Funny Boys

Our spring musical was a hit, and Kaleb was the cutest cow in the Barnyard Moosical!

Braylen won 1st place in Bible Quiz--so proud of you Buddy!

Aaron's rediscovered his love for our car wash.

All 3 boys have loved it dearly.

Last week I lived out the phrase, "What's been done before will be done again. There's nothing new under the sun." My youngest son needed to visit a urologist, and when I walked into that office with him, memories of my young self visiting a urologist's office came flooding back. My mom used to take me there all the time--NOT a fun place for a young girl to go. Mom used to say she felt like the little old men would stare at me in the waiting room, so we'd check in and then go walk around the strip mall to wait for my appointment. When I signed Aaron in for his appointment, I was the mom who thought my little child seemed out of place in that environment. Funny how the tables have turned, but the situation is the same. While we waited for his name to be called, Aaron noticed two white-haired ladies walk up to the counter. He pointed at them and said, "Look Mommy! They're twins!" Then he pointed to 2 other white-haired people in the chairs and said, "More twins!" Thankfully they all appeared hard of hearing (or asleep!) and I could enjoy a private laugh with my son. :)

Kaleb's been learning about the Washington Monument in school, and it's really captured his attention. Actually, all of the history he's learning is capturing his attention. He talks about George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, national landmarks...it's quite amusing to see this coming from him. Of course he confuses his facts, so instead of America splitting from England, he told us India. And I never knew 2 other countries wanted George Washington for their leader. India and Spain? :) But the best one yet is when he told us the Washington Monument is as old as Daddy.

While driving home from school last week, Aaron started shouting "Ewww, that car has skinny woman and skinny man lights! Move over Mommy, I don't want to be behind the skinny woman lights!" He was talking about a Honda CR-V, with the narrow upper-level tail lights. For whatever reason, he doesn't like them with a passion!

Finally, Kaleb said something to me on Friday that meant the world to me. After praying with him at breakfast, he added, "And thank you for YOU Mommy." To a mom who's doing it all on her own for 2 weeks, it was music to my ears.

After School

With 2 boys in school, my days run pretty smoothly...until 3:00! I feel like I pay for my enjoyable, productive day with madness and mayhem from 3:00 onward. My calm, quiet house is invaded with ravenous boys who can't get their hands on a snack fast enough. My 4 year old expects instant playmates, and instead finds out his brothers want nothing to do with him. Trying to explain their need to "decompress" for a bit after school is next to impossible. Aaron just doesn't get it. There is whining, hurt feelings, dirty looks, cross words...the list goes on and on. Recently I implemented a new rule to try and help restore order in some small fashion. Backpacks must be emptied by schoolboys, not by me, and they must be emptied right away. I got tired of fishing for lunch boxes (with leftover food in them) homework folders, and planners myself. I'm not the one in school for pete's sake! So far this rule is being followed. I'd say it's been about a month. But now while everyone's duking it out for snacks after school, I'm drowning in papers and old lunches dumped on the counter, along with my wronged 4 year old whining at my side. It's enough to make this mommy insane. With wrappers and crumbs left behind on the table and floor, Braylen and Kaleb grab their Nintendo DS players and zone out on the couch for a while. I let them, but I make them allow Aaron to sit with them and watch. I wearily clean up the kitchen, wade through their papers, and count down the minutes until my husband comes home from work. The timer dings to signal the end of Nintendo time, and if they are still crabby and mean, I go to my room. :)

Blue & Gold Boys

This past Sunday was our annual Blue & Gold banquet for scouts. Our boys earned their merit badges and received awards from the Pinewood Derby race back in January. It was a treat to have Grandma and Grandpa join us this year! Aaron did such a great job of sitting still, except for playing footsie with Grandpa under the table. :) I used to think Aaron would be excited for his turn at things...preschool, Awana, etc. But I've learned over the years that he has more fun anticipating those things, and I think scouts will be no different. Once he gets there, it will be old news for him.

Kaleb, my handsome Tiger Cub

Braylen, my moody Bear Cub. Green pawprint on his cheek is part of the ceremony.

Speaking of Aaron, he woke up Monday morning to a case of strep throat. Happy Monday to us! Thanks to a penicillin injection, all is well for now. I think a shot is the way to go--no messing with 10 days of amoxicillin.

Let's arm wrestle!

Braylen is Camper of the Week at school, so Daddy made a trip to his classroom the other day to talk about his career and eat lunch with our camper. Tomorrow it's my turn to have lunch with him, and we are NOT eating in the school cafeteria. :) Some of the items Braylen brought to class to showcase himself are: Brownie bear (awww!), trading cards, Brazilian money from Great Grandma Muriel, pinewood derby trophy, baby pictures and current pictures. "It's all about me" would be a good title for his week at school, and he's waited all year for that. :) One thing that threw me for a loop was the way he's been bringing home his papers this week. He folds each one into a tiny square and tapes it shut. Yesterday I had 6 papers to cut open and unfold, and today there were more. What is up with that? When I ask him why he's doing this he tells me they fit in his bag better that way. Maybe if he cleaned the clutter out of his bag once in a while there would be more room in there???

While I was making supper tonight, Kaleb made his bed. Then he asked me if he could help me in the kitchen. Then he gave me a tootise roll from his candy stash. I was really suspicious, but I didn't want to insult him if he was simply being kind. It all came together when he brought his Awana book to me and asked me to check it. He'd been trying to fill out the "I Help at Home" chart all in 30 minutes! This chart should take 7 days to fill out! 7 days of making his bed, helping in the kitchen, sharing, and doing something kind... Boy was he bummed! All those good deeds for nothing! Still, it was nice while it lasted. :)

Winter Days

Aaron's little snowman

Winter came back to us last weekend, and our boys were able to enjoy it. They shoveled snow, built forts, went sledding, and made 2 snowmen! Daddy helped them make the snowmen, while I enjoyed staying warm inside. (and being the family photographer of course!) Braylen spent the night at a friend's house, and I think he'd live at this friend's house if he could.

Okay, to interject a little of the "here and now" into this posting, let me say that my 9 year old just came up from the basement in his boxers. I guess he worked up a sweat playing indoor basketball and off came his clothes. Can you see why winter makes me crazy? Or maybe if it was warm enough for him to play basketball outside he'd be stripping out there? That would be worse.

I received a hand-crafted jewelry box from Braylen for Valentine's Day. He's been working on this project at Cub Scouts for a month with Daddy, so I was excited to finally see what the big secret was. He showed me all he did--sanded it, routed it, stained it, nailed it, etc... He called it my "jerily box" :) I love it.

Don't we look alike in this picture? Just what every son wants--to look like mom!

Aaron gave me some more funny words this week. Pixie stick is "rusty buck." I have no idea how he came up with that. Mini-wheats are "wini-meats." While he was humming a song in the van, I told him I liked his song. He told me, "Mom, it's not a song, it's a NOISE!" Kaleb taught it to him and he was mortified that I called it music. Oooookay!

I can hardly tell where Derek ends and Aaron begins

I love this picture because of that.

So this is the end of my fragmented post. I guess that's what I get for trying to blog at this time of day!