Oh Mason

Last Sunday, June 9th, was a rough day.  Well better said that it was a rough afternoon.  Sometimes my plans and what the boys have in mind do not always coincide.  My friends had invited me to the beach and my dad invited me over to the pool and then for pizza.  I wanted to do both but that meant that the boys had to come home from church and do as I asked without lolly gagging..let me take a moment to laugh about that.  the boys not lolly gagging..

hahaha

There were toys that need to be picked up and their bathing suits needed to be put on along with them getting a change of clothes put into a bag for after the pool.  I on the other had, had to pack lunches, snacks, stuff for the beach, stuff for the pool and my clothes for after the pool. Once again, haha.  I thought that this was only going to take 30 minutes tops but it somehow turned into an hour long ordeal where the boys got yelled at for dragging ass.

On the way down to the beach both boys feel asleep in the car, I knew they were tired but was hoping for an early night after I tired them out at the beach/pool.  When we got to the beach, Mason woke up and said,

" I had to take a nap.  I needed to get my mind right."

Oh the things that little boy says.  He makes me laugh.

  

How did I get so lucky?

My twins are the light of my life.  I am over the moon in love with the family I was blessed to have.  This picture was taken at my cousin's graduation party.  It has to be one my favorites at the moment, and that is saying a lot because I take a lot of photographs.  haha ☺  I think the best part of this picture is that they both have a natural smile and are looking into the camera.  That is what makes it fabulous.  oh the little things in life.

I am blessed

This woman is my whole life!!  i love my grandmother more and more each day.  I am truly blessed to have her in me and my boys life.  She celebrated her 94th birthday this year and is still going strong.  God is good!

This woman still makes her own meals, and drives herself to where she wants to go.  She gets around more slowly than she used to and does  not walk daily like she used to but the best part is she is with us still and cognitively still with it.  I love her!

Brian's Birthday at Busch Gardens

This birthday was a big one for Brian, the big 3 - 0.  

And we were very grateful to get the day with him.  We spent it together as a family at Busch Gardens which was way better than him going to work.  We got up to the Gardens around 11 and stay until closing, that makes a 10 hour day with the kids having no naps.  Shockingly they were fantastic and so pumped to be there. It is only the boys second time there and they were over the move to be there.  Having kids and going to BG without other friends to help with the kids so adults can ride coasters is a bit different.  However, there is a parent swap "program" which makes it possible for the adults to have as much fun as the kids.  The way it works is one parent stands in line while the other parent goes to the exit with the kids.  After the first parent gets off the other parent gets to get on, right then and there, any where they on the car they want.  It is wonderful if the wait is not too long.  But in the case of the new ride, Verbolten, we opted to not utilize the swap because the wait time was 45 minutes.  No matter, we had a blast.

 This is the boys wishing they were tall enough to ride the Griffon.  They thought that roller coaster was the coolest thing ever and wanted so badly to go on the ride with Brian.  This of course is as close as they go to sitting in a sit for that ride.  Haha..They have some inches to grow before they get to ride with us.  So this is the boys waiting and watching as Daddy rides the first roller coaster of the day.  It is kinda Brian's ritual to ride the Griffon first before anything else.

 Since I had the duty to hang with the boys while Brian went on his first ride of the day, I took the opportunity to get a photo shot with them individually.  They were so funny.  Each time a new care of riders would hang before the drop the boys would ask if that was the one Brian was on.  Since his phone was in the bag I was carrying he could not tell me when he was getting on so we could look out for him.  Thus, each time, all I could say was, " I dont know boys."  I felt bad but they loved seeing the people go and scream.  The boys now think that you are supposed to scream and have your hands up when you are on a roller coaster. ☺

 Last time I took the boys to the Gardens was for my nieces birthday on May 20 (her actual birthday is the 24th).  While we were there the boys kept seeing other little kids with their fast painted and asked only one time if they could get theirs done.  I told them that the next time we went up that I would allow them to get theirs painted if they behaved.  We of course followed through with my promise and they both got a BATMAN.   I was surprised that they both wanted the same thing.  I did love that they choose to get it with the colors in the opposite.  It was not so much paint but airbrushed on the skin.  While it was getting done they boys kept telling me it tickled, haha.

                                                              My two super Heroes

There height allowed them to ride more things than Brian and I thought wish made things of course more fun.  They thoroughly loved Escape from Pompeii and the Roman Rapids.  More importantly they liked how wet they got.  ☺  After we rode Pompeii, they stood on the looking platform and allowed themselves to get drenched by the boats coming down.  Their favorite ride is the roller coaster for kids in Elmo's world, which they get to ride alone.

It was a wonderful day with my three guys celebrating Brians birthday. Now that we all have passes I look forward to many more days and fun at Busch Gardens.

Soccer Spring '12

Another season of soccer has begun for the boys. This season, Brian and I choose to enroll them with a different league, Rush Soccer. The new league however means practices are further from the house as are games. Instead of playing at Lake Taylor High School, games are not at the Virginia Beach Sportsplex which is down by the Amphitheater off of Princess Anne Road.

The boys cousin, Julia is playing for the same company so that means we get to stay and watch her games after the boys or vice versa.

The first week of games, Aidan was sick and had missed several days of school. Missed school means no soccer even though he claimed to be feeling better. He sat on the sidelines and cheered for Mason. The weather was a bit dreary with off and on rain, so Patrick (Brian's brother) let

us borrow his umbrella so that Aidan would not get wet.

He loved holding the umbrella but not so much the cheering part. Just very frustrating to sit on the sidelines at the age of 5 and only watch your twin play. When asked what he thought about the game, this is face I got. HMMM!!

Let me think about it. And then he started telling me all about what he witnessed..haha..especially since most of the time Mason was playing, Aidan was too busy eating all the snacks I brought for him. That and talking to the team mom about anything and everything.

Easter picture

I can not believe that my boys are getting this big. It was a wonderful Easter day with my boys and my family. My boys really are being raised to appreciated the true meaning of the holiday. They get no Easter basket but I am thinking that I might change. I feel that they have a great foundation to build on and that they understand that this very special day is not about candy or a bunny. I love these boys and they love their mom.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter from the Rafters!!

What Disney movies teach!!

I am a sale watcher and shopper. In addition to a sale, I try and use a coupon on top to double my savings. With that said, last summer at the end of the season, Crocs was running a sale on some of their sandals. And in the summer I can not get Aidan and Mason out of sandals so I thought I would scoop some up. There is a new style that is a sandal but it has toe bumpers so little rough boys do not scrap up their toes.

While organizing and putting away some laundry that I had washed today, I saw these shoes again. I asked Mason to try them on since I bought them a little big knowing they would grow into them this summer. And no surprise they will be perfect in the next 4 months when the weather warms up. Just one small problem, the daddy-o hates them. His response when he saw them was first, aren't they girls shoes. I said no and he then said they are STUPID!

As the mom, I got upset. Not that he does not like them but that he said that in front of his boys. Because boys want to be like their daddy. And he doesn't like them then they will not like them. And then we are out of the money. In addition to the money aspect, if I choose to not have them wear them and then they see another kid with them on they might repeat what they heard their father say and hurt that kids feelings. I quickly told Brian not to say stuff like that in front of the boys. Aidan pipes right up and tells his daddy..

IF YOU DO NOT HAVE ANYTHING NICE TO SAY,

THEN DO NOT SAY ANYTHING AT ALL!!

After the shock wore off I asked him where he learned that? I was expecting him to say Mrs. Jordan (his preschool teacher ) but he said, Bambi. His mom on the movie said it. Love Disney movies for their moral teachings.

Who is this kid?

I made spaghetti for dinner this evening. It was simply small shells and sauce with a garlic knot.

Aidan looks at me and says,

“Is this it? No vegetables? I like vegetables!”

As the boys fifth birthday approaches so many things about their life come to mind. Many milestones have been marked down and recorded over the past years. And before their birthday, I will recording yet another milestone.

Learning to ride their bike with no training wheels.

This past week, on Tuesday, was the first day Brian took the training wheels off their bikes. They are off and ever going back on. Since the "baby" wheels are gone, getting the boys out as often as possible to for practice. On Tuesday, we took the boys to a local ball park to that teach them on something softer than asphalt. However, Brian and I did not take into account the rain this area recently received. The infield was too soft and the wheels were just sinking down too much for them to really learn. The bare spots in the outfield however, were hard enough to start. As they got better and were riding longer, they began traveling onto the taller grass. Navigating in the grass became taxing so unfortunately we ended where we never wanted them to begin, the asphalt.

In the parking lot, the road was flat and the boys could ride better. Better is putting it loosely. The boys were still having a hard time sitting up straight. That in turn means they were not staying up that long. When they did, it was a long ride as long as they kept peddling. The next day, Brian took Mason back to do more practicing. Aidan said he did not want to go. Hence, Mason got one-on-one learning/patience with Brian.

It will not be long before we are taking family bike rides and enjoying nice afternoons together.

1st football game

This year when the boys started school they gained a lot of friends. One of their friends is extra special, Marley. (Mason likes her, and we think she likes Aidan -- and so it begins) Not only do they enjoy playing with her more than other kids but I gained a fabulous friend, Becky. With this adult friendship came some wonderful benefits in addition to the friendship, ODU football games. See Marley's dad is an ODU football Coach.

Becky has been nice enough this season to offer us tickets to go to the games with her. This is nothing Brian or I expected but we are honored to enjoy. On this particular Saturday the game was early so they boys go to go instead of Brian.

That is Becky with her and Michael's youngest, Brandon. And Aidan was enjoying most of the game sitting on Becky's moms lap, Mary. Her parents were in town this weekend and were at the game too. I was thankful Mary didn't mind having him on her lap. Because he did sit still with her and watch the game.

We are looking forward to supporting the team again in 2012.

GO BIG BLUE!!

Skateboarding

Skateboarding is a family affair. Well at least for 3 of us at a time. We just need to get one more.

A while back my cousin Josh and his girlfriend Krystin watched the boys for me so I could go get a few things down. On that day, my cousin introduced them to skateboards. They really did not do anything special with them but sit on them and have races down the driveway. That however was enough to make them desire one of their own.

So on Christmas, Santa brought them their wish. They got their very first skateboard. Talk about stoked. Since Christmas morning, they have had the opportunity to "ride" them 3 times. Today being one of them. I use the word ride loosely because all they want to do is kick.

This mom can still ride. I don't do tricks but I can ride the board. Thankfully it is a long board. I can control that much better. It is like surfing, the longer the board the slower it goes. So I am counting on my cousin, who introduced them to this "sport", to teach them tricks and such.

Tv Coma

when the boys watch television they seem to get into a mini coma. Their eyes are fixed on the tv and when I get in their way they bob and weave. It is quite ridiculous but the blessing is they do not get a lot of tv time for this reason.



As I sit and watch television with my boys, I ask myself, how did I ever like the stuff they watch now. MacGyver is a prime example. Crazy we see things differently as children.

A child's logic

January 14th -

While getting dinner from Taco Bell. The boys saw the workers inside getting some sodas together. They asked if they were ours.

I told them no, I did not order any soda. They asked why not?

I said, why would I order and pay for something we already have at home?

Aidan's response was because it tastes better.

Brian's 1st Deer

The end of hunting season brought this family a nice surprise. A deer !! This is Brian's 3rd season hunting and each year has produced nothing but cold days in the tree stand and money spent out of our pockets until now. December 2011, on Brian's first day out for the season, got himself a 6 pointer. I will never again complain about the money that is required for the gear or the license. They paid for themselves with this baby.

Since it was the first deer we took the "hams" or the hind parts of the deer to the local butcher to be processed into ground meat and sausage. This is the box from the Butcher. From this one deer we yielded 11 packages of ground meat and 4 packages of sausage.
This does not include the loins and ribs in the freezer.

We have enjoyed cooking the venison in different ways. And the boys love it when they ask what is for dinner and my response is deer. "Daddy's Deer?" "Yes boys, daddy's deer!"

The head will be getting mounted as his trophy. In addition to seeing the deer, the boys can be his story teller always. They have really enjoyed telling anyone that will listen that their daddy killed a deer. That he used a gun that shot one bullet and 18 came out. (Brian used a shot gun) So each time he went hunting after when he would come home they would ask if he saw or shot anymore deer. They truly love their daddy and can not wait to go out there with him.

This bed is mine Mom

I guess Aidan thought while I was downstairs watching a bit of television that he would take advantage to having the whole bed to himself. Not much changed when I crawled in bed next to him to snuggle. I slept the rest of Friday night with feet in my back. Wouldn't change a thing..<3

Cuddle Partners

This event occurred on Saturday the 14th -

On Friday night since Brian has been working so much I told the boys that they could take turns sleeping in our bed, this is a special treat. I can count on my one hand how many times this has happened. We just do not want the boys getting into the habit of sleeping in our bed. But with Brian working all weekend I thought it would be nice since the boys were missing their daddy.

Friday night (13^th) was Aidan’s turn. Thus, Saturday would be Mason's. So on Saturday night, when I told the boys it was bedtime Aidan said he wanted to sleep upstairs too. I told him no because it was Mason’s night. As I went upstairs to tuck M

ason in, Aidan came running upstairs trying to say he was staying too. After a discussion that he wasn’t, he started crying. (The discussion was about how Mason was polite enough to let him snuggle with mommy all alone and that he need to be just as polite back, giving Mason his turn alone.) Aidan then proceeded to tell me he loved his brother and just wanted to lay with him.

With a broken heart, I gave in to him. They both slept in my bed that night leaving me with little room. This is how I found them when I went upstairs for bed.

Blue as the Sky

Look at those Eyes!!

Mesmerizing!! My boys truly have the bluest eyes I have ever seen. I don’t think mine were even that blue. They definitely get them from their granddad. I can say that those eyes get them out of a lot of trouble.

I definitely do not blog enough. And let me say I have plenty to blog about. My boys are hams. I just do not know how to put some of their funny stuff in words. But it is a new year and I need to try because I have a ton of little pieces of paper with their stuff all over the office. That is how memories get lost.