He would love to be a Jedi

Right now I'm watching Travis watch the extras DVD from his Clone Wars movie. Every now and then you hear a giggle or a laugh and occasionally he blurts out things he wants to be sure I've heard/seen. I'm not sure how many kids watch the extras DVD instead of the actual movie but Travis likes it for some reason. He was that way for the other Star Wars movies too....he will watch the actual movie but also really liked the watch the extras! Travis is constantly asking me what Star Wars person I want to be......today I was Captain Rex......

Next time I will get some pics of him being a Jedi. :)

It broke my heart......

Last night Travis and I were watching an episode of Sponge Bob. Everything seemed normal until Gary (the snail) ran away from home. Sponge Bob was so sad that Gary left.....he was crying and looking for him etc. Travis suddenly got extremely upset and started crying and sobbing saying....."poor Gary".....sob, sob, sniff, sniff. This went on for about 5 minutes until Gary finally went home again. I told Travis repeatdly that Gary would go home eventually but he just cried and cried. It broke my heart seeing him so sad about it.

Apparently when I was younger I had the same thing happen to me when I watched "Snoopy come home". My mom says I cried over and over again...."Come home Snoopy come home". She said I was inconsolable like he was and thankfully for me this was a 10 minute Sponge Bob show instead of an hour+ movie!

I wish I had taken a picture or video.....he would have been so upset to see that as a teenager! LOL

I decided to get rid of most of the tiger.....

I know that title sounds really strange to people but it's true. When I got my hair done 2 weeks ago she put a large tiger stripe in my hair (I wrote about it then as well). I wasn't 100% I liked it since it was very obvious and always seemed to show in the front. After many odd comments ranging from "why did you do that to your hair" to "is that a pheasant feather in your hair?" I decided it was time to tame the tiger so to speak.....

So i called this morning and thankfully she had time this afternoon. They said it would take about 30 minutes but of course it really took about 2 hours. I kept a small portion of the stripe towards the back and she filled in the other part of the stripe with solid black and bleached the other parts blond. She also added some black on the other side. It looks a lot less obvious to me which is good. I'm glad she is so good.....the fix looked easy! ;) Thanks Suzanna!

Kites with no wind and another Pump it Up party.....

We met everyone (my parents, Tammy, Sean, Mandy and Charlie) at Whitlow's on Wilson for brunch on Sunday morning. Travis was actually pretty good through the meal-thanks to the workbook Tammy brought! He filled out the workbook almost the entire time....thankfully I didn't have to see if the other things I brought would have entertained him. lol

After brunch we headed to the toy store down the street. This is one of Travis' favorite things to do. Dad let Travis pick out a Lego set-he chose a SpongeBob one (the Bikini Bottom bus and bus stop I think) and Dad found a Spongebob kite and a cool new workbook. No surprise to anyone that Travis wanted to fly the kite right then. Of course there wasn't much wind yesterday-why couldn't he ask this when we had those crazy gusts the other day? So the adults took turns trying to run with him and get the kite up in the air. It only ended up in a tree twice and Charlie was tall enough one of the times to just grab the limb and the other time took some teamwork between Dad and Charlie. One time Travis ran straight into a tree since he was trying to watch the kite behind him instead of what was in front of him-it was totally from "Funniest Home Videos". It was so funny to see everyone trying so hard to get this kite to fly in pretty much zero wind.

Later that evening we went to our 2nd Pump It Up party of the weekend. This one was for Logan's 5th birthday at the Manassas location. Now to be fair this location seemed a little better than the other one. It was brighter and not as loud and it also didn't hurt that I knew most of the adults so I chatted more etc. The one on Saturday seemed to just drag on and on and this one wasn't that bad. Travis was wild when we first walked in the door but wasn't doing the hitting and pushing like the day before. Only once was there a bad collision. He and Logan hit heads and there was massive crying but in the end they both seemed fine. Thankfully Logan is a lot shorter or there could have been bloody noses, teeth missing etc. They hit hard apparently and Travis talked about a headache all night long. By the time we ate the pizza he was getting goofy since it was his bedtime (it was 7:30ish at this point). I got him in PJs before we left and he fell asleep in the car.

Pump it Up is the place from he$$

On Saturday we had a party at "Pump it Up" in Leesburg. It was a 5th birthday party for a kid from Travis' class. We have been to the "House of Bounce" out in Manassas a few times and liked it but this place was not impressing me...... It's dark and loud. None of the parents were joining in the fun so it was a bunch of adults just standing around since they don't have a lounge type area like they do at the "House of Bounce". I don't know....the kids love places like that but this place wasn't the best (I know there are other locations and we went to another on Sunday-more about that later). It also didn't help that Travis was wild from the moment we got in there because one of his friends from class was there. They were constantly pushing each other etc. Laughing the whole time but I am always over sensitive about it because I don't want him to hurt another kid because he can't "turn it off". I just wish people got to see the Travis I know....the sweet boy who loves to sit quietly and do Legos, watch TV etc. When we walk into a place like that he goes on sensory overload and his ADHD kicks in BIG TIME and he can't calm down. I know I'm being sensitive about it...

After we got home it was off to the airport to drop off Evan. He was heading to Budapest for the week for work. Travis told Evan "do your work at night too so you can come home early...ok Dad?". It was cute.

When we got home Travis and I headed into the basement to play some Xbox. He wanted to play Monster Jam and unlock some of the trucks. I felt very redneck playing this game but I was able to unlock "destroyer" so he and I were happy! I am terrible at the driving games which made this an extra sweet victory!

Neighborhood scrap night/free therapy night! lol

Friday was our neighborhood scrap night. Basically someone hosts and provides the space and dinner while the rest of us show up to get some pages done! It's nice since it gives you an excuse to get out of the house and gossip with the best of them while getting some scrapbooking done!

Rachel hosted this week and made some really delicious chili. Chili is one of my favorite foods and hers had something sweet in it....I love sweet! LOL

I finished 3 spreads in about 3 hours which is pretty much my average. I am posting one of the spreads. I only use a 8 1/2 x 11 book so I don't have as much room as the people that use the 12 x 12 books.

I enjoy all the girl time and getting some work done all at the same time! I know some people look at it like very cheap therapy!

Legoland!!!

On Monday we went to the Legoland outside of Chicago. I attached to a mall and isn't as big as I thought it would be but Travis thought it was GREAT!

We got there when they opened at 10am along with 2 busloads of kids. I know it's terrible but I found myself saying ....."hurry up so we can get ahead of those kids!". Large groups like that just slow everything down. Travis thought the city of Chicago in Legos was really cool. He liked all of the skyscrapers and the marina the very best. He dawdled in this section until I threatened to leave him behind with the school group.

The next part was a jungle made out of Legos. Some of the things were really impressive like the family of tigers but the person that worked there said there were spiders and that didn't make Travis happy. I wasn't sure if he was going to make it through the jungle since he was screaming and crying. Finally Evan carried him and he buried his head into his shoulder the rest of the way out. He was still traumatized by the jungle and wouldn't pose with Darth Vader or Batman....oh well I was able to get Evan to do it though.

The dragon ride was up next and was seriously the most baby thing I've ever been on--even more baby than the train in the mall. It was on a roller coaster track but just ran along it with Lego people on the sides etc. For some reason Travis was scared by this too and spent the whole time with his head under my armpit-thankfully I had deodorant on. :)

Travis wanted to see the factory area where they show you how Legos are made. There were too many noises in this room and Travis spent most of the time with his hands on his ears. It was pretty cool to see how they make them though and at the end all of the kids get a Lego brick with the Legoland logo on it. No such thing as too many Legos! LOL

We saw the 3D movie and Travis said that was his favorite part of the trip! It was pretty cool and had castles, knights and a dragon. Thankfully we saw it when we did since the website says they are showing the spring movie now which is a Bob the Builder movie. Travis isn't that into Bob anymore so the knights etc were definitely a better deal for him.

Travis also seemed to really enjoy the free build area and spent about an hour just building and building and building! It was kind of boring for Evan and I though since there aren't any TVs or anything.....

We spent a lot of time in the gift shop trying to decide what to take home. There was a SpongeBob and Patrick made out of Legos in the gift shop which Travis was very happy about. He was a little bummed that the Lego Mr. Krabs, Squidward and Plankton were up high in the window. Travis finally chose a SpongeBob set, a car and a Star Wars walker.

Overall he had a great time but it left me wanting a lot more. I think a trip to the real Legoland in California needs to be on our list! I wouldn't suggest going there just for Legoland but if you are in the area with small kids it's a good idea.

Some random pics from Chicago

Running fast at the party!
Just hanging around outside the party room! Thankfully is was nice out so the kids could get some exercise and work off some of the sugar that was in the birthday cake!

At the dairy farm watching the cows get milked!

Watching SpongeBob with cousin Carlos and Uncle Tom. Carlos only speaks Spanish but he loved Spongebob too-even when it was only in English! (it was on Travis' DVD)

Uncle Eldon took Travis to the fire station! He had perma-grin all day! :)

Evan milking the cow-lol. It was a "game" to see if you could milk the cow faster than the people that work there do. Evan did it in 38 seconds......about 14 seconds too slow.

Travis and Margaret (Evan's grandma) at Eldon's house.

More up to date posts coming since my Net Book is fixed.....and we went to Chicago for Evan's Grandmas 91st bday!

Thankgoodness Evan was able to fix my Net Book. It had fallen off the couch onto the carpet and it cracked the monitor a few weeks ago. It was an accident.....I think Travis tripped over the cord but annoying regardless. He ordered a new monitor and it took awhile to get here since it had to be shipped from Japan. Evan said it was actually very easy to repair.....WHEW! So once again I am 2 weeks behind.....

On the 4th Travis and I both went to get our haircut. His appointment was first and there was a minor amount of squirming. At one point Suzanna got out the trimmer and he freaked out. I think he was having a "Cartoon Cuts" flashback. Every time we went to that place he would cry/scream etc. His cut looked good but I do wish he had sat still for the trimming on his neck. :) Then Evan came to get Travis and it was my turn. I go every 3 months for a cut and highlights.....it's about a 3 hour ritual. I tell Suzanna to do whatever she would like to and this time she turned the underside of my hair bright red with a red stripe on the side and a tiger stripe on the side! I'm not 100% sure I like the tiger stripe....some people say they love it and others look at me funny. She cut it super short in the back and longer in the front angled towards my face. It's been about a week and I am getting used to styling it etc.

Saturday we got up early to head out to BWI for our flight to Chicago. It was an easy flight and Travis was super good on the plane-he kept busy with his DVDs etc. Once we got there we hurried to get the rental car so we could get to Crown Point for the party. We were in town for Evan's grandma's 91st birthday party. It's about an hour drive there and we got there about 45 minutes before the party actually started. Travis met Carlos (who is Evan's 4 year old cousin) and after a few minutes the two of them were having a great time playing! The most interesting thing to watch was that Carlos only speaks Spanish (he lives in Mexico) and Travis of course only knows a teeny tiny bit of Spanish. They would be "talking" to each other and who knows what they thought the other one was saying! Overall the party was a great time. We had some great food from a local place there and Margaret enjoyed everyone being there. It was mostly family that was invited and a few of her local friends. I think the party overall was a success! After the official party was over we all headed over to Uncle Eldon's house to hang out, drink beer and let the kids run around until late at night! Travis fell asleep in the car on the way to the hotel which was not shocking in the slightest! Evan went out after he was asleep to get us a late night dinner of...>Steak & Shake! There isn't one around here so this was a treat! The burgers there are almost as good as Five Guys and way better than McDs etc. The shakes there are beyond yummy!

We weren't supposed to be back at Eldon's until around 2pm on Sunday for lunch so we had all morning to waste. On the way from the airport I had seen a sign for "Mooville" at Fair Oaks Farm. We looked it up and it was a dairy farm about 30 minutes away. They had a bus tour through the cow barns, a birthing barn (yes I did see a calf being born), some activities for kids and of course they had fresh ice cream and cheese! The round table they put the cows on to milk them was really neat....it was basically a large carousel and they got hooked up to the milking machine while they took a ride! It was cool! Definitely something neat for kids and neat for me too since I had never seen a working dairy farm! The other thing I found funny was that the entire place is run on cow poop! They somehow take the poop and make into a gas and the power for the whole place comes from the poop!!!! When we got back to Eldon's Travis went into the basement to find Carlos and they were yet again inseparable! They had a great time and we had fun catching up with Al, Jamey, Eldon, Pauline, Tom and Margaret. Eventually we needed to get on the road to head up to Schaumburg which is over an hour away from there.

Yipes! It's been 2 weeks....sorry folks!

It’s very clear I need my netbook to be fixed since I haven’t written an entry in at least 2 weeks. So brace yourself…..it’s going to be long…….

2 weeks ago:

MLK Jr Day we had a small amount of snow fall around here. Travis was off from school and Evan and I were both off from work so we enjoyed playing in it. He made a snow angel and it didn’t look ½ bad considering it was only about an inch of snow! Travis also enjoyed being a “snow plow” and throwing snowballs! Good times for all….

On Saturday we all went over to Mike and Erinn’s for the day. I scrapbooked with Erinn and Jess while Evan hung out with Mike and Travis played with Tommy, Kaylee and Colleen. I was able to complete a few pages which is always good in my book. I think the last page I did that night was from New Year’s Eve-trying to keep current even if it kills me! Evan had fun catching up with Mike and drinking beer-shocker right? Travis played really well with the kids and especially enjoyed spending time with Tommy. Then we headed over to Frank and Glory’s house for Chance’s 3rd birthday party. Travis was wild at this party-a lot of kids in one place is never good for him. He gets wound up and has a hard time winding down….Overall the kids had fun playing, the adults were able to catch up and the food was terrific as always! My favorite part was when Chance was running around the house with a death grip on his Hannah Montana white and pink microphone!

We had Tammy’s graduation party from Grad school on Sunday at Mom and Dad’s house. She got her graduate degree in Engineering from Kansas State University. I’m actually not sure how she chose KSU since she has never lived in Kansas and went to UVA for undergrad. My guess it was because they had a good on-line program there. Everyone had a good time and Travis loved helping Tammy open her gifts and helping Mom open her birthday gifts! He was bummed when he learned there were no gifts for him! LOL The dinner was super yummy-lasagna and everyone really enjoyed the cookie cake for dessert. No shock here that Travis also enjoyed blowing out the candle on the cake with Tammy. He is always so helpful! One of the best moments was watching (and taking a picture of) Tammy, Sean, Mandy and Charlie coloring with Travis. You are never too old to color!

Last week

The following Tuesday and Wednesday we had a snow/ice storm in the area. Travis’ school follows the county when it comes to closures etc so he was out of school both days. He came with me to work each morning armed with Legos, L-Max, DVD player and markers. He was very good but after about 4 hours he’s had enough. The best moment was when someone asked me where he was…….he was under my desk watching a Sponge Bob movie with his headphones on! No one even knew he was there! Once we left work we were able to play a little in the snow. There was only about 2 inches of snow but it was good snowball snow! He loved that part!

The next day on the way to school I got a freaking speeding ticket. Almost everyone I know gets a warning when this happens but not me! I get a ticket. I was less than 2/10ths of a mile from where it went from 35 to 25 and was supposedly going 37. If you blink you miss the sign and in my case are still going an acceptable speed…..I haven’t decided if I’m going to fight it. It just makes me mad since this guy was clearly trying to get in his quota for the month. He pulled someone else over about 2 minutes after he was done with me. I know that if you go to court you are basically wasting your day and I would be so annoyed to sit there all day and still have to pay the ticket. Ugh.

On Friday night we had one of our favorite past times…..Rockband with the neighbors! We played until mid night or so and it’s always a lot of fun. Only a few bottles of wine were consumed-lol.

Saturday was a quiet errand type of day. After Travis went to sleep Mike and Erinn came over to watch movies with us. Don’t ask how but we had a few Oscar movies.....we saw “The Wrestler” and “MILK”. They were both good but I liked “The Wrestler” better. It had my attention a lot better than “MILK”. Since we watched both movies it was another late night. I think we were in bed at 1am after wine, popcorn and candy!

It was a beautiful day on Sunday. The weather was like an early spring day….sunny with highs in the high 50s! Travis and I played outside and he really enjoyed riding his bike! I can’t wait for spring though I still secretly wish for just one big snow. Later in the day we got ready for the Super Bowl party at George and Suzi’s house. Travis took a late bath so we didn’t have to fool with it when we got home. The minute we got there Travis found a toy gun and was shooting people…..why are boys obsessed with guns? It is too funny to me. They all seemed to have a good time. At one point they had a “costume party” and were dressed as various Star Wars characters, super heroes etc. It was cute. Evan and I had a good time catching up with friends. I saw not one play of the game and zero commercials. Oh well!