By golly he's got it!

Our Z has got it down!
He ties his shoe laces every morning.
I actually dropped the ball because he started doing this last week.
I had a V8 moment this morning...I hadn't photographed him in action.
So off I went to grab my camera.
Sorry the pics aren't too hot, I'm not a good "Indoor Picture taker."



All done!
Way to go Z!!



Now if I could get him to eat more veggies......

Mama Mia!

Yesterday while Z bonded with Pop's over video game time, E and I hit the kitchen.
I made homemade pizza dough and Little E was more than eager to help.

We made on medium Cheese for Zenon & Ethan, personal sized Chicken and pineapple for Pop's and one personal fresh veggie pizza for mom...YUM!

My little chef at work.



He really enjoyed putting my pizza together, he liked all the colors.
I liked all the flavors.

MMMmmmmmm yesterday we ate dinner differently.

The game was on so Pop's watched and the boys enjoyed Boomerang while eating, I ate while watching Cougar Town on Hulu.

Not typical of us to eat this way but it didn't kill us.

Boys gobbled up their dinner, Pop's yelled out a thumbs up and I....oh I was in pizza heaven. So yummy, so delicious but so wet!

Note to self, figure out how to make veggie pizza without your veggies leaking.

Does any one have a helpful hint??

Yummy Weekend.

I'm so happy to have my blog back, a super special Thank You to our cousin David. He fixed it all up for me. David, you, Karen and the boys must come for dinner. Better yet, we can all head to the lake and go on trail walks, skip rocks in the water and roast marshmallows by the fire.

I have so many pictures, but will share just a recent few.
This weekend we caught a beautiful sunset, Little E insisted I take a picture.
The boys are hugging below but you have to really squint to see them.



Also, it was E's weekend with "Chester" the raccoon.
Chester is a character from the children's book "Kissing Hand."
E's teacher, Mrs.Mead, sends Chester home with a new child each weekend, so they can make and journal their own personal adventures.

Here's E and Chester watching Transformers 2, we hit the dollar movie, can't go wrong with a buck.





Next we celebrated Aiden's 2nd birthday.
2nd BIRTHDAY! I can hardly believe it!!
He is so beautiful, both boys are quite honestly.
Aiden is quite the character and I'm selfishly glad he's growing up because he really made Nick and I want another baby, he's just THAT cute.
I told his momma Karen a while back about how he made us crave another little one and she laughed and said her little busy body made her NOT want anymore little ones, pretty funny.


There he is hoping candy will fall out for him.




Sharing with his big brother Ryley.

Lastly, on Sunday we relaxed. We didn't make it to services but we gave our Thanks at home.

Nick cleaned up the garage and the boy's and I baked empanadas.

Pumpkin and cherry filling were the flavors of choice but I have to tweak this recipe a bit. I guess I'll have to keep making them until they are perfect!

Little E helping out, he was such a enthusiastic helper.

YUM!

Lastly before the night was up the boys got a late night snack of cinnamon toast.

The "Kissing Hand" cinnamon toast that is.

Chester's bag comes with ideas you can do with your children, one of them was toast in the shape of a hand. Nick teased that it couldn't be done, well I showed him didn't I?

E insisted I fold the middle fingers down to sign "I love You" just like in the book.

My little monkey was VERY happy with the results.

Their little smiles made it for a very happy night.

Out of Order

Don't know when I will be able to post again.
I temporarily hooked up my old computer just so I could blog today.
Phew...feels good to do so.
Didn't realize how blogging is so stress reducing for me.
Since I've been unable to do so daily I am a crab.
Or what my boys would call a "Crabby Patty".

Oor other computer was attacked by malware or something like that.
Our cousin the comp whiz fixed it but now I can't log into google.
I'm letting out the infamous Corkill sigh...SIGH......

The boys are doing well. Z's teacher says he walks into class and tells her "I'm going to be good today." I think that's pretty cute.
She told me today that he's a super sweet kid, I would have to say I agree with her.

E is well E...quiet and super cute while in school, when I'm helping his teacher I can't help but stare at him, he's doing awesome.

At home we're really trying to put our "Bean system" into full force.
Basically they get paid in beans for helping around the house, good behaviour in school and at home. It's like an allowance system.
Today they helped in the yard and I paid them in beans.
In return they bought candy with their beans.
5 beans = small sweet.
I make them count, they give me beans, I hand them the candy jar for their choice of goody.

Well I am logging off, Pop's is home and I am going to moan how I miss blogging.

Until I blog again my friends.

Experiments, Birthday's and Labor Day weekend.

I gave Z and E a heads up on whats to come this week in school.
For science we did Sink or Float.
They caught on super quick and loved it.

I grabbed all kinds of toys and little odds and end's for their experiment.
Then on my white board I made two categories "Sink/Float" and they had to tell me what object was likely to do one or the other.
They had a blast and did great.
I let them splash around while they were at it, a little water never hurt anyone.



E about to drop a stretchy bug to see if his prediction was right...and it was.



This Sunday we had a Pre-labor Day celebration at John and Deb's.
There was Mexican food, desserts, swimming, family, great conversation and a whole lot of fun.



And a whole lot of birthday's too!
John and I have the EXACT same birthday, neat huh?
Followed by Tonya's birthday 4 days later, so Debbie bought us a cake.
Our poor family sounded winded after having to fit all three of our names into the birthday song!
The evening ended extremely late but we loved it.



I can't wait for our next family get together.

Laid back and High strung.

Second week of school is over and I have not taken many photos...so unlike me.

Z's having trouble in school he's not very attentive. So needless to say that means more homework, per my request. You don't finish at school bud, you do it at home with ME!
Don't like it you say? Well should of finished at school.
Obviously he's the laid back one.

Little E is well...a bit high strung.
He want's perfection.
Had a class project...a Teddy bear project.
I cut out fabric, sewed and E helped me stuff.
He wanted a Hercules bear so I went to cutting out a felt outfit.
E glued on the outfit with my help, Hercules bear even had a sword.
Well in the end he was NOT happy.
He cried that I made the bear all myself and not him.
Waa waaa waaa. "I didn't do it, you did it mommy!"
He didn't want a fabric bear he wanted a paper bear one with out my help.
I told him well he could do just that.
I handed him the felt and told him to cut away.
"No I can't you do it mooooommmmm."
So what does mommy do?
She starts cutting out a new outfit for paper bear.
Well Pop's put a stop to that quick.
He explained to E that me cutting an outfit out for fabric bear was the same thing as paper bear.
Sent him to bed and tucked him in.
He then came in helped me pick up the felty mess and told me not to cave in to the boys.

I know, I know.
But when you have one getting in trouble for talking in class and whining when I ask him not too.
And another who's crying because he has no homework and when he does its never good enough.
Whine, cry, whine, cry.

I tend to cave because I want some PEACE!

Sigh... you know these two really keep me on my toes.
Though I look haggard, my hair's falling out, I have huge bags under my eyes and I look like an old shoe.
I'm happy.
Happy my boys are talking, happy they are thriving, happy that they are mine.

Helicopter Mom

This word had no meaning to me until this past week.
Yet, I have been practicing for a few years now.

Nick pointed me out that I indeed was a helicopter mom after watching an episode of the Simpsons..."Father Knows Worst."

Though he was laughing and eye balling me while the character described what a helicopter mom was.
I then punched him in the arm...jokingly of course but I still did :).

What is a helicopter mom?

Well in the show its a mom who's a bit high strung, teaches her kid to yell out state capitals on a clapping command and is a constant figure up at the school.
She's there to ensure her child is learning and getting good grades.

I on the other hand go to make sure mine don't fall through the cracks and are treated well.

Not to mention I am a bit crazy and want to watch from occasion.

I don't train my children like baby seals, I just want to be able to bring some knowledge home so I can help them.

I'm a strong advocate that learning doesn't end when the school bell rings and therapy doesn't stop when the child isn't sitting in front of their speech therapist.

So world, if that's what I am, so be it!

I will hold my head high and pilot my way through the schools.

I am off with my arms extended, twirling around and flicking my tongue out while I make my helicopter noises. (You'll get this if you watch the show which you can do for free on Hulu).