The Air Show!

The boys going to check out the C-130.

Standing at the back of the C-130 with Daddy.

This was Andrew's favorite act - Matt Younkin's Beech 18. He performed cool tricks and it wasn't loud!

I love this photo!

The same red and blue favorite plane.

Another favorite - a fire-shooting school bus.

It was powered by jet fuel and raced down the runway at 300 mph.

C-5

Andrew and Jonathan sitting in the C-130

F-15

I love that plane in the sky in the upper right. It looks like it's crashing, but no, it's just part of the show.

P-51 Mustangs

B-2 bomber

F-18 Super Hornet - super cool, but VERY loud. We had to break out the headphones for the boys.

By the end of the day, Andrew was riding and enjoying Dippin' Dots ice cream.

Andrew posing with the fire trucks.

Walking back to the car. Jonathan was enjoying some nachos.

Saturday morning, we packed up and headed to McConnell to enjoy the Air Show. The Thunderbirds were the big act this year but weren't scheduled to perform until late afternoon. We knew we couldn't make it that long, so we went until we were tired and watched some cool acts and saw some BIG planes. The boys loved it! And this morning on the way to church, Jonathan asked if we could go back to the airplane show.

The weather was in the high 70s and there was a great breeze, so I was able to handle all the walking. We foolishly took along a chair and blanket, thinking we would be able to sit and watch the show. But the boys wanted to stay on the move and weren't as interested in the planes in the air as they were in the ones on the ground.

We lasted almost 3 hours and were all VERY tired by the time we got in the car to go home. We noticed the sky was getting more and more blue, the closer we got to home. Turns out we left just in time. They cancelled the afternoon performances due to a thunderstorm that moved through the area.

It was great to back on a base, but a little nostalgic for both Keith and I. And it made us a little sad that the boys won't remember our life in the Air Force. But we'll take them to the Air Show again and show them pictures of "way back when."

Nap time Destruction

You know it's a bad sign when you walk in the boys' room and find this...

And then this...

Cranky Jonathan. Too bad he wasted so much nap time emptying all the drawers!

Andrew's handiwork - age 2, September 2007

And he was very proud of his accomplishment. *sigh*

So apparently, a 2-year-old rite of passage I was not privy to is the need to destroy your bedroom during nap time. Jonathan has been taking a nap most days due to the fact that he wakes at the crack of dawn and then is a train wreck until nap time. Unfortunately, some days, he chooses an alternate activity to sleep, like emptying all of his dresser drawers. Andrew use to do the same thing. I don't understand why they would choose destruction when they have the opportunity for a blessed nap!

Responsibility Chart

So proud of the 21 smiles he earned.

Jonathan's mini chart is on the bottom board.

We've been having some trouble lately with respect, love and kindness in our house. So I was out shopping one day and found this great Responsibility Chart by Melissa & Doug. We had been thinking about creating a type of chart with stickers, but this one is magnetic, which makes it easy to add and remove smiles as needed. And unfortunately, we do lose smiles on certain days.

This chart has been a bigger hit than I anticipated. Andrew wants to please and be good, but sometimes he gets out of control. This chart has served as a good reminder for not only chores, but also manners and behavior issues. We've had to modify the use of some of the pre-made categories, like "Don't use bad words." Not so much an issue, but we don't always use nice or kind words, so that's how we use that one. And "Do Homework" is another category we've modified. Preschoolers don't have homework, but they do need to do their work at school and cooperate. Another small issue we were having a couple weeks ago, which seems to have resolved itself!

We haven't figured out the reward system yet. We plan to keep track of the number of smiles he earns, and he can bank them to buy something big or use a few to buy screen time. The details don't seem to be important to him right now. He's just excited to go over his chart each night after dinner to see how many smiles he's earned. Hopefully this chart will work for a long time until the good behaviors become habit!

And Jonathan didn't want to be left out, so we added a couple categories for him. Unfortunately he hasn't been as motivated to earn smiles as Andrew. He's only earned a couple so far, but we're working on his manners, too!

"New" Chest of Drawers

$10 chest of drawers + $12 paint = new dresser in boys' room!

Last weekend was Labor Day, and we labored away. Not in the Labor and Delivery kind of way that I'm ready for, but we did complete several projects on our pre-baby list. One project was to re-do this little chest of drawers. I failed to take a picture of the before, but trust me it was UGLY! For starters, the pull handle was shiny gold and running the length of the drawer under the handle was also a 1-inch strip of shiny gold. The wood was a shiny veneer, light oakish color. But it only cost $10. Quite the steal my parents found for us at a recent auction!

Keith started by removing the fancy gold trim with the help of Goof Off - magic stuff that removed all the adhesive left behind by the lovely gold trim. He was worried he was going to have to sand it off, but no. Although, he may have lost a few important brain cells thanks to the strong smells. Then he removed the pulls and spray painted them black. He had found this espresso-colored spray paint that adheres to all surfaces with no prep work required and decided to try it for the exterior. (Andrew wanted him to buy fire-engine red paint. Fortunately Keith was able to talk him out of that color choice!) I was skeptical that spray paint was what we needed. I was ready to sand and get out the brushes, but we tried his way first, and in mere minutes the drawers were transformed from ugly to pretty chocolate.

After letting it dry, he put the pulls back on, and we moved it into the boys' room. And now it holds some of Jonathan's clothes as we continue to work on the bedroom transition.

As a side note, the boys are getting better at going to sleep at night. But the past two mornings, they have woken each other up at 6:45 am. I don't function before 7:30. Actually I really don't function before 8:30, so you see how this is a problem for me...plus they are cranky most of the day and Andrew no long believes in naps...and I'm cranky because I lost at least 45 precious minutes of sleep. So our new policy is about once a week the boys sleep in separate rooms to assure that everyone in the house gets a good night sleep. We can only do this for a couple more months, but for now, it is what works for us.

1st Day of Preschool

These happy 1st day of school pictures were taken after school.


Cars that change colors were our special treat for surviving the 1st day. This is Ramone. He changes from yellow to red depending on the temperature of the water.

Jonathan has Lightning McQueen, who changes from turquoise to green.

Our water bill went up a bit this day thanks to all the color changing.

Andrew had his first day of preschool last Wednesday. It was a rather traumatic day for all parties involved. And while he was excited about the idea of school, he doesn't deal well with change. We went to meet the teacher on Monday. It took us two trips to get him in the classroom. I went in the morning and had a lovely chat with the teacher, while Andrew stayed in the hall "hiding against the wall." Jonathan was thrilled to be there and checked out all the cool stations they had set up. He is ready for school and kept asking me where his class was. Sorry, no class for 2 year olds.

Mrs. B. went in the hall several times to talk to Andrew and try to coax him into the room to no avail. It was supposed to be a 15-minute meet and greet. We were there for an hour before I gave up. We went home with a new plan to go to the evening session of Meet the Teacher with Keith. That worked much better as Keith has the physical strength that I currently lack to get Andrew into the classroom. He was very happy to look at everything and talk briefly with the teacher as long as Daddy was by his side. And when we left, he said he was excited to come back on Wednesday.

Fast forward to Wednesday morning. We were on a roll until I got his shoes on - double-knotted. Suddenly he realized we were really going to school, and he FREAKED out! Shoes and socks that took me 5 minutes to put on, were off in less than 2 seconds. And did I mention they were double-knotted?! Then the screaming started. "I'm scared. I don't want to go! I don't know anyone." Up until this point, we were running ahead of schedule. I quickly realized that instead of getting to school early to settle in, we would get there very late.

I called Keith at work, hoping he could talk some sense into Andrew. But Andrew refused to talk to him. And with Keith 30 minutes away, he wasn't going to help us get to school anywhere near on time. So, I went the desperate route and told Jonathan to come with me and that we were leaving. I grabbed Andrew's backpack and a pair of sandals. I wasn't messing with sneakers and socks again and headed to the garage with Jonathan in tow. This freaked Andrew out. He has an irrational fear of me leaving him at home alone, which by the way, I have never done and never will do, but this fear worked in my favor.

He followed me, screaming the whole way and actually got in the car. I buckled Jonathan, and then buckled Andrew. A futile effort as he immediately unbuckled himself and tried to get out of the car. Thank God for child-safety locks. He couldn't open his door. I started the car and started backing out, only to have Andrew jump in the front seat. He told me he was trying to turn off the car and thankfully he didn't know how. Do you see the level of fear and anxiety I was dealing with?! I knew I had to get us out of the garage and driveway, so I kept going with him practically sitting on my lap. Fortunately, I didn't hit the garage as I was trying to back out, and I did manage to get us down the street. By the end of our street, he was back in his seat, screaming at me to buckle him. So, I pulled over and buckled him and explained he needed to stay in his seat and stay buckled or Mommy would go to jail.

We proceeded to school, with Andrew screaming and crying, Jonathan quiet as a mouse, and me trying to pray louder than the screaming. It was a long 3 miles to school. In the school parking lot, there was a police car. That distracted us for a minute. At first I wasn't nice and told him the police were there because they heard the screaming. I realized I wasn't helping the fear, and quickly changed it to maybe it was a mommy or daddy bringing their little boy or girl to his school. Or maybe a special presentation with a police dog. Curiosity got the better of him, and we got shoes on and out of the car.

Once inside, Mrs. B, came to the rescue. We were at this point 10-15 minutes late, and she was looking for us. She sent me to sign some papers and took over with Andrew. One of the hardest things I've ever done is leave my sad, scared boy sitting under his backpack hook looking at me with those eyes. I gave him a digital watch and promised I'd be back at 11:30 and that I loved him and then I walked away and fell apart. The poor secretary didn't know what to do with this basket-case pregnant mother. I signed whatever it was she gave me and went looking for a bathroom to pull it together. By the time I regained composure, Andrew was in the classroom with Mrs. B. and Mrs. W. and the secretary told me he was talking to them and there was no screaming. VICTORY!

Jonathan and I escaped and went in search of some retail therapy at Target. I treated myself to a frozen coffee and Jonathan asked for a lollipop. Then we found some cool color-changing Cars as a reward for surviving Day 1. Then we went back to pick up Andrew and found he had indeed survived, as had his teachers and was excited to go back on Friday. I was told he did well, but the watch had to go. Turns out he's a little Nazi clock-watcher and the teachers didn't need his help with their schedule.

Friday was a breeze. Only he told Mrs. B. he didn't know his shapes and that he couldn't use scissors. She had to manipulate him to cooperate. This could be a long school year if I get a 10-minute report at the end of each day. But at least the screaming has stopped and the fear seems to be gone! This is a new week with many new adventures waiting for us.