More Mason and Max

This morning Max and the dog were sitting around the dog food bowl. Max would take one piece and eat it, then give a piece to the dog. I tried to dig the food out of Max's mouth, but he seems to like it and wouldn't spit it out.

At 11:30 am I told Mason that it was time to get ready for school. He said, "Great...let the torture begin."

Firemen and Hobos

This morning Max and Mason came downstairs at about 6:30 am and crawled in to bed with us. We snuggled and giggled and lots of gas was passed by the boys. Part of being a boy mom - enduring lots of gas. At one point, this was a conversation held between Blake and Mason:

Mason: "Know what I'm going to be when I grow up?"
Blake: "What."
Mason: "A hobo."
Blake: "I thought you wanted to be a fireman."
Mason: "Are you kidding!!?? That was before I knew they had to go IN to the fires!"

Messes and Moms

Today I got to thinking about messes. Specifically how many messes boys make and how many messes I cleaned up yesterday. For documentation's sake and the entertainment of my readers I will list them below. Warning: one of the messes is not for the faint of heart. Proceed with caution!

• We've been having trouble with our kitchen faucet. In fact, there's an entire blog post revolving around the day the cleaning ladies came and ended up soaking wet. Yesterday, the hose got stuck and Mason turned the water on full blast causing a jet stream of water to blast across the kitchen on to the ceiling. He got a horrible case of the giggles - the kind that immobilize you - so he couldn't move to shut it off. I was so stunned that I was a bit paralyzed myself but began screaming and trying to get across the kitchen to shut off the water. Max was in his high chair and in the path of the water arc. He wasn't getting terribly wet, but with all the commotion he was a little upset. I slipped and slided my way to the sink and got it shut down...and proceeded to clean up mess number one.
• After school Mason got a bottle of chocolate milk. He had consumed about half of it by the time we got home, so I asked him to make sure he didn't leave it in the van. We've had several bottles of milk end up "lost" in the van until the stench demanded a search! I went on in the house, and it wasn't long before I could hear Marcus and Mason fighting over whether or not Marcus was going to tell me something. Turns out Mason had dumped the leftover chocolate milk in to a water dispenser we have in the garage. There was no water bottle on top, so the milk went down in to the unit. I did make Mason help me with this clean up, but it makes this list at mess number 2.
• Blake and Marcus went hunting awhile back and Blake had left his muddy, bloody boots by the back door. At some point in the evening, one of the children put the boots on and tracked bloody mud through the living room. Lovely. At least it was dry and fairly easy to clean up...as if there's an upside to bloody mud in the living room. This was mess number 3.
• Now...I will confess that mess number 4 was my fault. But since it was a full blown mess, it makes the list all the same. I left a glass on the table within Max's reach. He got ahold of it and threw it at the television. It hit the table below and shattered. Mess number 4.

It must have been about this time that I simply sent all the children to bed. It's too risky to have them up and moving about. Being a mom is exhausting!

Kindergarten Visit

On Friday, I got to be the Family Fan in Mason's kindergarten classroom. I had asked Mrs. Pennington if I needed to bring anything or be prepared at all, and she encouraged me to simply "show up". I began to wonder if she and Mrs. Todd would just abandon me with all the kids and head to Starbucks for a break! If I were a kindergarten teacher I might consider that myself.

What a treat to be in their room for part of the day! Here are some things I came away with and some of my favorite, more memorable moments:

• C made two swords with Legos during table work time. He was wielding them around and M asked him what he was doing. C calmly replied that he's a ninja and was practicing.
• When J couldn't find a pencil in his folder the ENTIRE class chimed in to let him know it was in the back of his folder. J said, "Oh...silly me". Then L said, "I put the pencil there. I'm seriously magic."
• I got to sit on the carpet beside Mason during calendar time. This was quite a serious part of the day what with the weather report, tally marks, counting of school days and such. I was quite impressed with how each student participated so well in this section. About half way through, J turned around to me and out of the blue whispered very quickly, "My favorite show is Go Diego Go. He has a backpack that turns in to anything he needs"....and then quickly turned back around and went about his calendar work. OK.
• During carpet time, J kept scooting farther and farther back until he was nearly in my lap. He asked if I was staying for recess. I think he was asking me out.
• Mason drew a picture of a girl during table work time and put MOM on the top. He was so proud of it and we hugged when he showed it to me...until his favorite little friend Hannah showed up and he quickly erased MOM and put an H in its place. He then greeted Hannah and said, "Look what I made for you!". I was crushed. I think I'll ask Mrs. Pennington if she still has that drawing. What a fun keepsake from my trip to kindergarten.
• I left feeling like I couldn't wash my hands enough.
• I left feeling like I was surely coming down with something.
• I left with an odd feeling over the idea that someone else is teaching my child. I want to teach him everything he needs to know. I then wondered if God was planting a homeschooling seed. I then knew for sure that I was coming down with something!
• Mrs. Pennington and Mrs. Todd love their jobs, and I'm so glad Mason is in their class. They rock!
  
• I am so thankful that we can send out precious kiddo to a Christian school...a school that teaches Truth.
• And my favorite part of all...the children RAPPED their months of the year - just for me!
  

Bathroom Procession

A mom of young children cannot get a moment's peace. Not even in the bathroom, apparently. Awhile back I snuck in to the bathroom thinking that I could at least "use the facilities" without an audience. Wrong. The moment Max and Mason realized I was missing, they tracked me down. They stood outside the door yelling and banging on the door until I finally gave in and let them in. At that moment, chaos moved from the living room to my bathroom. Max began to unroll the toilet paper, all the while screeching with joy. Mason had brought a trumpet along (seriously) and began blowing a tune as loudly as possible. What can a mother do other than just sit there and giggle. It's at times like that when I would just LOVE for someone to call and ask, "So - what are you doing?".

Our New Digs

We've moved! Not out of our house, but out of our old blog spot. I decided my blog needed an update. As much as we're still a whole bunch of peas in a pod...I mean a blog - we've matured. We've grown. We've gotten bored of the old blog. I exported all of my posts from the old blog and begun a new adventure here at www.BoyMomsRock.blogspot.com If you've read my blog in the past, you know that I have a Boy Moms Rock t-shirt that Mason is quite proud of. If you're interested in the back story, you can read about it here. I'm a Boy Mom and proud of it...and now my blog proves it!

Technical Difficulties

I'm having some technical difficulties, so things look a little weird around here right now. As soon as I have some free time (Ha!) I'll get things back to normal...or maybe even make some changes!

Can You Hear Me Now?

Our home is loud. Not just a little loud, but really, really loud. And wild. People are surprised when they visit at how wild and loud it is in the Baysinger abode. Blake and Mason have God-given pipes that function at about 100 decibels. Max shrieks because it's fun. He is also in that stage where every item in the house is a potential drum. He slams doors, he beats on pots and pans, and even hits the dog with spatulas (I've witnessed this on more than one occasion). Whenever Marcus or I need to get anyone's attention, we then have to raise our voices over the aforementioned noise. Mason and Max both operate at full speed all day long. Again - our home is loud. And wild. But after living in the chaos for awhile one becomes acclimated to it and doesn't really think about it anymore. Until...

We had family over for Mason's 6th birthday party a few nights ago. Along with the standard showing of grandparents, aunts and uncles was the most special guest of all - our new nephew, baby Kier. He's just a few months old and is as precious as they come. I've considered throwing family parties just to see Kier, but after the birthday party, I'm not sure he'll ever come back. He hadn't been here 5 minutes before Max whacked his little cheek with a shoe. And that was just the beginning. Even though we are a loud, wild household, when it's a special occasion the Baysinger house takes it to a whole new level. At one point Mason (in his 100 db voice) was instructing uncle Jason on how to assemble his metal detector. Max was opening and slamming one cabinet door over and over and over again, and everyone else was trying to carry on conversations above the racket. The best part - baby Kier was happy as a clam. He just looked all around and was content as could be. He was born to hang out with us! And at the rate we run people off...he may be the only one! Here's a pic of baby Kier and the birthday boy: