Tam's misunderstanding

Tam fell and scraped his knee, as most little boys do.

After a thorough cleaning during bath time, I examined the wound.

Me:  "Well, Tam, you really did a number on your knee this time!"

Tam, while looking seriously at his knee, "What number is it, mom?"

Me, while chuckling : "What?

Tam, while pulling the skin on his knee around and peering closely, "I don't see the number!"

I nearly fell over laughing and then had to try to explain that "doing a number" is just an expression and that there is no number actually on his knee.

Pirate Festival

 Last Sunday, we went out to the Lakeshore for the Pirate Festival.  This is a week long event promoting the history of pirating.  The grassy area where the event was held was occupied by booths for history, crafts, exhibits, and music.  It was a small festival, but really geared to the little ones and perfect for them.  Of course, we had to dig through our closet o' costumes to dress up for the event!



Jude was a bit hard to costume with any accuracy, so he ended up in the gown I made way back when for Tam.  

Tam elected to wear Brian's flashy gypsy vest...which he  kept on him for most of the hot day.

I left the corsets and hoops at home, threw on a cotton shirt and hucked up my skirts for this one.

Brian opted for his black coat since Tam commandeered his vest.

Hats were interchanged between everyone throughout the day :-)

We started out walking through the history booths.  We learned a bit about weaponry, including flintlocks and catapults.  Tam really wanted to try these but, ah, NO.  We saw a display of instruments typically used by "surgeons" in the past few centuries.  It certainly made me glad that we now have 1. a knowledge of germs 2. penicillin 3. anesthetic. 

Tam was quite intrigued with the gibbet cage punishment...and he got to try it out.

The pirates manning the cage were a bit of a hoot.  They would yell, "throw something stinky at the prisoner!" and then hand out skunk skins to hurl at the guy in the cage.

Tam loved the attention :-)

There was also music, dancing, and sword fighting to watch.  We saw Captain Hook and met Peter Pan and Tinkerbell.  We ran into the Dread Pirate Roberts and Princess Buttercup.  We spoke with Mermaids in their splash kiddie pools.  Both Tam and Jude were fascinated with their fins instead of feet.

There was quite a bit for the little ones to do, which was awesome.  We listened to several pirate stories read by pirates.  Tam and Jude were delighted to watch a pirate puppet show. We also got to try our hands at various old fashion games, like 9 men Morris.

Tam ran around collecting pirate treasure from various vendors...including "gold" coins, beaded necklaces, and a little spyglass. 

Jude enjoyed practicing watching by holding our hands or pushing his own stroller around.  It seemed that he had a perpetual grin on his face...or that could have been his grinning pacifier he was sucking on :-)  (We got lots of compliments on it).


We ate a lunch of stew in a bread bowl and shared blue shaved ice cones.  (Both oh so period but really good).

I think we wandered around for a good three hours, getting a bit of sunburn on our noses, and having a blast interacting with the pirates.  It is quite a different experience now that Tam is old enough to talk to everyone on his own and is still totally into imagination and wonder.  Jude just likes being where all the people are :-)

Brian nearly walked home with a replica non-functioning flint-lock gun, but me, the meanie, said no because it wasn't period for the renaissance festival.  He ended up with a book instead...which he has already finished reading 48 hours later!

I love spending time with my family!

Riding high

I was just sitting down to blog and was struck with ... Nothing. When I hit a thought wall, turn to some of my fellow bloggers for inspiration. I quick journey through cyberspace got me thinking about what do I do that makes me happy or gives me that natural high.

Hmmm

So the first thing, as a mom, and I think that I am legally obligated to say, is my family makes me happy. Yep. They do. But I write enough about them on here all the time...

What about just for me?

Blogging life makes me happy. I truly enjoy taking photos of the family and our excursions and then capturing our thoughts and words about them. I then do love turning this blog into the photo book ... Even if it is so time consuming.(I'm a year behind on it). I love looking back through the books and just remembering the details about our lives.

I have really enjoyed sewing lately. I feel that I have learned so many new techniques and tips in the past year or so. I love trying something new and I delight on creating something to give away. Oh and the hippie side of me loves being able to recycle things into something that is wearable again. But, alas, sewing takes time too and I know I'll be back to once a week when school starts soon.

I still enjoy reading and find time to sneak it in before bed.

And I love roller coasters. Really, really can't wait until tam is a little bigger to go this rides with me. Keeping my fingers crossed to hit cedar point next summer... Hopefully.

Hmmm

And I really get a natural rush when I strike a great deal or bargain. I certainly attribute this to the yard sale gene that I carry. Just this past week I struck on our renaissance tickets for HALF off. Oh yeah. The money I saves on these buggers will pay for the tank of gas to get us over to the festival. I love the Internet for great deals.

I'm sure there are more things that make me happy... Like when both my boys sleep completely through the night... Or warm towels from the dryer... Or hiking through the woods... Or chocolate pomegranate cookies...
Or hugs from loved ones that squeeze you so hard you think your insides will burst through your eyeballs :-)

One of these days, I'll poll the men in the house on this too.

Wordles Wednesday - Puzzles

 Jude has discovered Tam's puzzles, so I decided it was time to get back out the chunky puzzles for him.  He loved them and is a fair hand at getting the shapes matched up.

 

Waving Bye!

2 and done?

Two kids now...
Two little boys...
Two delightful, mischievous, wonderful sons...
Two commonly asked questions: Are we done with kids?  Do we want to try to have a daughter?

Brian's thoughts on this are that we are done.  Jude was definitely a bit more of a handful than Tam was as a baby and having two young ones is certainly more difficult than just having one.

My thoughts are that we are done... for now.  I don't think I am quite ready to admit there isn't a chance for a third child in the next few years.  We will see...I am thinking at least waiting until Jude is around 4 and Tam is in school or maybe once both boys are in school.  We will see.  I'm not too old yet :-)


Tam's thoughts on this...
He he he he...
We were at the store and I was purchasing, um, anti-baby rubber things.  Curious Tam asks, "Momma, what are those?"  I answer, "they are these awesome things that momma and daddy use so that you don't get another baby brother."  Tam replies with, "okay.  I got baby brother Jude."  (I think Tam is ok with just one little sibling for now.)

Oh, and don't get me started on a rant against the price of birth control, especially when your employer doesn't cover it on you medical insurance.

To this end, and a burning need to clear clutter and make some cash, I have decided to sell baby clothes at the next local Mom sale.  I was a little hesitant to sell clothes, just in case I get pregnant again...but my smart husband pointed out that what I really enjoy is the bargain shopping.  He reminded me that if I pregnant again, I'll have a great time hunting for new clothes for the wee one.  We have two Mom sales in the area that are coming up on the September 15th weekend. Currently, I am opting to sell at the consignment sale, rather than the booth sale. This means I price the clothes, tag them with a barcode, and drop them off.  They will sell the clothes for me so I don't have to sit there in a booth, though this costs me 35% of my profits. To this end, I've been madly tagging clothes and trying to scrounge up hangers for all the wee little outfits.  I will be keeping my fingers crossed that I sell a goodly amount so that I can claim some of my storage bins back (and make some cash).  Hopefully, my sis will make it out for the weekend too :-)

Boys and guns

Tam is currently into flying planes that shoot, which he accomplishes with his own creative noises.

Where did this need to shoot things come from?  Is it a gene that is inherited on the Y chromosome? 

I suspected that it would happen, but had hoped for a little longer before this began.  We certainly do NOT watch violent shooting movies in the house...both Brian and I would rather watch a comedy than a war movie.

But...other little boys watch different things...and Tam loves to play with friends.  I think he picked up this shooting play from recent playground excursions, a birthday party, and the Cars 2 movie. 

Sigh.  He has no concept what shooting means or what is the consequence of being shot.  He just likes to make the sounds at things.

Our combat to this?
No shooting in the house.  No shooting family members. No exceptions.

Is it a solution?  Should we care at all about this typical behavior?  I don't know, but both Brian and I are at least attempting to keep it on a low simmer for now.