Powder Puff Boys

Powder white skin is fine....but not if your kids are half Mexican!

So it was instantly upon seeing Avery's hair as he peeked around the corner at me that I knew something was amis. ....Or better yet....amess.

Yes indeed, 22oz of powder might be the cheapest bulk size to buy.....but it sure is no fun to clean up. These poor Texas kids missed snow, so they thought they would create their own from the top bunk...shaking every last microscopic flec into the atmosphere of their bedroom. If you notice that hazy look to Avery's photo above....that is not a blurry shot, nor is it a neat Photoshop affect....no it is simply powder laced AIR. I had to open all the windows, turn on the fan and the air purifier for 24 hours before it was even livable in there again!

It was just one of those moments where scolding was impossible....so take pictures was the only thing to do....because the prospect of just how to clean the room was enough to zap all energy as I entered the room. Oh, and be assured, while Avery is covered in the most powder, it was big brother Donovan who climbed up into the (formerly sacred and childproof) top shelf of the closet and handed down the bottle of powder.

Now I lay me down.....to......sleep. PLOP.

After a long day of tearing his mother's house apart room by room, Donovan finally decided to give it a rest. LITERALLY.

RIGHT NOW. It looks like it was a split second decision. There is a couch through either doorway to the front and behind him....but nope, it looks like his batteries just plumb wore out right in the middle of the kitchen floor.

Too bad he waited until I was out running errands...why is it that daddy has all the luck?


I have to take pictures to remind myself that they really ARE angels. When they are more lively looking it is quite easy to forget this.

Another one bites the dust...

It was dad's plan since we were in diapers....send the girls off to a great Catholic Universtiy so that they can meet a great husband. Well, dad may have been doling out future MRS. degrees when we were tots, but now he is eating his words, as yet another Bugos girl has gotten hitched.

Just days after graduating Magna Cum Laude from Christendom College, Cassidy walked down the same aisle she had worn her cap and gown, this time in an all white gown and veil, ready to become Mrs. John Jalsevac.

As her sister, I couldn't be happier! John is a welcome addition to the family, and Cass is truly blessed to have such a wonderful man in her life.

Taking place in the lush Shenandoah hills of Virginia, the setting was utterly romantic. The entire family and tons of friends of both the bride and groom congregated in Front Royal for 4 days of wedding festivity (and manic preparations:) The blessed event took place on May 15th at 3pm.....and lasted into the wee hours of the morning.

To view the full wedding story, you can view their album under the featured weddings at www.BellezzaPhotography.com

Congratulations to Cass & John!

Our whole clan!

Seven Habits of Highly Independant Little Boys

IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER....


1. Knives are swords.
"If hobbits and dwarves and the children of Narnia can bear them....so can I." -Avery
(found today in the top bunk coveting my turkey carving knife under a pillow. I just uttered a prayer of "THANK GOD nothing happened to him" and gently removed the knife to a place so safely out of the way that next Thanksgiving I will probably have to carve my turkey with chopsticks). I still don't know where he got it from . YIKES!!!)

2. Don't pee your pants. No.....pee in any open container available in the moment. But just don't pee your pants.

3. Pick mommy's single most expensive hair product and use it to wash the carpet.

4. Open door policy. .....In the fridge. Get whatever food you want, whenever you want, partially eat it and then grind it into the nearest available furniture or crevice. Leave fridge door open on your way out for proper ventilation of food.

5. Turn fridge control to OFF. This will greatly excite mommy at around midnight when she is looking for a snack and realizes everything is room temperature.

6. While we are on the topic of food, make it HOT. Doesn't matter if it is not normally nuked, but place any food item or toy in microwave and turn on by pressing whatever buttons necessary. NOTE: If you see fireworks...run and hide under your bed.

7. IMPROVISE. Can't find the foam bullets for your air gun? Break open your LED light you got from the parade, pop out the little stack of cell batteries, and you have instant METAL bullets perfect for loading into your high powered air gun (the one that DADDY bought you, remember?)

'Dem Southern Boys

Something in the male gene demands nakedness at all times. Or at least whenever mom turns her back....as I did on this fine spring day. One minute he is innocently playing with the hose and a bucket....the next minute he is still fairly innocent, this time in his most natural state.

Some questions just don't have answers.

Welcome to the Sock-Hop

There really is no explanation other than nothing is as it seems when you are a little boy.
Not even the pile of daddy's un-sorted socks.

Top Ten Reasons Why I haven't been Blogging...

Ok, so this email is the true confessions of a frazzled mom, and will (hopefully) shatter some people's images that I have it "all togther"....but it needs to be said: raising boys (brothers) during the toddler years is perhaps the most courageous and absolutely irrevocably INSANE thing I (or anyone else who shares my plight) has ever undertaken. So here is the long awaited dose of reality that really should have been blogged long ago.

....And so begins the top ten reasons that I have not been blogging:



10. Donovan now insists that I share in the funniest moments of whatever he sees on TV...it began with him just coming to me and saying "mommy- watch, this is funny"....and has now evolved into him grabbing my head in his hands and holding my face in the direction of the TV until the said funny part is over. Due to this I am learning to do many more things without looking.



9. World War III was started between two brothers. I probably need not elaborate here, but now matter how many double sets of the same toys we own, Fraction always wants what Friction has.



8. FOLDED Laundry piles are great for jumping and swimming in.



7. I am collecting children. Watching a precious baby girl (no complaints there) about 4 days a week and then other random little ones pop in and out of my life depending on who is in need. So far...ALWAYS girls. What can I say- I'll take em any way they come:) I guess this child collecting syndrome is also why I have 4 muts in the backyard (which is better than the 18 I had taken in this time last year:)



6. Potty training is a success. Sounds great, right? It is wonderful, except that such little bladders must be emptied ever 20 minutes, followed by extensive religious rituals of hand washing and double flushing...and mad dashes to grab whatever non-childproof item the bathroom counter can offer before mom notices.



5. Nakedness may be native to the Americas, so I guess that would make my boys true indians... for fleshtone is their color of preference. Which means a lot of futile chasing and re-dressing only to find curiously evaporated children in piles of clothes on the living room floor.



4. Scattering. This is perhaps their most finely honed skill- something that I am sure is taught in the Military recon trainings. It works. The image I get when this happens is two cockroaches that zoom for cover in different directions when the lights are turned on. This is practiced for all occasions....meal times, medicine times, diaper changing times, dressing times, undressing times, and just any general moment when I want to assemble them- they seperate, scurry and flee to normally VERY GOOD hiding places.



3. Back to potty training. So Donovan is trained, but has taken this new found independace a bit too far. Our house is long...and both bathrooms are at the exact opposite end from where the kids and I spend most of our time....which makes a long dance to the potty for little men who wait till the last minute. So that is why we have the potty chair in the family room. This way little Mr. Superman Undies can just stop and make a quick deposit any time he feels the need. Works like a charm- we are down to one or two accidents a week. HOWEVER. Little Mr. Superman Undies doesn't bother to tell me when he goes, and I generally don't find out until Avery has concocted some kind of Pee Soup. Avery is very creative in this, using animal crackers and legos, etc, and stirring it all together. This happens daily....and I am just about all out of creative bribes to get Donovan to let me know when he goes!



2. RATTS: Random Acts of Toddler TerrorismS This ranges greatly depending on the day, from egg throwing contests in the kitchen; to climbing up and removing the laundry drain hose from the drain....something I don't notice until our house is flooded; peeing into random objects (flashlights, bottles, you name it); ketchup on the couch; I could go on and on but I have tried to mentally block most of these episodes as a means of keeping my sanity:)



1. I have raised a Clingon. No, he does not have a deformed wrinkly forehead or seriously bad ring around the head hairdo....but he is small and cute and LOUD when he cries. And he cries for everything. I know, its my own fault, but he really has me against a barrel- I was so used to Avery crying since he spent the first 9 months of his life with colic, that I think he and I both learned that toting him around and giving in makes him stop crying. This means he is on my hip for every phone call, sitting in my lap while I edit scores of photos on the computer, and each solo trip to the bathroom for me means instantaneous meltdown of the said Clingon who is throwing an inter-galactical-tantrum outside the bathroom door. Time outs, talks, distraction, positive reinforcement, and AfFIRMittive action (swats on the butt) are to no avail. And my Clingon is thriving, and getting heavier by the day. He has to be attached to me at every second....and for the most part just being in eyesight is not good enough.

So there. That is why there has been such an absence of blogs this spring. I would like to say that it will improve, but from what my mommy friends are telling me, it may take a few years. Obviously, from the list you can tell I have PLENTY of juicy material to blog about, but until they invent a Brain-To-Blog direct system, I will have to make due with this sporadic posting.

Love to you all.
K

Guys and Dolls

The question of the day....Who is babysitting Who????

Now on week 4 of watching our niece "baby Alaine," I am happy to say we have a very happy household! Alaine is a blissfully EASY child, so she makes my boys look bad from the minute her smiling face walks through the door each morning! However I must say her cheerful personality does have a calming effect on the boys, for they are generally more behaved when she is in the house than when she's not. It is definitely a good big-brother-training-camp! Alaine's mommy, Desiree- our niece, is returning to school to finish her nursing degree, so we are lucky to get to share our home and TOYS with the 7 mo. old.

As for me is it WONDERFUL to have a girl in the house....maybe she can be my practice for the real thing (hint, hint: GOD!) Its fun, she loves it...although I am afraid already she may be getting corrupted by Friction and Fraction, but only time will tell.

Lucky for me, she makes the perfect model....my camera has been very happy!

Watercolor MASSACRE!!!

This wouldn't have been half as funny if Avery hadn't scared daddy to death! While I went to go get the camera (naturally!) Avery decided to go wave to daddy who was doing yard work in the front. Note- Daddy was locked out so that munchkin Avery wouldn't wander out. So daddy looks up and sees the terrifying scene of Avery with a bloody gash in his forehead and proceeds to pound frantically on the doors and windows to try to get my attention from the other room. I am sure in daddy's mind there were wonderful visions of me completely abandoning my child for selfish endeavors while boy wonder went on an unsupervised scavenger hunt for dangerous toys. You should have seen daddy's relief when I yelled thru the window...."Honey, calm down, its only PAINT!"

Beach Bum...mer

So Sunday dawned with tantalizing rays of sunshine, creating a brilliant 80 degree afternoon. After church, we decided to embrace our inner spontanaiety and go the the beach!

Well we loaded the Jeep with the usual necessities, and made a quick stop to pick up some new sand toys.

Finally we made it out the the island....and only then we realized that the entire state of Texas had exactly the same genre of Sunday spontanaiety! The beach was lined with backed-up vehicles for MILES along the coast. Ok so it wasn't exactly a private afternoon, but it was still surpirisingly quiet at our spot thanks to the roaring waves.

And so we popped the hatch and unloaded our loot of sand toys and beach chairs. The boys covered the chairs in wet sand before we even finished unloading so Joe and I ended up sitting on the back of the Jeep.

Joe got down with the kids and helped them build a sand castle, which only got partway done before the waves rushed up and claimed it. From then on it became more fun for the three of them just to dig a big hole and take turns burying their feet in it!

The boys splashed in the water....shockingly cold but that didn't stop them from completely submerging themselves! They are little dolphins to be sure! I could barely tolerate it up to my ankles, but they insisted on getting wet so I had to stay in to make sure both came out alive:)

It was in that ankle deep water that I felt the first sting...and then it was a shocking surge like I had an electric wire wrapped around my ankle. I dashed out the the water, lugging Avery behind me and calling Donovan out.

I knew what it was instantly- even though I had never been stung before, but my ankle showed no immediate signs of the pain I was feeling. I was hobbling around, and then Joe saw it...the Man-O-War...super small, floating in the waves. I didn't have any jelly-fish remedies with us- and was now kicking myself for putting off what I had always known I should have on hand just in case!

Our Portugese Man-O-War's are not deadly, but their toxins are released through nemocysts that line their long mostly invisible tentacles. The nemocysts immediately start pumping painful toxins into your blood stream, and cause a VERY UNPLEASANT pain!!!!

We finally loaded everyone up...I'm sure it was a funny site- as one minute we were sprawled out and having fun splashing in the waves, and the next minute I was hobbling around in my tankini, muttering as many non-bad-words as I could think of....stripping boys of their soggy swim shorts while Joe was tossing sand toys back in the truck. I will say that this was the fastest exit we have ever made from the beach. The whole time I was apoligizing to the boys for having to leave so suddenly.

Avery was crying in his carseat during the last moments of our frazzled pick-up-n-go, and I just assumed it was because he didn't want to be in his carseat.

Our welts left by the tentacles...

It was not until we were finally driving down the beach exit road that I heard Avery whimpering, "my foot hurts!" I looked back and was horrified to see the same welts that were showing up on my ankle blazing white-hot on his! Oh poor thing....but what a champ! All that time I had been jumping around like a baby from the waves of shocking pain, and he hadn't said a word or cried till we were in the car- and he had to have been stung at the same time as I! Boy did I feel guilty for that!

It was then that we hit the highway and consoling hubby turned into Super-Daddy, and he suddenly laid on the gas to bring us quickly to the corner store a mile down the road.

He parked and dashed in, returning with a blissful bottle of vinegar and a chicken rub:)

Then began the basting.....!

Avery first was doused in vinegar to deactivate the stinging cells, and then sprinkled with the chicken rub mix. (note- normally one would use meat tenerizer here, but the seasoned rub was all they had- it did have tenderizer among the garlic and salt.!) I was next and let me tell ya nothing was so warm and comforting as that vinegar! The pain was not immediately gone, but it definitely brought soothing comfort.

The way home was much more tolerable, all we were feeling now was minor stings and occasional muscle cramps. ...But we smelled good! ....Like two rotisserie chickens!

Finally a long hot bath...the boys sumberged and me dangling my feet in....followed by neosporin eased the pain and welts completely gone.

We will return to the beach without a second thought on the next sunny day, but from now on we will be prepared for the jelly-MONSTERS!!!!

OOOOooooklahoma....

So now being home a month from their beloved wide open freedom that is Oklahoma, the boys have agreed to band together in a mutiny and abandon Texas for the adventures of the North.

Backpacks full of toys and the necessary rubber boots (Note: Avery's on the wrong feet), these two bandits have informed me they are leaving for Nana & Papa's house.

Case in point, they have all their bases covered...they noted the signs along the way of "no shirt no shoes no service." They made sure to plan for the proper attire.

A cuter set of runaways you have never seen.

FIRST SNOW

This blog comes to you live from Oklahoma, where we are spending a blissful 3 week visit with my family full of doting Aunts & Uncles and beloved Nana & Papa Bugos. We are experiencing all kinds of wonderful new things

The last time that Donovan witnessed snowfall, he was just 2 months old, and more than a little oblivious to the Texas miracle. But this time around, while it ain't no miracle, Donovan got his first taste of the real thing. Literally. Oklahoma snow fell in plenty for a few days before Christmas, and Donovan got his fair share of the fluff and enjoyed it far more than we expected any South Texas child could. While I was prancing around trying to just simply survive the below freezing temps while I video-taped, he was frolicing like a maniac, and the more face-plants made flying head-long from his sled, the MORE HE LOVED IT!!! I was shocked to say the least. The first time Uncle Andrew pulled him down the hill, I saw that sled swooshing by at warp speed and dreaded the salty tears and red face that I felt were inevitable. Uncle Andrew and the sled stopped, and Donovan just kept right on going headfirst into a drift. He came up with a face full of snow and.....and......laughed! He laughed, spitting out more snow with each deep chuckle, and then he rolled back on the ground and laughed harder. And then he roared, "AGAIN!" And so the process repeated itself over and over for the next hour! He was even going so far as to yell in his deepest manly voice (which is very deep and manly indeed!) MUSH! MUSH! FASTER! to whichever Aunt or Uncle was charged with pulling the sled!

It made for tons of fun and GREAT video footage...maybe even AFV quality! In hindsight though I was so caught up in videotaping the wild cold ruckus that I didn't stop to get my camera, and so all we have for the blog are grainy video stills. Sorry!

He finally had to be hauled in by Uncle Drew, since he would have stayed out there till his toes fell off if we let him!

Don't get between this boy and a snowball! He is ruthless!!!!!

Naughty or Nice?????

Now, I can't say for sure that a lump of coal will appear under the tree this year, but this little boy is sure doing all he can to live on the edge of that possibility. Avery has suddenly professed his conversion to the Nudist Sect, and generally uses our Christmas tree as the screen to hide his shedding of clothes before he shows up playing with his toys in all his natural glory.

He and Donovan have also taken a great affection to decorating the tree....which was fine the day I put it up, but now 10 days later is not so pleasant. The ceremonious re-decorating that occurs 250 times a day is starting to have a diminishing affect on my ornament stash; luckily I was fairly smart in using my least favorite decor in the bottom half. My tree is devoid of keepsake ornaments, they are all stashed safely away in the Christmas box, and maybe someday I will have a household of tame children who will admire and appreciate such fine things, rather than simply want to see if anything is "inside."

This year I went fruity and floral for tree decorations, with lots of ribbon and sparkly fruits and floral accents.....but alas, the survivors have had to move to the North Pole of the tree....as the South has been under attack. Many a glittery grape has been stipped of its vine, and my precious purple mistletoe has been reduced to a few small sprigs.
So now I have a naked tree from the waist down.....just how Avery himself likes to flaunt about.
O well. The ribbons have been removed today as well, as Donovan was pulling them off to practice is Olympic twirling skills for the 2008 Games. I have somewhat given up the fight, for this year anyway, and have now gone into conservation mode. If we have any company between now and Christmas I may re-attach the ribbons, but for now- as far as this tree is concerned, LESS is MORE.

Little Buffer Boy

Ok, so I am blogging backwards a little, but I forgot I had these photos in my camera!

I failed to take any pictutres of our Thanksgiving festivities, but I DID manage to document the preparations....at least those that involved laboriously waxing & buffing our marble living room floor! Let me tell you I couldn't have done it without help, and as you can see I had a very cute buffer boy to assist me in the long process!

Nemo, Where for Art Thou????

Thanks to a doting surrogate "Auntie" Nadia giving us tickets, Donovan's big adventure for the weekend was spending the afternoon with Daddy watching the entertaining "Nemo On Ice" show that was in town. It was a LOOOOOONNNNGGGG wait for 3pm to come around, and Donovan made it a point to ask "when are we going to Nemo??" once every 10 minutes from the minute his eyes opened this morning until he was at the box office!

According to Daddy, Donovan was enthralled, and thrilled at all the lights and action. They had great 8th row seats and their view of the ornate costumes and crazy characters was terrific.
As luck would have it, Uncle Sam with his little granddaughters was sitting just two rows ahead of them, so they were able to meet up after the show for some exciting Disney loot (thank you, Uncle Sam!!!)...and best of all (for this mom anyway!) an incredibly cute picture of the three excited little people and the celebrity clownfish.

Ruthie, Donovan & Gabby

For the sake of a Christmas Card!!!!!

Its that time of year again, and when November hit I was in near panic that we had yet to take a family picture and there were not many weekends left available for the undertaking. So TODAY WAS THE DAY. I decided so yesterday, which was nice since I only had 24 hours to lose sleep over it.

The time-honored traditional family portrait is an exhaustingly-wonderful-exhaustingly-unpredictable-and-exhaustingly-laughable undertaking. I know from my days as a Bugos girl, the longer we planned for the family portrait session, the more opportunity certian little people had to aquire large strawberry-red-scabby injuries on their HEADS, so in that light, as a mother of boys, springing portrait day on the boys without much notice is A GOOD THING.

This year there is added pressure since my open for business sign went up as a pro-photog. I had to resign myself to the fact that my Christmas card does not have to be an AD, but certainly it can't be bad either. Of course, to preserve my reputation as a photographer, I also can't just head over to Sears or Picture People for a studio shot. No, no sir. I have to take MY family photo myself. And NO, I can't ask someone to press the button for me because STUBBORN little VAIN me has to get the credit for snapping the shot. The only thing in hindsight that I would have done differently would have been to hire a CLOWN to follow us around to make the kids at least look forward, if not maybe even crack a smile:) Or I guess if nothing else we are going to have to bribe a cousin or two to come and wear silly hats and dance like mad-men to get our boys' attention:)

So that self-inflicted pressure is why I found myself hauling *** back and forth from self-timing-tripod-stationed-camera and back to my family of two hilariously uncooperative little munckins and a daddy who couldn't do a whole lot more than just smile for a 100 photos. Did I mention that the perfect beach-side-overlooking-the-cliffs-city-skyline-background was on a slight incline??? (Hey- there are NOT a whole lot of locations this good in Corpus!) By shot number 10 I was feeling the burn, by shot 30 I was jello. And then we hit the stairs! Shortly into the process Donovan decided that he wanted to join mom in her race to reset the camera timer and so not only was I running back to get myself in position, I was RACING Donovan back to were Joe & Avery sat, then had to tackle Donovan in order to stop him from running past us, then flip him around and into his position, pull the hair out of my face and fake a pleasant smile- say a prayer that the kids were smiling too.....just in time for the shutter to click.

And did I mention that despite the bliss of gaining an our of sleep today when we set our clocks back, me and my blondness didn't factor that into the sun setting and hour earlier so we were really under the gun to maintain good lighting! Lol!!!!

We stayed in the same park but chose three different locations to take the picture. I knew that if we got one good shot out of a 100 we would be doing good. Avery is TOTALLY not into having his picture taken, and even LESS into sitting still while his paparrazzi mom gets shutter-happy. Donovan is getting to the age where he is finally somewhat willing to occasionally follow instructions. Avery meanwhile is just emerging into the fun toddler phase called "a year of opposite days." So that is why the ONLY picture he is smiling for is the one where an airplane happend to fly overhead.

So we made it. And after numerous outtakes (some pictured here!!) we have our Christmas card shot. Its not perfect, but perhaps the imperfections are what make is so perfect- since it truly captures our family in all of our goofy chaotic glory! I really need to learn how to successfully Photoshop entire HEADS from one pic to another....if I could just do digital plastic surgery after the fact, I would get the money-shot every time:)

I have decided that next year instead of just snapping that prize photo we will also have to videotape the process, as it would be quite entertianing, and maybe even award winning for all its unscripted hilarity.