Monster Bad News

The title of this post is misleading. Don't worry...

We had an impromptu, spontaneous little outing yesterday. It was right up the boys's alley. Monster Jam is in town for some shows at The Well this weekend and while we didn't get tickets to go this year, I heavily, heavily debated and stewed about it. A few reasons I didn't get tickets: 1) we are going to another event very soon - more details and a post will be forthcoming; 2) while I think the boys are at an age that they would probably really like it, they're still a little on the young side for something like Monster Jam; 3) noise concerns - Stokes has been very sensitive to sounds recently and Ryan would either love it or totally hate it and I don't know which. This show is incredible loud, according to all sources. Although the boys love the show Blaze about monster trucks, I made the decision to hold off for now on taking them to Monster Jam. I struggled with the decision and feel like I'm going to have FOMO (fear of missing out) when I inevitably see pictures posted on social media of friends and their kids at the show.

Knowing all that, when an email appeared in my inbox yesterday afternoon promoting an opportunity to see/touch/feel/meet some of the monster trucks and their drivers for free around town yesterday afternoon, I got a little excited. One of the locations is very conveniently located near to our house and the boys's school. I left work a little earlier than usual yesterday, altered my usual route to drive by the gas station where the truck was supposed to be, so that I could check it out - confirm if it was indeed there, see the crowd situation, what parking was like and so forth - and then picked up the boys. I told them we were going to do something fun and the excitement built as we waiting on traffic on the short drive to the gas station where the truck was parked.

They were so excited when we finally saw it and I pointed it out to them. The name of the truck??? BAD NEWS. Hence the title of this post. Haha!

It's seriously SO BIG in person. Pictures don't do it justice. The boys could sit inside the wheel and I had a hard time lifting them up high enough to sit on top of the tire.

It was just a quick trip, but the boys had a blast, loved seeing the truck and playing in and on its wheels and it made me feel a little better for not getting Monster Jam tickets! That's a win-win.

Stokes inside the wheel

Ryan touched the tire and was laughing!

Getting the driver's autograph!

On top of the tire

On top of the tire

William inside the tire

We ran into some friends, Amanda and Jackson, which was awesome! Amanda and I haven't gotten together in quite a while so it was nice to catch up with her. I also met a cute twin family with 3.5 year olds and we shared a few stories and laughs, so that was great, too!

First Trip to the Dentist - Stokes

We've taken the boys to the dentist office once before - a looooong time ago. William had this black spot on his teeth that wouldn't come off with brushing and I wanted to get cleaned so I made him an appointment. Looking back at it, he only had 2 teeth back then - LOL! Here's the blog post capturing that very first appointment: Cleaning his grill.

To make a long story short, we held off on getting the boys added to our dental insurance last year because I thought their first appointment was free, however, it turns out that's only the case if they're under 2 years old. Whoops. So then we had to wait for our next benefits enrollment cycle to avoid having to pay for 6 appointments a year out of pocket. We now have dental insurance for our entire family. Go us!

Instead of doing one big appointment with all 3, I made three separate appointments on three separate days, for the sake of my sanity. It also gives me an opportunity to have some one-on-one time with each one. Today was Stokes's appointment.

Y'all, it's been funny because we've told him about the dentist and they've heard about the dentist from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, the movie. Remember how Hermey doesn't want to make toys but wants to be a dentist? We watched Rudolph just a few times over the holidays this year!!! ;) Anyway, Stokes knew he had a dental appointment coming up and he has been asking me about it almost daily. He points to random buildings on the way home from school and asks me if it was the dentist's office. He has really been into it!

He did great! The dental hygienist was so sweet and took the time to show him all of the tools and what everything does. She let him touch and try different tools and he thought he was hot stuff. They once again had sunglasses available since the light they use is bright.

Video games in the lobby!

Getting the intro to the equipment

Looking at his teeth in the mirror

Time to start

"Mr. Thirsty" - the suction

Enjoying himself

Cool dude

So happy with the Dentist!

Stokes got a great bill of dental health and enjoyed being there. After the appointment, I took him on a mama-Stokes lunch date and we got McDonald's before I dropped him back off at school. We had a great time - just the two of us!

Seeing how well he did and how easy the appointment was, I am totally looking forward to William's turn at the dentist. I'm sure he doesn't remember his first appointment since it was so long ago. I'm not, however, excited about Ryan's turn. He does OK allowing us to brush his teeth, but it took a while to get to that point and he's not a big fan of foreign objects in his mouth. He will gag and cry and even sometimes makes himself throw up. He also doesn't have the cognitive ability to follow instructions. I'm sure they've worked with special needs kids before, but I am still a bit worried.

Anyway, two thumbs up for Stokes's appointment. He was so great...and so proud of himself. I was so proud of him, too!
Oh, and one more thing, he used the potty at the dentist and I can count on one hand how many accidents he's had this week. YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!

Fun at school

I can check my preschool app during the day to see what the boys are doing at school - what and how much they ate for lunch, when they're napping, their class lesson plans, that sort of thing. It's nice to have a quick and easy way to check in on them throughout the day. Sometimes their teachers will take pictures and put them on the app. That's my favorite!

Now that the boys have changed classes, there is more interaction between their two classes than before. The two classes that they're in now go to the playground at the same time. Stokes and William's teachers have told me that they'll go "check" on Ryan at the playground in between playing. I loved hearing that! I hope they will be good, protective brothers for Ryan.

Last Friday, Ryan's teachers brought him out to the playground in a wagon and his brothers took interest! Here are the cute pics I got to see on the app from that day.

HAHAHAHAHA!!

"Talking" to MaSha on the phone! He's too funny!

Ladies Man

Hey there, ladies.

I got this picture from one of Ryan's teachers at school and I think it's so cute! He has this adorable little half smile that melts my heart. He looks like he's got some major swagger and like he's going to be a ladies man. He's so handsome.

without Instagram filter

Adventures in Potty Training, part V

I would have never guessed that I would have 5 (or more???) posts dedicated to potty training, but hey, life happens.

It's a new year and we're back on the potty training wagon.

You see, all of the boys moved up a class at school starting January 2. Stokes and William moved up to the older 3's class and Ryan moved from Senior Toddlers up to the young 3's class. Pretty much all the kids in the older 3's class are potty trained. The teachers in there are skilled at training and were ready to help us!

We started putting them in underwear again the first week in their new class, after talking to the teachers about our predicament and past successes and struggles.

We're still not there 100% yet, but I have seen vast improvement. We are getting close! YAY! Accidents are fewer and we're having entire days with no accidents. I feel like there is a light at the end of the tunnel. And now I hope that I haven't jinxed it!

Big boys working on potty training
(and wearing underwear!)

Celebrating the Champions

Being in Greenville since the National Championship game has been surreal. The entire city and really the entire state is celebrating Clemson. There are billboards offering congratulations with Tiger Paws, there have been numerous newspaper articles and news stories - including an hour long segment earlier this week on WYFF4 called "Salute to the Champions". It has been insane. And I totally love it!

Almost as soon as we won the National Championship, there was word that there would be a parade and a celebration in Clemson to honor the team the following Saturday. As the week progressed, more details began emerging and the hum of plans turned into a deafening roar. Everyone was planning to go. They were reporting an estimated 50 - 60 thousand Clemson fans would show up. Clemson hotel rooms - all of them - were booked and there were concerns about parking with a basketball game going on the same afternoon and several other sporting events taking place on Saturday. Although the rough plans for this celebration were thought of way in advance of the game, you could tell the Athletic Department was scrambling to put it all together in a matter of a few days. They were pulling in the police forces from Easley, Anderson and all over the area to help with traffic and with the parade. 

The decision to attend the team celebration in Clemson was a no-brainer for us. We wanted to get the boys in on the action since they weren't there with us in person in Tampa. We wanted them to have memories of being in Clemson for this historic day and celebration. We roped in MaSha to come with us to have an extra set of hands and I'm glad we did! We did have to park far away and had a stroller for Ryan. We skipped out on the parade and went straight to the stadium, where they were broadcasting the parade live on the big screen and the news was broadcasting live as well. The scene was incredible! So many people showed up. The stadium wasn't to the point of looking like a sold out home game, but it definitely looked like a home game when we're playing a small Division II school. The entire lower deck was full and the upper deck was probably about halfway full.

Thomas carrying William
towards the stadium from
our parking spot at Y Beach

In front of the tiger at Littlejohn Coliseum

#1!

We got to see the parade on the big screen, we saw the former players and current players arrive at the stadium and walk down the hill. We got to hear from President Jim Clements, AD Dan Radakovich, the voice of the Tigers, Don Munson, some of the players - including Deshaun Watson, Ben Boulware, Carlos Watkins, Jordan Leggett and Jadar Johnson, and finally the celebration concluded with Coach Dabo Swinney. Some speeches were emotional, some were inspirational, some were reflective - everyone had their own style up there. I think everyone got a tear in his/her eye when Ben Boulware spoke and his voice quivered and everyone got a laugh when Jadar announced that he was nervous! All of the speeches were great and one thing that was repeated over and over is that "the best is yet to come". The future of Clemson football sure is bright!

In the stands!

Ryan, Thomas, Stokes, William and MaSha

Lots of people in the stadium!

Deshaun and Ben
They were showing the parade on the jumbotron

Dabo and Kathleen Swinney

About to arrive at the hill

Players starting to come in

Deshaun made friends with this sweet little girl
I almost died when she gave him a kiss on the cheek!!! Too sweet!

Deshaun coming down the hill

Christian Wilkins 

Christian on the hill

He's crazy

Hunter Renfrow

Dabo holding up the crystal football trophy

Dabo holding up the National Championship trophy

Deshaun's speech

Ben Boulware's speech

Ben

CJ Spiller was there, too!

So many people!

"O'er the mountain height"

At final count, they estimated that approximately 70,000 tiger faithful showed up to celebrate and honor our National Champions. That's just amazing. 

Stokes did not show great patience for sitting still for long and got a bit whiny and and rowdy, but he was apparently tired and ended up falling asleep in MaSha's lap. Yay! William was a bit challenging at some points as well, but other than that, it was good. We ended up carrying all of the boys most of the way back to the car (and it was a long walk) but exercise is good and my biceps were sore for a few days! 

We knew Clemson would be a mad house in all the stores and restaurants so we opted to go to Mutt's Barbecue in Easley to stop for lunch. They have a delicious buffet and kids under 4 eat free - SCORE! We all had a huge lunch and then came back home, fat and happy. It was a fun...and exhausting day! It was one that we won't forget anytime soon! Let the celebrations continue! I mean, we're the official champions until the next National Championship game in January 2018. ;)