Busy, busy, busy

This weekend was quite eventful…in the family of four sort of way.

As you know, last Saturday was April Fool’s. Now that Hayden is the ripe old age of 2, I felt it was only appropriate to introduce him to the fun of April Fool’s Day.

Me: HAYDEN, GUESS WHAT?!?!?!!!
Hayden: Ohhhh, what? (mimicking the same excited tone that I used)
Me: There is a big hot air balloon outside waiting for you to go on a ride!!
Hayden: OHHHHHHH! (running to the door)
Me: APRIL FOOLS! (laughing hysterically)
Jeff: That is SO mean!

Some may think this is cruel and/or unusual, but I, of course have different logic. Living in a house with 3 boys, I’m sure I will get my share of jokes played on me….it’s only fair to start on them a little early. Besides, Hayden thought it was funny and even used my idea to play the same joke on Davis (and by the way - he totally fell for it).

Another day, another lesson learned. Lesson # 1983: Do not take a stroller into Chuck E. Cheese. I still haven’t figured the appropriate way to approach a Saturday afternoon birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese alone with two kids under the age of 3, but taking a stroller is NOT the answer. Jeff was sick all weekend with a mysterious illness that left him sleeping 20 hours a day and running fever. So, I was left alone to battle the madness that is Chuck E. Cheese….and madness it was. Seriously, it took me 10 minutes to get from the front door to the party room. People do not politely step out of the way of the stroller like they do everywhere else. It was almost as if they were trying to make a point in a passive aggressive way that strollers are not acceptable (not that I have ever done that myself). I was never so glad to run out of tokens and tell birthday boy Blaine “adios anegros”.

Other things we did to pass the time while Helping-Husband-Jeff was out of commission include eating, eating, and more eating. From sushi to Girl Scout cookie ice cream (thanks Mica and Kellie), an outsider would never know I was in a diet competition. However, starting today the tuna diet is back on. In fact, I started another competition as well. I figure, the more competitions I challenge others to, the better chance I have at winning at least one of them. We watched the movie ‘Supersize Me’ over the weekend, and it inspired me to challenge Jeff to a-who-can-go-the-longest-without-ordering-fast-food competition. Of course, in between watching the movie and actually starting the challenge, I did eat a #6 combo from Wendy’s and a Subway turkey sandwich (2 different meals)…..you know just to get it out of my system. Anyone that knows me well, knows that this challenge is going to be a difficult one for me. Especially this week! This is the week of the month that Jeff has to work late every night to close the books (why this takes a full week still baffles me). In the past, there was a direct correlation between accounting close and sales volume of Happy Meals. Not any more. Notice the challenge is worded ‘ordering fast food’ which means this has to change. Sorry to drag you into this Hayden, but you’ll thank me later. Chicken nuggets are chicken boobs anyway. Watch the movie. Of course, the average person in front of me in line would probably be willing to order my meal for me for a dollar or two…but hopefully we can both refrain from exploiting that loop hole.

Yesterday, Mimi and GrandDad visited and we all took a trek down to the park (the “parts”, as Hayden says). We brought the bike and GrandDad moved the seat up about 3 inches. After some practice, Hayden was riding as fast as Dash. It’s quite a comedy to watch Mr. Independent ride the bike. He is so worried that someone is pushing the back of the bike, that he spends 90% of the time looking behind him. Then as we shout, “look up”….he takes us literal and looks UP into the sky. Amazingly enough, this only accounted for ONE accident yesterday---when he rode straight into the water fountain, flipped the bike and landed in the only water puddle in Plano. I’m sure it will only take a couple more falls before he starts to listen to us. You will be happy to know that we have re-phrased and now shout “look in FRONT of you”.