Family » Our Crazy Boys

Traveling again...

Aug 262010

Come find me at Aspiring Mama’s place today for Story Time Saturdays (yes, a little bit late…).

Every Saturday, she features a blogger reading to their little one, and Jack and I chose to read Big Sharks.

(Pauline’s always looking for new people to feature… record yourself, upload it to YouTube, and send her the link!)

Michael is currently too cool for the camera, so he played videographer.

At about 3:10 into the video, Jack has an America’s Funniest Home Video moment… Steve thinks I should send it in…

What do you think?

(P.S. I am multi-tasking and counting this as 40 of 52 of Where’s Mom?)

Enjoy Every Day

Aug 212010

I am emotionally spent.

I haven’t had a week like this one in… well, I don’t know when this has happened before, but it probably has.

Monday I went to spend some time with my hairdresser.

While I was there, she told me about how her 70 year old father was found in his house last week, passed away.

He had been gone for 10 days while his mentally ill wife continued to try and feed him, but couldn’t.

Heartbreaking.

Tuesday was my normal day, which I am so thankful for now.

Wednesday I attended a work meeting.

All of the speech therapists work at different schools, so it’s nice to get together to visit and see each other’s faces every once in a while.

Except when we got there, we were told that our 73 year old colleague, who had more life and energy than all of us combined, had passed away the day before.

Again, heartbreaking.

Because she wasn’t done living yet. She made that known every day.

She was the part of our team that traveled from school to school, visiting all of us and making us smile.

She will be missed.

Thursday, I embarrassed Michael at school.

Well, embarrassed isn’t the right word. I mortified him.

And I felt awful.

He was in line with his class and I walked by and ruffled his hair and sang, “I lovvveeee youuu.”

We’re a sarcastic family.

We joke around a lot.

I expected him to push my hand away and say, “Mom… quit!”

But he didn’t.

He put his head down and started quietly crying.

He didn’t feel well, and my actions sent him over the edge.

I pulled him into the nearest classroom and apologized profusely.

I promised him a bottle of Coke with lunch.

In the end, I let him go home and rest.

(And the next day, none of his friends mentioned the incident.

Either they didn’t notice anything, or they forgot to tease him about it.)

I went back to school for one more group of students and had to stop teaching for a few minutes because of a loud helicopter right over the school.

I later found out that helicopter was taking a little boy to the hospital.

He went to kindergarten in the classroom next door to Jack.

He wandered away from his house and was found in a pond on the golf course next to the school.

It was our small town’s first drowning ever.

The worst thing to happen since our incident last year.

And I can’t stop thinking about it.

Friday, I had a doctor’s appointment for the back pain I have been having.

It was confirmed that I have the same genetic spinal diseases that my Grandmother had.

And my Dad is dealing with now.

Thankfully, my good health should keep these diseases from causing me to end up like my Grandmother, who was confined to a bed in pain for the last three years of her life.

Or my Dad, who is out of work and in constant pain right now, looking at back surgery.

I am unplugging for the weekend to be with my family.

To celebrate that I have parents to talk to, even if it is just on the phone.

I’ll be enjoying time with my kids, because some are without theirs this weekend.

We’ll be making cookies for the firemen and women that responded to that horrible call Thursday.

We’ll go swim in the pool and run around the backyard, because I can. And they can.

And I’ll be thankful that I’m alive and well, even if it means having back pain.

Because back pain is a small trade for all these amazing things going on around us that we get to enjoy every day.

So go.

Here’s your reminder.

Enjoy. Every. Day.

My Blog Break {in pictures}

Aug 022010

I’m dying to share some pictures of what I have been doing for the last 2 weeks!

Most of these are cell phone pictures, so bare with me…

Steve is visibly absent in these pictures because he has been spending a lot of time behind the closed door on the right.

Not to be mistaken for the open one on the left. That’s the bathroom.

He has officially started his Master’s program and is there every night and weekend. It’s just like he’s traveling for work, but he’s not. I guess it’s better to be behind the door because I can still scream and ask him to come kill bugs for me :)

I have been watching Jack make new friends and spend time with “old” ones… (I love the thumbs in the pockets look).

I have been spending a lot of time in my new classroom planning for the amazing kids that I have this year…

Michael has been coming to have lunch and play games with me on the days that I work.

We spent last weekend watching a friend take the Lindy’s Challenge…

and drooling over the mac and cheese burger (though I didn’t try it):

We waited (very patiently) for the monsoons to roll in… and they finally did!

We have spent a lot of time talking about how to deal with Jack’s hoarding…

This picture was taken today while we were rearranging his room.

I went to move his dresser and he said, “Well, Mom… there is some stuff under there… “

I don’t think I shared it with you, but about a month ago, we found this stash under Jack’s train table:

The funny thing is, these are items I had asked Jack to throw away at one time or another.

Anyone have any ideas about how to nip this in the bud? Because apparently, whatever I’m doing is not working.

Anyway… where was I?

Michael fell off of his scooter and banged up his hip and arm pretty good…

We had a few chances to see real Arizona cowboys in action:

Oh, and we tried to rescue a lizard from our pool, though it didn’t work :(

Tell me… what have you been doing lately?

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10!

Jul 082010

Can you believe it?

Michael is 10 years old today.

It’s so hard for me to believe that we have been loving him, laughing with him, and learning from him for 10 years.

I thought it would be fun to share 10 facts about my big 10 year old:

1. Michael was born in Japan during a typhoon.

2. He had colic forever for the first 9 months of his life.

3. Michael’s nicknames are Michael-man and Michael McMichael.

4. He loves meat. Steak, chicken, pork… anything.

5. Michael is a straight A student.

6. He wants to be on the SWAT team when he gets older.

7. He loves chocolate.

8. He doesn’t eat at all anything much. (You know, since we won’t allow him to eat only meat and chocolate).

9. He hates his freckles.

10. Michael is kind. To the point that Steve and I can’t take credit for it because it’s something that can’t be learned. He just is.

And since I was the one in labor for 22 hours with him, I’m not stopping with my list of ten things…

Here are some of my favorite firsts:

We have experienced so many fun times that it would be impossible to list them all.

—

Dear Michael,

You probably don’t remember all of these moments, but Dad and I do.

I remember…

…the day that you refused to get off of the coffee table.

…when you used to wear your fireman boots every. single. day.

…not being able to pass by a fire station without stopping in to say hi to the firemen.

…you thinking that Aunt Katie was fibbing about Walter the Farting Dog, even as she was reading the book.

…the summer you learned to swim.

…lots of Mommy and Me days, like when we hung Ben’s Bells.

…hearing about all of your Daddy and Me days, like when you went to the 49ers game and met the team’s owner.

…how excited you were to have a little brother…

…and how excited he is to show you how much he loves you back.

Jack taking Michael’s temperature after he had his tonsils removed.

Happy, happy birthday Michael! We are so proud of everything you do, and we love you so much!

What I Learned This Week: Summer Break edition

Jun 212010

Now that we’re kind of settled in, I thought I would share some pictures from our trip.

And share everything that I have learned thus far about summer break.

1. Boys like to pick on each other.

Older boys like to make their younger brothers yell at them.

They think it’s funny.

2. Everything is better when Daddy is not out of town on business.

Daddy dragging Michael into the pool (Michael is laughing)

Daddy demonstrating his throwing skills

Daddy rolling the hula hoop so the boys could jump through it

And jumping through it himself :)

3. I learned that Jack has eagle eyes. He found Aunt Jen’s earring at the bottom of the pool.

4. I learned that rabbit mating season in Arizona is in June. They. are. everywhere.

5. You can’t hold a 5 year old tight enough at the Grand Canyon.

6. I learned that there is such a thing as too much Looney Tunes.

“Be vewy qwiet. I’m hunting wabbits.”

7. It’s not easy to explain to kids what Route 66 is and why it’s so cool. Maybe they’ll get it in a few years.

8. Ice cream for breakfast dessert makes a boy happy.

9. Freezing cold natural rock slides? I learned they’re fun :)

10. Grandpa Ralph is a sharp shooter with the rubber band gun.

11.I learned how to take pictures at night with my camera!

12. I learned that one can never get enough of seeing the family “look what I caught in the trap” trick. (Can you see the “animal” flying through the air?)

13. I learned that I’ll never get tired of seeing belly laughs shared between these two.

14. I learned that this sleeping arrangement works best when we stay in a hotel room. I tried to give each of the boys a bed and sleep with them, but that didn’t work for anyone involved. So, they got one, and Mom got the other.

15. And just because this is linked to Julie’s blog, I am stopping at a nice round number :)

I learned that eventually, even little guys get sick of having their picture taken.

S'more summer, please.

Jun 022010

It happened this weekend.

Spring turned to summer.

I don’t know exactly when it happened, but it actually feels like summer now.

We had a busy, but uneventful weekend.

We picked our first home grown tomatoes.

Michael and his friend set up their first lemonade stand of the year.

The kids were in the pool for hours each day.

And had serious pool hair when they finally got out :)

They ate sno cones with their friends.

And wrestled in the backyard.

But the best part about summer?

The s’mores.

Definitely the s’mores.

Look Ma! No {training} wheels!

Apr 132010

This post is linked to Wordless Wednesday with 5 Minutes For Mom.

A Busy (and fun) Easter Sunday

Apr 042010

We have had a busy Sunday.

We Jack woke up at 6:40.

We tried to convince him that Easter was tomorrow, but he already saw the eggs… so we got up.

He tried to find all of the eggs before he found his basket.

That didn’t work so well because he kept dropping them:

I just learned last night that not everyone’s Easter Bunny hides baskets and eggs.

Ours does.

Except this year, the boy Easter Bunny hid one basket in the oven.

And turned the light on.

Do you know what happens when you leave the oven light on all night long?

The oven gets very warm.

And chocolate melts.

I guess this was the boy Easter Bunny’s first and last year hiding baskets.

The boys found lots of eggs:

This was the last one standing… can you see it?

These eggs are obviously made for us desert dwellers:

They are grass, dirt, and concrete colored!

They are the best. eggs. ever.

We officially “opened” the pool – which I should mention has a different meaning than it did when I was growing up in New York. Here in Arizona, we don’t really “close” our pool. We just decided that today was the day we would start swimming in it.

Still a little chilly, though… I think the water temperature was 68 or so.

Jack took a quick dip and decided to eat some fruit and watch Michael:

The best part of the day (by far) was after dinner.

We went outside and played with the boy’s new toys.

(I saw these and fell in love with the box):

I love the stick figures!

Michael tried it first:

It was a little hard, though.

His legs aren’t quite long enough.

Dad had to try it out next:

Then we had an idea…

and that worked well, but we thought maybe we could get them to go further.

and over the house.

Then we made a contest party out of it:

and all the neighbor’s kids came out to try:

This one obviously went pretty far… look at their faces!

The catapult?

It’s definitely coming out at the next party.

*There are affiliate links in this post*

Our Jack

Mar 202010

Do you need a laugh?

Because I need one.

I spent today with Jack.

Jack is 5.

And independent.

Very independent.

He argues questions everything.

He yells is passionate about being heard.

He is a class clown energetic and funny.

But he. is. tiring.

These are the days that I need to remember how hilarious he can be.

How unique he is.

How he loves to love everyone.

So, here we go:

This is a picture of Jack “papaya-ing” in Hawaii. He jumped out of the “papaya” and decided to swim next to it.

—–

The other day, I took the boys to On The Border.

Michael was excited to order and said, “Mom, I love Mexican food.”

Jack looked around and with his mouth wide open, said “This is a Mexican restaurant? I don’t like Mexican food!”

- I should mention that Jack loves Mexican food.-

When the waitress came to take our order, Jack asked politely for a “Non-Mexican quesadilla with some non-Mexican rice.” He also enjoyed eating the non-Mexican chips and salsa that was set on our table.

When his non-Mexican quesadilla came?

He didn’t eat it.

He made nachos out of the meat, lettuce, and tomatoes that fell from Michael’s taco.

Michael’s Mexican taco.

Jack is funny.

He loves to be noticed.

And to make people laugh.

He’s our entertainer.

Our questioner.

Our rule bender.

Our Jack.

What I Learned This Week - Hawaii Edition

Mar 162010

This is the post where I shamelessly share a whole bunch of Hawaii pictures… :)

This week, I learned that springing for the helicopter tour around Kauai and surprising the kids with it might be the best part of the vacation:

The kids finding out that we’re going up in the helicopter

Because the views. were. amazing.

I learned that when sightseeing with your family, you might want to remind them to put their vehicle in park before getting out and taking pictures. Otherwise, they might find themselves chasing their rental car down a mountain (and being laughed at all week):

*Update: this is Steve’s Uncle… not Steve!*

I learned that there are such beautiful places in Hawaii that they don’t even need to be photoshopped to look like this:

And that Hawaii is a beautiful backdrop for family pictures:

I learned that hula girls are everywhere in Hawaii… kind of like their mascot. And that’s cool. But the PG-13 lamp in the condo that we rented? In the boy’s room? SO not cool:

(and yes, for good measure, Jack lifted up her skirt. Striped underwear)

I learned that if you find a crab on the beach and take it home, he needs fresh ocean water every day so he won’t die. Oops.

Rest in Peace, Jackson Harper, jr.

I learned that the “lava flow” is a yummy, yummy drink. Better than a mai tai, I believe. And so pretty… yes?

I learned that sea turtles and monk seals often swim up on the beach to rest. They’re not dead, just resting. So I missed an opportunity to take a picture of a huge seal because we thought he was dead (and I couldn’t believe how sad it was that all of the people around him were taking pictures! Oops.).

I learned that weddings on tropical islands are awesome and not to be missed…

because moments spent with family and friends are priceless.

Older Entries

Traveling again...

Enjoy Every Day

My Blog Break {in pictures}

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10!

What I Learned This Week: Summer Break edition

S'more summer, please.

Look Ma! No {training} wheels!

A Busy (and fun) Easter Sunday

Our Jack

What I Learned This Week - Hawaii Edition

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