o brother, where art thou?

Yesterday a group of friends and I took our kids to the park.
The purpose? to have lunch and have the kids run around in the sun long enough to be sufficiently warn out.
The problem? they wouldn't stay out of the (shaded) bushes and trees.
At first it was just the older boys - I was constantly calling for Cameron and telling him to get to a place where I could see him but eventually ALL the kids made their way to the hideouts filled with booby-traps, passwords and secret handshakes. I said all kids participated in the fort hopping, but those who know Chase KNOW that there is no way he would go into prickly surroundings - that is where my friend Emily's boys come in handy. I don't know (and she won't tell me - believe me, I have asked) how she gets her "big" boys to like (and dote over) little kids. They will do what ever Chase asks them to - and it isn't as if they don't have their friends there to play with. If they see a toddler running away, they will stop everything to go retrieve him - WITHOUT BEING ASKED! How do you teach that? My boys don't only NOT notice, they would whine if I asked them to leave their friends side for a moment to save their brothers life. My plan, as of now, is to force her boys to play with mine, with the hope that some of their goodness will rub off onto my little guys dirty hands!

not just any Thursday...

Ever had one of those days where you wake up at 6 to get a root canal and then do activity after activity until you finally arrive back home that night at 10:30 hardly able to walk?
We will just call it...last Thursday!
Some of the highlights...
(not the dentist or the new washer and dryer I call my tooth)...going to the zoo!
We love having a zoo membership! It allows us to experience the zoo in so many different ways and to hang out with these gals...This trip was definitely different than others.
We spent a really long time looking at the monkeys inside and then the monkeys outside.
I think by this point both of Carin's girls were sporting some batman band aids (I would like to think that I am always prepared, but in truth, I put a few band aids in my purse a few years ago and I never need to use them unless we are hanging out with little girls - girls are WAY more adventurous than my boys!)then we hit the bird show - I always love the bird show!
It might be the lazy me that enjoys sitting down in the shade for a half hour but I think I like it more because of the kids expressions when they see the birds do their stuff! The only downfall to the show this time, was when Wesley's hand shot up after a guy asked a question that I half heard. Of course the guy came right up to Wesley and put the microphone up to his mouth and Wesley looked at me and said "what is it?" - after giving him the wrong answer, I whispered to Wesley that if he raised his hand again a bird is going to come bite his fingers! Next came the carousel - I didn't get any pictures of that because Chase has suddenly become afraid of all amusement rides and I had to hold him on the bench the whole time - Carin, however got some awesome pictures that you can see here!
Then to my favorite part and the first thing I was able to eat that day
ICE CREAM!
After the ice cream we had a quick train ride and we were headed home! I think we saw like 3 animals the whole time we were there (which is exactly why I like having a membership, we don't have to do the whole zoo in one trip!)Next we hit a party for our friend Leo at Jungle Jim's! Wesley and Chase love playing with Leo & his little dog! We were thrilled to be part of his birthday celebration!Chase stayed off the rides but had no problem putting tokens in game after game after game!Wesley loved it all, never having a lack of energy and this smile didn't leave his face!Speaking of smiles - how can you not smile when you are with sweet Mariana! Next time we are with her I will have to bring a video camera so you can see her dance moves! After closing up that place, we headed to Nana and Papa's to take them some Happy Anniversary goodies!
and that, my friends, was Thursday!

a day to remember...

I know
I know
I haven't blogged since the 15th!
But, I have a good reason...I have either been busy or lazy!
I am going to try and play catch up this week, starting with...Memorial Day
We started our Memorial Day with a yummy dutch oven breakfast, compliments of our friends. We had originally planned on camping over the weekend, but ended up "camping" at home - which turned out to be a blast!
In the afternoon we went to the Veterans Memorial Park and attended a ceremony allowing us to reflect on and honor America's fallen hero's, including our friend James.It was a beautiful day filled with patriotism.
One of my favorite parts was a National Guard bugler playing Taps. They also had a very touching, soldier roll call and fallen soldiers' memorial followed by a moment of silence that ended with an Apache helicopter fly over. The highlight for us was being able to see the unveiled memorial dedicated to
James and his friend Clay. It is a beautiful memorial with so many details, including their names being engraved under the window of their seats on the Apache.
(unfortunately, I lost my real camera and had to bring my point and shoot, which didn't capture enough detail - I have since found my camera - and learned to never ask my kids to put away some dirty clothes and put my camera on my desk at the same time - at least they sorted it correctly with the darks!)We ended the night with a bbq at our house.
Our day was filled with great friends and fond memories and a few peanut m&m's
- just perfect!

smart vs. clever...

About a month ago Wesley started having spelling tests.
His teacher let me know that the purpose was to practice for 1st grade and to help them recognize all of their sight words AND that the tests wouldn't be part of their report card. I wanted to use these tests to help him build confidence, so we have worked really hard!
He sailed through the sight words and did awesome with all the colors (thanks to the color songs) and then we got to the numbers.
This week he needed to learn the numbers 5,6,7,8,9,10 and 0!
He couldn't get it!
We tried making up songs, chants, stretching the words - it just wasn't' sticking!
Before he went into class yesterday, I warned the teacher that he might get 6 right - as in the number, not that many! I also warned her that when he stretched it he usually spelled s-e-x instead!
When I picked him up I asked him how he did. He looked a little disappointed and handed me his paper...I almost fainted!
"You remembered them?" I asked.
His (classic Wesley) response, "I couldn't find zero on the wall."!
(thank goodness for a teacher who leaves the answers on the wall and for a boy who is clever enough to look!)

may, may, may...

Did I mention how many family birthday's we have in May?
On Tuesday we celebrated Bill's birthday!
When I asked the boys how old they thought their dad was, Chase guessed 4 (close, I said) then Wesley guessed 84 (even closer, I said)!
We started the birthday festivities with a competitive game of "h-o-r-s-e" on the tramp! Wesley did a flip, thinking he got me - I told him to sit back and watch! I jumped and jumped, higher and higher (convincing myself that I wasn't too old or fat to still pull this off), I was finally in the perfect form to perform my trick - I jumped - tucked - and in mid air I hear Wesley (with complete sincerity and nervousness) say, "You're going to die."! Despite the lack of confidence, from the very creature I brought into this world, I landed unharmed (although, I didn't stick it - the pressure got to me)! When they called me a "h-0" I quit and got my camera! Jumping with their dad is one of my boys favorite activities and for them, it was the perfect way to celebrate his birthday! After awhile the tricks turned into wrestling moves and pile-ups! and more wrestling and more pile-ups! and some tickle-torture (breath Reagan, breath) don't worry - Wesley will save you!
I didn't think they would ever run out of energy and stop but something caught their eye and jumping halted immediately...
cake? presents? dinner?
of course not- it was a little baby ladybug who I am hoping survived the dirty paws!
All the fun and games couldn't come without a price - somebody (besides the ladybug) had to get hurt and appropriately it was the birthday boy! I pointed it out for you just in case you couldn't see the scratch (next time I will remember to cut Chases toe nails before the family-fun-jump) but, those of you who know Bill, KNOW we heard about this awful injury (more than once)! After the (anti flesh eating disease) ointment and butterfly strips were applied, we headed out to dinner!
On the way, Cameron mentioned that we were running out of gas. Bill looked and said we had a full tank. Cameron said, "not our car, the world" and then asked why. Bill explained that we waste a lot of gas and it takes a long time to make (blah, blah, blah - tuned out for about 10 minutes) we will have to utilize some natural gases. Cameron took it all in, and then responded, "like farting?". To Cameron's confusion, that cracked us up - he was all, "what? farting is a natural gas!"
Man, I love these kids - and if farting could get my car moving, these kids (and Bill) would take me places!! Our night winded down with some cake and presents - it was perfect!
Happy Birthday Billy!
I will leave and hint for all of you - if your husband is OLD and your kids want to put the correct number of candles on the cake, don't make a bundt cake - they don't fit!!

happy day...

I love May!
I love it so much that, with my last 3 boys, I tried to plan on May for their birth month!
The first (of the last 3) was just a little slow and came at the beginning of June!
The second one was really stubborn and didn't arrive until the end of July!
But the third, well he was so sweet and accommodating, that he was festively born on
May 5th!Happy Birthday Sweet Chase!!! On Sunday we had the family over to celebrate! He was so excited for his guests to arrive he could hardly take a nap! Luckily, for all, he did get a couple hours of sleep before the fun began! He stood on the porch, anxiously awaiting to tell the first guest that he was having a party - a "horsey party" to be exact!
He only had a few requirements for his big day...
he wanted balloons
and he wanted a cake(a cake with a horse, candles, a star & moon - it also had to be white and chocolate with sprinkles) He was so fun to watch - full of excitement!
He was absolutely giddy with every person he saw and every present he opened!
I am pretty sure that his smile didn't leave his face the whole day! The weather held up long enough for him to try out his new scooter - I think he is going to have to watch Sophie a little more to get the hang of it!I told him he could pick two presents to take to bed with him - he picked his "new shark blankey" (aka - beach towel) and the cute little teddy bear that is cousin Ashley gave him!
Thanks to all who helped make his day so special - I can't imagine a happier kid!
(he did, however, show some true 3 year old colors today when he hid in the, out of reach, corner of the play land and stayed there until Wesley happily agreed to drag him out!)