June 29, 2011

NOT for the birds

Dear World,
the savvy Fam is in the car.
right now.
my husband is currently on the phone.
with Mr. and Mrs. Giraffe.

this is because we just left a goodbye party for a wonderful colleague.
and benny took a cookie with him.
and dropped it in the street.
and declared it was for the giraffes.
and insisted bern call the giraffes to tell them where it is.

so, world.
thank you for this moment.

love,
krystyne

(Liz, you will be missed!)

June 28, 2011

so he thinks he can dance...

the boys simply could not get enough of their new friend alex.
so, we met up with alex, et al, and some other fun new faces on sunday evening.
specifically, we met up for Sundays at Scioto...a fun little weekly music event hosted by the Dublin Arts Council. 
it was latin jazz/salsa week.
and ben was ready to impress his new friend.

this is what alex saw...





June 27, 2011

wimbledon bound

anth's first week of Camp Recky was all about tennis. 
(anth's first week was also three weeks ago. oops.) 
mom has little to nothing to contribute to his learning in this area. 
thankfully, dad knows a thing or two about tennis. 

before his big week, we spent a little time giving him an overview. 
well. 
bern spent time giving anth an overview. 
i made sure ben's head wasn't in the vicinity of the racket. 

i asked ben to take a few photos to keep him distracted. 
this was the first one. 


the rest look like this one. 
or worse than this one. 
and then he just kind of crawls out of the frame. 


anth was pretty excited to practice his swing. 
he was even more excited when he realized that the "batting average" in tennis was much higher than in baseball. 
and that the balls go much further with less effort. 
bern spent some quality time in the neighbor's back yard. 


last week, anth would have been playing flag football. 
ben took care of that opportunity. 
but, we are back in action this week and the theme is "outdoor pursuits." 
he will be learning about fishing and geocaching. 
today he played bocce ball. 
normally, i assign the art of bocce to the...retired. 
so picturing a bunch of college students herding 6-year-olds in this event makes me smile. 
what does this picture have go do with Wimbledon?
aside from the obvious props...and the general awesomeness that is bern wearing an an ipod while wearing of shirt with someone wearing an ipod...not much. 
i just think it's sweet. 

June 26, 2011

vegetari-ish

this week, the boys had a play date with a new friend, Alex. 
she is very sweet, and a total hoot. 
anth was with bern and I on and off this week due to the fact that he couldn't go back to sports camp. 
so, it was just anth and i on the way home to said play date. 
anth was asking me about alex, and suggested we have a "pizza party." 


to anth, pretty much any occasion has pizza potential. 
he suggested pepperoni. 
he always suggests pepperoni. 
this he gets from bern.
i explained that alex's family was vegetarian.
my sister, Katie, and her boyfriend Jeff are also vegetarian. 
they visited us in Ohio last fall, so i thought that i could use them as an example. 


anth needed a refresher. 
i explained what "vegetarian" meant. 
anth asked why people would not eat meat.
i explained that there were a variety of reasons ...medical/health/environment/preference/for the animals, etc....
anth was not buying most of my explanations.
until i mentioned the animals. 
this made him take pause. 


"well, mom. i really do like animals."
"i know you do, anth."
"um, so...i think i'll be a vegetarian who only eats animals from the store."


um. 
so...
yeah. 
first, i wondered...where did he recently see someone get their meat from somewhere other than a store? 
(yes, this is possible. just not in the realm of his daily life.)
then i tried to dig a little deeper in my explanation of the term "vegetarian."


he sat on this one for a minute while we drove down Riverside. 
"okay. then i'll be the kind who only eats animals baked."







June 20, 2011

they glued my sweet boy's face

currently, anth and bern are sitting at the local urgent care. 
anth may or may not need stitches. 
in his face. 
ben may or may not be the reason. 


(we are watching my friend's daughter on thursday. 
though my recent posts have been injury-related, i promise you heather, your daughter will be safe.
just sayin'.)

upon reading this, i am sure that my mom will be reminded of the time she took me for stitches. 
(i am also sure that she will probably have called me by now and get to this point in the post later. her grandmaness is amplified by her experience as a nurse.)
the cause of my visit?
we lived in a new development and my friend kari and i were throwing giant rocks around in the yard and one landed on my hand. 
the tip of my ring finger split open and, like a genius, i started shaking it around and screaming. 
this resulted in blood spraying everywhere. 
kari ran up the street and told her mom she had, essentially, "killed krissy."
her mom, kathy, promptly came down to our house to assess the situation and she saw us into our car as we headed to the urgent care. 
it took so long for the doctor to come, because he was tending to a girl who was involved in some awful rollerskating accident (not kidding), that my finger healed enough for me to be bandaged and released. 
in the meantime, while listening to the girl screaming next door, i developed and explained a plan to my mom in which i would escape through the window in the room and she would meet me in the parking lot. 
thus, i would not have to get stitches. 
my 4th grade logic failed to consider the fact that my mom might be on the doctor's side. 
anyway...all vital signs are good, organs are intact and at this point the boys are just bored of waiting for the doctor.


i am distracting my self (AKA, trying not to text bernie every 5 minutes for updates) by blogging. 
this brings me to an entirely different thought. 


i have officially been a slacker. 
let me clarify. 
i have been a slacker about blogging. 
bern and i have actually been running around doing a variety of things the past few weeks in an effort to 
"catch up on life." 
we have hit a lot of those little projects that have been in the back of my mind but completely ignored while bern was in school. 
we went through the closets for donations. 
went through the boys' rooms to dig out all of the too-small clothes we have been sorting through each morning. 
cleared out the random junk drawer in the kitchen. 
refolded the linen closet. 
it has been an odd combination of utterly-lame-meets-completely-gratifying work.


in the midst of these "projects," i have not been as good as i should have at writing down the boys' interactions and random remarks. 
my colleagues can attest to the fact that if i don't write something down, it's as good as gone. 
i work in a long hallway, and my office is at the end of it. 
the hallway is thick with ideas that i have lost on my journey from one end to the other. 
Alice is at the opposite end of the hallway.
she bears the brunt of my random, "um. i know i had a question for you..." visits.
aka, my adoration of office supplies, specifically pens and notepads, is not completely random. 
they are pivotal to my ability to function as a human being. in general. 


so. 
yep. 
lots of funny things happened over the last week. 
i just can't quite tell you what they are. 
i can tell you that that boys had a hilarious, if not a bit belabored, conversation in the car this morning in which anthony declared that benny was "fierce," and benny was terribly insulted and protested accordingly. 


the reality is that my friend kelly is going to be staying for 5 days starting next week. 
the savvy clan is pretty excited about this visit. :)
but, i imagine that she would rather have a clean space to stay in during her visit, than, perhaps, a clean kitchen drawer and impressively organized linen closet. 
so i need to do a bit more cleaning. 
and then i need to do lots of chatting and catching up in a 5 day span. 
but, in the meantime, i will be better about capturing the boys' "moments."


in the interim, i had to share this little gem. 
i'm not usually one to randomly share YouTube videos. 
and it appears that i'm a year behind on this one. 
but the lovely Susannah Turner shared this one today and it was too good not to pass on. 
'tis a hilarious little tribute to all the dad's out there
(especially the ones with dozens of dollars.)
and the ones who take their little men to the waiting room and calm them down and hold their hands and make everything better. 
(and, final verdict? anth has been officially glued back together and is on the way home.)


AKA, i can stop typing now. :)



June 16, 2011

Mother Nature detests baseball

since mid-april, i have become keenly aware of what the weather is going to be each day. 
it's really quite simple. 
you see, if anth has a baseball practice, or game, scheduled...it shall be rainy. 
and rainy might be an understatement. 
if anth has a game scheduled, Mother Nature consistently decides to wail down on us. 
and throw big old blops of rain. 
sometimes hail. 
and lots of ominous clouds.
when she's feeling rather feisty, she mixes in some rather flashy lightning.

over 60% of anth's games/practices have been cancelled this season. 
including tonight's game. 
tonight is what really helped me confirm this theory.
anth's game was at 6:30. 
bern was picking him up around 5:00 to get some dinner in him before the game. 
and, seeing bern in line to pick up anth from his summer sports camp, she freaked out. 
"she" being Mother Nature, of course. 
just the mere thought of a baseball game made her moody. 
all black clouds and thunder and sheets of rain. 
this lasted until anth's youth league website declared the game was cancelled. 

when i picked up benny at 5:30, the skies were clear and sunny. 

now, i admit it. 
baseball is not my favorite sport. 
i prefer faster paced games. 
football.
basketball.
(well, if i'm really being honest, i prefer women's gymnastics and So You Think You Can Dance.)

all of this is just to say that we have a disappointed batter on our hands. 
anth likes to bat. 
he's good at it. 
he can hit off the pitch. 
but he's not getting to do it as much as he would like. 

here are some pictures from two weekends ago when he did get in a good game...

little man is just to the right of Coach Mike. 
he is always at Coach Mike's side. 
to the point that they have started to call him Little Coach. 


this is what effort looks like in action.
seriously. 
check out that face. 
(this is also what a small section of the fence looks like. in case you were wondering.)


here's anth running by daddy while he's coaching 3rd base. 


and this is my sweet boy coming into home. 
he likes to run up to home base, stop, and jump on it with both feet. 


and this? 
this is just precious. 


ben loves coming to anthony's games. 
i am not so certain that he is aware of the fact that anth is actually playing a game. 
he is, however, very aware of the fact that there are snacks. 
and that he usually gets one. 
he is even more aware that games are played at schools and parks. 
and that schools and parks have playgrounds.
and that you can climb even higher/faster when making fishy faces.
(he picked this one up quickly. it took me forever to figure that one out.)


but the best part of parks are always the slides. 
they can't building them high enough, or twisty enough, for this one. 


so.
if anyone has an in with Mother Nature...
could you drop her a line? 

June 15, 2011

at least he's hydrated...?

tonight during bath time, benny kept trying to drink the water as we filled the tub.
watching the production involved in this effort, i offered to get him a cup of water.
he declined.
i shared that i thought he could get a LOT more water if he let me get him a cup.
he looked at me like i had three heads.
then he pointed to the water he was sitting in.
"but mommy, i think this water maybe taste wike booty."


i mean, i can totally see his point.
and i could have attempted to remind him we had other sources of water in our home.
but it just seemed like a good point to end this particular conversation.


carry on, little man.
drink up.

June 14, 2011

i call it face art...

late last week i was talking to my colleagues about the fact that benny is currenlty sporting a big ol', classy black eye.

Exhibit A:

when asked what happened to his eye, he simply eplained, "i ran into Sharwit (Charlotte). Wif my face."
this occurred at daycare.
thankfully, sharwit remains unbruised.
i was telling my colleagues that it makes me feel awkward to drag him around in public with a big fat shiner.
i feel like people look at me funny.
i am assuming it is less the assumption that i actually gave it to him, and more so the judgment call that i somehow allowed it to happen to him.
to these people, i say, have you ever had a small child?
and, if so, did they interact with other small children?
and, if they remained uninjured at all times, well then i say give me a call.
explain.

my colleauges assured me that i was just being paranoid.
that an occasional marking doesn't warrant that reaction.
apparently one injury to the face isn't so bad.

Exhibit B: (this was taken last night to show the healing.)

we were well on our way to an injury free face. 
and then last night happened. 

the boys were bouncing on my bed. 
i informed them that i would like them to stop. 
this could only end badly. 
right? 

right. 

the next thing i knew, the boys were bouncing again. 
and benny had one of bern's house shoes in his hands. 
while bouncing. 
(clearly.)
and anth decided he did not want to be hit with said house shoe. 
so he put out his leg to block his brother. 
(some would call this a "kick.")
because benjamin had some good lift going, this little "nudge" sent him on a lovely trajectory. 
into the edge of the drink tray that comes out of my nightstand. 
it was one of those moments that you can acutally hear in full detail. 
those who have (or perhaps, have been) rowdy kids might know what i mean. 
i heard the distinct sounds of human falling all over furniture, bouncing back off of the bed, and hitting the ground with a solid thud. 

and now we have this to add to his little facial art collection. 
Exhibit C:

June 12, 2011

Karaface!

You would have to be Facebook friends with Kara to understand the title.
but, she is starting a phenomenon...


the lovely Kara Ulseth is a former RA and RM who worked with Bernie while he was a Hall Director in both Siebert Hall and Morrill Tower. 
she is also a former student turned friend.
and, she came into town last weekend to serve as the keynote speaker at our Residence Life end of the year banquet.
this is because she is:
1. hilarious, and
2. doing fabulous things at Dreamworks.



she drew some fun ties between her job at Dreamworks and the work she did as an RA.
(later, she would explain to bern and i that she does regular one on ones with her team members, supervisor, staff meetings, and daily rounds of her floor. yep. pretty much the same gist.)
she also delivered some quality messages regarding working in a community and the importance of relationships.



and, like any good Buckeye, she snagged a photo with Brutus.
overall, it was a lovely event and she did a fabulous job.



here we are after the festivities.
we are both shorter than the average bear, and yet we are both leaning down in this shot.
ponder that. 


the more exciting part of her speech was that we all got to spend some QT with kara over the weekend.
(apparently anth told Bern we needed to go to the bank and get lots of money before we saw her. because we must owe her lots of money for watching all those movies she's made so many times. this resulted in an info session on flow of currency a la Bern.)


we started out at Donatos. 
ben discovered pink lemonade. 
lots and lots of pink lemonade. 


ben was a bit tuckered out from running around in the sun at anth's baseball game earlier in the day. 
this is an important note regarding the next few pictures. 


on kara's last visit back to columbus, she was introduced to jeni's ice cream for the first time. 
(if you live anywhere near columbus and haven't been, sad for you.)
it was a must see on our day together. 
i told ben he couldn't have ice cream unless he smiled for a picture. 
i guess this is what i get for going for a forced shot. 


the line was a tad long and there were lots of flavors to consider, so the boys and i grabbed a fun little 
bench seat by the window.
there were some lovely flowers on the table. 
anth took a moment to, apparently, ponder life. 


ben to a moment to further sabotage my attempts at documenting his existence. 


and then, yes, my boys broke out in a rather loud version of "firework" by katy perry. 
you will notice that benny was singing at such a high volume that he found it necessary to plug his own ears.
neat.


and eventually, ben ran out of creative ideas for being obstinate.

but it was nothing a little ice cream couldn't fix. 


thanks for the lovely day, kara!
hooray for good times with good people!

June 10, 2011

fail photo 29 - you don't have to go home...

today was closing day in the residence halls at Ohio State. 
it started out with a torrential downpour and ended with a pleasantly sunny, but hot for my taste, kind of afternoon. 
i have had anth in tow all week at work. 
he is in a strange little limbo between kindergarten wrapping up and starting his summer sports/swim camp next week. 
the two of us were on foot today.
this is a slow-going process on a campus as large as OSU with a 6-year-old who insists on carrying all of his perceived possessions of worth on his person in an oversized backpack. 


all of this brings me to this long overdue "fail photo."


um.
i don't know why...but i have pretty much loved the following photo for the last 5 plus years. 




this may make me a rather strange mother. 
but, nonetheless, it pretty much captures exactly how i feel right...about...now. 

(here's to many great adventures for our Buckeyes who are moving on to new adventures today, giant piles of gratitude to the folks who got them all through the year, and to a peaceful and reflective summer to the staff they left behind!)

June 8, 2011

poor little elmo...

he never saw it coming...


(side note: our computer is currently in the loving hands of the Genius Bar at the Apple store...so, no big posts this week. but, lots of fun stories and photos to come from the last few weeks as soon as we are technologically functional...loose term when it comes to me...)

June 4, 2011

thanks, grandma!

recently, grandma sent the boys some money.
i believe it was for Easter.
so "recent" is a loose term.

not surprisingly, the boys chose to spend their money on some new BeyBlades.




the little men recently invited me to battle them with their new toys.
they come with a stadium.
picture a big dog bowl and you're right there with us.

anyway, i wasn't faring so well in our battles.
anth, in the most sincere tone, offered up an idea.
"hey, mom. you know how you and dad got that card to go to the gym?"
"yes..."
"maybe if you used it a little more often, you could win one of these battles."

maybe, sweet boy.
maybe.
but with our current schedule, that theory may remain untested for a bit...