Gunkins (Pumpkins)

We carved pumpkins last night. Mama had visions of a great fun family event. I had visions of small boys knife fighting in a shower of orange gore. Reality was some where in the middle.

We had three small pumpkins and two big ones. I cut the tops out and sent them on to the table where Tracy and the boys were waiting. Tracy began trying to get them to pull the seeds out. Rhys thought the slimey, nasty, stringy mess was fantastic fun. Owyn didn't want to have anything to do with something that icky.

Owyn left early. He had hands to wash and shows to watch. Rhys got sent to the naughty step after he refused to stop throwing spoon fulls of seeds around the room. Mama was vexed. I quietly carved my stroke victim pumpkin and left the room.

I suspect that the event was not all that Mama had hoped for.

Oink, Oink, Oink Again

It's Owyn's turn. He has been sick the last couple of days. We thought he had the same virus that Rhys has had the last week. Today was pretty bad though. Owyn took a five hour nap and he pretty much just sat on the couch or laid on the floor all day.

Tracy just found out about a new Pediatrician who is open until 2200. We decided to take Owyn in. He came back, almost immediately, as positive for Swine Flu.

He is considered to be moderately at risk, as is Tracy, since she has Asthma. It's too late to get his Tamaflu prescription filled tonight so we will just have to get it to him in the morning. I guess I'll be missing another day of work on Monday.

I sure wish these little boys could catch a break and go a whole two weeks without being sick.

Swim Class

Rhys had swim class again this morning. He was supposed to get a new teacher, but ended up getting to keep his old one.

Rhys has been struggling with kicking. It is very hard for him to coordinate enough to get both legs moving, but in opposite directions at the same time. His low muscle tone also means that he can not keep it up for very long.

Today, for the first time ever, Rhys swam. He kicked and moved his spindly little arms and moved forwards through the water with his face under the surface. He would have drowned if he had to go more than a couple feet. It wasn't pretty. It was, however, swimming.

I am very, very proud of him.

Sick. Again.

Rhys has been sick for the last week. Today is the first day he has really felt ok. He was running a fever and just, generally, run down.

Today it is Owyn's turn. This is turning out to be a rough year for the boys.

Clean up, clean up, let's clean up

There is a song they sing at pre-school. The title is most of the lyrics. I'll spare you the rest. Owyn's Speech teacher works at a pre-school when she is not doing therapy in the afternoons. She brings a big bag of toys with her, for speech learning games.

When it is time to go Miss Vickie sings the Clean up song while she and Owyn clean up all of her toys.

Today, as is the tradition in our house, the boys nuked the living room with a 4 megaton toy bomb. Mama decided that, non-traditionally, she would make them clean it up before bed.

As she and I sat in the other room we heard Owyn singing "Clean up, clean up".

PIZZA!

We ordered pizza for dinner on Thursday night. It had been a long day at work for both of us and the thought of cooking dinner was just more than we could face.

Both boys were hungry. We told them we had ordered pizza and they would just have to be patient. That got them off our backs, for the time being.

The doorbell rang. Both boys, in unison, stood up, looked towards the front door and yelled out "PIZZA!!!".

It wasn't the pizza. It was dude handing out the neighborhood newsletter. Imagine the despair.

Poster for Owyn

The other night I was sitting with Rhys at bed time. We had fed his fish, and read his stories. He always asks me to sit with him before I leave. The lights were off except for Turtle. Turtle is a toy turtle that has hundreds of holes in his shells. There are blue, green and orange LED's that shine out through the holes in the shape of constellations.

Rhys likes the blue light. He never, NEVER, never has the green or orange on.

As we were sitting there, Rhys was looking at his posters. He has four of them. Two are Cars posters (from the movie). One is Puss in Boots from Shreck. The last is Remi from Ratatouille.

As we looked at the posters Rhys said "Need more posters". We had been at the store that day and he had seen all the posters they have there. I said "Do you need another poster or does Owyn need one? We are only going to buy one poster". Rhys thought and thought. His little face was creased and everything. Finally he made up his mind.

"Owie needs poster." "Daddy buy Owie a poster".

Rhy's Bed

I usually go to bed late. Very late. The rest of the family has been asleep for hours by the time I hit the rack. The good thing about this is that it is unlikely that I will wake the boys when I check on them, last thing.

The other night I went in to check on Rhys, as usual. He had, obviously, not been very tired when I put him to bed. He had his little people castle in bed with him. He had taken his piggy bank down and spread his "noney" all over the place. There were cars and animals and books everywhere. He was asleep in a drift of toys. I could barely see his blankets.

At least he stays in his room.

Celebrating

To celebrate our tenth anniversary we went all out. We arranged for the boys to stay with Nana and Granddad. Thanks Nana and Granddad.

Tracy found us a really nice Bed & Breakfast here in town. Our room had a nice view of the downtown skyline. The bathtub faced the fire place. The bed was big and comfy. We had champagne and chocolate waiting for us when we got there.

We had a car pick us up and take us to dinner. Our reservations were at the Capital Grill. It may have been the best meal we have ever had. Bread, prosciutto wrapped mozzarella, lobster bisque and a salad to start. We both got the steak and lobster. We had Lyonaise potatoes (fried spuds in my neck of the woods) and roasted mushrooms. For desert Tracy had strawberries and ice cream and I had, by far, the best coconut creme pie I have ever had.

The car picked us up after dinner and took us back to our room. We talked and enjoyed each other without any interruptions, for once. The bed was very comfy and we slept in until almost nine.

The breakfast was tasty, and again, we got to just sit and talk and enjoy our food and the company. We mosied out of the B&B about 1000.

It was a fantastic night.

10 Years

Last week was our ten year anniversary. It is one of those moments, like finding yourself thirty years old, when you take stock and say "Holy Cow! How did that happen?" We are both finding it a little bit hard to believe that we have been married for that long.

A lot has happened since then. Tracy got out of the Navy, got her degree and had four different jobs, each a step up. She has gotten two professional certifications. She moved from Virginia to Colorado.

We had our two boys. We moved to England and then back. We have bought two houses and rented three.

I went to all seven continents, circled the globe and sailed the seven seas. I went to war twice. I have had five different jobs, each a step up. I got my masters degree.

It seems like a lot to try to cram into ten years.

Sleepover

Rhys and Owyn had a sleepover with Nana last night. It was our tenth anniversary and Nana and Grandad agreed to watch the boys for us.

Last week Nana called and asked to talk to Rhys. He was very surprised. It was his first phone call. Nana was calling to invite him to bring Owyn and the dogs and come over for a sleep over on Saturday night. Rhys said yes. He was very excited.

All week long he was asking, "Go Nana's house?". "No, that is next Saturday". "OK". When Saturday came he woke up and said "Go Nana's house now?". "No, we will go after you and Owyn have a nap".

Rhys' swim lessons have been moved to Saturday morning. After I took him to swimming we went bye bye. We were in our second store when he said "Daddy, Rhysy go home, go to bed." "Really? You want to go home and sleep?" "Yes Daddy, Rhysy go home, go to bed." I took him home and put him in bed. It was 1000.

Ten minutes later he came down stairs, "Go Nana's now. Nap over." Ah ha. It all fell in to place. Eventually we really did go to Nana and Granddad's. Rhys was so tired and wound up by then that he cried almost the entire way there, then took a ten minute nap. Owyn slept for half an hour before we left and refused to sleep in the car.

When we arrived at Nana and Granddad's, Grandad was there. We gave him all the details, whose blanket was which, meds to be taken, food to be eaten, that sort of thing. Then we headed out for our night out.

The boys asked for a nap, laid down on two couches and got up in five minutes. They played outside in the dirt and the fort. Owyn was thrilled to discover small boy sized furniture out there. They ate chicken parts and mac and cheese. They played learning games with colors and shapes and numbers. They slept in the same bed, for the first time.

In the morning, at 0530, they got up and had pancakes and bacon and played some more while they watched Thomas the Tank Engine.

Nana asked Rhys if he would like to do it again. "Yes!"