Some Halloween decor...

Doing a dry noodle + glue craft...

The boys and I made it through the week whilst Collin was away. We had a fine week except the Mom unit was pretty smoked by the end of each day! The boys did well except for, as I said, all the kibitzing and bits of fighting they got into. Boy...it is enough to make me tear my hair out sometimes! I am posting some photos here...miscellaneous activities we were up to. Sunday morning we went walking to Cox Field- Aiden rode his bike and Sally came too. The boys had fun climbing the tree and doing the stuff that little boys do!

Manic Monday...

No, it's not really manic but I may feel that way if I don't get working soon. Wanted to jot down a few things here before I start my workweek. First things first...

It is FALL here in Yuma, Arizona!!! YES!! Fall I tell you! Do you know how I know this? No, sadly it s not b/c the leaves are turning glorious colors of red, orange and yellow. It's b/c I can see it on my temperature gauge on my kitchen windowsill! Ha! And I can feel it on my skin and in the air when I step outside! We've had 5-6 positively GLORIOUS days here. I cannot begin to tell you how fabulous it is after the very LONG dog days of summmer! To go outside this morning and have to bring a long sleeve shirt in case it's chilly? Helloo? Wonderful! It's been a huge boost to us around these parts and even though we really miss the traditional changes that Fall in a non-desert environment brings, well, we'll take what we can get!

An adorable little puppy found his way into our garage on Thursday. We ended up calling him Pooty... at first I said how about "Petey"? and Finn said "Pooty"? so , of course the name stuck. If you have ever read The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood than you will be familiar with the name... Pooty...PootyPooty Pootwell! It makes me laugh when I say the name out loud! He was a sweet little fellow and we couldn't figure out where he came from...he was thin and dirty and it seems he would've been coyote snack if he'd been left out wandering these streets here for very long. The mystery was never solved. We had him here for 3 days and Sunday morning Collin and the boys took him over to Hidden Shores which is a snow bird community around the bend from YPG. He had a new home and owners within a half hour. Yeay! I was very relieved. I so didn't want to take him to the pound. He was a cute little guy.

Took Finn to the ENT last Mon for a check-up on his tubes. Both are still in and clogged and Dr. said it was time for them to come out. He also deemed his adenoids "huge" and also needing to come out. Hmmmmm. Tonsils are also huge but will probably be grown into. I can see the tubes but after some research on the internet, Collin and I aren't sold on the adenoids coming out. No solid proof that he's not going to need them for some reason down the road. More research to do on this front though before the surgery. He is scheduled for the 19th- my birthday! More updates on that later.

The big news for me this week? I am going on a (kind of) mini-vacation!!! Ahem! I mean, umm, a fact finding trip really. Heading out to NC on Wednesday to check out the area of Whispering Pines that we are interested in. Meeting with a realtor and a couple of builders. It looks like we will be building a house. :0 YIKES and double and triple YIKES! the idea just really freaks me out! I'm sure it will be fine but for a person who is indecisive, like me, this can be a scary idea! We'll see. I could just hate the development and say Poo-poo to the whole idea. But I don't think I will. More on this later. I'll be bringing home LOTS and LOTs of pictures for Collin to see. I will be staying with Bapa and Dottie and Mom is picking my up at the airport and staying there too. Yeay! I am really looking forward to seeing her and them. And, the biggest part of all this for me?? I am going to be traveling all by MYSELF!!!!!! Let me say it again...in a different way.... ALONE...SOLO!!! I can't really believe it and am sure it is going to feel really weird to not have little Finn or Aiden with me. I'm not going to know what to do with myself! Well, not really! Haha! I will add more on all this later. Now off to pack and make arrangements for the kids.

From the last week or so...

This was our Saturday morning fun...a good solid hour of drawing and cutting and pasting was had. All in the name of fun here! Gearing up for Halloween!

Ball Photos! All the ladies...

Our informal photo shoot

Funnin' around before the ball...

Handsome fella!

Military Freefall Ball 2009

Some images from this week...

Collin with his NEW glasses!!! Can we get a round of applause for him here!! Yeay!! He has worn the SAME specs since I have known him! We finally got him a new pair that are NOT Army issue! I think he looks pretty handsome!

Getting ready for bed...

How I found him Friday morning... he took his pull-up and bottoms off at some point in the night!

The yummy lemon tea cakes I made for MOPS on Friday. They were SO good!

This boy is really loving writing right now. He writes random letters on the paper and asks us to read what he has written. It's pretty cute and he looks really proud of himself after we read it!

Lots of concentration...

That Sweet Sally-Girl

For those who know and love this sweet little lady... just thought I'd post a couple pictures. She was, of course, being tempted with scooby snacks!

We sure do love you Sally-girl!

Friends over for an extended visit...some mud and some chocolate cake!

Watching the Mikkelsen children while their parents are at the hospital with Mr. Stephen Sanders, the newest addition to their clan. The kids have all been really good. It helps that they all play so well together and get on as they do. Usually like a house on fire! A couple of photos from last week or so..

Emily, Adam, Finn and Aiden

Ohhh the mud!!

What to say?!

This is what happens when they get the hose to themselves in the backyard!

The chocolate cake that the boys made! Collin and boys made FROM SCRATCH! the Hershey's chocolate cake from the back of the Hershey's Cocoa box. I helped frost but otherwise their creation... and it was divine! I don't often eat chocolate cake and this was scrumptious!!

Summer Trip Photos...Sedona, Arizona

View from on high at Cathedral Rock

Cathedral Rock

Mom and Finn at Cathedral Rock

Gorgeous Cathedral Rock

Really weird man-face stone on our walk to Cathedral Rock

Mom and Collin on walk

Finn and Nik pausing for rest on an outing

Mom laughing about something... I like this picture

Nikki and Mom w/ boys in background...

On our Jeep ride morning

Collin on Chicken Point

Family on Submarine Rock

exhaulted from the fun of the jeep ride up the mountains!

...and the fun begins!! He looks terrified here but he was actally loving the drive!

The boys just as the pink jeep tour began...

Collin and the boys on a mountain

Out for a walk on trails behind Loews-Ventana hotel

Finn down at the canal...

Sally on point at Senator's Wash

Mom and the boys on a HOT day down at the canal

Waking up from naps...

Fun at the Loew's-Ventana pool in Tuscon

Mom telling secrets to Benjamin at the Children's Museum in Tuscon... Ha!Ha!

We do live in the desert, after all...

Several nights ago I was closing the door out to the garage and caught a glimpse of some movement near the refrigerator. A quick look showed a pale, hairy crawling something! I quick rushed to tell Collin and got a flashlight. We hurried back out and tucked in the narrow, dark space between the wall and the refrigerator was a camel spider about the size of my palm!! Ugh!!! Shudder and double shudder!! I am normally not phased by spiders. However, this one was big and pale and hairy and it was moving quickly and it was in our garage! At the time we didn't know it was a camel spider and we just let it go... I know, I know. We should've gotten it then. Collin found out the next day or so what it was.

Well, tonight Collin and boys were hanging out in the front yard w/ neighbors and Aiden found a black widow spider behind the planter on the front porch...next to the front door. Not so big, probably a quarter diameter in size. But right near the front door. So... that bug man who came by a few weeks ago and who Collin turned away saying " but Aiden loves to find all the bugs around the house!"... yeah, he's gonna have to go ahead and come back!

Yesterday was challenging again because, as I said, the hammer is down. It's a work in progress and I hope for some very improved days ahead.

Last night Collin made sushi! A friend at work made it so he thought he would give it a try. It was really yummy! he did a great job putting it all together and rolling it up. We have to work on some of the ingredients - the sticky rice is tricky. I always thought the rice was just rice...maybe a special kind that was very sticky when cooked? But no, it has vinegar, SUGAR! and something else in there that I forget at the moment.  The boys had rice bowls which didn't go over so great... especially for Finn and usually he is gaga over rice.  Although Aiden did try the sushi and he liked it! He also used my chopsticks for awhile to eat his dinner. He had very petite bites but he was successful using the sticks! 

As I said in the previous post I have been putting Finn on the potty regularly now. Yesterday he had a dry pull-up through to the afternoon! In general he has been greatly opposed to even thinking about pooping on the potty. well, yesterday I went into town to grocery shop in the afternoon and when I came home Collin said "Finn pooped on the potty...all by himself!"

He said he went in there to find him wiping himself after taking care of his business! Isn't that great?! I gave lots of praise for that when I came home. There were also 1 or 2 times when he said "oh no! I have to pee!" and he would jump up and head for the bathroom. Very exciting! We will continue to work on this and will heaping lots of praise on Finn for using the facility! I will keep you updated here as to how it all goes!

These are challenging days of late here at the McCafferty household. Little boys challenging authority, wanting to be the decision makers, plan deciders, alpha males...! sigh! Lots of not listening going on...singing to the tune of their own agendas (Aiden mostly on this one), talking to us as if he (Aiden) is an adult, making demands without a "please, can you...", getting angry when not getting own way... Finn is struggling with being told no... he also cares not to listen quite often of late. Then when he is punished (put in the corner) he completely cries his eyes out! this for small and big infractions alike!  for some reason too he objects to trying to go pee in the potty...even when we've been trying to do it first thing every morning when he gets up, "NO! I don't want to!", then we have some words and either he comes around to doing it himself or a little help and persuasion is given and mostly, he is successful! not sure why he is so resistant to this...he likes his pull-ups too!  he doesn't want me dressing him anymore either. no, huh-uh. don't even try putting the shirt over his head... " I wantto doit!!" and honestly he is doing a great job... so I say, go on ahead!

I know they are going through stages, Finn for sure. Aiden's behavior of late has been a little harder to gauge. He is such a big boy and so independent in thought and action that I often have to remind myself (the Mom!) that he is still a little boy! Yes he is five and going into Kindergarten this year and getting taller all the time but 5 is still 5 and very young! He is pushing boundaries and testing limits and we are his border patrol agents! :)

I had cute conversations with the boys tonite as I put them to bed. Finn and I talked about his friend Taylor who came to play today...he nodded his head emphatically when asked if he had fun with her.They played with play-doh and climbed in and out of the little rocket ship hamper thing that we have in the front room and fought a wee bit over some toys. As per their age! He also said yes he liked the movie Peter Pan which they watched a little of before their bath. We talked about Tinker Bell and I imitated the pirate who says "walk the plank matey!" (or whatever!) and Finn thought that was quite funny so we said it again a few more times. Finn was tired and went down w/ a few little squeals but then it got quiet pretty quick.

Aiden and I had a scintillating conversation tonite about "way back, like in 1946" (his words, not mine-I know that wasn't that long ago!) when I explained to him that not all houses had modern plumbing the way we do. And that means they couldn't just go flush the toilet any time they wanted to! They had to go out of their house into the backyard and use an outhouse. Then I explained what an outhouse was. His eyes were big and wide at this point...haha...I had his complete attention! When it was cold and raining or snowing and freezing cold they had to go out there to go potty! We also talked about well water and how ppl. didn't get their water from a faucet in the sink but from down deep in the ground and they had to pump it up from the ground and they used buckets to bring it into the house. And when it was bath nite...like maybe once a week! or every other week... they would fill a big basin full of water and then they would all take turns in the basin-the whole family!- without changing out the bathwater! 

This whole conversation at bedtime when he is usually trying to manage a few more cheetah flips in bed had him wholly engaged with me. He wanted to know more and I wished I had a pioneer book with me so I could read it to him. I used to love Little House on the Prairie and maybe he and I can read that together when he gets a little older. But the conversation was good.

I said "are we SO lucky that we can get water from the faucet and take a nice shower or bath anytime we want to?" 

He said " yeah, but really good that we can flush the poop down!"

Wow-I've so much catching up to do here. Our little family has been busy since I last wrote. I will catch up more on that later. For now I have to recount what happened Monday morning when I woke up. I had heard Aiden out in the living room/kitchen for a couple of minutes prior to getting up-heard some banging of cupboards and I thought, water running. 

So I got up and just as I walked into the kitchen I was in time to see him leaning to the side and over the stovetop, trying to turn it on!!!!!!! I don't think he knows how to get the oven set as they are buttons but he does know how to turn the dials for the burners! 

...SIGH... and DOUBLE SIGH....

What is a Mom supposed to do with a little boy who has so much independence that he feels he can make a "cake" on his own? Which, in fact is what he had done. He has been on a "can we make a cake?" binge lately. He just loves to mix up the ingredients and once or twice we've let him do that making a "homemade" cake from scratch. So, he had already done that when I got to the kitchen as well as mixed it all up, put it in the pan and IN THE OVEN!

SIGH....

After scolding and then explaining (he burst into tears right away almost as soon as he heard me get the "NO Sir" out of my mouth, he knew he was so wrong) we talked about it. I didn't freak out on him b/c that wouldn't have done either of us any good.

So, on errands in town that day I purchased a set of hook and eye locks. It can go on the outside of his door.

Not something that I want to do... at all. But, we have to be able to do something here or this little boy is going to hurt himself somehow.

So that night I showed him the locks and we talked again about what had happened in the morning and why it was so bad.  He already had to tell Collin himself what had gone on. After discussing with Collin we decided to give him another chance. With the threat of the locks he knows now that he can only go into the front room where his toys are or he can stay in his room and read or play. If he fails to do these things, if he even gets into one cupboard in the kitchen or the refrigerator while we are still in our room- the lock goes up.

The threat is real for him and he was pretty much horrified by the idea of the lock on his door so... let's cross our fingers here and hope that his 5 year old impulsive mind doesn't get the better of him one morning! I am seriously crossing mine!

Ava's Birthday Wish

We are so awfully flat singing "happy birthday" here and Aiden is about to come apart at the seams! Still funny and cute!