Fieldtrip to the Insectarium

Okay, I despise spiders. However, I couldn't pass up an opportunity to chaperone Luke's preschool field trip. The boys loved it! The more poisonous and scary looking - the more they liked it! 

Luke was brave enough to touch a live scorpion!

(But not to eat a cheese covered mealworm. I was soooo glad about that! :)

Luke turned 5 !!! ( 2 months ago . . . )

Since Luke was one, he has been OBSESSED - an I mean seriously obsessed - with ALL sports. 

Since he was about 18 months old he has been a self-proclaimed "All Star!"

AND - because he takes his athleticism SO seriously, he practices at least one sport (but usually more) every single day at home! He's been doing this for years. 

For about a year now he will say to me, "Mom! I haven't practiced basketball yet today! I need to do that to get better!" Then he proceeds to take his mini ball to the mini hoop in our house and pound out several baskets. He makes most of them. 

Before we had a real hoop, he would make ME "be the hoop!" What does this mean? Well, it simply means that my circled arms in front of me were the basket and he (and Miles) would proceed to shoot baskets into my arms. This meant my face was in the place of the back board and I got a LOT of balls in my face. Ouch. The pains of motherhood. :)

In baseball, he has finally come to grips with being a "Lefty." We keep telling him it 's a good thing. Thanks to some awesome Tee-Ball coaches, he is happy about his special mitt now. Oh, and by the way, when Luke throws the ball - it is dead on almost every time. His aim is "ridiculous" (as my brother would say) and is often complemented on his amazing arm for such a little kid.

All that being said, a sports theme for his birthday was an obvious choice. What wasn't so obvious was how we would make that happen in our little house - since the yard has no grass yet. Hmmmm....

(It is also obvious that Luke didn't get a MUCH needed haircut before his party. Oops.) 

As guests arrived, they made their own sports pennants with stickers, glitter and all sorts of messy craft supplies! :)

Then I announced our "Starting Line Up" for the days sporting events.

We began with indoor basketball.

Next was porch soccer.

Last was football.

Kids being kids, they spontaneously decided that our football stand (made at the very last minute) was too boring and needed to be colored. So, we colored it.

Life is always better in color!

Then we had food and cupcakes! Yum!

Opened gifts.

(Luke's favorite was a Hot Wheels loop-de-loop from his buddy Evan!)

Jacob had been promising to MAKE a car for each of the boys - and was able to pull off the basic frame by Luke's birthday. He loves it and can't wait to finish it! (Miles is anxious for his too!!!)

Happy 5th Birthday, Luke! I can't believe you're getting so big!!!

The "Tee Ball Bells!"

I'm going to be playing BIG TIME catch up - and maybe I'll get tired of it and skip it, but for now - this was from about 6 weeks ago . . .

The very first day of Luke's T-Ball practice, we heard the Jenkintown church bells as we walked to practice. They ring every evening at 6pm. I told the boys that the ringing meant that it was time for T-Ball to start. Miles grabbed on to that tiny piece of info. EVERY SINGLE DAY he tells me, "Time for T-Ball!!!" when he hears the bells. When I explained that we don't go EVERY day, he started posing the statement more as a question: "Time for T-Ball?!?!" Since we only go once - maybe twice - a week, the answer is usually no. 

Yesterday the boys were exhausted and Miles hadn't even had a nap, so I bathed them EARLY (5:30) and got them in jammies. I wanted to be doing story time by 6:30. I was just about to put dinner on the table when the bells started ringing. This time, it was me who screamed: 

"Ahhh! It's the T-Ball bells! We HAVE T-Ball tonight and mommy forgot! Run upstairs, take off your jammies, get your baseball clothes on! Run!"

Oh, I'm thankful for those bells.

(Even though it meant Luke really ended up needing another bath!)

Jacob's 30th Birthday - Surprise!

Jacob's actual birthday, he worked till 10:30pm - so not much happened. 

He got little gifts from us and a yummy breakfast and went to work.

 The boys and I spent the rest of the day making food and a cake for his surprise party -
that we hid in our neighbor's fridge!

The next day all "three" of my boys kept making messes around the house and even though I was trying to very nonchalantly follow behind them picking up / sweeping up / wiping up, etc, etc. the messes. I was freaking out inside because there was going to be a party at our place in a few hours and I couldn't communicate that to Jacob. Finally - when I was about to lose it - I said something like,
"Ya know, I am so so frustrated that this house is so messy right now! I really just need some time to myself to clean because it is making me grumpy living in it!"
Annoyed, but not clueless, Jake took the boys to the park to practice baseball before Luke's first T-Ball game. Whew! I was able to finish cleaning.
THEN - Luke had his first T-Ball game! Hooray! Can you see the excitement on his face?!?!

This sports maniac, self-proclaimed "All Star," born athlete was on his way to his FIRST organized Little League game. It was a big deal in this family!

Luke literally believes that the only way to TRULY play baseball is to slide in to home plate. EVERY time! Ha! Here he is doing it his second time of the game . . .  :)

Some friends from our ward live around the corner from us (and the baseball diamond) and they were sooo nice to come see Luke play ball. (They were nice - but it was more than that. It was the beginning of my plan to keep Jake out of the house so I could finish food and decorate!) 

Mike .  Simon .  Jenny . Ada

"Somehow" we all decided the dads should take the kids to the playground around the corner after the game, while I walked back to Jenny's house to "help her finish decorating her master bedroom." Right!

Jenny helped me get everything finished and a couple friends showed up a bit early and helped with the streamers. Mike was awesome and got Jacob home at the exact time we had hoped! Thanks, Kimballs!

Yummy food: Buffalo chicken dip, Ranch potato wedges, fruit and dip and more appetizers friends brought. 

I decided to have coloring tables set up on the deck for the kids. It ended up being a big hit - and kept tons of little ones out from under our feet. (Our place isn't really meant to hold 41 people at once!!!)

Yeah, we had 37 friends come to the party - including their kids. Pretty great turn out! :) 

Only it didn't work for the babies . . . :) 

We played a speed version of Family Feud - guys against girls - and it was hilarious! 

(No pictures of that since I was the "game show host!")

I don't even want to know how much junk food and soda my kids consumed during the 3 1/2 hours we had company. Friends were pouring them drinks and I found things like THIS going on . . . 

Swell.

Well, at least he was sharing!

I made this wreath 2 days before the party. I am in love with it!

It was so easy and super inexpensive.

Jacob's mom was so awesome and sent a pizza party to our door!  Thanks, Liz!

We decided to eat on the front porch and as our neighbors on BOTH sides came out - Jake invited them to join us. It was a fun little spontaneous bock party! :)

THEN - we got the kids bathed and in bed and my friend Bethany came over to stay with the kids while we went to see the local production of . . . 

Jacob insisted on using his birthday money to go see it.

Any of you who know our love story will understand why. 

Those of you who don't - here's the nutshell version:

I was starring in this show when we met and as he listened to "Emile" sing to me: 

"Once you have found her never let her go . . . " he thought to himself - "He's right! I cannot let this girl go!" He wrote the line of the song on a ripped piece of the program and kept it in his wallet. He pulled it out the night he proposed. I have that phrase engraved on the inside of his ring.

So, even though it was hard to watch someone else play the role - it was fantastic to rekindle our love story - with the story that started it all!

Happy Birthday, Lover!

Conference Weekend

I was determined that we'd get to enjoy a bit more of Conference this time. In order to do that we tried a few ideas from friends:

Running our kids around the neighborhood before sessions - biking, walks, tag, etc.

A list for Luke to make "checkmarks" on when he heard certain words. (He loves checkmarks! Ha!)

and the boys favorite:

A bowl of "Jellies" (jellybeans) for the boys. When they heard the word "Jesus" - they could get one.

Even Miles got into it. "Me heard Geesus Mommy!"-  running for the bowl.

Nana B and Grandpa Chris sent us an Easter package with an egg decorating kit in it. Luke INSISTED on doing it this weekend,  even though I explained that Easter is weeks away. 

It was a great activity in between sessions.

Thanks, guys!

We also enjoyed some laid back Conference food:

Frozen pizza and Homemade cinnamon rolls

Yum!

Miles is missing Papa and Lola!

Two nights ago Miles was having a horrible time going to sleep. I think he was severely over-tired, but he was a wreck - screaming and crying and completely unwilling to get into bed and go to sleep.

I tried rocking him, telling stories, etc, etc. Nothing was working. I tried to sing - which they usually love (especially because they each have their "own" song) - but that night Miles would have none of it. I said, "Miles. What is wrong? What do you need?  What do you want?"

His reply: "Sing Papa Lola song."

Okay, I have NO idea what that is. I mean, like most moms, I know my kids "codes" for stuff. When they say, "Tell us Huff and Puff" I know they want the Three Little Pigs. When they ask for "Monkey Treats" I know they want fruit snacks, because the first kind Luke ever had were the Curious George kind and that has been their official name ever since. I knew that when Miles was younger and made this very distinctive sound with his tongue and cheek - what he wanted was his motorcycle (because that's how they sound). 

This is not even a code that I am aware of.

However, being desperate - I decided to make up a song about my parents, Papa and Lola. Yeah, it was really something brilliant. It went a little like this: 

"Oh Miles, Papa and Lola love you! They mi-i-ss you so muuuch! Papa likes you to clap with him and Lola likes to bite your toes. Papa plays the air guitar and Lola pulls you on the blanket. Oh, Miles! How they miss you and wish they could see you right now!"

Ha! Oh yeah. This is one singer who will NOT be up for any Grammy's or Tony's for songwriting.

B-U-T, it was magical for Miles. He was mesmerized and quiet and calmed and I could see that just talking about Papa and Lola and things they did together made him happy. Pretty easy to see: screaming/hysterical child - now calm/peaceful child.

It made me miss them so much and I cried a little bit for me and for Miles.