I've tried putting them in bed earlier, making hot breakfast, being sickening sweet and convincing, being firm and forcing them from bed, encouraging them to race each other getting ready, (which by the way I do not recommend as it causes additional melt downs from the loser.), taking away valued possessions and throwing my arms in the air and yelling "Fine, but you'll have to spend the ENTIRE day with me and I'm cleaning the house!" Sometimes that last one works and sometimes it doesn't. It's AMAZING to watch them leap right out of bed for Wes...little stinkers...
I was definitely NOT looking forward to getting both of them up and to school on time by myself this morning. I wanted to pull the blankets back over MY head when the alarm went off! The thought of letting them stay home and fight with each other all day brought my feet to the floor rather quickly.
Katelyn was in my bed..WOW...I had no clue she was there. I wondered when it was that she wandered in. She must have slept soundly...usually she sleeps like a cement mixer- thrashing about, hitting me in the head and kicking me in the kidneys when she gets in our bed. I rubbed her back a bit and tried to wake her up. She stirred, growled and pulled the blankets over her head. I knew I was in for trouble, so I went to get dressed. While I was brushing my teeth I heard her get up and go into her bathroom. Woo Hoo! One down!
When I finished dressing, I went to Katelyn's room to see that she was getting dressed...to my surprise she was buried under her blankets sleeping again! Really???? Where did I go so wrong??? I found her favorite outfit, (lucky for me it was actually clean!), and she was so excited to wear it that she jumped right up and put it on. I sent her in to brush her teeth and hair and poured her a bowl of cereal. One down...again!
I turned on the cartoons to keep her attention, and to keep her from going back to her bed. I went to the fridge and pulled out the Diet Coke. I decided to firm up my determination to get Ryan out of bed with some much needed caffeine. I've been trying to kick the caffeine habit...Isn't it sad when you kids cause you to drink? Anyway, caffeine fix satisfied and taking a long deep cleansing breath, I headed downstairs to the cave of the beast...Ryan's room.
As expected he was snuggled under no fewer than twelve blankets, the top of his head barely sticking out. I had to chuckle to myself, he had pencil shavings in his hair! What on earth did he do last night after he was sent to bed??? Midnight art class???? After making a mental note to find the pencil sharpener today to avoid future unwanted messes, I reached a hand out to stir the beast.
"NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! I don't like you! Don't TOUCH me!!!!" the beast bellars. Great...this is going to be fun. I'm so lucky..."Time to get up Ry, you'll be late for school", I say. This is met by unnatural moans and grunts as he burrows to the bottom of the bed. Hmmmm...rip the blankets down and drag him out or proceed with caution? "Yellow or red shirt today Bud", I ask. "MMMPPPPHHHH", the beast replies. "Yellow it is!", I chime cheerfully. "Blue or black jeans?", I sweetly ask as I rummage through his drawer. This gets a reaction. "Let me pick!", he screams at me as the blankets fly and he leaps toward the dresser. I think I've won the battle when he's up to pick his jeans. Blue jeans selected, I turn to get socks from the drawer...two seconds later I turn back and he is in bed again...clothes UNDER his body. Why me????
He now starts the stiff body trick. It's hard enough to dress a one year old when they are unwilling, but a seven year old with a determination to best me??? Nearly an impossible task. Now that I think about it, when he was two he could dress himself and do it willingly...he's regressed. "Come on Ry", I coax. "MMMPPPPHHHHH", he replies. "Really? Can't we do this the easy way?", I beg. "What's the easy way?", he comes back with. "Whatever you say the easy way is.", I wisely reply. "Sing a get ready song", he bests me with, "Make it up."
Super! How do I get myself in to these things???? He's seven! Think, think, think..."Get a move on little doggie", I tell him trying to avoid singing. "I'm not a dog!", he screams! "Ryan, it's something from an old song that cowboys used to sing when herding cows on the range." I reply. "Then sing that one." he states calmly. I can't remember ANY of the actual words or the tune. I guess I should have had the entire Diet Coke before coming down. The only song I can remember any of the words or the tune to is the Rawhide theme song. Why not try it???
Move 'em on, head 'em up
Head 'em up, move 'em on
Move 'em on, head 'em up
Rawhide
Count 'em out, ride 'em in,
Ride 'em in, count 'em out,
Count 'em out, ride 'em in
Rawhide!
Keep movin', movin', movin'
Though they're disapprovin'
Keep them dogies movin'
Rawhide!
Don't try to understand 'em
Just rope, throw, and brand 'em
Soon we'll be living high and wide.
My hearts calculatin'
My true love will be waitin',
Be waitin' at the end of my ride.
Rawhide! Rawhide!
As I sing, he actually gets up and gets ready. He giggles and laughs especially when I sing the rawhide part louder and louder each time. Katelyn comes down the stairs to hear the tune just in time to hear the last two "rawhides" as loud as I can sing and somewhat falsetto.
"You need to sing that every morning mom." the tamed beast clearly demands. "I promise I'll get up." Great, I am so NOT doing this when Wes is home. I get enough crap from him as it is.
"How about I put it on the computer and I just play it for you?" I ask. "That will work" he agrees. This I can do. He happily proceeds up the stairs and selects cereal without incident. They both hurried and put on their coats and boots and had their backpacks in hand before I could get my shoes on. We sing several impromptu versions of Rawhide on the way to school. "Mom, this is the new morning theme song.", Ryan states. "We have to sing it everyday going to school." "As long as you get ready and get along we can." I tell him.
As I drop him off at school, he asks if I can walk with him to the door. Katelyn runs ahead singing our new theme song. We get to the door together and he is still holding my hand. He gives me a quick hug around the legs and even lets me hug him back. For those that don't know, this is somewhat of a miracle. Earlier this year he refused to let me walk him to the door. In his words, it was "so kindergarten" and physical contact of any kind with a girl has been uncool for about the last year.
"I'm going to sing our song for my teacher.", he calls back as he heads through the door. Boy is Mrs. Nessen in for a treat...
Ryan and Kate played caoch pitch ball this last summer. Here is a picture of their team. I'm not sure that Katelyn will play again next year. She gets really upset when people can't pitch to her. She's a lefty... and so were five other kids on the team. The poor coach...not only was he nearly twice as tall as most of his team, but the majority of the players being lefties made for a difficult pitching season. Katelyn would roll her eyes and huff off everytime he struck her out. She couldn't believe that her own coach couldn't pitch to her!
Here she is attempting to hit the ball. She did get on base a few times.
This is how happy he started out. I have about 100 pictures like this. 
He claims that this is smiling!
He claims this look gets the girls. Since he doesn't have many girls calling or flocking to the house, I'm not sure how effective it really is.
I found a cool tree that I wanted him to pose by. I told him to get closer to the tree when he was still standing 10 feet away and claiming that it was close enough.
Can't get much closer than this!
He did eventually give me a pose by the tree that I could work with.
Followed by insisting on jumping out of the swing.
After all the trouble he gave me to get them done, I was glad to at least have a few that I could use. I have to say it was a bit more fun than I expected it to be. It's not that often that he let's me see the cool character side! 
This is the Blue Fairy. She lights up under her waist with a blue LED light that shines on Gepetto and Pinocchio-they turn with the music "When You Wish Upon a Star". Her wings sparkle too. Way cute!
This is Captain Hook. When you turn him around...
October 2006- with their first mouse ears. This is in front of the White Rabbit's door just west of the Alice Coaster and the Tea Cups.
Hunter, (and Wes and Grandpa) earned his Eagle! Finally! It did take threats of relieving him of his keys and making him ride the bus to get him to finish, but whatever it takes, right? For his project, he replaced the foot boards on the opponent bleachers at the high school. Most of the boards had been replaced at one time or another, so there were no less than five different bolt sizes and most of them were so rusty that they couldn't turn them. They ended up cutting most of them off. They finished just as it started to rain. I'm not sure how happy Hunter was about all this scouting stuff, but he did make me happy getting it done. Oh, and he has his keys and doesn't have to ride the bus. That would have been embarrassing for a senior!
