Sleepwalking

Here's a little tid bit about Ben: he sleep walks. Not every night but at least once a week. One night when Ian was up late he said Ben got up, got the drums for Rockband out, set them up and started to fake play them. Ian had to wake him up and send him back to bed.

Anyway, Friday night Ben had his first Scout campout. I was so stressed about him going. I imagined all sorts of things happening - but it never crossed my mind that he might sleep walk. Tonight we were in the car and Ben says, "Something weird happened at the campout. It was the middle of the night and I woke up standing outside of my tent."

I about had a heart attack! Leaders aren't allowed to sleep in the same tents as boys so I'm sure no one even heard him get up. When I start to freak out Ben says, "Oh, it was a good thing because I actually needed to pee."

Gee thanks Ben, I feel better now.

Balloon Day & Adolescence

Most of you know that the Sunday after Valentines Day is Balloon Day at our house. Ian and I always get them balloons for Valentines Day so they made this tradition a few years ago. Michael is part of the tradition, but since he didn't come down until after I put my camera away, he missed the photo op.

Evan loved it.

So did Max.

You will notice that there are only 3 boys in this picture. That's because Xander worked his magic and successfully made Ben cry and go in the house. Xander causes a lot of the fights in our house.
Which brings me to the second portion of this post. HOLY COW, RAISING AN ALMOST TEENAGER IS HARD! I'm not sure I'm going to survive the teenage years. Or maybe he won't. And when I start to think about Ben going down the same path next year I start to hyperventilate a little.
Sure he looks all happy in this photo, but let me tell you, looks can be deceiving. One minute everything is fine, the next he is yelling that we don't understand him and that we never let him do anything and that we suck. Seriously. Thank goodness for Tiffany and Kim who understand my pain and listen to me vent. Without them, I might've already went insane.

The other day at work I asked a co worker (who successfully raised 5 boys) what the secret to handling teenagers was. She picked up her glass of diet coke and pointed to it.

The J Boyz

Last week my friend Kahea's boys came over to play.

Kahea has 5 boys. Maybe that's why I feel such a kinship with her...she understands my pain (just kidding!).

Max and Ben spent a long time playing basketball and playing on the trampoline with her two older boys.

Her other two kept Evan occupied that whole time. I'm not going to lie - it was awesome.

I almost cried when they left.

P.S. On the way home from school I tried to talk the boys into going with me to Justin Bieber's movie. The sound of booing in the car was deafening. I guess I won't bring that up again.

Happiness

Ignore that weird piece of hair in front. Don't even act like you don't see it. Many of you know that this last year has been an emotional rollercoaster. I think I have prayed harder in the past year than I have in my whole life. December and January were bad. Dark. Sad. I want to thank those people who put up with me during that time. You all deserve a medal!

As I felt my birthday approaching I felt even more depressed. I have wrinkles!

But something happened. Maybe it's because what I have been praying for is finally starting to happen. Or maybe it's because I have been serving others more and thinking of myself less. Maybe it's because I am actually excited about my new calling. Or because of any other numerous blessings in my life. Really, I don't know why, but I feel happy. Like something inside me has changed.

It may sound stupid and cheesy, but yesterday I felt so blessed. I love my family and my friends so much. I don't have a lot of friends, but there are a few who I know we will be friends for life (because they have put up with me this long...). But especially for Ian and my mom and dad. They made me feel so special.

Since my blog is my journal, I want to mention one friend in particular. Who is going through a whole lot right now, but took time yesterday to come over, bring me presents! and visit with me. And she showed me a video that made my day. Heck, it made my month! She overwhelmed me and made me so thankful that she is a part of my life.

I feel so lucky.

5 Crowns

This is pretty much what we do on Sunday nights now. Play 5 Crowns. Even Max plays and Evan tries to play.

We all love it.

Matthea

A few weeks ago Sean (Ian's brother) and his wife Meg came over to watch some UFC. Of course they brought Matthea with them. She is such a calm, sweet girl. Evan was so excited to see her - he kept whispering to me: "I want somebody (meaning Matthea) to play in my room with me." When Meg took Matthea to his room he got a little frustrated that she wasn't playing with him how he wanted her to. She did like all of the boys' toys though.

Evan tried to get her interested in the racetrack, but she liked the dominoes a lot better.

Finally Max came in. He loves babies. Side note: You will all be happy to know that Max's other front tooth is FINALLY coming in. Hallelujah!.

Max followed Matthea around and played with her.

It melted my heart. He can be such a sweet boy sometimes.

This is me

when I was about 15. Notice my AWESOME Cure shirt. I wonder what happened to that shirt - I think I wore it constantly for my whole high school career.

The other day Xander and I went to Zia Records. As soon as I walked in and smelled the incense a wave of nostalgia hit me. My favorite thing to do when I was in junior high and high school was go to a record store. Zias and Stinkweeds were favorites. I also loved Shirt and Things (I'm pretty sure that's where I got that Cure shirt).

I went to my first concert (The Throwing Muses & New Order) when I was 13. What was my mom thinking??? To her credit, my older cousin Kevin took us and was in charge of us. (hey mom remember when you took Heidi and I to see Oingo Boingo at the State Fair - I have so much love for you for doing that). I have loved music as long as I can remember. And I love all types and kinds of music: The Beatles, The Cure, The Smiths, The Killers and I even like George Strait, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry and Justin Timberlake. I don't limit myself to liking one sort of music.

The other day a friend and I were having a conversation and I told her when I am sad or bad thoughts come in my head, I sing a little song. Usually it's "I am a Child of God". It works every time.

Here are my top 5 favorite albums (right now) (in no particular order):

The Killers: Sam's Town

The Format: Interventions and Lullabies

The Cure: Head on the Door

Motion City Soundtrack: Even if it Kills Me

Jimmy Eat World: Chase this Light

Coldplay: A Rush of Blood to the Head

I guess I can't keep it at 5 :). It warms my heart that Xander is really getting into music. We don't like all the same bands, but at least we have similar tastes. Good music makes me so happy.

P.S. Those glasses aren't real - I just really wanted glasses

P.P.S. Doesn't Ben look like me?

Yes, I realize I have 3 other kids too

While we are on the subject of Max...did you know that he is double jointed? It's bizarre. Check out his leg in this picture. Scary, huh? He can also bend his fingers at freakish angles. He loves to do it to gross me out.

Other Max facts:

-He has an unusually high threshold for pain. One time Ian was out playing football with the boys and Max fell HARD on the asphalt. He got right up and was mad he missed the ball. He ended up with scabs on both knees but didn't cry or complain even once. Nevermind the time he bit his tongue almost in half and cried for about 5 minutes total. The doctors were impressed.

-His nickname should be Pigpen. Seriously. There is so much dirt on that boy every single day. Even on Sundays he manages to get dirty. I scrub his knees, ankles, feet and elbows regularly because if he does it they stay dirty.

-While he is unusually tough, he is also super sensitive. You can punch him and he won't blink, but call him a nerd and he crumbles like a bad souffle.

-He loves babies and toddlers. He'll be a great dad someday.

-Max is obsessed with numbers. He loves to add and subtract dates and different numbers.

-He is shy until he gets to know you. I recently had a conference with his teacher and she was excited because she finally had a conversation with Max. I told her that means he's finally decided he likes her :)

-He has the best sense of humor. He is the wittiest kid in the family.

Max is such an interesting kid. I love being his mom.

Ice Cream

Ben and I love ice cream cones. Last Saturday when we were looking for shoes Ben wanted to stop for an ice cream. I got Ben and Max a cone, thinking there was no way Max would finish his and then I could eat it. It was a good, solid plan. Max has never once in his life finished his ice cream cone. Wouldn't you know that Max decided that this was the day he was going to finish it. He kept saying, "I am going to eat this whole cone, even if it takes until tomorrow." DANG IT! I wanted some ice-cream!

Also, Max is the slowest eater. It took him over 15 minutes to eat the cone. I'm not kidding. Finally Ben and I got cold and went in the store and watched him eat the cone outside. It sounds mean, but we were making faces at Max, having a good time.

This might sound weird, but it reminded me what awesome boys I have. They can make the most mundane tasks fun.

shoes

Last Saturday Ben and Max needed shoes. Desperately. I always try not to enforce my shoe opinion on the boys but I was really hoping they'd go for some Converse or Vans. Or any kind of awesome looking skate shoe. But Nikes were on the brain that day. Did you know Nike makes a pretty cool skate looking shoe? The boys weren't impressed.

Ben found his Nikes in the men section. My baby wears MENS SIZES! It kinda depressed me. Max found some he liked but they cost wayyy too much. So we went to another store.

He narrowed it down to two choices.

He studied each carefully.

Pointed out flaws and features of each.
He sat and studied those shoes for a good 15 minutes. Ben and I were really patient. He finally made a decision (HALLELUJAH!).

He had a blast showing them off to grandma, Kimmy, Joe and Uncle Sean. I'm just happy he's wearing shoes.

p.s. excuse the blurry pictures - I took them with my phone.

Phoenix Children's Museum

On Thursday, despite me being deathly ill (or maybe I just had a cold), I went with Evan on his preschool fieldtrip to the Phoenix Children's Museum. When we got there we saw this HUMUNGOUS structure that looked like a giant tree with airplanes and spaceships attached. It was for each child's (and parents) climbing pleasure.

We climbed. And climbed. Thank goodness Rowan got there because I was getting really sweaty. In a bad, smelly way.

Ruby was grumpy at first (notice the dirty look), but she quickly warmed up.

So sad that this picture is blurry. Dang you, camera!


The kids got to ride tricycles and go there a "car wash".

My favorite was the noodle area. We went back and forth through there more than a few times!

There was a nice quiet area to read books and relax. Evan stayed there a whole 2 minutes.

Ro and Evan served "ice cream" at the ice cream stand for quite a while. Ruby was their first customer.

Evan's favorite part was grocery shopping, checking out and making food (all pretend of course).

We were in there for a good hour.

I loved all of the recycled art and decorations. I need to take Ian. He'd love it. You can't tell from the picture, but some of the art and light fixtures were made out of forks and spoons.
Evan had so much fun. We were there for over 3 hours and the time flew by! A friend at work told me that the first Friday of every month from 6-10 is free. I think we'll be going back with all of the boys.