Macaroni madness on a monumental day

Hello friends.
I have so much to say....and (probably) so little time. I think I will work backwards.

So - first of all.... this is a HUGELY monumental day: Alan FELL ASLEEP, ON HIS OWN, IN HIS OWN BED. This is really, really incredible. I am ecstatic! Or I would be....if I wasn't so TIRED. Little Liver Dude got me up at 5 this morning. That is not good. I finally got him back to sleep just after 6:30. I considered going back to bed, but that would most likely just throw me off for the rest of the day, so I hit the shower. At least I got to see Greg (briefly) before he left for work (at 6). So anyway...Alan had a nap this morning and has been cranky all day (huh - wonder why?) all the way up until this current nap. Oh yes - let's not forget that he pulled his tube this morning. I was drawing up his morning meds, and Dale frantically tried to get me to stop him in time, but it was too late. I decided to get the meds down him orally and just go tube-free for the day. Lucky Greg gets to come home from a long day and work and help me put in a tube! (Always a thrilling experience)
On to brighter things....Dale had a little art project today. Had little (ok, nothing) to do with Water Wednesday, but that's ok. :) We made macaroni art! :) Put a little squirt of paint in baby-food jars, watered it down a little bit (hey! water!) and let the macaroni soak.

Yes - my child is shirtless. You can do that with boys, and sometimes I do. But this morning he had actually gotten dressed like I asked him to, but the shirt he wanted to wear was just finishing up in the washer. Hey - I'm flexible.

Hey everybody! Look here!! ---->
A poll! How fun! Please answer! :)

After it looked like it had soaked up a good amount of color, but before it turned to mush, we laid the macaroni out on paper towels to dry. They dried pretty quickly, and Dale glued them to a piece of paper. I showed him how he could arrange them to make a picture, but he prefers the abstract, apparently. The 'ar-teest'
Hey look! The dryer's done! :)

We had an early lunch (that's usually what happens when you have an early breakfast). Bologna sandwiches today. Dale said, "take a picture of my sandwich." So I did.

Alan before the Tube-pulling incident:

Now...back-tracking to Tuesday...

Invited Mimi for breakfast yesterday morning since *gasp!* - I actually made banana bread Monday afternoon. I COOKED! And it wasn't even for a meal or a special occasion! Wow! Felt like old times. ;) Anyway.... we 'sampled' the bread after supper Monday, so I knew it was good and worthy of sharing. It's a really good banana bread. Not cakey like a lot of the recipes - very hearty and bready. Not too sweet and not too banana-y.
Ok - enough about the banana bread. We had just finished breakfast when I spotted our resident turtle on the move in the backyard. Dale and I ran out to look at him, and -duh - I took pictures of the turtle and not Dale. Not even Dale and the turtle. Oh well... in case you're curious what the turtle looks like: Hard to say if he's a captive or just chooses to stay, but either way we seem to be neighbors. Or yard-mates. Or ... something.

Ventured out to the library after lunch despite the 90-something degree heat. These boys love to go! I've decided to try reading some chapter books to Dale in addition to the usual picture books. Less to look at and more to listen to. Last week I brought home our first selections. Dale did fine with the listening part, but I don't think he liked my story choice. It was about a little boy that accidently used a birthday wish to turn his overly-teasing big brother into a frog. I think it kind of freaked Dale out a little bit. He wouldn't let me finish it, even though the boy got to be a boy again. So we returned freaky frog book and got 2 more. Currently reading about an unhappy middle child who's going to run away from home. Not exactly thrilled with that storyline - 'editing' a lot as I read. Looking forward to the next one - little kid cowboy & horses (please... no surprises with this one!)

Afternoon naps didn't go so well, but we were coping ok. Greg called. It was just the time he's been calling to say, "I'm on my way." Good. Only had to make another 1.5 hours. Wrong. This call was to say, "I need to work late. It'll probably be after the boys' bedtimes. Yikes. You know how you ration stuff to last a certain length of time? I ration my energy to last until Greg gets home. Only one thing to do: pack up the boys and high-tail it to Mimi & Gramps'!
Usually works out really well for me to show up over there at meal-time. I get to cook, while somebody else watches my kids, and then we all get to eat, together! (And did I mention somebody watches my kids!?) :) Yesterday's meal was a particularly fun adventure. They had a package of chicken breasts that needed to be used. A quick search of the fridge turned up garden fresh okra, and fresh garden tomatoes. Hmmm....I'm thinking gumbo. Check the pantry for rice, and... it's my lucky day! They have a Cajun rice mix! Yay! Turned out really good; I was pleasantly surprised.
The 90-something degree heat from earlier was now 100-something degrees, so while I cooked, Dale played in the carwash. And then, amazingly, of all things, it rained!

Thankfully, I didn't have a bit of trouble getting the boys to bed by myself.
And speaking of sleeping boys - Dale has just gone down for his nap. Alan woke up from his historic putting-himself-to-sleep nap, but I nursed him back to sleep (some skillful, if slow, one-handed typing back up the way there). So....do I dare go try to sleep? Do housework? Read my book? Oh the joys of being a mom during naptime! :)