Guess Who's Coming To Breakfast?

One Sunday, when we were kids, we asked our parents if we could go to a fast food restaurant for lunch. Their reply was,

"No, kids, not today. Today is Sunday. We are going to eat with singleness of purpose today."

Child 1 "What's "singleness of purpose"?

Child 2 "I don't know, but we're going to eat with him."




This is who showed up to eat breakfast with me this morning.







Whoa Nelly, that is one handsome Indiana! He was so cool and tough at breakfast. He did pause long enough to give me a devilish grin.




Chase and I are going on a date for Chinese today. We have been looking forward to this all week. I wonder who else will show up for lunch. With any luck, maybe it will be this guy




Ninja-Potter WOULD make an exciting lunch date.



Even if we don't get to eat with Ninja-Potter, I am pretty sure that we will be eating with Gusto; we do like Chinese food. I really am hoping that Self-Control, Will Power, and Restraint show up. I sure could use a good date with those. Seems like I haven't seen them for a long time. I would really like a visit from them.



Have you had any good meal time companions lately? I wonder if they are possibly as cute as mine!

Homemade Is Always Better...Right?

*WARNING*



Prolonged exposure to the product below has been found to cause some serious dysfunction in humans. Viewing product has been known to cause:



Sugar feet; sugar face; swelling of the hips, belly, thighs, and buttocks region; headache; diabetic coma; tooth decay; upset stomach; restlessness; sticky skin, found mostly in the face and hand region; shock. Use extreme caution when viewing this product.



If prolonged exposure happens to occur, consume 4-5 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables, drink plenty of water...and go to the gym.





This was a good idea gone bad. These are homemade ice cream sandwiches, made with "homemade" cookie dough ice cream. It's kind of like when you make a soup. When it starts out, it looks fine. But, you start to add all of the ingredients, and it gets bigger, and bigger. The idea in my head looked normal; finished product? Not so much. That is a regular sized dinner plate on which they are residing. They are, huh huh, a little large.




To help with the perspective even further, this is an over sized 6 year old. The sandwich dwarfs this giant's face. Like I said; HUGE. If this helps even more, it took this boy three shifts to finish this overgrown FHE treat.

I have taught this boy that homemade anything is usually going to be better than the store bought version. I think I made my point. Loud. Clear. And Ginormous.

Just In Case

Over the past few weeks, a few comments have been made to me that lead me to believe that some of you have the wrong idea about me. In spite of what some of you may think, I am NOT perfect. So, just in case YOU were wondering, let me give you some examples that might clarify any misgivings;



1. I ate 12 Cadbury Mini Eggs today. Oh, but wait. By tomorrow, I will have had 4 workouts this week. So, uh never mind.



2. Today was the first time I have cleaned-cleaned my house since the second week of January. Seriously. Wait. During these past 6 weeks, I have deep cleaned 3 houses for three different families across three different states, and helped another move. Never mind on this one, too.



3. I slept until 10 AM yesterday morning. Wait. That was after I returned from my 6 AM bust-your-booty exercise boot camp. Scratch that one, too.


Ah, shoot. Well, I tried. I guess, to quote Mary Poppins, I am "practically perfect in every way."



* If you actually for ONE second think that I am the LEAST bit serious, thank you! I do try hard*

Isn't it amazing how we picture others? Everyone looks so put together. Everyone looks like they have their ducks all in a row. We could never imagine anyone having less than perfect moments, doing less than perfect anything, looking anything but perfect. It just can't be so, people! We all have our weaknesses, our strengths, our nemesis-es-s-i...foes, proud moments, less than stellar moments, and everything in between.

The really cool thing about all of this? We have great friends who know all of the above, and continue to love us still. We tend to be so much harder on ourselves than others are on us. We gotta learn to cut ourselves some slack! It makes my day that there are people in my life who really think I have a good handle on so many things. And, to humor them along, I have decided to begin to believe them. I will rise to the occasion!

And seriously, for the record, this has been quite therapeutic. I have a tendency be completely incapable of taking a compliment. I have to think of all of the reasons why they couldn't possibly be right. This morning, I gave this all some good thought. I have come to a conclusion. It makes no sense for me to argue with those of you who think I have it all together. It really can only benefit us all in the long run, right?

Know that you are fabulous! If you don't believe it, pretend you do. Fake it for as long as you have to. Eventually, you will catch up to the rest of us!


PS I just reread this post and, uh, whoops. When I say "eventually, you will catch up to the rest of us", I mean that eventually you will begin to realize that you are as fabulous as we already know that you are. NOT that you will finally be as perfect as some of us are claiming too be! Sheesh. I could actually feel my head swelling with self-focus-ed-ness!

Lego My Lego

Following our Family Home Evening lesson on Monday, we had a family activity that was planned by one of the male persons that lives at our house. I am not sure which. The tall one says that the shorter one really wanted to do this activity. The short one says it was the tall one's idea. But in any case, it was fun, and very clever.

The two boy dudes at our house loooooove to play with Lego's. After building their own fleet of fabulously amazing cars, naturally, a race was born. The tall male came home with a large PVC pipe derby track. Boys.

Since the Testosterone Team already had vehicles, I set out to see what I could create. The shorter male was given a crash course in the differences between boys and girls. I dumped out the huge bin of building blocks, sifting through the wreckage for anything that looked car-ish, since I have noooo idea how to build a car. After asking me if I wanted help in gathering parts for my collection, Chase asked me what it was that I was going for, specifically. I answered, "Oh, anything fun, or cute." Chase threw a nervous glance, accompanied by a questioning giggle, at his Dad. What? Build a car based on cute? Can you do that? Different genetic make-up, I tell ya.

I do have to mention, however, my cuteness was apparently a little catchy. At starting time, Chase's race entries showed up at the start line, sporting some extra, and fun accessories. Don't knock it 'til you try it, bud.

This was the boy's first entry.

This was the Mom's one and only entry. My Seuss-mobile. I am quite proud.

These are the participating vehicles. Pretty impressive. The three in the middle ended up being the big contenders. Duh.

This is the derby track, and a very happy munchkin. He had just beaten his dad in the previous heat.

This is Heat 92. I was eliminated in Heat 3, due to the fact that my driver's appendages fell off, causing a debris field on the track. It's okay. I appointed myself Race Photographer.

This is the joyful, shorter racer, enjoying some sugary syrupy sauce, mixed in with a few snow cone shavings. I am not sure I can completely tell by the expression on his face, but I think the boy dude had a really great time.

Have A Little Valentine With Your Sugar

Valentine's Day has never been my favorite holiday, or even time of the year. I am usually ready for winter to be done by now, and cabin fever starts to take hold. However, having a fabulously involved son, who eats, sleeps and drinks fun and celebration, has helped encourage me to suck it up a little, and get involved. And let me tell you...involved, it is.

It has become as exciting as Christmas around here. Every morning, Chase wakes up with the roosters and runs to his mailbox. There, he retrieves a "sweet" surprise, left by Mom and Dad from the night before. When I say sweet, I mean suh-weeeeet.



Monday, a treat. Tuesday, a treat. Wednesday, love letters written by Mom and Dad, accompanied by a treat. Thursday, a treat. Friday will be stickers, and a treat. Saturday...we're skipping Saturday. Sunday, wait for it, wait for it...a treat.



Some of the other "sweet" things we've been up to? Monday night, a "love-ly" Family Home Evening, topped off with a heart shaped treat that had doubled as an object lesson. Tuesday, Chase woke up to a "heart attack" in his bedroom.

Wednesday, Chase had a play date here, with a friend from his kindergarten class. For an activity, we made adorable "ice cream" treats (a sugar cone, topped with two pink meringue cookies, held together by melted chocolate chips). ADORABLE!! These really turned out cute. The boys were equally cute WITH them. They wrote each other a nice note, exchanged them, then dropped them in the bottom of their ice cream cones before assembly. Why no picture, you ask? They were devoured before I remembered to snap a picture.

Let's continue. Today, we made homemade V-alien-tine cards for him to hand out during his class Valentine's party tomorrow. These were sooooo fun to make together.



Tomorrow, I am turning him loose with the camera, with the assignment of taking a picture of everything he sees that is a heart, looks like a heart, or can be made into a heart. Sunday morning, our final destination, we are having heart shaped pancakes and muffins for breakfast, heart shaped sandwiches and cheese for lunch, and individual heart shaped pizzas for dinner, with heart shaped brownies for dessert.

Not a bad way to celebrate my least favorite of holidays. This has been quite the week long heart, and sugar fest. By the time Valentine's Day officially comes, we will have one, highly energized cherub, with one mean sugar rush, and hopefully even less cavities. But more importantly, he will hopefully be more aware that he is one, loved boy.

Happy Valentine's!

100

Today was 100 day at school today.

Wow. 100. Seems like we started just yesterday.

To kick off 100 day, Chase awakened to 100 paper hearts taped around his bed. I would go in and take a picture to share, but I can hear that my squirt is not completely out yet. I would set off 100 more questions, accompanied by the need for 100 more goodnight hugs and kisses.




For math today, each child was asked to bring 100 small items, to be compared, and weighed.

Chase is 100% my carbon copy...which makes him 100% competitive.

He was 100% sure he wanted to take the heaviest small items.

He chose...100 batteries.




You can be sure he was reminded 100 times to make sure those 100 batteries came home with him today.

It was only a slight exaggeration when I mentioned that that was about $100 worth of hardware...to add to the dramatic effect.

He almost changed his mind when he put them in his "pack-pack", causing it to weigh a near 100 pounds. He then said, it would be worth the struggle.



His after-school-report-to-mom-of-all-things-awesome was delivered at about 100 decibels. He said they did about 100 of the bestest, most fun activities for their fabulous 100 day.

Only one negative. He thought 100 meant the end of kindergarten. He thought 100 days was all he signed up for. He was planning on moving up to the first grade for tomorrow. Thank goodness that's not true. He handled the news pretty well when his teacher set him straight. I won't overwhelm him by breaking it to him, that he has about 100...thousand more.

Oh, I love you 100 times to the moon and back, Chaser Beans. I feel 100 times more blessed now, since I have been chosen to be your mom. Thank goodness you don't really get to move on in 100 days. Time marches on too fast as it is.


PS I know what you all are thinking. Who has 100 batteries laying around their house? We had 104 to be exact. Thanks to Sam's Club, even such staples as batteries have made it onto my "food storage" shelves. Won't I be your favorite in a crisis?

PPS Sorry about the 100 changes to the background of my blog. There are about 100 million choices of cute blog backs out there. The closer I get to 100, the harder time I seem to have making up my mind.

Webbles Wobble, But...

I have impeccable timing.

Normal, to a six year old, is pretty relative. I guess normal fits under the umbrella with the mood that your beloved child wakes up with in the morning. Normal can shift with the wind, with who gets to go first, with who has the biggest treat, with who won and who lost. In other words, who really knows what is "normal" to these fabulously unpredictable little people.

Last week could possibly be classified as an abnormal week for a small child. It started with Mom ousting the family pet. It ended with Chase's kindergarten teacher teaching for her last day on Friday. Oh, the resiliency of babes. He has weathered any sadness that may, or may not, have been caused by the parting Pepper. He said a very fond, sincere thank you and goodbye to his wonderful teacher, who he loved. He pulled himself up by the boot straps and mustered up the courage to be happy to go back to school today, thankful that his new teacher is really nice...'cause that's all that matters. What a champ.

Do I over dramatize? Uh, yes! Truthfully, this kid hasn't been phased in the least. It's called Slight of Hand. The Art of Distraction. Good tricks for the trade. Okay, so I am being dramatic yet again. Seriously, kids are amazing. They have such an ability to bounce right back, and pick up where they left off. I was just feeling a little guilty timing it in such a way that both of these events took place at the same time. Just a little.

Webbles wobble, but they don't fall down. Tough as nails, I tell ya. That is, until you bring out an Emory board. Chase and I were sharing a mattress during an overnight stay with my brother and fam. I woke up first, and was filing my nails when Chase woke up. His eyes popped open, blinked a few times to put them in focus, then went WIDE.

"Yeek. I DO NOT like to shave my fingernails. When that thing touches my nails, it makes my nerves nervous!"

We all have our kryptonite, I guess.

Mother of the Year

Well, I did it again. I have earned myself some more stripes. I have put myself and all my maternal glory out there...again.

I sold our puppy on Monday. I know. That right there tips the scale in my favor. It was a hard and painful decision to make, and an even harder one to carry out. We really love that dog. And just so it doesn't appear that we have fallen victim to a horribly dramatic act resembling a mid-life crisis, I have to say that this has been in the works for a couple of months. Chase, amazingly, did not shed one tear. I cried the WHOLE time her new family took her to their car. The husband said, "She's going to have a hard time tonight." I cried even harder as I concurred, gushing about how I will miss my nightly routines with Pepper. It wasn't until I was done with my blubber-fest that I noticed the sheepish expression on his face. I didn't have to wonder long about the reason. He hesitantly told me that he had been talking about..the dog. Dang. That spontaneous disclosure will get you every time.

If there is any good news trapped in this monstrous act, Chase took the "band-aid ripping" way better than I did. Like I said, I have been preparing him for this for a while. I reminded him that she was going to be very well taken care of, very happy, and very loved. He was even further relieved when asking me if we had had Pepper sealed to us, that I was able to answer no.

Chase took great comfort in the fact that she was going to a good home. I think I actually may have done too good of a job building up her new family. That night, in his prayers, Chase blessed Pepper and expressed his gratitude that her new family was going to be good to her. There was a painfully long pause before he added, "We are a good family, too...kinda." I'm racking up the points, aren't I. That was a good place for me to insert a good pep talk and a big hug. Sigh.

It's a good thing that children as resilient as they are. This parenting stuff is such a crap-shoot. I am sure it won't take long until I am at it again.

I do have to mention that I am back in my favorite son's good graces again. Already this week, he has told me how glad he is that I am home, I am the best cook ever, I am beautiful, and he his so happy for me now that my tummy is as small as his . I just hope he is this kind and forgiving when he is in therapy. Poor kid.

Dad-Dad-Daddy-O

The week after I went to Provo to help my sister with her new baby, I was able to turn around and head up to my home town in Washington State to help my parents. I have to say, though, that for me, it wasn't all about the help. It was just flat out amazing to get to there on the front lines with my parents; to get to see for myself how they are doing. And, I must add, they are doing pretty fabulous.

I regretfully, yet not surprisingly, did not get any more pictures than the one above. Sigh. This picture was taken in Seattle, just before we headed home to Moses Lake. Love the bags and tired face I am sporting. My dad, on the other hand...doesn't he look GREAT!?! We hit the ground running and got right to work. We were so busy every day, doing everything, but feeling like we accomplished nothing. But, they do at least, have very shiny cabinets, walls, doors, and floorboards. I had to be good for something!

I was able to be there for nearly two weeks. It was hard to be away from home for that long, but still a necessary trip. For me, at least.

My time with my parents has reaffirmed a few things for me:

They are amazing people

They have the faith to move mountains

Man, do I love them

It's hard to see people you love go through something hard

I will never be too old to be homesick and need my parents around!!

Thank you for being so strong for us, Mom and Dad. I am in complete awe of your strength, and faith. I have learned so much from watching you two for the past 5 months. You are amazing companions to each other, and faithful servants to the Lord. We love you.

Snips, Snails, and Burps

Ah, the world of boys. Almost needs no explanation. Almost.

As a brand new, inexperienced, and naive mother, I was wisely told that the world of boys, is like no other. I have had so much to look forward to. I was also warned that I should expect to be good and grossed out at least once a day. At first, I thought that just meant that when approached by a little mop-top, with a closed fist, excitedly asking you to hold out your hand...you should resist with every ounce of your being. Just don't do it.

With time, I have nearly willingly stretched the definition of "grossed out" to encompass a plethora of categories. Some, but by far not all, of these categories include: smells, sounds, bathtubs, outside objects, objects placed in mouth, outside objects placed in mouth, and of course, hand placement.

I have come to accept, and sometimes enjoy, all things that classically make my son a very typical boy. I have not, however, been able to get a good grasp on the ability to stop apologizing to a room I have just entered, for anything that my handsome harry may or may not do or say in the course of the time that we will be in said room. With what seems to be great fortune, many of the most blatant and startling gross out moments have happened within the walls of our own home.

Case in point. As Chase and I were playing a game together the other day, we were also enjoying an exorbitant amount of the burps. I know. I know. But Moms should be allowed some gross out moments, too, I should think. We found ourselves philosophising on why we thought a good burp was so necessary to one's survival and comfort. After one particular, and quite resounding blast, I said,

"Well, that was about a 10 on the Richter scale. I bet that felt good to relieve all that pressure."

With complete sincerity, Chase closed his eyes and dreamily said,

"Oh, yeah. And the best part of that burp...I got to taste my Cream of Wheat again. Hmmm. Yum."

bleck I barf Heart gag Boys.

I know. What can I say. My generosity astounds me, too.

Diving In

The hardest part about blogging after being away from the blogging world for such a long time is...blogging. There is always the "looming" post that you feel you should make before any other posts can butt their way in. In the attempt to stave off said post, the gap between posts seems to grow. So, I am just diving in. No order. No reason. Just a post.

On the way home from Provo last night (one of two reasons for the three week gap in posts), Chase and I were having a delightful little chat about this, and that. As we hit Brigham City, Chase mentioned to me that he had seen a water part somewhere "way back there", and it looked pretty fun. I asked him why he hadn't shown it to me "way back there". He reminded me that I had been talking on the cell phone when it went by...and he didn't want to interrupt me. Nice boy. A first. But, nice.

He continued to describe all of the fun things that he had seen in this water world. He said that he even thinks he saw a waterfall ride with a log, or something like that. Pretty good eyeballing, seeing that everything is covered in snow, and frozen. Anyway, I was enjoying our chat and kept the discussion going. He excitedly told me that he thinks that this would make a really fun Mom and Son date. I happily concurred. I decided to match his enthusiasm while asking,

"And do you know what is going to be extra fun about that?"

"No! What!?!"

"I am even skinnier this summer than last summer! I will be able to..."

"Fit in the log?"

Pphtt...no. What I was GOING to say was "buy a new swimsuit." I suppose, however, that I will become relatively happy with fitting more comfortably and looking more proportionately beautiful in...a log.