Popping, Snowy, Wrestling Fun

We decided to watch the Olympics with some snacks last night, so I pulled out the air popper.  Usually I just stick a bag in the micro, but since Ben got the kids some pizza for dinner, and I didn't have to make anything, I decided to go all out.  This was the first time Matt had seen the popper.  I keep typing pooper.

So he sat with anticipation, and was a little frightened also.  It's pretty loud.  Then when the popcorn started coming out, he thought it was the funniest thing he had ever seen.

The snow is finally starting to melt, but as you can see, we've still got plenty.  So the boys and daddy made a tunnel through it to the neighbor's yard.  They had great fun crawling through and getting wet.  Hurry up, Spring!

Wrestling camp is over, and we enjoyed a great 2 1/2 hour tournament last Thursday.  Andrew really loves wrestling, and he's very good at it.  He did three matches, and won all three.  He has a great medal to show everyone.  He can't wait until next time!

A Couple of Gems

Today, as we were riding in the car to get to the indoor play area at the mall (can anyone say cabin fever?), I overheard Joey explain cheating to Grace:

"Cheating is when you're waiting for a ball, and then you wait some more, and then you get like five shots.  That's cheating."

Okay!  Thank you for the definition.

I always get calls from Grandpa Jerry after he's been with the kids.  He calls later in the day, so he doesn't embarrass them by telling me the stories in front of them.  The other day he picked up Andrew from school and stayed with him until he was done with wrestling (we were at sister's volleyball game).  Andrew has been trying to earn money for a new DS game, and he's always hitting Grandpa up for some cash.  Last month, he learned how to make calendars off the computer.  He printed one, complete with birthdays listed, and sold it to Grandpa for $3.  Apparently, he is turning into quite the salesman, because he made a deal for Grandpa.  He said, "You know how you bought that calendar for $3?  Well, 3 x 12 = $36.  How about I make you a deal, and sell you a whole year's calendar for only $20?"  Wow!  That was quite a sales pitch from an eight-year-old.

Later, I asked Andrew about it.  He said, "Well, I figure since a couple of months are gone, I'll take off a few dollars.  And the rest of the discount is just because I like him."

Volleyball

Haley just made the volleyball team, and last night was their first game.  She played great, served great, and made some awesome digs.  I love this game!  It takes me back to my days in Jr High and High School.  Being on the volleyball team was one of my favorite things ever.  I'm so glad Haley gets to experience this too!  Hopefully we will soon have a backyard big enough to have a net up.  Grace was a little put out because she couldn't play with the big girls.

Matthew was pretty good, for about half of the first game.  Every time he heard a whistle (which was a lot -- before each serve, after each play -- and there were two games going on at the same time) he would yell, "Uh Oh!"  It was cute, for the first 50 times.  Then, not so much.

About half way through the first game, he finally figured out that Haley was playing.  So then he kept yelling her name and running onto the court.  We didn't stay much longer.  Luckily, Ben has a great job that he can leave during the day, so he was there to stay and watch.  But it's my turn to stay on Saturday!

The kids loved the drinking fountain and the bleachers.  Joey only had to drag Matthew out of the boys' bathroom once.  Grace positioned herself at the door and pretended to take $2 from everybody who entered or exited.  She's going to make a good buisness woman someday.

Haley's number 13.  She is the shortest one on the team, but she works hard and has a lot of talent!

Pray for Eric

All of you who read this are my great friends and family.  My brother has been in the hospital for a week with complications from a condition in which he suffers.  He is now looking at an extended stay, and possible life-changing surgery.  Please pray and fast for his recovery.  Thank you!

The Man Sport

There are a lot of sports I like to play and watch, but this is not one of them.  This one, for the life of me, I cannot figure out.  I can't find a reason in this brain of mine (that is far more feminine than I had imagined), why any normal human being would want to do this.  Of course, as we all know, people who participate in this sport are not normal human beings.  They're boys.  That right there explains it.  But I still don't understand it.

Andrew has been participating in what seems to me to be a well-put-together wrestling camp at West High.  There are several head coaches, and the high school wrestlers break into small groups to coach the kids.  They have taught these little boys more than I ever thought possible.  Who knew wrestling was so serious?  You mean it's not just a couple of boys trying to overtake the other on a filthy mat?  There is technique involved?  Amazing!

I had visions of my future tonight.  I have three boys.  I might be spending a good chunk of my adult life shielding my eyes while sitting on the bleachers.  The head coach of West High gave me quite the smile when he saw the tortured look on my face, while just watching my eight-year-old practice.

Thankfully, Haley was one of the wrestling managers for her middle school (and knows these coaches), and she can sit next to me and explain just what the heck is going on.

I noticed earlier in the week that Andrew might do a little better during the matches if he'd wipe the smile off his face.  It was so cute, though, to see him just beaming and laughing because he was loving it so much.  But he tried today, and after practice he told me that he had much more energy because he wasn't smiling.  He even won his match.  I told him to go ahead and smile -- after the match was over.  He agreed.

Happy Valentine's Day!

As I was getting up this morning, the boys ran into my room saying, "You have to stay in bed!"  I complied, and after about fifteen minutes, (after about ten of those minutes the boys got kicked out of my bed because they wouldn't stop wrestling) I was "surprised" with breakfast in bed.  It was accompanied by some flowers, a heart-shaped baseball box of chocolates (Red Sox Spring Training starts in 4 days!), and one hungry toddler.

Thanks, family!  I love you all!

Naughty, Nervous, and Happy

Grace brought me this violin and said, "I think Matthew did something naughty to this violin."  Yep, he stepped on it.  The fingerboard is now separated from the neck, and there are only about half as much hair on the bow as there is supposed to be.  Luckily, this is the "play violin".  I got it for free, as payment for some lessons a long time ago.  It was in horrible shape anyway, so I let the kids mess with it.  But now it's dead.

Haley and her friend sang a beautiful duet at District Music Festival today.  They sang "Seasons of Love" from Rent.  Their voices match really well, and they sang completely on tune.  They were pretty quiet, but other than that, it was fantastic!  Haley didn't want to let me come in the room, but when she saw how many people were in there, she decided to admit me.  But I wasn't allowed to take pictures durning the performance, so I snuck this one while they were warming up.  That's their chorus teacher.  I met her today, and she is great.  Haley is going to miss her next year when she's in high school.  I need to go throw up.

In case you're wondering what a $4600 smile looks like, here it is!  Haley got her braces off, after what seemed like a lifetime, but in actuality was only 18 months.  She is so lucky that she only has to wear her retainer at night.  Plus, it's not the gross flesh colored one we're all used to.  It is clear and fits over her teeth.  You can't even tell that it's on.  She has permanent retainers on the back of her top and bottom teeth.  Ahh, life is good!

A Fun, Typical Day

Our day started out great, with a trip to the mall for a playgroup with the ladies from church.  There were so many kids there!  I think Fridays are a little too busy because all of the out-of-towners coming in to do their shopping.  Plus, there is the State Wrestling Tounament in town today.  So it was extra hard to keep an eye on little Mr. Busy Pants.  At first, he acted very strangely.  He's usually fine in a big group of people, but he was pretty freaked out.  He kept losing track of where I was sitting, and he would make a b-line for the door.  I had to chase him quite a few times, and found him in tears only seconds after he realized he couldn't find me.  So I played with him and showed him around.  Then he wanted Gracie so bad that he desperately followed her and wrapped his little arms around her to keep ahold.  It was so cute!  Grace was just moving too fast, though, and she would break free and then he would cry.  Finally, he settled down and remembered where I was.  After each time he would go do something, he would look back at me to make sure I was there, and give me a great big smile.

Gracie had a great time with her friends, even though she doesn't look like it in this picture.  She only had to have two time-outs.  One because I had asked her to walk, and she decided to keep running.  She got to sit for a few minutes until she could remember to walk.  The other was because she was beating up on Matthew, sticking her hand in his face.  She got to sit for a few more minutes until she could remember to be nice.  In the picture below she was mad because I wanted to take her picture before I would help her down.

Is it just me, or does it sometimes look like his eyebrows are going to fall right off his head?

Luckily, I caught Matt in the act of taking off his socks in the nook of a tree.  They would have been lost forever, I'm sure!

Grace and her friend decided to pick up Matt and swing him back and forth.  I could see the horrified looks of the other mothers who didn't know my kids (my friends that were there didn't think much of it -- because they know my kids), so I did my due diligence as a mother, snapped a picture, and then told the girls that it might be better if they left him on the floor.  He was disappointed that he didn't get to go for a ride.

He did find a few holes to squirt himself through.  He landed on his head so many times today, we might have to check him for brain damage.

Andrew gets out of school at 2:30.  At exactly 2:28, I pulled out of my driveway, apparently in La La Land, not a care in the world, until I put the car in drive and it failed to move.  I had neglected to remember that the massive expanse of what used to be ice covering our coul de sac was now a big mushy mess.  Try as I might, Vanny didn't move.  But, good thing for friends, right?  I called Colleen, whose daughter is in Andrew's class, and has been a life-saver on more than one occaision (the most recent was yesterday, in fact), and she went searching for Andrew, brought him home, and laughed with me as we stared at the poor minnie.  It sat there, sulking, until Ben got home and pushed her out.

I had to include this picture, just so I could remember that today, Matthew soaked three outfits.  I finally got so sick of it, that I refused to dress him anymore.  He was not too unhappy about it.  One time he stuck his whole arm in my glass of water, and thus had to be changed.  Another time he pushed a chair over to the sink and soaked his whole ensemble -- changed again.  And I actually can't even remember what he did to soak himself the other time.  I guess I'll be doing extra laundry tomorrow.

Joey has been crying for a half hour because his legs hurt.  He just started on some Prednisone today to shrink his tonsils.  Ben is on his way to the ER, because Joey can't even walk.  But he just called me to say that as soon as they pulled in, Joey's legs stopped hurting.  They're going to give it a few minutes to see if it starts up again.  If not, I think I'll get them checked next week because they hurt him an aweful lot.  I have figured it to be growing pains, but tonight was certainly different.  Maybe the steroids are making them worse?  I'll let you all know how it turns out...

Joey's Birthday Party

Our little man turned 5 this month!!  What a big boy he is.  I just can't believe it's been five whole years since Joey joined our family.  I remember it like it was yesterday....

Andrew was fascinated with knowing exactly when he turned five, which was at 11:52 am.  I explained that Joey was actually born at 11:51, but the nurse didn't look at the clock until 11:52.  For some reason that bugged me.  But only because I'm crazy.

Joey is one of the funniest, nicest, cutest kids I know.  And I'm not saying that just because he's mine.  His favorite things are girls, playing with Andrew, blasters, and games.  I asked him who his favorite person is, and he couldn't decide between all of us in his family.  So he named every one of us.

His favorite place to eat is McDonald's.

His favorite color is green.

His favorite thing to do is play with friends.

His favorite food is chocolate (although I must say that he really likes meat, too.  Sometimes we call him a "meatatarian").

His favorite day of the week is Grandpa Day.

His favorite movie is "Bolt", and his favorite song is "I Lived in Heaven".

His favorite friend is Kourtney.

He loves to go camping and fishing.

He is just one great kid!

Here are some pictures from his birthday party. He got his very own DS from Grandma Jane (thank heavens for Grandma Jane!), a Star Wars tent and a blaster from the Cammons, and a flying saucer toy and Wii Sports Resort from us.

Joey, we love you and are so happy you're five!  We look forward to every day we have with you, and are so happy we'll be together forever!

Gem of the Day

As I was making Joey's birthday cake, I got a call from Grandma Bertha.  She asked if we had been trying to get a hold of her because her phone had been ringing and she could hear kids voices and the piano, but nobody talking.  She thought it must be us, because she heard Joey say, "It's my birthday!"  I told her it must be the baby.  Sometimes he gets the phone and calls people.  He must have done it four times!  So I had the kids gather up all the phones to make sure it didn't happen again.  She called back to say it happened again!  We figured it must be somebody else, since all of our phones were under control.  Then Andrew noticed that Daddy's cell phone kept lighting up and sayind "Grandma Bertha".  We couldn't figure it out, because nobody was touching it.  Then Ben came up the stairs, and I asked him if the cell phone had been in his pocket.  He said it hadn't, but his Blue Tooth was!  He had been bending down to paint, and the button had called Grandma eight times!  I called Grandma Bertha to explain, and she said she thought she had heard Ben's voice!  Glad we got that one figured out.

Playing with Makeup

As I was getting ready this morning, Grace asked me if she could put on some makeup.  I told her to go for it, and here are the results:

Nicely done, Gracie!

Look Who's 5!

My little buddy turned five yesterday!  It was an exciting day, although we practically had to pull him out of bed.  Even two siblings rousing him with "Wake up, it's your birthday!!" wasn't enough to pull him from his slumber.  That kids loves his sleep.

One of the funnest parts of the day was bringing treats to preschool for his celebration.  He got to wear the birthday crown and pass out "special" cookies (that I had remembered to make at 10 PM the night before).  The kids and teachers all loved them!

We usually go out to lunch at the birthday child's choice of restaurants (Chucky Cheese), but we had to wait until dinner because of other scheduling conflicts.  I would love to show you all the wonderful pictures I took with the camera I brought, but alas, I left the memory card at home.  Yep, that sounds like me.

So I guess I'll just write about it.  We went at 4:30, and it was already crowded.  Why, I have no idea.  I thought we were really clever for showing up so early, but I guess I'm not as smart as I think I am. 

(Pause - I just have to tell you that I just looked over at the chair, and Joey is meditating with his Samuri sword.  It's pretty cute.  He's trying to be really still.)

So I got the family deal, and started handing out the tokens.  How each individual child handles their tokens is really indicative of how they will be spending money in the future, I think.  Andrew blows through the darned things faster than I can blink, and Joey carries around the same two tokens for 20 minutes, carefully scouting out all the possiblilties of fun.  Which is exactly how they spend money.  Andrew has his spent before he has even earned it, and Joey hasn't spent a dime in months.

Grace was happy to bounce around the place with a smile.  Daddy won the jackpot on Skee Ball (again).  We tried to keep up with Matthew.  It took me, Haley, and Kalin (Haley's best friend and my adopted daughter) to keep him under wraps.  We only lost him once.

Joey was the recipient of all our tickets.  There were 455.  He got the pop gun below.

Happy birthday, buddy.  We love you!

Fun Valentine's Activity

We made home-made Valentine's Cards for a Relief Society Activity tonight.  It was a great activity, and as always, the best part was getting together with the Sisters in our Ward and just being together!

Some Sisters couldn't make it to the activity, but wanted to see some of the cards we made.  So scroll down for the slide show!

But first, a picture of Gracie in her favorite position.  I'm not sure if it's Shoji's favorite, but I'd venture to say not so much.  Good thing she's such a sweet dog and puts up with all of this!

Here's the Sisters getting busy.  It was amazing to see how some people just have that ability to let the creative juices flow.  Mine were kind of oozing out the side of my head in an unorganized fashion, but with some prompting, I actually finished a card!

Thank you to Angie for teaching us and putting this all together!  It was great fun!