Category Archives: William

Summer fun

William seems to be a little annoyed that they last post he has been seeing for the past few weeks is about me joining Twitter.  He is irritated that I haven’t updated the blog with progress about the kids swimming or about anything fun that we have done so far.  Well SORRY!  I’ve been enjoying my summer too much to be bothered to sit in front of the computer and actually think.  It requires too much brain power and my brain went on vacation a while ago.  You know William, you have access to the blog.  You are more than welcome to write about anything your heart desires up here.  But, while we wait for your creative juices to get flowing I will do as you wish and update our audience about the happenings of the Dubel clan.

For starters, two weeks ago I enrolled the kids in swimming classes.  Aidan’s swimming abilities have a come a long way since I posted the “Can’t swim” video.  He is now capable of swimming on his own for a length of time.  Mark’s swimming on his own as well and he is remarkably good at it.  I am so proud of Mark’s accomplishment especially since he just started learning and he can swim on his own already.  According to the boys’ instructor, Aidan and Mark are his best swimmers.  Imagine that!  Caitlin had a rough start.  She was not happy the first week of class but now she is doing belly flops off the side of the pool and loving every minute in the water.  She has not grasped the concept of swimming yet – kick your legs, swing your arms, float – but she loves gliding in the water from person to person.  That girl has no fear!

Additionally, the family and I have taken the opportunity to visit a couple of museums.  We visited the AZ Museum of Science for Father’s Day.  It was part of William’s Father’s Day surprise.  The museum had a LEGO exhibit that I thought William and the kids would enjoy.  I wonder which part of his Father’s Day surprise William will remember:

  • Me sending the kids to wake him up with the pictures/cards they drew for him,
  • Being served breakfast in bed which he did not really want,
  • Receiving a LEGO gift that he already had,
  • Lunch at a stuffy tea house that he choose, or
  • The time spent at the museum. 

My guess is it is the kids running in giddy with happiness to be able to wake their dad; that is what he will remember the most.  (PS:  The kids joy in waking daddy with the pictures they drew had the added benefits of making him feel guilty for not making an effort to do anything special for me on Mother’s Day. That was unintentional yet delightful bonus for me.)  We also went to the AZ Museum of Natural History with Aidan’s friend, Shrey, and his mom.  The museums were a lot of fun – lots of quality time spent with the family and friends.

All in all I have been having a blast this summer.  Now that I have joined the work force I am appreciating all the things I took for granted when I was a SAHM, for example time spent with the kids.  Time has become a precious commodity and its something I don’t have much of when I am working and life is hectic and busy.  Right now, I’m just enjoying the easy going, carefree life doing things I love to do like cooking, baking, hanging out with the kids, shopping, etc.  Yup, life is good.  It’s sad that I only have a month left before life goes back to being crazy so I making the most of it.  

Of course I do have pictures of the fun we have been having this summer.  I’ll put them up as soon as I get motivated.  It gives you something to look forward to.

Brand new girlfriend – Steve Holy

Every time I hear this song I think of William… specifically this line, “my buddy’s always welcome here.”

William loves to annoy me by saying that I don’t like it when he invites his friends over.  Obviously he is playing around with my words to make it so it suits him.  I have never told him that he could not invite his friends over.  What I had requested was that he help me clean up the house if and when he invited his friends to come hang out.  He has yet to invite friends over and I can give you one good guess why.  Of course that doesn’t stop him from accusing me of not wanting him to bring his friends over.  He’d rather do that than acknowledge the fact that he does not like to help me clean the house.

Anyway, you should watch the video for the song.  I think it is hilarious.  Enjoy.

Brand New Girlfriend – Steve Holy

Second thoughts

William, my editor-in-chief, made a comment about my last post.  According to him, the recent post does not compare to the caliber of my other posts.  In one word, it was “boring!”  My answer to him:  I didn’t write this post to please anyone.  I wrote it because I wanted to get it off my chest with the hopes that it would help me get over my depression. 

Which begs the question, has writing the post helped?  My answer:  yes and no.  I’m slowly getting over my misery but it is not completely gone away and I doubt that I will get rid of it soon.  There are always thoughts of things I could have done or should have done that creep into my mind and bring me back to my feelings of inadequacy.  Doesn’t help much that William has to ask me as often as possible, how my state mind is, is it better than it was 5 days ago, am I happy… etc.  I know he means well, but every time he asks me these questions I am just reminded of everything I want to forget.

I’m trying really hard to think positively.  Like I’ve said before, everything happens for a reason.  This being said, considering classroom management is my weakness, facing this experience will only help make me a better teacher.  William tells me to look at this experience as a teacher’s boot camp, and that is how I’m trying to view it.  What doesn’t kill me only makes me stronger… right?  Right!

Misquoted

My dear husband read my recent posting and promptly informed me that I had misquoted him.  He did not say, “I don’t care if he has a diaper, he shouldn’t be on the couch,” he said, “I don’t care whether he’s naked or has a tube of cream.  I don’t want him on the couch.”

So here is the funny part.  Apparently his colleagues overheard his conversation but they heard, “I don’t care whether YOU are naked or have a tube of cream.  I don’t want YOU on the couch.”  Of course, not knowing what exactly was the context of William’s conversation, one can only imagine what thoughts were going through their heads.  One even went as far as responding with, “Too much information.”  Hilarious!

In the dog house

So Mark gets a hold of the stinky, waterproof diaper rash ointment and decides to liberally apply it on himself while seated on one of William’s beloved sofas.  Needless to say, when I found Mark, he wasn’t the only think covered in the ointment.  I tired cleaning up as much as I could, but that nasty stuff was putting up a fight.  With dinner preparations and complaining kids to deal with I halted my efforts to get rid of the stuff on the couch and called William to let him know what he was coming home to.  William being anal about his sofas had this to say:

William:  Why was he on the couch?
My reply:  He was wearing a diaper! (Aside:  One day I decided to let Mark go without a diaper just to see if he was ready for potty training,  He ended up leaving a skid mark on William’s cherished recliner – which has since been cleaned – to which William has suggested that Mark not be allowed on the sofas without a diaper)
William:  I don’t care if he has a diaper, he shouldn’t be on the couch.
My reply: *Rolling my eye* *Hang up!*

My thoughts:  If you want to treat the boy like an animal, how bout we just tie a leash on him and have him sit/stay on the kitchen floor.

The simplest gifts are the best

William has redeemed himself.  This year I had the best Mother’s Day ever.  William and the boys presented me with a gift I will cherish forever.  Behold, my prized Mother’s Day gifts from:

Aidan
Aidan’s Picture
(Yes, Aidan drew the heart (which William say looks more like a lung), his signature rainbows (he loves drawing rainbows), the yellow sun on the far right corner(you can’t see it but the sun has an eye and a tooth), the butterfly, and wrote the wording by himself)

Mark
Mark’s Picture

Caitlin was excused this Mother’s Day for obvious reasons. 

Thank you William for the best Mother’s Day so far.