Just In Time

Caden’s two front teeth are super loose and about ready to come out.

Christmas music this year just got that much more AWESOME!!!

Princess Who?

Last night after dinner the boys wanted some of their Halloween candy for dessert.  The deal is, as long as they eat all of their dinner, then they can have a piece of candy.  Trysten’s choice last night was a mini box of purple Nerds.

Ever the efficient one, I sat him down at the dinner table with his treat to keep him occupied so that I would be free to head to the bathroom to assist Caden in getting all set up for bath time.  I should have known better than to leave a four-year-old alone with candy, because on my way out of the bathroom, I noticed a creepy dwarf-like figure hanging out in my room with the lights out.  And low and behold, no Trysten at the table.

Obviously something was up, because the kid only goes in my room if he’s A) wanting to wrestle on the bed, B) looking for me (which he clearly was not), or C) up to no good.  My mommy instinct was screaming C.

Me:  Hey, what are you doing in my room?
TJ: (looking surprised and hiding something behind his back) Oh nothing, mommy.  Just… hanging out.
Me:  Uh huh, right.  You have three seconds to tell me what you’re doing in here.  Three… two…
TJ:  (holding up one of his small purple Nerds) OK, I was just trying to hide this under your bed! 
Me:  Um, why would you want to hide your candy under my bed?  You know that food and candy stays in the kitchen, dude.
TJ:  Well I already put a pea under there a few days ago.  So now I was trying to put this—

Wait, what?  Did he just say he put a pea under my bed?  Where the hell did he get peas?  I HATE peas!  The only food I’ve made in the last week with any form of peas in it was a couple of days ago.  So if what he just said held any truth at all, that meant I have had a little pea rotting under my bed for the last couple of days.  At this point my head is spinning.  Remember that post the other night about bed-bug paranoia?  If so, you can probably guess that this is right about when the big neon sign in my mind lit up with the words “WELCOME TO HELL.”

Me:  You put a PEA under my bed?  Are you kidding right now or are you serious?
TJ:  (grinning from ear to ear and stating rather proudly) Yeah, I put it under there the other night mom.
Me:  (trying keep the Hulk-like Crazy Mom from rearing her ugly head)  Show me.
TJ:  (prancing over to the side of my bed, still with the grin)  I think right here, mommy.  Right in there.

He pointed to a spot between the mattress and box spring, so I lifted the mattress and pushed it over.  And there it was - a lonely, dried, shriveled, green little pea that he had somehow wedged between the mattress and box spring and left for God only knows why.  Upon seeing this little pea, I only recall two things crossing my mind: OMG thank you there are no bed bugs! and WHY THE F—- is there a pea under my mattress?!

Me:  (still trying desperately to keep my cool) Trysten, what on EARTH would possess you to put a pea under my mattress?  Since when do you put FOOD under mommy’s mattress?  What the heck, dude?

He looked up at me with his little pouty face and puppy-dog eyes and said quietly “Well mommy, I just wanted to see if you were a princess.”  Then bashfully looked down at the floor before flashing me the eyes again.

And then it clicked.  The Princess and the Pea. Right now your heart is probably breaking while you shame me silently in your mind, right?  How do I know?  Because that is exactly what was happening to me.
So, being completely dumbfounded and not knowing what to say, I just stared at him blankly while I tried to come up with something to possibly redeem myself.  Just then I watched as a small smile started working its way across his lips.  I laughed at him and said “you’re so silly!  you little goof!” and he laughed  back at me.  “OK, come on.  Let’s go finish your candy.  And no more putting food under mommy’s mattress, OK?” I said as I took his hand and we headed out the door.  “OK, mom,” he said back.

Talk about feeling like a real jerk, though.  The poor kid just wanted to reassure himself that mommy really IS a beautiful princess, and all I did was secure myself the title of Wicked Witch.

Inner Self:  Way to go, mommy.  Halloween was over two days ago, so how about you put the attitude away with the costume, mmmkay?
Me:  Deal.

Halloween Love

OK, I know I’m a little late on the Halloween Wagon.  And I know I tend to bombard you with posts one day, and then not post at all the next (I really need to learn to use the que, or at least learn how not get so excited about my posts that I can wait to share with you). But, it does get pretty busy around here being a single mama to two little terrorists.  (OK, who am I kidding?  Fable III came out and I spent the better part of my free time this weekend getting some serious game on.  I’m sorry.  I still love you tumblies - I just kind of love Fable III more right now. But trust me, just like BSB, it’s only a phase).

HOWEVER because of my lack of posting over the weekend, I am treating you with an extra post tonight with all of the Halloween greatness I’m sure you’ve been dying to see!!  What makes it so special you might ask?  Well, two magical things, friends - Darth Vader & Zombies.

Wait for it… Wait for it…

BOOM!  This is just one reason why having boys is AWESOME.



And I just decided to throw these in for good measure, cuz that’s how I roll.  And they are not oranges, they are pumpkins, damn it.  Pumpkins dressed up as oranges for Halloween.  Umm…yeah.  That’s it.

(Delicious icing care of TheSahmmy - thank you, it really is THE BEST EVER!)

Goodnight, Sleep Tight, Don't Let The Bed Bugs Bite

Ever since I started watching Hoarders, that saying has taken on a whole new meaning. Not because I’m a hoarder, but because those bed bugs are some serious shit. I always kind of thought they were just made up, like the “you owe me a coke” part of “pinch poke.” I never actually expected a coke. So this whole bed-bugs-are-real-and-really-bite thing kind of makes me feel a little paranoid. Now when I say “goodnight, sleep tight” and the boys reply “don’t let the bed bugs bite,” I kind of feel like washing all the bedding & throwing random things away. Just in case.

He Was A Confused Child

"Cheese!!  Like my new helmet mom?"

Um, Trysten, we need to talk.

He Likes To Move It Move It

My boys are best friends for life.  There isn’t much that if one of them is into, the other isn’t.  They’re like little twinsies, joined at the hip, partners in virtually everything.  The little one even looks up to his older brother (who is only a little over a year older) and wants to be a part of everything he does.  He’s almost lost without his older brother when CJ leaves for school, and sits and mopes around waiting like a little puppy whose owner is away at work all day.

However, the one big difference between them already has to be their taste in music.  Caden loves almost anything pop, and I’ll catch him singing Lady Gaga, Linkin Park, Big Time Rush, Chris Brown, etc.  He likes anything with a fast pace and a beat he can dance to.  One of these days, I’ll have to show you his awesome break dancing moves (which, now that I think of it, are strangely similar to his Kung-Fu moves).

But the little one is completely different.  He surprises me every time I turn the iPod on with his random requests for songs he’s heard once, or ones that I’ll skip through thinking he won’t like them (because I know his brother doesn’t).  Having heard just a few opening lines from a new song, they will either both cry “change it, change it!”  Or, more often than not, Caden will be in the back saying “Mom, this song sucks.  Will you please change it?” (he is totally anti-change and if he had it his way, we’d listen to Bieber and Big Time Rush all day every day - oh, and the song by Linkin Park from the movie Transfomers which he knows every word to) but Trysten argues, “no leave it!”  The way he is building his own musical taste makes me proud, especially because what he picks is not-so-mainstream (at least, not anymore), and the fact that I love jammin’ to the tunes he picks helps, too.  If I had to pick songs for a playlist that just he and I could sit and jam to,  I’m sure it would look something like this:

• Paradise City - Guns ‘N’ Roses
• Renegades of Funk - RATM (it only took once for him to hear it and now he asks for it almost every time we get in the car)
• White Wedding - Billy Idol (he heard this song one time in the car, then went into my grandma’s house and asked her to play the “Hey Little Sister” song.  She had to call me and ask what he was talking about.  They then spent the next hour watching Billy Idol vids on youtube.  He’s a fan for life now.)
• My Best Friend’s Girl - The Cars (again, only took one time.  He sings the chorus like “she’s my best best girl” and tells me it’s about me… awwww!)
• Seven Nation Army - The White Stripes
• Rock & Roll, Hoochie Koo - Rick Derringer (heard the first half of this song and got mad when I changed it at Caden’s request)
• Let’s Stay Together - Al Green (another one he got mad about when Caden asked to change it)
• New Divide - Linkin Park
• Don’t Touch Me - Brak (Cartoon Network, Cartoon Planet/Spaceghost)
• I Like To Move It - Hans Zimmer (Madagascar 2 Soundtrack)
• Rock That Body - Black Eyed Peas
• Crazy Frog - Axel F
• Sexy Chick - Akon
• Alejandro - Lady GaGa
• The Look - Roxette (don’t hate, you know you love it too)
  
• Heartbreaker - Pat Benatar
• Otherside - RHCP
• Heads Will Roll - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
• Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) - C&C Music Factory
• Uprising - Muse

So there you have it.  My rockin’ little four year old.  Obviously there are tunes that EVERY little kid wants on their play list (that Crazy Frog is musical crack for kids), but some of them just surprise the hell out of me.  His favorites are mostly songs he’s heard once, rather than the ones he hears over and over again on the radio or in the car.  I just love it.  I love that he loves the music - my music.  Makes my heart happy.

Oh, and for anyone who thinks I should still be shoving strictly Kids Bop, Disney Sing Along Songs, and nursery rhymes down my kids’ throats, and not letting them listen to that kind of music, all I have to say is this:

Cram it up your cramhole, Lafleur.

Pasta Police

TJ:  MOM! Where is the pasta you said we were gonna have?!?!

CJ:  Yeah mom! You said we were gonna have pasta with our pork chops!!!

Me:  Oh crud. I'm sorry guys. I forgot to make it tonight. I'll make it tomorrow night, k? I promise.

TJ:  Mom, you better, or ELSE.

Me:  Or else what silly?

TJ:  Or else when we grow up, we're gonna move somewhere really far, FAR away from you.

CJ:  Yeah, like Texas.

TJ:  Yeah mom, if you don't make us pasta tomorrow, we're moving to TEXAS.

Me:  Alright, alright. Jeez you guys. I said I would make the pasta already, what more do you want from me?

TJ:  Can we have a sucker?

Me:  Um, No. Eat your dinner.

CJ:  Texas here we come.