Parent Teacher Conference

Last week I met with Ben's teacher for PTC.  It was very insightful. Ben has a fantastic teacher with a great sense of humor.  Thank heavens.

She asked me if Ben likes to sing in the bathroom. Frankly I don't know because we have such loud fans in our bathrooms that I can't hear anything that goes on in there. Mrs. Sandora said that whenever Ben goes to the bathroom (which is connected to the classroom) he sings heartily - in an operatic way.  The accoustics must be great. She said that they have knocked on the door and told Ben that everyone can hear him but that doesn't seem to phase him.  He continues on with the aria.

She also told me that the bathroom door has a very loud creak and when Ben shuts the door he likes to get every last creak out of the door.  I asked him about it and he said, "Oh yeah!  It goes like this CRREEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeak." So now I know what the bathroom door sounds like at school.  Maybe I should go there with a little WD-40 and solve that issue.

Luckily we were able to laugh about it - like I said, she has a good sense of humor. 

Also Ben has lost his two front teeth.  See picture below. I know what Ben wants for Christmas!

Catching Up

So not a whole lot has been going on in the Fairchild household lately.  Lots of routine stuff - same drill different week.

However, the boys manage to keep life interesting. Gabe is always coming up with cute phrases... every day he will say to me at about 10:00 or so - "Mama, I have something I need to tell you." My heart races a little bit because generally this is followed by some kind of confession.  Not for Gabe.  After I say (calmly) "What do you need to tell me?" 

"Mama, I would like a go-gurt."  Whew.  I can handle that.

One of the morning routines is Mike chases after the boys to grab a hug and kiss and Gabe will yell (while laughing) "Why don't you pick up somebody your own side."  It's just cute.

Sammy is getting so big.  He is mushy, squishy, smiley, and oh so cute. On Sunday, during church, one of my friends, Owenna, pinched Sammy's leg and said, "Oh!  He is so soft!" It's true. He is yummy.

Halloween was fun - we went to my friend Tamara's house and had a yummy dinner and took the kids out to get loaded up on candy. Being paranoid about candy and Ben's nut allergy I remind him several times "Don't eat any candy until we get home!!" Poor kid. I'm sure he loves being nagged that whatever candy he consumes needs to be pre-approved. The boys wanted to be ninjas so we bought them some costumes.  I think I am done buying costumes. I hope to make some next year.... well I guess we'll see. Truth be told, we will probably just buy. I am inspired by some friends of ours who always make their costumes and they are FABULOUS!  This year they were Lego guys - LIFESIZED!  Blake, who is 4 1/2 (Gabe's best buddy) was dressed as Lego Indiana Jones.  It was too great!  I just have to attach the picture because it is worth seeing.



Marin is the big Lego guy and Blake is Lego Indiana Jones.  Awesome, eh?


On to our photos.

Cute Baby!

My favorite Ninjas.

Ben reading the paper in his suit.  Doesn't he look like a little businessman?  I love these pictures!

Gabe sleeping in his Santa nightcap - Naughty or Nice?

Pictures from Longwood Gardens and Ott's Mum Hill

Gabe's awesome outfit this morning

Argyle sweater and orange sweat pants make a dapper combination, don't you think?

I'll apologize ahead of time for what you will read next

I debated whether or not to write this next entry... it's funny and humiliating in that kind of way in that you will want to cover your mouth, gasp, and giggle a little.

Last Wednesday Gabe, Sam, and I went to the zoo with Blake and Marin (little Quentin came along too).  The weather was perfect so we couldn't resist spending the day outdoors.

While sitting down having lunch there was this nice man, an employee of the zoo, cleaning up the picnic area. The boys were playing with him and he was teasing them back. Marin and I chatted and ate our lunch not really noticing what the boys were doing. UNTIL I heard Gabe yelling, "MR. BROWNIE!!!  COME AND GET ME MR. BROWNIE!!"  My ears perked up when I heard that because it sounded awful strange. "Gabe come here... why are you calling him Mr. Brownie?"  Gabe's reply, "Because he has brown skin."

"No no no.  We don't call people by the color of their skin. Do we call Daddy Mr. Whitey?"

Gabe - "No."

Me - "Please don't call him that anymore."

Gabe continues to YELL "MR BROWNIE!"  The only way I could get him to stop was to yell back, "STOP GABE!!"

I was mortified to say the least. Yes, the man was brown as Gabe observed, but it is not like Gabe hasn't seen someone with brown skin before.

Then, to top that off about 3 minutes later Gabe says, "Mom I just saw a ninja!!"  Very loudly of course. He was referring to the woman wearing a burqa. It was a good day for explaining ethnic differences.

Aye, aye, aye. I don't think there is much more I can say about that!

At least I didn't know them

Yesterday we went to Longwood Gardens - it was a perfectly beautiful fall day. I'll write more about that later.

As we passed a large sculpted plant in the shape of a dog Mike remarked that the dog had bushy eyebrows. Ben replied, "Yeah, just like me and mom have bushy eyebrows."

Of course at that moment a small wedding party passed by and heard every word because Ben doesn't exactly speak quietly.

I said, "Oh thanks Ben, that's just great."

Mike said, "Just what you want to hear eh?"

The wedding party chuckled. At least I didn't know any of them. Of course I had to ask Mike a little later, "Are my eyebrows bushy?" Let me reassure you... my eyebrows are nothing like the furry caterpillars I had in highschool. I could put Brooke Shields to shame!

What happenend to the day, the month, the year?

Making the transition from mom of 2 boys to 3 boys has been interesting to say the least. During the summer Sam was in that hazy, not quite aware of what is going on around him phase... or maybe that was me. Now that he is 5 months old (gone by waaay too fast) and Ben is in school and Gabe is in preschool I honestly don't know what happens with my days.

I spend a lot of time feeding Sam, cleaning up spit up, bowel explosions and nose aspirations. Oh yeah and laundry, laundry, laundry.

I do manage to get in some gym time - about one hour if I am lucky and everyone is healthy.  But by the time night time rolls around, I am exhausted!!

When the boys went back to school I was excited because I thought I would have a little time to do some paintings, or write a little bit more. Instead I have about 1 1/2 hours after I drop Gabe off at preschool, get Sam down for a nap and then that precious bit of time seems to be over before it started.

I always thought that as a mom I would have enough time to do at least some of the things that I wanted to do, but now I am worried that I am on that freight train of life filled with shuttling kids back and forth, fixing meals, doing laundry, keeping the house tidy, etc. etc.

However it is not all business. Last night Mike and the boys spent about a half hour wrestling and throwing eachother around. I held Sam up so he could have a front row seat to all the rollicking fun. It was cute to see how enthralled he was by all the action. I can just see him in about one year, running and throwing himself on top of the boy pile.

It's funny though how the things I love about having boys - the enthusiasm, the jubilance, the silliness, the noise... it's also the stuff that drives me crazy too. I love them to pieces though.

Anyway, just wanted to write about stuff going on in our house these days.