You know you are mad at your brother when...

...you make a sign that means "No Bradens Allowed." (What appears to be a "20" is actually the word "NO." Ya know, just in case the giant X didn't convey that information.)

...and a drawing of the family that leaves your brother out. (I'm on the left here, the one "with the scraggly hair." Thanks, Garrett. )

Hot potato!

Braden's friends Omar and Yessenia had a birthday party today at their father's Mexican restaurant in Bryan. Their mom, a sociology prof at A&M, planned some traditional Mexican games, like hot potato. Braden hung back at first, but soon got involved. I'm afraid the kid has a competitive streak: He wanted to win. He was throwing that potato as quickly as possible.

All the kids were quick to point out which kid was out. The were good sports (mostly).

Finally, it was down to two: Braden and another boy.

Ohhh...music stops! Who's the winner?

Braden!!!

the pains of blogging

I want to blog. I really do. But I don't have the patience to wait for photos to upload, and I have a million other things to do like put little boys to bed, make lunches, grade tests, take a shower, snuggle with my dog under the covers. So, I thought I'd post this little blurb so some people (that's you, Linsey) will know that I tried.

I'm a little worried about Garrett...

...he might be a little, well, off. As in, sadistic. And that is a little scary.

Clue number one: While watching the end of the new version of The Karate Kid, Garrett said, "I hope those red guys win." Those red guys are the bullies, the bad guys, the awful kids. The ones who chant, "no mercy" and punch cute little Will Smith, Jr. in the face. Over and over. Garrett wanted them to win. Of course, he also said, "I hope they beat that girl" even though Will Smith's kid is a boy (with long braids). I'm not sure what is more upsetting: Garrett, in all sincerity, wanting the bad guys to win. Garrett, in all sincerity, watching an ENTIRE movie confused about the gender of the protagonist. Garrett, in all sincerity, wanting the bad guys to beat up a girl.

Clue number two: Garrett told me yesterday, "Mom, I like tomatoes because their juice is red. Red like blood."

Clue number three: Today, upon seeing the "no guns" symbol on a sign posted on the fence around the playground at Braden's school, Garrett sighed deeply and said, "awwwgh. That's no fair. There's no guns allowed at Braden's school."

So tell me: should I worry? stage an intervention? Sleep with one eye open? Or is he just a normal little boy?

A funny story, by Garrett

Once upon a time there was a crazy goose living in a forest (noooo, a farest) and he lived with some bears and a cricket dog. And then he got on his bike with more family crazy gooses who were sticking onto his bike pedals. He was pedaling on them with his head. He wanted some chocolate milk and he found a chocolate milk tree and he drank all his chocolate milk with a crazy goose straw that goes up and down and up and down. Then he still pedaled and he found a banana tree and he ate some of the bananas off and then he found a bear tree with gummy bears and he ate some of them off. Then, he got back on his bike and he found some, ummm, cup tree and he got some cups and he put them in his basket in the front. Then he made a goose sound (sound effects). The end. That's all of it. And then he went back to his home with the bears. So. The end.

An interview with Garrett

Garrett has a project for pre-school: decorate a poster with information about him. We're planning on doing that tonight, but first I thought it might be fun to interview him. I attempted this several years ago with Braden (and had absolutely no luck), so I thought I'd try again with G-man. I culled the questions from my friend Kelly's blog:

Me: What's your name? Garrett. Garrett Allen.

Me: How old are you? um, FOUR!

Me:Who are your friends? mmm. Grant, Graham, and Weston. The other one I said is Grant. So it looks like two Grahams in my classroom but it is Grant.

Me: What about any girls? Are any of your friends girls? G: ummm, yeah. Like Payton and Lauren.

Me: What's your favorite snack? mmm. Peanut butter and jelly! Mmmm. The drink is chocolate milk.

Me: What's your favorite game? um. Checkers. (to my knowledge, he has never even seen checkers!)

Me: What else do you like to do? feed Cali. Mmmm. Make some food for Cali. Go to school.

Me: What is your favorite animal? Giraffe.

Me: Why do you love mom? Because she’s pretty.

Me: Why do you love dad? Because he’s cool.

Me: What's your favorite show? Wow Wow Wubzy. Mommy, do you know how to spell Wow Wow Wubzy?

Me: Tell me about your pet? dog. Do you know how to spell dog? Girl. Boy. Girl. Boy. Girl. (giggles).

Me: Do you have any chores? Clean it. Clean my toys.

Me: What do you like about our house?? nuthin!. Are you signing nuthin!? Me: you can’t think of anything you like? G: nuthin!.

Me: What is your favorite book? Old Mac Donalds.

Me: We're almost done...What do you want to be when you grow up? Football player!! Do you know how to spell football player?

Me: What's your favorite stuffed animal? Um, Monkeys.

Me: Daddy, can you think of any questions?

D: What’s your favorite thing to do? G: nuthin! No, no, I said McDonalds!

D: Tell me about your brother. G: BRADEN!

And from then on, he would only say "Braden" and giggle and so the interview was over.

Ganoler bars

(that is Garrett's word for granola bars).

He really loves his ganoler bars as evidenced by the massive amounts of ganoler bar wrappers that I just uncovered under his bed.

Sheesh, kid. Ever heard of a trash can?

A story (or, Garrett is a big fat liar).

My birthday is coming up soon. Braden, knowing this, informed me today that I should go skydiving for my birthday, and someone should videotape it. This thought made me panic a little and wonder what on earth Kyle was up to, but thankfully, Braden explained. You see, one of his favorite Kids Klub counselors went skydiving for HER birthday. Here's the story: "She went up in a plane (but she wished it had been a helicopter) and was 2500 feet up and then she skydived. And someone videotaped it." Oh. Whew. No surprise skydiving trips for me are in the works.

Then, Garrett had a story: "Miss Courtney went skydiving for HER birthday, too. And SHE got to up in a helicopter. And when she was TWO HUNDRED feet up, she skydived. And Miss Asra videotaped it. And I saw it. And Miss Courtney landed in a hole. Like a big hole in the ground." (at this point, Braden is totally into the story--he's buying it hook, line, and sinker). "And the hole was bigger than her head and she was buried in the hole and she had to dig her way out of the hole. And she's still digging right now."

Braden, a bit incredulously: "Garrett, are you making this up?"

Garrett, proudly: "YEP!"

The kid CAN read!

Braden refuses to read to me. He simply says, "I don't read in front of people," in the same way others say, "I don't eat meat" or "I don't watch reality TV." It's almost like it is this moral choice he has made...or that if he reads to me, I will suck out his soul, his independence, and he'll be left, floundering and dependent on mommy forever.

This reading refusal is really annoying, especially because I know he CAN read. I know this because he reads stuff all the time and asks questions or informs me of important information: "Mommy, why is the elevator that way?" "Mommy, puppies are on sale at the mall." etc. etc.

Yesterday, he came home with flashcards of 100 words that he is supposed to know by the end of 1st grade. He's needs to conquer 50 of them by the end of the 3rd six weeks. I showed them to him and explained the deal. His response? "That's easy." And he began rattling off the words.

As my jaw dropped lower and lower, he continued reading the words. He was tripped up about five times: there, their, and a few others.

I guess my mom-homework is done for the year. Unless he is supposed to also spell the words, in which case we might be in trouble. I wonder if he'll spell in front of people?

I'm a terrible mother. Please don't tell God.

I realize He already know this.

I've been thinking lately that I'm doing pretty well at the mom stuff. I've been making my kids be in bed before 9; I've been packing nutritious lunches; I make the kids brush their teeth and bring in their own lunchboxes from the truck at the end of the day. I take them to church most Sundays, and they don't cry when I drop them off at "Sunday Church" (Garrett's term). I even take time to read them books many nights.

I don't, apparently, talk to them about God enough.

Tonight, Braden and I were reading chapter 2 of a space book (yes, nonfiction. The kid really prefers nonfiction). "The Universe" was the title of this chapter. Within a few pages, the book began describes The Big Bang--you know, the universe was created from a mass of matter smaller than a pinhead (yes, really, that is what the book said) until The Big Bang. Now, I get The Big Bang, but I also get the version in Genesis. So, I decided to pull out The Bible to share with Braden another version of the creation.

I grabbed my old trusty children's Bible off the shelf--the one my Dad gave me in 1982. I showed it to Braden and told him how my dad gave that Bible to me when I was his age. He thought that was pretty cool. I then opened it to Genesis and began to read.

He asked a few questions: "Why does it keep saying 'And there was evening and there was morning?'" and so forth. And then...get ready...he said, "Enough of that one mommy, let's get back to the real story," and grabbed his Space book.

Oh gosh.

I've got some work to do.

1st day of 1st grade

Today was Braden's first day of first grade. "It was cool," he says.

Here he is before we left the house in the morning. Notice his fancy new lunchbox! He is still wearing the same ol' crummy backpack, but we'll get him a new one this weekend.

Here he is in front of the school. He's really humoring me here with the picture taking--he was seriously waaaay too cool for this.

Calm, confident, collected...until we got to the door of his first grade classroom. Then, he did NOT want to go in even though he saw his bud Samuel in the classroom. There was a lot of clinging (on his part) and a lot of prying (on my part), but with the help of Mrs. Cardona, he made it in the classroom door.

Games with Grandma

Grandma Scheele spent a few nights with us at the end of May. The boys had a great time hanging out with their Grandma, and Garrett and Grandma played a particularly exciting game of I Can Do That, a Dr. Seuss game that Garrett got for his birthday.

Mother's Day at Braden's School

On Friday, thanks to three colleagues who helped cover my classes, I was able to attend a lovely Mother's Day tea at Braden's school followed by a Mother's Day lunch at Garrett's school. For some reason, I didn't take pics at Garrett's school, but I did get a nice one of Braden and me and another one of my placesetting with all the wonderful gifts he made me.

The Green Machine!!

On Good Friday, Braden fell in love with a Green Machine belonging to the Parrs. He rode and rode and rode this Green Machine. He wanted one. He wanted one badly. Thankfully, Braden had a birthday coming up, and he's a smart kid. He asked for money (he also knew that little brother had a birthday coming up, too, and he'd be able to play with little bro's loot). After his birthday party, he'd accrued just about enough (thanks to GrandTom, Aunt Linsey, Uncle Matt, the Corleys, the Kovacses). Granddaddy and Grandma Janet came in town and pitched in remained cash needed.

It took a few hours to put together the thing, and I'm pretty sure there were additional holes being drilled into the main axle.

Braden sure is a happy kid!!

A meatless hot dog

Braden does not much love meat. He never has much cared for it, even as a baby. Today, we went to an end-of-the-year picnic for his dual language kindergarten, and hot dogs were served. Braden adapted, though.

Like father, like son

This evening, I heard the unmistakable sound of tools clanking in the garage. Because Kyle had just bought a new weight bench last night, I thought he was in there making some minor adjustments to it. I could hear the sounds of little voices, too.

I finally got up to bring the boys inside for their baths.

Kyle was not in the garage.

Braden, Garrett, and their neighbor-friend Luke were in there.

And they had removed the training wheels from Garrett's bike. He's four, you know. And big brother learned to ride when he was four, so it is high time for Garrett to learn.

Braden accomplished the training wheel removal by standing on a chair to reach the tool box, finding the correct size of wrench, and then getting to work. He was quite proud of himself.

I'm sure daddy will be proud, too, once he wakes up...I found him in bed asleep by 8 pm.

All that is left to do is teach the Garrett Carrot how to ride.

Birthday Party Deluxe!

Last soccer game of the season!

Happy Birthday Garrett!

Today is Garrett's fourth birthday, but since his big party is next weekend, we didn't really have anything special planned. It was our turn to host our Sunday evening dinner group, and Ryan Kovacs came with a cookie cake just for Garrett. So sweet of her (and her parents!). She helped me put candles in the cake, and we took a quick picture before showing the cake to Garrett. Garrett got a little embarrassed when we sang Happy Birthday, and covered his face. I've never really seen him embarrassed. Too cute!

It took about ten tries to blow out the five candles (four small white ones plus the number 4). How is it possible to miss when the candle is inches from your face?

Yuuuuummmmmmy!

After the dinner crew left, we gave Garrett a couple of little presents...a red dragon and a knight dress up set. He's currently in bed next too me still playing with the new sword. It might be confiscated soon...