The Sunday Side of a Roadtrip Weekend!

This weekend was plum full of roadies. We headed to Katy on Saturday and Sugarland on Sunday. The best part was all the great food and fun had by all. Even though we practically ran the tires off the cars this weekend, it was well worth the effort to get to see the Barrows and the Millas . . .

Customer Service

I actually wrote this blog last week, but somebody (aka Mommy) refused to pick the pictures she wanted, so I am just now getting around to doing it . . .

Just a little warning to all the parents out there . . . If there is a button within reach, 2 year olds will try anything and everything to push it. The question I have for Macys is why exactly did they decide to put the alarm button at toddler height?

So we were in Macys yesterday picking up my Father's Day gift and we were back and forth between floors using the elevators. As usual when there are two of us, we use the individual umbrella strollers. I am just be-bopping along into the elevator when I notice that Caleb is reaching for a button. Ninety-nine percent of the time, nothing happens. This was not one of those times. Caleb pushes the button and all of a sudden the voice of God comes over the intercom saying, "The emergency operator has been contacted. Please be patient, someone will help you shortly!"

So I wait for about 15 second until the teenager in me decides that it is time to run! I make it down the hall before the responsible 30-year old in me decided to let someone know what has happened. The second floor of Macy holds the Customer Service department. I use the term "service" at this point very lightly. I walk calmly up to the desk and notice that the lady behind the counter is on her cell phone. Remember, "the emergency operator" is trying to talk to me back in the elevator. The lady looks at me, turns and heads to the other side of the desk to white out some paperwork. All the while talking to her friend about someones baby. It was ridiculous, so we just headed out.

No worries, on the way out we find somebody that wants to talk to us and she was going to contact the monitoring service. Just another adventure that only happens when you have toddlers!

Friday

Thank goodness the week is over. The boys had a wonderful week, but they are getting harder and harder to keep up with!! I am worn out by the end of the day. This week we had a visit from Tre and everyone enjoyed the water table on loan from the Turnbulls. And by enjoyed, I mean Tre was pinched, bitten, and shoved by some very grumpy twins boys I won't name on this blog. We have been having issues with biting, but today seems to have turned a corner and we might be back on track to making it through a day without drawing blood or leaving teeth imprints deep enough to be permanent.

Tuesdays I go to work and I am fortunate enough to be able to bring my boys along. They are always excited to see Miss Nancy who keeps them often and has an uncanny resemblance to Mema. Most of the time I am on top of my diaper bag, but I always forget that they change them twice at church. So of course Caleb decides to need a diaper change right when we get there. I check my bag and see that I only have one left. I take it out and say a prayer that we can get through the morning with no more dirty diapers. God is probably confused, since the day before I was praying that the 5 prunes I gave them would make them poo so they would sleep well. Of course, 15 minutes later one of my prayers was answered, and it wasn't the one that was going to make my day any easier. I walk into the room and Cooper is standing on the table with no diaper on and Miss Nancy is asking me for a diaper. So I start searching the rooms hoping someone had left a diaper behind. They were the only toddlers there that day, but the baby room had 1 baby in it. Thank goodness that 4 month old wears one size smaller than my almost 2 year old! So we change Cooper into the 4 month old's diaper and hope that was the end of it. Ten minutes later we are walking out the door and Cooper starts screaming POO POO! POO POO! while holding his hiney. Dirty diapers don't usually bring this kind of reaction out in him, so I am very worried. I check him, and let me tell you. The prunes have kicked in. I just decide to hurry and get him in the car and home because I know what the alternative is. He won't stop screaming POO and sweet Miss Nancy hears him and insists we change him. I remind her that we have no more diapers and the baby is out as well. So she suggests the remedy I was dreading.So we both glove up and divide our duties. She wipes him down while I am scraping poo out of the diaper and into a trash bag. Then we clean out the diaper and line it with those horrible rough paper towels. We clean everything up and double bag the trash sack. Poor little Cooper walks out the room looking very bowlegged and confused. I know that is a pretty gross story, but that was my day. So it gets blogged about.

We met Amy, Joshua , and Jacob at the park to feed the ducks, but were unable to stay long due to the unbearable heat. We thought we were smart getting there at 9 in the morning, but everyone had a red face and sweaty head after about 30 minutes. The good news is we only had one pinching episode and no biting!!

Last night we found out how much they love a pallet, so they rolled around in their diapers until Daddy came home. Unfortunately, he did not notice they were clean and had on dry diapers, so he forced them into their 3rd bath of the day! Daddy was very sad that the boys didn't run screaming into the bathroom when he said it was bath time.

Today we visited Tre at his house and enjoyed two bucket tables full of shaving cream, a swimming pool, and a game of T-ball that Caleb dominated. The boys played very nicely together and we had a wonderful morning.

Daddy is working this weekend so he is staying the night with Uncle Scott and Uncle Noah. If Uncle Mike joins the mix, there could be trouble. Do not worry about us! The diaper bag is packed and Gran arrived in time to take us all out to Rico's!

"Bean" the Message

Ok, so Jennifer and I have been going to the Fellowship of the Woodlands Church for a few months now and we really enjoy it. I was a little skeptical at first because it is night and day different from FUMC Lufkin, but that doesn't really mean it is a bad thing. One of the common themes I have noticed from Fellowships messages is they are really interactive. It can be something as simple as promising to listen more or something a little more complex like "Be the Message".

For more info you can go to http://www.bethemessage.com/. In short, the idea is that over half of the world lives on less than $2 per day. A predominant part of these peoples diet consists of rice and beans. Be the Message is simply a promise to eat only beans and rice for the next five days. Jennifer made it through Day 1 with little difficulty. I cheated because there was leftover BBQ and to throw it away would simply be wasteful.

Ok, so normally I am pretty on the ball when it comes to doing the little things that make Jennifer's holidays (Valentines, Mothers, B-day, etc.) special. Normally you would expect the next few sentences to describe how hard I worked on Jennifer's Mother Days gifts, but I REALLY dropped the ball this year. Let's just say that I forgot to get her a card and she picked out her gift which she spent her own money on! OUCH! Forgot may be a little strong on the card, but I did put it off to the last minute and once the weekend came, it was all over. Mommy, I am really sorry and promise that your B-day plans are already in the works! I am not afraid to say that I am outdoing myself for this one so get ready!

Finally, I need to send a little love to Uncle Mike! He came up on Sunday and helped me build a brand new sandbox for the boys! It is dark outside now, so I can't take any pictures, but they will soon be posted to the blog.

Ford American Idol House Party

The Seely's are hosting an American Idol House Party for this year's American Idol Finale! This is actually a really neat deal. Jennifer signed up to host a party and it has someone steamrolled on us. We have a party page. Ford sent us an American Idol party pack that includes tote bags, cups, plates, napkins, etc.

Why am I telling you all of this? Because we need your help! By voting for the Seely Ford American Idol house party you greatly increase our chances of winning a 2010 Ford Fusion and possibly a trip to the American Idol Finale. Click on the link below and vote for the Seely's.

https://fordvehicles.secure.emipowered.net/idolrocksfordrolls/register/index.php?SITE=vote&ID=136378

Breakfast

Thanks to The Timmys, we now have a new favorite stuffed animal to keep up with. The boys re-discovered the stuffed animals The Timmys gave them as babies and now drag them around everywhere. Unfortunately, this is in addition to the night-night mickeys and hospital blankets. They have asked for them every night this week, but this morning was the first time they wanted to eat breakfast with them. Since the animals are as big as them, it made it quite hard to not get them dirty while they ate. Oh well. We have really started seeing some toddler-like behavior. Saturday Caleb wouldn't let me take off one of his socks to put his shoe on. So he walked around the craw fish boil all day with one sock on with Crocs. We have already had the no socks with sandals talk, but he disregarded our advice.

The Weekend Post - The Prequel

Hey everybody! It is Saturday morning, Jennifer is asleep and I am chugging coffee to get ready for the day. I didn't really have anything particular to blog about, so I decided to give a little prequel to our weekend activities.

Saturday:

• Watching Sesame Street in the Morning (Don't tell Mommy!)
  
• Good Long Nap
  
• Crawfish Boil with A-Maw, Uncle Seth, Matt "Urbanowsky", and Coach Joe (plus many others)

Sunday:

• Mommy will be at work most of the day, so maybe the guys will make a trip to Gander Mountain or something equally manly


• Maybe Uncle Mike will come visit!

You will notice that none of our activities involve putting the boys in any form of childcare facilities. Those of you who know me realize that I am not normally the hypchondriac, but you can never be too safe. We are going to avoid the Mall playland, YMCA, and church nursery (except for work).

On an unrelated note, our yard guys must absolutely hate us! Picking up the back yard is not on my list of priorities, so every weekend the yard guys are forced to have an Easter egg hunt just to mow the yard. Oh well!