What you find on your camera...

...when you discover your three year old has taken a picture or two. And yes, I've since cleaned the toilet!

Saturday Morning

...at 10AM. Star Wars re-enactment in full force.

Sooner or later...

...the haircut is bound to happen. You know, when your child decides they can cut their own hair? Or their brothers? Yesterday, I hopped into the shower before we were expecting friends. Colin had the day off of school and the kids were super excited to be together and to have friends coming over. The minute after I stepped out of the shower, Ethan knocked on the door and said, "Um, mom, I did a little haircutting while you were in the shower?" "WHAT?!" "Oh, and Colin's too." So not only did he decide to cut his hair, his older brother allowed a little play with the scissors as well. Truth be told, I'm not a mom that hides everything, and because Ethan loves cutting tickets using scrap paper for puppet shows, he's got access to safety scissors. Well guess what, safety scissors cut hair. It could've been much worse. As it was, Colin's hair is so thick the handful of spots Ethan got were able to be blended for the day. And the spot near his bangs was right where his colic is... so again, we hid that. Ethan took a bit off the front and then the back near his Dennis the Menace colic. Somewhat hideable--at least enough for us to get through the day and then karate. I put a hat on him and when he took it off he had winter hat head anyway. So the minute we got home yesterday, haircuts commenced. And while both asked for a scissor cut, due to an insane amount of squirming, they ended up buzzed. Colin had to be taken to a 2 because of he jerked his head and took out another chunk! We've now discovered he has really cool moles on his scalp. Eh, boys, what are you going to do? At least we had the clippers at the ready!

See the chunk out of my bangs? I'm SO cute!

Just some of the mess on the bathroom floor. Loads of hair!

Ethan After

(For the record, he is holding his bunnies and Georgia--the tiny monkey. He doesn't ever sleep without these!)

Colin After

(Is it me or is this kid photogenic?)

Uncle Steve comes to town...

Uncle Steve made a surprise visit this week on Thursday. He's helping us refinance our house (hooray--an even better rate!) and drove the paperwork up for us to sign. A bonus was that he stayed to play with the boys for the afternoon, and even stuck around for tacos for dinner. Colin was surprised when he got picked up from school by a special guest. Steve was lucky he got the shortened tour of Colin's classroom! The boys had a ball playing marbles, drums--thanks Steve for setting that up--, and then loads of Wii Winter Olympics.

Tuesday afternoon...

....the boys wanted to eat dinner, but they had to wait. So what better way to fill the time than to dress up? Seriously, these two could spend hours in their bins of make-believe. Maybe it has to do with having a mom that never passed up an excuse to wear a costume. For the record, they were "rock stars".

Sunday Nap

Mike: Ethan, how about taking a rest this afternoon? You must be tired.

Ethan: Dad, I don't think I'm going to rest.

Mike: Ethan, we'd really like it if you slept all night long and in your own bed. I know you like to cuddle Mommy, but you need to sleep all night. And you sleep better at night if you nap during the day.

Ethan: Will Mommy cuddle with me?

A few moments later, Ethan and I are under the covers in our bed. He's got his two bunnies and Georgia (the small stuffed monkey). I've got my magazine. We chat a bit, I read a little, and then we roll over. This is how he likes to fall asleep, facing each other, holding hands, noses almost touching. He looks at me, all Hershey chocolate eyes, and says, "The thing is Mom, well, Bakugan brawlers never sleep." I smile, run my fingers through his hair, and try to remember exactly how the moment feels. I'm sure that soon enough my littlest boy won't want to cuddle and hold hands with his Mommy on a gray winter Sunday afternoon. So I have to wrap this memory up tight.

New Year, New Look

Since beginning this blog in 2007... wow, that seems a LONG time ago... this blog has only undergone minor changes. A widget added or removed, a gadget moved up or down. I decided as the author/historian of all things Dynamic Dugans it was time to have a new look. Thus, the background update. And who knows, now that I understand how to change it, variety might be more of the norm! Happy New Year!

PS It's been great hearing from those of you who are keeping up with us, now that I'm keeping up the blog again! I hope the trend continues even after I'm back in class in a week!

Grandma Bette

Look at where Tiffin was hiding!

Going to play some Uno with Mimaw!

This one is called a Gate Card. And this is Dragonoid.

This week on Wednesday, Ethan and I decided to go visit Grandma Bette. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision and we ended up having a fantastic morning visiting. We were able to see her new apartment, play with Tiffin (when he came out from under the bed), and meet some new friends while playing cards in the atrium. Grandma said repeatedly about Ethan: "This one is pretty social" and "Boy, he sure doesn't miss a trick." It was so sweet watching Ethan climb on her lap to explain everything about Bakugans. And not only did she get a Bakugan lesson, Ethan shared his toys with a man waiting for his lunch as well. The man's face just lit up when Ethan walked right over there and started chatting. In the meantime, Grandma was able to beat me twice in King's Corners. I still rarely win a game of cards against Grandma Bette! It's so wonderful being 45 minutes away from her. She invited us to "come back anytime" and I hope we'll be able to do so!

Friday Fun in the Snow

Yesterday we had to get outside... in Wisconsin winters you can only be cooped up inside for so many days before going a little nutty! Colin has three recess periods a day at school, and those are almost always outside, but he still comes home some days with energy to burn. Ethan, of course, is always willing to run around. So while I cleaned out the garage a bit, the boys invented a few games after they grew bored of 1) the same kind of snowball fight and 2) shoveling. They created "noodle fighting". Because really, aren't pool noodles supposed to be used as jousting equipment?

I've debated...

...about sharing this photo, however, it really is one of my favorites from the Christmas season. That, plus the fact that I turn this blog into a book for the boys, forces me to post this. Hope you have a good laugh over it!

"Ethan, what are you doing?"

"Just checkin' out Jesus."

Enough said, right?

Real Time a la Duganland

20 mintues ago...

"Ethan if you want to keep playing, you need to keep your pants on."

And yes, I meant that literally.

Finding Contentment

Since the fresh start that has been 2010, I've been really trying to focus on being present and being content. This is surprisingly harder than it sounds when you're constantly reminded of "stuff". I just figure it's better in the long run to give the boys my time and energy in the hopes that they'll remember the experiences the most. So yesterday when Colin came home from school, when we normally would have started our chores and dinner preparation, we chucked it all, put on the snow gear and went to the park. Because everyone goes to the park in the winter right? After an hour and a half of sledding and "torpedo sliding" (because the slides were so icy), making music with mittens on the bongo drums, we walked home--happy--rosy cheeked--numb fingertips--but so so happy. And even better? I made a nutritious(insert sarcasm here) meal of cinnamon pancakes with sautéed apples for dinner. Delicious indeed.

Christmas and New Year's 2009

Christmas was a bit of a whirlwind this year, but so much fun. We started our travels a bit rough as Ethan decided it was a great time to get the stomach flu for the first time the night before we were to leave. We made it in the car a few hours behind schedule, but Colin and Mike were still able to spend time with Nana and Pop Pop and Aunt Elaine, Ryan and Jessie in Naperville. Ethan and I stayed in St. Charles and caught up on our rest. (Something about sleeping on a bathroom floor with a three year old that just plain makes you tired)! On the 23rd we drove to Cincinnati and despite driving through freezing rain had an ok trip. The boys simply could not wait to get there and loved checking out all of Grammie's decorations--and finding the pickle on the tree too of course! Plus, they got some good Nala cuddles too. The next day was amazing because that's when Jeff and Jenna arrived from Indy with GRANT DAVID ZARTMAN! That's right, we all finally met baby Grant. And I must say, my nephew is simply adorable. What was even better was watching Colin and Ethan with their cousin. They are smitten with him and spent the entire rest of the trip constantly talking about how cute he was. (And he is cute!) We got to hear Pop sing in the choir on Christmas Eve, had more than enough gifts and fun on Christmas morning, and were able to relax and spend time together. Mike and I were even able to sneak away for a few hours to visit with Jason & Amy Isadore, who were visiting Amy's family. We left Sunday and drove back to St. Charles to celebrate with the Smith's before Mandy and Steve had to get back to the grind on Monday. The next day, we capped off our trip with a lunch playdate in Geneva with Colleen and Kristen and the crew. Seeing all of our kids together is something special--and now that we're close, it happens more frequently! By the time we got back to Whitewater, we were exhausted and used those few days to just recoup. Mike had traveled so much in December it was great to spend time at home just playing games and taking naps and organizing. New Year's Eve found us eating a great meal, playing a few rounds of Winter Olympics on the Wii, watching the New York Philharmonic, and heading to bed early. Hello 2010!

Christmas Eve

Uncle Mike and Baby Grant

Can't wait to eat the Christmas Tree cake!

I'm cute and I know it!

Cutest baby EVER!

Grant David Zartman

We're pretty psyched about Christmas!

GO PACK GO!

A night on the town...

The newlyweds...

Cousins chillin' out

Our second favorite dog... she's such a love!

Loving the Christmas morning hair on Ethan! (And he loves his Imaginext Dragon Fortress!)

Fun with friends!

We've been friends since... too many years to count!

Maeve and Ethan

The official attempt at the kids' group photo--not bad!

The Cooper.

Kristen and her Cooper

Random Photographs from December 2009

Buzz Lightyear to the rescue--complete with swim goggles.

Just catching up on the morning news before breakfast.

Cuddling with Dee Dee...

This is what I discovered in the kitchen... Ethan had created his own "healthy snack". His favorite cheese held with two corn on the cob picks he dug out of the silverware drawer "all by myself". Only Ethan would decide it was the best idea to walk around the house with a large chunk of cheese.

Mimaw came to visit one Friday in December with Mimi and Bubba. She was able to see Colin's school Christmas production too!

He can't take his eyes off of his big brother!