Conversations with Quinn

Quinn went to the dentist last week for his 6 month checkup and cleaning. He did a really great job. He was super brave and even allowed them to do the fluoride paste at the end. We were walking out to the car . . .

Me: "You did an awesome job. I am so very proud of you."
Q: "You, God, and Jesus are proud of me."
Me: "Well, yes, of course. We are all very proud of you."

*We all know that God and Jesus are big fans of good dental health! ;-)


Just this morning, we were watching PBS Kids (Dinosaur Train, to be exact - LOVE that show!). During one of the breaks, the phrase "Just for Kids" was mentioned. Quinn looked at me and said . . .

Q: "Mommy, you are not a kid."
Me: "I'm not?"
Q: "No, you are a grown up. Me, Holden, and Daddy are all kids."

*Out of the mouths of babes! ;-)

Firehouse Subs

Our little town just got a Firehouse Subs restaurant, and we decided to give it a try last weekend. The boys LOVED it! The walls are recovered with firehouse memorabilia and murals. And, best of all . . . FREE firemans' hats for the kiddos!

I tried to get pictures of the boys without huge "cheese smiles" but they simply could not contain their excitement!

Holden . . .



Quinn (with a sucker in his mouth) . . .


*The subs were delicious, too! :-)

Church Easter Party

Last night, Kat and I hosted the Children's Ministry Easter party at our church. Attendance numbers were really good. We had a covered dish supper, crafts, an egg hunt, and games for the kiddos. The covered dish supper was pretty funny because there appeared to be a theme. There were 3 dishes of mac and cheese, 3 plates of hotdogs, and 3 trays of chicken nuggets! Everyone was certainly thinking "kid food"! ;-)

We were unsure about the weather, so we had to be creative and hide the eggs inside. It probably made for a more challenging hunt with lots of great hiding spots! The boys after the hunt . . .



For some reason we did not have a lot of really little kids (but, lots of elementary aged children). So, Holden and his buddy Connor were the only 2 kiddos in the "2 and Under" room. They were both thrilled with all the eggs. It was a free for all! :-)



We had hidden resurrection eggs with all of the other eggs. After the hunt, Kat took the kids through the opening of eggs and the telling of the Easter story . . .



Holden found one of the resurrection eggs, and Quinn took it up to Kat. His egg had Jesus' crown of thorns . . .



Quinn taking part in the "Bunny Pillow Hop Relay" . . .

Easter Egg Hunt

This morning, we took the boys to our town's Easter Egg Hunt. It was a little cold and windy, but we still had a great time!






Flat Stanley was thrilled to join us in the festivities . . .






Quinn was big enough for the Lightning McQueen bouncy house . . . which he LOVED!



Brant took Quinn to the ages "3 to 5" hunt. Quinn was thrilled to see his buddy Aiden. Aiden's mommy Karen got 2 cute pictures . . .



I LOVE this one! Look at him running for the eggs! :-)



Holden and I went to the "2 and Under" hunt . . .






This was Holden's first egg hunt. He wasn't quite sure what to do. He wanted to hand the eggs to me . . . not put them in his basket. But, he got the hang of it after a while!

Flat Stanley

My mom (Mama Quinn) works at an elementary school. Some of the classes have read Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown. Then, the kids made Flat Stanleys and sent them away on adventures. My mom mailed one to the boys. We were instructed to have him spend time with us and document our fun.

Quinn's birthday is coming up soon. So, the boys and I went to Toys R Us for Quinn to make his birthday list. We decided to take Flat Stanley with us. I must say that he is free to tag along any time. He was very quiet, well behaved, and listened beautifully. What a great role model for the boys! ;-)

Quinn's birthday list:
1. A big boy bike (Spiderman)



2. Transformers (Bumblebee)



*Holden was not as thrilled with Flat Stanley. Look at these expressions . . .






3. Snakes (yes, snakes!)





Fun times, Flat Stanley . . . fun times!
*We plan to take him to an Easter egg hunt tomorrow, and then we will mail him back home.


I just had to include this last photo. Quinn may have enjoyed the 4-wheeler, but it is NOT on his birthday list this year! ;-)

We LOVE this weather!

After our bitterly cold winter (okay, this particularly wimpy Southerner thought that it was bitterly cold!), we are certainly appreciative of spring's arrival. We have been blessed with some great weather lately. Let's hope that it lasts! :-)





*Quinn's buddy Aiden and his Daddy (Robin) met Brant and the boys at the park last weekend. Robin brought a kite . . . on the end of a fishing pole. What a great idea!

Uncle Jack's visit

Brant's Uncle Jack came to visit last weekend. The boys were excited to see him and thrilled to soak up LOTS of extra attention! ;-)

Daddy's Wheels

The boys LOVE to play outside until Daddy gets home from work . . . so that they can drive his car! :-)

Welcome Spring!

We are so very glad to see you!



*Please feel free to stick around for a while. Your low humidity and lack of mosquitoes is just fantastic! ;-)

Mr. Incredible

*Quinn appears to be on the mend. For now, the rest of us have remained healthy. Thank goodness!

Our friends, the Ferrells, have an older son named Dylan. Quinn and Holden are often the recipients of Dylan's hand-me-downs. For that wonderful fact, we are so completely appreciative!!! Not only have they given us great clothes and shoes, we have also received superhero costumes. Quinn is BIG into costumes right now! We have gotten Spiderman and Superman from the Ferrells. And, we just received Mr. Incredible . . . from the Disney movie "The Incredibles". Even though Quinn has not seen the movie, he knows that Mr. Incredible's costume is super cool. Here he is in action (these were taken before the lovely stomach bug incident) . . .

His facial expressions make me laugh. I asked him to give me his "Mr. Incredible face", and this is what I got! Ha!






And, of course, Holden could not resist having his picture taken with Mr. Incredible . . .

The Patient

Well, it looks like Quinn has caught that dreaded stomach bug that's going around. He is just pitiful. Take a look for yourself . . .



This is the first time that either of the boys have had a stomach virus of any sort. SO NOT FUN!!! Well, I'm off to check on the patient, tell Holden to leave him alone (and to not touch him!), and work on my 3rd load of laundry in the past 12 hours. Hope that all of you stay safe and healthy. You don't want to catch this nasty bug . . . believe me!

When?

When did my tiny 4 pound baby become this big cool dude?



This picture makes me smile. Holden's new thing is to put his hands in his pockets. And, I must say . . . it (along with the shaggy hair) certainly adds to his coolness factor!

The Many Names of Quinn

I have many fun names for my Quinn, including Quinny, Q, Mr. Q, and Q-Man. Well, it appears that he also goes by another name, one that I was unaware of.

Yesterday, his Children's Church teacher (Ms. Missy) relayed the following conversation to me:

Q: "Ms. Missy, you can call me Q-Dog."
Ms. M: "Q-Dog?"
Q: "Yeah. That's what my Daddy calls me."

*Now, of course, I prefer that he goes by Quinn, especially at church. But, I just had to laugh. And, it also made me thank Brant for the fact that our child is now asking people to call him Q-Dog! I really hope that this nickname doesn't stick! ;-)

**Holden is also lovingly known as Holden-Bolden, H, and H-Man. I have yet to hear Brant call him H-Dog. I'm sure that it's coming!

Yes, that's my child!

Does your child ever do or say something that makes you think . . . "yes, that's my child"? It happens to me often with Quinn. That silly boy is a lot like me. When he's driving me crazy, I try to remind myself of that! ;-)

Just a couple of days ago, he called me into his room and beamed with pride. He said, "Look Mommy! I organized my toys!"

His dinosaurs . . .






His vehicles . . .

Now, I can always appreciate some good organization. Makes me proud! Yes, that's my child! ;-)

Hey Holden,

is that chocolate pudding any good? ;-)








*Needless to say, he went directly from the kitchen table to the bath tub!

It's all fun and games . . .

until someone gets hurt!

I got a call from Quinn's preschool teacher this morning. There was an accident involving the rock climbing wall. I was told that Quinn was climbing up the wall, slipped, turned/twisted, and his back scraped the "rocks" on his way down. She assured me that he was fine. He cried for all of 1 minute, and then asked to go try it again! But, when an incident is "accident report" worthy, a phone call to mom or dad is required. His main concerns were that he would have to miss outside play time and that I would come and get him early!

Here is my big, strong boy . . .


Here is his poor, scraped back . . .

*Please note that it is directly on his spine! OUCH!!! It makes me hurt just looking at it! He is moving fine and says that it no longer hurts. It did not break the skin. It just appears to be an awful scrape. Poor guy!
*We have made it since last year's summer camp without a phone call from his teacher regarding a playground injury. Pretty good for a crazy, active, wild boy . . . I think!?!

Mike's Comedy Show

Mike Haun, one of Brant's friends from high school, is a comedian. He has a "day job", but he is really starting to make his way in the comedy world. He lives in Atlanta and frequently performs in their comedy clubs. In fact, he has opened for Richard Lewis and Ron White. And, he was once named "The Funniest Man in Atlanta". He is really putting himself out there and working so hard to pursue his dream. How cool! What courage that must take!

Last Friday night, Mike was in town opening for a headliner. A group of us got together to support him and laugh. He was really funny! Good job Mike!

High school buddies . . .

Mike, Eric, Owen, Martin, Rob and Brant

Age 3

I don't know about the other moms out there . . . but, I have found age 3 to be much more challenging than age 2. Everyone talks about the terrible 2's. Nobody talks about the 3's, which I like to refer to as the testing 3's. I think that it's probably one of motherhood's dirty little secrets. *Please don't tell me that "4" is worse! ;-)

I call it the testing 3's because my lovely 3 year old seems to love testing me, the rules, the boundaries, etc. I know that it is completely normal (and even good at this age) to test and to exert his independence. However, it is such a pain!

I have really been working hard on standing my ground, growing my patience, and training Quinn in the term "consequences". He can now tell you that there are consequences for his actions. I have been working like crazy to get him to understand that he has to make good choices so that he can reap good consequences! *He certainly already knows that when he makes the wrong choices, he reaps the not-very-fun consequences!

There are days that everything goes smoothly. :-) And, then, there are days that I think we have to start all over! :-(

Well, b/c this blog primarily serves as my scrapbook and I want to remember a little victory, yesterday was a day that everything went smoothly . . . even a little better than smoothly . . . even an awesome day!

Note from Quinn's preschool teacher . . .


So, it appears that some of the time-outs, taken toys, missed movies, heart-to-heart talks, nagging in the car, repeat of the rules, etc. make a difference! And, now, the next time that he loudly sighs when I ask him to do something (erks me to no end!) I can pull up this post and smile a little smile! I have to be doing a little something right . . . at least some of the time . . . right?

*And, age 3: I am almost done with you. "4" comes next month!
**Well, then Holden will be 3 . . .
***And, then baby #3 will be 3 . . .
OH NO!!!

Earning Their Keep

Well, these boys are eating us out of house and home. So, we figured that it was about time for them to start earning their keep! ;-)

Brant put them to work in the yard, helping him rake and pick up leaves/gum balls/pine cones. Brant promised Quinn a trip to the Dollar Tree with "2 whole dollars" if he worked extra hard. And, he did! What did he buy with his 2 whole dollars? A bag of "Spooky Things" (plastic rats, bats and spiders) and a bag of sour gummy worms. They did buy Holden a car because he worked, too! :-)

Instead of work gloves, Quinn prefers golf gloves . . .
















*A major advantage of having a house of boys? YARD LABOR! I can just imagine the day when they are big enough to do all of the yard work! Sounds like heaven to me! ;-)