Snowcapades

As many of you know I have said that Cub Scouts is a "father/son" thing but that did not stop me from getting tapped to be the den leader for G's Webelos den this year. So, reluctantly I accepted the task and have made every effort to "Do My Best" (scout motto...) and got on the big learning curb to catch up with all the scouting stuff that father's seem to just "know". So, this year I attended my very first Cub Scout Snowcapades. (This ~ for those of you who may not know is a big day of sledding, fire building, tug-o-war's, snow shoeing for the boys and families.) The boy's LOVE this day....the dad's LOVE this day....I liked this day....Now don't get me wrong, as you can tell from the pictures the sun was shining, everyone was having fun, laughing, getting exercise....now here comes the part why I did not LOVE it and the reason that I think most Mom's do not attend this day or most scouting events..... WE WORRY!!!!! We worry about if they are warm enough, we worry about kids getting lost in the woods, we worry about kids getting hurt...etc... EVERY time one of my boys got on one of those 'death saucers' at the top of the very hard packed icy run and got and extra PUSH for speed I held my breath. Especially since the first FOUR kids to go down did actually get HURT!!!! Now the Dad's that were with me did not seem to blink an eye. I wanted to run up there and be THAT mom who yanked my kid away from the "bully" who was pushing him down the icy tunnel of death.....
Not a single dad or grandpa that was with me seemed to be having this feeling?

BUT..as you can see by their smiling faces they both came away from the day with only one minor injury...Carsen slipped on the ice and smacked his chin and got a snow strawberry. He was just fine until I said there was only a little blood. Then he screamed like a...well....girl....

HOTTIE OR NOTTIE

So, I went to pick up Carsen at school today and a mom of one of the little girls told me this little story.......

Her daughter is big into the cheerleading movies, and cheering etc...so they were doing little chants together. She would say a chant then mom would repeat the chant. One of the chants that she came up with went like this:

Carsen is a hottie!!!
Carsen is a hottie!!!

Her mom said...I am not saying that!!

Ummm..oh my gosh my 5 year old is a HOTTIE....His dad is pretty proud.....I am a little disturbed to think that there are little girls out thinking of my kiddo this way!! She is a cute little girl so I guess it's all good....

HAPPINESS.....

Random thought of things that bring me happiness.....
my boys, all 3 of them.
warm summer sun on my face.
chocolate.
the smell of fresh cut grass.
a loving husband.
shopping.
good friends.
boys laughter.
carsen's faith.
griffen taking my hand to hold.
the first day of school.
the last day of school.
snow days.
tivo.
my ipod.
new gadgets.
cold beer on a hot day.
great books.
good chick flicks.
fuzzy pj's.
cute purse's.
wakeboarding.
rediscovering tennis.
having the fun house.
family.
sleeping in.
grandma's breakfast.
having 4 seasons.
being asked to "snuggle me".
pumpkin spice lattes.
going home.
phone calls.
singing along with the radio.
listening to my kids sing along with me.
newly washed sheets on my bed.
haircut day.
pedicures.
carsen still holding onto some toddler speak.
seeing the big brother hug the little brother and the joy it brings the little one.
you, for taking a couple minutes to be interested in my little life!

GUILT.....

Ok, so we had been thinking about and finally decided to change churches. It is for various reasons..

1. The congragation is very elderly. ~There's nothing wrong with that but when I say elderly, most of them did not remember us from Sunday to Sunday...litereally, one guy introduced himself to us 3 Sunday's in a row in December and we had the EXACT same conversation

~"Is this your first time here?"

~No we have been coming here for around 5 years now!"

2. There is one singer that each Sunday was like someone dragging thier nails up a chalk board for Wes. Oh, by the way, she was also the head singer and the loudest~ He would walk out of there irritated every time.

3. Griffen did NOT enjoy the kids programs at all. Every Sunday it was like a war to get him out the door because he did not want to go so badly. Which in turn made Sunday morning into me yelling at my family to get a move on because I may be about 15 min. late to a lot of things and am fine with that but I cannot stand to be late to church...

So there are a few of the reasons we had been discussing it. So starting with the Christmas Eve service we tried another church. Well, the music was great, we enjoyed the Pastor's words, the congragation was much more our age group and the kids LOVED the children's church. So that's all great right...now here's my guilt. The Pastor at the church we are leaving is REALLY nice and Carsen still goes to the preschool there and everytime he sees me he is SOOO friendly and nice and always asks about Wes..etc.. Well I now feel like I owe him an explaination. What exactly would that be because there is no way I am lying to a Pastor, even a little white lie. So I imagine the conversation going a little something like this...

Pastor: Hi, Rocky How are you and the family?
Me: Oh, hello Pastor, we are doing really well. Thanks!
Pastor: So I have noticed that we have not seen you in church recently. Is everything Ok.
Me: Sure, things are great we have been going to a different church.
Pastor: Oh, well may I ask why?
Me: Sure, you congagation is too old and you know the head singer makes my husband want to stab sharp objects into his ears. Thanks for asking thought!!!!

Senior??

So yesterday was Wes' birthday. Here is Griffen's response to Wes' age.
Griffen "So Dad, how old are you today?"
Wes, "I'm 42."
Griffen, "Does that make you a senior citizen?"
Ummm...needless to say Wes was not that thrilled about that question.

I however was laughing hysterically!!

Snow..Snow...Snow....

And it just keeps coming down. Our family is loving it but we are wondering if it is going to stop anytime soon. Since these pictures were taken we have had 2 more storms that have put down about another 15 inches. Plus, it is forcasted to snow for the next 5 out of 7 days!! We have been passing the time snowmobiling around the neighborhood, having Wii tournaments, and sledding off the hills in the yard that were built after shoveling off the roof! Enjoy the pictures.

Courtesy of Calvin and Hobbes..

Guess what I got to explain to my 9 year old?? What is spin the bottle? And yes if he asks I must tell him the truth or he will ask someone else that he thinks may be an authority on the subject...not that I am an authority on spin the bottle....errrhh....did I just get myself into trouble??

It's so easy...

Carsen, "Mom, do you know how to make a friend first?"
Me, "No, how?"
Carsen, "By saying your name first and high fiving them."

I love how it is so simple to have a friend at the age of 5!

Good Grades?????

So apparently, Griffen will be getting a VERY good grade in grammer this term. How do we know that you ask. Because he informed Wes the other day that it will be his best grade because he has been writing so many sentences. Which of course posed the question.. "What kind of sentences???" His reply, "I will stay on task during class."

I guess that is the positive way to look at it right!!

New Year

Ok it's a new year and I loved blogging and really have no excuse except we travelled...a lot.....from June through September. Then the holiday etc. etc..etc.. But I am starting back up even if there are no longer people reading! So the first thing back that I have to tell about is Carsen. I had him with me at the grocery store yesterday and it was snowy and cold out so of course we hit Starbucks first. He ordered an 'almond steamer' just like he knew what he was doing (which he does because he has been getting them since about birth!) Anyway, we get our "Coffee's" and continue on with our shopping and he sucks his down within a matter of minutes looks at me and say's
"You should have got me a double!"
That's my boy!!!

Phrase of the Day

Carsen: "Oh, For Goodness Snakes!!"

Happy Birthday Griffen!!!

Wow~~ my kiddo is 9 years old today!!! I am so shocked that I have a 9 year old. It only seems like yesterday..... etc...etc...
He actually had a great one. We are in Maine. And so far all the bats have stayed in the night sky so we are safe so far. Anyhow, we are here and a bunch of the cousins are here so there are plenty of things to get into like the dirt pile, fireworks, driving the tractor (alone! no rangers here to give us tickets just in case you know the jet ski story.. if not ask and I will be glad to share it with ya!) anyway it is a boys paradise. We asked Griffen what he wanted to do for his big day and he requested that we take him to the go cart track. So off we went to race go carts and to play a little miniature golf. Well the golf went well. Then it was time to race some go carts and it turned out that Griffen is a little bit too short to be able to drive them alone HOWEVER much to his dismay his younger girl cousin was tall enough to go herself. This caused much heartache to my big 9 year old guy. He ended up having to ride with his uncle which turned out fine but as I am sure you can imagine he was still a bit disappointed about not being able to drive alone. Ah...if only I had been wearing my platform shoes today I could have given them to him for a bit of a lift!

Manners

Today Carsen and I met some friends at the part and he ran over to me and chugged down his lemonade then he sat there and burped multiple times. I asked him what he was doing and his response was "I am not burping that was just a grumble."

Weary or Wicked?

No rest for the weary isn't that what they say? Or is it wicked? Either way we are not getting any! We have seriously been going non stop. This week we had soccer on monday, baseball game on tuesday, cub scouts on wednesday, baseball pictures and a game on thursday, and we are 7 minutes into friday and here I sit writing due to my guilt for not posting much lately.

After a day of going since 8:00 a.m. Carsen fell into bed practically asleep before his head hit the pillow...oh yeah....he forgot his pillow downstairs so he didn't even get to 'hit the pillow' It was an exciting day for him. It was my birthday and all 3 boys could not wait until today for presents so they gave them to me last night. Well excited and unable to keep a secret. Like when I woke Carsen up this morning and the first words out of his mouth were. "Did Daddy get that cake for you so I can have a piece now?" I did not say anything to Wes but during lunch Carsen brought it up again and Wes did the 'it's a secret' thing and I told him that the cat was out of the bag with Carsen's first words of the day! I have to give him credit I mean after all he made it through the evening before without spilling the bea...err I mean frosting!

Question.

Since when did Sugar Smacks become HONEY Smacks??
THEY.
ARE.
STILL.
THE.
SAME.
CEREAL!!!

The meaning of Easter

I am proud to say that at least Carsen fully understands the meaning of Easter... each night since his prayer has been.... "God bless Jesus for getting whooped because we are naughty, and for being on the cross and waking up in the cave." Pretty good 4 year old understanding!

This past month life has been full of ups and downs and I guess I have been busy livin' it hence the reason that I have failed to do much on the computer. So, if anyone is still checking this to read bear with me....

We ended up going to Colorado for spring break. The boys enjoyed it and I actually enjoyed the 2 day road trip out there and back. It is a time that my family has to be in one spot..
together...unable to go do you own thing.... this is a pretty hard thing for us to do. Take today for instance. Griffen is at school. Wes is off but working on the airplane. Carsen and I are going grocery shopping and doing laundry. Then this evening I will take Carsen to his first soccer practice and Wes will be with Griffen at his baseball practice. We have reached the point in raising kids in this day and age that we are heading in different directions most of the time. So, I was perfectly happy to be in the car with them reading Bridge to Terabithia out loud. Even though by the time we got to the end I had to pause at some points because if I continued reading I would burst out into tears. And during that pause Griffen would yell, "We're listening keep reading!"

Speaking of Griffen he is old enough that he does not say many things language wise that are funny anymore. In other words he is a very well spoken 8 year old. BUT..on Saturday as we were driving to church rehearsals for the Easter program he asks us...."Have I been bathtized?" Then without skipping a beat he says "Hey, there's Ice Cube." referring to a guy who lives in our neighborhood who does indeed resemble Ice Cube but is in fact not. I was still laughing from the first question then thrown into another fit of laughter at the second statement. It was just so...... nonchalant. Like we see celebrities in our neighborhood all the time.

Stranger Danger

Let me set the scene.

It was a beautiful day. Blue sky, sun shining, some snow still on the ground but warm enough out to go without a jacket. We have a couple of things to do before having to be home as we are having some guys that were in from out of town over for dinner....

The grocery store is the first stop. Fortunately, it is during school hours so I don't have to run the gauntlet of Girl Scouts hawking their deliciously, evil little cookies. We make it inside and manage to pass through the area where all the 'deals' are without being hit by another shopper in the Achilles with their cart. (First time I have passed unscathed) Now we are at the bulk item section when Carsen sees the Jelly Belly's to which he starts begging for jelly beans. I tell him no. Now my biggest reason for this is just because I don't feel like backtracking at this point but when he asks "why?" I reply, --"because I said so" (now even I agree that this is a lame reason. In fact it is not even a reason at all) but this is what I say. Now the whining and crying begin....and last for the WHOLE time we are at the grocery. Then I have to go to a second grocery store because it is practically impossible to just go to one store in this town and get everything that you need. The crying continues through out Albertson's also. I am REALLY happy by this point in case you are wondering. But I think OK this is the last stop then we are home free. Well, that would have been the case if technology was not as advanced as it is, or if I had chosen to ignore the call on my cell phone from home. But I answer and it is the lovely husband who is fixing the toilet..you know the one that broke while he was soaking up the sun in FL... and he needs a part. Next stop Home Depot. Which a lot of women say they love HD. I am not one of them. Not even remotely. But here I go trouping into the depot with Carsen in tow who is still crying from 2 hours earlier and no jelly beans. I manage to weave my way around and find the plumbing department the whole time insisting that Carsen hold my hand because anytime I do let go he bolts. His pulling away has now forced me to just hold his wrist therefore he cannot get away. He does have plenty of wiggle room between my hand and his wrist but that does not stop him from yelling "OW, Ow you are a crazy stranger, you are not part of my family!" Of course, people look at the two of us and I don't know whether to laugh or clamp my hand over his mouth. Fortunately, when he repeated it he started the same sentence with "Mom, you are a crazy...blah, blah, blah.." I somehow manage to get the needed part between the screaming kid, 3 lost calls home due to different sizes of the item needed and people looking at me... some with pity,.... some with disgust, ....and even some with the look of compassion that said...i've been there.

The Skinny

Aren't skinny jeans supposed to make you feel....oh, I don't know SKINNY!!! I have a pair that I bought last fall and every single time I put them on I feel like Aunt Fanny. Needless to say they do not get much wear.

Dinner Conversation

So, this evening a friends daughter was having dinner with us and I had the 3 kids set up at the counter eating while I was at the table next to them. I was just reading and sort of listening to them talk about general things when Griffen started telling them about scorpions and what they do etc., etc., etc., which I basically tuned out until I caught the word "mating" I perked up right away and proceeded to hear Griffen tell them about how the "male grabs the female and flips her over and drags her into the shade and DEPOSITS SPERM which the female collects....." oh no, oh no, oh no, this is not happening Mary then says "whats that?" oh no, oh no, oh no.....how do I stop this without turning it into a full up train wreck oh no, oh no, oh no.....so I revert to my usual tactic...I change the subject and quickly jumped in with "How bout them cubbies?" Which led to "We don't have cubbies at my school.", "Oh, I we have them at our school.", "I have cubbies in my school too." Whew! That was a close one. Damn that library, I thought Tipper got them to ban all books about sex!!