Wheeling & Dealing with Nonni

Gaines's First Garage Sale adventure with Nonni written by Nonni:

I was so excited to take Gaines on his first Treasure Hunting trip!  The morning started at 6:30am, and Gaines was ready with his money, backpack and his special “Poppy” look alike shirt Nonni purchased on her last Treasure hunting adventure.  We had breakfast in the car, and within 10 minutes we found our first garage sale and it happened to be young man selling his stuff.  He was so excited to get out of the car, when we walked into the garage all the mom’s and grandmother’s just thought he was the cutest thing ever.  Especially his Nonni. 

The first item was a real skeleton sword that he bought (staying at Nonni’s).  I told him to ask the young guy how much he wanted for it, he did and proceeded to tell him he only had 5 dollars.  He took 2.00 for his first purchase and he counted his one’s and gave it to him.  He said, Nonni let’s get something else!!!!  So, he found the big box of cars for Will and purchased a Spiderman alarm clock (that we later found out didn’t work) we were disappointed.  When we left, he said “I love you, Nonni!”  Love it…… 

We got in the car, took our picture with our first purchase and he said “let’s go to some more!”  The next stop he was getting into talking to everyone (imagine that) and told the lady we would be back for a sleepover.  I thought she was going to fall out of her chair.  So, we found 4 others, went to McDonald’s and came home and had a picnic lunch and unloaded all of his treasures.  We spent 10.00 and he was loaded up, I need to bring him more often.   After lunch, Gaines decided to use all my curlers to create himself a skateboarding outfit.  Love his imagination, too cute!! 

We had a blast and can’t wait to take Will next time.

I went in to Gaines's room at 6:14am and he was sitting up in his bed waiting and said, "Mommy, I want to wear that blue shirt with the flowers on it that Nonni got me that looks like the beach."

His Haul
Seriously, this stuff better not end up at my house.

Gaines's Skate boarding gear

Fannilow

On Saturday night, Daphne and Rob (my brother and sister-in-law) came into town to go the Barry Mannilow concert - yes, you read that right. Daphne is 36 and a huge Barry fan - I don't think she necessarily fits the demographics for this show. It was great to hang out since we had not seen them since literally Christmas. That may be the longest we have ever gone before without a visit. 

We had dinner before the concert at a new restaurant Downtown, The Southern. It was really good and then picked up tickets at Will Call. My girlfriend Liz's husband works for Barry Mannilow and got us 7th Row Seats!

Dinner

Daph so excited about her 7th row ticket and new Barry shirt

Our hook-up, Chris, looking so professional in his concert attire.

Favorite quote from Barry for the evening:
"I was the Justin Beiber of my era."

Our Fun Faces!

On Sunday morning Aunt Daph and Uncle Rob stopped by to see the boys.

Summer Week 9

Summer is flying by!

On Monday, please make note that I went to the YMCA and worked out - might be the first this summer. The boys actually had a great time in the play area which made it better. 

Tuesday was a marathon day. We went to Hayes's house to play with his new play set that he got for his 2nd birthday. With all their trees in the backyard there was enough shade to where we could actually stay outside without melting for about 30 minutes. I love watching the boys play. I know I say that all the time but it really is so fun to watch them interact with friends and hear them call each other by name. Will stayed with Hayes while I dropped Gaines off at his My Gym class. He thinks he is so big! He runs in and says, "Bye Mom!" and has to give me a few huge hugs and kisses for the crowd. 

Will and Hayes love sitting in this chair together

Gaines at My Gym

After our My Gym class, we went to lunch with Nonni at Chipolte. We headed home and Will got about an hour nap before we went to Hallee's Bubble Birthday Party. It was so HOT in the middle of the afternoon but the kids LOVED the water and bubble party. Most of the kids at the party were from our neighborhood, church, school, and Bible study. 

This picture captures the party perfectly!

The Mommies! 

On Wednesday, we met Sarah-Beth and crew at the Y and did a Sculpt Class that all I can say is that I survived. I had texted SB and asked her if she thought this would be an ok class to do since I just started working out again and she said I quote, "Sure, easy just do 5lb weights." Let me tell you this class kicked my rear but I really enjoyed it in a love, hate sort of way! What made it worse is we promised the kids to go to Pump-It-Up afterwards. I couldn't even lift the boys off the inflatables! We ended our morning having lunch at Panera with just the boys and me. They were so good today. I love mornings like this when I enjoy them and don't yell 24-7.

Daddy's Home!

As I am writing this I am thinking, we are ONLY to Thursday and I feel like we have done a million things! I needed to keep the boys out of the house for a while where our house could get cleaned so we headed to Yoga at the Y and then we had a little time to kill so we went for a picnic at the park. Gaines enjoyed gazing at the trees and the boys ran and collected a LOT of sticks!

Friday, Gaines was soooo excited! He finally got to play with Ezra and we were going to his house in Lebanon. We talked the entire way there about how this was his best friend and there was no reason to be shy and as soon as we walked in he was hugging my leg and not speaking. It is always so awkward!  He finally warmed up and they started playing. The boys loved their backyard and they had a real tree house! I did not get a pic but it was pretty neat and their first real trampoline experience. Gaines had so much fun. Will, on the other hand, was terrible. He kept telling Ezra all the toys were "MINE!" and throwing a fit if he could not have a snack every 5 seconds, throwing toys across the room, etc. He has always been really good around other people and we were only blessed with his evil side but now it is starting to show up here and there. Makes me a little worried about school.

Gaines: "Mom, let's take a pic."

 Saturday, Will got some alone time with Mommy and Daddy while Gaines got to go with Nonni for his first yard sale experience (more on that in a different post). Luckily, Gaines left before Will got up. Will got to watch soccer instead of cartoons, went to Panera for a bagel, and played ball with Daddy in the back yard. I don't think he even realized Gaines was gone until about 11:30am and he said, "Gaines sleep?"

SUMMER, SUMMER, SUMMERTIME!!!

His Way or the Highway

Will pretty much does whatever he wants in all aspects of life. This is just another example of him going in his own direction. I walked into the bathroom and Will was sitting on his frog potty backwards peeing. I have watched him stand over his froggy potty and now this - neither the way it was intended to be used.

In the big scheme of things - he does use the potty at least twice a day!

Trust Me

Gaines talks non-stop and I have been racking my brain to keep up with some of the things he comes up with or says so I'm going to try and just write a post each time one comes up.

"Trust Me Mom. Trust Me"

"Mommy, I need to go downstairs and get some chalk and write out our schedule for the day."

Gaines: "What does Foundation mean?"
Me: "It means a base to a building."
Gaines: "No, it doesn't it means a factory."
Me: "No, Gaines it does not mean that."
Gaines: "Maybe you should watch WordGirl."

SCENE: Father's Day Dinner sitting around the table at Nonni's house
Gaines: "Where are Grant and Trish?"
Me: "They will be here soon."
Gaines: "Are they lost again? They get lost a lot."

"Why are we cooking breakfast? It is not Father's Day."

Gaines: "How do you pee if you don't have a penis?"
Me: "Mommy has girl parts. Just a hole it drops out of."
Gaines: Hmm Ok

"Poppy knows Spanish. He says Adios Amigos."

"I'm OLD. My skin moves." I am sure he got this from asking Nonni why her skinned moved.

Gaines tells ANYONE who will listen about the treehouse project him and his Nonni and Poppy are doing. One day she will learn to keep her mouth shut. Example we are leaving a birthday party yesterday and here was the conversation with the Hostess.
Gaines: Thanks for having us!
Sheree: You are welcome Gaines
Gaines: I'm doing a project. It is a treehouse at my grandmothers house. And we need all the ingredients, wood, mud, foundation, and a blue print. I made a blue print yesterday and we need a stand.

Summer Week 8

This week has been pretty low-key for us. We have not had a million things to do this week just fun stuff.

On Monday, we had a play date with our friends from school Cooper and Chloe. They managed to take out literally every toy in the house but I think they had a good time!

Tuesday was a busy morning! We went to story time at the Brentwood Library with Anna Clare and Hayes. The library was super nice and they boys seemed to have a good time and even paid attention most of the time. Craft time was interesting - Hayes and Will enjoyed taking the glue sticks in and out of the bucket most of all. Then we headed to Hayes's house and Will stayed there while I took Gaines to his 2nd My Gym class. He really loves this class. 

Wednesday was quite the adventure that I will not repeat again. The movie theaters have free kids movies in the summer and I finally found one I thought was appropriate for my 3 year old (Will can watch whatever!). We headed off to Charlotte's Web and they were so excited! We got popcorn and got the perfect seats. They were in heaven for about 10 minutes. We switched seats, we got up and down, we ate all our snacks and popcorn. Gaines was perfectly content, Will on the other hand was not. He was all over the nasty floor, waving "bye" to me while he was heading down the steps while we were watching the movie. Finally about 30 minutes in I had had enough. I told Gaines we had to leave because Will was being bad and then Gaines lost it! I felt so bad for him, he was being so good and enjoying the movie. I told him that we would come back without Will which he proceeded to tell Will all the way home, "Will, you cannot come anymore to the movies."

Wednesday night I got to meet Eli Rhoton and see Courtney at the hospital. Court and I have been friends since 2nd grade and now she is a mother of 3 boys!!!

While I was gone Gaines was helping Daddy with Will. He has really gotten in to taking care of Will at night. He wants to sing him songs usually Jesus Loves Me and Old McDonald and telling him stories that he has made up. Tonight he was reading Will a book.  It really is the sweetest!

Thursday we headed to the Clark Pool for PUMC Play group day. It was such a good morning. There were about 5 families there and the weather was great. Thank goodness for Halley Clark she played with Will literally for 2 hours! Thursday night we met Nonni for dinner at Cracker Barrel since Daddy was out of town.

Crazy boys - Monkey See Monkey Do

Friday was an extra special day! Garrison Church invited Gaines to his 5 year old birthday at Chuck E Cheese. Gaines has never been before and was so excited especially after watching all the commercials for this place! I got a babysitter for Will and we headed off. Not before Gaines told Will a million times he could not go though. I thought Will was going to lose it when we left but he recovered pretty quickly. Gaines was sqealing and clapping the entire ride there. He had a ball! He looked so big sitting at the long table eating his pizza with the other kids. He really is growing up. Of course he wants his birthday there.

Friday night we headed over to Mimi and Papa's to have homemade ice cream and ride Gaines's brand new bike. We have a lot of practicing to do but he did pretty well for the first time. Will got to play some ball with Uncle Rusty and Papa Jim so he was happy!

Gaines so excited about his new bike!!!

Daddy and Will helping

Getting a little frustrated trying to learn to work those pedals

Geniuses at Play

Love this. Gaines walked up to Papa Jim and was telling him something while hugging on him.

Saturday we did nothing besides some errands. Pretty much laid around all day.

Mommy, let's take a picture. Daddy, get out the camera.
Hmmm my training is finally paying off!

Me too!!!

Saturday with our Grandmother

Today Garrick had to work and I needed to get the house ready for Dani's baby shower so Mom watched the boys. It was a perfect day for them to be at NonNon's house (shoot everyday is a perfect day to be at NonNon's house!) Nonni emailed me the play-by-play for their adventures today.

Should I go, or not?

Gaines decided he wanted to play in the rain, so out the door we went.  Once he got his feet wet, he was no longer a happy camper he couldn’t get back in fast enough.  When he came in, he slipped and fell, scared him to death.  He didn’t want to play in the rain ever again without his rain boots and raincoat.  Gaines didn’t like feeling wet at all, so Nonni put all his clothes in the dryer and he loved having them nice and warm. 

Gaines, let me show you how to paint out rocket ship.  Oh, Will loved this and they really liked mixing all the colors up.  Yes, Nonni’s house will never be the same color again.

Nonni, I love this!!!

We couldn’t go outside to have a picnic, so Batman Gaines decided we needed a picnic under the pavilion outside (pretend) so we wouldn’t get wet.  That’s why we’re sitting there with the door open and watching it rain.  I’m not sure Gaine’s remembered to put his underpants back on after he went to potty.  I noticed during lunch, and asked him to go and put them on.  He didn’t care either way.  Will sat there like a good little boy, enjoying his picnic.

Naptime at Nonni’s, I would have enjoyed this naptime when I was their age.

And the tricycle race is on. 

Gaines beat Will to the mailbox on his tricycle that Nonni pushed all the way.

Let’s go Nonni, we have to deliver the mail.

Off to deliver the mail, on a mission.

Parking their tricycle’s.

Mixing colors to paint.  Loved it!  Do it myself!!!!!!!! 

In our homemade Rocket Ship….so proud.

Gaines FINALLY got his rocket ship Nonni promised him. It better not end up at my house. Look at these sweet boys! 

Do you see after 5 hours at Nonni's house why I describe my mother as a walking circus?!?! Thank you Nonni for being a wonderful mother and an unbelievable grandmother.