Ben

The other day was picture day at Ben & Max's school. I let my kids wear whatever they want for picture day - as long as their hair is combed and they look presentable. Ben chose to wear his Adrian Petersen Vikings jersey. I guess quite a few kids asked him why he wasn't dressed up for picture day. His reply was, "I want to have my picture taken wearing something that I like and I like the Vikings." I'm glad to have a child who is confident in who he is. I told him that years from now, when he looks at that picture he'll remember how the Vikings were his favorite football team.

Speaking of football...months ago Max told us that for his birthday he wanted to go to a Cardinals vs. Redskins football game. The Cardinals and the Redskins are Max's favorite teams. We talked him out of it - mostly because we knew that no way could we afford seats to a Cardinals game.

Yesterday Ian came home with 2 tickets to this Thursday's Cardinals vs. the Redskins pre-season game. I guess one of the Cardinals players gave the UPS Store on Ian's route 10 tickets to that game. Ian got 2. Xander saw the tickets and started freaking out. He went on and on about how he's always wanted to see the Cardinals play. Ian showed the tickets to Ben and Max and Max got the happiest look on his face - although he didn't say anything. Ben said, "Dad, you have to take Max - that's all he wanted for his birthday."

I am constantly humbled by Ben's selflessness. He is the kindest kid I know. Sometimes I think Heavenly Father sent him to me so that I could survive the other 3 (JUST KIDDING!....sort of).

I am so lucky to be Ben's mom.

Love and Green Day

Years ago (1995?) I saw Green Day in concert at a tiny club called The Mason Jar. It was right before they got big. In fact, 3 or 4 months later they were playing to a crowd of thousands at the Arizona State Fair. But that day there were only about 50 or so people there. I remember Ian pointing over at the bar, where Billy Joe was getting a drink. We dared each other to ask for his autograph, but neither of us wanted to be uncool enough to do it (why didn't we do it?!!). I think Kim and Elise were there too, but I don't remember much else about that concert - even though Green Day was one of my favorite bands at the time.

That night when Ian and I drove back to my house we sat in my car and talked. And then I remember blurting out, "I love you!" Ian looked at me, startled. Like, "Where the heck did that come from?" I'm pretty sure he'd never heard that from a girl before.

"What?" he asked.

"What?" I replied.

"Did you mean 'olive juice'?" he asked.

That was a little game we used to play. We'd mouth "olive juice" to each other jokingly...get it?

"Of course that's what I said, what did you think I said?"

"Never mind."

Running this week, listening to "Who Wrote Holden Caulfield" by Green Day I thought about that day. How I inadvertently admitted to Ian (and to myself) that I was in love.

And how it's still true today.

Happy, Happy!

Last Thursday was my mom's birthday. My mom is awesome. For her birthday she took everyone to Peter Piper Pizza. She bought us all pizza, tokens and drinks. Plus she brought cake and ice-cream for everyone. Because what makes her happy is having her family together. Everyone had a great time.

Blowing out candles:
Some crazy bandits crashed our party.

Molly joined the fun.
Ruby had a blast riding the mini merry-go round.

Emmy & Addy love a good party. Notice Addy's blue mustache courtesy of blue gatorade.

Let me interrupt all of this fun to say that my mom is my hero. She is my best friend. And she is the loveliest person I know.

Happy birthday mom!

Last firsts

Tuesday was Evan's first day of preschool. EVER. He was so excited. Beyond excited. I was a nervous wreck. Because he can't even sit still during church. And because it's hard for me to see him grow up and to let go (a little).

He made me take his picture in front of our door - because he remembered that Ben & Max got their "first day of school" photo there :)

I took him to school but then I had to go to work so Trina picked him up. I guess Evan got a little tired at school and asked for a pillow and blanket. When Trina picked him up the teacher commented, "This one is a firecracker". She doesn't know the half of it. And hopefully she won't find out.

Evan's favorite part of school so far is homework. When I got home from work on Tuesday he had already finished his homework by scribbling all over it then folding it up and taping it really good. When I unwrapped it the homework ripped. You can imagine how that went. I have instructed the boys to hide the homework and to give Evan a blank piece of paper when he gets home.

My heart breaks a little when I think that this is my last child. That this is the last time one of my kids will start preschool. I love being a mother. And I especially love being a mother to Evan.

STYCD Par-tay!

Last week was the finale of So You Think You Can Dance. I always get depressed when the show ends because in case you didn't know...it's my favorite tv show EVER. Seriously. There's angst, love, conflict, awkwardness, art, Cat Deeley...what else do you need in good tv?

Tiffany and Tayler hosted a finale party. They were born to be party planners. It's the best finale party I've ever been to. EVER. Warning: if you have not watched SYTYCD this season stop reading now. This post won't make any sense.

The made jars of hearts for everyone after the song Jar of Hearts which was one of the dances (was it the Kent/Lauren prom dance?). The jars were Ian's favorite part. He licked his so that no one would take it. I'm not kidding.



They had little Coke's for Lil' C and Crush for Kent who was supposed to "crush" the competition. But Lauren beat him. I think even Kent was surprised and Tayler looked "crushed". Dislike!

Berry crumble representing the awesome new choreographer Dee Casberry (I was secretly hoping there'd be berry crumble. It's darn good).

Homemade oreos for Tyse. Who is gay. Darn it. These oreos were so good. Please send me the recipe, Tiffany.

yummy bread...

The best lasagna I've ever had - named after the band who sang the song which Kent and Neil (Neilllll!!!! I'm still wiping the drool off my face) danced to. Please send me the recipe, Tiffany.

Delicious chicken alfredo. Named after one of my least favorite contestants. Although he held his own in the Nap and Tab number I never liked him. Not sure why. Mia didn't like him either.

This picture has nothing to do with our party except to show everyone how awesome Christian is. Everytime I look at this picture I laugh.

The gang watching the show. Notice the serious looks on everyone's faces. Critiquing is serious business, people!

It was a super fun night. I'm so glad we got to go and party SYTYCD style.
Next up: THE TOUR! 10th row! WOOHOO! I may forget I am no longer a teenager and make a fool of myself. It wouldn't be the first time.

Working

I hate working but I love my job and the people I work with. Weird, huh? The thing is, I will never understand how any mother could choose to leave her children and work if she didn't have to. I know, because I have to. And it's the hardest thing I have done in my life. 4 days a week I am not there when my children get home from school. It kills me. I'm not there to give hugs, hear about their day, help with homework, make snacks...I am not there. Many times in the past few months Max has said to me, "You don't want to be with us. You want to work!" I know my working is hard on him. It's hard on all of us.

I am lucky to have a family who have helped me in countless ways. For a sister in law who watches Evan 2 times a week. For a sister who takes and picks my kids up from school. And for my mom who is Evan's second mom. Who is there for my kids when I am not.

But especially I am lucky to have Ian. He has picked up my slack these past few months and has never once complained about it. I used to have to ask him to give baths, help with homework, make dinners...but now he does things without me asking him. It's awesome. Yesterday, I woke up from a nap and Ian had helped Max finish a project for school. A project that I was dreading. It made me so happy. Max was so proud!

P.S. Have you noticed what freakishly good handwriting Max has for a first grader? His kindergarten teacher told me that she had tried to correct his hold on his pencil, but it was hard to enforce it because he had such beautiful penmanship.

Weekend Happenings

Holy cow, where has this week gone? It seems like every week flies by. Anyway, last Friday Step Up 3 came out. I have been looking forward to seeing this movie for a LONG time. Mostly because it has quite a few SYTYCD (So You Think You Can Dance) dancers in it. Friday night Tiffany, Tayler and I went to dinner at Sauce (one of my favorite restaurants) and then on to the movie. Tayler wore her leg warmers and Twitch glasses in honor of the occasion. In case you didn't know...Tayler is awesome. We had a blast. And now we want to learn how to hip hop dance.

Saturday afternoon we headed out to Mattas (by Bass Pro Shop) for lunch with Ian's family. Ian's brother Sean has a mustache in honor of National Mustache month.

I told him he looks a little creepy, but he didn't seem to mind.
After lunch we headed over to Bass Pro Shop. You can't tell but John, Meg, Sean & Xander are in front of the aquarium.

Evan has a love/hate relationship with all of the animals there. He wants to see them but they freak him out a little.

After Mattas we headed over to Jared & Tricia's for Molly's first birthday. Holy cow, I can't believe she's one!

Have you seen a cuter baby? I just want to eat her cheeks and thighs.

Ready for cake!

At first Molly wanted to eat the table instead of her cake.

But then big sister Emmy showed her what to do.

Kim and I were chatting on the couch and dad came over and sat between us. I love my dad. He's one of my favorite people in the world.

Molly got lots of loot.

Evan had fun playing with some girl toys.

The weekend flew by, but it's always fun to spend time with the people I love the most. We had a blast!

Broken

Wednesday night Max hurt his foot. Ben, Max and Evan were playing football on my bed and Max jumped off the bed and landed on his foot all wrong. Of course Ian and I (being the stellar parents that we are) brushed him off. The problem is that Max has a high threshold for pain - he never acts like anything hurts. Right before bed we noticed that his foot was really swollen. Thursday morning I took him to Urgent Care for x-rays. Thank goodness Tiffany took Evan because I can't even imagine how it would've been if Evan had been with me.

The x-rays confirmed that he had a fracture in the top of his foot by his big toe. They put a splint on it and sent us to a specialist. Max didn't like the splint. It made him REALLY mad. There was alot of crying, screaming, crying and more screaming. When we got to the specialist the doctor took the splint off so he could look at Max's foot and Max immediately claimed that his foot felt fine (all the while wincing whenever the doctor touched his foot). The doctor (being a smart man) made Max get up and walk. Max walked 2 steps and then started hopping around on his good foot saying, "I'm fine! See I'm fine!"

The doctor compromised by not making Max put the splint back on. We got some crutches and Max got fitted for a "boot". Luckily he doesn't have to have a cast. We have to go back in two weeks for more x-rays. Thursday night Tiffany, Jason & their kids came over and brought Max a little goody bag - filled with candy and legos. He is now the most popular kid in our house :).

As a mother of all boys, I'm glad this is our first broken bone and that it's nothing major - although Max isn't very happy about it. He doesn't like anything that makes him stand out from the rest of the crowd. And is it bad that I really loved holding Max on my lap, cuddling him as he was crying in the doctor's office? I know that the time will come when he doesn't want to sit on my lap and be hugged - I'm just glad it's not here yet.

Evan update

This boy brings me so much joy (and at the same time so much frustration). But let's talk about the joy! Today I was driving Xander to school and we passed the soccer team practicing.

Me: "Xander, I wish you would go out for soccer. You're so good at it!"
Xander: "No thanks."
Me: "Look there's your friend Mehrdad! He's playing."
Evan: "That is NOT MY DAD! My dad does NOT play soccer. He goes to work!"

Evan also loves the word "either". He uses it incorrectly all the time (he thinks it means "also" or "too"). He'll say, "I love you either, mom!" or "I want a cookie either!". I always correct him but secretly I love it :).

Last night for FHE we were playing Duck, Duck, Goose. I wish I would've thought to video tape Evan. Whenever anyone picked Evan for the goose he'd jump up and be so excited that he'd run in place for a few seconds before he finally started chasing whoever had picked him. He would giggle uncontrollably the whole time which would cause all the boys to giggle uncontrollably.

I love the joy that Evan brings to our home.