The Great Cleanup

The last time you saw this shot of Wm's room, it was COVERED in Legos.  We decided that something must be done.  We have built and hung up 3 sets so far - and Wm is nearly done with a fourth.  Then, we got this bench with cubbies underneath to store the sets that aren't flying things.  The remaining loose Legos have been sorted and put into their bins.  This should last for about 24-48 hours.  But it makes me happy to believe I've made progress in The Great Lego Cleanup.

The Fam

Suz got a great picture of the three of us!  Since I am usually the photographer, pictures of the fam together are rare. Love it!

Wm loves Adele

Steve was walking around singing Adele again this afternoon and when he stopped, Wm just picked up where he left off and knew a surprising amount of the song! I tried to get him to do it on video, but he appears shy whenever he knows anyone is listening.  This is the best I could do - he's still pretty darn cute.

STRIKE!

We got a Groupon for a carpet cleaning, so they came today.  Doing this in the winter and on a Saturday were two very bad decisions.  We then had to find a way to keep Wm out of the house and off the damp carpets ALL day.  So we took him out to lunch, then bowling, then to Target, then out to dinner...it was quite a day.  

Wm is a blur of action bowling.  Wm bowls as if the ball was a shot put - he throws that thing overhand and it THUDS into the lane and sort of meanders down toward the pins.  Wm did almost bowl a 100 though!

Posing for the camera

Suzanne was a strike out queen!  She got more strikes than anyone!  Wm was very jealous.  And quite grumpy about it.

Wm and Daddy. Daddy actually won Wm a tiny stuffed crab (very apropos) from one of those grab 'em games!  Wm was in love with it...but now seems to have no idea where it is.

Look at that form!!!

After a day of activity after activity, Wm was BEAT.  He was totally grumpy and evil, so I knew he was pretty tired.  I had no idea exactly how tired he was until we got in the car to finally drive home.  Wm has not fallen asleep in the car in YEARS.  He HATES sleeping in the car and will fight it off for everything he's worth.  But...he was no match for his exhaustion this time.  And he was out like a light.  But, as soon as we pulled into the driveway, he woke up and goes, "can I get a Lego set from Target?"  Um...NO.

OK Go!

I showed Wm the OK Go! video where they are on the treadmills because I thought he would think it was cool. So he watches the whole thing - poker face - then says...



"Looks dangerous."

And walks away...

PURPLE!

Wm told us a few weeks ago that if you were already blue and then "had extra smart thinking" you got to purple.  We thought he was making it up and were all, "yeah...cool...purple...suuuuure."  But then today he came home with a certificate from Mrs. Couch saying that will had a PURPLE DAY!

He also got his report card today - where we discovered he is about halfway through the first grade reading levels.  So, I'm thinking Wm will be on second grade reading level before he even starts first grade!  He was, of course, also exceeding expectations in Math.

Steve just took Wm to Target to get a Lego set for a major reward!

Read-A-Thon

Wm is now taking pledges for the Elementary Read-A-Thon!  All proceeds go to support the school.  Wm is a reading fool - he walked in the door from school today and screamed, "time to read!!!"

Also, a fun conversation with Wm on the way home from the bus...

Wm: I got a red card today.

Me: Oh, well, you know what that means.

Wm: What?

Me: Time for a beatin'

Wm: Hmmm...there is a small chance I could be tricking you.

Me: Too late, I'm primed for a beatin'

Wm: We don't even have a paddle.

Me: I'll figure something out.

Wm: Hmph. What-EVER. 

Of course, when I unpacked Wm's backpack when he got home, I discovered yet another BLUE card!  Yay Wm! But clearly I need to work on intimidation.  Wm is way too sure of the fact he'll never get a beatin'.  

The More You Know...

Wm's Words of Wisdom while making puppy chow for his lunches this week:

"Lying is the worst thing you can do....other than punching someone in the penis."

BBC Rocks

Suzanne came over last night for a BBC miniseries marathon.  Wm was riveted.

Then Wm decided to show off his prowess.  Earlier in the day, he said Suzanne has beautiful long hair, so I think he was making a move.  Although, he also said he's never getting married - but if he does get married, he's marrying me.  I told him I was already married to Daddy and Wm say, "oh...yeah..."  So he's back to never marrying.  I said I wanted grandkids one day and he goes, "I don't have to be married to have kids, Mommy."  He's got me there.

"HIghlights" of the Day

The Slave I is COMPLETE.  And hung.

And I got my hair highlighted for the first time.  Also - I am an awesome face-maker.

And now a fun conversation with Wm this morning...

Me: I am going to highlight my hair!

Steve: meh.

Me: Wm!  Daddy is ignoring me!

Wm: I don't care.

Me: What?  Wm?

Wm: I am ALWAYS on your side.  I will be on Daddy's side this one time. 

Me: OK...as long as it's one time.

Wm: Yeah, just once.

Steve: YAY! 

Upon my return home...

Me: What do you think?

Steve: It's OK

Me: You suck.  Wm?

Wm: IT. IS. BEAUUUUUUUTIFUL!!!!!!!

Me: Thank you, Wm. That is exactly the appropriate level of excitement.  

Steve: Always makin' me look bad.  My streak is over.

Milk Mustache

Another phone effect. With milk mustache.

iPhone Jazz

I have discovered a swwwwweet app on the iPhone that lets me do all sorts of fancy things with the pictures I take.  Here is one of Wm that I have made to look like old timey film.  I can make it black and white, I can add effects, you name it!  I am PUMPED!  It will be Willie Picturepalooza!

Also, the new phone takes video in 1080p.  That means no more grainy videos or ones you can't make out inside without every single light on.  I took this one of Wm singing some weird song he learned today in Music.  I didn't even have a light on!  I heart my iPhone camera!

Smurf

Wm was blue again today!  I told him he's going to turn into a smurf if he keeps being so blue all the time!  He has been diligently working on rebuilding the Slave I.  I waaaaaay underestimated the time it would take to rebuild that thing with all the pieces mixed in to Wm's giant collection.  While we were up there rooting around today, I took a picture of just PART of the insanity.

That picture was taken with my newwww iPhone!!!  SO PUMPED.  It. Is. Awesome.  Siri is my new best friend.  She took a little bit to warm up to me, but I realized I am talking too fast and have to slow down.  Then we became great friends.  The camera on the iPhone is AMAZING.  Expect much better pictures and movies.  I just signed up for iCloud, so they should be much better than the one above because it will automatically send them from my phone to the computer.  Jazzy.

Being quasi-out of commission, I have had lots of time to iPhone.  I can barely move.  I did the Fit game for Kinect this weekend.  It was totally fun!  But all the "classes" are about 7-10 minutes long - and you can keep changing up what you're doing (I did yoga, cardio blast, Bollywood, Latin dancing, tribal dancing, some soccer game, and strength training for back, abs, glutes and arms).  So, without realizing it, I WAY overdid it.  I could barely get out of bed the next day and all my muscles are sooooo sore.  I did it again today and that helped a bit...hair of the dog.  

Pants Fail

Wm and I were walking home from the bus stop today and it was cold and BLOWING wind (35mph, I heard)!  It kept blowing Wm's hood down and his ears were cold, so I go, "let's run!"  We took off at a run, and then Wm dropped my hand and stopped running and yelled,"UMMMM...MOMMY?"  I turned around to see his tiny skeleton legs bare and his pants around his ankles.  He had run right out of his pants! We both laughed so hard that we couldn't even walk, so it took us twice as long to get home and our ears were frozen.  But it was so worth it.  It was the best laugh I've had in a long time.

Apopolypse

Steve made fun of me for getting bottled water and storing it in the basement for emergencies.  So Wm was just down there messing around and goes, "hey - can I have some of this water?"  Steve goes, "No, man, that's our water for the apocalypse."  Wm says, "what's the apopolypse?"

Three Day Weekend!

Wm and I have a three day weekend - unfortunately, Steve has to work tomorrow.  But Wm and I have grand plans.  We are going to rebuild the Slave I (Boba Fett's ship) and hang it from Wm's ceiling.  Then, we are going to make s'more bars for Wm to take in his lunch this week for his treat.  There will likely be one more viewing of Harry Potter before it gets returned to the library and Wm says he wants to take an "excise walk" to make his body healthy.  So it will be a full day!

Today was equally exciting.  Wm did a great job folding his laundry so he got to go to lunch at Graffiti Burger:

On the way home, we decided to stop at Kroger since it's on the way home.  I will not be going there again.  They didn't have half the stuff I needed, what they did have looked subpar, and the total was only $8 less than what we spent at Whole Foods last time we went (but, Whole Foods actually had everything I wanted - so I got even more stuff!)  

After we had to make a second run to Weiland's to complete our shopping, I decided to make scones for Wm's breakfasts this week.  I figured as long as we had all the stuff out, I'd make a double batch.  So I made some for Steve and I as well. I decided Steve and I should have a cream tea (which, I discovered as I tried to figure out where to buy clotted cream, is what Americans often erroneously call high tea - which is actually more  a meal with cold meats, veggies, and breads).   I'm not sure Steve was a superfan of cream tea (he kept repeating, "pip pip and all that!" with a bad British accent), but he LOVED the lemon curd!  We all couldn't believe how amazing the scones were.  Then I realized why.  I usually make them with whole wheat flour so they are a better breakfast for Wm...but I forgot this time.  And here's my question - why did god make white flour so delicious if it's supposed to be bad for you?

Happy Day!

Wm got off the bus and pulled another, "I got a red card" on me.  But, when I opened his backpack, I found this:

It's rainy and gross (before turning snowy and cold tonight), so I brought Wm home and gave him some hot chocolate with a "hint of mint."  He is currently watching the Harry Potter movie.  He thinks he's died and gone to heaven. I haven't even told him he's getting an extra special dinner tonight!

A friend of Mimi's got Wm some super cute Christmas presents...

OSU tie dye!

A stick-on tie - how cute is that?!

Kinect

While we were at Target yesterday, Steve discovered an XBox Kinect on sale for $99 - and it came with 3 games!  I had been talking about getting one for my birthday since they have a Fit game for it.  Cheaper than the gym!!  So we snapped it up...early birthday.  Wm has a love-hate relationship with the thing.  Since he's so tiny, it has trouble following his movements and often misses what he's doing (and also, SOMEONE is so spastic that it can't follow is rapid-fire shenanigans).  So while Wm loves playing the Kinect, it often leads to fits of temper and evilness.  

Notice how Wm's legs are just a blur of motion

Wm is currently in hog heaven because we celebrated a belated Christmas with Great Papa today and he got presents!!  He has been building Legos all evening.  I even talked him into a hair cut (I only had to threaten taking him to Cookie Cutters and letting strangers do it one time!)  Steve's friend Mark also had a brilliant idea we will be putting into action ASAP.  He suggested we hang Wm's Lego Star Wars ships from his ceiling like they are flying.  This has the double bonus of getting some of his Legos off his floor and out of his bins and decorating his room fancy-like.  

Lastly, if anyone is interested in buying a retro school desk circa 1987, we are selling the one in Wm's room to give him more room to play - he never uses the thing.  I stuck it up on Craig's List for $20.  

Relive your glory days in this vintage fab desk.  Mullet and Poison tape not included.

All Kinds of Stuff

It was super sunny and freakishly warm again today, so we took Wm to the park.  He had SOOOO much fun!!  Suzanne and I took a walk through the Park of Roses then played with The Boys.

Suz spinning The Boys.  Wm is having the time of his life...Steve is dying (clearly).

MORE SPINNING! I didn't manage to get Steve to barf...this time.

Wm being an airplane...and my finger

The Boys being cute

Then, all sorts of kitchen activities have been going on.  I found a cool looking recipe for homemade pierogi.  So I decided to give it a try tonight.  It said to knead the dough for 8 minutes.  Quite the upper arm work out.  Steve had to tap in for a minute.  But they were GOOD.  I have only had pierogi a couple times ever, but Steve (a self proclaimed pierogi expert) said they were the best he has ever had and downed 8 of them!  Pierogi win!

Sealing 'em up!

Stuffing

Ready to eat!  After being boiled and then fried in butter. Ohhhhh YEAH!

I have an abundance of peanut butter and powdered sugar (due to some overbuying around Christmas).  So...what is one to do with peanut butter and powdered sugar?  BUCKEYES!  I thought it would be a fun thing for Wm to help me cook since he loves helping me in the kitchen.  He came home on Friday with a blue card - and we had time to kill until Steve got home from work.  So we busted out the Buckeye makin' goodies.  Wm had the BEST time!! He has said at least a dozen times, "I love eating Buckeyes...but they were even more fun to make!"  It was the perfect thing for Wm to help with.  He loved rolling the peanut butter balls - then had even more fun dipping them in chocolate!  And he did GREAT!  He made PERFECT Buckeyes!

Wm getting ready to pick out a Buckeye to eat after finishing his pierogi.

Chippiness

Something wonderful came into my possession yesterday.  A friend that works over in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering was purging old student files and came across a file from 1995 she thought would be of interest to me.  Yes, folks...The File of Steve!  In it was the "self portrait paper" Steve wrote his first quarter at OSU.  I REALLY wanted to post excerpts here, but Steve would not allow it.  He was throughly embarrassed and didn't want me to even read it.  Of course, I did.  It's hard to believe that I met Steve shortly after he wrote it!!  I will say, though, that about 75% of the paper was about his love of soccer. So...not much has changed there.  Another good chunk consisted of his hatred of OSU and desire to return home.  Typical freshman.  It was actually pretty well written, but he had some true gems in there - it was good for lots of laughs.  I just thank god mine will never resurface.  Who knows what I put in that thing.  Nothing good....nothing good.

Wm has said a couple hilarious things the past mornings:

- Yesterday morning he was eating a chocolate chip scone I made for breakfast (they turned out DENSE) and he goes, "I lost the battle.  I can't eat anymore.  It's chocolate chippiness defeated me."
- Today, after using the potty and being told to wash his hands he said, "I don't want to!  I didn't touch anything!"  When Steve told him he DEFINITELY touched SOMETHING and pointed out that he had lifted the seat Wm goes, "I used my foot.  NO!  My elbow.  Yeah.  My elbow.  End of conversation."

Snow

We finally got some snow today!  I took Wm to work with me and as we were walking out, it was coming down really hard and fast - Wm LOVED it.  But it had stopped completely by the time we got home.  Steve walked in the door from work and Wm says, "Daddy!!!  You should have seen the snowstorm-slash-blizzard at Mommy's work!"  Wm is awesome-slash-hilarious.  And he returns to school tomorrow!

The Wonderkid Returns!

Wm is home!!  I gave him all sorts of cuddles and snuggles.  Wm said, "the first day I was gone, I missed you SO much all the time - but then, after that, I had so much fun, I forgot to miss you!"  I told him I missed him the whole time he was gone and he goes, "well, I'm sure I missed you the whole time deep inside...I just didn't know about it because I was having so much fun."  He definitely must have been having a grand time because he set a new World Wm Record and slept in until 9AM.  That blows the previous record out of the water.  I'm glad school doesn't start until Wednesday, it will give his little body time to get used to early to bed, early to rise again.  Unfortunately, I go back to work Tuesday and my body sure doesn't want to do the early to rise thing.

Wm came home to new things!  He loves to come home to surprises.  The first surprise was a cute new rug in the dining room (thank you, SuzZane, for rug transportation!):

And we painted Wm's dresser and night stand his favorite color (green).  The white thing seemed like a good idea when he was a tiny baby, but he has destroyed it.  There were stains and marker and crayon and all sorts of business on there.  So we went darker green and hope it can withstand all that is Wm:

Wm told me this morning that if I quit my job and stayed home with him, that he will pay me.  He counted all the money in his piggy bank and said, "I have $11!!! No, seriously...I'm not even kidding right now!"  That should get him about 20 minutes.  He has never cared before, but he's realized that he has the entire summer off from school and wants to make sure I am here to enjoy it with him.  I told him we'd hire an awesome babysitter for him - who will be young and hip and paid to keep him happy.  That seemed to appease him a bit.

In other news, here is a picture of me in the best Christmas present ever: a giant fleece robe that encases me from my neck to the floor (you can't see the matching fleece bootie slippers).  It is WARM and I LOVE it.  My mom even had my name embroidered on it.  Which is good...because I'm pretty sure it would easily fit Steve.  I have only taken it off to leave the house.  Let me tell you - Steve is lovin' it.

Also note how awesome I look 15 minutes after waking up.