Lucky Day!

I actually heard about the big dental school dance this year and was surprised that Trent was interested in going. Not just interested, but had already bought the tickets? What? Trent going to a dance? Oh! Then I found out the dinner and dance would be held at the Indians baseball stadium in the Terrace Club. Now I get it! I didn't care though. Any excuse to dress up and see Trent dance was well worth it. Mom flew in and watched the boys and off we went. We had more fun than we have had in many years. We danced and ate a delicious dinner and danced some more. Camron and his date sat with us for dinner and then we just got lost in the night. It was magical. We decided we need to do something like this every year!

New camera

Trent ordered a new camera that the Air Force reimbursed for so he could take some pics of patients at school. But we also ordered another lense so I could use it for the boys. We have had so much fun trying to learn how to take beautiful pictures. Here are two of Trents first pics. He did pretty good!

Easter

So, after much waiting and watching, the Easter bunny did make it to Cleveland. We took the boys to a hunt in a nursery and learned to what length parents would go to get their precious little ones an egg full of tootsie rolls. Wow! Trent actually got corralled and then almost trampled and he never left the 1 year and under area! Rough day! By the end of the hunt(approx. 1 minute after it began--I wish I was joking), Raef had collected 6 eggs and Goobers 4. Which by looking at the many children walking around looking for one, seemed pretty great considering mom and dad didn't touch any eggs. Raef said to me, "mom, I didn't win." So, after calming a steaming dad down and heading back home, Trent determined to have his own Easter day hunt in the backyard and off to Target he went. The boys invited a couple of friends over and found the Eggs in the yard a few times. They didn't even care what was in them. They just loved the hunt.

The boys each got a helicopter and fighter jet in their baskets and way too much candy to even be allowed in a hygienist and soon to be dentists' house! Trent made them a small runway and let them watch a few parts of "Top Gun" to get them jazzed up. So, for days they flew their jets by the paper towel tower and did a fly by all the while singing the theme song. Very cute! I laughed because when they initially got an jet each, they naturally picked an Air Force and a Navy one. Which made me chuckle considering the battle Camron and Trent have over who is the tip of the sword( Camron joined the Navy and Trent the Air Force). Pssss.....don't tell them they are dentists, not fighter pilots!

Our two little studs

Kalahari

After a long day swimming at the Kalahari(an gigantic indoor water park) the boys snuggled up, insisting that they sleep together, and watched Bolt. Well, actually I think everyone was asleep before too long. It was party day. Licorice and juice in hands after being spoiled all day long. Camron ended up coming with us after missing a flight to Puerto Rico. I'm sure he had fun with the boys but I'm not sure the indoor experience of white, flabby people could beat the hot sun and beautiful beach and bodies in Puerto Rico. What a great Spring Break!

Cam followed Ryan around most of the day. They have become best buds and I'm not sure which one is more in love. Last year I ruined any hopes of a good day at the water park when I placed little Ryan in the water and let him wade around with me. All was well until a giant bucket tipped over and dumped a huge amount of water right next to us with a very loud noise. I screamed and ran out, leaving Ryan behind. I know, I'm a terrible mom. So he did not want anywhere near the water this year. I held my breath this year, waiting to see how he reacted. he did great. He took some time to warm up to the slides and getting under the water but as soon as he got into the giant hottub, he became completely fearless along with Raef. They swam all over by themselves(and their life vests) and loved every minute of it. It was a great weekend and a nice break from the normal day.

Spiderman

So, we finally stayed up and watched Spiderman with Raef wondering if it would dash all of his thoughts that he was really Spiderman. But it actually did the opposite. And to make matters worse, the spider bite that Spiderman gets in the movie is in the exact same spot Raef's freckle is on his hand. Wierd huh? Maybe he really is Spiderman. Then as we're watching the part in the movie when he wakes up and realized that he has gigantic muscles, I look over and Raef is sitting up taller and taller and flexing every muscle in his body. We couldn't help but laugh. Everytime Spiderman went flying through the sky, he would yell, "look, mom its me, Spiderman." We had a costume from a previous Halloween and dug it out and watched as Raef transformed into Spiderman. He was shooting webs at us and crouching down just the movie. We were laughing hystically for an hour as he performed.

Yes, we hit 0 degrees today! Okay, seriously enough is enough! We are dreaming of a tropical vacation that maybe we will get to in oh maybe 5 years! Still though it is a good dream. I am wondering how my boys are so completely opposite and if possibly Ryan was supposed to be twins! There is a lot of energy bundled up in that adorable little boy. He follows me around the house saying, "mama, where are you?". It melts my heart. But recently he has picked up Raef's fabulous question of "huh?" or "what?". That definitely gets me agitated when Raef says it a thousand times a day and now I have two of them saying it. Last week after dinner I sent Raef upstairs to get his pjs on and he didn't return. Of course I noticed right away(well, okay maybe 10 minutes later) and went upstairs to see what kind of trouble he had made. He was in the bathroom hiding behind the door. I realized a second later why he was hiding. His face had been colored with a black permanent marker leaving only a few sparce spots of skin. He looked like he had a black mask on. He said sorry as soon as he saw my reaction which was probably a puzzled look as I was trying to decide what I would use to explain my son's black face at church the next day. Luckily it came off pretty easy, although I think Raef learned his lesson quickly as i had to scrub to get it off. Trent saw it and told Raef no books for bed because of what he had done. Raef was devastated. That is his favorite time of the day. Trent went downstairs too mad to deal with him and I got him ready for bed and calmed him down. We talked about what had happened and I explained why daddy was so mad. Raef very sadly said, "mom, I just wanted to be a superhero like daddy." My heart sank. Trent has a brown spot on the back of his arm that Raef thinks is a spiderbite which makes daddy Spiderman. he really does believe daddy is a superhero. Then he found a freckle on his hand and proudly showed everyone he knew and didn't know explaining how he was a real superhero. That was the day he made himself a mask. what superhero doesn't have a mask? Needless to say, Trent slept with his little superhero that night.

Trent and I escaped for our yearly trip to the Marriot for the Valentines Day special. A night on the town, chocolate covered strawberries, a little bubbly, and then sleep. Quiet, completely uninterrupted sleep. And then a late checkout with breakfast in bed so we could sleep in. Sleep in? Apparhently my body doesn't do that anymore. I have somehow become the same alarm clock my 1 year old is set at......6:00! Nooooooo!!!! Unbelievable. My one day to sleep in and have no guilt doing so and I can't sleep. oh well, it was really fun bugging Trent. Man we need a vacation! one night was so fabulous but we are teetering too close to the edge of insanity here we just might fall. All is well though and we are desperately trying to survive the terrible age of bumps and bruises for Ryan. I swear he has a new gooseegg every day. He just got another one about 5 minutes ago trying to kamikaze off of our bed into a portacrib about 5 feet away. Nice try little one!
Little Raef started collecting change in a jar and Trent told him it was for a mission fund. Well, Raef associated that with Diego's mission to save the animals and thinks now he is going to Africa. Great. We are all very ready for some nice weather and sunshine. Actually, I am just getting annoyed with it now. It's not funny anymore. I need these boys to get out of my house and get some energy out. That damn groundhog!

Tae Kwon Do

Well, Raef began his first activity this last week and loved it! I have never seen him so out of his comfort zone and so in the right place. I was that mom trying to take pictures of the first day and getting a dirty look when my flash disrupted Raef. Woops! So, here is the picture in our house since I didn't get a very good one. Raef is the littlest one but doesn't slow down a bit. The only part we are still working on with him is his "yes sir!" He yells it perfectly and respectfully but we can't get him to stop saluting every time he says it. When Master Kwon said he had great coordination and would love him to stay in his class but wondered about the saluting, all I could say was , "hey, his dad and two uncles are in the Air Force and will be proud to know they have taught him something." I laughed everytime as he ran by saluting and yelling,"yes sir!" The video is not so great as I was trying to hold the camera and the button as far as my arm would reach as I would not be seen in the doorway! Yes, I am that mom! AAAAhhhhh! It's still very cute though.

Big shirts to fill

Trent is definitely feeling the stress of the economy as his line of patients disappears. Dental work just isn't a necessity, even if it's cheap or free(it has to be for the work they get.....jk!) He is making his way through 3rd year and wondering if he may be joining his brother in the class below. Nothing else he can do. So, will we recommend this to our boys someday? Not sure yet.

A little break

We joined two other families and went to a cabin a few hours away and got some good r&r. Raef and Ryan that is. It was a crazy house with seven little ones running around and the oldest one being 4. Yikes! Lots of running, snacking, playing, and fighting. A house full of boys. It was so fun though. The cabin was beautiful and we were just thrilled it was situated on a hill. Yes, we found a hill in Ohio! It was amazing! We went sledding, watched movies, talked, played pool, and dunked in the hot tub.

It was a chilly run to the hot tub but definitely well worth it. The boys loved it! We had to drag them out every time. It was so beautiful to sit there at night with the snow falling from the black sky. A little piece of heaven.

4 years old!!!

Raef insisted on a icecream cake with oreo icecream and elephants on top. We had a mess getting one ordered and ended up making this one an hour before party time. He loved it though and made sure everyone of his new baby elephants stayed close by.

Raef wanted an animal center for Christmas so bad he couldn't stand it. We finally covinced him that Santa really wanted Trent to make it for him for his birthday so he could have lots of presents for Christmas instead of just one(the animal center he wanted was $140). That worked and so Trent was locked in. He still needs to stain it but made it so fun. All of the little kids that come over play with it the whole time. Raef had it filled with animals within minutes and then added trains and cars. There is a roof that velcroes on also with all of the little pieces of wood being moveable to make big and little stalls for the animals. Very cool for a big boy who believes he is Diego, the animal rescuer.

Happy Birthday

Raef turned 4 on Jan. 17th. Everyday for weeks he has asked me how many more days until his birthday. I told him ___ more days until your birthday comes. Each time I told him that he would run to the window and say, "mom, is my birthday coming yet?" I never understood what he was doing until his birthday when I finally told him his birthday was here. He again ran to the window and said,"where, mom, I just don't see it. Where is it?" I told him, "it's here. right now. today. " Still very confused he said, "well, I don't see my birthday. Where did it go?" Too cute!

Life with boys

After asking Raef to get get dressed in the morning, the boys returned looking like this. Raef said it was their underwear helmets and they played for a few hours like that. I couldn't help but laugh. You know I didn't teach them that.

Raef loves playing outside in the snow but Ryan still won't go out. He wants to but refuses to put his boots or coat on. He holds his tennis shoes and cries and cries. Raef got his first goose egg and you can see the lasting effects. This is about 5 days later and still quite the bruise. He cried until I took him up to the bathroom and let him look at himself in the mirror. He started laughing so hard I couldn't believe it. He thought it was so funny. It was huge. Trent is doing well, except he is becoming like every other medical/dental student and thinking he is dying from every disease he learns about or treats on a patient. We'll see if he makes it out alive this time. I am feeling better than I have in a long time. Maybe being down for awhile and healing has its perks. I suddenly feel great and young again. Yahoo!!!

Football season

We have had a lot of fun this year tracking a few teams and Raef has really gotten into it too. He loves to hang out with the boys and watch the games and asks about a million questions and breaks into the touchdown dance every minute or so. One day I came downstairs and Raef and Trent had stuffed pillows into their shirts and were tackling eachother. Raef runs full on and right into Trent all the while making a buzzing noise. We call him the skeeter bug.