Funny things the boys do

I have a small list of things that the boys have done or said lately that I need to write down in one place. They are currently on random scraps of paper all over the house. Here we go...

Carter has really been into drawing lately. He draws the cutest pictures of himself. It's been so much fun to have his pictures hanging on the fridge. The other day he drew a picture of himself really big. On the same piece of paper he'd also drawn a picture of a house that was small in comparison to the picture of him. Austin saw the picture and commented, "Carter, you can't fit in your house!" Carter's reply was, "My house is just a little far away." I had no idea that he understood depth perception like that. Very cute.

Yesterday we were headed to the church for play group with the other kids and moms. The boys were really excited and wanted to be there instantly and were asking how much longer. I started to list off the things that we had to pass to keep them occupied. As we passed the hospital that I had mentioned the conversation went like this
Carter: "I think that's the Chicago Hospital of Science and Industry." (he loves The Museum of Science and Industry)
Me: I chuckled and told him, "No, that's Swedish Covenant Hospital."
Carter: "That means they're sweet!"
Me: chuckled again "No, SweDish Covenant" trying to emphasize the "D" sound
Carter: "Ok, so they're kind of sweet" thinking I'd said sweetish.
Hilarious!

We have been working with Carter on reading and recognizing the sounds letters make. Austin has been paying attention too but he's not quite got it yet. He says things like, "I know what I want. It starts with the letter A, it's ck...ck...ck... CEREAL!!!" Or "I know, it starts with the letter B, it's ck....ck....ck....frosted snow flakes (frosted flakes)" It always makes me chuckle.

A while ago the boys had earned a treat and they had decided on gobstoppers. As I went to retrieve the bag of candy the boys had both named the color they wanted, green. When they looked in the bag there were no green so Carter said, "I guess I'll have red." and took a red one. Austin looked for a minute and saw two purple ones and said, "I guess I'll have two"

We had a Family Home Evening lesson on goals one night. The next day Zach was asking the boys what they're goals were for the day. Carter told him his goal was to have no 'time outs'. When Zach asked Austin we got an answer we were not expecting. With a very straight face Austin informed us that he didn't have any goals, they all died. Then he walked off. Later that day I brought it up with Austin again. He gave me almost the same response. He said he didn't have any goals because they all died and he flushed them down the toilet. I was rolling. He got the whole, "they died and I flushed them down the toilet" because of our fish tank experience. We got an aquarium and fish for Carter's birthday and have had terrible luck keeping the fish alive so we end up flushing a lot of fish. For some reason Austin felt all these things went together.

On a regular basis the boys turn on our Tarzan CD, strip down to their underwear and jump on Carter's bed singing at the top of their lungs. They strip down to their underwear because that's what Tarzan wears. They quite enjoy hanging out in just their underwear.

Well, that's it for now. I'm sure there will be more later.

Sesame Street's Influence on Carter

So, the other day Carter and Austin were watching Sesame Street while I did some much needed cleaning around the house. There was a certain short film that caught my attention and made me chuckle. Apparently, it caught Carter's attention too because we have had several conversations about it since.

That same day as I was combing his hair he said, "Mom, I want a mullet." My response was something like, "Oh yeah?! You thought that was pretty cool huh?" Carter, "Yeah, it was really long like yours but it was short in front so it didn't get in his eyes!" And he said it like it was the best idea in the world!!

Today I told him that I was going to give him a haircut sometime this week. First he started to protest as he usually does. Not because he doesn't want his hair short but because he doesn't want to have to sit in one place long enough for me to cut it. Then, I saw the light bulb go on, his eyes lit up and he asked, "Mom, can I have a mullet?" I laughed and said you'll have to ask your dad.

This next conversation seemed to come out of nowhere. We unexpectedly ran into my friend at the post office last week and this is a conversation Carter struck up with her.

Carter: "Bryn, do you know what I really want?"

Bryn: "What?" No doubt thinking it will have something to do with what he wants Santa to bring him for Christmas in a few days.

Carter: "A mullet!"

Bryn and I both got a good laugh out of that.

And now, for your viewing pleasure, I give you the short film that started it all.....

Sesame street says, be nice to kids with mullets!

Cold

You know it's cold outside when there's ice on the inside of your car windows.

Bullet points

Yep, we're still here. It's been a while and some big things have happened. To get you caught up I'm just going to do some bullet points. Here we go....

• We moved...in July. We live in the same general area but we found a nice place in a really good school district. This way next year when Carter starts kindergarten he'll have a definite spot in a good school. It also cut 15 minutes off Zach's commute. Score!

• We took a trip to Utah. We drove. In our tiny little Honda Accord. We barely fit us and all of our stuff for the two week trip. It wasn't bad. Don't get me wrong, it was long. I mean llllooooonnnnnngggggggggggggggg. But the kids did well and we got to swing through St. Louis on our way home and see some old friends. However, Carter did ask (read state) that next time we go to Utah it be on an airplane. No problem buddy, I'm with you on that one.

• On the drive to Utah our car gradually got louder and louder until it sounded like a jet engine. It seriously gave us a head ache to ride in it that last stretch from Yellowstone to Salt Lake. Luckily it was just rear wheel bearings and a pretty quick fix.

• Did I mention that the first two bullet points happened within a four day period? Yeah, we moved all of our stuff (Thank you Elders Quorum!!!) on July 24th and on the 27th we were all crammed in the car destination Yellowstone (and on to Utah after a few days there) Are we crazy? I'd say most likely

• When we got home from our Vacation (not sure that word's really appropriate but I'm going to use it) all of our stuff was still here. Whew! We were a little worried that someone would notice our nicely pre-packed apartment and decide to make off with the goods.

• The boys have been a little cRaZy lately. With the move and the trip any schedule we kind of had this summer flew out the window and insanity ruled for a few weeks. Luckily pre-school started so we are back in the swing of things. I never thought I'd be so excited to get up at 6 o'clock every day.

• Zach's gone. That trial date that got pushed....(see two posts ago)....is here now. He's in Philadelphia and will be there forever! Ok, maybe not forever but it could go for three months and right now that kind of feels like forever. If it went exactly three months he'd be home December 20th. See, forever. Hopefully he'll be able to come home some weekends once they're a few weeks into trial but we really don't know what's going to happen.
  

Are you all ready for the cherry that tops this all off? Here you go...

• Zach got a new calling at church. Our ward just split and he's now the 2nd counlor in the bishopric. He's very excited but feels bad that he's going to be MIA for the first few months. What do you do? That's how things go sometimes. I don't think it's going to get any less crazy around here any time soon.
  

So, there you have it. You are up to date on the happenings at the Holmstead house. Later!

*I'll try to add pictures in the near future.*

SUMMER!!

Summer is here and we are loving it. My last post was mostly words (boring) so this picture will be mostly pictures. Enjoy!

Carter is learning to ride his bike without the training wheels. He's almost got it.

Squirt guns were a big hit at our house!

I snapped these three pictures all in a row. I love the progression of their facial expressions.

Playing out in the yard.

Looking for bugs.

This kid's always dirty!

Fun at the beach


WATER FIGHT!!

That's all for now.

A little bit crazy

That's how things have been since my last post, a little bit crazy. Here's a some of what's been going on.

Zach is working on a big case that was scheduled to go to court on June 3rd. May was a very busy month for him. Most of the month he would leave for work at 7is and get home sometime after 11 almost every day. It was exhausting for everyone. During this time Austin fell off a chair and hit his head against the bookshelf splitting his head open near his left eye. It required an ER visit where they slapped some glue on it and sent us home. The day everything hit the fan was Wednesday, May 26th. Austin's cut wasn't looking good, the kids were being crazy and I was ready to explode. I took the glue off of Austin's cut to get a closer look and found that the ER doctor hadn't closed the cut completely so it wasn't healing closed, it was healing open. This in itself really isn't a big deal but the state I was in it was the last straw. I lost it. I called my mom (knowing that Zach was in a meeting and didn't need the drama) bawling. I vented to her, e-mailed my pediatrician about Austin's cut, and planned to drive to Utah with some friends and stay there until Zach was through with trial(It's expected to take two months and it's in Philadelphia so we wouldn't see him) . The next day, Thursday, there was a meeting with the trial judge and he postponed trial until mid-September. Can you say roller-coaster?!? Here Zach has been working his tail off for trial in June, I'm a basket case, and we've come up with a plan for our time during trial and now it's all got to change. Goo!! Knowing there's nothing we can do to change the situation we took what we could get, time as a family. Since trial wasn't until September Zach's work load lightened considerably and we've been able to do fun family things (more on that later).

To make a long story short, I haven't posted in months because it's been a little bit crazy.

Here's a shot of Austin's cut, pre glue removal