his mouth.

Sam received the Best Storyteller award!

This time he didn't try to hold her hand, and things went much more smoothly.

Sam with his teacher, Mrs. Mary. She is an angel and has taught both of the Daniel boys!

He was just SO proud of himself...even if he looked a little disheveled by this point!

Playing after cake and punch.

What is this pose?

He always looks like he is standing at attention.

By this point, Josh was complaining that his pants were too tight and asking me to PLEASE stop taking pictures so that we could go home. Sam, on the other hand, was still hamming it up!

Booger Busters!

You, too, could join Sam and become a booger buster! It must not be a very hard core group, though, because today I watched as he ate a booger at The Little Gym. Nice.

Mommy and Sam

Sam graduated from preschool last night. More pictures to come...

Pirate Sarah and Pharoah Daddy

Josh's Artwork

As many of you know, Josh has been taking art lessons at The Looking Glass Art Studio. Here are the pieces he has completed thus far...

Josh-isms

Maybe I'll just turn this blog into a record of the crazy things that Josh says...

Yesterday morning, I went in his room to wake him up, which always takes at least a few minutes but usually ends in exactly the same way most mornings. I gently try to ease Josh into wakefulness, he resists, then eventually he toots and starts giggling.

Yesterday, our morning went much the same way except this time, after he tooted, instead of giggling, he got up and said, "The best way to start the morning is with a good batch of toots!" Then...he giggled.

By the way, in this picture, Josh is imitating the BlueTongued Skink!

On a darker note, Sam is sick. He has been to the allergist to investigate the cause of his snoring and frequent sinus infections. While he does not have any allergies, he did have an abnormal nasal x-ray, as well as some abnormalities in his sleep apnea test. So...we are taking him to the ENT on May 11th to determine whether or not he needs to have his tonsils and adenoids taken out. In the meantime, since he has yet another sinus infection, we have started back on Afrin, Nasonex, and Omnicef, per Dr. Harper's orders. However, last night, my baby woke up after midnight complaining that the soles of his feet were horribly itchy. Soon, the palms of his hands were bothering him too. We gave him a benedryl chewable tablet, and I held him in his bed, trying to get him to go back to sleep. Before long, his entire body was itchy, and when I turned on the light, I found that he had a rash that was quickly spreading all over him. The doctor said that he was probably having an allergic reaction to the Omnicef, despite the fact that he has taken this antibiotic many times before. Anyway, I'm sure we will be back at the doctor again today or at least back to the pharmacy to fill a new prescription. Poor little bear.

Here he is in his TBall Reds uniform, sitting patiently on the bench, waiting for his chance at bat. Don't you just love how his feet don't reach the ground? So sweet.

Heinie Balls

Well folks, the auction is finally over! I can get back to the important things in life now, like blogging!

All kidding aside, while at times the past two years seemed incredibly stressful and the sheer amount of work sometimes seemed insurmountable, I have to admit that it was great fun and extremely rewarding to take the auction, make it my own, and raise it to new heights! With $31,600 in donations this year, record setting advance ticket sales, and an absolutely gorgeous new theme, I feel proud of what my team and I accomplished. And strangely enough, I feel a little sad too. I even cried a tear or two last night as I drove away from Doar Hall after everything was all cleaned up and put away. It's a little like drifting apart from a really good friend. You know that they're still around and you can still see them from time to time, check in on their life, see how they're doing, but that closeness that was once there is now gone, never to return. As we cleaned up last night, I could feel it in the air...the changing of the guard, so to speak. It's not my baby anymore; it's someone else's now. So, I'm a little sad, a little glas, and a lot pooped! I spent most of the day today lazing around on my heinie! Which brings me to the title of this post....

Tonight, I was putting Josh to bed and singing him a few songs, just as we have done every night for as long as I can remember. So there I am, singing "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands," when Josh starts giggling. I asked him why he was giggling, and he said, "I was squeezing my heinie balls together." (giggle, giggle, snicker, snicker) Of course, I was so shocked I almost fell out of the bed!

"Josh," I asked, "What are heinie balls?"

"Oh you know, Mommy. Those little flaps of skin on your heinie? They look like butterfly wings."

At this point, I am laughing my own heinie off! So, I smacked my own heinie CHEEKS and said, "Josh, do you mean these things?"

"Yes, Mommy, those."

"Those are called Heinie CHEEKS, Josh, not heinie balls."

"Oh yeeaaahhh....heinie cheeks!" (giggle, giggle, snicker, snicker)

Seven year old boys, huh?

Padawans in Training

This is Part One of the Jedi Training Academy session that the boys participated in at Disney World. I am working on getting Part Two loaded but am having some difficulty since it is a longer video. Enjoy this in the meantime!

Tech Savvy

I am such a techno-geek today! I have created a YouTube account to upload videos and then embed them on my blog. I also set up the YouTube account to automatically upload the same videos to my Facebook account! AND I connected my Blackberry to my PC for the FIRST time and transferred all of my Blackberry videos to my PC! Now, I am going to be a video uploading FOOL! Enjoy!

These first two videos were taken on my Blackberry many months ago, but now that I am so savvy, I can finally share them with you!




This next one is not a very good quality, but it was taken at Disney World in the dark, so go figure. If you turn out your lights, you might be able to make out Sam, who is shaking his tailfeathers to Feliz Navidad!

Let it Snow!

Gorwing up so quickly...

These are two recent shots of my Joshie. I really cannot believe that he is almost 7 years old. What a handsome little bugger!

The First Thanksgiving

On Thanksgiving morning, the boys disappeared upstairs for a little while, and when they came down, this is what they created. Granted, Josh has had his Native American costume since last Christmas, so that was pretty easy, but Sam created this pilgrim costume out of a white dress shirt, the pants from his Shaggy costume, black soccer socks and black dress shoes. How creative!

Wigging Out!

It is becoming more and more apparent that Sam just loves costumes, dress-up, and pretend! With parents like us, is this any surprise?!?!

This is a shot from Halloween. He decided to try Morgan's gypsy wig on!

This is a shot from Thanksgiving when he and Morgan decided to dress him up in her wig and tutu! He thought it was hysterical that he was wearing a tutu. He came inside the house, started dancing around, and shouting out, "I'm Dolly Partner, I'm Dolly Partner!"

Another of Morgan's and Sam's Thanksgiving creations!

He actually looks pretty adorable with this cut. Perhaps I should discuss growing his hair out and dying it brunette with our hairdresser?

These next few shots are from last summer's annual beach vacation. He must have been going for the redneck/rockstar/Clemson fan/Britney Spears look...

Hmmm....this must be where he gets it from!!!

May the Force be with you...

So, as you can see, the boys are really into Star Wars. This Halloween, Josh dressed up at Luke Skywalker in his Rebel Alliance flight suit, and Sam dressed as Jedi Master Obi Wan Kenobi. Their cousin, Morgan, came over to trick-or-treat with them, and I loved her gypsy costume! Owen stopped by for pictures and he was the cutest Mickey Mouse ever! I think it's hilarious how the boys are so serious about their "roles." And here's a funny aside...whenever someone tells Josh, "may the force be with you, Josh" he replies, "and also with you." Confusing Star Wars and church...classic!

A Fine Fall Day

This Fall, we went to the West Farm Corn Maze. It was a most excellent way to spend a Fall day. We played games, petted the animals, and walked the maze. We will definitely go back next year! Most of the pictures below are of the boys having a great time, but there is one special picture which needs no explanation. Holy cow! Or should I say, Holy Sheep?!?