On the Road Again

Okay, so it seems that we are always in the car. Maybe too many cool people live too far away or we live too far away from too many cool people. It is hard to pass up a chance to see them even with gas prices the way they are. And, now to top it off......we have a gas consuming beast. Sorry to my eco-terrorist friends out there. We needed the extra space and this opportunity kind of just fell into our laps and was too good to pass up. We still have the Trailblazer to use for short trips here and there around town (as if that is much more ecofriendly), but the Suburban has the room for the stroller and booster seats and when we go on long trips, the dogs and our luggage. And hey, I was afraid that I was going to end up with a minivan.......I prefer this option to that.
So, it seems that every picture I have taken in recent history is in the car seats. And for most of those, even when awake the boys don't have their eyes open. In the new car we have their seats next to eachother. With no buffer zone.....we have frequent sibling skirmishes. It can be caused by the taking of a favorite toy or Seb wanting to hold hands and Ben wanting his space. Here we are on our way to Little Ethiopia for our monthly lunch gathering/play date at an Ethiopian restaurant. It is a good thing the boys have a couple of hours to recharge their batteries so that they are in a good mood and ready to go. I have come to the conclusion that the boys need to be socialized more though. Of course, when a friend came up to Sebastian, first he slunk away......not knowing what to expect of the little stranger. He adjusted well though and was playing in a few seconds time. Ben on the other hand wanted nothing to do with playing. He stayed securely standing between my legs.....his safety net I suppose. When taking out his "zools" (pretzels), of course, they were a big hit with the group. As to be expected though, Ben did not want to share. He tried to guard his bag of snacks to no avail. He did allow his brother to get his hand in said bag. Seb then in turn, passed out the pretzels to the rest of the group. We look forward to next month's gathering, especially since there were some very noticable absentees this month. Namely, two of our favorite families.

So, it has really been more of the same here. Michael has been tormenting me to agree that we can drive the distance again the next two weeks to go to car shows with the boys. Arghhh...not my idea of fun. At first I tried to thwart his attempts by saying it was too much gas, especially after all of our friendly jaunts down the hill. But, he may get his way afterall since one of my favorite people in the world will try to meet us at one of these horrid car shows with her beautiful family. I can't imagine passing that up.
Sebastian continues to love his cows and still brings that plastic thing everywhere we go. It still shares his food and in this picture has found love with a dinosaur. At night, he has taken to a new hobby. He has always loved brushing his teeth and will remind me when I tell the boys at night that it is time to get ready for bed. He always says,"Teeth, teeth." As if I would forget.....maybe Daddy would, not mommy. This is always to Ben's chagrin because he hates to get his teeth brushed. Anyhow, in the past, Seb always would brush and brush and it would be hard to actually get him to relinquish the brush in a timely manner. I figured, this was a good problem to have as teeth can never be too clean. But, now, it is not his teeth he is obsessed with. It is the teeth belonging to his cow flashlight. It is one of those that moos when the handle is pressed to open the mouth and shine the light. Well, now it is a half hour hobby of Seb's to brush the cows teeth. Not only does this take time without the benefit of getting his teeth super clean.....but the mooing is atrocious for that period of time. Why couldn't he have taken up the hobby of brushing his brother's teeth?......That would have been a win - win!
I continue to be impressed at the progress the boys are making in their behavior while dining out. True, they have whatever coloring activity the eatery has to offer and we bring a bag of their toys, but they do a great job whether it be Chinese, Pho, Italian or fast food. Here we are at Oggi's.....a great brewery/pizza/Italian type place. The boys got popcorn chicken, but I love their Italian Stallion pizza. The best!
Now for the newest of exploits. New ways to drive mommy crazy, I think. They have taken to going to their drawers and throwing every article of clothing out. This makes me very angry as I hate organizing and reorganizing, folding and refolding daily. Of course, I can get them to put the clothes back in the drawers and Seb does it with a smile......but that doesn't mean that it is neat or not just a pile of clothes willy nilly in a drawer. The blankets also come off of the shelf from time to time. The boys love playing ghost. It is too bad they can't see through the blankets as running around with a bed spread over your head (and entire body depending on size of spread and body) can be quite dangerous. The same holds true for pillow cases which are a little more restrictive. The other day, I even found Seb hiding between the matress and fitted sheet. How he fit, I do not know......but these kids come up with the darndest things.

The boys have also taken to removing the matress from one of their beds. They either place it so that it is a supreme bouncer to jump on while they scream and giggle,"Bounce! Bounce! Bounce!" or they fashion it into a slide from bed to floor. They are very excited when they move the matress to find lost cheerios and zools that are, who knows how old. They don't care.....it is still a tasty extra treat to them.
Ben has also discovered the joys of the doggy door. Our doggy door leads into the kitchen which is sectioned off from the house by a gate that keeps both the dogs out of the rest of the house and the boys out of the kitchen. As the boys are always running in different directions, one day I was chasing down Seb in the backyard and returned to find Ben missing. I called and looked and didn't see him. I was panicked until I heard giggling. He had climbed into the kitchen via doggy door and was looking through the window jumping up and down in excitement as I searched for him. I should have known he would figure out the doggy door. The previous week, he would push the flap open and peer in at the less social of our dogs (the one that makes himself scarce when the babies are wildly playing outside). Ben spent much time that week peering in and waving his hand as he said,"Heelllllooooooooooo, Heelllloooooooooooo!"

The boys have also grown fond of drawing with chalk. The cement in the backyard is one big canvass of scribbles. Of course to them they are pictures of either snakes, Tow Mater or helicopters. They have graduated from their fascination of making me draw moons. I just wish they weren't into the graffiti aspect of drawing their "nakes" on everything else......windows, their slide, the chair etc. etc. Something to work on.