Happy 9th Birthday Cullen!

 

We love you big mister!

MISSING! Red eared sliders

Two of our baby red eared slider turtles have gone missing. They were in the bath tub overnight in a small aquarium such as this one.  Except I had no pebbles or platform.

The two smaller turtles were in there with a larger turtle.  I had placed them there while I cleaned their much larger tank in my son's room.  I was waiting for help to get the larger tank outside.  So the turtles were living in the bath tub.

I fed them last Thursday morning.  There were three turtles.  I went to Avery school and spoke to her teacher about a few things.  By the time I left I had offered one of our baby turtles as the class pet.  I had the extra aquarium and pebbles.  I told the kids when I picked them up from school that one of the turtles was going to Avery's classroom for the school year.  I actually expected more upset but there was really nothing said.

The next morning I went to feed the turtles, since sadly, they were still in the bathtub.  Now there was only one turtle. The large turtle was alone.  Missing were the two little turtles.   It was just strange.  Where could two baby turtles get too?  They couldn't get out of the Aquarium, never mind the bath tub. 

The only time another one of our pets went missing was when Cullen's fighting fish disappeared from its fish bowl. It was in the house less than a day when it evaporated into thin air.  Later the same day I noticed that the fish was gone I found our cat, Flirt, sitting over the bowl.  Never had I seen him up on the dresser before this day.

So I have 4 suspects; Cullen, Avery, Connor and Flirt.  I can pretty much remove Cullen from the list. The idea of letting his turtles go makes him burst into tears. So I know he would not have done anything to harm them.

Avery on the other hand, would be motivated to keep those baby turtles to herself and not share them with her class mates.  I remember telling her that she could not, under any circumstances tell her classmates that the turtle was hers and not their.  It belonged to the whole class for the duration it was in Ms. Latil's room.

Connor, who has recently turned into a "real boy". He loves  to tease his sister until she is in tears.  He loves to call people names, "Yes, Mrs Frenchfry".  He is very good at ignoring me. And he makes a habit of getting into his brother and sisters things when they are not around.  However, he is a little skiddish when it comes to bugs and other crawling animals.  He wants to touch them but gets immediately freaked out and drops them.

Flirt, on the other hand, already has a criminal record.  But imaging him removing two turtles from 5 inches of water and then getting them out of the bathtub too seems pretty far fetched.  He would have had to reach over the rim of the tank and into the water.  Balanced the turtle with his paw and flung it up and out of the tank, twice.  Really? Really?

When the 4 suspects were told of the turtles disappearance there was really little to no response from any of them.  I have prodded, cajoled, threatened and bribed the truth out of each of them. And nothing!  I have no confessions, expect the one Avery came up with when I offered her $20 to tell me where the turtles were.  Her confession was a pretty good but it pretty much exonerated her.

I keep my nose sniffing for dead turtle smells and my eyes peeled for baby turtle shells but so far, the mystery of the missing turtles has not been solved.

Oh, the indignity!

This was our house the evening of Halloween! Its a first for us!

The kids actually fell asleep side by side in our bed alone. There was no fighting. No complaints of someone being too close or, heaven forbid, touching another person. There was no need for prayers or tucking in or anything. This was cake, pie, you name it.

I had to actually call Edward upstairs to see the sight. He too could not believe they were all sleeping in our bed. As you can see, Avery and Cullen are actually sleeping next too each other. Someone call the Guinness Book of World Records. This is a BIG one!

And it even gets better!

Here is a little closer look for you! Not only are Avery and Cullen sleeping next to each other peacefully, but there is so much reason for major upset to be happening had they been conscious.

I can not tell you the accusations that would have went flying. And yet here they are and Cullen has no idea of the indignity that Avery has thrust upon him.

Oh but it gets better!


Let me give you an even closer view. Its just too good!

When I showed Cullen the photo he smirks and said, "What are Connor and Avery doing?"

My reply, "That is you."

To which I got a rapid mouth movement from smirk to the biggest open mouth, "huh, what?!".

Oh my goodness was it priceless!

And that ladies and gentlemen is why Mommy ran and got the camera and took these pictures.

Cullen's look was more than worth it!

Oh the joy's of parenthood. They may be few and far between but they are priceless.

Halloween 2009

Here are the kids right before we went out Trick or Treating.
The Notre Dame game was just about to start so Edward had to first torture us with setting up the VCR.

Cullen is dressed as Anakin Skywalker. I think the mask is rather freaky.
We have never let Cullen watch the end of the third Star Wars movie because it is so dark and violent. Anakin's transformation is pretty disillusioning. So he still romanticizes Anakin.
The "Lightsaver", as Cullen calls it, was a necessity for the costume. His grandmommy gave him $5.oo as part of his Halloween treat bag. He used the money to buy the weapon.

I don't think Avery had any real idea what she wanted to be though she tended towards any character that had royal blood. In the end she choice Cleopatra. Edward and I were so enthusiastic about it and we thought not many children would be dressed as her.
As you can see in the pictures there is not one pose she has chosen that is out of place for the Queen of Egypt. Not sure where she got her ideas but they are right on.

Connor chose a Transformer costume. It was his choice. He chose it fast. He is Optimus Prime, though I don't think he cares or knows who that is. But he will gladly tell anyone who asked, or doesn't ask that he is "going to be a TRANSformer." Stress on the "trans" part. As we were Trick or Treating his mask got in the way of him seeing steps, pot holes and sewer drains but he would not take it off. And though he got tired on those little legs he would not let anyone carry his candy. But carry him? Now that was ok.
This is Connor joking about trying to suck his thumb with the mask on.

Here is out action shot.
You might notice that Anakin 's trying to one shot Cleopatra.
Its funny how art imitates life.
Happy Halloween!

Carefree Cullen

I love this picture of Cullen! He looks so happy. I love to see him being silly and having fun. So much of the time he is anxious and worried about something... or should I say everything. Poor guy he got it from me.

This picture was taken as he came down the slide backwards. I love the angle and especially his smile. He does not like this picture. He is worried because he is not sitting up just right and smiling just so. But I love it cause he is being himself.



Here he is again... trying to steal a sip from my skinny raspberry latte! I caught him! Look at that face! He knew he was caught. And I love it. I quickly took this picture as proof for the coppers. He wanted me to delete it. haha



Cullen is way to big for the baby swings now. He has to use the big kid swings. But he still wants his mom to push him. Here he is mimicking his baby brother and sister who are also calling me for a push. He is pretending that he is useless. He likes to pretend that a lot. But I know otherwise.

He is a good big brother. He is a great helper to me. He is very sweet and sensitive. Don't get me wrong he is a boy... rowdy and loud a lot of the time. But when I need help he is there. If I am not feeling well he brings me water or a drawing of someone shooting someone! haha A mother's greatest treasure.

But the best gift I can get from him... his smile and a glimpse of him being him without worrying about what others might think. Now that is priceless.

Hubby home sick = good day!

I know it probably shouldn't work this way BUT whenever Edward stays home sick from work, which is not often, my work load is lighter. You would think I would have more to do with a sick and helpless man around but NOPE!

Listen to my day... I got the kids to school on time and Connor accompanied us as usual while Edward got some sleep. Then Connor and I returned home. I took a shower and got ready for my haircut appointment. I had planned on taking Connor but, woohoo, no need to have squirmy toddler on my lap during my trim. I got my haircut like a civilized person... alone. And then.... *trumpets blow* I got solar nails! Yes! Solar Nails! Ooo I feel sooo pretty!

Tuesday I got my eyebrows waxed... so between the haircut and shapely brows I feel better than I have in a while. But then the nails... goodness!

Then when I got home all purdy'd up the boys (Edward and Connor) were sleeping again! So I got 20 minutes on the computer before they woke. And just in time too because I had to leave to go to a parent-teacher conference at Cullen's school. Again, without a toddler in tow. *skipping* I got a glowing reports on Cullen. His teacher reported that he is a very happy boy in class which is a turn around from when he started "big kid school". She said he is very well behaved which is a blessing since she does not have many boys in the class that are.. bless their little hearts. She said he is very tender hearted and that he is a ladies man... the girls seem to love him. haha. When I told Cullen what Ms Sharp said he scowled and said none of it was true. (Oh he is humble too.. so cute!)

I left the school and picked up Avery and we went and got the car washed. Which made me feel even prettier! And went back to pick up Cullen. We got home around 2:30pm and I got to sit at the computer making this scrapbook page with my new nails smiling up at me.

The page is of Avery and Cullen right before we moved to the new house. Avery was 17 months and Cullen 3 years old. The journaling on the page says:

Siblings are the people we practice on,
the people who teach us about fairness
and cooperation and kindness and caring-
quite often the hard way.

Ain't that the truth.

What a wonderfully magical day! Too bad Edward is feeling a bit better.

Flying Tiger scrapbook page

Back in September all the kindergarten classes at Cullen's school were studying transportation. Each family was challenged to do a project for this unit. The challenge was to make some form of transportation from a cardboard box. I posted some pictures of him after we finished making the Flying Tiger.

This is the scrapbook page I just completed of those pictures. I used card board and tape elements because that is what held the plane together. Paint was also used during the project. I had Cullen into my graphics program and he actually painted the red and green on the corner cardboard piece.

The "artists rendering" was actually a picture Edward drew with Cullen when they were imagining what the plane would look like. It took two long nights to complete this project. Cullen was in bed 3 hours before we quit each night. Edward and Cullen were quite proud of the results.

Matching Set

This is the other digital scrapbook page I did from the pictures I took yesterday at the barn. Cullen is swinging on the fence gate.

I like that he is not looking at the camera. Makes it a bit more artsy. Not sure why boy's pages are always so hard for me. I want to use pretty colors and ribbon and such. But I try to make something that Cullen will like when he gets older... not a page where he ponders what the heck I was thinking. (Well I am sure he does that already anyway.)

I also like how he actually LET Avery lean her head on him. She sure loves her brother and he gives her such a hard time. I guess that is a brother's job. I know my brothers did the same.

Courage - doing something even when you are scared.

I made this Cullen in hopes that it bolsters him in the middle of the night. Last night he woke at about 3am. He was crying outside our bedroom door and woke me. He was hesitant to come in because he knew he would lose a privilege the next day if he did not stay in his won bed. I woke Edward and asked him to go help Cullen. I had put the two older children to bed last night and stayed in the family room while Cullen fell asleep. So it was his turn.

I continued to hear Cullen cry and Edward's voice got a bit louder. I was laying in bed thinking, "thank goodness its not just me who can't handle it". Avery was woken by the commotion and Edward moved her to the guest room. Eventually Edward came back to bed and we hoped it would stick. Within minutes Edward was up again for the night. He has a hard time going back to sleep. But Cullen did go back to sleep on his own.

In the morning we praised Cullen for "doing" it! I told him he had courage. I asked him if he knew what that meant. And he shook his head. I said, "courage means doing something even though you are scared." He smiled and looked at his Dad. I will never forget that smile. He was proud.

Cullen is now cutting out his award so that he can tape it to his bed tonight. I hope it reminds him that he IS brave!