He gets it from his father

Yesterday, while the kids were in school, I had the pleasure of getting my hair done. This appointment was much needed and long overdue. Although sadly I will continue my search for a new hair person since apparently my desire for someone who can do a good job with both color AND cut, doesn't smoke, and doesn't cost an arm and a leg, is too much to ask. Anyway, I had my hair color done a little differently this time and wondered what the kids would think, because I just know that they care about things like that.

As the kids got off of the bus and came running/sauntering over to give me my after school hugs, KK said, "Oh mom, did you get your hair done? I like it!" What a sweet girl, I think I'll keep her. Tiger ran by way too fast for me to even get a hug, much less comment on my hair, and Sparky just gave me a hug and proceeded to get a snack.

An hour or so later I was talking with Sparky and I asked him if he could tell that I got my hair done today. He said, "no."

So I had him face me and I looked deep into his eyes and said, "Really? I got almost 3 inches cut off and the color is darker. You seriously can't tell that I got my hair done?"

"Nope. Not at all."

And this is why he gets this from his father:

Doug knew that I had gotten my hair done because I had given him the whole run-down on the experience after my appointment and so when Doug came home he said that he liked the color, but I could tell that he was thinking something that he just didn't want to say, so I convinced him to say it.

"It doesn't look any different."

This comment sparked a nice little conversation between the two of us wherein I was able to educate my dear husband on what kind of hair I have, how my hair was different, the difference that even a little trim can make, and why my hair is never the dramatic change that he always seems to expect when I come home from getting my hair done.

"Oh, now I understand. We should have had this talk a good ten years or so ago."

"Agreed."

And that is why I am glad I have my girl.

A Nerftastic Birthday

Last month my oldest boy reached the ripe old age of 12 and to celebrate we threw him a super duper Nerftastic birthday party. You see, all Sparky wanted to do for his birthday was to have a big Nerf war and since I am a super fun mom (sometimes) I indulged his request. It all started with an amazing display of clearanced Nerf guns that I happened to come across at Target one day this summer. Sparky had been begging for a Nerf party and I just kept shrugging him off and suggesting alternative party ideas, but when I saw this end cap filled with super cheap, enormous Nerf guns, I knew that my boy had won the battle and that a Nerf war would take place. 

Here he is anxiously awaiting the start of the party.

Unbeknownst to the birthday boy, we employed the help of a guy in our ward who just happens to be part of the military. He came in all decked out in his fatigues and acted as party starter/Drill Sargent. It was awesome. He played the part very well and scared the boys into submission with his loud and  commanding voice. It was hilarious to watch the boys' faces as our military friend started shouting commands at these innocent little pansies. They didn't know what to think, but quickly learned that this was war and this guy meant business.

"ATTENTION!!"

"Line up!!"

"Drop and give me 20!!"



Once the military drills were over the boys were ready for the real fun which was the unveiling of the artillery. We had the stack of Nerf guns covered up and so most of the boys had no idea what was coming their way. Sadly, I did not get a picture of the stack of guns, but it was impressive and the expressions on the boys faces when the guns were unveiled and they were told that the guns were theirs to keep,was priceless.

Each boy grabbed a gun and then spent a few minutes personalizing their weapons with Sharpie markers so that they knew whose was whose at the end of the party. We then drew names and divided the boys up into two teams.

Here we have team Alpha.

Team Bravo

Briefing time with the rules and boundaries being given.

Captain: Team Alpha

This little man totally thought he was part of the party and since he was so cute, no one was willing to challenge him.

Yep, that's sheer joy on my boy's face.

Doug even built a bunker for the teams to use as their base and Sparky had fun painting it like camouflage to the best of his ability.

Halfway through the party we paused for pizza and homemade root beer. These boys sure worked up an appetite and the root beer was a HUGE crowd pleaser. But then again, what's not to like about homemade root beer?

Gearing up for another battle.

Doug thought it would be fun to do a skills test and so he threw tennis balls up in the air to see if any of the boys could hit one with their darts. I don't know if any of them actually did hit a ball without cheating, but they certainly gave it a good go.

Finally it was time to open presents. Sparky got all kinds of things a 12 year old could want.

We ended the party with giant yellow cupcakes with chocolate frosting and ice cream and when it was all over the boys were all totally sweaty, worn out, and stuffed with sugar. There is no way this party could have been better.

Today

Today I am tired. My body just doesn't want to wake up and it doesn't want to move. It wants to go back upstairs and crawl back into bed and ignore everything that needs to be done for a few more hours of sleep. I am a girl who needs a lot of sleep and as great as it is to have the kids back in school and to be on a schedule again, it just is not conducive to my body's early to bed, late to rise needs. Plus, I have been going non-stop all week long without much down time. This has made for one tired girl.

Today I was able to have lunch with my mother. It was delightful and enjoyable and something that I don't do nearly enough. I realized that I haven't really seen or talked to her in quite a while and so today was a great day to remedy that. Plus we got to eat Mexican food which is always a good idea.

Over the weekend it was discovered that nasty flies had decided to breed somewhere in my house and so I have spent this week scrubbing and cleaning all of those little corners and crevices that never get cleaned in order to eradicate these little pests at their source. It really was quite gross having those nasty little things in my house, but I think I have finally killed them all. Plus, now my house is nice and clean. At least for a minute until this weekend when it will all get trashed again.

Here is a picture from last Saturday of my dear little Tiger. He came to me earlier in the day and said, "Mama, it's really nice out. Can I take my shirt off?" So, of course I told him "yes" because he is a boy and also because he is so stinking cute running around with his cute belly exposed to the world.  What made this extra cute is that he had been running around in a pair of church pants all day because he told me it was part of his uniform. I'm not sure what kind of uniform, but it made sense to him. Well around dinner time Tiger was playing outside when he came running into the house and told me that he heard the ice cream truck. He was so excited that he ran right up to his bedroom, got a dollar out of his drawer, and then ran back outside and parked it here on the curb to wait for the ice cream truck to come. Sadly, the ice cream truck never came down our street, but never fear, this boy did not go without ice cream. I loaded he and his dollar up into the car and took him over to McDonald's and let him buy a hot fudge sundae with his dollar. Hot fudge sundaes are way better than anything you could get off of some scary ice cream truck anyway.

School Started

It has been a couple of weeks, but a new year of school is in full swing. It came upon us hard and fast and we were not quite ready to let go of summer, but alas we had no choice. So, on a brisk Wednesday morning the two oldest headed out the door and off to 6th and 4th grades they went. One thing that I really like about our school district is that 6th grade is still in the elementary school. Middle school is the absolute worst and so I am all for having it as short as possible. Sparky, however, may disagree.

I love this boy. He is always willing to stop and smile for a picture. I was trying to get him as he came off of the bus and as soon as he saw me he stopped and gave me a big happy grin. He's a good boy for sure. When asked about his first day he said it was "awesome". I have a feeling that this is going to be quite an easy year for this boy because he has yet to have any homework and I believe this trend will continue.

This girl could hardly wait for the first day of school. In fact she informed me that it is her very most favorite day of school. She got the teacher she wanted and she has a lot of friends in her class. When asked about her first day she said it was so good and everything she thought it would be. I am so glad because unlike her brother, this year is going to be a lot of work. 4th grade at our school is notoriously the hardest year with the most work required. It doesn't make sense to me, but whatever. I am sure she will do great!

This boy started Kindergarten this year and it about broke my heart. I totally would have kept him in preschool one more year, but apparently by law he had to start Kindergarten. Whatever. He started school a day after the other kids and waiting that whole extra day was almost the end of him because he was so excited. I was so worried that I would be a crying mess watching him get on that big bus and head off to that big mean school, but fortunately he made me so frustrated with him right before he left for school that I had not trouble at all throwing him on the bus and sending him on his way.

 He was so excited for school that he just climbed right on the bus and didn't even turn around to say goodbye or anything. Well good riddance to you little man. The bus driver even tried to get him to turn around and say goodbye and smile for the camera, but he wasn't having it. He just wanted to get to school. I think that it really helped a lot that he rode the bus to preschool for most of last year because this was all familiar and old hat to this boy.

 

A successful day over. Tiger really prefers to sit at the back of the bus and apparently after school on the first day he climbed right on and headed to the back to sit with all of Sparky's friends for no one had yet to tell him that he is only in Kindergarten and that he is supposed to sit up front. Sparky said that he headed to the back and said "Hi guys" and then made himself right at home with Sparky and the 6th graders. Very cute. Sadly for him though he has been relegated back to the front with the other Kindergartners where he belongs. When asked how his first day was he claimed it to be "horrible". Apparently the teacher asked him to "do things" and didn't let him play outside as long as he wanted. This may be a long year for my boy.



Life

With school starting and Sparky's birthday I have a bunch of pictures that I am working on, but they're not quite ready to post and so instead please enjoy a few of my thoughts on life as it is being lived right now.

1. My oldest and dearest boy just turned 12. It kind of hits me in the gut to say that and so I will continue to think of him as the precocious 3 year old who never stopped talking and only wanted to read non-fiction books. Honestly, not much has changed.

2. With my oldest turning 12, life has become much busier since he is now part of Young Men at church. The weekly activities are definitely going to take some getting used to, as well as a bit of coordination to get him to those activities because of all of the other things he and the other kids are involved in. I am sure you know what I mean because that's life. Although, it kind of makes my head swim. Big kids are busier kids.

3. We threw him a big Nerf war birthday party. It was a lot of fun and I will be just fine if I never have to throw a party again. Except for the fact that Woo gets a party for her birthday in March. Well, at least I have a reprieve until March.

4. I am trying to find some motivation to start working out again. If you find some, let me know.

5. Fall is in the air. A small seed of anxiety has been planted deep inside of me knowing that winter is right around the corner, but Fall is my girl's most favorite season and her excitement is pretty fun to witness.

6. School is in full-swing, house projects are underway and life is marching on.

Pictures for those of you not on Facebook

I post many more pictures on Facebook than on the blog because well, it is just so much easier. Posting on the blog takes so many more steps and sometimes I just don't feel like working that hard. Perhaps there is an easier way, but right now I sure don't know what it is. Regardless, here are some pictures from the last week or so that I took with my phone.

Doug and I headed to Costco to pick out some new glasses. While we were there Tiger found these sweet shades and thought he was looking pretty cool.

This boy of mine is about to turn 12 in one week and so it was time to buy him his first suit. I must say that he is one sharp looking kid, but every time I see him dressed like this I just want to cry.  I am having serious issues these days with my kids growing up.

Last Sunday I had a splitting headache and so what better spot for our Sunday walk than at the bottom of a dam. My, oh my was it loud down there. Not really helpful to my head, but way fun for the kids. My favorite quote of the night came from KK who, when asked if they had fun said, "Yes, but it smelled a bit like a man who never takes a shower." Descriptive and true.

What good little sports these kids of mine are. They are always being asked to stop for pictures and they handle it like champs.

I think Tiger just likes to use photo stops as an opportunity to practice his many expressions.

Sparky has been testing the bounds of his freedom and has been dying to walk to McDonald's which is really not that far from our house, but on a busy street without sidewalks. I am not quite willing to let him walk there by himself yet and so as a compromise we all walked there together. It was a small victory for my boy and I got to be "fun mom" for a moment.

Tiger's outfit choice the other day. Wow. It just hurts my eyes to look at this, but as a good mom I just let him go with his mismatched self.

My boys are quite obsessed with video games. Whether it be on the DS, the computer, or the Wii. It absolutely drives me crazy and I totally limit their time, but playing makes them happy. As you can see here it is Sparky's turn to play and Tiger is stuck watching because he has already played his allotted time for the day. Although, I must say that Tiger loves to watch his brother play almost as much as he love to play himself.

He also loves to make faces for the camera.

I am sure you have all noticed that Tiger likes to dress up. Well, we were walking through Costco the other day and all of the Halloween costumes are out. Tiger was instantly taken with this Ninja costume because, well because it is a Ninja and it has a mask and weapons.

He wasted no time running down the street striking "fear" into all who crossed his path.

So, there you have it, snapshots of our life from the past week. Two things have become very clear to me. I need to get more pictures of my girl, and Tiger and I spend way too much time together.

Track 2012

Every year I am totally surprised when Sparky tells me that he want to do track, but I am thrilled that he likes it so much and it is a fine way to spend a Saturday morning.

This was the year of the long jump for my boy. It turns out that he really has a great natural jump and even came in third for his group. I like to pretend that the guy measuring my boy's jump in the picture above is opening his mouth in awe and not just because he is a little bit bored and yawning.

Look at the height. Quite impressive in my book.

My favorite moment of track this year was when he informed me that he is now more of a distance runner. His preferred distance you ask? Well, that would be the 200m. Yep, he's a distance runner all right. Although, that is slightly up from last year's favorite race which was the 100m.

It's been a busy few weeks

This has been kind of a weird summer. We started off with our trip out west right after school got out. As fun as that was, it really threw everything off and we never quite got into a groove after we got home. I feel like we have been in a state of constant chaos ever since, but the last few weeks in particular have been quite crazy. First we had swim lessons for a couple of weeks. Tiger and Woo were in heaven, but Sparky was there under duress. This is what happens when you refuse to actually swim when you are in the water, you find yourself almost 12 years old and still in swim lessons. That's ok, I think he got the message and he tried extra hard this round after I promised he wouldn't have to take lessons again if he proved he could swim.

My cute little Tiger. This boy just loves to be in the water. His feelings about lessons are much like KK's were at this age. He is so happy to be in the water and just wants to swim, but doesn't so much want to listen to the instructor. He was often found off to the side doing his own thing and was constantly being pulled back to the group. On a positive note, this kid can hold his breath for and amazing amount of time. I am constantly amazed at how long he can stay under water.

We have also had lots of opportunities for dressing up in costumes that are way too small. Perhaps it is time to update the dress-up box?

Can you tell this boy enjoys a good party? A week or so ago our very kind Mexican neighbors invited us over for one of their kid's birthday party. It was an experience to be sure since we were the only non-Mexicans, but I tell you these Mexicans sure know how to party! There was food and more food, games and prizes, and good times being had everywhere. One of the best moments was when Tiger got up on the deck and proceeded to spontaneously dance for about 5 minutes to the 80's hits that were playing on the Karaoke machine. It was hilarious! Next to that however, my favorite part by far was the food. In fact, Sparky called it the Festival of Food. It just kept coming until we were ready to burst and it was so incredibly delicious! I really need to learn how to cook like they do. Perhaps I can get the recipes? I'll have to work on that.

Here's KK doing the egg walk. She totally rocked this game. It was quite humorous though because the mom would give everyone the instructions for the game and then one of the daughters would have to translate for us.

Here's the classic eat the apple off of the string without touching it with your hands. Tiger was all about this game until he realized that the goal was to eat the apple and since he really doesn't eat fruit, and certainly not apples unless the skin is cut off, he quickly gave up.

Sparky and Woo kept trying and trying, although without much success. I'm just glad that my girl didn't pop a bracket off of her teeth.

At the end of our second week of swim lessons this little man came down with quite the illness. It was so very sad. In fact, he's still coughing.

One night we had my sister and her husband over for dinner and afterwards KK had the genius idea for us to play Apples to Apples since it is her favorite game. It was seriously so very funny, especially since Chad didn't win a single hand and he is used to always winning every game we ever play. That is the beauty of playing with children. You never know what will happen.

Even Tiger got in on the action and he took it very seriously. I must say, for a boy who can't read he sure knows how to pick some good cards.

This week Sparky has been at soccer camp every morning. This has been very good for us because it has forced us to get up and get going in the morning. The other two kids and I have had all sorts of adventures while Sparky has been at camp. We've gone out to breakfast a couple of times, visited the party store, gone to the pet store, we went school supply shopping, played on many playgrounds, and even had some play dates. It has been a lot of fun.

Here's my little Tiger being his usual silly self on our outings.

And here's Sparky one day after soccer camp. Holy sweaty mess, but the kid has had the time of his life this week and I think he has learned a lot. I am so glad that I signed him up to do this.

Yep, it's been a crazy couple of weeks. Now only one more full week of freedom left until school starts. I have mixed feelings about that, but I think that overall we are all ready. We'll just have to make the best of the free time we have left.