You may remember that Michael got a cell phone for Christmas 2010.

After all of the stress I had over the decision, I’m glad that we decided to get him one. I feel better about letting him go places (like the park) without me and we get to interact in a different way, which is interesting fun.

The one thing I don’t understand about kids and phones are the need to use text signatures.

It probably has something to do with my age. I just don’t understand why, if you’re limited to 160 characters, you would make 15 of them something that doesn’t get your message across.

Either way, I do like seeing Michael’s signatures change. Most of the time they’re funny, and show a little of his personality.

Every once in a while, I make him take one down.

But they always bring a smile to my face because they show that he is confident in what he likes, and that is something new around here.

*BACON* was one of the first signatures. Michael loves bacon, but I’m still confused about why he wanted all of his friends to know that.

Steve and I started calling him bacon around that time, which drove him crazy. It’s ok, though, because we laughed.

*V.I.P ACCESS* {without proper punctuation – that drove me crazy} was up next. I’m not quite sure what VIP access he was talking about, but I kept an extra eye on him that week – just to be sure he wasn’t sneaking out to any VIP events. 

*$!<K* – It took me a while to figure this one out. I should mention that spelling isn’t something I worry about in text messages. Well, to be honest, I started to critique his spelling in text messages and he wouldn’t text me for a while, so I stopped. I guess it’s ok to have a spellcheck-free zone. Now that I look at it, my spelling isn’t the best in these texts. I’m blaming that on the autocorrect, which could fill up another post altogether.

This cracks me up because Michael has had a fb account for a few years, and rarely uses it. I guess this day was one of the days he liked it? I remember getting this text message at BlogHer and I still laugh about it.

This is one of the signatures that I shut down. There haven’t been many… I’m curious about what he thinks you do at a “partay.”

I remember laughing at this one, as well. This must have been one of the times Steve shared his old school rap music with him. Because Steve?

He’s an OG.

From the West Coast.

Michael left a mint on Steve’s pillow before he went to a sleepover – that’s the back story. In the end though, I won because of his signature.

Every once in a while, we’ll stick our own signatures in our texts to him. We laugh because we’re picking on him, and he laughs because he thinks we’re dorky.

If your kid is anything like mine, they are obsessed with things they can’t have – like energy drinks. Michael loves his Monster sweatshirt, has Red Bull stickers all over his binders, and asks for Rockstars at least once a week.

Does he really think that all of a sudden, I’ll just say yes?

I think he just likes getting me annoyed.

Again with the spelling. Though, I really like this part of him having a cell phone. I can keep tabs on him and his brother at home (read: I can make sure they’re not killing one another) if I have a meeting at work.  

I’m really bummed because I couldn’t find a picture of his *Cheerleaders* signature he put up after the game I took him and his friends to a UA game around Christmas.

Like I said, I’m glad we ended up getting him the phone. It gives us peace of mind… and makes us laugh a whole lot.

I’m dying to hear about other signatures… Do your kids have them?

Text Signatures: The Tween Thing To Do is property of: Our Crazy Boys

If you are family or a {very} long time reader, you may remember Michael’s 3rd grade music performance – his last music performance, actually.

Do you see him? Wearing the striped shirt in the back left hiding behind the wall? Yup. That’s Michael. The quiet one. The shy one. The one who never had to attend another music performance because he had such anxiety about people watching him on stage.

Please excuse my small photos… they are from my original blog. Back then I obviously didn’t know that bigger was better. 

A few months later, Jack had his preschool music performance. He made us realize that though brothers, he and Michael are completely different.

Fast forward to 3:40 into the video:

And now.

Last night, Jack spent the night at a friend’s house. The friend’s Mom was taking her son Colton to the school talent show (he was lip synching), and Jack was going to tag along.

Last minute, she asked if Jack wanted to go up on stage while her Colton lip synched his song.

Jack didn’t know the words, but said yes, and decided that he would “shake it” while Colton was performing.

No rehearsal.

No prior notice.

And obviously, no second thoughts.

Colton’s Mom called me and we rushed over to catch Jack’s performance.

You don’t have to fast forward this video, because he dances for the entire 3 minutes and 50 seconds.

Michael and his friends were watching, and one said “Michael, isn’t that your brother? You are SO different.”

I get the nature vs. nurture debate, but today?

It’s all about nature.

Jack Shakes It is property of: Our Crazy Boys

And the winner is… Kate! Congrats, Kate! I’ll email you to get your mailing address!

Seriously.

Ask Lynn. I sent her some last year, and she’s the kettle corn expert.

If Steve gave me a bag of Angie’s Kettle Corn for Valentine’s Day, I’d be the happiest girl in Tucson.

Really.

Especially since cutting gluten out, I’m Angie’s biggest fan.

And guess what they just came out with?

Valentine’s packs.

You know, so you don’t have to be another one sending your kid to school with candy on Valentine’s day.

You can send your child to school with a gluten free, clean (only 4 ingredients!) snack.

Last week, Jack had a bag of Angie’s kettle corn on our way to soccer practice. I told him how this year we were going to give them out at school instead of valentines, because they came with cute name tag stickers. He said, “or we could keep them and eat them all..”

Great minds think alike, huh?

Michael even loves it:

…though I was instructed to not “fill out the stickers. Or even put the stickers on” his bags.

He won’t even let me put notes in his lunchbox anymore. :(

Anyway, I have a fun giveaway!! Angie’s is giving a Valentine’s pack away to one of you!

To enter…. (this is the fun part…)

I, for once, am making it all about the facebook – since most of you are on it.

1. “Like” Angie’s Kettle Corn. You’ll get fun updates from Angie, and you’ll be able to see the random fun photos I post on their wall :)

2. “Like” Our Crazy Boys. Where else can you get snippets about the boys, links to posts, updates about my Momtourage and DinnerTool articles, and random questions now and then?

Don’t have a facebook account? Well, ok. I won’t judge you. Leave me up to two comments and tell me something that you like to do for Valentine’s Day. I promise I won’t email you and try to get you to open a facebook account.

Leave a separate comment for each “like” because trust me, giveaways are much easier when everyone leaves separate comments.

Ready? Set? Goooooo!

Small-ish print: I was provided with a Valentine pack of Angie’s kettle corn. Then we ate it and I had to go buy more for Jack’s class. Even if I wasn’t provided with kettle corn, I would have posted a giveaway because I want you to all love Angie’s as much as I do. I will choose a winner via random.org on 1/30 and will notify via email. Good luck!  

Nothing Says “I Love You” Like Kettle Corn is property of: Our Crazy Boys

So, you’ve probably seen the hilarious Brandi in Sh*t Mom Bloggers Say.

Oh, you haven’t?

Ok. Here it is. I’ll wait.

A few days after Brandi’s video came out, a video from a Mom Blogger’s husbandcame out…

It was equally hilarious. I watched the videos with the boys and Michael decided that we needed to add to the craziness.

Because, apparently, I drive them a little crazy with the blog talk.

So, I bring you… Sh*t (or stuff, because we are kid friendly) Mom Blogger’s Kids Say:

Sh*t Mom Blogger’s Kids Say is property of: Our Crazy Boys

Michael’s first wrestling tournament was this weekend. Eight hours in a high school gymnasium, and we got to see Michael wrestle three times.

Yes, that’s fairly normal.

We won some (1) and lost some (2), and we all learned a lot.

I learned…

-Always bring seat cushions to a wrestling tournament. Your back (and butt) will thank you after it’s over.

-Bring healthy snacks to a tournament. The snack bar doesn’t have many any healthy (or gluten free) snacks.

-In an 8 hour tournament, there will be one child taken out on a stretcher, three instances of crowds groaning so loud (due to an injury) that it attracted the attention of parents on the other side of the gym, and uncountable amounts of bloddy noses. Only one was broke that I saw. Wrestling isn’t for the faint of heart.

-Murphy says that the minute a boy falls to the mat, doesn’t move, and is rushed out on a stretcher (causing all of the Moms in the gym to shudder and tear up a little), it’ll be your son’s turn to wrestle.

-The bottom is not a good place to be. I learned that I can hold my breath for a long time when Michael gets in this place.

-I learned that I can yell cheer really loud when he gets out of it, and puts his opponent under him.

-Next time, I need to remind the ref where to turn the winners so their parents can get an awesome view of their kid winning their very first wrestling match (one would think all the yelling would clue him in…).

-I learned this this face is the best face a Mom could hope to see. We are working on Michael’s confidence (you guys didn’t tell me this was so hard!) and seeing pride on his face when talking with his coaches is better than anything I’ve seen before.

Being a wrestling Mom is hard. I’d much rather he join the swim team again – there seemed to be less danger there – but if Michael is doing what he loves, and building confidence while doing it… I’m in.

What sports do your kids play? What sports did you play as a kid?

Family alert: The links to Michael’s winning match are here. Period 1, period 2, period 3. One of the losses (they were both to the same kid – so they look the same :) is posted here: Loss

This post is linked to several awesome blogs. What I Learned This Week, Live and Love Out Loud, and Parenting By Dummies. Go visit them and tell them how great they are :)

It’s Official: I’m a Wrestling Mom is property of: Our Crazy Boys

I do believe that you all know just how much I love the desert, right?

Until I find somewhere that has nicer weather, I’m not leaving.

And I haven’t heard of anywhere with nicer weather yet.

Our local FOX news station has been counting down the days until the Arizona centennial since 2009. I kid you not. They started when there was 1,000 days until the centennial.

Don’t ask me why, because I’m not sure of the answer. Maybe they are excited?

There are 31 days left until Feburary 14th, the date Arizona became a state. (There are also 31 days until Kelly’s birthday – I wonder if she knows that Fox News has been counting down to her birthday for the past 3 years…)

The state is planning several events in many cities to celebrate, but we will be staying home celebrating in our own way.

Which, actually, we have been doing for several weeks.

We received a copy of Arizona Way Out West & Wacky recently have have been having a blast reading through it and doing some of the activities.

We have learned interesting things like…

*The deepest point of the Grand Canyon is 6,000 feet. That’s as tall as 1,125 average (5ft 4in) female teachers standing on each other’s shoulders!

*Arizona is part of the Four Corners – a place where New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Arizona all meet. You can stand with a hand and a foot in 4 different states at one time! I knew this already because in elementary school, I made a game about the four corners with my fancy schmancy wood carving tool.

*Arizona is home to 13 different types of rattlesnakes. Thankfully, we have only found a few of them in our backyard.

*That thing that we affectionately call a centipede/millipede is actually a Giant Desert Centipede. It can grow up to a foot long, and can have up to 346 legs. The first pair of legs is like fangs, which we have seen when Steve tried to pull one out of Jack’s pocket (his shorts were on the floor and one crawled in) with pliers. It latched on HARD. *gag*

*Arizona has 21 federally recognized Native American tribes. One of the most famous Native American, Geronimo, was from Arizona.

Arizona Way Out West & Wacky has some great recipes (enchiladas, anyone?), crafts (cornhusk dolls!), critter facts, and lots of crossword puzzles and word search games. My boys LOVED learning about all of our critters that we have nicknamed. The book is geared towards elementary school-aged kids, but kids (and adults) of all ages will love it as well!

Arizona Way Out West & Wacky can be purchased online through Amazon.com!

I received a copy of Arizona Way Out West & Wacky to review, and LOVED it! I would never recommend something to you that I didn’t love myself :) Also, there are affiliate links in this post.

AZ Centennial Celebration Begins with Way Out West & Wacky! is property of: Our Crazy Boys

Michael woke up this morning with a swollen eye. Not black and blue. Not goopy. Just a little red and swollen.

With wrestling starting last week and his tendency to get ringworm, I honestly thought it was ringworm. Or the beginning of pink eye. It was swollen enough to take him in.

Since our doctor’s office is closed on the weekends, we went to the local CVS MinuteClinic. We have been there more often than we would like in the past six months or so, and the nurse practitioner who is usually there is wonderful.

We signed in and waited a few minutes. The woman who brought us in was a new nurse. She was young, but seemed nice enough.

She took vital signs, looked at Michael’s eye for a bit and said, “I think you have periorbital cellulitis (a staph infection around your eyeball). I am going to send you to the ER.”

So, I grab my purse and am ready to go… to the ER… like she said…

But she isn’t finished talking.

“My nephew had that last year. He woke up with it and his parents didn’t bring him in. By the time midnight came, he was being rushed into emergency surgery.”

WHAT? DID SHE JUST SAY WHAT I THINK SHE SAID?!?!

Did she just tell me to go to the ER (an emergency, in my book), and then continue to tell us a story about her nephew? Who needed surgery? On his eye? IN FRONT OF MY KID???

Oh yes. She did.

By this time, I look at Michael and his head is down. He’s crying. And scared.

She filled out some paperwork while I tried to assure Michael that he’s ok, and the ER is just like a big Urgent Care.

There are so many Urgent Care centers around us, the kids get nervous when we mention taking them to the ER. 

Probably has something to do with them watching “Untold Stories of the ER.”

As we are walking out, and I am still digesting:

1. What she just said – the possible diagnosis and the personal story

and

2. The fact she just said it in front of Michael

she stops us and says, “Michael, look at me.”

It seemed like she maybe realized what had happened and she was going to apologize?

But no.

“Michael, it’s just another doctor that can tell what’s going on better than we can here. I’m concerned since the infection is so close to your brain…”

and we were gone.

I was stewing, but didn’t have enough digested to say anything to her. I couldn’t believe what she said to him. TWICE.

Michael cried the entire 20 minute drive to the ER.

I felt about as awful and scared as a Mom can feel.

He sat there crying, blowing his nose, and crying some more. Can you imagine what both of his eyes looked like after that?

We went to the closest pediatric ER and at the front desk, they just looked at him in awe. I explained why we were there and why his eyes looked like they did, and they put us in a room immediately.

We waited about 5 minutes for the nurse to come in. I explained the situation to her and she talked to Michael and calmed him down. I almost hugged her.

For the next few hours, we waited on the doctor, got a CT scan to see about the structures around his eye, and played around with all of the fun stuff a hospital has.

Powerade – usually a big no in our house:

The remote control that controls the tv, lights, AND has a nurse call button:

And the fancy fun bed:

The entire experience ended on a positive note, thankfully.

We were sent home with a “viral infection of the eye” diagnosis.

No surgery.

No brain infection.

He should be better in a few days, and back to wrestling by Tuesday.

Here’s to hoping the rest of the team doesn’t have it…

Just Another Day at the ER is property of: Our Crazy Boys

I went to the University of Arizona for six years and never went to one basketball game. They’re kind of famous for their stadium, and their team is pretty good, from what I hear.

As I’m not a sports fan, it took me a bit to realize that we have something here that not every town has. With the university right in the middle of Tucson, there are 1,000,000 fans running around. About 2/3 of the locals wear red and blue on game days, and every cashier is asking for game updates when you leave Target and Home Depot.

Since I had never been to a game as a student, I didn’t realize that the UA pride exploded inside the stadium. Michael and I went to a game just before Christmas and we had a blast. I did notice, however, that the fans in the stadium were… um… not very nice to the opposing team. There was no courtesy cheer when they scored, and no clapping for a great play. As a mom of young ones (and someone who had never been to a college game before) I was a little bummed about their lack of sportsmanship.

I had no idea…

As a Christmas gift for the family, we bought four tickets to the University of Arizona (UA) vs. Arizona State University (ASU) game on New Year’s Eve.

The rivalry between the two teams is crazy.

Crazy.

And the rivalry? It starts right in our house.

I went to UA. Michael roots for UA.

Steve? He’s getting his master’s degree from ASU right now.

Poor Jack is stuck in the middle and switches his team loyalty every 5 minutes.

We should own this flag.

 Michael is the best trash-talking fan the UA has. Especially to his Dad.

So… if I thought the UA game I took Michael to was bad, the UA/ASU game was awful.

In a good way.

As we walked into the game, the nice man who took our tickets made a comment about Steve being allowed in even though he is “uneducated.” He said it with a smile.

Michael has told Steve before that he’s going to UA because he already knows how to read and that’s what ASU teaches you. 

We asked a nice couple to take our photo and after the gentleman said “sure!” his wife said “Wait… do you see his shirt? Oh. Wait. You’re all in blue and red. It’s just him in maroon. Ok, hon. You can take it.”

Then they ooohed and aaahed over Jack’s cute House Divided shirt. He was happy to have both logos on him.

We found our seats and ignored the looks Steve was getting. I posted this photo on facebook and a friend was nice enough to point out that Steve was covering the UA side of Jack’s shirt with his hand.

And his hand? Can you see it?

It’s in the shape of a pitchfork, matching the devil’s pitchfork on Jack’s shirt.

Ha. Ha. Ha.

It’s almost as funny as Michael’s shirt was.

When the game started, UA fans didn’t sit down until ASU scored their first point.

When ASU got the ball on their side of the court, UA fans waved their arms in the air and made loud annoying noises that I can’t describe. Just to distract the opposing team.

During the game, the UA fans booed (loudly) when ASU scored.

Nice? No.

But to be honest, it was kind of funny. I guess this Phoenix vs. Tucson rivalry has been going on for quite some time.

Michael kept his trash talking to a minimum throughout the game.

Steve cheered confidently for his team among the sea of Wildcat fans. He didn’t even get yelled at.

We won, of course. By a lot.

And it turns out that basketball is the one sport that I like to watch. I understand what’s going on and they don’t move too slow.

Season tickets may be on my (and Michael’s) Christmas list this year.

Wildcat Basketball – My New Favorite! is property of: Our Crazy Boys

I have recently been battling some food allergy/intolerance issues. Actually, it’s an intolerance, but people tend to think if it’s not an allergy, it’s not serious.

It’s serious enough to send me to a few different doctors, and it’s serious enough to cause me lots of pain and discomfort, so it’s serious to me.

When I eat gluten (a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye), I get sick. I was tested for Celiac disease (a severe gluten allergy) a couple months ago and my results were negative, but my body isn’t tolerating it. This is common with a lot of food allergies, so my allergist told me to just cut it out completely. I wish it were that easy, but it seems that not eating gluten is doing some crazy things to my body. Also, gluten is hidden everywhere. I have resorted to packing a cooler full of foods that I know are gluten free to take with me everywhere I go.

One thing I have been able to eat that doesn’t make me sick is this oatmeal. I first had it about a month ago when Dayna made it for me (she’s pretty amazing, and her daughters? OMG CUTE!!). I came home from Dayna’s determined to re-create it.

Baked Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

4-5 cups oats (or gluten free oats)

1 cup brown sugar

2 apples, diced with the skins on

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups milk

I stick all of these ingredients into Suzie, my Kitchenaid mixer, and then pour them into a pie plate. The mixture looks pretty wet, but it’ll be perfect when it’s done baking.

Cover the oatmeal and cook for 25ish minutes at 350 degrees, then uncover for 10ish minutes. After it sits on the counter for a few minutes, the oatmeal shouldn’t be too wet inside. If it still looks wet, stick it in the oven for another 5 minutes or so. One batch will last me several days. If your oatmeal seems a little dry, add some milk to moisten it back up.

I have been enjoying my oatmeal with a cup of coffee, but I’m sure it’s good with milk or OJ :)

Baked Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal – Yum! is property of: Our Crazy Boys

Happy Holidays to each and every one of you!

From Our Family To Yours…. is property of: Our Crazy Boys