Finished product

So Steve starts the show with a wig, instead of a candle head and ends the show the same way, so thankfully someone took some pics of him with his candle head while he was backstage.

I am sure everyone is just dying to see them :)

Latex and goop

So Steve got the lovely privilege of having his face entirely covered by latex so they could make a plaster of paris mold to make him a melting candle head.


Sounds slightly claustrophobic to me. Ok so I wouldn't have been able to go through with it. He didn't seem to mind at all...so he says!

But here are some pics. I will take a finished picture of him, once he actually gets to put it on.

Most of my comments should be posts

Is there a way to get all the essays I pass off as comments on other blogs to just turn into posts on my own?

Usually I read someone else's blog and it sparks something I want to remember or something I feel strongly about or want to respond to...but rather than stealing their idea and posting it myself, I just turn my comment into a big long wanna-be post.

I don't mean to when I start commenting...but by the time I am done, well, let's just say that I wouldn't be offended if they told me they hadn't finished reading it.

This happened to me twice today, hence the following two posts....they are mostly so I can remember these things about myself...my slightly pious mother to one child-rearing tactics and my thoughts about my wedding ring.
In fact, one is an exact copy of something I left on a friend's blog in her "quest" to find ideas for discipling...and yes, I actually posted all of that as if I knew what I was talking about or something :)

My wedding ring

In response to a friend's blog about how she didn't really baby her wedding ring


I am with you, or at least I think I would be if I ever wore mine. Sad huh?

I babied it when we were first married, and I still don't like to make bread in it, mostly because mine has obvious crevices which are a pain to get the dough out of and very obvious if I don't.

I also took it off to baby my firstborn, not the ring, but because I was so terrified to scratch him. But just while he was little.

In fact, I almost lost my diamond into a poopy diaper once. I really should have lost it. My prongs were completely bent away and I just happened to glance at my hand in time to quickly pull my hand away from the mess. I striped the ring right then and finished changing the diaper. Thankfully Conner didn't run away in the process.

After I got it fixed, (it had to have a completely new head and this time we went for the thicker prongs instead of the ones that went with the design of the ring), it was gorgeous again. It is amazing what happens to a knife edged platinum band that has been polished after being abused for a couple of years. The pic above shows it with the tiny, skinny, faux double prongs, which because I don't baby my ring, I no longer have on mine.

Thankfully, I have never had to remove it during pregnancy because of swelling or anything.

I have had it cleaned a few times, but nothing regular.

I absolutely love my ring. Steve picked it out entirely by himself. He only asked which diamond cuts I preferred. It was elegantly simple, or at least I thought so. He even knew to get me a solitaire setting. And then he surprised me in the temple with the matching band, which I didn't think I needed/wanted, until he surpised me with it and I knew it was perfect.

So why don't I wear it so often? I am not sure. I got out of the habit when it bugged me while I was sleeping during this pregnancy and then I would forget to put it back on. So now I run around wearing no ring at least half the time. Least you worry that I might have some dude try to hit on me, you needn't....because currently I am a bulbous, large as a barge pregnant lady and for the last couple of weeks at least, wearing no contacts and no makeup, looking most days like I have been run through the wash...

Maybe I will remind myself to put it back on when I feel a little more worthy of its "simple elegance".

Childrearing soap box

IN RESPONSE TO ANOTHER MOM'S PLEA FOR HELP....here I come with my "supermom" soapbox!


I think you would be surprised what they understand and don't understand, even if it is just on their level.
A couple of tricks that seemed to work for us ....at the risk of sounding like I am up on some soapbox....

1. Try distraction first because often they are just really curious. But there were times when I knew that Conner knew he wasn't supposed to do something and thats when we had to look for other tactics.
2. Be consistent (I am totally perfect at that! haha!) If it is not ok right now to climb on chairs and there is a consequence involved, then it is not ok tomorrow or in five minutes either.
3. Remove them from the situation. I wasn't a huge fan of timeouts in their rooms, especially because that is supposed to be their space and it is supposed to be peaceful. But it did work to remove him from the situation and just hold Conner as still as possible in my lap. After saying "No, we don't do this..." then I didn't say anything else and we had to be still. There is nothing worse than to make a little boy be still. When he got big enough to understand, we switched to a time out stool. And only if he wouldn't stay on the stool, then we took him to a confined space.

3. Pick your battles. Is it dangerous? Or will they ruin or break something important? If not, decide if you want to deal with it every day because it sometimes takes a while for it to sink in that mom is serious about something.

4. Use agency. Even when they are small, they can be taught that every action has a consequence, good or bad and often they don't get to choose the consequence. In fact, I think that is a large reason that children do what they do. They are trying to figure out how things or people or their bodies or whatever respond to what they do....climbing, pushing buttons, tantrums, dumping stuff out, all of those usually have immediate consequences.

I hope I can teach Conner to make good decisions, and then know that he is responsible for what happens afterward. I think that is the best thing I can do when "discipling" so I also try to remember to say sorry if I was too harsh or loud or abrupt or whatever (happens more when they start thinking and then verbalizing their distaste)

5. Teach them coping tactics to calm themselves (deep breaths, whatever...) or to use their words. Teach them it is ok to cry and be sad when necessary, but that pitching a fit just because your angry doesn't work and won't get them any more or less attention.

Yikes, I hope I can come back and read these again and all the other comments in a little while when we have a second "experiment" at our house...but I hope the principles are at least the same, even if the methods change a little! :)

Good luck! Just do it with love and you can't really go wrong, or at least not for long ;)

My Beloved

I spend so much time blogging about Conner this or that or me this or that...Steve should just get his own blog to keep you all updated.

Since he hasn't, I guess it is my job.

Don't know much about him right now because he currently spends at least 3 hrs 3 nights a week at practice. But at least I know what he is doing at those practices, because Conner insists on going as often as possible.

What is he practicing?
1. His french accent
2. Holding his arms up
3. Pretending to be a candlestick

He is slated to be Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast opening next week.

We are all excited to go watch him. It starts April 25 (Friday) and runs Friday, Saturday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday (night and matinee) and then Monday again.

Then we get him back for the short while until church or work or something calls to him again! :)

Anyone near us should come check out the show. I think it should be pretty good!

Conners favorite love

Soccer...

We started soccer again this week. The first game Conner didn't score any goals. He then told us that he didn't in the car on the way home. He also mentioned that the other team scored more goals than his team. Considering they are 3 and 4 year olds, most of the goals were probably accidental and I am fairly certain no one was counting besides him. We asked him if he blocked any goals and he brightened up to tell us about those.

The next game was "better" He scored two goals and blocked a whole bunch. And the other team accidentally gave him some of their treats (kind of hard to keep them separate when one team is wearing dark navy and the other black) but when I told him to take them back, they said he could keep them. So in his mind that was probably another score.

They are so fun to watch. Some of the kids get what is going on...some would pick dandelions if they grew out of the gym floor and some just chase all the other kids, oblivious to the ball.

But Conner loves it!

I feel yucky...sing to the "I feel pretty song"

from West Side Story

I feel yucky
Oh so yucky
I feel yucky and gucky and gray

Ok, so maybe I better stop trying to be a lyricist.

7 weeks and counting.
But if I felt like moving my "yucky" self off the couch to take a pic I would show you that from shoulders down I feel totally fine. Strange considering I am pregnant.

But from shoulders up...well, that is the yucky part!

Diagnosis: Ear infection (really painful), pink eye (gucky), swollen tonsils, a minor headache (compared to the earache) - gray.....overall....quite yucky!

Treatment: 4 horse pills a day, eye drops 4x a day, tylenol as often as pregnant ladies are allowed, Popsicles, movies for Conner, dishes/dinner/etc. etc. etc. for Steve, and some blogging to hopefully distract and be able to whine a little

Conners Palate

My son had the following choices for dinner last night...he just had to chose which vegetable he wanted. The choices are as follows including their alternate Conner-ese names:

Broccoli - trees
Cauliflower - tiny treats
Zucchini - zucchini
Asparagus - sticks

He chose: sticks.

Today, as I was on the computer, he went about his usual business of trying to find something to eat. It usually is something that he knows I will say no to, but since I am on the computer he tends to think I am a push-over or something. So he wanted a
toaster struddle - aka froodle. I said, no, those were for breakfast, yeah I know, they are "great" nutritionally . But next thing I know he is in the freezer and he pulls out something even more nutritionally sound. Cheese cake bites. You know the ones you buy at Sam's that come with like 60 little bits and 3 different flavors...and they make them small so you don't feel guilty eating them.

"Mom, what are these?" he says innocently. Like his little 4 year old mind can't recognize them as treats or something.

"Those are cheesecake bits" Hesitating, I have an internal mommy debate...these aren't any better or worse than froodles, but at least I wouldn't have to toast and frost it for him. "Would you like one?" I break down and say.

He of course brightens immediately and proceeds to eat two. His preference? The plain New York cheesecake ones.

He also tends to ask for/like (in a relative order of preference) salmon, strawberries, grapefruit (every morning for breakfast), steak, prime rib, other fish, fried shrimp, broccoli, cauliflower, grapes, crepes, baby carrots, mashed/baked potatoes, perfect cooked chicken, rice and in general any adult foods that are not mixed.

So my four year old has an adult palate you think?

Well, until you ask him what his favorite food is: Wendy's chicken nuggets, honey mustard, fries and ketchup...in that order.