Bopping With Bones

As the boys get older, it's really fun getting to know them more as they form more opinions, likes, dislikes, and interests. Liam has always been the most flexible, of the bunch. I just discovered a couple more tidbits about Liam that surprised me. Liam is a club music loving, bones player

My peanut has never been a big game board player. He'll join in when we're all playing but he'll usually fizzle out halfway through. Fizzle out doesn't mean he just fades away to do something else. Most often, he'll try to out an out end the game, either with disruption or coercion, in attempts to gain his brothers interest in something else. It never works, it usually ends with moaning and groaning about something being boring before he moves on. I love games, so you can imagine how disappointed I was to think soon Liam wouldn't be joining us at all for family game night ( I look forward to the days when we're playing scrabble or pictionary instead of zingo and sorry).

To my surprise while cleaning out some of Aidan's old things, we came across a Diego Dominoes set that Liam showed interest in. He wanted to know how to play then proceeded to play for a full half an hour (he would have played longer) before we had to quit to start dinner. Yay, we found a game he likes. We'll definitely have to add dominoes to the family game night repertoire. Liam likes to play him some bones!


He also loves him some club music. He's all about the pop rock with catchy lyrics. Put on some Katy Perry and you'll see a head bopping smile on his face. So there should be no surprise (but I was) when he asked for some music in the car and the only station I could find was some classic rock playing ACDC's TNT, that he asked "Why's that man yelling on the radio? I want to listen to some music." I explained to him this was music and he adamantly with pure confidence said "No it's not". Yes Liam, it might not be your club bopping tunes but others would call this music.

I'm envisioning our next game night now, us playing dominoes while bopping away to the beat of some Bieber or Gaga. Wonderful!

"Cuddle Talk"

I love my cat, Jeremy. He's one of the family. So when he's sick (upper respiratory infection, for which we just started antibiotics) of course I'm going to give him lots of loving, as I would any one of my kids. So this morning when I was chatting with Jeremy and giving him a pep talk about feeling better soon, I hear Aidan (7 yrs old) say to his brothers (4 yrs old),

"There she goes again with that cuddle talk with Jeremy"

It was the tone that got me the most. If I could see him, I probably would have seen him rolling his eyes. It was that tone you had when you were a teenager and your parents behavior embarrassed you. Yup, you know the one. We've all been there, just not at age 7.

Are Your Kids Angry Bird Obsessed?

My kids are obsessed with Angry Birds. Actually obsession doesn't quite describe what's going on in my household right now, aberration comes to mind. There's a constant conversation about red birds, golden eggs, green piggies, and the like. If that's not going on, then there's the constant badgering of mom for the iphone. Realizing something needs to change before I lose my mind, I decided it was time to redirect this angry bird fixation into other activities...angry bird related of course. Convincing them of angry bird art work was not difficult by any means. Certainly this did not curtail the perpetual discussion of colored varmint that frankly is making me angry now, but it did halt the jockeying for iphone time.....for a moment.

More Summer Fun

The summer fun continues here.



Miles and Liam finished up their summer soccer. Miles was really into it from the beginning while Liam took some time to warm up to it and seemed to finally start playing as the summer soccer season ended. I'm going to have to look into the Fall soccer season now.

We took another trip to Tahoe,



Auntie Sandra joined us on this trip. It was nice having another adult with us to help manage the mob. We stayed in Squaw Valley Village and took several day trips from there. We went to Sand Harbor Beach, about an hour from where we were staying, well worth the drive, Water was amazingly clear and not exactly warm however, tolerable (by my standards that's pretty good). We were lucky that it was a gorgeous day too, low 80's. I most loved the fact that there was a snack bar nearby that was serving yummy soft freeze and shakes equivalent to Dairy Queen, Yummmm! Aidan was fascinated that we had to cross a state line to Nevada to go to this beach. He's now very ecstatic that he can say he's been to Nevada like his friend Parker.

We also enjoyed a little excursion to Truckee where we attended an art street festival and got to enjoy homemade chocolate stuffed marshmallows (yes there was lots of eating on this trip). As well as, spent some time at Tahoe City's beach and playground followed by another delicious meal at Evergreen, one of my favorite restaurants in Tahoe. I'm just glad Max didn't order the quail this time. I just have a hard time seeing that little bird on his plate without thinking "barbaric", just not my thing I guess.

We of course enjoyed lots of swimming at the lodge pool, miniature golf in the village and a scooter excursion on the nearby bike/walk trails adjacent to the Truckee river. Tahoe's definitely a fun place to take your kids with lots of outdoor activities. I'm sure we'll be doing it again in the future.

Since we've been back, we've spent time re-couping at home for a couple of days. Still unpacking and doing laundry, seeming never ending. The amount of laundry a family of 5 creates still is unfathomable to me. In between those chores, we've manage to play some games. Our new favorite right now is


Left Center Right card game. So easy that we can all enjoy, amazing as lately I've found it difficult to find games that my 4 yr olds can play/enjoy while keeping my soon to be 7 yr old entertained as well (no grumbling"this is for babies").



After some re energizing , we finally made it out and spent the day playing miniature golf at Golfland. Aidan's pal Parker joined us. You might be thinking, OMG 4 young kids in tow....however, what I've realized, it's actually much more pleasant to have a friend Aidan's age join us, it keeps him entertained and reduces the bickering amongst brothers. We ended the day with some play time in the arcade. It's amazing to see the effects those flashing lights have on the boys, they're mesmerized by it all. And although there were many failed attempts to win a plush angry bird with the claw ( I'm convinced it's impossible, the plush toy probably weighs more than the claw is able to hold) we still ended the day with lots of hoots and hollers "That was a fun day, Mom" what I'd like to call a success.

Still a bit of summer to go, I'm hoping we have more summertime adventures to update you on. Hoping you're all enjoying your summer too!

(more summer photos to come, been technically challenged with the mac and photos still all these photos are from my iphone, I know, don't roll your eyes)

Summer Camp In The Woods

Aidan's last day at camp with his pal Parker. He had a great time at camp and is already making plans for next year. We are very fortunate to live near gorgeous redwoods where the boys spent their days, hiking, swimming and enjoying outdoors science projects. There's nothing more satisfying than to see my child truly enjoying himself.