Preparing for the Holidays

Well, Christmas is less than two weeks away now and Robin and I still have not started buying for the boys yet. Not that this should be a surprise or concern. Half of the time I think that we could wrap an old present and give it to Fletcher and he would look up at us and say "its my favorite Daddy." Eli is simple too. Anything new is a bonus. He looked through the JC Penny's Christmas catalog at Grandma and Grandpa's and pretty much circled the entire toy section. As long as we don't get him anything pink or doll like, I think that we will be in the clear. Robin and I are definately trying to keep Christmas presents minimal this year. In the past we have gone a little hog wild with the whole idea and had post Christmas remorse. Besides the boys are young enough, they don't now any better, so we might as well take advantage of it. I just finished shopping for Robin this morning. I stayed home today, again, because Robin is sick, Eli is sick, and someone needs to hold Guthrie a lot. So here I am. I missed Tuesday because of the snowstorm and have been making up the time ever since. Wednesday and Thursday I have been leaving the house around 5:00 am and getting home at 6:00 pm. It definately makes for long days for me and Robin.

I was hoping to download some pictures and video of the boys, but we can't find either of the cables necessary for that purpose. The boys are changing sooooo much. Eli, wait he now prefers Elijah, has grown so much this fall. He absolutely loves school, to the chagrin of his hopeful homeschooling Mommy, and has gone from a somewhat volitle boy to an absolute gentleman. In the past, if anyone called, Elijah would answer "who is this." Now everyone gets to hear "Hello. This is the Cline Family." He is so much fun. It is nice to see him mature. When he was little, I saddly found myself comparing him to my inmate students. Pathetic I know. Now seeing him makes me think that Robin and I did a pretty good job raising him so far.

Fletcher is two. With being two we sometimes see the fun two year old activites, ie, throwing tantrums, throwing anything that resembles a ball, clearing shelves, fun and exiting uses of language directing his wants and desires at extreme volume. Though, I must say, he is a ham. He often thinks he is a pirate running around going, "arrrr maties," or a cowboy hopping around the living room with Robins gardening hat on. He is hilarious.

Guthrie is still a doll. He smiles and cuddles. He is learning to walk, only a couple steps in a row so far, but he is only 10 months.Also the brothers are constintly picking him up or wretling him into submission, so he doesn't have much of a chance to practice.

As far as Robin and I. We are tired a lot. Robin is stressed trying to get her thesis in line and decide about pracitcums for next semester. I have nothing on my plate other than work, so I am trying to help as much as I can. I must admit, I am not the domestic engineer I should be, but I am trying.

Raising Boys

I wanted to share a little an incident that just happened in the Cline household. Many of you have boys, nephews, grandsons, or the like. We as it happens have three. Not a day goes by when I do not roll my eyes or laugh uncontrollably.

So now for my story...

I get home from class at around 7:15. I walk in the house and Robin is messing around in the kitchen doing things, all very calm. So, pleasantly(Robin must interject, Yes, he speaks so pleasantly doesn't he?) I ask Robin how her evening is going and what the boys are up to. She tells me that Fletcher and Guthrie are sleeping and Eli is up watching Kung Fu Panda. I think, "great all is well." Robin and I go on to discuss various topics I covered in class and are having a nice adult conversation, when we hear some big clunks, then Eli up stairs "suspiciously" tiptoeing around. Robin yells upstairs "Eli what is going on?" Eli replies that the T.V. is broken. We both look at each other and think, "oh no what happened?" So, Eli walks down the stairs and is prepared to defend himself in any way he can. The conversation plays out like this...

Robin: So, what happened?
Eli: Well Mom I was doing some kung fu (mom and dad try to maintain a straight face) and I kicked the T.V. (Mom and Dad are hoping we don't have to clean up glass or buy a new boob tube) Then I turned on the light and this was on the floor (this being a piece of the T.V.).

From 0011

Robin: (Seeing that it was the door to the already broken DVD player, moves on to more pressing matters) Is your brother still asleep? (Guthrie was sleeping in the bed in the room Eli was "kung fu-ing")
Eli: yeah but my hand kind of hurts.


As soon as Robin and I hear this we both start laughing. All that I can think is that this is the life when you raise boys. We can't have nice things. Just today Fletcher practiced his throwing skills by tossing Robin's favorite figurine and immediately stating, " I fix it mama."

Well, I just wanted to share this with everyone. We thought is was funny and a pretty good microcosm of our daily life.

Runnin' with the big boys...well almost!

From 2008-11-04

(Sorry I did it sideways!)

two too cute cuties

From Fletch

Can you tell if it is Fletch or Guth?

Feeling Festive!

Look at Guthrie's teeth sticking out in the picture of him in the orange shirt! He is standing up unassisted now for a few seconds before he plops down. He will be walking in the blink of an eye!!

We have had a beautiful weekend here! We were blessed with perfect weather and great company. For those of you who are sensitive to the cheesiness of some posts I will leave it at that.

So sorry we haven't posted in a while. The computer is a bit quirky these days so we haven't been spending as much time on it.