Digga's Room

It will have been 5 years ago next month that we moved to Eldora.  It was a busy time.  We tore down walls, put walls back up, tore off wall paper, tore out carpet, put new carpet down, painted and organized.  Drue had just turned 3, but still I let her choose the color of her bedroom walls and carpet. Who does that?!  Anyway, she has purple walls and purple carpet.  Dig was just one and a half, so *momma* chose a neutral tan and used navy accents.  Well, he finally decided he was bored with that and asked if we could paint his room.  We all know he's way more colorful than beige!

Of course, this all started when DD was given a binder to organize her ideas of re-decorating her room, along with money to start for her birthday...last year.  I'm bad.  Painting doesn't exactly excite me.  In fact, I find it dreadful. Dig's room was smaller so I thought we'd start there.  Needless to say, 6 coats of paint, two trips to Waterloo and several calls to the paint company's headquaters later...his room got done. I wasn't exactly in the mood to start his sister's room, so the cans of paint for her room are still sitting in the utility room just staring at me everytime I go in there.

Dig chose Iowa Hawkeye yellow and it evidently needs a base primer tinted that no one at the store bothered to tell me.  I'd paint but you wouldn't have been able to tell.  It wasn't coating and it just seemed to be never-ending! It was a lot of work, and took waaay longer than it should have, but Dig ended up with a room that reflects him! Sports all the way!

Phew! The paint was done!
Dig always makes you know you're appreciated.
After we finally got his room done he said,

"Mom, I'm sorry about the paint and how much hard work it took.
I picked the wrong color."

No you didn't, Bubs! It's perfect!

The new bedding arrived!

Dig had to wait 30 days after the paint was done to put up his
Ricky Stanzi Fathead and all the little decals that came with.
Talk about life-size! whoa!

Now, I suppose it's time to think about painting DD's room...or perhaps I'll hire someone to do it while we're at the pool this summer! 

That sounds more like it to me!

HaPpY EaStEr!

We have had two weekends full of Easter fun!  Last weekend, Ryan's sisters were all home.  We all went to Dig's soccer game, visited Grandma Great and then had everyone over to our house Saturday evening for dinner.  Ryan impressed his family with his smoked brisket and pork loin.  I think this is probably the first time any of them had ever tasted food that he prepared!  And everyone lived to tell about it!

The next day we had dinner at the Luikens' and the kids enjoyed an egg hunt and kite flying.

After church Easter morning we headed to my Aunt Cindy's for dinner and another major egg hunt! We should have invited more kids...DD & Dig have tons of eggs!

Nanny made us a giant chocolate chip cookie!

The Rabbit came!
The kids have made these Easter baskets for 5 years now!
They can't have Easter any other way!

Candy filled baskets, pool toys and the movies HOP and We Bought a Zoo!


We definitely could have used this Monday as a day to rest, but it's a snow-make up day for school.  Better to make it up now than June!

Balvanz Brackets

My brother, Steve decided to organize an NCAA bracket this year and invited his family, along with Lisa's to pick the winners.  13 adults filled out brackets, as did DD and Dig. 

We Luikens watched the games with great interest and got out our handy-dandy highlighters to mark the winners.  After each major game we'd receive an email update with the standings. It was clear from the beginning that I wouldn't be moving up much.  It was also quite clear that whatever method the kids used to pick their teams...was working!  

It didn't even come down to the last game.  Dig had enough points before the championship game that it was impossible for anyone to catch him! Go figure! A six year old beat out 14 other people.  Lucky dude!  And get this...sister, DD came in second! 

Dig with his winning bracket!

The winner got a special delivery today...

New shirt from Uncle Steve for the winner!

We're already looking forward to next year's Balvanz/ Moshfegh Brackets, plus there will be 2 new Balvanzes by then! KK & Lisa!

Brother's Catching Up!

As you'll remember, DD lost her first (and second!) tooth this school year. 
Well, Dig is proud to share some exciting news with you...HE lost a tooth this weekend, too! 

The little bottom tooth hadn't been loose for too long, but he kept working on it.  He was wiggling it and went to the bathroom to look in the mirror.  Without much fanfare, he returned to the kitchen and in a very quiet, monotone, almost nervous voice he announced, "well, I just lost my first tooth." 

And that was it.  But Momma gave a few good hoots and hollers!  Little Man's growing up.  He's so proud that he lost a tooth a whole year before his sister did.  We text all the relatives and ran to Nan & Pa's to show them. 

While we were there Dig looked at me and point blank asked, "Mom, are you the Tooth Fairy?" 
"No! What would I do with all those teeth!?"
"I just don't get it."
I ended the conversation and he didn't ask any more questions. 

The Tooth Fairy did come.  She left Lane's money and (Detroit Lions colored) fairy dust, as requested.  However, when Dig put his money in a baggie to "save the dust" he spilled a bunch, so he decided to put the baggie back under his bed the next night in hopes that the Tooth Fairy would grant him with a more measurable pile of glitter.  Oh,boy! Did she deliver!

Lane's definitely all boy.  He didn't make much of a 'deal' about losing his first tooth.  All he cared about was being reimbursed monetarily for the pearly white when the winged fairy took it to do who-knows-what with.  He wouldn't even let me take pictures of him putting his tooth under his pillow and he surely couldn't wait for me to take a picture of his loot with the sparkly fairy dust on it the morning he found it like I did for his sister.  Nope. 

He did let me take a picture of the new hole in his head. 

I've been informed it's great for straws and spitting water through! 

Told ya...ALL BOY!

Neanderthal

If you read this, you probably know me.  Let's see.   If you could use 3 words to describe my physical attributes which words would you choose?  Here are mine:

1) Crazy curly hair (ok, that's more than 1 word)
2) Freckles
3) Short

My hair has been a battle most of my life.  I grew up having a friend of my parents call it "The Torn Look."  That sounds better than "don't you ever do your hair?"  I love my hair when it does what I want it to, but when is that? Hardly ever. And puh-lease! It's nearly impossible to find anyone who actually knows how to cut curly hair.  I've never been excited about one of my cuts.  Not one.  I also never feel like I have an actual hair- style! Curly-haired girls shouldn't own a brush.  You don't brush this! You also don't use a normal towel.  You steal your husbands old t-shirts, they keep your hair from being frizzy.  You don't wash your hair daily, not even every other day.  Sounds gross, I know.  And it's best to air dry, but with thick hair, who has time for that? So, you MUST use a diffuser. 

Ryan teases me when I say, "I have to take a bath and do my hair before we go."
"Why? It will look just like that when you're done anyway!"
Love you, too.

I remember the morning after our wedding.  Ryan was already downstairs in our living room watching t.v. while I was in bed contemplating how in the world I was going to get to the bathroom without him seeing my crazy, curly, bed-head hair.  He'd never seen it in this state before!

There would also be mornings where I would wash it the night before and went to bed with it wet.  Ry would see me in the morning, grab me by the arms and take me to the huge bathroom mirror and say, "look at those curls!"  

I'm over it now.  He actually thinks I'm at my cutest right away in the morning...hmm.  That really isn't saying much for me is it?

Well, then.  It shouldn't come as much of a surprise when the littlest man in the house said what he did.  It was one of those "washed-it-before-bed-and-went-to-bed-with-it-wet" mornings.  I walk into the kitchen.  Dig looked at me without a single expression on his face.

"Mom.  You look like a Neanderthal." 
"Do you even know what a Neanderthal looked like?!"
"Yeah."

So I Googled it.  Sure enough.  The very first picture that popped up could be me...on a good day!

Look. She's got freckles and everything! 
I do have nicer brows, though! =)

One More...

Drue reminded me of another funny.

She was in the mood for a little staring contest. She thinks she's quiet good at them. 

DD:  "Daddy, are you good at staring contests?"
Dad:  "No."
DD: "OK, then let's have one!"
Dig pipes in, "I'm good at staring contests...if it's with a pretty girl!"

Guess it's easier to stare at pretty girls.  Oh boy.

In Their Own Words...

Well, my little "to-blog-about" list keeps getting longer, so I thought it was high time I posted something!  How about a random entry on all the cute/funny things I've heard the past few weeks? I realize these are mostly from Dig. Sometimes DD is way too serious and grown up.  She also has a brother who talks a lot!

* Turns out our Little Man is quite the Ladies Man.  He's friendly, caring, smart,  used to playing with girls, he's a cutie, not to mention smoooth.  Put these things together...you're bound to have lots of friends, boys and girls.  Dig also knows he can get a reaction out of his momma if he tells me about something a little girl says or did to him at school.  For example, "She hugged me!" "She chases me at recess!" "She tries to kiss me!" He even has girls tell him, "meet me at the bubble!"  The bubble is a crawl through tunnel on the playground equipment...thank goodness you can see through it! Evidently, this is the "secret" meeting spot for Kindergartners.  "Mom! If a girl says 'meet me at the bubble' DON'T do it!" 

* I admit, it's a rare thing for me to wear tennis shoes.  I'm just not that kinda' girl.  So, when Lane saw me wearing my tennies, he looked at me and said, "Mom, you look so cute in those shoes!"

* Dig's Kindergarten teacher, Ms. Phillips, uses a ladder system to keep behaviors in check.  Students move up or down the ladder depending on their behavior, how well they're working, if they're kind to friends, if they're caught doing a good deed, etc...  Dig is usually on Outstanding.  The highest tier of the ladder.  If you're on outstanding you get a coupon.  These coupons vary from, wear a hat in the classroom, bring your favorite CD, bring a stuffed animal, pick a friend to eat lunch with, all sorts of fun stuff!  Lane's friends aren't always at the top.  So, one day Lane was proud to tell me, "my two best friends moved up to outstanding today...and you know, I was kinda happy for them."

* It's no secret here that Dig loves chubby things.  That's how we got our cat.  He picked the one with the chubbiest face.  So, I guess I should take this as a compliment. (?) "Mom...you're face is just fat enough...almost too skinny." Then I got a hug...around my belly..."Now that's how I like my momma...with a nice chubby belly!"  {sigh} "Will you be my wife?" Redeemed.

* We know a true story about Ryan's elementary school days. He chased a girl on the playground and when he caught her, he kissed her.  Turns out she's a family friend, and I crack up just thinking about it.  One night we were re-living this, trying to embarrass Daddy and talking about "all the girls he used to chase."  I said, "I wonder what some of those girls look like now."  My sweet baby boy replies, "well we know he got the cutest one in the end." Seriously? He's smooth.

* On a day I subbed at the school.
   "Mom! What was that about today?!"
    "what was what about, Bubs?"
    "I saw (Billy) hug you! Why did he hug you!? I don't like that."
  
* "Mommy, you're like an onion."
    "what honey?"
    "You make me cry."
    "why are you crying?"
    "Cuz' we're talking about something nice.  Sometimes, good feelings make me cry."

Please ignore the slimy, fingerprinted door.  ;)

And here's one from the Queen of the house...

"DD, can you help me clear the table?"
"No, I'm saving that for the future.  5 kids are going to make me tired!"